"'HENRY WOODTHORPE.'"
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"'PRINCE'S ANSWER.
"'It is with strong feelings of surprise and regret, that I receive this Address and Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled.
"'Deeply as I deplore the prevailing distress and difficulties of the country, I derive consolation from the persuasion, that the great body of his Majesty's subjects, notwithstanding the various attempts which have been made to irritate and mislead them, are well convinced, that the severe trials which they sustain with such exemplary patience and fortitude, are chiefly to be attributed to unavoidable causes, and I contemplate with the most cordial satisfaction the efforts of that enlightened benevolence which is so usefully and laudably exerting itself throughout the kingdom.
"'I shall resort with the utmost confidence to the TRIED wisdom of Parliament, at the time, which upon the fullest consideration, I have thought most advisable, under the present circumstances of the country; and I entertain a perfect conviction, that a firm and temperate administration of the Government, assisted and supported by the good sense, public spirit, and loyalty of the nation, will effectually counteract those proceedings, which, from whatever motives they may originate, are calculated to render TEMPORARY difficulties the means of producing PERMANENT and irreparable calamity.'
"The surprise and regret, and the broad hints that came after, have nettled the citizens a little. Whether they will shew any bottom, remains to be seen; but, as to the distress and difficulties being TEMPORARY, and as to their having arisen from UNAVOIDABLE causes, I differ with his Royal Highness, or, rather with his Ministers who advised this answer. The distress has been visibly proceeding in a regular increase of severity for more than two years; it becomes every day greater and greater; it is deep rooted; it is destroying the means of resuscitation; it is ripping up the goose and taking out the golden eggs; in suspending the operations of labour, it is cutting off the possibility of a speedy return of employment. But, what say the Correspondents of the Board of Agriculture? Not one single man of them, except a parson or two, pretends that the distress is of a temporary nature; on the contrary, 205 of them, out of 322, attribute the ruin to the weight of taxes! And, therefore, to make the distress temporary, the weight of taxes must be temporary; and this is one of the main objects of the prayer of the Citizens of London.
"Oh, no! the distress and difficulties have not arisen from unavoidable causes; for the weight of taxes might have been avoided. However, let me ask the Ministers a few questions here. I will not ask them whether it was unavoidable for the Bank to stop payment in cash in 1797; whether it was unavoidable to renew the war in 1813; whether it was unavoidable to persevere in the war with America after the war in England ceased, and, at last, to make peace without attaining any object of war; whether it was unavoidable to renew the war in 1815 for the purpose of compelling the French people to give up Napoleon and submit to the Bourbons; whether it was unavoidable to keep up an army to maintain the Bourbons on the throne of France, at a time when thousands of the Protestants of the country were butchered or burnt by those who called themselves the loyal. I will not put any of these questions to the Ministers; but with the official accounts before me, I will ask them a few questions applicable to the present moment. I ask them, then,
Was it unavoidable to keep up an army at the expense, including the
Ordnance, of 26,736,067 pounds?
Was it unavoidable that the expense of the Civil List should, in last year, amount to 1,928,000 pounds?