Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum. HORAT. EPIST. L. 1. Ep. 1. REDEMPTION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT. 1. On the Expediency and Necessity of striking off a Part of the National Debt; with Observations on its Practicability, with the least possible Injury. (PAMPHLETEER, No. XXXVI. June, 1821.) 2. Elements of a Plan for the Liquidation of the Public Debt of the United Kingdom. (Third Edition, 1819. By RICHARD HEATHFIELD, Gent.) 3. Further Observations on the Practicability and Expediency of liqui dating the Public Debt of the United Kingdom; with Reference particularly to the Landed Proprietor; including some Observations on Population and the Poor. (Also by RICHARD HEATHFIELD, Gent. 1820.) We had entertained the opinion, that all classes of the community were so well satisfied of the necessity of upholding public credit; or in other words, of performing its legal promises to the fund-holder; that we did not expect to have been called upon to discuss a question, the merits of which had, as we conceived, been fully decided. Our attention, however, having been fixed by au able though ex parte essay in THE PAMPHLETEER of June last, we venture upon a topic which has already been variously argued in longer established publications. A strong impression has always rested upon our minds, that, when at the close of the war the property tax was discontinued either from a misdirected impulse of public opinion, or from the want of commanding talent on the part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the nation committed towards itself an evident injustice: but we are no otherwise the advocates for its continuance than as a measure which would have proved highly beneficial to the general interests of the empire.— And what have been the consequences of its discontinuance? An embarrassed treasury deficiency of ways and means-absorption or misapplication of the sinking fundnew ad valorem taxes-more than usual rigour in the collection of the assessed taxes-a petty warfare for a few pounds, shillings, and pence, dignified by the name of re trenchment and economy-and onethird of the income of the country rendered in a great degree inapplicable, as contributing to taxation. On the other hand-what may not reasonably have been expected from the continuance of the property tax? A surplus of ways and means-an efficient sinking fund-no fresh taxes but the repeal of a part of the excise duties-relief to the middling classes -a better system of retrenchment, than at present-a surplus of the consolidated fund-no fears for the credit of the country-no attacks upon the public annuitants. But we may be asked-how could the tax have been paid in a time of acknowledged public distress? We ask in reply-How have the taxes under the existing system been paid? The answer will be," they have been paid, but with difficulty.' Then where has the difficulty existed? We say-among the middling classes of society, the majority of the payers of assessed taxes. Of these taxes, or of excise duties, the continuance of the property tax would have allowed a remission; and the point resolves itself simply into this quere-Which would, in all probability, prove the safest source of revenue after a long war, accompanied by a monopoly of trade? a tax upon paralysed industry, or upon acquired wealth! for such are the distinct characters of excise duties, and a property tax. At the close of the war, public confidence in vain looked around for the commanding talent of a Pitt. -The ebb of the tide was infinitely to be more dreaded, than its overflow. To the discontinuance of the pro-, perty tax may be attributed, the many monstrous propositions which have from time to time startled the public ear, and lowered the national character; yet, with the advocates for liquidating, or striking off a part of the public debt, the continuance of the property tax ought to be a favourite measure; for it would have effected that gradu ally; which now they propose to do, with a partial or general violence. As modern Whiggism could only be rendered plausible by the support of superior talent; now when the conjurors are dead, the cup and balls remain as useless symbols: so it is with the property tax: he is gone, who alone could with a master's hand, have made it the instrument of renovation; and those only survive, who had not the skill, and (though opposed only by political pigmies,) have not the courage to employ its powers. May we dare to invoke the shade of GREAT CHATHAM'S GREATER SoN! and throwing over him our humble mantle, believe, that he might thus have addressed a listening senate upon the close of the war!— WE DARE. "MR. SPEAKER, Upon the nature of the arduous and momentous duty which devolves upon me at the close of the war, I need not expatiate. It cannot but be felt by every member of this honourable house, and by each individual in the empire. Often has it been my lot, within these walls, to animate, to rouse, and to bring into action the best feelings of the country; and it has been the proudest satisfaction of my political efforts; to know, that the spirit of the country responded to those calls. "In no age, or in any country, has a war ever been conducted with more energy, under more varying turns of fortune, or with more undeviating, and unbending policy. The thwarting efforts of our opponents, their partizan language, and their despondencies, had only served to stimulate the public spirit. No such war can be, or could be so conducted, but by the vast majority of a country united in its opinions, and firmly relying on its government. Of such confidence, I stand in greater need than ever; and I do trust and hope, not to find myself deserted by the only principle, which alone can enable me to obtain for the country, "the maturity of peace." "When national sacrifices have hitherto been demanded, they have either been for the purposes of selfdefence, or the preservation of advantages which had accrued; in both, some danger was to be averted, or some ostensible good to be obtained and rendered permanent. But in states, as in individuals, no sooner is the evil from before us, and the benefit attained, than we sink into an apathy, or commit towards ourselves a public ingratitude. "Would it were possible, that the cessation of war should be followed by the immediate advantages of peace! I shall have not a popular but a painful duty to perform, in demanding from the country, a continuance in a great degree, of those pecuniary sacrifices which it has so punctually fulfilled. The nation has, it is true, conquered its enemies; but there remains yet to be achieved a victory within itself; a victory over the difficulties of its financial situation. The act will be most magnanimous-it will be the partial sacrifice of our present and personal interests, for the more substantial security of our successors. But, like all other magnanimous acts, it will be attended with lasting and no remote advantages. "The state of the country re. quires one of three financial systems to be adopted. "1. To continue the property tax, and thus preserve the sinking fund inviolate. 2. To suffer the property tax to expire at the stipulated period, and appropriate the sinking fund, or a greater portion of it, to the charges of the nation; "Or, 3. To make good the defiencies of ways and means by new loans, and thus counterbalance the effect of the sinking fund. "To be deprived of the amount of the income tax, and still to carry on the redemption of the national debt, is a project utterly impossible; and to create new loans in a state of peace, will depreciate the public credit of the country. "The question is one, upon which the nation may, under all circumstances, be asked with propriety, to form a previous opinion, and give its deliberate sanction: by which I would mean to convey the sentiment; that it will be my duty, as long as I remain in office, to carry into effect whichever of the three propositions this house may, in its wisdom, decide upon. I am the more anxious to lay these various axioms of finance before the nation for their approval and choice, rather than at once come forward with a distinct and decided plan upon which the ministers are to pledge their official existence; because I think, that if there ever was a compliment due to the community at large, it is that of asking them, at this moment, to decide by petitions to this house, these most vital questions-" Is the country willing to be taxed somewhat beyond the measure of its immediate necessities, that it may not perpetuate the public burthen; or, having fought the good fight,' whether it will leave to futurity to pay the costs of the warfare?" I do, Sir, conceive, that this question certainly involves a species of supererogation, a performance of something more than a strict duty requires from us; and, therefore it is, that I put it, not immediately as a ministerial measure; but as a subject for previous national feeling. I mean not however, Sir, to shrink for one moment, from my own responsibility; or to hesitate in giving an immediate opinion on that proposition of the three, which I should recommend, and which I conscientiously believe, (though not the most immediately inviting, and at the first blush, apparently obnoxious) will, in its effects, prove the soundest, safest, and most honourable course. The proposition which I recommend to the nation, is, to continue the property tax and to look for a reduction of taxation, either in the amount of the assessed taxes, or in the malt duty.' I say either in the assessed taxes, or the malt duty; because it might so happen, that agriculture may have to contend with a more than usual depression; in which case, the reduction being made in the malt tax, will be the means of creating an equilibrium; but under such a circumstance, can the payers of assessed taxes complain? No! for they will be purchasing agricultural produce at a reduced price; and thus gain in another way their share of equalized taxation. On the other hand, if agriculture should maintain its efficient price, then the assessed taxes may be lowered proportionably; so that in either case, that branch of the community which shall be found less able to bear a sudden revulsion, may be immediately relieved. To effect this, I propose, that the power of the sinking fund shall be left to work its own way, and not be increased by any new application of capital; and that the excess of the consolidated fund shall be the amount of deduction in the following year, either of the assessed taxes, or the malt duty, as the case may require. Three millions excess would be equal to a deduction of fifty per cent, or one-half upon the assessed taxes; and of forty per cent, or two-fifths upon the malt duty. "To make myself as explicit as possible, and to remove any obscurity, I will repeat again the brief outline of the plan which I have the honour to propose to the consideration of parliament. "1. TO RETAIN THE PROPERTY TAX.-2. TO PRESERVE THE SINKING FUND INVIOLATE; BUT NOT TO INCREASE ITS POWER, BY AN AD.. OR MALT DUTY, AS THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY MAY POINT OUT TO BE MOST BENEFICIAL. "To these four fundamental priuciples, I mean also to add, a revision of every public and official establishment connected with the executive of the government; with a view to abolish or compound, (as the equity of the case may require,) every office which is rendered useless or inactive or inefficient by the altered position of the country; and even at this present moment, as one means of lessening on future occasions, the number of persons to be employed in official situations; it will be an order from the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, to require that the hours of attendance which have been from ten till four, shall now be enlarged from nine till five. Thus, in an immense number of situations, increasing the hours of application to business, one-third upon the present system. This plan will materially shorten the labour of such offices as are devoted to objects immedi ately connected with the late war, I allude thus early to such a strict system of reduction and retrenchment, as may be safely carried into effect without paralysing the public service, or destroying the foundation of future exertions; because, if the government is to be trusted with an excess of income, that excess must be as faithfully applied to the extinction of taxation, as the trust would be generously reposed; and if, indeed, this public confidence is not to be, may not be, or cannot be reposed in the ministers, of the Regent (now acting on behalf of the monarch) who has brought this war, under Divine Providence, to a successful issue; I have a right to ask, of what act of individual or DITION OF CAPITAL.-3. TO AVOID private conduct, have we been guilty, ANY LOAN, OR FURTHER INCREASE TO THE NATIONAL DEBT.-4. TO APPLY THE EXCESS OF NATIONAL INCOME, TO A PROPORTIONAL REDUCTION IN THE ASSESSED TAXES, to deprive us of the continuation of this confidence? In responsible ministers, there can be, or ought to be, no exculpating medium; either their acts are in themselves efficient for the welfare of the public, or in jurious to its interests. Of what offence then am I personally, my colleagues personally, or ourselves collectively charged, that we should fear to ask a continuance of public confidence? Now is the precise mo ment either to accuse us, or to continue to us with undiminished faith, that confidence, without which, (whoever may be minister) the issue of this contest may be so obstructed with difficulty, as to lay our finances prostrate at the feet of the enemy, to whom we have dictated peace in his very capital. "Having now, Sir, made an election of one of three propositions, upon which alone the finance of this mighty empire can be regulated; I shall confine myself to the reasons by which I am actuated in such preference; and those reasons will not be regulated so much by the past as by that prospect of a probable future, for which it is the duty of the administration to provide. "I fear greatly, that those anticipations of internal prosperity which usually accompany, and at all events, are sanguinely expected upon the return of peace; cannot be, and will not be so immediately realized as on other occasions. The turn, and the vicissitudes of the late war, and the quality of it, (if I may so use the term,) have been such, as to create different results during its existence, as in former wars.The command of the sea, has during the whole of its continuance made us the carriers of the world; those only interested in European politics having refrained from war, or preserved an insecure neutrality; who aimed to share a part of this carrying trade with us. Added to this, (as if to enable us to continue a lengthened contest,) the machinery of the country had come into action, supplying that unproportionate or unnatural demand which it has fallen to our lot to be capable of answering. The long duration of the war, broken by intervals of which the most calculating politician foretold not the finish, had adapted commerce to its exigencies; and in such a state of things, (the armies of Europe yet being undisbanded,) did General Buonaparte once more take the field. No hu. man foresight could reckon upon the immediate effect which the decisive battle of Waterloo produced. Those nearest to the scene of action alone could be brought to bear the shock; and the movements of others of the allies were calculated in expectation of again contending inch by inch, the same ground, which had already witnessed such desolating slaughter. Let us for one moment imagine what would have been the result of a reverse in the low countries! The Emperor of Austria, finding his son-in-law, again victorious, might have stipulated for Italy, have joined France, and opposed the advance of the Russian armies. The English force, weakened by one battle, must have yielded to numbers; Prussia was very distant from her supplies; and the Netherlands would at one blow have fallen. It pleased Providence to bless his Majesty's arms, in conjunction with his allies. But what was, and what is the immediate effect? The war was now too decidedly ended, to admit of any other inference, than that of AN IMMEDIATE PEACE. "The armourer stopped his forge, the husbandman his plough, the manufacturer his loom, and the merchant his consignment; and each, in breathless anxiety, asked of the other, "What will be the result?" "It was in such a pause, that a sense of our national greatness fully flashed npon our conviction.-Can it continue? was the question to be solved by the country.-Can it continue? was a question deeply to be considered by those to whom the Regent had been pleased to commit the executive of his administration. "Myself and colleagues have brought our minds most earnestly, most laboriously, and I trust most |