The Sun.
London, England, 1822-06-17 00:00:00

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MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1822.

tice of a distant motion, for the purpoie of bringing the whole
measure into discussion. But it was impossible to tolerate the
repeated attacks of those who did not at that time oppose the
measure but now brought it forward in order to raise a feel-
ing of dissatisfaction in the public mind. The Hon. Baronet
had said, that he owed the Ministers no gratitude. Why,
which of the Ministers had required it ? Who had claimed
any obligation on the late remission of taxes ? Some approba-
tion had been expressed (as he thought properly) regarding the
selection by Government of the different taxes to be repealed ;
but was it not,-he ,asked, possible for Members to express
their satisfaction at any particular act of Ministers without a
-taunt being thrown out against the latter, that they had sought
the abject gratitude of the House? The only' approbation
that Ministers required/was that which arose from the consci-
ousness of having performed their duty. They wanted no
gratitude, but they did ask for justice. They required the
justice of being protected from the imputation of improper
motives. With respect to the other topics urged by the Hon.
Baronet, he would wait for the opportunity of expressing him-
self when those subjects should be brought before the House.
"Mr. DENMAN said, that the Hon. Bart. would indeed be
unfortunate, if he could not find measures which had been
brought forward by-that side of the House, at least as perspi-
cuous as any which had emanated-frot* th:: Noble Lord. He
begged leave to say that, applauding as he did the measure of
1819, a measure which Ministers had adopted with reluctance,
and which had been suggested by Members on his (Mr. D.'s)
side of the House, yet still he thought that the measure cast a
reflection upon Ministers for having so long acted" on the ini-
quitous system which the Bill in question put an end to. It
was not their duty to double the expenditure on one hand, and
on the other to impose taxes of 3,000,0001. The people had in
1816 a right to that reduction which had now been made so
reluctantly. Instead of that, the object of Ministers, at the
expiration of the war, had been to support the Income Tax
against_ their own positive and recorded pledges. The Noble
Lord had accused his Hon. Friend, on a former evening, of
skulking away with praises to which he was not entitled, by
stealing a leaf from the Book of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer ; but he thought it evident that the reductions made
had been reluctantly adopted from the suggestions of his side
of the House.

"Mr. BENNET explained, and disclaimed all gratitude to
Ministers for the reductions lately made.
" Lord LONDONDERRY observed, that he had never im-
puted to the Honourable Member the quality which he dis-
claimed.

" 111 r. JAMES made a few remarks.
" The Petition was then brought up.
" On the question that the Petition be read,
" Sir T. LETHBRIDGE, in adverting to the expressions
used by the Noble Lord, -denied-that he had used inflammatory•
language, or language likely to create an inflammatory feeling ;
but he uttered what he intended diurnally to utter, viz. the
complaint of the people. if he did not ,do so diurnally; he
should neglect his duty. The measures of Government were
gradually bringing forward Parliamentary Reform. The•
yeomanry, of the country were now becoming reformers. Those
who had formerly turned away from Reformers with contempt,
now listened to them cheerfully. For his own part he thought
Parliamentary Reform necessary. •He was of that opinion,:
and he thought that the House, ought in justice to contain a
greater proportion of landed proprietors. He would agree in
such a Reform as had been brought forward by a Noble Lord
(Russell), and if ever that motion was again brought forward
he would vote for it. He hoped that the Noble Lord would
not again accuse him of being inflammatory, though he did
wear a white hat."

Now, so far is the writer from thinking the
language held by the worthy Baronet and his
supporters as too bold or energetic for the occa-
sion, had he-himself been honoured with a seat
in that Assembly, he should have gone to still
greater lengths, and said this or something to
the like purpose, in answer to the Noble Mar-
quis, who, with apparent triumph and self satis-
faction, appeared to sit him down. " With
every good wish and honourable intention to
support the Government of my country and its.
Ministers, as has been sufficiently apparent in
the support I have generally given them upon
most former occasions, I cannot, as the represen-
tative of a great and opulent county, see the
interests not only of that county, but of every
county in the kingdom, subjected to total ruin
by measures within the power of remedy, without
lifting up my voice against such measures, and
predicting their inevitable consequences if per-
sisted in. By. a Bill, prematurely certainly
though probably with good intentions, adopted,
has the whole currency of this kingdom been
radically and substantially altered, and with it
every contract, public and private, subjected to
proportional alteration. Did this very important
change of system bear equally hard on all classes
of society, and it were made apparent by solid
and substantial reasoning that it were necessary
to the general interests of society that a system,
under which the Kingdom had prospered for up-
wards of twenty years, should be wholly done
away and another substituted in its place, as a
mere matter of experiment how far a community
incumbered with a debt of 800 millions, through
the means of a paper currency, could discharge
the interest of that debt and support its establish-
ment in a metallic one, which it seems is alone to
be honoured with the title of a sane currency ;
when I see this dangerous experiment made at
the immediate expellee of all that is dear to a
country ; when I see, besides, the effects of this
experiment bearing most unequally and unjustly
on the landed interests of the country, it would
be little short of total imbecility to sit still and
not predict in the most intelligible language the
inevitable consequence of a persistence in a sys-
tem at once so ruinous and unjust. The weight
of that terrific measure, my Lord, bears solely
and exclusively on the landed proprietors of the
kingdom, as must be but too apparent to every
one who takes a considerate and impartial view
of the subject in all its bearings and relations.
By that Bill every contract, public and private,
in the kingdom is at once changed. The Land-
holder is compellible to pay in a metallic currency
what was imposed upon him in a paper one, at a
loss of at least 33 per cent. when the prices of
all his articles of produce are depreciated in an
exactly, or at least a nearly, similar proportion,
whilst the monied and funded man, every officer
under Government, and in short every man of
fixed revenue in the kingdom, has his income pro-
portionably raised, for he receives more than he
advanced in a ratio of 33 per cent. whilst he
purchases all the necessary and most of the
superfluous articles of life, at a ratio diminished
in like proportion, so that in fact every
.Land-
owner or cultivator in the country has his income
reduced to less than a moiety of its just propor-
tion, whilst the monied one has his raised in a
precisely equal ratio. These are facts too glar-
ing to be opposed with any semblance of truth
or reasons and can it be supposed that millions