LLOYD'S COFFEE-HOUSE LOANDA. 



505 



the memoir, he was the author of an Introduction to 

 the History of the War in Germany, between the 

 King of Prussia and the Empress-Queen (London, 

 1781, 2 vols., 4to) ; and a Treatise on the Composi- 

 tion of different Armies, ancient and modern. These 

 works have been translated into French and German, 

 and Jomini made use of the Introduction for his 

 Traite des Grcmdcs Operations Militaircs. Other 

 works of Lloyd's are said to have been bought up and 

 suppressed by the British government, and many of 

 his papers are said to have been taken possession of, 

 at his deatli, by a person supposed to be an emissary 

 of the British ministry, among which were the Con- 

 tinuation of the History of the Seven Years' War, 

 and a History of the Wars in Flanders. The truth, 

 however, of these statements seems doubtful. 



LLOYD'S COFFEE-HOUSE, London, on the 

 northern side of the royal exchange, has long been 

 celebrated as the resort of eminent merchants, under- 

 writers, insurance brokers, &c. As Lloyd's is one 

 of the most extensive and best known insurance 

 offices, the estimate of a vessel at Lloyd's tends much 

 to determine her character among merchants. The 

 books kept here contain an account of the arrival 

 and sailing of vessels, and are remarkable for their 

 early intelligence of maritime affairs. 



LLOYD'S LIST, a publication in which the ship- 

 ping news received at Lloyd's coftee-house is pub- 

 lished. On account of the extensive information which 

 it contains, it is of great importance to merchants. 



LOADSTONE. See Magnet. 



LOAN, PUBLIC, is the name given to money 

 borrowed by the state. There may occur cases 

 which require expenses for which the ordinary revenue 

 of the state is not sufficient. If, in such cases, it is 

 not possible to increase the usual revenue by aug- 

 menting the taxes, without great inconvenience to the 

 nation, the state will find it advisable to borrow, and 

 to pay interest till it can discharge the principal. 

 If such loans are appropriated to objects by which 

 the means of production are augmented, the state 

 strengthened, and industry increased, they answer 

 the same purpose as those which an industrious 

 tradesman makes in order to enlarge and improve his 

 business. If he is successful, he will increase his 

 property, and the loan itself will afibrd the means for 

 repaying it. This will be the case also with the state, 

 when it employs the borrowed capital to open to the 

 nation increased means of profitable industry, by 

 facilitating its intercourse with other countries, giving 

 security to its commerce, and increasing its means 

 of production. But if the loans are expended in 

 useless or unfortunate wars, or in other unprofitable 

 ways, they diminish the means of labour or enjoy- 

 ment, and burden the nation with taxes to pay the 

 interest and discharge the capital. The capitalists 

 who aid in producing, when they lend their capital to 

 men of business, and receive their interest from the 

 proceeds of their capitals, become unproductive sub- 

 jects as soon as they lend it to the state which expends 

 it uselessly, for now they live on the products of the 

 capitals of others, when before they lived on the pro- 

 ducts of their own. As loans, however, may become 

 necessary to the state, the only question is, What is 

 the most advantageous method of making them ? A 

 chief distinction among loans is this that the govern- 

 ment promises either the repayment of the capital at 

 a particular time, until which it pays interest, or 

 reserves the liberty to retain the capital, according 

 to its own pleasure, only paying interest regularly. 

 The first kind is liable to occasion trouble to the state, 

 because the payment may often fall at an inconvenient 

 time. The payment of large sums, too, at a particu- 

 lar period, has this disadvantage, that the nation, 

 when the payment is to be made, becomes destitute 



of ready money. Therefore large loans are usually 

 contracted in such a way that the payment is made, 

 successively, at many periods, or remains entirely 

 indefinite. The last kind of loans requires that the 

 credit of the state should be undoubted, and also that 

 large capitals should have been accumulated in the 

 hands of many rich people, who find their greatest 

 advantage in disposing of them in loans. Where 

 there is a well founded system of credit, statesmen 

 think it most advantageous to secure only the regular 

 payment of the stipulated interest, but to leave the 

 payment of the capital at the pleasure of the state. 

 This is called the. funding system, as far as fixed funds 

 are assigned for the perpetual payment of the interest. 

 These perpetual annuities, as they are called, had 

 their origin in Britain, but have since been imitated 

 in Holland, France, Russia, Austria, and many other 

 states. In order to provide for the redeeming of the 

 capital, a sinking fund (French, amortissement) is 

 established, together with the fund appropriated to 

 the payment of the annuities. This is procured by 

 means of a tax large enough to pay the annuity as 

 long as it lasts, and to redeem, annually, a part of 

 the capital debt. This sinking fund is increased every 

 year, if the annuities, annually redeemed are added 

 to it. (See Sinking Fund.) According to this method, 

 the state cannot be said, properly, to borrow capital; 

 it sells annuities, and fixes, at the sale, the rate at 

 which ti|ey may be redeemed. They are commonly 

 estimated at so much per cent. The government 

 says I offer you an annuity of three, four, five, &c. 

 per cent., redeemable at my pleasure. How much 

 will you give me for it ? According to the market 

 rate of interest, and the degree of credit which the 

 state enjoys, the capitalists offer fifty, sixty, seventy, 

 eighty, ninety, &c., per cent. The sinking fund aims 

 to discharge the debt, gradually, by redeeming, 

 annually, part of the annuities, at the market price. 

 If the latter exceeds the price for which it had sold 

 its annuities, it will be obliged to redeem them with 

 loss ; but if it is less, it can redeem them with gain. 

 Another kind of loan is, when the capitalists pay 100 

 per cent, at a fixed rate of interest, the government 

 reserving the right to pay the capital at any conve- 

 nient time. Suppose that the state, when it wishes 

 to borrow, is obliged to pay eight per cent., and that 

 these stocks, in the course of three years, should rise 

 in the market 100 per cent, above par; the state 

 would easily find capitalists, who would lend at the 

 rate of four per cent, annually, and with this it could 

 redeem the eight per cent, stocks. If, therefore, the 

 state has reason to expect that the price of the stocks 

 will rise, its best plan is to receive a fixed capital 

 sum at such a rate of interest as it is obliged to give. 

 But if it fears that the interests or the prices of the 

 stocks will fall, it is for its advantage to procure the 

 necessary money by the sale of stocks at the market 

 price, because it may hope to redeem them at a 

 reduced rate. Sometimes premiums, or the chances 

 of a lottery, are employed to stimulate reluctant capi- 

 talists, and sometimes even force. If a government 

 must have recourse to other means than those arising 

 from the annuity or interest offered, it is a certain 

 sign that it enjoys but a feeble credit, or that there is 

 a want of capital. How fertile modern history is in 

 loans of every kind, and into what an unhappy situa- 

 tion many states have fallen, by reason of them, is 

 well known. In Austria, the proprietors of the stocks 

 have been forced, several times, to advance further 

 sums, to avoid losing what they liad already lent. 

 See National Debt. 



LOANDA, or LOANDO, or ST PAUL I)E 

 LOANDA ; a city of Angola, in a province of the 

 same name, capital of the Portuguese possessions in 

 this part of Africa ; longitude 13 22' E. ; latitude 



