212 
National Wealth and Public Debt. 
[April, 
paying interest falls comparatively light. As regards Eng- 
land, her debt may be said to be entirely an “ internal ” 
debt, all monies required by the State being readily obtained 
at home. It is not so, however, with other countries, 
whose “ internal ” debts are, for the most part, of small 
amount, whilst the greater part of their loans have been ob- 
tained from this country. England, France, and the United 
States alone are enabled to take steps for the gradual ex- 
tinction of their debts, whilst many other countries are 
obliged to raise fresh loans annually to meet their require- 
ments for current expenses, or, failing that, to repudiate 
obligations to their bondholders, of the truth of which 
circumstance too many Englishmen have bitter cause of 
experience. 
With regard to the amounts of public debts the following 
figures furnish such particulars as are obtainable. Column i 
shows the total public debts as they are given in the printed 
Parliamentary Papers, whilst Column 2 shows the amounts 
of the several external debts given in the “ Investor’s 
Monthly Manual,” and which are quoted in the London 
Stock Exchange List : — 
£• 
£■ 
Russia .... 
296,096,000 
i 4 6 ,549> i 28 
Norway .... 
1,766,000 
— 
Sweden .... 
6,681,000 
3,958,100 
Denmark 
12,899,000 
1,804,000 
Germany . . 
140,404,000 
— 
Holland .... 
*79,678,000 
*79,801,240 
Belgium .... 
43,220,000 
27,270,000 
France .... 
*731,338,000 
*756,741,160 
Spain .... 
347,012,000 
165,506,300 
Portugal 
77, 668,000 
77, 304,710 
Switzerland 
1,104,000 
264,487,000 
- — 
Austria .... 
I 99 > 4 20 , T 32 
Hungary . . 
53,269,000 
23,062,200 
Italy 
339,051,000 
33,807,582 
Greece .... 
17,015,000 
4,749,900 
United States . . 
469,427,000 
338,576,803 
If we attempt to draw any conclusion from the foregoing 
faCts and figures, it is impossible to do otherwise than 
admit that England’s supremacy is undeniable. That it is 
* There is evidently some discrepancy in these figures, due either to typo- 
graphical errors or to imperfect information on the part of the compilers of 
the respective returns from which the figures are taken. 
