184] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797. 
was fair to reason, that, if this au- 
dacious abuse was suffered in one 
department, it would be p.ictised 
in all. Another cause of our pre- 
sent shock was, undoubtedly, the 
war: it was contemptible to say, 
that, sending money out of the king- 
dcm did not make us poorer; it 
was contemptible to tell us, that, 
because it did not go forth in specie, 
it was therefore no diminution of 
our weaith; it was a great and 
fatal source of decrease, it diminish- 
ed the re-productive power of the 
country, and it was found in the 
annual deficiencies of our revenue ; 
which again became another cause 
of the present dilemma ; for, the 
minister had, year after year, to 
practise new expedients, for the 
concealment or the supply of this 
deficiency ; and thus it was, that, 
year after year they had been kept 
in a state of delusion, which more 
than any thing else, was mortal to 
the delicate frame of public credit. 
It had been said, that, in this con- 
tinued delusion, the minister had 
displayed want of integrity, as well 
as want of ability; that the delu- 
sions were too creat for mere folly 
to commit, and, that no rational 
explanation could be given, of the 
conduct in which he had persevered 
su long, except that he was both 
incapable and dishonest. He con- 
fessed, that, he did not incline to 
either of these suppositions: he 
could see no reason to believe that 
the minister could be indifferent to 
the fate of his country, nor did he 
imagine, that it could be mere want 
of ability, such intire ignorance of 
arithmetic as could make him cal- 
culate ten millions short of the sum 
that he wanted within two mouths. 
He believed that it was not want of 
ability, but want of power; it was 
that want of authority, over the 
other departments of expence, 
which ought to reside with the first 
lord of the treasury, and which, by 
want of intimate correspondence 
and connection with the other de- 
partments of office, he had fatally 
suffered to slip through his hands. 
It used to be the distinguishing 
feature of the British administra- 
tion, that the treasury was its heart : 
it distribut-d the necessary nourish- 
ment to the other parts; and every 
thing flowed from it, as the com- 
manding centre ; the other depart~- 
ments were necessarily subordinate. 
The noble duke, in his eye, could, 
perhaps, be able to say, how in- 
significant a part, a mere secretary 
of state had to play, when the first 
lord of the treasury exerted his 
powers, and thwarted the measures 
in which he did not coincide. . (We 
suppose the noble marquis alluded 
to the duke of Leeds). But this 
central point of controul had been 
unhappily conceded, and the first 
lord of the treasury, which used to 
confer the title of premier, had 
now sunk into a resemblance of the 
treasurer of France, under the 
ancien regime. 
sury lay at the mercy of each 
department: tie minister of marine, 
the minister of the exterior, the 
miuister cf the interior, and so forth, 
drew upon it at pleasure ; and they 
all knew the consequences: inordi- 
nate expence, confusion, distrust, 
violation of faith, bankruptcy, and. 
revolution. Such was the state of 
France : unhappily for England, we 
had made three stages in this fatal 
cqgreer. Good God! what a scene 
was opened to the eyes of English- 
men ; he did not dare to approach 
the measure of Sunday last; he had 
not yetceased to shudderat it; he 
would 
In France, the trea- - 
