8Z2 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



Principal^ and Annual Charge of the Debt at several periods. 



Principal. Interest und Management. 



Debt at the Revolution in 1689, £ 664,263 £ 39,855 



At accession of Anne, 1702, " 16,394,702 1,310,942 



At accession of George II., 1727, 52,092,238 2,217,551 



At peace of Paris, 1763, 138,865,430 4,352,051 



At commencement of American war, 1775, 128,583,633 4,471,571 



At close of the war, 1784, 249,851,628 9,451,772 



At beginning of French wars, 1793, 239,350,148 9,208,495 



At close of French wars, 1817, 840,850,491 32,038,291 



In January, 1838, 792,306,442 29,461,528 



10. Banks and Currency. The banking system is very extensive, and in no country in 

 the world is the circulation of money so quick and effective. The Bank of England was char 

 tered by William and Mary, in 1693, and was at first an engine of government, rather than a 

 commercial establishment. It is fetill connected with the government by large loans. The 

 concerns of the public debt, and the collection of the revenue, are in the hands of the bank. 

 It has an available loaning capital, of about £20,000,000. The system of private banking and 

 discounting, is also very extensive. There are, in London, above 70 private banking houses. 

 These bold, in deposit, a large proportion of the active capital of the country. The daily 

 payments made to these bankers amount, on an average, to £4,700,000. 



11. Taxes. Almost every article of use, convenience, or luxury, is taxed in Great Britain.* 

 The annual average tax of every individual in England, including women and children, is £3 

 2s. That of each individual in England, Scotland, and Wales, taken together, is £2 15a'. 



12. Foreign Possessions. Great Britain possesses colonies in all quarters of the world, and 

 her vast dominions circle the globe. In Europe, she holds the small island of Heligoland, 

 lying opposite the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser ; the Norijan isles, on the coast of 

 France ; the fortress of Gibraltar, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain ; and the isle of Malta 

 with its dependencies, in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. Beside this, the Ionian 

 islands, also in the Mediterranean Sea, are under her protection. In Africa, she has 

 colonies upon the coast of Guinea, and Senegambia, the large and valuable colony of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, the islands of Fernando Po, Ascension, Tristan d' Acunha, and St. 

 Helena in the Atlantic, and Mauritius, with its dependencies, in the Indian Ocean. In Amer- 

 ica, the vast regions of New Britain, the Canadas, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New 

 Brunswick, and Nova Scotia ; the Bermudas, Bahamas, Jamaica, and other West India islands, 

 with the Guiana colonies in South America, are appendages of this powerful empire. In Asia; 

 her possessions include the greater part of Hindoostan, with Ceylon, large tracts in Further 

 India, Prince of Wales' island, and Sincapore ; and in Oceania, New Holland and Van Die- 

 man's Land. The total area of the British Empire has been estimated at upwards of 6,000,000 

 square miles, with a population of about 156,000,000 of inhabitants. 



13. Church Establishment. The income of the established church of the United Kingdom 

 exceeds ^40,000,000, being more than that of the established clergy of the whole christian 

 world beside. The income of the bishops varies in different years, according to the number 

 of fines, leases, &c. The income of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is primate of all 

 England, "is nbout 100,000 dollars, and that of the Bishop of Durham is little less, although pro- 

 vision has been ii.arle for the reduction of the latter ; that of the Bishop of London is about 

 65,000 dollars, and those of the bishops of York, Ely, and Winchester, are above 50,000. 



•» " Taxes upon every article which enters into ihe mouth, schoolboy whips his taxed top ; the beardless youth man- 



ot covers the back, or is placed under the foot. Taxes ages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed 



upon everything which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, road. The dying Englishman pours his medicine, which 



smell, or taste. Taxes upon warmth, light, and locomo- has paid 7 per cent, into a spoon that has paid 15 per cent ; 



tion. Taxes on everything on earth, and the waters un- flings hiinclf back upon his chintz bed, which has paid 23 



der the earth; on everything that come.s from abroad, or per cent ; makrs his will on an eight pound stamp, and 



IB grown at home. Taxes on the raw material ; taxes on expires in the arms of an apothecary, who has paid a li- 



every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man. cense of a hundred pouncic for the privilege of putting hira 



Taxes on the sauce which pampeis a man's appetite, and to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed 



the drug that restores him to health ; on the ermine which from 2 to 10 per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are 



decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the crim- demanded for burying him in the chancel ; his yiituesare 



inal ; on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice ; on handed down to posterity on taxed marble, and he is then 



the brass nails of the colfin, and the ribands of the bride, gathered to his fathers to be taxed no more." — Edinburgh 



At bed or board, couchant or levant, we must pay. The Rmiew, vol. 33. 



