New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-11-18

our laws OfprimOgcniture and entau--our proo&s5
and legacy laws-and many other laws deVtsti
for the exclusive benefit oi the rich--iaws wa'eh
have urheld the domination OF class aad nave
operated to the mpoyershmen. aud oppression o!
the rest Of the community.
Let il not for moment be supposed by any Ga
tbs side OF tire Atlantic that there IS the aiateso
prospect Of a return 70 the protective iaF5 "is,!
+ have been recently swept away by the retornsfs
/ Of England. There IS not one man among rs, re-
/ garded by the People worthy the name OF an
able or safe statesman who would venture 70
/ propose the rcInpOsitCn Of the taxes upon iooi
or the restoration Of the old and now forever tx
/ pIoded protective policy.
The Termination of our seven years war win
| tie bread takers OF England has set the energies
Of the nation free to be enlisted n other causes OF
refornatory character. We havenot been slow
To summon these energies to the achievement OF
Our financial system has forseveral years been
| U1daroniup rigorous investigation, and the People
are by degrees learning the secret OF how the
money goes, and who get 1t.
We are indeed people most remarkable Tor
our patience under taxation.
At present our taxation for local and state Iur-
poses Including State Church, IS not less than
| $500 100000 year. exclusive OF those voluntary
taxes, which. according to their MEANS DISPOSE
tions and opinions, the People impose upon them
selves The history OF the world contains no re-
! cord Of a people taxed to the same extent
This question is now being inquired INTO ana
! every dav's discovery tends to convince the PEG,
ple that the whole system Of expenditure IS based
tpon the desire Of the tax-logng ie" TO eArlch
themselves at the expense OF the many
In this work of financial reform we DO not tan
to draw our most striking illustrations and con.
trasts from this country. We trust you VIII
never put it III the power OF our tax-eaters to
quote your example III support OF their extraya-
gancc.
TIE question of Finance has led us naturally to
IL, don M tlp Snhipct OF war We are
paving annually sl4,000,0OO as interest upon
debt contracted in wars which the Prime Minister
of England has recently acknowledged were both
unjust and unnecessary.
At the end of thirty five years OF peace we are
having $50 600 OO0 for the maintenance OF war
like establishments. The effect of the present
agitation of this subject is to teach the people the
history and mystery OF war-making. They are
fast learning that their true interests lie in the d
rection Of peace and not of war That it is
more to the profit OF trading nation to go TO
with it's neighbors than it is the interest OF a
tradesman in ashington-street to keep bull
dog to attack every customer that comes to his
shop door. Our people are learning the true value
OF those alliances which in times past have been
go much talked OF, and are beginning to perceive
that alliances to be of any real worth must be
based upon the sentiments and substantial inter
ests of nations-that mere diplomatic, formal
written alliances are worth nothng-that those
only are of value whether written or unwritten,
which are the offspring and growth of mutual III
terests and mutual good feelings-that such only
are founded in nature, and likely to be beneficial
and permanent That the alliances formed on the
mere will and caprice ofSovereigns, or the views
and policy of their Minister'S which rest on fam
lily connections and are uncombined with the gene
raj interests OF the nations represented, are rail,
tickle, unsubstantia and vaueless.
The question of peace and war has led to the
still more important question OF the saCredness OF
human life and the value OF that being whom it is
the express object of war to destroy-a being
formed in the same image, gifted with the same
faculties created for the same destinies with our
! selves-a being with powers
That cannot ripen here,
But ask ininy TO bring them forth
And find employment for their unbounded scope
The day is coming trust when, in my country
and in this, Manw be regarded as something more
than piece OF soulless, unrehecting mechanism
thing of cogs and springs and pulleys-that feels
not, hopes not, aoOrShips not-and may therefore
be destroye with less remorse than chrySt0l
or q musical instrument, or steam engine; but
as living, moving conscious thinking, hoping,
fearing rejoicing responsible being the inesti-
mable workmanship OF the divine hand, and as
such 10 be educated and reserved for higher pur-
poses than to be destroyed by war, or employed
| to be tie destroyer OF his fellow man.
The question which of all others is exciting the
deepest interest in the minds OF the people OF Eng
land andis also the which has most attraction
forme, is the questioned Representation This ques
ton usthenceforth be paramountuntil the people
arc in possession OF their Constitutional rights and
have the control OF the election OF Members to the
| House OF Commons.
The present state OF our Representations libel
upon the intelligence and an insult to the
mon sense OF the people
With population OF thirty millions OF souls,
embracing not less than SIX millions OF adult males,
we have not more than 100000 electors and these
50 distributed that the vast majority OF them are
under influences OF one kind or another, which
corrupt their principles or cripple their independ-
| ence.
An uniformed foreigner might suppose that
these 100000 electors, who enjoy the rare prlvl-
| lege of sending 625 men to the House OF Commons
to make laws not only for the British Islands but
for extended empire in the four quarters of the
| globe with 252 000,0 600 of Inhabitants, had been
carefully picked out, like grains of precious wheat
from bushels of worthless chaf He might sup
pose that they had been sought after as with a
candle and chosen for their stern political virtue,
their cultivated aud discriminating intellect, and
their unQuestonabe independence. Above all,
he might suppose that these men passed beyond
all their fellow. citizens III know ledge OF public
affairs and OF the wants OF the community, and
were therefore the fittest persons TO proceed on
behalf OF the nation to the choice of those who
should sway the destinies OF the British Empire
The fact, blush to say. is far otherwise
Making allowance ior many good men III all parts
of the country, who exercise the franchise honest
ly, and with view to the common veal, you
shall not find III all society beside, class of men
OF more AFFECT, more soullesS, more svcophautic
and subseWient, more utterly unprncipled in their
politics more corrupt, more ready 10 be the agents
in the work of corruption, more intensely selfish
or more regardless OF the interests of the nation
than those who control the elections in the vast
majority of the parliamentary boroushs OF the
United Kingdom
How, You may be disposed to ask does this
come to pass Are the men have described
worse in their original elements than other men
Is there any thing in the air they breathe, the
occupations which they follow, Of communicating
quality Are they incapable of becoming men
who could feel pure and patriotic interest in the
result OF an election | answer, No Their