Stocks, into the origin and progress of which we are now going to inquire; and an inquiry it is worthy of the undivided attention of every true Englishman; every man who wishes to see the country of his forefathers preserved from ruin and subjugation.

million of pounds shall, out of the rates and duties imposed by the Act, receive a certain interest, or annual payment, for the use of the money so advanced. They were to have, and they had, their money secured to them by way of annuity for life or lives; and, they were

survivorship; and the annuities were to be redeemed upon certain conditions and at certain times. But, it will be quite useless for us to load our subject with a multitude of words, and to ring the changes upon all the quaint terms, which, as appertaining to these matters, have, one would think, been made use of for no other purpose than that of

Soon after the ENGLISH REVOLU-to have certain advantages in cases of TION; that is to say, soon after our ancestors had driven away King James the Second, and had brought over the Prince of Orange and made him king in his stead, and had, at the same time, taken measures for stripping the family of Stuart of the crown for ever, and putting it upon the heads of His present Majesty's family; soon after this Revolution, the existence of Funds, confusing the understandings of plain Stocks, and a National Debt, began, under the auspices of that same Prince of Orange, who was then become our King William III., and who appears to have lost but very little time in discovering the effectual way of obtaining money from the English, without resorting, as the Stuarts had, to those means, the use of which had, ever and anon, excited commotions against them: which had brought one of them to the scaffold; and which, at last, after driving another from the land, had for ever stripped them of their crown. The real motives for creating a National Debt we shall, by-and-by, perhaps, have occasion to notice; but, at present, our business is to get at a clear notion of the way in which it was created.

men. The light wherein to view the transaction is this: The Government was (no matter how, or from what cause) got into a war with France; and, for the alleged purpose of pushing on this war with "vigour" (it is odd enough that the very word was made use of, just as it is now) they borrowed a million of pounds of individuals, and, at the same time, imposed taxes upon the whole nation for the purpose of paying the interest of the money so borrowed; or, in other words, the nation's taxes were mortgaged to the lenders of this million of pounds.

The lenders of the money, who, in time, became to be called fund-holders or stock-holders, did, as the work of lending and fund-making advanced, William the Third was hardly seated make their loans in various ways, and upon the throne before a war was begun the bargains between them and the against France, and, in the 4th year of Government were of great variety in his reign, being the year 1692, an Act their terms, and in 'the denominations of Parliament was passed imposing made use of; but, it was always the "Certain Rates and Duties upon Beer, same thing in effect: the Government Ale, and other Liquors, for securing borrowed the money of individuals, it certain Recompenses and Advantages in mortgaged taxes for the payment of the said Act mentioned, to such Persons the interest; and those individuals reas shall voluntarily advance the sum of ceived for their money, promises, or Ten Hundred Thousand Pounds towards engagements, no matter in what shape, carrying on the War against France." which enabled them to demand annually, This is the title of the Act, being Chap-half-yearly, or quarterly, the share of ter 3rd of the 4th year of William and Mary. These are the very words; and fatal words they were to England.

In the body of this Act it is enacted, that the persons who shall advance the

interest due to each of them; and any single parcel of interest, so received, is what is, in the queer language of the funding trade, called a dividend." No matter, however, what the thing is

66

called; no matter how many nick-
names they choose to give to the several
branches of the Debt. We daily see,
in the newspapers, what is called the
"PRICE OF STOCKS," as in the fol-
lowing statement, which is in all the
newspapers of this day :-

Bank Stock 257 5
3 per Cent. Red. 68
3 per Cent. Con. 67 87
4 per Cent. 85 47 51 47
5 per Cent. Navy 99 †††
Long Annuities 18
Omnium 2 dis.

Excheq. Bills 1 dis. 5 prem.
Bank Stock for open 257
Consols for 68 季音

the Stocks (they are made use of indiscriminately) is a PLACE, where money is kept. A place, indeed, of a sort of mysterious existence; a sort of financial Ark; a place not, perhaps, to be touched, or even seen; but, still the notion is, that of a place, and a place, too, of more than mortal security.

Alas! the Funds are no place at all! and, indeed, how should they, seeing that they are, in fact, one and the same thing with the National Debt? But, to remove, from the mind of every creature, all doubt upon this point; to dissipate the mists in which we have so long been wandering, to the infinite These are names, which the dealers, amusement of those who invented these or jobbers, in Stocks give to the several terms, let us take a plain commonclasses of them. But, as I said before, sense view of one of these loaning let us avoid confusing our heads with transactions. Let us suppose, then, this worse than Babylonish collection that the Government wants a loan, that of names, or sounds, and keep fully and is, wants to borrow money, to the amount clearly and constantly in our sight of a million of pounds. It gives out its these plain facts: FIRST, that the Funds, wishes to this effect, and, after the usual the Stocks, and the National Debt, all ceremony upon such occasions, the loan mean one and the same thing; SE- is made, that is, the money is lent, by CONDLY, that this Debt is made up of the Messrs. Muckworm and Company. We Principal money lent to the Govern- shall see, by-and-by, when we come to ment at different times since the begin- talk more fully upon the subject of ning of the thing in 1692; THIRDLY, loans, what sort of a way it is, in which that the Interest upon this principal Muckworm pays in the money so lent, money is paid out of the taxes; and, and in what sort of money it is that he FOURTHLY, that those persons who are pays. But, for the sake of simplicity entitled to receive this interest, are what in our illustration, we will suppose we call fund-holders, or stock-holders, him to pay in real good money, and or, according to the more common no-to pay the whole million himself at tion and saying, have "money in the once. Well what does Muckworm get in return? Why, his name written in a book; against his name is written, that he is entitled to receive interest for a million of money; which book is kept at the Bank Company's house, or shop, in Threadneedlestreet, London. And thus it is that Muckworm "puts a million of money into the Funds.' "Well," you will say, "but what becomes of the money y?" Why, the Government expends it, to be sure: what should become of it? Very few people borrow money for the purpose of locking it up in their drawers or chests." "What? then the money all

Funds."

Being here in the elementary, the mere horn-book part of our subject, we cannot make the matter too clear to our comprehension; and, we ought, by no means, to go a step further till we have inquired into the sense of this saying about people's "having money in the Funds;" from which any one, who did not understand the thing, would naturally conclude, that the person who made use of the saying, looked upon the Funds, as a place, where a great quantity of gold and silver was kept locked up in safety. Nor would such conclusion be very erroneous; for, generally speaking, the notion of the people of this country is, that the Funds or

66

is

vanishes; and nothing remains in lieu "of it but the lender's name written in a " book?" Even so and this, my good

neighbours, is the way, that " is put into the Funds."

"

money put two thousand pounds in the funds;" and thus his daughter (poor

sequence of which she is entitled to receive the interest of the two thousand pounds; which brings us back to the point whence we started, and explains the whole art and mystery of making loans and funds and stocks and national debts.

But, the most interesting part of the girl!) is said to "have her money in the transaction remains to be described. funds;" when the plain fact is, that Muckworm, who is as wise as he is rich, Muckworm's money has been spent by takes special care not to be a fundholder the Government, that Muckworm has himself; and, as is always the case, he now the two thousand pounds of poor loses no time in selling his stock, that Grizzle Greenhorn, and that she, in is to say, his right to receive the interest return for it, has her name written in a of the million of pounds. These Funds, book, at the Bank Company's house in or Stock, as we have seen, have no Threadneedle-street, London, in conbodily existence, either in the shape of money or of bonds or of certificates or of any thing else that can be seen or touched. They have a being merely in name. They mean, in fact, a right to receive interest; and a man, who is said to possess, or to have a thousand pounds' worth of stock, possesses in reality nothing but the right of receiving the inteTest of a thousand pounds. When thercfore Muckworm sells his million's worth of stock, he sells the right of receiving the interest upon the million of pounds which he lent to the Government. But the way in which sales of this sort are effected is by parcelling the stock out to little purchasers, every one of whom buys as much as he likes; he has his name written in the book for so much, instead of the name of Muckworm and Company; and, when Muckworm has sold the whole, his name is crossed out, and the names of the persons, to whom he has sold, remain in the book.

It will be very useful to show the effect of this "putting money in the funds," with respect to the party who is said to put it in. I do not know of any duty more pressing upon me, than that of showing, in this plain and practical way, what have been, what are, and what must be, the consequences to those, who thus dispose of their property; especially if they have no property of any other sort. But, this will be found to belong to another part of our subject; and as we have now seen what the funds and the stocks really are; as we have blown away the mist in which we had so long been wandering; as the financial ark is now no more in our sight than any veritable box made of deal boards and

And here it is that the thing comes home to our very bosoms; for our neigh-nails; as we are now satisfied, that there bour, farmer Greenhorn, who has all is nothing mystical in the words funds his life been working like a horse, in and stocks, and that so far from meanorder to secure his children from the ing a place where a great quantity of perils of poverty, having first bequeathed money is kept, they are not the name of his farm to his son, sells the rest of his any place at all, nor of anything which property (amounting to a couple of has a corporal existence, and are the thousands of pounds), and, with the real mere denominations, or names, of the good money, the fruit of his incessant several classes, or parcels of debt, which toil and care, purchases two thousand the Government owes to individuals; pounds' worth of Muckworm's Funds, in short as we have now, let us hope, or Stocks, and leaves the said purchase arrived at a complete knowledge of the to his daughter. And why does he do so? nature and origin of the funds and stocks The reason is, that, as he believes, his and the National Debt, which, as was bedaughter will always receive the interest fore said, are, in fact, all one and the of the two thousand pounds, without same thing, it is time that we proceed any of the risk, or trouble, belonging to to inquire into their progress, and to see the rents of house or land. Thus how that progress is connected with the neighbour Greenhorn is said to have increase of the bank-notes and with the

stoppage of the payment of those notes in | MARSHALL, W. and J. E., Horton, York

FLIGHT, B., and J. Robson, St. Martin's-
lane, organ-builders.
PRIMER, H., Southampton, dealer in china.
REIFFENSTEIN, J. C., Langport-place,
Camberwell, and Quebec, merchant.
SHEARN, C., Widcombe and Lyncombe, So-

merset, soap-manufacturer.
SCHNELLE, H., and W. Prehn, Tower-

SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.

DAVIE, J., Paisley, grocer.

GILLESPIE, G., Cupar, Fifeshire, flesher and - cattle-dealer.

MELDRUM, R., Cleish, Kinross, potato

BEWLEY, B., Wroughton, Wilts, corn-dealer.
CLOVER, W. G., Holborn, linen-draper.
COLLINS, J., Pulborough, Sussex, grocer.
COOKE, T., Birmingham, brass-founder.
FEAKS, J. S., Cambridge, cordwainer.
HOYLE, W., and R. Eastham, Lee-mill,
Lancashire, woollen-manufacturers.
HUNTON, W., Leeds, Yorksh., linen-manuf.
JONES, C., Birmingham, jeweller.

Beasts, 3,012; sheep and lambs, 22,710; laying out, of Kitchen Gardens; on the mak calves, 131; pigs, 210.

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