The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-19 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1849.

The usual monthly meeting of the Liverpool Fi-
nancial Reform Association, being the last that will
take place previous to the assembling of Parliament,
was held on Wednesday evening. A most cheering
report was presented respecting the extraordinary
and almost unprecedented success that has attended
the zealous and indefatigable labours of the commit-
tee and other members of the Association. A feeling
has been excited throughout the entire country,
which will never be abated until the just demands
of the people have been fully recognised by
their representatives, whose especial and exclusive
duty it is to legislate on all questions relating to the
national income and the national expenditure. The
movementhas also spread throughout the sister king-
dom, and Scotland is up and doing in the cause of
economy and retrenchment. At Edinburgh a public
meeting was held, under the presidency of the
respected Lord Provost, who, by virtue of his high
position as chief magistrate, was peculiarly qualified
to take the lead in a question of national importance.
In Glasgow, Paisley, and other manufacturing towns,
the work of financial reform goes bravely on. The
admirable letter which Mr, J. MACGREGOR,
the efficient representative of the electors
of Glasgow, addressed to bis constituents has
not been misapplied. The good seed that was then
sown has not fallen upon barren ground, nor will it
be suffered to lie waste or unproductive. Even in
Ireland, poor unhappy Ireland, where the miseries
and sufferings of the multitude might well occupy
the attention of the more fortunate few, the tracts
and publications of the association have been eagerly
sought for, and extensively disseminated.
Mr. BRODRIBB, in the course of his address, gave
an interesting account of the progress of the move-
ment. At first the object was merely to obtain a re-
vision of the unjust and inequitable imposts on
tea, which unduly increased the price of an
article that has now become one of almost absolute
necessity among nll classes. It was felt that the tax,
averaging three to four hundred per cent. on the
original value of the commodity, fell with peculiar
weight upon. the industrious classes, prevented an
increased consumption of a wholesome beverage and

drove persons from their domestic enjoyments, to the
less salutary atmosphere of public-houses and
beer-shops. It also materially affected the local
trade of the port of Liverpool, and retarded
and impeded the due development of our
commercial relations with China, which might
be greatly extended if we would barter our ma-
nufactures for tea. For all these reasons, it
was considered desirable that the notice of the
Government should be directed to the subject.
in order that the high duty on the article might be
reduced. A meeting was accordingly held at Liver-
pool, on the 25th of November, 1846, at which the
Mayor presided. A deputation was appointed to
present a memorial, that had been adopted, to the
Government. The remonstrances, were, however,
disregarded. The only point of view, from which
the Chancellor of the Exchequer could be induced to
regard the question, was " how will it affect the
revenue ?" The justice or injustice, expediency or
inexpediency of the tax were all matters of secon-
dary consideration. Joni BULL is a taxpaying
animal, and it is too ridiculous for him to
object to any impost by which so many
millions are brought into the Exchequer.
This appeared a conclusive argument to our sagacious
Minister of Finance, who treated the members of the
deputation with the same contempt that he had
been accustomed to exhibit towards all those who
were not possessed of considerable Parliamentary
influence and power to enforce a respectful and atten-
tive consideration of their demands, if not in the
office of the Minister, within the walls of the House
of Commons. Accordingly, not the slightest allusion
to the subject was made in the financial statement
that was submitted to Parliament. The associa-
tion, however, was not to be so easily
silenced. The matter was brought before the
House, and the result was the appointment
of a special Committee to inquire into the circum-
stances of the case. After a close and protracted in-
vestigation that Committee made a report confirming
in every respect the statements put forward by the
deputation, and strongly recommending, for many
reasons, the immediate reduction of the duty on tea
to is. per pound.

It was hoped that this report would have ensured the
desired alteration. Another meeting of the associa-
tion was accordingly held in the month of January,
1848, and another deputation was appointed to pre-
sent another memorial to Ministers ; and again the
representations of the gentlemen who attended were
treated with almost silent contempt. They were told
" that it resolved itself into a question of revenue."
Ttis was the sum and substance of the only reply
that was accorded. In the House of Commons the
same course was adopted. Sir CHARLES WOOD ad-
mitted the hardship of the case ; he concurred in
almost every position that the Hon. Gentlemen laid
down. But, &c., &c., &c., and then the stereotyped
answer was returned, " that indeed taxation was not a
blessing, that the same arguments would applyto wine,
to tobacco, in fact to all articles on which high duties
were imposed—that in place of reducing taxa-
tion, he rather thought he should have to apply
for additional sources of revenue." These arguments,
which were so satisfactory to the Right Honourable
Baronet, and to which he gave utterance with as
much complacency and solemnity, as if they had
been perfectly conclusive on the point, did not prove
quite so convincing to the deputation. They re-
flected on the reasons advanced by the Minister, and
easily perceived their futility—nay, they carried the
matter further, and clearly perceived the necessity of a
great and comprehensive change in the entire
financial system of the country. Hence the origin
of the Financial Reform Association, whose labours
have already within a few weeks produced such bene-
ficial results. The objects of that association, and
the means by which those objects are to be attained,
are so clearly and accurately set forth by Mr.
BRODRIBB in his impressive address, that we can-
not refrain from quoting his very words. "To
unfetter industry," said the eloquent Gentleman,
"to unfetter industry, and cheer despairing la-
bour, is its high vocation. Industry in her opera-
tions, and labour in its toil, must not be im-
peded with the weight of taxation. They must
labour and work in freedom, that they
may be able to pay their fair share of taxation
out of their results. Not the tax on tea alone must
go, but that on every article of consumption and of
use. The whole system must be. changed : Customs
and Excise duties must be entirely abolished;
direct taxation must take its place. Labour and
trade will then be free. The expenditure will then
be reduced:; we shall then, but not till then, have a
guarantee for permanent retrenchmeLt and wise
economy. Every man then will pay according to his
means ; and we may then rest safely assured that
what is needful .for the honour of the country, the
exigencies of the State, and the most exalted dignity
of the Crown, will be readily, nay cheerfully, pro-
vided. But to accomplish this, we must arm our-
selves with the weapons which the Constitution has
prepared ready for our use. We must invoke the
constituencies, we must fight the battle in the regis-
tration courts, we must vote upon the subject, we
must be up and doing, we must acquit ourselves like

men."

These are, indeed, matters worth obtaining.
There is no departure from the enlarged and compre-
hensive principles on which the association started.
There is no truckling to those who desire that the great
body of the people should bear the entire weight of
the burdens by which they are overwhelmed, while
the possessors of accumulated and realised property
should be comparatively exempted from the
weight. It was for the protection of pro
perty that the National Debt was incurred.
The interest thereof should, therefore, be
liquidated out of the proceeds of that property. It is
in a great degree for the benefit of the possessors of
property that our civil and military establishments
are maintained. A due proportion of the expendi-
ture should, therefore, be supplied by the parties
principally benefited. Sad experience has already
taught us, that although economy may be looked to
for a time, that retrenchments may be effected when
the people show themselves determined to insist thereon,
that it will be for a brief period only, and that
plausible excuses will be found for going back
to the old and accustomed outlay. A radical change
must take place in the entire system, and then, and
not until then, can we hope for permanent economy.
The association has declared for two great prin-
ciples. It does not alone demand economy of the
public resources ; but it insists, with equal firmness
and decision, " that all necessary taxation shall be
equitably adjusted, and shall be direct—and that
capitalization of income shall be the basis of assess-
ment." These points are all of equal importance,
and they must be urged with equal energy. If any
one of, them be abandoned, the association would
forfeit the public confidence. But such will not be
the case. The sentiments put forward by Mr.
B
RODRIBB, and the manner in which they were re-
ceived and responded to by the meeting, affords the
most complete and satisfactory evidence that implicit
reliance may he placed in the political honesty and
firmness of purpose of the leaders of the great finan-
cial movement.

The Anglo mania, which affected the Parisians to-
wards the close of the eighteenth century, never went
to such lengths as the California mania promises to
do among the Europeans. We have already Com-
panies to:promote the scheme of gold-digging; we have
journals to record the doings at San Francisco; N%e
have maps to delineate the geographical peculiarities
of these regions of metallic wealth; we have pam-
phlets commenting upon the probable consequences of
the discovery; we have narratives of its origin, and
guides to its most favourably situated localities ; we
have books and pictures of California, and, to cap the
climax of popularity, we observe this morning a face-
tTiohues advertisementefieet, announcing that in a few days
will be published an ingenious composition en-
titledthe " California, or Gold-Mine Polka !"
indeed, has been altogether that of
a veritable tarantella. Speculators are already
dancing to perdition at a pace that would
have rivalled the movements of poor WIELAND in the
Diable Boiteaux. Nor is there any prospect yet awhile
of the passion for emigration to the valley of Sacra-
mento subsiding. The hope of accumulating a sud-
den fortune through the medium of a shovel and a
wicker basket is the vogue, and the vogue it will con-
tinue to be, in defiance of all argument, until insol-
vency has driven the.multitude into a etate of pies-

* " The Gold Regions of California, with exclusive
Authentic Particulars, and a coloured Map of the
Country." Bvo. pp. 79. London: Baily Brothers. 1849.
" California, its Situation and Resources ; from
Authentic Documents ; with a few Practical Hints to
Emigrants." Bvo. pp. 31. London Letts, Son, and
Steer. 1849.

" Guide to California, with a Map ; containing an
Account of the Climate, Soil, and Natural Productions
of Upper California." 12mo. pp. 36. London: Effing-
ham Wilson. 1849.

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