49 



Neither the state or condition of a distant and new 

 country, nor the vibrations of the balance of Foreign trade, 

 can adequately account for the agricultural distress of the 

 nation under such circumstances. The cause is deep 

 — seated within the country, and it operates by the increase 

 and excessive aggravation of the costs of production, by 

 means of the high revenue system incident to the Public 

 Debt. 



Mr. Malthus,' at the same time declaring that he is 

 far from being insensible to the evil of a great national 

 debt (p. 484) has at some length shown the effect which 

 would follow from the abstraction from society (and con- 

 sequently from the niarket for productions) of the unproduc- 

 tive consumers, who derive their income through the me- 

 dium of the Public Debt ; and under this view has advanced 

 the opinion, that the evils incident to a public debt cannot 

 be prevented, without subjecting the connnunity to an evil 

 of still greater magnitude, in the want of unproductive 

 consumers. 



With great deference to the authority of Mr. Malthus, 

 it is submitted, that the consequence apprehended by him, 

 although an uncjuestionable consequence of the use of the 

 " sponge," or the extinction of that class of consumers, 

 could not ensue from any well-principled and systematic 

 liquidation of the l*ublic Debt. 



The number of consumers would, in such case, rcriiain 

 exactly the same, although the description or character of 

 the public ainmitant might be exchanged for that of a 



' Prinriplcs of Puliiiral Economy, ch. vii sec. P. 



D 



