The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1865-04-21
APRIL 31. 1865.

was over, men of theory and men OF bu 4
siness almost unanimously pronounced
that the fatal day had now really arrived
JThe only statesman indeed, active or
Speculative who did not share IN thel
general delusion, was Edmund Burke
7Dayid Hume, undoubtedly one OF the
most profound political economist OF bis
&time, declared that our madness had ex-
5eeeGad the madness of the Crusaders.
5RIchard Cenur de Lion and Saint Louis
had not gone IN the face of arithmetcai
demon stration Ii was impossible 70
prove bv figures that the road 10 Para
disc did not lie through the Holy Land !;
out it was possible 70 prove by figures
that the road TO national ruin was thro'
the national debt. 1t was idle, however,
now TO talk about the : a, we had
Reached the goal, ali 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 fl40,-
4000, 600
Aud yet this great philosopher, for
: such he was, had only to open his eyes
{and TO sec Improvement all around him !;
cities increasing. cultivation extending,
marts too small for the crowd OF buyers
and sellers, harbors insufficient 10 con-
/ tain the shipping, artificial rivers joining
sthe chief inland seats of industry to the
| chief seaports, streets better lighted,
houses better furnished, richer wares ex-
posed 10 sale in stateHer shops, switter
carriages rolling along smoother roads.
1 He had, indeed, only TO compare the
Edinburgh of his boyhood to the Edin-
Lburgh 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 a little, and but a little fur
sther. He admitted that, immense as the
Burden was, the nation did actually sus-
3tain It and thrive under it in way that
nobody could have forseen. But he
warned his countlymen not 10 repeat so
shazardous an experiment. The limit had
been reached Even small increase
smight be fatal
Not less gloomy was the view which
Geo GrenYilie, a minister enlinently dill
gent and practical, took Of our financial
Situation. The nation must he conceiv-
led, sink under debt of f. 40, ,0O0,0 900
unless a portion of the load was borne
'by the American colonies. The attempt
Ito lay a portion of the load on the
American colonies produced another
'war That war left US with an addition,
FL fl00, 600, 900 of debt and without the
colonies whose help had been represent
ed as indispensable. Again England was
given over, and again the patient persist
ed in becoming stronger and more hloom-i
ing in spite Of all the diagnostics and
prognostics Of State physicians. As she.
had been yisibly more prosperous with
a debt of f140, 900, 900 than with debt
Of E50, 600 900, SO she was visibly more3
with debt Of f240, 900. .000
than with a debt of f140, 900 600. If.
the most enlightened man had been told
in l792 that in 1915 the interest on fS00,
coo 900, would be daily paid to the day
at the bank, he would have been as hard
Of belief as If he had been told that the
Government would be in possession of,
the lamp Of Aladdin or of the purse of
Fortunatus Ii was in truth gigantic,
a fabulous debt and we can hardly won (
der that the cry Of despair should have
been louder than ever After a few
years of exhaustion England recovered
herself ct like Addisons valetudi
marian, who continued to whimper that
le was dying Of consumption till he be
came so fat he wss shaned into silence
she went on complaining that she was
sunk in poverty till her wealth showed !
tself by tokens that made her complaints
ridiculous The beggared, the bankrupt
society not only proved able to meet all j
he obligations, but while meeting thoseI
grew richer and richer so
asst that the growth could almost be dis
eerned by the eye. 4
.sIn every county we saw wastes re i
,ently turned into gardens, in every citvj
We saw new streets and squares aud /
more brilliant lamps, more ]
abundant supplies Of wafer in the su
ourbs Of every great seat Of industry we
saw villas multiplying fast, each EN- y
in its gay little paradise of liz
acs and roses. While shallow politi-S
,ians were repeating that the energies of
he peonIe were 0orne down by theG
eight Of the public burdens, the first i
Quincy was performed by steam on a rail |:
gay. Soon the island was intersected BY 4
A sum exceeding the whole
amount of the national debt at the end
# the American war was, IN few years, =
expended by this ruined peo
,le in yiaducts. tunnels, embankments, 8
ridges, stations, engines. Neanwhilel
axation was almost constantly becoming
lighter and lighter Yet still the ex-1
.hequer was full II may now be affirm
ID, without the fear of contradiction,
hat we find it as easy TO pay the Interest,"
N eight hundred millions as our ances-
ors found it century ago to pay the.i
interest on eighty millions. q
at can hardly be doubted that theres
eli -