The Sun.
London, England, 1834-02-22 00:00:00

if any serious benefit could be derived from the relief from
other burdens, unless some remedy was devised to lighten
the pressure of this great evil. He (Lord Althorp) was
as much interested as the Noble Lord, or as any man
could be, in the prosperity of the owners and occupiers of
land, and when be spoke of those who advocated the
landed interest, he referred to them only as taking a pro-
minent part in the questions relating to land, as contradis.
tinguished from those who took an equally prominent part
in questions relating to manufactures and commerce.
He differed widely from those who said that relief
to the other interests in the country would not bear ad-
vantageously on agriculture. He would assert that the
greatest relief which could be given would be that which
would in, st affect the general body ; relief, therefore, from
a tax which pressed heavily on the general body must be
a relief to agriculture as well as to commerce and manu-
factures. It the Noble Lord could show that the tax on
malt was one which pressed heavily on the general wealth,
he would be establishing a good ground for extending
relief by the repeal of that tax in preference to any other,
but unless he could do that, he did nothing. What
would most benefit the landed interest must, lie repeated,
be what would most tend to the benefit of the general in-
terest of the country. Now, in speaking of this, he could
not overlook the great increase which had of late taken
place in the price of wool. He did not underrate that
when he stated that within a very short time the price of
that article had been raised from 93. to 2s. the pound—
that was an increase of ls. 3d. is the pound. Now, if
gentlemen would consider what a great addition this must
have made to the receipts of the occupiers of the soil, they
would see that the repeal of the whole of the malt-duty—if
it all went into the pockets of the farmers,which it would not
do—would not be equal to the relief which they derived
from the increase in that article alone. He was not pre-
pared to go into details on that point, but he was sure he
was not wrong in what he hail stated. Bat why had this
great increase taken place ? Was it not owing to the ge-
neral prosperity of the other interests, or at least to a
great improvement in their circumstances? He was aware
that this rise in the price of wool was owing in part to
the deficiency
House.)in tli s tit):
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deficiency of supply had operated to a certain extent in
raising the price, but it could not he denied that the main
cause was the increasing demand from the improved cir-
cumstances of other interests. Thus they became more
extensive customers to the agriculturists than before, and
it must follow that a measure of relief which would pro-
mote the interests of those who purchased from that class
would do them good as well as those to whom the relief
was more immediately given, and more good than they
could derive from any small amount of direct remission.
The Noble Lord bad expressed his concurrence in the
remission of the house duty, but expressed his regret that
it should have been conceded in consequence of the resist-
ance made to it.

The Marquis of CHANDOS said that he had used the
word " unpopularity."
Lord ALTHORP said it was true he had stated that
the unpopularity of the tax was one ground of his objec-
tion to it, but it should be recollected that he had in a
great measure pledged himself to the repeal of the tax
before any resistance had been made to it, and that that
contemptible resistance, if he did not use too strong a
word, had been put down, and tta law vindicated, before
he had brought the question forward in the House.—
( Hear, bear.) The Noble Lord thought that because he
(Lord Althorp) had given up the house duty, lie had
also the means of relieving the agriculturists to somewhat
near the same extent. Aa to giving them relief from the
application of any portion of the sum set aside for the
payment of the West India loan before such payment
became due, it was out of the question, for it bad been
agreed that the interest should he payable from the tnoment
the parties should entitle themselves to receive it, which
would be (he supposed) about the mouth of August. It
had been very truly said that in the present year the
Government would not have to pay more than half a
year's interest on the loin for the compensation of the
West India proprietors ; that might be perfectly true,
but at the same time it was equally true that it would
be in the highest degree improvident to apply the
funds allocated for that purpose to any other ; such
a practice would be most dangerous to public credit,
and it could not but be obvious that in providing the
ways and means it was impcssible for him to take such a
consideration into account.—(Hear, hear.) With respect
to what had been said on the subject of an increased duty
upon spirits, he was perfectly ready to admit that the duty
should only be limited by the amount that it was prac-
ticable to collect. He should be willing to go to the
highest amount in duty that had not the effect of dimi-
nishing the revenue; but these observations or admissions
contributed nothing to the support of the Noble Lord op•
posire in the position which he took up. For the reasons,
then, which he hid stated, he should object to the amend-
ment then before the House : he could not agree that the
diminution of this or that particular tax would meet the
agricultural (listless at present prevailing. He was aware
that the small taxes payable off land were vexation., but
they were not much more, and far greater benefit, in his
opinion, would accrue from placing the poor rates on an
improved footing, than from anything that could be done
in the way of relieving the landed interest from the pres-
sure of direct taxes. Even the malt-tax, of which so
much had been said, would not afford the relief which
was imagined; though some parts of the country might
gain, others would not. He admitted that there was
considerable distress, but he begged it to he borne in
mind that the owners of the barley-growing lands were
not those at present in the greatest distress, the heavy
lands were at present the least profitab:e. After much
reflection be was quite convinced that there were oilier
taxes than those mentioned which would afford relief to
the agricultural interest; for example, the removal of any
taxes which interfered with the general industry of the
country. Upon all these grounds he must refuse his
assent to the amendment.

Mr. FRYER was understood to say that he would sup-
port a commutation of tithes, and an amendment of the
poor laws; but he would at the same time ask the Noble
Marquis to join with him in a simple act of justice by
putting an end to that monopoly in food, which was alike
mischievous to the population of the towns and of the
rural districts ; it was the repeal of the corn laws that
would alone make both independent for the true interests
of the agriculturist and the manufacturer were identical.
An HON. MEMBER said that several years ago the cal-
culation was, that 160,000,00016. of wool was annually
grown in this country; it at that time sold for 9d., it
now brought 2s. Wis not that single circumsrance
almost enough to compensate for the losses and burdens
endured since by the landed interest? He knew it might be
said that the increased demand for wool might be ascribed
to the rot in the sheep, but he would ask did the rot in
sheep occasion an additional demand for manufactured
woollen goods ? That demand was constant in its opera-
tion, and probably would be permanent. As to the malt-
tax, it mustaffect the agricultural interest either as growers
or as consumers. In the latter capacity, it could only
affect the farmer in common with the other members of
the community, and that only in a matter more of shil-
lings than of p iunds. The growers alone would be bene-
fited by it, and they only within certain limits, for this
reason—that the moment the markets rose to a certain
point foreign corn would be admitted. He had beard
much in different quarters of the peculiar burdens imposed
upon the land, but though he was himself connected with
the landed interest, he had no difficulty in saying, that the
poor rates were the chief burden which the farmer en-
dured. He was fully borne out by the facts, for let any
one inquire of the farmers, and their answer would be,
.‘ Parliamentary taxes are as nothing ; the poor rates are
the great evil."

Mr. BARING would confine his observations to the
subject immediately before the House, and not follow the
diversion which had been attempted into the corn laws,
which would be fully discussed on the day set apart for
that purpose, hut was too important a subject to be dis-
cussed incidentally. The state of the case at that moment
before the House was this; last session a Committee had
been appointed to inquire into the state of the agricultural,
commercial, and manufacturing interests, the result of
which inquiry had been a report, stating the agriculturists
to be in the greatest distress, while the commercial and
manufacturing interests were highly prosperous. These
facts bad been also set forth in the speech from the throne,
and what was done in consequence? Why, the very re-
verse of what might have been expected : the Noble Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer came down and informed the
House that he should, in consequence, be able to
afford some portion of relief from taxation. It was
naturally to be expected that this relief would be afforded
to that interest which was represented as in a state of dis-
tr,ss ; but no such thing :it was given precisely to e
interests which were in no want of it; which it was ad-
mitted, on the contrary, were in a state of the highest
prosperity, while the distressed agriculturists were suf-
fered to tem iin as distressed as ever. No doubt there did
exist, and very properly, an intimate connection of inter-
ests between the two classes, and as undoubtedly both
classes were intitled to the care of the Legislature, or if one
class were in a more distressed state than the other, it was
the duty and the interest of Government to apply all their
attention to remove the distresses of that class, and mike
it equally prosperous with the other interest. It had b .en
said that to relieve the commercial interest would hate
the elicit of benefitting the landed interest ; this might be