Now, after the Napoleonic wars we had a national debt somewhat
comparable in magnitude in its relation to the national wealth and
income with the present debt. What happened to that as a burden during
the 100 years just gone by? If it was alleviated, to what was the
alleviation due? I would not burden you with a mass of figures, but I
would just give you one or two selected periods. You can find more
details in my recent book on _Wealth and Taxable Capacity_. We had a
total debt of--
850 million pounds in 1817
841 " " " 1842
836 " " " 1857
659 " " " 1895
800 " " " 1903
and before this last war it had been reduced to 707 million pounds. In
1920, of course, it was over 8000 million pounds. Such incidents as the
Crimean and the Boer wars added materially to the debt, but apart
therefrom you will see that there is no tremendous relief by way of
capital repayment to the original debt. Similarly, in a hundred years,
even if we have no big wars, it is quite possible we may have additions
to the national debt from smaller causes.
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