commercial crises and sweeping changes in rates, the annual revenue in the period 1815–1900 only varied between £19,000,000 and £24,000,000; though, on balance, duties amounting to £30,000,000 were remitted. The potential resources of this branch of revenue were made evident in the rapid rise of the yield by the new taxation imposed for the South African War (1899–1902). In consequence of this increase the customs became equal to the excise in return, and, combined, they collected over £60,000,000 annually from the consumption of commodities. They accordingly afforded a counterpoise to the burden put on income and property, or, more accurately speaking, they obtained due, or somewhat more than due, contribution from the smaller incomes, particularly those of the working class.
The exemption of raw materials and food; the absence of duties on imported, as on home manufactures; the selection of a small number of articles for duty; the rather rigorous treatment of spirits and tobacco, were the salient marks of the English fiscal system which grew up in the 19th century. The part of the system most criticised was the very narrow list of dutiable articles. Why, it was asked, should a choice be made of certain objects for the purpose of imposing heavy taxation on them? The answer has been that they were taken as typical of consumption in general and were easily supervised for taxation. Moreover, the sumptuary element is introduced by the policy of putting exceptionally heavy duties on spirits and tobacco, with lighter charges on the less expensive wines and beers. Facility of collection and distribution of taxation over a larger class appear to be the grounds for the inclusion of the tea and coffee duties, which are further supported by the need for obtaining a contribution of, roughly speaking, over half the tax revenue by duties on commodities. The last consideration led, at the beginning of the 20th century, to the sugar tax and the temporary duties on imported corn and exported coal.
As a support to the great divisions of income-tax, Death Duties, Excise and Customs, the stamps, fees and miscellaneous taxes are of decided service. A return of £9,000,000 was secured by stamp duties.
In recent years the so-called “non-tax” revenue largely increased, owing to the extension of the postal and telegraphic services. The real gain is not so great, as out of gross receipts of £22,000,000 over £17,500,000 is absorbed in expenses, while the carriage of ordinary letters seems to be the only profitable part of these services. Crown lands and rights (such as vintage charges) are of even less financial value.
One cardinal principle of the greatest English finance ministers has been the avoidance of deficits or undue surpluses. Gladstone’s inheritance of doctrine from Peel “was to estimate expenditure liberally, to estimate revenue carefully, to make each year pay its own expenses, and to take care that your charge is not greater than your income.” This method of treatment requires that taxation shall be productive in yield, and that it shall be so elastic as to admit of expansion, a function specially assigned to the income-tax. It may also be said to involve due care in the treatment of the national resources. The reaction of ill-chosen taxes on industry is a hindrance to their productiveness and their growth.
Authorities.—The constitutional historians—Stubbs, Gneist, Hallam—deal with the legal and constitutional aspects of finance. Special financial histories are: Sir J. Sinclair, History of the Public Revenue of the British Empire (3 vols., 3rd ed., London, 1803); S. Dowell, History of Taxation and Taxes in England (4 vols., 2nd ed., London, 1888); Schanz, Englische Handelspolitik (2 vols., Leipzig, 1881), and H. Hall, History of the Customs Revenue of England (2 vols., London, 1885), are valuable for the earlier periods. W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce (2 vols., Cambridge, 1903–1907); H. O. Meredith, Economic History of England (London, 1908), devote sections to finance. A. Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776), Tooke and Newmarch, History of Prices (6 vols., London, 1837–1856), give financial details. G. R. Porter, Progress of the Nation (3rd ed., London, 1851); Sir S. Northcote, Twenty Years of Financial Policy (London, 1862); S. Buxton, Finance and Politics (2 vols., London, 1888); J. R. McCulloch, Taxation and Funding (3rd ed., London, 1863); W. M. J. Williams, The King’s Revenue (London, 1908), for 19th-century finance. (C. F. B.)
ENGLISH HISTORY.—The general account of English history
which follows should be supplemented for the earlier period by
the article Britain. See also Scotland, Ireland, Wales.
I. From the Landing of Augustine to the Norman Conquest (600–1066)
With the coming of Augustine to Kent the darkness which for nearly two centuries had enwrapped the history of Britain begins to clear away. From the days of Honorius to those of Gregory the Great the line of vision of the annalists of the continent was bounded by the Channel. As to what was going on beyond it, we have but a few casual gleams of light, just enough to make the darkness visible, from writers such as the author of the life of St Germanus, Prosper Tiro, Procopius, and Gregory of Tours. These notices do not, for the most part, square particularly well with the fragmentary British narrative that can be patched together from Gildas’s “lamentable book,” or the confused story of Nennius. Nor again do these British sources fit in happily with the English annals constructed long centuries after by King Alfred’s scribes in the first edition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. But from the date when the long-lost communication between Britain and Rome was once more resumed, the history of the island becomes clear and fairly continuous. The gaps are neither broader nor more obscure than those which may be found in the contemporary annals of the other kingdoms of Europe. The stream of history in this period is narrow and turbid throughout the West. Quite as much is known of the doings of the English as of those of the Visigoths of Spain, the Lombards, or the later Merovingians. The 7th century was the darkest of all the “dark ages,” and England is particularly fortunate in possessing the Ecclesiastica historia of Bede, which, though its author was primarily interested in things religious, yet contains a copious chronicle of things secular. No Western author, since the death of Gregory of Tours, wrote on such a scale, or with such vigour and insight.
