The National Register.
London, England, 1814-12-18 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

o 0 of P.irliamcnt who raised his voice against the Property Tax
He had seen Mr. Fox sacrifice friends, formic., tuner, power, and
cy..eeetious to his principles, at a time when he was deserted by all
t..;• .nbordinate friends vvho usually surrounded him, and be had then
feet' loin stand up like a tower himself, and greater than when in
amidst of ihose friends who deserted him. Much obloquy bad,
witolit any foundation, been cast on Mr. Fox on account of the
Prti,:erty Tax. It they would turn to the accounts of the procedings
of that period, they would find that Mr. Fox did not sivy that well
shook) it .nove from the first to the second floor, &c. Mr. Fox eon.
sidercil it as an unjust Tax, and one that woold have the effect of
creat,,,,!; such a revolution in men's circumstances ; but it was
thoag::!'more advisable to continue it, than at that moment to have
recou7se to, aiy other tax. In this he certainly differed from him ;
and when he ,tated his objections to a Henri of Mr. Fox's, he was
answered, th:.; Mr. Fox knew that the Tax %%Ai unjust and oppres-
sive ; but lie. ‘‘ili glad of it as the people would be the sooner tired
of the War. Mr. Fox never failed to oppose the -War—and if his
advie. ati been taken it would never have been heard of. This
was Int! tiisti,q, to his memory ; jthtice ought always to be done to
the dew', as they could not speak for themselves. lie concluded
with twriing that that Petition should be the Petition pisesented to
the I base of Commons.

7 he Petition wa4 then read, and nnanimously agreed to.

111. r. `,l; c►l•ttu %N then moved, t4tat after signing, it 'hold he
presented to the linti,e of Commons by the City itcpre,entativrs;
and that a Committee should Le appointed for prosecuting the object
of the Petition.—Aaccd to.

Mr. WAITIIMAPI then observed, that he was abont to propose
instructions to men who never thought they needed any instruction.
He moved that • their Representatives in Parliament should be in-
structed to support the prayer of the Petition.
Sir W. CURTIS said, he most cordially subscribed to all the
doctrines of the resolutions. The tax was one which necessity, and
necessity alone could justify. The war, which had at last brought
the country out of its difficulties, could alone justify time tax. lie
admitted the inquisitorial powers exercised were contrary to the
principles of time Constitution. We had made powerful and
wonderful exertions. which had caused an enormous expenditme,
and the debts occasioned by this expedition were still miliquidated.
If they were honourable and honest imen, like himself--(generai,
Laugh!)—lle adds es.sed himself to an English assembly—to sneii
who, he hoped, w'ere willing to pay their just debt% how, there-
fore, was this enormous debt to be discharged % Until tins debt was
livoidated, he was bound, wicked, abominable, and unjust as the
Property. Tax was, to support it—(Disapprobation,)--Sooner than
con-cut to its being perpetrated, he would his life. He begged
they would leave him to follow whatever course he conceived to be
most for the 7430 of the people. Those who represent tiecinen
ought Themselves to be free.
S's J. *it tw said he had attended to the Resolutions and the Pe,
titioa, and lie had great pleasure in stating that in general he agreed
:with the principle, contained in them. There was nothing so clear
as that the Property Tax ceased 'aid' the Continental War. He
was not aware, from ally thing which had passed, that it was in the
contemplation of his Majesty's Viinisters to pi °pose a renewal of it;
but should they conic forward with such a proposed, it would be in-
cumbent on them to state such grounds as would justify them. The
renewal emild never be admitted, unless such strong and intel-
li,jble grounds were loroug!it forward as spoke to the sense of
every' man.

Alderman ATKIxs said, thut taxation had risen to an amount be-
yowl what many who now heard believed it ever possible for
the country to bear. We had concluded a long and expensive war
with credit to ourselves and advantage to Europe. He wished it
possikle to distinguish between iLcome and property. The tax on
property was judicious; but this tax ought not to be borne by the
poor. He never would pledge himself to them or any body of men ;
lie would go unshackled into Parliament. Would they, rather than
vote a Property Tax, have us crouch at the foot of America ? His
feeling,s hal ever been to att rid of the Tax on Annuities and Pro-
fessiomal Income, &c. and lie would willingly lend his hand to the
wheel to assiq Ministers in their endeavours to discriminate between
locotne and Property, as well a' lend his hand to the wheel to crush
our foe. His industry had citable(' him to acquire some property.
and lie thought it but proper that property should contribute to the
expcnces of the country.
'flue ntotion was then agteed to.
The Thanks of the Meeting were therefore voted to Mr. Waith-
man, Mr. Favel, and the Lord Mow after which the Hall ad-
.ourucd, sine die.

PROVINCIALS.

831.

MEL A NCIFMLY AND FATAL ALARM !—A deplorable and-melan-
choly occurrence took place on Sunday senbight, in the evenint', at
the Methodist, Chapel, in Oldham-street, Manchester. It her& g
been announced that a funeral sermon would be preached that even-
ing to the memory of the late Rev. Dr. Coke, an immense concourse
of people assembled, and soon after the doors were opened, the
chapel was completely filled. Those on the outside, however, con-
tinued to press on, until the front entrance and avenues were liter-
ally (+naked up; and the consequence was, that a heavy and in-
tolerable presSnre took place in those parts of the chapel nearest the
door, particularly at the foot of the stairs. This %vas borne for some
time by tlw females and the younger part of the congregation ; but,
as it gradually became more violent, struggling and complaints took
place, which were succeeded by screams and shrieks ; and, to add
to the confusion, some imprudent persons broke several of the
windows, as is supposed, for the more free admission of air. The
crash of the broken glass, joined to the frantic exclamations of the
crowd suffering ander the pressure, induced those it the farther
end of the chapel to believe that some part of it bad given way,
and a general and instant rush was made towards the doors. Those
attempting to get were met by those attempting to get one ever -
I thrown, and trampled mulct foot. In a fisw seconds there lay a pile
of bodies, extzauling from the woes or the wall to the top of the
steps, and of such a height as effectually to bar all egress from the
chapel. '!'were happened, fortunately, to be in the interior a few
guntlemen who preserved their presence of mind, and, by dint of
persuasion and reasoning, appeased the alarmed multitude, and per-
suaded diem 14 remain peaceably in the chapel. The porch was
next cleared through their exertions, and the people on the outside
had space to remove the bodies. Two were taken out, one quite
4cad, and the other expired on reaching the Infirmary. Five more
teem-taken to the Infirmary. one of them a boy, not expected to re-
cover, and several were taken home by their friends, more or less
disabled. The chapel has been since examined by architects, who
have ascertained that the report of a failure in the building was to-
tally wi the nt pundation.
A dis!ressing event ()retired in Swansey Bay on the 25th ult.
The sloop Iron suet Tin Trader, latices with calm, from Sanderstoot
to Ilridgwater,t3aptain Child, was o!lserved by the people on board
the Olympia goverement cutter, lying in the Mumbles road, to be
fu a SitßatiOil of great peril, being water logged and without canvas,
with a man in the rigging waving a handkerchief as a signal of dis-
tress. With that promptitude and humanity characteristic of Bri-
tish seamen, the sailing master of the Olympia, three other officers,
and one man, jumped into their boat, takings-with them Thomas
Davey, pilot, of Swansea, who fortunately happened to. be oil • -
board, together with a spare sail, and hasteneelto the assistance of
the sloop. On reaching her, they put her in the best possiige ti ins
for rinming before the wind to the nearest will. The -cutter's
people then quitted her to return to their own ship, but the sea ran
so high that this was found impossible, and they tacked about in the
hope of overtaking the sloop ; in attempting which, the boat was
swamped, amid, melancholy to state, the whole five were consigned
to a watery grave ! At the earliest solicitation of the owner, master,
and crew of the sloop, the pilot had remained on board her, and
was promised twenty guineas by the former, if. he would carry her
into a place of safety. This be happily effected, after considerable
difficulty, the sea having fiequently broke over, and almost every
wave threatened them with destruction, and brought her into
Newton Nonage. On claiming the promised remuneration, it was
peremptorily rerused by the owner for some time ! lint the severe
animadversions of the country people (who had assembled in the
melancholy expectation of seeing the sloop gn to the bottom every .
monirint) on Isis inhuman conduct, at length induced him to give the
pilot a pair of shoes, he haying left his own in the boat ; to which
lib,, at reward he afterwards generals/ y ended a guimea bill, which no
person woeld take, as ;ilk was .thought bad ! The pilot's cause has,
however, been taken up by some.reepectable inhabitants of Swansea,
who are determintd to procure him an c.srple justice, and measures