46 
hand, nothing is more eafy than to in- 
troduce confufion by want of order and 
precifion. 
Whar, then, is the amount of the na- 
tional debt ? It is the intereft of tae 
minifter to diminifh, of his opponents to 
magnify it, of truth to ftate the faé 
in intelligible terms. The fa&, then, 
is, that the fum of money required to 
pay off the national debt, varies with the 
value of money for each day; and as 
the debt confifis in ftocks of diferent 
kinds, the only way of afcertaining the 
real amount of the debt, is to bring all 
thefe ftocks to fome common fandard, 
from which jt will be very eafy to. find 
the amount of the debt on any alteration 
in the value of money. This has been 
done by Mr. Morgan, in his Faét:, ad- 
dreffed to the ferious Attention of the People 
af Great Britain ; and he has calculated 
the amount of the debt, on the fuppo- 
fition that, by purchafing in the three 
per cents. the intereft made of the 
money is 4]. 13s, 6d. per cent. when the 
three per cents. confols are 663; from 
whence its amount on any change in the 
flocks is eafily afcertained. According 
to this rate, the amount of the debt in 
3796, fuppofing it converted into three 
per cents. was 410,944,68s1.; in 1786, 
#f was 289,155,920l. confequently, an 
addition has been made to the national 
debt, fince the year 1786, of 421,788,765). 
In whatever eftimation the talents of 
Mr. Pitt may have been held as a mini- 
fter, in other refpeéts, it has generally 
been prefumed, that in the conduét of 
the finances of this country, he has been 
without a rival Mr. Morgan, whofe 
abilities in calculation are acknowledged 
by the confidence of ail parties, in the 
decifions made by him on queftions of 
annuities, intereft, and fimilar fubjects, 
denies to the minifter any right to this 
ublic opinion. It is evident, he fays, 
that the debt has been increafed by him, 
in a much greater proportion than by 
any former minifter ; but this may be 
attributed to the particular circumftances 
of the times. An important enquiry 
feems to be, whether he made that ad- 
vantage of the finking fund, which ir 
was calculated to produce. Since the 
year 1786, feventeen millions and a 
quarter of the three per cents. have been 
redeemed, ‘‘ that is, the public debrs 
have accumulated in three years to a 
fum which is feven times greater than. 
the fum paid off in ten years ; and com. 
red with the whole ‘ f 6 ieh 
parca with the whoie amount or tne 
cebt at this prefent time, the fteck 
“et whi 
Monthly Extras. aye 
redeemed, is to the whole ftock, in the 
proportion of one to twenty-four, nearly.” 
Now ‘ the purciiafes, with the ex- 
‘* cepticn of a few thoufands, have always 
“* been made by the commiffioners in the 
‘“‘ three per cents.” by which means, it 
is afferted, by Mr. Morgan, “ though a 
‘‘ larger capital appears to. be redeemed, 
“ the reduétion of the debt is, in reality, 
“retarded.” ‘This will be eafily under- 
ftood by any one who confiders the re- 
lative value of the ftocks during the laf 
ten years. Suppofe the three per cents. 
tu be at 70, and the four per cents. at 84, 
money is then improved in the one at 
4l. 5s. od. and im the other at gl. 15. 3d. 
per cent. Ifa million a year were laid 
out annually for twenty-fix years, the 
fum allotted for the finking fund in the 
three per cents. at 70, and another mil- 
lion in the four cents. at 84, the 
capital redeemed in the former will be 
65,918,000]. and in the latter 58,798,000l, 
In the eyes of an imaccurate calcu- 
lator, the minifter will appear to do 
Defi, by purchafing in the former ftock, 
which mode wili, however, put the na- 
tion to much the greateft expence ; for 
the real value of the fum redeemed in 
the three per cents. is only 46,142,500}. 
and ts intereft 1,977,54cl. and the real 
value of the fum in the four per cents, 
Is 49,390,200]. and its intereft 2,351,921. 
Confequently, by purchafing in the 
four per cents, at the end of twenty- 
fix years, the nation would have gained 
an annual intereft of 374,380l. above 
what it would have gained by purchaf- 
ing in the three per cents, But the 
proportion between the three and four 
per cents. has, during the laft ten years, 
been much lefs than that of 84 to 7o. 
In 1792, the three ver cents. were at 96, 
and the four per cents. only at 102 5 and, 
confequently, the lofs of the nation by 
eyery purchafe in the three per cents, 
was increafed. 
It is diffeal:, without having every 
purchafe made by the commiffioners be- 
fore one’s eyes, to ftate exaétly the lofs 
of the nation, by the injudicious mode of 
purchafing in the three per cents. Many 
do not fcruple to fay that the whole ma- 
nagement of the finking fund has been 
a delufion ; at any rate, it feems -evi- 
dent, that an opportuniry has been loft 
of relieving the nation from a great part 
of its debt. When the three per cents. 
were at 96, by adding 6]. to each 100 
in the three per cents. the holders of 
both ftocks might have been placed 
exactly in the fame fituation; and, at 
2 the 
