98] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



than he had at that time led the 

 House to expect, or to hope. It 

 was a fact, that altliough the un- 

 funded debt had increased to a 

 great degree since the peace, that 

 accumulation was not productive 

 of any detriment or inconvenience 

 to the country ; but still it was 

 not deemed consistent with sound 

 policy, or with the financial prin- 

 ciples which had always regulated 

 the conduct of the British go- 

 vernment, to allow such an accu- 

 mulation to continue, much less 

 to increase. The considerable 

 addition to our unfunded debt 

 within the last two years — 

 amounting to no less a sum than 

 18,000,000^., was notoriously the 

 inevitable result of the decision 

 of that House, to put an end to 

 the tax on property. But although 

 ^ashe had already said) no pub- 

 he inconvenience was occasioned 

 by the amount of our unfunded 

 debt, still it was thought inex- 

 pedient farther to prolong the 

 existence of suich a debt as fifty 

 or sixty millions ; because, in 

 the event of any public alarm or 

 danger, of which, however, he 

 had no apprehension, the existence 

 of such a debt might be produc- 

 tive of serious mischief. Prudent 

 ministers, finding the state of the 

 funds, with the general circum- 

 stances of the country favourable 

 for the purpose — finding also, 

 that there was a great overflow 

 of money in the market, would 

 certainly consider the present as 

 an advantageous moment at which 

 to reduce the floating debt. He 

 put it to the committee whether 

 it was probable that a more 

 favourable opportunity than this 

 would present itself? The funds 

 might and probably would be 



higher; but that could not be ex- 

 pected at any early period to 

 afford the means of making a 

 more beneficial arrangement than 

 that which he was about to show 

 had been concluded. By this 

 arrangement the expectations 

 which he held out in 1816 had 

 been more than fulfilled. There 

 were some persons no doubt who 

 had objected to the increase of 

 the unfunded debt since the con- 

 clusion of peace ; but he was 

 always of opinion, that such in- 

 crease was much preferable to 

 the contraction of a loan. The 

 committee might perhaps do 

 him the honour to recollect 

 the opinion which he had ex- 

 pressed on this subject in 1816. 

 At that time he asserted the 

 policy of rather issuing exchequer 

 bills to meet the exigencies of 

 the year, than of borrowing 

 money or contracting any loan ; 

 and he stated that, besides the 

 saving of interest in the bargain 

 he had made with the Bank, if the 

 sum then raised by exchequer 

 bills should be repaid by some 

 future loan, the saving to the 

 pubhc might be considerable. 

 On the same occasion, he had 

 expressed his opinion of the ex- 

 pediency of funding exchequer 

 bills whenever the 3 per cents 

 should rise to seventy-five. They 

 were now at eighty. Time there- 

 fore he was glad to say had 

 justified his opinion ; for no less 

 than two millions were saved 

 within two years to the country 

 by preferring the issue of exche- 

 quer bills to the contraction of 

 any loan, and it was now pro- 

 posed to fund twenty-seven mil- ^ 

 lions of those bills, an amount 

 much larger than he had antici- 

 pated. 



