47 



resemble medicines which are gratifying and 

 beneficial, as affording alleviation to the ex- 

 tremity of acute pain, but yet are not directed 

 to the removal of the root of the disease. 



The mitigation of taxation is, however, in 

 itself a positive good, and ought to be extended 

 to the utmost limits of justice and prudence. 

 But to arrive at some knowledge of these limits, 

 let us look to the two objects to which the pro- 

 duce of our taxation is directed, viz. the pay- 

 ment to the fund-holder, and those applied to the 

 maintenance of our national establishments. 



Under the former head, the first and un- 

 doubtedly most important consideration, is the 

 appropriation for payment of dividends, or 

 otherwise, of the interest of money borrowed for 

 the purposes of the State, with every solemnity 

 of engagement on the part of the State to as- 

 sure the public creditor of the security of his 

 property. The inalienable nature of the obliga- 

 tion to pay the dividends has been but rarely 

 and but faintly called into question ; but it has 

 been said more confidently, that the five, or four, 

 or three millions 5 *, which have been and are 

 appropriated to the liquidation of capital, may 

 and ought to be withdrawn from that appropri- 



* It now appears, that upwards of five millions might be 

 so applied in the present year. 



