124 
§58,418,6281.) 52,281,656]. have been 
redeemed by the Commiffioners,’’ &c. 
Certainly, this word redeemed feems to 
imply, that Mr. Morgan allows the de- 
duction of that fum; but why, therefore, 
has he not deduéted it from his total, or 
omitted, in drawing up his account, ca- 
pital ftock to that amount, in the fame 
manner as he has omitted the debt incurred 
by loans to Ireland? Nay, in p. 71 heaf- 
firms, that ‘* the capital of the public 
debt, which, at the commencement of 
Mr. Pitt’s adminifiration, amounted to 
232,000,000]. has been accumulated to 
the enormous mafs of 558,000,000]. and 
the peace eftablifhment,” &c. &c. Here, 
Sir,is a pofitive affertion, that 558,000,000l. 
is the amount of the funded debt, without 
making any deduétion whatever. Since, 
therefore, Mr. Morgan has only mentioned, 
in a fhort note, the ftock bought by the 
Commiffioners, and does not fubftract it 
frcm his ftatement, as he has done in other 
Iinftances, when he makes any allowance ; 
and fince, in the paflage I have quoted, he 
has, in fo unqualified a manner declared 
the funded debt to be §58,000,0001.; am 
T not warranted in fuppofing that he wifhes 
it fo to. be confidered by the public, and in 
having fet down his ftatement at that 
fum? Let me now fubdmit one queftion, 
Sir, to your confideration. As Mr. Mor- 
gan’s title-page profefles te be a ** Com- 
parative View cf the Public Finances; 
from the Beginning to the Clofe of Mr. 
Pitt’s Adminiftration,”? ought he not, 
agreeably to his general character for fair- 
nefs and candour, qualities for which he 
deferves to be admired, no lefs than for 
sis eminent talents, to have deduéted all 
the favings made by that minifter? -Will 
it be contended, for an inftant, that the 
52,000,c00!, thus redeemed, ought not to 
be placed to the credit of the nation? I 
cannot conceive that any perfon will ven- 
ture to fupport fuch a pofition. If the 
public were, at this moment, to apply that 
ftock to the redu€tion of the debt, would 
it not, by cancelling a portion to the fame 
amount, diminifh the- claim of the na- 
tional creditor? It cannot, furely ve de- 
nied. 
With refpe& to the 16,000,000]. of 
Jand-tax redeemed, I muft confels that 
kere, alio, I agree with the two former 
gentlemen. True it is, 2s M. N.-has re- 
' 
marked, that the Minifter ought not to- 
calculate, in his Ways and Means, upon 
2,000,000]. as the annual produce of the 
Jand tax, and, at the fame time, deduct 
that part of it, which has been redeemed, 
from’ the public debt; but it is only in 
Cerrected Statement of the National Debt.: 
“[Sept- 1, 
over-rating his Ways and Means, that he 
has erred. He fells an eftate, and appro- 
priates the purchafe-meney to the pay- 
ment of debts ; and then reckons upon the 
rents of the eftate as a refource for future 
debts, which he may incur. In eftimat- 
ing the means of difcharging the fervices of 
an enfuing year, he fhould only calculate 
the unredeemed refidue of the land-tax ; 
but in eftimating the public debt, he has 
furely a right to deduét the ftock, created 
by that portion of the Jand tax, which 
has been redeemed, and purchaled. It is 
deftined for the reduétion of the debt, and 
is capable of being inftantly applied to that 
sy i : 
is to the 56,445,000]. charged upon 
the income-tax, I cannot but obferve that 
this fum properly makes a ‘part of the na~ 
tional debt. If the nation were in the 
fituation of an individual, called upon ta 
fatisfy the demands againft him, the 
56,000,000]. muft immediately be dif- 
charged. Wain would-it be to fay that 
the Exchequer poffeffes fuch, and fuch re-. 
fources, which, if not interrupted by the 
courfe of events, would, after a certain. 
number of years, gradually liquidate the 
debt. ‘This confideration would deferve 
attention, if the quefticn were, what are. 
the means of cancelling the debt, and net 
what is its prefent amount. Mr. Morgan 
_ has moft judicioufly obferved that, ¢* if the 
mortgage upon the income-tax be not 
reckoned, becaufe in re or 11 years after 
peace the 56,co00,000]. would be difcharg-. 
ed, the Chancellor of. the Exchequer 
cught, upon the fame principle, to infitt, 
that there is no natienal debt, becaufe the 
finking fund would, in procefs of time, acs 
complifh its complete redemption. This 
obfervation is ftrong, and conclufive. It 
doesnot belong to the prefent inquiry ta 
calculate whether it be probable that, in 
10, or 11 years after the conclufion of the 
war, this burthen upon the country will» 
be removed by the protracted operation of 
the income-tax; otherwife I would exprefs’ 
all my reafons for thinking that no event ~ 
is mere unhkely. 
that the number of years of war, during 
the Jaft century, has been in an almoft 
equal proportion to the years of peace; 
and that, provided Europe were, at this - 
moment, to put an end to the exifting war, 
a fettled, and durable calm, in times fo 
troublous, and revolutionary, could not 
reafonably be expeéted, what chance is 
there, let me afk, of a continued applica- 
tion of the income-tax for 10 years to the 
liquidation of the ftock, with which it is- 
charged, Or may it not, if unhappily the 
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