The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-01-09 00:00:00

STAIR OP TIM COUNTRY.

Inn George 111. succeeded to the throe of them
rentwa, the wnowt of the public debt unwanted to 147:
millions, with an anneal charge of eiyht millions flee
tie ezpayeeetqf fkoespeest ; end this aLa period of,
Vie most extended as well as the most brilliant war-
fare this Volustry eery knew, and at a time when the
-view itsrffilleas States of North America formed an
integral part of The British Empire. To rend from
it those States at a cost of more tbsn 200 millions..
ter theArst greet achievtment in modern times, of
that malignant system, which from that period dawn
to the present time. loss bteo incessantly engaged
in enderrenring practically to establish the •neoasti-
tatlonal and un•ater•l doctrine of taxation without
representation, both at home and abroad.
lint the circumstances to which we would more
.particularly wish In attract attention, are those of the,
period immediately preceding the war for the resto-
'ratios of the Bourbons in 1793. when wheat nod
other psis. together with live stock, and in general
all the prime necessaries of life, mad for about the
same prices for which those articles *ell now; when
ear labourer•, mansfatturing and agricultural, main-
tained themselves in comfort on the wages of their
labour; when commerce and reenter:tures were ho-
noes able sod profitable employments; when the hus-
bandman &either sewed nor reaped in vain; when the
landlord, matedly and regularly, received his well-
paid rents; when the tradesman wanted neither cus-
tomers nor profits proportioned to his expenses of
living sad carrying on his concerns; when neither
the farmer, the landlord, nor the tradesman. hoe,
the use air practised the abuse of the " bill-system t"
when bank paper, not payable in gold on demand
was unknown; and when the spirit of monopoly
cursed not. the rage for specelation blasted not. nor
the poverty and demoralization consequent on these
things. or inquisitorial property taxes. or extended
lottery-schemes. on multiplied official oatha, and an
I eel difficulty of living, had sot filled oar pa-
rishes with paupers, and overflowed oar gaols with
criminals. Prom the breaking oat of the French Re-
volution, three years before the high prerogative no-
tion of iliaisters bed bee. alarmed, and the esta-
blishments of the country had been increased, with
• hope of an encase for interference being afforded
for repressing by force publicly (as it bad been en-
deavoured to be stifled by fraud covertly in the
treaty of Pilafs) the rising liberty of Freese. so that
the establiabasents of the country were P • no means at

_by.
the lowest ebb of expense at this period, yet were
there then maintained only 53,000 regular soldiers;
no militia milled out, nor efSeieet military staff. and
only 33,000 militia enrolled; the cost of the
••hole of which did not exceed two millions of
mosey. 'the whole expense of carrying on the Go-
vernment was Gen somewhere about six millions.
find the interest of the public debt sine Wiliest 1,
so that, at that period, the total demands of tie
tioverameot es the people did sot exceed Moos
millions. It is true the prosperity which the ease-
try so much enjoyed was eves then befog sapped sad
sadermine4 by that corroptioe. ►ut for the locreesed
strides of which it gold sot now hate bees pissed
in its present deplorable sitoation ; it is true elm
Thu the great Lori Chatham, Sir George Saville, and
other great and wise uses forewarned the country of
its danger from the thettlocreasing rotten aodeerrept
stele of the represeotation -ortho pimple in Parlia-
ment, the knowledge 'Of which induced Mr. Pitt
solemely to declare that under such circumstances no
119/411IT VAN COlll.lll be ilimister. With so infidels-
ties bordering upon madness, these warnings of evil
omen were not only disregarded. bat the country
placed, as it were in bravado. In circumstances of
em►arrassment, calculated to increase t►eir pressure

fourfold.
There were not wanting string grounds of suspi-
cion that the war of 1793, as well as being meant for
the restoration of that same Bourbon race of Kings
which bad repeatedly attempted to dictate a ruler to
the people of these itingdoros,aod which bad recently
bees greatly instrumental in rending from her the
largest portion of her Empire. was also istesded to
prevents Reform of the Parliament, the necessity for
which hid then become generally apparent. Be t►is
as it may, the present Ministers. or they in part with
others their preceptors and predecessors in the same
system of politics. have c•ontrived to spend of the
monies of the people, since that period, TWO THOU-
SAND MILLIONS, and to leave the Country Nine
Hundre4Millions is debt at the present moment. By
the apologists for abuses, by those who have benefited
by the system, and by all who, reversing the eternal
ord►.r of• things. deem the great body of the people
nothing but a eager Acad. made to be governed by
the arbitrary will of a privileged few, it will be said,
all these things wet* stet... Nary to stop the spread of
French principles, and to pat down the dangerous mili-
tary poweref France; and with that most profound and
conecieuthaec statesman. Lord Londonderry, all the
eyeophaotg and tax•eaters will doubtless add, that " the
prospects of the future are, MR now, as satisfactory
as the retrospect of the past is glorious 1" How far and
how " gloriously" these objects have been attained,
let a comparison of the two cowries. in regard to
their public burdens, decide. Facts, like " dead men.
tell no lies." On " glorious." well-governed Britais
and Ireland, containing. by the late returns, a pupal.-
tion of 18.00000, about 55,000,0001. of money
are levied in 0 meet taxes, of which nearly
40,000,004/. are required to pay the interest of the
debts Ministers have incurred ; the people. with the
exception of the Scots, enjoy the happiness of being
tithed in kind. or the indulgence of commuting for
the same at a cost of 5 or 8,000,000 of mosey;
they have more than two millions of paupers to main-
tain at a charge of from 8 to 10 millions ; and, be-
sides all these odventroges. they have the exclusive
ones of tolls, church, and highway-rates ; and. in ad-
dition. the Dissenters in (treat Britain and Irelaad,
are graciously permitted the privilege of supporting
their *ma clergy. In " Arm6kd," " revolettionarry"
Framer, a population of 30.000,000 has to pay, in
taxes to the State, about 31,000,0001.; but it has
NO TUTISIS. NO POOR-RATIO. NO TOLLS, 1110 CRURCR
sue HIONWAT-HATES, sod the Ministers of dissenting
congregations are paid by the State. Such are the
resells of Lord Londonderry's OLOZIOUS nasaosPtcT
What his satisfactory prospects have produced, are
producing. and threaten shortly to consummate. will
be more particularly the subject of a fat ure consideration.