The National Register.
London, England, 1819-02-15 00:00:00

'UE NATIONAL lIEGlizTrIl

If this system went on, it would be
.impossible to pre- I
vent the whole kingdom from being pauperized. If
there were to be compulsory charity, he mold see no
reason is by the great bulk of the mouied interest, and
the whole of. the trading •community, should not hear'
is portion of the weight. It would be nothing more than
just to tale a part of the burden front the Landholder,
and let it be supported by the country at large. The
taxes on the monied interest were about 4s. in the
pound, while the demand on the Landed Proprietor for
Poor's Ilate,was, oil the average Ss. He would however
take it at Ss. which, with 4s. fur ordinary taxes, made
s. 'there were besides other charges amounting to 45.
more. So that the Loaded Proprietor received but 9s.
out of his pond. while the individual, whose property
was funded, got ids. In the same way. if they took 12c.
as the wages of the labourer, they would find that
lama& rept, and fuel, took up the whole, except about
ria. per week, which was all he had to furnish himself
with clothes, and various necessary articles. The
consequence was, that potatoes formed a great part
his subsistence. Ile considued, in onapoint of view,
the growth of potatoes as a great blessing to any coun-
try in case of famine.—but he looked upem it as a de-
cided evil, when the potatue formed the principal article
of a nation's food. 1 t tended to the increase of popula-
tion (as was seen in a neighbouring country) in a de-
gree that could not be supported by any capital, how.
evergreat.To the disgrace of the agricultural part of the
community, the agricultural labourer is not fairly dealt
by, except in the northern parts of this kingdom. The
(Tacky of the system adopted towards them is equal to
its folly. The mite of wages is regulated with reference
to the young unmarried man; he was made the stand.
and than which nothing could be more unfair—the rate
of wag.es is calculated on the most parsimonious scale as
to the eons which will weekly support a single man—
while tat the married man au allowance of 2s. to the
wife and Is. 61. to each of the children is made from
the Parish Purse ; thus given a bounty on impro-
vident marriages, and preventing the possibility of a
single num making any provision thr the married state.
Although be deprecated the abuse which had grown
nut of parliamentary tlueussions, he agreed in the
principal laid down on a thriller occasion by the Noble
Lord, that it was better a man should be opening a
trench, if it were immediately after to be filled up again
sooner than that lie should be supported in idleness.
But tLis principle had been pushed to an unwise extent
ie the country, and its operation had keen productive of
injurious yen sequences. The fanner aware of the im-
pressiea made by this sentiment, turas off a large por-
e tion of the workmen he usually employed for the ex.
press purpose of receiving them hack with a bounty
front the parish. Thus have the middling classes
become burdened with a new tax to exonerate the
farmer from a large portion of wages he ought to have
paid. Justice ayes not done to the great body of agri-
cultural labourers, unless they were efficiently protected.
The manufacturing classes also deserved protection,
though the House had not always dealt Ineiently with
them. If, when laws were made to punish combitta-
tion amongst the men, their provisions had also been
directed against combinations amongst the masters, he
would have agreed in the justice of the enactment.
The agricultural labourer was not in the same situation.
Dispersed abroad, it was not in power to combine—and
his necessities were so great, that he could not go on
for one moment without attending to his work. His
master, however, might do o ithout him, for a great
part of the year, without injury. This was not the
ca:c with the manufacturer, who was in a much better
situation. He conceived it w rid be wise if the wages
of the agricultural labourer' 4th reference to small
districts, were regulated at tatty Sessions. It could
not be done for very extensive districts, as, where the
space was large, the rate of wages must necessarily
vary. The Nlagistrate would be better able to decide
what Wm ought to be given to a labourer, than to ad-
judge the rate of wages which a manufacturer ought
to receive, since there were many considerations con-
nected with a particular trade, of which it was pro.
liable he would not he aware. Py a more liberal ap-
portionment of wages, of from 4s. to .ss. per week, he
conceived the existing. Poor Laws might be reduced
2,000,0001 annually. There were parts of the Bill
brought in by tire Hon Gentleman which he thought
were extremely beneficial ; for instance, that part which
related to the removal of persons who had procured
settlements where they had no right to them, nor had
any legal settlements in the kingdom. There were also
provisions that would probably prevent the mismanage-
ment observable in the administration of the Poor
Laws. But that any t;teat, any decided benefit would
be derived from it, he confessed he did not believe.
The greatest relief to the country w mld be found ;tv
making some change in the law of settlement by which
large sums now lavished in litigation might be saved.
This was the large-t it. m, he conceived, that could be
saved by any regulation, that fell short of removing the
grand sources of the evil. The Nitta to he saved by other
means was not likely to be more titan 503,0001. cr one
sixteenth of 8,000.0001. a hich the poor's rate annually
require. Great are the complaints from all ports of' the
kingdom, and most grievous is it to thew who are

rI:A. 1

struggling under the weight sif the poor's rates, that.,
large at sum should% expended in supporting the off.
spring of erhae. Bastardy has alarmin increased wit!,
in a short period, but a few years ado it was estemated
at I to 28. I fear it will now be timnd as I to 14, mat
the number of illegitimate children anon:Illy le,ra
amounts to little if any thing short of 6100, creating. a
charge of about half a million. The Laws have ken so
relaxed that it is becoate in a great measure a crime,
without a punishment. Some cheek seems indisputably
necessary as well for morals as for releiving the country
from so grievous a burden. The Committee, which hat
sat two years, the whole of whose proceedings were
then before the House, had done nothing that did
not fall far short of the great object he had in view_
and, unless Government intended to let the evil go oft
increasing, from day to day, they would devise some
means of lowerir g that weight of taxation, which press.
ed the people down, and was the primary muse of the
present distre-s. I am aware of the state of the coun-
try—l know and lament that its resources are inade-
quate to its c:penditure that in doing justice and bein •
faithfid to its engagements, it cannot relinquish a shill:
ins of its revenue—l do not ask it—Yet the only holm
thee country has is, that Ministers would diminish the
taxation which bore so heavy on particular bodies, and
that they would place it somewhere else. A System of
taxation which hears on the first necessaries of life,
is in every point of ;kw impolitic. Lateen. is rarely
!mid beyond what is barely sufficient for the 'imbue.
nance of a working man and his family; taxing there.
fore the necessaries of life, presupposes a surplus
beyond what his indispensable necessity requires.
If no such surplus exist, which is the cue in
few instances, it must operate a rise in the price of
labour, or force the individual into a state of pauperism.
The cost of labour in Great Britain, compared with
what it is an the Continent, places the manufacturer in
a state of eminent jeopardy. I pretend not to calculate
how long superior capital and skill may successfully
combat these advantages, but certain I am, they ought
not to exist, if they can be removed Every considera-
tion of humanity and policy demand of Government,
revisions of the present ruinous system of taxation—a
large portion of what is paid in the shape of
Poor Rates, is in truth no other than a
contribution for exonerating the labouring classes.
This could not be done by a Committee. They could
not hear the information, neither could they digest
those measures, which, while the revenue was protec-
ted, and prevented front falling short, would, by their
operation, relieve the great body of the people, awl en-
able the Legieatute to make an effectual alteration in
the system.

From the LONDON GAZETTE, Tuesday, Fcb.

BANKRUPTCY ENLARGED.

J. Owlet, late of Charlotte street, Fitzroy Square, jeweller, fro:n
Feb. IS to April 3.

BANKRUPTS.

E. ltelwrtson, Manchester, cotton spinner. Att. Mr Ellis, Chancey
lane.
J. Burroughs, of Great Hermitage Sttezt, spirit me:chant. Att. Mr.
l'earson,St. Ilden's Place, Btshopegate Strec•.
E. Mathew, of College 11111, merchant. Atte. Dawc and Co. Ang
Court, Throgroorton Street.
W. Brown, St. John Street, chessemongcr. Ate. Dade and CO.
Palsgraro Place, Temple Bar.
W. Burn, Exeter, tailor. Au. Mr. Brutton, Broad Street, Lon-

don.
J. Mather, Manchester, joiner. Atte. Adlington and Co. Iledfind

Row. -
H. Wilkinson. Liverpool, merchant. Atte. Taylor end Co. Kin('s
Bench Walk, Temple.
W. Lloyd, Shrewsbury, tailor. Att. Mr. Griffiths, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane.
M. and G. Naylct. I)arlington. Durham, leather drcasent. Att.
Mr. Dixon. Grate Inn Square.
R. rotta, Holborn Hill, haberdasher. AU. Mr. Iloalgson, Dyer's
Court, Aldeimanbury.
It. Bacon Aldcwate Sweat, miller. Ate. Mr. Gray, Tyson Place,
Kingsland Road
. . _

J. Oli;er and N. G. Ingraham, jun. Pioner'a Hall, Bread Street,
ercbants. Att. Mr. ('ranch, Unirn Court, Broad Street.

T. Cullimetc, Wick% as, Glouce.ter, nialtsier. Art: Mr. King,
Strjeanes Inn.
J M i dlam, I I ugersfield. Yorkshire, grocer. Arts. Fisher and Co.

II olhom.
J. Stannfeld, Arr!wirk, Manchester, merchant AM. Wiggl%worth.
and Co. Gime« Inn

J. Lon gden, *Peak Forest, Derbyshire, meal seller. Ans. Lowe'
and Co. 'Ample.
W. Lewis, Beak Street, Golden Square. woollen draper. A:o.
Davies find Son, l.nehhury.
ft. Taco r, Witney, Oxford, me.dman. Att. Mr. Gre.ory,
Lane.

DIVIDENDS.
T. Cuthus, Ilarvey'l,ll4tildingi. Strand, printer, March?.
.1 Roxburgh, I iv, Tool. taller, March 3.
I'. Dyson, Beverley. Yorkshire. mschant, Nlsreb 6.
J. and N.WeAthcrly. Ainstkek, Noithuinherland. b ewers. Ni tr.'s F.
11. F. I (emu. Huddersfield. Yorkshire. um! Naar, March 5.
J. Boyce jun. York. carpet manufacturer, March Y.
W. lemich Clifton. Bristol. victualler, Wirth 2.
and .1. Old Jewry. merchants, March 6.
T. William Weeddeion, Dover Street, Pteca.liay, up'itt!sler!r.
March v.
J. Philiipps. of Upper Raton Street, Mel"
_ _

nutr:ha it.

M arch Yo.
E. aad H. Hawn. Crvis Screen. II won G printns, 0

CERTTFICATES, March 2.
J. C.l.onden, I .Inrd'a Coffee Hmtse, m t.
R. .bone,, a Saint John is Bedwiriine. Wo e•,terehire, mina
H. rracke t, Maw° in Ard n, N'arwhitihire. farmer.
F. Dree cue and 'd. Lambert. of B:abeot Court, l'hilye I, no,
nodulous

An cial return • . use of Commons states the
amount of Exchtquee Bits t.t tali at 43,65,5, 1001.