174 History of the English Landed Interest. 



The salt duty ^ was anotlier impost which told hardly on 

 the poor man. At this time salted viands formed an especial 

 feature of the winter's food. The farmers and labourers 

 counted principally on their store of bacon for a means of sub- 

 sistence during the colder months, and the salt duty increased 

 the costs of curing. By enhancing the expenses of the her- 

 ring fishery it also enabled the Dutch to undersell our dealers 

 in the foreign markets in spite of the bounty allowed on ex- 

 ported fish, and prevented the poor man storing his winter 

 larder with this excellent substitute for meat. 



We have hardly space to do more than allude to a later 

 impost — the brick and tile tax, which called forth from Sir 

 Frederick Eden animadversions on account of its bad effects 

 on the wage-earning classes,^ and from Arthur Young a vigor- 

 ous protest, because by taxing tiles the Government had placed 

 a premium upon thatch, and thus diverted a proportion of the 

 straw off some 60,000,000 acres of cultivable land, which 

 otherwise would have been converted into manure.-^ 



Lastly, all excises, whether on soap, leather, candles, or other 

 commodities, began to be considered as likely to oppress trade, 

 and raise the prices of wages and necessaries. 



When we read of objections to the national fiscal system, 

 such as those enumerated above, the way seemed already clear 

 for the doctrines of the Manchester school, and the shadow of 

 the fast approaching Free Trade agitation was already over 

 the land. In fact. Sir Matthew Decker was only a little in 

 advance of the times when he raised the standard of revolt 

 against all kinds of restrictions, monopolies, and prohibitions. 

 His object, as McCulloch has pointed out, was to give full free- 

 dom to industry. In order to effect this he proposed to aboUsh 

 the privileges of corporations, and to repeal all existing taxa- 

 tion, replacing the latter by a sj'^stem of license duties. He 

 was in thorough accord with the ideas Lord Chesterfield ex- 



* The excise was levied on imported salt in 1693, that on native salt 

 in 1698, which was added to in 1 709 by a duty of 9s. per ton on rock salt 

 exported to Ireland. 



^ History of the Poor, vol. i. ch. i. p. 77. Sir F. Eden. 



^ Annals of Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 314. 1784. 



