The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-18 00:00:00

other industries. For instance, take one of the great prin-
ciples on which the commerce of this country is governed.
It is laid down as a principle that no raw material of a ma-
nufacturer should be taxed; well, but if you look to the
land, what is the first thing you do by the present law? You

tax the lona, which is the'iliw inseerisl urfthe tamer, in

every way, under all circumstances, and at the very earliest
moment. (Cheers.) The farmer does not step upon the
acres he has hired, but lie is immediately called upon for a
rate which is, in fact, a tax upon his raw material. Well,
I say how can you reconcile it to yourselves that you should
lay down as a principle that the raw material of a manufac-
turer—of cotton, for instance—should not be taxed,
when the raw material of the manufacturer of

Hoar is taxed in every possible s'aape. (Cheers.)
Then, this lead.' me at once to the considera-
tion of our local burdens; and I think I shall be able to

put this before you in the cour, of a few minutes in a
light in which you all at once recognise their injustice.
In this room I first intimated my opinion that that was a
question that ought fairly to he brought before the coon
try. You know the great opposition that that proposi-
tion
had to encounter from opponents, and the great want,
of cordiality that there was amongst a very considerable
' chit who ought to have been our friends. You know
when I first brought forward that question in the House
of Commons, sustained only by a petition from the Agri-
cultural Association of the county of Buckingham, that we
had a majority of more than 100 against us. You know
what happened iu the next year. So great was the forte
of discussion—such the magic of truth, that that great ma-
jority was reduced to some 25 or 30 ; and you know what
happened lout year, with nothmg to assist us but continued
discussion and the increased awl progrssive influence of
truth and rcason—that the majority almost entirely
disappeared, and that in fact it was acknowledged that
the force of these views was so considerable, that

the existing government could no longer contend
against them. (Cheers.) Now look at this case of the
local taxation of the country. I shall not trouble you much
with details or figure., fur I have thought of thw subject
so often, I have had to state it uader such difficult circuits:

stances, and I have had to contend upon it with men of
such great make and likelihood that my mind is naturally
so tutored as that I can place it probably in a novel and
striking light:before you. (Cheers.) There is raised in the
United Kingdom, by local taxation, 13,000,0001. per annum.
When we complained originally of that great assessment, it
was said that the land might pay a g..si desl of it, but not
more than other classes. Must property, it was said, and
railroads paid a great deal, and this was objected to any
statement of the case. This led to a further analysis of the
' '

gin ation, and it then resulted that of the 13,000,000.1. per an-
num that was raised from a limited clam of the property of
tha country called " real property," 8,000,000/. was contri-
buted by the land of the United Kingdom. That, as a
general statement, no one contradicts. Now let me show
you the consequences of this state of affairs. I will take
the rental of the United Kingdom at 60,000,0001. per an-
num ; that is rather an excessive estimate, but I wish to
state the case rather as against ourselves. There has been
such a reduction of rents in Englund, and such distress in
Ireland, that perhaps that is rather a estimate to take.
Well, we have pretty good evidence that the general income
of the country is 240,040001. per annum; but I will take a
very moderate estimate—l will take only the rateable and
taxable income of the country, mod therefore I wiil not say
that the 60,000,0.41. per smut= of rental is one-fourth, but I
will say that itili only sue-third of the income of the country.
Then, if that 60,000,00111. which contributes 8,000,000/.
of local taxation (now universally admitted for objects of
general and public interest), it' that 60,10a,000/. of rental,
which is one-thirst of the general income of the country, eon-
tribute that 8,000,0101. of tuxes for objects of common
interest, it follows that two-thirds of 8,000,0001., say
6,000,001., should not be borne by the laud of this country.
(Hear, hear.) That appears to me to be an arithmetical
proposition which no one can impugn It 'mounts to this:
that the land of the United Kingdom is every year contri-
buting fur the advantage of the country, and fur the main-
tenanee of common and notional objects, about 6,000,000/.
year more than it ought. (Cheers.) Allow me to ask you
what is 6,000,0 )01. a year ? It is one-tenth of the rental of
the country, according to the exaggerated estimate that I
have taken. We read in the newspapers, and hear of the
proprietors of land making allowances to their tenantry of
10 per cent., received with as kind a feeling as it is granted,
though both the perniu who grants and the rrson who
receives !'eel that it is not equal to the occasion. And
actually the very persons who advise you to seek nn
adjustment among yourselves as a remedy fur your pre-
sent distress, and who tell you that a diminution of rent
to the amount which is now common is a sufficient specific,
are at this moment supporting a system of taxation which
every year unjustly levies from the owners and occupiers
of the land a sum equal to one-tenth of the whole rental of
the country. (Cheer.) It is now no longer necessary to
argue the question that the objects for which the
8,000,000/. are pail by the loud arc objects of national in-
terest. When I first brought the queatiou before the
house of Coininous, 1 actually had to enter into an ab-
stract arguineet to prove that the maintenance of the poor
was a national object; but taw no one will discus.' the
question, for we have, evs it in the published evidence of
Mr. Corutwall Lewis, a full and complete admission of the
point, and of all other points connected with the subject.
Then it conies to this—that the weight of your local taxa-
tion, as at present adjusted, is equal to one-tenth of the
rental of the country, and that it' a fair and impartial
adjustment of that local taxation teak place, you, the
owners and occupiers, would at once be relieved, by no
sacrifice of the rest of the community, but by the principles
of politit=l justice, of which we hear so much on all other
sub,ccts, to that extent. (Cheers.) When 1 see what an
immense relief might thus be obtained on the very princi-
I plus which our opponents are promulgating, I MI surprised
that any one should attempt to deprecate the elforts that
have been Lamle.= your behalf on that subject. lam sur-
prised that a man KO able and eminent as Mel'usey, should
my that it was a mere question of 0.1. in the pound in the
(meaty rate. It is no such thing; but to every tenant in
England it is a question of 10 percent. further reduction on
the rent that lie is paying. There are other questions of
equal intereat and importance which, even it we cannot
bring back the eld system of protection, which the country
alone can bring sack; we are still bound to work for, with-
out giving up our opinions—to work for and to attempt to
achieve. 1 say that we should not only obtain an adjustment
of taxation, founded upon equality, but
the land tram all the unnecessary restrictions which are now
kept up upon that branch of the national industry, when we
know that every other branch is tree from thou. I won't,
in order to make out a ease, touch upon the laws which re-
strict you from cultivating tobacco or sugar—let them pass;
but I notice thou to show you that they are parts of the
same system—they all prove that you have a financial sys-
tem in this country founded on a totally different state of
circumstances to those which now exist. You raised your
revenue in this country by receiving a certain market to au
important productive interest, and by throwing the burden of
your taxation, and straining the energies of that taxation in
consequence. Tile moment you withdrew the artificial as-
sistance which you gave to that interest, the moment you
ceased to assure to theta a certain market, you should have
adjusted all your financial laws in deference to that change
of affairs, and should have given them relief proportiousto
to the assistance which you withdrew from them. (Cheers.)
But there are restrictions on the cultivation of the soil
which immensely interfere with the profits of the farmer.
I know nothing more remarkable than this. Look to the
branch of what is called inland reveime which is raised in

this country, and which produces 1.1,000,0001. a year, a sea
equal to the revenue of great empires and kingdoms on the
continent—equal to the whole revenue, for instance, of Au-
stria, who is now with difficulty raising a great loan. litre
is a fact that might astonish foreigners—two-thirds of that
great amount is raised front a tax on one single crop of the
13ritidh farmer—the tax on the barley raised by the British
farmer annually produces two-thirds of that 15,000,000/.
(Cheers.) Well, but look at the taxation of the British
farmer, with respect to that particular crop. You know
very well that I never took a hot-headed view of the malt
tax. I always told you if you could preserve an assured
market for your geuer.d produce, that it was wise to en-
dure the burdens that were placed on you for the public
service, and certainly if a man got a good price for his
wheat, he might endure a law which was a great restriction
on the production of another crop. But now the
assured market is withdrawn, and all the burdens
and restrictions should be withdrawn. (Cheers.) I
touch upon these subjects because I think I shall show you
that the only mode of vindicating your rights, and of ob-
taining that relief to which you are legitimately entitled,
is by understanding this question. I said just now that
the great principle upon which the new commercial
system is established was that theiraw material of no ma-
nufacture should be taxed. Well, then, I want to know
if that be the principle on which our legislation is to
be founded how any man can vindicate the land-tax ;
how any man, if that principle be a just one, can now—
that you have totally repealed all artificial prices and all
artificial markets justify the state at once walking
in and saying to the owners and occupiers of the soil (lie-
tween whom there is no longer any difference); " We will
levy a direct impost upon your raw material i" (Cheers.)
No one ever offers an argument against these propositions.
I am sure no Chancellor or the Exchequer—no one in the
House of Commons—not Mr. Cobden himself, can tell you
it is just that the poor should be maintained by a particular
class of property, or that a direct tax should be levied from
one particular class from which all other classes are free,
or that great restriction should be placed on a particular
loss when all other trades arc exempt from these restric-
tions. (Cheers.) Then how are you met ? How, when
the egncultural interest is suffering severely by the ad-
mission of the minister, and by the acknowledgment of
her most gracious Majesty, suffering as all must admit,
and, as we believe, from being subjected to imposts and re-
strictions to which no other property and no other trade
is subjected—how aro you met when you complaia,
and how aro those allegations encountered ? In this mar
ner—" It is for the interest of the community that you
should pay. taxes for the rest of the community." That is
really their case. No one pretends that if they began
de novo they could construct a financial system like the
Ywreilteut;But if you
maintainbut,
isst
mit
went to market and addressed a person who owed you_
sum of money, and said, " Well, I must have that 501.t,1i
and he said, "No doubt I owe you 601., but will you
ththceyy"poseitarabllylyeanea.y that*
they
" I to
i
an so the agricultural interest must say,
I" You admit the injustice—we feel it, and it is your
bbusinessto devise means by which some satisfactory.ar-
ymoc how
a fair,"
Irr to get it," you would naturally say,
our
ar-
rangement can be arrived at." What, then, is the practical
point to which our actions should lead ? If "o have a clear
case for the country ; if we can ask fur relief founded on
the very principles which they themselves are promul-
gating; if we can show that wo are subject to unequal
taxation; if we can show that we are subject to injurious
restrictions ; if we can show that we are experiencing n
distress which you boast that no other class of the com-
munity experiences, then it is for you to devise the means

—it is for you to offer the terms on which we can permit
the present system to go on." (Cheers.) I give no opinion
upon those terms. I think it most unwise for the landed
interest to go to any government and to say, we are aulfer-
ing, give us a fixed duty, give us a sliding scale and cure
our suffering. Our business is to say, "We arc suffering
—you admit it year after year—we are suffering, and we
have discovered that the cause is an excess of taxation

which our energies cannot endure—it is a restriction
upon our industry which no industry can prosper under,
and we call upon you to do us justice, and to
place us on the same level as our fellow citi-
zens. If you can't do that, if you have some device as
politicians, as statesmen, as men of the world, u
members of parliament—if you have some device which
is a compromise, and can conic forward with it, it
is for you to do so, and for us to consider whether
upon the whole, with such political and financial arrange-
ments, we can any longer endure the burden which we now
experience—but that is your affair and not ours—we aro
not to fall into the trap which yens are always making tin
us, that we are a class wanting to tax the food of the com-
munity. What we want is lailitical justice—what we want
is financial equity—iciW:us that which we demand—let us
be placed upon the same level as our fellow-subjects with
regard to taxation and freedom of industry, and we will at•
tempt to maintain that struggle. If you can't do it—if you
can't act according to thins pr:nciplsa of justice which you
have so loudly declared, then conic forward to us and give
us some scheme, some arrangement, which may be the re-
suit of your wise counsels and of your skilful statesmanship,
and we will do that which tke agricultural class, us an
eminently loyal class, is always ready to du—we will look

, . .
a,
with respect and consideration to ny proposition that is
matte by the minister of the Queen. (Cheers.) Now I think
that that is our real duty, and I think if, instead of mourning

over the past, instead of ester:ding thine whom we only
have considered traitors, it instead of perpetn:lly recurring
to that which is gone by—if we gu before the country
and show the country that we have a case founded on
justice, and that can be sta:sported by argument, wu
shall obtain Vie sympathies of all &ipso in a country
where justice has ever ben esteemed, and where reason
has ever been honoured. (Hear, hear.) What is more—if
I could condescend—when I feel that I have not only a
. .

s:reat, but the greatest cause to advocate—it I could Con-
descend, I say, to consider tactics, I would %iodine to say
that it is not only most just—out only most honest—nut
only most honourable, but that it is the must adroit, the
wisest, and will be the most successful means. I know that
we have consideruble difficulties to deal with at this mo-
ment. I acknowledge that there never woe—front the pe-
culiar circumstances of the time—in the history of this
country when the fortunes of the agricultural interest were
in such peculiar peril. I know what is threatened to us—
I know what is nieuticed ; but that is the reason why I
have urged you to tin as 1 have, and I have spoken without
reserve. What I want the farmers of Englund to do is to
understand their position. It has been enunciated by lips
of great importance that the agricultural interest form an
insignificant class. I have always counselled my friends
(and I trust I have always acted so myself) to fee: the in-
expediency of arraying one interest against another, and
of trying to depreciate or to magnify the relative impor-
tance of those interests ; and 1 never have despaired,
from the beginning of this great struggle, of some day
seeing a policy in this country which could draw about
it the sympathies of all the great classes awl inte-
rests but when I ant toll that the owners
and occupiers of land am an insianiticaut class,
want to say a word to the farmers of the United
Kingdom upon that subject. I am not saying anything
about territorial constitutions, or on ancient aristocracy—
I am not talking about the influence in the govern-
' ment—the imperishable value in a government of tra-
ditionary influences, which I believe myself to be ong of
the reasons why the constitution of this country has ex-
perienced so difibrent a fortune to the constitution of other
countries; but I will speak to you not only in the spirit of
the 19th century, but in the spirit of the year the
spirit of the economic Manchester —in the spirit of
those leagues and confederations which have made such
booty of your fortunes, and I ask arc the farmers
of the United Kingdom aware, or can they forget
that they are the greatest employers of labour in the king-
dom? (Hear, hear.) The employment of labour in this age is
the test of the importance of a class. The class that most
employs labour is that class to which the British farmer
belongs, and, therefore, that class of the farmer is, accord-
ing to that economic new-formed test invented by your
opponents, the most considerable, I presume, in the coun-
try, if they only understood their position. Then, let the
British farmer, if he belong to the most influential party
and have the hest cause—let him resolve that that cause
shall prevail and triumph. Let the farmers unite. Don't
let them split straws about the different courses premised
by persons in whom they have confidence ; but let them,
seeing all the circumstances) of the Cade, and clearly
understintliug their position, make up their minds to
support those who will obtain fur the land of Eng-
land financial justice. (Cheers.) As cur all that idle and
superficial retort with which we are met, "if you
take off this tax, or alleviate the injustice of which you
complain—of what you complain—how are we to go on, or
where are we to find the substitute ?" my answer is,
" Those are considerations for politicians and statesmen, and
not for the fanners of England, or for any class sufferins from
financial injustice." Demand iu a manner that cannot be
mistaken, and as the greatest employers of labour tan
always demand—demand that financial justice shall be
dune you, and you may depend upon it that you'll have
public men who will find no difficulty in fulfilling your
wishes. (Cheers.) I know well the difficulties wo have to
encounter. When parliament meets it will not, probably,
be in my power the moment it assembles to call upon the
government of the country to do you that justice, because
by a most our resolution, which I supported, the Limn°
tax is limited in its existence now only to a few months.
Either it must be continued or it must be repealed.
If it is continued government has a surplus, and I shall
ask in your name, if you authorise me, that the government
should take adviiii•age of that surplus, and cotawenee a
system of financial justice. If it is nut continued, whatever
party is formed insist come forward to ask for direct tases
and on your behalf I shall demand that those taxes shall be:
abolished on principles of financial justice. Whatever hap-
pens, therefore, see have a fair chance—if we are united we
have a certain chance of justice. (Cheers.) I ant told that
all this is foreseen, that it is said the landed classes nro
very powerful in the present constitution, and that means
will he taken, as it is not convenient to accede to their de-
mand fur justice, to curtail that power, and we are to have
a new reform bill. Perhaps you will do me the justice to
emeriti's!. that I have never heels one of those who wits
frightened at a large constituency. I have the honour to
represent a large constituency, and if its numbers were
greatly increased, I should have ito hesitation in appearing
before it. And I can say that, if the ministers of the sove-
reign, whom I give credit for being men of honour, and
men duly sensible of the great responsibility of their
exalted position, feel it to he their duty to bring forward
any measure, the object of which is to revise and recon-
struct our constituencies, (created under a measure that was
not devised by your friends) I shall give to such a proposi-
tion, introduced by such men, mid under such circum-
stances, my most respectful and unimpassioned atten-
tion; but, if I were to find that instead of being a sea-
gpre brought forward from the profound consideration of
wise cabinet of responsible statesmen, it was brought for-
ward in the excitement of the party feeling, and from tho
exigency of a fictitious necessity, that its only object was to
curtail the influence of the land which it has injured, or to
increase the power of some limited elms or coterie then.
even at the risk of being called an " anti-lteforzuer "
pledge you my word that I will give it an unceasing minion-
compromising opposition. (Cheers.) They may carve the
constituencies of this country as they like ; but the " greatest
employers of labour " willmake themselves felt. (Cheers.)
That is not an artificial state—that is not the social position
which any political maw:metes can neutralise the influence
of. I have confidence in the intelligence, iii the spirit, in
the power of "the greatest employers of labour," if they
only are united ; and I have confidence when we arc threat-
ened with these Itefonn Bills, in the genius and for-
tunes of the county. of Buckingham. Different places
are celebrated for different things. One is famous for
chews, another for calves, a third for cotton ; but Buck-
inghamshire has always been famous fur politics. (Cheers
ands laugh.) Why it was in the bosom of the Chiltern
hills that the English constitution was invented. It was
amid the stately lanes and triumphal arches of Stowe, dedi-
cated to oratory and to public virtue, that the young ambi-
tion of Chatham meditated on that policy which converted
lan island into an empire. (Cheers.) It WAR wider the pro-
phetic oaks of Beaconsfield that Mr. Burke poured forth
those divine effusions which ia perplexity and trouble have
been the counsel of statesmen and the consolation of the
nation. (Cheers.) And let me remind you. when this
isle is to be frightened from its propriety by the
threat of a new reform bill, what happened in
Buckinghamshire when the last reform bill was brought
forward. (Cheers.) Did we wince ? Did we shrink like
frighted deer from the scene?" No ; we sent up a mem-
ber from the county of Buckingham—not to oppose an in-
ereased franchise—not on behalf of that community to ex-
press any want of confidence in the people ; but, on the
contrary, by one motion at once to increase the newly-en-
franchised constituencies by mom than one-eighth, and at
once to invest with its privilege the must numerous class of
that new constituency—l will say, even in your presence,
not the least inferior in intelligence, in public virtue, and
in private acts—the lauded tenantry of England. (Cheers.)
You will act in the same way under the same circus-
dances. You have not for two centuries and a half in-
fluenced the political destiny of this great country now to
prove traitors and recreants to your high office ; and I
doubt not, whatever may be the changes that am invented
or devised, that you will send men to the senate of your
country
who will
Buckingham. (Thep hon. gentleman resumedcounty
his seat
amidst great applause, succeeded by rounds of cheering.)
uhold the renown of the of
Several other toasts followed, which protracted the pro-
mailings to a late hour.
Jan
the

SUPPOSED ML'IIDES.—On Saturday ac'nnight, as
John Aston, letter-carrier, of Stafford, was proceeding on
his round, his dog found part of the leg and foot of a human
body close to a &HI in a field near Silkmore House. The
leg, which had a piece of rope tied round it a little abovo
the ankle, has been since examined by several medical gen-
tlemen, who consider that it had been cut off after death,
but not by a medical practitioner, half of the bone having
been sawn through, and the remainder broken off. The
leg appeared to have been perfectly healthy, and to have
been lately cut from the body of • young person. Every
exertion has been made by the police to obtain some clue to
this mysterious affair, but at present without SUCCOU.—
Irolverliampton Chronicle.
BELFAST AND COUNTY DOWN RAILWAY.
Traffic for the week ending Sept. 11th, :--2921. 183.21.
For the week ending 130113 qt., 1839, 2161.25. 3d.

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