which he may accumulate; and if he is defirous to receive his principal, it is returned to him without delay, and without hurting the delicacy, or interfering with the profperity of any one, as eafily as it was lent. The greatest evil which is apprehended from the increafe of the national debt, is the perpetual augmentation of taxes, which, while they enhance the price of the first materials of commerce, caufe a proportionate advance in the price of labour; and muft, although the government duties are allowed as a draw-back on exportation, enable foreigners to underfell the British merchants in the market. Although this apprehenfion has not yet been realized, it would be most unwarrantably prefumptuous to fay, that it never can; but it is materially impeded by the extenfive capital, unrivalled ingenuity, and unblemished honour of British manufacturers and merchants; and will, it is trufted, as well as all other mischiefs to be apprehended from the national debt, be finally averted by the wife measures hereafter to be defcribed under the title of Sinking Fund. LOANS. In times of peace, or when no extraordinary exigency obliges the state to demand from the public unufual fupplies, it is understood, that the permanent and general taxes will be fufficient to defray all expences; but when war is either made or menaced, or in the firft years of a peace, when all the outstanding accounts are not yet made up, it is ufual for the minifter to fupply the deficiencies by a loan. The duty of the chancellor of the exchequer in explaining to the house of commons the nature of the fupplies, ways and means, and the committees conftantly formed for the investigation of them, have already been mentioned. The terms on which a minifter can make a loan, depend on various circumftances; the facilities of raifing money; the ftate of public opinion with respect to affairs in general; and the popularity of the individual, with whom the monied men are to negotiate, are those which produce the greatest effect. When the amount of the intended loan is communicated to the merchants and bankers of London, they form feparate claffes under the head of fome known monied man, or company; and each leader of thefe bodies attends the minifter at a given day, propofing in writing the terms on which he, for himself and friends, can make good the fum required. The form of this propofal generally fuppofes a certain stock, either three or four per cent. at a certain value; and terminable annuities, at another value; according to their calculations, the minifter estimates the proportionate benefit or difadvantage which would accrue to the public from the acceptance of either propofal, and in courfe, clofes with that which furnishes the required fum at the lowest rate of interest. Such per cent. Such is the modern way of raising fupplies; others have been reforted to by various minifters; but this is found to be most popular, moft juft, and in the end moft beneficial. It has been objected, that combinations may be formed to defraud the public; but, in fact, the rate of intereft has never been exorbitantly advanced, nor has the nation any reason to complain of a measure so open and liberal; confiftent at once with an enlarged fyftem of commerce, and a government founded on freedom. In the reign of William III., when loans were first. propofed, attempts were made to raise money at only 6 per cent. intereft; but it was found neceffary, the very fame feilion, to offer 7 per cent.; and, from the year 1690, during the remainder of the war, 8 per cent. was uniformly paid. In the late, tremendously expensive, conteft with France, the intereft on one loan amounted to 6!. 4s. 9d. per cent.; but this was deemed an alarming circumftance, and occafioned fome measures for taking a portion of the floating stock out of the market, and raising the fupplies within the year; but with all the difficulties in which the nation was occafionally involved, and under the operation of all the mistaken principles, which confpired to alienate and terrify a portion of the public, the national credit stood fo high, that the average intereft of ten loans, was only 47. 155. 6d. Yet it is not to be fuppofed, that perfons poffeffed of large capital can advance the incredible fums frequently required by government, without ftrong motives of perfonal advantage. There are other circumstances, unconnected with the general effect of a loan on the public, which constitute what is termed a bonus or benefit to the contractor. The bonus arises in part from the allowance in temporary annuities, which are confidered as being fold by the miniiter fomewhat too cheap, to make the loan acceptable; and from the periods of payment of the fums fubfcribed, which are fo divided as to accommodate the purchaser, and render his portion of the loan faleable in the market. When the subscription is full, the lift of names, with the fums allotted to each, is fent to the bank; and as foon as conveniently .may be, after the fubfcription is clofed, receipts are made out, and delivered to the fubfcribers, for the feveral fums by them fubfcribed: and for the conveniency of fale, every fubfcriber of a confiderable fum has fundry receipts for different portions of his whole fum, that he may the more readily part with what fhare he thinks proper; and a form of affignment, which being figned and witneffed, transfers the property to any purchaser. Then if a perfon has fubfcribed in the lift accepted by the minifter, any given fum, and is defirous to be eafed of a portion before any part of the principal is paid in, he tenders it at the market, and generally fells it for a moderate premium. The completion completion of the loan is generally made by instalments at given diftances; and when any of thefe are paid, a receipt iffues to the individual, and if he fells any part of his fhare after that, he expects to be allowed for the inftalments already paid, with a premium if the loan bears it, or making á deduction if the the public opinion renders that neceffary; the interefts difpofed of in either of these are termed ferip, the whole undivided loan is called omnium. The intereft of each loan, when funded, is to be met by taxes, which the minifter propofes in the Houfe of Commons, and his fpeech, or fcheme, on this occafion, is called the Budget. NATIONAL DEBT. Thefe borrowings by fucceffive minifters, having accumulated from the period when the funding fyftem began to be adopted, form what is called the national debt. Without entering minutely into the various political circumftances, which have occafioned the growth of this incumbrance, it will be fufficient to exhibit in the following tables its amount at different periods. Progrefs of the national debt from its commencement to March, 1801. Debt at the acceffion of George I. 54,145,363 3,351,358 Decrease during the reign of George I. 2,053,128 1,133,807* The apparent difproportion between the capital faved and the intereft as annexed to it, arifes from the reduction in the rate of intereft from 6 to 5 per cent., which took place in the reign of George I. "It appears," Sir John Sinclair obferves," that the capital of the national debt, in 1714, and in 1727, was nearly the fame; particularly, if no addition is made to the principal, in the former period, on the fuppofition, that the temporary annuities ought to be valued at the price they would fetch in the market, and not at the fum that was originally paid. The reader, at the fame time, will perceive how much the two periods differ in regard to the intereft. In the reign of queen Anne, for the fame capital of about fifty-two millions, was paid annually the fum of 3,351,358%, which, at the death of George I., was reduced to 2,217,551% The difference amounting to 1,133,807, is a full proof of the flourishing credit which this country enjoyed, and of what might have been done at that time, for retrieving our finances, by an able, decided, and public-fpirited minifter." Debt |