informers.—system upon which they act.—anecdotes of their rascality.—evil of encouraging them.—english character a compound of contradictions.
they talk here of our holy office as a disgrace to the spanish nation, when their own government is ten times more inquisitorial, for the paltry purposes of revenue. shortly after his last return from spain, j— stept into a hosier’s to buy a pair of gloves; the day was warm, and he laid his hat upon the counter: a well-drest man came in after him for the same ostensible purpose, either learnt his name by enquiry, or followed him till he had discovered it, and the next day my friend was summoned before a magistrate to answer 174a charge for wearing his hat without a stamp. it was in vain he pleaded that the hat had been purchased abroad; he had been in england more than six weeks, and had not bought a stamp to put into it, and therefore was fined in the full penalty.
this species of espionage has within these few years become a regular trade; the laws are in some instances so perplexed, and in others so vexatious, that matter for prosecution is never wanting, and many of these familiars of the tax office are amassing fortunes by this infamous business. the most lucrative method of practice is as follows: a fellow surcharges half the people in the district; that is, he informs the tax-commissioners, that such persons have given in a false account of their window’s, dogs, horses, carriages, &c. an offence for which the tax is trebled, and half the surplus given to the informer. a day of appeal, however, is allowed for those who think they can justify themselves; but so many have been aggrieved, 175that when they appear together before the commissioners, there is not time to hear one in ten. some of these persons live two, four, or six, leagues from the place of appeal: they go there a second, and perhaps a third time in the hope of redress; the informer takes care, by new surcharges, to keep up the crowd, and the injured persons find it at last less burthensome to pay the unjust fine, than to be repeatedly at the trouble and expense of seeking justice in vain.
there is nothing, however dishonourable or villanous, to which these wretches will not stoop. one of them, on his first settling in the province which he had chosen for the scene of his campaigns, was invited to dinner by a neighbouring gentleman, before his character was known; the next day he surcharged his host for another servant, because one of the men employed about his grounds had assisted in waiting at dinner. another happening to lame his horse, borrowed one of a farmer 176to ride home: the farmer told him it was but an uneasy-going beast, as he was kept wholly for the cart, but rather than that the gentleman should be distressed he would put the saddle on him;—he was surcharged the next day for keeping a saddle-horse, as his reward. can there be a more convincing proof of the excellent police of england, and, what is still better, of the admirable effect of well-executed laws upon the people, than that such pests of society as these walk abroad among the very people whom they oppress and insult, with perfect safety both by day and by night!
government do not seem to be aware that when they offer premiums for treachery, they are corrupting the morals of the people, and thereby weakening their own security. there is reason sufficient for pardoning a criminal, who confesses his own guilt, and impeaches his accomplice; the course of law could not go on without it, and such men are already infamous. 177but no such plea can be alleged in this case: it is a miserable excuse for encouraging informers, to say, that the taxes are so clumsily laid on, that they can easily be eluded. a far worse instance of this pernicious practice occurs in the system of pressing men for the navy, which the english confess to be the opprobrium of their country, while they regret it as inevitable. in the proclamation issued upon these occasions, a reward is regularly offered to all persons who will give information where a sailor has hidden himself.
the whole system of england, from highest to lowest, is, and has been, one series of antagonisms; struggle—struggle—in every thing. check and countercheck is the principle of their constitution, which is the result of centuries of contention between the crown and the people. the struggle between the clergy and the lawyers unfettered their lands from feudal tenures. their church is a half-and-half mixture of catholicism and puritanism. 178these contests being over, it is now a trial between the government and the subject, how the one can lay on taxes, and how the other can elude them.
this spirit of contradiction is the character of the nation. they love to be at war, but do not love to pay for their amusement; and now, that they are at peace, they begin to complain that the newspapers are not worth reading, and rail at the french as if they really wished to begin again. there is not a people upon the earth who have a truer love for their royal family than the english, yet they caricature them in the most open and insolent manner. they boast of the freedom of the press, yet as surely and systematically punish the author who publishes any thing obnoxious, and the bookseller who sells it, as we in our country should prevent the publication. they cry out against intolerance, and burn down the houses of those whom they regard as heretics. they love liberty; go to war with their neighbours, 179because they chose to become republicans, and insist upon the right of enslaving the negroes. they hate the french and ape all their fashions, ridicule their neologisms and then naturalize them, laugh at their inventions and then adopt them, cry out against their political measures and then imitate them; the levy in mass, the telegraph, and the income-tax are all from france. and the common people, not to be behind-hand with their betters in absurdity, boast as heartily of the roast beef of old england, as if they were not obliged to be content themselves with bread and potatoes. well may punch be the favourite liquor of the english,—it is a truly emblematic compound of contrarieties.
