Star.
London, England, 1816-02-29 00:00:00

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1816.

day owe the preservation of its liberty to the military
power of France and the naval superiority of Great
Britain ; and on this principle he was not one of those
who wished to see France curtailed of its due propor
tioo of power. on the Continent. Yet, however ne.
cessary it might be for this country to support, for
some time longer, a great military force, there was
no plea thereby afforded to justify the continuance of
the Propeity Tax. He referred to the words of •the
Noble Lord who had been Prime Minister of this
country at the time of the Peace. of Milieus, on the
occasion of his taking off the Property Tax on the
conclusion of that peace. as :hewing the opinion of
that Noble person to be, that the continuance of this
Tax during peace was illegal. He would. be glad to
know the opinion of that Noble Lord now. One great
objection to this tax, independently of every other
consideration, was this—that it bore so unequally on
the poorer classes of society. The Hon. Gentleman
concluded by animadverti*g on the sarcastic expres-
,sions of an Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Heron) as to the
.country being it covered with glory." He saw very
plainly the disposition' which dictated this expression;
but he would tell the Honourable Baronet that he be-
lieved there were very few in the country of thole
wbe had labouted most under the burden of tuatiOn
during the war, who would not cheerfully bear much
greater privations rather than see this country run the'
danger of becoming the province of some Continen-
tal Power—(hear, hear).
Mr. 3erjeaut ONSLOW felt it his duty to enter
his humble but solemn protest against the continn-
ance of the Property Tax in the time of peace. He
had hoped that the nature of the tax, and the situa-
tion of the country, would have sufficiently proved
to the Chancellor of the Exchequer die utter 'neve.
diency of adopting such a measure in any shape..
However necessary it might be to keep up a large
military establishment for sometime, he saw in that
necessity no reason why the Property Tax should be
continued, when there were so many other means by
which the necessary supplies might be raised. A
small loan would answer the purpose effectually ;_
and it was to no purpose to say, that by having re-
course to a loan the Funds would be injured, because
he was informed by many Gentlemen, who were
well acquainted with the state of the Funds and the
money market, that a small lean would rather im-
prove; than depress the price of the public Stocks,
Sir R. HERON having in the last Bessie!' voted
for the continuation of the Tax, wished to state why
he felt it his duty now to vote against it. It was his
opinion that, during the war, it was a good way of
raising the money necessary for carrying it on, be-
cause it procured coetribinions from the monied in-
tere,t and absentees. But in the time of peace it was
very different; and there was no reason for its con-
tinuance. If money was required to support exten-
sive peace establishments, it ought to be raised by
economy in the royal expeaditore, 'and by curtailing
the Civil List.

The Petition was then brought up, read, and or-
dci ed to.lie on the Table.

General WEMYSS presented a Petition, signed
by a number of respectable Landholders and Farmers
in the County of Fife, praying for the repeal of the
Property Tax, and representing that its continuance,
during Peace, would be a breach of faith on the part
of Government.
On the question that this Petition should be
brought up, •
Mr. J. P.GRANT congratulated the House and
the country on the arrival of Petitions from the more
remote parts of the kingdom. Having himself very
lately returned from Scotland, he could assure the
House, that though this was the first, it would not
be the last Petition from thence. He remarked, that
this Petition 'hewed, notwithstanding the very digni-
fied and ingenious way in which a Right Honourable
Gentleman opposite had endeavoured to explain it
away, that the general impression throughout the
country was, that the faith of Ministers was pledged
against the contiquance of the Tax.
The Petition was then brought up, read, and tie.'
dered to lie on the Table.
Sir JAMES SHAW presented a Petition, signed
by many respectable inhabitants of chi Ward of
Cheap, against the Property Tax. It was read, and
ordered to lie on the Table.
Mr. C. DUNDAS presented a Petition from ea.
pin inhabitants of York against the Property Tax,
which was read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
Mr. COKE presented two Petitions from the
county of Norfolk, the one from the inhabitants of
the parish of Brandop, and the other from those of
the parish of Swaffham, against the Property Ta*r
They were both read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
Sir F. BURDETT presented a Petition from the
Inhabitants of Monmouth, not only against the Pro.
petty Tax, but also against Pensions and Sinecure
laces; also complaining of the expensive Monts.
linens which had been voted. _The Honourable
&moat% stated, that as he concurred in all the send.
inents stated in the Petition, be felt great pleasure is
presenting it, and hoped that Ministers would be
persuaded not to consummate the ruin of the country
by supporting expensive establishments.
The Petition was read, and ordered to lie on the
Table.
Mr. P. MOORE presented a Petition from certain
inhabitant' of Coventry, praying for relief from the
excessive burden of taxation, especially from the
Property Tax. The Honourable Gentleman then
expatiated en the distresses of the country. Me
thought the Vote of the Supplies should precede that
far the Peace Establishment ; and hoped the House
would set its face against the course of conduct adopt-
ed by Ministers. He (Mr. M.) had presented pc&
Lions from Coventry before, but they were not se►
garded—Great as this petition stated the distress t
the poor to be, it stated not a tenth part of their suf-
ferings—it revised much interest to be admitted into
the poor-house. He hoped the petitions before the
I-louse would prove a useful and solemn lesson to
Misisters bqw they acted.

Mr. BUTTERWORTH supported the Petition.'
He believed., the public objccuor.s to the tax would
not be so decisive, it it were really .a tax on property.
and not on precarious incomes. The trade of Co.
gentry was greatly depressed. Some houses, that
used to pay £4OO or £5OO a week to workmen, now
paid only se4.o or £5O. They felt severely the weight
of taxation, and the partiality of Commissioners a'
many cases. There were many instances of peoples'.
affairs being embarrassed by exposures. There wasl
great injury to public morals by the temptation:
offered to suppress the real state of affairs, while there
was also a disposition to act with a severity bordering
on oppression, bj which people were. frequently com-
pelled to pay more than they ou„oht according to law.
The great influx of foreign goods depressed the trade,
of Coventry at present, and ought to be considered'
by Government. kie.believed Spitalfields was never
more distressed than at present. He had been so in-
formed by old inhabitants. Some individuals paid
re than they ought to this tax, to keep up appear-
. ces. A tax on property should not be the means
of oppression. The people were willing to pay every
fair kind of taxation. He was hippy to see in this
,Petition no objectionable Matter, no party views— it,
;spoke the genuine language of the place. Though
to disband our army might be irnpulitic..yet we were
.• t now in the dangers in which we had been, and
is tax ought to be resorted to only in urgent neces-
sity. He therefore supported the Petition.
Mr. LYTTLETON, adverting to the silence of
the Chancellor of the Ezchentier, called it, in the
paw* case, offensive. He alluded to the passage
in the Prince Regent's Speech at the opening of this
Session; Which stated that the resources of the coun-
'try were unimpaired, said, that he could only ace
count for this expression by supposing that Ministers'
were ignorant of the real state of the country ; but
the ntimbet of the Petitioni that had now been pre-
sented left no such excuse for them now. He thought
it incumbent on the House to compel Ministers to
act on principles of economy and retrenchment.
The Petition was then read, and ordered to lie on
the Table.
Sir THOMAS ACLAND presented a Petition
from certain Landholders, Farmers and others, in
the South and West Divisions of the Hundred of
Black Torrington, in the County of Devon, com-
plaining of the general distress endured by the agri•
cultural interest, in consequence of the Malt Tax,
some of the Assessed Taxes, and the Property Tax,
and praying for relief. On the Petition being read,
Mr. LOCKHART said, that it would be in vain
to expect that any relief would be afforded to the
agricultural interest, if the Property Tax was to be
reelacted in the way in which it had been laid on
hitherto. He thought that the holders of Exchequer
Bills, and those who had funded property, were the
proper objects for this tax—at least, that on them
the chief burden of it should lie. Considering the
circionstances in which the country was placed, it
appeared to him absurd to petition the House that
there should be no Property Tax. The only way to
make the Tax effectual would be to make it one on
real property.
Mr. BARING said, that when the Tax came
before the House he would consider it in the shape
in which it would be brought in, without at all mak-
ing any question as to whether it might not be
brought forward in some more unobjectionable shape.
The country would be defeated in its object unless
the Tax were discussed in the shape in which Mini.
stets brought it forward. As to the nature of the
prayer of the Petitions that came before the House,
nothing was more likely than that each class of men
should pray that those Taxes should be removed
which pressed most hardly upon them. But on the
whole he could consider the continuance of the odious
Tax on Income, in no other light than as a suspen-
sion of the blessings of the Constitution.
Mr. THOMPSON said that this fact was unde•
niable=that farmers paid this Tax for an Income,
when they had no Income. The principle on which
the Tax was at present imposed was, that the profits
of the farmer were equal to three-fourths of the
amount of his rent. Nothing could be more false
than this principle—nothing more unjust; and he
would be astonished if the country Gentlemen were
to support it. He hoped the Moister would find
other means to support the Peace Establishment.
Mr. SHAW mixed much with commercial per-
sons, and had many opportunities of hearing their
sentiments. Although he did not bring their signa-
tures to the House, yet he was enabled to state how
much they considered themselves to have suffered by
the Property Tax, and bow anxious they were that
it should not be re-enacted. Vat was unjust in its
basis, could not be just in its superstructure. It was
not just that persons depending for their support on
a temporary income, the result of their bodily or
mental exertions should contribute in an equal ratio
to the wants of the State, as men possessed of the
fee simple of an estate, who bad nothing to do but
to spend the produce of that estate, conscious that it
would be transmitted to their children. He agreed
with an Honourable Gentleman who bad spoken
from the other side of the House, that if we must
have a Property Tax, it should really be one on pro.
petty, and not on the hard.earned incomes of men
who bad a wife and children looking up to them for
support. Never could he consent that such a man
should pay equally as persons of legal property, by
which he meant capital vested either in the funds or
in land. He then reverted to a statement made
some time ince by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,'
that if it were possible for him to bring a large sum
at once into the money market, the country would
' be relieved; but that, instead of the money which he
could not supply, he thought he should go as far to-
wards relieving the distresses of the country if he did
not take a loan out of its pockets : that public credit
would be improved, that money would spread in
various radii, and assistance afforded by the country
Banks. He called upon that Right Hon. Gentleman
to pause before be adopted such a measure. Who:

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