N° II. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1797.

Mark now how a plain tale shall put you down.

HENRY IV.

E have to return our Thanks to several of our

WE Friends, for the ideas which they have suggested

relative to the Plan that we propose to ourselves, and to the mode in which it is to be executed. We are conscious of some of those defects which have been pointed out, and we have endeavoured to correct them. We have retrenched our Essays, and we have particularly directed our attention to the detection of Calumny and Misrepresentation of every kind. We hope that this class of our readers will have reason to be satisfied with the attention which has been paid to them.

There are others who are kind enough to speak favourably of our intentions, but who merely object to the Plan of the Work: and, above all, to its Title-they think the word ANTI-JACOBIN too strong-we betray ourselvesour Readers can expect nothing but partiality and prejudice from a Work which sets out with a professed object. Whatever may be the strength of these objections, we. were aware of them at the time that we published our PROSPECTUS, in which they are pretty fully considered. We are not, however, apprehensive, from the present state of the Public Spirit, that this circumstance will (as these Gentlemen predict), tend to narrow the circulation

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of our Paper; but even if this were to be the case, we should not at all repent of having assumed a Title in which we glory. And as for those who have not been able to make up their minds to a belief in the existence of the Principles which we profess to oppose, or to a determination to resist them, we heartily wish them joy of their happy indifference; and we have only to assure them, that we have as little desire for their countenance to our literary exertions, at the present moment, as we should have confidence in their co-operation, if the moment for more serious exertion should arrive.

Lastly, we would intreat of all those professed friends of Order and good Government, who, from mere motives of curiosity, encourage the circulation of Sedition and Blasphemy in a Daily Paper, for the sake of seeing what can be said against them, that they would suffer a similar motive to operate in favour of the ANTI-JACOBIN, for the sake of seeing what can be said in answer.

FINANCE.

THE Outline of the plan, so eagerly expected for raising the Supplies, has now been fully explained. We rejoice to find it so conformable to the principles which we stated in our first Number, as those which we hoped to see adopted. The necessity of a great and unusual effort at this moment is felt by every one, who does not pursue a personal interest distinct from that of the Public. The power of the Country to make such an effort, is happily not now questioned either by such Members of Opposition as still chuse to express their sentiments in the

House

House of Commons rather than at Clubs and Taverns, nor even by those Newspapers which are most devoted to the Jacobin Cause.

The flourishing state of the Revenue is admitted by Mr. TIERNEY himself, and not contradicted, either in a Speech or a Newspaper, by Mr. NICHOLLS; and the extent and sufficiency of our Resources are now constantly contended for by the Morning Chronicle. The only real question must be, in what mode the effort can best be made.

The scheme now proposed, of trębling the Assessed Taxes (with certain modifications) for a limited time, appears to us to be attended with these leading recommendations. It prevents such an increase of Debt at present as might, by overloading the market, depreciate the Public Funds, so as to add enormously to the expence of borrowing for the State, and to affect, in its consequences, the whole Commercial and Landed Interest. It guards against any such permanent addition to the Public Burdens as might disable us from meeting any futurè exigency; and lays down a System, which, if it is acted up to, will give more stability to our National Credit than has ever yet belonged to it: and it, at the same time, insures an ultimate saving to the State (compared with the usual mode of borrowing) on the operations of this single year, of not less than THIRTY-FIVE MILLIONS. It will thus demonstrate both the Vigour and the Resources of the Country in a manner the most likely to shorten the War, and bring our proud Enemies to reason. To ensure these Benefits, it proposes a Contribution diffused over almost all the Classes of the Country who are above a state of poverty, while it furnishes the means of distributing the burden in proportion to their respective ability to bear it,

according

according to as fair a criterion as any that can be found. On the Highest Classes it is understood that it will not, on an average, be more than one-tenth of their Income. On the Lower it will be in a much lighter proportion.The scale will be peculiarly favourable to those who contribute only to Taxes of Necessity, and heaviest on Articles of Luxury and Convenience; and it allows for abatements and exceptions, to an extent sufficient to give effectual relief, in all cases where the application of the General Rule might otherwise be attended with hardship.

In the further progress of this measure, we trust the utmost diligence will be used to render it as correct in its Details, as it appears to us to be just and politic in its Principles. The manner in which the first statement of it was received in the House of Commons, convinces us that the subject is likely to be viewed in general in the same manner in which it has appeared to us since it was first agitated; and we have little doubt that it will meet with the chearful and zealous concurrence of the Country at large, as the most effectual and prudent measure that could be suggested at this crisis for the. general pre

servation.

WEEKLY EXAMINER.

LIES.

"LAST week, Mr. SMITH, an eminent Watchmaker in Bunhill-row,

was deputed to wait on Mr. PITT, to represent to him the dan"ger of any further duty on Watches. He said a great number "of Journeymen would be entirely out of employ.-The Minister very coolly answered, there was employment enough for them in "the Army and Navy."-Morning Post, Nov, 21.

"The

"The Rev. GEO. MARKHAM, so celebrated for persecuting persons “ refusing to pay Tythes, is Son to the Archbishop of York.”— Morning Post, Nov. 21.

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These two paragraphs require no comment. They " direct falshoods, and were known to be such by the Writer."

are

MISREPRESENTATIONS.

"ALTHOUGH We are said to be contending for all that is dear to us, "some of the particulars contained in this general description "would look a little ridiculous in the enumeration. Thus Mr. "PITT assures us, that we are fighting for Religion, Honour, Li“berty, Tea, Sugar, a Feather, and a few NUTMEGS! "—Morning Chronicle, Nov. 20.

While Mr. PITT's powerful and impressive Speech confounded the faculties of Mr. JOHN NICHOLLS, it seems to have absolutely destroyed those of the Editor of the Morning Chronicle. Reason, recollection, judgment, sense, must have given way, before he could have blundered on an assertion so unequivocally contradicted in his own account of this very Speech.

But the ignorance of the Editor is as conspicuous as his bad faith. He should be told that the West Indies do not produce TEA, nor any of the Dutch Settlements which the Minister proposed to retain, NUTMEGS. And this reminds us of another circumstance: when this Coryphoeus of Jacobins first heard of the Treaty of Peace with Portugal (from a knowledge, we suppose, of the moderation of his Clients) he confidently predicted that the French had exacted, as the price of it, either Brasil or Cayenne. He was told by a Writer in the True Briton, that this was rather doubtful, inasmuch as Brasil was

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