Notes on Local Loans

Extract

Public Debts, whether national or local, belong to modern history. Our National Debt dates from the Revolution of 1688. It is five years after that event until we find the item “Interest and Management of the Public Debt” figuring in the accounts of the Exchequer. At William's death in 1702 the debt was twelve millions, an amount which was increased threefold during the twelve years of the reign of Anne. George the First's thirteen years raised our national obligations to fifty-two millions, while by 1760, when George the Second died, they exceeded one hundred millions. During the long reign of George the Third the burden swelled enormously. The rise was just a geometrical progression, from twelve to a hundred millions in fifty-eight years, and from one to nine hundred millions in the sixty years succeeding. The explanation, of course, is war. We spent a hundred millions in a vain attempt to compel the allegiance of the United States, and more than eight hundred millions in avenging Louis XVI., overthrowing Napoleon, and restoring the Bourbons to the throne of France.