The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-12-31 00:00:00

, •

.

• . 7

THE STATE sr OUR FINANCE.
It is doubtless the most comfortable thing in the
world to read, from time to Base, in the Ministerial
Papers, of the improvement of the lienenzre. then*.
Towable comparative receipt and to on ; hot some.
how or other, arithmetic, however it may accommo-
da:e in the intermediate dam, is racist unbending in
she result; and in spite of Sinking Funds sink
not, and surptitsaes one estimate, %hick are defioienciee
in fad, it is felt that there most be a (ping up of
garters in the finance way, and probably something
like a solemn appeal to the oat riotism of the country ;
—purse and•pattiotism, as all the world knows, be-
ing, in these cases, synonyOus toms. Moreover,
there is the Bank Restriction- Art, and that most
disordered state of the currency, of which thetreaty
facility of forgery, and consequent terlptation to
commit it, form only a part of the evil It is no
parades to say, that at present the ebb and flow of
what is termed the money market, is disnrdering re-
lative value generally, and connecting at sorts of
transaction with the money jobbing system. We
hear now, that a Petition Is en foot prsyilig Partin-
went to keep the Restriction Act alive ; and such it
the nicety of the case, Ministers Will requite
.greas
assistance, whether they reject or support it.
jecting it, a very visible diminution of currency wilt
take place ; and much commercial incnnirenience--
may we not add—stint of eisployment necessarily
!MOP. Keep it on, and behold the poor ChvhceHue•
of the Es. hequer and Co:s mothered, not only with the
truisms of opp.iition,but with a power-fill conviction '
on their own par!, that the longer the evil continutt,
the wider will tie the mischief, and the more diilicalt
its removal. In the present paecity of employment
in reference to the number of candilites for it, we
cannot contemplate tito diminution of mien factitious
funds without terror. Brit,•h Arts of Parliament stet
stated to be ninnipotent ; and ea a proof of it, that
famous Bill iu 1797, which made a promissory phial
of Bank paper equal to a medium of univertni value,
ha. been often quoted. But earthly omnipotence it
but a tii;ure of speech after all ; it may pull down is
mound and let in the ocean, but only the great Be-
leg who formed the deep, can regather the dispersed
waters in the hollow of his hand.

Its the mean time, we learn from all quarters{
that Governtnent is proceeditl Kith extreme
nacity in regulating the. A‘senseil Taxes; in other
words, raising them to the highest possible pitch that
letter of the vacio..s Acts will admit. We need not
point out to our Readers that, in reality, this is ad.
ditinnal taxation, and that it affords a pleasant speci.
men of what the locome Tax would gradually have
become, when its acceutat:t•e, as a peaceable test
had properly prepared the way fur the screw. Wei
know that the comparative lenity towards tradesmen{
and the complacency with which certain not
very exact statements were received, smoothed down.
Axe objections of many well•meaning individuals.—
What is no:c per fortrinir with the Assessed Tam id
an earnest of whet, sooner or later, would baled
been their fate ea to the Income 'lax; and
strongly ev•uces the necessity of resisting that
inquisittopary impost, as the foundition of that
comp's:est system of financial tyranny that ever
was established ;—nue indeed, that in dud
(line must have placed every man within the ministo.
dal grasp. Independently of the additional vigi-
lance of ortrveyore, the iteventnt Laws are carrying
into the stricte..t execution every way ; end would
that the very laudable repression of smuggling sod
frau., wua the whole of it; but, alas, a little coil•
templation of the London Papers in the Exchequer
it!Torta, will show that financial vigour is very
broadly, and in porno instances not very liberallyi at
work. The truth is, that putting the Siokiug Fetid
out of the questi.in, Revenue fits expenditure -but
scantily. We have hail no weekly comparisons lately,'
sod the sth of January is at hand.

Four hundred and thirlyetwo packs of foreignl
playing raids were seized, last week, on board of at
I smuggl;ng vessel off Harwich, and burnt, by order of
the Commissio.itars of Stamps.
AWFUL bIaTANCE or SUDDEN DEATH.-41. few
days ago, a young man was brought to Shadwelt
l'olice.ollice, on a charge of bastardy, by the Oriels
seers of Poplin', and the charge being proved +phut
him, he was set at large on certain conditions—
namely, either to merry the unfortunate girl, or to
allow so much per week for the maintenance of the
child. The latter he preferred, and fur the purpose
of evading both the parish and the girl, he entered ow
board a ship which was about to sail. Yestorday
morning he was proceeding towards the -ship, wills
some luggage, and on his arrival opposite the work-
house, which would be the destined asylum of thd
girl, by his absence, he dropped down instantly and
expired. His body was taken into the workhouse,
quite dead, tor a Coroner's Inquest.
On the night of Tuesday siennight, Mr. Itobinson,
Midshipman of the Severn, stationed at Broadstairs,
for the prevention of smuggling, fell over the clliff at
a short distance from that place, and was token op
dead. James Stewart, seaman of the same ship, and
on the same station, met with a similar accident, but
not with the like fatal result ; he h, however,
very ill, 'and not expected to sue/iso. The account
he gives is, that Mr. Habitation tell him near Botany
Bay, with the intention of proceeding to Broailstairso
shortly afterwards he himself,fell over the cliff, and.
being considerably injured, his 'groans attracted the
attention of another party sent out to relieve him and
his companions : liie night was extremely dark, and
after some search, he was frond and conveyed hark
to the establishment. The absesice of atir. Ft obittaont
now excited suspicion that some accident might have
happened to him, search was renewed, and his body
found quite lifeless, floating its the water, with his
head liteoilly dashed to pieces.
Extioutswist of A ConrlSOoTueeday Morning,
(29th). about four o'clock, the watchman in Church-
street, Mile-End New.town, wall alarmed by that
fading of some bricks from the watt of the New
Chapel. lie bastened to the spot, wheel a man raft
off, previously dropping a sick, which *as Nand tot
contain the corpse of a female, the wife. Mi. poor
011111 in the neighbourhood. She had ieen,lsoried
only last Sunday. The body was taken to the watch..
house, and reinterred by the keeper. The watch.
man had a good view of one oh he ruffians, bat did not
succeed in apprehending him, although there is li.tle
doubt of his being able to identify Mm.