206 
National Wealth and Public Debt. 
[April, 
Italy . . 
Russia . . 
Holland 
Belgium . 
Brazil . 
Consumption of 
British Produce 
per Head. 
£ s - d - 
0 4 3 
OOII 
2 l6 2 
O II 10 
0 112 
Proportion of 
British Produce 
to Total Imports. 
Per cent. 
17 
*7 
10 
8 
There are not wanting people who, wholly overlooking the 
indirect ^pecuniary benefits to this country derived from 
the increase of trade secured in consequence of its colonies, 
and the power and political importance enjoyed by means of 
its widely-spread possessions, object that they should be in 
any way a direft pecuniary burden to the mother country. 
But are they any burden ? The supposed cost of the colo- 
nies to the Imperial Treasury for the nineteen years 1853 to 
1871 was £43,810,000, and during the same time the 
exports of British produce to the colonies were valued at 
£450,798,000 (see Archibald Hamilton’s paper already re- 
ferred to). Now the amount realised by the exports of home 
produce and manufactures constitute in reality so much of 
our aggregate income ; and it has been variously estimated 
that in this country we are taxed from 10 per cent to as high 
as 20 per cent on our incomes. Taking the lowest estimate 
it follows that the Treasury has, during the nineteen years 
in question, obtained a revenue of £45,000,000 in conse- 
quence of the colonial trade, while the expenditure has not 
exceeded £43,810,000. Similarly it may be shown that for 
the year 1871 — the last year of the above-mentioned nineteen 
years — the Treasury derived at least £2,580,000 from the 
colonial trade, and expended, £1,100,000. 
Hence we see that England enjoys an increase of wealth, 
as well as of power and political importance, from the pos- 
session of colonies ; and this is a source of national prosperity 
that is not enjoyed by any other nation, the small colonial 
possessions of Spain, Holland, and France not being of 
sufficient importance to be taken into account. The colo- 
nies and dependencies of Great Britain are, however, more 
than sixty-seven times in area the size of the United 
Kingdom. 
It would be but little use having extensive colonies unless 
a large surplus population were forthcoming to people them. 
England is, of all countries, the best capable of supplying 
this want, for she is the most productive in increase of 
population. From some unexplained reason nations vary 
