On the most effectual Mode of 



150 



ihninutioH of the interest of the national 

 debt. 



Delicate, honorable men! They can 

 (snly save the creditors by coming; to 

 some amicable arrangement for a re- 

 duction of interest ; yet they protest 

 against snch a measure as being dis- 

 lionorable to the last degree. Tliey 

 shrink up and roll their eyes at the men- 

 tion of any thing in the nature of coni^ 

 position, as a demirep inidetected when 

 she listens to a scandalous tale. 



Which is the most dishonorable, to 

 pay 15*. in tlie pound by arrangement, 

 or to wait till necessity brings on a 

 bankruptcy, that leaves the creditor 

 without a shilling? 



Procrastination, that thief of time, is 

 human ruin; they wish to put off" the 

 evil day as long as possible, and they 

 hope that by appearing to be horror- 

 struck at the idea of any dimiimtion of 

 the interest of the debt, they will be 

 kble to support credit, and borrow a little 

 more, 



I have sent to Mr. Vansiltart a plan 

 for a composition a year ago, but he has 

 not, I believe, nerves or resolution to 

 meet the evil ; like men that want re- 

 solution, he vviil, probably, wait for the 

 rvil, let it be ever so bsd, rather tlian 

 lessen it by meeting at an earlier day. 

 In writing to the Chancellor of the I^x- 

 eheiuer, I acted very caudidl), for I 

 told hint, I did not expect he would 

 Jisten to me, but that I wrote, in order 

 <o be able to prove when tlie evil comes, 

 *.hould I then bo living, that he was 

 forewarned. Next session of parlia- 

 ment must throw great light on the 

 subject, — our real dilTiculties will then bo 

 flit; and mini>ters will know the dif- 

 ference between the ordinary state of a 

 nation, and the factitious one, in which 

 England has been since the year 1797, 

 when the Bank stopt paj ment. 



Before that time the Exchequer was 

 sometimes nearly empty; and wc may 

 all recollect v\hen ]\Ir. Pitt sent over 

 joung Boyd, the bunker, to draw ac- 

 commodation bills from Hamburgh, in 

 order to raise money. 



Since 1797, ministers have had the 

 wishing-purse of Foriunatus, and they 

 have felt no difliculties for morey; but 

 now the oKl dirliculties arc retssrning, 

 without their being either expected or 

 prepared for. 



I shall write to you again on tliis 

 subject, for, being convinced, as I am, 

 of the approaching danger, I should hold 

 myself yameable, and liighly so, if I 

 #id iwtgive the alarm; aud I hope I 



[Sept. 1, 



have satisfactorily proved, that, in so 

 doing, I have not changed my manner 

 of acting, and that my motives are the 

 same now; that, for the sake of the 

 comitry I expose ministers, whom I 

 gratuitously assisted when I thought 

 they were acting for its benefit. 



William PlayfaIR. 



To the Editor of the Blonthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



ILLyoupermitanOldGorrespoa- 

 dent to solicit the attention of 

 your readers to a subject in which hct 

 has long felt interested, and which, he is 

 persuaded, they, as well as himself, 

 must admit to be one of high impor- 

 tance — the most effectual mode of se- 

 curing public literary property. I am 

 immediately led to this request from the 

 peculiar circumstances in which the 

 " Literary and Philosophical Society" 

 of this town, with its invaluable library, 

 finds itself placed ; and the serious dis- 

 advantage that accrues to it, at this pe- 

 riod, from its being unable, even in order 

 to procure extensive and permanent be- 

 nefit to ilself, to produce any legal title 

 to its own property. Nor is its situatioa 

 in this latter respect an unique one; oa 

 the contrary, almost everj similar insti- 

 tution would, in the like exigency, prove 

 itself to be in precisely the same un- 

 hajjpy predicament. 



Allow me to premise, respecting the 

 society just mentioned, tiiat, from a slen- 

 der begiiming, it has, in little more than 

 twenty years, risen to an almost uupre- 

 ci.'dented extent of magnitude and im- 

 portance. It was originally constituted 

 by a small assemblage of lettered per- 

 sons, for the purpose of discussion on 

 scientific topics; but, in a shirt time, 

 the admission of members became less 

 restricted; objects of practical and more 

 general interest were assumed, and a 

 library commenced, which has, under 

 the judicious and discriminating conduct 

 of its successive committees, been so far 

 reared, that, with the exception of, per- 

 liaps, two provincial ones, and a small 

 number in the metropolis, it may be al- 

 lowed to be one of the most select, and 

 yet comprehensive, in the kingdom. 

 What the institution thus lost in pomp 

 of title, it gained in real substantial uti- 

 lity. A multitude of valuable and cost- 

 ly works, which could never have come 

 within the comprehension of a private 

 individual, was thus rendered accessible 

 to i!ie noi thern public, and presented a 

 special attraction to its youth. A course . 

 of successive lectures on the .several 

 branciie^ 



