The Sun.
London, England, 1816-03-09 00:00:00

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• • thesetseilsitic anrqust Ream 216. flout
'ilik:Lit•tktpuer Cit4t fete: • . •
. .•. . • •
_ " .'1 r;;,OX .eontitrae:to rank I-
jfly ; And to sweil the tirroilmr, and heighten•the im-
iircs'sidn, they are ohtitined from paltry villages
anti handets,•and p•ies'ented with its much for-,
. as if they embodied the sense of a Loirdon
Common Council, or the numbers of a ;
• •
'Yard mob. It 'is not,. however, diilictiltto obtain
tither petitions or signatures ; hut Aieridiculous
for the Opposition to urge ilfat -the express the
sense of the country. A litittiber'of people, gene-
-sally men who have opitnied Government through
'every period of the war, call a Meeting, and pro-
'bose. Pet:tion against the Tax. They have a
ietv plausible arguments, which take with those
who are nsually satisfied with things art first sight,
or with those whti cannot 'think at ill When the
pocket hitt question. The tax is a War Tax, and
we arc now at peace ; if it he- not, therefore,
taken off, the faith of Parliament' is broken. lie-
'sides, it is unnecessary—the, i'eace Establishment
is too large ; and therefore, disband the army, and
you will have no need of the Property Tax.—
These, and other follies and, misrepresentations,
form the substance of the speeches uttered on
these 'oecasiOwr, and they are received and ap-
painted by the
;majority-of those who attend, fur
parsons who are of different sentiments seldom
attend, or find.t he room usually taken up' by the
management of those who promote the meetings,
'and thus the Petition. is passed. The souse of the '
country is, however, very partiallyexpressed iu
any of them. They express the sense of land-
lords tt ho wish to keep up their rents; bitt not s.
'of that large class of landlords who will not make •
the interests of the State sobservient to their pri-
vate advantage. They express the sense of far-
mers, who hope to be relieved in part hoot the
pressure of dick present circumstances ; but oot
of those who more rightly consider, that they
elitist pay that same stint in their rents, which
would be by (11111 fax EdieVed.:r They express the
sense of those who. tvish to push :Ministers to the
necessity of resorting to the Sinking Food ; but
mitt of that ninneruna:part of the thinking Public
who view the Sinking Food as the grand column
.f the public credit.' They express the sense of
that part of the cowmen:l4l coinuninity who look
merely at .a lehef from agiveo sum deducted from -

,theirproOts;. but too of who that )is the
same runt of motley ukust ue other Means
eau be adopted but t!):It Which titust• Hill. With peen-
' liar weight upon them : and they certainly express
the sense ut tt factious the prone morei3
algeiita iik evury place; but they do
lrut 4.'Xpreis the.sense.o( that (inn mitt pUblie
, riled part of the eontintotily-WhO hare been will.-
iug,
.through to. give to Govertouept ttll
the tvh cli the necessities or the country re-
• qu:red, tout who, prOvitlett the mecussity can ho
ut:ttle too, NE nuy imp 911111),11t it,
.by submittiog to a mod,tied tax upon Altai no-.
'perty for two years lopger,.toul only this way
lire we the tolvocatesof its coutintiluee let we
.otherevidetice that a very shall-pat t of-
guy thing alit cati lie-Called the /..'outtlry, is rc-
• presentetl in these Petitions, we shottul be quite
satisfied with the fact, that iti 11303 t Caitli they
•—bare•origmateti with -the :nett whose factious op-
: position to every measure which has brought
glory and pence to the' country, his made them
the scoff and 'scandal'. of the public. With such
men, nothing that eau' be- called the country would

•
" The true ground on which the question re.
specting the temporary continuance of the Pro-
petty Tax is. to be tried in, the necessity that the
sum which it is calculated it will return to tit*
Treasury Should be raised, and it is curious to
observe, that before the Estimates are referred to
-a Committee of the Ifouse; where. only they can'
he examined in detail, the Opposition have de-
clared it unnecessary. . They unjustly accuse Ali-
.-nisters of a wish to hurry ihe question.; but, in
truth, they themselves have harried it. They did.
. not wish for. the light which a detail examination
would throw upon the country ; because they
.could not then hare so well practised their ma-
nusavres.' . Battered in reputation, they -have
caught at the chants r,t a little popularity, by talc-
the thing in the gross, and surronmling tt
,with every possible misrepiesentation„ They pre-
-tarred this, because, without it, all that ut.!.iir-
-nese which has represented a te;aporarylax ,*3
,pertnanent tine, a tempordey estahitslnnent as the
Teace telittthlisinnant,:an3 a '.ltatte of pence,
Which, as it ittlpOSeS Wiitelifil:neSS and Cltfitiou,
is unjustly culled '' a prolo.,ndpeace,"—alf this.
:uuluirucss could not have becn practised. Nor
twatf all the miserable reosuning about .sidnding

asethitp, a wish to ;establish- ainilitary govuri,-
incnt, nud taxing the people of lid4glautl to.keep
the Bourbons Oh the fhroue, oti which tbcy have

built their claims to patriotic feeling, have had
any shadow of relevancy: The necessity of the
:Case being proved, they well knetv 'would take the
ground under their feet, and impose silence on
their-loquacity, and, thereture, they did nut choosa
to ‘vaii for details by %Aka they feared that tie-
scessity would he 1;1.w/ed.' Thus' they have mis-
-tilled the subject, the better to conceal them-.
'relyva. The great and only objects of many .of
theta we sincerely believe to be,- to oblige (io-
Nernment to break down the military power of the
conutcy, that we may be nolouger formidable to
the disiafected in France ;- to oblige Gavel-tumuli
'to 'maw:raw or lessen-the British armyrlnTra,nle,
-Attu ulna to take away that support of ttle
tett throne, and thus, out of pure hatred to the
134)1111)1ms, sad In tenderness to their owl; disap
feelings, to wee France the hope of sue-
gess In a new leyOlution. The countryLweare‘

to tileii
""littictic ‘s••11 not inatie !twit a poltdcr
; it twt liccome a patty to
etturte)iglitgtlitittl

•
Mitki tb't.filketisevere an 'o.dions „au ingai•
sitariirnitlainr.e, in spite of the outcry r.ti,;ed from
Corn all tti Caithness ? Why .!idly, not and ordi-
iiiirr, but a most extra Ordinary War measUre, to,a
state of peace Why break your pledged ta:th
‘I id, the people ? Why continue this eSchausting
drai,-, on the national capital ?
can be—the inducement for all this ? You Are
lingto-modify the Tax—to bribe one half of the
country with exemptions—to take notes of hand
troth-the other halt at three years' date :iu short,
xqu.simply want to raise six millions by Exche-
quer 141 s, which must of necessity carry with
them a sinking fund for their ultimate liquidation
but you are not satisfied without superadding the
machinery of the Income Tax. And for whose
benefit is this measure intended ) Fur that of the •
monied interest, who repudiate and protest against
the favour—who, by the most natural representa-
tives, the Merchants, Bankers, and Traders of
London, in terms not very flattering, declare the .
lill'asllEC wholly unjustifiable."
Tuns interrogates a Journal which has recently
turned again furiously against the existing Go-
vernment, and thus satisfactorily dues it answer
itself

It has been said, Ministers have no pleasure
in imposing taxes. But there.is a. certain unde-
finable gratiOcatiott iu the exercise ot• a power to
which inen Wave been long accustomed, in trot k-
ing a machine which they have long employed, in
cnrrying on a project which they were originally
concerned in promoting."' •
How highly must the Writer think of the com-
mon sense of the Country, who insults it by the
supposition that filly Ministers would court all this
odium, difficulty, embat•ra„nment, and unpopularity
.--for nothing but the simple and truly umleji►iu-
tie gratification of .playing with an accustomed
machine !