The National Register. — London, England, 1816-03-25 00:00:00

I The petition wa► Ordered to lie on the table. THE CITV PETITION. were paupers or not, he would just mention a fact. A pertain illle.llll attire presented hinuell to sign tile petition.,.oll beiut a .!-.ed! if he was charged with the Incoine.tax, he replied, thilt he was charged in this way—he rented a house, anal in conse quence of the tax on property landlord had raised his rent. Now, he had reason to belies e, that if tli s e Property:fax was not persevered in, he shontd have his house at the old rent. T I fit • far this person considered himself aggrieved iy the tax. The petition was laid din the table. Lord ',vies:Juts presented a petition from Sheffield, pray. in;, that if the tax should be persevei eft in, it might pass in a modified state, considering it the best that could be adopted to reuse the Supplies. The petition was laid on the table. Lord M ti.Tos staled, that it was no* 3(1 years since the county of Turk had been called together to petition un icily subject; the populousness Of the county, and the Vilsllll4%, of heterogeneous mutter contained therein, were obstacles to call ing a general meeting. Ile had, however, a petition to present 1. - a meeting, at w hich perhaps eight thousand freeholders very assembled : at least he wutdd say that upwards of five Cionsand u.•inally met. Tic could state, that as in the case of Lincoln, there were at Vork about some dozen gentlemen who held up their hands against the petition. The meeting was hold ma Friday last, and though the time would nut admit of sig natures sufficient to tuake the petition extend the length of Westminster Hall , yet it was signed he most of the respectable part of the county. He trusted, tlerrt•fote,that after the gene ral expression manifested against tl:is tax, Ministers n wild lis ten to the s oiee of the people. The petition v,;41 , laid on the table. I%lr. Diann moN it presented a petition front the eonnty of l'crth in favour of the tax, under curtain modification•. He said that it was si afteol by 41 pet4ow4 Imigh); more would boys si;:neti Whittle had been allowed. Sir W. Cents said. he held in his hand a Petition from the Merchants, 75 ;lams, awl Traders of the City of London, Avfltielt had been agreed to at a public Meeting, cony( nod by Advertisement; and a more respeetable Meeting had never been held, or one more determined to do that for which they met, namely, to petition respectfully against tile renewal of the Property•tas. The distresses of the people were so great at present that they could wit support this tax any longer. Thee wanted a breathing time. Cave them that; and, afterwards spew them the necessity for the tax, and they would submit to it with clicerlidness. Besides which, it was necessary we should have a something in reserve, in case we should be again threatened by an inveterate foe. Kelp the Property-tax in reserve, and here would be a war resource of 11 williuns— and a war resource alone it ought to be. The Petition was then brought up and read. Sir J. SHAW bore his testimony to the respectability of the Meeting at which this Petition had berm agreed to. Mr. Alderman ATatsis was in favour of the tax in a modified state, but he should he ashamed of setting himself up against she opinion of the people so generally expressed, an opinion which he yet hoped would iodate his Right Hon. Friend to give the measure np. Mr. BARING bore also testimony to the high respectability of the Meeting at which this Petition was adopted, and observed, that the thatse had now the united opinion of the Corporation, and of the commercial part of London, on this obnoxious mea ►are. - . Mr. ALFA SNI)ER declared himself in favour of the measure, though lie was suffering ‘CNerely, as %veil as many of his Com &Milted', from its operation. Mr. W. SMITH could not refrain from exprcssin; his asto nishment at what had fitlcis from the lion. Member who simke last. That lion. alember had talked of his suitiming unfit r the Tax, and the sufferings of his constituents. tie believed the Hon:. Member should has e confined his last expression to the sinzular number. The lion. Member was the representative for the respectable Bormilli of Out Sarum, and he (.11r. :5) be lieved had one constituent.- -(A laugh). Mr. ALEXANDER explained. By his constituents he meant those persons, who in his commercial character, had entrusted hint with their property.—(//eur, hem). The Petition was then ordered to lie on the Table. PRISONERS LINDER SENTENCE OE DEATH. Mr. IlEs slyer wished to know whether the Prince Regent kad Lady rr ceived any report from till' Recorder. If he had, how it could happen that there were at present no less thatt SJ pt mons antler sentence of death, in 'X eugate 111/011 w hose (AM.{ the Royal opinion hail not yet been taken. toed CASTLEREAGH •.ciid, no Irepor t had recently been made to Royal Highness; first, on aceinint of hie Royal Highness's toireiposition ; and next, oil account the difficulty there was 1.1 assembling a proper Council at so great a distance Isom town. Lord MILT IN could not refrain from expressing ilia surprise d indignation at what had jest fallen how the Noble Lord. xt hat he wool/ ask, WAS the indispositierewhich had thus shut op the course and current of Ro3al ;Mercy, the'brictest jewel of the Crown? and what, he would ark, was the difficulty or distance which 11111,1111 i hate pre%ented the assembling a Conn ell and the proper Officer of the L a w at that Conned, If in -0,,,t1 of the illustrious person aho now wielded the supreme „„ t h ot it y o f th e se calms having been at Brighton, he had been at Sutherland, the Council ought to have been neld. Feeling it• he did, he should move instanter for a Return of the Num ber of Persons under Sentence of Death in Newgate, together lilt the Dates of their several Sentences. . the ATTORNEY-GENLRAL ~ * w no IleCts.ttity for the present minims. The inconvenience of holding a Council fur thi, pur pose, independent of the illness of he , Royal Highacss, be great, as the attendance of the Arent Legal Charlie. ters of the kingdom would be necessary; whilst little incon venience could result t the delay of bolding a Council, as, although the number contihed uas ceitainly great, yet kw of that number, when reported would sufkr. Mr. C. WyNe E: conceived it to be a most important eircom stance that no Council should be held for receiving the Recor der's report for so long a period. Could it he said, that keep ing these unkrtunate victims of the law in simmer for so long an interval was nu evil?—Besides, the great injury nifty!! the Public sustained by the delay. Punishment for the sake of e‘ample simile' follow fpiickly upon sentence. if so long de layed, the crime for witch the offender suffered was forgotten, and half the effects of punishment was lost. Tne motion was then agreed to. THE PROPERTY-TAX. The House then, on the motion of Mr. VA NWITART went into a Committee of Wu). and Means. Mr. V•NsITTART said, it was with considerable Satisfact;on that he at length tound the Home in a situation and temper for receiving his se tetuent on the proposed leotardl of the Pro ,erty•taa. With respect to the necessity of the measure, the House had, after the fullest discussion, declared itself satisfied that the proposed Military Establiebment was necessary and -11 . THE NATIONAL REGISTER. thereby had, to a certain extent, sanctioned On application for the ways and means to support that establishommt The leap, and means he was about to propose was, a ccatinnaucc of the Properly-tax. Against this measure be believed a consider able impression had gone abroad. He trusted, however, when the subject should have been farther considered by the House that impression would be done away. lie had been repeatedly called on to abandon this tax, on tin' grounds of the numerons petitions which had been. presented to the Hens" against it. These petitions, however, he considered as conveying the sense nf only a very small prup , Wtion of Ihe peOple.--(Th I. ar. even had he corsidered them as containing the sentiments and aptairms of u majority, he shontd still have thought it his ditty to bring the subject before the House, to have the delibe rate judgment of I ..'arliament upon the measure. The deldwrate .judgment the Petitioners had not had au opportunity of firm lig, as they had not the materials before them w hich the House had. Even the petition pet soiled by an Hon. Alderman to night (Sir W. Curtis), respectable as it was, he did not consider as convey In; the deliberate opinion of the merchants, bankers, and traders, of the City of London.—t Hear, hear.)—Silice that petition fell into the error which all the others had done, namely, of stating that Pia limment bail given a pledge to the country that the tax should expire with the war. The Hon. Alderman alto presented that petition, had stated that it was at a Hireling in the city that the property-tux originated. 'That was nut so. In 1;N, the meet ime in a spirit of patriotism which did them the highest honour, taking into outsider:diem the distressed site ot' the country, re commehtled a voluntary contribution, which was adopted. Mr. l'itt also the AMMO session, feeling the necessity of raisin g n 4 great a portion of the supply as pos..ible in the year, raised the assessed taxes to a very considerable degree. This was found to bear hard on the people, and was next session abandoned, and the operty tax adopted in its room. The plan of the tax then, however, ve as, that it should continue after the expiration of the war, for the payment of a c:•rtain stun, for a Well it was mortgaged; and thus the tax continued till the peace of Amiens, when Lord Sidenonth determieed to repeal the tax, and, instead of it, to make a very large addition, no less than use millions per annum to the permanent taxes. At the renewal of the war, Lord Sidmouth had again re course to the income-tax,as a war tax, ertainly; but no pledge was given with it ; and, ht 1 , 306, it was increased to 10 per cent. upon the same principle, but it never was considered, or had he (Mr. Vansittart) as had been as serted in another place, ever said, that the tux was to be re peated at the end of the war. (Hine Mr. Vansittart proceeded to read some extracts from a printed speech delis/vied by him at the time alluded to, and abm to advert to the speed; delivered by Mr. Rose at that time.] Mr. BARI Ku here rose and spoke to order. He did not con sider it as regular for u Gentleman to read his own written or printed speech, or reports of the debates in Milian:eta. Mr. V tNSITTAHT said his speech hail been alluded to in another place. Mr. est.ettarr said, that was a printed speech, corrected by the Right Hon. Gentleman himself. 'flue Right Hon. Gentle man was new about to read the speech of another Right Hon. Gentleman. Mr. Rose said, such was the usual custom. If, however, the Hon. Gentlemen opposite liked it better, they should have a 'mat °flux spec' h from his ow a month—(a iungh. Mr. VANSITTART then resumed. He trusted, that down to the renewal of the tax, in 1807, he had pros ed there was nu pledge given that the- toy should cease with the sear. Last year, on his proposing the tax, it would be in the recollection of every gentleman, that lie stated it would be for flame con sideration to say, whether it would be desirable to continue the tax under certain modifications. The time for that conside ration was now arrived; and having, as he trusted, proved that no pledge ever was (indeed how could a pledge be given that Parliament should not at any time receive such measnres as should appear beneficial to the peopleo ris en, he should now proceed to state the necessity. In 1797, when 31r. Pitt first proposed this tax, the country was labourite+, under the greatest pressure upon the money market: so said the worthy Alderman (Sir W. Curtis). A necessity of a similar nature now existed. In 1796 and 1799, fifty-six millions had been raised by way of loan, and many commercial misfortmies ag gravated the distresses of the country. The funds were in consequence much depressed; and Mr. Pitt, in consequeece of this distress of tbe mottled interest, determined to raise the greater part of the supplies in the year: What was the state of the country now? In I 9O and 17h7 loam to the amount of 66 nullities were taken ; In !Sit and tr 41.1, no less a sum than 100 millions had been borrowed. The Niels were indeed better, lint now they were only at 61, even at the couchision nt a contest so glorious for the eorintry. After the Treaty of Amiens, the 3 per rents. were at 57, Something therefore, it appears, must be done for the money market. In the last fonts yearsoes,ooo,ooo had been taken in loans, and :09,0410,00n of stock had been created ; yet no one would regret this cir cumstance, when it was considered how honourable the con test had been to Great Britain; for even when the finances of the country were alone the main spring of the operations against the enemy, the machine never stood still for a moment. An Hon. Baronet, (Sir J. Slum) had recomm o od e d the borrowing of the sem wanted; bet he (Mr. V.) could Out agree to that mettle. Commerce wanted a spur, and the best made of giving it such a spur would lie to relieve the money - - market. He had been told, indeed, that taking a small loan wai; give life and ..i imation to the market. This was too paradoxical his I to uuderstand. The gentlemen who gave this advice seemed to have something of a secret feeling. They vt.l e persons who expected, it' any loan were colittacted for, that they would conic in for a share; and they, , probably, thought it woulti be better to add perhaps yd per cent. to their incomes than pay 5 per cent. out of them. 'flu Bight Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to contend, that no tax could be proposed which would press so lightly and so equally on all classes as the property-tax would.--(Hear, hear.)—Taxes on consump tion must Aiwa) a be tmerial; they fa net oil a man's but on his expenditure; and frequently a sum who had a large tami s, add a small illeU/Ile, paid more titan his rich neighbour, who had no family, and a larger income. The taxer proposed last year, though adopted, atter tl:e best information had been sought for, had proved uloqual in their operation, and enpro dectise to a certain extent. The income-tax was one which pressed equally on landed and fielded property, more espe cially as to funded property, e. eit was impos ible a person could be over-charged, or under rated. The system as re queried the produce of industry was complained of, and wa.: perhaps defective; but no phut had been suggested for its amenument. Butt in this respect every titan was charged a:-- cording to his own relturn of profits. The Right Hon. Gen tleman then prneeHied to recapitulate the proposed modifica tions in favour of the farmer, as stated by hint on a former night, namely that tenant's tax, instead of In ing charged oa three-fourths of the rent was now to be taken on one-third, and under the new regolutions a vast proportion of the cultivators MARCH el of tie land and growers of corn afield come within the abat e ment genie. li, addition to the relief which would thus be afforded to the fanner, he proposed to relies e hi ram from ilia tax of Is. ed. each on leg. icultural horses; 414 %here the ailment of rent was less titan lOW. to exempt huts alto.-ether. With respect to the other chess of pi mons, namely, those whose incomes arose from the prodnee of iminstiy, &e. he should propose to take all returns at what they were last year, and to charge 5 per cent. upon those returns. A day to be fixed for apps a Hog. Where no a:)peal as as made, the return to be taken a ithout further enquily ; and in (Wits of appeal it was intended to revive the 4)141 clause, gin ing to the appellant a right of choosing referees; mot where this ass declined, the ' , emu appealing , A as to go before the Commissioners, vhere one Commissioner, accompanii by the (Act Iv, has ing been first sworn to secrecy, was to investigate the appellant's ease, and after such estigntion, to destroy ail papers mid docu ments whatever. The tax aas to be continued for the extra ordinary expenses of the war, and would be proposed for two pars, in which time it was estimated to raise 12,000,0001. Any amendment might be proposed in the progress of the Bill. By adhering to this tax for two years, the money market would be relieved, and credit would again look up. Without this means he (Mr. Viiiisktarti could see no prospect but a long ROCCIVA. gion of difficulties. (War, tear.) The lion. Bart. (Sir 11 . Curtis) had said he wished the country to have breathing time, (hear. hear) and he only called for the reduced tax for two years, which he foresaw would hose all the effect a ished for. The Sinking Fund would not bear more than hod bout laid upon it. We were already beginning to feel the benefits resulting from a reduced expenditure, but we must not be ill too much haste: we mo.t consider the eireumstanci,s ler a hich the couodry was !dared, and not expect to find all the benefits nereacc im mediately. Ile then moved a string of restdotious, that for every ens. of rent arising from lands. It nements, or heredita ment.' in England or Wales, there should be paid the sum of is. on those in Berwick upon Tweed, id. in the pound ; and in Sc o tl a nd 3d. in the pound ; and all other property front ainuitit a or offices Is. in the pound. Sir W. Ct oris 01/1103Cd the tax. Mr. W. Seim objected to the tax in all its branches, but especially as it effected the persons who had trades and profes sions. The remedies mentioned by the Right Hun. Gent. a ere not efficient to correct the evils, for he was assured thnt a man in trade or commerce would sooner tray the five per trout. than shear the Commissioners that they bad suffered any hisses. In the City of London alone, there were 13,1100 surcharges on in come. The Right Hon. Gent. was very w Wing to make a C9ll - to the landed interest by reducing the timant's tax, but he would advise Hon. Members not to he led away by such an insidious representation. And if there a ere any Irish Members willing to vote thr this tax, he avoid ask the in, him long they thought the Gentlemen of England would sidfer this tax a ab out its being also imposed eu Irelaud I—i Hear, &aro—Thera was not a page of Adam Smill; a Welt did not warn them against agreeing to such a tax as this. The detieieuey of capital the country, he believed, did not depend alone on the excess of gene' al taxation, or on the manlier in winch Obit:ix had been lle contended, that capitol lent to the public by way of loan would lie le , s disadvantageous to the country than taking capital by a ay of tax, when it might have been employed in dieerent was. tie contended, that 311.. Pitt never intended to continue this tax in time of peace. But if' it were unjust, as he contended it was, in its nature, it ought not to be en dured either in peace or war. 'there were in the papers betnre th e House 509,000 persons whose incomes were hem een 331. and 1001. a year, lie., tug one million a year to this tan. These, lie contended, were the poorest class ot the community. These wears hey owl all others those who should remise lie had always considered Mr. Pitt as a Financier, such as Bimini parte in oar. The thriller never considered how he ought to raise the money, but what money he wanted to raise. So Boo naparte never considered how he was to raise men but by die conscription; and the Income-tax was a conscription on the country to raise money. But he hoped that this first question wonted di stroy this tux for ever, and consequently prevent the necessity of entering into details on this subject. Mr. Rosg defended the financial character of Mr. Pitt; and stated, that in 17e4 the country was exhausted from the Ame rican war, yet be laid on 900,0001. fresh taxes a year, which brought up the means of the country to its expenditure, and also established a Sinking Fund of one million a year. He Con-. tended that Mr. Pitt established this tax before the Re.clutions of the Merchants and !Nuists of London, by si Inch they raised this tax from ,i,GonahMl. a year to 6,000,0001. an unprecedented instance of liberality. He also contended that Mr. Pitt never intended this tax to be may imposed in time of cur.-01w cries of coolest ! he , ...atite here so fund that we could not gather any more of his arguments.) Mr. W. KEENE tubed (as tunas we could hear) that this tax were laid on absolute property merely. Mr. H. DAVIS had always considered this measure us not one to be supported in peace, except for two years, to pay oti part of the debt contracted in time of war. He wished to know if the Chancellor of the Exchequer meant to charge this tax on landholders, if they proved to the Commissioners that their tenants were unable to pay their rents. The continuance of this tax would give his Majesty's Minions -0 ;mild Itsaghl—. he meant Ministers, time to reduce the other taxes, which lure heavy on the country. It would raise the farmer's price on his produce, anti enasequently the credit of the country, which would be a much greatt r advantage than removing a small tax. 'this wits his opinion, although he was sorry to give a vote against the opinion of so large a body of his constituents. Mr. V.IPIISITT.SitT said, that the east• of a landlord receiving no rents, in consequence of the distress or insolveucy of his tenants, was one a hich had occupied his attention, and would be yrovided for. kr. BARING would not occupy the Committee long in the tenker it then was; but he thought die a 11211111V111 oft c Mem ber for Bristol (Mr. H. Davis) would neither be soy satisfac tory to the Committee nor his constituents. The Chanel:ll°r of the Exchequer had not pledged himself to discontinue this tax for ns o years, but it was to be LI pt up fur the extinction of a war debt of 14 millions. It would theret; , re he emitinued ut long as Mioisters could show the tail el• what they called the war debt. If Ministers could once get this taut established it; •'e•tce, 111/11C of us would .ice the end ol•it , for it would be an easy mode of raising taxes to supply a waster... expenditure. The case of 17t17 was the reverse of the p., fur now we have a rich Exchequer and a poor country. (Moe. hear.) And ;Mit distress was not to hr al:esiated by biking more money out of the pockets of the people. Lord CAIITLCRLAGII said, the Yill) jert had been so much di.- cossed, that it would be rid.culons to use any arguments et this hour of the night. Ent he owed it to the country to state the nceessity which muted Ministers to oppose ii•rtf to the s cry natural desire of the country to act rich of lb , He wished to speak with ail renfect of dm petittonei, out he did ni,i think that tins deliberate ae u l►v GrPeitibiairnt eat tit 'oink as to 1,-r k beyond the walls of the. 'loose for advice how to act. He was VIII