The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-05-23 00:00:00

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and the ifferession of at teal irdpery, *IV
at Inc4ll Jost mud effectual t th;togre?
of the Winer, which*. proved by re to *TWO'
facts, and by appleing it to the touchstone of tr rte and
the test of true policy, would oppress the entilr,
most iu-
juriousWiffect the interests of the manufactufer,lncreile
the present embarraumment of ell the induslrfeeit.clinlawllb
end after all fait of the intended effect, for any length,
of time, affording substantial relief to the farmer, whilst
from the reduction of the charities en production in the
articles of taxation, tithe, rent, and consequently poor-
rates and price of labour, an as to enable the tanner to sell
at low prices, and vet obtain a (dr profit, he would be
completely relieved, and no other class of the comma-
pity be injured. That this was the only effectual reme-
dy, appeared clearly from reference to the situation of
the farmer in I/92 and at present, ae well as from a va-
riety of arguments of nimenswerable force; and the hypo-
crisy or stopidity of those who thought or ted that
relief from taxation would be little or no benefit, be ex-
hibited in a very ludicrous and conteuiptileir light, ad-
mitting, he said, of no excuse whatever hut from those
quarters, such as useless Poetmasters-ileneral, Lay Lords
of the Admiralty. Junior Cords of the Treasury, and in
short all who lived empowthat filiation whose vitality
in society it supported. and withnnt which, as prominent
members of society, they 'lie. He enlarged notch upon
and showed in a very clear manner, the monstrous
injury idree,..l by tbs. public 'lt large from the pre-
sent enormous weight of taxation, rendered more
than two-fold mlestrewtiye by the calamitous measure
called by Mr. Peel's name, which at once doubled the
weight of that enormous taxation ; it bring manifest to.
the common sense of every farmer present that he was
now obliged to take twice as much corn, twice as much
cattle, twice as much of every thing to market, to raise
a sum of money in order to pay the same amount of
taxes. as leas than one-half that quantity of COT7I or that
number of cattle would have raised in the marl-et when
' the taxes were laid on. We are sorry that it is latterly
out of onr power to follow Mr. hloggrike thronghout
the whole of his stood,' or even to give our readers any
adeqnate report thereof: hit we cannot omit to notice
one exemplification of the oppressive burden of taxation,
which amongst others he gave from the leather tax. lye
said, that when we talked of taxation and its tremendous
operation, we could not estimate by any means the
whole thereof, from simply naming the amount of any
one tax or the enormous aggregate amountof the whole;
that the mere expencr of collecting the taxes last year
amounted to between four and five million., being with•
in a million and a half of the whole cost of the civil and
military Government of the country in the year 1792.
And when revenne was talked of, the expences of collect-
ing, fee. were never taken into account; these were aml-
dttional hurtle:l.m, but neither was this all, of which I
will afford a Dotal& instance in the case of the Leather
Tax, and the destructive weight with which it oppresses
the Agricultural Interest. The eepences occasioned by
the excise restrictions to secure the collection of the
Leather Tax was stated by the most respectable persons
before the Committees of the Hone. of Commons on the
tax, to be at least equal to the whole amount of the tar,
which is a real loss to the country of property to that
amount, and must be paid by the commoners of leather.
As the tax is paid on the rough article before it goes
from the tanner to the currier or leather-cutter, the
tanners must be supposed to have a profit on their extra
capital and risk, the curriers another profit, the shoe-
makers another, and a 10 per cent. profit by each cannot
be considered too great, so that the bare amount of the
tax which meets time publics-ye, and which Statesmen
call Hareem is considerably more than doubled to the
unfortunate conennter—the nominal amount of this tax
being 600,001 , Wit the pressure of the tax upon
the community. snit the money actually drawn from the
pockets of the pnblin thereby, exceeds one million four
hundred thousand pounds. Lord Liverpool, as be Is
deemed the Prime Ministet in England, so longer ago
than Monday night last, is reported, in a Newspaper
to have said, that " be did not believe the repeal of
taxes could have the least effect neon Agriculture, un-
less it were limited to those which fell exclusively on
the farmer ; that the general tiovernesest taxes
pressed more lightly on the Agriculturists than
any other class, and no essential repeal could be ob.
taimed from their reduction." Now admitting that
which has often been alleged, that the Agriculturists
are about half the whole population, from the nature of
their demand for leather, it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the farmers consume full one half of the I ether
manufactured ; lint as their shoes and some other arti-
cles are made of the coarsest and heaviest leather on
which the tax is the same per pound as upon the fine.
sorts, they may be reasonably supposed to use two-thirds
of the leather manufactured—and as the whole tax is
six hundred thousand pounds, therefore they pay to tio•
vernment four hundred thousand pounds ; but when the
additions are made to this sum on the various accounts
stated before, it el ill appear that the leather-tax takes oat
of the pockets of the elgricrlteral classes no less a lam
then WIC million qf money ! throald the remission of
this tax, would a present of one million a year. or, what
is the same thing, a million a year saved to the (atoms s
and their labourers, and added to the profits of one and
the wages of labour of the other, "hare not the lea t
Teel upon Agrieelture r. It was painful to mark the
effects of Vanorance, prejudice, or gross self-interest sty
where ; hut to see them in high places. to see them in-
fluence those in whose hands was placed the fate of a
great nation, and, above all, when that nation was in
the awful situation of this country at present, was in•
deed deplorable. Mr. Moggridge went on to show that
if the farmer were placed in the circumstances he was
' in in the year 17e., that he would be as prosperoes new
as then ; that his knowledge, his skill, and time improve-
ments made on has farms by landlord coil tenant, were
all in his fsvonr now; that in fact nothing but taxation
and the effects of taxation operated differently, and, at
the sense time, disadvan:ageously now to what they did
then ; and initiate,' that it was true to demnonstratimm that
the getting rid of the difference In these, by placing
him, together with the same prices which be was cam-
pellet' to accept in eirctionstances in nave respects not
wore disadvantageous, the most effectual relief would
be afforded to the occupier of land, the fears of the
owner of land would be removed, and the fate which
threatened him, as already in Sontersetshire and other
counties, where, from Parliamentary information, it ap-
peared that some of the best estates " yielded no rent,
be averted. After enlarging upon this topic, again con-
trasting it with other modes of relief proposed, which,
compared with this, he pronounced to he quackery and
delusion, Mr. Moggridge said, but we have been told it
is useless to petition the House of Commons for a re-
duction of taxation, or, indent, as that House is at pre-
present constituted, to petition it at present at all.—
Ile certainly could not shut his eyes to that which
bad been pronounced in the I lone, of Commons as " no-
unions as the sun at noon-flay ;" he could not-be, and
he was not, insensible to the effacts of the state of that
. House, as represented in the debates and as recorded in
time jonruals of that House, which all knew, which WOW
few befitted from, hut frosts which all the rest of the com-
munity (nineteen-twentieths of the nation) was reduced
to its present calamitous circumstances : vet he could not
but feel confident. that if the public opinion in &vote of
retrenchment, reform, and cons, queen reduction ante-
, afloat', was generaly, firmly, and legally expressed at
such meetings as the present, taxation must be minced
so as to afford the most snlestanti at relief ; and, in sop-
P°ihnoqrrutseiost.ti tt.mimhri.isa ei
titicemro'n eh-et a xa,ski trtdl eiir reveal ea
no oonf *tries:v:4;lli c u'ilftutrhael
Vitt of the remit-ante, and, in Own, all such
remission cal taxation as bad been cLemiined, had nut been