= 
HISTORY OF,.,EUR OPE. 
) 
(eal 
CH jAbP.- 138, 
site 4 
Public Expenditure and Income.—<Army and Navy, and other Estimates. 
« Supplies, with Ways and Means.—New Taxes.—Delates on these sub=- 
jects. —Particularly on Sums sent, 
and proposed to be sent to the Em- 
peror-—Portion given with the Princess Rayal—tielief to the Subscribers 
to the Loyalty Loan.—Navy and Exchequer. Bills Funded.—dniia 
. Budget, 
NHE ancient historians of the 
two priacipal nations of an- 
tiquity, at least of those with whom 
we are at all tolerably acquainted, 
so charmingand instructive, by their 
attention to whatever is fitted to 
engage attention, and interest the 
human heart, have generally left us 
in the dark about the annual supplies. 
_ Their heroes, indeed, performed 
great exploits; but of the ways and 
means by which they raised, em- 
bodied and supported their armies, 
we do not find in their works any 
regular or satisfactory account: so 
that the leaders of ancient expedi- 
tions, have the appearance, in our 
imagination, of sallying forth with- 
out scrip or purse, like the adven- 
_ turers in the ancient romances. 
Theprogressofsociety ; theextend- 
edtheatres, and multiplied objects of 
war, with new methods of preparing, 
combining, and applying force, have 
rendered military operations at sea 
_ and land so complicated and expen- 
sive, that the intelligent reader of 
- modern times is not more curious to 
know the fortune, and fate of armies, 
and navies, when raised, than to be 
made acquainted with the pecuniary 
resources, by which \they are, sup- 
ported: in a delineation, therefore, 
of great affairs, the. passions and 
views of sovereign princes, \ the 
movements of armies, and the revo- 
lutions of states and kingdoms, it 
becomes indispensibly necessary for 
the modern historian or annalist, 
to give some account of .revenue, 
finance, and commerce:;a subject, 
however, into which we.shall not 
enter more than, is absolutely ne- 
cessary. We shall confine ourselves 
to general results, it being impossible 
toinfuse any degree of interest Into 
minute arithmetical details, or to 
render them to most men other than 
_ tedious, dry, and diseusting. 
The house of commons, having 
on the twentieth of October, 1796, 
resolved itself into a committee of 
supply, the secretary-at-war moved 
that the estimates, presented on a 
former day, shouldnow be takeninto 
consideration, Though the whole 
of the estimates, on account of of- 
ficial delays, were not yet ready 
for inspection, that portion of them, 
which he held in his hand, would 
afford every information, in point of 
fact, that could> come before them. 
The 
