The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-19 00:00:00

The American Debt,

The New York. World, in one of its recent num•
bars, attempts an analysis of the existing debts and
resources of the United States, and confining itself
to setting forth admitted facts, leaves its readers to
estimate the probable result. In the first place, the
debt is shown to have amounted in June last to
£520,000,000. Since that date the war has been
going on, and still goes on, at an estimated cost of
£BOO,OOO per day; and the calculation is that by
March next the Federal Government will owe at
least £700,000,000, A large portion of the existing
liabilities, being in the shape of currency, carries no
interest; but, sooner or later, this must be met,
and, reckoning the ultimate interest to be paid at
the moderate rate of 6 per cent., a total annual
charge will thus exist of £42,000,000 per annum.
It is then remarked that the United States have
always contemplated with astonishment the immense
debt of England, and expressed " great commisera-
tion for her people ;" but that the interest of the
whole English debt is only £27,000,000. And even
this comparison, it is added, gives a very imperfeot
idea of the impending consummation. It is based
on the assumption of the termination of the war in
March, but takes no account of the " immense
amount of unsettled claims to be brought in."
These will include damages sustained by loyal
citizens, compensation for property taken for Go-
vernment purposes, and the reclamations of foreign
Governments " for losses incurred by their citizens
for illegal captures ;" also the war debts, contracted
by the various counties and towns of individual
Statea for bounties, &c. At the least, therefore, an
aggregate national liability of £1,100,000,000 will
then have to be encountered. The question remains
what are the peculiar resources of the Federal
States to enable them to sustain this burden, On
that head it is shown that according to the most
favourable official and other estimates the value of
the real and personal property in the loyal States
(including Kentucky, Western Virginia, and Mis-
souri, whose loyalty is hypothetical), was in Jan.,
1862, £2,111,200,000. Hence the actual debt in
March next, supposing it to have been raised to
£1,100,000,000 by the settlement of all claims to
that date, will amount to more than half the entire
property of the whole of these States, and every in-
dividual in the country will have to recognise that
the larger portion of everything he considers him-
self to possess in the shape of wealth actually belongs
to the public creditor. And even here we do not
arrive at the climax, since it has to be borne in mind
that the valuation of the property of the various
States was made when they were at the height of
solid prosperity, and that since that period the pro-
ductive powers of all have been fatally diminished,
while such States as Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky,
and Western Virginia have been devastated and
nearly tlked. The fact is also to be considered
that the army cannot be disbanded at a blow, and
that in the shape of pensions alone a large charge
must remain. Should the South be subjugated and
brought back into the Union, the prospect, it is
argued, would be worse instead of better. " They
have a large debt of their own due to their own
citizens and to foreigners, which they would feel in
honour bound to pay, if able, in case the Union
did not assume it, and enormous appropriations
would be required to rebuild the lighthouses all
along the Southern coast, to repair the fortifications
and to open and render the harbours safe for corn•
merce." Fin .11y, the readers of the lVorld are
asked in the face of these statements to consider the
fact that the Customs revenue last year in gold was
only about £14,000,000, that the internal revenue
produced only £7,800,000, and that the latter,
although estimated under the new tariff to yield
£200,000 per day, is not believed thus far even to
have approached such a sum. They have here the
materials for a judgment, and the World prefers to
leave the case without comment. " Whether, if the
war continues, cur debt will be paid or repudiated
must depend upon the virtue of our people." It is
admitted that the argument is available that the
debt is so distributed among the population that a
large party will thus be created against repudiation.
But (says the World) it is sa►er to look at the past.
Oar revolutionary indebtedness was in the hands of
all the people. It was held in sums smaller or
larger by almost every one, and yet this did not
prevent its being scaled down to 40 for one,