The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-22 00:00:00

Mr. Peel has predicted—the giving its quietus to
he many•lived scheme for reverting to a paper cur-
rency. The challenge which was thrown out by
the Right Hon. Gentleman to Mr. Attwood, arid
other declaimers against a circulating medium com-
posed of the precious metals, is one which it re-
quires no gift of prophecy to foretell will not be ac-
cepted. These gentlemen are too dexterous to ri-k
an exposure of their object in its real nakedness and
nee hingness. They will go on bewailing and abus-
ing, and threatening about the fall of piices, and the
ruin of the landed interests, but they know better
than to come to the point, and say at once, let us
debase the standard and get rid of our gold and
silver money. We are tired, we acknowledge, of
this never-endiag talk, which not only points at so
eptciflo temedy for distresses which are described
us tthiversal, but which goes to recommend a
mode of Parliamentary proceeding inconsistent
with the notion that a remedy is so much as
dreamed of by the individuals who suggest it,
If facts are to be inquired into, well and good;
hut can an inquiry into farts be pretended by Mr.
Davenport, and his supporters, as the purpose enter-
tained by their motion, when, from their mode of
treating the subject, it is plain that evidence must be
adduced, relating to the condition, past and present,
ottrery trade, every class and interest, through all
the counties of the United Kingdom—an investiga-
tion which could not be concluded through the whole
term of a septennial Parliament. No; it is a com-
mittee of opinions which is wanted—aot one for the
collection of facts. Why, Parliament itself is al-
ready'l
the proper Committee for mooting and sane-
tioning opinions. Let Hon. Gentlemen embody
theirs in the shape of precise and intelligible reso-
lutions, and then see how they are likely to be
dealt with by the Legislature and the country. Lord
Althorp's declaration has produced a salutaryin-
fluence; the Noble Lord announcing for himself
and the powerful body of friends who surround him,
that he will oppose the motion of Mr. Davenport,
as being brought forward in a spirit of hostility to
Ministers,--a sentiment which his Lordship dis-

Much difference of opinion must necessarily exist
in fixing upon such of the public burthens as call
the loudest for repeal. Every man and class of men
will naturally infer that the tax which presses most
upon themselves is the heaviest, and the most ob-
jectionable. Even the votaries of gin probably
would, some of them, contend that they ought to be
allowed to poison themselves "duty free." It is
the business of the Government and the Legislature
to discriminate between these conflicting opinions,
and to determine upon a large scale that which pre-
sents itself in so many narrow ones. We do not,
by any means, deny that the selection which the
Government has made is, as far as it goes, a wise
one ; though we feel confidently persuaded that the
remedy, to say nothing of the remoteness of its
operation, bears no proportion to the disease. We
wonder that, in making the selection of such bur-
thens, the removal of which would most lighten the
general load, so little has been said, both in and out
of Parliament, on the importance of the repeal of the
whole, or, at all events, great part of the assessed
taxes. We know that there are persons who enter-
tain an idea that this repeal would only afford relief
to the wealthier classes of society ; and if such were
really the case, we should be among the List to con-
tend that, in a time of such pressure upon the work-
ing classes, a relief operating upon the higher only
is that which should be resorted to. The truth, how-
ever, is, that the greater part of the Assessed Taxes,
though paid directly by the middle and upper classes,
fall virtually and indirectly as much upon the work-'
ing classes as the taxes upon their tea, sugar, or
tobacco. In the articles of house and lodging rent
they directly affect all classes except the occupiers
of the smallest cottages in the country. It would not
he too much to say that it is the pressure of the
house and window taxes which enhance the price of
every poor family's lodging, in London and other
large towns, full twenty-five per cent.; while it is
equally notorious that the claims of the tax-gatherer
are made the reason, sometimes true and sometimes
fictitious, of the harassing mode in which the pay-
ment of small rents are enforced. But by far the
greater part of the relief which the repeal of the
assessed taxes would give to the whole community
would be indirectly, by the different channels such
a measure would open to the increased expenditure,
in other ways, of those who now pay them. Is there
any one who doubts that one great cause of the emi-
gration of so many persons, who now spend their
fortunes elsewhere, arises from the high price of house
rent in this country ? And does not one-fourth of
that house rent consist of the quarterly demand which
the collectors of assessed taxes make upon each
occupant ? And, if so, does it not follow that, by
removing great part of the cause, a considerable part
of the effect would cease also ? Again, is there any
body who can doubt that, by the repeal of the duty
even on carriages (the least onerous, we admit, of all
the assessed taxes), a great impulse. would be given
to that valuable branch of trade, included as it is
tinder so many heads of produce and manufacture ?
Or can there be any doubt that, if the taxes on horses
and servants were repealed, many more of the latter
would be employed than are now engaged ? Few
things press at this moment more heavily upon
humble families than the support of their grown-up
boys, for whom no kind of service can be obtained;
arid that principally because even the tradesmen
cannot employ one of them to clean his shoes
without a surcharge from the tax-gatherer ; because
the wealthier man cannot add one of them as a helper
Or additional servant in any part of his establishment
Without having the tax upon all his previous servants
greatly increased. It would he easy, would space
permit it, to augment the proofs of the general and
Oppressive way in which the influence of the assessed
taxes extends beyond those who pay them. Suffice
it to say we feel convinced that the more their effects
are traced and examined, the more will their repeal
he found to be one of the heads of relief which, in
its consequences, must prove most extensively bene-
ficial.—Morning Herald.
The more we reflect on the promised repeal of
the Beer Duties, the more are we convinced that
the expected reduction in the price of beer is a fal-
lacy. The Chancellor of the Exchequer calculates
the abrogation of these duties will have the effect
of lowering the price three farthings per quart. Sup-
posing, for the sake of argument, that this calcula-
tion is correct, which it is not, but in order to make
the sum more divisible, let us admit the reduction
will be from fivepence to:fourpence per quart. This
is one-fifth of the present price. The probability is
that more beer will be consumed in the proportion of
the reduction. An increased quantity of beer, if the
quality be not deteriorated, will require an increased
quantity of malt, and an increased demand for
this article will naturally raise its market price. The
increased price of the malt will either compel the
brewer to raise the price of his beer, or
.he will lie
forced to adulterate it, or at least ditnini•h its
strength. In this way, while the Government re-
ceives an increased sum in the shape of malt duty,
the beer drinker will not be benefitted even though
he be able to afford five quarts instead of four. The
whole thing is a contemptible juggle, and will con-
tinue to be so while the malt duty remains unre-
duced or unrepealed. Had Government been de-
sirous to relieve the people in reality, and been more
anxious to minister to the wants of the poor titan
protect the interests of the fundholder, instead of the
beer they would have repealed the sugar duties.—
Sugar is an article much more indispenFable than
either ale or porter. It is required by the poorest
classes. It is actually a necessary to the humblest
person—to the aged, the infirm, the sick—to the
poorest widow and:the Most veritable old maid who
vegetates on 201. a-year--even to the pauper it is
a necessary. By reducing the duty on this article
all classes of society would have been benefitted,
and none more so than the indigent and reduced
labourer and spinster. It does not produce altoge-
ther much more than 4,000,0001. per annum. The
jsrimeebst of tlseartiele is not more on the average.
tban twopence halfpenny per pound, and on this