d opportunities for observation qualify them
to speak on the subject with authority. One large party attribute the
rise of prices that took place at this period, entirely to the influence
of the suspension of specie payment by the Bank, which, as they say,
flooded the country with an inflated and depreciated paper currency, and
thus necessitated a corresponding rise in the price of the articles
given in exchange for it. So strongly does this reasoning commend itself
to the minds of those familiar with the first principles of political
economy, that it has been very generally accepted. And it is worthy of
notice that these are almost the only arguments which can be heard in
explanation of the similar rise of prices now going on in this country.
A more subtile but very important class of influences were brought to
notice by another party, under the able leadership of Mr. Tooke. By
these the rise of prices is, to a large degree, attributed to the
excited spirit of speculation produced by the war, which, as they show,
twice during this period brought the country to the brink of ruin. In
favor of this explanation it may be further said that the fall of prices
began immediately on the close of the war, and at no time was greater
than in 1817, two years before the resumption of specie payment by the
Bank. In 1819 the Bank of England resumed the payment of specie. Gold,
which had been at one time at a premium of twenty-five per cent., now
fell rapidly, and in 1821 was again at par.

It is difficult to say which has exerted the largest influence on the
finances of Great Britain--the Revolution of 1688, or the wars with
France in the beginning of this century. The first gave to England its
system of taxation, but the last developed the capabilities of that
system, and adapted it to the wants of a growing and commercial people.

The nation came out of its long conflict with taxes pressing upon nearly
every important branch of industry. In the sixteen years that followed
the war with France, taxes to the amount of nearly $200,000,000, were
taken off from the country. These changes gave opportunities for many
important reforms. While the national debt was slowly reduced, the tax
system underwent great changes. Many taxes which had checked the growth
of important branches of business were entirely removed. Efforts were
made to reduce the excise, which was always an unpopular form of
taxation. In carrying forward these changes, it was