Star.
London, England, 1831-03-18 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 18, 1831.

No. 13,736.

LITERATURE.

Measures for the Session of 18317 itscluding a Plan of l'arliamen-
tory Reform, in a Lefler to Earl Grey.-2v.
This Pamphlet possesses higher authority than we ima-
gined, when it was put into our hands in January. It de-
velopes the plan of reform since laid before Parliament,
with a few variations ; and, believing that it proceeds from
authority, we are surprised that the ballot was abandoned,
on reading the following observations :
The mode of election to be by ballot, taken, both in town and county
elections, at separate polling places, publicly appointed by the local
authorities, in sufficient number to have not more than 500 voters to
each polling place. The poll to remain open but one day ; and the
elections to take place contemporaneously in the several polling places
of every electoral district.
The duration of each Parliament to be triennial, or quiquennlal.—
Perhaps the last term is the best.
It is absolutely necessary that the plan of Reform you bring for-
ward be complete, uniform, simple, and based on general principles.
qualities which can alone reader it durable; let me paricabirly caution
you against the omission of that element in such a scheme, which is,
beyond all others, essential both to the due execution of its functions,
and to its permanence. I mean the ballot. The first proposal of the
ballot in this country, dates from no long time back ; and you may
scruple, on account of its apparent novelty, to introduce it into your
scheme of Reform. Novel, however, as it may be in this country, the
progress it has made in so short a time, and the union of opinions from
all parties and classes in its favour, are remarkable, but not surprizing.
Its simplicity and obvious fitness to secure the desirable end of pre.
venting both bribery and intimidation, the two most disgraceful blots in
the present system of elections, have acquired for it the unanimous ad-
hesion of all those persons who, having, or expecting to have, a vote,
are desirous of being enabled to exercise it conscientiously, uninfluenced
either by the promises of the corruptor, or the threats of the oppressor.
Should you not include this in your Reform, you will commit, in my
opinion, a fatal and irretrievable error.
By granting the ballot, you will be enabled to restrict the franchise
far within any limits which the nation will submit to without such a
ancession. I believe a law of election would be gladly hailed which
should confine the franchise to but 200,000 voters, protected by the
bast, whilst the country would indignantly reject a Reform which
should not embrace a million of voters, without that security for their
feesdom. If, therefore, you refuse the ballot, you must bring forward
a considerable extension of the franchise. And it is as clear as day,
that when you have done so, the ballot must quickly follow, and, by
engrafting itself on the extended suffrage, produce something very
closely approaching to a pure democracy. Supposing, for example,
you give a vote to every person occuping a house of ten pounds,
or lands of fifty pounds per annum in value. Do you really
imagine that a state of things can be long maintained, in which
every town will become a Newark, and every landowner, on the prin-
ciple of " doing what be chuses with his own," will bring his tenants
up to the poll in droves, like the late forty shilling Irish freeholders ?
Will not the exasperation and excitement that now animate Newark and
Stamford, then pervade the whole kingdom ? The consequence must
be, either a dangerous explosion of popular animosity against the power
of the great proprietors, or at least a general determination to obtain
the ballot by one united struggle, which cannot fail, but which, in its
progress, must endanger the peace of society, and in its success Induce
a state of the representation, in which the persons who have the capacity
necessary for making a reasonable choice, will be outnumbered by a
multitude of ignorant voters; a state, in fact, of mob-government or
demagoguecracy ! Here, therefore, you are, it appears to me, in a com-
plete dilemma. You must either concede the ballot at once, by which
you will be enabled to introduce a rational system of franchise, limited
to persons of education, property, and independence, or by its ill consi-
dered refusal, you lay the foundations of a wilder and far more dan-
gerous republicanism. Pause and reflect on the risk, before you deter-
mine this important question.
This is very strong, and it appears that the ten pounds
HE Royal Family, Nobility, Ladies, and Gentlemen, and fifty pounds was preferred. The next point is less
T are respectfully informed, that PRINCE's celebrated RUSSIA tenable without the popular measure of the ballot, but it ap-
OIL is proved the only article that will prevent the HAIR falling
pears to us to be sound and rational.
at or turning grey, and if begun to change, by using it often, will, in There remains one point to be touched upon. It may happen, that
a short time, restore It to its natural colour, and is the best article for upon producing a plan of rational reform, such as I have sketched out,
dressing, preserving, promoting, curling, and making the Hale look you may fail in carrying it through the present Parliament—from the
blind and obstinate resistance of the boroughmongers, determined, as
beautiful, at sa. per Bottle, or a Bottle containing five small, 20s.
they phrase it, to die in their last ditch, in defence of their usurped and
Ceuriow.—There are several Hair-dressers who sell counterfeit illegally exercised power. Nay, the anticipation of this desperate op-
Russia Oil, which is trash, and to deceive havelbe silkily to put the position, may induce you to bring forward some imperfect scheme of
Proprietor's name, Prince, on the cover and bottle ; therefore the compromise, which will neither satisfy the just demands of the people
Proprietor begs Ladies and Gentlemen to be particular, when pur- nor secure any of the real objects of reform. But is there any gooti
chasing the Russia Oil themselves, or sending their servant for it, to reason to fear much less to give way before such an obstacle ? Surely,
have it of the Proprietor, Mr. Prince, 9, Poland-street, Oxford-street, in this case, your path of duty will be straight and level before you.—
or of the principal Perfumers and Medicine Venders. Dissolve the recusant parliament, and issue writs to the sheriffs and
Merchants and Captains, who have orders for Russia Oil, will be proper officers of the counties and towns, directing them to return mem-
particular and guard against impostors who go about with base coon- 9 bers to parliament, according to the plan you have determined upon.—
terfeits and say it is the Genuine. Several Merchants and Captains, I When a nation is placed in the perilous dilemma I speak of as possi-
who have been deceived, and have sent it to the East and West In- Me, and its very existence endangered by the obstinacy of a knot of in-
dies, have been blamed for sending Counterfeit, and have had it re-' dividuals, who have fraudulently themselves of supreme
turned, as abroad they are very particular to have a Genuine article. power, which they refuse to relinquist7ssietssised time for the royal prcro.
The Public in general ought to be acquainted that there is a man of gative to interfere; and backed by the support of the nation at large, to
the name of Asher. who was a servant some time ago to Mr. Prince, rescue the ark of the constitution from its usurpers by a bold and de.
who employed hitit to do the labouring part (as the principal ingredi- cisive step.
ent is kept a secret by the Proprietor, who always mixed it himself.) Such a step I maintain would be not only in complete accordance
This same man has the audacity to make a trash which he calls Russia with the Ancient Constitutional Prerogative, hut fully authorized by
Oil, and the insolence to copy the bill and wrapper, and to put his the existing Laws. It is only by a loose inference from the proportion
former master's name on the cover and seal. The Proprietor is sorry of Representatives, fixed at the Union of the Kingdoms, that the Sore-
to say, there are several Hair-dressers and others, although knowing reign is supposed to be restricted from calling new places to the Repre-
it is not the genuine, have the meanness to buy this trash. as they get sentation, and dispensing with the services of the old. But even this
it for a mere trifle, and impose on the Public by telling them it is the construction of the Acts of Union, it cannot be pretended, does more
Genuine. This same fellow, some time ago, travelled, and tried to than limit the Royal Prerogative to the keeping up the proportion of
impose his Counterfeits .on Cocntry Hair-dressers and Shopkeepers ; Representatives now assigned to the three kingdoms. And in the plan
but in Brighton, if they had caught him, he would have had a good I have suggested, this proportion would be strictly maintained, nay the
lurking, as he took in several who thought it was the Genuine, as the very numbers themselves may be preserved inviolate.
wrapper was made exactly like Mr. Prince's. He had even the vii-' For our own parts, we are convinced that this mode of
!any to call on Mr. John Good, Hair-dresser, Brighten, and said he redress would be most satisfactory to the country, and we
was a traveller from Mr. Prince, and was now returning to London,
it
with some Russia Oil on hand ; instead of which, if Mr. Good pur- urge on the serious consideration of the cabinet if ne-
chased it, he would allow him 10s. per cent. extra discount, on which cessary.
Mr Good bought it. Some of his cutomers having bought some " I now proceed," elms the author, "to consider these other mea-
of hint brought it back, and said they did not think it Ge- sures which are required, and that without delay, not so much by the
nuine, on which Mr. Goad, suspecting something wrong, wrote loud and urgent demands of the nation, like that of Reform, as for the
to Mr. Prince. the proprietor, London ; on the receipt of which, Mr. purpose of relieving the country from the extraordinary and dangerous
Prince went immediately to Brighton ; and Mr. Good and others, who jeopardy in which all its principal interests are placed, and allaying the
had been deceived in &similar manner, went to John Bates, Esq. the' universal distress of the classes engaged in production—a distress,
magistrate of Brighton, and asked his advice. When the magistrate which, if it continue but a short time longer, must drive them to des-
heard the case, he said he could have three months in the tread-mill, ' pair and rebellion, and supersede your measure of rational Reform, by
—as it was a fraud—for taking money under fate pretences, and granted the general outburst of revolution.
a warrant for his apprehension ; but therogue wetting scent of it, ran In the following paragraph we agree and disagree with
:may trom Brighton to London ; and the magistrate signing the war- the Author. Under a just and healthy system there can be
rant recommended it to J. E. Conant, Esq. the magistrate of Polarities.
rough-street, London, who sent officers to apprehend him, yet the rogue no redundant population of able men, and none that re-
managed to keep himself from being takeni but as the warrant is quire parochial relief, but the young, aged, and infirm.
gill open against him, if he does not leave off his roguery he can still L l'he means of improving the condition of the labouring classes
be punished. To convince Hair-dressers and others it is a fact, the will necessarily be a primary object of your attention, after the late ter-
warrant may be seen at Mr. Prince's. Also Hair-dressers, or any one nide warning the Government has received of the dangers of any longer
else selling counterfeit Russia oil, under any pretence whatever, with overlooking their miserable plight.
the name Prince on the seal and wrapper, are liable to be punished, I I need not dwell upon the atrocious abuse by which the law of
with a dance on the treadmill for the fraud. The proprietor also se- ! charity and justice has, in the southern counties of England, been ll-
quaint, gentlemen who are in the habit of going to the hotels in Covent I legally metamorphosed by the Magistrates appointed to administer it,
Garden. and its vicinity, that there is a hairdresser under the piazza into an instrument for lowering wages, and for extorting the labour of
who sells counterfeit, and has taken in several Purchasers by telling the whole able-bodied working class, in return for the base minimum
them it is Genuine. Several gentlemen who have bought this trashlhave of expense, in wages and pool-rate together, upon which the indi-
come to the proprietor to know if it was the Genuine, as they found it vidual men, women, and children, can be maintained in existence.
did not answer the purpose, and learning it was counterfeit they said This precious contrivance, which, by the destruction of all inducement
they would never again employ him, and would acquaint the proprietor to the exertion of skill or industry, the annihilation of indepen-
of the hotel of his roguery. dente, the demoralization of the whole body of the peasantry, and
No doubt there are some Hair-dressers who think Mr. Prince, the the rapid multiplication of paupers under a direct premium.
Proprietor, is too severe with them ; but if they conscientiously con- has, as might have been anticipated, re.acted with tremendous severity
sider the thousands Mr. Prince has spent in advertising it, they must on the heads of its inventors—this illegal, iniquitous, and most Wpm-
actually consider it nest to robbers' to endeavour to deprive Mr. dent abuse of power, has been already sufficiently exposed, and the
Prince of the sale of It by selling Counterfeit; and besides, Mr. P. al. facility of at once putting a stop to it pointed out. Since, however,
lows a very liberal discount for selling again. the country magistrates, who are the authms of the mischief, cannot be
To satisfy the Public in general that Mr. Prince's Russia Oil is expected to possess the wisdom or firmness required for retracing their
the original and only Genuine, the folowing Gentlemen, who are steps, it is incumbent on the Government to interfere, and, without clo-
the first Perfumers and Medicine Venders in the Kingdom, have lay, either with or without a legislative enactment, put an end to this
sold it above twenty years :—Smyth and Nephew, 117, New Bond- abominable practice.
street ; Hendrle anti Son, Titehborne street; Bayley and Biew Cock- The other amendments required in the English Poor Lew, confine
spur ,nreet ; Sanger' 150, Oxford-street; Newbury sod San, & Pad's; themselves to an improvement in the law of settlement. and the
Dicey and Sutton, Bow Church-yard; Barclay and Son, partingdon. organisation of some systematic means foe utilising the surplus of la.
Street Butler and Son, Cheapside ; Shaw and Edwards, Sc. Paul's; boor, which 'snow wholly wasted in parishes during a great part of the
Prout, 226, &rand • Mlle and Sun, 63, Cheapside; Johnston, is year, in consequence of the limited information, capacity, and resources
Cornhill ; Bolton and Lute, Royal Exchange ; and of all other prin. of that body, the parish vestry, to whose duty it now falls to provide
eipal Perfumers and Medicine Venders in the Kingdom. work for their poor. A law, permitting the establishment of a general

What individuals cannot perform may be easily effected by an Asso-
ciation; and for the purpose of obtaining the information required, and
properly and adequately publishing it to the world, the present Asso-
ciation has been formed, under the name of the

PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE SOCIETY;
And the persons above named have been appointed a Committee, to
carry the intentions of the Society into effect.
The beneficial purpose here in view would be greatly aided by
numerous local Societies. But such separate yet connected bodies
cannot be formed, since the 57th Geo. M. c. 19, s. 25, forbids all
communication between them. A Society has therefore been formed
extending all over the country, of which any person may become a
Member on entering his name, address, and designation, in one of the
Society's Books, or by forwarding the same to the Secretary by letter ;
and on the payment of a Subscription of not less than Five Shillings
to the Funds of the Society for the current year. Thus the one body
may extend to the most distant parts of the country, and a corres.
pondence carried on, to whatever extent may be desired, without any
violation of the law.

The whole people may thus act as a UINOLZ sone, aiding one anot►er
with their money, their labour, and their information, for the great
and common end of obtaining a good Government.

Books have been opened at the houses of Messrs. Ransom and Co.
Pall Mall Fist; Messrs. Martin' CaU, and Co. Old Bond-street;
Messrs. r.rote, Prescott, and Co. Threadneedle-street ; Mr. Alderman
Scales, Aldgate ; Mr. Agassic, 223, Piccadilly ; Mr. Charles Fox
Smith, Backman-street, Borough; Mr. De War, 44, Lisle-street,
Leicester-square: and at the Office of the Westminster Review, Wel-
lington-street, Strand.
The Secretary attends daily, from Eleven to Pour o'Clock, at the
Crown and Anther Tavern, Strand.

PRICE 7I).

committee or board of works, in counties or petty sessions division, for
the purpose of facilitating the employment of the redundant pari-ti
poor, would greatly advance this very desirable object, and save tn•
immense annual destruction of capital now taking place in the usele.%
maintenance of thousands of able-bodied labourers.

The next clause, about forced emigration, we pass over as
ridiculous. The able-bodied are wanted at home, and nu
one would transport children, or aged and infirm, the real

consumers of the poor rates. We would, on the contrary.
transport overseers who relieved the able-bodied, and
rate the holding of land as to multiply farms, and thereby
give employment to all The engrossment of farms is :a
crime, the least punishment of which should be a high as-
sessment, to ttriintain the ve• y labourers which the engross-
ment itself creates. In fine, how are the real poor to he
provided for, if the rates arc mortgaged to fit out the cre-
ated poor ?
But of all measures for absorbing the actual excess of labour in the
three kingdoms, and giving a stimulus to its beneficial employ-
mink the most effectual, the most easy of accomplishment, and
that which is most loudly called for by every consideration of
general and urgent policy, is the application of a Poor Law
to Ireland—of a law which shall compel the owners of property in
that country, to employ the abundant resources they have at their
posal for improving it, in an immense stock of labour, and mill;er.4
of acres of exceeding fertile, but waste, or imperfectly cultivated,
bind.

.. , . --•
• Money is the instrument agreed u ''''
• Whelks admen of all
pat
ptoperty,tand consists of paper money a metal mobs,. The for-
mer represents the latter, which alone ' %missies vsi/se. The in-
trinsic value of' metallic money is wisely fixed by a law establishing the
Standard. But because fixed quantities of gold and silver are properly
employed as the Standard measure, by reference to which the value of
money, and consequently of all purchasable commodities, is to be de-
termined, it does not follow that gold and silver should be the actual
instruments in ordinary use for effecting exchanges,—any more than
it Is necessar that a pendulum making a certain number of vibrations
per minute, which is the standard object of reference for all our weights
and measures, should be really used in every shop in the country
where articles are weighed or measured. It is sufficient that means be
provided to prevent any variation of the measure in daily use from its
professed value, by an easy reference, at will, to the standard. This
all-sufficient security, Government might, with the utmost facility, ob-
tain for paper money, by requiring Banks to pay their notes in bullion
on demand, and to pledge security that they will do 'so, to the full
amount of their issues. All restrictions upon the free issue of paper
money that go beyond this, are unwarrantable and miss
chievous interferences with the circulating medium that can be of no
service, but, to whatever extent they proceed, must impede the inter-
change of goods, contract the amount of the circulation, and, worst of
all; raise its value—or, what is the same thing, lower the prices of all
commodities : • result which affects, in the most deplorable way, all
their producers (who are liable to innumerable fixed money charges,)
, irngoverishes the industrious classes. and tends to create an extent of
rttill and misery throughout the land, such as would hardly he con-
, teived to follow front so trifling a mistake. From successive inteferences
of this kind with the amount of the circulating mediumthis commercial
I country, whose money transactions all the gold in the world would nir!
! suffice to cam on without the aid of paper, has repeatedly suffered the
most cruel shocks ; and not only so, but the continuance of these re-
strictions up to the present day, has, ever since the last disastrous and
ill-considered measure of the kind, the Bill of 1826, continued to pro-
duce the evils I have shown to be their natural result, constantly J.
dining prices, diminished profits, increasing distress and ruin aitium4
producers, and increasing want and misery among the working classes :
till, at length, a climax is nearly reached, at which, unless it be
speedily remedied by a wise liberation of the circulating medium from
its impolitic shackles, the evil will soon cure itself, by occasioning a
convulsion, which must shatter to atoms the highly-wrought and com-
plicated fabric of British industry and commerce, and annihilate tha
existing order of society.
The approaching expiration of the Charter of the Bank of England,
makes it necessary that this subject should be entered upon at no great
distance of time. But what I wish earnestly to impress upon you, my
Lord, who have the power of hastening or delaying its discussion, is,
that not a moment should be lost before it is Lien up,—that a conti-
nuance of the present restrictions must not only prolong but aggravate
the existing evils, must continue the gradual fall of prices, and acce-
lerate the ruin of the classes engaged in production ;—that no measure
you may take for their encouragement can be at all successful, so long
as this fatal error is persisted in. Whilst, on the contrary, the revisal
of the laws that relate to banking, permitting the establishment of a
free, sound, cheap, and sufficient circulating medium, would, even its
the absence of other improvements shortly restore vigour to the droop-
ing energies of the country, re-animate the despair of the capitalist, and
re-kindle faded hope now well nigh extinct in the bosom of the labourer;
prices would then rise to • fair remunerating level ; trade, manufac-
tures, agriculture, would revive, as if by enchantment, from ilietr
common depression ; complaint and execration would be cxchangetl tore
content and gratitude, and the salvation of this wonderful country i.a
secured.

The vast field which Ireland offers for improvement, the Immense
profits that would result to the landowners, the country at large, and
the public revenue, from the opening up of its rich but inaccessible
districts, by roads, canals, and railways—from the formation of har-
bours, piers, bridges, embankments, and drainages, are acknowledged
by every one acquainted with that neglected island. But it is Raid,—
capital is the one thing wanting to set all these elements of prosperity
in motion. Well, then, a law compelling the employment or relief of
the starving labourers of Ireland would immediately provide the re.
quisite capital for this purpose.
When once the property of Ireland is legally assessed, capital may
be raised in abundance upon the rates. The tranquillity occasioned by
the employment of the poor, whom misery alone now rendets turbu-
lent, will also hasten its spontaneous influx from Rngl Ind. Moreover,
the two or three millions'worth of provisions which are at present wasted
in the support of idle and profligate mendicants, will, when collected
under an assessment and judiciously employed in setting these sante
to work, alone become • capital of immense productive value.
persons to
of the public works executed under such a system. will
soon be sufficient to carry them on, and relieve the rates. 'l'he impulse
once given by the compulsory system of employment—communications
lMing opened, and the country pacified, capital will be voluntarily ap.
plied for the prosecution of improvements that are so certain to be
pofitable ; and Ireland will speedily arise from its present miserable
audition, to assume the place which Nature intended it should °c-
ampy, when she blest it with an abundance of those most valuable
sources of wealth, land and labour.
A bill for the introduction of a well-regulated poor law into Ireland,
Is indeed the sine qua non of its regeneration, and would alone effectu-
ally secure it—would at once put down the spirit of disaffection and
revolt which now triumphs over the constituted authoeites, and threatens
a speedy separation of the two islands; and would be an earnest of the
deep anti serious attention which the Imperial Legislature and Govern-
ment must, if the Union is to be preserved, henceforward give to
the real wants of that much injured and long suffering people.
The system of compulsion alluded to would, we presume,
be exactly analogous to the assessments on largo farms,
which we suggest as a remedy for England.
11. I come now, says the Author, to a measure which is loudly de.
mended by a very large proportion both of the intelligent and unintel-
ligent masses of the community ; a Revisal of the Tithe System.
It is so clear that Tithe acts as a rat on all capital invested in the
cultivation or improvement of land,--that the fact of a legal claim
vested In a stranger to a fixed proportion of whatever produce my la-
bour and capital may raise from my land, must damp and diminish my
efforts to increase that produce, and lead me to prefer any other mode
of employing my capital to that which is liable to so serious a charge.
—that it is only wonderful the burthen should have been tolerated so'
long. A hundred pounds annually laid out in the production of ma.
nufactures which sell for 1101. pays a profit of 10 per cent. to the capi-
talist. But to enable the agriculturist to realise the same profit on a
hundred pounds laid out in tillage, the produce must sell for 1221. 4s.
If it were to produce but 1101. the titheowner claiming 111. out of it,
the cultivator would not only not clear any profit, but sustain a loss of
one pound of his capital. The mistake of many who deny the pressure
of Tithe, is, that they imagine it to be but a tenth out of the profits
of the cultivator, which they think he can well awe. It is, on the
contrary, a tenth of the gross produce,—more than even the farmer
himself can generally expect to get as the profits on his eapital, and the
remuneration for his skill and labour. The real nature of Tithe, and
the degree to which it must check the application of labour and
capital to land, will be evident, by supposing it a claim to a half
instead of a tenth of the produce. Since there are few, if any, soils in
the kingdom which will produce crops worth double the expense of
cultivation, (exclusive of rent,) it is clear that such a claim would
throw every acre of land out of tillage. The claim to a tenth produces
a similar result, only to a less extent. Tithe acts, indeed, like a curse
of partial sterility upon the national soil; thousands of acres of land ass
by Its influence kept in a state of useless waste, because though they
would fully repay the costs of cultivation, give employment to thou.
sands of husbandinen, profit to hundreds of fanners, and save us hon.
the necessity of importing corn from foreign tithe-free soils,—they are
not rich enough to pay an additional ten per cent. to the tithe-owners,
who, like the dog in the manger, exclude others from enjoyment, but
without profiting aught themselves.
Were the tithe levied on all property equally, or even exclusisely on
the produce of any other branch of industry--of manufactures, for in-
stance, or commerce,—the mischief would not be so great ; but, as
Paley long ago remarked, it presses on that particular class of products,
and acts us an impediment to that particular employment of capital,
which is, of all, most valuable to a nation, and which a wise govern.
ment, instead of discouraging, would select for encouragement—the pro.
duction of the means of subsistence ; and this direct check to the in-
creased production of food, we ate continuing at a time when the mass
of the population is rapidly increasing in numbers, and almost destitute
of subsistence !

In all this we agree, and we differ only in one mono-
syllable; and perhaps no single monosvllable was ever so
important to a great question. It is the conjunctive and.
marked in Italics, which if the disjunctive or would perfect
the sense, and produce the perfect system required. The
mistake proves, however, thnt the writer is as little ac-
quainted with the subject as others whom he condemns.
I Payment or security is all which is required, not both pay-
ment and security.
IV. The last subject on which 1 have to speak is the Reform ex-
pected from you in the department of Finance.—This necessary Re-
form divides itself into-1. Retrenchment. 2. A partial remission and
improved distribution of the Taxes, by which they shall he made to
fall more immediately on the property, and less upon the industry, of
the country.
1. With regard to the ditect curtailment of the expenses of Govern-
meet, I am inclined rather to restrain than to stimulate your seal.—
However desirable it may be, at a time when Taxation presses so
heavily on the resources of the empire, to reduce its amount by every
possible saving, yet I am of opinion that such savings can be effected
much more completely and advantageously by a Reformed Parliament.
than by the present ; and the time which, I fear, is likely to be con
sumed in canvassing every petty item with a view to its reduction, is,
at the present moment. infinitely too valuable to be so employed. The
amount by which you can hope to diminish the total of expenditure.
by the utmost exertions of patient inverigatios and microscopic eco.
noniy, is comparatively trifling; and, at the present crisis, moments
are of too great value to be sacrificed to the production of minute re-
sults. The vital questions which I have produced before you, ur-
gently call for your whole attention; upon them haw, not a trifling
and scarcely perceptible relief, but the very existence of the empire, at
least, of its actual constitution.
To mention but one of these subjects, in order to show their immense
comparative importance, the changes in the lass affecting :he circulation
have alone, within a few years past, nearly doubled the value. and, con-
sequently, the presaute of the whole amount of taxation, a• well a,. .1
all other money engagements. Which, then, calls moat loudly tor con-
sideration, the restrictions on betaking, by which this wear 11111 l as injury
continues to be inflicted, or the possibility of a petty economy of some
thousands of pounds?
1 would then urge you to leave to a reformed Parliament the re-
trenchment of all superfluous details of expenditure, and apply your
whole time and energies to the prosecution of the great measures, the
effect of which, if judiciously planned, will be to give an elasticity and
impetus to the general productiveness of the nation, and under whose
genial influence, when the vessel of state has once cleared the shoals and
breakers that now beset her path, ample leisure will be afforded you for
weeding out the minor evils of the present system of expenditure.
The enlightened author then proceeds to discuss some
minor points, for which we have not room ; but we have en •
larged thus far, because from internal evidence of matter.

manner, and style, we attribute the pamphlet to the noble
mover of the Reform Bill, and we therefore cotibider it as
expressing his unmodified ideas, and those of members of
the Cabinet with whom he is immediately connected We
differ with him and them only in their ideas about mort-
gaging the property of children, infirm, and aged, to get rid
of those who, under a wise and kind system, could be ad-
vantageously employed at home.
If we consider that these duties, by increasing the cost of all the pro-
ducts of our national industry, must tend greatly to elite!' their pro-
duction, and diminish their aggregate amount, out of which, aher all,
the whole revenue has to be raised, we shall perceive at once bow
awkward and Irish a mode of taxation this is; that it is, in fact, the
most perfect example of the proverbial folly, " manyer sex ble en
holy."
But the imposition of an Income Tax would, no doubt, enable you
to take off, also, a large proportion, if not the whole, of the excise
duties, and to get rid of the cumbrous, expensive, knavish, and injuri.
ous machinery of that hateful mode of indirect taxation. A direct
levy front income is not only the fairest, simplest, and most straight.
forward means of raising a large proportion of the national revenue,
but It is by far the most economical, and, if judkiously conducted, the
most popular.
While a great remission of taxation and the promised Reform of
Parliament cannot be deferred, Lord Bacon wisely recommends, " Be-
ware of sudden changes in a great thing ; but if necessity enface, fit
the test to it; fee it is a secret both in nature and in state, that it i 4
safer to change many things than one only.
het me then end, as I began, by Imploring you to eschew every
thing like a temporising policy, or a waiting upon Providence • to
summon up all the decision, firmness, and energy, of your character.
The social edifice at this crisis needs a thorough and immediate, not a
partial and gradual repair. The nation sees with joy this oMee en-
trusted to your Lordship and your Colleagues, in the emblem, of
your being fitted for the task. But be sure that upon the bat appear.
once on pour part of hesitation, embanammant, or a dishonourable dc.
ference to insulting pretensions, or antiquated abuses, the power will be
taken from your bands, and those who succeed you will not be con-
tented with repairing, but will assuredly demolish and reconstruct the
edifice from its foundations, at whatever cost of individual loss and
suffering. In such a process, I need not hint to you that your ()Mir
will disappear, perhaps the throne itself. Well is it said by
Machiavelli,—
" II miglior ritnedio oontro it disegno del minim e fare voluntarist
quello ch'egli disegna the to faccia per forma; perch; facendok volon-
term to to flu con ()Mine e con vantaggio."
But away with the selfish lessees of expaiency. Nobler and
worthier motives to the requited exertions crowd in yet grater number
around you. The matures I advocate are demanded in the name
of justice, of patriotism, of humanity—by the psdema sufferings of mil.
lions of unfortunates, whom a weak and erring policy has kept for
years past in a state of needless misery.
MIIIIIMMOSIMESIMMIMe
Mr. Keane, a clergyman of Dublin, has been grossly
assaulted for preaching against 'I ransubstantiation.
Henry Wilkins, aged 24, has been convicted, at Salisbury,
of setting fire to a cottage, at South Park, after the
conflagration of some adjoining farm headings. sopieuve
of death, without hopes, was passed on him.

The only question, then, is, whether a bill should be introduced for
permitting, as in Ireland, a voluntary composition for tithe, for a term
of years, by the parties interested—or a bill for their general, immediate,
and permanent commutation, either for a corn-rent, tnoney-rent, glebe
land, or other equivalent. The former measure has the greater number
of its advocates among the tithe-owners, and, indeed, has been actually
introduced to the notice of Parliament by the Primate of all England—
the latter is the favourite among the tithe payers, among those, at least,
who do not go the length of wishing tithe abolished at once, without
any compensation to the owner.
Now, were I an enemy to the church establishment, and desirous of
seeing it stripped of its possession, I should advocate a tithe composi-
tion bill, as a means of arriving at that end ; for I can hardly doubt
that a temporary composition, leaving it open to the tithe-holder to
come in, at the end of a term of years, for a share in the value of the
improvements made by its owner's labour: and capital in the interryll
will so continue and keep alive the irritation now and always felt on the
subject, and so prolong the pressure of the burthen, as to make it
probable, that, before the first term expired, Parliament would be forced
to yield to the expression of the general will, and abolish tithe alto-
gether ' • as has indeed been done in every country as yet, where the
people have acquired a considerable share of the powers of government.
But, as I am one of those who think that under a good system of
Church discipline, and a just distribution of Church property, the re-
sidence of a respectable, educated, and pious pastor in every pariah in
the kingdom, must be productive of general benefit to the morality and
religion—the peace and happiness of society,—and that a
commutation of tithe, by relieving the revenue of the Churege;rnolamneLl
that is obnoxious or irritating, and placing it on the footing of a mete
mortgage-eharge, would secure the continuance of this beneficial sys-
tem, and the endurance of the Church establishment ;—I am anxious to
see this measure carried into immediate effect.
111. I have now to mention a topic of the mum and MOST Nish
MG IMPORTANCE, though it is one which almost all parties have,
by a strange perversity, united to throw aside and purposely disregard.
I mean the existing laws which determine the nature of the medium of
exchange.
With regard to the Currency Question, it is doubtless its apparently
abstruse, intricate, and difficult character, which has, ybieily inP°64l4
Parliament from its examination. Heaven kiwiss bow few stating and
elm heads find their way into either House, sod how little time those
few have at their disposal, ur chase to devote, to any one subject in
particular.