The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-24 00:00:00

imptrial I.4aritament.

HOUSE OF LORDS IT
_ _ _ .7_V_ONDAY.

Lord BEAUMONT moved for a select committee to in-
quire into thef buzdens c,O real property. He had ever
held do?. peculiar 'ourdens and protection to agriculture
were intimately connected ; that either both must be con-
tinued or both removed ; and if the choice were before
him, he should prefer the continuation of both to the re-
peal of both. In a report of the Poor, law Commissioners
be found twenty-four distinct rates as raised entirely from
real property, but he wished to distinguish such of these
as were raised fur kcal purposes from those which affected
the community at large. In this latter class the rates for
the maintenance of the poor, for the defence of the coun-
try, and for the administration of justice, were raised from
real property atone; but yet the support of the poor was
a national object, just as much as the maintenance of jus-
tice and the national defences; nor did the original poor-
law ever contemplate levying these rates from one parti-
cular class of property. He would next refer to the
highway-rate, which he considered a tax for general pur-
poses, since the towns profited so much, or more by the
road than the farmer by whose land it ran. The noble
lord, after exempting the tithe-charge and the land-tax,
then passed in review the malt-tax, the excise on bricks,
the hop duty, and the stamps on transfer of property, as
peculiar burdens on the landed interest, who, besides,
contributed their full share to the general taxation of the
country ; and proceeded to say that he brought forward
the present motion as a matter of necessity, and not for
the sake of interfering with the measures of the govern-
ment. The fact was, Sir Robert Peel had put forth cer-
tain measures as a compensation to the landed interest,
which he (Lord Beaumont) considered as no compensation
at all. In his opinion it was impossible to estimate the
loss of protection, and he would defy the most ingenious
calculator to arrive at a satisfactory result. He respected
the courage and sincerity of Sir R. Peel, but if his mea-
sures were carried in the present parliament, it would not
be by the triumph of opinion, but in a trial of complai-
sance. Let the right honourable baronet appeal then to
the country, and gain his ends, if they were to be gained,
backed by a majority of the nation, instead of trusting to
an able manoeuvre in party politics. . . . .

. .
Lord STANLEY was anxious to enter his protest against
the opinion put forth by Lord Beaumont, that tithe was
not a peculiar burden on land ; on the contrary, he agreed
with Lord Brougham in thinking that the land-tax and
tithe were burdens upon land in the sense in which they
were now talking of burdens, and that in throwing these
on one side Lord Beaumont had thrown away the strong-
est part of his case. The claim of the titheawner, indeed,
was as sacred as the claim of the landowner ; and the pur-
chaser, in his individual capacity, had no right to com-
plain of the burden of tithes; because he paid less for his
property in consequence of their existence ; but the ques-
tion was very different when they had to consider whether
they were not in themselves a burden on land. Lord
Beaumont had looked upon the tithe awl rent as identical,
but he (Lord Stanley) denied their identity ; rent was the
surplus after the return for capital and profits, while tithe
was paid in the first instance before the farmer had any
profit, and before the landlord received his rent ; if the
land were unprofitable, the rent fell, but the claim of the
titheowncr was undiminished, and b-ieg undiminished
must be added to the price actually paid for t:.e produc-
tion of the corn. He concurred with Lord Beaumont in
his desire that the opinion of the country should be deli-
berately taken on the question.
The Duke of RICHMOND could not consider the corn-
laws settled, because he could not conceive any member of
the House of Commons would he sufficiently daring to
pass the bill contrary to every pledge they had given on the
hustings. If this measure passed, the excitement now go-
ing on would he still kept up, and he believed the League
would never be content till it had destroyed the Esta-
blished Church, and every other institution which the
house felt called on to stand by and defend.
Lord GREY felt convinced that the landowners would
be found on investigation to bear less, instead of more,
than their due share of taxation.

Lord ASHBURTON had great doubts of the expediency
of the proposed committee, which was more likely to be a
scene of wrangling than productive of any important col-
lection of facts. It seemed impossible not to consider
tithes as a tax upon land. and the house should consider
that in the event of land going out of cultivation whe❑
protection ceased, the first portion to go would be that
which paid tithe.
The motion as amended was agreed to, and the commit-
tee was nominated.