The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-12-08 00:00:00

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jewels, and the robes of Knights and Gein!omen, and
their wives, alto t.eir vessels of gold, sayer, and
brass ; and in every city et. borough are to he ex
mrpted from the valuation a robe for the husband and.
another for the wife, their bed, rings, clasps of gob/
or silver, and silver goblet oat of which they drink.
And if the goods of any man in the minty, without
the city or borough, do not mord in all 101. WIMPS
shall be taken ; and if the goods of a mith within
the city or bora:reek tio not *sweat -6s. nothing shall
be taken." This. I presume, means. the annual
value*, end, as Dr. lietraT- tells el in his His-
tory, vol. OH. page 352. that 1.601. • year in
that day would be equivalent, to the sum pf
2,2501. at present, it shneld seem thit en artsfi
in those days might have roifes for himself mad
wife, gold or sitter 'rings, r;raaps, goblets of Artie,
itcfand personal estate value" shout 41. a rat, and.dll
be exempted from to satiny. Sorb was the hippy ego
of the iinlostrious clasp./ in those (toy, ; hot then Co
ought also to consider at that time taxes were tree-will
gifts granted to the Zing, It was ennsietent with froth
volon:ary denationa, that from them who coolttnot
afford to give eve thing, nothing shoeld Ise rtrired.
-In the reign c„( EDWARD 111. freedom tlosinshed, and
many. Acts were passed to confirm sod explain the
Great Ciafirter. Representation, though neither
general/nor universal, was at that time REAL and not
theterAed ; it extended to all who cou-tiitruteti, sad.
they, was enough. Twice in this reign did it happen
40,41 aid having been unexpectedly requested by the
.and omitted to be set forth at the sommeeing
of Parliament, as was then usual, which gave the
Electors the opportunity of instructing those they
chose'respecting it, the Representatives of the Peo-
ple (and well they deserved that name) declared,
Hitt it was out of their power to give awambe.money
of their Constituents without their expreillitentent ;
but seeing that the urgency of the case was very greet,
the King being then with an English army in a foreign
land, and both likely to perish from want of aid,
they requested to be sent immediately back to their
Constituents, that they might have conference with
them, which was door, and they returned with
what was called " a free-will gift of 30,000
sacks of wool, on conditions to be expressed in
a pair of indentures."--Thia asierdote, which
the reader will find in cotton's Records, 117,
plainly proves that though our ancestors in these
days loved their King, and participated in his glory,
Qietegting, no doubt, the idea of letting him peiish
in a (freign land for want of aid, yet was there one
thine which they loved still more dearly, arid that
was their FREE C•NiYITUTION, which induced them
to attach conditions to the gift they made him. If
any Prince was entitled to expect an obsequious
loyalty from his People, it was surely &maim I l I.;
but instead of this blind devotion, we find the prin.
doles of freedom, justice, wisdom, and sound po.
licy, dictating all the measures of the Commons in
that reign. Under this benign influence it was to
be expected that the spirit of industry and commer-1
vial enterprise would increase, as in fact it did. In'
that reign the woollen crieneftetwre• lees eatetaliebe‘
end the nation first began to export their wool Ina.
nufactured, instead of sending it as a raw mate-
rial to their staple at Calais. The laborious classes
being thus free to exert their industry, the neatt,
century presented a acme of prosperity which would'
be deemed fabulous, if a Chief Justice and Load
Chancellor had not solemnly authenticated the fact.
Sir JOHN Fowl-mug is the authority to which I al-
lude. I first quoted him at length eighteen years
ago in Flowers' Political Review, an many times
since have referred to him, because my opinion it,
that his words, like those of .11xxstr Quatre, wish-
ing every peasant to have his Poule au Pot teas let
Dim:niches, cannot be r-pelted tor, often. The pa-
triotic French are never tired of making this allusion,
why airfield I be tired of alluding to Sir Joan FOR.
TG CUEN narration, who records the happiness and
prosperity of England, when her INDUSTRY was
free; than the Laborious Classes had, he tells us,
abundance of gold and silver (in their ornaments), and
fine woollen clothing and good warm beddisigood bus-
tles:lents (household goods) of all kinds ; in short, all
things requisite and necessary for a comfortable and
happy life: plenty of flesh and fish had they to eat, and
good beer to drink, so that no man drank water, un-
less it was, says Sir JOUR, in the way of pea:owe;
but the French peasantry of that day were,
he says, " clothed in coarse sacking, and drank
water, and never touched meat except it were
the inwards of cattle." No wonder that our nation
was then more robust and vigorous than their neigh.
bours—n o wonder that one English yeoman thought
himself a match for three or four Frenchmen, and
that the battles of Poictiers, Cressy, and Agincourt
were gained against seperior numbers. Let us now
reverse the picture, and behold British industry, no
longer at liberty, but chairs s! to tuition like a
galley...lave to the oar. Behold the man whams la.
boar wpholds the State, and gives food to the lazy diets.
—contemplate him jest rising from his bed of sor-
row and preparing for his daily labour—what a task
is that 2 116 must not only tpil for his own subsist.
ence, but for that of his wile and family; be roust
also toil to pay a tax upon that subsisteuce amount-
ing, according Mr. PttvTos's calculation, to ten
shillings upon every eighteen earned by the sweat of
his brow. On this condition the Borough Faction
will give this FREE-BORN Briton leave to live. By
commanding taxation they command the very Means
of hit existence. At the will of this ail-powerful;
faction the necessaries of life are withheld from him,
or, what comes to the same tbiag, granted on condi-
tions with which it is hardly possible for him to coin.
ply ; go wonder then that we behold in him a perfect
personification of DESPAIR ! ! Contemplate his Orel!.
ing—the receptacle of filth and nakedness, of
wretchedness and disease What do we find there
that bears the least resemblance to the description
given by Sir Joan FORTESCUE of the happy days and
dwellings of his ancestors ?—A squalid progeny which
those ancestors would blush to own, 'reliving proofs
of or national degeneracy ; bet we hare also dying
'proofs in the frequency of oar executions, inflicted
toe often, I fear. on the unhappy victims of feces..
laity and despair !! All these evils flow from that

impolitic, bowie', unjust, and unconstitutional ales.
sure—the Taxation of Industry. No wonder the&
that-persons labouring under such severe affliction,
both of *lnd and body, should eagerly hearken to
any expedient that promised relief to their suf-
ferings, for it is well known that a drowning
man will catch at a ttraw.--Sonse have been
seduced by treacherous instigation to commit acts
of open rebellion; "others have been only violent
us theory, setting their names-to Petitions for wild
and impracticable projects of Reform, equally in-
compatible with the principles of the Constitution,
and the present state of society! No rational hope
of redress can be' entertained from either of these
seem ; and therefore they ought eqeslly to be avoid-
On the'ether hand I am far from recommending
abject sobmissiony or si some will call it, "persica
abeitienee ;" because, in such an elan-me case it
would have' an immortal tendency—it would
give encouragement to injustice.. Expostulation
'earl remonstrance. cnuched in moderate language,
offers the best hope of redress. An Englishman has
At Ail lima, a constitutional right to set forth his
grievances; "and I should tr loath to suppose4hat an
appeal to British justice *ad humanity can ever he
made in vain.
' TIMOTBY TIMEMAN.
Butisitagtwashire, Novi 900111111.

'RENO', PAPERS.
•
. PARts D.c, 4.—Ths. Cears, Will not Pot on
mourning on account of the death of the late Clo•en
of England, until after the opening of. the Chambers,
which is filed for the 10th of ibis month. . •
The King transacted huskies, yesterday with his
Ministers for Foreign Affairs and for ‘Ver.. His
Majesty, accompanied by the Dukes de Luzern-
bourg, de Duras, and d'Avary, went at two o'clock
to Choisy.le.Roi.
Lord Wellington dined yesterday at the Thoil.
leries with his Majesty and the Royal Family. His
Grace wore the diamond cross of the Oider of the
Holy Ghost, which the King had presented to him.
Lord Castlereagh arrived in Paris last evening, at
five o'clock.

The Duke de Cambaceres is expected in Paris this
evening.
Hannuncit, Nov. 25.—Gen. Goergaud, driven
by force from England, arrived here yesterday.
The total stagnation of all commercial of still
continues, and prolongs the exorbitant discount.—
We, however, have had no important failures, bet
mach anxiety prevails on the indirect consequences
that might occur in the present state of public
affairs.