7028 
dent and ale advocate of demecratic phi- 
lofopliy. In tracing the caufes which led 
to the fubverfion of the papal throne, the 
author pref-nts us with a very {pirited 
defcripiion of the Roman government, 
and the manners and morals of the Ro- 
‘man people: he confiders the overthrow 
to have been precipitated by the timid 
mndecifive meafures of the court. But 
whatever c nje€tures may be hazarded as 
to the immediate caufes of this memora- 
ble event, we are of opinion with the 
hiftoric writer of the New Annual Re- 
gifter, whofe words on this occafion we 
thall take the liberty of quoting, that 
“ the primary caufe is undoubtedly the 
progrefs of knowledge, the fteady fee 
both. of religious and civil defpotifm ; 
and which, unlike that revolutionary fana- 
ticifm, which borrows its name, and deals 
alike its fury on truth and error, makes 
even its enemies the inftruments of good.” 
This latter author places in the lift of fe- 
condary caufes the abolition of the Je- 
fuits ; which order, he ftyles, in a tone of 
animation, the nooility of the papal mon- 
archy, the pretorian guard of us fpiri- 
tual defpotifm. The character of the 
holy pontiff, Pius VI. is drawn by our 
memorial:fi with a {pirited but hafty hand. 
Many of his qualities are allowed to have 
been brilliant; his capacity is acknowledg- 
ed to have been confiderable ; his man- 
hers at once noble and prepofielfing, and 
his tafte for the arts to have been tolerably 
correct. His ruling paifion was an excef- 
five love of fame, which, in the charac- 
ter.of the unfortunate pope, is faid to have 
devenerated into pueriie vanity : it feems 
not a little unfair, however, to attribute 
the various {plendid aéts of public utility 
which were induftriouly purfued im the 
pontificate of Pius to fo very mean a mo- 
tive as the gratification of his vamity : the 
conftant pretector and munificent patron 
of the fine arts 1s nor to be rathly cenfuy- 
ed; and he who feeks to immortalife his 
mame by deeds of no lefs arduoufnefs and 
utility than ehe draining of the Pontine 
marfhes is amply entitled to the gratitude 
of pofterity. . ie 
From Hiftory we proceed to notice the 
few publications which have appeared on 
the fubjctt of 2 
FINANCES 
Mr. Pirr’s Income Bill has provoked 
confiderable inveftigation, and direéted the 
public attention to the ftate of the reve- 
nue, and the ability of the people to re- 
plenifh an exhaufled treafury. In our 
faft Retrofpect we noticed feveral pam- 
prlets on the fubjeét of this calamtious 
Retrofpedt of Domeyiie Literature... Finance, 
affeffment, and we perceive that fome 
others yet remain to be mentioned. 
The Rev. Mr. BEEKE has publithed the 
firft part of his ‘“‘.Obfervations on the Proe . 
duce of the Income Tax, and on its propor- 
- tion to the whole Income of Great Britain, 
&c.”’ Mr, Pitt has not, that we remem- 
ber,even by his bittereft ememies, been 
accufed of depreciating the refources of 
the nation.’ Lhe author. of the prefent 
publication, however, who certainly is a 
warm friend of the minifter, contends, 
that his eftimate falls far fhort of the real 
income of thecountry; the population of © 
which, moreover, exceeds every calcula- — 
tion which has been yet made. From Mr. 
Beeke’s own data, however, it appears, 
that the income-tax, which poffibly, he 
thinks, may -not produce more than 
6,500,00el. certainly cannot produce more 
than another million in addition to that~ 
fum.. ‘ 
An anonymous writer-has given us 
an * Eftimate of the Produce on the 
Tax upon Income, with a few Gbferva- 
tions on the Impolicy of the Meafure.” 
The -net produce of this tax, according to 
a calculation, whofe bafissis the account 
delivered to the houfe of commons of 
the number of perfons paying affeffed 
taxes, divided into claffes according to the 
amount from fix fhillings to 46ol. and up- 
wards annually, cannot exceed’6,279,2221, 
One obfervation our author makes, which 
ought to be deeply impreffed on the mind 
of every individual : it is of a moft omi- 
nous and important nature, namely, that 
the wart m which we are now engaged, in 
the year 1396, demanded an expenditure 
nearly equal to the whole income of the 
nation ! 
One of the commiufioners for exe- 
cuting 
‘‘ Thoughts on Taxation, with fome 
Suggeftions relative to the Means of raif- 
ing Supplies for.the prefent Year.”’ The 
ingenious author of this pamphlet has laid 
down the following principles of taxa- 
sion, namely, that all taxes fhould be 
productive, optional, equal, eafy of col- 
leGiion, invariable, and not on indufiry, 
_ manutadtre, or expertation.. He has fus- 
Z ’ § 
gefted for adoption a few taxes, in which 
are united thefe feveral effentials. 
An author, who boafts of his indepen- 
dency om minifters, and of his difunion with 
every public office, has gives us what he 
‘confiders to be ‘* Tefts of the National 
Wealth and Finance of Great Britain in 
December 798.’ The ftatements in this 
traét are intended te fhow that the opu- 
lence of this country has, fince the Ame- 
rican 
ra 
the late aéts has publithed, 
=. ae ee 
