No very iiiaieiiul ohan<5e took place Iq our 

 taxation iroui that tiino until 1865, when the 

 American Treaty ceased, aflordin^the Government 

 a pretense for again taxing the food of the people 

 to the extent of upwards of forty thousand pounds, 

 AS I am credibly informed ; and this, too, was 

 done when the utmost distress, and in many cases 

 even destitution, existed ; and tliis year they have 

 imposed an additional duty on manufactured goods 

 of nearly fifty per cent upon what had been pre- 

 viously paid ! 



Notwithstanding this monstrous increase of tax- 

 ation, the debt of the Colony still goes on expand- 

 ing, and the Government, in its rapacity, (it is 

 further publicly stated, and enunciated by the 

 Government Press,) contemplate imposing an ad- 

 ditional amount of taxation ! 



How much longer docs the Government think 

 that the people will peaceably bear and submit to 

 their prodigal, reckless, and imbecile management 

 of the public affairs ? 



There is a large quantity of senseless twadde 

 introduced by the Editor into the subject of his edi- 

 torial, which, I am quite sure, he would not ex- 

 pecc me to notice otherwise than T have done — ali 

 intended, no doubt, to bewilder the unreflecting 

 among his readers, and to make them believe that 

 there is no hope for them out of the present tem- 

 porary distress of the Colony unless they go into 

 Confederation. 



I have, however, a few more words to say upon 

 this subject of *' Confederation," and which I will 

 give to the public all in good time. 



C. F. BExXXETT. 



St, John's, JSov. 14///, 1868. 



