The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3 No 2,
February 1863, by Various

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Title: The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3 No 2, February 1863
Devoted To Literature And National Policy

Author: Various

Other: Various

Release Date: July 17, 2008 [EBook #26077]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE

CONTINENTAL MONTHLY:

DEVOTED TO

LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY.

VOL. III.--FEBRUARY, 1863.--No. II.

OUR NATIONAL FINANCES.

Our national finances are involved in extreme peril. Our public debt
exceeds $720,000,000, and is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury,
on the 1st of July next, at $1,122,297,403, and on the 1st of July,
1864, at $1,744,685,586. When we reflect that this is nearly one half
the debt of England, and bearing almost double the rate of interest, it
is clear that we are approaching a fatal catastrophe. Nor is this the
most alarming symptom. Gold now commands a premium of thirty-two per
cent., as compared with legal tender treasury notes, and, with largely
augmented issues, must rise much higher, with a correspondent increase
of our debt and expenditures. Indeed, should the war continue, and there
be no other alternative than additional treasury notes, they will,
before the close of the next fiscal year, fail to command forty cents on
the dollar in gold, and our debt exceed several billions of dollars.
This would result from an immense redundancy and depreciation of
currency, and from the alarm created here and in Europe, as to the
maintenance of the Union, and the ultimate solvency of the Government.
Indeed, our enemies, at home and abroad, the rebels, and their allies in
the North and in Europe, already announce impending national bankruptcy
and repudiation, and there are many devoted patriots who fear such a
catastrophe.

That the danger is imminent, is a truth which must not b