★ Keep up to date with the latest news - subscribe to the Transcribe Bentham newsletter; Find a new page to transcribe in our list of Untranscribed Manuscripts
138 THE EXAMINER.
or as a tax on marine insurance, the mischief is disguised, and payment
is made without a murmur. The minister, it is said, now intends to
impose, in the indirect mode; his tax on conveyance by steam. An
able writer in the Westminster Review once observed, that John Bull
might be persuaded to contribute to the burning of his own father,
provided the contribution were levied indirectly in the shape of a
tax on faggots.
The minister asserts that the reductions he proposes render necessary
the imposition of the new taxes. The public in general have
but an imperfect view of the reductions which may be made in the
government expenditure; that view scarcely extends beyond the
individual cases of the sinecurists, pensioners, which have been
presented to general attention, or the assertion would never be tolerated.
Our able contemporary, the Scotsman, some time ago endeavoured, in
an excellent article, to make palpable the reductions of expenditure,
and the effect corresponding, remissions of taxes, on the conveniences
of life. It states that
Among other evils arising from the immense magnitude of our taxation,
there is this, that it reconciles us to many individual cases of waste and
extravagance which might be remedied, and multiplies the obstacles to
retrenchment, both on the great scale and the small. When a practical
saving is pointed out, if it is large, the public may be zealous for it, but the
government is averse to such a sweeping change; and if it is small, it is
impossible to get six individuals to interest themselves in the matter, because no
one sees how it is to produce any sensible relief to himself or others. Besides,
much molestation teaches persons to economise their feelings as well as
their time and labour. When we have the conviction ever present in our
minds, that such an overgrown revenue system as ours must abound in
abuses, prudence dictates that we ought not to discompose ourselves
excessively about some single grievance that is incidentally brought
forth from the mass, and obtruded on our notice. In short, between the
immobility of government, and the apathy of the public, a hundred economical
reforms, which are perfectly practicable, remain unaccomplished.
It has often occurred to to us that the benefits of retrenchment might be
rendered more tangible by placing specific savings against specific taxes,
and showing the public the task and the reward, the bane and the antidote,
in juxta-position. We shall endeavour to render this intelligible by a few
examples. Every body knows that there is an officer called Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, who has 300,000l. per annum for enacting the part of a
state pageant in Dublin. When the Sister Kingdom had an independent
legislation, there was at least a pretext for having such a functionary, but
now there is none: for, as his Lordship decides in no matter of importance
till he has received instructions from London, it would evidently save
both time and trouble to make the parties interested correspond directly
with the Treasury. The office, in sooth, was spared at the time of the Union
to soothe the vanity of the Irish, by keeping up the phantom of a separate
government after the substance was gone. Let us, then, suppose the
lieutenancy abolished, the question is, what shall we do with the money
saved? Throw it into the sinking fund? No, certainly: for who cares
a pinch of snuff about adding 30,000l. to a fund which may being relief
to our grandchildren, but will bring none to us. We should give it a
different destination—we would select from the list of our taxes some one
of corresponding amount, and repeal it. For example if we take the
tax on almanacks, which yielded last year 30,718l.: by abolishing this
useless office we may enable every poor man in the kingdom to get an
article which neither poor nor rich ought to want, but which is at present
beyond the reach of thousands to whom it would be useful. The duty on
almanacks is 1s. 3d. each, the consequence of which is, that one of the very
smallest size costs 2d. 6d. Repeal the tax, and we think we might give a
guarantee that the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge wou'd
publish one of these most necessary manuals at 4d. or 6d. Now, we ask
whether it is better that nine-tenths of the people of Britain should want
almanacks, which answer a thousand questions as to times and tides, or
that Ireland should be deprived of a state pageant, who has not even the
merit of answering a single question till he communicates with his masters
in London!
Our countryman, Lord Melville, by no means a bad man, enjoys the
sinecure of keeper of the privy seal, for which he draws 3,000l. per
annum. As he has another office with a large salary, we see no hardship in
depriving him of this: and, in casting our eye over the table of the custom
duties for an equivalent, we find that by this means every good housewife
might have a sago pudding (a favourite with Dr. Redgill) at half the
present price. We admit that sago puddings are not indispensable to the
happiness of "the general gender:" but neither is Lord Melville's
sinecure; and if the question were, whether sago puddings should fall one-half,
or his lordship draw a salary which he does not work for and ought
not to need, we would certainly, on the "greatest happiness" principle,
declare for the pudding! We give this as an example how the value of
small savings may be exhibited in a tangible shape.
In the Finance Book for last year, we find 114,800l. put down as interest
paid by us on a Russian loan in Holland. Since the northern autocrat
is at this moment squeezing large sums out of Turkey and Persia, we
think he cannot make a better use of the money than by discharging his
just debts, or at least taking the burden of interest upon himself. If this
is an annual charge, as we suspect it is, its abolition would enable ministers
to remit nearly one-half of the tax on sea insurance. Let the shipping
interest, then, consider whether it is better that they should get this relief,
or that our government should be generous to one who, as many think, has
been very ungenerous to our ancient allies, the Turks and Persians.
In the Irish expenditure, we find 13,500l. put down for "secret services
in detecting treasonable conspiracies," which, thanks to the Duke of
Wellington, are now plucked up by the roots, by one act of justice and policy.
Ireland should in future need as little of such "services" as Scotland.
Away, then, with this item; and, as a compensation, cocoa and chocolate,
valuable as articles of medical regimen (9100l.), may come in duty free;
and ginger, a healthful condiment (4200l.). "shall be hot in the mouth"
of many whose mouths at present it never enters.
We showed, some time ago, on the authority of a parliamentary paper,
that about 400,000l. per annum is consumed in Irish grants, which are
either idle or pernicious, or unnecessarily large where useful. If the
suggestions of the committee are acted on, at least 150,000l. of this will
be saved. How shall we dispose of this windfall, when it comes? We
would repeal the monstrous and impolitic tax on advertisements, which
yielded 155,000l. last year, and by this means enable merchants, booksellers,
tradesmen, and attorneys, to get for one shilling what now costs them six,
eight, or ten! We do not know a single impost that is more hurtful to
trade than this. The sum of 66,000l. was expended last year on "volunteer
corps," which now must be as useless to the country as a piece of
ordnance would be to a ploughman. Strike off this item of expenditure,
and you can afford to part with the duty on mahogany—72,000l.
Another absurd charge is 283,000l. for "disembodied militia:" for
Pray what is the use of Heligoland, when every port from Archangel
to Cadiz is open to us? Why not give up this rock, which costs
6,100l. per annum, and repeal the duty on ashes (5,600l.), an article useful
in so many species of manufacture; or on tar (7,900l.), as a boon to the
shipping interest.
Canada, according to a statement of Mr. Hume's in 1822, costs us
about 350,000l. per annum of direct expense, besides near a million more
in the shape of a bounty on its inferior timber, to exclude the better wood
of Norway! Adding Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Bermuda, our
possessions in that region of the world cost us half a million or more per
annum of ordinary expenses: but when we also take in the sums government
is now squandering on canals military works there, the whole expense
must amount to 750,000l. Consult the political economists, and they will
tell you, that these colonies are a mere incumbrance. They yield us no
real profit or advantage whatever: but they place us in the situation of an
animal which, though it has a body ensconced in a safe corner, foolishly
sends out tentacula to a great distance, and thus exposes itself to insults
and injuries, and chances of quarrel with parties, with whom it has no
occasion to be embroiled. Now, were these colonies "started off," as
the seamen say, the saving would enable government to repeal the duty
on fire insurance (718,000l.), which is truly a tax on provident habits. Let
all those, then, who pay for insurance settle the question, whether they
would rather save half their money, or have a proper fractional share of
the honour of ruling Canada?
Our colonies in the Mediterranean cost us 201,000l. in 1820; and
Gibraltar 140,000l. more. If the latter is necessary for the accommodation
of our shipping, surely we might dispense with Malta; or, if Malta is
commercially desirable, then Gibraltar can have no value—except as a trophy
to solace our national pride, and a thorn in the side of the dons. The
Ionian Islands, though not exactly a colony, come in for half the sum of
201,000l.: but our protectorship there might be made so powerful a means
of promoting the improvement of Greece, that we grudge this less than
many other items of our colonial expenditure. We have no doubt,
however, that, by adopting a more popular system of government, we might
greatly reduce our garrisons, and make the Islands defray the whole cost
of their defence. Between these islands, Malta, and Gibraltar, 100,000l.
might unquestionably be saved. Add to this 115,000l. for Jamaica,
346,000l. for the Windward and Leeward Islands, and 40,000l. for Sierra
Leone (we spare India, the Cape, the Mauritius, and New Holland), and
we have a round sum of 600,000l., which would enable government to part
with the whole of the duties on glass (577,000l.) or the duty on candles,
conjoined with those on barilla, and olive oil, both articles used in our
manufactories.
Our readers will understand that the cases we have alluded to are
suggested chiefly for the purpose of illustration. Were our financial system
deliberately surveyed, fitter subjects for retrenchment might no doubt be
found, and taxes whose abolition would being more relief: our great
object has been to show the public how the correction of specific cases of
extravagance or profusion may be made to contribute to their relief from
specific burdens: and in this way even the smallest savings may be
connected to a useful purpose. For instance, the tax on pamphlets would
be counterbalanced by so small a saving as 1,000l., for it yielded only
983l. last year; a saving of 1,400l. would cover the duty on foreign prints;
and 11,000l. on foreign books. These two last duties produce only a
driblet to the government, and occasion much annoyance to foreigners
coming to settle in England, and to Englishmen returning home with
libraries after a residence abroad.
Sir Henry Parnell calculates that the following retrenchments
might be made in the expenditure of the country:—On Linen
Bounties, 200,000l.; on Bounties of Fisheries, 90,000l.; and Bounties
on Sugar, 100,000l. These Bounties not only do no good, but
are productive of mischief, by directing the employment of capital
in the lease advantageous modes. The expenditure for the colony
first established at Sierra Leone has failed in its object, costs
350,000l. and occasions great loss of life. Is it better that that
colony should be kept up for the uncertain protection of the
Blacks, (an object worth the expenditure, if attainable) or that a tax
which impedes the civilization of the Whites should be remitted?
The other savings which he enumerates are, on the management of
the Debt, 270,000l.; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 100,000l.; Irish
Miscellaneous Services, 150,000l.; Collection of Revenue, 650,000l.;
Military and Naval Expenditure, 2,000,000l.; Conversion of
Perpetual Annuities, 2,000,000l.—making altogether, 5,910,000l.
Besides which he suggests, that in the management of the expenditure,
and of the civil government, several hundred thousand pounds might
be saved: and by the reform of the Colonial system, at least one-
third of the present expense might be diminished. In a former
Number of the Examiner we proved, with regard to Hobart's Town,
that this country was made to pay 120,000l. a-year for the misgovernment
of a colony of 20,000 persons. The emancipation of that one
discontented colony would contribute to its moral and political
prosperity; whilst it would enable the Chancellor to dispense with
the tax, which he proposes on locomotion and interchange, in the
shape of a tax on passengers by steam-boats.
NOBILITY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER.
Mr. Editor—Many of your readers observed with pain that an eminent
and estimable artist was recently alluded to in your journal in a disrespectful
way. The extract from Dr. Paris's work mentions "Stultz, the tailor,"
as having become a baron by the purchase of land in Germany. The
truth is, that Mr. Stultz is neither a baron by creation nor by tenure; and
it is generally believed in the higher circles that, had he been ambitious
of aristocratic distinction, he might have had the extinct English barony of
Capel revived in his person. I do not assert that the offer was formally
made, but I know that a certain Swiss in high English pay did sound the
gentleman in question, and probably suggested conditions ill suited to his
honourable principles—which accounts for the failure of the negotiation.
Another mistake, and a very common one with us, is, that by acquiring
land in France or Germany, the title of nobility belonging to the fief or to
its previous possessor goes with it, or ever did so.
Being on the subject of foreign nobility, allow me to point out a strange
anomaly that has obtained in England. In Germany, France and Sweden,
|
Identifier: | JB/004/070/010 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 4.
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
1831-02-27 |
|||
|
004 |
lord brougham displayed |
||
|
070 |
|||
|
010 |
the examiner / sunday, february 27, 1831 / no. 1204 |
||
|
printed material |
8 |
||
|
recto |
(130-144) |
||
|
[[notes_public::"john fonblanques eulogium on brougham" [note in bentham's hand]]] |
1991 |
||