ch this mode was
first practised, never had the means of carrying it very far. In Spain,
France, and Holland, national debt met with obstacles that arrested its
progress long before it arrived at the pitch to which it has now come in
this country.

The interest of the debt is above thrice the free revenue of the country,
in time of peace, as that revenue was, previous to hostilities in 1793.

Whenever any operation is begun, the result of which is not known,
owing to its being new, but which is in itself of great importance; the
anxiety it occasions must be great, and, generally, the alarm is more
than proportioned to the danger. If ever this truth was exemplified in
any thing, it has been with regard to the national debt of England,
which has been a continual object of terror since its first creation; not
a public terror, merely amongst the ignorant, but 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
[end of page #234] 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 consequence of which is, that the
conclusion is not so accurate as it otherwise would be. Not that, in
calculating with figures, the disposition of the 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 to
resolve of a very difficult nature; it is indeed a problem, the re-
solution =sic= of which depends upon some circumstances that cannot
be ascertained. There 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 g