either expended in other countries, or becomes the subject of accumulation. The repression of illicit trade and dealing. The removal of the great weight on the springs of industry and enterprise, and of the legislative checks to the effectual improvement of the British commercial system. The extensive reduction of the public expenses. And, The extensive reduction of parish rates; Would produce beneficial effects, fully equal to the advantages which have been deduced, from the adoption of the proposal which has been suggested, for the liquidation of the public debt. Summary of the Author's Publications on the Liquidation It is endeavoured to be shown; That the increase in the British Empire, of the means of national riches and power, has been very considerable during the last thirty years. That individual ease and comfort are not experienced in any proportion to this increase of means; but that, on the contrary, the increasing prevalence of suffering and distress, is generally admitted and deplored. That the public debt is a chief cause of this anomalous state. That the public debt admits of an early and complete liquidation, the basis of a contribution of fifteen per cent., to be levied upon every description of private property, including the amount of the public debt. upon That such liquidation of the debt may be effected, without any dangerous or mischievous disturbance of the state of property. That relief from duties, to the extent of thirty millions per annum, nearly, might precede any levy in respect of the proposed contribution of fifteen per cent. That such remission of duties would, in effect, relieve the country from the payment of at least thirty-six millions per annum, because the consumer pays a considerable advance upon the duty paid by the merchant or dealer, to the Exchequer. That the same remission of duties would be the means of repressing, to a great extent, the fraudulent and injurious practice of Elements of a Plan for the Liquidation of the Public Debt of the United Kingdom, 7th edition. And the present work. smuggling, of preventing other descriptions of fraudulent dealing, and of reducing the parish rates in a very considerable degree; and would also admit the establishment of a system, under which the great evil, of a population exceeding the demand for employment, might be prevented. ["Further Observations,” Appendix E, p. 75.] That upon comparing, in the event contemplated, the probable rate of rent from land and dwelling-houses, the probable rate of interest of money, and the presumed rate of public, official, and stipendiary income, with the expected and consequent advance in the value of money; the present proprietors of lands, houses, and government stock, and all persons receiving public income and pay, would experience a clear improvement, in respect of income, considered with reference to British expenditure, varying, in the respective classes, between thirteen and seventy per cent. And, in particular, that in respect of income from land, the improvement would be in the proportion which 20007. bears to 12007. per annum. [pp. 4-7, or "Further Observations,' Addenda, pp. 128, 129.] That the anticipated change in the effective value of money, as respects the reduction of money prices, does not lead to the apprehension of any consequences prejudicial to the holders of agricultural stock, or of goods in stock; because this change would ensue, in a great degree, from the remission of duties; the immediate effect of which, upon money prices, would admit of remedy to considerable extent, by the restitution of duty to the merchant and dealer, on the stock on hand; and also, because the further decline of money prices would, in some degree, be checked in its progress, by countervailing causes, and might be graduated by legislative means, so as to sustain the price, particularly of agricultural stock, from time to time, until successive supplies, at diminished cost, should enable the grower or dealer to vend at lower rates of price, without loss or prejudice. That by the means proposed, the farmer would be placed in a condition to support the peasant, to maintain his own family in the state of comfort suited to his station in society, and to make a proper return of rent to the proprietor of the soil. That by the means proposed, also, the interests of the merchant, manufacturer, and trader, would be essentially promoted and advanced, particularly by the repression of smuggling, and by the removal of the obstructions which a high revenue system presents, to the advantageous revision of the British commercial system. And, consequently; That the positions assumed by the writer are sufficiently established for immediate practical application: namely; That the ease and confort of the British people are reduced, intercepted, or prevented, by means of the public debt; and that the liquidation of the public debt would place all classes and orders in the enjoyment of the advantages which they have so well earned, by their skill and industry, by their constancy and fortitude; and to which they are entitled, by the valor and conduct of those who have fought and conquered for them, on the ocean and in the field. |