[ 65 ] 

 FINANCIAL REFORM. 



PARTICIPATING in that feeling of universal joy, which fills the land 

 upon the triumphant termination of the great work of Parliamentary 

 Reform ; and being solicitous to see the renovation of our system not 

 nominal only but real, substantial, and complete, we propose, in the 

 following remarks, to offer new views of the financial affairs of the 

 British empire. 



The abolition of the borough-system, and the extension of the elective 

 franchise, are only the shadow of reform ; the substance of that glorious 

 measure consisting in the diminution of the national debt; the reduction 

 of our immense naval and military establishment ; the abolition of the 

 corn laws, and all unjust restraints upon our commerce ; and, by a tax 

 upon real property, a more just apportionment of the burthens of the 

 nation. 



We propose then to consider first the national debt; intending to shew 

 that the pressure of this mountainous incumbrance upon the energies of 

 the nation may, in a single session of a vigorous reformed parliament, 

 be considerably lightened ; not by that unjust and dishonourable expe- 

 dient which is called an equitable adjustment, but by the appropriation of 

 national property, vast masses of which are immediately available. 

 There are readers who will start with dismay at the propositions we are 

 about to make ; but the same persons would, two years ago, have 

 laughed at the bare notion of abolishing fifty-six boroughs at a blow. 

 There are others who will regard our suggestions as just; for surely 

 when a sacrifice is demanded, public property must go first. 



First, the crown lands present themselves. These lands have long 

 been relinquished by the kings of England in exchange for the annual 

 civil list, and, for a century, have been shared and plundered by the 

 ministerial party in the government., in a manner so iniquitous, that 

 impeachment might probably be sustained against any surviving prime 

 minister who has claimed the right of granting leases. The Crown 

 lands ought now to be all brought to the hammer, and the department 

 of woods and forests abolished. Mr. D. W. Harvey has proved their 

 value to be upwards of seventeen millions. 



Next, we propose to abolish all the corporations of the kingdom. The 

 corporations were embodied in feudal times, to defend the infant towns 

 from the disorderly inroads of robbers and neighbouring barons. That 

 state of society has now passed away ; the corporations have degenerated 

 into a condition of electioneering subserviency to the borough-mongering 

 nobility, and are every where considered by the people an odious oppres- 

 sion. Their property ought now to be indiscriminately sold for the 

 redemption of the national debt, and their rights, tolls, and dues abolished. 

 A police, to be managed by commissioners elected by the householders of 

 the various wards, is the only mode of government, which in these days 

 is required for the various cities of the kingdom. By the sale of the pro- 

 perty of all the corporations of England, Ireland, and Scotland, including 

 that immense mass of abuse, the possessions of the city and incorporated 



M.M. New Series. VOL. XIV. No. 79. F 



