The Portland daily press., 1864-08-15
Monday Morning, August Is, 1864.
The Public Debt of England.

On the 18th of December, 1892, the House
of Commons resolved itself inih a Committee
of Ways and Means. 1t was proposed to
raise 81 100000 by way OF loan; the PROPOSE
tion was approved.
Such was the origin of that debt which
has since become the greatest prodigy that
ever perplexed the sagacity and coniounded
the pride OF statesmen and philosophers. At
every stage In the growth of that debt, it has
been seriously asserted, by wise men, that
bankruptcy and ruin were at hand. Yet still
the debt went on growing, and still bankrupt
cy and ruin were as remote as ever When
the great contest with Louis XIV. was ter
minated by the peace OF Utrecht, the Nation
owed about 10000 900; and that debt was
considered not merely by the rude multitude,
not merely by fox-hunting squires ana coffee
house orators, but by acute and profound
thinkers, as an incumberance which would
permanently cripple the body polite. Never
theless trade flourished, wealth increased, the
Nation became richer. Then came the war
OF the Austrian succession, and the debt rose
TO eS0000,000. Pampheteers, historians and
orators pronounced that now, at all events,
the case was desperate. Yet the signs OF in
creasing prosperity. signs that could neither
be counterfeited nor concealed, ought to have
satisfied obsefvant and rejecting men that a
debt OF eS0,O00,0O0 was less to the England
which was governed by Pelham than debt
OF &50,0O0,0O0 had been TO the England which
was governed by Oxford. Soon war broke
forth, and, under the energetic and prodgal
administration of the first William Pitt, the
debt rapidly swelled 10 e140000,000. AS soon
as the first intoxication of victory was over.
men of theory and men OF business almost
unanimously pronounced that the fatal day
had now really arrived. The only statesman,
fndaad arfira tati ha
share in the general delusion. was Edmund
Burke. David Hume. undoubtedly one of
the most profound political economists of his
time, declared that our madness had exceed
ed the madness of the Crusaders Richard
Coeur de Lion and st. Louis had not gone in
the face Of arithmeiical demonstration. 1t
was impossible to prove by fgnres, that the
road to Paradise did not lie through the Holy
Land; but 1t was possible to prove by figures
that the road TO national ruin was through
the national debt. 1t was idle, however, now
TO talk about the road; we had had reached
the goal, all was over. All the revenues OF
the Island North of Trent and West of Reading,
were mortgaged. Better for us to have been
conquered by Prussia or Austria than TO be
saddled with the interest of debt of e140,-
100000.
And yet this great philosopher, for such he
was, had only TO open his eyes and TO see i'm
proyement all around him-cities increasing,
cultivation extending, msrts too small for the
crowd OF buyers and sellers; harbors INSULT
clent 10 contain the shipping; artificial rivers
joining the chief inland seats of industry TO
the cheif seaports; streets better lighted !;
houses better furnished; richer wares exposed
for sale in stateier shops; carriages rolling
along smoother roads. He had, indeed, only
10 compare the Edingburg of his boyhood to
the Edingburg OF bis old age. His predic-
tions remain to pOsterity memorable in
stance of the weakness from which the strong
est minds are not exempt. Adam Smith saw
little, and but little further he admitted
hat, immense as the burden was, the Nation
i'd actually sustain it and thrive under IL in a
way that nobody could have foreseen. But
he warned his countrymen not TO repeat so
hazardous an experiment The limit had
been reached. Even q small increase might
be fatal.
Not less gloomy was the view which George
Grenville, minister eminently diligent aud
practical. took her financial situation. The
Nation must, he conceived, sink under debt
of fl20,0o0,000, unless portion of the load
was borne by the American colonies. The
attempt to lay portion OF the load on the
American colonies produced another war
That war left us with an additional 100000
600 debt, and without the colonies, whose
Again England was given over, and again the
strange patient persisted in becoming strong
er and more blooming In spite of all the dag
nostics and prognostics Of state physicians.
As she had been visiby more prosperous with
q debt OF tl400O0,000 than with debt OF
s50,000000. so she was visibly more prosper
Gus with debt OF e240,0O0000 than with
debt of el40,000000. Ii the most enlighten-
ed man had been told, in 1892, that in 1915
the interest on eS0OO00,000 would be duly
paid TO the day at the bank, he would have
been as hard OF belief as il he had been told
that the Government would be in possession
of the lamp OF Aladdin or the purse of For
tuna,us. Ii was in truth a gigantic, a fabu-
lous debt; and we can hardly wonder that
the cry OF despair should have been louder
than ever. But again that cry was found
TO be as unreasonable as ever. After a few
years Of exhaustion, England recovered her
self Yet, like Addison's vaetudinarian, who
continued TO whimper shat he was dying of
consumption till he became so fat he was
shamed into silence, she went on complain
ing that she was sunk in poverty till her
wealth showed itself by tokens that made her
complaints ridiculous. The beggared the
bankrupt society not only proved itself able
10 meet all its obligations, but while meeting
these obligations It's growth could almost be
discerned by the eye.
In every country We saw wastes recently
turned into gardens in every city we saw
new streets and squares aud markets, more
brilliant lamps, more abundant supplies OF
water; ia the suburbs OF every great seat OF
industry, We saw villas multiplying fast, each
embosomed in its gay little paradise of lilac
and roses. While shallow politicians we're re-
peatDg that the energies of the people were
borne down by the weight OF public burdens,
the first journey was performed by steam on
railway. Soon the Island was intersected
by railways. sum exceeding the whole
amount OF the national debt at the end of the
American war was, in few years, roluutari-
iy expended by this ruined people in viaducts.
tunnels, embankments, bridges, stations. en-
gines. Meanwhile taxation was almost con-
stanty becoming lighter; yet still the ex-
chequer was full. 1t may now be am med
without fear of contradiction. that we ara Il
as easy 10 pay the interest on eight hundred
millions, as our ancestors found il a century
ago to pay the interest on eighty millions.
IT can hardly be doubted that there must
have been some great iallacy in the notions
of those who uttered and of those who be
leved, that long succession OF confident pre-
dctions so signaly falsifed by long sueces
sion Of indisputabe facts. To point out tha
faacy is the Office rather OF the poltica
economist than of the historian. Here it il
sufficient to say that the prophets of eyi
were under double delusion. They errone
ously imagined that there was an exact anolo
gy between the case of an individual who il
in debt to another individual, and the case 0
society which Is In debt to q part of itself
and this analogy led them into endless mis-
takes about the effect of the system of fund
ing. They were under an error no less seri