The Statesman. — London, England, 1818-12-08 00:00:00

- helves to the claiming of this right in a peaceable way, and in tumble and respectuons language. •M 'to the Pxtimaion of The Right of Suffrage to their or der, my humble opinion is, that it would only warm the taapt - already laid upon them, and lead the way to fresh impositions. They would obtain no influ. enre from it in Parliament • though their masters and cmptoyerx might : it wool wetter be to them ti means of defence, bat it might become en instrument of of -here In tbs tends of theisto whose will they must atabasit. Those who have treated the scieneenf Govern ltnent on philosophical principles have said, that every man hes a swiped right teenier) , as much liberty as he may be able to ezercise consistently with the safety r d . the rights of others, end no more. This limitation is feeinled in justice; and it is obvious that it must Tar, accordiog le different cases; a 'clay labourer, what depends on the will .or caprice of another man for his doily aehsistence, is more likely to abuse any Elective Franchise with which he may be invested, than he who bas a sufficiency to make him independent. if be pleases to be so. Five hundred ' artificers in the employ of a large manufacturer would be expected to vote according to his dictetea; sod, their critical &hoiden considered, florid, hardly be. blamed for doing so ; what then amid be the result of GenersiAolfrage iu sith a cm? Would, paid industry from oppresolve Wallet% ? By we .emess,—it redid only lucre's' Eh) piensa the NMI.. sectary interest of the gent Manufacturer, eef ; woks man's Whose, dangerous to its kigloft of a Freeholder, vibe, though ,his freeholo - a thousand a year, wouldhave bat one vole.ri.. Can any thing be mface unjust than that men Jibe themselves have no pf.operty, should be able,Ao in. vest their Representdiee witb a power of voting away , the property of otters. Ido Dot estactly tuow the' length that GenVral Stiffrage is meant to go. bat Universal Suffrage, as set forth by Major Cain'. WiclanT, for y.hoel I entertain, notwithstandiug, snuck esteem, inasmuch so I believe him to be a very honest but rirstaken Gentleman—Universal Suffrage, I "peel r stends the right of voting even to the come soon soldier, to the man, in short, who has no pro. perry even in his own person,—to the man who has carried hie own flesh end bloockto market, sold them for einat he could get, and spent the money in vicious disfipation ! Ought such a man to he trusted with the 74 lit of nominating a Representative, end investing arias with the' power of giving away the property of *NOM $ . I shall awe premed to tale exhibition of my author shies, for the purpose of proving beyond ail power of costar/Won, thatlaxation had always a reference to property, and never was indicted, save only iu the attempts at a Pali Taxon those who had none— the emu of industry, the mats who derived his sole support from the labour of bis lauds, having been by the laws and customs of our ancestors, perfectly free and exempt from all aids or subsidies raised by aotherity of Parliament. 'the first author I shalt spaote is the Marquis of II ALIANA.Z. who, in the year 1694 arsinie an Essay on Tales, which is published 4a the foutb volume of Lord Somers' Tracts, from ..-Mhence the following passages are taken " As to the matter of aids our ancestors have ob 'erred these roles :—First, they mast not consist of Airings of consort NICESSITY Or LIVELIIIOoD, but Vetof superfluity. Secondly, they must not bur. oer Duties commodities and manufactures. Tttirdly, they have always avoided to impose on -.things wherein the People bad no benefit or 'Riven. test, but rather on land, trade, and other gainful 6 4prOfIROINISS. Fourthly, they have always avoided mew and foroigst tales, and when proposed, have declared they could not grant them without advising with those that sent them, and several rebellions have happened on this occasion." I must take leave to . ..swileark here, (bat I concur in Lord lIALLITAx's in terpretation of the words 66 peregiaus et impositionet" which is contrary to that of Sir EDWARD CORes, who renders it impositions on foreigners, or on fa. reign merchandise. The causes of rebellion here al. hided to, thew that this was not the thing meant, but that it was foreign precedents in the way of taxation, end particularly of the Poll Tax, which excited the %w-Fs of our ancestorsond drove them to open resistance Aglinst t heGovernmeut. To return to this writer, he in. Terms us—that greet allowances were made to the INlnbles for their port, and the support of their dignities, but tirtne to the rich usorer, or tradesman, or consideranle frehoider, whose estate is generally in his own bands, because they had no need to keep up such dignity, and that the subsidy, if coulined to 201. for WOOL was called a spareable part ; and as to ihe common artificer and labourer, says e, " they were usually esemptecl, unties by reason of money or personal estate they fAI withiu the 'toddy, never theless (says he) in the Poll Acts, which came bet rarely, these inferior sorts were sometimes brought in tobeer their part."—Fortber on he says, "As to the equality of . imposition this has been strictly ob. served, being always the same rate in the pound.— iNleverthelvis with such qualifications and exceptions \sonde )(rather a moral equality than a mathematical one, hiving respect to the conditions of, the persons, ta I have before showed, and limiting the sums both lot real and personal estates, below which . they should not be cherged l &e.&e."—so that if an artificer did by the eiertions of bis industry ocquire en estate, either real or personal, still be was not taxed unless that estate amounted to a certain income. Respecting the Marquis of HattraX, I think it right to say, that he was a man of such ability and in tegrity, that the Upper Hesse in the Convention Parliament, which certainly acted free from any Go vernment influence, chose him as the properest per son to discharge the office of Speaker, under circurn. stances of peCuliar difficulty. In the Rolls of Par liament, vol. IL pages 446, 447, and 448, are several documents respecting the manner in which subsidies were assessed : one in particular, written in Norman French, respects a subsidy granted to EDWARD 111.10 the seventh year of his reign ; it begins thus— " Gee est la forme quote les .dsseours d Taxours de Quine : eyrie grannie a N. S. k Rai deivent gander, asteer, taxer, a lever." It orders that the chief tams shall cause to come before them the most die. croon persons in each city, burgh, and title in the coaisty, and from them choose four or five persons VW shall be sworn to make a fair valuation of every Iwo property upou oath, proceeding thus free lifOrfired to hundred ; and out of this valuation are alas eacepted " the UMW* the siding-hems, the , • fir • . , r • i 1 • L ' • 1 ti . ' • , • •. . : i I 11 . 4 al / I 1 . 1 1 I i } I c f . 4 • ; d , , 4 . i 11 - / 1 I , l . t , . t . / - • 8 d • ' . b f a • 1 4 1 r # , 1 g 4 • ti • tl -V a 411 4 .4 4 11 ': i I .41 . t .. ' I ...,.,, . I ...._. I. b . t -, f r AI T d 13 11 1 •3 - 2 tl • o t tl . . fi . . it II 114 a! . ... ._ . o ....- al :• . t . , 'd •• - /; 6 tl • • .. , . ti tI I ~.- . • . . 4 • / • a . . . ~ • . v ' 4 •,. d • I (.• t .:• II t . ke litk ' . . i . a t c 111 L, '1 . . .\ fir MM jewels, and the robes of Knights and Gein!omen, and their wives, alto t.eir vessels of gold, sayer, and brass ; and in every city et. borough are to he ex mrpted from the valuation a robe for the husband and. another for the wife, their bed, rings, clasps of gob/ or silver, and silver goblet oat of which they drink. And if the goods of any man in the minty, without the city or borough, do not mord in all 101. WIMPS shall be taken ; and if the goods of a mith within the city or bora:reek tio not *sweat -6s. nothing shall be taken." This. I presume, means. the annual value*, end, as Dr. lietraT- tells el in his His tory, vol. OH. page 352. that 1.601. • year in that day would be equivalent, to the sum pf 2,2501. at present, it shneld seem thit en artsfi in those days might have roifes for himself mad wife, gold or sitter 'rings, r;raaps, goblets of Artie, itcfand personal estate value" shout 41. a rat, and .dll be exempted from to satiny. S or b was th e h i ppy ego of the iinlostrious clasp./ in th ose ( t o y, ; h ot t h en Co ought also to consider at that time taxes were tree-will gifts granted to the Zing, It was ennsietent with froth volon:ary denationa, that from them who coolttnot afford to give eve thing, nothing shoeld Ise rtrired. -In the reign c„( EDWARD 111. freedom tlosinshed, and many . Acts were passed to confirm sod explain the Great Ciafirter. Representation, though neither general/nor universal, was at that time REAL and not theterAed ; it extended to all who cou-tiitruteti, sad. they, was enough. Twice in this reign did it happen 40,41 aid having been unexpectedly requested by the .and omitted to be set forth at the sommeeing of Parliament, as was then usual, which gave the Electors the opportunity of instructing those they chose'respecting it, the Representatives of the Peo ple (and well they deserved that name) declared, Hitt it was out of their power to give awambe.money of their Constituents without their expreillitentent ; but seeing that the urgency of the case was very greet, the King being then with an English army in a foreign land, and both likely to perish from want of aid, they requested to be sent immediately back to their Constituents, that they might have conference with them, which was door, and they returned with what was called " a free-will gift of 30,000 sacks of wool, on conditions to be expressed in a pair of indentures."--Thia asierdote, which the reader will find in cotton's Records, 117, plainly proves that though our ancestors in these days loved their King, and participated in his glory, Qietegting, no doubt, the idea of letting him peiish in a (freign land for want of aid, yet was there one thine which they loved still more dearly, arid that was their FREE C•NiYITUTION, which induced them to attach conditions to the gift they made him. If any Prince was entitled to expect an obsequious loyalty from his People, it was surely &maim I l I.; but instead of this blind devotion, we find the prin. doles of freedom, justice, wisdom, and sound po. licy, dictating all the measures of the Commons in that reign. Under this benign influence it was to be expected that the spirit of industry and commer- 1 vial enterprise would increase, as in fact it did. In' that reign the woollen crieneftetwre• lees eatetaliebe‘ end the nation first began to export their wool Ina. nufactured, instead of sending it as a raw mate rial to their staple at Calais. The laborious classes being thus free to exert their industry, the neatt, century presented a acme of prosperity which would' be deemed fabulous, if a Chief Justice and Load Chancellor had not solemnly authenticated the fact. Sir JOHN Fowl-mug is the authority to which I al lude. I first quoted him at length eighteen years ago in Flowers' Political Review, an many times since have referred to him, because my opinion it, that his words, like those of .11xxstr Quatre, wish ing every peasant to have his Poule au Pot teas let Dim:niches, cannot be r-pelted tor, often. The pa triotic French are never tired of making this allusion, why airfield I be tired of alluding to Sir Joan FOR. TG CUEN narration, who records the happiness and prosperity of England, when her INDUSTRY was free; than the Laborious Classes had, he tells us, abundance of gold and silver (in their ornaments), and fine woollen clothing and good warm beddisigood bus tles:lents (household goods) of all kinds ; in short, all things requisite and necessary for a comfortable and happy life: plenty of flesh and fish had they to eat, and good beer to drink, so that no man drank water, un less it was, says Sir JOUR, in the way of pea:owe; but the French peasantry of that day were, he says, " clothed in coarse sacking, and drank water, and never touched meat except it were the inwards of cattle." No wonder that our nation was then more robust and vigorous than their neigh. bours—n o wonder that one English yeoman thought himself a match for three or four Frenchmen, and that the battles of Poictiers, Cressy, and Agincourt were gained against seperior numbers. Let us now reverse the picture, and behold British industry, no longer at liberty, but chairs s! to tuition like a galley...lave to the oar. Behold the man whams la. boar wpholds the State, and gives food to the lazy diets. —contemplate him jest rising from his bed of sor row and preparing for his daily labour—what a task is that 2 116 must not only tpil for his own subsist. ence, but for that of his wile and family; be roust also toil to pay a tax upon that subsisteuce amount ing, according Mr. PttvTos's calculation, to ten shillings upon every eighteen earned by the sweat of his brow. On this condition the Borough Faction will give this FREE-BORN Briton leave to live. By commanding taxation they command the very Means of hit existence. At the will of this ail-powerful ; faction the necessaries of life are withheld from him, or, what comes to the same tbiag, granted on condi tions with which it is hardly possible for him to coin. ply ; go wonder then that we behold in him a perfect personification of DESPAIR ! ! Contemplate his Orel!. ing—the receptacle of filth and nakedness, of wretchedness and disease What do we find there that bears the least resemblance to the description given by Sir Joan FORTESCUE of the happy days and dwellings of his ancestors ?—A squalid progeny which those ancestors would blush to own, 'reliving proofs of or national degeneracy ; bet we hare also dying 'proofs in the frequency of oar executions, inflicted toe often, I fear. on the unhappy victims of feces.. laity and despair !! All these evils flow from that impolitic, bowie', unjust, and unconstitutional ales. sure—the Taxation of Industry. No wonder the& that - persons labouring under such severe affliction, both of *lnd and body, should eagerly hearken to any expedient that promised relief to their suf ferings, for it is well known that a drowning man will catch at a ttraw.--Sonse have been seduced by treacherous instigation to commit acts of open rebellion; "others have been only violent us theory, setting their names - to Petitions for wild and impracticable projects of Reform, equally in compatible with the principles of the Constitution, and the present state of society! No rational hope of redress can be' entertained from either of these seem ; and therefore they ought eqeslly to be avoid- On the'ether hand I am far from recommending abject sobmissiony or si some will call it, "persica abeitienee ;" because, in such an elan-me case it would have' an immortal tendency—it would give encouragement to injustice.. Expostulation 'earl remonstrance. cnuched in moderate language, offers the best hope of redress. An Englishman has At Ail lima, a constitutional right to set forth his grievances; "and I should t r loath to suppose4hat an appeal to British justice *ad humanity can ever he made in vain. ' TIMOTBY TIMEMAN. Butisitagtwashire, Novi 900111111. 'RENO', PAPERS. • . PARts D.c, 4.—Ths. Cears, Will not Pot on mourning on account of the death of the late Clo•en of England, until after the opening of. the Chambers, which is filed for the 10th of ibis month. . • The King transacted huskies, yesterday with his Ministers for Foreign Affairs and for ‘Ver.. His Majesty, accompanied by the Dukes de Luzern bourg, de Duras, and d'Avary, went at two o'clock to Choisy.le.Roi. Lord Wellington dined yesterday at the Thoil. leries with his Majesty and the Royal Family. His Grace wore the diamond cross of the Oider of the Holy Ghost, which the King had presented to him. Lord Castlereagh arrived in Paris last evening, at five o'clock. The Duke de Cambaceres is expected in Paris this evening. Hannuncit, Nov. 25.—Gen. Goergaud, driven by force from England, arrived here yesterday. The total stagnation of all commercial of still continues, and prolongs the exorbitant discount. — We, however, have had no important failures, bet mach anxiety prevails on the indirect consequences that might occur in the present state of public affairs. al 1 presnine it meow.' the amount value. browse the tar was Mid on jocose, sad flied vile wed sifter treselv were no coasted beratwe not productive. Lord H— says the imposition+ were always the srillte rate iu the pound I oho he toys. they *voided to impose on thioes wherein the People had to bewail. Of ad► vonts4e, but talker oo hod, trade, sail -00.11 gaisfai pro fentivia. FRANKFORT dtiD GERMAN PAPERS. CONSTANTINOPLE., OCT. '2o.—Report says that R n itrsursection has broken out in Georgia, which hap been elcited by a powerful Tartar Prince. It is added, that in consequence of this event, the neces afty paeasures bay* been taken by the Russian troops llt ativl about. Tiflis. Thirteen merchantmen perished in the Black Sea in the first half, of this month; two were Austrian, one Danish, the others English, Russian, and Trieste • Ltresre, Nov. 20.—Though nor Michaelmas fair did not turn out so well as was expected, from the want of buyers and of money, it however passed over without any bankruptcy. But a week after wards a bankruptcy took place, which makes a great noise here. Messrs. Albrecht and Bluer have absconded, leaving debts to the amount of .near ly 300,000 dollars, by which Leipsic loses 100,006 dollars. They had carried on business for only two years and a half, and enjoyed such reedit, that they obtained money the very day before their flight. The blame of this bankruptcy is chiefly laid upon Albrecht, who wanted to carry on business to an immense extent, and to ruin all his competitors; he is besides said to have lived in a style fa► above his ability. This bankruptcy has indented the want of confidence, and cowed an extraordinary stagnation in trade, which it is supposed will not be removed by the approaching fair at Nsumberg. At the Michael mas fair, the want of money was so great, that it was necessary to have money brought from other places. Thin continued want of _money is no little anopedirnent to trade. In ail Saxony little is to he teen but Pruslian money. The Saxon dollars and florins, as soon as they are coined, find their way to the Mint at Berlin, where they are re-coined, with a profit of three or four per cent., and thus trans formed they come back to us. PRICE OF STOCKS TH Mink *ark 3 per Cerit. Red. 78;iii 1 3 per OM. Comuit Se per Cent. Sri COTISOI‘ for Arc. 79;:iii 4 per Cent. 9S}lli LONDON: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1518. A Supplement to Me Gazette was published yester. day, containing farther dispatches from India, which wilt be found in our other columns. They relrle chitty to affairs already known to the Public. The operations against the Pindarees go hick as far as the 14th of January, on which day' Major CLARKE reports the particulars of his attack on 1500 of those freebooters under KURREEK KHAN . and WAstr. Mo nmasch, when the number of slain on the part of the enemy, including' this latter of those two Chieftain•, was calculated at not less than a thousand ! The proceedings of General MAasstAt are detailed in a series of extracts, commencing. on the 11th of March, when Is* reports the occupation of the fort of Sailor; the surrender of this place .was •fol. lowed in the course of that month by that of Sorsadho, White, - Joysingnegger, Khooriee, Danohee ) Dhatnenee l and all the - re- Di DAY AT ONK O'CLOCK 5 per Cent. Navy India Ron& 85 p Long Ano. 2 Exchequer Bab 19 20 p aomnium M ... Apr, ove, _inns against the town and fort of Mondlalf,witph we haat - I.IS*A T laid before our Readers t o accaete.statement) c om . menced. They had been preceded by the trencher. ous attack of the Kit.t. %DAB of Mundlsh, on Major O'BRIEN, which we have also noticed, but of which the Major's Report, dated.oo the 3d of March, de. tails more minutely the particular.. The reports et the occupation of Ch'*uraghor and Muadlah, in tine course of the month of May, together with two s c . counts of small affairs in the Inanity 6f the former place, complete the Gazett& It is asserted that the Earl Of lIARROWWE if to our Ambassador et the Court of France in the racks of Sir CHAELFS STUART. The projected changes in the Cabinet, which we have already mentionkf, will commence with this movement, as the Earl of Haanowsy is now President of the Council. The Doke of Wrwrievon's scceptenee of as office : at home among the drivelling dependants of CRETLEREAGH, CANNING, and CO. has sorpriterl Many, end disgusted more. In point of money anti 'honours the Duke of WELLINGTON is certainly well provided for. His Grace has, indeed; been ea sac. ;HOW in acquiring the substantial goods of (warm es the more empty honours of military fame-.-end it would have doue no injury to his popularity and his reputation had he, slier sustaining such • fortunate part in the affairs of Europe, retired, into that splen. did repose which the munificence of the British nation ' so liberally provided for him. Is it still necessary to provide a profitable place for the Duke of WELLING. TON Is it still just and requisite to give him twelve thousand a-year from the public purse, whilst orders are issuing to discharge hundreds, nay, thousands of persons from the Ordnance Department, wbo.have served many years upon miserable pittances and the hope of better provision, end who most now Starve in idleness? The honours due to the Doke of Weta.s4a- TON sill iil accord with the character of a scrubbing, screwing back In office, whose business will now hi to support an ignominious system of Cetouption, and keep seven-eights of his countrymen from the en. joyment of their just claims to the freedom of that Constitution, of fender. The mail a kind of motto vt longer. We Und by thi os to the sth inst. sented the Duke mond Grand Cron vetoed at halts Eogli‘h motley. these Papers at yesterday afternoon chants in the City day. to be G9f. ai generally reviving, Pads on Thursday_ death of our Quests- *erg/ c0011y... Is not- to p into mourning fox that greeet setil'efter the oneetieg of the two Chambers, which h kid tot the loth . iast. -..11MN.-- By the Death and Bamborgh Mails we learn, that the Emperor of AUSTRIA reached Munich on 1110 23d tilt.; and that the Emperor ALISSANDER OA the 25th arrived at Cedar°lre. The navigation of the l3altic is said, in a Petersburgh article, to be proba bly closed for the remainder of the yeas. Christian. sand has been declared 'a free port by the Swedish Government. The last letters from Si. Petersburgh slate, that the Bank of that city is provided with sufficient gold till March next, and also with siker till June; that lately two res,els had arrived with specie from Calais there ; and that, in short, they possess an abundance of cash. We supposerreamall portion of British gold might be found they depoiited and making its way to the rollers of the Coetineutat bankers, slide oars appear crammed with eolith% bet rags. The proceedings at the Old Bailey, yesterday. were again extremely interesting, from the trial and acquittal of other two persons for uttering Forged Notes. The particulars will be found in our Paper. There appears no relenting is ihe . piesecuting measures of . the Bank. The miry reluctance ma. (Melted on the part of that opulent Body is to give the- Public proper and inquestioftahle means of detecting forgeries, such as are necessary to , pre. serve the interests of the community, and iodispenbibte to satisfy an honest conscience celled to decide . on life and death. Nothing can be more injutinus stud dangerous to society than for all claws thus to be left exposed to the arts and frauds of these forgers, whose offences must be multiplied by the success and impunity that attend theme Nothing can be easi. e than for the Bank to adopt some improvement on the ,present execution of Bank notes. Various methods have been suggested to them of rendering forgery more difficult, none of which they have adopted. It may be, beyiiil human itigeouiry to render Bank notes incapable of imitation ; but 'to render them leas easily killable than they are et present, can not: . be considered as a matter of any difficulty. We cannot but leek with a degree of exultation, at thii new proof ofr the manliness and intelligerice of oar countiyetitt. `Those verdicts determine the am The Bank hese Dear no expedient left fur the son. tinnonce of a practice so videos as that whir:bit has beenporsaiog. J . . • ' • • . ...' . . ~.. -, (.. , ..kk , •.: 1 , 44, ,• 1 !:..., 46 5:..... ig . .10.141041;; - 7i. f - .' —,---. ... 11 wee. Insiciog farts and or ties in th e Singor 'flit. 'e then trict. In April the ovprptinns sgainst the Inwn just claims to the Iteedunt at that which he was the successful tlut " lisp and let lire," used to be with great teen, —it appears so - uo . .4 ie Paris Papers which have *OW that the King FR A NCR ka*pfe. of Weu.INGTos with a Avirtile.; ts of the Order . 41.0 million . eel . The fire per 41144 , a_50 ~ i n 68f. 35c.; bed* *hilpleplirtlyed on, bringing private to oar- t r, which stated the rands adSotor- and added, that confidence was lg. Lord CASTLett EACH arrived in y. The Court of France :sites the 7 I .(-- - • E . TH Pi ~t 1