Hampshire Meeting.
The Times, 1824-04-24T00:00:00

Yesterday, in pursuance of a. roquisition; signed by 716, inbabitants- tranissaitted to Walter Long, Es: the High- Sheriff of Hampshire, a County Meeting of o ouseholders wars,held in the Castle. of Winchester, for the purpose. of' considering the propriety of petition)ing Parliament forthl-I with "for an imaediate repeal of the assessed taxes, par- ticularly those on windowvs and inhabited houses." Atone o'clock the High Sheriff took the chair: on his right sat Lord Northesk; on his left the Earl of Carnar- von. On the Bench, near the Chairman, we observed, Sir Charles Mill, Bart. ; Mr. Fleming, and Mr. Jervoise, (the county members); A-r. Carter, the Mayor of Portsmoutii; and some other gentlemen of the countty. In the area of the hal wvere about 500 persons. The HIGe SnERIFF', on taking the chair, had the requisition for convening the meeting read by the Under Sheriff. He then entreat- ed that they would confine themselves to the regalar business of the day, for whicb he had specifically assembled them, and said, that in conmpliance with the wish of so numerous and respectable a body of requisitors, he had taken the earliest opportunity of calling them to- gether. The subject they were met to discuss, was, as he had al- ready said, a specific one. It was not only a constitutional one in the strictestsense, but was aLso totally free from those topics of political party feeling which sometimes divided their county; it was a sub- ject that caine home to the consideration of their private and do- mestic expenditure, and which would, when temperately and dispas- sionately discussed, as he trutsted it would that day, be seriously entitled to the consideration of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had, he believed, received from every body the credit of doing more than any ofihis predecessors of late, in mitigating the burdens of the people. Hehad no doubt that some gentleman was prepared to offer a petition to their notice, and if the matter were canvassed as he (the Sheriff) recommended, he was equally certain the result would prove effilcaciousin 7he proper quarter, in securingthat selection in the diminution of taxes which was most reasonably desired by the community at large. Let their petition to Parliament, if they adopted one, be moderate and respectful; and let those who bore the privations of a long war with patience and temper, show the sanme loyalty and endurance in their mode of seeking relief in a time of peaceandtranquillity. By so doing, and abstaining from the intro. duction of any topic which might be calculated to cast a shade upon their dignity, he was sure they would best consult the practical at- tainment of the object they had in view. He relied upon receiving their support and assistance in maintaining order, and in con- fining the discussion to the specific object of the requisition; and in giving an impartial hearing to those who should-address them. If they followed thatplan, then they might reasonably expect to find their great county taken as a model by others who might choose to petition Parliament upon a similar topic. He knew that they would act asbecamne a free and loyal county, and evince how well they deserved to enjoy the blessings of liberty, by their mode of using them. (Loud applause.) When the High Sheriff had conduded, a sbort pause ensued, un- til he asked whether any gentleman had any proposition to submit to the meeting. Mlr. CARTER, the Mayor of Portsmouth, then stepped forward, and said, that not until late yesterday was he aware that he could have attended this meeting. Certain resolutions upon which it was intended to found a petition to Parliament, had been put into his hands, and although they were not prepar- ed by him, nor was he so partial for their adoption as to prefer them to aU others, still, sooner than see such a meet. ing not proceed to business, he should submit them for their consideration. The resolutions would speak for them selves, and when he read them, it would be for the meeting to say whether they would adopt them or not. If others were brought forward which they liked better, then he should with pleasure ask their leave to withdraw those which he held in his hanl. 'T'he worthy magistrate concluded by reading four resolutionF. The first was derlaratory of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's opinion, that the surplus revenue would permit a reduction of taxes. The second was expressive of the opinion of the meeting, in favour of the unrestricted principles of trade, lately introduced into the commercial policy of the country, and hoping thereby that the increase of reyenue would enable the Government to reduce the assessed taxes, particularly the house and window-tax, and duty on men servants; the whole machinery of which taxation they felt to be oppressive, and now unnecessary. The remaining resolutions were for petitions in furtherance of the same object, to be forthwith presented to both Houses of Parliament-in the ('ommons, by their county members, with instructions to sup- port them, and in the House of Peers, bv the E3al of Carnarvon, with a request that his Lardehip woald tupport the same. The worthv iilayor, after reading the resolutions, regretted that the task of proposing their adoption had not failen into the hlands of some country gentleman who was better calculated to come forward on such an occasion. !11r. ADRIDGE seconded the motion. MIr. HE,, RY HuNTr, when the question was put on the first reso- lution, said that it was ridiculous, for the Chancellor of the Exche- quer had already decided, and nearly carried into execution, hispar- ticular plan of reducing taxation, and it was too late for them now to pretend to found upon a declaration of the 31inister, a different course of proceeding from that which the same Minister was hinmself realizing. It wras also ridiculous to call that a county meeting, un. less they were prepared to say that 500 persons met in that room, ought to be loked upon as the great body of hampshire. It was contemptible for them to act so; nor was it respectful to the county. t could make no impression upon the House of Co-nmons; for before they could hope to make any impression there on the score of taxation, they must get the ChanceUor of the Exchequcr's co n- sent to their wish; and on the present occasion they were going in opposition to it. Why was it that thev called for a reduction of the taxes which comparatively fell upon the rich, instead of those which visited andi afflicted the poor ? Why talk of the tax upon gentle- mnen's carriages or servants, which could be dispensed with at will, and overlook those which fell upon the poor man's food and raimentj? Why not call for the rmluction of the leather-tax, that made his shoes dearer-the soap duties, which made him pay so high for his cleanliness-and for the candle, which lit the eottager to his lonely bed? U'hy no- take off the malt duty, which made the poor man, who rnust take his glass of beer, pixy 10s. a barrel more for it, than the gentleman whocouldbrewit in his owrn house? (Applause.) Their proposition was therefore unjust in princple, for it over- okedthose who were best entitled to consideration. Hid those who now complained of the weight of taxation not clamoured at and opposed him years ago, when at former meetings of the county, held-not as this was within doors, but in the open air, anl in the pre- sence of thousands, when he called upoIn them to deprecate a system whicl cod](l onlv end in leaving these burdens after it, to meet a lavish debt-had those, he repeated, not clamoured at him then, they vould not now have to meet for their present purposes. When he said this, did he v/ant them to sit down and repine now, and do nothing ? No. Why niot call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to give into the pockets of the people who wanted it, the hundreds of thousands which he was too ready to give for building palaces, and new churches for the saints in the House of Comnions? (A laugh, and applause.) They ought to make that calU,instead ofgetting up a Wisig requisitien, and trying toegetradical signatures to it. (A cry of "No, no.") He w.ould say ves; for there was Mr. Devereux, the or- gan of the Whligs, trying for such signatures, and a letter of Lord Carnarvon handing about, recommending them to call a county Toe Earl of CANAn VON.-"; r beg your pardon, Mr. Hunt, I have written no such letter." DIr. HUITT was ready to be corrected, but he had been so in- formed. Well, aU he could say was, that they were now complair- ing of the expenses of a war which had been waged to put down liberty. The HIGH SHERIFF be-ged pardon for calling MIr. Hunt to order, but be submitted to hmim whether this was an occasion on which they coald discuss the policy of the late war. Mr. HUNT said, he was ready to bow to the Chair, and he la- mented the absence of country gentlemen on the Dresent occasion. As to the thin atterdance of the people. it was not the wetness of the day, but their indifierence to a requisition so unprecedentedly circumscribed in its import, that kept them away. When reform, which could alone benefit the people, was called for, theit-meetinfgs were attended by tens of theusands; but they kept away when they saw that the relief sought for was, if accomplished at all, to be done for the rich, and not for the poor. (A voice in the crowd said, " It is to relieve those who support the poor.") Ile repeated that such was his opinion, and he would stake his life that they obtained no success; by pursuing such a course they would, in vain. attempt practical good; they might as well call upon the parsons to banish the devil, or get rid of witchcrafc. (Laughter.) The Earl of CARNARVOV said, that having been so particularly alluded to by the gentleman who spoke last, he was anxious thus early to say a few words in explanarion. He did not doubt but that illr. Hunt was informed he (the Earl of Carnarvon) had written such a letter as he mentioned, and had heard that the ineeting was caUed for WVhig purposes ; but neither was the fact: neither could he tell for what purposes, or by whom the meeting was solicited, having never seen the signatures to the reqtuisition, or any thing furthler of its object than the requisition itself purported to convey. He had not signed the requisiton; but being in the county, he thougbt he could not do wrong in attending the meeting. (Ap- plause.) Wi-th respect to the racticability ot their proceeding, now that they were assembled, all he could say was, tb it however late they might be for having the best chance of success, still, if it were their opinion, as it certainly was his, that the assessed taxes and their whole vexatious machitnery ought not to be continued, thev ought to express that opinion, and put themselves at least in a fair chance of hiving the subject considere l by the legislature,ifnot in the course of the present session, certainly early in the ensuing one. (Loud applause.) Undoubtedly he could Dnot express a very sangutne anticipation of what might be the course of an administration which he had so long opposed in public life; but it wvould be injustice were he to deny that the policy of the present Government appearednow to be snore liberal thain it had been for a long course of years, and he congratulated them upon the change. (Anplause. Though proud of the name of Whig, of which iMr. Hunt had, he sup- posed, taunted him, yet he should be ashamed of that name were hc, upon flelings of general political dissent, to withhold praise where praise was really due, and to deny the mnerits of a partially good system, although he disapproved of the general political acts of those troin whom it sprung. (Applause.) He approved of their better policy in coinmerce, because he thought it was calculated, in its operation, to improve the commercial character of the countrv. He wished to see the assessed taxes repealed, riot because they would relieve by such means one class at the expense of another, but be- cause they would take a weight from all, and add thereby to the general prosperity of the people, without endangering the in- terests of any. (.l pplause.) They should recollect that the salt-tax was not yet finally settled, and that the Chancellor of tne Exchequer had pledged himself, if Parliament vislie(I to re- tain what remained of such a tax, to affurd an adequate eqtuivalent in some other. (Hear, hear.) He confessed Iimself to be one of those who woald prefer to bave an eiaivalent by a proportionate reduc. tion in the assessed taxes. Re difecred from those who tbougbt that the reduction of duty upon men-servants would bd a relief to the rich and not to the por, and thought that this ras reeflv one of those taies which did paticalarly iffect ihe pooi, fori restried in the contrqk tlk4t employment which the poorer class" stood. so much in *wanit of. As to the 'votes for new p*lces s2r churches,-he confessed that he thought they ought for the present to be postponed until the more pressing wants of the people generally were put in a train of redress. (Hear.) Rut he would not in point of policy select this moment- to complain in terms of asperity, when they. ought rather to urge a further diminu. tion of taxes upon a Government which appeared to be revising and innproving itO system. (Applause.) The first resoluiion referredto the time past, and was perhaps unnecessary. As usirnimxtytwas alw/ays desirable, perhaps the worthy magistrate wfould withdraw it. lr. CARTER immediately complied with thisrequestt, and the first declaratory resolution was withdra vn. Mulr. CARTER then stdd, in explanation of the other resolutions, that he was ready to go as far as any man in seeking a repeal of taxes, but he thought they had better stick to the assessed taies1in their demand, for in them the people must at once receive relief, which miglit not be the case with the taxes which affected the com,. munity through intermediate channels; for the brewer and shoec maker might, with respect to other duties, put the amount into their owin pockets, and make the poor pay the samne for the article. (Hear, hear.) Mr. 11UNT said, that if the second resolution respecting the assessed taxes were persevered in, he should move as all amenedment, that the repeal be desired, " for the mnalt-tax, the salt. tax, the soap-tax, and those on coals and candles." He must deny, that if this amendment were carried, the manufacturer could inter. cept the benefits from the poor consumer ; and he had rather, in the first instance. that the poor man was relieved in the manner he pointed out, than left to be relieved by the rich, after the rich bad got rid of the t-uxes which more imnTediately pressed upon them. (Applause.) For twenty years he had been struggling to press. upon the attention of the Government the necemsity of re- lieving and doing justice to the great body of the people, and to cast off those extravagant sinecures which the want of refo6r had suffered. 'Whv was an exrravagant expense kept up?P 'Whr, for instance, was 50,0001. a year given to the German Priviceof Co_ burg ? He did not want to cripple the just and necessary expenses of the Government; but he did want to remOVC, or restrct, atleast, corruption and a profligate waste of the people's money. Every thing in the way of expense increased tenfold upon the poor, while, as a farmer showed him yesterday, he was only payinF the same wazes to his labourers that his grandfatlier paid 50 years before. All this arose because the people were not represented in Parlia- ment. The HIGH SHERilFF hiere reminded Mr. Hunt, that the questior of reform was foreign to their present requisition. hr. H UHT.-That is what I complain of; the requisition is con. fined to householders. Wlrhy was so unprecedented a course taken ? I never heard of such a thing before. The HIGor SHERIFF.-I am only bound to adhere to the terms of the requisition ; I had no hand ith framing it. Alr. HUNT complinented the High Sheriff, and said, that he was not responsible for the shape of the requisition, which cer_ tainly shut out from their consideration all that wras reafly worth discussing, and the High Sheriff could not, withoutimpro.. priety, put his signature to a Petition se got up, as that of the-conautr at large. (Some hissing.) 'Would hissing mend thc requisition, he would ask? And had not the county a riglht to complain of this imposition ? 'Was this to be caUed a county meeting, when t eyf-ere comparatively small in number, and pent up in aroom P The HIGtH SHERIFF said, that he certainly should haveconrven- ed the meeting in the open air, had he not thought that he was n4o consulting their comfort by assembling them under co'ver from t unfavourable state of the weather. (Loud cries of hear.)-- MIr. HUNT said that he highly approved of what the ilighsheriff had done, although he complained of the conduct of others, wlsh.n. act compromised the county. He w as glad to see that the London press had an eye upon them; and he trusted, that as their proceed- ings would go abroad, they would take care and not make themselves look ridiculous. After some conversationbetween ilr. CARTER, the HrjG: SHE.. RIFF, andl Air. HUNT, it was determined that Alr. Hunt's amendment could not be put, aecording to the terms of the re- quisition: it was therefore withdrawn,, and the original resolu- tion, with nne or two verbal amendments, 'was carried unanimously- The Earl of CARNARVON said that they ought, in all their pro. ceedingc, to look to what was likely to promote the employment of the poor The demand for men during 20 years of war, liad so much exceeded the demand for labour wvhen a time of peace arrived, that much miserv was felt in consequence. The Legislatare ought to throw open, as widely as possib'le, the means of' general employ. ment, and to afford every inducement which a reduction in taxation could hold out to those who lived abroad to return home, and contribute their share toward the support of the lower classes. (Hear, hear.) Reducing the direct taxes would do that, he thought, more than the diminution of some of the others which had been pointed out to the.meeting. Mr.WtITE (of Paul's-grove) proposed a resolution, " that it is the opinion of this meeting that the discontinuance of the whole of the assessed taxes would contribute more than any other measure to the employment of the poor, and the happiness and comfort of the middling classes of the people." This rcsolution fdel to the ground I for want of a seconder. On the resolution being carried-for the presentation of apetition to, Parliament for.a repeal of the house and window-taxes, Air. FLEArtING, .M.P., said, that haviig the honour of being one of the members for the county, it would give him the highest grati- fication to present and support their petition to the House of Com_ mons. - He could not, however, flatter them with any strong hope ot success at -so advancted a period of the session. He con. gratulated himself on having the hionour of representing them at a time when taxes, instead of being imposing upon them, were repealing, and. when the only difficulty seemed to be in the se- lection oi: those which-oughttobereduced first. He was himself in- favour'of a rediuction of the assessed taxes, because he thouzht the people would deriye a more certain advantage in that way, than in any other. He approved of the commercial change which hbad been effected, and hoped that next vear itncreasing prosperity vould enable- the Government to ma'ke a stiU fkrther diminu_ iion of taxes. -:He could not concur in what had been said respecting the granf 'for new cburches. He was as anxious as any man to see taxes repealed, but he would franlkly avow, that he should not wvish for other reductions at the expense of the grant al- [luded to. From the returns laid before Parliament, it was seen that in many parish'e in England, not one in seven persons could, from the paucity of churches, find room for the celebration of religious worship. Ought such a privation to be endured in a Christian land? Or would they, intimes when they were expending large sums of monev to enlarge their gaols, withhold an expenditure which was calculated to diffuse, where it could not now be obtained, that moral and religinus knowledge which would render an extension of their geols unnecessary? (Hear, hear.) He congratulated the county upon the general improvement which was now so manifest; and he hoped that after the time of trial whicst they had so patiently and nobly borne, they wvould now reap the harvest of their fortitude. tISr.Jxrtvols (the other county member) declared that he wished. to see the whole of the assessed taxes, and their complicated and mischievous machinery, removed at once; otherwise the country ssould not be adequately benefitted. As long as the machinery, or any part of it remained, so long would they be liable to an unjust expenditure. He regretted that ill health had kept him from the constant attendance to his duty in Parliament,which the people were entitled to expect froin their representatives. He wished to have his conduct estimated by his constituents by his actions, not his words; and lie should always support a reduction of the public burdens. (Applause.) Air. HUNT said, tliat what had fallen from him respecting the new churches had been misconceived. He was as anxious as any main that the people should have places of worship fully provided for theni, and to three times the extent proposed, if necessary; but tie would make the clergy supply them out of their 5,000,0001. a year. (Ilear.) Let the church support itself, or the church would fall. (Hear.) Mir. CARTER congratulated the meeting on the unanimity which prevailed, and hoped that even in the present session of Parliament some relief might be expected. The Earl of CARnYARFON pledged himself to present and sup- port their petition to the House of Lords. He had already explain- ed to the meeting that he took no part in convening it, and as to its bein- done by any union of *Vhigs and Radicals, all he should say as a WJrhig was, that as a party, he believed the Radicals would be the last whom the WVhigs would employ. (A laugh.) (;f the former, he professet to know nothing: MIr. Hunt, who seemed to know them better, could'explain in what way their employment was most 'desirable. (A laugh.) Afr. HUNT said,that the best definition he cou!d give of a Radical, as the noble lord caUedI on him for one, was to refer his Lordship to Sir Thomas Baring,who made by far the most Radioal s eechhebhad everheard at the last ceanty meeting. (Loud laughter.) The business of the day being gone through, The Earl of CAItNARVON moved the vote of thanks to the High Sheriff. Illr. HUNT.-To showr that a Radical can second even a Whig when he thinks himn right, I beg leave to second the motion. (Re. newed laughter.) This motion was carried amid loud cheers; and the HIGH SHE_ RIFF, in ackrnowledginY it, said the countv would alwavs find him ready to obey their s for the constitutional expression of their sentiments. .Mr. CARTER praised the High Sheriff for his conduct, which was different from that pursued by some of liis predecesssors. The Meeting then broke up. HAMIPSHIRE MEETING.