The Goodhue volunteer., 1864-05-25
Mt6rella1epns Beadiug.
THE ENGLISH DEDT.
IT'S ORIGIN, HISTORY AND MANIAC
MENT.

|
MENT.
On the 18th Of December, 1892, tho
House of Commons resolved itself into a
committee Of ways and means. Somers
took the chair. Montague proposed to
raise million by way loan the propos.
ion was approved ; and it was ordered that
bill should be brought in. The details Of
the scheme were much discussed and mod
! ified ; but the principle seems to have been
popular with all parties. The noneyed
men were glad to have an opportunity of
investing what they hA6 boarded.
| The landed men, hard pressed by the
taxation, Were ready to submit to any thing
for the sake Of present ease. No member
'ventured to divide the House.
On the 2Oth Of January the bill was read
third time, carried up to the Lords by
Somers, and passed by them without any
amendment.
Such was the origin Of that debt, which
has since become the greatest prodigy that
ever perplexed the sagacity and confounded
the pride Of statesmen and philosophers. Al
every stage in the growth OF that debt, the
aasisn has set up the she same cry OF an
gulsl and despair. At every stage iii the
growth OF that debt, it has beon xerousy
asserted by wise men that bankruptcy and
ruin were at hand. Yet, still the debt
went on growing, and still bankruptcy and
ruin were as remote as ever. When the
great contcs! with Lous XIV. was ter1ni.
mated by tho pQScc Of Ulrect, tho nation
owed ab.ut fifty miil 'as and lha. deb;
VAS considered, not merely by the rude
multi,"4e, nos merely by fox hunting equir
es and coffee house orators, bat by acute
and profound thinkers, ~ an inculubrAAcc
which would permanently crippl. !he bod y
toit'c. Nevertheless, trade tourisheu
wealth Increased the nation .rew richer
and richer. Then came the war of Au4lsi
IA succs.ai~n and tho deb. rose to siShr y
millions. Panph'eteers, historians and or
Ators pronounced tha. now, at al events
our ease was desperate. Yet tho signs o
increasing prosperity, signs which cold
esther TO couuterieited nor concealed
ought to have satisfied observant and 70
Aec;lng men that debt 0: eighty million,
was less to England which vas governed
by Pelham, than debt Of fifty millions bad
been to England which was governed by
IOxfosd: Soon war again broke forth; anu
under the energetic and proiiSsl admins
tra.ion Of the first William Pitt, the deb
rapidly swelieI to one hundred and forty
millions. A. soon as tho first intox;catiot
o. victory was over, men Of theory and mer
loi business almost UNANIMOUSLY pronounced
th2. The fatal day had now really come.
The attempt to lay portion Of tho load
on :he American colonios produced another
WAT. That war left US with Al additional
hundred millions ofdebt, and without ths
colonies whose help had been represented
as indispensable. Again England was Civ.
en-over, and sgsin the strange patient per
sisted in becoming stronger and NOR,
blooming in spite Of all the diagnostcs and
proguostics Of State physicians as she had
Ibeen visibly more prosperous with q deb,
,.of one hundred aud forty m,|Iions than
with debt Of fifty millions, 50 she was Wis
=. IDLY more prosperous with q debt OF twe
hundred and forty millions than with ,
: deb; Of one hundred and forty millions. -
Soon, however, tho wars which sprans
from the French revolution. and which "a,
exceeded in cost, any that the world bad
f ever seen, taxed the powers Of public credi
to the utmost. When the world was agair
at rest, the funded debt Of England amount
ed to eight hundred millions. 1.-The mos
enlightened man had been told, in 1902
that in 1915, the interest on eight hundred
millions would be duly paid to the day q
the bauk, he would have been a hard 0
belief as if he had been told that th. Gov
Icrnment would be in possession of tn
lamp Of Aladdin or Of the purse of Fortuna
+ tus.' 1t waa in truth, Z gigantic, 3 fabu
|lous debt; and We can hardly wonder tha
the cry Of despair should have been loude
than ever. But again that cry was 'oun'
to have bsen as unreasonable a. ever. al
tier few years Of exhaustion, England n
~ covered herself Yet. like A!adin's vsletu
dinari.n, who continued TO whimper taa
be WAS dying Of consumption till be beeam
10 iat that he xas shsms1 Into silence, Oh
] Iwsat sn complaining TIA. she was sunk !,
. poverty till her wealth showed itse'f BY Il
fkens which mads her eonpsaints ridiculous
sThs bssg,zd. the ba.krsp< soGesJ not onl
lprovsd able to meet ~, is otliga.i- n, ba
: 'vfsIs ose.isf shoss obligations, grew rich
,-.sr e,1 rishsr = Ass ssssi bsr sru~th eoal