The National Register.
London, England, 1818-08-03 00:00:00

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XI.

RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY.

TOSPORTION OF TIE% DEBT AND RESOURCES OF THIS COON'
TRY AT THIt PRESENT AND FORMER PERIODS.

(Ft ?at Mr. FE Lows' Tract of The Right: of Pmperty vindicated
agait..4 the C.:airtsof Universal Suffrage." I

Upon the accession of George the First, in 1714,
the debt araaunted to 5 t,143,8631.; the same debt, as it
stood on the Ist of February, 1817, had accumulated
to 819,531,9371. The reign of George I. embraced
a period of 12 years, 10-months, sal 10 days, during
which the whple sure prc,laced by the Customs was
1,63.2,9851.,,and by the Excise 30,421,4511. Now
the articles subject to Customs and Excise are such ae
the aajority of nation never purchase till they are
yrovitied. with other commodities of more indispensable
recessity. The blame of the former keeps pace with
the increase of the national wealth, ani exhibits a cer-
'ain demonstratior of that increase.

" The Customs fir the year ending January the sth,
I gl6, ammtated to 10. ki7,5221.; the Excise duties,
'during the saute interval, produced 26,562,4,32 h—the
then existing war duties are included in this amount.
Here the Customs for one year will be found to have
produced nearly as much as they did in six years of the
..rcign-of George I ; and the If.!:zise, during one year of
-the present reign, tuninitited to a sum equal to about
five-sixths of the total produce, during a period of more
than twelve years in the abwc.mentitmed reign The
produce of the Stamps may not be thought to furnish
so sure a test of national wealth, as that.of the Customs
.and Excise; but yet as they are an index of a multi-
farious class of dealings betwixt man and man, they
may serve to elucidate the amount of the circulating
wealth during any particular period. If we compare
the urnotint of the Sta.up Daty in Geoq,m I. with that
in the present reign, wa shall be forcibly struck with
the disparity, I)aring the latter part of George I. the
Stamps produced the annual sum of I 32,6651. ; whilst
b'tweeo the sth of Jim. 1816, and the sth of Jan.
/417, they amounted to 5,65,4;;1.1. or near six mill.
lions sterling. Notwithstan '3 as the immense increase
in the scale of the Stamp Duty, which has taken place
in tLe present reign, we must recollect that it i-; the in-
creased opulence and multiplied dealings of the country
which have enabled it to bear this increase; and it must
at the same tine be considgred, that though the ply-
anent of the. duty is comptilsory upon particular legal
and commercial transactiims, those transactions them.
zebras are optional; and that titereihre the payment Of
the duty itself being so far spontaneous, the increase on
that duty em be owing to nettling but the pttrrdc. rity
et the.conntry. The inerewi.-1 revenue of the Post
tlfßee furnishes a signal proof not only of the increased
rivilisati m, but of the increased wealtli of the country
within the butt ceatary. In the fair last years Of
Searge 1. the Post Office produced an average of
75,5451. in the year. Li tie year ending the 51h of
January 817, the sum a saunas of revanue yielded no
/esx Cato t ,d• :1,6,0001. Ilere tie have much more than
a clecuple increase, and in a species if voluntary pay-
ment, witteh farnishes a striating criterion of affluence.
./; natiunal debt non* be considered great or aril, ac-
r vtlitig to the %ca.:tittle the people by whota it has been
cii.
ineurrei', awl 'Ont .0r ::::1 it is to `0..., paid." A itt'lat of
...
c.!leiroirvn to a pear cluntry may ha more than a deb.
. rat t a, antes to a r;es ; us or: individtial may be
• right leas distressed by iilb abt of a thousand, than al:O-
-ther ma:: by a da'ut of tine hundred, or even oi:ly tea

ronne.s."

By titis it stpliPtint, t; ..v:.ereatithe national th:bt
has site. the rt;i t to nearly sixteen
tirar•:.... it tlic...tt was -- t!t 3 CI•09:111SVC is:crewel

to

tun

' ; US r

1- the ?...t C

to ocrnet::ing more ti►an ten

:;. • :citna ti:aa their

f %,..r' gabonnti.