courage to stand forward and to foretel the very evils which have now come to pass. Let us hope, therefore, that the country gentlemen will now unite with you in the procuring of the adoption of those measures, which you have been so long and so strenuously recommending. It is useless for them to complain of a lavish expenditure; it is useless for them to trace the sufferings of the country to the source; it is useless for them to have discovered at last, that the giving of one-half of the income of the farmer to persons who do not labour, must inevitably impoverish that farmer and his labourers. It is quite useless for them now to perceive and to acknowledge all this, if they be resolved still to stand aloof from those measures which can alone restore to the farmer and his labourers that which is now taken from them. They, feeling ashamed at their past reprobation of your endeavours, are too proud now to come forward and do that which they must be convinced ought to be done. But, this, Sir, is a false pride; it is a mean pride; it is meanness that soars, and pride that licks the dust." It is no mark of the mind of a gentleman to persevere in error; but it is a mark of injustice, on the contrary, not to acknowledge, and to be forward to atone for, an error injurious to the country. There is now, however, a consideration, too powerful, one would think, to be resisted by false pride; and that is, that, if these gentlemen do not now act the part that becomes them, they run a risk of being stripped of even the appearance of family dignity. The transfer of their property from themselves to others has long been going on; but they now see, unless they be quite blind, that the unfortunate millions, who are beneath them, can no longer be kept quiet without some very material change in the management of the affairs of the country.

From the comparison, which I have been able to draw, between the situation of the American and that of the English labourer, is it not reasonable to conclude, that it is the weight of taxation which is the cause of misery? In America the taxes do not amount to more than about two dollars, at the utmost, for each individual. In England they amount to more than forty dollars, for each individual, excluding the paupers. The difference in the state of the people of the two countries is thus accounted for at once. Why do not I give my labourers sixty-three pence per day each? Because I have so much to pay in taxes, that I have only twenty-pence per day to give them. If there be a farmer and ten labourers, who divide amongst them the whole of the fruits of the farm, must they not of necessity be better off than a farmer and ten labourers, upon a similar farm, one-half or more of the fruit of which is taken away in the shape of taxes? I have before noticed the fallacy, held out by the tools of corruption, namely, that it is not the taxes which produce the misery. because, say they, the misery has been increasing while the taxes have been diminishing. It has been proved to them, Sir, a hundred times over, that the taxes have not been diminished. It is notorious, indeed, that even the nominal amount has not yet been diminished, as far as the direct taxes go. But the fact is that no reduction which is even intended to be made in the nominal amount will make up a fifth-part of the audition, which has been made since the peace in the real amount, by the alteration which has taken place in the value of the currency. Suppose me to have paid in taxes three hundred pounds a year while my wheat sold at fifteen shillings the bushel; and that I now pay two hundred and fifty pounds a year in taxes, while my wheat sells for ten shillings a

bushel, are not my taxes, in fact, augmented in the proportion of onefifth? It is false, therefore, to say that the taxes have been diminished. They have been augmented, while the means of the nation have been, and still are, gradually decreasing. The war afforded a plentiful harvest to great numbers of persons, whose occupations, of various sorts, enabled them to draw the property of other nations into England. This source is not only dried up, but the poverty into which the industrious classes in those countries have been plunged by that same war, together with the vengeful feelings and hostile commercial measures, which our war monopoly has induced them to adopt, have had a terrible effect on our commerce and manufactures. Thus the resources of the country have been drying up, while its taxes have been in reality increasing. The consequences are, that state of distress in the employers, which has next reached the labourers, which has increased, in the space of one twelvemonth, the number of paupers four fold, and which number, during the next winter, will, I verily believe, from the cause which I have above stated, be doubled.

For my part, Sir, I do not see any possibility of the greater part of small farmers escaping ruin; and if this be the case, what is to prevent confusion and devastation? Scarcely a day passes over my head, that I have not applications from persons who wish to emigrate to America. Doubtless, great numbers will find their way thither. But what are scores, or even hundreds, when the question is the providing for millions? -The Chancellor of the Exchequer observed, in his speech at the opening of the last Session of Parliament, that that Englishman must be "base indeed, who would not prefer seeing his country in its present "sate, to seeing it in the state in which it was previous to the war." Now, Sir, I say, that base indeed must be that Englishman, who, with unmoved heart and with dry eyes can see the industrious, the laborious, the youthful labourers of England, rejected by the fields that used to find them employment, and seeking for a plank to bear them to foreign lands in search of food. Can you, Sir (I am sure you cannot) think with any degree of patience on scenes like these, which are occurring, you will please to observe, not in this part of England only, but in every part of England. What are we come to this at last? Are we come, at last, to see Englishmen, famed above all other people for the love of their country, for their being proud of their country, for their enthusiastic attachment to the name of their country: have we lived, at last, to see the monopolisers of loyalty, those who have had the insolence to represent us as levellers and traitors; have we lived to see these very men using their utmost exertions, resorting to every species of falsehood in order to restrain Englishmen from deserting that Old England, in which words every thing interesting and animating to their hearts was formerly contained?

Yes, Sir, we have lived to see this, and, at the same time, to be insulted by these same men with the accusation of being base unless we exult in the change; unless we view this new, this unnatural, this monstrous state of things, with exultation!

However, it is for us, Sir, and particularly for you, to occupy our minds much less with reflections on the insolence of these men; than with what ought to be done to stay that general destruction, with which we are menaced. It being admitted on all sides, except on the side of open, barefaced, profligate, unrelenting corruption, that the weight of

the taxes, compared with the means of the payers of those taxes, is the great cause of the calamities which now exist, and of the greater calamities, which we have every reason to expect, who, except a fool or a hypocrite, will pretend, that there is any other remedy than that of a diminution of taxation? You, Sir, have never been seen amongst those, who, from ignorance, or from whatever cause, have proposed miserable palliatives for great national evils. A hundred pounds, more or less in the amount of a job; a thousand more or less in the amount of a sinecure; even half a score flagrant abuses of this sort have never formed the object of your animadversions. You have left it to others to obtain popularity by the use of this sort of clap-traps. The objects which have engaged your attention, and called forth your exertions, have been such as were worthy of the man, who, while scarcely any other man dared speak his mind, stood forward the advocate of the rights of the people. From you, therefore, we expect no tithe-project no pauper-project; no scheme for dividing waste lands amongst the poor, because the said poor have no bread to eat, and of course no money to buy tools to cultivate, nor manure to enrich the said waste lands; no project for making game saleable by gentlemen, in order, I suppose, that the poor may buy it; no project for subdividing the country into new districts, in order that the rich and poor may hold joint-committees for the management of those funds which the former are to give for the maintenance of the latter. No, Sir, we expect from you no pitiful expedient; no palavering; no whining about charity; no cant about feeding the people with faith, when they really are fainting for the want of food. We expect from you, Sir, a serious, a strenuous, a resolute effort, to obtain, in a legal way, the adoption of such measures as shall reduce the sums now taken by the Government from the employers, and to leave in the hands of those employers more than they now have, to give to those who do the labour. We are well satisfied, Sir, that if you undertake this task, you will do your utmost to accomplish it. I assure you that, from my own knowledge of facts, I am convinced, that the whole country will support you upon this occasion; and that it is now looking towards you with the greatest anxiety. To go on as we are now going, all men are convinced we cannot. This is a point upon which the mind of every man is made up. There is no longer that talk against supposed violence, which used to be so annoying. The fault which most people find now is, that you appear so patient. You always said that this would be the case, and the prophecy is completely accomplished.

To know whereabouts to begin to lop off expenses is rendered difficult only by the great number of the objects. That all sinecures, pensions, grants of whatever description, except for services to the public which can be proved to have been performed; that all these should be abolished, no man will doubt, who wishes for any reduction at all. But, can there be anything more reasonable and fair, than that all the salaries, all the allowances, all the pay, under whatever name, of persons in public employ, or of persons maintained out of the taxes; can there be anything more fair, or more imperiously demanded by strict justice and honest dealing, than that all these, which were fixed when the labourer's wages were high, should be reduced to the standard of the wages of the labourer at this time? Can there be anything more just than this? You remember, Sir, well, that the salaries of the Judges, for instance, were doubled, during the war, and that it was done expressly on the

ground of the high price of provisions and of common labour. Say that it was just to do this, and I think it was just and proper; but, upon the very same principle, ought not the salaries of the Judges now to be reduced? It is well known that the wages of common labourers have been reduced nearly half in amount, and why then, should not the salary of the Judge be also reduced? I mention the instance of the Judges, because the fact of the rise is upon record in the Statute-Book. But the same may be said, with equal truth, of almost all salaries and allowances. These, especially if you take into view the enormous charge for the Staff and contingencies of the army, amount to millions. Here, indeed, there is a substantial saving to be made, even without any diminution of the standing army. But, this army may also be reduced if proper measures be adopted, to a mere nothing. The constitutional mode of defending the country, and of preserving its peace, has been so minutely laid down by Major Cartwright, that you, I am sure, are well convinced that England stands in need of not one single regular soldier in the time of peace; and, Sir, I am sincerely of opinion, that there needs no more than a regular proposition of that mode, at this time, to render it extremely difficult, and even perilous, for any ministry to reject its adoption.

Without going any further, therefore, except that it would be a shame to overlook, for one single hour, the use that is made of that great mass of property, called Crown-lands, without going any further; without trenching upon any of the necessary means to uphold the Naval power, and to secure the safety and perpetuate the greatness of the country; without trenching upon any of these means; without meddling with the property of the Church; without any new modelling of poor-laws; without any risk of driving our poorer neighbours to distraction, without any agrarian projects; without anything, in short, other than the loppingoff of expenses, which are perfectly useless to the nation, such a diminution might be made in the demands of the Government as would enable the employers to augment, in the proportion of one-third, the wages of those who depend solely on their labour.

And who is there to object to such measures as these? Why, Sir, that most desperate of all the tools of Corruption, the writer of the COURIER; he objects, and, I will take the liberty to insert his words, in order that you may see what are the grounds on which his objection is founded. The article, which I am now about to lay before you, is an answer to that which I have before extracted from the Morning Chronicle, and the main object of it is to induce the readers of the COURIER to believe, that the abolition of sinecures, &c. would be of no use; that it would have no tendency to relieve the distresses of the people. The writer begins with pointing out the mode of relieving poor labourers, by raising money wherewith to purchase employment for them! Or, rather, his mode of regulating starvation! Yes, Sir; you have lived to see your beloved Old England reduced to such a state as to be insulted with the proposing of projects for supporting almost its whole population by means of as low a description as those by which cattle are supported. You have lived to hear a miserable hireling of the Press speak of nine-tenths of the population of England, not only as beings divested of all notions of property, but as animals destitute of mind sufficient to discriminate between that which is good and that which is noxious!

"We understand that in Lanarkshire, Glamorganshire, and other Counties, "the idea we threw out of employing men half-work, or two-thirde work, has

"been acted upon with much advantage: that is, for a Manufacturer, or any "other person employing labourers, who finds he has only full employment for "half or two-thirds of the number he formerly employed, to continue employing "the whole number, but only at half-day wages or werk, or two-thirds, by which means, though the men will not be able to earn so much wages as formerly, they will still not be totally destitute or thrown out of habits of industry. "Another suggestion has been transmitted TO US, that from the funds, now "collecting, a certain sum proportioned to the distress of the district shall be "sent down to a Committee of Gentlemen residing in it, and possessing the best "local information, which Committee should use it as a working fund, and, "instead of distributing this money, as is usual, among the poor families, which may encourage laziness, and have a tendency to destroy independent spirit, let "the Committee look out for some employment for the labourer.-The amount "of the subscriptions will probably not enable the Committee to give above one"half of what labourers usually earn. But by thus employing the poor, their "habits of industry would not be injured. The wages would be no temptation "to draw off those who are usefully employed in field labour; yet, small as they are, would be eagerly grasped at by such as are actually in want, and would be "the means of saving many a family from severe privation. And one recom"mendation we cannot make too strongly; it is, that in any efforts making, or "plans devised, for the relief of the poor, we should avoid anything that may tend "to inflame and irritate them. It is therefore with concern we have seen in "some papers attempts made to induce a belief that Government are obstinately "determined to withhold all retrenchment, and that Parliament ought to be sum"moned instantly to compel them to adopt a different line of conduct. Other "attempts are made to hold up particular persons possessing sinecures to popu"lar odium, and, possibly, to popular outrage. Two Noblemen are selected by a Paper this morning. But why select two only? Why not add others whom we "shall not name? If the labouring classes are told that their distresses could be "alleviated by the taking away all incomes derived from sinecures, they might be "tempted or persuaded that there are OTHER INCOMES which might bear "reduction. The transition is not difficult, as the experience of the French "Revolution too fatally proved. The mind, in a state of inflammation or agita"tion, is not very much inclined to reason.-Guerre aux Chaieux! Paix aux "Chaumieres! was the cry of the French Reformers and Philosophers. And "what was the effect? The palace was destroyed, and the cottage also: both "were involved in oppression, poverty, and ruin. Mr. Burke has said, that were every RICH man's throat cut, the poor would not have a meal the more for it. "And with respect to sinecures, however objectionable they may be, except for "long and meritorious services, still the abolition of them all would not tend to "give employment to the labouring classes.-Now as to the system of retrench"ment-it is asserted, without inquiry or investigation, that Ministers are with"holding all retrenchment. So far is this from the fact, that almost their whole "time is occupied in investigating every department of the State, for the purpose of making retrenchments. It will be for Parliament to decide whether they have "done what they ought. But let them have the common privilege of English"men-a fair trial-do not let sentence be passed before conviction. It is not, "however, to some of our daily cotemporaries only that we address these "remarks. The Edinburgh Review, just published, closes a long article upon the "distresses of the country, by a sweeping unjust condemnation of Ministers. "The grand evil or cause of the distress, is stated to be excessive taxation. And "it is added, unless means are speedily devised for lightening this intolerable bur"den, all other methods of relief appear to be unavailing,' Now, unless the object "of the Reviewers be to raise a clamour, ought they not to have stated that "means had not only been devised, but actually executed, for lightening this "burden? that seventeen millions of taxes had already been taken off. The "Reviewers then proceed to assert, that the Ministers are resolved to keep up "an enormous and unprecedented peace-establishment-and as they have not "the means of paying for it by the produce of the taxes, over and above the sum "raised for the interest and charges of thedebt, they are determined to reserve 'the Sinking Fund, in order to use it in paying for the establishment. But the "truth is, that they will not lower the expenses of the country; and to keep "the seat nearly the present amount, they are prepared both to maintain the un"bearable load of our present taxation, and to encroach upon the Sinking Fund.'

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