The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1849-10-12

many lHOuSanu nOneSt AI1eTlCaU IaOOTcTS
whom their "free trade" folly turned out
of comfortable livings for the benefit of a
a few knavish foreigners. The Ameri-
can custom houses are swindled-Ameri-
can farmers are swindled-American la
borers are swindled-by the tariff of
lS46; but Birmingham and Sheffield -four
ish on it, and Mr.. Walker is eulogized in
the British Parliament Wash. Repub
National Bankruptcy Approaching
ia England.
Among the various speeches and docu-
mentS elected by the late Peace Conven-
tion, was one which possesses peculiar
claims to attention, and happens also to
contain some expressions of very startling
import. Mr.. Samuel Gurney, member
of the Society offriends, holds the doc
trine of Peace and his opinions on this
subject necessarily assume a dogmatic
and controversial character. His object
ions to armaments is referred to in his
creed. But Mr.. Samuel Gurney has an
other capacity, in which he is supposed
to act and talk more by calculation than
Theological bias. He is a banker end
bill broker, and is believed to be sngu-
larly prudent aud successful in that bust
ness. That he has had extensive expe-
rience is evident enough, nor is there the
least doubt that he has turned it to the
proper account. AS to the only remain
ing point. whether no can be trusted
when hc offers to others the benefit of his
Judgment, probably there is no one in
this metropolis who would venture to
moot that question. 1t is, then, tho first
bill.broker in the land, and man of his
wold, who says:-
respect to my own country, more
boldly assert that it is my judgment that
unless she wholly alters her course in
these respects, bankruptcy will ultimate.
iy be the result. We have spent from
fifteen totwenty millions sterling per an.
mum for warlke purposes since the peace
of 1915. Had that money been applied
to the discharge of the national debt, by
this time it would have been nearly ami.
hiIated; but if our military expenditure
be persisted in, and no reduction of our
national debt take place, at a period
ofour history certainly characterized by
very fair prosperity and general political
claim, how is it to be expected that the
amount of revenue will he maintained in
time of adversely, which we must from
time to time anticipate in our future his.
tory! Should such adversely core upon
us, | venture TO predict that our revenue
will not be maintained, nor the dividends
paid, unless more efficient means be Ia
ken to prevent such catastrophe in these
days ofprosperity and peace"
1t a very grave prophecy, and it is
no inconsiderable oracle which has pro-
nounced 1t. LOmbard-st is the Delphi
of commerce, Mr.. S. Gurney has had 10
do with indebted men and estates. He
knows tue history of many membranes.
He has seen the vast mortgage lying like
an incubus ON the resources of nature and
the energy Of man. He has traced the
slow but sure drain of fixed interest paid
out OF huctualiug and perhaps falling
revenue. He has watched the debtor
struggling for many years, aud just keep
| ing afloat, ill there mes some extra
ordinary aggravatiun of his burdens, and
then down he goes, He has noticed that
the chapter of accidents is more fertile
in disaster than in relief and in the long
run tells against the debtor From what
has come under his own observation in
the exercise Of his private profession, he
draws political Inference. Unless the
nation pays off its debt while it can, the
day will come when it cannot, and when
! it will find even the interest Of that debt
too much for it revenue. The prediction
is so serious and so unambiguously ex.
pressed. that ifit were found in the incu
brations of a mere pamphleteer. il would
be thought an exaggerated alarm OF a
mischievous suggestion. There are those
who think the mere mention of National
Bankruptcy treason and rebellion, and
who feel a patriotic shudder at the word
"sponge." We own to degree of this
antIpathy ourselves, and candidly confess
that had we read the passage we have
quoted without knowing its author, we
should have conceived an unfavorable
opinion not SO much of his judgment as
OF his delicacy and tact. But the name
at the foot of the letter is a sufficient re-.
| ply to any such suspicious. Itis Samuel
Quincy who tells US that if we persist in
our present course, and do not avail our
selves of our comparative prosperity to
pay off our debt, time of adversity will
come when we shall be bankrupt.
1t is hard saying but nevertheless
true one. and however we may dislike
the obtrusion ofsuch unpleasant thoughts,
we cannot dispel them. Indeed, our read.
ers will remember that we have repeat.
Eedly said the same in substance ourselves.
Not to reduce debt, we have said, is to
increase it. Debt is ultimate insolvency.
Bankruptcy is revolutions. These are
topics we have often urged, and we ap-
piled them to France and her desperate
finances long before the starving inhabi-
tants of the fauburgsset Europe in flame.
The French Revolution is a very near
event. Pyorinsus ardet. II is eviden,
that France has hitherto only aggravated
her financial difficulties by revolution.