Tobacco Duty.- [Walpole (Robert, first earl of Orford, prime minister, 1676-1745) A Letter from a Member of Parliament to His Friends in the Country, Concerning the Duties on Wine and Tobacco], autograph manuscrpt draft, part only, 8pp. only, lacks all before p. 20 and all after p. 33, left hand margins slightly ragged where removed from binding, browned, folds, sm. 4to, [1733].
⁂ "The parliamentary session of 1733 witnessed the most serious crisis for the Walpole administration until his fall in 1741-2 in the defeat of the Tobacco Excise Bill, a major plank in his fiscal strategy. In outline, Walpole's proposals were simple and broadly similar to the legislation introduced for tea, coffee, and chocolate in 1723. First, all tobacco and wine were to be placed in the king's warehouse until all duties had been paid. Second, the existing customs duties, payable on import, were to be replaced for the most part by excise duties, payable when the goods were removed from the warehouse for consumption. However, Walpole had blundered. His excise proposals provoked massive opposition." (Oxford DNB). In the end the measure was dropped and for a time Walpole's ministry was in disarray.