1796. | 
method was thought of, than that of 
anticipation; and parliamentary provifion 
for the fpeedy liquidation of the debts 
was made by means of annuities of va- 
rious kinds, or by means of taxes appro- 
priated to particular debts, and calculated 
to produce both the intereft and afurplus 
towards the difcharge of the principal. 
Had this plan been ftriétly and effectually 
purfued, there would have been little 
ground of complaint. It would, in truth, 
have been nothing more than a contriv- 
ance, to aflift government in the prompt 
and vigorous exertion of its naval and 
military ftrength, and to indulge the 
public with the liberty of difcharging 
the expences of a war by eafy inital- 
ments. But, in the reign of Geo. I, 
the taxes appropriated under the two 
preceding reigns to the feveral debts, 
were found inadequate ; other loans 
were become neceflary; and it was 
thought /ufer to transfer the public debt 
to pofterity, and provide only for the 
payment of the intereft, than, at that 
time, to irritate the public mind by in- 
creafing the taxes for the difcharge of 
the principal. ‘This policy gave rife to 
the acts pafled in the years 1715, 1716, 
1717, by which the feveral taxes appro- 
priated to the difcharge of the debts of 
government were con{olidated into four 
funds: the Aggregate, the South-Sea, 
the General, and the Sinking-fund; the 
Jatter of which was formed from the 
furplus of the three former, and was 
deftined to the purpofe of jvking or 
reducing the national debt. ‘This was 
properly the commencement of the 
funding-[yftem. In 1720, the govern- 
inent gave frefh proof of its attachment 
to this new plan, by expending ‘bree 
millions in converting moft of the annui- 
ties which remained, into redeemable 
perpetuities; hereby increafing the 
debt, in order to diminifh the prefent 
demand for the payment of intereft. 
It is not furprifing, that minifters 
have been eager to embrace a fyftem-of 
finance, which has enabled them to pro- 
duce the greateft poffible prefent exer- 
tion, with the leaft poflible prefent pref- 
fure upon the people. With the vaft 
weight of care which crufhes the 
fhoulders of a minifter ina time of war, 
it would furely be unreafonable to expeét, 
that he fhould lift up his head to lock 
forward to diftant confequences: ‘ fuf- 
ficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” 
For the moment he is enabled to mule 
tiply his political force twentv-fold ; 
and, contrary to the law of mechanics, 
The Enquirer. 
No. VII. 535 
he, by means of this inftrument, gains 
as much in time as he gains in power ; 
why fhould he be deterred from employ- 
ing this compound advantage, by the ap» 
prehenfion of cenfure in the nekt gene- 
ration, when it may poilibly be difco- 
vered, that he has ‘¢ made more haite 
than good fpeed?”” But itis very fur- 
prifing, that the public, who, except 
when duft is thrown in their eyes, may 
be expected to look farther, and, per 
haps, to fee clearer, than a minutter, 
fhould not have been earlier aware of the 
tendency of thefe forced exertions to 
weaken the national firength, and fhould 
have encouraged one adminiftration after 
another to conduét the wars of the 
country upon this ruinous plan, till the 
debt, which, in 1701, was, in round 
numbers, only 16 millions; at the be- 
ginning of the war in 1740, was ins 
creafed to nearly 48 millions; at the 
peace of Aix-la-chapelle, in 1748, as 
mounted to 79 millions; at the peace 
in 1763, was rifen to 134 millions; at 
the termination of the American war, 
reached, in funded accounts, the vatt 
fum of 211 millions; and, in 179¢, was, 
in funded and unfunded arrears, {welled 
to the enormous magnitude of 322 
millions. 
During the rapid progrefs of this 
overwhelming debt, the Britifh public 
has had ample experience of the mif- 
chievous operation of the funding fyftem. 
Its moft immediate and prominent effeét 
has been, a grievous accumulation of 
taxes, by which a great part of the pub- 
lic ftock of induftry and ingenuity has 
been gradually alienated from its proper 
ufe, the produ@ion of individual comfort 
and happinefs. ‘The oppreffed huiband- 
man and mechanic have had great reafon 
to deplore the prodigality which has 
fubjected them tothe hard neceffity of 
contributing a large portion of their’ 
daily labour towards the payment of the 
intereft of debts contracted by the na- 
tion before they were born. The bur- 
dens which have immediately fallen 
upon the landlord, the merchant, and 
the manufaéturer, have been, in part, 
transferred to the lower claffes, in the 
‘feantinefs of their wages, fo cruelly dif- 
proportioned to the advanced price of 
provifions and other neceffaries. Hence,. 
the quantity of labour which, in former 
times, would have procured the labourer a 
_ decent and comfortable maintenance, has, 
of iate years, fcarcely afforded him fubfitt- 
ence; and almoft the only want he has been 
able to fupply, has been literally that of 
daly 

