TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 187 



such results as followed the establishment of the penny post. Many people already 

 look forward to the time when the imiform cost of a telegTam will be (kl., but I 

 believe that they will be disappointed. They overlook the essential diti'ereuce that 

 a great number of letters may be conveyed almost as cheaply as one letter, whereas 

 everj^ telegram occupies the wires for a definite time, and requires to be delivered, 

 generally speaking, by a special messenger. Thus, if we are to have the rapid de- 

 livery without which telegTams seem to me nearly valueless, the property and staftj 

 and, of course, the expenses of the department, must expand nearly proportionally 

 to the business. A reduction of the rate to Of/., by bringing a great increase of 

 work, would greatly augment the expenses of the department, and inflict a loss 

 upon the nation. 



On National Debts. By R. Dfdley Baxter, M.A. 



After enlarging on the importance of the subject, the author traced the history of 

 our National Debt, which was fairly started at tlie time of the llevolution in 1088, 

 when William III. brought over vsdth him that new scientific invention. In 17G3 

 it was £138,000,000. The American war raised it to £249,000,000, and the 

 French war to £801,000,000, from which point, with the interval of the Crimean 

 war, it was reduced, until now it stood at £749,000,000. He contrasted the cost 

 of a year's war with the veiy small reductions of a vear's peace, averaging 

 £2,500,000. The French Debt, originated by Louis XIV. (with the interval of 

 the Revolution, when a great debt was raised and destroyed in a short time), stood 

 at £245,000,000 at the commencement of the Empire in 1852, whence it had risen 

 to £518,000,000. Under the second Empire the increase was £15,000,000 a year, 

 and there had never been a period of reduction. It must be borne in mind, how- 

 ever, that in the middle of the next century the French railways, now valued at 

 £300,000,000, would become national property. In the United States the debt 

 rose from £18,000,000 sterling on July 1, 1861, during four years of civil war, to 

 £551,000,000 on July 1, 18(;5; but it has been reduced on July 1, 1870, to 

 £477,000,000, or by £15,000,000 a year. He hardly knew which to wonder at 

 most, the increase or the decrease. He believed that the rate of reduction would 

 be continued. Austria, like France, was an empire of uninterrupted deficits. Her 

 debt was now £300,000,000. Russia was one of the States which had run most 

 recklessly and rapidly into debt. The amount was now £300,000,000. The debt 

 of Spain was now £257,000,000. Italy had gone into debt in the most headlong 

 manner, showing an average increase since 1801 of £19,000,000 per annum. 

 Prussia's debt was the least of all the European nations. North Germany had 

 now a debt of £106,000,000, and South Gemiauy £46,000,000, or only £150,000,000 

 for aU Germany, including £15,000,000 on account of the present war ; and her 

 costs in the present war were to be paid by France. The Dutch debt in 1869 was 

 £80,000,000, having been reduced for many years at the rate of £1,000,000 per 

 annum, eqiuvalent to £10,000,000 in England. He argued from the whole, that 

 while the commercial countries had steadily reduced their debts, the non-commer- 

 cial nations had enormously increased theirs. England's position now, compared 

 with that of 1815, was greatly improved compared with other nations. In 1815 

 she owed £860,000,000 against £600,000,000 united debt of all other countries, 

 whilst in 1870 she owed £749,000,000 against over £2,300,000,000, the combined 

 debts of other countries. He also compared the burden per head of population of 

 the A-arious debts. Germany's debt was 2*'. 9f/. per head per annum against ours 

 (17s. M. per head per annum), and the United States debt per amium was much less 

 than ours ; and these two nations were our great competitors. He therefore urged 

 a great and speedy reduction of our national debt, in order to lighten the pressure 

 on industry. Holland's sinldng fund was worthy of attention. They might appro- 

 priate certain taxes sacredly to the reduction of the debt ; or they might adopt a 

 resolute taxation, like the United States, but without their protection errors. He 

 approved of temiinable annuities as one agent, but did not deem it sufficient. In 

 conclusion he addressed a word of warning to the nations which had so long and 

 so recklessly increased their national burdens. 



