The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-02 00:00:00

. order to afford further information on tie
of the new Taxes ri
Ser..-,7l.ts', and 1-kyles
The C,ANT.ELLOR of t .e EXCHP.QUER could not
consent to any further postponement.
Mr. BROUGHAM then renewed his objecteions'to
the 1 axes upon Hides, and upon Agricultural Ser-
vants, as affecting the-lower orders of the people.
He condemned all imPosts 'which' went to inflict
a burthen Upon the trader, and not nuon the con-
sumer. Such a tax Was highly objectionable.=
The objections. which he, had formerly used e-
specting the effects of the other part of the-taxes
- upon AgricAlture still remained unanswered. It
-was impolitic, he contended, to tax all the imple-
ments used in husbandry. He would put it to all
the practiCal and theoretical farmers in the House,
whethersuch,impolicy was not manifest: He pro-
tested ap:aiust it, therefore, as conducive to the
rise or every article of life, and thought it was.
one of the Minister's blinders, and not a tax.—
GoYernment would be -materially affected by it,
for they would ,receive with one hand and pay with
the other. For instance, if he looked to the ar-
my, and the vast consumption of leather which
necessarily took place, his proposition could he.
very readily retde apparent. The army con-.
sists . of, about eight hundred thousand. men,
who, on the average, consume per annum
six parrs of shoes each ; this, at-the rate of Is.
per pair advance in price each, -ivtuld,make an in-
crease ofexpence to Government of .about two
hundred and sixty thousand. pounds per annum.-
- To. all intents and purposes it was. a poll-tax on
the army, and .consequently atax laid by Govern-
ment on itself--a tax laid by one part of the Ca-
binet upon the other part. The Honourable and
Learned Gentleman noticed the pressure of the.
property upon the farmer, and stated his in-
,
tention, in,the next Session, of bringing the sub-
ject before the House, so far as it concerned the
present mode of levying that 'tax. He concluded
with giving his decided negative to the present

_l~itii•l_ i

Mr. MARRYATT thought that this tat would
ultimately affect the consumer ; but there was one
circumstance which particularly 'deserved the at-
tention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which
was, that the stock in trade Of the tanners would
expose them to a prodigious loss, from the-opera-
, tion of this tax. He therefore thought it was
necessary that some -chanie shoUld be introduced,
to protect them against it for one year;' and un
less some such . clAuse were inserted, he should
find himself called upon to oppese the Bill. .
Mr. LYTTLETON was of the same opinion with
the Hon. Gentleman who spoke last. The tan-
ners had lately'laid in a very great stock—in con-'
sequence -of which they must suffer too severely,
unless they met with• some indulgence. ,
Mr. Mugu was of opinion that this tax :was
calculated to give too great an advantage to the
Irish manufacturer. lie should always wish to
See the manufacturers of Ireland encouraged, but
never to the prejudice of those of our own coun-
try. In the present case, they Would have au ad-
vantage of six per cent. which he thought very
improper. He also objected to this tax,, as un-
just, on the plea of its ultimately affecting the
consumer.

Mr. WHARTON contended, that the. arguments
used by the Honourable and Learned Gentleman
(Mr. Brougham), were inconclusive and fallacious ;
that, in fact, they destroyed one another. If the
farmer, as he contended on a former occasion,
was affected by the tax in every point of view;
if it fell upon the beast before his hide' was
sold, why then the argument might
,have
of course the farmer would ask a greater
price, and the tanner consequently would raise his
price, so that evidently it must fall upon the con-
suliSer. , Now, Whether it s fell oppressively or
not was' another question. It had been asserted
fl;at the poorer orders-of people were materially
.flecteti by the tali, that it did not equally attach
on the rich and the poor; and that therefore it, was
Objectionable. Now, how stood, the fact as to the
increase in the price of shoes ? The'Hon. and
Learned Gentleman had stated that increase of
eighteen pence per pair op those used by husbandry
servants. That, however, was not, the case ; for
from certain information he had this-morning re.,
ceived from the Company of Cordwainers, the in- .
erease -would only be 9d: per pair, allowing cent.
per rent. for the aggregate expellee incurred in
the leather's going through the different hands ne-
cessary in process before it-could be made into a
shoe. He was aware that the Hon: and Learned
Gentleman, when he talked of the increased charse,
oral that the -shoes of a poor man were More
expensive than those df an opulent man, could
only mean in regard to the weight of leather.—
For let -it be • recollected, that the opulent man
wore in the year more shoes- in point of -number.
The Honourable and Learned Gentleman, too,
had thrown out of his t3alculation all theotlier'

leather.consurned by
.the 'opulent man. He had
tot• noticed the. vast quantity consumed in
riagcs, in saddles, jn, harness, -in - portmanteaus,
Looks, &c..his. argument, therefore, would fall
to the ground on this head. With respect to
the stock "in • hand of • the tanners, particular
attention had been paid by his Majesty's Govern-
' went to that part of the subject, and they wore
tot to be affected by the operation of the tax. All
the stack ivhich,has not gone through the prodeSs
'would be exempt from the tax. Gentlemen who
Lad opposed the tax as oppressive, would not have
occasion to persevere in their. opposition.' The
House wouldTpereeive, that in respect to the price
to be charged by the tanner, to indemnify him fpr
the tax—that he must regulate by the demand for
the commodity, and certainly it could not be his
interest to sell at a loss.
Mr. BROUGHAM made a few observations in ex--
planaton.
Lord ALTHORPE said a few words against•this
tax, in which he 'recapitulated the arguments he
had made use of on-the former'evening. •
GeneratTAßLETots: thought it strange that the
Honourable Gentleman opposite, from having had
a ,rneeting with the Society of Cordwainers, in
,Lonffon, 'he could pretend to come 'to the House
-,-armed, as he had said, with authority to state how
this tax would affect- the peasantry in the other
parts of the kingdom 3, he 'urged that this tax