The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-02-10 00:00:00

I

~t

~~

or by divulging circumstances which they could not
make known without betraying a confidence reposed
in them by others. The concerns of trade are so
uncertain, and those who carry it on are liable to so
many losses by bad debts and other means, that a
person who to-day is a man of property, may to-mor-
row be reduced to a state bordering on insolvency,
and if his creditors were then to press him would be
entirely ruined ; but by the credit he has obtained
he is enabled to continue on his business, and ulti-
ins teh to retrieve his circumstances. Now it niust be
evident, that a man so situated, rather than make a
discovery of his affairs, would submit to pay a Tax •
on on income three times more than he is in receipt
of ; but he thought it could not be just that he should
do so. lie would put the case of a Solicitor, who
was entrusted with the secrets of his clients, which
would ruin them if he were to disclose ; bot if a
Solicitor were to be called upon (as lie would be in
case of in appeal), in order to reduce a charge made
on him, to deliver in a statement of the sources of
his income, lie could not do it without exposing the
affiirs of his clients; and as lie could not be guilty of
such a breach of trust without violation of his feelings,
and injury to his business, he would be obliged to pay
whatever he might he charged ; but he thought that
was not just. He had said such a person would be
obliged to do so, for he could no more be said to do
it voluntarily than a person who is stopped on the
turnpike-road, and robbed of his property, would
be said to surrender it voluntarily to the robber; such
a person would yield his property to save his life,
and the solicitor would pay the tax to save his busi-
ness ; because, if in order to get relieved from it, he
were to reveal the secrets of his clients, be thought
they would act most prudently in again refusing to
trust him. Hethought it was not the least objectionable
feature in the Act, that it was injurious to the com-
mercial interest of the country. England, he said, is a
country dependent on her commerce for support.—
Now public confidence is necessary to the support
of trade, so necessary that without it trade could no
more flourish than the animal body could exist
without respiration; but the Property Acts aim at
the very root of public confidence, they are calcu-
lated to destroy every etsstige of it, and if persisted
in he thought would have that effect. It cannot be
supposed that all persons engaged in trade are pos-
sessed of a capital; there must be many who are
enabled to conduct their business, and ultimately to
realise a fortune, by means of credit, obtained by the
• s. coofideuce their neighbours and the public repose in
do them ; and their circumstances must at some period be
iv so critical, that if they were known to the public they
would not afterwards get credit for a sixpence, but
the Property Acts require this disclosure; they re-
quire persons to deliver in a statement of their cir-
cumstances, though it be to publish their own insol-
vency, and accelerate their own ruin ; and if the re.
quisition of the Acts in this respect were generally
complied with, every body would become acquainted
with,,, -a :airs of his neighbours, the confidence
.whicC,mmercial men are accustomed to repose in
each other would be gradually weakened, and r,arte
would in the end be destroyed. Ile knew it
was pretended that the returns of parties are
to be kept secret, but then they were neces-
sarily known to the Commissioners, the Surveyors,
Inspectors, and Collectors ; in short, they are neces-
sarily know II to so many persons, that at length they
become like a Lady's secret, which she communicates
to every body she meets with, first obliging them to
promise, upon their word and honour, they won't
tell anybody. lie admitted that many of the facts
adduced in support of the arguments against the
Property Tax are weak in themselves ; but they de-
rive their force from their numbers. In this respect
they might be likened to a thousand little streams of
water flowing into one common centre, which, though
each so insignificant in itself, that a person, by
setting his foot across any one of them might
stop the current and divert its course, yet when
collected in their common receptacle, form a
mighty torrent, sufficient to bear down every thing ,
opposed to it. He wished it to he understood, that
he did not mean by any observation which might have I
fallen from him, to reflect, in the smallest degree
on the conduct of the Commissioners of the Pro-
perty
Acts; in requiring the disclosures of which he I
complained, they are only doing their duty ; it was
with the. Acts, which rendered such inquisitorial pro-
ceedings
necessary, that he found fault, and not with
Geetlemen, who, actuated by a sense of public
duty, had been induced to undertake the un-
pleasant office of superintending the carrying of the
Acts into effect, and upon whom the public ooght
rather to bestow their thanks than their censure ; he
also wished it to be understood that his principles
were not auti-ministerial ; that he did not belong to '
any party, for he was far from thinking party-men '
to be impartial men. Whenever Ministers attempted
to do what he thought they ought not to do, he
would always, as in the present instance, unite with
his neighbours in petitioning our Representatives in
Parliament to oppose them; but on other occasions
he should feel a much greater pleasure in supporting
them, as far as his humble abilities and situation in
life afford him the means. Ile concluded by moving
a string of Resolutions, whech were carried unani-
mously, the principle of which was, that the Tax is
unjust and oppressive, and ought not to be continued;
and that a Petition be presented to Parliament against
the continuation or renewal of the Tax under any
modification.

WEXFORD, JAN. 19.—A servant of Captain Porter
of the neighourhood of Mallow, on Thursday
sennight, riding home a very beautiful.horse belong-
ing to his master, was induced to let alweary traveller
take a ride for a mile or two. The fellow observing
the servant drunk faced about, and left the inebriated
wretch gazing without the possibility of pursuing,
or of even craving the assistance of the neighbour.
hood. Captain Porter, when informed of the loss,
instantly dispatched Iwo confidential servants in quest
of the beast, who were so fortunate as to find him in
the hands of Mr. Drew, of Macollop, near Lismore,
to whose care he had been consigned by some person
that had found him straying about the road. The
wretched caitiff thief was discovered dead upon the
road near Lismore, baring been killed by a fall of
the horse. lie turns out to have been a native of
%Vaterford, aho came to maraude in that part of
the country, and thus shared the fate he deserved.—
( Waterford Mirror.)

;