THE 
 
 NATIONAL DEBT, 
 
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THE 
 
 NATIONAL DEBT, 
 
 EVILS, 
 
 AND 
 
 THEIR REMEDY. 
 
 BY A LAND AND FUND HOLDER 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 EFFINGHAM WILSON, 88, ROYAL EXCHANGE, 
 
 1831 . 
 

 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY GEORGE ECCLE.S, 101 , FETfCHURCH STREET. 
 

 THfi 
 
 NATIONAL DEBT, 
 
 ^C. ^G. 
 
 About forty years ago, a young nobleman inherited 
 an extensive territory and princely fortune in a remote 
 district of this kingdom. His lands were fertile, well 
 cultivated, and capable of supplying the inhabitants 
 with all the necessaries and luxuries of life ; and as 
 the surrounding districts were mountainous and sterile, 
 without roads, and uninhabited, they were obliged to 
 ^depend entirely upon their internal produce for the 
 articles of consumption which they required. The 
 property had been encumbered by the young man's 
 ancestors, but the amount of the debt was not suffi- 
 ciently large to occasion any embarrassment in the 
 affairs of the proprietor; and he was able to discharge 
 the annual interest of his incumbrances without in- 
 creasing the customary duties to which he was entitled 
 
6 
 
 from his tenantry, or making any diminution in the 
 magnitude and splendor of the establishment which 
 his family through many generations had supported. 
 
 The young nobleman was gifted with talents of the 
 highest order, of a generous disposition, given to hos- 
 pitality, and anxious for the improvement of his pro- 
 perty ; but deficient in prudence, and wholly without 
 the experience necessary to direct him in the proper 
 management of his vast wealth. Artists, artificers, 
 speculators, adventurers of every kind, were invited 
 from all parts of the kingdom to this favom’ed spot. 
 He ei^ected bridges, dug canals, built stately palaces, 
 cultivated waste lands, granted pensions, patronized 
 learned men, and, in short, acted as his feelings and 
 imagination prompted, regardless of expense, and 
 without consideration of his means of payment. In 
 fact, with an income of £200,000 per annum, he spent 
 nearly £500,000. He, of course, soon contracted 
 heavy debts ; but as his wealth was undoubted and his 
 honour unimpeached, he had no difficulty in meeting 
 the excess of his expenditure by loans from his tenants, 
 who were growing rich by reason of the increased price 
 of all articles of produce, the necessaiy consequence of 
 the increased expenditure of the landlord, and the im- 
 possibility of obtaining supplies, except such as the 
 
7 
 
 district atForded. The tenantry gladly availed them- 
 selves of this mode of investing their savings ; and 
 their reliance on the honour of their landlord induced 
 them to be satisfied with his notes of hand, payable when 
 convenient to himself, without demanding a mortgage 
 of his freeholds, or an appropriation of the other sources 
 of his revenue. This system continued some years; the 
 expenditure of the landlord and the amount of his debts 
 annually increased ; whilst the prices of all articles of 
 consumption increased also; and the tenants apparently 
 became more wealthy in proportion to the amount of 
 their demands upon their landlord’s purse. As the 
 necessities of the latter also became more pressing, he 
 was obliged to borrow on more disadvantageous terms, 
 until he would readily give his note of hand for £100 
 and receive £65 only in return ; and was likewise in 
 the regular habit of paying his half-yearly interest in 
 his own promissory notes, instead of sterling cash ; 
 yet such was the delusion of all parties, that confidence 
 in his wealth and stability remained unshaken. He 
 was thought to be rich in proportion to his expend- 
 iture ; and his notes were in such estimation amongst 
 his followers, that there was no coined money in cii- 
 culation in his district. His tenants, indeed, were 
 sometimes discontented, because he had increased 
 
8 
 
 their customary payments ; but as he was always 
 ready to receive his own notes, either in payment of 
 those duties or by way of loan, the increase of duty 
 bore no proportion to the increase of price, and they 
 were, on the whole, a satisfied race. 
 
 It is impossible to describe the prosperity of the dis- 
 trict during this period. The landlord was the most 
 popular of men. Every body believed himself growing 
 richer. The prices of all articles of consumption yearly 
 increased ; and as the landlord’s necessities always 
 afibrded a ready market for the disposal of those notes 
 of hand for which the inhabitants had not an inune- 
 diate use, the mischiefs of the system were unfelt, and 
 therefore uninvestigated. Self-interest, indeed, will 
 always beget false reasoning ; and it was therefore 
 generally believed within the district that by tliis 
 system of borrowing and lending, and paper money 
 and prices, the real and substantial wealth of the com- 
 munity was increased; and the few' amongst them who 
 endeavoured to check the system, and point out its 
 ultimate evils, were heard with impatience and dis- 
 missed with contempt. 
 
 Fortunately for the popularity of this young noble- 
 man, he died before the discovery of the errors of the 
 
9 
 
 system on which he had proceeded. His successor 
 was a man of different habits and disposition ; — he 
 resolved to borrow no more ; but to live within his 
 income, and to appropriate a part of it to the diminu- 
 tion of the heavy debt with which he was incumbered. 
 The latter part of this resolution he was soon compelled 
 to abandon; to the two former parts he rigidly adhered. 
 The effects were soon manifest. To reduce his expend- 
 iture it was necessary that he should reduce his estab- 
 lishment and general style of living. His castles were 
 no longer scenes of splendid hospitality ; his improve- 
 ments were abandoned, and all unnecessary servants 
 and artificers discharged. The same demand for 
 agricultural and other produce no longer existed ; 
 prices declined; labourers were unemployed; and the 
 tenants found themselves reduced from affluence to 
 comparative poverty. But still they were enabled to 
 maintain their station. Though sorely pressed by the 
 increased amount of their customary duties, of which, 
 in the prosperous times, they had not felt the burthen, 
 the notes given by their landlord were in full credit. 
 In these notes they paid their rent ; with these notes 
 they received their dividends ; and by these notes the 
 prices of provisions and all other articles were calcu- 
 lated ; and although they admitted themselves to be 
 
10 
 
 poorer than in the time of the former lord, they still 
 believed the notes to be the representatives of real 
 wealth, and attributed the depression of their circum- 
 stances to the bad management or niggardly dispo- 
 sition of their new master. 
 
 In the mean while the landlord himself became 
 sensible of the errors of his predecessor ; and whilst 
 he was painfully reflecting on the safest and most 
 prudent means of remedying the evils which were 
 daily becoming more apparent, a sudden panic seized 
 upon the note-holders, and a scene of confusion and 
 distress ensued, which caused the legislative govern- 
 ment to prohibit peremptorily the circulation of the 
 notes in future, and to compel the landlord to pay 
 his annual interest in gold. 
 
 This prohibition brought afiairs to a crisis. As 
 soon as gold was substituted for paper, gold prices 
 were substituted for paper prices, and every thing 
 returned to the state in which it had been found by 
 the young nobleman forty years before, except the 
 amount of the debt due from his successor, wliich, 
 remaining in nominal amount tlie same when to be 
 paid in gold as it was when contracted for in paper, 
 was utterly disproportionate to the rental of his estates 
 and his means of discharging it. For some time he 
 
11 
 
 struggled to make good his payments. The most 
 rigid economy was practised. Reduction after reduc- 
 tion was made, and servant after servant was discharged. 
 He employed the most prudent stewards and the most 
 able accountants. From the former he only learned 
 the utter incapability of the tenants, from their reduced 
 means, to maintain his income at its then amount ; 
 from the latter that such income (setting aside all 
 private expenditure) was insufficient to discharge the 
 claims which those tenants had upon it ; and he was 
 finally compelled to call his creditors together and 
 thus to address them : — 
 
 The unfortunate derangement of my affairs is well 
 known to you all ; but it is a consolation to me that 
 my distresses have not been occasioned by my own 
 imprudence. The extravagance of my predecessor, 
 encouraged and taken advantage of by the lenders of 
 the money for which you now hold my notes, has caused 
 our present misfortunes. The monstrous bubble, that 
 an increase of debt is an increase of wealth, believed 
 and acted upon both by borrower and lender, has now 
 burst, and nothing of it remains but the enormous 
 debt contracted during the time it was forming. It 
 is not to be expected, now the delusion is ended, that 
 I am to be the only sufferer by it. I ought not to be 
 
12 
 
 called upon to pay to you in gold the amount which 
 my ancestor borrowed from your ancestors in paper ; 
 and still less can you have a right to ask of me one 
 hundred pounds' worth of gold, when those under 
 whom you claim advanced in paper but sixty-five. Tell 
 me not of pledges or of broken faith. I have neither 
 given nor assented to any pledge ; nor do I find in 
 any of my papers and records any memorandmn or 
 notice that any pledge has ever been given by any 
 body else. It is indeed most manifest to me that no 
 pledge ever was given or intended to be given. Tlie 
 money was lent on the personal security of the bor- 
 rower, and on that security only ; and that the lenders 
 were aware of the risk they ran in taking such secmity 
 is manifest from the amount of the money advanced 
 and the security given. If they had taken a mortgage 
 upon the lands of my predecessor, or upon any other 
 sources of his revenue, their security would have been 
 limited by the amount of the sums they advanced, and 
 they would not have received a security for £100 when 
 they advanced him only £65. It is liowever, not- 
 withstanding, my wish to deal honestly by you, and 
 as far as my fortune will enable me I vill do so. To 
 repay you the principal monies for which you hold my 
 notes is impossible ; my whole property, if sold, would 
 
13 
 
 not produce them, nor would all the gold and silver 
 in the world amount to them. You must therefore 
 continue to hold these notes ; hut I cannot hereafter 
 pay you more than one-half the interest you have 
 hitherto received. The money which has been ex- 
 pended in the improvement of my property during 
 the years of your fancied prosperity enables me to do 
 this ; and 1 shall be further enabled to make liberal 
 allowances to such widows and orphans as are the 
 holders of my predecessor’s notes, and derive their 
 whole income from them. And, furthermore, I will 
 charge certain branches of my income with the pay- 
 ment of this reduced interest, so that you may have 
 an available security for it ; and I will give you a 
 priority of payment before any persons from whom my 
 successors may borrow hereafter. All this I will do 
 cheerfully, but I cannot do more : and in my judge- 
 ment this arrangement will be beneficial for us all ; 
 for it will cause us all to resume the stations we oc- 
 cupied before this unfortunate system conunenced. 
 Whereas I am now compelled to fix such large pay- 
 ments upon those articles upon which I have the power 
 of fixing a price, that the comforts of the poor man, and 
 with them his orderly habits, are nearly destroyed ; 
 and I am further obliged to demand such heavy sums 
 
14 
 
 from the higher classes amongst you, to satisfy the 
 daily claims upon me, that they are unable to afford 
 employment to the lower orders, or to maintain the 
 scale of expenditure proper for their station ; whilst, 
 deprived of my former splendor and wealth, I am 
 myself unable to support my rank with other great 
 and powerful land-holders ; and no longer possess the 
 power and influence necessary for the support of 
 your interests and the preservation of your honour.” 
 
 The address was coldly received, and the note holders 
 became clamorous for payment. Many of them, indeed, 
 applied to their lawyers to enforce their demands ; but 
 when their claims came to be investigated, it was found 
 that in their eagerness to lend they had omitted to 
 take substantial securities, and that there was no pro- 
 perty upon which they could seize, and no individual 
 whom they could sue. And, in the end, when they 
 fully understood their situation, and the jeopardy in 
 which the entire of their demands was placed, they 
 thankfully accepted the proffered compromise upon 
 the new legal security ; and after the confusion imme- 
 diately attending upon the measure had subsided, the 
 affairs of the district resumed their ancient channels. 
 
]5 
 
 It is needless to say that this story is intended to 
 represent the past and present state of this kingdom ; 
 and, as far as the parallel can he drawn, it will he 
 found correct. 
 
 The story begins with the breaking out of the revo- 
 lutionary war, when the national debt, comparatively 
 speaking, was light, and when the system of loans, 
 subsidies, and contracts commenced. No person who 
 has passed the middle age can forget the fever of that 
 period, nor the popularity of the then youthful minis- 
 ter, Mr. Pitt. The nation grew rich by magic ; and 
 the run upon the Bank of England, which the enor- 
 mous issue of paper created, instead of checking the 
 minister in his course, begat a measure (the Bank 
 Restriction Act) which completed the delusion, and 
 enabled him to pursue his system with the most per- 
 fect impunity and success. The rapidity with which 
 prices increased after that fatal measure is almost in- 
 credible. Land doubled, trebled, and quadrupled in 
 value. The country gentleman found his rents advance 
 faster than his cupidity. The character of the farmer 
 was entirely changed. Riches, or imagined riches, 
 poured in upon him from all quarters. His cattle, his 
 corn, his wool, his butter, his cheese, every article 
 which his farm produced, increased in price even to 
 
16 
 
 his own astonislimeiit. Wealth as usual produced 
 expensive habits^ and the farmer advanced, in all re- 
 spects but education, into the rank of the country 
 gentleman, as the country gentleman had in all 
 things but birth taken his station amongst the nobles 
 of the land. Every body and every thing was 
 shaken from its proper sphere. 
 
 This system continued (with some slight check 
 dmdng the short peace of Amiens) from the com- 
 mencement of the war in 1793 until the general 
 peace in 1815. I mean the system of loans and 
 paper money. The profuse expenditure which pre- 
 vailed during the Pitt administration had, indeed, for 
 some years given way to a more economical disburse- 
 ment of the public income ; but the heavy costs of 
 the peninsular wars, and of the other measm’es which 
 led to the final destruction of the overwhelming power 
 of France, compelled the nation to continue the system 
 of loans and subsidies until the teimination of the 
 contest. 
 
 This is the period of happiness and prosperity re- 
 presented in the first part of my story. 
 
 With the battle of Waterloo the second period 
 commences. The illuminations for that splendid vic- 
 tory were scarcely ended when we found ourselves at 
 
17 
 
 once covered with glory and with debt. We began to 
 calculate the costs of our success ; the war establish- 
 ment and expenditure was no longer necessary, and 
 as soon afterwards as circumstances would permit, the 
 borrowing system ceased, and the annual income of 
 the country (including the enormous sum payable as 
 interest on the national debt, which, during the war, 
 had more than quadrupled in amount) was provided 
 for by annual taxation. 
 
 It is not necessary to have arrived at the middle 
 age to remember the distress in which the country 
 was immediately involved ; nor the bankruptcies and 
 insolvencies which followed — other causes undoubt- 
 edly in some degree assisted, but the effects were 
 mainly produced by the change from war to peace. 
 Prices declined more rapidly than they had risen. 
 In a few months, almost in a few weeks, the farmer 
 dwindled from wealth to insolvency. The landlords 
 found the diminished rents of their lands barely equal 
 to defray the interest of the monies which, in more 
 prosperous days, they had borrowed on them. Ma- 
 nufactured goods were mthout buyers, and looms 
 stood still for want of orders ; whilst all classes, but 
 more particularly the agricultural classes, blamed the 
 ministers of the day for the existence of evils which. 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 J 
 
 however they might foresee, it was impossible for 
 them to prevent. 
 
 By degrees, however, these evils subsided. The 
 insolvent farmers gave way to a new race ; the rents 
 became again tolerably well paid, and as a paper cm- 
 rency still remained, paper prices also in a great de- 
 gree continued, and the Government w ere enabled by 
 economy and retrenchment to carry on the expend- 
 iture of the state, and the pressure of the public bur- 
 thens were not felt in their full extent. 
 
 This marks the second period of my story. 
 
 The panic of the year 1825, and tlie subsequent 
 prohibition of the issue of small notes, forms the last ; 
 and since that statute came into operation there is, I 
 imagine, no believer in the doctrine that national 
 wealth and national debt are synonimous terms. Oiu' 
 imaginary wealth has vanished, prices have returned 
 to the scale of 1793, and nothing remains of our arti- 
 ficial system of finance but the expensive habits we 
 have contracted, and the heavy load of del)t Avith 
 which we are oppressed. 
 
 It must be admitted by all parties that tlie expend- 
 iture of the country was greatly reduced by the late 
 administration \ and it is a topic for general re- 
 joicing that the present cabinet are pledged to 
 
19 
 
 cany those reductions to a greater extent, and to 
 introduce a substantial economy in every branch 
 of the administration. I doubt not the sincerity 
 of their intentions, nor that they will diligently 
 apply themselves to the great work they have under- 
 taken ; but an attempt to give substantial relief from 
 the burthens which now press upon us by economy 
 alone must be futile. The total amount of our expend- 
 iture for the year 1829, was upwards of £53,000,000; 
 of which the sums expended in pensions, places, sala- 
 ries, and sinecures, did not (civil list inclusive) ex- 
 ceed £3,000,000. Salaries may he reduced, places 
 consolidated, sinecures abolished, and even the Go- 
 vernment carried on gratis, and no vital or perma- 
 nent benefit obtained. Such retrenchments may for 
 a time create a more kindly feeling in the minds of 
 the lower orders towards their rulers, as evincing a 
 sympathy with their distresses and an effort to relieve 
 them ; hut if the real burthens remain, these feelings 
 will be but transient, and the time is fast approach- 
 ing, when, like the landlord in the story, the nation 
 must call its creditors together, and make with them 
 the best agreement which circumstances will permit. 
 
 The period certainly has not yet arrived, when the 
 public mind is fully prepared for a great and sudden 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 (limunition of the amount of the national debt ; but 
 those who watch the signs of the tunes cannot have 
 failed to observe the change which is gradually work- 
 ing its way in the opinions of all men, with respect 
 to the public burthens. The doctrine that the public 
 debt is public wealth is clean forgotten \ its common 
 designation now is, the mill stone about our necks 
 Its existence is universally lamented. The sexage- 
 narian, indeed, who remembers the alarms and horrors 
 of the French revolution, and who supported the 
 measures of those times, tells us that the debt was 
 incurred in a just and glorious cause, and forms there- 
 fore no legitimate subject of complaint; but the bidk 
 of the nation, who know only historically the causes, 
 whilst they feel practically the effects, of the burthens, 
 have no sympathy with him, and loudly lament their 
 intolerable pressure. He who, sixteen years ago, 
 had spoken of the possibility of the necessity of an 
 adjustment with the public creditor, would have been 
 pitied as a visionary or shunned as an incendiary. 
 The most sensitive amongst us may now without alarm 
 express, in the most mixed society, an opinion that the 
 period of such adjustment is fast approaching, secure in 
 the concurrence of the majority of his hearers, altliough 
 such concurrence may be accompanied with fears 
 that national ruin must inevitably ensue. 
 
21 
 
 There are not indeed, on the other hand, wanting 
 political economists who already contend that the 
 claims and the interests of the fund-holders ought not 
 to stand in competition with the welfare of the com- 
 munity at large ; that the injuries inflicted oh persons 
 of fixed income, when the bank suspended payment, 
 and the funding system flourished, were more exten- 
 sive and more fatal than those which could arise from 
 the reduction of the debt; that the victims which are 
 now yearly sacrificed to the resumption of cash pay- 
 ments, and the suppression of small notes, are more 
 in number than such reduction would occasion ; that 
 the present fund-holders can have no greater claim than 
 the original lenders, from whom they have mediately 
 or immediately purchased ; that the fund-holder, when 
 he advanced to the government £65, and took a bond 
 for £100, knew that he had no security beyond the 
 annual produce of the taxes, and that when the taxes 
 failed, his dividends must fail likewise; that the 
 greater part of the sums so borrowed, were borrowed 
 during the suspension of cash payments, and when 
 the bank note was depreciated from 30 to 50 per cent, 
 and moreover that, neither the land nor revenues of 
 the country are pledged for its repayment. 
 
 This class of reasoners are not at present numerous ; 
 but propositions backed by self-interest are generally 
 
received with complacency, and the pressure of debt 
 is apt to deaden the sense of honour. It is a maxim 
 with prudent men to prepare themselves for coming 
 evils ; and unless some decisive measures are taken 
 before the national sense of honour is so deadened, 
 and self-interest has become all predominent, a convul- 
 sion will, it is to be feared, take place in this empire, 
 inferior only in its effect and consequences to the first 
 revolution in France. 
 
 It is the firm conviction of the writer of tliis pam- 
 phlet, that an arrangement may at the present time 
 be made, beneficial to all parties and injurious to 
 none; and he now ventures to request the attention 
 of his readers to the following principles and details 
 of his plan : — 
 
 Let the nominal amount of the national debt remain 
 unaltered; let the annual interest be reduced one-half; 
 let the assessed taxes and duties on coals, candles, 
 glass, malt, printed goods, paper, soap, British sweets, 
 vinegar, stage coaches, and post horses, be wholly 
 repealed ; the duties on sugar and wine be diminished 
 one-half, and the duties on tea one-thii’d ; let a com- 
 mission be appointed to make compensation to all such 
 fund-holders as shall be injured by the reduction of 
 their dividends (of which hereafter), for which pur- 
 pose let a new stock be created to be called the com- 
 
23 
 
 pensation stock, bearing an interest of £2 per cent. ; 
 of which stock the commissioners shall assign to each 
 individual entitled to compensation^ the amount of 
 compensation awarded^ and let certain permanent 
 branches of the revenue be for the future specifically 
 charged with the payments of the reduced dividends; 
 and let these dividends possess a priority over the 
 dividends of any loans hereafter contracted. 
 
 Having thus given the principle, let us now inquire 
 if the scheme be practicable. According to the finance 
 account for the year ending January 5, 1830, (and 
 which being the last published statement, I take as the 
 basis of my calculations), the public funded un- 
 redeemed debt of the United Kingdom amounted to 
 £771,251,932 : 13 : 7|, and the annual interest to 
 £26,830,367 : 9 : 7. 
 
 By the same statement, the revenue derived from the 
 duties payable to the customs, on the articles of sugar, 
 wines, and coals, amount to £7,310,492 : 8 : 4. viz. 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. IRELAND. 
 
 Sugar .. 
 
 .... £4,452,793 
 
 18 
 
 11 ... 
 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 Wines .. 
 
 .... 1,292,463 
 
 10 
 
 2 ... 
 
 ... 181,144 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Coals .. 
 
 867,321 
 
 10 
 
 9 ... 
 
 
 16 
 
 11 
 
 
 6,612,578 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 £697,911 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 
 697,91 1 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 £7,310,492 
 
 8 
 
 4* 
 
 
 
 
 * These accounts are not strictly correct as applicable to the 
 
24 
 
 By the same statement, the revenue derived during 
 the same period, from the duties payable to the excise, 
 on candles, glass, licenses, malt, paper, printed goods, 
 soap, starch, stone bottles, sweets, tea, and vinegar, 
 amount to £11,607,448 : 9 : 2. viz. 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. IRELAND. 
 
 Candles £ 490,750 15 11 
 
 *Glass 633,868 0 10 £ 19,338 18 1 
 
 Licenses 710,886 13 7 134,504 4 7 
 
 Malt 3,537,632 0 3 276,673 1 2 
 
 *Paper 654,994 14 2 26,203 1 6 
 
 * Printed goods 552,270 12 4 
 
 Soap 1,151,909 15 4 
 
 Starch 67,359 15 0 
 
 •^«^Stone bottles 4,166 18 3 
 
 Sweets 2,455 8 8 210 8 6 
 
 Tea 3,321,722 2 6 
 
 Vinegar 24,895 12 10 646 5 8 
 
 11,149,912 9 8 £457,575 19 6 
 
 457,575 19 6 
 
 £11,607,488 9 2 
 
 present debt and revenue; but they are sufficiently so for the 
 purposes of this pamphlet; and are the latest authentic docu- 
 ments which the author can procure. 
 
 * It may be doubted whether a reduction in the duties 
 on tobacco, now amounting, in the United Kingdom, to 
 £2,849,706 : 7 : 8, might not be preferable to the repeal of the 
 duties on glass, paper, printed goods, and stone bottles. I have 
 selected these articles in preference, because the duties on 
 tobacco are under the controul of the customs, and by the re- 
 peal of the duties, as proposed, the whole, system of the excise 
 laws, so odious to the nation, might be abolished. 
 
25 
 
 By the same statement, the assessed taxes (exclu- 
 sive of the duties on horse dealers and game certifi- 
 cates, which I do not propose to repeal,) amount to 
 £3,836,506: 17:0. viz. 
 
 Windows 
 
 . £1,163,760 
 
 17 
 
 8 
 
 Inhabited houses 
 
 . 1,324,327 
 
 18 
 
 9 
 
 Servants 
 
 . 286,552 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 Carriages 
 
 . 374,677 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 Horses for riding 
 
 . 345,090 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 Other horses and mules.. 
 
 60,587 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 Dogs 
 
 183,060 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 Hair powder 
 
 17,332 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 Armorial bearings 
 
 52,240 
 
 19 
 
 0 
 
 Composition duty 
 
 28,876 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 
 £3,836,506 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 By the same statement, the duties paid in respect 
 of stage coaches and post horses, are as follows : — 
 
 Stage coaches £426,489 18 9 
 
 Post horses 252,772 2 8 
 
 £679,262 1 5 
 
 It also further appears that the expense of collect- 
 ing the customs, excise, and assessed taxes, and 
 the management of the national debt, amount to 
 £4,023,900: 11 : 3. viz. 
 
26 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 Customs, charges of coll" £1,071,582 4 
 
 Other payments... 526,191 14 
 Excise, charges of coll"... 1,003,471 6 
 
 Other payments... 164,403 11 
 Assessed taxes, collection 287,183 2 
 
 Management of debt 275,143 7 
 
 3.. . £303,993 3 
 
 7.. . 142,700 17 
 
 5.. . 222,588 8 
 
 3.. . 26,643 16 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 2 
 
 6 
 5 
 
 £3,327,975 5 9 £695,925 5 6 
 695,925 5 6 
 
 £4,02.3,900 11 3 
 
 By reducing tlie duties as proposed, (supposing 
 there should be no increased consumption of articles 
 
 remaining taxable) the income of the country uill be 
 diminised £17,838,979 : 19 : 7, viz. 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 Assessed taxes ...£ 3,836,506 17 0 
 
 Coals 867,321 10 9 ...£ 73,318 16 11 
 
 Candles 490,750 15 11 
 
 Glass 633,868 0 10 ... 19,338 8 1 
 
 Malt 3,537,632 0 3 ... 276,673 1 2 
 
 Paper 654,994 14 2 ... 26,203 1 6 
 
 Printed Goods 552,270 12 4 
 
 Soap 1,151,909 15 4 
 
 Starch 67,359 15 0 
 
 Stone bottles 4,166 18 3 
 
 Sweets and Mead . 2,455 8 8 ... 210 8 6 
 
 Vinegar 21,895 12 10 ... 646 5 8 
 
 Stage coaches .. 426,489 18 9 
 
 Post horses 252,772 2 8 
 
 Sugar (one-half) . 2,276,396 19 5 ... 221,724 5 9 
 
 Wines (ditto) ... 646,261 15 1 ... 90,572 0 7 
 
 Tea (one-third) . 1,107,240 14 2 
 
 £16,530,293 11 5 £708,686 8 2 
 
27 
 
 Brought forwards — Great Britain £16,530,293 11 5 
 
 Ireland 708,686 8 2 
 
 17,238,997 19 7 
 
 To which must be added the probablel 
 
 reduction in the sums now paid for^ 600,000 0 0 
 
 licenses — say } 
 
 £17,838,979 19 7 
 
 By the reduction of the expense of collecting the 
 above duties, and by the reduction of the interest of 
 the funded debt as proposed, the expenditure of the 
 
 country will he diminished £15,656,192 : 14 : 1. 
 Thus : — 
 
 Reduction of one-half of the annual 
 terest on debt 
 
 “■ I £14,005,378 8 6 
 
 Ditto — of management of debt 137,571 8 6 
 
 Expense of collecting the assessed taxes... 287,183 2 2 
 
 Ditto of collecting Excise duties, England 1,003,471 6 0 
 
 Ditto Ireland 222,588 8 6 
 
 £15,656,192 14 1 
 
 The two latter items are undoubtedly conjectural; but 
 as there will then be no exciseable articles but auctions, 
 * bricks, hops, spirits, and tea, the excise establishment 
 may be wholly broken up ; and the additional expense 
 which would in consequence accrue in the department 
 of the custom-house may be met by economical in- 
 ternal arrangements, and by the funds arising from 
 
 * The net produce of the duty on bricks is only £363,430. 
 6s. 6d. and therefore if any practical difficulty should occur in 
 transferring its collection to the customs it may be repealed 
 altogether. On the other articles there can be no difficulty. 
 
28 
 
 the abolition of some, and the necessary cessation of 
 other of the charges, which appear in the finance ac- 
 counts under the head of other payments," and 
 amount to upwards of £170,000 per annum. 
 
 By the proposed plan, therefore, the national in- 
 come will be diminished £17,838,979 19 7 
 
 The national expenditure will he 
 
 leaving a deficiency of £2,182,787 : 5 : 6, which will 
 be provided for by the present annual excess of 
 income above expenditure, amounting to £2,500,000, 
 for it is not part of the proposed plan to make any 
 provision for the payment of the principal monies due.* 
 The fund-holder must remain a perpetual annuitant 
 upon the state, unless the mines of Peru should 
 become as productive as those of Cornwall ; and 
 there does not seem any practical good, in the 
 present state of the country, in raising annually 
 £2,500,000 of additional taxes, which cannot pro- 
 duce any important national benefit for the next fifty 
 years. 
 
 As far therefore as figures are concerned, the 
 measure is practicable : and it must he conceded, that 
 (independantly of the interests of the fund-holders) it 
 would be productive of great national benefit. 
 
 duninished 
 
 £ 2,182,787 5 6 
 
29 
 
 Let us then consider if it cannot be carried into 
 effect, with due attention to their interests. 
 
 It will be observed that the taxes proposed to be 
 repealed are those which will benefit all classes of the 
 community ; — the comforts of the poor are materially 
 affected by the price of coals, candles, malt, soap, 
 starch, sugar, and tea. These are also articles of 
 serious expense to the middle classes of society, who 
 are likewise interested in the reduction of the price 
 of glass, printed goods, and paper, and are heavily 
 oppressed by the house and window and other assessed 
 taxes, whilst the higher classes not only feel the 
 weight of all these taxes, but have an immediate and 
 special interest in the wine and post-horse duties. 
 We shall also find that the agricultural, the commercial, 
 the manufacturing, and the West Indian interests, 
 are all considered ; and I believe I may venture to 
 say, there will be no individual, however humble or 
 exalted, who will not be benefited by the measure ; 
 and that the advantages of every person will be (as 
 it is intended it should be) in proportion to his station 
 in society. 
 
 According to a statement which appeared in the 
 
 Times ’’ newspaper in the month of March last, the 
 fund-holders are in number and amount as follows. 
 
30 
 
 
 94215 
 
 36650 
 
 1450 
 
 ! 34512 
 
 22417 
 
 94181 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 lO 
 
 2345 
 
 1811 
 
 367 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 (Ot 
 
 Exceed- 
 
 ing 
 
 £2000. 
 
 109 
 
 44 
 
 
 
 i> 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 (M 
 
 o 
 
 
 ! 218 1 
 
 ivot 
 
 exceeding 
 
 £2000. 
 
 264 
 
 o 
 
 I— H 
 
 23 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 
 48 
 
 o 
 
 
 (N 
 
 c 
 
 1 490 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeding 
 
 £1000. 
 
 855 
 
 300 
 
 58 
 
 00 
 
 58 
 
 280 
 
 o 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 i 1741 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeding 
 
 £500. 
 
 1458 
 
 o 
 
 
 400 
 
 157 
 
 644 
 
 
 - 
 
 o 
 
 
 3260 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeiling 
 
 £300. 
 
 2260 
 
 
 o 
 
 608 
 
 254 
 
 1145 
 
 00 
 
 Oi 
 
 VO 
 
 CO 
 
 5178 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeding 
 
 £200. 
 
 6300 
 
 2215 
 
 173 
 
 2021 
 
 825 
 
 3903 
 
 (N 
 
 76 
 
 1 
 
 58 
 
 
 15604 1 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeding 
 
 £100. 
 
 9352 
 
 00 
 
 205 
 
 3593 
 
 1644 
 
 7677 
 
 50 
 
 190 
 
 156 
 
 VO 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 CN 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeding 
 
 £50. 
 
 32086 
 
 12133 
 
 447 
 
 12502 
 
 7731 
 
 1 
 
 34472 
 
 211 
 
 905 
 
 668 
 
 119 
 
 Tf 
 
 l> 
 
 (Oi 
 
 o 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeding 
 
 £10. 
 
 12869 
 
 4998 
 
 166 
 
 5174 
 
 3369 
 
 14629 
 
 06 
 
 390 
 
 331 
 
 67 
 
 42003 1 
 
 Not 
 
 exceeding i 
 
 £5. 
 
 28600 
 
 12011 
 
 233 
 
 9981 
 
 8360 
 
 31359 
 
 151 
 
 746 
 
 573 
 
 149 
 
 I92223 1 
 
 
 j Three per cent. Consols ... 
 
 Ditto, reduced 
 
 Three & half do. Annuities 
 
 Four ditto Consols 
 
 Long- Annuities 
 
 i New four per cents 
 
 Three per cent. 1726 
 
 I Old South Sea Annuities... 
 
 1 New ditto 
 
 Three per cent. 1757 
 
 
31 
 
 And for the purpose of this pamphlet they may be 
 thus divided : 
 
 1. Artificers and other operatives, who live by 
 daily labour, and have deposited their earnings in 
 the public funds. 
 
 2. Tradesmen and professional men, who have 
 done the same, but who rely principally for income 
 on their trades and professions. 
 
 3. Merchants and persons of landed and other 
 property, who live upon their incomes, which are 
 partly derived from their dividends and partly from 
 other sources. 
 
 4. Persons who derive their whole income from 
 the public funds. 
 
 5. Public companies, savings’ banks, and public 
 offices. 
 
 As the interest of the national debt is paid by all 
 the individuals who compose the nation, according to 
 sums annually levied upon them by direct or indirect 
 taxation, to those individuals amongst them who are 
 the public creditors, that is to say the fund-holders, 
 (the Government being, in truth, as far as relates to 
 the debt, only the great national collector, who receives 
 and pays) it follows, not only that all the tax-payers 
 (that is to say the whole community) who are not 
 
32 
 
 fund-holders, are interested in the reduction of the 
 debt, but such also of those who stand in the 
 double situation of debtor and creditor, Tvdio pay more 
 in the form of taxation than they receive in the shape 
 of dividend ; and furthermore, that those who receive 
 the same amount in dividend as they pay in taxation, 
 will be neither injured nor benefited by the change ; 
 and that those alone can he injured who pay less in 
 direct and indirect taxes than they receive hack again 
 in the form of dividends. 
 
 It is manifest that if the taxes above enumerated 
 are repealed, all those whose dividends do not ex- 
 ceed £10 per annmn (that is to say 134,226 of the 
 288,481 persons, who, according to the statement 
 above given, are the public creditors) must be gi’eatly 
 benefited by the proposed change ; for there can be 
 no individual, however humble, above the degree of a 
 pauper, who does not pay from £2 to £5 annually, hy 
 reason of the taxation (in which I include the in- 
 creased price beyond, but in consequence of such 
 taxation) of the articles enumerated. It may also be 
 predicated of the next class, that is to say, of those 
 whose annual dividends do not exceed £50, and 
 who amount to 101,274 of the remaining 154,255, 
 that the gTeat majority ^vill not be injured by the 
 
33 
 
 measure, for the average number of them will not re- 
 ceive more than £30 per annum ; and it does not fre- 
 quently happen that persons with such limited divi- 
 dends, and with no oth^ sources of income, place 
 their principal monies in the public funds : but we 
 will presume that 10,000 will be damnified. Of the 
 remaining' classes (except the last), that is to say, of 
 those whose dividends vary from £50 to £2000 per 
 annum (and who amount to 52,763 of the remaining 
 52,981), when it is remembered that they include all 
 the landholders, merchants, professional men, &c., 
 who are holders of stock, it is not unreasonable to 
 suppose that one-half, that is to say 26,380, have 
 such other sources of income (especially considering 
 that the scale goes down to £50 per annum, and that 
 the dividends of 20,782 of the number are under 
 £300 per annum) as to place their annual expendi- 
 ture on a scale which will make the amount in the 
 reduction of their taxation equal to the amount of the 
 reduction in their dividends. The remaining 26,380, 
 in addition to the 10,000 above mentioned, will of 
 course be injured by the measure in various degrees 
 and amounts, according as their income is wholly or 
 partially dependant upon their dividends. The same 
 may be predicated of the remaining 218 accounts. 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 whose annual dividends exceed £2000 per annmn ; 
 amongst which are included the accounts of public 
 companies, savings’ banks, and public offices, but 
 which I do not propose to include in the number of 
 those entitled to compensation, because, as to some of 
 them, they are only in the situation of creditors, and 
 contribute nothing to the burthens of the state, and 
 therefore, like other creditors, must abide the conse- 
 quences of taking a had security ; and as to others, 
 they are composed of individuals, each of whom have 
 contributed so small a share, as to fall wdthin the 
 general benefit of the measure. 
 
 The account then stands thus : — twenty millions 
 of persons are jointly indebted to 288,481 persons in 
 the sum of £771,251,932 : 13 : 7, for which they pay 
 an annual interest amounting to £28,010,757 : 7 : 2 ; 
 hut these 288,481 creditors are included in the 
 20,000,000 of debtors, and it is to the interest of 
 134,226 of such of them as stand in the double 
 capacity of debtors and creditors, as well as of tlie 
 19,711,519 debtors, who are not creditors, that the 
 interest of the^debt should be reduced to £14,005,378 
 85. Qd. and of the remaining 154,255, standing in 
 the aforesaid double capacity, 127,654 are so neu- 
 tralized (their shares as debtors and creditors being 
 
equal) as to be indifferent in the matter. Is it then 
 practicable so to compensate the remaining 36,600 
 persons,^ standing in the aforesaid double capacity, 
 as to enable the body at large to relieve themselves 
 from the burthens by which they are all oppressed, 
 and under which they all languish ? 
 
 There is no difficulty in the principle of the mode 
 of compensation. 
 
 Let each individual or head of a family, who now 
 receives a larger amount from the revenue in the 
 form of dividend than he pays in the form of taxes, 
 have such an amount of the compensation stock as- 
 signed to him, as shall supply the difference between 
 his loss by the reduction of dividend and his gain by 
 the reduction of taxation. For instance : A has from 
 various som*ces an income of £1000 per annum, of 
 which £500 is derived from dividends. His annual 
 payment in assessed taxes and in duties on tea, sugar, 
 soap, starch, printed goods, candles, glass, malt, paper, 
 post horses, and coals, amounts to £200 per annum. 
 
 * It may be said that the number of accounts only are given 
 in the statement published in the Times/^ and that in one 
 account many individuals may be interested. This, doubtless, 
 is true, but it will tend to decrease instead of increase the 
 amount of claims for compensation, inasmuch as persons of 
 small income are, in proportion, most heavily taxed. 
 
 c 2 
 
36 
 
 By this measure therefore his income wiW be dirninishecl 
 £250, his taxes £200, and therefore let him be assigned 
 such a portion of the new stock as, taking amount of 
 principal and interest together, shall be equal to £50 
 per annum. ^ 
 
 In the practical execution of this measure some 
 difficulties uill undoubtedly arise, especially as between 
 debtor and creditor, where money has been advanced 
 upon stock, with or without other secmity, or where 
 life and reversionary interests are involved, or vith 
 persons resident abroad, and so forth ; but none of 
 these difficulties are insuperable, or even beyond the 
 power of the skilful actuary of a life office to remove ; 
 and if commissioners are appointed, under an oath of 
 secresy, to enquire into the several claims (also to be 
 returned upon oath), with power to examine the 
 claimants as to their sources of income, their modes of 
 living, &c. they would he enabled, after an examina- 
 tion of the first 100 or 150 cases, to establish such 
 general principles for theii* guidance as would remove 
 
 * Although this plan professes only to indemnify tlie fund- 
 holder, it is evident it will be to his advantage ; because, by the 
 great reduction of the price of all the necessaries of life, conse- 
 quent on this reduction of taxation, there must be a reduction 
 in the price of labour, and a consequent reduction in the price 
 of all other articles of consumption. 
 
37 
 
 any practical difficulties which, at the commencement 
 of their labours, might arise. 
 
 As the amount of the reduction of interest is by 
 this plan commensurate with the amount of the reduc- 
 tion of taxation, there is no fund reserved for the pay- 
 ment of the compensation dividends. These dividends 
 cannot, however, exceed £3,000,000 per annum, and 
 this amount (and, I should hope, a larger amount, if 
 needful) will he provided for without difficulty by the 
 increased consumption of articles still remaining tax- 
 able, by a reduction in the army, navy, and ordnance 
 establishments, now amounting to £15,180,861 : 8 : 5 
 per annum, and by the reduction of salaries, pensions, 
 and sinecures, and those other economical arrange- 
 ments whicli are so fairly, and I firmly believe honestly, 
 promised by his Majesty’s present ministers, and which 
 the reduction of prices attendant on the proposed re- 
 duction of taxation will enable them so easily to fulfil. 
 
 It may he asked, by what mode compensation is to 
 he made to the fund-holder for the reduction of the 
 amount of the value of his capital stock, caused by 
 the reduction of his dividends. This reduction will 
 not be so great as on the first impression it would 
 seem to he. By the reduction in the price of labour 
 and all other articles, the commercial and agricultural 
 
38 
 
 concerns of the country will be carried on with a much 
 smaller capital than is now required. There will 
 therefore be a great amount of capital unemployed ; 
 the interest of money will also be diminished ; and as 
 the annual savings of the community (to speak in the 
 most moderate terms) will not be lessened, it follows, 
 from these combined causes, that the demand for funded 
 investments must increase, and that prices will con- 
 sequently gradually rise, although they may experience 
 a sudden and temporary depression. 
 
 But be this as it may, the change in value is one 
 of the chances to which the purchaser of a fluctuating 
 security of necessity subjects himself, and which the 
 purchaser of a share in the public funds must take in 
 common with the purchaser of a share in any other 
 joint stock company. The person who buys a bond 
 for the payment of £100, at the price of £50 or 
 £70 or £90, knows that he traffics in a depreciated 
 article, and that he purchases that which a change 
 in the value of money, a civil commotion, the 
 breaking out of a war, or the necessities of the state 
 may, in an instant, reduce 20, 30, or 40 per cent, in 
 value ; and the fund-holder has no gveater right to 
 complain of the depreciation of liis capital, because the 
 exigencies of the state requii’e a reduction of his 
 
39 
 
 interest, than the holders of shares in canal or 
 water companies, when, from a cessation of traffic, 
 or the introduction of rail roads, or the establishment 
 of rival companies, they experience a similar depre- 
 ciation. These companies, like the funds, have been 
 established by acts of parliament, and there has been 
 no greater security given to the one class of specula- 
 tors than to the other. If indeed the original lenders 
 of the money had stipulated that the land of the country, 
 or certain branches of the revenue, should he pledged 
 for the due payment of their dividends before the pay- 
 ment of any other demands, or that the loans advanced 
 should be entitled to a priority of payment in the order 
 of advancement, the situation of the fund-holder would 
 have been materially altered ; but, in truth, if either of 
 these precautions had been taken, the present debt 
 could never have existed ; for the assent of the bor- 
 rowers would never have been obtained to the first- 
 mentioned mode of raising money ; and long before 
 the public debt had reached the half of its present 
 amount, there would have been no lenders on the last. 
 But furthermore, the demand for compensation, if 
 admitted, can only be estimated upon the amount 
 advanced by the original lenders ; for all the pur- 
 chasers from them have bought according to the mar- 
 
40 
 
 ket price of the day, at all sums, from £97 to £45 for 
 the £100 stock, and taking that price as the standard, 
 no compensation will be required. 
 
 Turning from the consideration of the interests of 
 the fund-holder, and viewing this measure in a national 
 point of view, its benefits will be incalculable. The 
 direct relief to all classes has already been pointed out ; 
 but the incidental benefits will exceed the direct ones. 
 One of the most obvious and important results will he 
 the power of making an immediate alteration in the 
 corn laws. When the articles which the poor man 
 consumes are restored to their natural prices, it ^^ill 
 not be necessary to maintain at artificial prices the 
 products of his labour, in order that he may purchase 
 them. Poor rates, as well as the price of labour, must 
 of necessity sink considerably in amount, whilst every 
 other agricultural expense will be reduced to its natural 
 level ; and as every diminution of the expense of cul- 
 tivation enables the tenant to pay an additional rent 
 to his landlord, without his adding to the price of liis 
 agricultural produce, the fail' rent, according to the 
 value of money, may then be paid, whilst, at the same 
 time, the labourer will receive his full hire, and the 
 tenant again become the solvent and respectable yeo- 
 man who still lives in our memory, and whom every 
 true Engiislunan must wish to see restored. 
 
41 
 
 It is unnecessary to point out the commercial ad- 
 vantages, both internal and foreign, which must arise 
 from a reduction in the price of corn and other neces- 
 saries of life. It is universally admitted that if cheap- 
 ness oflabour can be added to the superior industry, 
 talent, and capital of this nation, it will command the 
 commerce of the world. 
 
 There are indeed some who imagine that by a re- 
 duction of the interest of the national debt there will 
 be a reduction, to an equal amount, in the wealth, and 
 also in the annual income and expenditiu’e of the 
 country ; and, therefore, that the decreased demand 
 for agricultural and commercial products would more 
 than counterbalance the benefits which would arise 
 from a reduction of taxation. This notion is founded 
 on the fallacious supposition that taxation of property 
 is a species of creation of property, and produces 
 wealth which would not otherwise exist. The fallacy 
 of this proposition is easily demonstrated. Suppose 
 A, B, C, D, E, and F have to pay to A and B £105 
 per annum, viz. to A £30 and to B £75 ; that they 
 pay the same in proportion to their incomes ; that the 
 expenses of the collection amount to £21 ; and that 
 the respective incomes of A, B, C, D, E, and F are 
 £50, £100, £1 50, £200, £250, and £300 per annum. 
 
42 
 
 Then the collector would collect from — 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 C 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 F 
 
 £6 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 24 
 
 30 
 
 36 
 
 £126 
 
 And pay to 
 
 A £30 
 
 B 75 
 
 And 
 
 A would have to spend £74 
 
 B 169 
 
 C 132 
 
 D 176 
 
 E 220 
 
 F 264 
 
 The collector 21 
 
 £1050 
 
 And the total money to be expended by A, B, C, D, 
 E, F, and the collector, would be £1050. Whereas, 
 if A, B, C, D, E, and F owed nothing to A and B, 
 
43 
 
 A would have to spend £50 
 
 B 100 
 
 C 150 
 
 D 200 
 
 E 250 
 
 F 300 
 
 The collector — 
 
 £1050 
 
 Being the same total amount; hut with this difference, 
 that the expense of the collection is spent hy the indi- 
 viduals instead of the collector. 
 
 As to the question of national faith, after the reduc- 
 tion of the interest on the five and four per cent, 
 annuities, the time for such discussion seems to he gone 
 by. Those measures have ever appeared to me par- 
 tial and unjust, as keeping the word of promise to 
 our ear, but breaking it to our hope,’’ and as bearing 
 hard on the most defenceless portion of the commu- 
 nity, viz. the widow and the orphan. It is said, in- 
 deed, that the measure was just, because an option 
 was given to the holders of these annuities to take the 
 reduced interest, or to be paid their £100 : but such 
 option was not really given. The option was, to take 
 the reduced interest, or to be paid the £100 in such 
 
44 
 
 order, and at such periods, and in such manner, as 
 parliament should direct a condition which formed 
 no part of the original contract on which the money 
 was borrowed, and which the borrower had therefore 
 no right to impose upon the lender ; and of wliich the 
 effect was, in case the lender declined the terms pro- 
 posed, to subject his capital to the risk of any fall in 
 the price of public securities, without the possibility of 
 being benefited by a rise; and to give the debtor the 
 power of paying or witholding the whole, or any part, 
 of his debt as his own interests alone should prompt. 
 It is true that the dissentients were few, and their 
 claims immediately discharged : but the smallness of 
 their number in part arose from the disadvantages 
 already mentioned, and in part because a lai’ge portion 
 of those particular funds were held by guardians, trus- 
 tees, and executors, whose assent to the measm-e was 
 assumed, and who wer^ by the statute expressly 
 exempted from all responsibility, if they acquiesced in 
 its provisions. It cannot, therefore, he matter of sm- 
 prise, that dissents were not expressed by this class of 
 fund-holders, who by remaining passive, exempted 
 themselves from the trouble, risk, and responsibility 
 of providing new securities, to be called fm* at some 
 unknown and indifinite time ; but it may be doubted 
 
45 
 
 whether such an act of parliament was strictly just 
 towards those parties who were represented by them. 
 
 But^ passing by these considerations^ the measure is 
 justified by its necessity. To continue for any length- 
 ened period the payment of the present overwhelming 
 burthens is impossible ; and it will be well if any 
 arrangement can he made by which they shall he ma- 
 terially lessened, before the alarming symptoms of 
 disafiection and despair, which for the last three months 
 have desolated the country, become fearfully and uni- 
 versally realized. The dangers which threaten us are 
 not visionary ; and if some strenuous etfort is not 
 forthwith made to mitigate the burthens, and ame- 
 liorate the condition, of all classes in the state, and 
 thereby to bring back the poor to contentment and 
 obedience, we must prepare ourselves for those national 
 convulsions, which are ever the consequence of em- 
 barrassed finances, and of which the French revolution 
 afforded us a fearful example. 
 
 In conclusion, let me add, that if in consequence of 
 the proposed measure it should become impossible for 
 the government of this country to obtain hereafter new 
 loans for the prosecution of future wars, countless 
 blessings will be bestowed upon the community, far 
 greater than those which can arise from all the agri- 
 
 
V. 
 
 3 0112 061604796 
 
 46 
 
 cultural and commercial advantages already enu- 
 merated. 
 
 Wliilst good security can be given there mil be no 
 difficulty in borrowing ; and when good security can- 
 not be given, the nation is not in a condition to bonw. 
 It is with nations, as with individuals, a proud distinc- 
 tion to possess a character for honesty and integrity so 
 spotless as to make their honour equal in value to then- 
 bonds ; but it is as dangerous to the one as to the other 
 to take advantage of it : a single loan may relieve a tem- 
 porary embarrassment and be punctually repaid ; but 
 a system of borrowing for any continued period, on the 
 strength of character, of necessity deadens by de- 
 grees the sense of honour and independence, and 
 generally ends in self abasement, loss of friends, and 
 a cowjposition with cvcditovs . 
 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 printed by CEOROE ECCIES, 101 , EENCHCRCH.sfB^-^-