Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1806-05-26

hv ;mnrovements in the mode of col.
lection of the imposts and by reform o.
the all consumisg poor rates, the Puoile
revenue may be even yet considerably aug;
mented. The rower TO tax no douos mas
its limits, and when government has mul'
tiplied its taxes till has reached them,
new imposition will only give new torn
to the public receipts, without adding 70
their amount. We may be mistaken, but
we sincerely hope it will prove, that the
wealth of the English subjects IS abundant
ly adequate to all the enormous exPenoi'
ture. of this necessary war. The time we
believe has come to justify all practicable
reforms of expenditure and improvements
of the,reycnue. rather than a resort to vio.'
lent and arbitrary remedies OF any sort ).
sespe cially such as spunging off the debt:
] For it can scarcely escape remark, thas
Great Britain has been, from the first, con.
lending against revolutionary principles.
How can Great Britain, the champion OF
faith and law and order, with consistency
or advantage, adopt asa remedy the very
measure that is the first badge and sure
3iOrerunDer Of the cViis
:. For VIVA, is revolution! What IS ITS ia
avorite work, but first, and with most ma
lignans ardor, to destroy what faith ard law
and morals have established and guarded!
The English deb. of elk hundred millions
sterling is spread all over the kingdom; It
has taken root for a century. 10 pluck
tina, root from the soil, we believe, would
shake the security of all property 10 the
event, possibly it might subyers the monar: !.
chy. =
When the convenience Of relieving the
nation from this mountain of debt is once,
admitted, where will the government stop!
Will not the progress oe, as In france, to
make one convenient sacrifice precedent
and argument for another The clergy will
stand next, on the black list the mobiles
will follow. Will the many continue pa.
ticnt under the pressure of taxes, when the
plunder of the few is SO familiar a substi-
su:e? In revolution, as in shipwreck,
one part of the crew is kept alive by eating
the other.
International debts in fact private pro.
persv. We cannot see why the public
should seize and appropriate to itself that
sscription of private property, rather than
The ships in the Thames, or the goods In 4
Bond street, The seizure may be less uus
popular, and may be mere surely carried
into effect, than the capture Of the ships or
goods but.we ,cannotsee that the plea OF
necessity will better justify the act, in one
case than the other. Indeed the prefer
ence seems be due to the, property in the |
funds, as the government has solemnly re-
nounced it's power of control over it, and
chosen to standin no o!her relation to the
owner of stock, than as an equal contract.
ing party.
To those, however, who may consider
this last idea mere refinement, too fimsy
to be examined or regarded, when the ex-
.is,ence- of nation is at stake, another lie.
Aection may be suggested.
Many, persons may be led, by their ab
horrence of jacobinism and of French ty-
ranny, to think favorably of spunglng off
the tremendous mass of English debt,
which crippIes all their >exertions in the
war. England once free from this mill.
stone, they imagine, wosld be in no dan.
ger of sinking. The usefulness of such an
act of injustice tolerably well reeonciles
,ahem to its principle. I
The most successful answer TO the mea
sure will be TO question its utility. The
whole taxes fall tar short of the expendi.
,.ares of the nation. Suppose the deb.
spunged of, and all the products of the
,presen, taxes applied to necessary expen.
sces, how shall the deficiency be.made up?
By .newloaps. Shall the British chancellor
of the .ezcheouer with the spupge in one
hand, hold out subscription paper in the
other? ''Who would lend, or escape the mad
-house,if he did? 1t loans could be obtain.
al nau, rational drbt won1d he scored,