cousin John forming the tail of the maggot: hence it is that these and their like, never forgetting ANNA BRODIE, who is at the head of the whole crew; hence it is, that they are always looking out The subjects here mentioned are of the MANCHESTER GUARDIAN; of great interest to us all; and I that white-livered looking fellow trust that the remarks which I am CUNLIFF, of the BOLTON EXabout to make upon these subjects, PRESS; that despicable hireling, will tend to excite hope in your who appears to be more fool than breasts, of seeing better days than knave, who conducts the PRESTON those which we now see, and that PILOT; that great full-pursed and we have seen for some years past. empty-skulled fellow, BAINES, of You must have perceived, that the LEEDS MERCURY; that most there is one description of persons, sublime ass (I forget his name), who, while they do not like to who conducts the SHEFFIELD pay taxes themselves, like ex- IRIS; that reptile of all reptiles tremely well to grind the working BOTT SMITH, of Liverpool, with classes to powder. These persons are extremely puzzled at this time. They would fain hope to be able to shift off the taxes from themselves, and yet to keep the hellish boroughmonger system afloat. One of the sources of de- for the "Quarter's Revenue"; that lusive hope is, that the amount of old battered humbug, by which the revenue, that is to say, the the people of England have been amount of the Government taxes, deceived and robbed for the last is a criterion whereby to judge of hundred and thirty years. ADDIthe prosperity of the nation. In sox, the author of that wishyother words, it is supposed that the nation is well off in proportion as its taxes are great. The taxes are looked upon as the nation's income. And as individuals are well off in proportion to the amount of their income, so it is presumed that the nation must be well off, in proportion to the amount of its income. Hence the stupid creatures, such as that great conceited coxcomb, TAYLOR, washy tittle-tattle stuff, the SPECTATOR, was the first, or thereabouts, who began to cheat this nation by humbug stuff about "public credit” and “revenue.” I beg you, my good friends, to have a little patience with me, while I expose this humbug. You want to know the truth; you do not want to be cajoled and cheated; you do not want to be humbugged: let the aristocrats and pre the parsons humbug themselves, this, they begin to bellow forth: if they like: let us find out the" Ah! all is right, at last! All is ruth, and when we have found it," sound at bottom! The nation's let us adhere to it. resources are unimpaired." No matter what distress may be vailing: there may be bankruptcies and insolvencies twice as numerous as ever were known before; there may be beggary and ruin and pauperism two or three times as great as ever were known before; yet, if the "Quarter's Revenue" does but keep up, all is right; and the nation is in a state of PROSPERITY, though it be notorious that millions upon. millions are suffering from hunger and nakedness. The revenue means the aggregate or total amount of the money which the Government collects from the people in taxes. It makes up an account of these collections once in a quarter of a year; and it permits its clerks or somebody else, to publish this account; and, at the same time, to publish an account of the revenue in the corresponding quarter of the last year. For instance, April, May and June, make a quarter: so that, early in last month, an account of that quarter was pub- Strange infatuation! Infatua lished, accompanied with an action which never could have existed count of the receipts, or revenue had it not been for the three hun-` for the months of April, May and dred and fifty brutes of the Press; June, in 1825. This is called the that at once most infamous and Quarter's Revenue," and if the most stupid Press; conducted, quarter of this year be equal to with few exceptions, by men that the quarter of last year, then the have long ago merited the gallows, newspaper brutes, above mention- if the gallows could be employed ed; and, in short, the whole of to punish that species of moral the three hundred newspaper baseness, which, in real turpitude, brutes all over the kingdom, with in real wickedness and hellishabout fifty more brutes that con-ness, far surpasses almost any duet Magazines and Reviews; felony. this enormous bevy of brutes, the Now, my friends of BLACK moment they discover that the BURN, pray take a look at this quarter of this year is equal to matter: see how these newspaper the quarter of last year; the mo- brutes deceive themselves; see ment the noisy brutes discover how they sophisticate the under their meaning; and this is the case in the instance before us. The affairs of a nation are too vast and too complicated for their minds. They, therefore, in speaking of such affairs, proceed upon the notions which they, in common with other men, entertain with regard to the affairs of individuals; and now please to mark what I say, as an individual is well off in proportion to the amount of his income e; standings which God has given of his tail. An error, next of kin them, and how they bewilder their to this, is to take a false object of readers; how they make a sort of comparison, in order to explain half fools of the whole nation. It is not enough to know that they are wrong; that they deceive themselves; it is necessary, or, at least, it is matter of curiosity, to see how it is that they deceive themselves. When the boroughmongers were in the height of their exultation, after the passing of Peel's Bill, I, in observing upon that insolent and stupid exultation, said that it was a great satisfaction to perceive the manner in which that is to say, as an individual is those base tyrants had deceived better off this year than he was themselves. They thought that last year, if he get more rent this PEEL'S Bill would lower the price year than he got last; as this is of corn only about three shillings the case with an individual, it and sixpence in every five pounds, must also be the case with a nabecause, said they, that is the tion, which must be better off this proportionate difference between year than it was last year, if its the value of paper and of gold at revenue this year be greater than this moment. "Oh! ho!" said I, it was last! in my letter from Long Island, of Alas! my good friends of the 1st of August, 1819. "Oh! BLACKBURN, these brutes do not ho!" said I, "that is your hope, is perceive, that, in the case of the "it! Then I can tell you, Gen-individual, the rent is so much "tle Boroughmongers, that your money that comes into his pocket; "devil deceives you; and that, and that, in the case of the na"like all others that sell them- tion, or people, the revenue is "selves to the devil, you will, by so much that is taken out of "and by, find yourselves cheated their pocket; and that, as the in"out of your souls, and see the dividual is better off on account "devil laugh at you." of his increase of rent, so the nation must be worse off on account of its increase of revenue! This is as clear as day-light to any man of common sense; and if we were to adopt the contrary notion, we should be adopting this monstrous doctrine, that the more a people were taxed, the better that people would be off, which is monstrous beyond any thing that ever was heard of in the world. Just so, my good friends of BLACKBURN, with regard to this famous humbug, the "Quarter's Revenue." And now, let us see how the newspaper brutes and the Boroughmongers deceive themselves, with regard to this affair. One of the commonest errors of shallow heads, that are muddy at the same time, is to take one thing for another; to suppose that they have got hold of the bull's horn, when they have actually got hold But, though this notion would be so monstrous, it does not follow that it would be so monstrous as ground is there for supposing, to believe that the Government that the Revenue must fall off, as taxes would fall off, in proportion the Rents fall off? to the falling off in the profits of Now, my opinion is, that rents trade and of farming. When may all cease to be paid; that every thing falls in price; when Merchants and Manufacturers cotton cloth, for instance, is sold may get no profits at all upon for sixpence a yard instead of their business; that Tradesmen two shillings; when wheat is sold and Shopkeepers may be made for four shillings a bushel in place so poor as to be hardly able to of ten; when the rent of a farin smell a bit of meat, once a month; falls from a hundred pounds a and that the Working People year to thirty; when this is the may be reduced to the lowest case, it seems, at first sight, im- possible state of misery; and possible that the Government can that, notwithstanding all this, the collect the same quantity of taxes. Government may be able to colThe thing has this appearance, at lect as much money in taxes durfirst sight; but, if we look closer ing the year, as it collected beinto the matter, we shall find, that fore this ruin and misery began ; the Government may go on col- and that the Royal Family, the lecting taxes to the full amount Ministers, all the Officers and heretofore collected; that it may Soldiers, all the Officers and go on without any impediment in Sailors, all the Tax-gatherers, all the world, if it have but sufficient the Pensioners, Placemen, Sinephysical force to compel the curists, Grantees, Police people, people to pay direct taxes; and, Jailers, and all Tax-eaters of that, as to the indirect taxes, they every description, not forgetting would be likely to increase rather the Fundholders, the Dead Weight than diminish by the falling off of holders, all the paper-money peoprofits on farming and of trade. ple; that all these and their wives This is a capital consideration, and children and footmen and my good friends, of Blackburn; ladies' maids, and all the people for, if it be true that the Govern- dependant upon them, may be ment can continue to raise as living in the most riotous luxury, much money in taxes, when the while the Weaver and the LaNation is starving, or, at any bourer are half-starved, while the rate, when Landlords and Mer- Master Manufacturer is a poor chants are ruined by thousands, depressed devil, with hardly a and when the Working People shoe to his foot, and while the are actually starving in rags by once haughty and insolent Arismillions; if the Government can tocratic Landlord, is compelled to continue to collect as much money creep into the Workhouse, or in taxes, in the midst of all this something very much like it. ruin and misery, as it collected This I state distinctly as my before the ruin and misery began, opinion. It is in direct contradic what ground is there for suppos- tion to the doctrines of the old ing, that the Government will be Sinecure Placeman, ADAM brought to a stand still by the SMITH, whose book is the guide miseries of the people? What of all the Boroughmongers and forth, have had any effect upon the Lord Charleses, their sons whether rents, prices, and so and nephews. But, I have people of sense to deal with: I have a great respect for those to whom I am writing; I, therefore, must make good what I say by FACT or by ARGUMENT, or by both. This I am now about to do, and I request you, my good friends of Blackburn; I request you to pay particular attention to the facts and the arguments I am going to employ. In the first place of all, there would be no fault to be found with the taxes, if they fell off in proportion as rents fell off, and as other things fell in price. If, for instance, taxes for the whole year amounted to ten millions, when wheat was at ten shillings a bushel, and if they fell off to five millions when wheat became five shillings a bushel; if this were the case, nobody could find fault with the taxes. But, the fact is, the contrary of this is the case: the taxes do not fall off as rents and prices fall off. They keep up to their full mark, though rents fall to next to nothing, and though a large part of the people are starving. Very well, then, we know that this took place, from the beginning of 1819 to the latter part of 1822. Let us now see, then, what taxes the Government collected in these It One need enter into hardly any four years. Those were four reasoning to prove the truth of years, observe, of regularly inthis. There is, in every month of creasing embarrassment and disJanuary, an account made out of tress; mind, I say, regularly inthe taxes received in the foregoing creasing unparalleled distress, year. For instance, an account because Peel's Bill came into delivered in to the Parliament, in operation by slow degrees. January this year, contained an had four years to come into comaccount of all the taxes received plete operation, and it was got during the last year. Now, as we into the fourth year, and had nine have all these accounts before us, months yet to come before it was and as we know how prices have in full effect. Now, my friends of stood, how rents have stood, and Blackburn, pray bear all this in how the nation has been situated mind, and, then, look at the folfor several years past, we shall, lowing account of the taxes colby a reference to these severa! lected in those four years. These accounts, be able to discover taxes are the custom-house taxes, |