The National Register. — London, England, 1814-12-18 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. o 0 of P.irliamcnt who raised his voice against the Property Tax He had seen Mr. Fox sacrifice friends, formic., tuner, power, and cy..eeetious to his principles, at a time when he was deserted by all t..;• .nbordinate friends vvho usually surrounded him, and be had then feet' loin stand up like a tower himself, and greater than when in amidst of ihose friends who deserted him. Much obloquy bad, witolit any foundation, been cast on Mr. Fox on account of the Prti,:erty Tax. It they would turn to the accounts of the procedings of that period, they would find that Mr. Fox did not sivy that well shook) it .nove from the first to the second floor, &c. Mr. Fox eon. sidercil it as an unjust Tax, and one that woold have the effect of creat, ,,, !; such a revolution in men's circumstances ; but it was thoag::!'more advisable to continue it, than at that moment to have recou7se to, aiy other tax. In this he certainly differed from him ; and when he ,tated his objections to a Henri of Mr. Fox's, he was answered, th:.; Mr. Fox knew that the Tax %%Ai unjust and oppres sive ; but lie. ‘‘ili glad of it as the people would be the sooner tired of the War. Mr. Fox never failed to oppose the -War—and if his advie. ati been taken it would never have been heard of. This was Int! tiisti,q, to his memory ; jthtice ought always to be done to the dew', as they could not speak for themselves. lie concluded with twriing that that Petition should be the Petition pisesented to the I base of Commons. 7 he Petition wa4 then read, and nnanimously agreed to. 111 . r. `, l ; c►l•ttu %N then moved, t4tat after signing, it 'hold he presented to the linti , e of Commons by the City itcpre,entativrs; and that a Committee should Le appointed for prosecuting the object of the Petition.—Aaccd to. Mr. WAITIIMAPI then observed, that he was abont to propose instructions to men who never thought they needed any instruction. He moved that • their Representatives in Parliament should be in structed to support the prayer of the Petition. Sir W. CURTIS said, he most cordially subscribed to all the doctrines of the resolutions. The tax was one which necessity, and necessity alone could justify. The war, which had at last brought the country out of its difficulties, could alone justify time tax. lie admitted the inquisitorial powers exercised were contrary to the principles of time Constitution. We had made powerful and wonderful exertions. which had caused an enormous expenditme, and the debts occasioned by this expedition were still miliquidated. If they were honourable and honest imen, like himself--(generai, Laugh!)—lle adds es.sed himself to an English assembly—to sneii who, he hoped, w'ere willing to pay their just debt% how, there fore, was this enormous debt to be discharged % Until tins debt was livoidated, he was bound, wicked, abominable, and unjust as the Property. Tax was, to support it—(Disapprobation,)--Sooner than con-cut to its being perpetrated, he would his life. He begged they would leave him to follow whatever course he conceived to be most for the 7430 of the people. Those who represent tiecinen ought Themsel ves to be free. S's J. *it tw said he had attended to the Resolutions and the Pe, titioa, and lie had great pleasure in stating that in general he agreed :with the principle, contained in them. There was nothing so clear as that the Property Tax ceased 'aid' the Continental War. He was not aware, from ally thing which had passed, that it was in the contemplation of his Majesty's Viinisters to pi °pose a renewal of it; but should they conic forward with such a proposed, it would be in cumbent on them to state such grounds as would justify them. The renewal emild never be admitted, unless such strong and intel li,jble grounds were loroug!it forward as spoke to the sense of every' man. Alderman ATKIxs said, thut taxation had risen to an amount be yowl what many who now heard believed it ever possible for the country to bear. We had concluded a long and expensive war with credit to ourselves and advantage to Europe. He wished it possikle to distinguish between iLcome and property. The tax on property was judicious; but this tax ought not to be borne by the poor. He never would pledge himself to them or any body of men ; lie would go unshackled into Parliament. Would they, rather than vote a Property Tax, have us crouch at the foot of America ? His feeling,s hal ever been to att rid of the Tax on Annuities and Pro fessiomal Income, &c. and lie would willingly lend his hand to the wheel to assiq Ministers in their endeavours to discriminate between locotne and Property, as well a' lend his hand to the wheel to crush our foe. His industry had citable(' him to acquire some property. and lie thought it but proper that property should contribute to the expcnces of the country. 'flue ntotion was then agteed to. The Thanks of the Meeting were therefore voted to Mr. Waith man, Mr. Favel, and the Lord Mow after which the Hall ad .ourucd, sine die. PROVINCIALS. 831. MEL A NCIFMLY AND FATAL ALARM !—A deplorable and-melan choly occurrence took place on Sunday senbight, in the evenint', at the Methodist, Chapel, in Oldham -street, Manchester. It her& g been announced that a funeral sermon would be preached that even ing to the memory of the late Rev. Dr. Coke, an immense concourse of people assembled, and soon after the doors were opened, the chapel was completely filled. Those on the outside, however, con tinued to press on, until the front entrance and avenues were liter ally (+naked up; and the consequence was, that a heavy and in tolerable presSnre took place in those parts of the chapel nearest the door, particularly at the foot of the stairs. This %vas borne for some time by tlw females and the younger part of the congregation ; but, as it gradually became more violent, struggling and complaints took place, which were succeeded by screams and shrieks ; and, to add to the confusion, some imprudent persons broke several of the windows, as is supposed, for the more free admission of air. The crash of the broken glass, joined to the frantic exclamations of the crowd suffering ander the pressure, induced those it the farther end of the chapel to believe that some part of it bad given way, and a general and instant rush was made towards the doors. Those attempting to get were met by those attempting to get one ever - I thrown, and trampled mulct foot. In a fisw seconds there lay a pile of bodies, extzauling from the woes or the wall to the top of the steps, and of such a height as effectually to bar all egress from the chapel. '!'were happened, fortunately, to be in the interior a few guntlemen who preserved their presence of mind, and, by dint of persuasion and reasoning, appeased the alarmed multitude, and per suaded diem 14 remain peaceably in the chapel. The porch was next cleared through their exertions, and the people on the outside had space to remove the bodies. Two were taken out, one quite 4cad, and the other expired on reaching the Infirmary. Five more teem - taken to the Infirmary. one of them a boy, not expected to re cover, and several were taken home by their friends, more or less disabled. The chapel has been since examined by architects, who have ascertained that the report of a failure in the building was to tally wi the nt pundation. A dis!ressing event ()retired in Swansey Bay on the 25th ult. The sloop Iron suet Tin Trader, latices with calm, from Sanderstoot to Ilridgwater,t3aptain Child, was o!lserved by the people on board the Olympia goverement cutter, lying in the Mumbles road, to be fu a SitßatiOil of great peril, being water logged and without canvas, with a man in the rigging waving a handkerchief as a signal of dis tress. With that promptitude and humanity characteristic of Bri tish seamen, the sailing master of the Olympia, three other officers, and one man, jumped into their boat, takings-with them Thomas Davey, pilot, of Swansea, who fortunately happened to. be oil • - board, together with a spare sail, and hasteneelto the assistance of the sloop. On reaching her, they put her in the best possiige ti ins for rinming before the wind to the nearest will. The - cutter's people then quitted her to return to their own ship, but the sea ran so high that this was found impossible, and they tacked about in the hope of overtaking the sloop ; in attempting which, the boat was swamped, amid, melancholy to state, the whole five were consigned to a watery grave ! At the earliest solicitation of the owner, master, and crew of the sloop, the pilot had remained on board her, and was promised twenty guineas by the former, if. he would carry her into a place of safety. This be happily effected, after considerable difficulty, the sea having fiequently broke over, and almost every wave threatened them with destruction, and brought her into Newton Nonage. On claiming the promised remuneration, it was peremptorily rerused by the owner for some time ! lint the severe animadversions of the country people (who had assembled in the melancholy expectation of seeing the sloop gn to the bottom every . monirint) on Isis inhuman conduct, at length induced him to give the pilot a pair of shoes, he haying left his own in the boat ; to which lib,, at reward he afterwards generals/ y ended a guimea bill, which no person woeld take, as ;ilk was .thought bad ! The pilot's cause has, however, been taken up by some.reepectable inhabitants of Swansea, who are determintd to procure him an c.srple justice, and measures have been adopted tOr that purpose. Monday the esql tilt. Mr, John ClArk, of Bridgewater, left his Lome about eleven &chick, to dine with a mend at Puiiton, about two from the town, intending also to call on his way to ermine a job of stoke en,lisitkinent that had just been completed under his superinten dence, on the river Parrot. and fur the safety of which lie was partici.- fatly aiikions, the weather having► been rough the day before, and this tides very high. His not returning home was, in some degree, accounted tor, iron) the extreme wetness of the evening ; but, o►► enquiry eat's , the uext tuotoing, it proved that tie had nut been at l'uriton. It ap• DEC. 1.8. . •