The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-09-03

originality runs less risk of being disputed, from
the little probability of its adoption Abroad
And yet, although the United States form the
only nation that ever paid off the whole of ats
national debt. and are the first to indemnify the
foreign creditor against the depreciation OF the
local currency, one might imagine, from the tone
assumed by some Europeans, that America had
been guilty of some great default towards for
eign nations, themselves the models of fidelity;
and it is amusing to read the grave honiilies
preached at these young people about the pro-
priety of paying their debts, by older nations
who have lived in the habitual violation of all
the duties they recommend.
Now we must not suffer the country to be
thus scolded or bullied out of its selfrespect.-
And though l would discourage all national pre-
JUDGES as generally the result of passion and
ignorance yet it seems within the limits OF just
selfdefence respectfully and kindly to warn such
assailants, that these reproaches are very apt to
become reciprocal-that the party ATTACKED is
often forced to remember of his antagonist that
which he would willingly forget-and that if we
were to Judge them by the same harsh law they
apdly to ms, the retort would be equally easy
and decisive. Take for instance excellent
friends, the English, many OF whom are rather
prone to deliver lectures about the infdelity of
republican institutions-they would be startled
perhaps at being told that the first and greatest
violation of faith to public creditors known in
modern Europe, was committed by the govern
ment of England But it is historically and liter
ally true. The very foundation of their whole
debt is an enormous wrong. The first item of 1t
is certain sum OF 3664, 263, of three per cents.
You recollect the history of this The govern
ment had borrowed, partly for the use of the
navy too, sum Of FL 1928, 526, at eight per
cent. on the security of certain assignments oil
the public revenue The payments were stop
ped, first for year, and then indefinitely. The
public creditors, many OF whom were ruined,
applied for redress to Parliament, but in vain
They then went into the courts, and after twelve
years obtained Judgment against the CROWN
The chancellor reversed the decision OF the
courts The House Of Lords reversed the de-
cision of the chancellor, and the creditors now
hoped to recover at least their dues, which
amounted, with the accumulation of twenty-five
years interest, to f3, 42S, 526; but at the last
moment they were met by an act of Parliament,
declaring that they should receive only three per
cent. on the principal, and that even this princ-
pal might be redeemed on the payment Of one
half of it Thus was debt of about seventeen
millions of dollars, at eight per cent, reduced to
three millions, at three per cent. An injustice
running through period of twenty-five years,
begun by the proiligacy of Charles H., but con-
snmmated by the grave and respectable Parlia-
ment of William III. Well may Hume say of
it, that it was ga forfeiture of public credit, and
an open violation of the most solemn engage
Bishop Burnet call it ga dishonerable and per-
fidious action" and well may one of the most
enlightened foreign travellers in England de-
clare, tFsuch was the disgracefnl beginning OF
the present debt Of England" So much for the
first loan made in England.
Now as to the last loans, let us compare the
conduct of America and Of England, with regard
to public creditors in our own time.
You know that the whole debt of the United
States, more especially the foreign debt contract
ed during the revolutionary war-that incurred
during the last war, and that for the purchase
of Louisiana and Florida--amounting IN the
whole to about one hundred and eighty four(lSD
millions of dollars, were all paid, principal and
interest," to the last cent the very three per cents
being paid of at par.
In the year 1897 the United States were in
the full career of this reimbursement; when the
Government of Great Britain began by forbid
ding the Bank of England to pay specie; and
then borrowed so much from the Bank as to cause
the multiplication of its notes, and by degrees
depreciation of them, till in 1911 they had reach
ed discount OF about ten per cent. In order to
sustain them, the House of Commons then adopt
ed one of the most extraordinary proceedings In
the history of legislation. 1t passed resolution,
.eThat the notes of the Bank of England have
been, and are at this time held in public estima-
ton equivalent to the legal coin OF the value,
and generally accepted as such in all pecuniary
plicablen II is this which Tooke calls Mr.
yansittart's "resolution of unhappy celebrity
and which the Edinburgh Review denounces az
as Gan ever memorable institution, a resol ui;on
which took for granted that part was equal TO
the whole; and ninety pounds and one hundred
pounds were the same things" and declared it
was passed, sfwhen guineas were notoriously
bought at a premium, and bank notes were al
an open discount, as &C impaired with gold and
bullion, of upwards of ten per cent" Having
declared, in defiance of the fact, that the notes
were at par, it remained TO force every BODY to
take them at par, and to punish every body who
took them less than par; accordingly Parlia-
ment enacted,
1. Thatthe notes should be legal tender for
all debts.
2, That whoever should receive or paw for any
gold coin more than its lawful value, whether
such additional value was in other coins or in
bank notes, should be "deemed and adiudeed
guilty Of misdemeanor," and fined and impri-
soned.
8. That whoever should receive or pay any
netes for less than the lawful amount expressed
therein, should in like manner be fined and i'm
prisoned.
Notwithstanding these acts, the notes continu-
cd to depreciate, till at last they reached dis
count OF twenty, thirty, forty, and at one time
forty-one per cent. What course did the Gov
eminent OF England then pursue? Why it paid
THE public creditors in this deprecated paper,
and in nothing else. The loan has been made
in specie,-the interest was paid in notes at this
enormous depreciation, twice or thrice as great
as that of the bank paper Of the United States
during the last war; or during the suspension of
specie payments since. IL never entered into
the imagination of the English Government to
allow for this depreciation, and the public credi-
tor knew that if he did not take this, he would
get nothing. And yet the saving to the Govern
meat was clearly understood and noted; for it IS
calculated by an English writer,-Mushct,- =
that on the debt contracted before 1900, the Go
vernment gained-and the fund holders of course
lost,-no less than thirty-seyen millions sterling,
or one hundred and thirty 81 millions Of
dollars, the difference between the paper and
specie. Combine the provisions of these laws
and observe their effect on an American who had
money due to him in England from either the
Government or individuals. II his fortune was