The De'bats publishes some valuable statistics of the way in
which French Rentes are held. It states that no less than 4,172,313 persons hold the French Debt, of whom more than a million have their names inscribed in the great Book of the Debt. As the majority of these persons must be heads of houses, and less than half can be females, it follows that the safety of the Debt is matter of personal and direct interest to two mil- lions of adult Frenchmen. No Debt is so protected. Whether a National Debt increases the internal security of a State, as many economists believe, may be doubted, Germany, for instance, being patriotic enough without one, but that if it exists it should be distributed widely among voters there can be no question. Our own Debt is, though it appears not to be, for we have made it so completely the basis of credit that repudiation would reduce us at once to a state of banter, and throw two-thirds of the workmen of the kingdom, agricultural labourers included, out of employ. No one, probably for months, would have any command of money, as no bank could survive the shock a day. It is re- markable that the wildest Radicals in France outside the Com- mune have of late years avoided or discouraged nlo....cee to the fundholder, who in many districts ,4 American Union is
atagrrihati
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