The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-18 00:00:00

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

In -considering the prospects of the country,
and the good and evil which mingle in rather a
favourable proportion, we think, in its present
condition, we cannot omit in our estimate
so material an item as the National Debt, which
we fear we must in fairness place on the wrong
side of the account. This is the true dead-
weight which presses down the country, which
slackens the pace of commerce and of industry,
and trenches deeply on the freedom and comfort
of private life. The interest of the National
Debt, which is'the real burden, amounts to above
thirty millions per annuni, and this immense sum
is drawn from the country by taxes. Such a
standing drain on the productive wealth of the
country is certainly an evil. Dr. Smith justly
compares heavy taxation to the curse of a barren
climate, in which we must work harder than in
happier regions ibr the same enjoyment. The
National Debt is a clog on every man's industry,
for though we have had many theories to shew
that labour could not be taxed, that most taxes
were ultimately paid out of some other fund, yet
•no One will believe that a mechanic who has
good wages, and who consumes sugar and tea,
does not pay out of his own proper income the
heavy taxes on these articles. His wages will
not rise to give him a command over luxuries,
and to whatever extent' he uses them, therefore,
he must be brought in for the tax. In this man-
ner the burden presses on all classes. It is so
much taken out of every man's income to sup-
port the fundholders, whose incomes form a
mortgage on the national estate ; who are in a
manner quartered upon the country for their liv-
ing, each of us having so many of them to main-
tain out of our hard earnings. This then is a
great evil, and unlike other evils, which are tran-
sient in their nature and will pass away, it is a
permanent burden on the country, for it is clear
that we cannot get quit of a just debt but by

paying it, and no one doubts that the national
creditors have a just claim on the whole property
of the country. The money was fairly paid on
the pledged security of the public faith, and it
was used for national objects. It was employed
in defraying the extraordinary expenses of ar-
duous and protracted wars—in paying, in short,
for defense. The National Debt is therefore
the price of safety. We are now at rest ; we
hare readied the haven of repose„„having steered
safely through the tempests of revolution and
war ; we have revelled in the triumph of victory,
and the National Debt is the reckoning that Iva
have still to pay.

This burden, which presses so heavily on the
country, has been accumulating for more than a
century ; for it has never been diminished by
peace so much as it has been increased by war.

It is, therefore, an evil of long standing, which
has been handed clown to us by the wisdom of
our ancestors, and it is a growing evil to cheek
or remove which the serious attention of a wise
Administration must be anxiously directed.
But this is not an easy task, as we have
already remarked there is no way of getting clear
of debt but by paying it ; and by what magical
influence is it supposed that funds can be sud-
denly conjured up to such an immense amount ?
In the last number of the " Edinburgh Review"
we have a project on this subject, which really
appears to be somewhat extravagant. The
writer, in his estimate of our resources for pay-
ing our debts, calculates that we lose annually,
by restraints on the importation of con), about

twenty millions. Making some necessary de-
ductions on account of the landlord's rent, he
makes out a dead loss of twelve millions per
annum, which sum he insists we would save by
allowing the importation of foreign corn at ss.
per quarter ; pd it would go, according to his
hypothesis,. to the payment of the National
Debt. We do not mean to enter into any cri-
tical examination of this extravagant estimate of
national damage, which appears, however, to be
altogether erroneous. Such arithmetical calcu-
lations, when applied to the complex and ever-
varying concerns of a nation, must be essentially
incorrect. On subjects of this nature, arith-
metic is not an efficient weapon ; it is not an in-
strument by which we can work our way through
the intricacies of political questions. The flue-
tuating tide of human affairs cannot be subjected
to the restraints of figures. According to the
hypothesis of this writer, a rise of Bs. the quarter
of wheat, gives twelve millions annually of
national loss. But there have been fluctuations

in the price of grain to the amount of 40, 50,
and even 60s ; and dons this writer mean to apply
his infallible arithmetical nostrum to this case,
and to say that the nation could lose 84 millions
-in any one year by a rise in the price of grain ?
Not more reasonable is his proposition fbr pay-
ing half the national debt by a tax on property
to the amount of 12 per cent., by which he pro-
poses to raise 230 millions, and to give this sum
to the national creditors. Suppose it were even
prefiticable to enforce in this free country such a
spoliation of the rich, what would be the result ?
Not that the burden would be in the smallest
degree diminished ; but that one part of the
community would be lightened, and another class,
namely, the rich, more heavily burdened. The
burden would be differently, and in our opinion
less judiciously, distributed ;and for this positive
evil the whole country would be thrown into
confusion.

The only rational plan by which the national

debt can be reduced, is by means of a Sinking
Fund, by which we mean a real surplus of in-
come over expenditure. Tu pay off with one
hand while we are borrowing with the other is
no doubt puerile in the extreme, and leads to
much perplexity ; and in this view we may now
advert to the plan of the " dead weight" as it
was called, or the project of Lord Castlereagh
for converting the military and naval pensions
into one annuity for 45 years, which was part of
that miserable system of building up and pulling
down—of moving backwards and forwards, and
making no progress. At that time Ministers
were intent on the establishment of a surplus in-

come of five millions per annum, which they
were to apply to the redemption of debt. They
were tl►us increasing the burden at present, in
order to lighten it at same future time ; while the
plan of converting the military pensions into a
45 'years' annuity was in principle just the very
reverse of tl►is, for it diminished the present to

increase the future burden, and was thus the
source of useless complexity and expellee. We
must, it is clear, form a new Sinking Fund, a
real surplus of income over expenditure, before we
can reduce the debt. At present we have not a
great surplus of income. In 1826 our income
amounted to 51,894,589/. our expenditure to

53,885,5411., thus leaving a surplus of-
-1,009,4481. One great point of our policy
must be to increase this surplus, which may be
effected, Ist, by increasing income ; or, 2dly,
by diminishing expenditure.
1.--The income of the nation, which is made
up by contributions from the people, may be
augmented either by the increasing produce of
the existing taxes, or by adding to the amount
of these taxes. Since the year 1793, when the
revolutionary war commenced, an additional le-

venue has been derived from both these sourtes.

The taxes have been prodigiously increased, and,
what is singular, and strongly marks the pro-
gress of the country, those that have not been
augmented have, nevertheless, produced a much
larger amount of revenue. In providing for the
extraordinary and continually increasing expences
Of an arduous war, in which the independence
of the country may be at stake, it is necessary
to procure funds by the most violent expedients.
—A Statesman who has the conduct of such a
war cannot wait the slow and gradual operation
of national improvement upon the public income.
He cannot wait till the fruit of the revenue
slowly ripen with the progress of the season ; he
must have it prematurely, and he must have re-
course to the artificial method of additional taxa-
tion to force it forward. During the last war,
accordingly, additional taxes were laid on the
country, till the Fublic revenue was raised to the
enormous amount of about 70 millions per-ann..
and it is now agreed on all hands, that taxation
was then carried to its utmost limit. Not a
single additional tax could have been laid on
that would have been productive ; we could not,
for our lives, have raised a greater revenue.
We could have done nothing more—we were in
the situation of a vessel beating oil' the shore, '
with even; stitch of canvas set, and hauled close
to the wind, the pilot guiding. her course through
the stormy waves, but unable to aid her further
in weathering the point of danger. This point
has, however, been happily weathered—we are in
safety—we have no longer the extraordinary and
urgent expellees of war to provide for, and it is
not necessary; therefore, to increase our income
by additional taxes. We may wait patiently for
slow but sure improvement of our existing re-
sources, which will in time yield an adcgtmte
fund for the redemption of debt. Before the
late commercial calamity, the produce of all the
existing taxes was rapidly increasing ; and they
must soon, as trade revives, resume their former
course of improvement. The truth is, that this
is even a more efficient source of additional in-
crease than new taxes, as the whole history of
our finance abundantly illustrates. It is not ge-
nerally known what a great accession of revenue
we have continually derived from the increasing
produce of existine. duties. Since the termina-
tion of the war, this improvement of our revenue
has been most marked. The produce of almost
all the duties on the great articles of consump-
tion, have within the last ten or twenty years been
continually increasing, thus the duty on candles
which in 1814, produced 270,5254 amounted
in 1826, to 481,0371., and the same duty on soap,
which in 1817, produced 880,6261., had in-
creased in 1826, to 1,147,060/. ; the duty on
sugar, which in 1815 was 2,957,403/. was in
1826, 4,518,6881.; that on beer was in 1814,
2,747,968/., in 1826, it was 3,587,526/. ; on
paper, the duty was in 1814, 419,2084 it was
in 1826, 535,750/. ; but in 1825, prior to the
late commercial distress, it amounted to 652,4481.
Many other articles shew a similar increase, and
if the duties on other commodities have not in-
creased, it is because amid the difficulties and
dangers of an arduous and expensive war, they
have been unfortunately overtaxed. Judging
from the past then, we have no doubt, that under
wise and politic management, our revenue will
certainly increase, and will yield the necessary
fund for the redemption of our debt. If the
produce of existing duties increase in any thing
like the same ratio as we have here stated, i. e.
about 30 and 50 per cent., the increase of our
surplus revenue would be very great, and would
soon afford all the relief that was,required.
11. We may increase our -surplus income by
diminishing our expenditure. The writer in the
" Edinburgh Review," to whom we have already
alluded, is of opinion that our expenditure can-
not be greatly reduced, nor do we think that
there is here any very wide field for reform. But
still a rigid economy may make some addition
to our surplus income ; and to a certain extent
therefore Ministers are called upon to make the
most of this resource. We are glad to observe
that they have issued orders for disbanding the
Yeomanry corps throughout the country. This
looks like redeeming their pledge of economy;
and though some may cast a careless account of
such savings as inconsiderable, yet it is the nature
of economy to grasp at every advantage, however
minute ; and Miensters may rest assured that
to whatever cavils they may be exposed in carry-
ing on the good work of economy and retrench-
ment, they will have, as they deserve, the general
voice of the country strongly in their favour.