NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 



B647 



NATIONAL DEBT 



A Certain amount <>f par Harm nl.ii v 

 i -i n i trul o\ i-c HS acts. The awM-mlilv 



|< f,.| Imlili-ll I" i Me Ml] I llellicllt 

 (ill! |.oitlli" lo delinc the doctrine 

 (if tin- < 'liun-li of Kie.dand ..n an\ 

 i|iicMion of theolo"\ . ll ' < 

 ho\\e\er, \\iih >|iii-tions of doc- 

 trinal fi.nniil.il- in - i vices or cere- 

 monics |no\idcd that the three 

 houses vote upon the proposals 

 .separately. Net Climvh . .; 

 land; Convocation; Enabling Bill; 



National Assembly. Name 



taken l>v the body responsible for 

 the opening stages of the French 

 Revolution, and subsequently by 

 other sovereign bodies in France, 



and elsewhere. 



When the States-General met at 

 Versailles in May, 1789, the three 

 estates, nobles, clergy, and com- 

 mons or third estate, tiers etat, sat 

 separately. The third estate in- 

 vited the others to join in its 

 delilierations, and on their refusal, 

 decided in June to call themselves 

 the National Assembly, claimed 

 sovereign powers, and proceeded 

 to act on this assumption. Having 

 drawn up a new constitution, which 

 Louis accepted, the national assem- 

 bly was dissolved Sept. 30, 1791. 



After the capitulation of Paris, 



a national assembly was chosen 



to treat with Germany for peace. 



It was elected under a law of 1849, 



and its 753 members met at Bor- 



j deaux, Feb. 13, 1871. Like its 



I predecessor, it was a sovereign 



I body, and was responsible for a 



, constitution, the one at present 



in force. To-day the national 



assembly is the name given to the 



Chamber of Deputies and the 



Senate, when they sit together for 



the election of a president, the 



revision of the constitution, or some 



other special purpose. 



In 1918, after the abdication of 

 the Kaiser, it was decided to call 

 a German national assembly to 

 decide the future of the country. 

 The members of this were elected 

 in December by all men and women 

 over twenty years of age, and it 

 met at Weimar early in 1919. See 

 Constituent Assembly ; France : 

 History; French Revolution. 



National Bank of Australasia. 

 Banking company established in 

 1858 and registered as a limited 

 liability concern in 1893. Its head 

 office is in Collins Street, Mel- 

 bourne, and the London office at 

 7, Lothbury, E.G. It has branches 

 throughout Victoria, New South 

 Wales, and Western Australia. 

 Its paid-up capital is 2,000,000. 



National Convention. Name 

 given to the body summoned in 

 Aug., 1792, to revise the constitution 

 of France. Its predecessor, the 

 legislative assembly dominated by 



the < 'immune of I '.i i is, had SUB- 



|>elideil the king. The l-lei lion- 



tool, pl.-in- at once, 749 members 

 lieintr returned, and the convention 



I the monarchy ad 

 and Fianee a republic. In it lien - 

 party conflicts took place, and its 

 |icii..d of life covered the execution 

 of t he kiiiL' and the Reign of Terror. 

 Kventuiilly it drew up the con- 

 stitution known as the Directory, 

 and on Oct. 26, 1795, it was dis- 

 solved. See French Revolution; 

 Girondins ; Jacobins ; Mountain ; 

 Robespierre, etc. 



National Debt. Term used for 

 the money owing by a state. It 

 takes various forms, war loans and 

 consols in the United Kingdom and 

 rentes in France, for instance, 

 and is usually divided into per- 

 manent and temporary or floating 

 debt. It does not include money 

 borrowed by local authorities ex- 

 cept when guaranteed by the state. 



From very early days govern- 

 ments have raised loans to meet 

 exceptional expenditure, or in 

 anticipation of the receipt of 

 taxation, but only in modern 

 times, with the development of 

 the credit system, have national 

 debts of large amount and of a 

 permanent character become 

 possible. In England, until the 

 reign of William III, the kings 

 borrowed money for war or other 

 purposes from the Jews, the 

 goldsmiths, or merchants at home 

 or abroad, in London, Milan, 

 Venice, Hamburg, Antwerp, or 

 Amsterdam. These loans, however, 

 were of a temporary character, and 

 were usually repaid with the assent 

 of Parliament by levies upon both 

 real and personal property. 

 Origin of Bank of England 



In 1694 the Bank of England 

 was formed to grant loans to the 

 government, to manage the debt, 

 and to issue loans to the public. 

 Its first action was to grant a 

 permanent loan to the exchequer 

 of 1,200,000 at 8 p.c. and to issue 

 bank notes to the public secured 

 upon the loan. The second step 

 was to offer additional government 

 loans to the public, so that during 

 the war in Flanders the debt rose 

 rapidly, until in 1714 it reached 

 nearly 49,000,000. At first loans 

 were issued at rates of interest 

 varying with the condition of the 

 money market. 



This procedure, however, was 

 altered in the reign of George II by 

 selling stock bearing a relatively 

 low nominal rate of interest at 

 whatever discount was necessary, 

 and by providing any additional 

 inducement which the circum- 

 stances required. From time to 

 time lottery bonds, with sub- 

 stantial prizes attached, were 



on. ted in order to induce the 

 p ill, IK to Mill < iil,i- the neceaury 

 fnnd.H. The relative ease with 

 whi< h loan* could be railed con- 

 tinued to bring about a rapid ex- 

 pansion of debt and, in spite of the 

 creation of an annual sinking 

 fund the total rose to nearly 

 80,000,000 by 1750, while in 

 1785, at the close of the Ameri- 

 can War, it reached 244,000,000, 

 and in 1817, after the close of the 

 Napoleonic War, it had increased 

 to 858,000,000, this amount being 

 mainly in 3 per cent, consols. 

 Attempts at Redemption 



The greatness of this debt was in 

 part due to the issue of loans at a 

 discount, the money actually raised 

 from the issue of this debt being 

 much less than the nominal amount 

 of the loans. According to 

 McCulloch, the principal of the 

 debt amounted to nearly two-fifths 

 more than the sum actually 

 advanced, i.e. the amount of cash 

 actually raised by the issue of the 

 debt up to the end of 1815 was con- 

 siderably less than 600,000,000. 

 For example, in 1815 the govern- 

 ment issued a loan of 27,000,000, 

 the terms of which were that every 

 subscriber of 100 should be en- 

 titled to 174 of 3 p.c. stock, and 

 10 of 4 p.c. stock, making the in- 

 terest on the loan 5 12s. 4d. 



The burdens left behind by the 

 wars of the 18th and the early 19th 

 centuries brought about a more 

 peaceful policy. Until 1876 the 

 efforts to redeem debt consisted 

 chiefly of applying to debt re- 

 demption any surplus of income 

 over expenditure, but about 1880 

 definite sums were charged to ex- 

 penditure for sinking fund pur- 

 poses. Since then the debt has 

 been redeemed by means of the old 

 sinking fund, i.e. the budget sur- 

 pluses, and the new sinking fund, 

 consisting of definite sums included 

 in the expenditures of each year. 



The efforts to reduce debt were, 

 however, in some measure frus- 

 trated by new creations of debt in 

 connexion with small wars. Thus, 

 the Kaffir Wars and the war with ' 

 China prevented any reduction of 

 the debt between 1830 and 1850. 

 The Crimean War brought about 

 a fresh increase in the debt from 

 771,000,000 to 831,000,000, or 

 within 27,000,000 of the sum it 

 had reached at the end of the war 

 with Napoleon. After this there 

 was a long period of comparative 

 peace, and the debt was reduced to 

 635,000,000 by 1899, the amount 

 redeemed having been nearly 

 200,000,000 in less than 45 years. 



This redemption of debt brought 

 about a steady and persistent rise 

 in the price of 3 p.c. consols, and 

 whereas during the Napoleonic 



