The National Register.
London, England, 1816-03-25 00:00:00

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

ABANDONNIENT OF THE INCOME TAX.
THE emiltlenee with which we announced, last Sun-
day, the approaching downfall of the Property-Tax, cr.,-
ated no little astonishment in the minds of those who
thought themselves most able expounders of political
prognostics. Notwithstanding the fervency of their
wishes, they anticipated nothing but gloom and defeat;
whilst, cool and attentive observers of the progress of
events, neither biassed by fear on the one hand, nor by
partiality on the other, we were able to trace the course
of ministerial measures to the very crisis of their fate.
Oar prophecy, however wild it might appear to the eyes
of an anxious and apprehensive public, bore in our own
a character of mathematic truth. We sent it forth to the
world fearless of the 'lnuit, and in less than forty-eight
hours the event realised it to its fullest extent. The country,
we then said, would have her wish : the country has it
now, and greater blessings than she even dared to hope,
have attended the triumph of her exertions. She con-
tended for the abolition of one tax alone. Against it all
her fears and all her efforts were directed. The re:•.
however heavy and oppressive, were forgotten in the
heat of remonstrance as light burthens, which might be
cheerfully borne if the mighty grievance wera removed.
That grievance fell under the pressure of universal
hostility, but it did not full alone. The shock of a na-
tion's muted sentiment was too powerfid to be resisted.
It shoo?: the existing adminiqration to its fimndation, and
100,4(m:(1 other taxe•:, some of which have already dropped
,
to tne gruund, whilst others still remain in a tottering
state.

Whatever opinion we may retain of the general merits
of ministers, and of their measures, it is impossible to con-
template this noble instance of national energy without
admiration. Its effect will be twofold. It will produce
at home that close attention to economy, which was
lemnly promised, and which may be rendered consistent
with the greatness and the power of the country. It
will astonish abroad the nations of the earth. It will
rend asunder the veil of their ignorance, and will show
them the Mash Constitution, beaming in all its beauty
and all its strength. Notwithstanding all that has been
said and written upon the subject, they have but a very
faint idea of the rights of Englishmen, and of the Ulu.
ence of the national voice in the government of the state.
In some places where miserable imitations of our Co:fti-
tution have been erected, their conceptions arc still more
erroneous, for they judge of the original by the imper-
fections of the copy. But in general, it is fancied that
we possess the forms of freedom in greater perfection than
other states, but little more of the reality. Despotism is
thought to assume a different shape amongst us. If it
do not move in undivided power, girt with the splendours
of a crown, and armed with the terrors of a sceptre, it is
considered to reside in the corruptions of an election, and
the majorities of a Minister. The will of a Court may
be less publhly declared, will Continental slaves tell you,
but it is as iiiithfilly executed amongst you as under the
most arbitrary governments ; and the right of speaking
and publishing your thoughts, is left you ns a mere blind
to prevent you from perceiving your thraldom, and as lit-
tle dangerous to the ruling authority, on account of the
peculiar frigidity of your temper. This belief has been
considerably strengthened by the events which have am:-
eeeded tacit other with so much rapidity during the last
few years. The unanimity with which England has
borne burthens so multiplied, nod made exertions so stu-
pendous, and so incessant in the cause of universal five-
dom, is not generally understood on the Continent. It is
considered, not as the effect of national spirit and mag-
nanimity, but as the result of national dependence on
system imposed upon the people by the superior power
and inflexibility of its government. The appearance of
our Minister abroad, moving amidst Kings and Emper-
ors, as the Representative of his country, in ves.c.l i;h ail
the influence of her power, her sanction, and her r;lory,
the arbiter of Sovereigns, and the distributor of States,
should have removed that übsurd belief, but only served
to spread, and to increase the delusion. The more dig-
nified was his station, the more imposing his attributes,
and the more closely they coincided with the Continental
notions of despotism. The agent of a great nation was
thus de:2raded into the anihnssador of a Court ; and the
illy-will and invincible constancy of Eng Lind, into sub-
serviency to power.
With what feelings will Drupe now learn the defe. t 17
of that system whirl she delighted to eo,,,ikr as di - t
r .
Ji
guised, but real and resistless despotism P She, who has i •
seen that minister in the FL:nitwit of his power, who

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has courted his favour, who has bowed through all her
states to his decisions, how will she conceive it possible
that in the very seat of his office, in the very birth-spring,
of his authority, his will should have been disputed, his
plans rejected? That all the strength of Government,
all that weight of influence which long possession of
power, populatity founded on wise and energetic mea-
sures, and the unbounded success of those measures con-
fer, should have been exerted for the mere continuance
of an existing impost, and should have been exerted in
vain ! That the nation should have only uttered a
voice, and that at the first sound all that array of influ-
ence and energy should have vanished, defeated and con-
founded! Will it still be thought that only the forms of
freedom haunt our soil, as the shadows of beings moving
in a higher sphere? Will it still be thought that the will
GF a Court is the law of the land, that Parliament is
the footstool of despotism, and that our Constitution is an
ancient temple, venerable with antiquity, and still
beautiful in its proportions, but deserted by the divinity
that once dwelt within its walls?