gyries, and contended that we ought to 
be: free, becanfe the Saxons were fo, in 
what treafuries of knowledge a fatisfac- 
tery account of thefe wonderful inftitu- 
tions was to be found? This informa- 
tion; I concluded, no one could be fo able 
- to furnifh as himfelf; and I was not a 
little mortified at finding all my inquiries 
. evaded or-repelled by general reflections, 
that ** a man cannot have knowledge 
without labouring for it ;* that ‘* the 
beft way to underitand any fubjeét, was 
to read every thing that came to hand,” 
. &c. obfervations which, however juft in 
themfelves, I have fince found reafon to 
conclude, were artfully intended to get 
rid of a fubjeét which that celebrated po- 
litician well knew would not ftand the 
teft of perfevering inquiry. The fact is, 
that, with refpect to our Saxon anceftors, 
-but little authentic information has been 
handed down. Even that little, however, 
‘is enough to convince every impartial 
reafoner, that the caufe of equal juttice 
would be the very revere of being pro- 
moted by an adoption of their political _ 
fyftem. It was a fyftem of wiurpation, 
violence, and opprefiion. And, indeed, 
how fhould it have been otherwife? The 
Saxons, like all the German nations, de- 
rived their plan of government from that 
fountain head of feodal tyranny, fo finely 
deferibed by Tacitus in his * Manners of 
the Germans; and, notwithftanding all 
that has been fo frequently reiterated in 
praife of the inftitutions of thofe favages, 
they were, in reality, nothing but a crude 
hafh of tyranny and licentioufnefs; the 
feading principle in the compofition of 
which was, that the many were made for 
the few. Inthe words of Mr. E. “the 
lords, indeed, were free ; but, for that very 
reafon, there was no public liberty.” 
National Debt. — Your correspondent 
GOuURNAI (p. 258) obferves, that a con- 
fiderable part of the taxes levied in any 
country muft. neceffarily be derived trom 
the labour, that is to fay, be ultimately 
levied upon the laborious poor of that 
country.. I believe he might have gone 
much further, and have proved, that, at 
leaft, till the taxation becomes-fo excef- 
five, that either the poor can be pinched 
no clofer, without being pinched to death, 
or that the very circulation of the pro- 
duce of labour is to a confiderable degree 
reftrained ; the laborious poor pay ai/ the 
taxes: of a nation, for they produce all; 
and.all that is paid in taxes is a part of 
‘produce; while, on the other hand, all 
but the labourer have means (till the ar- 
rival of thefe crifes) of shifting the bur- 
= Saxon Liberty.—N. ‘ational Debt. 
41g 
then from their fhoulders to thofe beneath. 
“Tf the hiftory of the progrefs of rent- — 
rolls, revenues, and luxuries, is conifuit- 
ed, this will be illuitrated, moft tully. 
This ftatement neceffarily gives rife to 
fome important inquiries. — What rigut 
could any fet of minifters have (orcould 
even the whole body. of community have) 
to contract what is called.a\ national 
debt? Can this, or any other country 
(meaning thereby the population of fuch 
country), be faid, in reafon and equity,’ 
to owe one fingle fhilling to any-fet of per- 
fons claiming to be public creditors ¢. If ¥ 
burthen my eftate with debts, itis right 
that my heir fhould pay them, becaule, 
if I leave him my debts, I leave-him pro- 
perty wherewith to difchange them; and 
he is no further refponfible: than my-ef- 
fe&ts will go; and if he does not choofe. 
to be fubject to the trouble and inconve- 
niencies of the tranfaction, he may, by 
refuling to accept the eftate, avoid the - 
incumbrance of the mortgage. But the 
ma{s of the people (by whom it. is evi- 
dent the intereft of what are-called, public. - 
debts are eventually paid) inherit neither 
eftate nor property from their anceftors ; ° 
why, then, thould their-induftry, be bur- « 
thened with their debts?, My»conclufion : 
is, that the property, is refponfible,, not; 
the people (forthe proprietors have:been: 
parties to the. bargain, and_-the . eftates 
have defeended withthe mortgages upon 
them). The fund-holder has: therefore.a) 
right to foreclofe the mortgage, becamfe 
thereby he enforces. payment. from hic 
real creditor: but he has.ne right to re+ 
ceive the intereft, as he now does, becaufe 
it is levied in taxes upon thofe,who owe 
him nothing. | 
Circulatiaz Medium.—Iit ts truly afte- 
nifhing, that, after fo much has been {aid 
upon this fubject, it fheuld be fo little 
underiftood,: and that men of penetration : 
and refleS&tion fhould &ill continue to con- 
found. together the property of a country, 
and the medium by means of which that. - 
property is transferred from hand to hand;- - 
Wall it never be underfiood that:money, 
whether paper, or cold andifilver, is. fo 
far from being the whole, that it is.2o 
part of the.weaith of a nation ?, that-itis, 
in reality, nothing but-the -counters; or 
figns by which that wealth is defignated, 
vas by figures and-eyphers-on a flate; and 
that, as a fmali-number. of the. latter-are 
fuficient, by means of repeated- nie, to 
caft up,-and fertle the; largett,acconnts fo «- 
a fmall quantity of the former, by means». 
of the arithmetic. of circulation, is capa-— 
dle, alie, of paying. the »moit, enormous: 
debts, 
