Star.
London, England, 1821-06-13 00:00:00

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

- WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1321.
THE FUNDS.
PRICES OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK :
3 per Ct. Reda. 75% % 76 1/4-3 per Ct. Cons. shut
Sl/2 per Cent. 86 VB-4 per Cent. 941/8 94
5 per Cent. shut—Long Ans. 19 1-16
India Bonds 50 49 pre.—Etch. Bills. par, 3s. pr.
Cons. for Acct. 77 14

It was observed the other day, at the Leicester
Meeting, on the subject of Mr. SCARLETT'S Bill, that
should " the existing liability of certain Parishes to
maintain the Paupers legally settled in them be done
away with, there would be a breach of faith not
easily reconciled with the principles which had
hitherto regulated British legislation." This is most
true; for surely those who have made purchases in
populous places upon the faith of the existing laws,
will have ample reason to complain, if a Statute of
ex post fado operation is to be adopted, which is cer-
tain to deteriorate, and may possibly reduce their
properties to nothing. Whenever the proposal for a
general rate throughout the kingdom has been made,
what has been the objection urged against it? Why,
that it would be a breach of faith towards those who
have purchased in either extra-parochial or easily-
rated places. We should be glad to know if this ob-
jection goes not hold in equal force with respect to
Mr. SCARLETT% Bill, as far as concerns the pur-
chasers in populous and manufacturing districts?—
There are many who possess real estates in such
places, who have no more to do with the trades car-
ried on in them than the most distant agriculturalists.
The plan of leaving the support of the poor to
private benevolence (though not exactly connected
with Mr. SCARLETT'S Bill), we consider to be unjust,
not only to the poor, btft to the rich themselves. It
would throw the burden upon the liberal part of the
community alone, and leave out of the question the
penurious and the unfeeling, who are generally to be
found among the most opulent. Scripture tells us,
" the poor you have always with you." Humanity tells
us, that, if unable to obtain a livelihood, they must
not starve; and for our own parts, we prefer a compul-
so►y provision for them, dispersed as equally as may
be throughout the community at large, to any other
scheme.

The Morning Chronicle, after a week's silence, has
to-day returned to the subject of this Bill, and seems
now disposed to qualify extremely the support which
it at first indiscreetly gave to the measure. " Though
we are friendly," it says, " to the main principle
of Mr. SCARLETT'S Bill, " we have never been in-
sensible to the objectionable nature gf some of its
provisions. The idea of fixing a maximum of rates
has always appeared to us particularly indefensible.
''Phis part of the Bill would soon be rendered a dead
letter by the exceptions necessary to prevent its being
the means of producing the greatest injustice. But
the great object of the Bill, namely, the confining
parish relief ultimately to the aged and infirm, has
our warmest support."
The confusion which reigns in this passage is indi-
cative of anything but distinct notions on the subject.
We shall shew, in a few words, that the " main prin-
ciple" of the Bill, to which this Journal professes it-
self to be " friendly," and " the idea of fixing a maxi-
mum of Rates," which appears to it to be " particu-
larly indefensible," are, in fact, one and the same
thing. The shape in which the Chronicle has so
placed the matter as to deceive itself, is this :—We
are of opinion, it seems to say, that parish relief
should be confined " ultimately to the aged and in-
firm ;" but it does not, therefore, follow that we are
for having any maximum of this relief established.
Is the Chronicle aware that it is solely by confining
the relief to the aged and infirm, that Mr. &a IILETT
expects to arrive at a maximum ? He does not say
that the Rates shall never exceed a certain sum in
the pound, but that the present Rates shall never, in
future, be encreased, in order to give relief to men
who are able to work, setting the possibility of get-
ting work altogether out of view. It is in this alone
that the maximum of Mr. SCARLETT consists; and so
far from being a subordinate provision of the Bill, it
is the leading principle on which the whole hinges.
The Chronicle says it " is particularly indefensible;"—
we said so at first,• and find, by the effect our argu-
ments have contributed to produce, that we were
right. The Chronicle adds, " this part of the Bill
would soon be rendered a dead letter :" we hope it
will never live to become a dead letter on the Statute
Book ; we think, indeed, we see symptoms already of
the bantling's being still-born. There is, at all events,
no probability of Mr. SCARLETes Bill passing this
Session. We disclaim all intentions of creating an
improper popular feeling upon the subject ; but, as
Englishmen, we shall not cease to raise our voices
against the erroneous principles upon which the mea-
sure is founded.

We are informed that a proposition is to be intro-
duced into the House of Commons, before the close
of the present Session, for the reduction of the interest
on the National Debt ; or, in other words, for striking
off a part of the Debt itself. It is grounded en an
assumption, which we should be glad to think further
from the truth than it is, that the Nation cannot go
on much longer paying the present rate of interest.

An alteration, say the advocate* of the measure,l
must be made somewhere, and an effectual altera-
tion is, of course, the best. There ate, indeed, poli-'
ticians who reason upon this subject as Sir Abel Handy
in the play speaks of a house on fire: " I have hit
upon a plan—perhaps it may go out of itself!" This
" is doubtless quite as logical, and as much to the pur-
pose, as the speculations of those honest gentlemen
who think that the remedy for our present evils may
be found in a gradual increase of national prosperity.
This was plausible enough five or six years ago; but
the experiment has now had a fair trial, and what is
the result? The state of our affairs is worse than
ever; and the same destroying principle which made
them so is still in full operation. Retrenchment is
not sufficient; increase of Taxes is out of the question;
and borrowing is worse. To avoid falling under the
load, therefore, we must lighten it; and as no process'
can be simpler, none, say the advocates of the measure
to which we allude, can be wiser, than to throw part
of the load away. Thefairness of the measure is the
next thing to be considered; for, embarrassed as we
are, we are glad to see that there is no person so un-
principled as to advise that.the Nation should get out
of its difficulties by taking a dishonest advantage of
its creditors. One party, as we lately mentioned,
say that to reduce the interest will be fair, because
the currency is now far higher in value than it was
when the interest was contracted to be paid,; but, in
answer to this party, Mr. Mostar, of the Royal Mint,
has published a Series of Tables, exhibiting the
Gain and Loss to the Fundholders, arising from the
Fluctuations in the Value of the Currency, from 1800
to 1821 ; from the general results of which, we con-
fess, it does exfacie appear, rather unexpectedly, that
the annual permanent gain by the Fundholder is at pre-
sent so little as not to be worth talking about. There i,
another party, however, who rest their support of the
measure of reducing the interest on more unquestion-
able grounds. They shew it to be fair, because it will
' be to the advantage of the Creditor himself as much
as to the country at large. They prove it to be no-
thing more than striking off the proportion which the
Fundholdcr himself, as one of the nation, pays it-4
taxes towards the discharge of that interest. Instead
of receiving five per cent. he will only receive four ;
but then; for every five pounds of taxes which he
pays at present, he will in future have only to pay
four. Can any matter of accounts be simpler or fairer
than this ? The Reader who wishes for farther satis-
faction on the subject, will find the view which we
hare thus biiefly adverted to very ably urged, among
other reasons, in a paper in the last number of the
Pamphleteer, on the expediency and necessity of
striking off a part of the National Debt.

Two Mails arrived from Hamburgh this forenoon,
with Papers to the Bth instant. They bring a great
variety of intelligence from Turkey, but of, so con-
fused and contradictory a description, that it is diffi-
cult to know what reliance to place upon it. One
thing only is evident, that the cause of the Greeks is
not losing ground. We subjoin some extracts :

FROM TILE FRONTIERS OF MOLDAVIA, MAY re.
According to letters from Jassy, of the 12th inst.
the Greeks arrive in great numbers at GaLica. On
the 21st and 22d of April, two ships arrived therel
which brought 40 cannon, 2,000 musquets, 2,000
sabres, and other military stores.
The same accounts say, that Ali Pacha had de-
feated the Turks sent against him, and was advancing
towards Thehsaly.
FROM THE TURKISH FRONTIER, MAY is.

An unauthenticated account states, that the Turks
have occupied Bucharest ; and that another Turkish
corps arrived in the neighbourhood on the 10th of
May. The Greeks in Moldavia and Wallachia were
stated to be flying on all sides, and their forces to
have dispersed.