The Sun.
London, England, 1805-03-05 00:00:00

purposes, among which was even. that of manure.
It was certainly their objet} to give fieility to the
circulation of that artiele,butilie chief hindrance to
a'free circulation was the regulation which the duty
necessarily demanded, And these regulations would.
equally affed the circulation whether the duty
amounted to 5, to, or is buidiel„ so that
the Noble Lord ought not to-be satisfied with ed.
vising a•rejeaion of 'a revenue of soo,Oool. which
the proposed additional Duty would produce, but
should proceed to advise the taking off the duty
now existing, which- produced a revenue amounting
to double that sum. It was singular that the Noble
Lord shotild oil' on those persons, who, when the
Country, was at peace, approved the: Report of the
CoMmittee, and yet did not venture to institute any
measure upon it, to come forward, arid in the midst
-Of War declare their opinion on the present Bill.
The Report had slept for three years, and theconsi.
deration of it was now urged, at a time,than which,
none could he more 'unfit. The Noble Lord had
asserted, that this tax pressed heavily on the Poor.
It was a most unpleasant thing for him to be under
the'neeessity of imposing taxes which in any de.
gree affefled the lower classes, hut he had a sacred
duty to perform. We were engaged in a contest
for the defence both of rich and of pool ; supplies
must be foend; and no mode of raising them seemed
to him" so little liable to object ion as the present.
On the day when he f:rsi introduced this and 'hie'
'other measures of 'Finance, it was ohjetted by
ttn Hon.
onGentleman that they did not fell suf.
fleiently articles of consumption. The Noble
Lord had not been juir in saying, that Govern:.
ment had abandoned the interests of the lower
classes. Let him look at the taxes from the year
1793 to the present time, and: he will find that
they have been in every instance exonerated at the
expense of their superiors.. The Income Tax, the
Wine Duty, the Duty on Foreign' Spirits, and 3
variety of othere suflieiotoly proved this. The sum
estimated as likely to be reisethfrom this additional
Duty on Salt, was soo,cool. at ss. per•bushel, anti
therefore proceeded on a calculation of twis
of bushels being consumed. There were eleven,
millions of consuritera, and it ninat be obvious to
the House, how, much greater a proportion of this
,TAX would fall on the higher clews than on the
lower. On a fair calculation, the consumption of a
• cottage containing a family of live persons,' would
" be considerably short of a bushel io the year, meke
ing an annual ditty of only three or four shillings'
and !Ilia it should be reColleded,colledied gradually,
and from week to week, so that its influence would
scarcely be felt. Taxes on consumption to he pro.
duflive, must be laid on articles f 'general eon.
sumption. As melte apprehended increase in the
assize of bxcad, it never veriee, unless a fleettt.
tioreof at letiat toolopleee Un eech sack of
' flour, and the quantity of salt used in this cape was
so small, it was such' a tetilieg fraktion;
,that it
could not possibly area the,price. 111 e hoped, there.
'fore, however specious the arguments used by 'the
opponents of the measure, 'however they might,
aired to be the advocates and proteAots at the
poor, that the House
,would see through •the fallacy
of their objeetions ; and that in the sUpporr of a
c.,0,e in which the higher and thelower:clesses
were equally coecernedi they woold not 'hesitate to
afford to His Majesty's Goyernment 'those me:ins
which were proved by them Cu, be the least ol.jee.
tionable for rber put pose.
Mr. Tr../X declared, that go 'far from thinking
this an unobjectionable tax, he never knew one mote
ohjaCtionable. in every point of view. He retire: fly
assented to the Report of the Committee it, 1301.
The Right Hon. Gentlemen, seemed to.tfook, that
because three years liscfelapsed since the delivery of
that Repert,' and it had not been •jatfled upon, it
shoola be entirely abandoned. There had been but
one Session in which any meesUre originating in the
Report could with propriety he poieesed, rind so,
Leeause it had been overlooked 'during a single 'Sec.
siOn, the House "was to I>e ttild that the'Report was,
mere nonsense, anti unfit to ground any: proceedings
on. If, instead of the situattion in which !+.e now
are, we were at peace, he should certainly move for
the total annihilation orthe lialt* Duty. ''• But,,,
says the Right' Hn.' Gentleman,, by a singular
mode of argument, similar to One that was used the
other evening on the Slave. .'radet 41 if you do not
repeal the old tax, it is of no ogee() rejeel 'the new
What, is the magnitude of the taX then of
no consequence. We may hesitate to relinquish a
large revenue although but 'imperktlY setkfied Nitll
the means by which it is obtained, but to say that
we Onuld tbereftite iocrease by an extension of
those means was worse than abaurdo , An evil might
exist, which in certain cireemstencea,, We might not
136 able to remove, but eve should at least not render
it mare diffictili to :,abnlish it, and it w4s well,
known that the inereage of produce must be ecceme
partied` by an increase difficulty. It had been
said, that the fisheriei would not awl-re by this addle
tional duty, 24 the salr esed in them was exempt
from iti htit it was highly objeCtinnehle to have a
very large tae on which very large drewbaeke must
be 'made, The ealculatione which the Right
Hoxrpltrabla Oeretlernan had entered into were ma.
serially etroniouse It Wes U. principle in taxation
to abstain'from " hying :thy on- those'artieles
• that principally formed the toad of man, such, as
wheat; bread. and `bUtCjitte,ll rileat arra yt,t the
Right Hon, Gentletnen propoied to ley on the last
ni ,et OpprediVC though indirect tax:. Ire sup.
poses that it will fall lightly on the' poOr, On the
contrary, as the .animil food of time poor, when,
they were able to proaure any animal food, was ge.
nerally Salted meat, it was evident that 'this was 'a
tax 00 the peculiar fVod of the poor, and not on
that of 'the rich. The amount would, indeed, to' a
Pont man, be enormous: He had made intrity, •
and-he f,nind that for Wino: a hog'ofe wenty,score;
a bushel atui a half of 'salt was requiredoand when •
the animal" was /Oftener thesalt used was mote than
the due proportion. The retailers, on ilat pre6Urnp.
tion of this Bill *rig p:(saed, had already advanced
salt *ix shillings a 'bushel, 'so that tor' a hog of
twenty-score the poet cul.t3grt* would have to pay
nine's hill2ngs for salt,' and 'for one little more than
a heedred weight, bur anti sistPence, mak.
ing in increase in the' price of the meat of 'one-half-
penny in the' pound, It wa's true' that-were
nil: rteiitied, it woeld iequire a sax producing e