The National Register.
London, England, 1816-02-04 00:00:00

Tlit NATIONAL REGISTER.

9t6

said, and all the press has said for the last twelve months, is
false, we must at present suspend our faith, and await the
further progress of the session, till we read the various petitions
which we are assured will be carried up against the continuance
of the PROPERTY TAX.
" The arvEticu of the United Kingdom is in a flourishing
condition." This is a very ambiguous phrase. The revenue
of a kingdom may mean the income of the united people; the
rent of the landlords ; the earnings of the labourer, the me-
chanic, and the farmer, with die profits of the shopkeeper and
the merchant. In this sense it would be tautology to speak of
revenue, unless revenue means rent, and the agricultural class
is to be considered also as remarkable for its prosperity. In
truth, the revenue of the United Kingdom being in a flourish-
ing condition, means that the taxes are very high, the burthens
of the people enormous, and yet they arc paid %vial great punc-
tuality, and apparently with much facility. On this subject
we cannot question the accuracy of Ministers. There is, how-
ever, generally some difference between the Speech at the be-
ginning and the estimate at the cud of the session, and till then
we may defer our comments.
The Speech concludes with professing, that the Regent
will concur in measures of economy; but we beg our readeis
to note, that it is with a saving clause, which ought not to
permit them to elevate their hopes too much, since, the
economy which is promised must be "consistent with the se-
curity of the country," and "with that station ..Bich we occupy
in Europe."
We noticed this, in answer to the extravagant views of eco•
nomy indulged by the Edinburgh Reviewers ; and we are per-
suaded, that, when we have attained a high rank amongst the
Powers of Europe, if we wish to maintain it, ccdnwny is im-
possib!e. We must look to sonic means of supply, lather than
to the hope of retrenchment. We think that, for a time at kast,
those means are at hand; and if they ale not seized, we doubt
not of the consequences. We shall explain ourselves here
after.

Before we dismiss the subject, it is neces ary to tr,tice two
little circumstances in the debate. Upon the head of Taxes,
Mr. VANSITTART avowed that it was his intention to continue
the War •Tax on Malt, and, make the Income Tax permanent
at five per cent.
Lord CAST I. ER EAGH also stated that there Lis been a failure in
the Customs, but that the whole increase of the produce of taxes
has been 1,500,0001.; and that the increase of the exports in
the year 1815, compared with that of 1814, is 5,300,0001. We
think we can perceive in this the foundation of the different
views which we take of the commerce of the country, fiom
that which is taken by the Ministers. In oar observations on
the AMERICAN treaty ofvommerce, we told our readers that we
thought very little of these accounts of exports and imports,
and a little investigation would shew how fillacious they are.
For instance, in the }ear 1815, we made during three months,
most enormous warlike exertion. 'rids created a great ex-
pense in pay of troops, and hiring of Continental Vniees, in
other words, in subsidies. Our troops have remained in France
to a very late period, and our gentr} have flocked thither in crowds
to seekcheap living, relief from their duns, and in many in-
stances. that they might avoid witnc!.:,ing the distress of their te-
nantry. For all these purpose., remittances are made. Bills ale
dray %.ed there, and sent over to, purchal,e
COB- lyj (ma they be paid. I'w-the voipense

FEB. 4.-

of private families, we are assured, 50,0001. is drawn daily.
We recollect, also, that a great quantity of booded goods,
which had been kept for want of purcl,aters, was fo,ced sud-
denly into the foreign market, by the Ministers imperatively
calling on the Me...chants to pay the duties, and refusing to
give longer credit. This will raise our exports vefy high,
and as Ministers are apt to consider fliports nothing, ex-
cept fur the taxes they produce, when Lord CASTLEREAGH
speaks of commercial prosperity, he only means that the
exports arc large ; whereas when we use the same phrase,
we undeistand that traders arc getting rich, and thew
Ri
tain receiving a profitable return, by some valuable import
for every bale of goods which she sells. By comotercial dis-
tress, on the other hand, we mean bankruptcies, composition
with erediturs, losses by bad debts, trade without profit, goods
purchased at a high price and sold at a low one, rapid
diminution of capital, scarcity of money from the withdrawing
of discounts by bankers ; and all these things, we say, have
increased, are increasing, and must be diminished; or the
produce of the taxes will speedily fail.
The rest of the Speech is conceived in terms too plain to
need a comment ; anc', we are assured, will be echoed back by
every voice in the United Kingdom with as much zeal and sits-
cerity, as by any one Member in either [louse of Parliameut

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

THURSDAY, Fro. 1.
Tins being the day appointed for the' meeting of Parliament,
the two Houses met, and, in the absence of the Prince Regent, the
Scion was opened by Commissioners. The House of Commons
having been summoned, the Speak er, attended by a number of
Members, proceeded up to the bar, when the following Speech, in
the name of the Prince Regent, was delivered by the Lord Chan-
cellor, as the Chief Commissioner.

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
We are commanded by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to
express to you his deep regret at the continuance of his Majesty's
\lamented indisposition.
The Prince Regent directs us to acquaint von, that he has had
the greatest satisfaction in calling you together, under circum-
stances which enable him to announce to you the restoration of
peace throughout Europe.
The splendid and decisive successes obta!ned by his Majesty's
arms, and those of his Allies, had led, at an early period of the
campaign, to the re-establishment of the authority of his Most
Christian Majesty in the capital of his dominions ; and it has been
since that time his Royal Highness's most earnest endeavour to
promote such arrangements as appeared to him best calculated to
provide for the lasting repose and security .of Europe.
In the adjustment of these arrangements it was natural to expect
that many difficulties would occur ; but the Prince Regent trusts
it will be found that, by moderation and &Julius, they have been
eth.ctually surmounted.
To the intimate union which has happily subsisted between the,
Allied Powers, the Nations of the Continent have twice owed their
deliverance. 'His Royal Highness has no doubt that you w;11 be
sensible of the “reat importance of maintaining in its full force
that alliance, from which so many advantages have already been
derived, and which affords the best prospect of the continuance of
peace.
The Prince Regent has directed copies of the sevoral Treaties
and Conventions which have been concluded to be laid before you.
The extraordinary situation in which the Powers of Europe
have been placed, front the circumstanoes which have attended
the French Revolution, and more especially in consequence oithe
events of last year, has induced the Allies to adopt precautionary
measures,which they consider as indispensably necessary for the
pausal security.
As his Royal Highness has eonctrated in these measures, from a

rawn in France, negociate
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