612

REVIEW.-Vaux on relative Tuxation.

if taxes fall disproportionately on any particular class, that the effect of such disproportion is to depress the class which pays the most, whilst it acts as a sort of bounty on such as bear less than their proper ratio. The author then proves by a variety of details, and by logical and sound reasoning, that the taxes upon malt, hops, beer, soap, candles, and leather, fall with peculiar severity upon the landed interests in general, whilst several of them operate so unequally upon different soils as to effect a further and considerable injury to many cultivators in particular, and he then proposes an equalization of all such fiscal contributions, so that merchant, manufacturer, tradesman, and capitalist, should bear a due ratio of the public burdens. This view of the subject is evidently sound, and our author states his propositions with accuracy and method; he proves them by an elaborate and valuable collection of facts and by sound deductions, and he often gives much strength and clearness to his positions by apposite cases and other judicious illustrations.

We are aware that there are many persons who will reply to our author's views by asserting a trite observation that neither the tax on malt, nor indeed any other tax, can ever fall upon the producer; that taxes always fall ultimately upon the consumer. Nothing can be more erroneous in some cases. Adam Smith has allowed that Custom Duties injure, but never ultimately fall on the merchant; but it must be remembered, that the merchant stands in a vastly different position from the producer of the raw or even manufactured material; and it will be easy to prove that many taxes upon consumable commodities are borne by the producers, and not by the consumers or by the public at large. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that the Government were to reduce the Malt Tax by one million. The consequent reduction in the price of malt would encourage consumption; the demand would therefore increase, and the producer would raise his price until malt reaches its value before the tax was taken off. The difference, therefore, between the high and the low prices, or, in other language, the one million which in one instance went to the Exchequer, would now go into the pockets of the producers; or, in other terms, the producers, and

not the consumers, are benefited, by the taking off the tax, and are consequently the party injured by the impo sition of the tax. The same argument applies to sugar, wine, and every other article of consumption.

Mr. Vaux, as a gentleman of expe rience, and of great practical know. ledge, may "know all qualities with a learned spirit of human dealings;" he may therefore consider it visionary or Utopian in us to argue that the remedy for the evils which he so accurately delineates, is not to balance the classes of the community, and to relieve one by taxing the other; but, as the Go vernment now acknowledges, to depart gradually from our factitious and artificial system of currency, of commerce, of manufacture, and of agricul ture, and to let every class compete in the market without shackling industry, or giving capital any artificial directions by laws of any sort. Thus, when out author talks of the evil of draining our country of specie, by the purchase of foreign corn; we would reply, let Na ture take her course, let our dealers buy foreign corn as long as they find it to their advantage to do so; and if they drain the country of specie, it will soon find its way back; for specie, like liquids, has a natural tendency to find its level. If, for instance, our country were drained of half its specie, the remaining half would have to perform the same services that were before performed by the whole amount, or, in other terms, it would double its value, and command twice its former quantity of labour and of goods. Foreign merchants would therefore bring their capital to ours, as the cheapest market, and this influx of money would continue until the balance of our specie was restored. Thus would this draining the country of specie soon cure itself by the natural laws of barter, without any interference on the part of legislators or rulers,—an interference which always does more harm than good.

We strongly admire the terse and able manner in which Mr. Vaux often refutes the reasoning of some of the most eminent amongst the writers up on political economy; for instance, there is something remarkably happy and conclusive in the way in which he refutes a favourite principle of Mr Ri cardo (p. 42), who, with all his indis putably great talents, has, we con

PARTAM.]

REVIEW. Vaux on relative Taxation.

ceive, in many instances, argued upon erroneous principles, and to conclu sions not consistent with the enlarged outline of his general system. There are no persons more disposed than our selves to express our respect for the abilities of Mr. Malthus, and particularly for the talents of Mr. Ricardo; but we must agree with Mr. Vaux, that when these gentlemen lay down such undiscriminating principles as that "high taxation equally affects all producers," it is unnecessary to enter into their refutation.

The author, at page 57, enters into the subject of Population, of its general principles, and of the comparative state of the population of ancient and modern Europe. We cannot agree with Mr. Vaux in his opinions upon Mr. Malthus's celebrated treatise, but we agree with him in following Mr. Hume's idea that modern Europe is by far more densely peopled than it was at any period of ancient history. The merits of this controversy are comprised in a very narrow compass. From the improved state of agricultural science, more food is produced now than there was formerly; all that is produced is consumed; and if, therefore, the population be not increased, it is incumbent on the other party to show that a man individually eats more now than he did formerly.

There are certainly a prodigious number of paradoxes in our social system, which no human ingenuity can explain or account for. For instance, in page 63, our author states, that in 1812 we were buying foreign corn, being unable to supply our population by our home produce; and yet we had then thousands of acres of (inferior) land uncultivated, and more than 1,500,000 of our people in the workhouses, and of these nearly 400,000 were able-bodied men. So far the case can be easily explained upon rational theory. The occupiers of rich lands in America could produce corn that would bear the expence of conveyance across the Atlantic, and yet be brought into the English market at a price lower than that at which we could produce corn by the cultivation of our poor lands by the labourers from the workhouses. We therefore followed the dictates of common sense, and bought corn where we could get it the cheapest, and which was from the

613

Americans. So far the picture is reasonable; but we must add, that in the year 1812, when we had upwards of 400,000 able men supported in sloth in parish workhouses, the price of labour was exorbitantly high, large bounties were given by Government and by the India Company for soldiers and sailors, and neither soldiers, sailors, nor labourers, could be had in sufficient numbers. These facts are almost incredible, and yet they are indisputably true. Would not the common passions of our nature, would not the common laws of demand and supply have brought these paupers forth into exertion? Nothing but the artificial system of society in which we have been plunged by the errors of statesmen, could have prevented such a result. We do not agree with Mr. Vaux, that these paupers ought to have been compelled to cultivate our inferior lands, but they certainly ought to have been brought into the market of labour, and left to be hired, according to the demand existing at that time in the market.

In page 67, Mr. Vaux, we think with justice, denies one of the principal data, or, in short, the very keystone of much of Mr. Arthur Young's system; and in several other places he makes many very acute and useful observations upon the principles of that distinguished individual. But having, with the candour of criticism, refuted, as we conceive, what is erroneous in the present publication, and having in justice borne testimony to the general merits of the work, and given our readers an adequate idea of the principles adopted by Mr. Vaux, and of the manner in which he supports them, our limits prevent our going at greater length into the subject.

Mr. Vaux has some useful observations upon the increased use of spirituous liquors by the poor, in consequence of the high price of beer occasioned by taxation. Commencing at page 141, he has rather a long inquiry into the question of demand and supply, and how both are affected by injudicious duties and taxes. At page 164, we have an invaluable table or synopsis, showing the amount of Poor Rates for every county from 1813 to 1821, both years inclusive, and comparing these sums with the Poor Rates paid by each county, in the latter year of the

*614

REVIEW.Count de Soligny's Letters on England.

reign of Charles the Second. Mr. Vaux then discusses the effect of disproportionate taxation upon planting and upon tithes, and concludes by a very useful chapter upon the Land Tax. This last subject he handles with great ability, and has condensed a vast deal of useful information within a very small compass.

The great superiority of Mr. Vaux's work over many others upon the same subjects, is derived from an apparently intimate knowledge of practical agriculture, of the condition of agriculturists, and of land in general, as a marketable commodity. Experience and fact upon such subjects must always bear down speculation and theory; and as this author seems to be well read on such questions, and to have weighed both his own experience and the opinions of others in the balance of a mind naturally vigilant and sagacious, and apparently accustomed to reflection and research, his work is highly deserving the attention of all who interest themselves in statistical inquiries, and in the philosophy of fiscal government.

118. Letters on England. By Victoire
Count de Soligny. Translated from the
original MSS. 2 vols. pp. 627. Colburn.
THE Count de Soligny is a very
fertile and sometimes a very interest-
ing writer.
Several of the promi-
nent passages in these volumes ma-
nifest such quickness and justness of
observation, and such felicity of com-
municating first impressions, that with
a little more pains, their author might
rank at the head of our English Tour-
ists. Before a traveller commences his
intended route, he should select from
prior recitals the principal topics of
speculation and curiosity, that he may
omit nothing from ignorance of its
existence, and after he has completed
his peregrination, he might derive
much benefit from a more deliberate
perusal of the best authorities, since
thus he might confront his own re-
marks with those of others, and en-
trench or enlarge, correct or elucidate,
as circumstances might require. All
this, we apprehend, might be effected
without subjecting the understanding
or the feelings to any undue controul;
because the legitimate end of compari-
son is not to warp the judgment, but
to amend error and ascertain truth;
and such appears to have been the

plan followed by the author of the work now before us.

The first nineteen of the Letters of the Count de Soligny have already appeared in a recently established Monthly Miscellany. The Author arrives at London viâ Dieppe, and after noticing the various objects of interest on his route, proceeds to give a copious detail of every thing worth visiting in the capital: the Elgin Marbles, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Theatre, and the Painters, Sculpture, and Music, are treated of at length, and they are followed by some good remarks on the state of the Fine Arts and Literature in England.

The second volume opens with a comprehensive view of the present state of Poetry in England, compared with that of France, very much to the advantage of the former."

In the sixty-first Letter, the author, giving a short account of the periodical works of the present day in England, says,

"The Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews resemble and stand nearly on a level with each other, in every respect; in talent, learning, taste, spirit, and general impartiality, as well as in their absolute devotion to a particular party. If they differ in any general manner, it is that the Edinburgh and the Quarterly more depth and solidity. has more brilliancy than its younger rival, The cause of sound literature, and correct taste, has, no doubt, been infinitely benefited by the respective exertions of these two works. Their general plans are exactly similar. They are of a mixed character, comprising an analysis and review of recent works, and original essays on every possible subject that can be regarded as possessing a public interest. Their ostensible plan is indeed confined to the former of these ob jects; the latter is generally effected by placing the title merely of some recent

work at the head of their proposed essay on of the work to a few lines at the beginning the same subject, but confining their notice or end of the article; occupying the rest with the writer's own views and opinions, and bringing his own knowledge to bear on the subject in question. Many of these essays, and particularly some of those which have appeared in the Quarterly, are considered as among the best pieces of writing of the kind in the English language."

In the sixty-second and sixty-third Letters, the Count proceeds to examine the state of Education in England, including the common Boarding Schools, Schools for Females, and public Grammar Schools. His observations

on

REVIEW.-Dorset's Montezuma.

616

REVIEW. Montezuma.Barnett's Memoirs. [xCHI.

a little too far. We find no fault with the language of the unprincipled invaders of right and royalty; but in the fifth Act, where Montezuma declares to the assembled populace the design of Cortez, he uses this homely phraseology:

mouth

"By Heav'n, if they alarm us We will on board, and from the cannon's [crack, Pour such a storm, shall make the pavements And yawn to catch the towers that grow upon them."

Zobaya exhorts the maddening Emperor to patience, and is thus answered: "Zobaya! I've been patient, very patient: But, Sir, my nature's hot, my bosom yearns To shake concealment, like a viper, off: It preys upon me, eats my living heart."

Cortez, with Sebastian, and his chief associates, enter to Montezuma in the temple on the morning of the marriage:

Cortez.

Now when we received
Your gracious summons, King, we thought
't was so
[us.
Express'd-the marriage-form stood still for
MONTEZUMA.
'Tis all complete: I had no other purpose
Than to unclasp the girdle of my hate,
Which hath restrain'd me night and day for
long:

I've sported with ye: thus it is: behold,
The bride! (approaching SEBASTIAN.) And
you, who stand apart, as one
Of separate ends, unlike these smooth ma-
rauders,

Bent on a higher privilege than gold,
Anticipating some superior gain,
Some choice wreck out of the ocean of our

griefs,

[us,

You have been highly favour'd, Sir, amongst
This is the married maid of Mexico."

Of the other poems, which are but few, the best is a New Year's Ode for 1821. Gladly would we have transcribed the whole of it, but it cannot

escape particular notice, nor can any production of such a poet pass without adequate encouragement and applause.

་

120. Memoirs of Francis Barnett, the Lefevre of No Fiction,' and a Review of that Work, with Letters and authentic Documents. In two volumes. Crown svo. Vol. I. pp. 381; II. pp. 380.

THE statement of the author is sim

ply this. He became acquainted with a young man named Reed, who had been apprentice to a watch-maker, afterwards a porter of earthenware in the service of his father and mother, who kept a china-shop, and latterly a Dissenting Minister. In this capacity, he writes a religious novel, entitled "No Fiction." Like the far-famed annotator on the Whole Duty of Man, he forms his characters out of his congregation, ascribing to them various sins, himself being also introduced under the character of Douglas, and utterly void of all human imperfections. Barnett having been one of these libelled persons under the appellation of Le Fevre, demanded an explanation, and received in reply a shocking inuendo (see vol. I. pp. 72, 80, 81, &c.) that drove him into a mad-house, where he was confined two years; and, upon recovery of his senses, he makes this appeal to the public. Such is the controversy between the Rev. Andrew Reed, the Douglas of "No Fiction," and Mr. Barnett, the Le Fevre of the same righteous perform

ance.

Mr.

Of" high life below stairs," in sacred matters, the following sample is most precious:

"The members of this wonderful society (a pretended literary club) were myself (and I put myself first, because I was secretary, librarian, and treasurer), a clerk on sixty pounds a year, with a common Yorkshire education; Palmer, a journeyman pictureframe maker; Jardine, a shoemaker, who was journeyman to his father, and had to work very hard to get a living; Liniker, who I believe was a journeyman currier; and another, whose name I forget, but who was a journeyman baker, and who was so stupid, that he could hardly earn his own bread; and last, but not least, was our young novelist, who, after having been apprenticed to a watch-maker, persuaded his parents to purchase the remainder of his time, that he might devote it to the more easy, although much humbler employ of being delf-porter to his mother. I have often been amused since that time, when

reflect