The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-15 00:00:00

SPtFLIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The forthcoming number of the E.(iiiib4rgh
Review contains an article on taxation, retrench-
tuent, and reduction of the public debt, which is
deserving the most serious attention. It is use-
less to shut our eyes to the diseased appearance.

.which every where present themselves to notice
in the condition of this Country: Poverty 'antl
crime meet us in all directions. The 01,,enee,
r

alone of the proceedings necessary to brinicri-
mhtals to justice forms a heavy tax on the coun-
try. The • evil is deeply seated in our system,
And is not to be'ciired -by quackery., The Ite-
vieiver observes, that "the principle of increase
by keeping up the population of every country
to the level of subsistence, renders it impossible
in most cases, for those who subsist on wages to
do more than support themselves and thcir fami-
lies. It is from rent and profit, but in an in-
comparably greater degree from the latter, that
capital is almost entirely formed •;- and there is
no proposition in the whole compass of science
better established than that which teaches, that
the power of all countries to amass capital, and
by consequence to advance in the career of wealth
and civilization, must be dependent upon and
pretty nearly proportioned to the respective rate of
profit in each. It is obviouS, for example, that It is
this circumstance, in the different rates of profit
that obtain in Holland, England, and the United
States, that, renders the increase of wealth and
population almost stationary in the first, slowly
progressive in the second, and comparatively
rapid in the last." The Reviewer afterward;.,
proceeds to notice the manner in which a heavy
taxation, by reducing profits, is undermining the
prosperity of the country. "'Not only (be
observes) has a heavy taxation the effect to
check the progress of a country, by reducing the
rate of profit, but it has also a powerfnl
tendency to drive its capital and industry
abroad . . . . In the actual state of the

world, capital is easily transferred to other coun-
tries; and wherever its transference begins to
take place to any. considerable extent, it forms an
almost insuperable. obstacle to the farther in-'
taxes- frequently cease to
crease of wealth or 'of taxation. It is, not be-
cause a man cannot pay more,
will not pay more, thatbut because he
be productive. It is very difficult, indeed, to, set
limits to the power of a great nation) where the
security of property and the freedom of industry
are maintained to bear taxes.; but as Mr.
cardo has truly stated, there are limits, atid;the-3e:
not so remote as is commonly, imagined, to the
price which individuals will submit to. pay for ,the
privilege.' of living or of employing their capital
in their native country. The rate of profit is al-
xays tending to the same common level. •
During the war capital could not
.be easily transferred to other countries ; and the
waste occasioned by the expellees to which we
were subjected, was in a great measure defrayed
by. the increased spirit of frugality and industry
that the increase of taxation infused into all
classes. But a period of peace not only enables
;Ater nations to avail themselves of those supe-
rior facilities of production which have hitherto
enabled us to support our comparatively heavy
burdens, but it also affords unusual facilities for
the transference of capital to them. Such being
the disastrous effects of heavy taxation, the Re-,
viewer analyses our expenditure with a view to
ascertain the possibility of diminishing it. He
concludes•the examination by observing, " that
the field for retrenching from the direct
public expenditure of the country is much
more limited than is generally supposed.
a haflrfthe tuhole expenditure goes to thepa.y-
went of the interest on the Public Debt, and
is not. therVbre
.susceptible of the least diminu-
tion. . . . . We are persuaded, that
if we estimate the entire amount of the savings
that might be effected by such a retrenchment as
should hoe off every. useless expence,_ without,
however, an any degree impairing the power of
Government to. maintain the tranquillity and in-
dependence of the country, at two or three mil-
lions, we should be very far indeed . beyond the
mark. . . We, should only be exciting
expectations that must be wholly disappointed,
and fostering an unfounded delusion, which can-
not,fail to be productive of the most mischievous
consequences, it we attempted to, make the pub-
lic believe that any measures- of retrenchment,
which it is in the power of Government to
adopt, can be of any material advantage,in the
way of lightening the pressure on the national
resources." Having disposed of this source of
relief, the Reviewer observes,' that " this pres-
sure is not occasioned by the expenditure on
account of the peace. establishment of the coun-
try, but by an erroneous system of commercial
legislation, and the magnitude of the public
debt." He estimates that the Corn Laws are,
in their operation and effect on the consumer,
e
and
t u i vt
hallaetn
tthteoy aa
utiaoxu
loaf
oeliig
the
hagilglqquuaarntteirty;.
gg3a ae
consumed in the empire to 19,200,0001. a-year,
or to about the whole cost of the peace establish-
ment." The next ,monopoly which ought to be
swept off is that of the West India planters and.
mortgagees. The saving from this source the
Reviewer estimates at 1,583,0001. a-year. "'We
ate obliged," he says, " to incur this heavy
charge, for no object of public utility, but merely
to enable a few West India merchants and
planters to linger on in a disadvantageous employ-
ment, and to foster a system of slavery which
we are constantly professing an earnest desire to
abandon." He takes the loss from the Tea Mo-
nopoly of the India Company at two millions a
year. The monopoly of the Timber Trade,
enjoyed by the Canada merchants, costs the
country, in the increased price of timbei.,
1,500,000/. a year. The whole of this useless
expenditure he estimates at twenty-four millioDs
a. year, three fourths of which ore absolutely•lost
or destroyed, and the other fourth received by
those who havanot:even the shadow of a right
• to any bonus whatever. Time Reviewer next
enters on the consideration of the Public Debt.
He estimates the capital of xbe Empire at 2,330
millions, and observes that an assessment• of
.12
per cent. on this sum would be about adequate
to discharge the half of the existing Debt of the
Country s—
"lt is evident," he says, " that this scheme could not
Inflict any Peetdisr hardship on the holders of capital. " A
. 'Gentleman• with a fortune of 10,0001., yielding an annual
revenue of 600/, out of which he is,. perhaps, obliged to
pay 100/. towards the interest of the public debt, is in
Fact only worth 8,000/.; and in the most unfavourable view
of the matter, he would be equally rich, whether he coati..
need to pay this 1001, a year, or made at once and for ever
a single payment of 2,000/."
With respect to the supposed difficulty of car-
rying this plan into execution, the Reviewer ob-
serves, that—" The number of buyers and
lenders would be increased in the same propor-
tion as the number of sellers and borrowers. flie
public creditors who were to receive payment of
their claims on the State, would want an invest-
ment for their stock, and would feel anxious
either to lend it to landholders, manufacturers,
&c., or to purchase the prQperY they might have
to dispose of• It doe, not, thOecore, appear that