The Statesman.
London, England, 1813-03-26 00:00:00

•

~,. .

• .:~

lag to the meaning of a contract, or an Aot
of Parliament, than to any authority. But let the
llouse look at the state of the matter, and see how
it stood; which was not on testimony, but on. the,
arrangement between 1798 and 1800, and ksecond
arrangement in 1802, by Mr. Addington, concurred
iu by Mr. Pitt. Public credit at those periods was
much depressed, and for the first time a large por-
tion of supply was rpised within the year by war
taxes; and an' arrangement made for the rapid re-
duction of the politic debt, by the Sinkitl Fund.—
In. 1798, the 'triple assessment took place)7ettich
Wils changed tot Om Income Tat ; %which was
.tu he mortgaged Air the redemption of Ike capital
debt. The object was not to postpone, redemption
beyond fortrAve 'years, but to accelerate 'the
der ption of all that exceeded Ille ierit Of
Blaine Fund %elan a
.shoet Mr: Pitt)
tee any ether Minister, was 'at M..!erty pro-
'pose something • else than the otie, per -mot. he
Was to Act ,upon a ressonable.'hope of reduction
within 45 years. The object of those mementos was
to invigorate and improve the powers of the Sinking
Fund. His Right lion. Friend (Mr. Vansittart)
*thought that this *tilled 'him ; but that Was A forced
View of thesase, tank* Mr. Pitt had-contemplated
43 years of war. Peace dill• arrive in 1802, and
• Lord Sidmoutb repealed the Income Tax, on which
• lay the charge of, redeeming what stood on that se-
curity. In 1.802, there was no departure from the
A'et of Parliament. If the original fond was with-
- drawn, the matter remained like any other debt con:
flact.e, upon which Goverumont, at the time of
assigned a differentsl4leg Fund for 45
years. t hat minuets wasactionipanied, on its pro.
• position, by titans and statements,, to prove that the
amount would be reduced in the given time. It was
a plan at the option of any Minister, for a Sinking
Fund to commence at a future period ; but yet 84,1
ficient for its object : it was the reversion of the four
millions, and of the one, per cent. as they became
free ; and the assigning of thus to the redemption of
the debt. There was nothing done, which there *as
not a right to do : nothing in contravention oT the
Act of 1792. Ile, when authorities were spoken
of, would appeal tea very grave atabority-;-the Re--
port of the Finance Committee .of 1797. To what-. 1
better kind of document 'goad ite refer? It stair'
the circumstances of the old gybing Fund,_ and the
nature of the Fund undettlie Act of 17925' 'The old
Fund, it remarked, was no longer applicable by
law to the operation of the compound interest upon
. thg old debt; but that the •objecfof the new fund
was to ensure that operation till the new debt.
should be reduced. lien he might stop; but
'respect Tot Mr. Pitt's memory compelled him to
:proceed. When the Bill of 1802 name into the llousei
for the consolidation of the debt apl the fonds, and
the public attention was much drawn to it, a. person;
of eminent skill in calculation gave him (Mr. il.)ir
ingenious statement respecting its future operations: !
the conclusion was, that after the consolidation of
the debt, we should, at intervals, measure the pro.
positions between the Sinking Fund and the debt).
and whatever appeared of over-balance should be
held applicable either to the remission of taxes, or
some otbdr public relief. Ile (Mr. II.) was much
struck with this at first, and gave the plan to Mr.
Pitt, who returned it to him with his pointed repro.l
. Dation of it. When be deftmded it in a -view of
peace, 'Alr. Pitt said, he had other plans by which to
provide against the rapid accumulation of debt : and
as to state of war, it was inapplicable and ruinous.
—lle used harder terms than those, which he
should not then repeat: but the present was, in ef-
fect, exactly the same sort of plan; and there was
the authority of Mr. Pitt against it. Though in
principle the same, he admitted the complicated ma.
chint.; y of detail was different. lle should,' however,
do injury to his own views, did he not say, that the'
present times were very different from those when
we were in peace, and credit was high : and it was
not theuglit we should Aiant.another loan for a con-
siderable time. NO ‘4" we ,'ere in an indefinite state
of War, our credit was depirssed, and our loans
greater than ever known before; we were in a situ-
ation altogether difficult, both as to economy, and
uto what concerned the public . creditors. The
principle of his Right lion. Friend's plan seemed to
be,. that we might, in time of war, push the amount
of the public debt to its Minimum, and reduce the
Sinking' Fund to its minimum ; keeping in view the
extinction of debt within forty-five years, without a
reference to the total anima of unredeemed debt.—
Such a principle must hi the end prove fatal. It
should be. recollected, that • the whole public debt
was in the market. A debt of one hundred millions
might remain without danger; but one of e_thOusata
millions would break down the system of our
finance. , This scheme might do in the closet,. but
not on the Stock ExChange. Queen Anne's Boentyl
might as well be taken on similar principles. I
those on which the Sinking Fund was to be treated.'
lie felt pain in sopposing his Right llon. Friend's
plan, and in objecting to what be termed its advan-
tages, which be thought only calculated to -confuse
and perplex, and to divert attention from its de..
merits. The benefits stated Were fur. First, to
provide fi r the gradual eqesiblo reduction of the
public debt : secondly, to guard against the too
rapid diminution of the rate of interest :. thirdly,. to
provide a subsidy of 120 millions : fourthly, to
accumulate, at is period of peace, 100 mil-
lions as a provision for any future war. Now it
seemed strange to provide regulations for equable.
reduction, as if we had already done too much on
that subject. Notwithstanding all that had been
done, we had, during the last twesty yeare, paid
off (...)00 millions of debt, and had incurred 600 mil-
lions. It was proposed to render the reduction mots •
equable, when we were borrowing twice as much SC
we lied done, and, were to lessen, by one-halt, this
means of redemption. We were adding more in two
years than we bad in the preceding six, and now we
were to impair the Sinking Fund. What was this
fear. of the diminution of the rate of intensit,when the
sum wanted for Great Britain, Ireland) and the
East Indies, would be found nearer 40 than 30 mil.
lions ? With all the advantages of nominal capital, and
an hitherto growing Sinking Fund, we could not
borrow 1001. within the legal rate. Ins Right Ron.
Friend tgild the Hone last years, that his patient wan
le very)ow• state ; bet thatou the next occasion he
should prescribe some powerful remedy for him.—
: now the patient was in a worse state than be.

'

~~y

.

I