The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-01 00:00:00

several of the principal. States of Europe, and the.pro-
portion that tax bears to the general revenue in each of
them, in order that your reallers, may 'compare, these
amounts and proportions with the insignificant land-tax
of oui:.olVu'eetnitry..
In France, in the year 1838, the land-tax is stated in.
the above. work at 261,852,762 francs (10,474,1101. ster-
ling), out of a total revenue of 1,053,420,078 francs (or
42.13G,8021: sterling), that is to say, about one-jburth .of
the whole. In Austria the, total revenue is stated at one
hundred and thirty millions of guilders, which, at 2s. ld.
each amounts to 1.3,541,66 e/. sterling, and of this the land-
each, tax amounts to forty-two millions of guilders, or
4,375,0001; sterling, nearly one-third of the whole. In
Prussia the land-tax amounts to 9,735 thalers, in a total
revenue of 51,740,000 thalers, which is nearly one -fifth
of the whole. 'ln-Sweden, I find, on reference to -an-
other authority, that. the direct taxes on land amounted,.
in 1827, to 12,622,621 rix dollars, out of a total revenue
of 19,465,970 rix dollars, or nearly two-thirds of the
whole ! In England, on the contrary, the land-tax
actually paid amounts to little more than one million
sterling ; or, including the portion of it that has been
redeemed, its extreme limit is two millions out of a total
revenue of forty-eight millions, which is a twenty-fourth
part of the whole. • When we inquire how it is that
such injustice can be found to exist in a country claim-
ing to be the most enlightened of Europe, the obvious
answer is, that the taxation of England has hitherto
been fixed by an oligarchy of landowners.
That the land of the United Kingdom is, tesay the least,
-equally valuable with that of France, might be taken as
self-evident ; but having embarked in statistics, I shall
proceed to prove it by some quotations from the work al-
ready mentioned: For the year 1836 the total gross
value of the agricultural production of Great Britain and
Ireland is given at 5,725,720,000 francs, or 229,028,8001
sterling ; and that of France at 5,237,178,000 francs, or
909,607,1201. steeling ; and the net rtvenue, derivable
from the land of the. United Kingdom is, for the• same
year, given at 2,200,000,000 francs, or! 88 millions ster-_,
ling ; while the net revenue of France is stuteo.---at'
1,685,1-784000-francs, or 67,407,1201. sterling,' laollows,
therefore, according to justice on this•comparaon of the
resources, of the still •in 4he two countries, thetfthe
land-
tax of the United Kingdom. should amount to thirteen or
fourteen millions sterling, instead of two millions, which
has been its extreme amount.
To those persona who argue that inconsequence of the
amount of English, taxation• the agriculturists of this
•country cannot compete With
.foreigners, it may. with en-,
tire truth be replied,.thet the taxation of France (42, mil-, .
1 ,1
lions sterling.) is much greater in comparison the ge-
neral resources of that country than a
_taxation of, forty-
eight millions is to the weelth,,of;gnglarnl. •
Inanklition, however, to the tlegnieney ofs eleven mil-
lions, which appears as ahovo to exist in_ the landed tax-
ation of thia..Pollniry, upon the: ,equitable French princi7.
ple of obtaining revenue from each class of •the commu-
nity somewhat in- proportion ,to its wealth, there are a
multitude of unfair minor exemptions also enjoyed by
the landowners and agriculturists of Great, Britain. For
example, there is no duty on Ow deieent of landetf
property, however remote the degree of propin:l
quity may be. No toi is • levied farmers'ers' dogs or
farmers hi.J. osca
—no stamp duty for fire insurance on
farming stock—and even as respects the window-tax,
that portion of their dwelling-houses which is devoted to
the business of their avocations is Specially exempted
from that duty. Indeed, had the constitution of England
formally proclaimed it to be the first business of Parlia-
ment to exalt agriculture at the expense of every other
interest in the country, :that object could scarcely have
been performed more effectually than it has been.
I perfectly remember that the principal reason urged
for taking off the duty on salt, many years since, was an
expectation that the article might be extensively ps in •
agriculture. It was the Farmers' interest lai,le-ewise tho'
was chiefly consulted in taking off tjAe. ta:e on leuth-
it is much to be hoped the m.e.4sure may
.11P--
c b.-nlYtned
them, for it. has cc;-taioly relieved no e
commtutiity. unless It may .posail-,7'
mulier•St - be . other class of the
tanners and shoe-

L
e~ ailing agrigultural interest that was
....Lied when the House of Commons untowardly
„ed a reduction of the•malt-tax, in oidei that the far-
mers might find a more extensive market for their hdrz
ley, and,this without regirdingl either: the state of 'the
public revenue or the morality of the country, which
would have been sadly injured thereby. Even down to
the most minute matters, the same unjust favouritism to--,
wards agriculture is manifested, in so much, that on
turnpike-roads farmcr4' carts conveying lime, or any other
manure, pay no toll. What manures are to a farmer,
coal, wood, iron, wool, cotton, and dye-woods, are to the
manufacturers, yet no such exemption has been accorded
to them.
- Again, the.weWitltyjartnirs and landOWnei's (flu- It is
only such that use them) have long been specially ex-
empted from any duty,in such tiles as are used for drain-
age, while the poor cottager by the road-side either is, or
until very lately certainly was, taxed Cr the materials of
the humble roof with which he covers his head.

It waal the
againcon.•
riFt'! - •

But all these minor exemptions, though collectively
they may, perhaps, amount to two or three millions per
annum, sink into insignificance when we come to consi-
der those monster iniquities of the age, the corn and
provision laws, by means of which many of the principal
articles of food are absolutely prohibited, while the rest
are loaded ith sliding duties which generally exclude
them from use. By an excellent table compiled by Mr.
Bischoff, from official documents, and published by
Waterlow, of Birchin-lane, it appears that, on a com-
parison of the price of wheat during the last fifty
yeas in England and Berlin, after allowing ten shil-
lings per quarter for bringing it over, the people of
Great Britain- have, during that period, paid eleven'
hundred and eighty five millions sterling more
for wheat alone, than they would have done under a
free trade system. If to this amount we add only an
equal sum, for the difference of price in barley, oats,
peas, beans, butchers' meat, butter, cheese, &c., we ar-
rive at a grand total of two thousand three hundred and
twenty millions sterling, which the landlords of Eng-
land have extorted from the community during these
fifty years, being above three times the amount of the
whole National Debt. Enormous and almost incredible
as this sum may appear, amounting, when divided by
the number of years, to forty-seven millions, four hun-
dred thousand pounds annually, yet it is fully con-
firmed by all the great statistical authorities of the
kingdom, who have, from other data, variously esti-
mated the amount of the landowners' tax on the commu-
nity, at sums ranging from forty to fifty millions an-
nually.
Even that excellent and intelligent public officer, Mr.
Hume, so long Secretary to the Board of Trade, with
all the caution and reserve of his official character, esti-
mates, if I recollect aright, in his evidence before, the
Parliamentary Committee, the annual amount of the
landowners' tax at about thirty-five millions. The re-
peal of these iniquitous laws should be considered en-
tirely as a landowners' question, for the farmers and
agricultural labourers would be as much benefited b
it as any other classes of the people ; and when English
landowners declare that they cannot compete with the
foreign producer, in consequence of high taxation,
should be reminded of the equal taxation of France
Holland, and Belgium, and that they have hitherto con
tri ved to throw two-thirds of the general taxation of
the country, on the commercial classes ; notwithstanding
which, our manufacturers have, after paying those
taxes, and at least an equal amount of bread-tax, to
compete with the foreign producer in every market of
the world. That they can now no longer do so with
effect, seems entirely owing to the taxes on food,
and the want of a reciprocal interchange of
commodities with other countries. The soil of England
generally is equal to any in Europe, and so, perhaps, is
also its climate for general agricultural purposes ; nor is
there any other country that is so well supplied with a
variety of manu-es, as well as with roads, canals, and
railways, for the transport of farm produce ; added to
which, the English system of agriculture is vastly su-
perior to that pursued in any other country—all which
sufficiently proves the non-necessity of any agricultural
protection, and the entire reasonableness of a free trade
in every article of provisions.
Were the undeviating rules of impartiality and jus-
tice to be consulted, the only question now would be,
how the landowners of England, in addition to the con-
cession of a free corn trade, could sufficiently atone for
their past extortion? At present, every manufacturing
operative pays at least one-third of his hard won wages
towards the landowners' tax, and the sum of ten or fif-
teen pounds which is thus levied on each family of them,
is about equal to the hundred roubles which the nobles
of Russia demand from each of their serfs by a more
direct, and consequently more honest, system of slavery.
My Lord Stanley's avowed principle that it is meet
and proper that the families of a thousand mechanics
should be starved, in order that each aristocratic land-
owner may be able to maintain a certain number of sleek
hunters and livened lacqueys, has been already too long
the law of the land. Nor has the Lord of Netherby
been more fortunate in his Scriptural quotations ; and
his allusion to ancient Tyre, a city which sank into in-
significance in the same way, and possibly owing to the
same causes that are now sinking England—namely,
selfishness, and want of enlightenment in her rulers. In
reference to the consequences of English illiberality on
his country, Lord Byron happily remarks—
" What Athens was in science, Rome in power,
And Tyre appeared at her meridian hour,
'Twas thine at once fair 'Albion to have been
Earth's chief dictatress, ocean's mighty qtleen ;
But Rome declined, and Athens strewed the plain,
And Tyre's proud piers lie shattered in the main."
Should Sir James Graham happen to visit the manu-
facturing districts of England twenty years hence, he
may perchance find, should his favourite Corn-law be
continued, that those colossal hives of industry which
are, though unacknowledged, the chief sources of his
present income, have become as deserted and useless to
the world as the shattered piers of Tyre.
In conclusion, I would beg leave once more to refer
to 111 r. Bishoff's excellent table for a refutation of the
hollow arguments which were lately used by the Tories for
1• electioneering' purposes, viz., that wages rise or fall with
the rise or fall in the price of provisions. In the year
1796 the wages of a Sussex labourer were 12s. per week,