J 26 Defence of Non- Residents. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



ALTHOUGH I generally agree, 

 both in sentiment and opinion, 

 with your correspondent Common 

 Sense, I nevertheless believe he is 

 mistaken in attributing the present 

 domestic miseries of the country to 

 " the circumstance of taxes and rents 

 being collected in one place, and spent 

 and accumulated in another," as 

 stated by him in your Number for 

 December. 



The first step towards finding the 

 remedy for an evil being correctly to 

 ascertain the cause, it is of essential 

 importance that the one under present 

 consideration should be traced to its 

 source ; for, unless this be done, and 

 an adequate remedy applied, it is 

 more than probable that the present 

 severe distress will increase, until it 

 lead to consequences which no reflect- 

 ing mind can contemplate with com- 

 posure. 



In endeavouring to controvert the 

 above-mentioned opinion of Common 

 Sense, it will be necessary for me, in 

 tlie first instance, to confine myself to 

 that class of the receivers of taxes and 

 rents who reside in this country, or 

 rather in London and its neighbour- 

 hood ; for, if I understand the mean- 

 ing of Common Sense, if they were 

 scattered over the country at large, 

 the present misery would not exist. 

 With regard, then, to this class of in- 

 dividuals, I hold it to be perfectly 

 immaterial to the interest, both of the 

 agriculturist and manufacturer, whe- 

 ther they continue to reside in and 

 near London, or are dispersed as 

 above mentioned ; and that the total 

 amount of the currency of the country 

 will in both cases be the same, seeing 

 that in both instances they will con- 

 sume the same quantity both of agri- 

 cultural produce and of manufactured 

 good»; that their supply will be dravra 

 from the same source, and the same 

 amount paid for it; the only differ- 

 ence being, that in one case the con- 

 sumer will have to pay the expense of 

 the carriage of it to London, and not 

 in the other. 



I consider this to be a conclusive 

 argument on the subject, as .far as this 

 class of persons is concerned : I will 

 not, therefore, notice them further se- 

 parately, but will proceed to the other 

 class, that is, those rent and lax re- 

 ceivers who reside abroad. I will 

 allow that their living there is injurious 



■Tax- Receivers. [March I, 



to this country, inasmuch as it causes 

 the weight of taxation to fall heavier 

 on the diminished number remaining 

 at home to bear it : but the natural re- 

 medy for this injury is not, as Com- 

 mon Sense proposes, to tax the absen- 

 tees heavily, or at all ;* but to render 

 this country as cheap, or nearly so, as 

 the others of Europe, for them to re- 

 side in. 



I have travelled in five or six coun- 

 tries on the Continent ; and, as far as 

 my own observation goes, and as far 

 as I can judge from conversation with 

 my countrymen who reside there, I 

 have no hesitation in saying, that, if 

 this were effected, their great induce- 

 ment to a foreign residence would be 

 removed, and we sliould have no 

 cause of complaint on this head ; and 

 it is with great satisfaction that I 

 believe the accomplishment of this 

 desirable object is now in progress, 

 and will, at no very distant period, be 

 completed. 



However, to return more immedi- 

 ately to my subject. Common Sense 

 appears to be aware that diminished 

 prices are the immediate cause of the 

 evil in question, and that these are 

 occasioned by the diminution of the 

 amount of the currency or circulating 

 medium of the country: but he does 

 not explain to us how the payment of 

 taxes and rents to non-residents can 

 produce the effect of diminishing this 

 amount. None of these individuals 

 consume the money they receive ; and, 

 although the value of the whole of the 

 exports of this country must be as 

 much greater than it otherwise would 

 be, when compared with that of the 

 imports, as the amount which these 

 non-residents spend out of the coun- 

 try ; yet this diflerence is not transmit- 

 ted 



* Our correj-pondent does not consider 

 the practical operation, and does not ap- 

 pear to have read the previous papers of 

 (.'ommon Sense. The prices in the local 

 markets depend on the circulation at tlie 

 spot. This diminished, that is diminished. 

 Again, the price in a thousand local mar- 

 kels governs that of the metropolis, and 

 depreciation becomes general. The re- 

 medy is to confer ubiquity on the expendi- 

 ture, and either compel the receivers of 

 the taxes to re-spend on the spot, or, what 

 is the same thing, to borrow of them, as a 

 public loan, an equal amount, and spend 

 it through the country by the agency of 

 contractors. The means are the same, un- 

 der different forms, though the latter is 

 followed by ruinous obligations.— EnixoR. 



