tle occasion there is to devise new motives or excuses for the absence of the former, from the rural abodes in which their lots are cast, the voluminous and disgraceful catalogue of ecclesiastical non-residents lately placed upon the table of the House of Commons, most lamentably declares. So much as to the nature itself of the Assessed Taxes. Their injustice and cruelty is aggravated and exasperated by two practices in the application of them, which notable expedients of fiscal extortion were introduced by Mr. Pitt, and devised I trow by Old Rose. In all cases of taxes upon articles of use or enjoyinent, the first principles of justice require that every person within the scope of such taxes should have the option of escaping payment of the tax, by relinquishing the article upon which the tax is imposed, in case he shall be disabled or disinclined to continue the use or you for keep no hose but for the use of my farm, and to ride to church and market.- -C But will you venture to swear that have never within the kst year, on any single occasion, ridden your horse except upon your farm or to church or market.F. No; I cannot swear that. I believe I rode it once to the christening of my eldest daughter's child, but I do not keep it for such parposes, nor should not think of doing so. I keep it honestly and fairly for the purposes of and no other. My farm it is that makes a farm my horse necessary to me, and but for my farm I should never think of keeping one.--C. Well, that may be, but now the law is, that a horse used by his owner once in a year pleasure, is a horse kept for pleasure, and we must allow the surcharge accordingly.Now for your servant.-F. I do assure your honour that I keep no servant but my husbandry men. husbandry men. What should I keep a servant for ---C. Stay a moment, who saddles the horse that you ride?---F. Most an end I saddle it myself, sometimes the plough-boy, or one of my labourers !——-C. Very well, very well, you know we have already decided that your horse is a horse kept for pleasure, and a man who attends upon a horse kept for picasure cannot be called a farming servant, so we must allow this sure charge also."--The Chancellor of the Exchequer has mentioned as additional duty upon malt, a much less exeptionable alternative than 10 per cent. on, the assessed taxes, which latter, therefore, should unquestionably be abandoned. If, however, unfortunately, it is to be persisted in, still at least it will be the strictest duty of government, to provide that the assessments be made upon the enjoyments actually left to each individual, and not upon those in which he indulged a year ago.- -Before I lay down my pen. I must say a few words on the encouragement held out to harsh and oppressive surcharges, and the informations by the pecuniary rewards given not only to surveyors, inspectors, and the other inquisitors of governnicat, but also to common informers, in case the party surcharged or informed against, cannot give strict proof of the illegality of the surcharge or information, while on the other hand, no compensation can be made to him as the law now stands, for any loss of time, trouble. and expense which he may have incurred by reason of such information or 'surcharge, even though he shall prove it to have been illegal, and also thoroughly groun-less and vexatiouis. Mr. Tyrwhitt Jones deserves the cordial thanks of every man who wishes that the great mass of taxes, which it is our doom to enjoyment of it, after its cost is enhanced by the imposition of the tax, but in the case of the assessed taxes this principle is completely violated, the assessment is not made upon the number of carriages, of horses, servants, &c. &c. which a person actually has, but upon those which he had a year ago, so that the party pays duty not upon the enjoyments in which he may now be able and disposed to indulge, himself with his diminished means, but for those in which he indulged himself last year. Of such a mode of assessment the injustice is always the same, but if it be continued in the collection of Lord Henry Petty's additional 10 per cent. the cruelty of it will be much greater than heretofore, since in our prescut circumstances, when an addition of more than 7,150,0001. is at one stroke made to the annual burdens of the country, almost the whole class of persons deriving their income from landed proporty, (and many others) must of necessity contract their expenditure, or, as Mr. Fox expressed it, he who lives in the first floor must remove to the second, and he who lives in the second must remove to the garret. The most notable device for augmentation of the Assessed Taxes, is the interpretation of the words. Horses and servants not kept for the purposes of husbandry, which I cannot more plainly exhibit to you than by relating the Questions and Answers which, with very little variation, occurred between the commissioners of taxes, and each of a very large number of farmers, at a meeting of commissioners of taxes at which I was present.- -Commissioner. "Fariner you are surcharged for a horse and man servant kept by you, which you have omitted to return. Farmer Please your honour, I keep no servant but my farming labourers, and I bear, should not be unnecessarily oppressive and destructive of civil liberty, for the clause which he lately moved einpovering the commissioners under the property tax, to award reasonable costs to persons aggrieved by groundless and vexatious surcharges, in respect of that duty. And though his specific remedy was not adopted, government is bound to turn its attention to the providing some general relief against oppressions of that kind. Volumes might be filled by reports of such cases, and as the finance secretary to the treasury expressed a desire to be furnished with instances of this kind, I will submit to his inquiry the truth of two communications made to me on the subject; one is, that last year a great proportion of the occasional resorters to Bath, were, without any particle of evidence or pretence of just suspicion, that they had withheld the payment of any tax, or making any return required by law, compelled by the revenue inquisitor to send to the respective places of their ordinary abode for evidence, or by other testimony to prove that they had not violated the law. The other is, that about the same time, a fellow of the same description in Gloucestershire, actually compelled the attendance before the commissioners (at a considerable distance) of almost every individual housekeeper of a market town. (Newnham or Newent, I think was the name of it) upor surcharges, as to nearly the whole of which it appeared that the only ground which le had for making them, was his advantageots chance of considerable profit if he succeded, and of no loss if he failed. Taxes must be paid, and the due payment of them should be legally enforced, but the time, the money, and the comfort of respectable and conscientious persons, should not be subjected to be violated without remedy by the wantonness, insolence, spite, or rapacity of these interested harpies.-X. X. "for the commencement of hostilities against the British nation in India, or against some of the princes or states dependent thereon, or whose territories the "said United Company shall be at such "time engaged by any subsisting treaty to "defend or guarantee) either to declare "war or commence hostilities, or enter into "any treaty for making war against any of "the country princes or states in India, or "any treaty for guaranteeing the possessions "of any country princes or states, and that "in such case it shall not be lawful for the "said governor general and council to de"clare war or commence hostilities, or en"ter into treaty for making war against any "other prince or state than such as shall be actually committing hostilities or making preparations as aforesaid, or to make such treaty for guaranteeing the possessions of "any prince or state, but upon the consi"deration of such prince or state actually " treaty made, the said governor general "and council shall, by the most expeditious means they can devise, communicate the same unto the said Court of Directors, together with a full state of the informa"tion and intelligence upon which they "shall have commenced such hostilities, or "made such treaties, and their motives and "reasons for the same at large." That, by an act passed in the year 1773, being the 13th year of the reign of his present Majesty, it was enacted, that "for the better manage"ment of the said United Company's af"fairs in India, be it further enacted, by "the authority aforesaid, that for the go"vernment of the Presidency of Fort Wil"liam in Bengal, there shall be appointed a governor general, and four counsellors, "and that the whole civil and military go"vernment of the said Presidency, and also "the ordering, management, and govern"ment of all the territorial acquisitions and "revenues in the kingdoms of Bengal, Ba"bar, and Orissa, shall during such time as "the territorial acquisitions and revenues "shall remain in the possession of the said "United Company, be, and are hereby "vested in the said governor general and "council of the said Presidency of Fort "William, in Bengal, in like manner, to "all intents and purposes whatsoever, as "the same now are, or at any time hereto"fore might have been exercised by the president and council, or select committee "in the said kingdoms." That, neverthe less, the said Marquis Wellesley, in defiance | honesty, demanded.-That, as preliminary to the employment of means so foul, so wicked, so unworthy of a soldier and a Briton, the said Marquis Wellesley did recall from Lucknow the then resident, John Lumsden, Esquite, who had assisted in the negociating of the treaty of 1798, and, in the room of him, did, in the month of June, 1799, appoint, as resident at that court, Lieutenant Colonel William Scott, with whom the said Marquis Wellesley had previously held secret consultations as to his ultimate designs with regard to Oude, and who, as it hereinafter will appear, was a representative entirely worthy of the person whom he was chosen to represent, and of the designs with the accomplishment of which he was charged.-That, with respect to the alledged nonpayment of the monthly kist (or instalment) as provided in the treaty of 1798, it doth appear from a retrospective view of the several treaties and compacts between the English Company and the Nabob Viziers of Oude successively, that the annually subsidy, paid by that country to the Company, had, in the space of twentyfive years, been angmented by degrees from 315,000l. to 950,0001. That, from a letter of Sir John Shore, Baronet, to the secret committee of the Court of Directors, dated on the 5th of March, 1798, immediately af ter the conclusion of the treaty last-mentioned, and also from a letter of the said secret committee to the governor general in council, dated on the 15th of May 1799, it doth further appear, that it was reasonable to expect, and that it actually was expected, that the Nabob Vizier would find con"siderable difficulty in fulfilling his pecu "niary engagements with the Company "during the first year, or perhaps longer; and that, by the stipulations of the treaty of 1798, a burthen full as great, if not greater, than he could possibly bear, had, in the opinion of Sir John Shore, Baronet, and also of the East India Company, been imposed upon him the said Nabob Vizier. That, nevertheless, the said Nabob Vizier did, in a manner the most punctual, begin and continue to make payment of the kists (or instalments) as aforesaid fixed and agreed upon; that in one single instance only did he suffer to fall in arrear a monthly kist, which he immediately afterwards paid up. That from the day of the conclusion of the treaty to the day of its final abrogation by the treaty of ces and contempt of the laws, to the strict observance of which he was bound by engagements the most solenn, did, from the time of his arrival in India, conceive and entertain the intention, an intention which he finally executed, to encroach upon the power and rights of the said Nabob Vizier, to interfere in the internal affairs of his government, to undermine and to destroy his authority over his household affairs, his troops, and his subjects, and, under pretences the most false, to extort from him, the said Nabob Vizier, his hereditary dominions, so solemnly gua ranteed to him by the Company in the treaty of 1798; and that all this he the said Marquis Wellesley did without the concurrence, approbation, or consent, and even without the knowledge of the council of Bengal, and without communicating to the said council, or to his employers, the said East India Company, any information whatever of such his intention or proceedings. That the means by him the said Marquis Wellesley employed for the effecting of his designs of encroachment, extortion, and usurpation aforesaid, were, first, the making and reiterating of unfounded complaints and affected apprehensions with respect to the Nabob Vizier's due payment of the monthly kist (or instalment): secondly, the making of continual applications to the Nabob Vizier for the disbanding of his troops; the purport of which applications, together with the persecuting and insulting manner in which they were made, being evidently calculated and intended to disgust the Nabob Vizier with his government, and to induce him to abdicate his throne: third, the immediately interfering in the internal government of the Nabob Vizier, the encouraging of his subjects to resist his authority, and even the fomenting amongst them a spirit of hostility to the person, as well as to the government, of their sovereign; and, fourth, the pouring into the country of the Nabob Vizier troops in such numbers, and of expense so enormous, and the adding thereunto the amount of new and unfounded claims, together with charges for troops, which troops had no existence in fact; thus heaping demand upon demand, until the revenues of the Nabob Vizier became inadequate to the payment; and having at last compelled him to make an avowal of such inadequacy, seizing upon that avowal as the ground for demanding from him a cession,sion from him extorted by the said Marquis in perpetuity of one half of his territory, as a compensation for the nonpayment of the sums so unjustly, and in such direct violation of treaty, of good faith, of honour, and of Wellesley, he the said Nabob Vizier did, with the most perfect sincerity and the most scrupulous good faith, adhere, in word and in deed, to all and singular its stipulations every cause of complaint upon this head "will speedily terminate; observing at the same time, that the large, useless, and expensive military establishment within the "Oude dominions, appears to them to be "one of the principal objects of economi"cal reform." That hence it doth manifestly appear, that, even agreeably to the hard terms of the treaty of 1798, and to the subsequent instructions of the secret committee, the disbanding of the troops of the said Nabob Vizier had in view no object be and provisions, and that, therefore, the pretences of the said Marquis Wellesley, of ap prehensions as to the punctual payment of the kists, were insiacere, unfounded, and false, and were intended to mask the injust, disaonour ble, and perfidious designs, which he had previously formed for interfering in and encroaching upon the government of the Nabob Vizier, for disbanding his troops, and finally for seizing upon his territories, in defiance of the positive compact with the $14 Nabob Vizier, as well as in defiance of the law before cited, which he the said Mar-yond that of leaving him the means puncquis Wellesley was solemnly bound to observe, adhere to, and obey.- -That, with respect to the disbanding of the troops of the Nabob Vizier, it was, in the treaty of 1798 afore-mentioned, settled and agreed, that "the said Nabob Vizier should possess "full authority over his household affairs, hereditary dominions, his troops, and his subjects; and that, in another part of the said treaty, it was settled and agreed, that, "Whereas by the engagements now entered into between the Nabob Vizier and the Company, the amount of the subsidy is considerably increased, and many "other permanent charges upon his excellency are incurred; upon a comparison of his disbursements with the assets (or pecuniary means) of his country, it becomes necessary to make such reductions in the superfinous charges, servants, &c. as may be requisite and are consistent with his excelency's dignity and convenience, and "to that end the said Nabob agrees to consult with the Company's government, and, in concert with them, devise the proper objects of such reductions, and the "best means of effecting them" That, in a letter from the secret committee of the Court of Directors aforesaid to the governor general and council, dated on the 15th of May, 1799, it is stared, that, seeing the difficulties which the Nabob Vizier had to encounter, as afore-mentioned in the letter of Sir John Shore, Baronet, they, the said se'cret committee are not surprised to find, by the last accounts, that an arrear had ac"cumulated in the payments of the kists to "the amount of eighteen lacs of rupees; r 66 that Lord Mornington having represented, however, that he believes the Nabob Vizier is sincerely disposed to make every possible effort for the liquidation of this arrear, as well as for introducing such "system of order and economy into the management of his finances, as will enable " him to be more punctual in his future payments, they, the said secret committee, entertain a well-grounded expectation that tually to discharge the stipulated kists; that, ritories of Oude, to be maintained at the expense of the Nabob V.zie, avowing at the same time that the Nabob Vizier would be unable to make good such expense, without disbanding his own troops; insomuch, that, at the epoch last-mentioned, namely, on the twelfth of November, 1799, wearied with unceasing importunities and threats; thwarted by the frowardness of his Aumils, and others thereunto stirred up and encouraged by the said Marquis Wellesley; disgusted with a system of interferences, of dictatton, of reproof, and of insult, by which he was exhibited as a slave in his own capital; the said Nabob Vizier did make unto the said Marquis Wellesley a proposition for the abdication of his throne, for the placing his son thereon, and for retiring himself to a distance from his capital; his intention, as it afterwards appeared, being to make in person an appeal to the justice of the King and the Parliament in England. Whereupon the said Marquis Wellesley, in pursuance of his unjust and unlawful designs as before described, cagerly seizing upon the proposition so made by the Nabob Vizier, and, falsely ascribing the said proposition to a sense of incapacity and inability to govern in the said Nabob Vizier, did unto him the said Nabob Vizier, through the means of the said William Scott, propose the execu ting of a treaty, whereby to assign over, in perpetuity, to the East India Company, the sole administration of the civil and military government of all the territories and dependencies of the state of Oude, "together with the full and entire right and "title to the revenues thereof," to the utter exclusion of his sons and of every branch of his family, to agree to quit the territories of Oude for ever, to remove unto and reside in some place within the Company's territories, to be fixed by the governor general in council, there to reside, and the said place of residence not thereafter to change, without the leave of the governor general in council, and thus to renounce his dominions and his subjects, to disinherit his sons and his family for ever, and, in return, to become, in fact, a prisoner in some one or other of the Company's fortresses in the province of Bengal or of Behar. That the Nabob Vizier, astounded at a proposition so unjust in itself, and so insulting to his feelings, yet so characteristic of the mind and of the views of the proposer, and strenuously remonstrating against the terms of the said treaty, which he finally rejected, the said Marquis Wellesley, while, on one hand, he renewed with increased arrogance his menaces of interfetence, encroachment, extortion, and usur approved of by him" the said Marquis Wellesley; thus evincing the profoundest hypocrisy, united with views the most tyrannical, violent, and cruel —That, with respect to the fomenting, amongst the subjects of the Nabob Vizier, of discontents against his government, and hostility to his person, the said Marquis Wellesley, through the means of, and in concert with the said William Scott, besides the divers acts of he kind here mentioned and before referred to, dil, after the rejection of the aforesaid insulting and cruel proposition, together with other propositions nearly thereunto resembling, and with the view and the intention of driving the Nabob Vizier, his rights and revenues and territories to renounce, intrigue with, stir up, and, as well by threats as by promises, did move and Instigate the subjects of the said Nabob Vizier the due authority of their sovereign to contemn, his lawful commands to set at nought, his just claims to refuse, and his person to aphor. That, in the month of May, 1801, a cession of territory having been demanded of the Nabob Vizier by the said Marquis Wellesley, and the demand having been backed by the marching of large bodies of the Company's troops into the territories and near the capital of Oude; the Nabob Vizier seeing resist, ance to be in vain, yet hoping to obtain some small degree of security for his person, bis revenues, and his authority, in the territories which should remain in his hands, did draw up a paper of requests, communicating the same in a manner expressly unofficial to the said William Scott, from whom, in a very short time afterwards, ne the said Nabob Vizier did receive back the said paper, together with an urgent recommendation, accompanied with professions of the warmest friendship, that the abob Vizier would not insist upon his the said William Scott's |