The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1868-04-14
The Dangers of the Debt.

land amount to an almost lnappreciaDly small
portion of the population; and yet, up to the
time of the reign of the House Of Hanover, a
large part of the people OF Great Britain were
owners of the soil.
The cause of this great change in the number
of the land proprietors is easily discovered when
westhinkof the necessary effects consequent upon
an enormous national debt. The present land
owners of England are either the descendants of
the Feudal nobility, or of men who made money
by trade manufactures, or government contracts
in former wars.
In many instances the tenants of these men
are descended from the former owners of the
land which they now rent from the modern lords
of the manor, who are very often OF an ancestry
far inferior to that of some who now lease lands
from them ~
In the reign of Queen Anne the national debt
of England was so small that the interest did not
much annoy the people of Great Britain, and
though it continued to grow little, it did not
seriously inconlmode them until the reign of that
fool Of fools. George the Third. The influence
of this monarch, who was as despotic as he dared
to be, was such that he and the Tory party
brought on the war Of the American Revolution,
by which the debt was so greatly increased that
it was felt to be very distressing to the nation.
But great as it was it yet small in COM
Britain in consequence of the Napoleonic war
1t was then that the people began to find out
what was the operation of debt like that which
began to bear down upon the nation. There was
starvation everywhere in consequence Of the ter
rible taxation, which took the bread out of the
mouths of the laboring classes while those who
had been rich before. became Weather still, and
there arose that enormous inequality of fortune
which is the marvel of all who visit England.
If. before the National Debt became so over
whelming, a man was able on small farm to sup
port his family in comfort he was not able to do so
when the taxes became so many times multiplied.
He became year after year poorer and poorer.
until his property came to the hammer. and his
rich neighbor bought it. In this way the great
proprietors of England, Scotland and Ireland
have gone on year by year increasing in terrific
rial possessions until they have absorbed almost
all the smaller estates. These men are also the
chief owners of the National Bonds, and so they
may be said not only to own nearly all the landed
property of the British islands, but nearly all the
taxation paid by the laboring portion the coun-
try goes also into their Golfers
1t is not expected that in new country like
ours the same effects will follow in the same de-
gree in the same time; but nevertheless we see
that the tendency is the same here as in England.
When we reflect that one hundred and sixty
millions year are taken out of the pockets of
one class and put into those of another, it is
enough to make us pause to think of the proba-
bic consequences. Let us take ten years of tax
alton, and we shall see that sixteen hundred mil
lions of interest will have been transferred to
the wealthy class, besides what they will have
made by investing their savings SO as to draw
compound interest.
At the end of ten years the debt will, we fear.
be not much diminished-possibly even Increased
and the bondholders will become, as class the
weathiest people in the world.
All this opulence will be the loss of those who
do not own bonds; for they at last pay almost all
the taxes, and the inequality of property will
be almost as great in the United States as in
England.
This accumulation of wealth is what we have
to fear more than any thing else. and every man
who has any love for the liberties of his country
should give his support to those only who are
earnestly in favor of straining every nerve to rid
of this great national curse.
We are not for reputation, but we are for fund
ing the debt as soon as practicable, and for an
honest and economical government that will pay
it off as soon as it is possible to do so.-No:1oIh
Journal.