The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-08 00:00:00

THE OPENING OF THE SESSION.
—WHAT MAY WE EXPECT FROII PARLIA-
MENT ?
(From Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper.)
Since the Revolution of 1688, which moulded the
constitution into its present oligarchic form, under
the fraudulent misnomer of a limited monarchy, the
grand object of the Legislature has been to raise
revenue, burdening industry with taxation while
relieving property. The various wars in which we
have been engaged since that period have entailed
upon us a pressure of indebtedness which has embar-
rassed all succeeding Chancellors of the Exchequer,
while the extension of our colonial system has
almost annually increased our ordinary expen-
diture. Against these accumulating difficulties
labour has struggled with indomitable energies, but
its strength has failed under the unceasing effort;
and hence we find that since the peace Parlia-
ment has been besieged with petitions from all quar-
ters to modify or abrogate the duties imposed on par-
ticular productions, each trade of course considering
itself specially entitled to relief. To assist any one
was regarded as an act of favouritism, and provoked
the hostility of those who were refused; to give a
universal denial was to raise up a general combina-
tion against the Government ; moreover, a single con-
cession animated fresh demands, forming a precedent
and encouraging people to hope that the pressure
from without could not be resisted if determinedly
enforced. These several attacks have been dex-
terously evaded by the appointment of Com-
mittees of Inquiry, the fruit of which has been de-
layed reports, too bulky to read, and too contra-
dictory to afford any safe guide to legislation.
Meanwhile, the expenditure has increased and new
debts have been contracted ; revenue has failed, and
instead of a surplus, the national balance-sheet has
exhibited a deficiency. Amid the clamour and dis-
tresses of the people, Government has put on a smil-
ing countenance, declaring itself hopeful of the
future, confident in what has been termed the
" industrial elasticity" of the trading and working
classes, which really means periodical transitions
from the gloomiest prostration to fugitive prosperity.
We annually increase in population ; every year
produces some new application of science to labour,
and these ought to add to national lichee and enable
us to sustain without inconvenient pressure the
exactions of fiscality ; but practically this result is
not attained, and session succeeds session, and Par-
liament is still importuned for the removal of unre-
dressed grievances.
•
The ordinary routine of affairs was broken in upon
by that vast organization so well known as the Anti-
Corn-law League, supported by great wealth, the
highest talent, and an admirable working machinery.
:It created an ambulatory Parliament, traversing the
whole kingdom, and issuing its proclamations through
the medium of the local press. It enunciated a doc-
trine which struck at the very roots of the financial
system established at the Revolution of 1688, and
which hail prevailed for a century and a half. It
inscribed " free trade" on its banner, and aiming
at a single object in order to establish its prin-
ciple, attacked the monopoly of bread, which it
abolished. During the contest its more active mem-
bers achieved high personal popularity, and many
of them have obtained seats in the present Par-
liatnent. To them chiefly the nation now looks
for the completion of the promises held out by the
powerful organization to which they belonged. At
their hands " free trade" is demanded, irrespective
of all considerations of revenue as derived from in-
direct taxation. It is for them to re-construct in
spirit, if not in form, that fiscal system which was
subverted by the Revolution of 1688.
Unless we degrade ourselves by equivocating with
the obvious meaning of language, "free trade" im-
plies the absence of customs, excise, and stamps ; it
implies that every commodity shall he as completely
relieved of toll ar d duty as corn will be in 1849. In
the manifestoes of the Anti-Corn-law League no re-
servations were male in favour of revenue. Their
pledges were explicit and unconditional; in that sense
they were understood by the great body of the
people, and accordingly every other agitation ceased
that no impediment might endanger or re-
tard its success. The pledges, therefore, are to be re-
deemed in the same sense in which they were under-
stood. Such is the mission of the free-trade Mem-
bers of Parliament, let the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer raise his revenue as best he can. Their duty is
quite distinct from his business.
We begin with the article of tea. The cheaper
bohea or congou c )nsumed by the poor man, pays the
tame duty as the costlier congou or hyson which re-
gales patrician palates. By conquest, followed by
treaties, we have opened the ports of China to our
trade, but our tariff neutralises all that was accom-
plished by arms and negotiations. We, the disciples
of Adam Smith, impose a duty of 200 to 300 per cent.
on the produce of China, while the disciples of Con-
fucius are content with a duty of five per cent. on
our manufactures. Our practice is a satire on our
professions, for we sin ag dust our own conviotions.
Are we, for purposes of revenue, to tax the poor man
double what we tax the rich man, on a beverage
which habit has rendered a necessary of life, and
which is so conducive to temperance ?
Take tobacco, the only luxury of the labouring
man, on which the duty ranges from GOO to 1,200
per cent. IVhat a commentary is this on the teach-
ings of Adam Smith ! Here again we have violated
economical principles for the sake of revenue, and
while hypocritical fears are expressed that Parliament
will be unchristianized by admitting Baron De
Rothschild into the Legislature, we, by our fiscal
system, are sapping the morals of our people by the
encouragement given to smuggling, and the tempta-
tion afforded to the adulteration of commodities.
From a return, moved for by Mr. flume, it appears
that in the three years ending 1845, not fewer than
3,000 persons were convieteo for smuggling tobacco;
and the Committee reported that a school was actu-
ally established in London, under female superinten-
dence, to teach the art and mystery of smuggling.
Take wine. It is a fact that Denmark, not more
populous than London, consumes far more of the
wines of France than the whole of Great Britain,
while Holland consumes sixty times as much as our
selves. We wish to be at peace with France; but
oppose those commercial relations which are the best
safeguard against war. The vine-growers of the
Gironde would not easily be persuaded to cut the
throat of John Bull, were John Bull a constant cus-
tomer for their claret on a larger scale. We quote
from a copy of the address which the free-traders of
Bordeaux recently addressed to Lord John Russell:--
The consumption of Nine in France is thirty-six
gallons per inhabitant ; in England it is only one-
fourth of a gallon In the seventeenth century, the
consumption of wine in the British isles was many
times greater than now. Suppose a duty imposed of
101. per hogshead, commen wine could then be sold
(duty iecluded) at 4i 1. per bottle, ordinary sorts Gd.,
superior sorts at 81 per bottle."
Our judges have declared that the chief cause of
crime in this country is drunkenness, arising from
the excessive use of ardent spirits of the most per-
nicious quality. The Flench are a very sober people,
and this may, in a great measure, be attributed to
the innocuous beverage that they consume. We have
had numerous Committees specially appointed to
investigate the causes and report on the progress of
crime, and they have come to the same conclusions
as the judges, and yet our rulers, for the sake of
revenue derived from filthy gin, prohibit a lucrative
trade with France, which has the additional recorn-
mennddation of being of a reformatory character, and
en
ucive to the permanence of pacific relations be-
tween the two countries.
The whole of our Excise system merits unqualified
condemnation. Its
efficiency requires an organized
army of spies. In their presence an Englishman's
house is no longer his castle. They can enter his
hour,
premises at anyand even
even in the night. They
v
can harass a tradesman they please, by insisting
on taking stock at the time he is known to be most
engaged with his cuatompeerristnenTthis intrusive super
vision is fatal to all ex which science may
recommend, none being toalloweinsue deviateh from pre-
scribed processes, lest the revenue should be cheated.
These restrictions are purely barbarous,
swear by
daily practised among a people
itti,me
Adam Smith. They are a tax
wuapwroto b
hinderance to invention. Mr.
delivered in the House of Commons on thea2Btiof
speech
last May, gave a striking example of the pernicious
action of the Excise regulations on industrial disco-
veries. verics. Twenty years ago the duty on salt was -re-
pealed, when a new chemical manufacture was at
once created. Soda, before produced from the kelp
of the Highlands, and the barilla of Spain, began to
be derived from common salt. This new trade was
prosecuted with success at Liverpool and elsewhere.
Mr. Ewart further stated that lenses for telescopes
ordered by foreigners could not be made, on account
of the Excise obstructions, hut since the duties on
glass have been repealed, the most beautiful improve-
ments have been made in this manufacture.
Take paper. 'That on which newspapers are
printed is chiefly made out of the sweepings of our
flax and cotton mills. Now mark this monstrous
contradiction. There is no duty on the raw mate-
rial", but directly they are converted into paper, a
tax is imposed. 'ctiun cotton into calico, you escape
fiscality ; transmute it into paper you come under
the fangs of the Excise. Paper, however, in alli-
ance with printiet t printing,
vil
is one of the great instruments
of education, y
nt d we profess a wish that our
people should be educated, we take away the facili-
ti
Consis es, an whlegislatorsy? becauS!
wee must keep up the revenue.
te
amazed at your wisdom 7 bow before your shrine,
The tax on life assurance is a tax
On family affec-
tion and solicitude ; the tax on fire Insurance is a tax
actoax on health,
on prudence. The tax on windows
Commissioners.
.
and gives the lie to the Sanitarys
uk,„no.mattcr ; let widows and orphans nbenits
left s
with-
' and goods be reduced to

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