New-York daily tribune., 1861-08-23
TIKI PUBLIC DEBT.

from direct taxation. Yet, While the whrs OF Eu-
ropean nations have made this most odious plan of
rnsing revenue SO much of n permanency as to
make the prospect Of escape from it hopeless, the
people of this country, during this half century,
have felt no pressure beyond dog-tax. AT one
time direct taxation was 80 grinding throughout
Great Britain that Dean Swift demonstrated with
one of his visitors who was extrav0gant in his eDco-
miums on the purity Of the air in Ireland and beg
ged him not to praise it, as the Government would
assuredly tax it, 1t ia still the sheet-ancbor of
British finance, national fixture burden, If you
choose to consider it such never to be- removed or
shaken of, but on the contrary, sure to be made
more permanent and heavy Yet, within the
century during which British direct taxation has
been heaviest, the nation has made the most rapid
advances in every description of wealth Like
weil-constructed arch, the power of endurance has
seemed to grow with each accumulation of pressure.
1t is true that at the prospect Of every increase OF
the public debt the nation takes alarm. The press
utters its eyer-ready warnings, the people remon-
strate the aristOcracy protest, tho money-enders
predict unfriendly consequences, the funds decline,
vet every mind and interest quickly RECEIVERS Its
old taxes are increased new ones are enacted,
but the funds soon rse to their former value,
afiordng the best possible evidence not only that
alarm was needless. but that the national ability
to bear taxation has no apparent limit. The
commerce and industry of the nation goes on in-
| creasing. wealth continues to accumulate, and
under this accumulation the anticipated pressure
| -, a,f nv
| taxation. Her huge national debt has become
bond Of union between all interests otherwise
conflicting. Her financial energy is directed ex-
clusyely TO providing means to pay the interest.
Liquidation of the principal is only spoken OF
when one intends to be facetious. No one either
| expects it or cares abo1t it. The ministerial
effort to pay interest punctually absorbs the
whole official energy, leaving no room for cor
rupt joboing such as has been frequently wit
messed in this country, or the devlsiug OF plans
for depicting a treasury because it happened to
be full. While its great amount thus checks
both corruption and waste, it neither destroys
the national industry nor permanently impars
tho national confidence IN it's being punctualy
paid The simple fact is, that every public aud
private interest has silently adapted itself to the
financial condition Of the Government. All move
on harmOniously, subject to occasional disturb
anccs, bat apparently free from danger Of such
o catastrophe as that Of national bankruptcy
Direct taxation, such as Congress has just en-
acted, has been resOrted 10 because other ordinary
sources of revenue considered unequal to the
emergency. As in all countries it is an especial
" unpopular mode OF raising revenue, 80 1t is
generally the last to be adopted and the first to
be abandoned. An exemption Of fifty years from
similar burdens has given us an exaggerated
idea of the poverty of the Government, while the
whole debt 10 be created has Occasoned most
unnecessary alarm. Men speak Of 1t as If they
were expected to pay it, though knowing that 1t
| il represented by obligations having twenty years
10 run, and that at their maturity new genera.
ton will be on the stage to provide for them,
| free from those political endorsements which
compelled their creation. Great cebts suddenly
| Incurred are never suddenly discharged. We
came out Of tho Revolution with debt Of $780,
100000, feeble community Of 100000, hay.
ing not only neither commerce nor manufactures,
but occupying q country which for eight years
had been desolatcd by fire and sword. Ii was
but a fraction Of the whole cost of Independence.
| II was the war that impoverished US, not the
| debt; for, although the magnitude OF the latter
staggered the public confidence at first, yet
peace quickly put every stagnant industry into
motion, that the masses, IN their great prosper
| ty, forget that such debt existed. 1t
occasioued no pressure strong enough to
keep il continually before them, and in few
years was remembered only by the shrewd hold.
ers who, buying it at 20, realized par at ma
turty. If, in the dark day which oyerhung the
first working of the Constitution, we lived and
prospered under such a debt, it must be
manifest that we are now able TO live and pros
| per with one of ten times the magnitude are |
| likely 10 contract. Our condition now, meas- |
ured by what it was then, almost detes COM
parsOn. The contrast must be apparent % |
every intelligent mind. In its imposing presence
even mOneyed apprehension ought TO stand dumb.
Doubts Of the stability of the Government, then
new, untried and poor, may have been reason
abe eighty years ago, when the past had left
no record but that OF unbroken gloom, and
could shed no ray of light upon the future; but
hesitation now, when those eighty years are
crowded with experiences which challenge all
antecedent history for q parallel, must find its
inspiration either in latent treason in fear, Gu
pidity or chatterng mbecility.
As deep indictment appears to be the normal
condition OF the British people, 80 they have con-
tinuOusy adapted themselves, their social and in
dustrial conduct, TO such condition with aexi-
r-ao oC |