The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-04-20 00:00:00

TlrE STATESMAN.

the contrary, we might remain at peace, and should
soon, nt least in two or three years, see that the
' country could preserve peace without an expensive
armament to defend it ; for he ridiculed the egre-
gious and disgraceful alarm which appeared to be ex-
eitad in Ministers and their Allies by the intellect of
one man.— [hear, hear !]— But he was persuaded
t! at the question of peace or war entirely depended
upon this *country, and that Ministers would do
every thing in their power•to urge the Allies to War.
That they would give the money to support the War
if the Allies would accept it for warlike operations ;
and to show this, the Hon. Member referred to
Treaties of Subsidy, forcibly ani:nadverting upon the
refusal of the Noble Lord to give any answer upon
this subject.
Lord cAsTLEREAGII observed,• that the Hon.
Member in supposing the continuance of the Pro-
perty Tax, had relied more on his own supposition,
than any statement made by his Itielit Honourable
Friend. In reality, it %vas intended to revive it only
for one year. Ire was anxious that it should ap-
pear to the world, and particularly to France, that
no hesitation existed in that House to arm the Eire::
icutive Power to resist any outrage on the liberties
of Europe ; but if the- House should feel that peace
can be preserved under that description of Peace
! Establishment which the lion. Member (Mr. Whit-
bread) would recommend, and if they would rely
upon that confiding sy stem of policy towards Bona-.
parte, advised by the same Hon. Member, then,
indeed, the propositions of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer would far exceed the exigencies of the
State. As to the remarks made on his Right Hon.
Friend's speech, he would only observe, that it was
a proud statement that this country had gone so
triumphantly through the contest, of which the
Honourable Member (Mr. W.) had despaired in
every stage, and in which we 111(1 been constantly
threatened with being humbled before the feet of him
who had been there called the great man ; and he
had but little doubt that, while there would remain
the same presiding wisdom, the same persevering
firtnness which even the speeches of the Honourable
Member should not shake, that the same glorious
result would crown their future exertions, as had
dignified their former struggle.
Mr. WHITBR EA D denied that he had ever called
Bonaparte a great man in the sense conveyed by the
Noble Lord ; but if a mart were to shine by compe-
-1 risen—[Crier of spoke! spoke!]
i Mr. PONSONBY said, he was one of those who
thought that if the House should vote the Property
Tax without its being shown that war was unavoid-
able, that tax would become perpetual, for every
future Chancellor of the Eachequer would do all in
his power to make it so. As to morliications, it
would be impossible to make any consistent with the
efficiency, of the tax. Another objection was, the
facility it afforded to Ministers to enter upon war
hod other expensive measures to which it was an ab-
soluteprovocatioo. lie asked if the Chancellor of
the Exchequer would say that he might not advert to
a Loan as well as the Property Tax, and if he could
not say no, why not take part of that Loan now,
and thus supply the present exigency ? The Noble
Lord cowl:tined of some things that had been said
thi. night, he also complained, that it was laipossible
to tell when the Noble Lord would think it a pro-
per day tr. lay bt fore the House all the Papers rela-
tive to the proceedings of the Congress, though
they were daily making their appearance through other
channels. The Noble Lord's letter to Prince Harden.
berg was true; he also thought his letter to Prince Tal-
leyrand was true; and that the letter of the Plenipo-
tentiaries of the King of Naples was true. Ile was
induced to think so because none of them had been
' denied ; and from the whole of these he thought from
his soul and conscience that the Noble Lord and the
I Congress bad been the meatus of now placing Bona-
parte on the throne. The letter of the Prince 'fa'.
leyrand was a jesuitical production, as it related to
Naples. Nothing was more natural than for Murat
to look to what appeared his best security. Had the
agreement with him been executed, he could have had
no pretence nor temptation to act as he is stated to
have done. Indeed, it was generally understood,
that be had no predilection for Bonaparte, who
wished to add Naples to his kingdom of Italy. If
the Noble Lord could show him (Mr. P.) that he was
%smug, he should he happy, both for the honoor of
this country and for the interests of Europe. Ile had
given his reasons already against the Property Tax,
'which he never could look at in a favourable light.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
said he should not follow the Right lion. Gentlemau
in the various topics upon which he had touched, but
confine himself merely to the question before the
• House, and in order to show the Right Hon. Gentle-
man that his feats of the Property Tax being imposed
for ever, if it should be now agreed to, he would
read one sentence from the motion, which he intend-
ed to the Committee. [This sentence was, that the
several Acts relating to the Property Tax should be
renewed and granted to his Majesty for the term of
one year, to commenre from the sth of April, 1815.]
As to the insinuation that Ministers would never
want a pretext for continuing the tax, wiles! the
' Right Hon. Gentleman could point out in the his-
tory of this country, circumstances that were analo-
gous to those which how prevailed, he did not think
he was jus•itied in that assertion: The House arid the
• country, however, were in a condition to judge from
events which were matter of public notoriety,whether,
though war was not actually declared, the existing
circumstances did not call for the whole energies of
the nation. He confessed he viewed the measure
with less alarm than seemed to be felt by some, be-
cause he did not now propose any new and untried
system of finance, but simply the renewal of • one'
which for many years had been acted upon without
• atlydetrimeet to the prosperity of the country. His
object, in the Committee, would be merely to pro-
, pose the general principle of that system, and any
discussion as to the details would take place in some
future stage of the measure. The Right Hon. Gen.;
tternan had said, and said tally, that a large loan
would be required in addition; and it,waii singular,
therefore, he should oppose a tax which could alone
be considered as a sobstitute for a still :larger loon,
which would necessarily have a great 'effect ttpbo the
public funds.. It nes agreed do all 'hinds that
the public debt was already.:toerlatire; and to,con-•
tinue the whole burden of the- ceeetry upon the
feuding systems and the credit of the ceuutry) would

be to ruin both the one and the other. lie considered
it as more hatiourable uud inore natural to bear some
of it ourselves, rather than to lay it all upon our
posterity ; and it was, besides, al% ays a 1110`;[ incur.
venient time for raisin; large Lo4:is %sidle the issue
of great public events was uacertain. NJ bargain
could be made with any sot of contractors under
such circumstances, which would not be liable to
unfair advantages on one side, or unfair losses on the
other, as it would be impossible to disclose to them
all those particular transactions which alone Could
enable them to judge of the propriety of entering
into such engagements.
Mr. METIIUEN said, that in giving his vote foi
the motion, he did so from a conviction in his own
mind, that whenever the present state of things in
France should Ct'ZISP, the tax should cease also..
Mr. FREMANTLE voted for the amendment
because he thought the delay would be in no manner
prejudicial, but en the contrary, would satisfy• the
Hotte and the country, by showing that all undue
precipitation was avoided.
Lord MI Ll'ON said, that though he was the last
man who would pin his faith upon the present good
faith of the Ruler of France, vet, at the same time
w•e might not to plunge headlong into a war without
trying every reasonable means for securing peace.
He should vote for the amendment, not because he
wished to embarrass the Government, but because he
regarded Ibe renewal of the Property Tax as the ul-
timate issue of war, and coupling that renewal with
the warlike speech of the Noble Lord, [near, hear];
no man could doubt that the Government was deter.
mined on hostilities. he said the Government, for
it was clear, that the Noble Lord was now the Go-
vernment, and that his opinions, whatever they
might be, were the ruling opinions in all that con-
cerned our foreign relations. 'He was sure the peo-
ple would pay the lax more cheerfutly, if it appeared
as the coesequence of an inevitable war instead of the
cause of war.--[llear!]—lf a war should be neces-
saryl and that necessity clearly made out, no one
would more willingly give support to Government
than himself, not because he dreaded the superior ie.
tellect of Bonaparte, as was said by an honourable
Member, but because he dreaded the genius of the
French'Government and the ascendency of that mi-
litary system which threatened the repose and liberties
of Europe. Ile should vote for postponing the tnea-
cure until further inform:Lilo:l relative to our foteign
affair, e0.11(1 be comu,unirated.

Lord LASCELLES said, that he should he sorry,
if in the prese, t state of Europe, that House Were to
show any backwardness in defence or war, according
as either might he necessary, and he should he sorry
also to think that the Government was at al! in•
fluenced by those insidious communications which
had been made to it by the French Government.--
He should not vote for the motion on the supposi-
tion that giving the Property Tax would be an in-
ducement for going to war, but because an injury
would be done to the public interests, if means were
not provided for an adequate defence in the first in-
stance, and for war itself should it beCome neces-
sary:

the House then divided upon the Amendment,
when the numbers were— Ayes Noes 18.1—Ma-
jority in favour of Ministers 125.
When the G.iiery was re-opened, we found the
House in the Committee, and the Chairman moving
the Resolution for the renewal of the Property Tax
Acts for one year, to commence from the sth'of
April, 1815, %hick was accordingly carried.
A Resolution for Funding Eighteen Millions of
Exchequer Bills was also adopted, when the House
resumed, *and the Report was ordered to be received
to-morrow.
The other Orders were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned.