Now, reader, is it any wonder, that, be made to my assessed taxes, away go the French should call in question our ALL the pleasure part of my establishsincerity as to the noise we make about ment. I shall keep one good horse to the abolition of the Slave Trade? And, carry a person expeditiously in case of is it worth while for us to run the risk of need, and about five or six dogs; and another war, in order to make other na- that shall be all.These are necessaries tions abolish it? Surely, it will be asked, of life; and these only will I keep, if one why we have not been able to induce penny of additional expence be put upon Portugal to abolish it? But, the ground me, in assessed taxes, in that of land, of our anxiety becomes but too plain, malt, salt, soap, candles, leather, sugar, when we hear this author say, that the or tea; and I will shut up windows, leavPortuguese and Spanish colonies have ing myself only just light enough to engained upon curs in prosperity ever since able me to move about the house without we abolished it. It is very true, that we hitting my head against the door posts. can have no right, and that we can have In this way, I shati be able to make up no reason to plead in justification of our for what I shall be compelled to pay in interfering thus with the affairs of other the taxes on the necessaries of life. And nations; but, we make a sorry figure, in- will not this be done by others? The deed, in prating so much about our hu- Tax Office will see what is going to take manity, while we are doing what is re-place by the Notices that they will recorded in this pamphlet.-In short, our real objects are known, and the consequences will be, that we shall not succeed. PROPERTY TAX AND FINANCE. ceive within this month.--The remedy is, therefore, as I said before, to disband the whole of the army; pay the officers · their just due in half-pay; reduce the navy to the state of 1788, when France and Spain, and Holland and Denmark had fleets; reduce the Civil List to its state of 1788; reduce all salaries in proportion; cut off all pensions granted during pleasure; dispose of that public pro The Parliament have met, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer tells us, that the Property Tax is not to be revived er continyed; but, we are given to un-perty which is called crown land; curtail derstand, that other taxes are to be im the expences in every department; let posed in its stead. The Property Tax the fundholders see, that there are solid produces fourteen millions annually. The taxes to meet the interest due to them; revenue cannot be reduced at all, unless the cease to raise money on account of the army be wholly disbanded, or unless the Sinking Fund; and we shall be able the fundholders be ruined, or unless to go on without leaus and without corn, loans are to continue to be made, and bills. And why should not this reespecially if prices continue low-medy be adopted? What do we want For, how are other taxes to be raised? with an army constantly on foot? Our They talk of doubling the assessed taxes. ancestors lived very safely, many hunThat is to say, of doubling the rate; dreds of years without a standing army but, that will not add to, but will di-in time of peace. We are at peace now minish, the receipt. These taxes have with all the world. What, then, do we been kept up by the high prices. With-want with an army? And, if we are to out any addition to them, one half of the keep up these great military and naval payers would lay down seme of the taxed establishments, we have really lost by the articles; and, if the rate be doubled, or overthrow of Napoleon and the conseaugmented in any considerable degree,quent peace; because, we have all the one half of the articles will be laid expenses without the profits of war. down. Not only will people lay down carriages and horses, and shut up winCORN BILL. No. III. dows to meet the addition; but many This measure has been mentioned in will go further. If they once overcome the House of Lords, upon the presenttheir reluctance to lay down their coachesing, by Lord Hardwicke, of a Petition and gigs, they will go the whole length, from the County of Cambridge, in which and move about on feat at once. I know the Petitioner state, that they are wholly several persons who will do this, and am unable to contend with the growers myself of the number. If any addition corn, in countries where the farmers pay of are no tythes, no poor-rates, and compara- | measure to keep up prices. The farmer tively very little in taxes of any sort. Well said Cambridgeshire! So, then, here "the loyal;" the old, loyal" Uman"dry Gavaldry;" the gallant men, whose swords glittered like lightning, a few years ago, against the poor Jacobins, who were safe enough under the warrants of the Secretary of State; here are these the loyal" par excellence, crying out, by a side wind, against tythes, poor-rates, and taxes of all sorts; that is to say, against the established church, and against the very existence of that system of sway, to uphold which they often pledged themselves to spend their "last shilling, and the last drop of their blood." What, then, would these men insinuate, that the French people are better off than we are; that they have gained by that revolution which has been so much abused; that, in getting rid of tythes and taxes, they have really been, upon the whole, benefited! Do they confess, that we are come out of the contest worsted? How does this agree with all the bonfires, and bell-ringing, and ox-roasting, and Serpentine River, and Green Park rejoicings? What do they confess, after all, that we have lost by the 22 years struggle?But tythes; why do they name tytbes, unless to ask for their abolition? Nay, unless to ask for the sending of the Bishops and Parsons to grass? If, now, any one were to write against religion, and to say, that it was useless, how these persons would grind their teeth at him, and grin with delight at seeing him sent to starve and rot in a jail. How they y would bellow forth Atheist, Blasphemer, and all sorts of vile appellations. If any one were to ridicule the rites and ceremonies of marriage, baptism, churching of women, confirmation, visitation of the sick, the Lord's supper, absolution, consecration of church-yards, burial of the dead, how they would stare at him; how they would rejoice to see him ruined, and killed by inches. And yet, they aim a much more direct blow at all these things by insinuating, that they cannot sell bread so cheap as they would be able to sell it, if the tythes, which support the Church, did not exist.- -We are upon the eve, I imagine, of some great change in public matters. The war has left all its heavy load behind it, and has lost all its profits. To raise the means of supporting that load, the government must adopt some who grows 100 quarters of wheat can get on if the government demand 50 quarters towards the payment of the debt expences, and the army, navy, and royal family and other things; but, if the government demand 90 quarters of it, the farmer cannot go on. And, it is quite useless to "Exchequer him"; for, dreadful as the fulmination may be, it cannot make him pay that which he has not.-Let me make this matter as clear as day-light.--Farmer Gripeum pays, in all sorts of taxes, direct and indirect, 200 pounds a year to the government. He grows 50 quarters of wheat. If his wheat be 120 shillings a quarter, the government demand about 32 quarters of it, but, if his wheat be 60 shillings a quarter, the government demand about 64 quarters of it, which is 14 quarters more than poor Gripeum grows, who is obliged, therefore, to sell cows, pigs, sheep, and every thing else before the year is out, to make up the deficiency, to pay his rent, labour, and to find him clothes. It is manifest, therefore, that Gripeum must be ruined if he cannot sell his wheat at a high price as long as the demand of the government continues to be heavy. But, theu, if he sells his wheat dear, the baker must sell his bread dear; so that it comes, at last to this: heavy taxes make dear bread: it is the loaf that is taxed, and the consu mer pays the tax.--If it be resolved, that the taxes shall not be reduced, a Corn Bill must be made; for, without it the taxes cannot be collected. I, for my part, expect to see wheat, before next harvest, 61. a quarter; and this ought to be ro subject of complaint with those who are for the army's not being disbanded. They wish for the army to continue, and, really, I am for no dispute with them about the matter, but, then, they cannot sup pose, that our ministers, liberal as they are, can keep up the army out of their own pockets. The question is this: are you for a standing army, or Cheap Bread. -Both you cannot have. There are no petitions against the former, and, therefore, it would be unreasonable and unjust to expect the latter.- It appears, toat a county meeting in Kent has been held for the purpose of petitioning for a Corn Bill.-The people for the people they are) overset the Meeting, and committed some violences. The Courier blames them; but did not this man, last year --- we are their columns with. But, they always avoid the point at the heart. They always avoid the exposition of this great fact: that high prices are necessary to jarmers only because the taxes are high, They always avoid this point; this thrust at the left side. I have shewn before that all other expences keep pace with the price of corn; and that, as far as they go, cheap corn is as good as dear corn to the farmers. It is the taxes, the taxes, the taxes, the taxes, the taxes. They do not keep pace with the price of corn. They fall upon cheap corn with the same weight as upon dear corn. Soap, salt, leather, sugar, tea, candles, tobacco, malt, land, horses, windows, houses, property, and many other things, are all taxed as heavily now as when wheat was 401. a load of five quarters. promulgate the very errors, upon which these people have acted? Now he has found out, that the government cannot collect the taxes without a Corn Bill; and therefore, now he is for a Corn Bill! There is one precious confession in this paper. It is as follows: "The devision of "property in France, however disastrous "its ultimate effects, has created a far greater and more universal tillage than "existed before the Revolution.' Pray, reader, mark well these words; and, pray do recollect, that this same man a thousand times told us, and swore to the fact, that Bonaparte took away all the able men, and left none but old men, women, and children to till the land! But, the main fact is: France grows more food in consequence of her revolution; her land is tilled better in consequence of her revolution: revolutions which It is not the farmer who wants a Corn put down aristocracy and priesthood Bill: it is the Government, that it may produce cheap bre a by causing be able to get taxes. I now wonder more corn to be grown. This is what what the City of London will do. now told in the loyal" | Consistency calls imperiously on it for newspapers. I am glad, at any rate, a petition against the threatened Bill; if the measure is to be adopted, that or, will it, too, like that fine, venerable such men as Mr. Coke, Mr. Weston, old scientific placeman, Mr. Rose, find and Mr. Whitbread, mean to leave it out a reason for not doing, this year, to the GOVERNMENT. It is, as I what it did, under simular circumsaid last year, their affair, and not the stances, last year. affair of the farmers and landowners. Not a word would I say, if I were Mr. Coke; not a vote would I give, for the measure. It is a question which lies wholly with the government, the army, and the fundholders. If prices are very high, all these may yet be supported; if prices are not very high, they cannot.Where now is the famous OLD GEORGE ROSE," the friend of "the people?" Why does he not now come forward? Wheat is dearer than it was when he opposed the bill before. Where is the worthy old man now? His creatures at Sonthampton, too, are quiet as mice, though they have felt such benefits from the imports of wheat from France. It would provoke almost any man but me to see himself robbed as I am by these newspaper writers. All that they now say, in the way of argument to shew the necessity of high prices, was said by me, last year, in my address to the people of Southampton. They have absolutely nothing new; no, not a single thought. I, in that one article, furnished them all with the arguments that they are now filling I THE PELOVED FERDINAND. Mr. COBBETT-Since my last letter, I see by the public newspapers, that Lord Proby has made a motion in the House of Commons, for the names of all the English officers in the Spanish service, which he called, as it is reported in the Times newspaper, odious, and detestable. He spoke in terms of the utmost indignation on the subject, and the whole house appeared to enter into his feelings. Mr. Vansittart, it is said in the same journal, named Generals Whittingham and Roche, as being in the Spanish service. Now this was by no means treating these officers with fairness. General Whittingham is at this moment in England, having resignedhis employment; General Roche is on the point of doing so only two British officers remain at present in the service of Ferdinand, Sir John Downie who is a Brigadier General, and Col. Doyle of the 87th. regiment, who is a Lieut. General. The latter has never been employed in any service, but that of drilling the Spanish recruits at a depot which This, Sir, is the real story of the only two British officers who are at present in the service of Ferdinand. Generals, Roche, I yer, Whittingham, and Carroll, have all quitted it; and General Doyle as said to be on the point of doing so. Then Sir John Lounie will have all the honors of that service to himself, and much good may they do hin. There can be no doubt of the dreadful state, in which that delightful country is now plunged, owing to the tyrannical government, with which it is at present afflicted. Ferdinand is literally without a single minister; he employs the priests who surround him, occasionally in the different offees of state, but there is no department regularly filled. The re spousibility is all upon himself, and a dreadful one it is. his old friends have all deserted him. The Duke of St.Carlos, to whom he owed his very life, who had followed him into captivity, and shared it with him, is banished to a small country house in the Sierra Morena, a desolate mountainous waste, which separates Andalusia from Castile. The Duke of Infantado, who was some time ambassador in this country, is also in disgrace, banished to an estate he possesses about thirty leagues from the metropolis. The Duke of ijar, whose duchess is at present in London, and one of the best friends Ferdinand ever possessed, is also banished. In short, not a single man of either rank, talent, or public consideration, remains about the court, The priests fill every department, and the lowest adventureis have caused the removal of every friend to the country. he has in the Isla De St. Leon, near | Cadiz. He has for years resided there, and during all the various changes, he has still continued in his cccupation, of finding arms and clothing from England for the Spanish forces; in which arduous employment, report says, he has amassed a large fortune. Of Sir John Dounie perhaps the following little history (of the authenticity of which you may rest assured) may not be unacceptable. He possessed early in the peninsular war, a very inferior appointment in the commissariat department, and gained a great deal of money, by sending home Merino sheep. Finding he had but little chance of promotion in the commissariat, he entered a volunteer into the Spanish service, at the time when the provincial junta, gladly gave any thing to all adventurers who offered. He proposed to the junta of Estremadura to raise a legion, which being of course accepted, he came to England,and succeeded in obtaining from the British Government, either clothing for them, or money to purchase it with. About this time, the French broke up from before Cadiz, and, in the month of July or August, 1812, he accompanied Colonel Skerrett, (who was unfortunately killed in the late affair at Bergen op-Zoom) in his advance upon Seville, near which city an engagement took place in which Colonel Dounie was wounded. He then returned to England, and, as it is said, at the request of Lord Fife, the Frince Regent knighted him. On his return to Spain, the Cortes gave him the cross of the third class of Charles the Third, and the rank of Brigadier General. After which he went up to the amy then in bus "the church has been the cause the Pyrences, but as he did not obtain of all the evils which oppress this unhapemployment, he went to Madrid, wherepy country. It is impossible to describe he remained until the return of Ferdinand. We hear no more of him, until the newspapers in England, produce sene long paid-for prff paragraphs, of his having Leen "selected by the king," to act under the Inquisitor General, in conveying the members of the Cortes to the prisons of the inquisition. Ferdinand, perhaps not well pleased with the man, who he might think would do any thing,pleases by royal edict. But aflairs are soon neglected him, and he "obtained mouriy getting worse; the loss of the "permission to retire," to Seville, where he American colonies will be a death blow held an appointment as a sort of gealer into him. General Morillo has been for a little prison in that city, which he pe m- four months at Cadiz, endeavouring to pously designates with the high sounding assemble there something in the shape tle of "inspector of the royal palace." [of an army, to reduce to obedience the the miserable state in which it is placed; rebellious colonists. This officer was 66 CIVIS. INSPIRED WRITINGS. SIR-As your Register is open to cool and dispassionate discussions, either on nor politics or religion, I take the liberty, as 72 they searched the scriptures daily; " Now as this book of the Acts of the Apostles was written after the accom plishment of those acts, and the scrip tures of the Bereans were prior to those acts, it could not be any part of those holy scriptures which the Bereans were |