Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1870-05-19
:fafts and fiaurfs,
National Debts.-Europe and the United
States.


The contrast between the financial
policy of Europe and that of the United
States is striking. We have It clearly
presented in an article which appears
under the editorial head. OF the Wash
ington Chronicle, and which we take
the liberty of using. The national debt
of England, which begun two centuries
ago. alter the restoration of the Stua rt
dynasty, was snly se666, ,000in l6SS, when
William of Nassau was elected King.
At the peace of Ryswick, in 1897, it had
swelled up to go, 100000. At the acces-
sion of the Hanoverian line, in 17l4, it
had run up to e54, ,000, 900 sterling. 1t
was e7S, ,0O0, 600 in 1749, at the end ofthe
Spanish war; e139, 200, 900 in 1853, at the
close of the seven years war; e26S 900, :
900 in 1856, three years after the Ameri-
can war ended; e26S, 900, 900 after the
suppression of the Irish rebellion of the
wear '9S; e571 ,000, 600 in the year 1902, at
the close of the French revolutionary
war: and eSS5, 900, 600 at the close of the
war against the French Empire, in 1915.
The National debt of France, which be-
gun at the close of the last century with
the Consulate, was el23, 200, 600 in 1914,
when Napoleon fell, and is now e541,-
0OO, 900. The Indebtedness of the other
great Powers may be set down thus:
Russia, e203 900. 900; Austria, e503, ,000,-
900; Italy e245, ,000,0 600; Spain, e220, ,0OO,-
600: Holland, ESQ, 600 coo; Prussia, e62,-
900 900. 1t is singular that in none of
these countries the idea is entertained
of lessening the public burdens by All
attempt to reduce the public debt. 1t
has come to be understood abroad that
loan never to be repaid is considered a
rl1n oil ioii is,,- loan
that is to be repaid; besides the fact that
the interest payable on the public is
smaller than that payable on the private
loan.
Another anomaly is the current igno-
rance of the actual amount OF the public
deut in any European country. 1t is
usually stated in round numbers by ap-
Proclamation. We have seen each debt
variously stated at from five to fifty mill
lion pounds less than its actual amount.
The only country in Europe where the
debt is fully stated is in England. 1t is
now eS0I ,406, ,563, upon which, for the
three months ending March 81, 1870, the
interest was e6, ,655, ,9S9, being at the rate
of e26, ,G23, ,756 per annum. This large
national debt of eS01 ,406, ,563 is COM
pounded of three distinct items-e741.- :
514, 6S3 of funded, e6, ,76l 500 of unfunded
debt, and the e4l ,04S,5 of terminable
annuities, the capital value of these in
three per cect. stock being s53, $50, $50.
The American national debt was 81
749, ,491, ,845 on the 1st January, 1856.
DR.. S. w. Draper, historian OF the war,
says, ''to it should be added the sums
expended by the individual States and
local bodies in raising and fitting out
their several contingents. The total
rises above four thousand millions of
dollars. That is, in five to six years
June, 1861, to 1S66-we equalled the
Indebtedness of England during two
centuries. But, as soon as peace was
restored, we began to reduce this debt
by paying it off. All that England ever
did was to establish a sinking fund,
which, in moment of fiscal need, was
siezed and appropriated by the British
Government. It was one of the crotch
cts of Allison, the historian, that if this
sinking fund "had been left to itself
it would have extinguished the whole
public debt of England (only S4, 425 ,000,-
0O0 after Waterloo) by the year 1S45."
Here, then, we differ from European
nations. We are paying off our debt
and to do so has been the steady purpose
of President Grant from the hour he
entered Office. 1t is q herculean task,
but is-w thin the power of honest ad-
ministrators of public affairs.-[ Pitts
burgh Review and Price Current.