not a public terror merely amongst the ignorant but amongst the most profound and enlightened statesmen. Calculators, and writers on political economy, have served to augment the uneasiness by their predictions of a fatal termination.

While the debt has been augmenting with great rapidity, the wealth and resources of the nation have at least augmented equally fast; and the matter of fact has given the lie to all the forebodings of those who occasioned the alarm. This very extraordinary circumstance merits an investigation.

It unfortunately happens, that, where people are deeply interested in a subject, they form their opinion before they begin to examine and investigate, and consequently the mind commences with a bias, and acts under its influence, the result of which is, that the conclusion is not so accurate as it otherwise would be. Not that, in calculating with figures, the disposition of mind can make an unit of difference, the question being once fairly stated; but the previous impression on the mind tends to prevent the fair statement of the question.

That an uninterrupted practice of borrowing must end in an inability to pay is a self-evident axiom. It is not a matter that admits of dispute; but to fix the point where the inability will commence is a problem of a very difficult nature to solve; it is indeed a problem, the solution of which depends upon some circum

stances

are, it is true, certain fixed principles; but there are some points also that depend on events entirely unconnected with the debt, and, in themselves, uncertain. Two great considerations, that operate powerfully, have been omitted by most writers on this subject. The first is, the increased energy of human exertion under an increased operation of necessity; the second is, the effect that the depreciation of money has on lessening the apparent burthen occasioned by the interest of the debt. That these two causes, which have not been taken into account, have rendered the calculations erroneous, there is not a doubt; and how far they may still continue to operate, is at this time as uncertain as ever; but they ought not to be considered as capable of operation beyond a certain unknown point, else the practice of contracting debt would be capable. of infinite extension, which is impossible.

But the augmentation of the debt itself is not the only circumstance that excites attention as intimately connected with the fate of this nation.

The increasing wealth and prosperity of the nation, under the heavy load of taxes, of which the debt is the principal cause, is as much a matter of surprise as the ultimate result is an object of anxiety.

So long, however, as the nation is not actually borne down by the weight of taxes, its wealth inust increase; and, what is considered as a very

strange

strange phenomenon, is only the natural änd necessary consequence of increased taxation.

When men inhabit and cultivate land of their own, they are under no necessity of creating any greater value than they consume; but when they pay rent and taxes, they are laid under a necessity of producing enough to supply their own wants, and to pay the rent and taxes to which they are subject. The same is the case with regard to manufactures in every line of business, for although they do not, perhaps, consume any part of what they produce, (what comes to the same thing is that), they are obliged to produce as much as will exchange, or sell, for all they want to consume, over and above paying their rent and taxes.

Without rent and taxes, there are only three things that excite the exertion of man-Necessity, arising from natural wants; a love of pleasure; or, a love of accumulation.

When a man labours no more than for his mere natural necessities, he is a poor man, in the usual acceptation of the word, that is, he has no wealth; and a country, peopled with such men, would justly be called a poor nation. When a man labours for nothing more than what he expends on pleasure, or to gratify his taste and passions, it is still the same, he consumes what he creates, and there is an end of the matter; and, whether he consumes much or little, as his consumption is regulated by it, no difference is

made

made to society; but, when rent and taxes constitute a part of the price o every commodity, the consu aption of every man, whether he himself pays any taxes, directly or not, is attended with an increase to the revenues of those who receive the rent and taxes, and obliges him who pays to create or produce more than he consumes.

It arises from this, that the aggregate wealth of a people increases with rent and taxes; for where there are neither, the desire of accumulation is the only thing that increases wealth.

It is for this reason, that, by obliging a man to create more than he himself consumes, taxation increases the wealth of a nation; so that the flourishing state of England is a very natural effect of heavy taxation. The misery and poverty of those people who have little or nothing to pay, is equally natural, though it does not astonish one quite so much.

As there is nothing in the world without a boundary and a limit, it is clear, that, in laying it down as a principle, that rent and taxes occàsion wealth instead of poverty, it is only to be understood, to a certain extent; that is to say, to the length to which the nature of things will admit of the exertion of man augmenting his industry, but not a step farther.

In London, rent and taxes are heavier than in any other part of the kingdom; and in Scotland they are lower than in any other; yet, those who live either by labour or talent emigrate, from all parts of the kingdom, to London,

VOL. III.

X

and

and from the poorest places in the greatest numbers. Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, are the poor countries, lightly taxed, and from them people go perpetually, to pay heavy taxes in London. Yes, but it will be said, in answer, these are poor countries. They are, however, richer than England was in the days of Queen Elizabeth; and, if the nature of things could have admitted of people changing centuries, as they change countries, the people of the seventeenth century, with light taxes, would have emigrated to the nineteenth century, with all its heavy taxes, just as those Irish, Scotch, and Welch now flock to London.

This proves, that, even in London, the excess of taxes is not yet such as to create a retrograde effect, and it proves it in a very striking manner. Though there may, at first sight, appear something ludicrous in the idea of emigrating from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth, from the reign of Elizabeth to that of his present Majesty, it is a perfectly fair comparison, and will hold good, examine it as much as one will. The common expression, (and a very significant one it is), that one part of the country is a century behind another, or twenty years, or fifty years, is exactly the same idea, expressed in other words; for it is a comparison between the changes which a lapse of time makes in one case, and a removal of place in the other. The present times are then better to live in than those of Elizabeth,