680 Devouring Posterity:A Modest Proposal,Empire,and Ireland's"Debt of the Nation" PMLA owning property or serving in government.Its of the early eighteenth century,the "synthe- members had lent money to a national secu- sis of sovereignty and capital"envisioned by rity fund in 1716 when the Jacobites,Catho- the bourgeois intellectuals who deposed the lic exiles who had lost their property to the monarchy in 1688(Hardt and Negri 87).The Anglo-Irish in seventeenth-century wars,were founding of the Bank of England in 1694,its preparing to reinvade.Many members of Par- circulation of paper currency,and its manage- liament received interest on this investment ment of a national debt by which a permanent in Ireland's first“debt of the nation”from the standing army could be financed had made taxes that they had the political power to levy Britain the first modern "fiscal-military state" on the native poor,but the famine of the late (Brewer xvii).Swift was among the first to 1720s had decimated the usual revenues,forc- articulate how currency and credit,as John ing them to consider additional ones.Like the Brewer notes in The Sinews of Power,fueled North American colonists in the decades fol- this imperial war machine.The new paper lowing the Seven Years'War,the Anglo-Irish money became his "favourite topic"for politi- members of Parliament were threatened by cal polemic,especially after the South Sea Bub- the British Crown's and Parliament's efforts ble had proved that the worth of banknotes, to appropriate these potential new funds for stock certificates,and government bonds, the empire's operations elsewhere.Ireland given their lack of intrinsic value,was based already was financing British and American solely on confidence generated by publicity expansion into French,Spanish,and Native (Ehrenpreis 3:616).In Swift's view,the credi- American territory to the extent that its sover- tors funding the empire-major companies eignty over its resources,as James Joyce wryly like the bank-would manipulate the value put it centuries later,was attenuated in the of their stock for profit,suggesting that the pull "[b]etween the Saxon smile and yankee state could no longer regulate the economy. yawp.The devil and the deep sea"(187).The This loss of political control occurred because Proposal,accordingly,can be taken to be an companies,in exchange for their loans to the intervention in the budgetary debates of the state,owned large portions of the taxes levied 1729 legislative session by promoting a new on the English people.This form of debt bond- means of fiscal control.I argue that its calcu- age enabled company directors to coerce the lated calendar for baby slaughter allegorically agrarian gentry who were operating the gov- recommended a schedule for temporal re- ernment to support wars necessary to secure straint in consumption-a diet in the stream profits(Colley 64).This manifest eclipse of the of revenue-that would make the empire re- authority of the "landed interest”bya“mon- spect the Irish parliament's feeding hand.By eyed interest"(Kramnick 61)of financiers re- declaring such a fast,the Anglo-Irish could ified the concept of the "nation"as a substitute guarantee that they,and not the British,would for authentic political agency:"Nation-states devour native posterity.This article does not are invented through a process of fetishistic foreclose the satire's many other interpretive misrecognition whereby debt,absence,and possibilities-analysis of its discourses on im- powerlessness are transubstantiated,mainly perialism,poverty,or child molestation,for through class exploitation at home and war example-but contends that approaching its abroad,into their opposites"(Brantlinger 20). actuarial logic in relation to the debt of the “Britishness,”the product of such misrecog- nation opens a new context in which those nition,was compensation for those subjected readings can be further explored.2 to what had become a“sovereignty machine'”: A Modest Proposal could be regarded as an apparatus subsuming personalities to the a response to the English financial revolution point of total mimetic identification with the This content downloaded from 202.120.14.172 on Fri,10 Nov 2017 17:56:35 UTC All use subject to http://aboutjstor.org/terms68o Devouring Posterity: A Modest Proposal, Empire, and Ireland's "Debt of the Nation" PMLA owning property or serving in government. Its members had lent money to a national secu rity fund in 1716 when the Jacobites, Catho lic exiles who had lost their property to the Anglo-Irish in seventeenth-century wars, were preparing to reinvade. Many members of Par liament received interest on this investment in Ireland's first "debt of the nation" from the taxes that they had the political power to levy on the native poor, but the famine of the late 1720s had decimated the usual revenues, forc ing them to consider additional ones. Like the North American colonists in the decades fol lowing the Seven Years' War, the Anglo-Irish members of Parliament were threatened by the British Crown's and Parliament's efforts to appropriate these potential new funds for the empire's operations elsewhere. Ireland already was financing British and American expansion into French, Spanish, and Native American territory to the extent that its sover eignty over its resources, as James Joyce wryly put it centuries later, was attenuated in the pull "[b]etween the Saxon smile and yankee yawp. The devil and the deep sea" (187). The Proposal, accordingly, can be taken to be an intervention in the budgetary debates of the 1729 legislative session by promoting a new means of fiscal control. I argue that its calcu lated calendar for baby slaughter allegorically recommended a schedule for temporal re straint in consumption?a diet in the stream of revenue?that would make the empire re spect the Irish parliament's feeding hand. By declaring such a fast, the Anglo-Irish could guarantee that they, and not the British, would devour native posterity. This article does not foreclose the satire's many other interpretive possibilities?analysis of its discourses on im perialism, poverty, or child molestation, for example?but contends that approaching its actuarial logic in relation to the debt of the nation opens a new context in which those readings can be further explored.2 A Modest Proposal could be regarded as a response to the English financial revolution ofthe early eighteenth century, the "synthe sis of sovereignty and capital" envisioned by the bourgeois intellectuals who deposed the monarchy in 1688 (Hardt and Negri 87). The founding of the Bank of England in 1694, its circulation of paper currency, and its manage ment of a national debt by which a permanent standing army could be financed had made Britain the first modern "fiscal-military state" (Brewer xvii). Swift was among the first to articulate how currency and credit, as John Brewer notes in The Sinews of Power, fueled this imperial war machine. The new paper money became his "favourite topic" for politi cal polemic, especially after the South Sea Bub ble had proved that the worth of banknotes, stock certificates, and government bonds, given their lack of intrinsic value, was based solely on confidence generated by publicity (Ehrenpreis 3: 616). In Swift's view, the credi tors funding the empire?major companies like the bank?would manipulate the value of their stock for profit, suggesting that the state could no longer regulate the economy. This loss of political control occurred because companies, in exchange for their loans to the state, owned large portions ofthe taxes levied on the English people. This form of debt bond age enabled company directors to coerce the agrarian gentry who were operating the gov ernment to support wars necessary to secure profits (Colley 64). This manifest eclipse ofthe authority ofthe "landed interest" by a "mon eyed interest" (Kramnick 61) of financiers re ified the concept ofthe "nation" as a substitute for authentic political agency: "Nation-states are invented through a process of fetishistic misrecognition whereby debt, absence, and powerlessness are transubstantiated, mainly through class exploitation at home and war abroad, into their opposites" (Brantlinger 20). "Britishness," the product of such misrecog nition, was compensation for those subjected to what had become a "sovereignty machine": an apparatus subsuming personalities to the point of total mimetic identification with the This content downloaded from 202.120.14.172 on Fri, 10 Nov 2017 17:56:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms