A Statistical Account of the British Empire, exhibiting its Extent, Physical Capacities, Population, Industry, and Civil and Religious Institutions. By J. R. M'Culloch, Esq., assisted by numerous contributors. Second Edition, Enlarged. London: Printed for Charles Knight & Co. 1839 [pp. 416-450]

1S41.]`II' Cu lloeh's BritisA Empire. 447
er, in a representative government, which stops bread and
meat on their way to the mouths of the famished, that it may
sell tl~e same articles to the poor at "famz~ie prices," ai~d
thus pocket in the operation 240,000,000 dollars, a sum
equal to the whole revenue of the country? A Si' in of which
it has never returned in any year in poor rates more than
~40,000,00o, and frequently not half that amount. What
must be thought of that abuse of power which burdens
all that the poor consume, with heavy duties, aiid by the
pains of hunger compels them to pay fifteen-twentieths of
the natioi~al expenditure? No option is left to the poor in
this matter, they must pay or not eat. Examine the sources
of revenue in England, and it will be found to press on utimbers and not on wealth.
In 1839 the fbllowing articles yielded thus:
Spirits, ~8,059,929 Tea, ~3,658,800
Malt, 4,845,949 Coffee, 779,115
Sugar & Molasses, 4,827,019 Tobacco & Snuff, 3,495,687
Corn, 1,098,778 Soap, 784,168
Butter, 213,078 Candles & Tallow, 182,000
19,042,753 8,899,770
~27,942,523.
In the sanie year the taxes and duties bearing more immediately on the rich produced as fbllows:
Land, ~1,174,100
Windows, 1,298,622
Horses, 384,286
Carriages, 447,467
Wine, 1,849,710
Thus the la~id, for the benefit of the owner of which the
enonnous levy of ~50,000,000 is made upon the labour of
the nation, pays for national defence and the support of that
government of which itreaps all the benefits, only ~1,174,100.
Thench consume 7,239,567 gallons of wine, paying as above;
the poor consutne the larger portion, and that is one of their
misfortunes, 8,414,790 gallons of spirits, British and foreign,
on which duties and excise to the amount of upwards of
~8,000,000 are exacted. Believing as we do, against the assertions and arguments of a certain school of political economists, that all antiiial taxes fall mainly and eventually upon
the labourer, we should not think it necessary thus to ex