... so many Briarean arms clutching at the pockets of the people. This onerous system of taxation is made necessary by free-trade, and by the ponderous British public debt. The public debt of the United States , less cash in the treasury, is $1,063,004,894, while in 1888 the debt of Great Britain, with about half as much population, was £ 705,575,073, or $3,527,875,365—almost three and a half ti...