The Washington herald., 1917-01-27

want VI sucn q moues WeIo kooPAhS eAsS..
wealth locked up. or were lavishing u
on absurd projects. Riches sufficient to
equip navy which would sweep the
German Ocean and the Atlantic ana
French privateers, riches sufficient TO
maintain an army which might retake
Namur and ayenge the disaster OF
steinkirk. were lying idle. or were pass
ing away from the owners into the hands
OF sharpers. A statesman might well
think that some part of the wealth which
was daily buried or sduandered might,
with advantage to the proprietor, to the
taxpayer and to the state. be attracted
into the Treasury. Why meet the extra
ordinary charge Of q year of war by
seizing the chairs the tables, the beds
OF nardworking families, by compelling
one country gentleman to cut down his
trees before they were ready for the ak.
another to let the cottages on his land
tali to ruin. a third to take away his
hopeful son from the university, when
Change alley was swarming with peo-
PIE who did not know what to do with
their money and who were pressing
everybody to borrow it?
II was often asserted at a later period
by Tories, who hated the national debt
most OF all things, and who hated Burnet
most OF all men, that Burnet was the
person who first advised the government
to contract a@national debt But this
assertion is proved by no Trustworthy
evidence, and seems to be disproved by
the bishops silence. OF all men he was
the less likely to conceal the fact that
an important fiscal revolution had been
his work. Nor was the board of treas
ury at that time one which much needed
or was likely much to regard, the coun-
sells of divine. AT that board sat Godol-
phin the most prudent and experienced.
and Montague the most daring and In
ventive of financiers. Neither of these emf
nent men could be ignorant that It had
long been the practice OF the neighbor-
Ing states to spread over many years of
peace the excessive taxation which was
made necessary by one year of war. In
Italy this practice had existed through
many generations. France had, during
the war which began In 1872 and ended
| in 1872, borrowed not less than 30 000, 900
of our money. Sir William Temple, in
his Interesting work on the Batavian fed
Grafton. had told his countrymen that,
when he was ambassador at The Hague,
the single province of Holland. then ruled
by the frugal and prudent De Witt, owed
about 100000 sterling, for which interest
at per cent was always ready to the
day. and that when any part OF the prin-
cipal was paid Off the public creditor re-
ceived his money with tears, well knowing
that he could find no other investment
lequally secure. The wonder is not that
| England should have at length initiated
the example both of her enemies and of
her allies, but that the fourth year of
| her arduous and exhausting struggle
against Lewis should have been dra wing
to a close before she resorted to an ex-
pedient as obvious.
somers Occupied Chair.
On the fifteenth of December, 1892, the
house OF commons resolved itself into
| a committee of ways and means. Somers
took the chair. Montague proposed to
! raise million by way of loan: the propo-
sftion was approved. and IL was ordered
| that bill should be brought in. The de-
| tails OF the scheme were much discussed
, and modified, but the principle appears
| to have been popular with all parties.
| The moneyed men were glad to have q
good opportunity of investing what they
had boarded. The landed men, hard
pressed by the load OF taxation. were
ready to consent to anything for the
| sake of present case No member ven-
tured to divide the house. On the twen-
| tieth of January the bill was read a
| third time, carried up to the lords by
| Somers. and passed by them without
| any amendment
By this memorable law new duties
were imposed on beer and other liquors
These duties were to be kept IN the ex-
| chequer separate from all other receipts,
I and were to form a fund on the credit
| of which a million was to be raised by
| life annuities. As the annuitants dropped
| of, their annutties were to be divided
| among the survivors, till the number OF
| survivors was reduced to seven. After
! that time, whatever fell in was to go to
the public. 1t was therefore certain that
the eighteenth century would be far ad-
vanced before the debt would be finally
| extinguished. The rate of interest was
to be 10 per cent till the year 100, and
after that year per cent The advan-
| tage offered to the public creditor by
this scheme may seem great, but were
not more than sufficient to compensate
him for the risk which he ran. 1t was
| not impossible that there might be a
| counter-revolution. and 1t was certain
that II there were a condemnation
those who had lent money to William
would lose both interest and principal
Such was the origin of that debt which
has since become the greatest prodigy
that ever perplexed the sagacity and con,
founded the pride of statesmen and phil.
osophers. At every stage in the growth
Of that debt the nation has set up the
same cry of anguish and despair. Al
every stage in the growth OF that debt
1t has been seriously asserted by wist
men that bankruptcy and ruin were al
hand. Yet still the debt went on grow.
ing; and still bankruptcy and ruin were
as remote as ever. When the great con.
test with Lewis the Fourteenth wa.
finally terminated by the Peace o,
Utrecht, the nation owed about 50 1000, 900
and that debt was considered. not merel,
by the rude multitude not merely by fox
hunting squires and coffee-house orators
but by acute and profound thinkers a.
an incumbrance which would perma
nently cripple the body polite Neverthe
less trade fiourished; wealth increased
the nation became richer and richer
Then came the war of the Austrian sue
cession; and the debt rose to 5000.
COO Plamphleteers, historians and ora
tors pronounced that now, at all events
our case was desperate.
Signs of Prosperity.
Yet the signs of increasing prosperity
signs which could neither be counter.
feited nor concealed, ought to have salts.
ned observant and rejecting men that q
i debt of S0,009.ooo was less to the England
which was governed by Pelham than g
debt of 5o.OOo.eo0 had been to the England
which was governed by oxford. Soor