252 
NATIONAL DEBT. 
sensing narcotic properties ; -but as we are 
completely ignorant of the chemical proper- 
ties of these plants, it is unnecessary to be 
more particular. 
Narcotic salt. See Boracic acid. 
NARDUS, a genus of the mouogynia 
order, in the Irian iria class of plants; and 
in the natural method ranking under the 4th 
order, gramina. 1 here is no calyx; the co- 
j'olJa is bivalved. 1 here are three species. 
I his plant a as highly valued by the antients 
both as an article ot luxury and medicine. 
The unguentum nardinum was used at baths 
and feasts as a favourite perfume. Its value 
is evident from that passage of scripture, 
where our Sa\ iour’s head was anointed with , 
a^ box of it, with which Judas' found fault, j 
From a passage in Horace it appears that I 
this ointment was so valuable among the 
Roman , that as much as could be contained 
in a small box of precious stone was consider- 
ed as a sort ot equivalent tor a large vessel 
of wine, and a proper quota for a guest to 
oi.trbute at an entertainment. The plant 
bad a great character among the antients as 
a medicine, both internally taken and exter- 
nally applied. Its sensible qualities, indeed, 
promise it to be of considerable efficacy in 
some cases, as it has a pungency of taste su- 
perior to contrayerva, and little inferior to 
serpentaria. 
NATIONAL DEBT, the sum which is ow- 
ing by a government to individuals who have 
advanced money for public purposes, either 
in anticipation of the produce of particular j 
branches of the revenue, or on credit of the j 
general power which the government pos- ! 
sesses of levying the sums necessary to pay j 
interest for the money borrowed, or to repay ! 
the principal. The practice of borrowing : 
money on account of the state has been found 
so convenient, that almost every nation of j 
modern Europe is encumbered with a con- j 
siderable debt: the different manner of con- 
ducting hostilities in antient and modern | 
times has perhaps rendered this practice ab- 
solutely necessary, as the vast expences with 
which wars are now attended could not pos- 
sibly be defrayed during the time of their 
continuance, without producing the greatest 
distress, or perhaps absolute ruin, to the 
countries engaged in them. In antient times 
wars were not only shorter in their duration, 
but were conducted on principles which ren- 
dered great pecuniary supplies less necessary 
than at present ; the whole contest was a 
scene of plunder and devastation, the per- 
sons and property of the enemy were at the 
entire disposal of the conqueror, and the 
greater part of the plunder was accounted for 
to the public. The arms made us'e of were 
much less expensive than those of modern 
warfare, and the extent of naval operations, 
the great source of national expenditure in 
modern times, was comparatively trifling. 
SirJ. Sinclair has justly observed, that had 
the rage of equipping numerous fleets, and 
building ships' of great magnitude and dimen- 
sions, never existed, hardly any state in Eu- 
rope would have been at ibis time in debt. 
The principal advantages arising from na- 
tional debts, and the system of credit on 
which they are founded, are, 1. The resource 
they afford in great emergencies, which gives 
a greater permanency to states, which in for- 
mer times, for want of such occasional re- 
sources, were more liable to internal derange- 
ments and to foreign subjugation. 2. The 
equalization ot taxes. If the supplies were 
raised within the year, and the expences ol 
war were considerable, every individual 
would be obliged, in consequence of the ad- 
ditional weight ot his contributions, greatly 
to curtail his expences; and the employment 
of the poor, and the consumption ot the rich, 
would be considerably diminished ; whereas, 
when taxes are nearly equal, in time of peace 
and war, the value of every species of pro- 
perty, of industry, and the circulation of 
wealth, are maintained on as regular, steady, 
and uniform a footing, as the uncertainty and 
instability of human affairs will admit. 3. 
i hey retain money in the country, which 
would otherwise be sent out of it ; public 
ebts have more influence in this respect than 
all the laws against the exportation of specie 
that ever were made. 4. They promote cir- 
culation. I he taxes which they occasion on 
the property of the rich, and the encourage- 
i uient they hold out to the avaricious, pre- 
| vent the accumulation of private hoards, and 
bring the whole money and personal pro- 
tv of a country into employment. 5. They 
attach the people to the government; for 
every individual creditor is led by his own 
interest to support the authority on the pro- 
sperity and existence of which the security 
of his property depends. The extent of this 
influence is so well understood, that it is not 
probable the government of any country 
where a public debt has once existed, will 
ever permit it to be wholly paid off. 6. They 
encourage industry and the acquirement of 
property, by the facility with which indivi- 
duals can lay out the surplus of their profits, 
without the risk of commercial bankruptcies, 
or the unavoidable expences and small ad- 
vantage which landed estates yield, and re- 
ceive interest on their capital with certainty 
and regularity. 
I he disadvantages attending the system of 
incurring national debts, are, 1. The facility 
of carrying on war being much increased : 
while large sums can be easily borrowed, it 
may frequently cause wars to bd protracted, 
which would have been much sooner brought 
to a termination, had the governments en- 
gaged in them experienced the difficulty of 
defraying the whole expence by taxation. 
2 . The value of the property of those who 
have lent their money to the state, depend- 
ing on the public tranquillity, inclines them 
to support indiscriminately the measures of 
the government, whatever may be their ten- 
dency: they are interested both to preach 
and practice apathy under every invasion of 
the constitution of their country. 3. The 
increase of taxes to pay the interest of the ! 
debt, produces an increase in the price of all 1 
the necessaries of life, and renders it difficult 
for the manufacturers of a state in which this 
system has been carried to a great height, to 
maintain a successful competition with the 
subjects of other powers, who may be in a 
less embarrassed situation. 4. When a na- 
tion is encumbered with debts, a pernicious 
spirit of gambling is encouraged: stock-job- 
bing, with all its train of evil consequences, 
necessarily arises; and a moneved interest : s 
erected, the sole employment of which is 
that of drawing every possible advantage 
from the wants of individuals, or the necessi- 
ties ol the public. 5. Public debts have- a 
very material influence on the distribution of 
[ property. Every new loan must be procured 
j trom persons already possessing considerable 
j wealth, and such persons will not lend their 
j money without the expectation of making a 
j profit by it; the increase of the debt is, 
i therefore, to them a source of increasing 
I wealth, to which their share of the additional 
taxes attendant upon it bears hut a sina 11 pro- 
portion; and if the government possesses no 
revenue but what is drawn from the people, 
whatever it pays to one description of men 
must be drawn principally from others: thus 
the additional, income acquired by moneyed 
men, by taking advantage of the necessities 
of the state, is, in fact, a portion of the in- 
come of their less affluent fellow-citizens 
which is transferred to them through the me- 
dium of the government, and which, in a 
much greater proportion than it increases 
their wealth, must render those poorer from 
whom it is drawn. 
The practice of incurring national debts 
on extraordinary, occasions had been resorted 
| to in other countries long before it was adopt- 
j ed in England. The Italian republics seem 
j to have begun it; Genoa and Venice had 
i both considerable debts. Spain was deeply 
[ in debt before the end of the 1 6th century, 
about a hundred years before England owed 
a shilling. In France the funding system 
was introduced about the year 1678; and 
previously to the revolution, the debt of that 
country was 1 42 millions sterling ; two-fifths 
of which consisted of life-annuities, which in 
this estimate are taken at eleven years pur- 
chase. 
The national debt of Great Britain com- 
menced in the reign of William III. The 
war which began in 1689 being very expen- 
sive, and the grants of parliament not supply- 
ing money so fast as it was wanted, the expe- 
dient of mortgaging part of the public re- 
venue was adopted. At first the produce of 
particular taxes was assigned for repayment 
of flic principal and interest of the money 
borrowed ; large sums were also raised on life- 
annuities, and annuities for terms of years; 
and the funds established for payment of 
these debts being generally inadequate to the 
charge upon them, occasioned great deficien- 
cies, which, at the conclusion of' the war, 
amounted to 5,160,459/. 14s. y\d. and were 
charged on the continuation of various du- 
des which had been granted for short terms. 1 
The total amount of the funded and unfund- 
ed debts in the year 1697, was 19,950,945/. 
19s. %ld. The frequent anticipation of the 
different funds, and their general deficiency 
from the diminution of the revenue. In con- 
sequence of which the interest due upon 
money lent to government was often long in 
arrear, reduced public credit at Ihis period 
to a very low ebb, and rendered persons who 
had money very reluctant in advancing it to 
the government, though paid what would 
now be called an exorbitant interest: the 
accumulation of the public debts caused se- 
rious apprehensions among people of proper- 
ty of all descriptions. 
The great expence of the war during the 
reign of queen Anne was chiefly defrayed by 
the sale of annuities for different terms, but 
mostly for 99 years ; and money was not 
only borrowed to pay the interest pf loans, 
but often to pay the interest of that interest; 
or, what is much the same thing, the arrears 
of interest were converted into principal, by 
