146 COMMUTATION OF TAXES. 



we can go no farther. Having admitted, on the plea of expediency, 

 that the monied interest, in times of emergency, should be chosen 

 for taxation as well as the landed proprietors, we should strenuously 

 oppose, on the same policy, any burthen being placed on the trade or 

 industry of the country ; and we conceive that the subject maybe 

 well argued, on the principle that, as the landed interest enjoys the 

 privileges, ergo, it should bear a large proportion of the burthens of 

 the state ; and as the monied interest requires a large share of pro- 

 tection, it could adduce, perhaps, no substantial reason why it should 

 not contribute towards the means by which that security is effected. 

 But what argument is there by which commerce or industry could be 

 brought under the ban of taxation ? Is money engaged in trade se- 

 cured by any of those fixed and expensive statutes which protect the 

 landed or money properties ? Is not the law of debtor and creditor 

 more a contract between parties than a guarantee of the state ? Are 

 the expenses of Westminster-hall and the Court of Chancery kept up 

 for these purposes, or are they guarantees to perpetuate the security 

 of what is termed the real property of the country ? 



Having shewn that there would be justice in taxing fixed incomes, 

 in preference to unsettled trade or professional transactions, let us 

 see whether it would be expedient to cast an additional weight on 

 the commerce of the country. Any man who embarks a capital in 

 trade, supports, by that capital, not only himself, but numerous 

 persons in the various offices of assistants, clerks, or artificers, so that 

 an amount of five thousand pounds thus engaged, will most probably 

 give employment to twenty persons, thus making a trade investment 

 of money the most beneficial to the country in the proportion of 

 twenty to one. It is this description of capital that has given this 

 country such a superiority in every respect of commerce over other 

 nations. For, notwithstanding our heavy taxation, English goods 

 maintain their sale in the foreign markets ; because, by the immense 

 capital that we have in trade, we are enabled to purchase raw mate- 

 rials at the lowest price, and to manufacture them with that superi- 

 ority which is so apparent and desirable when placed in competition 

 with foreign merchandize. Under such circumstances, does it admit 

 of a doubt that the wisest policy would be to relieve this portion of 

 our national wealth as much as possible, with a view to its extension ? 

 And if it has been shewn that the prosperity of trade will flow into 

 all the other channels of society, why, surely, trade must be the 

 fundamental point upon which a reduced system of demand should 

 commence. 



We do not think that the amount required to be reduced from 

 our present taxation, in order to bring about a change to low prices, 

 would be so large as many imagine ; and if ten millions would influ- 

 ence the markets, as we believe it would, such an amount may be 

 provided for without difficulty or inconvenience. It would be a fal- 

 lacy, in making a provision of this sort, to call for a property tax on 

 income above five per cent j because in that case, landlords would 

 exact it from their tenants. But if, by an arrangement for remitting 

 taxation, we can offer the landed interest a bonus for what is re- 

 quired from them, by giving back the malt duty of 4,500,000, in 



