Star.
London, England, 1816-03-08 00:00:00

•
hands °fibe owners, and now.lyieg uncultivated, as
the farmers, from the low price of Wheat, could not
afford to cultivate them. Whatever might be said
*bout the faith of Ministers on particular points, there
loas one general system of faith ill all Governments,
rivhich was an engagement so to support the interests
of apiculture, that the people should not run the risk
of being- starved. The Petition was sen ftceivell..
Mr. 13ROUGHAM said he held:in his hand a
Petition from the town of Honiton,
in Devon, against
the Property Tax. which, amongst other facts, com-
p/ained chat the most galling and intolerable parts of,
the system were the compelling the petitioners to lay.
open their concerns to a train of inspectors and spiels'
and they trusted the House would refuse its monism
td the measure under any modifications whatever.
Oil this subject be-was enabled, from what had very
lately come to his knowledge, to offer a very striking
commentary. A very respectable person, a ship.
broker, residing at no very great distance from that
.House, had occasion to purchase an article a a cheese.'
meager's, which be received wrapped up in a paper
'that proved to be, to his no small. astonishment, the
.retern of one tot his friends and neighbours to the
Commiaanners of the Property Tax. lie called, on,
the Gentlemen, and stated the circumstance. and
obey both called on the cheese r., The trades-
Watt told them be had lately boughtle d great lot of,
waste paper, of the same kind ; land they found, upon
farther inquiry, that the paper in question bad bees,
exposed to sale by the Commissioners, and.consistedj
of the whole rt4llllls of what was tottsmoub called
their jurisdiction, bot which be should call their in4l
question. Thuspiotselpeared the private iffairs of all
persons were exposed, not only to tom, Commis,io-
ners, but to the world, by their returns being ex-
posed to sale as waste paper; and if he had seen no
reason before to oppose the Tax, this circumstance
alone would induce him to do it. For it would seem,
that all attempts for making the Commissioners
keep faith with those under their inquisition were
unavailing; and there appeared no great chance of
making these persons keep the secrets of individuals.]
unless they took two or three others to assist them.,
by which all the affairs that came before them would,
be verbally exposed.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
denied that such a charge could generally apply to
the Commissioners. He remembered a similar ch..,
cunistance that occurred about a year and a half
ago; but on inquiry he ascertained, that it was a ge-
neral practice with the Commissioners carefully to
destroy all•the returns after they were done with, par-
ticularly what were of a private nature. and except-
ing such as it was necessary to preserve for certain
purpose.a. But it also appeared that some few of these
returns had occasionally got abroad.' Heahought,
however, that he could take upon himself to say, that
neither the Commissioners for London, nor any other
district, connived attic sale of these papers ; and if
the Honourable Gentleman would inquire farther.
be would find that this was the fact; however the
papers might have got abroad, the circumstance *as
certainly without their knowledge. it cert.tiuty never
was intended that the private concerns of any indivi-
dual should be made public. There was a great de-I
area of Misapprehension altogether respecting the
operation of this Tax ; for under it, in 1815, there
were nine persona out of every ten who did not make
y mums whatever, except for the purpose of eta
Mining relict from it. It was well known that in the
year 1803, in order to prevent the grievance of com-
mercial exposures, any person who chose to be as.
tossed by responsible references of his own appoint-
ment, had the liberty to be so, provided the Commis-
siotiers approved of them. Yet, though this law was
afterwards abolished, he should be perfectly satisfied
to take the aswssments which should he made on
such persons by Gentlemen of their own appointment,
if the Commissioners saw no objection to them.—
Undo- such circumstances no person could object to
disclose his affairs. As to the pressure of the Tax
upon the agliculturist, it bad been ascertained that
out of ab.,ve 1,130,000 tanners only 165.000 paid
any portion of it ; and of these persons only about
6,50',) paid for above 41000 a-year. Of .589,000
tellants, it appeared that 140,700 were exempt, and
of the remainder, who paid only £lOO a-year, were
4::',(X)0 a...,(1 no more. The number of 'farmers who
would be exempted under the proposed modifications,
would bP :thou( 527,000 out of 589,000. The far-
mers who • would have to pay on the reduced
amount of their rents, woold only pay one-60th pan
of them, or £lO in e*ry 4600- - It therefore natu-
rally followed that this class of persons would receive
great relief. It would also be a subject for canticle.
ration, what relief could be granted in cases of total
loss ? and there was no class which demanded relief
to which the House would not be disposed to listen.
if the Honourable Gentleman could point it out.—
The Right Hon. Gentleman then went into a series
of details to shew how little the Tax, as it now stood,
affected persons in trade. There were 1,129;049 en-
gaged in trade and handicraft employments,of whom
only 256.802 latii made returnsaitad of these 109,760
wire t mespoko es, eitsuraiag --less than 46;) alder;
so that those who did contribute to the Tax were no
mine than 156,542. This number :slid tot hailed*
journeymen, who were exempted if their respective
weekly incomes did not excited 30s, Reverting to
the ease of commercial persons, the Right Honour.
able Geetleman expressed his opinion that it was its;.
possible to devise any other mode than that already
pointed out; such persons would be-merely'ealled en
to expose the profits of any particular branch amide
in which they might be engaged, and they usiihi be
concerned in various branches, without ever being
called on by the same Commissioners to eipose she
whole of their affairs. , t
Mr. BROUGII.AM, in explanation, said be bid 1
mach no allusion,in regard to the sale of the returns,
to the Commissioners of the London district.
-Mi. BA RING said there had been a sMtelisent,
my conveniently dressed out, in a Treasury Paper,
for the purpose of making die measure ;pitiable; it
• bow many millions of mechanics, with an io-
MIN ender 470 or 480 a-year,. were totally etempted.
frona'this Tar, from which it was meant to be itt-
faffinis that those persons had no interest fit the goes.
rots. But it must be seen that all these persons were
am only obliged to pay indirectly to the Tax, but
they were also all indirectly connected with the fate
of their-masters, whose reduced state, from stein*.
don in trade, must affect all who were concerned un-
der them. ht the same way as the, farmers' labourers
were affected by the distremet of the farmers. The

relieving of one part of the people (the farmers) for
the purpose of burtheninig saddler, was a project un-
worthy of the great Minister of a greet natio... The
relieving of persons by remission on accereit of dis-
tress was just ; but it was not so generally, if the re-
lief were cnly Partially applied. The great point
would be to direct our attention to the principle of
the az, which was.established for the support of the
war—:(Heer, hear,)—and therefore the thing which.
the Country Gentlemen would have to consider was,
that they haie been establishing a measure of finance,
which Government may hoe recourse to upon occa-
:ion, and screw it up by degrees, like the little ad-
.vances they have made irons time to time upon the
Tea and Sugar Tax. He wished the idea to be incul-
cated upon every man's mind, that this Tax Was of
such a nature, that nothing could justify it but the
Most arduous war,.such as we have just emerged from:
If this tax were eventually renewed he-hoped the te-
nant would be exempted from it. The Chancellor of
die Exchequer thought the objection to the measure
which had been spoken of on account of the disci°,
sure which individuals were compelied to make was
not great, as-a clause allowing ..the -psrties to make
their returns to two referees had not been much acted
upon. He (Mr. Baring) was net surptised that few
persons Would have availed themselves of that clause,
as the tifouble and embarrassment which it lad to was
not to be endured, and was, if posciblc. worse than
the common course of proceeding. lie condemned
the Property Tax for this—it took ilk per eve'. troit,
the trader's profits in oue cuntern, and allowed bun
no drawback for the lobirs he tyirht-sust►,n itt cite
other; thus a ship-owner wlui might gFitt.on ore ves-
sel, was obliged to pay the Property Tax on his pro-
fits on her, though he ►tiuu:d sustain a lost to an evial
amount on the other.
Mr. PRESTON condemned the Property Tax as
a measure wholly unlit to. be re'ortLd to in a tree
country. He objected to its principle as unt.oustitu-
lional, and as being directly at vat tance the
rit of English liberty. Every man who loved vat tt:e
and the British Constitution, was bound to tesibt Si,
arbitrary an impost, which went to introduce a fourth
and a fifth power into the itate, and consequently
destroy that system, to establish which our ancestors
had shied their best blood.
The Petition was ordered to lie on the table.
AGitxt:L.rcum. nes MESS.

Mr. WESTERN rose to move that the House
should go into a Committee on. the Agricultural Dis-
tress of the Country. He did ilex anticipate much
opposition to his motion, because the conviction was
so universal that the Agricultural interest was di.-
tressed in an extraordinary. degree, that he thought
it impossible for that li,use to refuse to give the sub-
ject their most patient and deliberate conrideration.
It he were to suppose any objectioi.s-wonld bi urged
against that course which he should recomtnend, •Le.f•
must conclude they would be fuunded on the• suppo-
sition that to dog his might increase the'alarm which
already prevailed, or that it could only tend to excite
hope, which would ultimately be.disappointed. lie
did not think, however, that in.either of these respects
any inconvenience was to be appithended• from the
adoption of that Course which he would'aeconamend.'
Whatever might.f rove the extent of the power of tl.e
Legislature in this citsehowever incapahle•they.
might be to afford :alt the necessary relief wli.ch t;:e
case demanded, the) ought *sotto shriniefront the in-'
vestigatiou of its merits—they • ought-to make it
known what these really were,-and t•1•14t40 consi-
der if something could ItOt be (lode fur tittoben'et of
the thousands of individuals Over witom ruin 'was at
that moment impending. SinCelielairgiven-notice
of his intention to bricg forwardthe present motion,
he had been called uponcancl written to; by a great'
number of persons. .From the conversations he lead
had, and the letters trohickhe had lead, he was aisle to
:hew that the cutustry-preseateika.pieture of distress
perfectiy unexampled.' He had intended to-read some
of the letters in thedseurse of the spetch r. but as this
was fatiguing to-the House ans Pas it would be more
satisfactory that. thcy• *shook, learn the- facts which
they contained from that evidence whiCh lie thought I
it would be neceskirtnsgo into; be ihnnia not tt.es-
pass on their time, by car: ying his first deter thinatiOn
iutoeffect on this occasion. He endeavour:elf -io col-
lect some documentary information forthe House on
this interesting question, but the pipers for elicit tie
bad moved had not yet come in. From another
source, however, he could give them some proofs
of the extensive distress which prevailed. In e..e,
County of Norfolk, the number of Writs issued in the
course of one year had increased from 540 to 670.
This increase had occurred from 1814 to 181.5, while
the .Executions taken out had been increased in the
same time- from 96 to 174. Among similar state-
ments, 'be euerted 47 Exchequer Paucesses to have
been issued against- the Parish Collectors, in conse-
quence of their inability to get in the Assured Praxes.
The distress in the Counties of Suffolk and Sussex,
and in the Isk of Ely, he :hewed, from comparative
statements, to ..be alarmingly great. He would go
no farther to prove the extent of the calamity. Up
to the year 4813. the egeicoluiso.of the country 41i asi
been in a thriving.strite; at least, it had been on a
level with the Other manufstcturei. of the country.
To what was its subsequent depression to be attribu-
ted I Alfas it to .be ascribed to the immense
ressure of Poop's Rates, which in. annotir.t almost
exceeded Nikita-41km.; near') • Was it to be ,ac-
counted.for frodt:the pressure of the Tithes, from the
magnitude of National 4ebt, or the paper Circu:
feting medium t orr•was' it to be explained by the cir-
cumstance •of snrplirs produce from the soil having
~ben thrown on the markets t He was of opinion the
present diitress proceeded froin a combination of all
these causes. He did,not believe it had been brought '
about by the return of peace. The rapid tall in the
price *ut grain.had preceded the period at Which the
public we.* led to anticipates termination of the war.
. Wheat, which had previously been at 120 s. the gum.-
ter, in November, I'Blsilied• declined to 70a. 'T'here
'was then no expectation of peace to affect the mat-
ket ; and therefore that of which he spoke must pro.'
geed hem some other cause. The return of peace,
In fact, it we might judge from the 'experience
of the past, was stot likely to produce such a
' change. • Ilk would be seen if we looked back to
what bad taken place after the peace of 1782, and
after that et' 1763. Atter the peace of 1785 the
k
average price•of Wheat •in the succeeding five years,
compared with the average price of the five last years
of the war,.had increased from Sire to seven shining(
in the quarter f •and OA making the same comparison
4

between the. fire years wl:ieh
years which preceded the pea's of
Ip'rniadolfhceoPern itcj derritiorrvieil 4glit.vsfiri;
There had been a surplui produce ii
this had,. in a great measure, tend,
price of groin. The, market price,
w.ts a sut.plits or a deficit on thc 41,
rtyre-ly in the ratio of Or! rule „,
multii:lied ten ford eie,:er w ie.
who took to market the pr-,'lice
-.correct an over;t,Tl:ed market as
of other cm:mod:cies niielt. Th.
checked, but probably this would
'through his destruction ; for them
modity was visch, that it could cv't
pleasure. fie considered the price
been raised higher it wocl t
extended anti extendwoz circiTat.ite
struck him it mo:a hay:: beet p:
pressed by the witialr7l.:itig of th,
antra. The markets, howcver,
overloaded with .prode::.. Tots
bad crotended that in 'Enland v:i
enough corn to meet th. dealdrid
'eltii, however, bad Lten done; at
the imprcvivents adAeti t.dcen
culture were suchethat England al
produce a sufficient quantity c.fgr:
poi etioir true." times as numerous
/owed-fwd.. citcn;ating
to have lad the effect of cocoa,
exertions; and these, it would be
wee not earned to half the est
might be carried; had been
ti:e de nand of the country, bet to
The toll in the ;nice of Wittat its
to ;Os. the quarter, I:ad occited
among the a;; ititer.,st.
b;,.ett increased by the rejection of
INI3, and this was still Wither ag
jection of that t‘if 1814; and to the
the fall of the price .1 Wheat, ah
quence them, added a new
not ooly •adal 'nee!, but be WAS
forced to take his corn-to market, .
fur whateaer ;mice be coold get., H
universal OpLioll that orany.great
mad:: by the farmers in the last

did not believe this opinion to be
him it appt•ared they had not had ,
so. The price of C,.rn hid nit bee'
might have expected it would
cumstances of tie countrv. T,te
modifies was influenced by tasatit
considered, and the price .of Corn.
of taxation, in the ten pars pri
compared with the price of Curt
.of taxation, in the ten years from
ducting the two yea: s rt scarcit,
House would be surprised that wit
Atoned pet icd the price of Corn k
In the ten-pars preceding the yeas
Corn' averaged 4.75. per qu,at
ratri.:,unt of taxation of tl.e cot
te'd yvass was 5e1.1,000,00. Foe F
ingin ISi2;-t!;e averave price of
tne qtpirter, and the taxation ot
'itnnunted to 475,000,W0. From
seen thar.the pricifof corn had not
while die. taxation Of the calm:
and, uridcis such circintstances, it
sible for the farm:is to have
The present distress, he thought,
great measure by the sudden with,
culating:medium which had so btr,
Speculation's. A stagnation in
tal:y grew our of the want of ago
was then experienced. It was at
that the. ;wires of things now shot
what they were One hundred and
At one non: the superabundance
medium was loch, and the pt ices
became so high in conseqoence,
alarm began to be entertained ; I
the other extreme, and the con
that would give sire were beyond
tv,s enabled to form.. NVitli rep
the produce of onr.land, it hid bt
Tinos ways ; but he thought on
:Simeon: to the value of ail the. pt,
he considerably above 200 minim
the milt co the kingdom at 57 Ibi
produce was always estimated at
own opiri.ou, it was nearer five rei
wou'id merely take four. Multi'',
give •228 utillitms ; but he wank
millions. Now, it this 200 millions
by an augm.mtatitEs of produce
for it, in a manner such as no ma,
known, was it unteasonable to 501
on the gross amount had withdrat
medium I The paper was in coin
withdrawn ; for it was 4ounded of
ps• duce to a very considerable
tbareforis, on the JeCfeAlle in N.
withdrasen. la suck a situation
tensive cil:cts had
.biaen produced .
the depressed value of the produce
b;011 (ruin a surplus, thou)
portion to the surplus. As far a:
practicable, it must consist in takin,
in finding a market foe it —from tit
sequences they, w ithed to follow,
—Supposing things to go on in r
without any interittence on the
cure, what would be the effect
would at last remedy itscif-i-the

a Ainsinvion of prodtice—the pi
ress,v,ily be destroyed, and the pi
as coetice not only rise. hut rise
cess. F..r the lligh price would ,
as, it were, hum the gradual iocre;
taxation, but front positive SCIUCII
Alid dieretOre there was no estir,
trom such a destruction of prod
greatest nii,chiefs at peseta was,
of industry were so much dimin,
a considerable diminution-of cons,
the price of Cora had decre.sscd so
'ple could get so little employ-met
starving as it were in the midst of
They might have corn che:sp as
joke at the cheapness of bread,
shut their eyes to the fact that the
ing at the bat= time.--(llear,