The operation of this able plan of finance is so rapid, that, enormous as is the present amount of the National Debt, if the system had been scrupulously maintained, great progress would have been already made in its further reduction. But the difficulties in raising the supplies during the war were so great, that Parliament consented to invade this fund in order to provide against the temporary pressure, and thus, with a nominal sinking fund, the interest of which produced 16 millions, no real advance was making towards the reduction of the Debt, inasmuch as we were adding to it with one hand, while we were paying off with the other.

The gradual improvement of the finances however has enabled the ministers to reduce the Expenditure below the Income of the State, and we have at length a real Sinking Fund of five millions set apart for this exclusive object. In the session of 1822, Mr. Vansittart, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, by a masterly arrangement reduced the interest on a portion of the Debt, amounting to 146 millions, from 5 to 4 per cent., being the commencement of a new series of financial measures which promise the most important advantages, and have already enabled the minister to relieve the people from a considerable amount of taxation, and sanguine expectations have been formed as to the further improvement of the whole system of the Finances.

There is perhaps no political fact more remarkable, than that the burden of a great public debt should have produced effects exactly the reverse of those which every thinking person could at first have expected. Some of the wisest orators and statesmen have heretofore prophesied the speedy ruin of this kingdom by the enormous growth of its public debt, not perceiving, what experience alone could prove, that this very debt would produce those resources by which it was to be supported and finally repaid.

To explain this we must request our readers to reflect, that the money thus raised by borrowing from the people, is, for the most part, expended among them, and thus returns to their pockets with the profits made by employing them in the various branches of

public supply required for the service of the State. Thus the building of ships, and the manufacture of all warlike stores paid by the government, diffuse wealth among all classes of the people. The whole amount of the public salaries, military pay, and all other expenses, goes back to individuals, and enables them to pay the taxes which are levied for this very purpose, as well as for discharging the interest of the public Debt. Further, it should be considered that the public Funds afford an opportunity to a very large portion of our fellow-subjects to place their money at good interest and upon the best security, who otherwise would be at a loss to employ their gains, by investing their money in land, or in commercial speculations.

There can be no question that a principal cause of that unrivalled prosperity which this nation has attained, has been the great facility offered by the Public Funds to accumulate the wealth of individuals; and thus, by continual circulation between the State and the people, producing that spirit of enterprize, competition of improvement, and unlimited employment of capital, which gives it the quality of constantly reproducing itself,

With many sensible politicians it has been matter of serious alarm, lest by the too rapid operation of the Sinking Fund, the advantages which spring from the present system might suddenly be destroyed; and they have anticipated that the extinction of the whole National Debt would of necessity conduct us to national ruin, for want of that great fund which forms the centre of the monied interest of the whole nation. But as such an event must now be of very distant prospect, every friend to his country must be anxious to see the Sinking Fund in full play, in order that so much at least of the debt may be discharged, as may set free the resources of the nation, and enable us to provide against any future war, without trenching upon the produce of those taxes which are now so largely absorbed by the interest payable on the National Debt.

L.

274

ON POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS.

So great are the facilities of procuring information, and such the perfect freedom of inquiry in this country, that knowledge is confined to no class or description of our countrymen. In this respect it is astonishing how superior is the present generation in comparison with the past. Within our own memory the number of readers has probably been doubled, and the benefits of education are hourly extending. The superior intelligence of the people of England over the inhabitants of every other nation in the world is still more striking. All this accumulation of knowledge has contributed to the high degree of moral cultivation by which this country is distinguished; and while it has ministered to the individual happiness and comfort of the people, it has operated alike upon their temporal and spiritual welfare.

But as in the natural constitution of human affairs the great bulk of mankind must be chiefly occupied in the daily business of maintaining themselves and their families, each man's portion of general information must still be extremely limited; for those in humble stations never can command leisure for such acquirements as will qualify them to become politicians, philosophers, or divines; these must necessarily fall to the lot of a very small portion of the community. To such men, therefore, must be left the important concern of investigating and determining all the great principles by which we are to be governed, both in moral and political affairs; and while every one is at liberty to amuse or instruct himself by reading or conversing with his neighbour on the current transactions of the day, and the common interests of humanity, he will prudently resign the direction and controul in all important matters, to those who are duly qualified for the task by eminent knowledge and exalted station.

In compliance with this evident design of the Creator, we may observe in the mind of man a disposition to be led by superior wisdom and experience in all

concerns of importance. There is a natural distrust of our own judgment, an indolence to think and determine for ourselves, which greatly tend to produce obedience to the dictates of our superiors in knowledge and authority, quite independent of the deference we may be disposed to show to the divine precept which expressly commands it. And though the reverse of this may sometimes be produced by the excitements of artful men, to serve a particular purpose (especially in politics and religion), the people soon relapse into their original acquiescence under authority, and are content to yield the guidance of their conduct to others whom they think most competent to direct

them.

They who are least disposed to consent to such controul, are those to whom knowledge is a new thing; who, having acquired just so much information as to render them vain of their attainments, are too ignorant to comprehend the whole of any intricate subject, or to perceive the consequences which must necessarily result from embracing any favourite opinion. Such men are particularly impatient of authority, and are disposed to consider every attempt to set them right as an invasion of their privileges, and suspect every suggestion for their improvement as a design upon their independence. This is especially true of political opinions. He who can read the newspapers with tolerable readiness, and has furnished his memory with the names of a few of the principal leaders, and with a slender smattering of the politics of the day, steps forth as the patriotic instructor of his less learned neighbours. Ambitious of distinction, he domineers over them with the pride of superior intelligence, he disdains all authority but his own, and pronounces sentence upon every public transaction with the most arbitrary confidence. If he is a Whig, he abuses every measure of the Government, and loaths the very name of a Statesman. If a Tory, he considers all opposition to Ministers as a sure symptom of disaffection to the State, and denounces their rivals as so many Revolutionists and Radicals.

There was a time, indeed, when Politics, was a subject almost exclusively left to the discussion of men of education. Women seldom meddled with it; and the humbler classes of our fellow-subjects, unless when instigated by their superiors, pursued their occupations without much thought of such matters. They left them to those whose business it was to manage State affairs, and found enough to do in attending to their own. But the gradual diffusion of knowledge, and the rapid succession of extraordinary events, within our own times, have given such an impulse to public curiosity, that people of all ranks now begin to take a personal interest in national concerns. The progress of education has supplied a channel for information to a large portion of our countrymen, who were excluded from such intelligence but a few years ago, and every day adds to the number of those who now relish what they thought dull and uninteresting topics of conversation at no very remote period.

As this disposition increased, that class of persons who are ever on the watch to take advantage of a new fashion, and minister to the prevailing taste whatever may be its object, availed themselves of this growing demand for intelligence. Newspapers and other periodical works, the circulation of which had hitherto been limited to a very small portion of the people, began rapidly to extend. Readers and pur

chasers were found in increasing numbers, and it was sometimes difficult to keep pace with this popular craving for information. A sense of shame at being found more ignorant than their neighbours, produced inquiry among many who were not excited by a more direct inclination for improvement; a suspicion of being imposed on by false intelligence led others to examine for themselves; and the conscious superiority with which every acquisition flattered their vanity, encouraged them to proceed, and prompted them to new efforts.

People, thus disposed were not likely to rest silent with their increased knowledge. It made itself ap