The Sun.
London, England, 1819-05-21 00:00:00

tics, the Hon. Member took to himself some cre-
dit for having made such a saving to the public ;
aed he thooght that if the same hoe of conduct
were folloa-ed by other Gentlemen, the expenee
of prhoing, which had in the last tew years in-
creased iocredibly, might he kept within some
reasouable'bouods. It might not be courteous to
oppose 4 measure at its very commencement, but
he thought himself called upon by public duty to
oppost• the motion.
Alderman ',Vona saw the flan. Mover and
his Fri-nos bet we4n two fires—between the
Chancellor of the Exchequer and those who de-
clared themselves hostile to the motion. I,Vhile
iiitnierly the Chancellor of the Exchequer had
gi‘en them hopes, he now left them to be attack-
ed by the Member for Stafford and others who
opposed the cause. The coals in Devon and
Cornwall were often carried twenty or thirty
miles iniatid at vonsiderahle expence, in addi-
riot) to the excessive duties. 'I here appeared
Such a monopoly of coals in certain counties, that
the maoulacturers it necessary, for their
own supply, to heroine proprietors of coal t»iues.
The worthy Alderman bestowed many et-wondrous
on the lion. Mover, who he hoped would allow
hint to be called his lion. Friend. lie had very
ably d. tailed the rise and progress of the coal
duties, and notwithstanding "the ridicule Of
some Gentlemen, he was perfectly right to go
back to the days of Richard the Second, when
the duties first had a tangible shape. To
have confined himself to the Revolution would
tiot have been sufficiently illustrative With re-
gard to the duty itself, as a matter of finance, he
did not care whether it was taken off or not ; hut
let there be some equalization ;—let the-whole
country be charged-at the rate of 6s. per coal-
dron. But he called ttpon the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to say why ,he favoured one county
mote than another ? Why did he favour Wales
more than Cornwall ? In the latter place, the
poor man had frequently not been able to earn
more than 2s. a week, and yet he was to be bur-

thened, by the oppression of his superiors, t ,rough
ti,e medium of the unjust and abominable duty on
coals. Ue had known instances in Which the
poor of the City of London bad paid 7s, per
bushel for coals: fie did not care bow the tax
was imposed if it were made equal.

Colonel WOOD would rather take the,law as at
present. Welsh coals were exported duty free,
because they were stone coals, fit only for burn-
ing lime. This was a relief granted to the dis-
trt!ssed agriculturists. It was a pity that the Hon.
Mover had not named his substitute. It might do
great good to mention it, in the present.
_dis-
tressed state of the finances.—(A laugh.)—He
could !lame a Taa, the removal of which-would
much relieve the Hon. Mover's constituents as
well as his own.—(Mr.. H. Scanner, 7 Name,
name.")--A mitigation of the duties on salt. He
could name another.—(Mr. H. Sumner, " 0 l
don't." This produce:l notch mirth.)—ln Surrey
they ~ere obliged to get their candles from the
tailow-chandler's. in his
.part of the country, it
was a little illegal, but most' peop'e made their
own candles.-=(Great laughter.)—But the con-
sequence was, that every offended neighbour, and
every dismissed servant, gave information, and
the exciseman was upon them. A reduction of
this Tax -would We a relief. The Property 'fax
bad been most actively opposed by the City of
London, yet be thought it much better than those
Taxes which demoralised the poor ; but it had
been shaken off the shoulders of the rich, while
the poor were left to groan under their burdens.
He should still 'be for a Property, not an
Income 'fax, which would make it possible to
modify the Assessed Taxes, and relieve the
lower orders,—(Hear !)—lf a duty were laid on
Coals to the amount,of 2s„ it would raise the price
of iron 205., and the inhabitants of the mountains
of Wales would be deprived of their only employ-
ment. When a subject like this had its ramifica-
tions every where extended, no man could tell the
consequence of touching_ one branch. Among
the petitions was one from the Lord Mayor, in
which coals were called an article of life. This
petition made mention of the Port of London.
This was an extraordinary Port. Up the Thames,
down the Thames, sea-borne, or- carried from
Bt eutford, Irmo Gresvenor-square,- or from lij-
liogsgate; you were in the Port of London. A
great stone, 500 yards above Staines, marked the
-boundary of the Port of London, Three years
ago, a Custom-house Officer was left upon this
large stone at Staines, and there he had been ever
since.--.(Laughter )--A boat load of coals had
been coming from the Principality,' hot was in-
tercepted by this worthy officer, w.ho drove it
back, and thus prevented any Welsh coal from
coining to London. If this stone were put up at
London Bridge, where it ought to be, the, citi-
zens of London mould then have other coal
cheaper than the Newcastle coal. He tholight
that this question had gone to sleep, but unfortu-
nately he was mistaken ; he must, therefore, give
his decided negative to the motion,

Alderman Woof) explained. •
Mr. 4Y. CoURTENAY was in favour of the mo-
tion, on account of the severity with which the
present tax pressed upon his Contituents at Exe-
ter, and the internal parts of Devonshire.
Lord MILTON opposed the repeal of the tax as
it notv stood; and contended, that nothin4 could
he more unjust and impolitic than its equalization.
The City of London propOsed to take off the Par-
liamentary duty, but intended to keep that which
went to their own funds. Stich was the patrio
tim of the City of London !
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER -had al-
ready expressed his opinion, when petitions for
the repeal of the tax had been presented. He
should have felt inclined to recommend to the
House, and to the Honourable Gentleman who
had brought the motion forward, to suffer the
subject to sleep, as it was likely to create much
local irritation to no purpose, for it was evident
that circumstances would not allow of its being
admitted. The finances of the country required
to be watched with pechliar care, that no di-
minution might take place in our resources.--
This was now no time when taxes could be taken
off. It became necessary, on the contrary, to see
how we could add to the revenue of the country.
\He then contended, that rite Metropolis had been
al!eady relieved to the full amount of the existing
duty, by the tall which had Wan place in the