Expense of the Administration of Justice. in increased? Will they believe, that the withdrawing of capital from the dustrious and enterprising classes of the community to be lavished on idle and unproductive consumers, is the great secret of the wealth of nations What confidence, what respect must the people feel towards a Judge, who, to reconcile the community to a remorseless system of taxation, should become the voluntary mouth-piece of such monstrous, false, and ridiculous doctrines ?* Mr. Justice Garrow asserts that reform is a mere pretext, and the object is to pull down the ancient institutions of the country. We say, no such thing. The object of the people is not to pull down, but to build up. They seek no new form of government, but the restoration of the old to its original purity. Why should they wish, why should they seek more? Would not that alone accomplish every thing needful for national happiness and prosperity? Would it not, by economy and retrenchment, immediately cause an enormous reduction in the public burdens? Would it not render an immense standing army wholly unnecessary, by conciliating the minds of all classes of people? Would it not extinguish every remnant of religious persecutions, and give a full toleration to all sects and denominations? Would it not reform the whole system of criminal and civil jurisprudence; root out the abuses of public charities; and secure every class of the community' against oppressive and partial laws? These are the only objects contemplated by the Reformers. What more is necessary to stimulate their exertions? If reform could produce no good; if the want of it had entailed no calamity on the country; then, indeed, their professions might be suspected and calumniated: but when it is clear that every evil has originated, and every abuse is perpetuated and upheld, solely from our corrupt and inadequate representation, that is quite sufficient to account for the exertions of Reformers. Their resolutions, their speeches, and their writings avow no -other object, and the best pledge of their sincerity is, that nothing more is needful to restore them to their rights and alleviate their unparalleled sufferings. Oh! but, says another limb of the law, "they wish to divide the property of the rich; beware of them; they are designing and artful villains; they want no reform; it is a mere pretext; they want your estates, to deprive * These notions of the Judge are not absolutely new; for Sir Robert Peel, the Lancashire cotton manufacturer, some forty years ago, attempted to establish similar positions in a pamphlet, intituled "The National Debt productive of National Prosperity." Bigots are to be found in all sciences and professions as well as in religion. Expense of the Administration of Justice. your children of their rightful inheritance.”—Base and atrocious calumnies. What authority had this tool of corruption for his cowardly aspersions? Was there no counsel honest and independent enough to retort in the teeth of this calumniator, that it was not the poor-the Reformers-the people of England, who sought to plunder the rich; but he and his employers, who plundered alike the poor and the rich. But we forgive the Attorney-general of Chester; he receives £1200 a year out of the public money, and like the rest of the servants of the people, he repays them in falsehood and abuse. Stupid as these calumnies are, they form the great lever by which the agents of corruption act on the fears of the middling classes; and no doubt they have succeeded in persuading a considerable number that reform really is a mere pretext, and that its professors ultimately intend to proceed on the levelling system. Nothing can possibly be more false and ridiculous. We are persuaded no class of Reformers entertain any such ridiculous projects. They are fully persuaded, that in every stage of society, the pastoral, the agricultural, and the commercial, there must always be inequalities in men's possessions, resulting from diversities in talent and industry. This is the natural course of things, which no person would wish to see disturbed. Greater industry and talents will naturally accumulate a larger proportion of the wealth of the community; and negligence and indolence a smaller proportion. Of this no Reformer complains; but he complains, and justly too, when he sees the indigent classes struggling under the most intolerable privations, and almost exclusively contributing to the exigencies of the state. The Manchester atrocities have brought things to a rather unexpected crisis. The decision of the Grand Jury at Lancaster-the proceedings at the Oldham Inquest-the thanks of Ministers-the attack on the liberty of the press, on the authority of Lord Sidmouth's circular-the connivance of the Whigs-the silence of the Judges, and all the legal authorities in the kingdom-show clearly, that the law and constitution are empty names; useful to enslave, but not to protect the people. Heretofore the property of the Reformers alone has been a prey to lawless taxation; but now their lives are at the mercy of legal assassins. Ought they to submit to this double outrage? Have they no means of redress? We say, none-from their oppressors. Would they petition their Sovereign? The Police Lieutenant would laugh them to scorn. Would they petition their Mock Representatives? StiH more foolish. The Grand Juries capriciously reject their indictments;— from a magistrate they cannot obtain a warrant; and to complete the catalogue of their injuries, the bodies of their murdered countrymen are interred, and the cause of their death uninvestigated. Surely in England the people Expense of the Administration of Justice. have some means of redress. They have, but clearly not from the laws; but from THEMSELVES. We will shortly explain ourselves on this point, and then we will proceed in our exposition of legal abuses; though it is impossible we should expose a greater abuse in our laws, than that which suffers MURDER to be perpetrated in open day with impunity. A sort of fiscal civil war has already commenced in Lancashire. The people of that brave county have already determined to abstain from the consumption of all heavily taxed commodities. This noble resolution, when it becomes general among the Reformers, will be a vital blow on the system; it would cut off a sum from the revenue far greater than the amount of the Income Tax. This will appear more clear from the following statement of the anqual amount of taxes on different articles of consumption: From the population returns of 1811, it appears, that the working classes form at least three-fourths of the whole community; so that it is certainly not too much to suppose they consume at least one-half the amount of these commodities; on which they pay annually about twelve millions of taxes, Nearly the whole of this sum might and ought to be withheld from the grasp of the Boroughmongers. There is, however, another blow, which, combined with this, will render the whole ten times more effective. The Reformers being placed entirely out of the protection of the law and constitution, it is right that they should not only think of defending themselves, but also of attacking their enemies effectively, and in a way the least injurious to themselves. Every one must have remarked, that there is a very numerous class of shopkeepers and others, almost wholly dependent upon the people for subsistence, and who, partly from fear, partly from indifference, and partly from baser motives, take very little share in their proceedings. These men ought immediately to be put in a state of activity. Neutrality has now become a erime; and no person can discharge his duty to society who remains a silent Expense of the Administration of Justice. spectator of the atrocious scenes now transacting. The way in which these persons are to be operated upon is by rigorously abstaining from purchasing the most trifling commodity of those who are opposed to RADICAL REFORM, ..or of those who refuse to support any measures likely to accomplish that desirable object. By this means the Reformers would not only support and encourage those who are friendly to the public cause, but inflict a just punishment on its enemies, who have long acted on the principle here recommended. Besides the defalcation in the revenue, the non-consumption of tea, beer, and sugar would embarrass many classes of tradesmen, as the grocers and brewers, a great part of whom have manifested a most culpable indifference to the sufferings of the people. But this is nothing compared to the total revulsion and embarrassment resulting from the Reformers not purchasing a single commodity of any but their friends. The whole social fabric rests upon the labouring classes; and we are persuaded they are not half acquainted with the extent of their power and influence, and the means they possess of exerting them in spite of every effort of their enemies. Since the Manchester Massacre we have reflected on the different classes into which society is divided, their incomes, and mutual dependence. Turning to COLQUHOUN'S “Treatise on the Resources of the British Empire," we found a full exposition of this subject. We there found an estimate of the number and income of all the different classes into which society is divided. From the data there exhibited, we have drawn up a statement which will at once afford a complete view of this subject. This statement we will insert: it will show the sums annually expended by the working classes, and also the number of those classes who are dependent upon that expenditure for support; consequently, their own power, influence, and importance in the community. Number of Persons, Total Income. including their Families & Domestics. NOBILITY AND GENTRY:-Peers, Baronets, Knights, Country Gentlemen, and others, having remo large incomes Class. £ 416,535 58,422,590 Expense of the Administration of Justice. CLERGY:-Eminent Clergymen Lesser Ditto Dissenting Clergy, including Itinerant STATE AND REVENUE, including all Persons employed LAW-Judges, Barristers, Attorneys, Clerks, &c. TRADE:-Eminent Merchants Shopkeepers, and Tradesmen retailing 1,540,000 33,600,000 35,000 9,100,000 700,000 28,000,000 Innkeepers and Publicans, licensed to sell WORKING CLASSES:-Agricultural labourers, Me- 7,497,531 82,451,547 Here then the subject is clearly exposed ;—we see now how matters really stand, and who are the pillars of the state. We see the total number and income of each class; consequently, their relative power, dependence, and importance in the community. The facts too are unquestionable; it cannot be said they are founded on the exaggerated data of some Jacobin, drawn up for Jacobinical purposes; they are the data of PATRICK COLQUHOUN, Receiver of the Thames Police Office, a most loyal man, and who, partly for his loyalty, receives out of the public purse more than £6000 per annum. The inferences to be drawn from the above statement are many and important, and we shall enumerate them in order. 1. Peers, baronets, knights, country gentlemen, and persons of that description, including their families, amount to more than 400,000, and their total income to more than 58 millions, which is exactly £145 a year to each individual. The working classes, including their families, amount to seven millions and a half, and their total income to 82 millions, which is about £10 a year for each individual. These two classes, speaking after the |