Northern Times. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-02 00:00:00

£.6,351,000; and the poorer classes. £7,139,000. If we are to take the same proportion of the whole customs and excise Which amounted to £41,000,000 we must set down to the upper classes £7,3,50,000, to the middle classes £15,960,000, and to the poorer classes 418,690,000. But you must bear in mind that whatever was the con sumption of the richer classes, and tar more than half of it was consumed, not by the family, but by the servants who minister to the wants of that family. (hear, hear.) And I take it for granted that whatever is contributed to their maintenance must be reckoned for wages, and that Mr. Somebody, )vho is very rich, - is not to put down to his family expenaiture all those taxed articles which are consumed by those whole services he pays for partly by food and lodA ng, and partly 'in money. (Hear; hear.) And if it were possible to withdraw thiS large item from what the rich are said to consume and to be tasted for, I` haVe no doiiht that even noon this calculation my state ment with regard to the vast - proportion of those taxes paid by fire great -body. of the working people ••of this - country:it - ma he fully subStantiated to the very figure. But now I will show you reasons why thoSe calculations cannot be correct. Take the article of auger. The people in 1838 were told by the protectionists, some of them in LiVerpool, that there was sugar enough came into this country, and that anybody could have sugar who could pay forlt, which of course is a very pleasant thing for those who have money enough in their pockets. (Laughter.) But what Was the 'coirsumntion of sugar in 1838 ? Four millions of cwts. ;•and in 1811, nineteen years afterwards; it was more than pine' millions of cwts., or donble the onsairintifin of 1838. (Applause.) Who consumed the. 'eKtra quantity ? Was it the rich ? •- Were the upper classes, who in 1338 consiinicd twenty-two and •a half per cent. of the sugar consumed in the country, stinted of • sugar ? (Laughter, and no; eno.) Was it not on - their tables morning and evening ? Had they not coffee and tea? Did not the sugar sweeten all the delicacies which came on their tables ? • Did you ever dine at a man's' house and find sugar a thing that the mistress of the house was niggardly of ? (Laughter and apulause.) Then it brings you, inevitably, to the conclusion that the enormous. quantity of increase in the consumption of sugar must have been -increasing with that class of people who, under the .syetein - of .protection to our colonies, with regard to sugar, were almost wholly debarred from the consumption of - that most necessary and wholesome article of food. (Cheers.) . Take the article-of tea. In 1338, the consumption of tea in this country was 38 • millions of pounds ; in 1857—the last year I have a return for—nineteen years afterwards—the 38 millions had grown to 69 millions of pounds—much more than double what it was previously. The same argu ment applies. Where is it ? Into whose cupboares— . - - open whose tables have all these vast increases-in the articles of tea and sugar come ? Why surely not to the tables and cupboards of lords and gentlemen, who are supposed to form what are called the upper classes in this country; and therefore, I think, seeing this enor monS increase—the doubling of the whole consumption of. tea which has taken place, and must have taken place mainly amongst the great body of the people whose physical eendition has been so greatly improved—whose material condition we know has been so much altered. I sav;we must come to the conclusion that the state ment made up for the Chancellor of the Exchequer is one not . to be relied upon, or the line drawn where you and I discuss the matter is dramin where it should net be drawn. (Hear.) Take tobacco. Go back only to 1843, when the consumption in that year was 22 millions of pounds 'of unmanufactured tobaCco. In 1857 it was more than 32 millions of pounds. Who uses the unmanufactured tobacco ? The upper classes don't much smoke short pipes. (Laughter.) They take to Havana cigars at from 30s. to 60s. a pound. The unmanufactured tobacco is the tobacco mainly of what we call--having no very apt definition—the com mon people of the country, and this vast increase of consumption has been mainly amongst that class of the population. Now I should like to know where the middle class begins and where it ends. I stated that we revived £20,000,000 worth of corn and cattle every year into this country. Does any one suppose that the increase of importation and consumption inthose articles has gone into the larders of the rich? All the facts this enor mous increase of consumption by the lowering of duties, by the removal of prohibitions—by the increase o f .trade— , by the doubling of our exports—all these things prove manifestly to my mind that the calculation which has been made for the Chancellor of the Exchequer is not one that can be relied upon, and that that statement which I made in my letter is _substantially accurate. (Cheers.) But now let us look at that line which is drawn between the middle and working classes. There has been an attempt • made lately to set up the middle. classes as a sort of esquire, I. suppose, to the knight of the - upper classes. - He is to fight for the upper classes, and against the lower classes. • That was the tone taken by Sir E lward Bolwer Lytton and by Mr. Disraeli during the late discussion on the' Reform Bill in the House of Commons ' • and they were willing to admit the middle cla s se s of the. people to a £lO franchise. Now, if they admit a £lO franchise, those who are below £lO are not to be considered of the middle class, and, as they are not of the Upper classes, they.must be considered of the working classes. I venture to say, too, that it would not be an unfair thing to say, if • you want to draw a line between the. non-propertied classes and the elasSeS who generally have property, that a line drawn somewhere about that mark will not be far from the right thing. Mr. Newmarch, the secretary of the Statistical Society, a man eminent in figures and cal cidations; 'haying paid profound attention to the question, says that in .England and Wales, sixty per, cent. of the population e-sixty families out of . every hendred, live in houses under the value of £6 a year ; that fifteen out of every hundred lived in houses between £6 and 410; and that twenty-five in every hundred live in houses above the value of £lO. That -brings us_ to this conclusion, that seventy-five out of every hun dred families live .in houses under the value of £lO, and only twenty-five out of e ver y h un d re d li ve in houses above the value 'of £lO. That is in England and Wales, but if you added Ireland and Scotland to it, Mr. Newmarch could, no . doubt, have come to the conclusion that eighty out of every hundred families are in houses below 410, and not more than 20 per cent. in houses above £lO. I should presume that would be so. If that. be so, I think, it would be difficult for an y man to come to the conclusion that the- eighty families throughout the country do not consume more of all these heavily-taxed articles, than the twenty families who live, in houses above the value of £lO.. Twenty,four millions of - people—a great nation—England Was a great nation. before she had twenty-four millions of people—(hear, hea.l) . —but at this time twenty-four millions of people in the United Kingdom -live in houses under the :value of £lO, and six millions only live in houses above the value of £lO. I ask any man, with the slightest know ledge of the country, and with the slightest power to. reason, whether it is not fair to assume that the twenty four millions of people ,consume more of those he'avily-taxed articles , to which I have . referred than the six millions wh o . li ve in the better class of houses n even griving the .six millions the con sumption to which they have no title, of the servants who live in their houses - and minister to . their wants. (Cheers.) But now if any gentleman here has made any inquiry as to the amount of taxes willing these imp os t s l ev y u po n. indi v id ua l familieso h e w ill fi n d it very considerable. I am t admit that any very accurate calculation is very diffi cult, because you find few families with the same income, with the same num b er in family, nrattiTing the exact quantity of the same things anaY under t e m -i c es.. But I took the trouble eto k s e arne cireum ascrta,ineitihefinquiry, -at least 'a friend of mine what was the consumption of these articles amongst eighteen . of his workmen, who were heads of fainilies. I must state that they are of the very -1 wish we had an English word—of, the very elite of the working classes of Lancashire. Intelligent, living i n excellent houses, superior in many things to the average of their class, for their income averaged 375. a week, in - their houses. As another wed. of their superiority I may state that the consumption of spirits, . beer, and tobacco was very small indeed amongst them—(cheers) —and therefore, the amount of taxation is lighter than it 'might be in very many houses and families where the income is very much less ; but no doubt, makin ,, a calculation with .those eighteen persons, ~it would be found that the indirect tax which they directly pay in those six articles tea, coffee, and swear, ale, spirits, and tobacco, and of the three last the qtaantityis very inconsiderable, will amount to fifteen or. sixteen pence per pound of income-tax,; and if you take the smaller half who received only 235. a week, you will find the tax amounts to twenty pence in the pound, whidti will be more than an income-tax of 8 per cent. • on their whole earnings. In this calculation there is much left out that Many persons would include—that is included in the report made by the. Financial Reform Association t o the Social Science Associatio n , at Bredierd. There is the loss by reason of the crippling of their trade—by the periodical fallings off of the demand .f or t h eir labour,' and the various yleist3itudes that arise, tiv which their wao%) are reduced. I But leaving out those things, and a great number of smaller things which are taxed, and of which we can get no accurate account, their income-tax, paid thus I indirectly, will be of the amount which I have just stated. But then bear in mind that it is not 8 per cent. upon 375. per week received from the rent of good houses. lor nice little farms. This 375. per week is a sum received by the labour of these men from their youth up to their old age— from morning till night—day by day—every day drawing upon their physical strength— every day bringing them nearer to the time when they will be unable to labour—every shilling that they earn in their lives - the hand of the tax gatherer is upon them. Look at the condition of labour as compared with the condition of what is called the upper classes, and even of the middle classes. I live close to, in fact within the bounds of a large manufacturing town. At this moment ' • every body who can work is well employed, and wages, I am happy to say, are such as, looking back to the past year, are considered highly satisfactory. The condi tion of the people is much better, probably, than it has almost ever been known to be before during my lifetime ; and yet, under all these favourable circumstances, look at the condition of the labouring man and: his family. Look at the almost inevitable precariousness of his employment — look at the , fact that th e momen t hi s health fails him, his work ceases (hear, hear), or if he feels ill for a day or two, instead of going to his doctor, or to his bed, 'or resting . quietly at home until the little illness falls off, he struggles against the complaint—his family depends_ upon his everyday's earnings for their everyday's .subsistence—(hear, hear) —and in hundreds of thousands of cases in which we who are here to night would recover from any slight indispo sition, a man thus hampered and tied to labour for life cannot lie by for a day ; his constitution has deeper and deeper inroads made upon it, and - he becomes perma nently feeble and disabled—(hear, hear)—and multitudes of them, as you know by the returns of mortality,. don't live half the years that people not more strong or robust in constitution da live 'who are in happier circumstances with regard to their social and pecuniary condition. Consider the accidents -to which the labouring classes in I every country - are subjected, the danger which they meet continually in almost all their employments, the inces sant struggle which - they have to maintain to keep themselves from that which. most of them greatly dread —the Workhouse. Consider all this, and then ask your self—We of the middle class—whether it is not fitting that we should combine together to say to the rulers of our country that we—all who have property—shall con tribute, are willing to contribute, to the necessary expenses of the State. (Hear, hear.) But henceforth we will never consent to any law which shall inter pose between the exchange of the industry of every man in England with the industry of every man out of England, and which shall permit the hand of the tax-gatherer to lessen the little comforts which a man's labour can barely realise for him. (Loud ap plause.) I stated in my letter that this system of taxa tion was mean and singularly cruel. I have no objection to retract that expression, so far as it refers to that large portion who support this system, who arc blindly igno rant of its consequences, and who fear to change what we propose. I don't think so badly of my countrymen of any class that I have conic in contact with, as- to sup pose that, if they knew all the facts of this case—if they had so thoroughly examined it as the gentlemen around me have examined it—l don't think so lightly of thorn as to believe they would for a single minute , continue a system which, I think, can be demonstrated to be most unwise and especially injurious to the great body of the working people of this kingdom. Now, what is the change we propose ? Because we may as well look the matter in the face, and look it through. I am not about now to propose that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the next session, should advertise all the custom-houses to be let—(laughter)—and make up his mind that the last custom-house officer, and the last member of the Coast Guard service, and the last smuggler, should be preserved in the British Museum. (Laughter.) But I am going to show what I think would be a great, a practicable step, a long way in the direction of the ultimate and complete object which your association has in view. If . you take the- various Par liamentary returns which have been lately obtained, and spend a little time in calculating as to the probable property of the people in this country, I believe you will find that, excluding the property of every man who does not possess £lOO in one shape or other, you would find that the whole property of the country would approach probably to £7,000,000,000 sterling. I have put it down from the calculations I have made from those returns, at £6,700,000,000. Now, if this property could be fairly come at, and a.reasonable tax imposed upon it all, it is,obvious that a large sum would be easily .ob tained. People say you could not get at it. You do get at what you now get by the income tax. There. is no. reason you should not get more. . There will always be some men in every country, perhaps, who will, endeavour to evade taxation of that kind ; but The more just a man feels the taxation to be, the fewer will be the men who endeavour to evade it (cheers) and the more. men are convinced that the great change has been a great bless ing, the more they will be- disposed by their own personal conduct to support and continue that new state of things. Suppose, now, that you were to pass a law that every £lOO of property, exclusive of the property of those who do not possess £lOO, should pay annually the sum of Bs. to' the State—make it more, or make it less, but I take that amount to argue from. ..Eight shillings would produce a. sum of about twenty-seven millions sterling. It would be four times what the income-tax was last year—rather more. It would be spread over many times More persons. It would be colleoted at an inconsiderable expense. It would collect no more than it wanted. The tax, in reality, would be nothing but' what it pretended to be. And if in different districts there were appointed committees, chosen, selected in some way, partly by the government and partly by the tax payers of the district, to give confidence to - the course.which they should take, I have no doubt, what ever, that that tax would -be as readily collected, and with infinitely less of heart burning, inquisition, and objection, than the incom e t ax i s collected at this hour. (Hear, hear.) -Now, what would be the pressure ? The possessor of £lOO would pay Bs. a-year ; but then his tea, and his coffee, and his sugar, and a heap of other .things, would be much cheaper to him, and his trade, whatever he might be engaged in, in all probability would receive a stimulus such as it never had before. The owner of £l,OOO would pay £4 ; the owner of £lO,OOO would pay £4O a-year . the owner of £lOO,OOO would pay £4OO a-year ; the owner of £1,000,000 would pay £4,000 a-year. Is that anything unreasonable ? (Hear, hear.) Who says that this is a revolutionary doctrine ? (Applause.) What would be the result ? Trade would . be extended to an enormous degree. See what you might repeal. And I don't put down these things as being the only things, and possibly there may be some tax preferable to the one I have here. But of course the present income tax would go, and we would get something much better for it—heavier, but fairer, and therefore less hateful.: (Hear, hear.) The 439 articles as tariff which your association has sworn eternal hostility to, —they would go. (Hear, hear.) The income was last year, six millions and a half. The 439 articles produce £750,000; tea, £5,270,000; sugar, £6,979,000; coffee, - £425,000 : wine—supposing it to be reduced one shilling per gallon, instead of the present monstrous and enor mous duty of 6s. . I suppose you might lose a million upon that ; corn, £580,000 ; currants, £300,000 ; raisins, £128,000; silks, £295,000 :- timber—what are those shipowners doing—(laughter)—Xs74,ooo; pepper, £107,000; paper and lfooks, X 1,159,000 ; assessed taxel,not reckoning the horse and carriage tax, which are very injuri ous to the coach building trade—in fact, almost strangle it— (hear, hear,).—and prevent thousands of people having sonic kind of carriage, who would have .it .if if there was no tax, and thousands others keeping an open carriacre for a fine day, and a close one for a wet day I liave stayed occasionally with some friends of mine in Ireland. I recollect staying with one a week and he drove me out in a fresh carriage every day once in the week. was told there were n'ter.) I asked him the reason. I man wants another carGriat"C o ld one, for in this county if a tfix es upon . carriages, and if a. ' ets it. He keeps the are sold they hardly , and have Therefore bring the price of the evf ri o c e nds e a CAaVatiltso lie can accommodate his suit his family and the weather. are great comforts-those who have carriages know e it; .and a great many would have carrian.e s as well if the Chancellor of the Exchequer would let them have I them. The marine insurance produces £286,000. There is -not misfortune enough at sea—hazard enough, cala mity enough, but the tax-gatherer puts his hand upon all ingenious method by which int n.,endeavonr to , save themselves from maritime risk. There is fire insurance; . and theewliole = Ii bunts to upwards of £26,0 00 , 000 . this tax of Bs. in every £lOO were established, the avho b le of' these taxes, or others equal in, amount, would e taken off; trade would be extended, intercourse with other nations vastly increased--doubled in fact. Manu factures, shipping, commerce, agriculture, would all NORTIIMIX DAILY TIMES feel this new life at once. (Hear, and applause.) But, then, and a granderresult than all; the scale of com forts of the greatbsdy of the people would be enormously raised. (Hear, hear.) Shopkeepers, retailers, ancltrades of every kind would be re'lieved, and they would find business much improved and the aspect of the whole country would change beyond all that any of us ever imagined. Since 1846, and to a large extent in eon-. sequence of the repeal of the Corn Laws, and alterations, in the tariff-the whole of it is not attributable to that, but it would not have arisen' without it— the exports of this country have' more than doubled. If - ten or twelve years would make this change in the alteration and the condition of the country, in the expansion of its industry and_ its commerce, and • the. general improvement amongst the whole people, it would be beyond the posver of language-to. describe the' great advance which you would We during the next twelve years, if this system were adopted; (Hear, hear.) Now, allow me to say, d.espite those gentlemen who are so uncivil in London, connected with the press--I say that this system of • taxation is cruel in its opera-' tion to the poor. Let it arise from the selfishness or ignorance of the rich and powerful—whether it be a guilt of neglect, or a guilt of. , design the guilt must lie at their doors, and at no other. (Hear, hear.) Now suppose you won't go the length that I have said that you conclude still that you re tain certain taxes from moral consideration; that is,,, chiefly the taxes upon spirits and tobacco. Let me say. the country is not •a bit more moral or a bit more sober because of those taxes. - (Hear, heer.) E I believe if there Were no Custom-hoteees and no xcise, and the - spirits, and wine, and ale, and tobacco were as cheap.as they would be if the tax gatherer was an animal ins; known, I do not believe that the people of this country would necessarily consume to their injury mere of those things than they do now, because we find that amongst the richer classes; the consumption of spirits does not increase. On the contrary, amongst them to whom. .price is no object, they are in the same position with regard to spirits that the poor would be if spirits were only half the, price. The price is - no . object to such -men. You don't find they have. bcea every day.more, and more intemperate; and the reasons which have made the rich . of one.generation much more temperate -than the rich of ,past generations, are reasons which are continually acting more and more upon the poor, and, without any effort. to makethom more moral or temperate by those high duties.; no doubt, all the good we expect from these high duties might be attained probably as, soon if those duties did not exist.. .But in reference to a supposed feeling that they are good in . a moral point of view, let us retain the duties upon spirits and tobacco. The duties -on . .those articles are about nineteen millions. Don't you think if the working classes de consume,_ as•l believe they do, much more than half these articles, that nine or ten millions a e year collected, from them in this indirect manner, might suffice to us, who are richer and better. off, and that we could undertake, for ourselves and all. our fellow country men, who are equally well placed, the sustentation.of all the national burdens which inie - ht . be required in addition to. those- two taxes. That' is of course a thing not permissible by an association which, intends, and wisely intends, ,the utter destruction of all custom-houses. At the same time, knowing as we do the difficulty of marching; and however far you intend to walk, you go by steps, if we could bring the question of direct and indirect taxation to this point which I have now indicated, there would be such a change prodUced in the condition of the country that all men would rejoice at it ; and at least there would be no prejudice on financial or fiscal,grounds to go the rest of the way, if anybody thought it necessary to propose it. Now, my complaint—l will state it in a few words —is, that the rich people of this country, who govern the, country, are not informed on this question ; that they don't care to be informed, and that they commit a great injustice upon the poor by permitting this system of taxation to exst. And further,- I say that the trade, the industry of the country, has a great complaint to make against the Parliament, because of the especial burdens which it throws upon the trade and the industry and from which it exempt s mos t unfairly that vast bulk of permanent property which is to be found in the soil of the whole kingdom. (Hear, hear.) Now, at the risk of taking your attention too far, I will ask your notice for a minute , or two to a department of fixation in which there is a great deal of misunderstanding, and 'on • account of the part I have taken in regard to which, I. have been a great deal, antikmost unnecessarily, abused. There is a tax ,upon bills of exchange which brought' £457,000, and another ou receipts and drafts £418,000. These last are mostly pennies, and they have 'a great notion in the . House of Commons that if a man only. pays a penny he never knows he pays anything. (Laughter.) But you cannot p u t £900,000 by. these two taxes into the exchequer 'without• some persons being £900,000 the worse for it. And it does happen, as we know, that most bills of exchange, and. receipts and drafts, are things which are known amongst towns and - trading people, and probably not•one-tenth of them are known amongst the strictly landed proprie tors and the rural population of the kingdom. (Applause.) I, of course,. know it would be hardly possible to have the same taxation everywhere; and therefore I would not complain of a thing of this sort : if I did not find it systematically the case. lam now going through the list in the depa r t men t o f stamps. , Marine insurance is £285,000. - Now, what could have been the coinposition of the head or heart of the Chancellor of the Exchequer who put a duty upon marine insurance. (Hear, hear.) I speak in a town where the matter is of pa r ti cu l ar i mportance. 'You see much of the risk and the calamities of the sea; • and everybody who is accustomed to send goods abroad— ' and with•loo millions a year of exports that number ofa persons must be.great in this country—there must be a large portion of the population who have an interest in: the abolition of that duty. It seems to me the worst: duty that could be imposed, wholly indefensible, and that it should be abolished. There is a great peculiarity. in the duty on fire insurance. You know—even the landed gentry know—(hear, hear)—that a landed estate does not require an insurance from fire. If they had property in the prairies, it might be . a reasonable thing, where the long grass sometimes burns with great rapidity, but it is not necessary in the counties of England. There, you observe, the great property of the landed proprietors, the everlasting earth is incapable of taxation by a duty upon fire insurance.. That was a good reason why they should not put a duty upon fire insurance, because there is no reason why warehouses and shops should pay £1,400,000 a-year to the state, where the ; landed proprietors have a descrip e . tion of property not applicable at all to such a tax. Bute what is more, by the law inflicting this tax upon fire, insurance all farming stock is specially exempted., (Ap plause.) I suppose farming stock was considered par ticularly insecure. Under the corn law, you know the labourers were, periodically starved, periodically discon tented, periodically revengeful, and periodically there were a great number of fires. I don't know whether that entered into the minds of the legislature when the exemption was made ; but I say when the land does not need to be secured, never requires it, and when farming stock is specially exempted, I say it is an impudent and unwarrantable tax. (Great applause.) One other illustration. The legacy-duty is a duty which to my mind always appears one particularly reasonable. There are persons who think 'differently. But for the legacy duty to be reasonable, surely it oug ht to come down to a certain lowness of amount ; it ought to come upon all the property left at the death of every individual' holder of property ;: and though I may make a difference in the amount-of the charge, for which some justification may be offered, to tax on a large description of property, and leave another wholly untaxed, appears to me to be a monstrous infliction upon that portion of the people whose property mainly is taxed. Let me beg your attention to this, because the case is so ex t raor di nary, that now and then when I have stated it, I have found men contradicting it in leading articles, as if I was stating a thing not true. In fact the thing is so monstrous that they in their ignorance, not knowing the facts, could not believe them. (Hear, hear.) Now the legacy duty is a duty which is paid; as you know, upon the property of a person who dies, but when you go to act upon the will you take out what is called probate, which consists of certain papers that are stamped, and on which - you have to pay a very heavy sum. These taxes were imposed in 1797, and they were brought into Parliament first by the ministers of that day to be laid upon all property. He had not fathomed the depth, and there is no plumb line ever will fathom the depth of selfishness in any particular cldss enthroned in the seats of irresponsible power. (Applause.) He brought in two bills, one for personal property, and a xter ta f x o e r s p freehold l property y property—that they at i p s a , s s a e l a l p t h r o e p e b i i t l y l twhhaitch :not freehold land or houses ; but th e bill which taxed freehold l an d • a nd h ouses, the property in which they were mostly i n te reste d , Rather, shol T a sayt,urally rejected. (Hear l hear.) it could. not b e carried t N l v thdrew t it Le t usse n e g,. .y h et t e r, _ . has been paid on these duties? The amount of probate duty paid has been .£1,240,000 sterling; legacy duty, £1,400,000, that is, £2,640,000 together. But, in 1853, this enormity: struck either the reason or the conscience of Mr. Gladstone, who was then as now, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he proposed in some degree to reinedy it He 'brought in a bill proposing what was called a succession tax; and, although I don't want to - charge him—he is one of the last men IwOuldeharse with dishonestye-but either 'he was greatly misled himself, or he did succeed in misleading us—not exactly as to the principle . of the Measure, . hilt as to' the amount of. re- venue we • should get from it. He stated that two millions a-year woold be received, but, I believe, that, .not mole than £70,000 or • £BO,OOO has heen received e: and, I believe, that since that has been proposed, it has not brought above three millions altogether. But. let me explain to you the subtilty with whieh thishvas brought -in, as if to: persuade us that 'a great amount of justice • was to be done, but it was on ly to„ commit us to another evil. Supposing that one of • your townsimn dies, and leaves £lO,OOO in ships, orincottoninyour warehouse„Or in shares in the North-Western Railway, or in the public funds, or in cash at his bankers, andhe leaves it to.a marn who is no relation to hinnethe legatee .will have to pay ;1;1,000, that is ten per cent. upon the legacy which comes to him. Another man dies, and leaves 10,000— hn equal sum—in a nice estate between here and War-. •rington, or anywhere, an d' let . us "assume that the two 'men are of the saine age,-10, or 45, or 50, one pays his £1,600, his legacy being in ships, or in cotton; or. Tail .way'shares; or funds, but the other than does not pay £1,500 at all ; but they say, Mir! So-and-50,..v,i1l ;you have the kindness to tell us • how old you are ? He is 45 or 50, as the case may be,' and'then they turn to a table. which shows 'how long a than of 'that age'. is-likely to live, and then they tike the annual value most ;modera tely calculated-e-(laughter) of £lo,o'o worth of land, and they multiply, not by` 30 :years' purchase, 'but they multiply. it by ten,, or five, or two years, the age which it is supposed that this man may, in all.probability, live to, and instead of going with £l,OOO of legacy duty, he goes with £2oo' or £3OO, as 'Abe case" may be. I stated a case the House" of Commens, which was told the by a friend. The gentlemen said he had an estate left him to the value of- £32,000, by 'a person who was ino relation to him, and they made the calculation as I told you. They asked him what sage he was, and then looked at the table, and said he had so many years to live ; then multiplied this by so many years, and it came out so much. Now, if this .£32,000 had been in cotton, or in ships, or in North-western shares, or ill the public funds, he would have had to pay £3,200. What did he pay? I am giving you the st or y as I t o ld it in the House of Commons in his presence, and he did not deny it. He paid not £3,200, but £7OO, or less than one-fourth. That is the principle of Mr. Gladstone's succession tax of - 1853, and I pronounced it a' scandal and a disgrace. (Applause.) Look for one moment at the grand result. Taking -the whole time . from 1797 to this hour, the legacy duty On personal property has paid more than fifty-seven millions sterling, and probate duty more than forty-six .millions, or one hundred and. three millions altogether. Deducting the succession duty which is probably received, it leaves a balance of one hundred millions sterling paid on per sonal property, from which freehold property had been absolutely exempted. (Applause.) Now if' these be faCts, are we justified in protesting against this state of things, or are we justified in asking our: fellow-country men to meet to discuss, to deliberate and to resolve that a more just system shall be established in the taxation of this country'? (Applause..) I say that the pocrer are taxed professedly to spare the rich, and I will give you my explanation of it. (Applause.) The. Parliament is entirely a Parliament for the rich. I have shown you that in houses below the rental of £lO, twenty-four millions of people are found. These twenty-four millions are excluded from representation. The represented, therefore, consist of six millions who are supposed to be, and are of the upper and richer classes; but Parliament besides being a Parlia men t f or th e rich, is specially a Parlianaent for lauded proprietors, and I have no doubt that I .speak within the mark when I say that 300 members, probably much more, haVe no kind of title to scats in the house, but by the voice and by the will of some half dozen or dozen of the chief owners of land in the respective counties °fro m which - they come. (Ap plause.) Now, what is the remedy ? There are two modes of remedying this matter, perhaps they may go together. One would be by making information on this subject universally known and so widely extended, that even with our present bad system of representation the wrong might he redressed in some great excitement, and. after some long and perhaps perilous agitation for it; may be repaired by amending the constitution, by .amending your representation. -Now, gentlemen, seri ously, you are not believed in Liverpool to be so potent as . you ought to be in all matters in what is.. called Liberal, and what • we, believe to be jest legislation. (Hear, hear.). Do you think it is safe, is it just at any. time, that! twenty-four millions of your countrymen should be wholly debarred from represer&ation Parliamenthi - (A voice : "No, no.") A great mass of the nation is wholly unrepresented —(hear, hear)—and, those who pay much more-than half of all the indirect taxation has .no :voice whatever. in the Parliament of what is called a Free Constitution. 'Ta x m onarch is not responsible, and , can perhaps do little in this matter; your houses of Parliament cannot be responsible to the people efor . whom they profess' to legislate. Now, I invite the Times, and that ingenious gentleman who found out that if the work people should only start a carriage , and' :pair and. get ponies for their children, their employers would be forced to pay them wages to, find them in that luxury. I invite the Mines; the- Spectator , -and the Economist to lanswer me those questi ons .' .Do not the twenty-four millions living in houses under £lO rental pay half . the taxes of the country ? I ask them further,. do they not work harder, and produce greater value from-their in dastry; than any other equal number of people in any other countries in the world ? I ask them further, are these twenty-four millions not wholly without represen tation, barbarously excluded, and dreaded now, by the monopolists. of power ? (Hoar, , hear.) Only the other day you- had,—probably some of you were present—on - this platform ,the expelled ministers of the last cabinet. (Laughter and cheers.) A yeah, ago -what were they doing ? :They : were pre tendiine. to concoct a Reform Bill. You remember the 9 exceeding, duplicity which they manifested on that occa sion; you remember their ignorance of the people's 'wants, and the utter contempt of the people's under standings ; and you know the , result was their ignominious and well-merited downfall. (Applause.) You have now another Cabinet at this very minute discussing the very same question. I hope not to come to the same result—(hear, . hear—) by :attemptines the -same system of subterfuge. , There are men in thin cabinet, I know there are, with the sincere :wish that the reprepresentation of the people should be 'really and greatly improved. (Hear, hear.), They know, you 1 know, I know intimately what. was th e ques ti on upon. ! which their predecessors were turned out, and upon which they succeeded to power. I know what was the understanding, what was the declaration, what were the pledges upon which the majority, was secured against the Government of Lord Derby. I know some of . the difficulties they had to' contend with. There may be colleagues who do not like reform at all; , there may be colleagues who are faint 'in their affection for it; there may be, some whose courage is always oozing out at their finger ends when thereas anything really to be done. I-have seen statesmen, .so called, who were nothing, and who were fit for n o thi ng but clerks, I mean to do the work well that wassput before them to do, but who seemed to know nothing of what I understood of the principles of statesmanship. I make no comment upon this cabinet. I only describe the circumstances under which they succeeded. to power, and the promises which they. made with regard, to this great question, and I only hope-that they may have the. wisdom to know.that the future of their government,. and for a length of time the future of their party, depends upon the honesty and the courage avith which they deal with this great and unavoidable question. (Loud cheers.) I said that the corning within the. pale of the franchise of 24 millions, or any great portion of .them, was . dreaded by the monopolists of power. Now I venture to say before this audience -that .in the observations I ' have made .to-night •I, have, not, dealt merely with opinions and speculations. I have dealt largely , with facts, and in facts which I :believe no man at all ac quainted with this great cause can deny. I have been charged with virulence,. and now I ani charged in a paper with untruth—with fasehood ; I am so charged I say by those miserable conspirators against the• common weal who write 'in the 1 .;,-; columns of the, Times newspaper—(great cheering, -and iuncon,genial slanders are -vomited forth weehly in the pages of Alm- great. Saturday - reviler. , (Roars of, laughter, and cheering.) . But still 'these: facts remain; and they remain, I hesi tate not to say, to the dishonour of this country, and make Gsvernment and .authority insecure. (Hear) Aristocracy, entrenched within the citadel of power, mayrest upon unchallenged rules—monaichy itself, venerable with the antiquity of a thcasanct years—authoritj of evety kind will be quickened - and will pass away, 'finless it be based upon the true interests, and comnrends itself to the consciences, of the people. (Cheers.) I ask this—that Parliament should be made a real representative of the property, the industry, and the intelligence of the nation —(hear, hear)—that we may be delivered, if possible, from chaotic legislation, from reckless expenditure, and from a taxation oppressive and unequal and unjust. (Cheers.) The monopolists of power reject this de mand with scorn. The day will come when it will be made in a louder voice than mine —(hear, hear) — and when this question will be grasped in abler hands than mine; and when it is so made as was, the case in 1832, that will be rurrendered amid terror and humilia tion for which reason and justice now plead in vain. (Loud cheers.) Lord TEYNHAM, at considerable length, spoke in favour of direct taxation, and financial economy in the State. Mr. J. C. ENTART, M.P., said he had attended there that night with very .great. pleasure to hear his friend; Mr. Bright, and although he did not, - as the hon. gen tlemenvery well knew, agree in. every opinion he ex pressed, yet he . (Mr. Ewart) cordially agreed with him in the general abstracted question of direct taxation ; and although he would not go so far as to say that we should have direct taxation noiv, yet he would' say that he agreed that we should gradually pro gress in the path of direct taxation. The honourable momber then went on •to say that he was opposed to the levying of taxes on any kind. of insurances, and 'expressed a hope that the 439 articles in the customs tariff, yielding only £750,000 a-year,.would be speedily expunged from that tariff. Mr: POLLARD URQURART, in a long speech, spoke in favour of direct taxation. A vote of thanks to the members of Parliament who had attended the meeting was moved by Mr. Heyworth, seconded by Mr. Francis. BoUlt, and carried, and a similar tribute having been paid to the chairman, the proceed.: ings were brought to a close at eleven o'clock by the audience singing " God save the Queen," tothe accom paniment of Mr. Thomas's euphonic band. VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT. MEETING AT EDGE-HILL. A public meeting in connection with this movement was held yesterday evening, in St. Mary's School, King street, Edge-hill, in furtherance of the cause in this town. Mr. F. A. Clint occupied the chair ; and there were also present Messrs. J. B. Cooper, H. Bremner, A. Stone, T. B. Forwood, Newlands, James Thompson, Woodall, James Harvey, the Rev. R. W. Connor, &c. The CHAIRMAN said, when be was asked to take the chair on that occasion, he thought he might plead his several engagements connected with municipal affairs ,as an excuse for not joining in the affairs of that evening, which were rather foreign to his other business ; but, believing that to be a great national movement, he could not refuse the request of their excellent friend, Mr. Cooper. He had beer_ in London, to attend a large meeting of shipowners, called -together to consider the very disastrous condition of that interest—a condi tion which no one could witness without feeling deep regret, whether connected with the shipping trade or not. He mentioned that subject because it had some bearing on the present movement in the country. It had always been considered that it was by the supremacy of her fleet that this country had remained in possession of the channel, and it had always been the boast of England that she had been able to maintain possession of the seas. Since the peace in 1815 a great change had taken place, and within the last few years a still greater change hy the introduction of steam, so that warfare is con ducted on different principles: The steam fleet of France was about equal to that of England; and taking that in connection with the shipping interest, he did think that it was necessary for the Government to inquire into the cause of the depression of that interest. He believed that the volunteer movement was called for at the present time. A sort of vague idea had taken possession of the minds of the people that something great was about to happen. He was l inot aware that there were any well-defined grounds for it; but, as a matter of precaution, it was right to be prepared. He hoped that meeting would be a successful one, and add a unit to the general move ment that was going on in the town. It was easy to see, from the position of France and England, how a large body of men could be thrown on our coast. He might repeat a very trde observation, that the best way to avoid was to be prepared for it, and therefore when a gentleman in another place, who was likely addressing a much larger meeting than that .arro gated to himself, or rather his followers called him the apostle of peace, he believed that they (the volunteers) were the true apostles of peace. He believed the prin ciples advocated by Mr. Bright and his friends would be much more likely to lead to a breach of the peace than they would. He concluded by calling upon Mr. For wood to move the first resolution. Mr. FORWOOD then proposed, " That in the opinion of this meeting, it is r2ost desirable that every assistance should be given to the volunteer artillery and rifle movement, with the view more especially of raising effi cient companies in the West Derby Ward district, and this, meeting pledges itself to promote this object by every means in its power." Ho said they were all fami liax,,through the Medium of a free press, with what had been doing from day ,to day in the movement, which was to show to the Government that, like Englishmen, they would protect their country. It became every man in Liverpool, which was the foremost town 'in wealth and commerce, to do as they were doing, and they had always been forward on occasions of this kind. The Gm'ernment had not done their duty in providing proper defences for Liverpool; but he hoped that now, when they had taken such a step, they would get that en couragement which they looked for. It had been said that, in case of an invasion, the buoys could be removed, and the lights put out, but when they took into considera tion the great interest that would be at stake, and the amount of life and propeity which might - be sacrificed by such a proceeding, he would say that it would be Madness to attempt such a ihing. At this stage of the proceedings, the first company of the Liverpool Rifle Brigade, numbering 100 men, under the command of R. G. Hamilton, Esq., arrived, and were greeted with three cheers. Mr. BREMNER, in a long and able speech, seconded the motion, which was eloquently supported by the Rev. R. It Connor. Mr. HAILEY then proposed that a committee be formed to organise a canvass. The motion was seconded by Mr. Cooper, and thanks having been voted to the chairman, the meeting broke up. THE RIFLE VOLUNTEERS' BALL, IN ST. GEORGE'S HALL. The preparations' for. the grand ball to be given in St. George's-hall next Friday, by. the Ist Company of the 'Liverpool Volunteer Rifles, in aid of the Royal Infirmary, and Other local charities, are rapidly ap proaching .. completion. The sale de dense will, of course, ,be the great hall, which will be boarded covet with a flooring of the best seasoned pitch pine ; and the con tractor pledges his reputation that it will be the most clamant, so to speak, laid down•in the building. The whole of the suite Otrooms will be thrown open during the , evening, so that the ball-room, in, spite of the numerous attendance (for upwards of 1,000 persons have expressed their' intention, of being present), will never be overcrowded. The supper, it is said, will be laid out in the smaller concert-room ; and the band will ii) 1 b consist of the elite .of the instrumental p erformers of v a r n i brilliant i ant a s St. George's-hall, No ge ball-room lo in the r 9 world a by' a numerous and well-dressed company ; 'and next Friday it - will present an o isemblc of splendid gaiety-, " good lookse r p so esl_lic N o V l il d ie t i o l w li n a . s ” rarely, if ever, been surpassed in the DECEMBER 2, 1859. COURT AND OFFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. The Duke and Duchess of Aumale have been on a visit to the Queen at Windsor Castle. The Queen, with Princess Frederick William of Prussia (Princess Royal), and the Duchess of Aumale, walked in the Home Park on Wednesday morning, and: visited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent at Frogmsre. The second dramatic performance took place after dinner on Wednesday evening, the play selected being Shakespeare's tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. A Cabinet Council was held on Wednesday, at the official, residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, ill Downing-street. The Ministers present were Viscount Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the - Duke of Argyll, Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, Lord John. Russell, the Duke of Newcastle, the Right lon. Sidney Herbert, Sir Charles Wood,' the Chancellor of the - Exchequer, the Duke of Somerset, the Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson, Sir George Grey, the Right Hon. E. Cardwell, the Right, Hon. C. P. Villiers, and the Earl of Elgin. THE HARPER'S FERRY INSURRECTION. ' The excitement in Virginia, arising out of the . Ferry pronunciamento, seems only abated for the instant, to revive with augmented energy. Yes terday, the most alarming accounts were for warded from Charleston. - to Richmond, to the effect that , a movement for the liberation of Brown was hourly anticipated, and that various barns and sheds had been fired by confederates of the incarcerated martyr. This exciting word pro duced the effect that was to be anticipated. Large bodies of troops were at once placed under arm's' at Richmond and a t Al exan d r i a , w ith orders to move this morning upon the scene. of contemplated hostilities. The panic through out the State has suddenly attained the wildest stage. Indiscriminate arrests are made ; the eye of partial justice fixing itself more especially upon the peddlers, who a re to be found in every village , and upon eatery road. Various of these are im prisoned ; and the pursuit of them appears to be universal. The Tennessee episode is in the mean time proceeding; Dr. Palmer having o bt a i ne d his liberty on bail. Dr. Howe, of Boston, to insure his liberty and immunity from a requisition,. has taken flight from Boston, and may hereafter be addressed in Canada.—New York Times, Nov. 18. STONEMASON'S MOVEMENT.—On Wednesday night, a meeting of stonemasons was held at Whitworth, near Rochdale, Mr. John Turnbull being voted to the chair. The meeting was addressed by Messrs. Hoyle, West, and Prestley, and it was stated that it was the wish of the masons to obtain, by amicable means, the reduction of the hours of labour from ten to - nine hours per diem, and an aggregate meeting of the trade in Rochdale arid the surrounding district was decided on. THE LATE POISONING AT STUFFYNWOOD HALL—Ott Tuesday the prisoner, Thomas Spowage (who had for some time been coachman to Mr. Paget) was brought before the Derbyshire bench o f magistrates, at Chester field, upon the charge of wilfully administerine, can tharides (commonly called Spanish flies) to M ar y Dean, the parlour maid, and others of the establishment. De tective Barnes proved apprehending the prisoner, and his identification by a druggist at Mansfield as the same individual who had purchased au ounce of cantharides at his shop two months since. After a consultation the presiding magistrate, E. G. Maynard, Esq., decided that there was no criminal law to meet the case, and the prisoner was, therefore, discharged. ROBERT STEPHENSON AND THE GREAT EASTERN.-- When Mr. Brunel was occupied with his first fruitless efforts to launch the Great Eastern, at the close of one most disheartening day's work, he wrote Mr. Stephenson, urging him to come down to Blackwall on the follow ing morning, and confer with him as to further measures. Next morning. Mr. Stephenson was in the yard at Blackwall shortly after six o'clock, and he remained there until dusk. While superintending the operations abut mid-day, he came to the end of a balk of timber which canted up, and he fell up to 1 ,1 i 5 n m a i r d y dl d e r i e n ss, th w e it T h h o a u n t i a e n s y m g u r d e . at H co e at w ( a t s ho mze i l t y h i e n ordi was bitter cold) and with on ly thi n b oots on his weather He was urged to leave the yard a n d c h ange hi s dreg,- but with his usual disregard of health, his reply was, "Oh, never -mind me ; I am quite used to this sort of thing;" and he went paddling about in the mud, smok ing his cigar until almost quite dark, when the work of the day was completed. The consequence of this ex posure was an inflammation of the lungs, which kept him to his bed for a fortnight.—Fraser's .ffagazine, for December: DARING ROBBERY OF JEWELLERY.—lnformation has been conveyed to the Wolve r hampton borough police of a daring robbery of jewellery late on Monday night, at Wednesfield Heath, near that town. At about half-past nine on that night Mr. John Williams, watchmaker, of that place, was alarmed by the loud crash occasioned the breaking of a large portion of his shop windows. This he found had been occasioned by a brick, which yet remained upon the window board, at a place where before there was a quantity of gold weddi ng rings , w hich he instantly missed. Two persons at once ran ou t of Mr. Williams's house; on doing so they found t wo men running away. These they followed, an d th e pursu ers ppor ca ur m bs e uaeb s e o ilsi n tcy ofueoar courage, eet,hohoviry the pursued thathptuereseurroe,bdfbaeirlesb eg d there hiinm cwa shpeeteunnrlheede might have everyfigTeehhtet. have secured his man, and the thieves escaped into a neighbouring brickyard. The property stolen com prised twelve wedding rings and other similar articles, valued together at £2O. Igartittfl 4attiliffeurt. HUNTING APPOINTMENTS. CHESHIRE HOUNDS. Saturday Dec. 3 Peckforton Castle' Monday Dec. 5 Ashton Hayes. Wednesday Dec. 7 Oulton Park. - Thursday Dec. 8 Duddon Heath. Saturday Dec. 10 Manor House. At Half-past Ten o'clock RIDGWAY COURSING CLUB, SOUTHPORT, DECEMBER 1. By permission of Rev. C. Hesketh, and C. Scarisbrick, Es- Judge, Mr. Dalzell ; Hon. Sec. James Baker, Esq. THE SCARISBRICK PUPPY STAKES. Heather Bell beat Billet Doux Jeopardy beat Barbican Canopy beat Sealig,ht Black Impression beat Bellona Peacebreaker beat Piedmont Glen Eagle beat Barefoot Herbert beat Blue Design Hurricane beat Butterfly Bold Enterprise beat Hesus Caneradgo beat Penrith Jack Snipe beat XXX Black En ign beat Burgomaster. SECOND TIES. Jeopardy beat Heather Bell Canopy beat Black Impression Glen Eagle beat Peacebreaker Hurricane beat Herbert Bold Enterprise beat Caneradgo Jack Snipe beat Black Ensign THE RIDG WAY CHALLENGE CUP.- Attermire beat Barbarian] Balefire beat Whirlpool Bloody Heart beat Shrimpmaid Beatrice beat Nestor Great Eastern beat Judah Passport beat Penny-a-Liner SECOND TIES. Attermire beat Balefire Beatrice beat Bloody Heart . Great Eastern beat Passport THE CRINOLINE PICTURE. Seaport beat Jonathan • Note beat Bohemian Joust beat Black Belle Portland beat 'Wedgewood BitPZßSenoi at i r • p o t io : f of a hr L i d ' a bab e ec b e aeaese beat Brandy e t e l beat3N a J r t Nooa Note n z u ne iusa TlES.r c l3la id 1 LATEST BETTING.-LIVERPOOL. CROYDON STEEPLE CHASE. 5 to 1 against Goldsmith (o). • 6 to 1 against Abd-el-Kader (0). 6 to 1 against Chance (t). 7 to 1 ag a i ns t Omar Pasha (t). 8 to 1 against Dayton (t). 50 to 2 .T s A ag r st rE . G R old s s A m L it & s. B ru nette coupled (t). CROYDON STEEPLE CH ISE. s to 1 against Goldsmith (o). ' • There is like 7 ly t° 7to 1 against Abd-el-Bader (t). 7to 1 agaimst Omar Pasha (t). Bto 1 against Brunette (t). a to stana which I should selcot Goldsmith and Omar Pas 31 " FIS/LEIL to N 1 b i b l e g: ta t t g Lottery od e I s z od. v s f h oe t o y : . coup O• frovi