The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-02-06 00:00:00

our own.

" Why, he would ask, were low prices to be considered
" an evil now, when they were considered a mark of pros-
.' parity before the period of the French Revelation? It
" was because we how felt the pressure of an enormous
'• taxation, and the depreciation in the value of money.—
" Landlords at present would be satisfied with the rents of
" 1792, if they had only the taxes of 1792 to contend with;
" but bertheoed as they were, be could take upon himself to
" state, that in the county of Essex it wag not unusual for a
" tenant to rcceire half the amount of the taxes from the
" landlord, as an iudiieement to cultivate the land. They
'• had heard much of the faith to be ►ept with the public
" creditor, but if they chose to persevere in the measures
" with which they bad commenced, and to regulate all pay-
" ments by a gold standard, they would glad that a reduc-
" tion of the dividends would be necessary for the public
safety. The question between Parliament and the public
" creditor was like an agreement between two private indi-
" victuals, and the Noble Lord on the Woolsack, who had so
" long administered justice with an ability which rendered
" him an ornament not only to the Horse and the country,
•' but to the age in which 1w lived, with all his disposition to
" pause for the sake of doing justice, could not hesitate a
'• moment In deciding such a case between individuals.—
"The question was, whether if they increased the value
"of the currency, they were not bound to diminish the
" hurthens of the people in proportion? Bat it the Noble
" Earl at the head of his Majesty's Government did not
" consent to reduce the taxes in a cons:derabie degree, the
" tuxes would soon reduce themselves ; the unfortunate
" people would soon be unable to pay them. Ile had no
" hesitation in expressing an opinion, that if they persever-
e• ed in the system in which they were now proceeding, a
" notional banAraptcy must at no distant period be the
•• consequence. Their Lordships remembered the own:ors-
" ble resolution of the house of Commons, which declared
'• that a pound note and a shilling were equal to a guinea in
" gold, when it was known that guineas sold at that time
" for 28s. This was a specimen of the delusion practised
" upon the country, and the consequences were, in some in-
" stances, known to amount almost to a confiscation of pro-
" !wily. He was filled with indignation and horror when
'• lie heard of the transfer of property which lied taken place
•' under the change of currency; a transfer so violent, that
" it reminded him more of a highway robbery than a legis-
" Wire proceeding. Ile had heard of cases in which the
'• mortgagee foreclosed and took possession of a property,
" not mortgaged originally for half its value. Parliament
" was vested with great discretionary powers, which it held
" for the benefit of the people, with whom these powers
" originated ; but he would ask, whether any Parliament
" had a right to plunder one portion of the community for
" the benefit of another ? Again, he would ask, what right
" the people had to resist such impositions? Surely they
" had the right to follow the example of their ancestors,
" and refuse the supplies until the grievances under which
" they laboured were redressed."
The fact stated here by his Lordship, of farmers be-
ing actually paid by the landlords as an inducement to
theta to cultivate the land is unquestionably true,
and is by no means confined to the County of Essex.
Is not that man, therefore, a fool or a knave, who pre-
tends to say that a reduction of the interest of the
Debt is not necessary? Lord Stanhope says that, if
the Ministers' persevere with rEEL's ntia., a reduction
if the Dirideads most take place. Ile declares that a
national bankruptcy must be the consequence ; he de-
clares that the present mode of proceeding is a confis-
cation of property. He fairly turns the tables upon
Mr. Cons's hole-and-corner Meeting, at Walsingham,