Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-11-22
NATION NAL DEBTs-EEGLAND
FRANCE THE limited SrATE3.

NAM Ess AAD n
The three foremost nations Of the
world owe an aggregate debt Of about
S7,5O0OO00OO. The national debt of
Great Britain is said to have reached its
highest amount at the end of the Crimean
war. It is stated that in December, 1856
including the capital Of the terminable
annuities in which about two per cent. Of
it was founded, but not including foat>
ing debt Of about E25000,000, it was
fSO7981 1913, or S3926,79I, 4S9; and
the annual charge of interest was E2S,-
656,593, or SI39, 27I,042. But in De-
ccmber, 1866, the debt had been reduced
to fS03,842949. or S3,906,676.732, and
the charge for interest for the following
year was but f2GOSl, us, or $126,757-
Al These figures, however, it is added,
do not show the most favorable aspect Of
the case, for if the floating debt at the
Crimean war be included, the total in
debtedness Of Great Britain had been
reduced G34 G9l, 3l3 in the eleven years
ending March 81, 1868, or at the rate Of
G3153, 75G, or SIS, 1921, 254 per annum, s
rate which, compromising the interest
would liquidato the whole in much less
than a century. The Baltimore Sun
states that England alone, Of all
the European nations, is paying off
what she owes slowly, though most
Of them resorted to the expedient Of a
national debt long before she adopted it,
QG93.) 1t is noted by an English his
torian that at every stage in the growth
/ Of that debt the nation has set up the
same cry OF anguish and despair, and wise
men asserted that bankruptcy and ruin
were at hand. The debt began with
million pounds, but by the time Of the
peace of Utrecht it had risen TO fifty
millions which it was declared by some
of the ablest men in Great Britain, would
permanently cripple the country. The
war OF the Austrian succession brought
the debt to eighty millions, which, under
William Pitts administration, rose to a
hundred and forty millions At this
point, even such a profound political
economist as David Hume declared that
national ruin had been reached, and that
it would have been better to have been
conquered by Austria or Prussia than TO
be saddled with the interest OF suchH
debt. Adam Smith, though not going so
far said that the limit had been reached
and that a small increase might be fatal.
The minister at the head Of the govern
ment was convinced, says the Sun, that
the nation would sink under the load
| unless the American colonies were made
10 bear portion OF the burden, and it was
the attempt to make them do this which
led TO the war Of the American revolution
which added another hundred million tc
the national debt. The succeeding wars
which rose from the French revolution
raised the debt to eight hundred millions
It is not wonderful that a despairing CRY
arose from the nation, and yet, it is nov
asserted that the English Of this genera
ton find it as easy to pay the interest OF
the debt Of eight hundred million a
their ancestors did hundred years agr
the interest of the debt Of eighty mil
lions, which followed the war of the Aus
TRAN succession. The element which
the Respondent and despairing Away.
lost sight Of IN their calculations was thO
obvious fact that the country was all tn
time increasing in the development Of it
resources and industry, so that England
after the railway system was started
} actually expended in few years NOR
on these improvements than the Who'll
T amount of her national debt at the en-
d or thc American war Her wealth
now believed to be nearly ten times a
G great as it was fifty years ago, and he
f system. Of collecting the revenues ha
been much improved. Her taxes ar
b. levied On few objects, mostly iuXurle'
= and the annual charge Of her debt no'
( IS said to he less than it was during tn
s Crimean war.
] The debt Of France is only two third