Thoughts on the principles of taxation, with reference to a property tax, and its exceptions

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THOUGHTS

THE PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION,

WITH REFERENCE TO

A PROPERTY TAX,

ITS EXCEPTIONS.

CHARLES BABBAGE, ESQ.

SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS.

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f UNIVERSITY )

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JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1851.

" FIDDLE a son caractere, Napoleon ne craignit pas, Ic jour m6me oil
il briguait le tr6ne, de rgtablir, sous le nom des droits-r6unis, le plus
impopulaire, maia le plus utilc des impCts.

" II en fit la premiere proposition au Conseil d'Etat, et il y soutint
avec une sagacit6 merveilleuse, comme si les finances avaient 6te l'6tude
de sa vie, les yrais principes de la matiere. A la the"orie de 1'impot
unique, reposant exclusivement sur la terre, exigeant du fermier et du
proprietaire la totalite de la somme ne"cessaire aux besoins de 1'Etat, les
obligeant a en faire au moin.s 1'avance dans la supposition la plus
favorable pour eux, celle ou le renchdrissement des produits agricoles
les dedommage de cette avance,— a une the'orie aussi follement exa-
geree, il opposa la theorie simple et vraie de UmpOt habilement diversifie,
reposant a la fois sur toutes les propri6te"s et sur toutes les industries,
ne demandant a aucune d'elles une portion trop considerable du re-
venu public, n'amenant par consequent aucun mouvement force dans
les valeurs, puisaut la richesse dans tous les canaux ou elle passe abon-
dammcnt, et puisant dans chacun de ces canaux, de maniere a ne pas
produire un abaissement trop sensible

" Ce systeme, fruit du temps et de 1'experience, n'est susceptible que
d'une seule objection : c'est que la diversite" de I'imp6t entraine la diver-
site" de la perception, et, des lors, une augmentation des frais : mais il
presente tant d'avantages, et le contraire estsi violente, que cette legere
augmentation de frais ne saurait fitre une consideration sgrieuse." —
Histoire du Consulat et de T 'Empire, par M. A. Thiers, vol. v. p. 162.
8vo. ed.

GENERAL

PREFACE.

THE approaching discussion respecting the in-
come tax induces me to reprint, with a few addi-
tions, some thoughts on the principles of Taxation,
which appeared about three years ago. That
pamphlet, translated into Italian, has recently
been published at Turin, by a gentleman who has
done me the honour of appending to it many
interesting comments adapted to the circumstances
of his own country.

I am the more inclined to reprint this
pamphlet, because of the prevalence of what
I conceive to be unsound principles, even in quar-
ters where it should be the least expected. I re-
gard the large exemptions from the tax admitted
in the present act as leading directly towards
Socialism; and disapproving of the excessive
clamour which has been raised against some taxes,
in themselves sufficiently impolitic, I cannot ap-

A£

108302

IV

prove of the policy of substituting for them other
taxes which are unjust in principle.

The attempt in the late budget to substitute
what was called a house-tax instead of the window-
tax, was most unjust. It rendered permanent on
old houses an impost which was singularly heavy
and partial ; whilst its imposition on new houses,
at a fixed per-centage on the rent, gave a most
unfair preference to different classes of the same
species of property.

March 1851.

THOUGHTS,

THERE are two essential grounds on which all
legitimate taxation ought to rest —

1st. The Protection of property.

2d. The Protection of the person.

I. It is obvious, as a general principle, that all
taxation ought to be proportioned to the cost of the
service for which the taxes are paid. If it were
otherwise, some portion of the people would be com-
pelled to pay for services which they do not receive.

But it is equally obvious that the cost and
difficulty of applying this general principle must
put a limit to the extent to which it is politic to
carry it into detail. Ships are liable to peculiar
dangers from the elements, for protection against
one portion of which they pay a special tax to
support lighthouses, beacons, and other means of
contributing to their security when near the coast.
These means are useless for the protection of houses,
which, therefore, are not subject to payment for

6

them. But both houses and ships are subject to
damage and destruction by fire, and other accidents.
Against such misfortunes the owners of both can
insure themselves, and will pay to the Insurance
Companies in proportion to the nature of their
risks.

II. With respect to the expense of protecting
personal liberty, some difficulties arise. It may
be contended that the personal liberty of a poor
man costs as much for its protection as that of a
wealthy man or of a peer. If this be admitted,
then it follows that a fixed sum might be charged
on each individual, as a poll-tax, for his personal
protection. But it would be impossible to raise
any large sum by such means : because, unless the
tax were very small, a considerable portion of the
population would be absolutely unable to pay it.

On the other hand, it may with some plausibility
be maintained, that the value to any man, of his
personal liberty, is in proportion to the amount of
property he possesses. It is by no means an un-
common event, that a poor man is convicted of a
crime of which he is guiltless, simply from his want
of money to pay for legal assistance and to bring
into the presence of his judge the witnesses of his
innocence. It is painful to reflect on the instances
in which innocent persons have thus suffered even
the extreme penalty of the law. But who ever
heard of such calamities happening to a rich man ?
Amongst those convicted of minor felonies, such

instances are more frequent. In a newspaper even
of this morning* I observe that the innocence of a
man convicted in 1845 of stealing a horse and gig
is established, by the confession of another convict
in Van Diemen's Land, that he alone was the real
thief. In the mean time the unjustly convicted
person, who had conducted himself with great pro-
priety during his confinement in Pentonville prison,
went as an exile to Australia. This deeply injured
and ruined man will now probably receive a pardon ;
— a word, which in the English language means the
forgiveness of an injury done by the person to whom
it is granted — but which, to the disgrace of English
law, implies in such cases an admission that a deep
and an unatoned injury has been done by the
institutions of the country to the person pardoned, f
Undoubtedly ample reparation ought to be made
for such sufferings, and as far as money can be a
compensation, it ought to be liberally bestowed.
The law has already granted compensation to indi-
viduals injured by accidents arising from negli-
gence— as in the instance of railroads ; and in case
of death, it gives the same redress even to the
relatives of the sufferer. Why should not a similar
relief be given, through the intervention of a jury,
to men who have been wrongfully injured in their

* The first edition was published in 1 848.
t " Forgiveness to the injured does belong,

But thej ne'er pardon who commit the wrong."

DEYDEN.

8

person, their character, and their feelings, by an
unjust or a mistaken conviction ?

The care taken by the legislature for the protec-
tion of property was curiously contrasted in some
recent cases, with that which is bestowed on the
protection of person.*

From such examples it would seem that the esti-
mated value of the personal liberty of the poorer
classes is very small. If so, any payment on this
ground must also be small, and therefore might be
neglected in considering the question of taxation.
But if, as appears to be the more reasonable view,

* Not many months ago the public were informed, that a
free pardon had been granted to a convict whose innocence
had been clearly proved, after he had suffered some part of his
sentence in Van Diemens Land, and that on his return to this
country the Government had presented him with ten pounds ! ! !
Much about the same time the public were reminded that cer-
tain offices connected with the Court of Chancery, which re-
quired but little industry and small talent in their possessors,
and had long been greatly overpaid, were to be abolished by a
decision of the House of Commons, and compensation was of
course to be made to the holders. To one of these officers
a pension of six thousand a-year for life was awarded, and an
annuity of three thousand a-year to his executors for seven years
after his death.

This is unfortunately not a solitary instance of lavish
extravagance on the part of a weak government, to conciliate
a powerful interest. Can any reasonable being be surprised
at the low estimate which is formed of the public integrity of
the leaders of party, when such profligate expenditure is con-
trasted with the " pittance" meted out to science by those who
are always ready, when pressed, to deplore the insufficiency,
yet ever indisposed, when urged, to attempt its remedy.

9

the expense of protecting the personal liberty of the
wealthy classes bears practically some definite pro-
portion to their means, then the two grounds of
taxation follow the same law.

I shall therefore assume in the following'pages—

That taxation ought to be proportional to the
cost of maintaining those institutions, without
which neither property nor industry can be pro-
tected, or even exist.

The first question which arises in the application
of this general principle is, whether a portion of the
property of the country shall be taken once for all
and applied to the purposes of the Government : or
whether certain sums shall be collected at periodical
intervals.

The objections to the first of these alternatives
are insuperable. It provides only for the protection
of that property and those interests which exist at
the time of the first arrangement, whilst the amount
requisite for protection is a continually varying
sum, which no human foresight can predict. If a
portion of land is set apart for this purpose, it is
usually less improved than that which is in the
possession of private owners. All civilized Govern-
ments have therefore adopted periodical payments
of their revenue, and all their accounts are annual.
We may therefore assume that taxation ought to be
annual. And if so, its amount must, of course, be
regulated by the sum required for the protection of
property during one year.

10

It has been objected to this view of the question,
that annual taxes raised for purposes of protection
ought not to be expended on permanent structures.
The answer is, that a certain portion of the expen-
diture being so employed, the average amount
required annually will be considerably reduced.

We have now, therefore, arrived at the principle,
that each person ought to be taxed annually for the
protection of his personal liberty and property
during that year. It may be observed, that the
things to be protected by the taxation during that
year are the income, the advantages, and the enjoy-
ments resulting from property, or from the institu-
tions of the State. This view directly leads to an
income-tax. But without insisting on this infer-
ence, there are other reasons which show that the
amount of annual taxation for securing the enjoy-
ment of property during each year, ought to be in
proportion to its produce.

The power of enjoying property of every kind,
depends entirely on the conventions of Society.
Whether a man derives an income from an heredi-
tary estate, — from a permanent or a temporary
annuity in the funds, — from the produce of his
brain in scientific and literary productions, — from
the sale of his acquired personal knowledge in
medicine and in the law, — or from the same know-
ledge applied to the employment of capital by the
merchant or the shopkeeper, — it is equally essential

11

for the receipt of his annual income that those laws
and institutions, without which his profit could not
arise, should be maintained during that year.

Although in the preceding discussion the two
grounds of protection of person and of property
have been assumed as comprising the whole func-
tions of Government, this limitation is not essential
to the argument. Since whatever may be the
objects for which Government is instituted, it is
certain that, in order to maintain it, an annual
sum of money is raised, which is expended in
annual payments, under various conditions ; as, for
example —

Annual salaries to all persons employed by the
State. These are less in amount, because it has
been found more economical to give retiring pen-
sions after certain periods of service. Thus each
generation pays for the past, and in return its own
retired officers are paid by the next.

Another portion of revenue pays for the rent
of the various buildings required for the use of
Government. There again it has been found less
expensive to purchase than to rent them; con-
sequently the annual expenditure is reduced to the
repairs and enlargement of public buildings.

The materiel of the Navy and Army is paid for
in the same way. The decay and reparation are
met by annual expenditure.

The result of the whole is, that through this
expenditure it becomes possible for the individual

12

to acquire and enjoy the produce of lands, the
rent of houses, fisheries, &c., and to receive the
dividends of his funded property ; whilst it enables
the Government to protect all trades and profes-
sions, so that those occupied in them shall earn
their livelihood in security during that year.

The expenditure then may fairly be considered
as annual ; and since all these annual consequences
can be measured by one common standard, namely,
money, it seems difficult to propose any other mode
of contribution towards it more fair than —

That each class of persons should pay in propor-
tion to the money value which, in consequence of
these arrangements, it receives during the year.

Now, during a series of years, the annual profit
of each trade, profession, or class respectively, is
little less fluctuating than that arising from the
rents of houses or lands, and much less so than
that from railways. Some very few trades be-
come slowly extinct, whilst new ones as slowly
arise; but these changes are gradual, and easily
foreseen.

The individuals who practise these trades and
professions — who in fact profit by these institu-
tions— ought of course to contribute to their sup-
port ; but those contributions should terminate
with the advantages they reap from them.

As to the way in which each individual may
choose to expend the income he receives, it can-
not legitimately be made the subject of taxation.

13

Each will apply his portion in that expenditure
which he considers most advantageous to himself.
If he possesses no other source of income, and is
prudent, he will invest a considerable portion of
his income, in order to support himself in illness
and old age, or to leave to his surviving relatives
at his death.

It is frequently urged that it is unjust to tax
a man who has an annuity of £100 for a limited
number of years, equally with another person who
possesses the same in perpetuity. But the tax is
really paid in each case for the annual security of
the property ; and if he who held the perpetual
annuity were taxed more than the other, he might
justly complain that he is taxed for being richer
than the other. Besides, when the annuity to the
temporary holder ceases, it reverts to the grantor,
who then pays an equal annual sum for its pro-
tection.

If the person receiving an annuity of £100 for
life from the funds, does not pay the same tax
annually as the man who possesses the perpetual
annuity, the following injustice will take place.
Supposing the annuity has been left by will to
half-a-dozen persons in succession, to each during
his own life ; it may then happen that, during
sixty or eighty years, a portion of that money
which is necessary for the annual maintenance even
of the funds themselves will be unjustly charged
upon other persons.

14

It is a frequent subject of complaint by pro-
fessional men, that their uncertain income, depen-
dent on health and other accidental circumstances,
•pays the same tax as that of the landowner. But
it must be observed, that, although the income is
precarious to the individual, its protection is not
less costly to the State ; and that in whatever
way the income may be distributed amongst the
members of a profession, the total amount of it to
the whole profession is in general quite as perma-
nent as that of the landlord, and more certain in
its payment. The average annual income received
by the whole Bar, and by its various members who
have been advanced to the innumerable places to
which that profession leads, varies but little, and is
certainly much better paid than the rental even of
the most fortunate landlord. The income of both
depends on the security of property, and the sup-
port during the year of the usual institutions of
the country. Those who enter the profession of
the law are aware of the permanence of its general
income, and cannot fairly complain of being obliged,
during the period in which they are profiting by its
use, to contribute their full share towards the sup-
port of those institutions on which the existence
of their profession depends.

The same argument applies, more or less in
degree, and entirely in principle, to all other pro-
fessions and trades. It is sometimes urged, that
men wih1 be ill and require medical aid, whether

15

any form of government exist or not. Certainly
this is so : but unless the medical man can reach
his patients and return in safety (for which pro-
tection he must sacrifice a portion of his gains), he
can neither receive food from his patient to support
his own life to-day, nor a fee to supply the wants
of himself and his family on the morrow.

In fact, it appears that the cost of protecting
the small capitalist is greater in proportion to
the amount of his capital than that required
by the larger holders. The Barings and the
Rothschilds can with facility transfer their capital,
or at least a large portion of it, to the protection of
other states, the moment their keen practical eyes
perceive the slightest commencing insecurity in the
institutions of their own. The helpless vendor of
apples at tlie corner of the street has no such
resource. Without the protection of a powerful
and expensive police, her humble store would be
hopelessly exposed to the plunder of every passing
vagabond. One most important step will have
been made in the difficult art of government, when
education shall have fully impressed this fact on
the labouring classes of society.

Two questions of great importance arise in
contemplating a tax upon income : —

1st. As to the amount of the tax on a given
amount of income ; or, in other words, its rate per
cent.

16

2d. The amount of income, if any, which shall
be exempted from taxation.

1st. If the income tax be very high, there is
no doubt whatever that it will be considerably
evaded in its collection. It may, therefore, be-
come a most unequal tax, and consequently a
most unjust one. It would in fact, under such
circumstances, be wholly "deprived of the support
of that argument on which its existence has been
advocated. Its injustice would be greater, because
it would fall with unmitigated force upon the most
helpless and the most upright members of the
community.

Another evil resulting from a high rate of tax
upon income is perhaps of more dangerous con-
sequence, from its being less open to observation.
Its necessary effect will be, the transfer of capital
from tkis to other countries. No laws however
stringent can prevent this consequence, nor follow
the transported capital to its adopted home, and
there tax its annual produce. The injustice of a
government taxing capital which it does not pro-
tect, would remove from the minds of its possessors
the impediment of moral wrong ; and the sagacity
of commercial enterprise would soon place that
capital far beyond the grasp of the most rapacious
chancellor of the exchequer, even with all the aids
which legal ingenuity could devise.

The evil effects of such an abstraction of capital
might be at first almost imperceptible ; they would

17

be slow, but certain and cumulative. The impost
itself would fall more heavily than before on the
capital remaining at home, crippling the manufac-
turing enterprise of the country, and pressing with
severity even on that labouring population whose
means are so small that they are nominally exempt
from its infliction. Extended information amongst
the masses is the best antidote to these evils, as
well as the most faithful trustee of the interests of
truth.

2d. The second question is, The amount of
income which shall be exempt from taxation. Here
it may be observed, that there are two limits. 1 . It
is obviously impolitic to allow any tax to descend
below the point at which the cost of collection
exceeds the produce. 2. It is also hopeless to
attempt to collect it from those whose entire income
just enables them to subsist. The remission of
the tax might in the latter case be looked upon as
an act of charity.

I shall at present refer only to the economical
ground of national charity, of poor rates, and of
other similar institutions, because it is of import-
ance that the operation of the principles of morals
and of economy should be investigated separately,
before their united action in any system of govern-
ment is examined. Whenever, for the purposes of
government, we arrive, in any state of society, at
a class so miserable as to be in want of the com-
mon necessaries of life, a new principle comes into

B

18

action. The usual restraints which are sufficient .
for the well-fed, are often useless in checking the
demands of hungry stomachs. Other and more
powerful means must then be employed ; a larger
array of military or of police force must be main-
tained. Under such circumstances it may be
considerably cheaper to fill empty stomachs up to
the point of ready obedience, than to compel
starving wretches to respect the roast-beef of their
more industrious neighbours : and it may be
expedient, in a mere economical point of view, to
supply gratuitously the wants even of able-bodied
persons, if it can be done without creating crowds
of additional applicants.

In considering the minimum of income on
which a tax should be imposed, the effects of
exemption ought to be thoroughly examined.
These effects have hitherto received little atten-
tion, although pregnant with danger of the most
fatal kind.

The present generation have little notion of
the intense feeling of antipathy with which the
income tax of ten per cent., existing about a third
of a century ago, was then viewed, — nor of the
popularity which was acquired by its subsequent
abolition, and by the measure which accompanied
its extinction, of destroying as far as possible every
record tending to an exposure of the circumstances
of individuals.

19

The exemption at that time extended to all in-
comes under £50 • but on its renewal in later
times, far more extensive exemptions were admitted :
all incomes under £150 were expressly exempted.
But even this sacrifice of principle was not
thought sufficient ; and by the same statute it
was enacted, that a farmer who paid £300 a-year
rent for his farm should be deemed to make a
clear income equal to one-half only of that sum.
So that every farmer not possessing other sources
of income than a farm, whose rent is less than
£300 a-year, is at this moment exempt from
income tax.

The machinery for collecting the income tax is
not expensive ; and whether the amount of the tax
itself is five or twenty-five per cent., the cost of its
collection need not be much augmented. This fact
alone is a tempting inducement to a chancellor of
the exchequer to have recourse to its increase when-
ever increased expenditure becomes necessary, or
whenever a deficiency in the revenue is apprehended.

It is unfortunate, that by the very nature of the
exemptions from the income tax, a large number of
the electors of this country have a direct pecuniary
interest in preferring its augmentation to any other
mode of taxation. In consequence of these unjust
and unstatesmanlike exemptions, numbers of elec-
tors will urge their representatives to pledge them-
selves to oppose all other taxes : — and the ultimate

20

result might be, that the wealthy would be unjustly
plundered, — capital be driven from the land, and
at last the ruined fortunes of the rich would be
accompanied by the absolute starvation of the poor.

I am not aware of any data or returns by which
the number of electors possessing annual incomes
of given amount can be ascertained, nor is any-
thing more than a rough approximation necessary
for my argument. It is sufficient for my purpose
to show that a very large proportion of the elective
body in this country is exposed to an influence
tending strongly to mislead its decisions from the
path of justice ; to corrupt the natural expression
of public opinion ; and in its endeavour to escape
from its own fair share of taxation, to place an
undue burden upon other classes.

The total number of electors is about a million,
comprising persons of every variety of income,
from the mere forty-shilling freeholder up to the
millionnaire.

Statistical inquiries have not yet supplied any
tables which enable us to ascertain, even approxi-
mately, how the population of the country is divided
with reference to the income of individual classes ; —
for example, out of the whole number of inhabi-
tants, what number exist on an income of £20,
what number on one of £30, what number on one
of £50, and so on. Such a table would be of great
value, and its want is continually felt by those who
are much engaged on inquiries into economical

21

questions. In the absence of such information
I shall avail myself of the returns, published in
the Tables of the Board of Trade, of the number
of persons receiving certain incomes from funded
property.

The following table shows, for the year 1846,
the number of persons receiving dividends from the
various public funds of the annual amount shown
in the first column. For example, there were
242,623 persons receiving dividends not exceeding
£200 annually.

Annual Income

1846.

Number of persons
receiving the same.

Proportion of ditto for
a million of persons.

£

10

84,613

319,000

20

125,784

472,280

100

218,243

822,900

200

242,623

914,830

400

256,548

967,320

600

260,721

983,040

1,000

263,445

993,330

2,000

264,671

997,930

4,000

265,016

999,250

4,000 and j
upwards.)

265,218

1,000,000

Now, if the incomes of the voters follow a similar
law, and the number be one million, it would
appear that there are above 850,000 electors having
an income under £150 yearly.*

* I am by no means disposed to accept this as the- real
number, or even as any very near approximation to it. I have
employed the only data at present known.

•22

It is true that many of the wealthier electors will
have more than one vote. A certain deduction
must be admitted on this ground. But it is also
true, especially at general elections, that many votes
can very rarely be given by the same individual at
different places. On the other hand, there can be
scarcely any doubt that a large number of persons,
the rents of whose farms are between £150 and
£300 a-year, have really clear incomes above £150,
although they are exempted from the income tax.
This number, whatever it may amount to, ought,
therefore, to be added to the number of those
electors who have a pecuniary interest in the selec-
tion of representatives who will vote for the increase
of that tax.

However slow the progress of this evil may at
first be, the result is inevitable. Public opinion so
corrupted, taxation thus unjustly charged, will ulti-
mately work out its natural and necessary conse-
quences. Amidst the political errors of the present
century, I know of none possessing so truly revo-
lutionary a character, — none so calculated to acce-
lerate its destructive course by its own accumulated
momentum, — none which, although seemingly fatal
only to the rich, is in reality more fatal to all
industry.

The remedy of these anticipated evils is neither
difficult nor obscure. Abolish all exemptions — or else
reduce the exemption to the lowest possible point, and
disqualify from voting all electors who claim the ex-

23

emption. Public opinion has already been tampered
with ; — this change is necessary in order to restore
it to a wholesome state on the subject of taxation,
and enable it to become the fair representative of
the intellect of the country, unbiassed by selfish
interests. Such an effort is worthy of a statesman
who looks beyond the temporary views and com-
promises of party. It would possess a character
peculiarly its own — for it would be disinterested.
Winning for its author no present triumph, it
would only be duly appreciated when sounder
principles of economy shall have worked their
slow progress through the opening mind of the
nation.

Few, perhaps, will be inclined to deny the evils
which I have pointed out as resulting from exemp-
tion, although they may differ from me in the extent
of its effects, or doubt the soundness of the principles
of taxation on which my reasoning rests. Those
who hold the latter opinion, I would request to
point out other principles which they propose as the
basis of taxation ; and I would further entreat them
to unite with me in refuting some common and
prevailing errors on this question.

"Tax luxuries," is the maxim of some. But
where is there any consistent and admitted defini-
tion of a luxury ? The luxuries of one class con-
stitute the necessaries of the class above it. Besides,
the desire to possess the luxuries of life and to enjoy
them in idleness, is the most active principle of

24

industrial excitement. Fortunately for our happi-
ness, those habits of energetic employment which
our minds have acquired in the pursuit of wealth,
indispose us to enjoy that luxurious inactivity to
which we had looked forward "as the end of our
labour; and thus a double blessing crowns our
exertions.

" Tax those who can afford to pay taxes," is the
fallacy of another class of the thoughtless. But
who, except the individual himself, can judge how
much he can afford to spend? All his apparent
means, his exact income, even to a fraction, may
be known to his neighbours : but unless all the
claims to which he is liable, and all the duties by
which he is bound, are equally known, no just
opinion can be formed of what he can or cannot
afford.

It is not at present my intention to enter on the
question of indirect taxation. I may, however, be
permitted to relate an anecdote which singularly
illustrates its effects.

An Irish proprietor, whose country residence was
much frequented by beggars, resolved to establish a
test for discriminating between the idle and the
industrious, and also to obtain some small return
for the alms he was in the habit of bestowing.
He accordingly added to the pump by which the
upper part of his house was supplied with water,
a piece of mechanism so contrived, that at the

25

end of a certain number of strokes of the pump-
handle, a penny fell out from an aperture to
repay the labourer for his work. This was so ar-
ranged, that labourers who continued at the work,
obtained very nearly the usual daily wages of labour
in that part of the country. The idlest of the
vagabonds of course refused this new labour test :
but the greater part of the beggars, whose con-
stant tale was that " they could not earn a fair
days wages for a fair days work" after earning a
few pence, usually went away cursing the hardness
of their taskmaster.

An Italian gentleman, with greater sagacity,
devised a more productive pump, and kept it in
action at far less expense. The garden wall of his
villa adjoined the great high road leading from one
of the capitals of northern Italy, from which it was
distant but a few miles. Possessing within his
garden a fine spring of water, he erected on the
outside of the wall a pump for public use, and
chaining to it a small iron ladle, he placed near it
some rude seats for the weary traveller, and by a
slight roof of climbing plants protected the whole
from the mid-day sun. In this delightful shade
the tired and thirsty travellers on that well-beaten
road ever and anon reposed and refreshed them-
selves, and did not fail to put in requisition the
service of the pump so opportunely presented to
them. Prom morning till night many a dusty and
way-worn pilgrim plied the handle, and went on

c

26

his way, blessing the liberal proprietor for his kind
consideration of the passing stranger.

But the owner of the villa was deeply acquainted
with human nature. He knew in that sultry climate
that the liquid would be more valued from its
scarcity, and from the difficulty of acquiring it.
He therefore, to enhance the value of the gift,
wisely arranged the pump, so that its spout was of
rather contracted dimensions, and the handle re-
quired a moderate application of force to work it.
Under these circumstances the pump raised far
more water than could pass through its spout ; and,
to prevent its being wasted, the surplus was con-
veyed by an invisible channel to a large reservoir
judiciously placed for watering the proprietor's own
house, stables, and garden, — into which about five
pints were poured for every spoonful passing out of
the spout for the benefit of the weary traveller.
Even this latter portion was not entirely neglected,
for the waste-pipe conveyed the part which ran
over from the ladle to some delicious strawberry
beds at a lower level. Perhaps, by a small addition
to this ingenious arrangement, some kind-hearted
travellers might be enabled to indulge their mules
and asses with a taste of the same cool and refresh-
ing fluid ; thus paying an additional tribute to the
skill and sagacity of the benevolent proprietor. My
accomplished friend would doubtless make a most
popular Chancellor of the Exchequer, should his
Sardinian Majesty require his services in that de-
partment of administration.

27

It has sometimes been objected to indirect tax-
ation, that the people are deceived by it. But to
attempt deceit is here quite superfluous : the
facility with which such taxes are paid xarising in
a great measure from the ignorance of those who
pay them, and from their conviction that they are,
in many cases, at liberty to avoid the payment alto-
gether, as well as from the fact that each pays in
proportion to the quantity he consumes.

The result of this inquiry leads to a conclusion
perpetually forced upon our conviction in the com-
plicated affairs of human society. No single prin-
ciple can alone explain or be safely applied to all
the relations which it influences. In almost all
cases, more than one or even than two or three
general principles, combine to govern important
consequences ; and the statesman must be ever on
the watch to discover those other limiting prin-
ciples which influence, and sometimes even thrust
aside the dominant one. Thus the principle of
direct taxation by an income tax has been shown to
be consistent with justice; but it has been well
remarked, that in order to render it practically
just, it would require angels for commissioners,
and other angels for its collectors.

Amidst conflicting and concurring principles
acting upon the welfare of a people, it is the duty
of the statesman to choose and to propose, not that
combination which is in itself the best, but the best
amongst those combinations which the nation can
be induced to adopt. This line of policy differs

entirely from that of compromise : it needs no
concealment ; it requires no delusion. Whether
opposed by the ignorance of the many, or by the
erroneous convictions of the few, it is yet possible
for a minister to be honest — for a statesman to be
sincere. But to reach this elevation, he must have
cast off the conventionalities of party. — Whilst
advocating that course which he thinks the best
amongst the practicable, he must still boldly pro-
claim his belief in a better. — Above all things, no
temptation must induce him ever to prostitute his
talents, by attempting to convince feebler minds
of the truth of principles which his own clearer
understanding rejects as unsound. This stem
moral courage may, perhaps, retard the progress of
his earlier reputation, but will add to the solidity
of his maturer fame, and contribute to the success
of his latest efforts. Misleading no followers-
deceiving no friends, — betraying no party, lie will
also be equally free from the graver chides of
sacrificing right to expediency — of apostati/ing
from truth for power. W^ith a reputation unini-
peached even by suspicion, commanding the ad-
miration of his friends and the confidence of the
nation, he will bequeath to his countrymen an
example of rnteUeclual integrity more valuable to
them even than the greatest advantages his political
sagacity might have achieved.

II. .CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.

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