The National Register. — London, England, 1819-07-05 00:00:00

:1-94A•aev:,a./j' tit ititry+ Awf ---lu r fiatto Our C I 'ontitittition anti it atol. No. 119G.—VoL. XII.] olitfcat llttropect. 1.; PON the general subject of Taxation, as well as •';he particular bearings of our burdens, we have per •haps said enough already to satisfy our readers, and certainly much more than can afford any gratifica tion to ourselves. We are not-such determined par tizans as to glory in public misery, or derive pleasure from causes which-bring woe to the bulk of our fel low creatures, though even such causes may contri bute to rouse the indignation and Reorient the hatred against those whom we.candidly .avow•ctur :,elves to believe to merit, as public. characters, not one single sentiment of veneration or regard.— But we cannot be unmindful that Taxation is a fuel ing, point of public policy, and that a very numerous description of persons may be purely and effectually roused to reflection by this-Tort of appeal to their peckds, when every appeal either to their heads or hearts would be vain.and useless. If this were not the case, if a low.and calculating selfishness were not the character of the times, would it be seen that Itepresentativv. in Parliament would dare to vote away oar liberties one day, and our money, millions after millions in tl.e gross, the next, and support items ofexpenditure which outrage every feeling of decent regie-d to the public weal, and then calculate, yes, :and truly too, upon riding home, as it is called, to the bosom of popular affection and esteem, on a vote given in favour of some paltry local interest, ..iven as a sop to their constituents, and applied as a mantle by themselves which is to cover every base and unmanly sacrifice offered at the shrine of power. No man can deny that this is a game every day played, and more especially when the day of rec ktming is het at some distance, when five or six ears of sweet oblivion are in imagination before them. A return to the old Constitutional period of Parliament is therefore every day more and more to be desired. The accounts of Represeteatives and Constituents are like the accounts of debtor and creditor in common life, best settled and adjusted at short intervals. Fraud arid folly .are then more cautiously indulged, u well as more surely visited by their proper recompense. The present Taxes would not, could not have been carried at the 'lose elan old Parliament. -But our principal waive in again adverting to this topic is to offer a few observations on the Tax upon foreign wool. As an useless and unconstitutional .demand of money on the part of the crown, we entirely .condennt As a Tax, suppasieg'theanmuntit was to raise were really needful we-chould view it in a dif ferent a.speet. To the claims of C,otnineice fin• pro tection and support, we are ttotiusensibk, and we sincerely deprecate any opinion of that kind being laid to our charge. ikt there arc to o !voiles of ra tional policy which we have always tlenoght laith oGovernment on one hand, and .Commercial Men on 4he other, to have too much lost sight of. These era the great and paramount importance of Agricul ture to the well-being of a State, and the ruperior value of the honse-mar;cl- to any advantages which our foreign Trade ever did or can afford us. Every writer on Political (Economy bus laid thefoundation of national strength in the means efnotional subsist ence, and has judged a Government to be well or ill conducted, in proportion as it has fostered or neg lected this solo and inexhaustible source of solid greatness. GlZia Britain has inherited Jkom nature MONDAY, JULY 5, 1819. a climate and soil admirably adapted to supply the wants, and reward the industry of its people. Even its apparent difficulties and disadvantages are eventu ally productive of good. They stimulate exertions, they rouse to energy, they brace the nerves, anti invigorate the activity of her labourers, and operate with a beneficial influence on the whole range of her 'society. No other country in the world can produce a corresponding chnns of men, equal in public and private virtues, to the country gentlemen of England : no region upon earth has such a des cription of persons to cultivate its soil as English farmers; and above all, our pmsantry,•that . .proudest boast of freedom, with all the horrible means of degradations which have been so bug at work amongst them, are still a nobler and better race of men than can any whore else be met with. 'But these blessings arc nevertheless intimately connected with our public policy ; and a bad or oppressive Government may easily destroy them all. Spain has the finest soil and climate in the world, but the execrable character of her -laws and constitution render it the worst cultivated, and consequently the most abject and degraded country in . Europe.— Now the way of giving that degree of encourage ment to Agriculture, which we feel disposed to plead fur, is to let it alone, to leave it few and unfettered in its energies, and moderately im:rdcacd mid. public demands. If this .course had been fidlowed in this country, we should have have no need to be now discussing the merits or expediency of any other. But the fact has been notoriously -the re verse. The church, the poor, the public roads, are not only thrown exclusively as a rent charge directly upon the land, but the land itself is next charged, and its produce afterwards with a most heavy and unjust burden. When to these we add the taxes paid by the owners and -cultivators of our soil in coalmen with all the rest of the community, the sum total thus raised is enough to stagger the most sanguine calculator on the indefinite powers, which • land, .coaritkred as a beast of burden, is adequate to support. Commerce then should not look with a jealous eye upon any little privileges enacted in fa vour of Agriculture. Their prosperity is most closely connected. They are twin sisters, and Agri culture can never spread her sails before a favourable breeze without Commerce follow.ng in her train. If the protection now granted against the competi tion of finvign "Wool may be considered, as a small encouragement to the growth of our own, and it cannot amount to more, surely it is.a little in point . of boon to Apiculture, and as little in peiat ofactuel detriment to our Manufactures as any which could have been devised. A single pound of long Lin colnshire wool, taxed at sixpence, will be strfncient to manufacture, we almost hesitate to mention Low many yards of the • finer crepes and staffs, and diminish what ought-to' be the additional charge to the consumer to.at trifle hardly •perceptible. But what we would particularly insist on is, that if this protection can *ford any . encouragement to the home-growth of wool, that very effict will be by en creasing the quantity of pmdwetion, to lessen our dependence upoa rtn.eign markets, and to lessen also the price itself of the Article in question. The ratio of surlily .arl dermoul will approximate snore i nearly, and thus the value and real worth will find its proper and newt:diet/el. We are also impresqed with another idea which tends, we will frankly acknowledge, to incline us to 0:111k LPRICE 91d. favourably of the protection we are now iliscus:ing. The greatest defect in our modern system, or ra ther practice of Agriculture, is the small number of sheep fed or reared in England, compare:l with what might and would under greater en couragement necessarily be the case. The very finest districts of the country may be traversed ti r roi es and miles without a single slicrp being scrn. Ha greater number of those highly useful animjs should be-introduced by the.late measure into o r farvaing system, the change would be highly benefi cial, not only in the supply or our munitt:icturs with the materials of clothing, but of our markets also with the article of food Different branches of trade will fluctuate williuut a possibility of accounting for such fluctuation. The Norwich trade for instance, has thiclinetl from 1,2000 ,0001. a year to 200,0001! It is trae that wool has advanced in price, though not very materially, taking all sorts of wad lvelker, during the last thirty years. Ilut have other causes bad no share in th's great .declension ? Does mat the commencement of that decline date its period from the commencement of the French war? Has not. the diminution of the Monastic orders, who were totally clothed in Norwich stuffs, contributed its share? 'Has not the progress of our cotton manu factories, and the general-use Of that elegant and light texture of goods contributed also ? and lastly, can any manufacture of any partioular kind be men tioned as nourishing for any lengthened period in the same place ? We might pursue this inquiry, and it is a very interesting one, much farther ; but our limits we have already transgressed. We shall conclude by a sincere prayer that Agriculture and Commerce may long floarish in harmony and peace, as members of the same family, c.s indispensably connected with each other's welfare. AlteriliS sic " Altera I twit opem m. , nt rrmittret nsniet." Adviees an very interesting and ..important hire have been received from Spain. They state, that the• Marquess do Casa Yrujio, the Prime Minis ter ut the Court of nutria, has been removed, and ordered to repair to the town of Avila, in Old Cis. tile, where he was to arrive on the I 4th June. Ile was formeely Secretary to the Marquess dci Campo, .when the latter was Ambassador in this country. He was suspected toile too.strongly attached to the interests of the 'United States. of America, being "I‘ related by marriage to the exA'resident, Mr. Adama, The Minister of War has.also been removed, anti appointed Captain General of Crmiada, as a kind df, • honourable retirement. it is suprosed that these chauges.areoonneeted with the cession of the Flu ridas, and it may,•consequently, be fairly doubted whether theireaty making that cession to the United Sta:eswill be ratified by theCotirt of Spain. The politics of the Court of Madrid arc the must vacil lating in Europe, end distinguished by eternal -intrigue. At the very moment a Minister imagines he enjoys the full confidence cf his Sovereign, pro bably his removal is fixed upon, or he is displaced by the appointment of some rival to fill his sit natiot:. The Marquess de Casa Yritjio is a most honour. able man—a high minded nobleman, who would not saLrifice the interests of his country, let the tempta tion be ever so I,e;:eat. The Court of Madrid feels great emlrarrit.ssmeut with respect to the Florit:as, and it is to that blame should somewhere be attached, and this probably is the real cause of the removal of the Marquess. Mr. Tucker, Secretary to Earl St. Vincent, when his Lordship was &AI - Lord of the Admiralty, rut-- chased, some time ago, about three noes of land 1 , 1- joining to his other property, in the county of Cora wall, fn. the RUM office hundred iwunds. It has since been discovered that this s p o t contains a r i c i l vein of silver ore, for the produce of which Mr. Tucker has recently been ofTered ffieen M u m m a rounds per antra:oolpm grantieg a kase of tin wine fur twenty-one _years. or: r ; •• I VI I