But let us now look back to the origin and progress of this immense commercial empire. In the reign of William the Conqueror, the public revenue of England was about 400,000l. In the reigns of his successors, it sank as low as 100,000l. Henry VII. raised it again to 400,000l.; and his son, by means sufficiently notorious, doubled it. In the reign of Charles I., it had risen to nearly 900,000l. In that of James II., it was upwards of two millions. At the accession of George I., it was 6,762,6437. In 1760, when George III., acceded to the throne, it was 15,372,971. During his reign, it was raised by the extreme pressure of taxation as high as 77 millions; and the total expenditure in the same year (1816), including the sinking fund of 13,500,000l., reached the enormous amount of 130,305,958. In 1794, the total expenditure was under 23,000,000. In some recent years, the excise has produced more than all the revenue of France; the customs, in the last year, yielded more than the united revenues of Russia and Holland; the stamps, only a million less than all the public income of Prussia; and the land and assessed taxes, a sum equal to the income of Spain! From such humble beginnings has the public revenue of this country been augmented to its present oppressive magnitude. The first grant in money, amounting to 50,000l., was voted by Parliament ' for the expedition of Poictiers; while for those (contests) which ' ended at Waterloo, above 700 millions were granted!" And how granted? By drafts upon Posterity and Co., to that amount; in other words, by the creation of the National Debt. The amount of a public revenue derived from taxation, is a criterion of national wealth, so far as that taxation indicates the extent of its foreign commerce and the consumption of articles of luxury, and provided that it does not press upon the springs of industry. But, pushed to excess, it obviously becomes a symptom of distress, instead of a sign of wealth. No other country in the world could have sustained the burdens which the lavish expenditure occasioned by impolitic and destructive wars have entailed upon Great Britain; and the amount of taxation indicates, therefore, the extraordinary resources of the nation, and the astonishing elasticity of public credit. But, although its Government's being able to raise so much larger a revenue than that of any other country, is a proof of the national wealth, that wealth would obviously be greater, if the taxation were reduced, and the public revenue lessened by one half. The average revenue produced by taxation in the three years ending in 1832, was about 54 millions; of which 28 millions (nearly one half) are applied to the interest of the debt. The expenditure required by the standing military and naval force, is about 15 millions; for courts of justice, &c., less than one million; civil government and diplomacy, under 2 millions; bounties, public works, and miscellaneous services, 3 millions and a half; expenses of collection, 3 millions. But for the sum required to meet the charges of the debt, the total civil expenditure of the State would not be much above 8 millions, including the expense of collection; and the army and navy might be safely reduced, should peace continue, and West India slavery be abolished, to, perhaps, 12 millions. A revenue of 20 millions, therefore, would be adequate to meet all the natural demands upon the public treasury. In what mode is this income raised? The customs and excise have of late years amounted to between 35 and 40 millions; the stamp duties to 7 millions; the assessed and land taxes to rather more than 5 millions; the post office and other small revenues to 3 millions. Were there no debt, the land-tax, postoffice, and miscellaneous revenues would cover half the civil expenditure; leaving only about 16 millions to be raised by customs and excise, instead of 35 or 40, if all the stamp duties and assessed taxes were repealed. The latter, with nearly two thirds of the customs and excise, are swallowed up by the interest of the national mortgage. Now of this immense sum of 40 millions, nearly the whole is levied upon the consumption of the necessaries of life; upon food, coals, malt, sugar, dress, household articles, raw produce, and the raw materials of manufactures. The injurious consequences of this excessive pressure of taxation are strongly depicted by Mr. Pebrer. By such taxes the productive classes of the state are overloaded; the poorer people, with less means, contribute a greater share than the wealthy. But this is not the worst: by such measures the primary source of produce, labour, is injured; the elements influencing wages, as food, household expenses, &c. are raised; and consequently those elements, into which all manufactures are resolved, must be elevated in proportion. Manufactures increasing in price, sales must diminish in the same ratio; and, to increase the evil, we possess no control over foreign improvements, and our home markets are extremely limited, in proportion to our daily increasing productive powers. But it is contended, that "this mode of taxation, being circuitous and indirect, does not produce the baneful effects on manufactures which are imagined." This doctrine, as will be presently shewn, ruined a great manufacturing nation; but to exhibit its fallacy and absurdity at once, let us suppose a direct tax of five shillings a yard imposed upon cloth-undoubtedly cloth would not meet with buyers in the foreign market: but the result must be the same, if the yard of cloth become five shillings dearer in consequence of the high rate of wages and the high price of the materials constituting it. To expect any other result is a manifest absurdity. But if labour is affected by these imposts acting directly upon it, how much more will it be crippled, when, to that pressure, is added the combination of a host of indirect taxes? For when labour is thus 66 greatly depressed, the other two sources of production being intimately connected with it, and possessing a reciprocal action amongst themselves, must be exceedingly injured. Capital, that agent of production, whose only country is higher interest", will be affected first: not being able to obtain an adequate interest, it must flow to more beneficial channels, it must abandon this country for a more favourable region, or it must lie idle. Ricardo himself, struggling to maintain that the high prices of commodities occasioned by taxation are no disadvantage to this country, could not resist the evidence of truth; for he adds, that "the interest of the contributors is, to withdraw their shoulders from the burden, and to remove themselves and their capital from the country". A loss of population, then, as well as of capital, will be the result; while, by this twofold combination, land, the third source of production, will be more seriously and effectively injured. But these baneful effects will be more considerably felt in a country of limited extent like England, where, while the population is increasing, the fertility of the soil is rapidly decreasing, and for that very reason requires lower wages and an increased capital. The greatest pressure, therefore, will fall upon the land. Thus, by a chain of evils so intimately connected, the three principal springs of production will be injured, and the wealth accumulated by centuries of industry will disappear in a short period. Such has actually been the awful but uninterrupted march, even in nations which possessed a more extensive and more fertile soil, and were far from being in the artificial situation in which England is at present placed.' pp. 482-484. The amount raised by Government taxes, it must be recollected, forms but a part of the national burdens. The poor-rates amount to upwards of 8 millions; besides which, there are other local imposts and the church-rate. It is calculated, however, that nearly one third of the poor-rates is employed to pay wages; and a very large proportion is consumed in law charges. By a proper administration of the fund and a better law of settlement, the rate might be reduced at least one half. Mr. Pebrer proceeds to remark, that the pressure of the present amount of taxation has been greatly increased by the fall of prices since the Restriction Act. This is true; but when he adds, upon the authority of many well-informed writers' whom he does not name, that every 17. levied in taxation, followed through all the successive stages and chain of operations, becomes a burden upon the public of thrice or even six times that amount, pressing with that accumulated weight upon the sources of production, we must think, that he lays himself open to the charge of exaggeration. At all events, the theory does not materially affect the general argument. The pressure of taxation, the Author seems to forget, depends not simply upon the amount raised, but upon the proportion which that amount bears to the productive powers and the consumption of the country,-upon the equality with which that pressure is distributed, so as to prevent its weight from in VOL. X.-N.S. E juriously crippling any particular species of production, and upon the degree in which taxation enters, as an element of price, into the cost of necessaries. When Mr. Pebrer states, that it was a pressure much inferior to that of the present amount of taxation in this country, which occasioned the downfal of those once flourishing commercial and manufacturing nations, Spain and Holland, he assumes that which he has to prove. In short, we cannot but think, that he greatly overrates the prejudicial effects of taxation; while he overlooks the fact, that a corn-law, so far as it tends to raise the price of the first necessary of life, and consequently to affect every other, must have all the injurious consequences which he ascribes to excessive taxation. But we are touching upon points which do not fairly come within our notice at present. Without denying, what it would be absurd to deny, that the country generally would be greatly relieved and benefited by a remission of taxes, or a diminution of the public burdens, we can by no means think that the public revenues of England are carried to the utmost height of which they are capable without destroying industry. There would seem to be some truth in Mirabeau's remark, that there is an uncertainty in every thing which concerns taxation, which is too dark for 'the acutest genius to clear up.' * He goes too far in denying that any instance can be produced of a people ruined by taxes. Yet, it would be difficult to prove that taxation ever proved ruinous by its simple amount. Bad fiscal laws, partial and oppressive imposts, and, more than all, financial embarrassments, have been the true cause of the calamities that have shaken states to their foundation. Mr. Pebrer will be thought to have made an important concession, when, in defending his plan for paying off 500,000,000l. of the national debt by a general assessment of 9s. 4d. per cent. upon all the private property and capital in the empire, he thus meets the objection, Why not pay off the whole? A very small National Debt is not injurious to a great nation: it places her in a situation to borrow, should she require it, cheaper and with better credit. A small debt can affect the primary sources of production but lightly.... In a country like Great Britain, where charitable institutions, corporations, benefit societies, schools, &c., &c., are so numerous, and the amount of property litigated is so immense, a place of deposit for their funds, legacies, &c., is absolutely necessary; more especially in the present constitution of society.' pp. 532-3. The present funded debt was, on the 5th of January, 1832, 782,667,2347. At the commencement of the French Revolu tionary war, it was only 233,733,6091. So that the whole sum (and more than that) which it is now deemed necessary to get rid * Ecl. Rev., Jan. 1833, p. 75. of, to save the country from ruin, has been added to the National Debt, chiefly by Mr. Pitt, the heaven-born minister,' since 1790. The American war, the most iniquitous and most expensive in which this country was ever involved by the obstinacy of the monarch and the folly of his ministers, had previously added to the debt in seven years, 102,541,8197. The whole increase of the debt during the reign of George III., was upwards of 700,000,0007.! The following is the state of the debt at different periods. Principal. む Interest. む 20,428,488 41,225,257 the Peace of Amiens in 1802 528,839,277 The facility with which this debt was so rapidly created, is one of the most remarkable facts in history; and scarcely less remarkable than the fact, is the machinery which the loan system has called into play and raised to its present importance. The principal instruments in raising this enormous sum were, the Bank and the Stock Exchange. Of these two great rival corporations, Mr. Pebrer has introduced a brief historical notice. The history of the Bank is generally known; but that of the other engine of the National Debt is shrouded in greater obscurity. It was about the year 1700, that the Stock Exchange folk, becoming too numerous, and encumbering too much the Bank offices, were compelled to choose a larger place for their meetings, and transferred the centre of jobbing to the kingdom of Change Alley.' Notwithstanding the attacks made upon the corporation, and the various acts passed to check its operations, the frequenters of the Stock Exchange continually increased in number: but this 'powerful engine remained in a humble state, till the immense operations of the Government and the Bank in 1802 required a 'proportionably greater support. Forty-nine millions were borrowed in that extraordinary year. It was already high time that the submissive but powerful supporters of operations of such magnitude and importance, should leave that obscure place, and get rid of such clumsy and wretched arrangements. Accordingly, in this very year, the leading men came forward, entered into a subscription, and erected the present building of the Stock Exchange; appointed trustees and managers, and a select committee of thirty; and formed a regular corporation and monopoly. They declared, that the Committee for general purposes shall admit such persons (whether proprietors or not) as they shall think proper, to attend or frequent the Stock Exchange, for transacting therein the business of a stock broker or jobber, &c., at the price which, for the |