DEBT, NATIONAL. 
tlius prevent a rapid accumulation of 
■w ealtli. Tliis has been the case in Great 
Britain ; but although the great increase of 
necessary and fashionable expense has pre- 
vented tlie w'eal thy from becoming so enor- 
mously rich as they otlierwise would have 
been, there can be little doubt that taken 
collectively, they are possessed of more 
property and income than the wealthy 
members of the community at any former 
period, and that the number of the poor is 
considerably augmented. In a state whei e 
taxation is general, the elfects of the bor- 
rowing system are somewhat retarded, by 
the lenders themselves contributing to the 
taxes levied to pay them interest, and there- 
fore the practice may be carried to a 
greater extent than in those states where 
particular classes, as the nobility or priest- 
hood, are exempt from taxation, and under 
whose privileges the money lenders may 
shelter themselves from contributing their 
just proportion. 
Most governments have begun to borrow 
upon their general credit, without assigning 
any particular fund for the payment of the 
debt ; and when this resource has failed 
them, they have gone on to borrow upon 
assignments or mortgages of particular 
funds. What is called the unfunded debt of 
Great Britain, is contracted in the former of 
those ways ; but this is a mode which 
never can be carried to a great extent 
without bringing the finances of a country 
into disorder ; the other mode is subject to 
no limitation, while efficient funds can be 
found for securing the regidar payments 
stipulated with the lenders. Borrowing on 
the security of particular funds, is done in 
two ways ; sometimes the assignment or 
mortgage is made for a short period of time 
only, a year or a few years, for example ; 
and sometimes for perpetuity. In the for- 
mer case, the fund is supposed sufficient to 
pay, within the limited time, both principal 
and interest of the money borrowed; in the 
other, it is supposed sufficient to pay the in- 
terest only, which is either an annuity ter- 
minable at the end of a certain number of 
years, or a perpetual annuity which the go- 
vernment retains the liberty of redeeming 
at any time upon paying back the principal 
sum borrowed. When money is raised in 
the one way, it is said to be raised by anti- 
cipation ; when in the otlier, by funding. 
The great expense attending the modern 
.system of warfare, appears to have created 
the necessity of contracting national debts ; 
the practice originated in Italy, and was 
soon adopted in other countries, but it has 
been brought iuto a more regular system, 
and carried to a much greater extent in 
Great Britain, than in any other nation. 
In die reign of King William, and during 
a great part of that of Queen Anne, before 
the practice of funding on perpetual an- 
nuities liad become familiar, tlie greater 
pai't of the new taxes were imposed for a 
short period of time (for four, five, six, or 
seven years only) and the principal part of 
the grants of each year consisted of loans 
in anticipation of the produce of those 
taxes. The produce being frequently in- 
sufficient for paying, within the limited 
time, the principal and interest of the money 
borrowed, 'deficiencies arose; to make 
good which, it became necessary to prolong 
the original term. This expedient was re- 
peated, and money was sometimes borrow'ed 
on a fund already anticipated for several 
years to come. Exchequer bills were 
issued, and lotteries introduced, but all 
these temporary means were found inade- 
quate to the rapid increase of the public ex- 
penditure ; which of course soon caused an 
accumulation of public debts ; and as the 
interest payable to the public creditors was 
frequently some time in arrear, public cre- 
dit was occasionally reduced to a very tow 
ebb, and apprehensions were entertained 
that the public debt had already become 
too heavy a burtlien for the country to 
prosper under. 
In the year 1711 a project was foimed for 
relieving the government from the financial 
difficulties under which it laboured, by per- 
mitting the proprietors of various debts and 
arrears, amounting to 8,971,3251. to sub- 
scribe then^ towards raising tlie capital of a 
company formed for carrying on a trade to 
the South Seas. The actual capital of the 
company was 9,177,9671. 15s. 4d. which for 
tlie further accommodation of government 
was increased in 1715 to ten millions. 
The total amount of the national debt 
on the Slst of December, 1716, was 
48,364,5011. 8s. 4il. which, on the opening 
of the following session of parliament, was 
mentioned in the King’s speech and the 
Commons’ address, as an insupportable 
weight, and the government appeal's to have 
thought it necessary to concert seriously 
such measures as might lay the foundation 
of an effectual plan for its reduction. In 
consequence of this disposition, all the ex- 
isting taxes, except the land and malt, were 
made perpetual ; and, having been distri- 
buted into three classes, called the Aggie- 
