Insuchasituation，Ifairlyacknowledge，thatIcannotdiscoveranyexpedienttoavoidabankruptcy。Engagingtheforeigncreditorstobecomecitizens，bytheallurementsofthegreatestprivileges，andbillsofnaturalization，arevainspeculations。Unlesssomeresource，hiddenfromme，should，uponsuchanoccasion，openitself，inthedeeprecessesoffutureevents，Ibelievethenationwouldsoonbedrivenuponthefatalrockofbankruptcy。Theideaofanation’sbecomingbankrupttoitself，Ihavealwayslookeduponasacontradiction；butthatitmaybecomebankrupttotherestoftheworld，isquiteconsistentwithreasonandcommonsense。
Ishallnottakeuponmetosuggestwhatmodeofbankruptcywouldinsuchacasebethebest；atotal，orapartialone。Thepartial，Iamafraid，would，inEngland，workeffectsalmostashurtfulastheother。Butifeverthecaseshouldhappen，theonlywaywillbe，towatchovereverysymptomoftheapproachingcatastrophe，andtoimprovecircumstancestothebestadvantage。
Icannotomitinsertinginthisplacetheopinionofamostsagaciousandmostintelligentforeignmerchant，mostconsolatorytoGreatBritain，withrespecttothedebtssheowestoforeigners。
ThelateMrMegens，wholivedmanyyearsinEngland，composedatreatiseinGerman，whichMrHorsleytranslatedin1752，underthetitleoftheUniversalMerchant。Inthe31stSectionofthisworkisthefollowingpassage:
’Andalthoughitcannotbedenied，thatforasmuchasforeignersarebecomegreatcreditorsinthepublicdebtsofEngland，agreatsumofinterestmustbeannuallymadegoodtothem。Yetifitappearthattheprivatepeopleabroad，aremoreindebtedtotheprivatepeoplehere，thansuchinterestamountsto；thenationhasnoprejudicialdraughtuponit，onaccountofsuchdebt；andthatthegeneralbalanceoftradeishighlyinfavorofEngland。’