then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who promised it should be remedied. Has this been done? Has any attention whatever been paid to it? No. Eight years have elapsed, and the injustice continues to the present moment. That the house may judge of the amount of this injustice, permit me to call its attention to some particulars of the various stamp duties. The rate of duty upon a conveyance of property of ten pounds value, is ten per cent.; while it is only one per cent. on a conveyance of property of two thousand pounds value! The rate of duty on mortgages is ten pounds per cent. upon the raising of ten pounds; whilst it is only six shillings per cent. on a loan of two thousand pounds, and sixpence per cent. only upon a mortgage of one hundred thousand pounds! And the low amount of stamp duty upon large mortgages, as compared with that upon large conveyances, cannot but excite a suspicion that this has been purposely done by the landed gentlemen, who rarely sell their property, but who, from family engagements and other causes, have frequently to raise money upon it. The stamp duty on bills of a low amount, say twenty pounds, is ten shillings per cent. ; on ten thousand pounds, it is threepence-halfpenny per cent.! and three-fourths of the amount of stamp duty on bills, is raised from bills averaging seventy-five pounds. Can anything, Sir, show more clearly the unequal pressure borne, in this particular, by small tradesmen? The same remark replies to the stamp duty on receipts, which is five shillings per cent. upon ten pounds, and five farthings per cent. on ten thousand pounds! It appears, therefore, that the man who sells ten pounds' worth of property, pays, on the conveyance, ten times as much in proportion as the man who sells one hundred thousand; that the man who borrows on mortgage ten pounds, pays four hundred times as much in proportion as the man who borrows one hundred thousand pounds; and that the man who gives his bill or receipt for ten pounds, pays four hundred and eighty times as much in proportion as he who gives his bill or receipt for one hundred thousand pounds! These are but specimens of similar unjust disproportions in stamp duties on annuities, insurances, probates, auctions, &c., &c.' -Hindley, pp. 5, 6.

The same system presses with greater severity upon the poorest class, of which the following striking illustration is afforded by the honorable member for Ashton.

In order to give a practical illustration of this injustice, I have furnished myself with a statement which I requested a highly respectable grocer in this city to prepare, of the various articles he is in the habit of supplying to rich and poor families, with the prices of those articles, and the rates of duty on each. I confess that I read the statement with much surprise, in which I think the house will participate; but, after a careful examination, I cannot discover that its truth can be invalidated. He writes, A poor woman, a widow, earning her living by washing for families at their own abodes, and having two young children to support, generally purchases, weekly, the foullowing articles, and this is about the usual proportion which poor persons of that class consume in a week:

Being at the rate of 44 per cent., or 5d. out of every 1s. The same kind of articles supplied to persons of the higher classes would be as follows:

1 lb. of tea

S d.

8 0-duty out of which is 2 21

1 lb. of the best sugar

1 lb. of coffee

1 lb. of Muscatel raisins
1 lb. of white

pepper.

Total

16 2

387

Being about 23 per cent., or 2ąd. in every ls.!' So that the house will perceive, that when the poor woman places her shilling upon the counter of the grocer, she receives back 64d. worth of goods, and the government take the remaining 54d. When the rich man pays his shilling to the same grocer for the same description of articles, he receives 91d. in goods, which is almost half as much again as the poor woman receives, the state being content with 2ąd. out of his shilling, though it had just before taken 54d. out of hers! And the evil does not end here, for the grocer is obliged to have a profit on the extra capital which the duty requires him to employ. This disproportion in taxation is a state of things not to be endured; and, until a change be made, there can be no safety for the state. It is all very well to talk about chartism, or any other symptom of discontent with the present state of things, but they are the inevitable consequences of the wrongs inflicted upon the masses. Let justice be done to the lower orders, and there will be nothing to fear.'-Ib pp. 6-8.

While such a system continues discontent cannot but prevail, and he is no friend to his country, whatever professions he may make, who stands in the way of the great popular concession which is now proffered by the ministers of the crown. An interested senate has decided by a majority of one against the concession; but we trust the people of this great empire will be sufficiently alive to their own welfare to pronounce at the hustings a different judgment. Let their exertions be but equal to the value of the boon that is proffered them, and their triumph will be complete. A selfish faction will be compelled to respect their claims, and the future greatness and commercial

prosperity of our country will bear witness to the fidelity with which they have discharged their electoral trust.

We are most anxious that the DISSENTERS of the United Kingdom should act a part worthy of themselves at the present great crisis. Much depends upon their exertions at the elections; and earnestly we invoke them to make a bold and decided stand against the restoration of Toryism. They must fight not only for free trade and the progress of reform, but for the maintenance of their civil and religious liberty. Intolerance yet swells in the heart of many a bigot; and if the Tories prevail we shall find the power of the state-priesthood strengthened by the establishment of sectarian education, which will place patronage at their disposal, and afford fresh means of vexing nonconformists; we shall see the church establishment extended by votes of money from the public purse; church-rates will be exacted with fresh energy; and ecclesiastical courts will be put into vigorous operation. If dissenters wanted any new indication of the spirit that actuates the Tories, they need only look to the conduct of the majority in the House of Lords, the very last week of the session which has just terminated. On the motion of Lord Lyndhurst, they rejected the Charity-trusts bill, in order to withhold power from dissenters, who are or may be members of municipal corporations. On the other hand, if dissenters are faithful to their high trust, and act worthy of the crisis which has arrived, the cause of religious liberty will be speeded on its course, and the way be prepared for its complete and final triumph. But few of our numbers will confederate with the enemy. The history of Toryism is the history of bigotry and persecution. The sufferings and death of our puritan and nonconformist forefathers bear witness against it; and he must be recreant to our principles or sadly ignorant of our history, who gives to the Tories the benefit of his support. A Tory dissenter is one of the most anomalous creatures in existence, and is happily as rare as he is strange and unnatural. But whilst we have no fear of Toryism gaining ground from the active concurrence of dissenters, we are not quite so sure that it will not be aided by the indifference and lethargy which have for some time past been spreading amongst them. An impression extensively prevails that Lord Melbourne's cabinet is tired of the advocacy of their cause, and is desirous of disengaging itself from an alliance which is supposed to have given rise to the embittered hostility of the church to the present advisers of her Majesty. We shall not now stop to inquire whether this impression be correct or not. It is enough to remark, that to whatever extent such a feeling may exist among the members of the government, it must prove as injurious to them as to us. We have this satisfaction at least, that our aid is as essential to them as theirs can be to us.

The numbers, intelligence, popular feeling, and activity of the dissenting body constitute them no mean or ineffective section of the liberal constituency of the country. Lord Melbourne and his colleagues are well aware of this, however they may trifle with us in their days of fancied security. Were the present an ecclesiastical struggle, we should have much to say on this point; for we have our opinions, and those strong ones too, on the manner in which dissenting questions have been cushioned by those who were formerly zealous on their behalf. But the question at issue is political rather than ecclesiastical; it affects us as Englishmen and not as Dissenters, and we trust there is too much high-mindedness and true patriotism amongst us to permit us in the day of our country's extremity to remember our personal wrongs. Our first duty is to resist the enemy who is battling at our gates. He must be driven back at whatever cost, and when his forces are scattered, we will then assert in terms more emphatic than ever, our distinctive and scriptural claims.

Let us not be misunderstood here. We are far from intending that Dissenters should be silent at the present crisis on matters that respect themselves. They should speak out, and speak out boldly, that the candidates for whom they vote may know their sentiments, and be prepared to co-operate in the vindication of their rights. On the church-rate question we should be disposed to take even more decided ground than this, and to refuse our vote to any candidate, whatever might be his pretensions, who would not pledge himself to support any well considered measure for the extinction of this obnoxious and inequitable impost. It has been with much pleasure that we have perused the correspondence of the Rev. Mr. Giles, of Leeds, with Lord Morpeth, and we hope the example thus set has been extensively followed through the kingdom. The churches of the West Riding have done themselves honor by the course they have adopted, and have been singularly happy in the gentlemanly and christian-like style in which their representative has given utterance to their views. We had hoped that the Dissenters of London would have acted similarly in the case of Lord John Russell, but strange rumors have reached us, which we are unwilling to credit, yet are unable to deny. Can it be as is alleged, that the ministers of the Three Denominations refused a conference with the deputies, because they understood that the object of such conference was a united representation to his lordship on the subject of church-rates. this report be unfounded it should be instantly contradicted, but if it be true, which we fain hope it is not, then the Dissenters of Great Britain have just ground for most serious complaints against the ministers of London.

If

Commodore Napier has set the example of placing on his co

lors the motto, Abolition of Church-rates.' We trust that the same motto will be exhibited in every city and borough in the country. Now is the time for dissenters to speak out, and to speak with effect; for if a decided effort be made at the present crisis, church-rates must be speedily and for ever abolished.

Let us then, unite in one combined and mighty movement on behalf of the great principles to which we have drawn attention. If apathetic now, we shall endure signal defeat, the result of which will be felt in years to come. But if we are earnest and united, the victory must BE OURS, and that victory will be decisive.

was

Since writing the above we have received a small tract by the Rev. William Brock, of Norwich, to which we are solicitous to direct the prompt and most serious attention of our readers. It is entitled The Duty of Professing Christians in Relation to the Elective Franchise, and contains the substance of a lecture delivered in Norwich, on the 10th of June last. The subject discussed is of grave and universal importance, and the manner in which it is treated is highly creditable to the author, and eminently adapted to subserve the interests of public morals. We trust that the example set by Mr. Brock will be followed by many of his brethren, for surely, if there ever an occasion when it became the teachers of religion to counsel and warn their people, that occasion is now present. The corruption and bribery which have prevailed so fearfully at many recent elections, threaten the most alarming consequences to the moral principles, as well as to the political integrity, of the nation. The evil is widely spreading, and can only be effectually arrested by the sanitary influence of the religion of the Bible being brought to bear against it. We entreat our ministers to be alive to this enormous evil, and by timely and dignified expostulation, to guard their flocks from its intrusion. Let no fear of censure, no dread of misrepresentation, no morbid shrinking from what verges on the political, induce them to withhold their contributions to the cause of public morals and christian rectitude. We thank Mr. Brock for his timely service, and cordially recommend his lecture for extensive distribution at the present moment.

VOL. X.