Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-04-02

capitalist wants. shall refer to il again.
To recur to the English debt but for a mo-
ment, IL is spoken of as "the greatest prod
ICY that ever perplexed the sagacity and
confounded the pride of statesmen and
philosophers
And says ATRcaulay, "At every stage in the
growth Of that debt the nation has set up the
same cry ofsnguish and dispair At every step
in the growth of that debt il has been seriously
asserted by totSe men that bankruptcy and ruin
are at hand. But what encouragement does
history give these Projectors of evil that their
sad prophecy will cometo pass? None, what
ever? Macaulay proceeds to say, yet still
the debt went on growing, and still bankruptcy
and ruin were as remote as ever When the
great contest with Louis NV was finally ter
minated by the Peace of Utrecht the nation
owed about forty millions, and that debt was
considered, not merely by the rude multitude.
not merely by fox-hunting squires and coffee,
house orators, but by acute and profound
thinkers, as an encumbrance that would perma-
nent!y cripple the body polite, Keep up with
me, II you please, as l have only time to read
what is much better speech than ] can make,
on tins subject, although written in foreign
land, and without any reference to the public
dept OF tennessee, But says the historian,
Nevertheless, trade fiourished." Yes. not,
withstanding the croaking INDUCED in by the
wise and Ignorant alike, wealth increased; the
nation become richer and richern IT.
AGAIN after the war of the Austrian success
ion the debt OF England rose to eighty millions.
yes, pamphleteers, historians and orators pro.
nounced that now, at all events, the case of
England was desperate yet tho signs Of in
creasing prosperity, signs which could neither
be counterfeited nor concealed, ought to have
satisfied observant and rejecting men that n
debt of eighty millions was less to the England
that was governed by Pelham, than a debt of
lorty millions had been to the England which
was governed by Oxford" And here let me say
that, in forty years frsm to-day, the time the
funded bond is proposed to run before maturity.
when our iron beds will be dug up, our coal
banks opened, our zinc and copper brought into
use, and the mineral and other resources of the
State developed, Tennessee will be better able to
pay twenty millions than four at the present
time.
And, to return for moment, the debt of Eng
land. under her constant use of the sword, rap
idly swelled to q hundred and forty millions"
Oh, now, you croakers-ye prophets who imag-
ined, like the enemies of this bill, now seem to
imagine, that the time had come at last when
they could see their predictions fevil fulfilled
Men of theory and of business almost unani-
mously pronounced that the fatal day had now
really arrived, The only statesman > who
did not share in the general deluson was Ed
mund Burk.p Can we wonder that there are
those now deluded in reference to a similar pro-
portion? Indeed, it is not strange that while
nearly everybody labored under this delusion
in England, here, in the State of Tennessee, it
ls but a small minority of her public men
Even the celebrated philosopher David Hume,
was overwhelmed by similar delusion to that
which has enveloped our friends on the other
side ofthis question. He said lit was impossible
to prove by figures that the road to Paradise did
not lie throughout the Holy Land, but it was
possible TO prove that the road to national ruin
was through the national debt" 1 would re-
mind the House that the gentleman from Tip
ton Mr.. Cummins) has travelled the same road
to establish the ruinous effects of the funding
policy that was adopted by Mr.. Hume to dem
onstrate the bankruptcy of England
After hearing his use of figures the other day,
| would mot ha ha1 10 hi
Hume, and prove that the road to Paradise
| did not lead to the Holy Land" And YET,
| says Mr.. Macauay, referring to Hume, The
put TO SPeGa MS EYES and TO cayys
ton extending, marts too small for the crowd of
| buyers and sellers, harbors insufficient TO con-
tain the shipping, artificial rivers joining
the chief inland seats of industry to the chief
seaports streets better lighted, houses better fur
nished, richer wares exposed to sale in statelier
shops swifter carriages rolling along smoother
| roads.
He had, indeed, only to compare the Edin-
burgh of his boyhood with the Edinburgh of his
old age. His prediction, listen to this, you
who have assumed the prophetic Office for the
past few days-listen to this, you who have APP
pealed to the experience Of England in the mat
ter of funding the debt When the impartial
historian has come 20 recount the prophecies OF
the sagacious Hume, he says Ibis prediction re-
mains to posterity, memorable instance OF
weakness from which the strongest minds are
not exempt" And just in this connection,
Adam Smith, the fayorite author from whom
the gentleman from Upton (hr Cumminsl de.
lights to quote, finds place in history. How.
ever he figures as witness against the gentle.
man who made such free use of his name, Why
Mr.. Speaker, we find that this Adam Smith
admitted that immense as the burden was. tn,
nation did actually sustain it, and thrive undel
it in any way which nobody could have fore
SEEM Here yon see ito Mr.. Cummins who
was sitting by) your man owned up that he wa
mistaken, just as in few years you will havi
, us fund this debt, and those who are now op
posing it will see that Tennessee will sustain Il
; and thrive under it much better than they nov
suppose. As England "was given over anC
again the strange patient persisted in becoming
stronger and more blooming in spite of all tn
diagnostics and prognostics of State physician,
{ so will Tennessee continue TO prosper and grow
l richer and greater and more powerful. A
. England again and still again funded the deb
} until il now makes millions upon millions O
{ pounds sterling, and become richer all tn
, time, SO we will see Tennessee instead Of beg
gard and bankrupt society predicted by tn
alarmist of this House, be liable TO meet al he
obligations"
We will see "in every county waste place
Il turned into gardens; in every city new streets
Z and squares, and markets, more brilliant lamp
!, more abundant supplies of water; in the suburb
: lagos multiplying fast, each embosomed in i
= little paradise of lilRcsRnd roses" And Will
a politicians were making false predictions Of rui
q in the midst Of prosperity, England put in operf
- ton her railroad system, which has great
blessed and enriched her.
% And now l will conclude my quotations
e one which ask the gentlemen opposed TO tn