H. of Commons, <1>
Friday night
My Dear Mr F.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has just made his statement to the House, from which it appears that the surplus revenue of the Country is 2,600,000 £ of which 800,000 £ will be required to pay the Interest of the Indemnity to the West Indian planters at 4 per Cent, leaving 1,800,000 disposable. The Chancellor proposes to retain 600,000 £ of this in hand, & repeal the House Tax with the remainder – However he does not intend to bring in a bill to repeal the House Tax, until he sees how the House deals with the motions impending next week for the Repeal of the Window & Malt Taxes. This was cunning. He then said that <illegible deletion> he knew it would be objected to him that he repealed a tax pressing on the Trading interests while he had himself admitted that it was the Landed Interest <2> which required relief – He admitted this, but argued that the distress of the Landed Interest arose not from the Government taxes but from local burdens, & that he was going to introduce 2 measures one for abolishing Tithes, <3> & the other on the Poor Laws <4> – He hoped the House wd support him in resisting all other repeal of Taxes; but he threw out a hint to put the Irish Members in good humour, that he had some financial measure which he would not then communicate which wd do great good to Ireland, & no harm to the revenue – Ld Althorp’s <5> speech was short, & much the best I ever heard from him – He has evidently improved in tact & experience –
Yours affly
Henry
1834
London
February fourteen
Capt Feilding R.N
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
H.F.Talbot
Notes:
1. House of Commons.
2. Those wealthy enough to own land.
3. From Old English teogothian, “tenth”), a custom dating back to Old Testament times and adopted by the Christian church whereby lay people contributed a 10th of their income for religious purposes, often under ecclesiastical or legal obligation. The money (or its equivalent in crops, farm stock, etc.) was used to support the clergy, maintain churches, and assist the poor. In 1836 in England, the tithe was commuted for a rent charge depending on the price of grain, and in 1936 the tithe rent charges were abolished.
4. The Poor Law Amendment of 1834 standardized the system of poor relief throughout Britain, and groups of parishes were combined into unions responsible for workhouses. Under the new law, all relief to the able-bodied in their own homes was forbidden, and all who wished to receive aid had to live in workhouses.
5. John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl of Spencer (1782–1845), politician leader of the House of Commons and chancellor of the Exchequer from 1830 to 1834.