The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-04-30 00:00:00

low, sr store most alsotes remain open In the
exciseman.. soil when the atuoiroit and extent or
These bowl. isecause known through a paper placed
on their tahle last year, it wig no wonder that the ;
exemption was an ortwil nullity. For the pieced.
big years to the date of the return, the moonlit of i
these hoods in Greet Britain was 107.844.000/., ex- l
clasive of 3010,0001. in a remote Iran of the empire.
When bawls to such an extent weer formed in so
short a petimi. It was eltident that tun irefiiollo could
ernhark in thi. triode Inns Sorge rapitalixtx and MOSS. I
polid..--(Appianse./-..The cc desire given before I
the Committee ut the Wiese I ist war clearly 'hews
MI that the poorer Classes 1"010.1 not riiiliask to
the, fi.hrrues in the manner thq ought, sub. ;
ject to such • variety of g,alltaig restriction.. The i
poor people in the north of Scotland particularly,
were prevented from making their herring fisheries
adequately available, by the epprehension of the
penaltiee to which they would be liable for any
accidental oasis of ftrui that in their ignorance
they might commit. With respect to the newton'
.benefit which the improverneut of the fisheries
would Creel!. he hell to refrr to the opium's of owe
of the Secretaries of the Ailtneraltv, who had de.
Glared, that if the `alt duties were taken off 20,0011 t
additional hands would immediately get emPloy.
' meld upon the resist. and their race of hardy and 1
enterprising sailors would be preserved in au till•
ployment suited to their balms. On these grounds
•he thought the salt laws moat impolitic, for they !
actually preyed on the vitals of the Slate, slid con-
sumed that which ought to be cowitleved it. perma-
nent nourishment. In looking too at their bail .1.
feet upon agiictilture, and prevent's% those die- ',
laical experiments in which they formed so great an
ingredient. he saw enough to justify their repeal.
It was on this ground that the Committees or Ivo'
and ISIS perfectly concurred in recommending the
repeal. The Chancellor of the Eulogiser him-
self. who was ' nen of ate them, adopted
the same o • , sod admitted the inipolicy of
c itsm
the existing plan. How then could lie suffer
those laws to continue is operation ? The
real question was reduces' to this :—Ought a tax
a hods was fitoilanp:utally wrong, which tilts.
mutely retracts from rather than confers benefit
upon the people, be suffered to exist when its ill
effects became manifestly apperent ? Every dry the
impoliey was gaining ground. and in the motion
with which he meant to conclude, his object was ;
to record, in • declaratory manner. the opiiiion
of the two Committees which lied already wit,
and by so doing to reader it unnecessary when
the subject should be taken up hereafter, fur
future Committees to erode again through such
soother of eoidhisee. When he first gave his no-
. tice, he tirght of at once bringing in a Bill fur the
gradual reduction of the duties ; but on considers-
Uri, he felt it would be better to await the Chancel.
ler of the Exchequer's anemial statement on the
Bodge.. and vermin from stay specific plan, with .
a ilk* of ?raw whether it was the intention of
t ' • it Mass. Gentleman. which be hoped it
Id be ere • long, to place the titmice* of
.• . upon a permanent footing, and give
of propping them by expediesits. The
Icouutry had reason to expect fair dealing, and that
Ike statement of their finances should consist uf a
plaid debtor and credit account of the income Oil
ripe side and the expenditure on the other, accessi.
hht sod intelligible to all.—( Hear. )—U tit il lie saw
whether this course would be taken, he Keret red to
put a record on their Journals, in the shape of reoo-
lotions, which inertly expressed the severity of the
salt laws, the greet advantage the country at large .
would derive from their retwal, and froin the ow.
restrained use of Pelt in different branches of trade
mid agriculture, and expres.ing doe expediency of
• gradual reduction of the duties as early as pool.
ble. In this question there was no party feeling,.
(Hear, hear.)—The past Parliament hail done itself
honour by rejecting an odious tax which pressed ,
must heavily upon the rich --the present Parliament
would, he trusted, do • still nobler act. by repeal.
iug a law which ',resod most heavily upon the
14041 e.—( 1 lear. I—He concluded by moving the
foll•twing Resolution :
" That. considering the severity sod pressure of the
existing salt ditties upon the mount classes' and the great
advisilisei he fisheries and atriessuare which would result
frump the unrestrained ate of salt, it is highly expedient
list the earliest practical opportunity should be taken of
grafivally luirefing the duties nu that article."—(Hear.)
Mr. I)aVENPOIT. on rising to second this mo.
tins., expresowd his full concurrence in all the senti-
ments winch had fallen from his Hoe. and Learned
Friend. The question was. he thonglit, now re.
duced to a very narrow compass. The different
Reports whirls had been mole came al die to one
conclusion, and that was the impolicy and inexpe-
diency of the existesig salt duties. Of all had taxes
devised by the folly and ingenuity of man. these
were, he thought, the worst.—(Hear.)—They hod
arisen in a harrow and mistaken policy. and were
at tonsure with the principles laid down by the
ablest writers ou political economy. They fell
hard upon the poor, were ruinous to trade. and ut-
terly discouraging to the fisheries, which were
thereby prevented from attai gg ioo g that station they
were so well calculated to hold. All theorists had
maintained the impoliey of taxing • raw material.
Thy effect of this particular tax was, that foreigners
became enriched, while hundreds of thousands of
the poorer classes, and of the hardy twansett. with
which this country at the peace abounded, remain-
ed useless and unemployed in this empire. For
this very tax. the growth of the fi.heries of Great
Britain was impaired, and the full establishment
of a great belt of fi•heries around our islands pre.
vented ; besides this, the effect on the morals of
the people was terrible, front the iiiitucement to
pilfer sod evade where they f I a tax of 3.000
per cent. thrown on au article of absolute consunip.
(ton.— (Hrer.)
I Mr. WALLACE saidb that however unpopular Isis
i opinion may be, he was yet in the couscientious dm.
charge of his ditty compelled to take spikes differ.
nut view of this subject from that taken by the
two HonovrableGesstlemen who had preceded hint.
From what they had stated, it might seem that the
two Committees alluded to hail given ma tosammioni
assent to their Report ; this was no such thing. for
he had himself. though without dividing the Com.
moire. asserted and maintained. that no practical
relief would follow the adoption of ibe ipso, so
expressed. The Cossets of the country, which
tire Hun. and Learned Gentleman wished to see on
so staple a footing. could not afford sash a reduc.
tom of revelator as was Cliftlelided furs Wh). 'kg.'