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ABOLITION OF THE INCOME TAX IN 1816.

The following graphic description of the public movement which accomplished the destruction of the income tax of 1816 is supplied by [Lord Brougham, as an explanatory introduction to his speeches which were published on the occasion to which it refers :—: — "The session of 1816 offered an example yet more remarkable of the same tactics being attended with equally signal success. On the termination of the war the Government were determined, instead of repealing the whole income-tax, which the act enforcing it declared it to be for and during the continuance of the v/ar, and ho longer, to retain one half of it, — that is, to reduce it from ten to five per cent., and thus keep up a revenue raised from this source of between seven and eighc millions, instead of fifteen. As soon as this intention was announced several meetings were held, and two or tbree petitions were present-, cd. The Ministers perceived the risk they ran if the former policy should be pursued, of continued discussion for a length of time, and they saw the vast importance of dispatch. Accordingly the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Vansittart) gave notice on the Tuesday for his motion on the Thursday immediately following. The opposition took the alarm,, and Mr. Brougham declared, on presenting a petition numerously signed from one of the London parishes, that if the hurry now indicated should be persevered in, he should avail himself of all the means of delay afforded by the forms of the house. Lord Folkstone, now Earl of Radnor, one of the most strenuous, and in those days one of the most powerful and active supporters of the popular cause, vigorously seconded this menace, in which he entirely joined. On the ninth day more petitions were flung in, more discussions took place, and the Government postponed for a week the introduction of the bill. That week proved quite decisive ; /or so'many meetings were held, and so many petitions sent up, that the bill was put offfrom time to time, and did not finally make its appearance till the 17th of March. About six weeks were almost entirely spent by the House of Commons in receiving the numberless petitions poured in from all quarters against the tax. For it was speedily seen that the campaign of 1812 was renewed, and that the same leaders, Messrs. Brougham and Baring, bad the management of the operations. At first the Ministers pursued the course of obstinate silence. The opposition debated each petition in vain ; every minister and ministerial member held his peace. No arguments, no facts, do sarcasms, no taunts could rouse them : no expression of the feelings of the country, no reference to the anxiety of particular constituencies/ could draw a word from the ministers or their supporters. At length it was perceived that their antagonists did not the less debate, and that consequently the scheme had failed in its purpose of stifling discussion. The only effect of it then was that all the debating was on one side, and this both became hnrtful to the Government in the House, and more hurtful still to the country. THey were forced in^ discussion therefore; and then began a scene of unexampled interest, which lasted until the second reading of the bill. Each night, a little after four, commenced the series of debates, which lasted until past midnight. These were of infinite varisty. Arguments urged by different speakers, instances of oppression and hardship recounted, anecdotef-of local suffering and personal inconvenience, accounts of the remarkable passages of different meetings, personal altercations, interspersed with more general matter,

all filled up the measure of the nigtit's bill 1 of fare : and all were so blended and so vaxiega-' ted that no one ever perceived^ any hour thus spent to pass tediously away. Those ifot immediately concerned — peers' or.persbns belonging to neither house — flocked to.jhe spectacle which each day presented. The interest excited out of doors kept pace with that o£ the spectators ; and those who carried on these active operations showed a vigour and constancy of purpose, and unwearied readiness for the combat, which astonished, while it animated,'all beholders. It is recounted of this remarkable struggle, that one night towards the latter end of the period in question, when at a late hour, the House having been in debate from four o'clock, one speaker had resumed his seat, the whole members setting upon one entire bench rose at once and addressed the chair — a testimony of unabated spirit and unquenchable animation, which drew forth the loudest cheers from all parts of the house. At length came the 17th of March, the day appointed for the decision ; but it was soon found that this had been,' with the debate, wholly anticipated. The usual number of petitions, and even more, were poured thickly in for some hours ; little or no debating took place upon them ; unusual anxiety for the result of such long-continued labour, and such lengthened excitement, kept all silent and in suspense — when, about eleven o'clock, Sir William Curtis, representing the City of London, proceeded up the house, bearing in his arms the petition (which he presented without remark) of the great meeting of the bankers and merchants, holden in the Egyptian Hall, and signed by 12,000 persons. The division took place after a debate that did not last half an hour ; no one could indeed be heard in an assembly so impatient for the decision ; and by a majority of 37 voices, the tax was then defeated, and the wholesome principle, as Mr. Wilberforce well observed, was laid down that war and income-tax are wedded together.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZSCSG18480906.2.9

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 324, 6 September 1848, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
943

ABOLITION OF THE INCOME TAX IN 1816. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 324, 6 September 1848, Page 4

ABOLITION OF THE INCOME TAX IN 1816. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 324, 6 September 1848, Page 4

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