The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-11 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL DEBT.

It may be interesting, at the present time, to refer
briefly to the reductions in the interest of the debt,
which were first commenced 127 years ago. In the
year 1717, the interest on part of the permanent debt
was reduced from six to five per cent., and a regular
sinking fund was provided by Act of Parliament (3 Geo.
1., c. 7), for the redemption of the permanent debt ; by
the former operation an annual saving was effected of
328,5601.; but very little appears to have been accom-
plished by the action of the Sinking Fund, although the
tailing in of annuities effected a trifling reduction, the
National Debt at the close of the reign of Geo. 1.,
amounting to about 2,000,000/. less than at the conclu-
sion of the previous reign ; the annual charge was con-
siderably diminished by the reduction of interest in
1717, and by a further reduction from five per cent. to
four per cent. in 1727, at the end of which year the
annual charge was 2,217,5511
In the peace which prevailed during the greater part
of the interval from 1727 to 1739, upwards of 5,000,000/.
of the debt was discharged by the operation of the sink-
ing fund, and the falling in of temporary annuities. On
the 31st of December, in the latter yeay. it amounted to
about 47,000,0001, whereof about 40,000,0001.
constituted the permanent debt, and the remainder
consisted of terminable annuities and unfunded securi-
ties ; the annual charge was about 1,960,0001.
From the year 1739, the National Debt received vast
additions annually for several years ; the disturbed
state of this country, owing to the landing of Charles Ed-
ward Stuart ;in 1745, and the war in which the nation
engaged in 1740, in support of the Queen of Hungary's
pretensions to the throne ,of Austria, involved the
Government necessarily in very large expenses ; the
debt on the 31st of December, 1749, soon after the treaty
of peace concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, amounted to above
76,000,0001., being an increase during the war of
29,000,000/. In the short interval of peace which sue
ceeded the treaty of 1745, the Government was enabled,
by the rise in the price of Stocks, to effect a reduction
in interest in the Four per Cents. This was done on the
29th of November, 1749. The stockholders were to re-
ceive 4 per cent. until the 25th of December, 1750; from
that time till the 25th of December, 1757, they were to
be allowed 3i per cent., after which time the interest
was to be reduced to 3 per cent. In the year 1751 seve-
ral of these stocks were consolidated into one fund,
amounting collectively to 9,137,8211. ; this was the ori-
gin of the present Consolidated Three per Cent Annui-
ties. Various other stocks were consolidated at the
same period to the amount of 17,701,323/., forming the
commencement of the present Three per Cent. Reduced
Annuities.

The war with France, which broke out in 1756,
though it continued but seven years, added nearly
64,000,0001. to the public debt, which, at the conclusion
of the war in 1763, amounted to 138,800,0001., entailing
an annual charge upon the nation of 4,800,0004 During
the twelve years of tranquillity which succeeded the
peace of Paris, about 10,400,000/. of the debt was dis-
charged, so that at the commencement of the 41 merican
war, in 1775, the debt amounted to 128,500,0001.; during
the seven years in which this country was engaged in
war with the United States, the National Debt was more
than doubled, for although the independence of
America was acknowledged in 1782, yet loans
were raised in several subsequent years, in order
to defray the remaining expenses of the war.
It was not until 1786 that the revenue was
found to be sufficient for the expenditure ; on the sth of
January in that year the debt amounted to 268,100,0004,
including the Terminable Annuities taken at a valuation;
the annual charge was 9,500,000/. It was in this year
that a sinking fund was established for the reduction
of the debt, that constituted by 3 Geo. 1.. c. 7, having
become obsolete. The Act of Parliament by which the
Sinking Fund of 1786 was was established (26th Geo.
111., c. 31) appointed certain Commissioners to carry its
objects into effect, who are continued in office by the act 9
Geo. IV.; the Commissioners are the Speaker of the House
of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Master
of the Rolls, the Accountant-General of the Court of
Chancery, and the Governor and Deputy-Governer of
the Bank of England, for the time being. The fund,
which was to consist of 1,000,000/. annually, after passing
through various modifications, was finally amended by
the Act of 10 Geo. IV., c. 27, passed the Ist of June,
1829, which provides that from the sth of July, 1829,
there shall be issued out of the Consolidated Fund only
such annual sums as shall appear to be the actual sur-
plus revenue of the United Ki ngdom, to be applied towards
the reduction of the National Debt by the Commissioners
appointed for that purpose ; and that the Lords Com-
missioners of the Treasury shall, every quarter, make up
accounts of the annual revenue for the four preceding
quarters, and one-fourth of the annual surplus to be is-
sued to the Commissioners for the reduction of the Na-
tional Debt, who are to publish in the London Gazette
the sum which will be so applicable in the ensuing
quarter.—Observer.