The National Register.
London, England, 1816-02-18 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTI:n.

tattled at that per centage, with the exeention of houses which
might be igswc d, and of course furnished a sort of doreeue. In
the count. y, stock, &c, held nut no such temptation,
and ,hercrore the harrower was obliged to obtain his loan in
the shape of annuity at per emit. which, with an additional
per cent. on ;4*e-instil mice, made the &ureter 10 per cent.
12..v!'n so high as 15 per cent, was sometimes charged. The
Usury Law !wing in fit!, t:•re. , he could not conceive how iho
Right Hon. Geatleanin em.l I think that 13 millions would, in
the event of leaving the Slinking Fund untouched, go Irian the
individual to the latailioider, at the rate of 3 percent. ttiongli he
was ready to admit that. to a eertai:t degree, it would tenth to
decrease the rate of interest. He therefore begged the Right
lion. Gentleman would not, on any •-ten specolation, ahandan
the thought of abolishing the Usury Acts. Tim lion. Gentle-
man °loci eed, that be ha-! also thrown out Foote suggest:ens
re,peethog restrictior. t!i exportation of metal. The
present ~.as filir Oppl/111111:'y ;inz relief, when the foreign
markets ....ere open. i-i trust. n the Right Hot,. imitleman
would not be so ch iltli t as n :o direct his attention to this
subject. It was also nevessa: vto give relit fi , the landed in-
terest by a more equal tying .of the 0 '...•r Rates. At pi csent
tin y fell exclusively . the catit,.ary to the inesiiing
of the statutes. The iiiiiiititisctories were tine i with spinning
jennies, the owners of winch paid to the pow rates in the ;oro-
portion of 3 or -1001. a ye..', while the I.—id-owner pail at the
rate of 15 or 20,000!. thus inakile.• the termer norun the tits-
nufseturer of paupers. The psor rates, therelore, did not t.,0
to the support of the poor, but to the diminution of fisheye.
Another subject which teas worthy of attention was that of
Tithes. He dill not whether any thing had been done;
but lie trusted, that .I.inisters would devise smite meats of re •
meiß mg the evil. 'I next !•oint ~.as the Military Establish-
ment, which hail given him much • ,use of regret at hearing
that called a list . rstahlishitient, wtiich, at any ooh .1. time,
would have been ,:.soda grief ails war one. The Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman, alter sliewi:..g the different disinisitions
of the fume to be kept up, which le. amount to 149,000,
had stated that i 9 59,900 more would be in the p.• yof this
country.
111 r. VANSITT A lIT -ere eNplained, that besides the establili.
meat of 99,000, there were to be added from 40 to 50,00) which
were in a state 01' -eduction.

ltßol GUAM worm :dill, and observed, that the expense
of th.• est:OA:Am:Ba, near 10 was a most intulellible
burthen on the country. What prospect, be wished to ask,
was toere et any greutor diminution next year, with the ex-
ception of t: last item, which might reduce it to 25 millions.
A great deal load been said about the peace—that it was the
best peace which the country had known, and yet this best
peace lett the contrary loaded with a Jorge military estaiiiish-
ment at home and in the coloeies, and a three of 30,000 to be
kept up in France, accordi-7 to Treaty it we chose to ratify
it. The Rilit Hon. Gentleman had talked of the East India
Company paymg their troops; it was a mockery to say they
would pay, w,,en year after year they were coming to this
House for loan,. lie coudemaed the large amount of the
force in the (littered. :lands, particularly that in the lonian
'shoats. Why were seven or eight thousand men to be sta-
tioned in eh. se islan ls, which were rich in nothing but patron-
age and currants? hy was it necessary to keep so many
islands ? What did the country gain by them, especially the
141 AI Colouics? N ith respect to the military establishment,
why, he would ask, was it necessary to keep so large a standing
army in Ireland as 25,000 men in time of peace? Would it not
have been better to calm the minds of the people in Irmand by
ameliorating the condition of the Catholics ; and by some ar-
rangement of the grievous burthen of tithes? this would be a
more practical saving. There was no chance of disaffection
now, nor of foreign it, istanee. I3ni, however, retrenchment
wa,, fit eessary, and that w best accomplished by dimiaishing -
some of the teieless offices. For instance, why, he would ask, in
times of peace, were so many Lords and Secretaries to the Ad-
miralty? if seven Lordi were necessary in war, surely now the
country could dispense with the service of tour, vvi.en there
were only 200 ships afloat. In war, ac'ording to compat
seventy instead ut seven would not have been enough to direct
the Naval Trident. In looking at the peace establishment of !
179 g, he found the estimate was five n:illions. France was now
reduced below her strength at that epoch. All Europe leagued
against her; our own power greater than at ails thriller oeriod
--no enemy to contend with; then what was to be feared? A
peace concluded, to be preferred beyond any other—even that
of Utrecht; and the result of it all is—a load on the country cif
front 25 to 30,000 annuaiiv. If the prices of every article had
been doubled since 179 i, that would not call for nor than
10 millions. The lion. Gentleman, after sonic further oser-
vations on the neeesity of aunt ding relief' to the landed in-
terest, as the relief now proposed, in his opinion, was iueffiea-
citing, suggested the propriety of taking off the tax upon leather,
winch would give material relief. He observed, that nothing
had been said about the War Malt 'lax; he hoped this would
meet the attention of Government. But the greatest burthen
of all was the Property Tax, which he had no doubt the
country would rise up against, and come to the House and de-
sire the Right Hun. Gentleman to ask for a Mall loan, and
charge the interest on tile Sinking Fund. With respect to
loans, he wished to know why Austria had not repaid the loan of
seven millions, borrowed twenty years since.: At any rate, it was
said, that being u true and faithful ads-, she would pay the in-
terest, Willa the principal, which would now amount to between
heir and tire minims. The truth was, that England furnished
all the 111011 Cy, but seldom got repaid.
Mr. Russ:, In reply to the Hon. Geathman, observed, that
there was tor reason for altering the Usury Laws. In respect
to the Poor fates, various plans had been suggested, without
effect, to the benefit of the land owner; ut the same time. he
adautted that it bore hard upon the agricultural labourers.
Ike !lon. Gentleman had talked about taking off the ro,tric-
lions on wool exported, as a means Of relieving the grower.
The fact was, that wool is exported from Spain, many parts of
Germany ; and even France had a great redundancy ; there-
fore he (Mr. K.) wad at loss to know where the wool would be
Exported to. lie had also talkeii about the patronage of the
lonian Islands, when, in fact, there was hut a single Commis-
sioner in those Isles, and one at St. Helena. In respect to the
Property Tax, that was increased by the Gentlemen opposite
wheu they got into power; and that tax 18:1(1 ..aved a eapital of
300 millions,• and nearly 12 minions of permanent taxes, lie
doo.,ted whether the public would pctihou against the tut to
the exteut stated.

Mr. Nt ESTERN conceived the proposed relief to the agrieal-
tural interest would not he so peat its the Right Hon. Gentle-
man expected. The only relief that farmer: would obtain, in
a farm of 300 acres, takiii,g ft 3 horses, would be about 121 an-
nually. 'the best relict' would lie to tax die real property. It
was in vain to attempt to lay on taxes, if, he (4,11 h Adcd, the
resources of the country had faded. After pitint; the expense,
of cultivation of the land, there absolutely remained no.hing
for rent. With regard to making 11,i. property-tax a pewee-tax,
he hoped the Chancellor of the Excheipwr •mild find the opi-
nions Of the conntr;, meppositiou, too itu,.:erful fur him: tor

where property was already diminished, e ci.utinuance of this
to ; must be daily more arid more diminished.
Sir it. Urania said, that when the infe,li vet -ea' of that night Rai
circulated in the coi.ntry tla per); ie must ft.-el nniSr mil gloom.
They would .hen see that, the system of economy r,,..otinneniled
a. the Regent's Speech was to be found no where but in that
document. The retrenchment should iiegin in the Negentas
expenditure. They had been told of the imposing situation
this rouatry had assumed in Europe ; but he wished that wr had
taken nivantage et' our insular situation, and kept out of all
foreign wars. Whirl consolation wouid it be for the starving
tailor and shoemaker, to be told that they had put the country
in an imposing state; that the army %%413 covered with glory;
that they were governed by a Prince of such gond taste, that
he could not endure the same furniture for two years together ) .
and who expended more in the erection of a thatched cottage,
than other Sovereigns did in building a palace.
Mr. 6REINFELL cote' ire protest against the measure of
accepting from the Bank the loan of the money of the country
at 4 per cent.
Mr. F. lie:via wished any man to contrast our present situtt-
tine e ith the , atm blishment required by the greatest Miniatec
thia country pi urine ed at the close of the American war, when
all the meney required by him for the Army, the Navy, the
Ordnance, and the Civil List Establislimenta, amounted to two
millions and a half. If the Income-tax was continued, it must
become a tax upon loss, and riot on profit. Fur he believed
that it could be proved at the Bar of the I louse, if necessary,
Ur, t'2s millions mere removed from the circular Mu iit the coun-
try during the last two years. It was not fur his to propose a
remedy; but he would say that the House (-tight to think, of
some remedy for this state of things ; but whatever that might•
be, he hoped it would not be the Property-tax.
Mr. BARING allowed that some relief was necessary for the
Laded interest; but what that should he would require great
consideration. lie considered the baits of the tel tax,
and the tax on farm borers bring reduced, as intended by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to induce the country gentlemen
to acquiesce in the :iicome-tax being continued, notwitb.
standing the hatred of the nation against that tax.
Mr. Its tan said, that when he heard from the Treasury
Bench that we were now entered .into a state of profound
peace, he could not help asking, in the name of the country,
silly such a tremendous peace establishment was to be kept
itp r 'fire Chaneceor of the Exchequer ought to recollect that
tire faith of Parliament wai. pledged to the abolition of every
one of the War-taxes ; instead of that, he had only offered to
relieve tire people of live per cent. on the Property-tax. In
his opinion, the people ought to protest against the continuance
of this syst-m of taxation, which they had borne so long and
so gloriously.
Mr. Von ICE contended, that the establishment proposed by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer was only intended for the
current year, and not as a permanent establishment. He hoped
we should have no more war ; but the best way to prevent it
was to be prepared for it.
Lord NLGENT was of opinion, that the military establish-
ment of the country could nut be too early discussed, consider.
ing that it was to be kept up to a most unconstitutional extent.
Mr. JONES contended, that the landed proprietor or his te-
nant could support the Property-tax no longer.
Mr. Alderman ATKINS said, that the difficulties of the coun-
try did not fall merely on the agricultural interest of the coun-
try, but pressed equally on ail classes in the nation. He hoped
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would give up the Pro.
perty-tax.
Lord CViTLEREAGIT said, it was impossible, in a short time,.
to reduce such a force as our's, so spread over the world, to a •
regular Peace Establishment. He compared the estimate of
the last and present year, to.PIICW, that every possible retitle-
film had taken place in our naval and military expenditure,
even to the amount of eight or nine millions. Ile deprecated
so false a step as that proposed of suddenly letting down the
force of this country, while all the other nations of Europe
were still in an armed state.

The Resolut ions were then agreed to, and the Report ordered
to be received to-morrow.

After some cooverantion between Lord CASTLEREAGH, MT..
PoNsoN.•.,i, and Sir G. WARRENDER' the discussioa of tile
Navy Estimates was postponed a few days.—Adjourned at clo-
ve* o'clock.

TUTI4IDA V, rex. 13.
Petitions were preki uted from certain inhabitants of Tiver-
ton, in Devonshire, pruning a repeal of the Insolvent Debtors'
Act.

_
Gen. Thornton gave notice that be would on Tuesday next
move for ICAVe to brine in a Bill to render the Property in out
Fonds, belonuing to foreizners residing out of the kingdom,
liable to a foil proportion or Taxation.
Mr. 4rand presented a Petition from the Farmers and Corn-
growers of• Hertfordshire, praying. relief from the heavy load of
taxation with which they were bartheued.—Ordered to lit,
on the table.