Thus, you see, that more than one-third of the income of the persons I have described is swallowed up in direct taxes; but it is further to be considered, that the taxes upon every article used or consumed by such persons fall indirectly, and therefore the more heavily upon them. These latter, however, I admit to fall in common and more lightly upon them than upon theʼresidents in towns, who are, to a great degree, exempted from most of the other taxes, and are also less accessible to be checqued if indisposed to contribute fairly. But, Sir, independent of the injustice and impolicy of thus overloading the overloaded, surely he must be a feeble financier who cannot find many less exceptionable resources. Why not impose a tax upon musical instruments, which are certainly a luxury? why not upon the quack medicines for the mind, such as novels and romances, and those vitiated and vitiating exhibitions we now see upon the stage, superseding the best productions of our best. dramatic poets? Nothing will go down now-a-days but the travestred translations of German Immoralists; the ephemeral Gessanur of our own would-be-authors, or the tinsel spectacle of a toy-shop! while the opera exhibits nothing but demi-rude attitudinarians, and squalling signors and signoras, "sliding their smooth semi-breves and garbling glib divisions in their outlandish throats!!!" and at what an expense, too, both of morals and of money!-Yet, truly we are told, that if these foreigners should invest their London profits in the British funds, and exhibit their persons, when they would not trust their purses, before the House of Napoleon the Great, when they got tired of a London audience, this property so acquired in England, and so invested in our funds, from an idea of its being more secure, is to contribute nothing towards that security!! You have touched delicately upon the King's funds being exempt, ed from the Property Tax; if his Majesty were to lay up no treasure but in the hearts of his people, I should hope he would for ever be, and deserve to be inexhaustibly

rich. The Property Tax is capable of being made most productive and unexception.able; but calling it by this name is a palpable solicism, while under its present provisions no distinction is made between the different durations of that property; between a fee simple estate worth ity to thirty-five years paschase, and life interest not worth one. The widow or clergyman with one foot in the grave, and a helpless family around them must, ou f the lost years income of 2001., contrib tea much as the young heir to a fee simple estate of the same rental, and on the eve of a new letting the insurance offices know how to calculate the different values of those interests; but it should seem the minister does not! As further resources, pray why not sell the Crown Lands (as a correspondent of yours suggests), making ample compensation, and encouraging the agriculture of the country, which a general Bill of Inclosure would still further promote? Why not employ the men and horses of the waggon train in posting, which would be both exercise and drill to them and an emolument to the country? Why not impose a tax on man milliners, and all that description of males so shamefully employed in different branches which females are perfectly competent, and who are thus driven to prostitution, less from vicious propensity than from vicious proscription? It is but the other day the laudable attempt to employ women raised "the devil among the taylors" in London. But, above all, why not upon every agreement for the sale of stock, whether for money or time, impose a tax (which there could be no difficulty in collecting), of 2s. 6d. for each 1001., equal to the brokerage now paid? If I sell my house, my land, my horse, by anction or appraiseemnt; nay, if I give them away by deed in my life-time, or if I devise or bequeath them after my decease in the collateral line, in none of those shapes can they be transferred without being subject to a tax. But though every thing deserving the name of property is thus subject to taxation upon the transfer, that thing called "stock" still forms the single exception, and may be transferred, either between natives or foreigners, to any indefinite amount, and through 1000 hands within as many hours, without producing to the exigencies of the state, on the credit of which it lives and moves, and has its being, one single sixpence! My opinion most decidedly is, that the thing which is morally wrong, can never be politically right under any circumstances: Honesty is the best po licy" amongst nations as well as individuals; therefore I wish for the abolition of

the slave trade; and therefore also I wish for the annihilation of the funds (without which it is nonesense to talk of the Bank resuming cash payments, indeed, not much less than nonsense to talk of the physical energies of the country, which this vapour must continue to paralize); but the shape in which I foresee" that consummation so devoutly to be wished" is, by the simple, gradual, cancerous operation of the tax eating up the whole of the interest, and then let Nature's fools" look for the principal wherever they can find it. Though I have suggested some sources of taxation, I am thoroughly convinced that a proper economy in expenditure will supersede the necessity of resorting to them. But I much fear

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Our present ministry were prodigal in promises, but the best of them remain yet to be performed. I shall be slow to censure, well knowing that the successors to Mr. Fitt could not have any thing like a bed of roses to repo-e ou; he had planted there but too my thorns, ever, I fear, to be plucked out, but they have not hitherto gained ground in the good opinion of PROBUS-10th June, 1906 P. S. That the provision made for the collateral branches of the Nelson family is excessive, many peopląthink, but, pray, sir, has any provision (unless by their High Mightinesses of Lloyd's) been made for the widows and families of the two Captains, Duff and Cooke, who fell at Trafalgar ?

ON THE REFORM OF FINANCIAL ABUSES. LETTER XI.

Sir;-In your Register of the 17th ult. you have been pleased to refer your readers to a series of letters written by me on the subject of the public expenditure (Vol. 7. Index p. 1006. and Vol 8. Index. p. 1083.) and to give it as your opinion, that if the mode I have pointed out of keeping and stating the public accounts was adopted, it would be perfectly easy for a very few public spirited members of Parliament to bring to light every material «buse. A reference and an opinion of this kind coming from your discriminating judgment, connected with a very anxious' wish on my part to contribute towards an efficient reform in the present abused and ruinous system of conducting the

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expenditure of the public money induced me again to come forward, and endeavour through your Register to press upon the attention of the public and the ministers the absolute necessity of altering the method of keeping and stating the public accounts, in order that any good result may flow from the measures proposed to parliament for preventing the accumulation of arrears of unaudited accounts in future.I believe, Sir, it may be stated with great safety, that le true cause of the failure of the late method of auditing the public accounts arose entire ly out of the difficulties that occurred in consequence of the variety of methods, that the variety of accountantants followed, in keeping accounts of their receipts and payments. That these accounts instead of b ing produced before the imprest commis sioners ready for examination, wer bro g t before them in such forms. as to make terly impossible that any examination couldẹ had of them, until they were put in ot forms, either by the puties themselves, or by the clerks belonging to the Imprest Office. I believe, Sir, that no map will dery, that, if Mr. Pitt, when he eval her the board of commissioners for auditing pul c accounts, had procured an act of Parliament, for making every public accountant of eve.y description keep a debtor and creditor account of all receipts and payments arend 8 to the mercantile system of book-keeping, and enacting that each principal account should, on the last day of every year, oa his books, and return to the commissioners a balance sheet, and that each such accountant should do the same to his principal. I say, Sir, that I believe no man will deny that such a measure would have prevented such an occurrence, as that of 450 millions of the public money being at this moment unaccounted for. And if so, will it not be next to dowmight madness to multiply the number of boards of commissioners, and to omit the removal of the cause of the fail ire of the last beard. It certainly will be so, and therefore I feel particularly anxious to hear that Lord Henry Patty ill immedia: ly proceed to carry into effect that part of his plan which goes to provide for the introduction of the mercantile system of stating the proceedings of public accountants I must confess, however, I have my apprehensions that this will not be the case. I do not think his Lordship has dwelt so much upon this part of his reform, as he would have done had he been fully aware of the great

mportance of it. I cannot find in any of the reports of his speech, that his plan went farther than to oblige all public accountants to return their balances to the imprest commissioners. This will fall very far short of what ought to be done; for how can these balances be correctly returned, and their correctness quickly ascertained, unless the previous necessity is established, and imposed upon every accountant of keeping his books literatim et verbatim as the mercantile system of book-keeping directs. The superiority of this system does not merely consist in the rules it lays down, that balances shall be periodically struck; but in this, that when a balance is struck, it may be ascertained instantly and by bare inspection without any calculation, whether it is, or is not, correct; that is, the system is such that it exposes all incorrectness, as it were mechanically, and without any faculty of me 'mory or calculation being wanted to assist it. I say then that to control the public accountants effectually, they must be compelled by act of Parliament to keep their books of accounts in a regular prescribed form; namely, ́that in use with merchants and tradesmen; and in order that Parliament may control them who are to control the accountants, that is, the imprest commissioners, the act should provide that the public accounts should be stated annually in the same form, and so as to be printed and prepared fit for the use of the members of the House of Commons, before the Chancellor of the Exchequer should bring in his Budget. If such provisions are enacted by law, one committe of the House of Commons will be fully adequate to make a report in a few days, in each session, upon the state of the funds of the public; they will be competent to detect all abuses; and the practice of a few years in examining the public expenditure, will afford to those who may serve on these committees, so great a facility of ascertaining the correct ness or incorrectness of the statements laid before Parliament, that the trouble of examining them would be so very trifling, and the certainty of all abuses being detected would be so well established, and so generally known, that as much system would be found to prevail on the part of the public accountants to do their duty correctly, as prevails even amongst them in tobbing the public upon any transaction wherein public money is to be paid or received.-I shall conclude this letter with an extract from Sir John Sinclair's work on the Public Revenue, as containing much valuable information, and highly creditable to the late House of Commons of Ireland. * It has often been remarked, that the laws

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"and regulations established in small states, are in general wiser, and better calculated to obtain the ends in view, than those of an "extensive empire; and, as one proof among many others which might be adduced to support the justness of that observation, it may be remarked, that the system adopted "in Ireland, prior to the union, for passing "the public accounts, seems to be infinitely preferable to the one which took place in "the British parliament. In the latter case, a supply was voted, without any previous "inquiry regarding the necessity thereof, and "anumber of accounts were called for, which were detailed by the Chancellor of the "Exchequer, in what was called his budget;

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whereas, in Ireland, the following more "regular system was pursued.-In the first "place, certain accounts, properly arranged, "of the expenses of government, and the produce of every branch of the revenue, were annually laid before the house of commons. As soon as these were produced, a committee was appointed to inspect them, and to report their opinion thereon, with power to appoint sub-committees, that the accounts, if necessary, might be more minutely examined. When "the report of the committee, accompanied "with the accounts therein referred to, was

""be known, what supplies were necessary "" to be given.” "The system has ever "since been observed, with hardly any "omission, even in the earliest stages of "its and latterly it has been adprogress; "hered to with the strictest possible atten"tion."-I have the honour to be &c. VERAX, June 1, 1806.

COMMISSIONERS OF ACCOUNTS.

SIR; The following remarks were written for insertion in your Register, immediately upon the official disclosure of the state of irregularities in the Public Accounts. From the hurry of business they were thrown by, till your own observations appeared; which might seem to supersede the necessity of the following. The writer could not

have received a more convincing proof of the correctness of his ideas. On one point, however, he had gone one step farther; viz. in the proposing the only possible effectual mode of preventing such dreadful abuses in future, and of rescuing the public from the hands of depredators. He hopes, therefore, they will still be inserted, as soon as it can be done. They come from one totally unconnected with any public party or set of men whatever.

"Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" SIR;It is an observation too trite almost for repetition, (were it not that like almost all trite and common maxims it is also strictly true), that there are few men of such disinterested dispositions, and such inflexible integrity, that they can withstand temptations to private einolument, when unrestrained by fear, and uncontroled by the scratinizing eye of inquiry. That there have occurred in public stations in this country, many and lamentable proofs of the truth of this maxim, is now a fact well known, and much observed upon, by all who have eyes to read, or ears to hear. The amount to which frauds and irregularities have attained is so enormous, as to have astonished even those who were before not ignorant of the existence of grievous abuses, and who were not unused to scenes of fraud and peculation. It is also, now, not only allowed, but proclaimed, that they who under whatever name, have hitherto been appointed to examine into accounts, and to correct abuses, have failed in that, for which alone they were appointed by parliament.-In considering what checks, may with a probability of success be applied to this alarming evil, of peculation and mismanagement, the idea of commissioners has been suggested. But, before we flatter ourselves with the hopes of redress from the appointment of such

officers (under whatever name) let us take à lesson from experience. Do we not know, that long, long ago, there were officers appointed for this very purpose? Men, high in reputation, and distinguished for rank?

For the vast benefits which the nation has derived from their disinterested and honest exertions, it is only necessary to refer to the awful disclosure lately made; a disclosure which (in whatever motives it may have originated, concerning which a considerable degree of speculation may without impropriety be entertained) will be felt in its effects in this country, as long as it exists as an independent nation, or a trace remains of its original constitution. It requires nothing more than inquiry into the mode of appointing these officers in the civil, military, and naval departments, and to consider what they must be, and actually are to be convinced that the appointment is, and always must be totally gatory, as to the ends of public justice; that it is and always must be not only useless, but prejudicial to the interests of the nation. That they truly may be denominated a Committee of Secrecy, inasmuch as they would keep back that which it might be thought inexpedient for the public' eye to see; and which you and I, Sir, as contributing to the public purse our mite (almost our last) have a right to look into. That this prediction will be verified, and that shortly too, I will venture to assert. The members of the House of Commons are styled the guardians of the public purse. How the public purse has hitherto been guarded, let the foregoing remarks; let the conviction of every one; let the exhausted finances of the country; let the exhausted pockets of the individual testify. What the prospect is, which we now have before us, unless the public purse is in future guarded against depredation, it is most awful to consider. It becomes necessary, therefore, to inquire by what mode these guardians may be induced; nay, rather, may be obliged to do their duty, by attending to the interests of the nation. Let us revert to the short sentence which I have chosen for my motto. "Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?" As I hope and trust many read this Register who, perhaps, may not read Latin, I shall insert a translation, viz. "But who shall watch "those Guardians of the Public Purse?"""To this I answer, that unless the nation itself have, the necessary control over them, no other power or mode can be devised. If instead of being nominally they were really the representatives of the nation, we should find that controling power in full force; to prevent abuse, ie, to redress itself. Is it