703 



BRITAIN. 



Of the thirteen years of this reign, twelve were 

 years of war. The military and naval expenses 

 amounted to 58,560,581. The object of queen 

 Anne's wars, like those of her prede cessor, was pure- 

 ly continental. They were terminated by the dis- 

 graceful treaty of Utrecht, in 171^, when our allies 

 were ignominiously abandoned. The peace estab- 

 lishment of this period is estimated at 1,965,605. 



On the death of queen Anne, the national debt 

 amounted to 52,145.363 ; but though her successor 

 enjoyed a period of uninterrupted tranquillity, no 

 effort appears to have been made to reduce it. On 

 the 3lst >t December, 1727, the principal amounted 

 to 52,0: 1-.'.'.':;.,; tl, t - iniere-t to 2,219,551. The ag- 

 gregate sum which passed into the exchequer of 

 George I., during a reign of twelve years, three 

 months, and ten days, amounted to 79,832,160. 

 The revenue at the time of his death amounted to 

 4,162,643. 



The prosperous state of the country, for the first 

 twelve years of profound peace at the commencement 

 of George ll.'s reign, might have admitted of a con- 

 siderable reduction of the debt, had not Sir Robert 

 Walpole, a profligate statesman, been minister. In- 

 stead of expending the surplus revenue in the liquida- 

 tion of the debt, it was employed in parliamentary 

 corruption. During ten years, from 1707 to 1717, 

 secret service money amounted only to 337,960. 

 From 1731 to 1741 it cost the nation 1,453,400. 

 This augmentation is ascribed to the increased pay 

 Sir Robert gave to the members for their votes 

 and speeches in support of his administration. The 

 whole of the debt paid off in this long peace, amount- 

 ed only to 5,137,612, the interest of which was 

 253,516. 



The wars of George II. commenced in 1739, and 

 were concluded at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. 

 The total expense of these contests is estimated, by 

 Dr Colquhoun, at 46,418,680. The nation gained 

 nothing by all this expenditure of treasure. The war 

 originally arose with Spain : that nation claiming the 

 right of searching all British vessels navigating the 

 American seas. This-subject, which formed the ground 

 of the war, was never mentioned at the peace of Aix- 

 Ja-Chapelle, any more than the right of search, which 

 originated the last war with the United States of Ame- 

 rica, was mentioned at the treaty of Ghent. The only 

 advantage the British gained was the glory of placing 

 Maria Theresa, grand duchess of Tuscany, on the 

 throne of Germany, in opposition to the king of Prus- 

 sia, In the interval of peace, to the commencement 

 of war in 1755, there was a trifling reduction of the 

 debt to the amount of 3,721,472, and the interest of 

 the capital was reduced from 4 to 3 per cent. 



The expense of the second war, called the seven 

 years' war, amounted to 111,271,996. This'con- 

 test first commenced about the respective boundaries 

 of the French and British in the deserts of Canada. 

 It has been called the war of catskins the possession 

 of a few furs being really the object which involved 

 the two countries in hostilities. On this frivolous 

 pretext commenced a war then unexampled in mag- 

 nitude and expense ; its ravages extended to Europe, 

 and even to the other side of the gJobe in the East 

 Indies. It is worthy of remark, too, that on the 

 continent, George II. took the part diametrically 

 opposite to the part he had taken in the former con- 

 test. The war of 1740 was for the humiliation of 

 the king of Prussia ; the war of 1755 for his aggran- 

 dizement! 



The debt, finances, and peace establishment at the 

 conclusion of the reign of George II., are thus stated 

 by Dr Colquhoun : , 



Public Revenue. 



Customs . . l,985,37 



Excise . . . 3,877,349 

 Stamps . . . 263,207 



Land-tax, ^deduct. 



ing deficiencies) 1,737,608 

 Miscellaneous . . 650,000 



Total . . . 8,513,540 



Debt at the conclusion of the 

 peace of 1702 . . 



Par EiUbllihmcnt 

 Civil List . . 830,600 

 Navy . . . 900,008 

 Army . . . 000.000 

 Ordnance . . Hit (ton 

 Miscellaneous 50,000 



'2,766,000 



Principal. 



140,082,843 4,840,821 



In the course of George III.'s reign, were three 

 principal wars : the American war, the revolutionary 

 war, and the war of 1815. All these wars were 

 waged against human liberty and happiness ; and 

 the two last commenced on a principle which we 

 would fain hope is now disclaimed by every govern- 

 ment in Europe namely, the right of one nation to 

 interfere with another in its domestic affairs. We will 

 state the cost of each, as shown in the sums raised 

 by taxes and loans. 



American War. 



The American war terminated in 1783 ; but as the 

 loans of the two following years were raised to wind 

 up the expenses of that struggle, it is proper they 

 should be included. The total expense of the Ame- 

 rican war will then stand thus : 



Loan 



Advances by the Bank of England . 

 Advances by the East India Company 

 Increase on the unfunded debt . 



Deduct expense of a peace establishment for 

 eleven years, as it stood in 1794 



Net cost of the American war 



129,075,229 



93,8Ci).92 



110,000 



3,200,'oflO 



5,170,273 



232,325,404 

 113,142,403 

 119,133,091 



George III. boasted that he was the last man in his 

 dominions to subscribe to the peace with America : he 

 left his people burdened with a debt of about one 

 hundred and twenty millions, as the price of the obsti- 

 nacy of one man, and an abortive attempt to impose 

 on a people the tyrannical principle of taxation with- 

 out representation. 



The second war was still more atrocious than the 

 first ; it was a war not merely against liberty, but the 

 principles of liberty ; it was a barbarous and gigantic 

 effort of the privileged orders to prevent the amelio- 

 ration of society, and to render mankind the eternal 

 victims of ecclesiastic and aristocratic oppression. As 

 the war of 1793 was more diabolical in its objects than 

 the contest with America, so we should say, had its 

 calamities only extended to its authors, it has been 

 more justly ruinous in its consequences. Let us en- 

 deavour to estimate the cost of this contest. We 

 shall state the sums raised by taxes, and the debt con- 

 tracted each year from its commencement, and then 

 deduct the probable expenditure of the country, had 

 no such warexisted. 



The short peace of Amiens, and the interval l>e- 

 twixt the exile and return of Borciparte from Elba, 



