The National Register. — London, England, 1815-01-08 00:00:00

JAN. 8. found wisho , time prefise shall be tr. 31 Howeye cers, and i went. Isic Caracas, th flaming 1)2 it was den Congie,s t surgents; been sent Ceuta, To deli or, Can any Eurone.in tratisatatitl July 1811, continued the Amerii tion that t/ As to thi trace their work, of a are conspit their travel diva Sidon collect wha " co", province Spain at pre+ be a cksulati * unit these who 111 of exempla! a measure i chants. Thr depen.l un the authors ceive the ind of must cerl vietsiire, but but open ene hlrrible num pirrce the he —That Spi,t lier fatetchin slavery. At society, and To !ecat the case of and iiiimed with a pi os of a letter feet, we ha and that th pointment " VI E N N , Slave Trade hos% ever int ,;(111111 Ti l e it, such as F. of the Conti on the ()Viet furuier." o ut thii certificate, or remain in eci, having no weighty impediment to elkdge Nted a% a rebel and Choi, &c. &c. ver, all this may be alledged to be the acts of the offi it is possible was not sanctioned by the govern- ,othing of the sort; for, after the capitulation of this Illustriotis Body on the 13th April declared (the patriot Arguelles on the spot and in the Hall) that Yogatory to the majesty and dignity of the National ‘0 validate a caritulation made with malignant in- and those who in defiance of the capitulation had , florn Caracas, were consigned to the dungeons of tenet' they ejected their escape to Gibraltar, where they :red up, and sent bound hand and, oot to Madrid." ,y man regret the dissolution of such a body, every member of which voted for the oppression of his is brethren ? Even Arguelles himself, so late as , declared " that since one province after the other to separate, the Cortes were new bound to hear can Deputies." It was only the dread of separa• then produced this idea.. e Avuntamiento, or Cadiz Corporation, we illus character by another extract from Mr. Walton's paper of theirs, in which the following arguments xuous. These gentlemen now being either upon is or taking a bird'b-eye view of Cadiz from Me mia, will have time to correct their errors, and re )at once was in their power. uruiifra alempts t i pr,ve that a free trade with their Ameli a:es, would triug about a dewlation, greater than the .oire .esetit experience.,.—That the report of a free trade, would in' v ice. wore terrible than the one heard on the ed. of he destructive of the very existence of Spain —That ire desirous of establishing it, art* impostors. and deserving ay puilishruriit and of eternal ,banishment.—That it is intended to bring desperati,,:i on the minds of her mer -Ist the destinies of Spain and her political existence, the bollitiOli of this question.—That the 1)2111C111 01 of .uch a disaster, Mill be preserved in order to re dignation of future ages.—That it would produce a scene honor.—That the Aniericans do not require such it it detest it as de)tructivr of their interests.--That nothing mini's, could have )) ropo ,ue 1 similar ideas.—l'hat it we, an ostruosity, similar to that committed by one who should trail of his brother, at the moment be was einbracing him. tit would be ruined, made the tool of foreigners, and that lit and manufacturers, being destroyed, would fall into nd in short, that It would be subversive of religion, order, morality, &c. oncile the country to Lord Castlereaglis failure in if the Slave Trade at Paris, it was said that the total :diate abolition would be brought before Congress, ospect of complete success If the following extract published . ' in the Ilansburgh CorreNpo;:tlent be cor lave to regret that the subject has been discussed, .he proniise of success has ended in complete disap- 4A, DEc. would appear that, in relation to the ale, an agreement has been come to, that its abolition, tteresting to humanity, does not belong to those matters st of being Fettled, or farther derided 'Ten by the Cott le reason assigned is, that the Powers most concerned in Spain and Portugal, will not accept of the interference mental Powers iu regard to that abolition, while they, 't side, take uo part iu the territorial dicputcs of the ... , 00.* : •• • mommoginumearmir---urriimanging THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 19 the town kHsger than the Ii LITERARY REVIEW. :- PROP ERTY TAX. Our readers will have observed in our last publication, an extract from a pamphlet recently published on the sub ject of the Property Tax. We have since looked more care fully Into this tract, and find that its thew v is bottomed on an idea of resolving our whole system of taxation into a Property Tax—thus leaving capital unfettered until it's pro fits are completed, and its fruits ready to be gathered. In theory this principle is plausible, and could it he carried into effect, would prove itself, and especially at this moment, highly beneficial. Whether it could or could not be carried into operation is another question ; if it :were possible, we should become converts to the principle. It is, however, but bare justice to state, that the author's object is to con tinue the Property Tax, of course with proper modifications, as to the nature of the income arising from property, and to repeal the Assessed Taxes. To the Assessed Taxes, or Taxes on Consumption, the author ascribes the present disposition in our great people to emigrate; ansPindeed it is the strongest argument in favour of the Property Tax, that it draws from the pockets of the wealthy aristocracy and the monied interest, what taxes on consumption cannot produce. For instance—suppose a nobleman with a landed estate of 100,0001. per annum chuses to withdraw to Flanders, and shut up his houses in England, be does not pay a penny to the parliamentary revenue of the country, nor, indeed, on his houses, to its parochial wants. Again ; supposing a stockholder chuses to live in a garret, while in the receipt of an income of 10,0001. per annum, he also pays nothing. These circumstances are certainly worth consideration. " Of the Assessed Taste.," says the writer, a the greatest ports( r tion is collected from deities on houses and windows. The idea of taxing luxury and qrticles of consumption, has been carried to such an extept, as to paralize all the property in good houses.—And, there is now little short of a capital of one hundred millions in houses building and uninhabited. • It seems to have been thought, that because so much was pro duced in given circumstances, it was only necessary to increase the rate, in order to obtain a proportionate fund. Hence taxes upon taxes have been laid upon houses, and it is at last discovered, that them are no consumers, and, consequently, that the impost lays on the !milder's capital. This capital he has expended iei excise on bricks; in ditty on timber; in an increased ground-rent—so that • whatever may be the amount received by the revenue, it is more than counterbalanced by the inertness of the builder's capital. " Again, as the taxes on windows have been so augmented of late years, many boildingS have remained unoccupied because the im posts have been so heavy. On this class of individuals the Assessed Taxes press most heavily; they operate so as to prevent the occupation of large, and encourage that of small houses. Let a calculation be made of the value of houses that let for 33 or 401. and those w Inch let for 60 or 701 it will be found that the former do not consume more than one-fourth of the capital necessary for the latter. In this instance the owner derives the benefit, and the revenue is excluded. Hence, I contend, that the Assessed Taxes are, in a great measure, the rause of the immense capital which has been expended ill build ing, lying useless to the community. There is a common idea, that the country is over-built. This is possible to a certain degree, but not so much as to necasiou the evil in its present extent. The result would soon be discovered, it an Act of Parliament should pass declaring the repeal of ti►e Assessed Taxes from and after the bill of. April. • We stioald then find that the present depression on house properly would cease ; as e v e n , if thirty millions of the one him& d millions of property were brousht into activity, and this the repeal of the Taxes would ensure, it would render per►nanent the presetft rents." But the writer's object appears to he as much to relieve the commercial as the building capital, from• injudicious re- -_ l4 lll