The weekly Mississippian., 1859-10-12
The National Debt Of England.

Previously to reign Of Williams III during
which the national debt in its present form
was commenced, the debt consisted almost
wholly Of sums borrowed upon the security
of tallies of loan and orders OF repayment,
the principal and interest of which were charged
upon various taxes or duties granted 6y Far
lament The practice of anticipating the rev
enue by means of tallies dates about from the
time of the Norman Conquest. The Jews
/ were yery available source of revenue dur
| ING the middle ages 'the Jews heeced the
| Kings subjects. and the King feeced the Jews.
Loans continued to be raised on various Sc
| c1rrities (incIuding the Kings jewels) for a
| long period of history; but in the earlier per-
| iods loans were contracted by the Sovereign
upon his own authority, whereas in process of
| time. the burden of debt was shifted from the
| Kings shoulders to those of the people. The
| first step of this process appears to have been
taken in the reign of Henry VI, in whose
reign several instances are cited (by Hansard)
of the authority of Parliament being given to
the Kings Council to make securities to the
Kings creditors for loans ofspecifed amounts.
In 1850 Henry's debts amounted to the
enormous" sum of &372,OOO, and the Parlia-
ment was then obliged to assist. His males.
ty, whose reign furnishes one ofthe first EXAM
pies in English history of debt being con-
traetad on that species of security. Much
money was raised by anticipating or discoun.
ting the revenues. The Farmers Debt" so
called was contracted by CharlesI. After the
Restoration the practice of discounting the
revenue. or borrowing on the security of taxes
was common and continullresor of the then
Chancellor of the Exchequer. A more formal
and symematic mode of thus raising money in
anticipation of the revenue was commenced
IN 1884, under the 18th of Charles II, cap l,
for granting &1,250OO0 to the Kings Majesty
| for his present further supply. This act ap-
pears to be the first Parliamentary authority
for the issue of negotiable public securities
bearing interest. This system was extended
in 1867 by the 18th and Goth of Charles II,
chap. 4, for assigning orders in the Exchequer
without revocation.
Large advances were now made by the gold
smiths. since called bankers who made 8 to
10 per cent, out of money which their custom
ers had placed in their hands without interest,
or which they had borrowed at the legal rate
of per cent. But these Missionary profits
were cut off in 1862 by the suspension Of all
payments upon asslgnations in the Exchequer
for one year. The result was a general crash
in Lombard street, and a severe financial
"criss." 1t is estimated that the bankers and
others were thus de6auded of s1,328, ,526.
The King, by letters patent, charged his
hereditary revenue with the interest of that
sum at per cent, which was punctually paid
till year before his death 1685.) The pay
ment then stopped, and the creditors of Gov
eminent, unable to move the Legislature,
went to law. In 1897 Judgment was obtain
ed against the Crown. This decision was set
aside by Lord Chancellor SomeEs but ulti-
mately affirmed, on appeal, by the House of
Lords. An act Of Parliament, however, was
passed in 1699by which different arrangement
was made, and here we stumble on the origin
of the Farmers Funded Debt. In 1888, the
year of the glorious Revolution, the whole
amount of debt did not exceed f84,888, ex-
elusive Of arrears due to the army and navy,
amounting to 100000 The ordinary reve-
nue. was 81 ,580O0O and the average annual
expenditure in the reign of James II, f1, 100,
600. In 1895 long annuities originated, and
in 1894 the Bank Of England was incorporated
and the foundation laid of our present national
debt. Exchequer bills were first issued in
1896, during period of great financial distress
about year before the conclusion of the cele-
brated Peace of Ryswick, at which point the
last volume of Lord Macaulay's History
leaves off. And soon the molehill rose into
the high mountain, beneath which the nation
groans like the fabled giant entombed beneath
/ Etna.