The National Register.
London, England, 1816-04-07 00:00:00

J

No. 431.—V0i.. IX.

POLITIC.II, DISQUI:SI 7'l 01V

MAIN' L or IT MAC LCONOMY.

WE have several times intimated, that, considering
the Property Tax in a financial point of view; sec thought
it might be so modified, as to be rendered a productive
entree of public revenee, and to reach only the, higher or-
ders of seeiety. • Ott that ground we should have felt dis-
posed to recommend its adoption, had not the faith of Go-
vrrnment been pledged to suffer it to expire at the return
of peace, and bad not the voice of the country, instead
of citing up that pledge, imperiously called for its re-
demption. Financial advantage, we conceived, ought to
be sacrificed to public faith. The one, even setting aside
the morality of the case, was but a temporary peel : the
other, a rooted rock, on which states and athninistrations
might stand unshaken by the storms of revolutions and of
egos. We abetaintel, therefore, from supporting the tax,
att4 saw the triumph of the country with joy. Had we
been aware, however, deal the beneficial consequences
which result from the loss of that impost, our neutrality
towards it would have been charged into hostility the
most open, and the most active. These consequences arc
now daily unfiddieg themselves. The principle of eco-
nomy is not only recognised, but carried into effitet with
vigour and sincerity. Instead of creating new burthens
to fill up the chasm left in their financial systtne
Minis-
ters seek for resources where they ought, in wholesome
retrenchment. With a degree of self-command which
does them honour, tiny introduce the pruning knife into
their own measures, and lop of every branch of expendi-
ture which may be spared, without impairing the strength
and the greatness of the State. They aleutdon their in-
tention of ceiling upon Parliament to defray the excess
of the Civil List. They frame bills for the suppression
of those offices which a Committee of Inquiry pronounced
eiselessayear or two ago, but which were suffered to.exist as
• long as there was a superabundance of revenue to sup-
l•
port them. They court advice on every point in which
reductions may be proposed, and whatever surplus of
expenditure may stir remain to provide for, they intend
to do it without pressing on the people either for the
principal or the interest. These arc 'certainly important
advantages. It may be said, that they have been
wrenched from the hand of power, and that they are
due to the spirit of the nation, and not to the wisdom
or economical disposition of its Ministers. This may be
true to a considerable extent ; but when it is considered,
that although defeated in the attempt to renew the Pro-
perty Tax, they might (and inked the Opposition expect-
ed they would) have shifted their ground, and so framed a
new series of duties, or so modified the reduction of chose
in force, as to divide and foil opposition, whilst they in-
sured an meliminished revenue, some credit may be
given to the uprightness of their intentions, and some
praises bestowed on the mode of conduct which they
have adopted. It is natural that men, who have long
wielded the vast resources of a country, exerting all her
means in a contest in which triumph was the liberation
of the world, and defeat national annihilation—it is na-
tural that such men, accustomed to an administration so
enlarged beyond all natural proportions, should at the
hour of peace, be still extravagant and yet sincere in
their notions of economy. It does not always happen,
however, that they should attend to remonstrance, or
welcome instructime It is more likely that, creatures
of prosperity, and inured to power, they should feel in-
dignant at a repulse, and should endeavour to obtain by
art and intrigue an equivalent for what they have lost
in open enterprise. This system has been disdained by
Ministers. They have been sufficiee Feat to consi-
der that they must be wrong when Wee voice of the
country opposed them. They have been sufficiently
unprejudiced as to seek out their men error, and suffi-
ciently honest, to set about repairing it themselves.
To deny their claim to respect would, therefore, be. a
wilful abnegation of justice. The trust placed in their
lands is awful. It is tinder the influence of their coun-
cils and the exertion of their allergy, tiet the power and