date

1821. Aug. 3 d. Rid Yourselves
1821. Aug. 3 d.

Rid Yourselves

Lett 2. Interests concerned

not to be matched in any other country, in any age. If, therefore, the

usefulness of this part of the official establishment to

the whole nation taken together, were the only

consideration to be adverted to, here is a mass of constant expenditure, from which,

not merely might ample retrenchment be made, but of which,

according to the above principles, were these the only ones that bore upon the

subject, the entire aggregate might be struck off with

indisputable advantage, and without detriment in any shape.

According to the document above brought to view in the Introduction,

the expenditure belonging to this one head can not be much,

if any thing inferior, to the whole remainder of the

expenditure employed upon really necessary and nationally useful purposes.

But, the welfare of the individuals, of whom that class is composed,

forms as large a portion of the welfare of the whole community as does the welfare of

the same number of individuals taken together from any other class; and, to those

whose situations stand visibly exhibited upon the list of offices, require to be added all such individuals belonging to any productive classes, in so far as their subsistence is in

such sort dependent upon the consumption, of these consuming classes, that upon the

cessation of such consumption, their means of subsistence would either altogether, or

to a degree more or less considerable, be extinct. True it is - that of that which

would in case of the retrenchment in question be lost to this part of the community,

a great part would be gain to the whole of which they form a part. But, where the sum

of money, or money's worth is the same and the number of sharers the same, the good

produced by gain is far from being equal to the evil produced by loss. Moreover, of

all sudden transfers of capital from one branch of production to others, one

consequence is - a quantity more or less considerable of dead

loss.

You see the counterdemand, by which, in

this particular instance, the demand for retrenchment is

opposed and limited. Of this counterdemand the application,

it is to be observed, reaches no further than to the present

posessors of the situation in question, with the addition of such expectants, whose grounds of expectation as to acquisition are as firm as the grounds of expectation as to

retention are in the case of the possessor. The consequence is that, supposing the plea admitted, the list of

the portions of expenditure susceptible of defalcation, will be reduced to such

offices, as shall necessarily become vacant by the death of

the present possessors, with the correspondent list, if any such there be, of expectants, as above described.

II As to The Clergy. In considering, on the

one hand, the demand for retrenchment, on the other hand,

the room for it as applied to this case,- no assumption

need or ought to be proceeded upon, inconsistent with that, according to which,

whatsover may become of the worldly interest of this short

and
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  • Title: [1821 Feb y 21 Rid Yourselves]
    Description: 1821 Feb y 21

    Rid Yourselves

    '.1. Interests concerned.

    According to the documents above brought to view in the Introduction,

    the expenditure belonging to this head will not be much of any thing superior to the

    whole of the expenditure employed upon really necessary and naturally useful purposes

    But the welfare of the individuals of whom that class is composed

    from as large a portion of the welfare of the whole state as the welfare of the same

    number of individuals taken from any other class: and, to those whose situations

    stand visibly exhibited upon the list of of offices, requires to be added all such

    individuals belonging to any other productive classes, in so far as their subsistence

    is in such sort dependent upon the consumption of those concurring classes, that,

    upon the cessation of such consumption, their means of subsistence would alter

    altogether, or to a degree more or less considerable, be extinct.

    Of this counter demand, by which in this particular instance the

    demand for retrenchment is opposed and limited, the application, it is to be

    observed, reaches no further than to the present occupants of the situation in

    question, with the addition of such expectants whose grounds of expectation as to

    acquisition are as firm as are the grounds of expectation as to retention are in the

    case of the possessors. The consequence is - that supposing the plea admitted, the

    list, of the portions of expenditure susceptible of defalcation, will be reduced to

    such offices as shall successively become vacant by the death of the present

    possessors with the correspondent list if any such there be of expectants, as above

    described.
  • Title: [1821 Feb. 21 Rid Yourselves]
    Description: 1821 Feb. 21

    Rid Yourselves

    '.1. Prelim y

    II Clergy

    In regard to the secular Clergy, no other assumption can on this

    occasion be proceeded upon, than that of the necessity of the demand for the services

    of a member correspondent to that of th official situation at present in existence.

    In the Catholic Church the offices possessed by them stand distinguishable into

    Sacedotal and Episcopal. The necessity of the office itself being in each case

    admitted, and the officers themselves thus preserved from the defalcating knife,

    remain for a subject of proposable defalcation the amounts of the negative kinds, to

    this, and masses of emolument in every other shape: and as to this matter, the case

    of Ireland may afford an instructive example. Under all the hardships imposed by the

    inhumanity and persecuting spirit of the English government has the Catholic

    population since the Revolution for example diminished?- no: it has increased: it has

    doubled. +

    To the case of both these sections of the Clergy the same demand

    /observation/ applies as to the case of the Royal family and their dependents, as to

    the regard does to prevent possession and established expectancy. But as applied to

    the whole of the Clergy retrenchment deserves facility from a particular circumstance

    which has no place in that other case. This, as every body sees, is celibacy: a circumstance whereby that portion of the demand

    for maintenance which regards wife and children stands defalcated.

    Monastery[?] from this same mind greater than that for the Monastical

    class

    Suppose retrenchment applied to this class, if in any number of actual possessors,

    expectants in established expectancy, remained uncompensated, inadequately

    compensated, whatsoever that number, proportionable quantity of suffering - of

    sensible evil - of the only real evil - would be produced. On the other hand, so long

    as all were adequately compensated, the whole mass of property existing in such hands

    might be applied to the exigencies of the whole nation, and yet no sensible evil - no

    evil code - be produced.
  • Title: [1820 May 31. Emancipation Spanish]
    Description: 1820 May 31.

    Emancipation Spanish

    '.4. Prelim y Considrat[?] continued

    5. Retrenchment this the easiest

    '.4. Preliminary Considerations continued Retrenchment necessary - In no other department is it so easy.

    5. If retrenchment is made, it is in this part of the field of expense that retrenchment may be made with greatest facility be made

    In stating /submitting/ this topic to your consideration, I anticipate that in the account of pecuniary profit and loss, the effect of the dominion in question will be no profit, all loss. On the proof given of this loss will therefore depend the relevancy and utility of every thing /observation/ which under this head you will see advanced /made/

    When your rulers come to take into consideration the subject of finance, they will see the extreme difficulty of adding any thing to the taxes already in existence.

    Instead of addition, they may perhaps see what even to them will appear an absolute necessity of subtraction.

    They will find /see/ that whatsoever has been the amount of taxation, under the old system expenditure has constantly gone on and to the utmost bounds of possibility has continued outstretching it

    They will accordingly see the absolute necessity of retrenchment somewhere.

    Well then if /there in some part of the field of expenditure there/ must be retrenchment, what part can be more suitable than that in which so far from being necessary the expenditure is not productive of any advantage - is on the contrary productive of much evil /evil[?] and/ uncompensated.

    Look all round the field of expenditure, no other part will you find in which the retrenchment can be made with less of inconvenience - with less of real, sensible, indisputable evil, coming home immediate to individuals - felt by assignable individuals.