GENERAL HISTORY. 
[35 
CHAPTER IV. 
The Budget, English and Trish. 
HE House of Commons hav- 
ing resolved itself into a 
Committee of Ways and Means 
on June 14, 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
in rising to submit to the com- 
mittee the terms on which he had 
contracted a loan that morning, 
could not but regret that circum- 
stances had made it necessary for 
him to propose that a provision 
should be made for the prosecu- 
tion of a war on the most exten- 
sive scale, while the country was 
yet labouring under the burthens 
thrown upon it by a former con- 
test. It would be in the recol- 
lection of the committee, that but 
a few months had elapsed since 
that House was employed in de- 
bating what provision would be 
necessary for the peace establish- 
ment of the country, and by what 
means the nation should be gra- 
dually released from the charge of 
the expenditure imposed upon it 
by the events of the late struggle 
in the cause of Europe. Scarcely 
however, had the ratification of 
the treaty of peace with America 
arrived, before circumstances oc- 
curred which had led to a renewal 
of the war with France. The cir- 
cumstances which had attended 
the landing of Buonaparte in 
France were of a nature so ex- 
traordinary and unprecedented, 
that they could neither be by pos- 
sibility foreseen, nor prevented by 
any act of the British government; 
and they were felt throughout 
Europe asan electric shock, which 
in a moment rouzed all its nations 
into arms. The declaration of the 
allies of the 13th of March, issued 
at a time when it was not possi- 
ble for them to have had any com- 
munication with this country, 
proved that the impulse had not 
been given by England, but that 
it was the opinion of all the great 
sovereigns on the continent, that 
with a government like the pre- 
sent government of France, whose 
authority rested on no right— 
which was founded on oppression 
at home, and insatiable ambition 
abroad—there was no safety for 
them but in war; satisfied as 
they were, that such a power 
would Jabour to effect the subju- 
gation of Europe, if it were not 
overpowered itself. This country 
had at that time made some pro- 
gress in the reduction of its ex- 
penditure. The American war 
was at anend; but at the same 
time large demands were existing 
against the nation. ‘Though this 
war was closed, it was still neces- 
sary to provide for the return 
of our army from America, and 
also for the paying off the large 
arrears which remained in conse- 
quence of that contest in Europe 
which had preceded it. These 
circumstances being ‘taken into 
the consideration of the commit- 
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