Images de page
PDF
ePub

doubt, from its being the most profitable speculation for monied men: and that in immediate effect it would almost answer the whole of the intended purpose, may be gathered from a calculation on two parishes, one in London and the other in the Country. The rental of the parish in London is £4,500 per ann. and to place the houses at the lowest valué, estimate them at 20 years purchase: this will bring them to £90,000 value, at 2s. 6d.in the pound, the sum pow paid, the yearly income will amount to

The Furniture may be calculated

about the same

And the Stock.

[ocr errors]

£112 10 0

112 10 0

112 10 0

£337 10 0

N. B. This sum does not include hazardous and doubly hazardous, so that it might be rated higher.* This will appear a tolerable easy calculation, because, where traders do not live the -furniture becomes so much the more valuable as fully to compensate the difference. And this sum exceeding the expenditure of the present poor rate in that parish by about one eighth, would very soon anlitate there the necessity of a poor's rate. In calculating the country parish it seemed at first glance, necessary to estimate the rents and value in a different way, by putting houses with and without-land in different classes, charging the land with only so many years rental for the corn, hay, farming utensils, live and dead, stock, &c. t; but on making the estimate by the same rule of 20 years -purchase on the rental, and finding the farmer would pay a much smaller proportion than he now pays,-it appearing too that many more paupers are thrown upon the poor rate from farmers houses, who hire their servants by the year than from private families; and on consulting persons well skilled in agricultural and parochial concerns; there can be no necessity of changing the mode of calculation. The rental of the country parish is £26,000 per centum, and will afford

1850. The poor's rate of this parish amounts on an average to somewhat more. But although it be impossible to see at one view how this proposition would bear upon every parish, still there is one certain conclusion; that where the ratio of insurance should, after forming a stock to answer the exigencies of loss by fire, exeeed the sum necessary for a poor rate, then the ratio might be lowered, and where it should not reach it, valeat quantum valere potest, ei

The tax to government would produce £271. 10s. at least.

Insurance offices rate these at an higher value than houses, &c.

ther the ratio might be encreased or the old mode of a rate might be resorted to in order to meet the deficiency; this could neither be considered as 'oppressive or unequal, and by this proposition each parish in diverting the means now used into another channel, would raise a great part if not the whole of its own supplies without the burthen of the poor's rate.

REGULATIONS.-That only a given portion of the payment on Insurance be at first applied in aid of the Poor Rate, and the rest vested in the Bank in the name of Parish Trustees, until such a sufficient stock be funded as would on a fair calculation answer all contingent losses by individuals, and in the expenditure of the whole stock, by conflagration, the parish to begin de novo.

The rate should be collected by the overseers as it now is, and the money applied in the same manner, as far as it would reach.A proper surveyor should be appointed for exery parish by a vestry, in Easter week, removeable as other parish officers are; he should value houses, stock, furniture, and whatever else the legislature should determine insurable; he should be paid a certain poundage; his return should be compulsory unless where the party insured should think his return too small for stock, &c. in that case the party might enlarge it at his option; reserving appcals, for persons thinking themselves aggrieved, to the quarter sessions, as under the present poor laws.-In case of accident by fire, the sufferer should be entitled to receive according to his rate in the same manner as by insurance offices; and where any person has ensured beyond the estimate of the surveyor, the oath of the party to his loss, should be considered final as to the claim for remuneration, except where fraud can be proved or such other cases of exception now made by the offices.-By law, engines are now kept in every parish, and fire ladders; some proper person should be annually chosen as the engineer, with a small salary, who should be fineable in a summary investigation by the magistrates, on proof that the engine, hose, &c. are not in compleat repair, and ready on any alarm; and certain other persons appointed as occasional assistants or firemen, to receive pay only in cases of assisting the engineer to try the engine, or being called out to attend fires, &c. Other regulations would suggest themselves under a discussion of the plan if it were to be adopted.

OBJECTIONS. It may be urged against this Plan, that it is an uncertain one, inasmuch as by one extensive conflagration more than the immediate stock in hand might be

swallowed up at once, and the whole parish thereby impoverished. To this it may be answered, that such a circumstance is unlikely; that the funded stock mign be made sufficiently large to answer uncommon calamities, and that where the extent should be very excessive the suffering parish after contributing their fund, should be entitled to call upon the adjacent parishes of the hundred, or ward, or town, as it may be, to contribute in proportion, and make up the whole loss; this would be acting in the spirit of the present poor laws, where an overburthened parish may call upon an adjacent one not so burthened, for assistance.-Beside in the two parishes calculated from, the loss by fire in the last half century, to go no further, has not exceeded £300.-And it should be recollected, that monied men consider the speculation of fire insurance to be so valuable, that no shares are ever to be publicly bought in any office; and new offices are daily encreasing. An objection may be made to a surveyor viewing hences, furniture, stock, &c. as a sort of inquisition; but it is submitted to already under the voluntary tax, every office employing surveyors for that purpose, and each man will have the option of paying what insurance Move the surveyor's valuation he pleases. Those who now have an almost exclusive claim to receive this money either under charter or otherwise, would doubtless raise an objection to this plan; but, where such incalculable benefit would accrue to the whole public, surely such objection would be trifling; the gaius already acquired must be sufficient compensation for all money advanced; and, indeed, no money is ever advanced, it is all upon credit; and such offices might still insure lives, shipping, freight, &c.-As to other Objections, there can surely be none, at least none obvious enough to appear, or strong enough to be resistless.

ADVANTAGES.- -The public, generally speaking, now pay two rates, one for the poor, the other for insurance; these would eventually merge into one, and in the present, one would go so far in aid of the other, that every man of common sense must see that all he now pays for insurance, he would save in appropriating it to the poor. Government, would, by the adoption of this plan increase the 2s. per centum tax on insurance, over the whole 20 years value of all property in the kingdom; a tax now a voluntary one, and most cheerfully paid;

* The case of the new office now applying to parliament excepted, where they deposit one million in the Bank.

*

and one wherein every man, almost, would rather over than under rate his propertyIn forming a parochial stock by funding, it would throw large sums of money into the market, and, of course, not only keep up the present price of stock, but not being a fluctuating and transferable property would, by leaving less to be sold, keep it up for ever The local advantages of this plan are of great estimation. Every man in cases of fire would himself be interested in assisting to save the property of his neighbour, remembering the more he saved, the less he should be called upon to pay, to make up the loss of another.To have an engine always ready and firemen at hand, is too obvious an advantage to be insisted upon. And as the mischief arising from fires would be lessened, so would the frequency of them; because an incendiary would more easily be discovered among his interested neighbours, character better known, the value of property more visible and better ascertained; and so easily estimated that the speculation of the ideal insurer would not be worth the hazard of detection and punishment.-There is still another and a most equitable advantage. The owners of houses who now pay nothing to the exigencies of the parish out of which they derive their income, and on whose credit to a tenant of 10 per annum, whether solventf or not, the law establishes a claim for relie; on the parish where such house shall stand such owners of houses would contribute to ease the burthens of that very parish their estates are now contributing to load; and this without injury or loss to the owner, as it must be presumed the owners usually in

* If it be a good reason for` chartering an office that one million of its property is lodged in the Bank; how strong is the same argument for this mode.

† Suppose the sum funded for each parish gradually as a stock, should reach no higher than a 5th part of the estimated value of the property in that parish, then there would be an untransferable property in the Bank at a given time of a 5th of the value of the property in the kingdom 20 times

told.

In one of the parishes, calculated from, about 10 miles from town, on an alarm of fire, the parish engine was useless, no fire ladder at hand; no fireman; no engineer; no expences whatever incurred by any one of the offices; and a large population kept in alarm till assistance could be procured from London; the insurance, now volunta rily paid, being upwards of L1200 per annum.

sure, and their payment of insurance would merely be transferred.-Besides, the tenant would, in such case, be benefited in proportion to his landlord's amount of insurance, as according to the present calculation owners would contribute one third of the rate.Leases and agreements between landlord and tenant may stand as they now do; nor need a landlord complain of paying the tax, supposing he does not now insure, as his property would be more valuable in the same ratio as his tenant would pay less poor rate.

Other advantages innumerable suggest themselves, let these suffice, the plan is simple, easily executed, certain in its operation, equal in its demands, disturbing no system of general or local laws, economical to individuals, and most beneficial to government.

CORRUPTION-A TRIFLE.

MR. COBBETT, Accidentally taking Accidentally taking up the Edinburgh Review, I found iny attention strongly attracted by a critique on your political journal. The reviewer is a man of no mean ability, a zealous adherent of the late administration, and one of those about to taste of their bounty at the moment they fell a victim to the intrigues of their "no popery" antagonists. I recollect one of your opinions to be that "the Wrangling Factions," "inns," and "outs," equal ly hate you; and my curiosity was excited see how this champion of the Whigs (that is the name the reviewer's patrons prefer to be designated by) would deal with you and your essays. I collected from the introduction of this gentleman's comments, that upon your first arrival in this country from America and commencing your political career among us, your opinion of Pitt and his system was different from that you now profess: from whence a laboured charge of inconsistency is set up against you. Upon this most unimportant topic I presume you are capable of defending yourself, if you think it deserves a serious discussion; for my part, I considered it as " mere doubling to "mislead the hounds"; and my sole anxiety being to learn if the abuses you denounce do really, and to what extent, exist; or, whether they are to be referred to no more creditable source than a factious spirit wilfully misrepresenting, or at least, viewing ob jects through a false medium, I hurried on to that part of the reviewer's task in which he sets about denying, or by explanation to do away the effects of your assertions. You complain of Sinecure Places and Pensions: he does not dispute their existence, but alledges, "they are mere trifles," that " a ** strict reform in this respect could not pro

"duce more than one million annually;" and remarks, "it is mere faction to say that "either this or the sums lost by peculation

"

[ocr errors]

can make any sensible difference in the "national burthens." This, to be sure, is clearing the ground in good style. The assertions, if not quite satisfactory, are at least intelligible, and may be fairly taken as a distinct exposition of Whig ideas of reformation. Still, as this enlightened politician assured me, that " even as a source of "influence it was too inconsiderable to deserve any distinguished notice," I began to flatter myself the loss of the money might be the whole mischief; though upon this point I was rather sceptical, having from long habit and some consideration of the subject, felt a strong inclination to consider a sinecure placeman as bearing a close similitude to the blow-fly that pollutes far more than he consumes. But while my opinion was thus vibrating between hope and fear, the comfort I had received from the sanction of the reviewer's sentiments was at once swept away when, by referring to page 305 of the same book, I found that places and pensions not only might, but in the opinion of this mirror of consistency, actually had. produced all the bad effects my apprehension attributed to them. I quote his very words, "how melancholy to reflect that

[ocr errors]

there would be still some chance of say.. "ing England from the general wreck of empires, but that it may not be saved be-. cause one politician may lose £2000-a year by it, and another £3000, a third a "place in reversion, and a fourth a pension

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

for his aunt! Alas, these are the power"ful causes which have always settled the "destiny of great kingdoms, and may level "Old England with all its boasted freedom! " and boasted wisdom to the dust," and L. agree with the reviewer if these and some mere trifles" he alludes to are not remedied, "that (to use his own words) it does. appear quite impossible that so mean and so foolish a people can escape that destruc "tion which is ready to burst upon them."The Edinburgh Editor after making a very nice distinction between the comparative merit of him who accepts and him who of fers a bribe, and rather unjustly, as I think, I holding the tempter less culpable than the b tempted, consents to consign both the one. and the other to what he is pleased to term

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

1

[ocr errors]

your just indignation," but by no means-can be brought to admit that poten borough (which he defines a borough which government has not bought, but which I define to be" a borough it may buy when"ever it thinks fit to expend the nation's

"money for that purpose,") is any very great nuisance proceeds to give (as I trust) a most unjust and certainly a very novel explanation of the principles of the British Constitution, upon the subject of which I may perhaps at afuture day trouble you with some comments. In the mean time, aitho'l must confess rotten boroughs are not in the smallest degree objectionable, and sinecure places and pensions on his plan indispensably necessar,y yet as the theory of his system can only be realized on the ruin of the British Constitution as established at the Revolution, I can by no means become a convert to his political speculations, and take my leave of him with a recommendation that when he shall next be inclined at the expence of sincerity to wield his pen in defence of a system the effects of which he so feelingly deplores, he should be a little more cautious than to place the means of his detection almost line and line with his own statements.

AN OLD ENGLISHMAN.

PUBLIC PAPER. DENMARK.-Proclamation issued on the 16th of August, at Zealand, by Admiral Gambier and Lord Cathcart, commanders in chief of his Majesty's forces by sea and by land, employed in the expedition.

Whereas the present Treaties of Peace, and the changes of Government and of Territory, acceded to by so many Powers, have so far increased the influence of France on the continent of Europe, as to render it impossible for Denmark, though it desires. to be neutral, to preserve its neutrality, and absolutely necessary for those who continue to resist the French aggression, to take measures to prevent the arms of Neutral Powers from being turned against them.—In this view, the King cannot regard the present position of Denmark with indifference, and his Majesty has sent negociators, with ample powers, to his Danish Majesty, to request, in the most amicable manner, such explanations as the times require, and a concurrence in such measures, as can alone give security against the farther mischiefs which the French medidate through the acquisition of the Danish Navy.-The King, our royal and most gracious master, has therefore judged it expedient, to desire the temporary deposit of the Danish ships of the line, in one of his Majesty's ports. The deposit seems to be so just, and so indispensibly necessary, under the relative circumstances of the Neutral and Belligerent Powers, that his Majesty has further deemed it a duty to himself, and to his people, to support this demand by a power

ful fleet, and by an army amply supplied with every preparation necessary for the most active and determined enterprise.We come, therefore, to your shores, inhabitants of Zealand! not as enemies, but in self defence, to prevent those, who have so long disturbed the peace of Europe, from compelling the force of your Navy to be turned against us.We ask deposit, we have not looked to capture; so far from it, the most solemn pledge has been offered to your Government, and is hereby renewed in the name, and at the express command of the King, our master, that if our demand is amicably acceded to, every ship belonging to Denmark, shall, at the conclusion of a General Peace, be restored to her, in the same condition and state of equipment, as when received under the protection of the British flag.It is in the power of your government, by a word, to sheath our swords, most reluctantly drawn against you; but if, on the other hand, the machinations of of France render you deaf to the voice of reason and the call of friendship, the innocent blood that will be spilt, and the horrors of a besieged and a bombarded capital, must fall on your own beads, and on those of your cruel advisers.-His Majesty's seamen and soldiers when on shore, will treat Zealand, as long as your conduct to them permits it, on the footing of a province of the most friendly power in alliance with Great Britain, whose territory has the mis- fortune to be the theatre of war.-The persons of all those who remain at home, and who do not take an hostile part, will be held sacred.-Property will be respected and preserved, and the most severe discipline will be enforced.-Every article of supply furnished, or brought to market, will be paid for at a fair and settled price; but as immediate and constant supplies, especially of provision, forage, fuel, and transports, are necessary to all armies, it is well known that requisitions are unavoidable, and must be enforced.-Much convenience will arise to the inhabitants, and much confusion and loss to them will be prevented, if persons in authority are found. in the several districts to whom requisitions may be addressed, and through whom claims for payment may be settled and liquidated.→→ If such persons are appointed, and discharge their duty, without meddling in matters which do not concern them, they shall be respected, and all requisitions shall be addressed to them, through the proper channels, and departments of the navy and army but as forbearance on the part of the inhabitants is essential to the principle of these

arrangements, it is necessary that all manner of civil persons should remain at their respective habitations, and any peasants, or other persons, found in arms, singly or in small troops, or who may be guilty of any act of violence, must expect to be treated with rigour.-The Government of his Danish Majesty having hitherto refused to treat this matter in an amicable way, part of the army has been disembarked, and the - whole force has assumed a warlike attitude; but it is as yet not too late for the voice of reason and moderation to be heard. -Given in the Sound, under our hands and seals, this 16th day of August, 1807.(Signed as above.)

DENMARK. Proclamation of the Danish Government, against England; dated Gluckstadt, August 16, 1807.

We, Christian the seventh, by the grace of God, king of Denmark, Norway, of the Wends and Goths, duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Slonnau, and Dietmarschen, also of Oldenburgh, &c. &c. do herewith make known; That whereas by the English Envoy, Jackson, it was declared to us, on the 13th of this month, that hostilities against Denmark would be commenced; and whereas at the same time he demanded passports for himself and his suite, consequently, the war between England and Denmark may be considered as actually broken out; therefore, we herewith call on all our faithful subjects to take up arms, whenever it shall be desired, to frustrate the insidious designs of the enemy, and repel hostile attack.

-We further herewith ordain, that all English ships, as well as all English property, and all English goods, shall be seized by the magistrates, and otherwise, particularly by the officers of the customs wheresoever they may be found. It is further our will, that all English subjects, until, pursuant to our further orders, they can be sent out of the country, shall, without exception, be arrested as enemies of our kingdom and our country; which measure is strictly to be carried into execution by all magistrates, as well as by all subordinate officers, duly to be instructed by them for that purpose. And it is a matter of course, that all English ships and boats which approach ou coasts shall be considered and treated a enemies.It is also our will, that all suspicious foreigners shall be watched with the greatest attention; and that all magistrates, as well as all subordinate officers, shall use their utmost efforts, as soon as possible, to discover all spies. Lastly, we find it necessary to ordain, that, immediately after pub

liation hereof, all correspondence with Faglish subjects, shall entirely cease, and that no payment shall be made to them on any ground whatever, until our further orders, on pain of severe punishment in case of continuation For the rest we rely on the justice of our cause, and the courage and tried fidelity of our beloved subjects.Given under our Royal Seal, in our fortress of Gluckstadt, the 16th August, 1807.— (L S.) C. L. BARON VON BROCKDORFF, J. C. MORITZ.

FOREIGN OFFICIAL PAPERS. FRANCE.-Speech of the Emperor Napoleon at the opening of the Meeting of the Legislative Body, at Paris, August 16.

1807.

Gentlemen, the Deputies of the Legislative Body; Gentlemen, the Members of the Tribunate, and of my Council of State. -Since your last meeting, new wars, new triumphs, and new treaties of peace, have changed the aspect of the political relations of Europe. The House of Brandeburg, which was the first to combine against our independence, is indebted, for still being permitted to reign, to the sincere friendship with which the powerful Emperor of the North has inspired me.-A French Prince shall reign on the Elbe. He will know how to make the interests of his new subjects form the first and most sacred of his duties.-The House of Saxony has recovered the independence, wit lost fifty years ago. The people of the dukedem of Warsaw, and of the town of Dantzic, are again in possession their country, and have obtained their rights. All the nations concur in rejoicing, that the pernicious influence, which England exercised over the continent, is for ever destroyed.-France is united by the laws of the confederacy of the Rhine, with the people of Germany, and by our federative system with the people of Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. Our new relations with Russia are founded upon the reciprocal respect of two great nations.-In every thing I have done, I have only had the happiness of my people in view

that has always been in my eyes far dearer to me than my own renown. I wish for peace by sea. No irritation shall ever have any influence on any decisions with respect to that object. I cannot be irritated against a nation which is the sport and the victim of the parties that devour it, and which is mis-. led, as well with respect to its own affairs as to those of its neighbours.-But, whatever may be the termination which providence has decreed the maritime war shall have, my

« PrécédentContinuer »