CHAPTER VI

THE REVIVAL OF THE SINKING FUND

In the latter half of the eighteenth century no work on the subject of the debt probably attracted as much attention as that of a certain Nonconformist minister, Dr. Richard Price. Price’s influence can be ascribed to the fact that he did not stop at the point at which Hume and Smith stopped; he certainly prophesied disastrous consequences to the nation if no measures were taken to deal with the debt, but he went further and pointed out a way by which the problem could reach a solution. Nor did his solution belong to that class of schemes which by their suggestion of the necessity of an heroic effort, or of an unparalleled sacrifice, encountered opposition from the very persons whose co-operation would ...

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