Mr. Chaplinpresented a Petition from certain inhabitants of the county of Lincoln, complaining of Distress and Taxation. The Petition was signed by 7,000 persons. He trusted that Ministers would take the condition of the labouring classes into consideration, and shift the load of taxation from their shoulders upon those of a portion of the community better able to bear it. He was glad to hear that the Chancellor of the Exchequer intended to do something with respect to the sale of beer; and trusted that the Beer-tax, which fell so heavily upon the lower orders, would be modified.
§ Colonel Sibthorpconfirmed the statements of distress contained in the petition; it was general, not partial. A statement had gone abroad, that the price of timber was but little, if at all, reduced; he begged distinctly to contradict that statement, and to add, that timber had fallen half its former price.