SELIGMAN LIBRARY < 
 
 ECONOMICS 
 
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 THE MALT-TAX 
 
 KEPT UPON THE BACKS OF THE PEOPLE BY THE WHIGS. 
 
 Normandy, 16. March, 1835. 
 
 You have always heard me say, that 
 the faction called THE WHIGS have 
 been the great destroyers of the liberties 
 and the happiness of the people of Eng¬ 
 land ; and I have now to produce to you 
 the proof, the clear proof, that this fac¬ 
 tion has by no means changed its cha¬ 
 racter ; but that it is still the great de¬ 
 stroyer of those liberties and of that hap¬ 
 piness, In the most clear and elaborate 
 manner I have proved, that the malt-tax 
 costs the people of England from eleven 
 to thirteen millions of pounds sterling a 
 year. Those of you who live in the 
 country know all the monstrous mischiefs 
 that it produces amongst the persons em¬ 
 ployed in agriculture; you know that it 
 is one great cause of driving the married 
 man from his home to the beer-houses; 
 that it is one great cause of driving the 
 young people from service in, husbandry j 
 
 Printed by W. Cobbett, Johnson's-court.l 
 
 in the farm-houses; that it is the greatest 
 of all the causes of those offences which 
 fill the jails all over the kingdom, with 
 men who ought to be at work; that it is 
 monstrously injurious to the occupier of 
 land by preventing him from turning his 
 barley to the account of feeding horses 
 and cattle, in the half-malted or whole, 
 malted form : you know well that if this 
 monstrous tax were repealed, the change, 
 would go far towards that revival of agri¬ 
 culture, without which no branch of in¬ 
 dustry can long flourish, and without 
 which there must arise a state of things 
 to menace the existence of every one if 
 the existing ancient institutions of tl e 
 country. It was, therefore, above all 
 things, desirable, that this tax should be 
 repealed; and a motion was made for this 
 purpose, in the House of Commons, on 
 Tuesday the 10th of this month of March, 
 by the Marouis of Chandos, who is one 
 of the members for the county of Buck¬ 
 ingham. After a long debate the House 
 
divided; about one o'clock in the morn¬ 
 ing, when there appeared 
 
 For the repeal. 192 
 
 ’ Against’the repeal.. 350 
 
 Majority...... 158 
 
 Now, my friends, it is for you to be in¬ 
 formed, and to recollect, that this deci¬ 
 sion, so injurious to the people, was 
 occasioned by the .WHIGS JOINING 
 THE MINISTER, IN OPPOSITION 
 TO THE REPEAL! This is a thing for 
 you never to forget. Here was an oppor¬ 
 tunity for giving effectual relief to the 
 working millions of England and Wales 
 particularly; and to those of Ireland and 
 Scotland; in a very great degree. Here 
 was no " revolution” called for; no- 
 innovation called for, by the people;' no 
 proposal to pull down, or tear- to pieces, 
 any " ancient institution ”; blit merely 
 to repeal an act of Parliament, cruelly 
 injurious to the millions of this nation. 
 It Was now; therefore, that these Whigs, 
 who have been so loudly calling Out 
 against Tory-tyranny ; and who have 
 be'en getting together crowds of silly peo¬ 
 ple, to utter "resolutions against the King 
 himself, because he turned the Whigs out 
 of place; it was now for these Whigs to 
 show, that they had some feeling for the 
 people, they having it completely in their 
 power to compel the Tory-minister to 
 give Up the fax. By prevailing upon the 
 real friends of the people to join them, 
 they ‘had ‘obtained two triumphant ma- 
 jotitids'dVer (he Tory-miiiiitdr; those 
 saine'Majorities.were at lkeifcdmrhmd 
 ribid ‘for- the repeal'of this’tax) but* 
 
 those majorities they employed from their 
 own selfish hopes of driving him from his 
 place, and getting into that place them- 
 selves. The present was quite another 
 matter; if this tax were repealed, they 
 would have many millions less to handle 
 if they got into place ;;and therefore, with 
 a degree of earnestness, of anxiety, and 
 of bitterness, hardly describable, THEY 
 OPPOSED THE REPEAL OF THIS 
 TAX; and thereby made good all the 
 accusations that I have ever preferred 
 against them during the thirty years that 
 I have been engaged, in great part of my 
 time, in exposing the greediness, the 
 hard-heartedness, and all the hateful qua¬ 
 lities of this depraved political faction. 
 
 Lists of the names of those who voted 
 in the majority and in the minority have 
 been published in some of the newspapers;, 
 but these lists not having been published 
 in a manner sufficiently correct for me- 
 to- rely upon, I can give only the num¬ 
 bers ; but I can at the same time assert 
 that one hundred and one of those per¬ 
 sons who notoriously belong to the Whig- 
 faction, and who voted against the repeal 
 on this occasion. If they had voted for 
 the repeal, instead of against 1 it, there 
 would have been for the repeal two hun¬ 
 dred and ninety-three; against it, tiuo 
 hundred and forty nine; and of course 
 there Would have been a majority for the 
 repeal of forty-four. Therefore; my 
 friends, remember, that this decision 
 against the industrious classes'of the 
 community has been Occasioned sole¬ 
 ly by the fd’dtion called the Whips) 
 a- Tact wliidh ought' to be recollected-.- 
 
3 
 
 by every honest and sensible man in two majorities would have, turned the, 
 the kingdom. I shall, doubtless, ob- Tory Minister out of his place; .but he 
 tain hereafter a correct list of the knew well, that the moment the repeal 
 names, both of the majority and the of the malt-tax was proposed, he might 
 minority; but it is quite sufficient for us object to it, if he liked; that he was sure, 
 to know, that the principal speakers in such a case, to have these Whigs at 
 against the repeal, the most loud, the his back; and that, after, that, no man 
 most vehement, the most strenuous, in of common sense would ever stir hand, 
 every respect, were, Mr. Wood, late foot, or tongue, to turn him out, and to 
 Whig Secretary of the Treasury, Member put those Whigs in his place. Events 
 for Halifax, and son-in-law of Lord have already verified his opinion. The 
 Grey ; Mr. Spring Rice, a Whig Secre- Whigs threatened to stop the Supplies. 
 tary of State, and Mr. Poulbtt Thomson, Mr. Hume, taking them to be sincere', ' 
 Whig President of the Board of Trade, gave notice of a motion to that effect, for 
 I know, also, that Lord John Russell Friday last; but he discovered that .the 
 (the now-leader of the Whigs, and late majority was gone ! The friends of the 
 Whig paymaster of the forces); that Mr. people, who had supported the Whigs, 
 Littleton, the Whig Secretary for Ire- and given them their majority, were, not 
 land; that Sir John Campbell, the such wretched fools as to give them ano- 
 Whig Attorney-general; that Sir James ther majority after their conduct on the. 
 Graham, the Whig First Lord of the malt-tax; and there they now.are, a fac- 
 Admiralty; that Lord Ebrington, who tion without the smallest degree of power, 
 is regarded as the grandfather, father, acting towards the Tories just the part 
 and godfather of the Whigs; that Lord that the Tories acted towards them be- 
 Morpeth, themover of the Whig amend- fore ! 
 
 ment to the Address; that Lord Howick, It is a curious fact, and one that you 
 son of Lord Grey, and a Whig Under- ought to bear in mind, that this odious 
 Secretary of State: I know that all these and most cruel tax was first laid on by 
 voted against therepcal of the malt-lax; the Whigs, in the year 1701, to support 
 and that they were accompanied in their the Whig king, whom they had brought 
 vote by all the underlings that -had be- from Holland; but that, so strenuous 
 longed to their administration. What were the efforts of the Tories against, the 
 base men must those be, then, who would Whig-faction, they would not suffer the 
 make us believe that the King has done tax to be granted except for a year; 
 wrong, in turning out this faction; and besides which permission was retained 
 what foolish men must those real friends for private persons to makemalt for. the 
 of the people have been, who voted with consumption of their own families, by 
 them, in order to give them their two compounding at a very moderate rate, 
 majorities over the Tory Minister! Those This was a great mitigation of the seve- 
 
rity; because then the fanner prevented 
 that destruction of his barley, which now 
 takes place for want of the same power ; 
 and it enabled him to give beer in plenty 
 to his family, and to his working men. 
 This permission continued until the year 
 1733; when, at the close of the American 
 war, the DEADLY WHIGS got into 
 power again; and then they took away 
 this permission, having discovered at the 
 end of eighty-three years, that the per¬ 
 mission was not a proper thing ! From 
 that day to this places of public resort for 
 
 all the crimes and miseries attendant on 
 the haunting of such places have gone on 
 prodigiously increasing. The farmer could 
 not sell his malt; could _ not barter it; 
 could not give it in payment for labour, 
 to be carried away in malt from his house; 
 but he could brew abundantly for his peo¬ 
 ple, at his house, and in his fields. His 
 beer, which came to him so cheap, formed 
 part of his means of carrying on his farm, 
 and a large part of those means too: it 
 caused plenty, of good drink to be always 
 in the farm-house; and was one great 
 cause of that harmony amongst landlords, 
 farmers, and labourers, which existed 
 fifty years ago. In a fatal hour for Eng¬ 
 land,’ the ALL-DESTROYING WHIGS 
 got possession of the fiscal powers again; 
 and by the Act 23rd George the Third, 
 chapter 64, they laid the foundation of 
 all the misery, all the crimes, all the hos¬ 
 tile and deadly feeling of the poor towards 
 the rich, which now disfigure and disgrace 
 this once most admirably happy agricul¬ 
 tural community. Townspeople then 
 
 used to go to the country, in order to be 
 sure to meet with good ale and strong 
 beer at farm-houses. Now all has been 
 swept away by this ruthless faction; and 
 we see, in the instance before. us, that 
 length of time, prosperity, adversity, pub¬ 
 lic danger, even to themselves; that no¬ 
 thing can change the nature of this fac¬ 
 tion ; but that, like the serpent, it hands 
 down its poison from generation to gene- 
 
 At last, however, after this vote on the 
 
 malt-tax, it has become ASHAMED OE 
 
 ITS NAME, Its Yile hireling newspapers 
 
 in London have dropped the use of the 
 word “ WHIG ”; and have given to the 
 faction the name of “ REFORMERS ” ! 
 Curious reformers, to vote against the 
 repeal of the malt-tax. However, I have 
 here said quite enough to show you who 
 it is that has defeated us upon this occa¬ 
 sion; and with this knowledge in your 
 minds you will, I trust, not in future be 
 easily deceived by the hirelings of this fac¬ 
 tion ; and having done this, I have only 
 to add my hope, that every friend of mine 
 will give as wide a circulation as possible 
 to this little paper. And 1 remain your 
 friend and most obedient servant, 
 
 Wm. COBBETT. 
 
 Just published, price Is. 4d. bound 
 in leather, 
 
 COBBETT’S 
 
 Z.SGACY TO i&BOTO.EB,S, 
 
 What is the Right which the Lords, Baronets, 
 and ’Squires, have to the Lands of England ? 
 
 Printed by William Cobbett, Jobnson’s-court; and 
 published by him at 11, Boit-coort, Fleet-street.