2 
arises from the necessity of all the wheat being in 
this country by a given date; and, although the 
quantity may be equal to six months’ consumption, 
still it must be paid for in the given time of credit ; 
and thus an amount of payment, which would other- 
wise probably be spread over a space of six months, 
is compelled to be paid for in the space, perhaps, of 
not more than two -—thus creating a sudden demand 
for gold, (as the foreigner will not take our manu- 
factures,) and tending to produce those derange- 
ments in the exchanges, from which it is well known 
all classes have suffered so severely during the past 
three vears. 
There yet remains, a higher and more serious 
ground of objection to the sliding scale,—it is—that 
1t contains within itself the latent principles of evil, 
first, in the strong inducement it offers to the specu- 
lator to evade its provisions, and render its intended 
public protection a source of illicit gain to himself 
and next in the facility it affords him for so doing 
by means of false returns; for although in com- 
mercial matters, any method, however dishonest, by 
which the revenue may be defrauded of its legal 
claims, (provided always, it be not detected,) is held 
to be a sin of a very venial nature ; still, to the 
thinking man and the moralist, it must appear evi- 
dent, that no legislative, enactment can be based 
on right principles, which indirectly holds out a 
premium to falsehood and fraud, and thus leads to 
an almost unholy traffic in one of the first necessa- 
ries of life. 
In reply to the arguments I have endeavoured to 
deduce from the foregoing facts, it has often been 
alleged that the sliding scale must work well; 
as all the factors and men of business in London 
and elsewhere—who must be, from their position, 
practical men, men of foresight and experience, 
and conversant with the trade—have always given 
evidence in favour of it: this I acknowledee. but