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we had no right to interfere with the government of the nabobs of Oude, except, when our assistance was specially demanded for that purpose, I shall add a few observations from Mr. Brand's work, to demonstrate the absurdity of such an assertion.

And first, with regard to the nabobs rights abstractedly taken; "Prescription," says Mr. Brand, "cannot be pleaded by, or for, an individual holding the government of a country in such a manner; whether the usurpation were his own act, that of his father, or grandfather. The better emotions and affections of mankind, are not to be appealed to by a fiction, that such fraudulent occupiers of dominion are princes by prescription and by real covenant, of which they have broken the great condition on their parts, their right is none. And this was the only right the individual whom we call the nabob of Oude could possess, when we placed him on the musnud. And the only rights he possessed, with respect to us, were defined by our compacts with him. The qualifications and style he is suffered to take in these treaties, are the complimentary forms of diplomacy only, with no binding sense annexed to them. The practice of admitting such forms has been carried somewhat further in Europe:in Cromwell's treaty with France, the style he took was, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, protector. And the king of France, in his treaties with Spain, always styled himself king of Navarre. But the most singular instance to be found, . is, in all the treaties between this country and France, previous to the last, where, in one of the two instruments, the king of Great Britain constantly styled himself king of France also."

Such being the situation of the nabobs of Oude, as defined by the general law of nations," it is evident, as Mr. Brand observes, that the dependant prince could not be placed on the throne, and supported thereon by the greater power, without it had been able to conquer the state for him, the people not being attached to him and the army hostile. His elevation is, in effect, conquest, achieved by its arms, or by the terror of its arms. It was in its power to assume the government; instead whereof it appoints a sovereign. But it is under an obligation to see, that, at least, the people should be placed in as good a situation under such a prince, as they ought to have been under a conqueror. And Montesquieu has extremely well determined, what would be due to the subjects of such a principality.

"A conquest, he observes, is an acquisition, and we acquire to preserve and use, not to destroy: the spirit of acquisition carries with it the spirit of conservation and use, not that of destruction.-The conqueror continues to govern the state according to its former laws, and only assumes the exercise of the political and civil government; or he gives to both a new form.*

"States," that writer further affirms, "that are conquered, are not ordinarily such as preserve their primitive institutions in full force. Corruption has introduced itself into them: laws have ceased to be executed, and government itself has become an oppressor. Who can doubt that such a state might not be a gainer by conquest itself. A state in the situation described might be rendered a great gainer thereby. It is the duty of the protecting state to see, that their beneficiary realises to it every advantage that it would have obtained from a beneficent and enlightened conqueror; and not to suffer its situation to be continued worse than its own conquest should have rendered it."

This argument is illustrated in another place, in a manner still more happy; Nations," it is remarked," are individuals with respect to each other, and are capable of many of those mutual relations in which individuals may stand: there is a relation in common life, in every point, exactly similar to that of the two states here described; both in its origin, and the duties and rights of the superior power arising out of it, which regard the government and the people of the inferior state. although that relation be artificial, and of legal origin, yet it is the closest possible copy, struck out by necessity, of one of the two strongest natural relations, that of parent and child. That of the superior power, and of the government and people of the other state, as above defined, precisely in every particular, coincides with

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and that this appeared the only radical cure that could be devised for evils, become inveterate by long habit, as even giving the present agents of government every credit for the purity of their intentions, the old traders in the West Indies would always prove an over match for the new men sent out by his majesty's ministers, as was shewn by a very recent and very glaring example. It was farther urged, as an objection to the old system, that there were but two merchants in the West Indies, who possessed sufficient capital to undertake engagements of this nature; and that a very good understanding, cemented by common interest, might naturally be supposed to exist among those few, in their transactions with government. In favour of the new system it was represented, that these contracts, instead of being confined to a few individuals who surround the commissary general, would be thrown open to the whole mercantile interest, both of Great Britain and the West Indies; and thus a system of competition be substituted for a system of combination: that government might either retain an assistant commissary at each island to receive and inspect the provisions, or confine those officers altogether to the commanding officer, and the quarter-master of each garrison, and save a great proportion of the immense expence that now attends the establishment of the commissary's department: that government would be freed from the risk of damaged provisions, with the loss arising from the leakage of rum; and thus the expence of supplying the troops in the West Indies, which now can never be ascertained, would be reduced to an absolute certainty and that, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, no more commissioners would be wanted to examine into the accounts and abuses of the commissariat, for every thing being bought and paid for at home, there would be no accounts, and consequently could be no abuses abroad.

His majesty's present ministers having duly weighed this plan, approved and adopted it, as may be seen by the tenders advertised by the victualling board. But, sir, would you believe it, the same plan had long before been recommended to his ma jesty's late ministers, by whom also it was approved, but never adopted.

This fact may serve to explain, what has excited much surprize, as well as disappointment, that the conduct of the late ministry fell so far short of the public expectation. Many of them, individually, were certainly men of talents; but collectively, as an administration, they did nothing worthy of their characters. If they really possessed all the talents of the nation, as they either arrogated to themselves, or as their friends arrogated for them; like the unprofitable servant, "they wrapped them up in a napkin." It seldom happens, that very brilliant and very useful quali ties, are united in the same persons; and this observation may with peculiar propriety be applied to them, for they were omnipotent in theory, but impotent in practice; great talkers, but little doers. We frequently observe, that men of shining parts are the worst managers of their own affaifs; this seems to have been their case in managing the affairs of the nation. The great inaptitude of the late ministry, for their public situations, independent of that want of mutual confidence and cooperation, which necessarily resulted from the discordant parts of which they were composed, appears to me to have been that they were not what is termed men of business; a character which requires application and method, as well as understanding. Notwithstanding all the cry of reform which they set up while in opposition, among all the ways and means brought forward by their chancellor of the exchequer, not a single shilling was taken credit for, derived from any saving in the public expenditure; but, on the contrary, they created and distributed among their friends, more new appointments than ever were given away by any administration before them. They suffered the corn and the tares to grow up together, by permitting abuses to continue, and appointing their partizans to investigate them, instead of era dicating the abuses, and rendering those appointments unnecessary.

These remarks, illustrated by the difference of their conduct under the same cir cumstances, will stamp the character of the two administrations; to whom we may justly apply the observation made upon the two great rival states of Greece: "T Athenians understand what is right, but the Lacedemonians practise it." CIVIS.

Nov. 25, 1807:

ON THE REGULATION AND EXTENSION OF EXISTING TAXES

Sir,-At a period when there is so great a probability of some of our usual resources falling short, by reason of the temporary inconvenience sustained by our trade, it will, perhaps, become the necessary, though painful, duty of parliament, to raise additioual taxes upon that part of the community, whose means are unimpaired, though their share of the public burthens is so considerable. But before that is done, surely it is the duty of those to whose care the finances of the country are confided, to inquire, whether the present taxes are equally borne; or, whether they do not admit of regulations which might much increase their produce, without affecting any but those who made them. Conceiving too, that it is the duty of every man to communicate any experience or information he may possess, towards the attainment of such an object; I shall beg leave, through the medium of your Review, to lay before ministers, and the public, such hints and observations as occur to me upon the subject.

The first head to which I would draw their attention is the assessed taxes, of which I believe it would not be beyond the truth to say, that there is an evasion to the amount of at least one tenth, or 700,000l. per annum. This defalcation principally arises under the heads of house tax, horses and dogs: the first by the rental of of houses being taken much below the real value. Indeed, in many parts of the kingdom, it is considered a mere nominal tax; and while houses, in the metropolis, are rated to the full rent, and, in many instances, above it, you will, in the country, find houses worth, or letting at, from 50l. to 100l. a year, rated at only 51. That this inequality is unjust, needs not a moment's demonstration; and that it ought to be remedied with as little grievance to the subject as may be. This, I think, might be done, (as well as the produce of the window tax considerably augmented) by making a return of the real rent or value, and the number of windows of a house, as imperative upon the occupier as the present return of other articles.

The deficiency, under the head of horses and dogs, is enormous: it attaches to every species of owners of them; but more especially to that class of the community who complain most loudly of the taxes, only because they pay the least towards them; I mean the farmers. One of these persons, for instance, will keep his hunter, one or two market hacks, his pointers and spaniels; yet he will pay for only one horse and one dog; omitting the second (and sometimes third) horse, the other dogs, the game license, and the servant.-That is, he pays in the proportion of about three to twelve. He is himself, perhaps, the assessor; or a brother farmer is; and to cheat the king, as they call it, is considered perfectly fair and honest.

The next head of defalcation to which I would bespeak the public attention is, that of malt. The high and impolitic tax upon this article, while it goes so far to poison and reduce the staple beverage of the kingdom, holds out a temptation to fraud not to be resisted; and, therefore, though convictions are constantly taking place, and very heavy penalties inflicted, yet frauds still go on; and though they never will be effectually crushed till the duty is reduced, yet I have no doubt that they would be more checked than they are at present, by punishing the connivance of the exciseman, and thwarting that connivance by a more frequent change of officers from place to place for it is notorious to persons used to malting countries, that a regular system of bribery is carried on to the detriment of the revenue; and that the exciseman is constantly neglecting his duty, and winking at frauds which he is paid for preventing. An exciseman, for instance, whose district consists of a town and its neighbourhood, will, perhaps, visit the malthouses in the town daily, while those in the suburbs, some of them, perhaps not half a mile distant, he will visit only once, or, at most, twice a week, leaving an interval which allows the malster to run nearly or quite as much malt as he pays duty for, to the great injury of the revenue, as well as of the fair trader.

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Another regulation, which I should venture to propose, would be an extension of the stamp duties, as they regard the bank and country bankers. As to the former, it is to be hoped, that the late report of the finance committee will lead to some regu lations which will go to give to the public at large some share in the immense bonuses and dividends now enjoyed at the expense of the public, by the proprietors of bank stock; one of which I hope will be the actual stamp duty, to be paid on all notes of

the bank of England, and their powers of attorney, in lieu of their present compositions of, I believe, 8,000l. per annum. Of country bankers it is hardly necessary to say, that no race of men has profited more by the public, or paid less: and, indeed, something like a general call has, for some time, been made by the country for a larger contribution, from these gentlemen to the public burthens. It has been suggested, that this should be attained in the shape of an annual licence. This, however, could not be very productive; at the same time that it may be doubted, whether the licencing system is quite congenial with freedom and a free trade. At all events, it is high time to do away the exemptions and indulgences enjoyed by these persons. Of this description is, I think, the very unnecessary indulgence afforded to them in the power of re-issuing their notes, which, at present, they can do as long as the paper will hold together, and sometimes after that) without reference to the date: so that a country banker will repeatedly, in the course of one, two, three, four, five, or more years, re-issue the same note, (every time a new one as regards his advantage from it) but only paying one stamp duty, and that, comparatively a very small one, to the public. Upon the whole, I have no doubt but that an immediate doubling of the stamp duties upon country bank notes, and a prohibition against re-issuing them, would produce a large revenue with very general satisfaction. Under this head should likewise be noticed the practice of London bankers, suffering their country customers to draw upon unstainped drafts,- -a gross and considerable fraud upon the revenue; but which I am at a loss to suggest any means of suppressing.

The receipt tax, while one of the fairest and least burthensome measures of finance, is notoriously the least productive;--perhaps not to above one-third of its proper amount. I am aware that this is one of the taxes most difficult to enforce. As one means of extending it, however, I think a regulation might be adopted, compelling all persons in trade to take out, annually, a certain number of stamps, returning the overplus upon oath at the end of the year.

But while I am pointing out so many of the taxes which appear to be principally evaded in the country, I am perfectly aware, that it is in cities, and large towns, especially in this metropolis, that many of the existing taxes are most evaded. That the property tax, that great and increasing source of our revenue, by which we are enabled to make such sacrifices to posterity, by raising so large a portion of the supplies within the year, is unequally borne by the mercantile interests, is too generally known, and admitted, to require any proof. Year after year do the assessments on Janded property increase, while many of the wealthy merchants of the metropolis, and other places, taking advantage of the sanctity shewn to their concerns, contrive to elude a very great proportion of their part of the burthen; while, even the part which they do bear is generally thrown upon the consumer, so that it may almost be said, that the property tax is to persons in trade no burthen at all. It is likewise in London, and other great towns, that a great defalcation takes place in several of the assessed taxes, on account of the difficulty of discovering and tracing persons who are occasional lodgers, or have no settled residence.

Many other evasions, some of a serious, others of a subordinate nature, might be pointed out but without pursuing these particulars any further, I apprehend enough has been said to shew that there is a very great falling off in many of the existing taxes, and one which, for the sake of equality and justice, calls for a speedy and decisive correction. Whether the bill submitted by Mr. Perceval, to the House of Commons, towards the end of the last sessions (the principal feature of which is to increase the number and powers of surveyors and inspectors, and retrench those of the commissioners of taxes) will effect this desirable end, with regard to the as-sessed taxes, I think admits of considerable doubt. There is no class of men in the community, more useful and honourable, and to whom the public service is more indebted, than gentlemen who take upon themselves to act as magistrates, deputylieutenants, and commissioners of taxes. Independently of the troublesome, odious, and gratuitous nature of their services, their rank and situation in the country, do more to reconcile men's minds to the harsh provisions of the law, than the whole power of government could otherwise effect; and I, therefore, am persuaded, that any diminution of the power and respectability of this class of men would not only fai

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of promoting, but would tend very much to deteriorate from it. As to the other point, the increasing the number of surveyors and inspectors, and an enlargement of their powers, it would, most likely, in some measure, answer the purpose; but I fear at the expense of much disgust and oppression among the people. In none of its proceedings should parliament lose sight of that principle of individual freedoni, which is the inherent birthright of Englishmen; and upon the existence and preservation of which fas arisen, and can alone continue, our national happiness and superiority. It is the duty, therefore, of ministers, who propose taxes, and of parliament which enacts them, not merely to consider whether any particular regulation will effectuate its object, but whether it can be brought about by means reconcileable with the spirit of our free constitution. If, for instance, an act were passed, requiring every man, once a year, to assemble at the vestry of his parish, and there give in, upon oath, a return of all the taxes he was liable to; there is no doubt but such a step, while it opened a door to a dreadful scene of perjury, would, for a time, greatly increase the taxes; but it would be at an expense which the whole taxation of the kingdom would not repay; for it would violate every feeling of honest independence, and do more to alienate men's minds from a love of their country than almost any other means which could be devised. As, therefore, the proposed extension of inspectors must necessarily be of an odious nature, I think it should first be shewn, that their present powers, and those of government, and of the commissioners of taxes, have proved ineffectual. For my own part, I am induced to think, that if recourse were had to the penalties now applicable, and if, by means of them, some striking examples were made of fraudulent returns by individuals, and of gross negligence and connivance ou the part of assessors and inspectors, that a remedy would be found without any new or odious enactments. At all events, any encroachi ment upon the powers and respectability of the commissioners ought, on all accounts, to be deprecated. It is very much a question, whether the inquisitorial powers of taxation have not been already carried far enough: but I am sure they will be carried too far, if, instead of being executed through the gratuitous medium of independent persons having common feelings with the public, they are to devolve wholly upon hired mercenary informers.

I am far, Sir, from meaning to offer any of these remarks in a peremptory dictatorial manner, but, on the contrary, shall be happy to stand corrected on all or any of these points, to which you or your readers may see objections.

London, Nov. 23, 1807.

I am, Sir, &c.

A PAYER OF TAXES.

BUENOS AYRES.

Mr. Editor,-We are indeed curious to know the collateral circumstances which could possibly have induced general Whitelocke to make the sacrifice of so many valuable and tried soldiers, and the dearer honours of their survivors. His own dispatches tell "the knowledge he had obtained, that the enemy meant to occupy the flat roofs of the houses, gave rise to the following plan of attack," viz. "the musquets were to be unloaded, the men not to fire."

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Before the troops sailed from Monte Video, mortars, with a sufficiency of shells, as well as ammunition, for a very considerable train of heavy artillery, had been put on board, expressly for the purpose of being employed against Buenos Ayres; and, by continued fatigue, parties from among the troops, who formed that expedition, were naturally led to enquire why their labour was entirely useless, and what motives could have so fatally changed the plan of attack? Surely, shells and twentyfour-pound shot would have been more efficacious than bayonets against stone-houses. Added to this, the position of the British troops was such as to exclude the entrance of sufficient provisions into the town, and, by a little extension to the left, they might have entirely blockaded it. They had also reason to believe the natives by no means prepared to undergo restraint, or suffer hunger; most probably a very few days would have brought their capitulation. During this interval the suburbs would have afforded abundance of provisions and spirits for our army. Mark the event!

From the detached order of march, and the distance intervening between each bri gade of the British army, general Liniers had persuaded his fearful soldiers that their

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