But  befides  thefe  things,  there  is  fomething  vi*
fibly  farcical  in  the  whole  operation  of  loaning.  It
is  fcarcely  more  than  four  years  ago  that  fuch  a  rot
of  bankruptcy  fpread  itfelf  over  London,  that  the
whole  commercial  fabric  tottered  ;  trade  and  credit
were  at  a  (land ;  and  fuch  was  the  ftate  of  things,
that  to  prevent,  or  fufpend,  a  general  bankruptcy,
the  government  lent  the  merchants  fix  millions  in
government  paper,  and  now  the  merchants  lend  the
government  twenty-two  millions  iniheh' paper;  and
two  parties,  Boyd  and  Morgan,  men  but  little  known,
contend  who  fhall  be  the  lenders.  What  a  farce  is
this !  It  reduces  the  operation  of  loaning  to  accom-
modation paper,  in  which  the  competitors  contend,
not  who  Hiall  lend,  but  who  (hall  fign,  becaufe  there
is  fomething  to  be  got  for  figning.
Every  Englifh  flock-jobber  and  minifler  boafts  of
the  credit  of  England.  Its  credit,  fay  they,  is  greater
than  that  of  any  country  in  Europe.  There  is  a
good  reafon  for  this ;  for  there  is  not  another  coun^

try


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try  in  Europe  that  could  be  made  the  dupe  of  fiich
a  delufion.  The  Englilh  funding  fyftem  will  remain
a  monument  of  wonder,  not  fo  much  on  account
of  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  carried,  as  of  the
folly  of  believing  in  it.
