The times in which we live are full of peril.  The nation, as described by the very creatures of Government, is fast advancing to that period when an important change must take place.  It is the lot of mankind that some shall labour with their limbs and others with their minds; and, on all occasions, more especially on an occasion like the present, it is the duty of the latter to come to the assistance of the former.  We are all equally interested in the peace and happiness of our common country.  It is of the utmost importance that, in the seeking to obtain these objects, our endeavours should be uniform, and tend all to the same point.  Such an uniformity cannot exist without an uniformity of sentiment as to public matters, and to produce this latter uniformity amongst you is the object of this address.

As to the cause of our present miseries, it is the enormous amount of the taxes which the Government compels us to pay for the support of its army, its placemen, its pensioners, etc., and for the payment of the interest of its debt.  That this is the real cause has been a thousand times proved; and it is now so acknowledged by the creatures of the Government themselves.  Two hundred and five of the Correspondents of the Board of Agriculture ascribe the ruin of the country to taxation.  Numerous writers, formerly the friends of the Pitt system, now declare that taxation has been the cause of our distress.  Indeed, when we compare our present state to the state of the country previous to the wars against France, we must see that our present misery is owing to no other cause.  The taxes then annually raised amounted to about fifteen millions:  they amounted last year to seventy millions.  The nation was then happy; it is now miserable.

The writers and speakers who labour in the cause of corruption, have taken great pains to make the labouring classes believe that they are not taxed; that the taxes which are paid by the landlords, farmers, and tradesmen, do not affect you, the journeymen and labourers; and that the tax-makers have been very lenient towards you.  But, I hope that you see to the bottom of these things now.  You must be sensible that if all your employers were totally ruined in one day, you would be wholly without employment and without bread; and, of course, in whatever degree your employers are deprived of their means, they must withhold means from you.  In America the most awkward common labourer receives five shillings a day, while provisions are cheaper in that country than in this.  Here, a carter, boarded in the house, receives about seven pounds a year; in America, he receives about thirty pounds a year.  What is it that makes this difference?  Why, in America the whole of the taxes do not amount to more than about ten shillings a head upon the whole of the population; while in England they amount to nearly six pounds a head! There, a journeyman or labourer may support his family well, and save