592 D E 



Hebt. Brought forward . . . £159, 163,224 



•Y** 1801 Loan 25,500,000 



1802 Exchequer Bills 8,910,450 



Loan 23,000,000 



1803 Loan 10,000,000 



1804 Loan 10,000,000 



1805 Loan 20,000,000 



1806 Loan 18,000,000 



1807 Loan 12,200,000 



1808 Loan 8,000,000 



Exchequer Bills 4,000,000 



1809 Loan 11,000,000 



Exchequer Bills 7,932,100 



1810 Exchequer Bills 8,311,000 



Loan 8,000,000 



1811 Exchequer Bills 7,018,700 



Loan 4,981,300 



Loan 12,000,000 



£'356,854,673 

 Ireland dates the origin of her public debt at an epoch 

 greatly posterior to that of Britain. It did not, indeed, 

 exceed a few millions until the war of 1793, in the 

 course of which it advanced with a rapidity almost as 

 great, making allowance for the striking disproportion 

 of funds, as the arrears of Britain. The sums borrowed 

 were partly on the security of Ireland alone, but more 

 on the joint security of Ireland and Britain. Of the 

 1 atter, the following Table exhibits a list. 



Loans for Ireland guaranteed by Britain. 



1797 L. 1,500,000 



1798 2,000,000 



1799 3,000,000 



1800 2,000,000 



1801 2,500,000 



1802 2,000,000 



1803 2,000,000 



1804 4,500,000 



1805 2,500,000 



Separate loan 1,500,000 



1806 2,000,000 



1807 2,000,000 



Separate loan 1,500,000 



1808 2,500,000 



1809 3,000,000 



1810 4,000,000 



Separate loan 1,400,000 



L.39,900,000 



Reducing the various descriptions of British debt, 

 funded and unfunded, to one general sum, and estima- 

 ting the amount of that sum by the interest which go- 

 vernment is pledged to pay, we shall find that in the 

 present year our annual interest has risen, one way or 

 another, to nearly, thirty millions sterling. Multiply- 

 ing this sum by twenty, on the assumption of five per 

 cent, being the regular interest of money, we make a 

 gross sum of six hunched millions sterling. This sum, 

 large as it appears, will probably be found below the 

 mark, because in the event of peace, 3 and 4 per cent, 

 stocks may take a value not very remote from that of 

 L. 1 00 in money. Applying a similar rule to the case 

 of Ireland, we shall carry the amount of her debt to 

 nearly eighty millions sterling, being somewhat less 

 than a seventh of our own. 



In examining the operation of our sinking funds 

 prior to 1793, we cannot fail to be struck with the in- 

 significance of its proportion to the general mass of our 

 debt. In the long peace between 1714 and 1740, the 



5 



BT. 



average annual re-payment was only a two hundredth 

 part of the whole. Again, in the pacific interval from 

 1763 to 1775, the ratio, though somewhat better, was 

 still below the one hundred and thirtieth part of the 

 capital; and between 1783 and 1793, it became less 

 than ever, for it did not exceed a two hundred and 

 twentieth part. The trifling proportion of these sums 

 to the whole, seems to amount to a demonstration, that 

 so long as wars are of frequent recurrence, the hope of 

 paying off any considerable part of the national debt is 

 a delusion. Each contest sinks us deeper and deeper 

 into difficulty, and tends to create a suspicion that mi- 

 nisters have not been serious in their promises of exten- 

 sive liquidation. In treating of the article Sinking- 

 Fund, we shall take occasion to shew that this boasted 

 engine is fitter to extract additional sums from the 

 pockets of the people, than to operate a reduction of 

 prior incumbrances. Farther explanations, in connec- 

 tion with this subject, will be given under the several 

 heads of Loan, Long Annuity, Lottery, and Ton- 

 tine. The practical result of these different statements 

 will be, that the calculations of extraordinary benefit, 

 from the operation of compound interest, are unfound- 

 ed, and that the only effectual source of reduction con- 

 sists in the excess of revenue above expenditure. 



We conclude by a Table explanatory of the progres- 

 sive advance of our revenue from a very remote period. 

 The inaccuracy and ambiguity of ancient records, pre- 

 vent it from possessing a claim to the character of offi- 

 cial accuracy ; but it is notwithstanding curious as an 

 approximation to a fair statement of the amount of the 

 public income at various periods. 



Computed amount of the Public Revenue at the commence- 

 ment of each Reign. 



Years. Sterling Money. 

 William the Conqueror, . 1066 . . L.400,000 



William Rufus, 1087 . . 350,000 



Henry 1 1100 . . 300,000 



Stephen, 1135 . . 250,000 



Henry II 1154 . . 200,000 



Richard 1 1189 . . 150,000 



John, 1199 • • 100,000 



Henry III 1214 . . 80,000 



Edward 1 1272 . . 150,000 



Edward II. ....... 1307 . . 100,000 



Edward III 1347 • • 154,139 



Richard II 1377 . • 130,000 



Henry IV 1399 . . 100,000 



Henry V 1413 . . 76,643 



Henry VI 1422 . . 64,976 



Edward IV 14601 



Edward V 1483 |> . 100,000 



Richard III 1483 J 



Henry VII 1485 . . 400,000 



Henry VIII 1509 . . 800,000 



Edward VI 1547 . . 400,000 



Mary, 1553 . . 450,000 



Elizabeth, 1558 . . 500,000 



James 1 1602 . . 600,000 



Charles 1 1625 . . 895,819 



The Commonwealth, 7 . fi ._ ("1,517,247 

 Charles II. J ' 10 * S ' \ 1,800,000 



James II 1684 . . 2,001,855 



William III 1688 . . 3,895,205 



Anne, 1706 . . 5,691,805 



George 1 1714 . . 6,762,643 



George II 1727 • . 8,522,540- 



George III, 1760 . . 8,800,000 



Debt. 



