394

Civil Society.

B. II.

fait-tax. What the treafury has gained, will notcompenfate the fiftieth part of that lofs. The ab-furdity of with-holding from us a manure fo profi-table, has at lafl; been difcovered ; and remedied inpart, by permitting Engiifh foul fait .to be ufed formanure on paying four-pence of duty per bufhel \Why was not Scotland permitted to tafie of thatbounty? Qur candidates, it would appear, are morefolicitous of a feat in parliament, than of fervingtheir country when they have obtained that ho-nor, What pretext would there have been evenfor murmuring , had every one of them been re-jected with indignation, in the choice of reprefen-tatives for a new parliament ?

The window-tax is more detrimental to thepeople, than advantageous to the revenue. Inthe firft place, it promotes large farms in orderto fave boufes and windows; whereas fmall farmstend to multiply a hardy and frugal race, ufefulfor every purpofe. In the next place, it is a dif-couragement to manufactures, by taxing the hou*fes in which they are carried on. Manufacturers,in order to relieve themfelves as much as poffiblefrom the tax, make a fide of their houfe but onewindow; and there are inftances , where in threeftories there are but three windows. But whatchiefly raifes my averfion to that tax, is that itburdens the poor more than the rich : a houfe ina paultry village that affords not five pounds of

a S° Geo. III. cap. 3$,