reat considerations, that
operate powerfully, have been omitted by most writers on this subject.
The first, is the increased energy of human exertion, under an
increased operation of necessity; the second, is the effect that the
depreciation of money has, on lessening the apparent burthen
occasioned by the interest of the debt. That these two causes, which
have not been taken into account, have rendered the calculations
erroneous, there is not a doubt; and how far they may still continue to
operate is, at this time, as uncertain as ever; but they ought not to be
considered as of operation beyond a certain unknown point, else the
practice of contracting debt would be capable of infinite extension,
which is impossible.

But the augmentation of the debt itself is not the only circumstance
that excites attention, as intimately connected with the fate of this
nation.

The increasing wealth and prosperity of the nation, under the heavy
load of taxes, of which the debt is the principal occasion, is as much a
matter of surprize as the ultimate result is an object of anxiety.

So long, however, as the nation is not actually born =sic= down by the
[end of page #235] weight of taxes, its wealth must increase; and,
what is considered as a very strange phenomenon, is only the natural
and necessary consequence of increased taxation.

When men inhabit and cultivate land of their own, they are under no
necessity of creating any greater value than they consume; but, when
they pay RENT and TAXES, they are laid under a necessity of
producing enough to supply their own wants, and to pay the rent and
taxes to which they are subject. The same is the case with regard to
manufacturers in every line of business, for though they do not,
perhaps, consume any part of what they produce, (what comes to the
same thing is that,) they are obliged to produce as much as will
exchange, or sell, for all they want to consume, over and above paying
their rent and taxes.

Without rent and taxes there are only three things that excite the
exertion of man:--Necessity, arising from natural wants; a love of
pleasure; or, a love of accumulation.

When a man labours no more than for his mere natural necessities, he
is a poor man, in the usual acceptation =sic= of the word, that is, he
has no wealth; {188} and a nation, peopled with such men, would
justly be called a poor nation. When a man labours for nothing more
than what he expends on pleasure, or to gra