Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1830-04-29

| Orcat britain, so that all may see IN what
manner this immense milestone around the
neck Of the body polite has been formed |,
Is a curious artc T., and will amply repay the
reader for the time spent in perusng it.
/ Truth Teller.
"The system OF defraying the public ser
vice by borrowed money, and Of pledging the
taxes for payment OF the interest, took its
rise IN Genoa and Venice. was matured in
| Holland, and was thence introduced into
England by King William. That Prince
found here debt of little more than one
million, the interest on which had for some
| time ceased to be paid; but a series of cam
palgns, then new 10 this country, required
| new expenses, and these occasional loans,
| which at the peace of Ryswick, had amount
ell TO more than twenty millions sterling
This money had been raised chiefly in eight
per cent. stock on the security Of specific
taxes, which were considered sufficient with
IN few years to pay of the capital, as well
as to meet the accr'iing interest. According
| " i've OF these twenty millions were replaced
before the subsequent war OF Queen Anne
But the honors OF Marlborough could not be
won without treasure, and ass 100000 be-
ing raised at six and eigl per cent. peace
| found US With debt of iilty-two millions en-
failing an annual charge OF IS 1851 900. This
small yearly claim drew very deeply from
our great grand fathers pocket--the country
gentlemen saw bankruptcy at their elbows
| and the peaceful reign Of George l was pass
ed by Sir Robert Walpolc IN measures of
financial arrangement. The taxes pledged
were collected into three funds, the JOINT sur
plus of which formed, ia l7I6, the first Sink
ing Fund. The new machinery was long the
nations hope. but in 1882 il was sacrificed
by Sir Robert to his desire Of relieving the
country party from the weight of the land
tax. Still the peace did. as usual, lower
profits, and the interest of the debt was rcdu.
ced at first to five, and later TO four per cent
so that although. after twenty three years of
repose, its capital was diminished by four
millions only, the annual charge no longer a.
mounted to more than two The fears which
even this amount was able to awaken are re-
corded by George Lord Lyttleton, in peri
cd, the dignity of which is for our ears some
what impaired by the arithmetical proportion
OF It's object sour well equipt fleets and
well dfes sed troops" writes that excellent
nobieman, "eive, TO be sure, an air Of magni-
ficence; but when il is well known that we
owe almost fifty millions, and we have been
forced to apply the Sinking Fund not to dis
charge that debt, but to furnish out these
shows, while in most parts of England, gen
tlemen's rents are so i'll paid, and the weight
OF taxes lies so heavy upon them, that those
who have nothing from the court can scarce
support their families Ifcountry gentlemen
find their rents light and taxes heavy, they
do not now seek remedy from the court,
which, indeed, it happily can no longer at.
ford.
During the first war of George II. money
was borrowed IN three per cent. stock at par
until the Scottish rebellion enhanced the
terms. "Our parliamentary aids" writes
Lord Bollingbroke, Enthusiastically, after
the renewal of peace, "from the year I74O
exclusively to the year l74S inclusively a.
mount to 55,522. Isl, a sum that will appear
incredible to future generations, and is almost
10 the present" The single war Of Waterloo
has seen this incredible expenditure doubled.
Mr.. Pelham, awaiting himself of tho peace,
reduced to the lowest rate of known interest
the greater part of the public securities, which
he united in fund, thence called the Three
Per Cent. Reduced Annuities. Those debts
which already bore no heavier rate, were 10
like manner consolidated, and called 5 per
cent. consols. The amount of the debt may
be learned from these foIebodings OF a con
temporary. sit has been generally recei-
we'd notion among political aritbmeticiansn
economists, they now delight IN be called,)
'ulat we may increase our national debt to
one hundred millions, but they acknowledge
that 1t must then cease by the debtor becom-
ing bankrupt. Bat IL Is oe,y difficult to COM
prehsnd, 81 zoe do not stop at serenity flee mil
lions, tcheYe zoe shall stop.
The question so long since stated has not
been yet solved. Speedily did those nuneri
cal philosophers see their received notions re-
futed; to this debt Of seventy -four millions,
the war of Frederick added another sixty
four, nearly an equal amount; our debt, in
deed, has increased, not by an arithmeticai
| ratio; each war of equal extent has not en-
| tailed an equal addition of charge, but il has
grown with a geometrical impulse; the new
| load of each contest has nearly e9uallcd the
| united burihen of all which precededit
Scarcely, however, had the American war
broken forth, when the old anticipations re-
ceived DIR. Prices sanction. 1--WE are now"
| he writes, ''involved in another war, and the
public debts are increasing again fast. The
present year an must make another great
addition to them; and what they will be at
the end of these troubles. no one can tell
The union of foreign war to the present civil
war might perhaps raise them to two hundred
millions, but more probably it wcdld sink
them to nothing" Colonial defeat, aggraya-
ted, as the Doctor had surmised, BY ungener-
Gus neighbors, exceeded his estimate, and adj
ded one hundred and twenty TO the one han
dred and twenty eight millions ofour previous
incuubrances, while the annual charge OF
four and half millions, more than, observing
| this law of increase received an addition Oh