or admission of the power of his income, subject to whatever charges it may be liable. And, from various causes, the propensity of most men is, to live rather in a better house than they can well afford, than in a worse.

There is not a single objection that can be made against a tax upon houses, which may not be urged, with much greater force, against a tax upon income; while on the other hand, there are many reasons in favour of a tax upon houses, which do not apply to a tax upon income.

1st. The infringement of liberty in ascertaining the value of a man's house, compared with that in ascertaining his income, is so infinitely less, that words are wanting in which to make the comparison.

2ndly. The expense of collection of a tax upon income must be, perhaps, many times the expense of collection of a tax upon houses; for which all the machinery is ready made, perfect, and complete; not requiring the appointment of a single new officer or collector.

3rdly. A tax upon income, derived from accumulated capital, may be evaded, or avoided, by the owner of it removing with his capital, and investing it in the funds of some foreign country, exempt, as every foreign country is believed to be exempt, from so oppressive and unjust a tax; whereas the houses of the United Kingdom can

not be removed, but must remain subject to any tax imposed on them.

4thly. A tax on the houses of traders will fall much less oppressively on the consumers of the commodities of their trades, and on themselves as such consumers, than a tax on the income of traders; and as evasion of a tax on such houses will be impracticable, and the rent of them be ascertained and fixed by public officers,-not only will all resort to fraud and perjury in the statements and declarations of their incomes by traders, which can be taxed only on their own showing, be averted,—but the tax will moreover be imposed fairly, because the rent of houses occupied by traders, as well as of houses occupied by all other persons, will speak for itself.

Lastly. The argument that the dishonest, disloyal, or unpatriotic, may evade or avoid the tax, by fraud, cunning, or absenteeism, applies to every tax, but less, perhaps, to a tax upon houses than to any other tax; because houses will not be left unlet by their owners, merely to avoid a tax on the rent, and cannot be removed, with or without their owners, to another country, nor be concealed nor undervalued at home. But all such argument being applicable to every direct tax that can be devised, is wholly unworthy of notice in the consideration of tax so universal, as a tax upon houses.

Many other reasons will occur to every reflecting mind, in support of a tax upon a sliding-scale ad valorem upon houses, as the fairest of all direct taxes, and as a blessing compared to the tax upon income, which, may truly be said to be a national curse. It is needless therefore to state such reasons, especially as the subject of this treatise has been already too much enlarged upon-far beyond the intention of the author, when it was commenced; and some apology is due for having said so much.

It is respectfully hoped, that the great importance of the main subject, and the interest which must naturally be excited by it, and by the lesser, yet very interesting subjects, which offering themselves, have been noticed incidentally, will be accepted as the apology. It is also hoped that the reader will pardon any error or mistake which may have inadvertently been committed in attempting a fearless and free-though as it is hoped, and certainly as it has been intended, an honest and unbiassed inquiry into a subject of deep interest, as affecting the attachment of the subject to his country,-as affecting the honour of the Crown, and the credit and character of the Nation-and, generally, as affecting, directly, or indirectly, the property or interest of every individual member of the commonwealth.

APPENDIX.

NOTE A (p. 66).

The bare mention of so enormous a loss as 250 millions is startling, and the fact seems to be incredible. It is, however, capable of being easily proved.

From two papers ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 27th March, 1822, (being returns from the Commissioners for the reduction of the National debt), it may on calculation be found, that during the wars, or period of time between the years 1793 and 1816, both inclusive, the sums contracted to be paid (and which became due and owing to the lenders of money, as the price of the redemption of annuities sold or granted by the State, for loans or advances for the public service) created debts amounting to

From the paper, No. 398, session 1823, it may in like

manner be found, that during the whole of the above period, from 1793 to 1816, the average price of three per cents. was under 62. It will be an over estimate to take the four per cents. at 80, and the five per cents. at 90, during the same period.

Now, if all the above-mentioned capital debts shall be redeemed on payment of £100 in money for every £100 stock (the four per cents. have been so redeemed, and the five per cents. have been redeemed at a price higher than £100 of money for £100 of stock), the loss on the above capital debts, will stand as follows: viz.

On £427,357,615 3 per cents. at 38 per cent. £162,395,896 39,231,118 4 per cents. at 20 per cent. 7,846,223 122,698,561 5 per cents. at 10 per cent. 12,269,855

On £589,287,294*

A loss of...... £182,511,974

Add, loss by additional capital created on the conversion in the year 1822 of £140,250,828

five per cents. into £147,263,328 new four +7,012,500 per cents., as appears at page 154 of the Finance-accounts, anno 1823

Hence it appears that for loans for which less than 407 millions of money was received, the State contracted to pay more than 596 millions§ of money. And the said loss of 189 millions, being incurred in respect of 596 millions of debt created since the year 1793-and the whole of the unredeemed funded debt, being now about 800 millions, all contracted at loss, at least equal to the loss incurred on the part created since the year 1793; the whole loss mentioned in the text must, therefore, exceed 250 millions; a loss which may be said truly to be inconceivable. Its value in gold would weigh nearly 2 thousand tons, and in silver nearly