"debt, an object so desirable that no differ- | addition to the debt during the war; the ence of opinion can be entertained upon "the subject. I trust, therefore, this sys"tem will be adopted. It is one which has "been before tried, and of which the effect "is known. It has inspired confidence at "home, and created respect abroad. But, "the pecuniary effect is not all. It will be a difference in another respect: the difference between a temporary and a per"manent tax. It will have another effect "also that of convincing the enemy of this country, that it is hopeless for him to con"tend with our finances; that it is not in his power to affect us in that respect. It "will have a still further effect; that of convincing the other powers of Europe, that they may safely join with us in a 66 common cause of resistance against the 66 common enemy; for, that the resources "of this country are such as to give full se "curity for the punctual discharge of any "engagement it may enter into, and this is 66 an object for which I have in view some "provisions."- Now, all this is proved to have been false. Completely false. The surplus of the consolidated fund has continued to decrease; the war taxes have not produced more than half the amount which they were, by this time, to have produced; instead of 6 millions a year, we borrowed 10 millions in 1803; in 1804, we borrowed 14 millions; and, this year we have already borrowed 22 millions and a half; the war expenses, instead of 20 millions a year, are already risen to 43 millions, while 5 millions only are pretended to be provided for subsidies, and while nothing has been voted by parliament on account of those visitations of scarcity, to which the first financier in "the world" thought proper to allude. At the time that the above flattering picture was drawn, even at an earlier period, the following opinion was given in the Register: "We cannot' estimate the total of the na 46 tional expenditure of the present, and of "every future year, even of this sort of "warfare, at less than 60,000,0001. There"fore, however the man of finance may de fer his loans; by whatever act he may "hide from our eyes the path to bankruptcy, "the loans must come at last, or, in one "shape or another, the national debt, or rather the amount of the interest annually to be paid by the people on account of that debt, must go on increasing." The same was said, and, perhaps sooner, by Mr. Johnstone, whose predictions relative to the expenses of the war and the amount of the Joans are e now all completely verified.The circumstance, then, that of making no Difcus circumstance which was to work such won ders, that was to inspire confidence at home and respect abroad, that was to convince our enemy of the hopelessness of a contest against our finances, has proved an abortion. What our enemy may think upon the subject, must, perhaps, be left, to be discovered of those, at whose disposal the parliament leaves about 200,cool. a year of secret service money; but, what he says we know as well as they. "If," says RecNAULT to the Tribunate, "you draw a parallel between the finances of the two states, you will find upon the op posite shore new expenses accumulating upon the expenses already immense; of a nation to whom a million and a half "sterling was yearly necessary in an or "dinary war, and who, in the present 66 66 war, stands in need, for the first time, "of a levy en masse of a levy that costs "it hundreds of millions of livres. It pro"vides for that sum, it is true: but by "goading the present, and by swallowing up the future, by resolving to fund its debt, swelled by the abuse of its only re66 source, loans. On our side, our nu "merous armies have been always the "cause of our greatest expense; and their maintenance brings with it but an in"considerable addition that is not made to bear upon a foreign country. The "exposition, which will be shortly laid "before you, will apprise you, that our "territorial resources have provided for "every thing; and that, instead of adding "to our debt, during these two years of war, our sinking fund has begun effica ciously to operate for its extinction. "What France has done, she may con. ❝tinue to do for 30 years, and has only " to ask of Heaven that the sun may con"tinue to shine, the rain to fall upon her "fields, and the ground fecundize the seed "deposited in it. Ten years more of wat would make no addition to our debt; "ten years more of war would add four "milliards to the debt of England. Let "her not forget, however, that if public "credit be a powerful and formidabe "weapon, that the bow too strongly bent, snaps in the hand that holds it, and "leaves naked and defenceless him, by whom it is employed. Our fleets at "Brest, Toulon, and Rochefort, have an "nexed to them armies resolved to pass "the occan with them. Our flotillas are ready to depart with these proud sons of war, who know no impediments, because "they have surmounted all that, before 66 them, had astonished the most intrepid. | "Let us continue to keep on our coasts soldiers inhabiting camps instead of barracks, and become intrepid sailors as "well as brave warriors. Let the people of England in the mean-time, arm, agitate, "fatigue, exhaust, and discourage them"selves. Let our resources and our re રં venues suffice for our expenses, and let "there be no want but that of some ex"traordinary resources which the riches of amount to more than about 30 millions. Will the war taxes be rendered perma nent? What, then, is to be done? But suppose the war to end with the present year. We well know, that it requires a: year's war expenses to wind up; and that would raise the annual interest of the debt to 30 millions, absorbing the whole of the permanent revenue. Again I ask, then, what is to be done, unless we render the war taxes permanent? But, even that would not do; for who is there foolish enough to suppose, that 15 millions a year, allowing the war taxes to yield so. much, would suffice for the maintenance of a peace establishment such as that, for which, in future, we should have to provide? Never more, therefore, while we continue to pay the interest upon the debt, shall we see a year pass over our heads without the government being compelled to make a new loan. These loans will be constantly adding to the debt; a circumstance of no importance, if it was not attended with that of a constantly increasing amount of the interest, which the people will be annually called on to pay in taxes. I am aware, that money will continue to depreciate, because it is quite impossible, that, while the funds last, the paper should ever be replaced by a currency of intrinsic value; and, I am also aware, that, as the interest of the debt will, of course, be paid in this depreciated money with an adherence to the nominal amount, the real amount to be drawn from the people will not increase to the same extent as the nominal amount; but, the increase of the real amount must still go on very rapidly; for, whenever the depreciation begins to be so considerable as to counteract the effect of. the increase of the interest upon the debt, away goes the bubble in the twinkling of an eye. -So much for loans. The new taxes next demand a few remarks. A tax, supposing it to be unobjectionable in other respects, is good in proportion to its productiveness compared with the expenses of collection; and, in this light, the tax upon letters is excellent, because the expenses of the post-office must be nearly the same, whether there be a tax collected or not. it. As to the our country insure to us. In England, "let the interest paid to loan-holders ab"sorb, and exceed all possible means to ፡፡ pay those levies en mass which exhaust "the nation without defending it let this "state of things prolong itself, and let the "English Cabinet state the advantages "that result from this situation, from "which it derives equal danger and shame." If, then, the enemy be convinced," as Mr. Addington said he would, of the hopelessness of a contest against our finances, it must be allowed, that he very well understands the art of disguising his conviction; for, the projects of invasion apart, he seems to be fully convinced, that a very few years of war must reduce our finances to the last extremity; and, if such be his conviction, I am afraid, that, if the present system be pursued (mark the qualification) he is but too good a judge of our situation. In short, and to draw to a close of these remarks upon the loan, it is, in my opinion, now clearly established, that, as long as the interest, without a deduction greater than what is laid in the shape of tax upon other income, continues to be paid upon the national debt, so long, whether in war or peace we must continue annually to make loans. This is the sentence now irrevocably passed upon the nation; and, the only question for the fund dealers, is bow. long she can go on borrowing. That she must continue to make loans, if she continue to pay the interest upon the debt, who, that but casts his eye upon her expenditure, as compared with her income, can doubt. Her whole expenditure now, for a year, is 70 millions. Next will be So millions, or very nearly approaching it. But, suppose it to remain at 70 millions; her revenue does not surpass 45 millions, even with the additional taxes. Suppose the war to continue 5 years longer; the annual amount of the interest of the debt will be nearly 40 millions. Where are the taxes to come from? The whole permanent revenue does not at this time, and will not this present year, year additions made to this tax, they cannot be complained of, seeing that they have by no means kept pace with the depreciation of money, and that, therefore, people will not, in reality, now pay for their letters at so high a rate as they did twenty years ago. According to the scale system, however, it is hard to conceive any thing more unfair than he letter-tax. In imposing the tax on ser vants, on horses, on dogs, on windows, &c. care is taken (with what wisdom I do not pretend to say) to raise the tax upon each dog, &c. in a certain proportion to the number of dogs kept by any one person; but, the letter-tax is a perfect leveller, making a labourer, who only receives one sheet of brown paper in a year to let him know that his son or daughter is alive, pay just as much as is, for one letter from the same distance, imposed upon a loan-jobber, under whose dispatches the mail-horses come daily sweating from every part of the kingdom. I do not speak of this as a hardship upon the labourer, but mention it merely to show, how idle it is to pretend to regulate taxation upon principles like that of the scale. I was glad to hear Sir Robert Buxton propose the abolition of the privilege of franking; not because I agree with him; but because the proposition and the sentiments by which it was accompanied, must certainly be considered as an earnest of the honourable Baronet's conduct with respect to those who may be, at any time, proved to have been guilty of robbing the public. The tax upon draught horses has been censured, and, it is to be sure, consummately ridiculous to tax implements of husbandry with one hand, while a bounty for the encouragement of husbandry (which bounty comes out of the taxes) is held out in the other! But, as to the tax itself, there does not appear to me to be any objection against it, which would not equally well apply to all the rest of the assessed taxes. What is it to the farmer whether he pays the tax for his windows or for his horses? Light in his house is as necessary as horses are in his fields. Besides, where does the tax foally fall? Is it not evident that it falls upon the consumer of bread and meat? Is it not evident, that, in supporting it, the farmer will only share, in a very fair and exact proportion, with every other class of people? The aperehensions, therefore, of that patriotic and pains-taking gentleman, Sir Robert Buxto, that the tax will turn arable fields into beer is made? I shall be told, perhaps, that while the rain and the dews fall and the earth teems with springs, men may live withour beer, and that women and children may live without milk. They may; and so they may without salt as the American Indians now do by choice. Nay, they may live without bread. But will they? And, are not bread and milk and butter and cheese and meat taxed? Yes, and that too very heavily in the taxes on land, houses, windows, and income; taxes which seem, in general, to be regarded as falling exclusively upon the rich. When we recollect, that, ever since the system of taxation began in this country, the imposers of taxes have constantly professed to tax the rich as much, and the poor as little, as possible; and when we see, that, at the end of a hundred years taxing, the rich are richer and the poor poorer than ever; when such is the evidence before us, is it not astonishing, that we should still be the dupes of those who, by laying taxes immediately upon the rich, profess to spare the poor? Such persons however, to give them their due, are, in general, deceived themselves, as well as the deceivers of others. In short, I cannot help thinking, that all these objections to taxes because they weigh upon the poor, proceed from the want of a more general and enlarged view of the subject, whence nien would easily perceive, that all taxes, be they what they may, most finally fall upon labour, labour being the only source of the means of paying taxes. Some taxes are, however, more partial in their first operation than others; and, in some cases, they totally ruin one part of the community in working their way into ge neral diffusion. Others are particularly ob jectionable on account of the mode of their collection. When they employ too many hands in proportion to their produce, and thereby not only cause a serious deduction from the productive labour of the country, but take the food from those who are employed in productive labour and put it into the mouths of those who do nothing that is adows (with or without the help of mucistare), are, I trust in God, entirely ground-profitable to the state, they are very injurious. Jess Whether the additional tax upon salt be particularly objectionable, or not, must depend upon its produce compared with. the expense of collection, or upon some circmstance other than that of salt being one of Le first articles of the necessaries of life, and, of course, forming part of the consumption in the family of every poor man; which is the only objection that I have yet heard urged against the tax upon it. If this objection be good, will it not bear equally strong against the tax on beer and on the things of which The mode of collection may be odious and vexatious; as where it authorises a set of of ficers to call you before them; to keep you from day to day dancing attendance apon them; to treat you as a creature at their command; to scrutinize into the state of your concerns; to examine the depth of your purse; to overhaul your books and ac counts, your deeds, leases, mortgages and bonds; to ascertain the state of your debts and credits; to remand you, and to call you up agam at their pleasure. If, under such a' system of taxation, a man can be said to be a free-man, I should be very glad to know what it is that would make him a slave. But, even all this is more congenial with my ideas of freedom than the exercise of those powers which, in America for instance, are given by the excise laws. Count over the houses in the streets of any city or town, and you will find, that, into every fourth house, or thereabouts, an excise officer bas, (or at least had when I was in the country) at all times a right to enter, and range about in despite of the owner. Many of them the excise officer never quits, without first putting his lock, or his seal, upon some part or other of the building; which lock or seal to break, or even to touch, the owner of the house trembles but to think of; and, if, by any accident, or by any temptation, he should have swerved from the limits prescribed to him; bay, even if suspicion fall upon him, he hastens to prostrate himself at the feet of him, whoever he may be, that happens, in the instance, to represent the dreadful ministers of Excise. If his supplications and all other means of mollifying fail, swift ruin' awaits him. He is instantly shunned by his friends; the mark of destruction is set upon him; first a jail and last a poor-house are bis lot. This terrible system it was against which the people of Pennsylvania so strongly remonstrated. It is said, that the excise laws have been repealed, and that the system has been completely abolished, under the administration of Mr. Jefferson; if so, it is no wonder that he has been re-elected by the The unanimous voice of the people. Pennsylvania people, in one of their representations, said: "What is our situation? "Our houses, regarded, in our law books, "as our castles, are entered, at pleasure, by "persons who come with an authority from our rulers to force their way into and "about them, if we dare to resist. The "quantity of our liquor, the dimensions of "our vessels, are ascertained by these bold "intruders, who may come and break in "upon our repose at any hour of the night; who affix their locks and their seals to our "doors and our utensils; who act the part ❝of inquisitors, in the most odious manner; "who set neighbour to watch neighbour, "who make one defray the expense of keep"ring the other as a spy upon his actions; who, in short, seem intended for no other purpose than that of raising money upon ❝us, in order to pay one for keeping ano❝ther in subjection, and thus to render us in reality a nation of slaves, suffering its "to retain the forms of freedom merely to "disgrace it." Of the excise-laws in this 1 country I know little or nothing; but, that they are, in their operation and effect, very far indeed from answering the above description given of the excise laws in Ame rica, I must, of course. be perfectly satisfied; because, were they not so, it is impossible that I should never have heard any thing said against them in parliament. With respect to the addition to the Income Tax I have nothing to say that I have not already said. My objection is not to the amount of it; not to its unfairness; not to the place on which it finally falls; but, to the effect which it has in checking industry and economy. It is, in the first instance, a tax upon these two virtues, SO useful to individuals as well as to the state. As far as relates to the funds, however, I must acknowledge, that this tax did not originate with either of " the two first financiers in the world," but with that celebrated person, Mr. Thomas Paine! After having proposed the abolition of the monarchy, he proceeds thus, in the Second Part of his Rights of Man: "Reasons are already advanced in this work, "shewing, that, whatever the reforms in the “taxes may be, they ought to be made in the "current expenses of government. and not "in the part applied to the interest of the "national debt;" for, says Thomas, who was a firm stickler for the funds, ⚫ It is now too late to enquire how the debt began. "Those to whom it is due have advanced "the money; and, whether it was well or "ill spent, or pocketed, is not their crime. By remitting all the taxes of he poor" [quite a first financier !] they will be totally re"lieved, and all discontent on their part will "be taken away; and, by striking of such "of the taxes as are already mentioned, the "nation will more than recover all the expense of the mad American war. There "will then remain only the national debt as able to act, as yet, upon this latter suggestion.] | and then, as Mr. Addington said, "our Suppose the interest was taxed one halfpenny in the pound the first year, a penny "more the second, and to proceed by a cer"tain ratio to be determined upon, always less than any other tax upon property. "Such a tax would be subtracted from the in"terest at the time of payment, without any "expense of collection. One half penny in "the pound would lessen the interest and consequently the taxes, twenty thousand pounds. The tax on waggon's amounts to "this sum, and this tax might be taken off "the first year. The second year the tax on "female servants, or some other of the like amount might also be taken off, and by "proceeding in this manner, always apply " ing the tax raised from the property of "the debt towards its extinction, and not 66 carry it to the current services, it would liberate itself." That the "two first "financiers" in the world have not followed this latter part of Mr. Paine's advice we know; but, I am sure it will not be denied, that to tax the funds, and the way of collecting that tax, were first suggested by him. Paine was a lover of traders and -fund-dealers. He hated the legitimate. aristocracy and the church, because they were, he clearly perceived, the principal supports of the throne; and, therefore, we always find him railing against the landed interest, while he is, as is above-shown, very lenient towards the fund-holders. With regard to the title to the crown he goes back as far as the conquest by WilLiam the Norman; rigidly inquires into the rights founded upon that conquest; and maintains that no length of time or other circumstance, impairs the right of the people to choose whether they will adhere to their sovereign or not. But, when he comes to the national debt, quite another set of principles seems to have entered his mind. 66 "It is now too late," says he "to inquire how the debt began!" I am of a very different opinion. The two first financiers in the world have my hearty thanks for taxing the funds in a proportion equal to that of other property; and, though I think they have done tolerably well for a beginning, and are going on very well, I cannot help saying, that they would have pleased me still better if they had, at once, imposed a much heavier tax upon the funds than upon other property. Twenty-five per centum upon the interest of the national debt would not have been too much for the first year, to which an addition of five per centum might have been added every year during the war; «burdens would have been lightened in proportion to our pressure." All in good time, however! If the War continue three years longer, we may live in hopes of seeing something of this sort adopted. Here, for the present, I should take my leave of this subject, did I not, upon recurring to the opinion which seems to be entertained as to the effect of taxing draught horses, think it of some importance to offer a remark or two upon a circumstance which appears to me à muchgreater impediment to agricultural industry than all the taxes upon the property of farmers pat together; and that is the reluctance which has, for several years last past existed, to the granting of leases. This circumstance was mentioned once before, but I cannot refrain from again bringing it forward; when I am upon a subject with which it is so closely connected. Most of my readers know, that, since the commencement of the administration of Mr. Pitt, there has been established a certain department, called the Board of Agriculture. This Board, which has a Peer of the Realm for its president, is composed of persons profoundly skilled in the qualities of soils, in the divers srts of planting, sowing, drilling, dibbling, ploughing, reaping, and mowing. They study the science of breeding and feeding cattle and sheep; of fatting hogs; and of promoting propagation amongst the various sorts of these our fellow creatures, for whose comfort and happiness the Vice Society and the Benches of Justices have shewn so tender a solicitude. Well, this Board, of which Arthur Young, esq. F.R.S. is the Secretary, have taken particular pains to ascertain the agricultural state of the several counties of the kingdom. To this end they have sent out several persons to make actual surveys; and, indeed, it appears from the accounts of the Board, that, in these surveys, no trifling sums of money have been spent, the annual charge to the public on account of the Board and its proceedings being about 3,000l. The persons thus, sent forth have made their reports to the Board, which reports have been published at the public expense; and as they have come forth under the sanction of so respectable a body, institated too, by Mr. Pitt himself, there is no one, at least no friend of Mr. Pitt, that will, I should think, venture to question the facts which they state. These surveyors, then, all agree, that the greatest impediment to the agricultural industry of the country, is, the refusing of leases to farmers, and compelling them to cultivate, if at all, upon the tenure of a single year. MR. YOUNG, in his geno |