The Sun.
London, England, 1813-02-04 00:00:00

PRISONERS IN FRANCE

Mr. WigTbasAn. held in his hand a Votition:
front .an unfortunate set of persons note'
ed in France, whose caAe he now. wished to
bring before the House., . retitions hod Qitly
conic into. his hands thc before, yesterday,.
though it was dated DeceMber, Fifteen,
months nearly had been
and captivity since this Petifion-ma*.hatued, le
should nut now inquire %vhat was he eanie of
this, nor take upon himself:to say v 6 h
the French (ioverument only' hal
would only express a holie. lirutyrrefouirtintivyri.;!,l
be speedilrhad :to .mcatia • or. sitlkev.j,,,
nate so much misfortune and misery.
Lord CASTLE REAciti certainly slid not-risclo op-
posethe bringing up of-thePotitiOn,:but„be,ANV en
to state that every effort, conkistciit their
duty, hadbeen haelfectually laadc- by. to
relieve the Petitioners. • ••+

The Petition ;was then broughtlAtt.aA4 it
wai from the Masters, Captains,
gaged in tirc ;Nleflitint service., nove iit
France,. It stated.tlietr distress In'titis,-aei.St
as all they received from the" Ureiteit. 6.0451141111111 t,
was twenty-nine. francs per niontli,nod their.ow4
resources were ,eotupletely exhausted,-oldere I
to lie on the table. • 4, 44

CIE.7, .;

: 11r. Wurrstrem) wished to gitr.Aotlee, that it
was his intuution, on Thursday, the 24th of Mud;
to bring tinder •the consideration of the House
the subject of Peace.
thi the motion Of Mr. DeNNETTo returns of the
prodneu of the ditties on Leather, within the last
three years, with accotnits of the driwbuck s al.,
ipwed fur the same period, were ordered to he laud
before the House.

In a Committee of the whole House, Mr.
WilorroN moved a gratit of 963/. J. 3d. to
make Kood the like dam paid to George auti-
ders„ Esq. for investigating tocouuts of,publie,
works,

Some opposition Wet "td4 to the motion by se-
vella Memherv,

Mr. Wurrrittran coliterrtival, that as this 'sum
had been. paid for regulating the acr:ounts uF
Mr. Wyatt, which he could not or would not
maim out himself, it ought to be 'thken from Mr.
/*Vyatt, and not from the public.
Mr. WIIARTON agreed with the Hon. Gentle-
man in theory ; but in the pre,,ent instance, that
theory could not be reduced to mactice. The
pu6lic were interested in having Mr. Wyatt's ac-
counts investigated, nd i,e was sorry to say, 'had
the person employed been^• referred to Mr. Wyatt
for pay►uent, it would have been impossible to get
any 'man of professional eminence to take upon
himself the task.
The motion was carried.
Several other grants of a miscellaneous nature
were voted, but the low tone in which they were
moved by Mr, Wharton, and read by the Chair-
man of the ComMittee, made it impossible to col.
lect them in the gallery.
TOKENS.

The House having resumed, on the motion of
the CHANCELLOR of the ExcnEuuk,a, it resolv-
ed itself into a Committee on the Local Tokens
Bill.

The CHANCELLOR of the Excticavert said, be-
fore the adjournment he bud intimated, that after
the present meeting of Parliament it was his in-
tention to bring in ' a Bill to allow the Local
Tokens now issued,to circulate for a longer period
than was authorised by the Act, without stiller-
ing their number to be increased. Many obser-.
vations were at that time matte on the inconveni-
ences which .would xestilt from putting these out
of circulation, unleNs a sufficient supply.of silver
were prepared to furnish a better circalatingtne,-
dium m their place. if no better circulating me,
thane were. ptepared, itc still. thought .it .would be
necessary to get rid of these Local Tol;ens ; but
at the SILITIC time, its this must prothice . some in -
convenience,• he was disposed to permit then to
continue in circulation for a moderate time longer,
till their place could be supplied by Bank Tokens or
sonic other silver circulating medium. The. Home
must he' aware of the improved state of the ex-
change, and in addition to this, there was a pros_
"Feet of a supply of bullion being shortly received,.,
ate that there was rea#on to hope those incon-
veniences would be avoided, which, under other
circumstances, might he apprehended from a new
ititte of silver. lie should therefore submit to.
the Committee the propriety of instructing their
Chairman to move for leave to bring in, a Bill to
permit the circulation of .Local Tol,,enm already
issued, for sometime longer. lie thought of 0..
posing six months es tie period for which .they
should continue to. circulate, -bait .4 would be for
the House to consider ,tif this when the'Bill bad
been brought in. He then moved his Resolu-
tion.. .

Mr. WHITBREAD thought si% months might not
be the ;fittest time:to mention, as Parliament
might not be sitting at that time, and inncli
convenience might resUlt.from the Local Tokens
being called in, if no other .cireulatingAnediurn
were ready to•supply.t heir place.' •, • •
The CilAtiCll:l4l.oit of the ExcneutiEs, repeated,
that the - Committee would have to aleeide upon
this when .the Uill:had been brouvht in, but he
wao, ansfous that tbc persons concerned in -issuing
Local Tokeitis: should know, that a considerable
extension. of the period of their circulation, would
not be granted.
Alter a few observations from Lord A. Mon&
ton, which were replied to by-the:Chancellor of
the Lxeliequer, the liestilution -wits carried. The
Douse resumed, and leave was given to bring in
the Bill.

• 06 the 11106011 Of LON! CASTLEREAGH, H. was
ordered, that the Home on its ash% should ad-
journ to Friday.

rße.)liinal"FA X.

The Cu,orcut.tou of the Ext.'matatrer., as the
ion. ehmtieman opposite bad called for the as-
sessinent of the Property TiM, hint entleavoined to
comply with hit wishes, and hoped to liring before
the House the complete' details of it, nrrniiged in
the 'twit sittisfactory Manner. The Property Tax
had been confounded with the income Tax of the
late war. He wished to remove the alistoticen-
tious Which bad arisen on this subject. The Pro-
perty Tax brought a charge on-property, but it
had nothing to do with income, except in 'eases
where income was voluntarily brought forivard
to substantiate a claim to an abatement Of that
charge. Formerly the tax was perSonal,—now,
it waa it tax on property. When the tax was
Imposed in .1803, it was attempted to make an
exception in favour of persons of small inCome;
aq had been done in the case of the former tax,—
He hint then pointed out the difference' between
the- two taxes, but it %yes the pleatinteof thelionse
to make the experiment, anti in that year it ivai
assessed ,at four millitms and a half. In 1805,
some of the difficultici which had stood 'in its way
were ramoved; and in 1806, it was pat on that
footing on which, he contended, it should orit*; •
naltyhave been put. The; constantenee was, that
iwitcad (oar iniiliorm awl dhatf, it had now been
int:yeast:a:to twelve millions and to half, a double.
• rate, 'When the accounts wei ebe ore the House;
from the complete, manner in wit Hi they were
made up, it would riot excite, surprise, t!o were;
not made up to glutei. period. OM, i order
give aa much information on the,subieet its possi-
Me, it was his' intention to move: for the estimates
of the last and current" ear. lie then moved for
a variety of papers, giving the net produce and
annual value of lands, tenements; profits of trade,
and ogees, the amount of deductions made cm as-
sessments, the produce of duties on dividends,
&c. regular returns of the prOduce of the tax for'
sreveral, years, up to 1810, and estimates for the
11141. and current year.
• gr.' Ciiiisrvi observed, the object lie hi ad n .
view might haveliCtin etreded by simple trietins.-.--•-
He wished the tiodtice of tkeyi.opertytax on lands
and on trade and professions., to he distinguished,
as it -was-of vital importancee-to theta to know
whether the prolitsoftrade increased or not. The.
produce of the property tax on Wight cleeris,e,
as many of the leases 'being out, :Old, the lands: j
were higher asYescd, anti lienee' an apparent, but
not a real increlise.of property. E'rom a paper
whichhad been pnblished, and Which' they all
.