The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1864-06-09
The National Debt Of England
Its OnUin, History and Manage

lrrom Macaulays history OF England
On the 18th of December, 1862, the
House Of Commors resolved itself into a
Committee of Wavs and Means. Somers
took the chair Montague proposed to
raise a million by way Of loan; the
proposition was approved. and II was
ordered that a bill should be brought in.
The details Of the scheme were much
discussed and modified; bot the principle
seems TO have been popular with all par
ties. The moneyed men were glad TO
have an opportunity of investing what
they had boarded.
The landed men. hard pressed BY the
load OF taxation, ere ready o. consent
any thing for the sake ofprcscnt easc.-
No member yonturcd to divide the
House.
On the twentieth Of January the bill
was read third time carried no TO the
Lords by Somcrs and passed by them
without any amendment.
by This memorable law new duties
were imposed on beer ami other liquors.
These duties were to be kept in the Ex.
chequcr separate from all other receipts
and were TO form fund on the credit OF
which million was 10 be raised by life
annullics. As the nnnuitants dropped
OIL, their annuitics wcrc TO be divided
among the survivors till the number of
survivors were reduced to seven. Al,er
that time whatever fell in was TO 20 to
the public. II was, therefore, certain
that the eighteenth century would be far
advanced before thc debt would be fiual.
lv ~ nxftnuRsaI.I
was TO be ten per cent, tillihc year 1900,
aud after that year seven per cent. The
advantages offered TO the public creditor
by this scheme may seem gront. but were
not more than sufficient TO compensate
him for the risk which he ran. II was
not impossible that there might be q
a counter-rcvolution, and tnat those who
had lent money William would lose both
interest and principal.
Such was the origin Of that debt which
has since become the greatest prodigy
that ever perplexod the sagncity aud
confounded the pride Of statesman aud
philosophers. At every siugc In the
growth Of that debt the nation has set
up the same cry OF anguish tnd despair.
AT every stago in the growth ofthat debt
II has been seriously assorted by wise
men that bankruptcy and ruin were at
hand. Yet still the debt went on grow.
Ing; and still bankruptcy and ruin were
MS remote as ever. When the great con-
test with Louis XIV was finally tcrmina.
ted by the peace of Utrecht, the nation
owed about G50 100000; and that debt
was considered not merely by the rude
multitude, not merely by fox.hunting
squircs and coffee house orators, but by
acute and proiognd thinkers, Us an IN.
cumbrancc which would perman entity
cripple the bodv-politic. Nevertheless
trade fourished, wealth increased, the
nation became richer and richer. Then
came the war of the Austrian success.
sion; aud tie deb, rose to fS0,0O0 900.
historian, aud orators pro-
nounced that now, at all events, the case
was desperate. Yet the signs of incrcas-
ing prosperity, signs that could neither
be counterfeilcd nor concealed, ought to
have satisfied observant nud rejecting
men that debt Of ESQ 700 900 was less
to England which wns governed by
Pelham than a debt Of eco 900 900 hal
been to England which was governed
by Oxford. Soon wnr again broke forth
and, under the energetic aud prodigal
administration Of the frs. William Pitt, |
the debt rapidly swelled to El4O,OOO,. |
900. AS soon as the first intoxication |
victory was over, men of theory and men
OF business almost unanimously pro- |
nounced that the fatal day had now really
arrived. The only statesman, indeed,
active or speculative, who did not share
in the general delusion was Edmund
Burke. David Hume, undoubtedly one
Of the most profound political economist
Of his time, declared that 'our madness
had exceeded the madness of the Crush.
ders.' Richard CGur de Lion aud Sain
Louis had no. gone in the face of nritb
meticul demonstration. II was impossi.
BILE to prove by figures that the road to
paradise did not lie through the Holy
Land; but Il was possible to prove b,
figures that the road to national ruin was
through the national debt. II was idle,
h owever, TO talk about the road, we had
reached the goal; all was over. All the
revenues Of the island north of Trent and
west Reading were mortgaged. Better
for us TO have been conquered by Prussia
or Austria than TO be saddled with the
interest Of debt of l. l40 900 900.
And yet this great philosopher, for
such he was, had only to open his eyes
and 10 see improvement all around him
cities increasing, cultivation extending
marts too small for the crowd of buyers
and sellers. hurbors insufficient TO con.
thin the shipping, artificial rivers joining
the chief inland seats of industry TO the
chief seaporis, streets better lighted,
houses better furnished, richer wares ex.
posed TO sale in statelier shops, swifter
carriages rolling olCng smoother roads.
He hnd, indeed, only TO compare the
Edinburgh Of his boyhood to the Edin-
burgh OF his old age. His predictions
remain to posterity, memorable in
stance Of the weakness from which the
strongest minds are not exempt. Adam
Smith saw little, aud but little, fur
lher He admitted that, immense US the |
burden was the nation did actually sus.
tain 1t and thrive under it In way that
nobody could have foreseen. But he |
warned his countrymen net to repeat SO |
hazardous an experiment. The limit |
hads been reached. Even q small In. |
crease might be fatal.
Not less gloomy was the view which
George Greenyille,a q minister eminently
diligent and practical, took of our fi ian.
cial situation. The nation must, he con
ceived, sink under debt OF fl40,0oo,.
900, unless portion OF the load was
borne by the American colonies. The at.
tempt to lay portion Of the load on the
American colonies produced another war.
That war left US with an addition flO0,-
600 900 Of debt, and without the colonies
whose help had been represented as in
dispensable. Again England was given
over; and again the strange patient per.
sisted in becoming stronger ond more
blooming in spirit Of all the diagnustics |
OF state physicians. As she had been
visibly more prosperous with a debt ol
900 than with debt Of ESQ.,
900 900, SO she was visibly more prosper
GUS with debt of f240 100000. Ii the