The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-07-11 00:00:00

are our pilots, and May we not reasonably fear for the

not wish for one day of the honest purpose and strong arm
of Billy Pitt ! I beg to move the adoption of the report.
Dr. Trench resumed his seat amid loud and long continued
bursts of applause.

Mr. Councillor TOBIN, on rising, was received with
loud cheers. He said—Sir, in rising to second the adop-
tion of the report, T cannot but feel, after the eloquent
speech you have just heard from Dr. Trench, that any-
thing I may say will fall dead upon your ears. There is,
'however, one subject mentioned in the concluding part
of the report, relative to finance, upon which I would
take the liberty of addressing a few words to the Associ-
ation ; and as it was only this morning I was solicited to
take part in the proceedings of to-day, my remarks must

necessarily be incomplete. Sir, the subject of finance
has been attracting a great deal of attention, more parti-
cularly at the present time, and it must be approached
with delicacy. We have several financial associations
rising up around us, and I hope much good may be ob-

taihed from these associations. Igo with them some
way, tut certainly not all the way. Igo with them to a
great extent in their desire for retrenchment,
_and a re-

gard in dealing with those who deserved well of their
country, I would use the pruning-knife towards those
who had done no good service to the state, and who are
now fattening on the industry of the people.. One word
. _

with regard to direct taxation
enabled to give consideration to that system, it appear
to me to be almost impracticable. In a country lightly
taxed, it may be the best mode; but in a country heavily
burdened as this is, it seems to me to be impracticable;
for you must bear in mind, that we have an exceedingly
heavy debt that swallows up half the revenue of England.
If, indeed, the plan of William Pitt—whose name has
been already mentioned and is embodied with our
principles—had been followed out, we might turn our
attention to a system of direct taxation ; because, if
his sinking fund had been preserved, the national
debt would have been wiped away two years ago.
Having only had an hour or two to arrange my thoughts,
I will, instead of using my own words, read to you the
sentiments of an eminent writer who has attracted much
attention in this country—l allude to Alison.. He writes,
with reference to direct taxation, " unlike the indirect
taxes which are paid without being felt, or forgotten in
the enjoyment of the objects on which they are laid, it
brings the bitterness of taxation in undisguised nakedness
to every individual, and produces in consequence a degree
of discontent and exasperation which nothing but the
excitement of continual warfare or a sense of uncontrol-
lable necessity can indaee a nation to bear." Gentlemen,
in these times of pulolic discontent, I believe the plan of
direct taxation would produce more discontent, and that.
were it adopte4, the institutions of the country would
stand in immiment danger. (Hear, hear.) Again, Alison
says witli rtggd to direct load tauttkm.7—and you must

have been

recollect, gentlemen, that it is direct land taxation you
are now called upon, by one of the existing associations,
to sanction.—" That direct land taxation during the
progress of the revolution attracted the attention of the
Emperor Napoleon ; his sagacious mind at once per-
ceived the superiority of taxes on consumption, which
compounded with the prices of the articles on which
they were laid were hardly felt as a grievance ; under his
auspices indirect taxes were organised." Already, you
are well aware, a very great experiment has been tried
with land. The corn laws have been abolished. Land
has not yet had a struggle since their abolition, but I very
much fear that shortly, after two or three years of good
harvests on the continent, there will be a struggle of life
and death amongst the owners and tenants of land in
this country. Now, then, is not th 4 time to saddle the
land with an additional heavy burden. Land pays less
interest than anything else. We will suppose it pays
something like 3 per cent. If you charge half per cent.
on its value, as is supposed, it becomes a tax on the
income derivable from land of seventeen per cent. Now,
are you prepared to charge the land with seventeen per
cent. ? If you are, I can only say that I think it a doubt-
ful and dangerous experiment. In support of my view
on this question, I find that Hume in his Essays writes
to this effect : " Historians inform us that one of the
chief causes of the destruction of the Roman State, was
the alterations which Constantine introduced into the
finances by substituting an almost universal direct tax in
lieu of almost all the tithes, customs, and excise, which
formerly composed the revenue of the empire." This is
the very same scheme you are now called upon to sanction
by the Reform Association. Gibbon, again, corroborat-
ing this view, says :—" Constantine increased the ordinary
taxation of the country by direct taxes on land, &c., which
were very oppressive—mark the result—in the rich and
fertile province of Campania, the garden of Italy,
within sixty years after the death of Constantine an ex-
emption from taxation was granted, on an actual survey,
to 330,000 acres, one-eighth of the whole province, of
desert and uncultivated land ; as the footsteps of barba-
rians had not yet been seen in Italy, the cause of this
amazing desolation, which is recorded in the laws, can
only be ascribed to the administration of the Roman
emperors." I purpose not to take up your time further ;
but, before I conclude, I would offer a word of advice to
those misguided men who are so recklessly seeking organic
changes in this country. I would ask these men—or
rather I would ask their leaders to instruct them as to
what has been the result of commotions and revolutions
in this and other countries at all periods. I know of no
revolution in which taxation was not afterwards increased.
Under the Commonwealth, the taxes of this country were
£5,000,000, being five times as much as tinder the unfor-
tunate Charles ; and the permanent revenue of Cromwell,
when he came to power, was double that of the unhappy
monarch who preceded him. In France, again, after the
revolution, when Louis Philippe came to the throne, taxes
wereim mediately in creased from X39,000,000t0 X 60,000,000
in 1831. Sir, would it not be well for those who are now
anticipating heap taxation, from organic and revolution.
ary change, to be made acquainted with these and other
equally instructive facts which stand recorded on the page
of history ? (Loud cheers.)
The motion was here put, and the report unanimously
adopted.

Mr. H. C. CHAPMAN in an excellent speech, justly
condemnatory of many of the votes of Mr. Cardwell,
moved a vote of thanks to the honorary officers, which
was seconded in a very able address by Mr Josias Beaker.
Mr. DRINKWATER urged the friends of the constitution
to join the ranks of the association, and hoped that at the
next election any honest man, whether he were a son of
the aristocracy or of the democracy, would meet with
their support, and that they would not travel to the end
of the country again, and bring those who were little bet-
ter than old women to represent Liverpool. (Applause.)
He then said a few words in defence of the consistency of
Mr. Cardwell upon the income tax division, and expressed
his opinion upon the issue of five millions of notes.
The vote of thanks to the chairman, secretary, and.
committee having been carried. by acclamation.
The CHAIRMAN briefly replied. He exhorted the
members of the association to cultivate a spirit of unity
among themselves, and to spread a knowledge of religious
and loyal principles amongst the humbler classes of tLe
community—pointing to France as a lamentable example
of the anarchy caused in that unhappy country, by a peo-
ple who had never been scripturally instructed.