The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-26 00:00:00

He considered that statement to be an answer to those gen-
tlemen who objected to taking off taxes, because they preferred
having a considerable surplus revenue to his following out the
plan of endeavouring to select articles for reduction, which
either entered into the general consumption of the people, or
were largely employed by the manufactures of the country.
His Hon-. Friend complained that more had not been done for
the agricultural interest : but mentioned two trifles,,, which
came .with a bad grace from one who almost ridiculed his No-
ble Friend's attempts to relieve that interest of its trifling bur-
dens. The fact was, that there was very little in the way of
taxation that was not of a trifling nature that pressed upon the
agricultural interest, except the malt tax, which, he contended,
pressed equally upon other consumers of malt. But his
Hon. Friend ought not to forget this, that the farmers were
as much a part of the public as the inhabitants of towns,
and would be just as much benefitted by general reduction
of taxation. He ought not to forget either, that the re-
duction of the duties on raw materials was not a benefit
conferred on the commercial classes, but was largely, though
indirectly, advantageous to every man who had capital to em-
ploy or labour to sell, by increasing the employment for capital
and labour. In fact, it was utterly impossible for the pro-
ductive powers of this country to be in any way extended
without every class in it being benefitted.—( Hear, hear.) He
therefore thought that the relief to be experienced from the
reduction of the house or any other direct tax, little in compa-
rison-to that which would have been derived from the reduc-
tion of the taxes on glass, paper, and cotton ; but at the same
time he admitted that in considering the expediency of main-
" taining a tax, they were bound to look to the greater or less
pain, for so he must call it, with which it was paid. Now,un-
questionably, the House Tax had been a cause of general and
loud complaint, and his Noble Friend was, therefore, right in
taking it off. But he trusted that what they had to spare might
hereafter be devoted to the relief of productive industry, and if
that course were well followed out, he felt satisfied that they
need not fear seeing those years of adversity which the Hon.
Gentleman appeared to dread. They might, certainly, be
subject to the fluctuations which visited all commercial coun-
tries ; but, upon the whole, he doubted not they should go on
in a long career of industrious improvement.—( Cheers.)
Sir ROBERT PEEL said that he quite agreed in the
doctrine of the Right Hon. Gentleman that in all financial
arrangements it was infinitely better to take off the duty on
glass, &c., than to resort to other articles. But if that were
true, he did not see why they should not perform their duty to
the people of this country, and to act upon principle,
rather that give way to clamour. The Right Hon. Gentle-
man had adverted to the feeling against the house tax, but he
did not think that the Government were, therefore, called
upon to give way to the clamour which was raised, and to
adopt a principle which was in contravention of their duty to
their constituents, and by which they allowed their own supe-
rior judgments to be borne away. Now he thought the glass
tax was bad altogether, and he believed that its removal would
give greater relief to those who were the objects of their con-
sideration, who were the greeter mass of the community, than
the removal of the house tax, which was, after all, but a bonus
to the landlord. The removal of the duty on glass was an
object to the great classes of society, and if such were their
conviction, he did not see why they should not act upon their
own sense of legislation rather than concede the point to
clamour. Such was his opinion. The duty on glass tended
to deteriorate the quality of the article. Compare the glass
manufactured before the present duty was imposed, and they
would find that the quality of the present manufacture was
very different since that circumstance. And why was this ?
Why, because by their fiscal policy, they gave encourage-
ment to the manufacture of the bad article. Here then
there was palpably a double objection. Now his course had
been, not to urge the Noble Lord to a greater reduction of
the taxation of the country than he should feel to be absolutely
necessary. With reference to the observations of the Right
Hon. Gentleman, coming from an Hon. Gentleman, so en-
lightened, and placed in so high a situation, they were en-
titled to every consideration and to great weight. lie ( Sir R.
Peel) had, however, listened to the arguments adopted by the
Right Hon. Gentleman, in regard to coal, but they had not
removed the doubts which he entertained upon the question.
He dared to say that some temporary relief might arise to
persons in the North of England, from the adoption of the
Right Hon. Gentleman's views. It might employ some more
British shipping, but he thought that temporary advantages
were dearly purchased by depriving ourselves of the natural
advantage which we had a right to avail ourselves of. With
reference to the exportation of machinery, it might not appear
that, by allowing this, we should encourage domestic indus-
try, but we could not prevent the egress of manufacturing skill.
The persons manufacturing this machinery had a right to leave
the country; and whatever came from the exportation of ma-
chinery, they had no discretion left in the matter, and it was
therefore better to encourage the exportation of domestic ma-
chinery than of the persons who manufactured it. In the first
place, as to coal, he was not satisfied of the abundant supply
of coal in this country. He knew that the reproductive power
of coal was not so rapid as the consumption, whatever chemical
combinations it might possess. By the evidence which was
given, the reproduction of coal was a problem by no means
satisfactorily settled. But, surely, they were looking forward
to a period of four or five hundred years. They were not to
be content with the prosperity of a century to come nearly ;
they were to look to remote periods, unless vast advantages
should be proved as likely to result from an increased expor-
tation of the article. He was not satisfied that an abundant
supply of coals for a long. period of years to come was to be
procured on terms consistent with the maintenance of our
monopoly. The Right Hon. Gentleman argued that coal
fields were opened on the Continent; and this very fact
induced him ( Sir Robert Peel) to encourage our own
monopoly. Why should we not retain the present ad-
vantages which we possessed, and thus enable ourselves to
contend with our rivals? Of the observation of the Right
Hon. Gentleman, as to the consumption of the ashes of the
pit, he would say nothing. Amongst all the financial arrange-
ments of the country, he regretted that the subject of banking
had not been more seriously considered. The Right Hon.
Baronet proceeded to advert to the Act 7 Geo. IV. c. 46,
which enabled joint-stock banks to be established, making all
the members of those banks individually responsible for the
debts of the concern. Now all that he asked was that the
subject should be considered as one deserving the attention of
the Legislature. He could not help thinking that this Act
7 Geo. IV. was being acted upon in a manner which was not
at all intended or anticipated by the parties who framed that
measure. He saw continually prospectuses of these joint-
stock banking companies ;—there was, indeed, a mania for
this sort of speculation. Extensive branches of these esta-
blishments were being formed in every town by those agents
who roved about to look for towns where they should open
them—no matter whether the parties had any connection with
these towns. He was disposed to leave trade as. free as pos-
sible ; but when a bank assumed that which was a royal privi-
lege—namely, that of issuing. coin, the Parliament had a right
to take effectual checks against improvidence on the part of
the proprietors. In illustration of this argument, the Right
Hon. Baronet proceeded to read a prospectus of a company,
which had fallen into his hand, setting forth that parties should
be a shareholders—that such persons should be entitled to a
cash credit for the two-thirds of the amount of the paid up de-
posit--that should one-fourth of the paid up capital be lost,
the company was dissolved, and that this would answer the
purpose of a limited responsibility. Was this the law, he
would ask ?—( Several Hon. Members, " No, no.") Aye, but
it was the practice ; and was not this a sufficient reason for
calling the attention of Parliament to the matter ? If this
were not the law, it followed that it could not be right to hold
out to the public inducements which could not-be realized.
He felt, however, that at the present advanced period of the
session, it would not be possible to do much in this question ;
but he hoped that the Noble Lord would consider these pro-
posals of companies, and that part of the late measure which
he protested against at the time, of making the Bank of Eng-
land note a legal tender. They had heard much of the buoy-
ancy or elasticity of the resources of the revenue of the country,
and all this had occurred under a metallic standard, uncon-
nected with the increase of articles of consumption. He
hoped that this would be an. additional reason for adhering to
the untangible metallic standard, and that the House would
view with all rational jealousy, any attempt at an increased pa-
per currency. He hoped that we should not be engaged
in those evils which must arise from an unredeemable paper
currency.
Mr. HUME, after some preliminary remarks, expressed his
opinion that the Noble Lord should lay upon the table a state-
ment of stock at the commencement of his office, showing the
amount at that period and at the present moment. He was
opposed to any Ministers buying and selling stock, for in most
of these transactions, the result only showed a loss. With
regard to the exportation of coal, he could not see how that
branch of trade would come in competition with the manufac-
turing districts, seeing that it was required for the courts of
France or Holland. It appeared to him, that if they created
a market by the repeal of the tax on the article, it must
be beneficial to the interests of the country generally. The
Hon. Gentleman then adverted to the various proposals brought
forward in the budget of the Noble Lord, and expressed his con-
currence in them, though he regretted the Noble Lord had not
gone further. He approved of the Noble Lord's promise to take
off stamps on Almanacks, and he had hoped that the remainder
of tne stamps would have been also taken away. Let the Noble
Lord do this, and he would do more to promote the welfare
of the people than he imagined. Then as to the duties on
spirits, he firmly believed that if spirits were as cheap as beer
there would be no drunkenness. The Government had not
taken the right course to put down drunkenness. He did not
know what information had been obtained by the " Drunken
Committee"—(A laugh)—but he certainly was anxious to
know whether their opinion was in accordance with his own,
for he found many persons even conforming to his own notions
on this matter. The Honourable Gentleman proceeded to
advert to the Sinking Fund, which, he contended, had done
more harm than good. The Noble Lord certainly deserved
the thanks instead of the censure of the House. He consi-
dered that with reference to the various estimates they
might
be reduced.

Mr. O'CONNELL said he had one word to say for Ire-
land. He heard of prunes, currants, salad oil, stockjobbing,
foreign newspapers—in a word, of relief to be given in every
way and to every article, but he heard little of Ireland.—( Hear
and a laugh.) By the Grand Jury Bill it was recommended
to take off the duties on stamps, but by the decision of the
Judges the parties, in order to make the stamp binding, should
pay 1/. ; so that they were released from the duty of 3s. 4d.,
and were saddled with 1/. When the people were fined 11.
for each award, in order to make it binding in a country where
most of the disputes of the people were decided by award, and
the encouragement of which system would tend greatly. to
check litigation, they were effectively shut out from the facili-
ties of obtaining justice. The Noble Lord said that he took
off one half of the spirit license, and this he called a boon to
Ireland. But it was in reality an injury ; for the effect would
be to reduce in the country places the number of licensed
houses, and increase
.the number of illicit stills. Was it a re-