DEBT. 



591 



Deht. shew more fully under the head of Sinking Fund, is 

 — ~ ; ~— ' by the imposition of fresh taxes ; that is, by taking 

 annually a sum out of our pockets to pay the interest, 

 , and eventually the capital of former arrears. This, in 



whatever way we view it, is little else than the trans- 

 fer of a fund from one purpose to another ; so that the 

 sums expended in war may be clearly set down as so 

 much absolute loss.* 



At the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, our debt was be- 

 tween seventy and eighty millions. The brilbant suc- 

 cesses of the war of 1 756, encouraging government to 

 apply to Parliament for extravagant sums, the result was 

 the accumulation of our debt, before the peace of 1 763, 

 to more than one hundred and twenty millions. The 

 American war carried it above two hundred millions ; 

 and the war of 1793 made it more than double that 

 amount. In these enumerations we are desirous to re- 

 present the sums, not in stock, but in sterling money ; a 



calculation frequently attended with complexity, on ac- 

 count of the difficulty of reducing the various descrip- 

 tions of stock to a sterling sum, by which we mean a 

 sum bearing the regular legal interest of five per cent. 

 In the present war, expensive as it has been beyond all 

 precedent, and, we may add, beyond all conception, the 

 addition to our debt has been comparatively inconsider- 

 able. The extraordinary amount of our war taxes, and 

 of the produce of the sinking fund, have formed power- 

 ful grounds of counteraction, to the infinite satisfaction 

 of those well-intentioned persons who persuade them- 

 selves that the extraction of money from the capital of 

 individuals, in the shape of taxes, is a less pernicious 

 thing than the accumulation of public debt. 



The following Table represents the gradual progress 

 of our national debt till a late period. The sums are 

 given, not in sterling money but in stock, and the debt, 

 of Ireland is not included. 



Deltf. 



Amount of the National Funded Debt at the Revolution, and at the commencement and termination of 



War. 

 • Years. 



National debt at the Revolution, 1689, 



Funded debt at the peace of Ryswick, 1697, 



at the commencement of the war of 1701, 



at the peace of Utrecht, 1714, 



at the commencement of the war, 1740 



at the peace of Aix la Chapelle, 1 74,8 



• at the commencement of the war, 1756, 



at the peace of Paris, 1 7Q3 



at the commencement of the American war, 1 775, 



at the peace of Versailles, 1783 



And this was reduced by purchases for the redemption of the national debt, at the 7 



commencement of the war, to f 



Funded debt at the peace of Amiens 1802, including the loan of that year, L. 567,008,978 

 Of winch redeemed, and in the hands of the commissioners for the reduc- 7 r 



tion of national debt, j o7,^55,915 



each subsequent 



Stock. 



L. 1,054,925 



21,515,772 



16,394,701 



55,282,978 



47,954,623 



79,193,318 



73,289,673 



133,959,270 



123,644,500 



238,231,248 



1793, 227,989,148 



There was no reduction of the national debt in the short peace which fol- 

 lowed the treaty of Amiens. 



Funded debt 1st February 1812, L. 769 764 356 



Of which redeemed, 189i538',480 



Leaves 499,753,063 



Leaves 580,225,876 



It may be useful to compare the progressive increase 

 in the annual ratio of our contracted debt, in the suc- 

 cessive wars since the Revolution. During the war of 

 1689, the annual average of debt contracted was two 

 millions and a half, and in Queen Anne's war three mil- 

 lions. In the war of 1 740 it was somewhat below four 

 millions ; and under the flattering successes of the con- 

 test of 1756, government found means to carry its an- 

 nual augmentations to more than eight millions and a 

 half. In our unfortunate contest with our colonies, the 

 yearly average of addition to our debt was fourteen mil- 

 lions ; and in the war of 1793, when our hopes were 

 raised by a concurrence of circumstances, itexceeded thir- 

 ty millions ; a sum of surprising magnitude, when we 

 add to it the farther burden imposed on the people for 

 the payment of the taxes appropriated to the sinking 

 fund. It is fit, however, to add, that these sums are cal- 

 culated in stock. Of the sterling amount, a more accu- 

 rate idea will be formed from the following Table. 



Progress of the Funded Debt of Britain from 1793 ta 



1812. 



Years. Sterling Money. 



1793 Loan .£4,500,000 



1794 Loan 11,000,000 



Navy Bills 1,907,451 



1795 Loan 18,000,000 



Navy Bills 1,1-99,64T 



Loan 18,000,000 



1796 Loan 7,000,000 



Navy Bills 4,226,727 



Loyalty Loan 18,000,000 



1797 Loan 13,000,000 



Navy and Exchequer Bills, 1 3,029,399 



1798 Loan 15,000,000 



Loan 3,000,000 



1799 Loan 12,500,000 



1800 Loan 18,5 00,000 



Carry over j6159,F63,224 



* The important subject of the Sinking Fund has been discussed in a most profound and perspicuous manner, by Dr R. Hamilton, 

 in his " Inquiry concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and Present State, and the Management of the National Debt of 

 Great Britain." Edin. 1313. Ed. 



