that every poor man, who earns _eighteen pounds_ in a year, pays away
_ten pounds of it in taxes._ Mr. Preston's words are these:--'Every
family, even of the poorest labourer, consisting of five persons, may be
considered as paying, in _indirect taxes,_ at least _ten pounds a-year,_
or more than half his wages at seven shillings a week?' And, in another
place he says: 'It should _always be remembered,_ that every _eighteen
pounds_ a-year paid to any _placeman_ or _pensioner,_ withdraws from the
public the means of giving active employment to one individual at
the head of a family; _thus depriving five persons_ of the means of
sustenance from the fruits of _honest industry_ and active labour, and
rendering them paupers!

"What! is this _rebellious_ on the part of Mr. Preston? He is a lawyer
of great eminence. A Member of Parliament. A man of great landed estate.
Could he write and publish this from _rebellious,_ from _treasonable_
motives? What he says is certainly true; and is he not to say it,
because the saying it may be disagreeable to those who live upon the
taxes thus collected? Is it not clear, that, if the money, which the
labourer and journeyman now pay in taxes, were to be suffered to
remain in their pockets, they would not stand in need of _parish_ or
_subscription_ relief? And, if this be _not true,_ why does not some one
of the numerous tax-eating tribe attempt to prove it to be false? Have
not they their full share of the press at their command? Aye, and more
than their share. The sons of corruption are spreading about answers
to me at a penny each, and some of them are given away. There must be
money, somewhere, found for this. The sums necessary to do it must be
very large too. Are they not content with this superiority? I have no
means of _giving papers away._ They say that my writing is trash; they
call the _Letter to the Luddites_ seditious trash; they say that I am an
ignorant fellow, a shallow man, and so forth. Why, then, are they in a