.^^ -^c^. ,0 0. .^:^' -% '^. ,^> c: N^ \, ^0 V -^^ \' •>. ^ ' » » ^ ^ \V v">- \ '^^ <^ ^ ,1 "^ ^ ~^^ .^ •X "1>S^ V^ '^^ ^^^ ^~ -X^^' ■''-^ \ C- \ /: ^^. v^ ^b. .V. .1 aa A ^0■ ^ ' « * '^o 'y- >•-' .#• x'^^ ,0 o. o-^ c.^"^ \ % ^' .x^- v\^' ^V ^n \f .^•:^ "^c^ '•^ u ^3? HINTS NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, AND. ON HER RESOURCES TO MAINTAIN THE PRESENT CONTEST WITH FRANCE, BY JOHN BRISTED. l^EW-YOUK: PUBLISHED BY EZRA SARGEANT, BROADWAY, OPPOSITE TRINITY CHURCH, 1809. District of JVew-Tork, ss .- Be tT Remembered, That on the twenty -fifth day of November, in the thirty-fourth year of the independence of the United States of America, Ez- I'a Sargeant, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a bonk, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following : viz. *' Hints on the National Bankruptcy of Britain, and on her Resources to^ maintain the present contest with I'rance. By John Bristed." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States entitled «« Aa act for the encouragement of learning by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." And alse to an act entitled " An act supplemen- tary to an act entitled An act for the encouragement of learning by securing the copies of maps, charts and hooks to the authors and proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints." CHARLES CLINTON, Cleric of the district of JVetv-York ADVERTISEMENT. AS a very general misconception prevails throughout ^e United States, respecting the actual condition of the national wealth of Britain, and more particiiarly of her public Jinan^ ces, I Jiatter myself that a few hours, borrowed from my se- verer prof essional studies, might be profitably and I hope not unacceptably employed in laying before the American people a series of facts developing the real state of Britain s affairs, and more especially of her national debt and funding system. In the followino- pages tlic sums of money stated always mean sterling, unless it be otherzcise particularly mentioned. It is not within I he »copc of my present design to touch upon the internal system of complicated polity, which distinguishes the federal republic of America from all other governments ancient or modern ; to descant upon her eigh- teen separate, indejyendent sovereignties, each containing its own state-executive, legislative, and judicial departments ; her federal or general head, with its own separate, superintending executive, legislative, and Judicial branches of governme?it ; her blind voting by ballot ; her right of universal suffrage ; her perpetually recurring elections of federal executive, sena- tors, and representatives of state executive, senators and re- piesentatixes ; and cf charter offcecrs and setvanls. All these and many other jyractical comments upon the theories of speculative, metaphysical politicians, are made in this country under the most favorable of all jwssible circum- stances, namely, a scanty population spread over an immense territory, a large body of independent yeomanry, who are for the most part lords of the soil which they occupy ; a very general diffusion of property ; a monopoly-price of la- bor, and the most jealous, fearful exclusion of the two only natural and effective aristocracies of man, namely, talent and. property, from all poiitic^d power and injiu(;me~ ix ADVERTISEMENT. Whence, if the great experiment of democracy, which is noz0 in operation upon so large a scale in the United States, should fail, it fails for ever; and men will he induced once more to have recourse to the essential fundamental principles of human nature, namely, the ascendency of talent and pro- perty, as the only basis, upon tvhich the superstructure of per- manent and eflfectual government can ever be reared. The considertion of the domestic policy, the foreign relations, the manners and habits, the laws, religion, morals, literature and science, of this very interesting and unparalleled coun- try, zohose institutions are almost entirely unknown to the people of Europe, and undoubtedly by no means too dis- tinctly iinderstood, at least in their remoter consequences, by the generality of the inhabtiancs of these United States, I shall take up as soon as I have leisure and opportunity to ar~ rarwe the great mass of materials, facts, documents and state papers, on this important subject, with which I am furnished by the careful and diligent collection of more than three years, aided by the abundant and liberal communications of some American gentlemen, zvho have distinguished them- selves as statesmen of the highest order, by the zeal, fidelity, industry, and talent, zcnth which they have discharged the most arduous political duties, both in their own country, and in the courts of the most powerful European kingdoms. JOHN BRISTED. 2, Hudson-square, New- York, October 80th, 1809 CONTENTS. FIRST DIVISIOJ^. CHAPTER I. LOUD cry over Europe of impending national bankruptcy of Britain, 1 : Statements of M. Hduterive and Arthur O'Con- nor examined, 2 : Same notions prevalent in the United States, ib. Inconsistency of asserting the national bankruptcy of Britain, and also denouncing her as the corruptor of all mankind by her wealth, 3 : Different degrees of credit at- tached to the British and French governments in the Amer- ican money-market, 5 : Monthly average of exchange on Britain in New-York for the years 1804, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808, 6. CHAPTER n. Chief writers in the Edinburgh Review enumerated, 8 : Amount of British and French taxation, 9 : Expense of col- lecting taxes in the two countries, 1 1. CHAPTER HI. British commerce in 1784 — 1804,13: Its progressive in- crease, ib. Price of British tonnage, 14 : Difference between the real and custom-house value of British Imports and Ex- ports, 15 ; Internal commerce of Britain, 17. vi. CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Manufactures of Britain, particularly her ■woollens, 18: dumber of sheep in England and Wales, 21 : Annual quan- tity of British wool, ib. Chancellor Livingston^?, Essay on Sheep, wool, &c. examined and some of its errors in point of fact refuted, 22 : Spanish wool is mixed with other fleeces in cloth-fabrics, 23 : The finest Spanish wool is im- ported into Britain, 24: Price and quality of British wool much under-rated, 26: British wool formerly esteemed the best in Europe, ib. Spanish wool mended by African inter- mixture, 28 : Some species of British wool still very fine, ib, Scottish Highland society, 29 : Earl of Selkirk on emigration fi-om the Highlands of Scotland, 32 : Marshal Keith and a pairof Scottish stockings, 33 : What soil and climate fitted to produce fine-woolled sheep, 34 : Different species of European sheep, 35 : British sheep intermixed with the Spanish Merino, ib. British king's flocks, ib. Prices of British Merino wool, 37 : Doctor Parry's Merino-Ryeland sheep, id. Lord Somei'ville's sheep-stock, 39 : British Me- rino-Ryeland better than Spanish Merino sheep in wool and carcass, 43 : British wool makes fine cloth, 44 : And finer shawls than the Spanish fleece, 46. CHAPTER V. Agriculture of Britain, 46 : Proportion and disposition of cultivated land in England and Wales, 47 : Undue pro- poi'tion of pasture-land in Britain, ib. Remedy for this, 48 : Scottish better than the English and Irish farmers, ib. Brit- ish Agricultural Societies, 49 : Their use, ib. Great im- provements all over Scotland, in agriculture, canals, bridges, tillage, implements, See. 52: Caledonian Canal.^ 56: Annual amount of British agriculture sufficient for her ordinary con- sumption, 57 : Very small supply of gi'ain from Poland, the United States, 58. CONTENTS. yii CHAPTER VI. Condition of all classes of society, but more particulai'ly of the poor, in Britain far belter now than at any former pe- riod, 59 : Effects of progressive improvements of labor in Britain on the laboring people, 60 : State of English poor in the time of Henry 8th, Elizabeth, Charles 2d, and George 3d, 61: Increased healthiness in Britain, 62 : Annual deaths, 63 : Mr. Maltlius, — English-poor laws impolitic and pernicious, ib. Lord Kaimes, 64 : Laboring classes in Bri- tain more numerous and more opulent now than hereto- fore, 70 : Annual average of people hanged in the reigns of Henry the eighth, Elizabeth, and George third, ib. Hint to Americans on this subject, 71. CHAPTER VII. Coal-mines in Britain, 72 : Public revenue in Britain from 1700 to 1800, inclusive, with the amount of public loans du- ring the eighteenth century, 75 : Public expenditure in Bri- tain from 1700 to 1800, inclusive, at a medium of every seven years, 77 : Heads of public expenditure in 1800, 78: Official value of British imports and exports, and apfiarent balance of trade, distinguishing the West-India imports, from 1697 to 1 800, 79 : Present amount of West-India imports into Bri- tain, 82 : British supplies and ways and means during the wholeof the eighteenth century, 83 : Heads of supplies and ways and means for 1799, /5. Supplies for 1800,86: Ex- cess of public revenue above a peace expenditure, 88. CHAPTER VIIL Purchase-money for land in Britain 89 : Progress of inter- est, ib : Hoiv low rate of interest raises the price of land, 91 : Rent of land how arising, 92: Ordinary market-price of land depends on that of interest, 92 : Price of land in France now' B t?iil CONTENTS. in 1809, 93 : Rate of interest in France now ivhy low, 94: No paper-money in France and much specie, ivhy, ib. Causes of the substitution of paper-money for specie in any country, 96: In Britain, ib. The United States, ib. British American colo- nies, 96: France, z6. Algiers, t(!». Russia, z7>. Origin of inher- es? on money, ib. How regulated by profits on stock 100: causes oi low interest, zi. Origin of landed or agricultui'al so- ciety, 101 : Their beggarly condition, z3. Oi'igin oi ?nonied interest, 102: Oi merchants, ib. Their utility, /(5. Why land- holders idle and prodigal, 104: Why commerce makes men Industrious and frugal, 105 : Lawyers and physicians general- ly frugal, ib. State of Virginia anti-commercial, 106 : In ag- ricultui-al society all borrowers and no lenders, 107: Exten- sive commerce diminishes the profits on stock, and lowers the rate of interest, 108: Which the barometer of national pros- perity, 109: Extreme case of momentary depression of inter- est, by national ruin, 110: Progressive value of land in Bri- tain, 111: General rental of Britain during the eighteenth century, 112: Total of British capital, real and personal, with its annual produce, 113: Comparative amount of British cap- ital in 1700 and 1800, 114: Annual expenditure, national capi- tal, and national income of Britain, during the eighteenth cen- tury on a medium of twenty-five years, 116: Taxable income of Britain, ib. Her amiual expenditure, and annual taxable in-r come during the eighteenth century, on a medium of twenty- five years, 117: Increased productiveness of British taxes, 118: Exports, ib. And imports, ib. What proportion of public revenue x\\c customs in Britain give, 121: And how much she derives annually from the nohole trade of the United States, ib. SECOJVD DIVISIOA'. CHAPTER I. JYational debt of Britain, 124: Shall it be sponged, say the jacobins, 123: Effects of sponging, ib. General nustake as CONTENTS. i:v to the rffl/ magnilude of the British public debt, 128: Heads of the piibUc funded debt in Britain in 1800, 131 : Difference between the real capital borrowed, and the nominal capita! funded, 132: Cause of this difference, 133: State of nomi- nal and real capital of British national debtin Britain in 1 809, 136. CHAPTER n. Sinking fund of 1716, 137 : A statement of th6 British fum ded debt from 1730 to 1800, inclusive, 138: General view of public debts, funded and unfunded, from 1700 to 1786, togeth- er with the operations of the sinking fund of 171 6, during that time, 140: State of British finances in 1784, 141: Old sink- ing fund oi 17 ^d'^ib. JVciv sinking fund oi 1792,142: Sour- ces of income to these sinking funds, 1 43 : Every pviblic debt in Britain now reduced to a determinable annuity^ 144: Ope- ration of the sinking funds in redeeming the national debt from 1793 to 1800, 145: Annual income of the sinking funds in 1806, 146; Amoimt of national debt /ja/rf q^ in 1806, 149: Several dates when the old sinking fund reaches its maximum, and redeems the whole debt incurred before 1792, 151 : Dates when the new sinking fund redeems the whole of the debt in- curred 5z«C(? 1792, 152: State of the British funded debt, long and short annuities, together with the progress of the sinking funds from 1786 to 1800, and annual charges, including the sums applicable to the reduction of the debt, 153 : The mode in which the sinking funds operate to redeem the national debt, 154: Annual income of the sinking funds in 1809, 159: A- mount of capital of debt paid off in 1809, 160 : Illustration of the vast progressive force with which the new sinking fund outstrips the progress of accumulating debt, 161. CHAPTER in. Why a maximum imposed upon the old sinkhig fund, 166: The Earl of Lauderdale's objections to the principle of the sinking funds examined and refuted, 167: The smking fun*v X CONTENTS. cannot flood Britain with a redundant capital, 1 69 : Their real operation on British capital and the prices of stock, 172 : Ob- jections to the funding system by Doctor Adam Smith and his followers shewn to be false, 177 : It does not unjustly burden posterity with debt, 178: It does no^ needlessly annihilate national capital Avithout producing an equivalent, 179 : Doc- tor Smith's division of a community into productive and un- productive demonstrated to be fallacious and inconclusive, 180 : Cases of the menial servant, journeyman manufacturer, and farm servant, 181 : Mere subsistence is not national wealth, 185 : Musicians and glass-blowers, il). Why the soldier and the judge are /ij'orfwc^/z'e laborers, 184: In what manner all the classes of society increase its wealth, 187 : What are the equivalents w/n'c/i a national debt produces to a country, 189 : The fiolicy and wisdom of the funding system demonstrated, 191: Growth of national capital, 192: How employed, ib. Its progress analogous to that of population, 194 : Checks to the inordinate augmentation of nationa! capital, 197: Great evils of its redundancy, ib. Comparative national expenditure in the different stages of civil society, 198: Necessity of funding money, 199: Importance of finance, ib. Funding- system gives strength to a nation, 208 : Great evils of paying off the ivhole debt, 212 : Vast importance of public revenue to a nation, 21 6 : Conclusion that Britain is not a bankrupt, 2 1 &. THIRD JDIVISIOjY. CHAPTER I. Britain supposed to be on the eve of ruin, 219 : Necessary results of her destruction, 221 : to her owtz people, /3. Her firesent great advantages, 222 : Immediate effects of her subjugation to France, ib. In loss of empire, 223: Liberty, ib. Property, ib. Industry, ib. Virtue, ib. Happiness, ib^ CHAPTER II. Effects of Britain's destruction on the world at large, 228 : Character of the French nation, 229 : Its morals, manners, CONTENTS. xi T'overnment, 23 1 : Political prediction of Mr. Burke respec- ting the French Revolution, so early as the year 1790, 232: Necessary diminution of the wealth, industry, freedom, virtue of the world, 235 : Causes of the increase of commerce, which shared by different nations, 237 : Foreign relations of Britian chiefly commercial, 241 : Brief notice of Euro- pean wars for the last hundred and fifty years, 242 : The use of subsidies, 243 : The balancing systcin.^ 244 : English navigation-act.^ 245: Its effect, 249: Its chief provisions, ib. British commercial monopoly^ nuhat.^ ib. European colo- nies, ib. Real causes of British comniercial greatness, 250 : Essential difference between a naval and a military power, 253 : Necessary consequence to the world at large from the de- struction of Britain, 256 : Bonafiarte's answer to a Bourdeaux petition, 257: State of Europe in the fourth century, 258: As to taxes, ib. {Whiskhy insurrection in the Union,) ib. On land, ib. On merchandise, ib. Consequent destruction of agriculture and commerce, 261 : Extreme tyranny of that period, 264: which an object of imitation to Bonaparte, ib. CHAPTER III. Effects of Britain's destruction upon the United States^ 265 : Which then forthwith visited by the conqueror of Europe, 266 : Present treatment of America by France, 267 : French plan of invading these United States, 268 : What defence America has against foreign invasion, 271: Militia system examined, ib. Distinction between militia-men and real sol- dier, 273 : How militia fight, and how they run away, 275 : IVhat is the primary duty of a soldier, 276: How soldiers are formed, ib. Physical courage, how regulated, 278 ; Hel- ped by association, ib. American militia, disorderly, uneffeC' tivC) 279 : Individual valor unimportant, ib. Division of la- bor necessary in war as in other pursuits, 280 : Citizen sol- diers absurd, ib. What are the modes of national defence, 282 : Superiority of real soldiers over militia-men, 284 : The peasantry not the natural defence of a nation, 286: xii CONTENTS. Make the worst and most expensive troops, 289 : Ueguiar army the sure bulwark of national security and power, 290 : What the perfection of a military force, 294 : Danger of re- lying on militia, ib. Effects of discipline and military tactics, ib. Duke of Marlborough, ib. Career of an able and intelli- gent invading army, 279 : Militia most exjiensive as well as inefficient system of soldiery, 298 : Introduction of regular armies a great improvement in political science, 299 : Their proper component parts, 301 : The shifting population of a country, 302 : Voluntary enlistments analogous to funding system, 303 : Militia-system an unjust and oppressive mode of taxation, 304 : Great fii-ojligacy resulting from the militia- system, 306 : French discipline and tactics, ib. Great want of all discipline in the early days of the revolution, 307 : Du- mouriez, Rochambeau, Jacobin-club soldiers, 208 : Coward- ly, cruel, f6. Kellermann, 310 : Carnot, ib. Strictest disci- pline introduced into the French army, 311: Its great suc- cess, ib. Invasion of Spain, ib. Dugommier, ib. Bonaparte, 313: His great UKiprovements in military tactics and dis- cipline, ib. Iihinti?note and /a-yoMrz/e generals, 315: Pre- sent undisciplined state of Spanish soldiery, 317: American 7mlitia always ran away during the rcA^olutionary war, 318: General Lee, ib. Army of the United Slates, 320 : Conduct of the British Generals, ib. Opinion of General Washington on the jmVzVfa-system, 321: General Montgomery, ib. Dif- ference between raw recruits and soldiers, 325 : Short enlist- ments, ib. American Militia /m% as dac? since the revolu- tionary war, 327 : Depositions on the Court-Martial of Ge- neral! Harmar, 328 : Kentucky-militia, 330 : Pennsylvania- militia, ib. Disorderly, ib. Rebellious, 332 : Cowardly, ib. ran away on all occasions without firing a gun, ib. Indian skirmishes, 336 : Militia mutinous, addicted to democratic club-meetings, 338 : Began to pipe and cry at the prospect of fighting, 339 : Instance of extraordinarily severe discipline by Bonaparte at Bologne in 1804, 340 : Inevitable desti uction of these United States in the event of a French invasion, 34! : CONTENTS. xiii American militia, ib. Army useless, 342 : Conduct of Ge- neral Howe with his British troops in the Revolutionary war, 343 : America would speedily sink into quiet slavery to Bo- naparte, 345 : Opinion of Mr. Jefferson on the rapidly ap- proaching destruction of Britain, 349: Effect of Britain's ruin on the United States, as to want of manufactured. goods. CHAPTER IV. Britain not yet fallen, 353 : Positive and relative condition of Prussia, 354: Opinion of the American cabinet at Washington respecting the fate of Austria and Britain, 357 : Difficulty of ob- taining information about Europe in the United States, 35 3: Austrian officers and soldiers good, 359 : Archduke Charles, ib. Buttles of Marengo, Austerlitz, Elsinghen, Wagram, 360 : Treaties of Luneville, ib. Of Presburg, 361: Great defects in the Austrian government, ib. Vast natural resources of the Austrian empire, 362 : The peasantry oppressed, 363 : Military enrolment, government, monopolies, ib. Absurd and ruinous system of taxation, 365. Paper-currency depre- ciated, ib. Influence of Bonaparte over the Aulic-Council and tlie Austrian officers, 366 : Necessity of reform, ib. CHAPTER V. General opinion that Sfiain will be speedily subdued by France, 368 : Views of American democrats on this subject, 370 : What resistance has Spain made, and what can she make against Bonaparte ? 374 : A''o nation ever yet enslaved by a foreign foe if unanimous in opposition, 375 : Resistance of the Spaniards to the arms of Rome, ib. Memorable siege of the ciiy oi A^imantia, 376: OfSaragossa, 380: OfGerona, ib. Spanish officers and soldiers, ib. Juntas, ib. State of Spain at the time of its invasion by France in 1808, 381: Present disposition of the French armies, S83 : And those of Spain and Britain, ib. Great destruction of French troops in xiv CONTENTS the Peninsula, 385 : French mode of V\'arfare in Spain, 386 : Effects of great calamities on nations and individuals', 387 : Why Britain should not scnd/;er armies into Spain, 387 : Por- tugal not of itself defensible, ib. Must folloTv- the fate of Spain, 392 : Results to Spain and to the world in the event of the patriots succeeding, 893 : Or being vanquished, id. Will the conquest of Spain enfeeble Britain ? 397 : Emancipation of the Spanish colonies, 399 : Their immense resources, ib. Present population, 402 : Great advantage to Britain, ib. Junction of the jit Ian tic and Facile oceans, 406 : Its facility, ib. Mighty results of such a junction, 407 : Various schemes of Hispano-Amcricayi independence, 409 : Miranda, ib. Agree- ment with Britain, 409 : Articles of concert between the two nations, 410: Quashed by John Adams, President of the United States, 413. CHAPTER VI. Absolute and relative power of France., 414: Over the neighboring nations, 415: Particularly over /fa^y, eii. Over Austria, /6. Switzerland, 417: Holland, ib. Great and ter- rible power of i^rcwce herself, 419 : In population, z6. Re- venue, ib. Militarij conscription, 420 : Effects thereof, ib. Views and character of Bonafiarte, ib. Democratic opinion of the benefits resulting from the universal domination of France, 424, 425 : The French conscription-code, ib. Cha- racteristic of the present French government, 226 : Spies, ib. Police, 427 : Preacher at St. Sulpice, ib. Condition of the conscripts, ib. Equalization of property in France, 429 : Conscription unequal as well as oppressive, 431 : Great hor- ror of the conscription in all Frenchmen, 432 : State of France in \2>07, ib. Particularly of Paris, 435: Effects of the French police, ib. Great alarm and danger of the French government, 437 : The conscription-system still more hate- ful to the vassal states of Italy, 438 : the Loav countries, 439 : Holland, ib. French civil and military officers monopolizf CONTENTS. XV continental Europe, 440: Fi'ance attempts to live entirely by the plunder of other nations, 441 : French generals, ib. Their views and habits, 442 : Why attached to Bonaparte, ib. JVo freedom fiosfible for France, 443 : Gross and perfidl: ous tyranny of Bonaparte, 444 : Probable speedy destruction of continental Europe by the French armies, 445 : Bona- parte's unprecedented perversions of the /iress^ 447 : The former state of Europe far better than tlie /iresent, 448 : Ba- lancing-system^ ib. Dismemberment of Poland., 449 : Break- ing up of the Germanic constitution, 450 : Weakness of the northern European powers, ib. Russia, 45 1 : Prussia, ib. Britain the chief aim of Boiicipdrte, ib. Her destruction never to be lost sight of, 452 : French plan of universal con- quest, 453 : Parallel between France and Rome, and between Britain and Carthage, not correct, 454 : Roman and French soldiers dissimilar, 455: Carthage base and cowardly, 456: Feeble, unpurposed, democratic, ib. Britain powerful in her geographical position, 457 : Government, ib. Naval force and courage, 458 : Permanent wealth, ib. Industry, ib. Commerce, 459 : Population, ib. Finances, ib. RLpid cir- culation of capital, 460 : Bonaparte, ib. Robespierre, ib. Marat, ib. France always aiming at universal domination, 461: Louis the fourteenth, z6. The French revolutionary chiefs, 463: Publicola Chausard-j ib. European treaties during the last century, 464. CHAPTER VII. Counter-Checks to the power of France, 465 : In the CorH' scri/ition-system, ib. Effective population of a country, 446 : Cut away by conscription in France, 467 : Terrible mortality of French soldiers, ib. Origin of French generals, id. Proofs that the conscription has drained the effective population of France, 468 : In anticjiiating the levies, ib. In raisingye wer men now than formerly by voluntary enlistment, 469 : In guarding France with Germans., ib. In not conquering Spain, lb. In not annihilating Austria, ib. Bonaparte's thirtieth Bulle- C xvi CONTENTS. tin, 470 : France and Holland full of old men and boys but very few young men^ ib. Day of re-action by continental Eu- rope, 471 The French deficient in courage, 4:72: Man by nature cowardly, 472 : The position of a celebrated French General, 473 : English, Irish, Scottish, Sir Eyre Coote, Rus- sians, Germans, Swiss, Prussians, 474 : Spaniards, Dutch, Italians, Portuguese, Chinese, 475 : Battle in Germany, ib. French officers excellent, 476 : P-oo/s of want of courage in the French, 477 : Transcendant talents of Bonaparte and his generals, 478 : Great reluctance of the French to join the army, ib. General Le Febre, General Laval, 497 : The French droop under reverse, 48 1 : Rapid diminution of pi'o- ductive industry in France, 482 : Of foreign commerce, of manufactures, of agriculture of finances, 485 : Invariable tendency to weakness in despotism, ib. Literary Panorama, ib. Internal state of France in 1809, 488 : Discontents of the peo- ple, ib. Frequent arrests by night, 489 : The conscription disabilities contrived, 490 : The taxes insupportable and unproductive, ib. The Cadastre, ib. Commerce nearly des- troyed, 493: Interest on money, ib. Discount, 495 : Man- ufactures crippled, ib. Emigration, 497 : External coun* ter-checks to the power of France, ib. In the hatred of continental Europe, 498: State of Italy, 499 ; Particularly of Holland, z6. Her soldiers, sailors, 501 : Her political fiar- ties, 502 : Individual safety the only object of a Dutchman, id. foreign commeixe destroyed, ib. Internal trade ruined, 504 : Diminution of capital stock its effects, 505 : Bengal, Hol- land, their different conditions, 507 : Commercial credit, in Britain, Holland, ib. Taxes on the Dutch, 509 : Great dim- inution oi Jiopulation in Holland, 510: Friendship of France to the Elector of Wirtemberg, 511: Practice of hoarding specie among the American Dutch, at Bergen in New-Jer- sey, 512. CHAPTER VIII. Power of Britain, 513: Her fio/iulation, ib. As to numbery ib* Slovenly census in 1800-1, 514 : as to quality, ib. Her CONTENTS. x^ effective population, 516: Strength and courage of her people, ib. Her naqal exploits, 518 : Her*o/cfie7-s, ib. "Her cavalry, zd. Her officers, ib. Qualifications of a commander, 522 : Britain not sufficiently military, 523 : Too dtfeni-ve.,ib. Necessity of active and effectual war against France, 528. Recent military exploits of the British armies, 529 : Abercromby, Moore, £6, Wellesley,fii. Sp.inish campaign, 530 : Talents of Britain, ib. Denied by democrats, z6. Her /2o/z7ica/ talent questioned, 534 : High intellect cannot be concealed, fi. High bounty for talent in Britain in every department, 535 : Much talent must gene- rally be used in the service of the British government, 536 : No necessity for all the great talent of a country to be politic- ally employed in an established government, 537 : Edinburgh Review^ 538 : A new dynasty requires all a country's talent, -539: Inconvenience of too much intellect in a government, 640 : Lord Chatham, z6. Bonaparte, 541 : Great talent ne- cessarily produced in a free country with magnificent institu- tions, z6. A democracy firoscribes talent J 5^2 '. M.l\ Broug-hamy ib. Occasional loss of great men not felt in a well organized country, ib. Britain generally sends ont feeble ambassadors to foreign countries, 543 : Ambassadors ought to be statesmen, ib. Importance of sending able envoys to the United States, 544 : French diplomacy, ib. ■ Why France influences the secondary nations of the world, 645 : Why primary nations are ignoi-ant of each other, 546 : French and British conduct to Dutch petitioners, 547 : Views of a resident in a secondary nation, ih. M. GentZy 548 : British resident ministers in America, ib. Importance of ambassadors, 549 : Brithhforeign policy too careless, 550 : Mr. Ste/ihen, ib. Difficulty of pro- curing able ambassadors in Britain, 551 : Their impediment in the United States, 552 : No such obstacles to the excellence of French diplomacy, 555 : Mr. Jackson the existing British ambassador to America, 556 : Mr. David JErskine, 557 : Lord JErskincy ib. Mr. Munroe, ib. American envoy to Britain, 558 : Jbuse always proportioned to the importance of the object, 559 : xn France, ib. Britain, 560 : The United States, ib. Speci" xxiii CONTENTS. menof David Erskine's . The reformation, ib. Probable revolution of all continental Europe, 600 : Different CONTENTS. xix process in Britain, zA. Ireland, ib. JPofiish emancipation^ 601 ; Revival of religion in Britain, ib. Why the fundamental doc- trines of the gospel not lost in Britain, ib. Frederic the se- cond of Prussia and a Polish clergyman, 602 : The sarne Ja- cobin, ib. Atheistic experiment made in Britain as in France, but failed^ 603 : And also made in the United States, where it has succeeded, 604 : T. Paine's Age of Reason, 605 : Ja- cobinism in England, ib. Ireland, ib. United Irishmen.^ ib. Baltimore mobs, 606 : Pennsylvanian rebellion against the Union, ib. Governor Snydei", ib. Governor W ight of Ma- ryland, ib. The western states, 607 : Equal distribution of property, z<^. Louisiana., 608: Euthanasia of democracy in America, ib. Endeavor to destroy the New-England states, 609: General Hamilton, zd. Fisher Ames, 610: Effects oi jacobinism m the United States, ib. Specimen of a democrat- ic congregation's devotion, 611 : The southern states gener- ally irreligious and immoral, ib. Explosion of jacobin-atheism, 612 : Its consequences in Finance and in other countries, 613 : Richlieu, ib. Eouvois, ib. Bonaparte, 614: Strong attach- ment to France now in the United States, 616: French foreign and domestic system, ib. Results of French agran- dizement, 617: The blockading decrees of Bonaparte, 619 : Their supposed effect on Britain, 619: American Embar' go^ ib. Colonel Pinckney, ib. General Armstrong, 620 : Bonaparte's Imperial audience, ib. Convention of Conti- nental Europe, 621: Effects of commerce as to imjiover- ishing a nation, 622 : France, ib. Britain ib. Spain, ib. Rome, ib. Tyre, ib. Carthage, ib. Venice, ib. Holland, ib. As to weakening a nation, ib. Russia, ib. Poland, ib. Germany, ib. State of agricultural contrasted with com- mercial countries, 623 : As to vitiating a nation, ib. Bri-=- tain as to depopulating a nation, 624. Mr. Jefferson., ib. France, 625 : The Hanse-Towns, ib. Germans, ib. Scan- dinavians, ib. Will Bonaparte's decrees most injure Britain or continental Europe? 627. Mr. Flood, /(&. British Euro- pean exports, ib. British manufactures increased since the XX CONTENTS. issuing of these decrees, ib. State of her nvooUem in 1808—9, ib. Aggregate trade of the world diminished^ ib. But Britain's share of commerce augtnented, ib. British tonnage 629 : Mr. Comber, ib. Probable issue of the present comr mercial contest to continental Europe, 632 : To Britain, ib. Sfianish opinion of the event, 634 : real cause of Bonaparte's decrees, 637 : difficulty of counteracting human habits, ib. Peter the first shaving his subjects, ib. Joseph the second burying his people in lime-pits, 641 : American revolutionary war, z&. Non-importation act of 1774, 542: Will ^gh tin ^ enable Bonaparte to conquer Britain ? 643 : Corunna, ib. Talav era, 644: lnva.sion of Sicily, ib. Of Britain, zd. Inevi- table consequences of a fieace to Britain, 645 : Her advanta- ges in war, 646 : Views and dispositions of Bonaparte, ib. Lord Whithworth, 647 : Peace of Amiens, ib. Conduct of France at that time, ib. Talents and designs of Bonaparte, 648 : Relative condition of Britain and France during the war, 650 : Effects of peace on Europe, ib. Systematic French intrigue, 654 : Continental capitulations, ib. Mode of negociation by Bonaparte, 655 : Mr. Fox, 2<^. Lord Lauderdale, 656 : Con- tinuance of war, its consequences to France and Britain, 657 : Democratic clamor about the evils of war, 658: Only allowa- ble terms of peace between Britain and France, 659 : Malta, ib. Cape of Good Hope, ib. Safety of continental Europe, 660: Treaty oi Amiens, ib. Foolish, 661: Inadequate, ib. Insolence of Bonaparte, ib. French military spies, 662 : Lord Grenville, ib. Colonel Despard, 664: Mr. Addington, ib. Britain single-handed invariably superior to France, 665 : Vic- tory of the Nile, ib. Of Copenhagen, ib. Of Trafalgar, ib. British naval prowess, 666 : Breaking the line at sea, ib. What prospect of peace, 667 : Bonaparte, ib. Lord Malmes- bury, ib. French Directory, ib. Military despotism far better ih^Xi Jacobinism, 669 : For France, 670 : Europe,?^. And the world, ib. Condition of man under universal Jacobinism, 67 1 : Approach oi re-actien upon France by continental Europe, 672 : Marine of Britain and of the other European powers, 673 : The CONTENTS. xxi «fx^/!(?aff, the death-warrant, or the political salvation of Europe and of the world, 674 : Exhausted state of France and the Eu- ropean continent, 675 : Britain is entitled to dictate the terms of peace, 676 : A maritime peace, what, ib. The only career of Britain, 677 : To hasten the day of universal re-action against France, 678 : Mr. Burke, 680 : Gradual growth of the governments of Christendom, zi^. Of continental Eu- rope, 681 : Of Britain, of France, 682 : Absolute incompat- ibility of independence in other nations with the present gov- ernment of France, 683 : Mr. Burke and Mr. Brougham, 685 : Day of continental re-action on France, ib. Declaration of ikiQ British gov eminent against Russia in December, 1807, 687. HINTS ON THE NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, FIRST DIVISION. CHAPTER L More than a century has now elapsed, since a loud and frequent cry, announcing the speedily approaching national bankruptcy of Britain, has been heard, not only within the precincts of the British dominions, but over by far the greatest portion of the continent of Europe. Of all the nations, that dread the power, and envy the superiority of Britain, France has ever been the most industriously employed in propa- gating the belief of the instantaneously impen- ding bankruptcy of her ancient rival. And, of late years, she has increased her zeal to an almost in- credible height of enthusiasm and extravagance. It was chiefly to effect this purpose, that, to- wards the close of the year 1800, Bonaparte or- B ^ HINTS ON THE NATIONAL dered M. Hauterive, his sub-minister of Foreign Relations, standing, indeed, next only to M. Tal- leyrand in that department, to write and publish the celebrated work, entitled — " De VEtat de la France, ^ la Jin de VAn 8." — The great aim of M. Hauterive is to persuade the European world of the power, the happiness, the virtue, and above all, the universal benevolence of France j while it is called upon to give equal cre- dence to his account of the crimes, the approach- ing degradation, and more particularly, the im- pending universal bankruptcy of Britain. In the year 1804, by the command, also, of Bo- naparte, Arthur O'Connor published at Paris a pamphlet, called — " The Present State of Great- Britain." This Arthur O'Connor is a United Irishman, was tried for high treason at Maid- stone in Kent, (England) and, through the mista- ken lenity of the British government, suffered to escape from the gallows into France, where he now enjoys the distinction of being a General in the French army. O'Connor's book has been dispersed, by the ac- tive and openly avowed patronage of Bonaparte, over all the continent of Europe, with unwearied assiduity, and with considerable effect. The in- tention of the Irish-Frenchman is to show — " that Britain is now, (in 1804) arrived at a point, be- yond which her burdens can be no more increas- ed ; that she has accumulated five hundred mil- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. S iions of debt, purely by means of the paper-credit system, and that every step, which she advances farther, must be in the gulf of bankruptcy j that any continuance of the scheme must increase the depreciation of money, and the price of all com- modities ; she will be undersold in every foreign market ; nations, fresh in the vigor of youth, will profit by her decrepitude ; states that have no debts to weigh them down will outstrip her in every competition ; her taxes will become daily less and less productive ; her public funds sink in value ; the interest will cease to be paid ; new taxes will become impracticable; universal con- fusion and disorganization will ensue, and Britain fall prostrate, without a struggle, before Frajice and the United States of America^" It is, therefore, no wonder, that the United States, who have been so closely tied to France, since the year 1778, down to the present hour, by the bond of national gratitude and affection, should very generally participate in the French sentiments respecting a British national bankrupt- cy. And, accordingly, for these fifteen years past, a large body of American politicians have been anxiously looking out for every fresh arrival from Europe to announce the desired catastrophe. Before I enter upon that statement of facts which, I hope, will put the question of British Na- tional Bankruptcy for ever at rest, 1 would beg leave to notice a strange but palpable inconsis- 4 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tency in the conduct of France and her adherents upon this point. I mean, that while she perpetu- ally affects to deride, and teaches all her minions and vassals in every country throughout the globe to deride, Britain as a bankrupt nation, she, and her partisans all over the world, are incessantly exclaiming against Britain for buying up, and corrupting with her wealth, the whole world, ex- cept France and her admirers. According to these politicians, Britain has, du- ring the last fifteen years, been in a state of real bankruptcy ; and yet, during all this time, has an- nually expended much more money than all the ■world contains, in keeping the four quarters of the globe, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, continually in her pay. It is this Britain, this bankrupted Britain, who now, in 1809, bribes, •with her gold, all the commercial states in the union to dislike those political measures which entirely destroy their trade, and consign them to hopeless penury ; — she pays money to the Dutch, in order that they may object to seeing their fa- thers, husbands, sons, and brothers, torn away by the French conscription-system, and hurried on- ward to the field of carnage, to gratify the indi- vidual selfish vanity, and family-ambition, of an upstart usurper i — she gives great largesses to in- duce Austria to make one last bloody stand for 'national existence against the common enemy of mankind ; — and, finally, she excites, by the pro- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 6 digal distribution of her wealth, the heroic Span- iards to resist Bonaparte, who comes to rob them of their government and personal liberty, and to transfer them, like a herd of cattle selected for the slaughter, from the hands of the infatuated Charles to those of Joseph Napoleon. Nay, those very men, who incessantly prate about the inevitably impending bankruptcy of Britain, will go into the American money-market, and give ten per cent, above par for bills drawn on this same British, bankrupted, government. During the last five months of the American em- bargo, British government bills bore a regular pre- mium often per cent, in the money-market of the United States. And the non-intercourse act, al- though it has been in operation only a few weeks, has already raised British bills in this country, whether drawn upon the government of Britain, or on English individuals, to five per cent, above par. The following monthly average of exchange on Britain, in the New-York money-market, (which regulates all the other markets in the union) for the years 1804, 1805, 1806, 1807, and 1808, was furnished to me by the most eminent money-bro- ker in the continent of America. HINTS ON THE NATIONAL January 1804. 1805. 1806. 1807. 1808. 103 99i 96i 97^ 102i February 103|- 99 98i 98J 103 March 102i 98 99 99 103i April 1031 98i 100 J 98 107 May 103 98 par. 98 108 June 102 J 95 par. 98 106 J July 102i 95 99 97i 106^ August 102 95 98^ 96J 106 September 102 97^ par. 97 106 October 102 98 99i m 106 November loii 99 99 par. 107 December par. 98 98|- 102 110 The exchange on Britain bore a steady average often per cent, above par, in the New-York money- market, from December, 1808, until it fell down rapidly to par, or nearly to par, in consequence of Mr. David Erskine's patching up an agreement with Mr. Madison, in April, 1809, in direct viola- tion of the instructions which he had received from the British government. Some few months since, a French government- bill, of only one thousand dollars in value, was of- fered for sale in New-York ; and could not be dis- posed of at any price. The English traders laugh- ed at the tender of a French money-bill to them ; the Americans doubted the paper of his Imperial and Royal Majesty ; and at length it was declined BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 7 by a respectable Swiss merchant, who — " could not afford to buy it, because" as he said, " the French government are not in the habit of pay- ing their bills." The man, who hawked about this bill for sale, was finally obliged to transmit it to France at his own risque ; for he well knew, that it was in vain to apply to the French merchants in New-York ; because the few French mercantile houses that had ever ventured to purchase bills drawn upon the government of the Great Nation had long since been ruined; there being very rarely any instances of bills, drawn on the French government, and purchased by merchants in the United States, ha- ving ever been paid. CHAPTER II. This subject, however, demands a little serious consideration J for, perhaps, on no points, relating to Britain, are the people of the union n)ore com- pletely misinformed, than on those, respecting her finances and national resources. On all sides, we hear that the horrible weight of taxation grinds her people down to the dust, and must, infallibly, soon stop the operations of her government. 8 HINTS ON THE NATION At The complete refutation of this error I shall ex- tract from a work, whose authority on all the great subjects of general science, and of political economy, more particularly, will be doubted by no one, who is informed that some men, the most il- lustrious for talent and knowledge, who, at this day, adorn and enlighten Europe, are its chief supporters, I mean the Edinburgh Review, whose pages are illumined by the productions of the Earl of Aberdeen ; of Lord Henry Petty, late chan- cellor of the British exchequer ; of Mr. Broug- ham, author of " An Inquiry into the Colonial Pol- icy of the European Powers," an admirable work, which will be better understood, and more cor- rectly appreciated, a century hence than it now is ; of Mr. Horner ; of Mr. Jeffray ; of Mr. Play- fair, the professor of natural philosophy in the university of Edinburgh ; of Mr. Hamilton, cousin-german to our late ever to be lamented and unrivalled General Hamilton of New-York ; of Mr. Murray, a son of the late Lord Hender- land ; of Mr. Cockburn, son of Baron Cockburn of the exchequer ; of Mr. Napier ; of the Revd. Sidney Smith; and some other gentlemen of dis- tinguished abilities, and comprehensive informa- tion. In the twenty-sixth number of the Edinburgh Review, page four hundred and forty-eight, may be found the following note. " Montesquieu remarks, that in moderate go- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 9 vernments there is an indemnity for the weight of taxes, which is liberty. In despotic countries^ that there is an equivalent for liberty, which is the lightness of the taxes, (L'Esprit des Lois, liv. 13, c. 12.) The French have scarcely this consola- tion as yet. The budget of 1807 states the whole receipts of the treasury for the preceding year at nine hundred and eighty-six millions, nine hun- dred and ninety-two thousand, five hundred and thirty-nine livres. It is well known to their offi- cers, that this printed amount falls greatly short of what is actually collected. The real revenue may be estimated at fifty-five millions sterling. " Peuchet calculates the whole product of in- dustry, throughout the empire, at something more than two hundred and fifty millions sterling. This, however, must be greatly exaggerated, as he includes a large amount for colonial produce. *' In Colquhoun's Tables for 1803, the whole in- come of England and Wales (excluding Scotland and Ireland) is rated at two hundred and twenty- two millions sterling; the whole taxes, including war-imposts and the poor rates, at forty millions. This is eighteen per cent, upon the national income. It is stated, that the proportion, to the opulent, is about tiaenty-eight per cent, to the middling tioen- ty, to the thh'd sixteen^ and to the laboring clas- ses about nine per cent, on their respective in- comes. '' It may be well to annex herc^ the oflTicial state- C W HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ment of the French Minister of finances, on the operation of the property-tax in France. He is suggesting the necessity of reform in the mode of collection, and states, that — while some proprie- tors paid, in 1806, the fourth, the thirds the moiety, and still more, of their incomes, others were only taxed at the rate of one twentieth, one tenth, and. one hundredth ! He adds, that this evil may not he so sensibly felt in the great towns, but indul- ges in an emphatic exclamation, concerning its influence on the happiness of families in the coun- try. " Adopting the preceding data, with regard to France, conjecturing what must be the situation of he.r tributary states, at this moment, and con- sidering our resources, we may still, perhaps, ap- ply to the present period a remark made by Mr. Burke in 1769— "that England is more lightly taxed than any other country in Europe ; with a system of collection infinitely less vexatious and oppressive." In confirmation of the assertion, that the sys- tem of collecting the taxes in Britain is neither vexatious nor oppressive, I shall add a statement of the expense attending the collection of the rev- enue of the kingdom, including all the establish* ments; as made-by the Committee of Finance to the House of Commons in the year 1797. I shall extract it from a very valuable work, to which ma^- ny references will be made, in the course of the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 11 following pages ; — I mean, " A brief examina- tion into the increase of the revenue, commerce, and navigation of Great Britain, during the admin- istration of the Right Hon. William Pitt ; with al- lusions to some of the principal events, which oc- curred in that period, and a sketch of Mr. Pitt's character ;" by the right Hon. George Rose, M. P. (the father of the Special Minister, who was sent by the British government to the United States, in the spring of 1806, on account of the Chesapeake transaction) published at London in 1806. Mr. Rose, in p. 54 — 5, states the charges on the gross receipt to be, in 1797, £ s. d. per cent. Customs, ...... 6 2 6 Excise, 4 12 1 Stamps, 4 17 7 Taxes, 3 12 5 In the post-office, a large part of the expense in- curred, is for the conveyance of letters by land and sea. On the whole revenue, as increased since 1797, and under the change of management of a part of it, the expense of collection in 180^ was reduced to £, s. d. per cent. Customs, 5 4 7 Excise, 3 7 Stamps, 3 5 12 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL In the taxes there is hardly any variation, as the poundage is uniform. To these charges nothing is to be added for defalcations by remittances, or for failure of collectors, receivers, &c. &c. &c. as there have not been losses, in the public revenue, to the amount of more than nine hundred pounds sterling (nearly all of which has been lost by let- ter-carriers, &c.) in the whole, from these, or other causes, during some years past. The average expense of collecting the French taxes is stated to be rather more than one third of the gross amount, that is, thii'fy-threc and a third per cent, fraud and peculation being qualities in- separably attendant upon all the officers, primary and subordinate, of that extensive empire. Mr. Rose, p. 44, statesthe permanent taxes in Bri- tain, in the year 1805, to amount to ^32,083,000. Mr. Comber in his " Inquiry into the state of na- tional subsistence, as connected with the progress of wealth and population," published at I-,ondon, in the year 1808, appendix, p. 42, states the pre- sent annual burden of Britain, including her poor- rates, and every other impost, to be as follows ; Permanent taxes and hereditary revenue, £ 38,414,099 War-tax, property-tax, and inci- dents, 21,775,315 Total, 60,189,414 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN. 18 CHAPTER III. The only question then is, what are the means which enable Britain to support this annual bur- den of taxation ? This question will be satisfactorily answered, by a view of the actual condition of her national resources, and more especially that part of her sys- tem of finance called the sinking funds. Notwithstanding Bonaparte's blockading de- crees, and their various reinforcements by the ob- sequious edicts and acts of his vassal-states, the commerce of Britain, during the year 1808, as appears from the statements made in the House of Commons in the spring of 1809, exceeded in quan- tity and in value that of any former year. And during the latter part of 1808, and the beginning of 1809, the freight of British shipping averaged from eight to ten pounds sterling a ton on the voyage ; and half that sum on the passage ; so in- adequate is the whole immense tonnage of Britain to carry on her extensive trade. The ordinary price of freight in Britain, before the American embargo was laid, amounted to from three to four pounds sterling a ton on the voyage, and from thirty to forty shillings on the passage. Mr. Rose, in the work above cited, p. 96 — 7, thus rates the navigation of Britain in the years 14 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL 1784 and 1805, shewing the great increase m this department of her wealth, during the course of twenty years ; more than ten of which were em- ployed in sustaining the burdens of the most ex- pensive and trying war ever recorded in the an- nals of human history. Navigation, 1784. 1805. Tons. Tons. Shipping belonging to Great Britain and her colonies, Ireland not included, . 1,301,000 Q,'226,000 Number of seamen employed in that shipping in the mer- chants' service, . . . 101,870 152,642 For the same years Mr. Rose gives the follow- ing statement of the commerce of Britain. Commerce. 1784. 1805. £ £ Imports, form British colo- nies, and from posses- sions in India, . . . 6,751,000 13,271,000 from Ireland, . 1,820,000 3,010,000 from foreign coun- tries, 6,573,000 13,221,000 Total, . . . 15,144,000 29,502,000 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 15 1784. 1805. Exports of British manu* factures to British posses- sions, 3,757,000 9,322,000 Exports to foreign coun- tries, 7,517,000 14,613,000 Total, . . . 11,274,000 23,935,000 1784. 1805. £ £ Exports of foreign mer- chandise, .... 3,846,000 12,227,000 The above are the custom-house valuations, ac- cording to rules established more than a century ago. But the real value of the exports of British manufactures, in the tw^o periods, were as follows: In 1784. In 1805. £ 18,603,000 £ 41,068,000 The real value of the British exports of foreign merchandise, during these two years, Mr. Rose does not state ; but Mr. M'Arthur, in his — " Fi- nancial and political facts of the eighteenth and present century," — published at London, in 1803, 16 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL page 8, — explains the precise difference between the official, or custom-house, and the real value of British imports and exports, to be about seventy per cent, in favor of the real value. The official value, says Mr. M'Arthur, of British exports for the year, ending on the 5th of January 1801, as laid before parliament, was, of British manufactures, in value, £, 24,411,067 of Foreign merchandise, . . . 17,466,145 Total of annual exports, £ 41,877,213 But the operations of the convoy-tax have proved, that the real value of British exports ex- ceeds in the proportion of seventy per cent, the official value ; whence the real value of British exports, during the year 1800, was, of British manufactures, . £ 41,498,813 of Foreign merchandise, . . 29,172,449 Total annual value, . . £ 70,671,262 To which add the real value of im- ports into Britain during that year, £ 45,000,000 Total annual value of Bri- tish imports and exports, . . £ 115,671,262 Eight years of progressive national industry, and of continually accumulating national stock, BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 17 or capital, have considerably increased the annual quantity of British commerce since the year 1800 ; for the malignant, but futile, attempts of Bonaparte to annihilate the trade of the whole world, cannot countervail the habits and the wants of mankind, who are compelled, in the present situation of hu- man aifairs, to have recourse to Britain, as the only market, which can supply them with many arti- cles of prime and indispensable necessity, as well as of convenience and comfort. If such be the state of Britain's foreign com- merce, of what extent must be her internal trade ; seeing that the greatest and most important branch of the commerce of every nation is that which is carried on by the inhabitants of the towns with those of the country ? The townsmen draw from the people of the country the rude produce, for which they pay, by sending back into the country a part of this rude produce manufactured and pre- pared for immediate use. Or, in other words, this trade between town and country consists in a given quantity of rude pro- duce being passed in exchange for a given quan- tity of manufactured produce. In this direct home-trade, two British capitals are employed, one in putting in motion the country-trade, and the other in moving the town-trade ; whereas, in her foreign commerce, whether it be direct, or round-about, there can, in general, be only one British capital used; namely, that employed in 18 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the British exports, the imports being the pro- duce, and, consequently, the capital, of some other country. CHAPTER IV. The following statement of the manufactures of Britain, in the year 1800, extracted from Mr. Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, 4th volume, p, 549, will, perhaps, have a tendency to show, in conjunction with other facts, that the British peo- ple are not yet altogether trembling on the verge of national bankruptcy. The same observation, as to the annual increase of the value of British commodities, in conse- quence of the progressive augmentation of pro- ductive industry, and of national capital, applies equally to the subject of manufactures, as to that of commerce. Woollen goods, annual produce, £ 19,000,000 .^ export, 8,000,000 home-con- sumption, 11,000,000 Cotton goods, annual produce, 10,000,000 *- export, 4,000,000 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 19 Cotton goods, annual home-con- sumption, . c£ 6,000,000 Flaxen goods, home-consumption, 2,000,000 Hempen do. do. 2,000,000 Silk do. do. 3,000,000 Leather, in shoes, boots, sadle- ry, harness, military accoutre- ments, carriages, &c. home- consumption, 12,000,000 Glass, (plate-glass, of late much improved) home-consumption, 2,000,000 Porcelain and pottery (much im- proved in the last twenty years) home-consumption, . . . 2,000,000 Paper (increased in price and quantity) home-consumption, 1,500,000 Hardware, (made at Birmingham, Sheffield, &c.) home-consump- tion, 6,000,000 Beer, annual home-consumption, 200,000,000 of gallons, at Is, per gallon, 10,000,000 Spirits, annual home-consumption, 10,000,000 of gallons, at 8^. per gallon, 4,000,000 Soap, for 2,260,802, families, at 3^d. per week, home-consump- tion, above 1,500,000 Salt, 46,000 tons, of 40 bushels each, (not including smuggled salt) annual home-consumption, 1,000,000 20 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Candles, wax and tallow, annual home-consumption, above ,£ 2,000,000 White lead, and other colors, for painters and dyers, turpentine, casks, vats for liquors, drugs, hats, straw-work, snuff, horn, books, furniture, musical in- struments, watches, jewellery, coaches, and other carriages, printing apparatus, salted beef, pork, butter, fish, &c. &c. an- nual home-consumption, above 10,000,000 Annual amount of British manu- factures for home-consumption, £ 76,000,000 British maimfactures for annual exportation in 1800, . . . 40,000,000 Total annual value of Bri- tish manufactures, £ 116,000,000 From the following statement of Mr. M'Ar- thur, in the sixty-fifth page of his introduction, it will appear, that Mr. Macpherson has considera- bly under-rated the annual value of British wool- lens, as far, at least, as relates to their home-con- sumption, by omitting to notice the fabrics made from imported wool. It is computed, that about three millions of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. ^1 souls are employed in the British woollen manu- facture, and the trades dependent upon it ; a piece of broad-cloth passing through a hundred differ- ent hands in finding its way, through the various stages of its fabric, from the wool-grower to the consumer. Add to which the number of persons employed in the many different trades dependent on the woollen manufacture. The quantity of Spanish wool, imported into Britain, in the beginning of the eighteenth centu- ry, was annually about one million of pounds weight; but in the year 1803, as appears from documents, laid before a Committee of the House of Commons 32,000 bags of fine wool were impor- ted; which, at 200 lbs. weight for each bag, amounts to 6,400,000 pounds weight ; and valu- ing each pound at six shillings, it constitutes a total value of i; 1,920,000. From the testimony of some of the principal manufacturers and dealers in wool, as laid before the Parliament in the year 1800, it was shown, that the quantity of fine and other wool, produced from the estimated number of 28,800,000 sheep, in England alone, (not including Scotland and Ire- land) amounted, on an average, annually, to 600,000 packs, of 240. lbs each, making a total of 144,000,000 of pounds weight, and valuing each pack at eleven pounds sterling, or each pound at eleven pence and a fraction, it will constitute a total value of £, 6,600,000 for the native wool, as 32 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL a raw material. In its manufactured state, the value, being at least tripled, will amount to £ 19,800,000. If to this value of British native wool, in a man- ufactured state, we add the value of the fabric from fnie wool imported into Britain, multiplying the value of the raw material by three, namely £ 1,920,000 + 3 = ^6 5,760,000 it will give a total annual value of fine and coarse fabrics, amounting to £ 25,560,000 of which is annually exported an amount of 8,500,000 leaving an annual home-consumptio7i of 17,060,000 being six millions and sixty thousand pounds ster- ling more than Mr. Macpherson allots to the year- ly home-consumption of woollens in Britain. A very elaborate essay has been published, within these twelve months past, (in August 1808) on sheep, wool, and woollen manufactures, by Ro- bert R. Livingston, L. L, D. president of the so- ciety for the promotion of useful arts in the State of New-York; generally called Cliancellor Li- vingston in the United States, but better known in Europe, as the American minister, who bought Louisiana of Bonaparte, for the general govern- ment of the Union. The great reputation of Mr. Livingston, as an agricultural philosopher, renders it necessary to notice some errors in point oifact, relating to the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 23 fleece, sheep, and woollen manufactures of Britain, and also to the Spanish wool. I have this day received An Essay on Sheep, &c. by Mr. Livingston, published in September 1809 ; but, after examining it, I do not find, that he has materially corrected the errors of his last year*s production ; he speaks, indeed, in terms a little less contemptuous of the prices and quality of British wool, which he has discovered to be not quite so low, nor so bad, as he imagined twelve months since. I shall, therefore, state the positions, as applicable to Mr. Livingston's Essay, published in 1 808, omitting all consideration of that put forth in 1809, because the facts to be stated in the fol- lowing pages are of themselves sufficiently impor- tant to deserve notice. 1. Mr. Livingston positively asserts, that Span- ish wool cannot be mixed with any other species of wool ; but that it is always worked up alone into cloth of different degrees of fineness, accord- ing to the quality of the staple. But~in the first volume of Mr. Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, p. 651, it is expressly sta- ted, that Spanish wool was carried to Flanders, but could not be made into fine cloth zvithout a mix- ture of English wool, v/hich was then the chief sup- port of the Flemish manufacture. And in the year 1744, as cited by Mr. Macpher- son, 3d vol. p. 240, the British Turkey or Levant Company distinctly stated at the bar of the S4 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL House of Commons that the French, under the auspices of their then Minister, the celebrated M. Colbert, had greatly improved and extended their woollen manufacture by mixing one third of the wool of the province of Languedoc with two thirds of Spanish wool, and had thus beaten the English out of the Turkey markets. And, at this day, if Mr. Livingston will take the trouble of inquiring of any intelligent British woollen-manufacturer, he may be informed, that Spanish and British wools are continually worked up together in the manufacture of fine cloths. It is a common question in the cloth-halls of York- shire, in England, to ask, — How much Spanish wool is there in this piece ? — and the answer gen- erally is, — half and half j — that is, half Spanish and half English wool. Neither is it true, as Mr. Livingston also round- ly asserts, that the British native wool is only capable of being made into coarse cloths. Fine broad cloth, up to the price of fifteen or sixteen shillings a yard, is, every day, made entirely of En- glish wool ; — cloth, from fifteen to twenty shillings a yard, is made of Spanish and English wool mix- ed; and superfine cloth, from twenty to thirty shillings a yard and upwards, is made altogether of Spanish wool. These prices relate to cloth in its iindi^essed state ; when it comes to the hand of the consumer, of course, the cost is considerably enhanced. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 25 2. Mr. Livingston declares, that the finest Span- ish wool never goes to Britain j because, one year, the price happened to be higher at Madrid than in London ; and in 1796, Mr. Livingston as- sures us, England imported six millions of pounds weight of wool from Spain. Now, both these assertions are incorrect ; for, by examining the table of British imports, for the year 1796, as published in the 4th vol. p. 527, of Mr. Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, we shall find, that there were imported into Britain, during that year only three millions four hundred thou- sand and two hundred and thirty six pounds weight of Spanish wool, and 53,975 pounds weight of other wool. Nor is Mr. Livingston's reasoning conclusive to show, that the finest sort of Spanish wool never goes to England ; namely, because in the year 1796, the price of Spanish wool was higher at Madrid than in London; a circumstance which might easily be occasioned by a sudden glut of Spanish wool in the London market. It sometimes happens, that cloth of British manufacture is sold at a less price here, in the city of New- York, than cloth of the same quality is in London. Would Mr. Livingston infer from this, that the British cloth, so sold at New-York, was never imported into the United States from Britain ? The fact is notorious, that the finest Spanish wool is constantly imported into Britain, which, indeed, E m HiNTS ON THE NATIONAL might «j&mn, he inferred from this circumstance, that Britain imports thelargest quantity annually, and can afford to pay the best price for Spanish wool. And yet, by an unaccountable mode of reasoning, Mr. Livingston draws two inferences from two facts, which, to an ordinary logician, would suggest precisely opposite conclusions. In the year 1796, says Mr. Livingston, England imported six millions of pounds weight of Spanish wool, while France, during that year, imported pnly six hundred thousand pounds weight ; and, therefore, England never gets any of the finer wool from Spain ; and France makes better cloths than Britain. Q. E. D. 3. Mr. Livingston very much under-rates the price of British wool, when he puts the coarsest at only seven pence half-penny per pound weight, and the finest at one shilling a pound. It is evi- dent, also, that he industriously compares the finest Spanish wool, that has been picked, sor- ted, washed, and prepared for the market, with the coarsest British wool, still remaining in the fleece. But the finest British wool, namely, that from the South-down sheep, is sold at from forty to fifty pounds sterling the pack, which contains 240lbs. weight y and, consequently, this wool is always above three shillings, and, sometimes above four shillings the pound weight, instead of being only pMe shilling as Mr. Livingston states. And the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN* &C, S7 coarsest British wool is sold at from twelve to fif- teen pounds sterling a pack ; and, therefore, al- waj'^s costs one shilling, and sometimes more than one shilling a pomid, and not only seven pence and a half-penny, as Mr. Livingston asserts. 4. Mr. Livingston very greatly under-rates the quality of British wool, when he says, that it is only capable of being worked up into coarse cloths. And, in his calculations as to the most profitable breed of sheep, he carefully compares the quality of the finest Spanish wool, from the Merino breed, with that of the coarsest British, namely the Dur- ham and the Dishley breeds ; omitting all consi- deration of the South-down, the Herefordshire, the Ryeland, and some other species of English wool, which do not fall very far short of Spanish wool., in the fineness and evenness of their staple. As the quality of British wool, and an inquiry into the means of improving its staple, is a sub- ject of very considerable importance, not only to Britain, but to other nations whose wants are sup- plied, and whose conveniences and comforts are augmented by the use of British woollens, perhaps it may be excusable to enter somewhat at length into this question. It will be seen, by the following references to, and extracts from, respectable authorities, that-^ formerly, British wool was reckoned to be of a finer quality than the Spanish ;— that it is sup' posed to have, in general, degenerated, but that in 28 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL some parts of Britain, it yet retains all its native excellence ; and lastly, that of late years, several successful attempts have been made to improve the staple by an intermixture of the Spanish Me- rinos with the flocks of Britain. Mr. Macpherson, in the 4th volume of his very valuable and laborious work^ the Annals of Com- merce, p. 204, says, that from many incontrover- tible facts related in several scattered parts of the first volume, it is sufficiently shown in what high estimation the wool of England was held, and with what avidity it was sought after by foreign manufacturers, especially those of the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain, which last country now produces the best wool in Europe. Yet in the sixteenth century Guicciardini de- scribes the English wool as superior to that of Spain, which he ranks as next in quality and va- lue. He also repeatedly mentions the wool of Scotland as being then in great request in the Ne- therlands. Indeed, wool was the chief article of the Scottish exports, till the year 1581, when its exportation was strictly prohibited by the Parlia- ment. In Camden's time, the wool of Leominster was the pride of Herefordshire, and preferred all over Europe to every other wool, except the Apulian and Tarentine. The Spaniards ascribe the improvement of their wool to a stock of rams, obtained from the Arabs of Africa by Cardinal Ximenes in tlie early part BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN. 29 of the sixteenth century. They had been accus- tomed, theretofore, to import English sheep into Spain, in order to mend the Spanish breed. And as it plainly appears, that Spanish wool has only lately attained its superiority over the other Eu- ropean wools, and that British wool was universal- ly esteemed to be the best in Europe, down to the beginning of the seventeenth century, it may be asked, what has now become of that breed of sheep in Britain, which produced wool of such su- perior quality ? This breed must have degenerated ; and it is supposed, that the laws, which prevent the expor- tation of wool from Britain, although intended for the benefit of the manufacturer, have, by turning the attention of the former to the weight of the carcass, rather than to the quality of the wool, been the real cause of the degeneracy of the Bri- tish sheep, and coiisequently of the importation of fine wool. The Herefordshire breed still retain much of that superiority of wool, for which their progeni- tors were formerly celebrated ; and, perhaps, they are the least adulterated remains of the ancient stock of British sheep, now existing in the main land of Britain. But their wool is greatly inferior to that of the fine Vvoolled sheep of Scotland, which by the advantage of their remote insular situa- tion, have, probably, remained uncontaminated by any mixture with inferior breeds, and are, appa- 30 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL rently, the most genuine offspring of the ancient British race gf fine-woolled sheep. About the year 1790, many gentlemen, in dif- ferent parts of Britain, turned their attention to the improvement of the breed of fine-woolled sheep. At an anniversary meeting of the Bath Society for the encouragement of agriculture, arts, manufac- tures and commerce, a number of sheep of v ari- ous kinds were inspected, in order to ascertain which is the most advantageous breed for general stock, in respect to carcass and wool ; and the small-boned Leister and the South-down breeds were adjadged to be the most profitable. The attention of the Highland Society was more especially directed to the recovery of the superior quality of the Scottish wool ; the report of their committee, published in the year 1790, states that there are two kinds of fme-woolled sheep in the Shetland Islands, of which that called the kindly sheep is almost entirely covered with wool of a most excellent quality, worth at least five shillings sterling per pound ; the other species having the line wool only about the neck and some other parts of the body. Yet the people who possess this most precious wool, are so deficient in its management, and es- pecially in sorting it, that they work up the finest along with the coarse wool of inferior sheep, in knitting stockings, which they sell at from three pence to three shillings a pair ; (whereas stock- ings made entirely of the finest wool are sold at as BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 31 high a rate as two guineas for each pair) whence it often happens, that some of them contain as much fine wool, as is worth more, in a raw state, than the price of the manufactured stockings. The Society strongly recommended it to the proprietors of the small islands to attend to their breed of sheep, which such sea-girt pastures can best preserve from being debased by mixing with sheep of inferior quality ; to obtain the best breed- ing kinds, especially selecting the finest rams j to breed only the best species, and to extirpate the inferior kinds as soon as possible. From the communications of the ministers of several of the islands for Sir John Sinclair's Statis- tical Account of Scotland, it appears that these isl- ands already possess a breed of sheep, producing wool of a very fine quality, although not equal to the best Shetland wool. To these observations of Mr. Macpherson it might be added, that the process, begun some few years since, and now (in 1809) still going on in the Highlands, and western islands of Scotland, I mean, the breaking up of the old clannish, or feu- dal tenures, by which the peasantry had theretofore held their farms, and converting the system of cot- tar-husbandry, or crofting, (as the Scottish call it) into extensive sheep-pastures, according to the present more improved modes of agriculture, will, in all probability, tend materially to improve the quality of British wool ; by turning the attention 32 HINTS ON THE NA.TIONAL of intelligent farmers: towards the attainment of that important object, which can only be accom- plished by carefully selecting and properly man- aging the best breeds of fine-woolled sheep ; and by judiciously picking and sorting- the wool, when shorn, according to the different qualities of its staple. Now, neither of these desirable purposes could ever possibly be accomplished on the small farms, and by the scanty capital of the former rude and unproductive system of husbandry, which remain- ed until lately, and was cherished by the military services, on the performance of which, together with a small rent paid in kind, the Scottish high- landers were accustomed to hold their lands. For a full exposition of the great national re- sults to be expected from the breaking up of these old, patriarchal tenures, and the consequent introduction of a better order of agriculture into the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the reader will do well to consult and to study the very inter- esting and able work of the Earl of Selkirk, enti- tled — " Observations on the present state of the Highlands of Scotland, with a view of the causes and probable consequences of Emigration 5" — published at Edinburgh, in I8O6. In the 58th volume of the Monthly Review, p. 256* — we are informed, in a Review of Anderson's * I am obliged to refer to this very meritorious and valuable repository not only of British, but of European science and 1;- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. S^ Observations on the means of exciting a spi- rit of National Industry, &c. published in the year 1777, that very fine wool is produced in Scotland ; an assertion which Mr. Anderson cor- roborates by relating the following fact. About the beginning of Lord Chatham's famous war, in the middle of the eighteenth century, the magistrates of Aberdeen, a town in the north of Scotland, much celebrated for its manufactures of worsted stockings, resolved to make their country- man, Marshal Keith, then in the service of Frede- ric 2nd, King of Prussia, a present of a pair of stockings of an extraordinary degree of fineness. They, therefore, obtained from London some pounds of the very finest Spanish wool, which they put into the hands of the women, who were appointed to manufacture the Marshal's stockings. But these women complained of the coarse qua- lity of the Spanish wool, from a pound weight of which they could only draw forty heeres, each heere being a thread of six hundred yards in length; whereas, from the Scottish Highland wool they could spin to the fineness of seventy heeres to the pound ; the Scottish Highland wool being finer than that of the best Spanish Merino- fleece, in the proportion of seven to four. terature in general for more than half a century past; because I do not possess, neither can I procure in this country, the ori- ginal works on the subject now under examination, which are criticised by the Monthly Reviewers, F 34 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Accordingly, the stockings were made of High- land wool, and when finished, were valued at more than five guineas, being so fine, that al- though of the largest size, they were easily drawn, both together, through an ordinary thumb-ring. They were sent to Marshal Keith, who presented them to the Empress of Russia. Mr. Anderson states a vast variety of other facts to prove the existence of fine wool in many parts of Scotland ; and labors much to show that uni- formly cold climates are peculiarly calculated for the production of the finest wool. He also en- deavors to point out, how the quality of the wool may be improved or debased, independently of the influence of climate j and concludes, that the chief requisite towards improvement is a minute attention to the qualities of that particular variety of the animal employed in breeding. I would beg leave to observe, that, although Mr. Anderson is correct in his inference as to im- proving the quality of the fleece, hy crossing the breeds of sheep, yet he appears to be too confi- dent in his position, that the uniformly cold cli- mates are the best adapted for the production of fine wool. It is, indeed, true, that about a century since, Sweden imported Merino-sheep from Spain, and has been so successful in breeding them, that the present (in 1809) Swedish stock of pure and mix- ed Merino amounts to above one hundred thou- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &c. 35 sand ; and no deterioration in the quality of the wool, or of the carcass, has taken place. In- to Norway, also, and Denmark, Saxony, Prussia, Germany, Holland, Britain, France, Italy, the Cape of Good Hope, and New-South Wales, has the Spanish Merino been imported ; and in all these countries been propagated with success. Now, whatever we might attribute to the cold of the more northern of these countries ; it cannot be the cold of France, or of Italy, or of the Cape of Good Hope, or of New-South AVales, which produces such fine wool. I am inclined to think, that the climate is by no means so essential to the quality of the fleece, as the peculiar breed of the sheep itself is. In the 64th volume of the Monthly Review, p. 533, in the examination of a memoir of M. Du Rondeau, published in the year 1780, in the Me- ftioirs of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Sci- ences and Belles Lettres, at Brussels, we are told, that in ancient times the Belgic wool was prefer- red to that of Calabria and Apulia ; and that the Spaniards, as far back as the days of the Romans, greatly improved their wool by coupling African rams with Iberian ewes; but this improvement was of short duration, owing to the negligence of the Spanish agriculturalists. The attempt, however, was successfully renewed by Don Pedro, the fourth king of Castile; whence the origin of that fine breed of sheep, which con- 36 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL stitutes the chief opulence of Old Castile. This breed, also, having degenerated through the care- lessness and incapacity of the Spanish keepers, was restored to its pristine excellence by the Cardinal Ximenes, who imported a large stock of African rams in the sixteenth century ; and this superior breed of sheep has since been spread through all the parts of Spain, whose pastures are similar to those of Segovia. The free use of air, and the disuse of folds con- tribute much to maintain the excellence of this breed ; the Spanish shepherds invariably perceiv- ing a dimunition of their sheep, and a deteriora- tion in the quality of their wool, whenever they shut up their flocks in folds. The English wool grew into great repute about the middle of the fifteenth century, when three thousand sheep were transported from Castile to England, and there propagated with success. The French, under their great minister, Colbert, attempted to form a fine breed of sheep in France ; but failed, in consequence of depriving their flocks of the free use of air. A blunder into which it is singular that the French, whose climate is so mild, should fall; when it is well known, that the Tar- tars of Great-Thibet, or Bouton, whose wool is beautiful, and in high request, never fold, or con- fine their sheep, though the air of that region is extremely cold, and the earth is covered with snow above Ave months in the year. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 37 The wether of Flanders is of the largest kind in Europe ; this species of sheep was brought by the Dutch from the East-Indies, in the seventeenth century -, and its wool is almost equal to that of the English, in length, whiteness, fineness, and strength. The attempts to raise this breed in England were unsuccessful ; but it thrives in several parts of Hol- land, and may prosper in Brabant, Hainault, and several districts of Flanders. Upon the whole, M. Du Rondeau recommends the English method of managing sheep, as the most eligible, and the best adapted to restore to the Flemings, the lucrative branch of commerce, consisting of the growth and manufacture of wool, which the English and the Spaniards have carried away from them. It only remains to show, that, of late years, seve- ral successful attempts have been made in Eng- land to improve the quality of British wool by an intermixture of the sheep of Britain with the Span- ish Merinos. We learn from Mr. Macpherson's Annals of Com- merce, 4th vol. p. 524, that, during several years past, his Britannic Majesty has kept a flock of sheep of the true Merino breed, the quality of whose wool has nothing degenerated by continu- ing in the climate and pasture of Britain. A long experience has uniformly proved that the cross of a Merino ram increases the quantity, and improves the quality of the native, short- woolled, British 38 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL sheep, particularly the South-down, Hereford, and Devonshire breeds. Encouraged by these facts, the British Monarch obtained from the Marchioness del Campo de Alange, in the year ITQ'i, five rams and thirty-five ewes of the Negretti breed, which is as highly es- teemed as any sheep in Spain, for purity of blood, and fineness of wool. These, with their descen- dants, are carefully kept upon the King's farm at Oatlands. Though the wool of all these sheep, the Merino, as well as the Negretti, was equal in quality to any imported Spanish wool, yet, at first, the Bri- tish manufacturers would not buy it, wherefore, the King ordered it to be manufactured, and it made excellent superfine cloth. The manufactu- rers were then suffered to buy the wool at their own price; and the following table shows the gradual augmentation of its money-value, in proportion as its excellence became more generally known. QUALITY AND PRICE PER POUND, YEARS. FIRST. SECOND. THIRD, Total Sale. 1796. as. per lb. 1797. is. '■2(1. per lb. £. s. d. 1798— eighty-nine 167 lb. at 5s. 23 lb. at Ss. 13 lb. at 2s. fleeces, per lb. 6rf. per lb. fid. per lb. 47 8 1799 — one Inindreti -'07 lb. at .-is. .'8 lb. at Ss. 19 lb. at 2s. and one fleeces. 6d. per lb. 6d. per lb. per lb. 63 14 6 Rani's wool of 1798 181 lb. at 4s. 2 '2 lb. at 3s. 12 lb. at 2s. —9. 6d. per lb. 6d. per lb. per lb. 45 15 6 Observe, that in the year 1799, when this Bri- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 39 tish wool of 1798 — 9 was sold, the price of Span- ish wool in the London market was higher than ever it was before ; yet no wool from Spain, was, daring that year, sold for more than 5s. Qd. — ex- cept a very small quantity, which fetched 5s. 9d. per pound. The London market prices of Span- ish wool in the year 1808, were, for Seville, per lb. 3s. Ad. to 5s. 3d. for Segovia, from 6s. to Qs. 6d. and for Leonese, from 6s. 6d. to 6s. 9d. In order to render the propagation of so valuable a race of sheep as extensive as possible, his Britan- nic Majesty gave a hundred of his rams, and ma- ny of his ewes, as presents to different persons ; and that the improvement of the staple commodi- ty of Britain might be accessible to all, he ordered a number of the rams and ewes to be occasionally drafted from his flocks, and sold to any one, who chose to be the purchaser. In the 11 6th volume of the Monthly Review p. 324, from an examination of a work by Doctor Parry, a celebrated physician of Bath, as to the practicability of producing in the British Isles clothing wool equal to that of Spain, published in the year 1800, it appears, that a breed of sheep can be produced and kept up in Britain, whose wool is equal in quality to that of Spain ; and that it would be advantageous to the farmer individu- ally, and to the public in general, to cherish such a breed in the British Isles. Doctor Parry chose the Ryeland breed of sheep. 4o Hints on the national as the basis of an attempt to improve British wool by an admixture with the Spanish race. He com- menced his experiments in the year 1792, by sen- ding four ewes to the Spanish ram, belonging to the Bath Agricultural Society, and two ewes to another ram, belonging to the late Earl Bathurst, both given by the King. The breed, thus obtained by Dr. Parry, are en- tirely enveloped in wool, which grows under the jaws, down the forehead to the eyes, under the bel- ly, and down the legs to the very feet. It covers the skin very thickly, scarcely gives way to the even pressure of the hand, but yields by starts, like the close, short hair of an extremely fine clothes- brush. In washing the sheep, the water penetrates to the skin with great difficulty. The fleece of these sheep is heavier, in propor- tion to their carcass, than that of any other known breed in Europe. In the raw state (that is, un- washed, on the sheep's back, or afterwards) the fleeces of the two shear-ewes average A^ lb. aver- dupoise; the weight of the living ewe being sixty pounds, the proportion of wool to that of carcass is about one to twelve and a half. The fleece of a fat wether, of the same age, will be from five to seven pounds. From a ram of seventy pounds and a half living weight, in 1797, I3r. Parry clip- ped eight pounds two ounces of raw wool. The length of the staple or filaments averages three inches and a quarter, and the wool is of uni- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 41 form fineness in different parts of the fleece; even in those parts, which, in other breeds, generally produce the best and the worst wool ; namely, the shoulder and the breech. This wool contains a great deal oi yolk, or oil, but is wholly free from stickel, hairs, or kemps. The breed is also ver}'^ healthy -, and the nature of the food, whether hay, grass, chicory, Scottish cabbage, or oil-cakes, in indefinite proportions, given so as to maintain a certain quantity of flesh, makes no obvious differ- ence in the fineness of the wool. This breed is small, and the carcass is not so finely formed as that of the present fashionable breeds in Britain. The wethers, when tolerably fat, weigh from twelve to fiiteen pounds per quar- ter, and the ewes from ten to twelve pounds ; the flavor of the mutton is excellent. The smallest breed of sheep is the most profitable, both as to flesh and wool. Nevertheless, adds Dr. Parry, fine wool cannot be produced by only one or two crosses with Spa- nish rams from any breed of ewes in England. The sheep must have at least five-sixths of the Spanish blood. One or two descents will improve the quality, and greatly increase the quantity of wool ; but it will require many more crosses to produce wool equal in quality to that of the Spa- nish Merino. In the 133d volume of the Monthly Review, p. 415, in an examination of the tenth volume of G 42 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Letters and Papers of the Bath Agricultural So- ciety, published in the year 1807, we are inform- ed, that from ten fleeces of Merino wool, out of Lord Somerville's flock, were made fourteen and a half yards of broad-cloth, (of the usual superfine breadth) which was, in respect of fineness of wool, somewhat inferior to the best superfine cloth. Dr. Parry, and some other agriculturalists, however, were more successful than Lord Somerville. The Merino race surpass other sheep in excellence of carcass, as well as in quality of fleece. Lord Somerville, also, laid claim to a premium for producing the greatest number, and the most profitable sort of sheep. His Lordship's sheep- stock were the Merino breed crossed with the Rye- land, and amounted to 302 lambs, and 783 store sheep, total 1,085. Their produce was : £. s. d. Wool, twelve packs and one score, worth 446 216 store sheep, sold for ... 409 3 132 fat sheep, sold and used, . 238 16 2 Letting rams, -524 10 These sheep were depastured on 188 acres, with the run of S3 acres of turnips ; and the whole re- ceipt, deducting 26/. for extra feed, amounted to l,o92/. 9s. 2rf. Dr. Parry, in an address to the Society, on this sheep-stock of Lord Somerville, observes, that the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 43 profit of his Lordship's stock amounted to 9/. Is. 3d. per acre. And, in another address, Dr. Par- ry communicates the result of his own experience ; as to Merinos crossed with Ry elands, in the form of the following propositions : 1. That the wool of the fourth cross of this breed is fully equal in fineness to that of the male pa- rent stock, (the Spanish Merino) in England. 2. By breeding from select Merino-Ry eland rams and ewes of this stock, sheep may be obtain- ed whose fleeces are superior to those of the cross- breed parents ; and, consequently, to those of the original progenitors of the pure Merino blood in England. 3. From mixed rams of this breed may be ob- tained sheep, having wool, at least equal in fine- ness to the best which can be procured from Spain. 4. Wool, from sheep of a proper modification of Merino and Ryeland, will make cloth equal to that made from the Spanish wool, which is impor- ted into Britain. 5. The proportion of fine wool, in the fleeces of this cross-breed, is equal, if not superior to that of the best Spanish piles. 6. This wool is more profitable in the manufac- ture than the best Spanish wool. 7. The lamb's wool of the Merino-Ryeland breed will make finer cloth than the best of that of the pure Merino breed. 8. Should long wool, of this degree of fineness, be wanted for shawls, or any manufactures, whicii 44 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL cannot be perfected with the common, coarse, long British wools, this can be effected by allowing the ram's fleece to remain on the animal unshorn for two years. 9. That although Doctor Parry never selected a breeding ram or ewe, on account of any other quality than the fineness of the fleece, this stock is already much improved as to the form of its car- cass, comparatively with the Merinos originally imported. I sliall only add two circumstances, both con- clusive as to the qualify of British wool, which es- caped my recollection while I was examining Mr. Livingston's assertions on this subject. 1, Since the annual produce of wool in England, from twenty-eight millions eight hundred thou- sand sheep, amounts to six hundred thousand packs, which, at two hundred and forty pounds a pack, gives a yearly produce of one hundred and forty-four millions of pounds weight, the wdiole or nearly the whole of which is worked up into wool- len manufactures in the British Isles ; and since the annual importation of Spanish wool into Britain averages four millions of pounds weight ^ we might, without any fear of refutation, infer, that British wool can and does make some fabrics a lit- tle finer than those merely of the coarse cloths, which Mr. Livingston denies; inasmuch as the British fine woollen bear a much greater propor- tion to the British coarse woollen cloths, than that The mind is almost bewildered in endeavouring to trace the causes of such a change, from the excess of meanness to the height of mag- nificence; and when we survey the country, we are equally'surprised by the improvement of its BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 53 cultivation, and the extent of the thriving planta- tions, which shelter and adorn it in every direc- tion. In proceeding north from Edinburgh, Perth first attracts the attention. A few years since, it was an ugly, mean place, with nothing to excite admi- ration, except the beauty of its situation, and the grandeur of its bridge. At present, it is one of the prettiest towns in Europe, and displays all the fascinations of architecture, and all the elegance of regularity. Aberdeen has likewise greatly in- creased, both in beauty and population. Peter- head, from a trifling village, has become a hand- some town. Every other town in the north has increased in size, cleanliness, and beauty ; nay, even Inverness is fast emerging from its dusky liue, into regularity and splendor. In every other part of Scotland similar advances have been made ; and Glasgow, so long super-eminent in beauty, still by new exertions maintains her superiority. But the improvements which are of most impor- tance to the farmer, are the new roads and bridges, "which, not only facilitate the labors of the travel- ler, but add, in a very great degree, to the comforts of the husbandman. Every thing which the farmer requires for the produce of his crop, and every step which he must take for the disposal of his harvest, and of his cattle, must be subject to the direct influences of easy, or of difficult communi- cation J and the richest country, without easy 54 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL means of intercourse between its different parts, both contiguous and remote, must soon yield the palm of fertility and of value, to districts naturally sterile, but enjoying the inestimable advantages of free and facile communication. The bridges over the Spay, and the Findhorn have been finished for some time ; and are both works of the greatest beauty and utility. The no- ble bridge at Dunkeld is far advanced towards completion ; and, united with the superb scenery at that romantic place, will surpass any structures of a similar kind, in Britain. Bridges are soon to be commenced over the rivers to the north of Inver- ness ; so that, in a short time, the whole of the waters in the north of Scotland will present no ob- stacle to the intercourse of the inhabitants, in that section of the country. These improvements, and those likewise going forward in England and Ireland, are the more en- couraging to the lover of his country, from the so- licitude, which the French display in pushing on- ward similar works, in every part of their im- mense empire. In some respects, they surpass the British in the nobleness of their works ; such as, the grandeur of their public roads, and the beautiful wharfs, which adorn many of their mari- time and inland cities ; while in bridges and ca- nals, they fall far below the people of Britain. France has no bridges to boast of, any way com- parable to those which adorn the cities of London and Westminster. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 55 Except the canal of Languedoc, and that which unites the Seine to the Loire, there were no canals, until latel}^ of any consequence in France. At present we hear of several, and they seem to be carried on with spirit. It would be difficult to give a description of the canals in England ; they are so numerous, and so well constructed. The munificence of the British government, in the pre- sent reign, has made Scotland the mistress of a canal, of larger dimensions than any other coun- try can boast. The largest canals in Europe can only carry vessels of limited tonnage ; but the Ca- ledonian canal is calculated for frigates of thirty- two guns. It is carried on with great vigor and judgment, and, vvhen finished, will be a noble re- membrance of Britain's present excellent Sove- reign. Few countries are so well provided with suit- able implements for executing rural labor as is Great-Britain \ and to this circumstance, in a great measure, we may attribute the increased and in- creasing perfection of her agriculture. She has ploughs of all the different kinds which at any time have been invented ; whilst harrows, wheel-carri* ages, and other common implements of various constructions and dimensions are equally nume- rous. But it is in the articles which, strictly speaking, may be called agricultural machinery, that the su- periority of Britain is most conspicuous. Drills 66 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL for sowing grain and other seeds, have been con- structed upon scientific principles; and machines for separating grain from the straw, and for cleaning it from the offal, with which it was inter- mixed, have been brought to a high degree of perfection. Imperfect kibor is a necessary consequence of defective implements. In former times, the con- struction of rural machinery was almost entirely left to rude and ignorant artisans, whose opera- tions were guided by no fixed and determinate principle, and with whom any shadow of improve- ment was altogether out of sight, because every thing of that nature was regarded as superfluous and unnecessary. The principles on which ploughs, aud other rural implements should be con- structed, have of late been ascertained with ma- thematical precision ; and artisans, in every dis- trict, have been enabled to imitate, what they had not genius suflicient to invent. To Small, Bailey, Meikle, and many other in- genious men, the British public are under great obligations for bringing agricultural machinery to its present perfect state. In consequence of their exertions, labor is executed in a style vastly supe- rior to what was formerly practicable. Owing to more perfect labor, a greater produce is obtained from the earth. This has increased the rent-roll of the proprietors without lessening the welfare or prosperity of the occupiers. In a word, the in- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 67 terest of the state has been, in like manner, pro- moted, by the increased supply of the necessaries of life, furnished in consequence of this labor-im- proving machinery ; without which, neither the manufactures, nor the commerce of Britain could have been so extensively undertaken. Upon the whole, the British system of agricuU ture is so good, that, notwithstanding the compa- ratively small quantity of land employed in the cul- tivation of wheat, the annual growth of that graia in the United Kingdom is adequate to the usual and ordinary consumption of its inhabitants, as is demonstrated by the experience of the years 1806 and 1807, each of which produced twelve millions of quarters of wheat, being the quantity yearly con- sumed by the whole British population. Hence, it is manifest, that the stocks of Poland, of the United States, and of some other grain-bear- ing countries, which are occasionally imported in- to Britam, bear so small a proportion to the whole consumption of the British isles, as to do very little more than cause small temporary fluctuations in the money-price of wheat, while their influence is too feeble to be felt, either in increasing or dimi- nishing the wants or the comforts of the inhabi- tants of Britain. The greatest quantity of wheat ever imported into Britain from the United States of America, in one year, bore to the whole annual consumption of that grain by the British people, only the proportion oi one to forty-seven and a half, I 58 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL It did not amount to three hundred thousand quar- ters. And the proportion of wheat imported from Poland and from some of the grain-bearii^g dis- tricts of Germany, into Britain, in comparison of the whole yearly British consumption, is still less. CHAPTER. VI. The testimony of Mr. Comber, p. 274, and of Mr. M*Arthur, p. 214, 236, 267, is also conclu- sive as to the very important fact of the present state of the British poor being in every respect, of food, clothing, lodging, and other necessaries and comforts, considerably better than at any former period of time, and far superior to the condition of the lower orders of society in every other coun- try in Europe. And yet a strange notion per- vades almost all the people of the United States, " that the great mass of the inhabitants of Britain are ground down by the weight of taxation, and the universal distress in all classes of the communi- ty, to the lowest possible state of human misery, want, nakedness, and degradation." There are some circumstances, arising from the very rapidity of the progress of improvement in Britain, which have contributed to increase the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 59 number of dependants upon the community for support. Independently of casual cessations of demand for particular species of industry, by which num- bers may be deprived of employment, many of the improvements in different branches of British mat nufactures, being substitutions of mechanical pow- ers for mere human force, have a tendency to di- minish the value of that labor which is not accom- panied with skill. That kind of labor, indeed, in the exercise of which skill is necessary, and which cannot be supplanted by capital, rises in value ^ but numbers, either from age, or natural inapti- tude, are left behind in the race of industrious competition, and have no other resource than in the voluntary charity or the legal allowance of the community at large. Such an effect is said to be avoided in China, by uniformly giving the preference to the manual la- bor of man, over that both of other animals, and of machines. But in addition to limiting the pro- ductive powers of a country by such an absurd and senseless custom, the reward of human labor itself, at length, becomes so small, in consequence of the vast and continually increasing number of laboring competitors, as to afford a very beggarly and miserable subsistence to the great body of the people. The effects arising from these substitutions for human labor, are, however, counteracted, as to 60 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the great body of the laborincj orders in Britain, by the more liberal remuneration of labor, by the more rapid increase of the annual produce of the country, and the reciprocity of demand among the employers and the laborers, which results from 'the general affluence. In addition to the numbers thus thrown on the community, the various accidents and misfor- tunes, to which all human beings are liable, may interrupt the exertions of industry, and, in conse- quence, cut off the means of subsistence. These unfortunate persons are not confined to the labo- rious classes alone ; but many who may have pos- sessed some previous accumulation of capital, and omitted to acquire any species of useful in- dustry, if deprived, by vice or misfortune, of this support, sink'into the same class. In addition to these, there are many, who, from natural indolence, cannot be goaded to exertion ; and others, who, from neglected education, and vicious habits early imbibed, are rendered unwor- thy of trust ; besides, the whole of the vagrant, and mendicant tribes, who formerly existed by theft, or precarious benevolence, are now, by the vigilance of the police, confined to their own pa- rishes, thus augmenting the amount of the poor- rates, without increasing tiie number of the poor. Yet, notwithstanding this combination of causes, the proportion of British poor is not greater, at BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 61 present, than it has been at any former period. In the time of Henry the eighth, the legislature itself acknowledged, that many of the lower orders of the English died from absolute want, in times, re- markable for the regularity of the seasons. And, in the reign of Elizabeth, almost every parish fur- nished three or four hundred vagrants. Even in the reign of Charles the second, when industry began to take root in Britain, the poor- rates amounted to £ 665,000, and were probably still higher at the Revolution, at which time, accor- ding to Gregory King, the cottagers, paupers and vagrants amounted to one million three hundred and thirty thousand ; amongst whom neither labor- ers, nor out-servants were included; and these two last-mentioned classes were numbered at one million two hundred and seventy-five thousand. The former class, therefore, may be considered as of the same description with those, who now re- ceive alms, in the shape of poor-rates ; and compo- sed nearly one-fourth of the whole population of England, which was then estimated at five millions five hundred thousand. According to Mr. Play- fair's Statistical Tables, the number of English poor receiving relief in the year 1804, amounted to nine hundred thousand ; less than one-tenth of the present population of England. This statement, therefore, exhibits a considera- ble decrease in the number of persons in a state of mendicity and poverty, in England, in proportion 6a HINTS ON THE NATIONAL to the population, since the Revolution in the year 1688 ; notwithstanding the increase of the poor-rates, nominally; that is to say, in the amount of the sums annually expended, owing to the ne- cessary depreciation of the value of money, in con- sequence of the vast and continual influx of wealth into Britain. And the superior manner, in which the British poor are fed, clothed, and lodged, in comparison with the condition of their ancestors in these respects, indicates no decline in the means of subsistence for the lower orders of the people in Britain. Those authors, who have given such exaggera- ted statements of the misery of the laboring clas- ses of the British community, in the present age, never once compare their condition, either with that of the same cliisses of society in the former periods of British history ; or Vv^ith that of the same classes of society, at present existing in any oth- er part of the world ; but with some ideal standard founded on a preconceived theory, not only un- warranted, but actually contradicted by the whole current of human experience, a theory which they have engendered in their own moon-struck brains, and which excludes the existence of indolence, ig- norance, d.ulness, vice, and misfortune in the world. Or, instead of considering these unfortu- nate circumstances, as the necessary concomitants of human nature, these ingenious politicians refer their origin to some derangement in the order of BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 63 civilized society, to some radical defect in the constitution of all the governments upon earth; or to some other assumed principle, equally un- real, and equally inconsistent with itself. If brought to the test of comparison and expe- rience, it will be found that the condition of the lower orders of the people in Britain, at present, is superior, in the essential articles of food ; cloth- ing, and lodging, to that of the same class of soci- ety, in any other of the countries of Europe; and also, to that of the same class in Britain, at any former period of her history. A decisive proof of this assertion is the small proportion of annual deaths in Britain. These are stated by Mr. Mai thus to be only one in forty. In 1780, the proportion was one in thirty-six; so that there has been an improved healthiness in the country of ten per cent, in a period of less thari thirty years; which, as the lower orders form so large a majority of the whole population, demon- strates a very great melioration in their condition and general happiness. That a certain number of the members of a community become dependant upon that commu- nity for support, arises partly from the causes above-mentioned ; and partly from the natural and characteristic improvidence of that class of peo- ple, whose activity is, in a great measure, stifled by poverty and ignorance. This improvidence, no doubt, is greatly incre^- 64 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL sed by the miserable system of poor-laws in En- gland, which at all times promises a certainty of relief to idleness, Scotland and Ireland are not, as yet, cursed with the English method of provi- ding for the poor; and, it is devoutly to be hoped, that they never will. After the flood of light poured upon this subject by that distinguished political phihsopher, Mr. Malthus in his invaluable Essay on Population ; it would seem superfluous to offer any remarks upon the evil tendencies of the English poor- laws; but as many politicians in the United States affect to deride all the great and important prin- ciples laid down by Mr, Malthus, as absurd and visionary, merely because they perceive that, in this country, six millions of human beings are not a redundant population, when spread out upon a superficies of territory, extending two millions of square miles ; I shall very briefly notice the fun- damental political blunder, on which the poor laws of England rest. These poor-laws have now, for more than two hundred years past, been proclaiming in the loud- est, and most intelligible language, their own per- nicious tendencies to cut up by the roots all the active industry of the laboring orders of the com- munity. 1 pass over the various acts of the En- glish Parliament, relating to this subject, made in the times of Henry the seventh, Henry the eighth, Edward the sixth, and Philip and Mary; Bankruptcy of Britain, &c. Q3 and shall only notice that made in the reign of Eli- zabeth. The 43d Eliz. c. 2, s. 1, ordains, that the over- seers of each parish, shall find materials and work for the children of all those who cannot main- tain their own offspring ; and also, for all per- sons, married or unmarried, having no money to maintain them, and using no ordinary or daily trade by which to get their living; and also to find food and raiment for all the impotent poor, who cannot find it for themselves. But, surely, this statute cannot effect impossibi- lities ; an English act of Parliament can never work a miracle. The position is now for ever settled by Mr. Mahhus, who draws his proofs from the ob- servation and the recorded experience of all ages, that the principle of population always outruns the means of subsistence ; that man has a power of multiplying his species far surpassing in rapi-* dity and force the capacity of the earth to produce food J that population increases in a geometrical, - while the means of subsistence increase only in an arithmetical ratio. It is also manifest, that the mass of population in any given country, must always be measu- red and limited by the quantity of food in that country ; for, where there are no means of subsistence, people must die. And yet the sta- tute of Elizabeth requires, that work, materials, and food shall be provided for all the poor that K 66 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL want these things. As if the overseers of an Eng^ lisb parish could create work and materials where there was no effectual demand for them j or could manufacture food when it did not exist in the kingdom. What is this but holding up a high bounty for the production of a greater population than the country can actually maintain; whence the conse- quent increase of the bills of mortality, by penu- ry, disease, and all the complicated miseries of famine ? The English poor are thus prevented from being taught this most important truth; that no in- dividual human being, who cannot maintain a wife and family, has any business with them ; has any right to entail them as additional incumbran- ces on the community ; whence, without the least exercise of reflection or calculation, they proceed to augment the mass of beggarly population, to an extent far beyond that which the country can properly support ; far beyond the power of the land to produce the full means of subsistence for them, because the Legislature has told them, that they may produce any number of unnecessary and superfluous children they please, and the pa- rish shall be compelled to provide them with food and covering. Depopulation, says Lord Kames, in his Sketches of the History of Man, vol. 3. p. 76, 107 — in- equality in the price of labor, and extravagant wages are deplorable evils. But the English poor- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 6f laws are productive of evils still more deplora- ble: they are subversive both of morality and in- dustry. Fear of want is the only effectual motive to in- dustry with the laboring poor ; remove that fear, and they cease to be industrious. The ruling pas- sion of those who live by bodily labor, is, to save a pittance for their children, and for supporting themselves in their old age : stimulated by the de- sire of accomplishing these ends, they are frugal and industrious, and the prospect of success is to them a continual feast. Now, what worse can malice invent against such a man, under color of friendship, than to secure bread to him and to his children, whenever he takes a dislike to workj which effectually deadens his sole ambition, and with it, his honest industry ? Relying on the certainty of a provision against want, he relaxes gradually till he sinks into idle- ness; idleness leads to profligacy; profligacy be- gets diseases ; and the wretch becomes an object o^ public charity before he has run half his course. Such are the genuine effects of the English tax for the poor, under a mistaken notion of charity. There never was known in any country ;a scheme for the poor more contradictory to sound policy. Might it not have been foreseen, that to a grovel- ing creature, who has no sense of honor, and scarce- ly any of shame, the certainty of maintenance would 68 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL prove an irresistible temptation to idleness and de- bauchery ? Wisely, therefore, is it ordered by Providence, that charity should, in every instance, be volunta- ry ; to prevent the idle and profligate from de- |>ending upon it for support. I am indeed aware, that during the reign of Elizabeth, some legal compulsion on the public might be necessary to preserve the English poor from starving. Her fa- ther, Henry the eighth, had sequestered all the hospitals, a hundred and ten in number, and squan- dered their revenues; he had also demolished all the abbeys. H^y these means the poor of England were reduced to a miserable condition ; especially as private charity, from want of exercise, was at a low ebb. That critical juncture required help from the Legislature -, and a temporary provision for the poor would have been a proper measure ; so con- trived as not to supersede, but rather to promote voluntary charity. Unlucky is it for England, that such a measure was overlooked ; but Queen Eliza- beth and her Parliaments had not the talent of foreseeing consequences without the aid of expe- rience. A perpetual tax, the most pernicious ever imposed in any country, was therefore laid on for the provision of the poor. Yet, notwithstanding the existence of this great national curse in England, it is obvious to every ?Ripartial observer, that the proportion which the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 69 industrious classes in Britain at present obtain of the whole annual produce of the community, is much larger than that which they enjoyed previous to the improvements that have, within these last thirty years, been produced in the country by the progress of commerce, and the consequent diffu- sion of knowledge ; and their condition is become both positively and relatively improved. For it is a general maxim, admitting but iew exceptions, that every nation, taken collectively, is happy in proportion to its industry ; and the number of the industrious classes in a commercial state is in general the greater proportion to the vi^hole number J but in Britain these classes are more numerous in proportion to the whole popu- lation, than in any other state in Europe, and than they ever were in any former period of the British history. The resources of Britain are chiefly derived from the labor and industry of its inhabitants. The ac- tive classes are the principal sinews of a nation in peace and war j and in no country in the world is more attention paid (with the exception of the En- glish poor-tax) to their comforts and happiness than in Britain. In France, Germany, Spain, Por- tugal, and Italy, there have always been less labor and industry, and, consequently, a greater propor- tion of wretchedness, than in the British isles. It is a notorious fact, that within the last thirty years, the number of industrious or laboring clas- "70 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ses of the Gommunity in Britain has increased in a greater proportion than have the other classes, which constitute the remainder of the British po- pulation. The number in the middle and higher classes forms a very small proportion to the whole number of the laboring and industrious portion of the community ; and as labor is much better paid in Britain than elsewhere in Europe, it may be fairly inferred that the British enjoy a greater de- gree of national happiness than any other Euro* pean people. In most of the states of Europe asylums are pro* vided for the poor ; but in no country so liberally as in Britain. The money annually destined to the alleviation of the distresses of the English poor alone, exceeds twelve millions of pounds sterling. This sum includes the relief of the various objects of charity, parochial and private, voluntary contribu- tions, asylums, hospitals, charity-schools, &c. &c. And, although the depraved morals of the En- glish poor, in the present, compared with those of former ages, are the constant theme of vulgar de- clamation J yet, if we recur to historical fact;^, we shall find the charge to be as false as it is common. In the sixteenth century, during the reign of Henry the eighth, a period of thirty-six years, seventy-two thousand thieves and rogues, besides other malefactors, were hanged in England ; ma- king, on an average, about two thousand offenders executed each year during this monarch's reign. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 71 In Queen Elizabeth's reign, between three and four hundred malefactors were hanged each year, for theft and robbery. But in the present reign, upon an average, not more than fifty each year have been hanged for these crimes, in all the British isles ; yet the population of all Britain is now more than quadruple that which England posses- sed in Elizabeth's time. And in no country un- der the cope of Heaven, are the laws, as they are now administered, more mild and well-defined i in no country are the judges of the tribunals more in- dependent and upright than in Britain. I would just notice, that great pains are taken, by certain politicians in this country, to induce their more uninformed brethren to believe that the people in Britain are continually harassed with criminal prosecutions for a vast variety of species y6f treason ; and that capital punishments are mul- tiplied there beyond all example in the history of the world ; but the notorious fact is that criminal prosecutions and capital punishments have be- come extremely rare of late years in Britain, in comparison with the former periods of her history, and with the practice ancient and modern of ali the other countries in Europe. Americans would more consult their reputation for prudence if they were to talk less of the " odi- ous examples of frequent executions for treason" in Bni3L'\n previous to the reign of her present mon- arch ; because all those laws and all those execu- 72 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tions existed when the ancestors of the present na- tives of the United States boasted of their attach- ment to the British Crown, and demanded no greater happiness than to have the unimpaired pri- vileges of British subjects under British law. All that I mean to prove is, that at present the condition of the people in Britain is far better in every respect than is perpetually represented by men in this country, who ought not be uninform- ed upon this subject, and who betray the weak- ness of their cause by incessantly pointing the bat- tery of their abuse against the earlier and ruder ages of the British government. As for those im- ported traitors who in this country assume the name of patriots, and measure their excellence by the frantic zeal with which they revile the people, the. government, the laws, the morals, and the re- ligion of Britain, I shall only say, in the words of an acute Scottishman — " It is no new thing under the sun for rogues to be afraid of the gallows." CHAPTER VII. The mines of tin, copper, iron, &c. and the fishe- ries of the British empire, add greatly to her pro- ductive industry and wealth ; but for want of suf- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 7S ficient documents, I am unable to state their pre- cise value. Yet one circumstance, which confers upon Bri- tain wide and ^mple sources of national wealth and prosperity, and in which she far surpasses all the other nations of Europe, must not pass entirely without notice. I mean the full supply of subter- ranean fuel within her own territorial boundaries^ which at once enables her to administer to the comfort of her people, and to carry on her sys- tem of manufactures to an extent, and with a suc- cess, unparralleled in the history of the world. On the continent of Europe, wood is chiefly used for fuel, to the great inconvenience and de- triment of its inhabitants ; who are by this, as well as other circumstances, prevented from establish- ing and keeping up large and extensive manufac- tories, owing to the difficulty of conveying this kind of fuel to any given spot, after the neigh- boring forests have been once cleared away. In Britain, wood for fuel cannot be furnished in any great quantities ; its supply being alto- gether impracticable, owing to tlie comparatively small proportion of wood-land, the vast popula- tion, and the high state of agriculture in the coun- try. Her inexhaustible coal mines, however, more than supply her want of wood, and give her a na- tional superiority as to an easily acquired, and cheap article of fuel, an effectual mode of breed- ing a vast body of hardy and dexterous seamen J. 74 ttlNTS ON THE NATIONAL and a sure source of extending her manufactures and commerce; which no other country on the globe at present possesses. The immense and continually increasing na- tional wealth of Britain, and her consequent abi- licy to bear her present burden of taxation, with- out incurring that universal bankruptcy and ruinj which the French politicians, and their partisans, all over the world, loudly predict, and incessantl}'- des're, will appear from the following facts, stated by Mr. M'Arthur, beginning at page 46th of his valuable and important work: " From all the foregoing results, as to the state of British Agriculture, Manufactures, and Com- merce, obvious to every one conversant with the common rules of arithmetic, and disposed to make the calculation, it is manifest, that the wealth and resources of Britain, in this essential point of view, have been progressively increasing, during the last century, in a greater ratio than her taxes. And from the above-mentioned causes, as well as the effects resulting from the comparative value of labor, provisions, improvements in agriculture, and manufactures, the subjects of the British em- pire, with a very i^w exceptions, feel less, at this moment, the various burdens imposed upon them, than did their predecessors at the beginning of the eighteenth century." If any doubt, as to the truth of this assertion, yet remain, perhaps it will be removed by a perusal BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. of the following tables, exhibiting the public reve- nue and expenditure of Britain, during the last century, computed on a medium of ever}' seven years, together with the supplies, and ways and means ; and also the official (which is above sevenhj per cent, below the real^ value of British imports and exports ; and the balance of trade for every year of the eighteenth century. State of the public revenue from the year 1700 to 1800 inclusive, computed on the medium of every seven years; and also the amount of Loans for the same period. YEARS. HEADS OF ORDINARY Annual me- AMOUNT OF REVENUE. dium of se- ven years. LOANS. r Annual average amount of customs, excise, stamps. iroo land-tax, miscellaneous tax- to < es, including salt, post-office. 1707 8cc. for seven years, from , Michaelmas 1700 to Mi- £ £ . >- chaelmas 1707, inclusive. Annual average amount 5,011,770 24,952,545 of do. to 1714, 4,419,111 34,900,609 Do. do. to 1721, 5,629,004 00,000,000 Do. do. to 1728, 5,059,000 2,832,093 Do. do. to 1735, 5,224,961 1,800,000 Do. do. to 1742, 5,911,128 2,600,000 Do. do. to 1749, , 6,290,422 22,302,472 Do. do. to 1756, 6,481,946 6,100,000 Do. do. to 1763, 7,540,055 7,313,553 Do. do. to 1770, 9,314,285 4,900,000 Do. do. to 1777, 10,395,687 7,000,000 Do. do. to 1784, 12,013,747 68,500,000 Do. do. to 1791, 15,732,561 1,002,500 Do. do. to 1798, 21,434,000 100,500,000 Do. do. to 1799, 34,707,906 18,000,000 Do. do. to 1800, 36,728,000 20,500,000 76 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The amount of the permanent and temporary taxes in Britain, for the year 1800, was estima- ted at £ 36,728,000, namely, The gross receipt of the permanent Revenue, after deducting repayments for over-entries, draw- backs, and bounties, amounted in the year, ending the 5th of July, 1800, to £ 28,238,000 The tax on income, estimated at 7,000,000 Tax on imports and exports 1,250,000, Expected additional produce of taxes for 1800 240,000 Total i: 36,728,000 By adding the loans, sums raised by lottery, and other extraordinary resources, to the ordina- ry revenue, the public income of Britain is ascer- tained. General view of the public expenditure in Bri- tain from the year 1700 to 1800 inclusive; compu- ted on the medium of every seven years, with the particular amounts of the two last years of the century : BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 77 The average per annum, of ex- ^"''jSe^Sr*' penditure, army, navy, civil list, ordnance, miscellaneous service, interest of debts, &c. from 1700 to 1707, inclusive, 0^5,765,173 To 1714 10,087,079 1721 6,283,048 1728 11,715,455 1735 . 6,215,310 1742 9,151,422 1749 9,910,433 1756 6,900,477 1763 17,885,328 1770 13,139,600 1777 14,117,9y2 1784 21,210,308 1791 o 13,181,326 1798 30,440,398 Sum of mediums .... <£ 176,003,440 Which multiplied by 7, gives the 7 total amount of British public expenditure from 1700 to — 1798, inclusive, .... ^1,232,024,080 1799. Amount of expenditure for one year, tooth of Janu- ary, 1800, £5^,566,306 1800. Do. for the year 1800, . . 64,438,427 Total British public expendi- ture for one hundred years, . £ 1,351,028,813 78 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The heads of public expenditure in Britain, for the year 1800, were interest of public funded debt, charges of management, and sinking fund, after deducting interest payable by Ireland,! 9,307,000 Interest on Stock created by Loans, 962,000 Do. on Exchequer-bills, 1,021,626 The Civil List, 898,000 Other charges on Consolidated Funds, 239,297 Civil government of Scotland, pen- sions on hereditary revenue, militia and deserters' warrants, bounties, &c 647,183 Charges of management of the Reve- nue, 1,779,769 Total ... £ 24,854,8 7i Supplies voted for the year 1800, in- cluding advance to Ireland, vote of credit for probable contingencies, and interest for Imperial Loan, . 39,583,552 Total expenditure for 1800, £ 64,438,427 The following table exhibits the official value of imports and exports, and apparent balance of trade, distinguishing the ofticial value of West India im- ports into Britain; for upwards of 100 years. N. B. The rates of value in the office of the British Inspector General were established in the year 1697; and as no alterations have since taken place, i^lthough the money-prices in the market BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &e. 79 have been progressively rising, the real now ex- ceeds the official value of British imports and ex- ports, in the pro]iortion of one hundred and seven- ty-one to one hundred ; that is to say, by sevenhj- one per cent. Periods, Years Imports. Exports. Balance. West-India im- ports. £ £ £ £ rl697 1698 3,482,586 4,732,360 3,525,906 43,320 6,522,104 1,789,844 629,533 Peace. < 1699 5,707,669 6,788,166 1,080,497 586,255 1700 5,970,175 7,302,716 1,332,54 1 824,245 1701 '1702 5,869,606 7,621,053 1,751,447 738,601 4,159,304 5,235,874 1,076,570 476,168 1703 4,526,596 6,644,103 2,117,507 626,488 1704 5,383,200 6,552,019 1,169^19 489,906 1705 4,031,649 5,501,677 1,470,028 706,574 1706 4,113,933 6,512,086 2,398,153 537,744 IVar. ^ 1707 4,274,055 6,767,178 2,493,123 604,889 1708 4,698,663 6,969,098 2,270,426 592,750 1709 4,510,593 6,627,045 2,116,452 645,689 1710 4,011,341 6,690,828 2,679,487 780,505 1711 4,685,785 6,447,170 1,761,385 556,198 ..1712 4.454,682 7,468,857 3,014,175 648,190 "1713 5,811,077 7,352,655 1,541,578 762,248 1714 5,929,227 8,361,638 2,432,411 843,390 Peace. < 1715 5,640,943 7,379,409 1,738,466 999,412 1716 5,800,258 7,614,085 1,813,827 1,104,188 ..1717 6,346,768 9,147,700 2,800,932 1,204,057 "1718 6,669,390 8,255,302 1,585,912 896,031 War. < 1719 5,267,499 7,709,528 2,342,079 875,358 1720 6,090,083 7,936,728 1,846,645 1,117,576 ^1721 5,768,510 8,581,200 2,912,790 852,529 '1722 6,378,098 9,650,789 3,272,691 1,015,617 1723 6,505,676 9,489,811 2,984,135 1,087,254 1724 7,394,405 9,143,356 1,748,951 1,160,568 Peace. < 1725 7,094,708 11,325,480 4,230,772 1,359,18.-. 1726 6,677,865 9,406,731 2,728,866 1,222,511 1727 6,798,908 9,553,043 2,854,135 1,039,513 1728 7,569,299 11,631.38-1 4,063,084 1,498.02.'] SOT HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Periods, Years Imports. Exports. Balance. West- India im- ports. £ £ £ £ rl729 7,540,620 11,475,771 3,935,151 1,515,451 1730 7,780,019 11,974,135 4,194,116 1,571,608 1731 6,991,500 11,167,380 4,175,880 1,310,580 1732 7,087,914 11,786,658 4,698,744 1,315,458 Peace. < 1733 8,016,814 11,777,306 3,760,492 1,618,013 1734 7,095,861 11,000,645 3,904,784 1,141,068 1735 8,160,184 13,544,144 5,383,960 1,460,609 1736 7,307,966 11,616,356 4,308,390 1,423,039 1737 7,073,638 11,842,320 4,762,682 946,423 ^1738 7,438,960 12,289,495 4,850,535 1,475,610 ''1739 7,829,373 9,495,366 1,665,993 1,566,838 1740 6,703,778 8,869,939 2,166,161 1,185,107 1741 7,936,084 11,469,872 3,533,788 1,402,986 1742 6,866,864 11,584,427 4,717,563 1,309,886 War. < 1743 7,802,353 14,623,653 6,821,300 1,404,510 1744 6,362,971 11,429,628 5,066,657 1,156,952 1745 7,847,123 10,497,329 2,650,206 1,024,097 1746 6,205,687 11,360,792 5,155,105 1,148,124 1747 ^1748 7,116,757 11,442,049 5,325,292 941,116 8,136,408 12,351,432 4,215,024 1,615,122 '1749 7,917,804 14,099,366 6,181,562 1,478,075 1750 7,772,039 15,132,004 7,359,965 1,514,452 1761 7,943,436 13,967,811 6,024,375 1,444,775 Peace. < 1752 7,889,369 13,221,116 5,331,747 1,428,824 , 1753 8,625,029 14,264,614 5,639,585 1,838, 13r 1754 8,093,472 13,396,853 5,o0o,38 1 1,462,601 1755 9,238,276 12,717,832 3,479,556 1,867,256 '1756 8,442,027 13,143,689 4,701,662 1,687,177 1757 9,873,153 14,266,861 4,393,708 1,906,147 1758 9,074,190 15,866,251 6,792,061 1,858,425 [l^ti r -> 1759 9,528,864 15,637,696 6,108,832 1,833,646 i r u 1 . "^ 1760 10,683,595 16,665,278 5,981,683 1,861,668 1761 10,292,541 17,531,675 7,239,134 1,953,622 1762 9,579,160 15,132,258 5,553,098 1,762,406 ^1763 12,568,927 17,251,617 4,682,690 2,254,231 '1764 11,250,660 17,756,331 6,505,671 2,391,552 1765 11,812,144 15,721,374 8,909,230 2,196,549 Peac(. < 1766 12,456,764 15,188,668 2,731,904 2,704,114 1767 13,097,153 15,090,001 1,992,848 2,690,673 ^1768 13,115,309 16.620,132 3,504,823 2,942,717 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. Periods. Peac Years War. <> 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 J5l784 1785 1786 178 Imports. £ 13,134,090 13,430,298 14,218,324 14,508,715 12,522,643 14,549,914 14,815,855 12,443,429 12,643,833 10,975,533 11,435,264 11,664,967 12,722,862 10,341,62^ 13,122,235 15,272,672 16,279,418 15,786,072 17,804,024 Peace. <^ tVa 1788 18,027,170 1789 17,821,202 1790 19,130,596 1791 19,600,000 1792119,128,585 1793ll9,256,000 1794;22,288,000 1795|22,736,000 1796123,187,000 1797i2 1,013,000 1798|29,275,760 1799i26,837,432 |^1800l29,945,808 Exports. £ 14,401,289 15,994,571 19,018,480 17,720,168 16,375,430 17,288,486 16,326,363 14,755,698 13,491,006 12,253,890 13,530,702 13,554,093 11,332,295 13,009,458 14,681,494 15,101,276 16,770,228 16,300,725 18,296,166 18,124,082 20,014,298 20,120,120 22,731,994 24,905,200 0,390,000 26,734,000 27,312,000 30,518,000 28,917,000 33,591,777 35,991,392 35,990,000 Balance. £ 1,267,199 2,564,273 4,800,156 3,21 1,453 3,852,787 2,738,572 1,510,508 2,312,269 847,173 1,278,357 2,095,438 1,889,126 2,657,830 1,559,259 490,810 514,653 492,142 96,912 2,193,096 989,524 3,131,994 5,776,615 1,134,000 4,446,000 4,576,000 7,331,000 7,904,000 6,316,017 9,153,960 6,044,192 West-India na- poits. £ 2,686,714. 2,110,026 2,979,378 3,538,082 2,902,407 3,574,702 3,688,795 3,340,949 2,840,302 3,059,922 2,836,489 2,612,236 2,023,546 2,612,910 2,820,3875 3,531,705 4,400,956 3,484,025 3,758,087 4,307,866 3,917,301 3,854,204 3,65 1,61 1 4,128,047 4,339,613 5,294,742 4,645,972 4,541,217 5,173,069 6,390,658 7,456,983 8,136,453 In the year 1781, tlie imports of Britain exceed- ed her exports by £ 1,390,567.; and in the year 1784, by £ 171,396. In the year 1781, a great part of the capital of the British merchants was M 82 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL suddenly withdrawn from trade, owing to the great speculations, and vast losses, of some notori- ous individuals, which for a time impaired that mutual confidence, which is the very life's blood of all commerce. The greatest apparent balance of trade, in favor of Britain, in the eighteenth cen- tury, during peace, was in the year 17-50, amoun- ting to £> 7,359,965 ; and the greatest balance du- ring war, arose in the year 1799 amounting to £ 9,153,960. By a reference to Sir William Young*s com- mon-place book, p. 86, 87, 88, we shall find that the annual value of the imports from the British West-Indies into the mother-country, at present, amounts, on an average, to seventeen millions sterling ; of which sum five millions yearly are paid into the public treasury, namely, the duty on sugar three millions; on rum, one million five hundred thousand pounds ; and on the lesser commodities, five hundred thousand pounds. Of the remaining twelve millions, eight go in pay- ment of the British manufactures exported ; while the other four millions are appropriated to the homeward freight and the mercantde charges. See Mr. Lowe's Inquiry into the State of the British West-Indies, p. 12, published in London, in the year 1807. Bankruptcy of Britain, &e. 83 An account of the British Supplies and Ways and Means, during the eighteenth century. Periods. Peace, War. Peace the WthofA- pril, 1713. War with Spain. Peace June! {P*? 1721 I Z^^^ 1725 1 1726 £ 2,886,536 4,380,045 3,535,457 4,005,369 4,717,488 5,075,761 5,941,841 5,926,849 6,425,268 14,370,744 3,520,072 3,062,379 3,282,223 2,053,363 3,697,767 2,644,437 2,989,109 2,623,537 2,738,156 2,923,108 1,935,054 1,863,888 1,823,229 2,978,954 2,895,305 I Annnal Ways and Means. £ 2,620,000 6,913,628 3,887,630 4,200,000 4,914,888 5,282,232 6,142,381 6,189,067 6,868,839 6,895,552 1 6,246,325 6,304,615 3,400,000 3,100,000 7,317,751 3,211,313 2,229,514 2,735,509 2,742,000 2,920,264 2,719,412 1,837,799 1,730,744 1,782,212 3,282,328 3,175,287 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Periods. Years. Annual Sup- Annual Ways plies. and Means. £ £ ri727 5,392,966 5,544,594 1728 3,224,699 3,540,478 1729 3,345,190 3,530,766 1730 2,752,833 3,826,825 1731 2,784,705 2,883,180 Peace. -< 1732 3,004,926 2,887,943 1733 3,870,230 3,989,689 1734 3,150,452 3,269,000 1735 3,225,903 3,380,565 1736 3,025,172 3,269,000 1737 3,444,246 3,769,000 \ J 738 2,633,328 2,908,506 War with Spain, \ 9th October, 1759, and ^ withFrance 15 th March 11 U. ^1739 1740 1741 3,874,076 5,017,651 5,723,537 4,097,831 5,039,102 6,188,065 1742 1743 5,912,483 6,283,537 6,119,157 6,624,065 1744 1745 6,462,902 ' 7,088,353 6,609,310 7,303,065 1746 9,402,978 9,400,574 .1747 10,059,104 10,088,065 ^1748 8,082,409 8,018,007 Peace, 7th 1749 4,014,136 4,313,730 October, 1750 4,969,365 5,175,023 1748. 1751 3,907,435 4,178,459 1752 2,132,707 2,422,911 1753 2,797,916 3,077,897 1754 4,073,779 4,256,909 L1755 7,2i9,ll7 7,427,261 War. ri756 8,350,325 '8,689,051 ■< 1757 10,486,447 11,079,722 { 1758 12,749,860 12,991,240 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &a. a5 Periods. Years. Annual Sup Annual Ways plies. and Means. £ £ War. \ -1759 15,503,564 16,130,561 1760 19,616,119 19,953,922 1 1761 18,299,153 18,655,750 ( 1762 13,522,040 14,199,375 1763 13,522,039 14,199,373 1764 7,712,562 7,759,574 1765 7,763,090 7,783,068 1766 8,273,280 8,558,824 1767 8,527,728 8,753,256 Peace. 1768 8,335,740 8,754,626 1769 6,909,003 7,208,312 1770 7.455,042 7,794,224 1771 7,158,779 7,639,782 1772 7,186,253 7,222,593 1773 6,980,216 7,539,360 1774 6,159,661 6,546,108 "1775 6,559,246 6,559,246 1776 9,097,577 9,154,230 1777 12,895,543 12,952,534 War. < 1778 14,345,497 14,378,567 1779 15,729,654 15,729,915 1780 21,196,496 21,382,249 1781 25,373,524 Q5,353,S57 1782 24,261,477 U,2U,373 '1783 19,788,863 20,009,236 1784 11,988,174 12,957,520 1785 9,736,868 10,436,668 Peace in 1786 13,420,962 13,900,992 1783. * 1787 12,414,579 12,931,855 1788 11,860,263 11,886,600 1789 11,293,036 11,639,831 1790 11,931,201 12,496,088 86^ HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Periods. Years. Annual Sup- Annual Ways plies. and Means. £ £ Peace in ri791 14,064,606 14,881,634 1792 11,138,813 11,503,995 1793 16,698,553 16,157,436 1794 ^20,228,119 20,419,508 1795 29,307,265 29,903,541 IVar.^ 1796 37,588,502 38,030,000 1797 44,781,262 41,816,250 1798 35,028,798 33,980,672 1799 44,782,923 42,738,577 . 1800 39,500,000 39,500,000 Heads under which the Supplies and Ways and Means of the year 1799 were classed. Supplies. Navy, £ 13,654,013 Army, 7,277,319 Militia and Fencible Corps, . . 4,532,435 Ordnance, 1,570,827 Miscellaneous services, ... 6,105,310 Reduction of national debt, . . 200,000 Exchequer bills, 8,443,017 Vote of credit, 3,000,000 Total amount of Supplies for 1799 ... <£ 44,782,922 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 87 IFai/s and Means for 1799. Annual grants of certain duties on sugar malt, tobacco, &c. . £ 2,750,000 Extraordinary aids by loans, 18,500,000 Exchequer bills, 17,000,000 Surplus of consolidated fund 521,000 Lottery . . • 703,541 Further application out of the mo- nies of the surplus of consolida- ted fund, 3,229,000 Remaining in the hands of the Pay- Master General of the Forces, 34,145 Total amount of Ways and Means for 1799, - • .£42,738,577 Supplies for the year 1800. Navy, ^13,619,079 Army, 11,350,079 Ordnance, 1, 695,958 Miscellaneous services, . . . 750,000 Interest due to the bank, . . 816,650 Deficieucy of Ways and Means, 447,089 To pay off exchequer bills, . . 2,906,250 Do. aids and contributions, 1,079.730 Do. supply .... 1,194,000 88 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Reduction ot national debt, £ 200,000 Subsidies, ...,...., 3,000,000 .£37,778,785 For unforeseen services .... 1,771,215 £ 39,500,000 The following Table sbews that the increased re- venue of Britain, in the year 1799, arising from the amount of old and new taxes, annual profits on the land-tax then redeemed. East India participa- tion, and Lottery, would, exceed by ^ 1,330,000, the estimate of the annual expenditure of the Bri- tish peace establishment, as stated by the Select Committee on Finance, in the year 1791, as well as the amount of annual charges incurred during the war by loans and funding, and all the increased charges thereunto incident. Amount of old taxes in the year, ending 10th October, 1799, . £ 15,245,000 Taxes imposed during the war, in- cluding £ 62,000 annual profit on land-tax, 8,301,000 Land and malt-tax, East-India parti- cipation, and Lottery, .... 3,308,000 Total, ....;<£ 26,854,000 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, SlC. 89 Charges incurred during the war by loans and funding, also increased charges of the sinking and consoli- dated funds, £ 16,000,000 Additional charges, in consequence of the augment«dpay, and provi- '^ions of the navy and army, &c. 9,524,001) Total, .... ^25,524,000 Excess of income, jO 1,330,000 CHAPTER. VIII. An unerring criterion of the wealth and prospe- rity of a nation is derived from the low rate of inter- est on money, and the increased value of land. In Britain, a hundred years since, the rate of inter- est was from eight to ten per cent, and landed pro- perty fetched a purchase-money of from fifteen to eighteen years. But now, the British government can borrow money at an interest of less than five per cent. Mr. Pitt, in the year 1800, raised a loan of eighteen and a half millions, at the rate of four and three quarters per cent, and landed property N 90 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL in Britain is now sold at from twenty-eight to thirty years purchase. By a purchase-money of so many years I mean the annual rent of land multiplied by so many years ; for instance, a given landed estate produ- ces an annual rent of five hundred pounds ; if the purchase-money of this estate amount to ten years, it will be Worth five thousand pounds : if to twenty years it will be valued at ten thousand pounds, and so on. When the purchase-price of land is low it yields a large interest for the capital laid out ; and when the price is high the stock em- ployed yields a small return of interest. In the middle ages, when commerce was fettered and restrained throughout Europe, most exorbi- tant interest was demanded. In the fourteenth century, A. D. 1311, Philip the fourth fixed the interest which might be legally exacted in the fairs of Champaigne, at twenty per cent. James the first, of Scotland, A. D. 1242, fixed it by law at eighteen per cent. In the year 1490, the interest of money in Placentia was at fort}^ per cent, Lodovico Guicciardini says, that Charles the fifth of Germany fixed the rate of interest in his dominions in the Low Countries at twelve per cent, and at the time when Guicciardini wrote, about the year 1560, it was common to exact more than that smn. I'he high rate of interest on mo- ney is alone a proof, that the profits on commerce BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. . 9 i were exorbitant, and that trade was not carried on to any great extent. Lowness of interest, Mr. Hume remarks, pro- ceeds from three circumstances, namely, the small demand for borrowing; great riches to supply that demand; and small profits arising from commerce. These circumstances are all connected together, and proceed from the increase of industry and trade. Lowness of interest therefore raises the value of land; and the converse of this proposition is equally true ; namely, that a high rate of inter- est depresses the price of landed property. The mode in which the low rate of interest rai- ses the price of land, and conversely; and the cir- cumstances under which a low rate of interest, namely, in combination with the high price of land and the low profits of stock, is a conclusive proof of national prosperity; are thus explained by Doctor Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, 1st vol. p. 66, 70, 129, and 2d vol. p. 122, and by Mr. Hume in his Essay on Interest, vol. 1, p. 315. As soon as the land of any country has all be- come private property, the landlords demand a rent for its natural produce. The wood of the fo- rest, the grass of the field, and all the natural fruits of the earth, which, when land was in common, cost the laborer only the trouble of ga- thering them, come to him now with an additional price fixed upon them. He must pay for the li- cense to gather them ; and must give up to the 9S HINTS ON THE NATIONAL landlord a portion of what his labor either coHects or produces. This portion, or what comes to the same thing, the price of this portion consti- tutes the rent of land ; and in the price of the great- er part of commodities it makes a third compo- nent part. The real value of all the different component parts of price is measured by the quantity of la- bor which they can, each of them, purchase or command. Labor measures the value not only of that part of price which resolves itself into la- bor, but of that which resolves itself into rent, and of that which resolves itself into profit. In every society the price of every commodity finally resolves itself into some one or other, or all of these three parts ; and in every improved society all the three enter more or less, as compo- nent parts, into the price of the far greater portion of commodities. In the price of corn, for exam- ple, one part pays the rent of the landlord ; ano- ther pays the wages or maintenance of the labor- ers and laboring cattle employed in producing it; and the third part pays the living profit of the farmer. The ordinary market-price of land depends every where upon the ordinary market-rate of interest. The person who has a capital from which he wish- es to derive a revenue, without the trouble of em- ploying it himself, deliberates whether he should |)uy land vvith his money or lend it out at interest;\ BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 93 The superior security of land, together with some other advantages which almost every where attend upon this species of property, will generally dis-, pose him to content himself with a smaller revenue from land, than he could gain by lending his mo- ney out at interest. These advantages however are only sufficient to compensate a certain difference of revenue; and if the rent of land should fall short of the interest of money by a greater difference, no one would buy land, which would soon reduce its ordinary price. On the contrary, if the advantages should much more than compensate the difference, every one would buy land, which again would soon raise its ordinary price. When interest was at ten per cent, land was commonly sold for ten and twelve years purchase. As interest sunk to six, five, and four per cent, the price of land rose to twenty, five-and-twenty, and thirty year's purchase. Before the French revolu- tion, the market rate of interest was higher in France than in England, and the common price of land lower. In England it was commonly sold, as it now is, at thirty, and in France at twenty years purchase. At present, in 1809, land in France fetches a purchase-money of only ten or twelve years ; and I am assured, on the authority of a most respect- able American merchant, lately returned from Paris, that money may be had in that city at a 94 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL rate of interest so low as three or four per cent, since the British Orders in Council have destroyed the French trade ; but that before the full opera- tion of those Orders was felt, namely, so late as the beginning of the year 1808, money at Paris bore an interest of from ten to fifteen per cent. This apparent paradox depends, I imagine, up- on the total annihilation of French commerce throwing the small pittance of capital now in France nearly or altogether out of employment ; whence the capitalists being able to raise no re- venue from their stock, are willing to let it out even at a low rate of interest rather than suffer it to lie quite idle, and produce no return of profit. From not taking into consideration, that low- ness of interest must be connected with a high price of land, and with small profits on stock, in order to exhibit the proof of national prosperity, many politicians in the United States now adduce the present low rate of interest in France as con- clusive of her great internal prosperity ; forget- ting at the same time to state that the price of her land is very low, and the profits of the little stock which she can employ are enormously high ; the most evident demonstration of the miserable and beggarly state of all her people. There is another mistake respecting the condi- tion of France, which is also very freely travelling over the union. The American merchants and cap- tains of vessels on their return to this country uni- BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 95 formly report that there is a great quantity of spe- ciey and scarely any paper-money circulating in France, "and therefore," say the class of politi- cians to whom I allude, " since France has plenty of money in coin and no paper, and since Britain has no money in specie and large quantities of paper-currency, France is richer than Britain." — Q. E. D. This very palpable noji-seqiiitur originates in an extreme unacquaintance with the most obvious truths, and the very fundamental principles of po- litical economy. The substitution of paper-money in the room of specie is evidently one of those great improve- ments which necessarily takes place in a country where credit and confidence are established by a steady and equitable administration of justice, pro- tecting private property, and giving scope to com- mercial enterprise. It substitutes a cheap for a dear instrument, with which to carry on the ope- rations of trade ; it leaves a larger quantity of spe- cie to be employed in those branches of foreign commerce where specie is absolutely necessary ,; it abridges time and labor, and thus facilitates and quickens commercial transactions ; since a check for a hundred thousand dollars might be signed in a minute, whereas it would consume a whole day to count out this sum in specie. Accordingly those nations which are best go- verned, which have the most internal liberty com 96" HINTS ON iHt NATIONAL bined with the most extensive commercial enter- prise, use the least quantity of specie, and the most paper-currency in their transitions. In Britain and in the United States, the only two countries in the world where there are any pre- tensions to a regular administration of justice, the merchants trade on credit, because they have suf- ficient confidence in each other's integrity, and in the justice of the laws of the respective countries that they will enforce the payment of just debts. But among the French, Italians, and Spaniards, here is little or no commercial credit. But commercial credit is the origin and support of paper-money ; whence in Britain, where com- mercial credit stands higher than any where else, specie is less frequently seen in circulation ; and paper-money constitutes nearly the whole medium of exchange in that country. In the United States, whose commerce, before it was destroyed by the embargo, laid on in December 1807, was next in extent and importance to that of Britain, there was proportionally rather more specie in circula- tion than in Britain; but if the trade of this coun- try should ever revive, and be increased beyond its former size, specie will be more and more with- drawn from the market, and paper-currency will supply its place. In the British dominions bordering on the union, namely, in Canada, Nova Scotia, and New-Bruns- wick, befpre the American embargo had laid the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. ^ Rxe to the root of all the commerce in the United States, gold and silver were the common currency, and little or no paper-money was to be seen; but now that the embargo has poured a vast and a con- tinually increasing flood of trade and wealth into those colonies of Britain, banks begin to be esta- blished, and paper money to be substituted for specie. Will the politicians whose inferences I am now combating, conclude from these facts, that the British American colonies were richer than the United States because before the embargo they had more specie, and less paper-money ? and also that these colonies, since the embargo has so incal- culably augmented their trade and capital, are poorer than they were before, because they have now less gold and silver and more paper-money in circulation ? In France, at this moment, the transfers of mo- ney are made chiefly in specie, very little paper being seen in circulation; because credit is almost stifled in that country by the despotism of the go- vernment, which renders all private property inse-- cure. In Algiers also, the government of which is nearly as infamous and oppressive as that of France, the medium of exchange consists almost entirely of gold and silver. The reason of this is obvious ; it is because des- potism and credit are incompatible ; for who will voluntarily trust him that cannot be compelled to o 98 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL pay his debts ? Hence the absurdity of supposing that an enslaved country can ever become exten- sively commercial ; the rigors of despotism must be softened before even the germ of an extended trade can be planted; before credit, which is the true aliment of commerce, can florish, or even be brought into existence. In Russia the Government has long endeavored to create and foster an extensive commerce; but all the attempts of the Muscovite Monarchs, from the first Peter down to the present emperor Alex- ander, have been ineffectual ; and a scanty trade, together with a circulation consisting chiefly of spe- cie, continues to mock the attempts of those nor- thern barbarians to unite despotism with commer- cial credit. In order to establish that mercantile confidence which alone can substitute paper cur- rency in the room of specie, for the purpose of car- rying on the ordinary money-transactions of that empire, the Russian government must give a much greater security to the life, the Hberty, and the property of its people, than can possibly be found in the contents of a ukase, or imperial de- cree, published at the uncontrolled will of the Sove- reign, or at the interested suggestion of his cour- tiers. Bonaparte and Alexander may continue for a while to be great military powers, by continuing to oppress their people, and to sacrifice the happi- ness of their subjects to their own peculiar views BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &e. 99 of personal, selfish ambition: but it is not in their power, by all their edicts and decrees, to compel the establishment of commerce in the soil of tyranny. But to return; — the circumstances under which a low rate of interest demonstrates the national prosperity of a country, may be seen from the fol- lowing facts and observations: Whoever derives his revenue from a fund vi^hich is his own, must draw it either from his labor, or from his stock, or from his land. The revenue de- rived from labor is called wages ; that derived from stock by the person who manages or employs it is called profit; but that derived from stock by the person who does not employ it himself, but lends it to another, is called the interest, or the use of the money, it is the compensation which the borrower pays to the lender for the profit that he has an opportunity of making by the use of the money. Part of that profit naturally belongs to the bor- rovver, who runs the risk, and takes the trouble of employing it; and part to the lender, who affords him the opportunity of making this profit. The interest of money is always a derivative revenue, which, if it is not paid from the profit that is made by the use of the money, must be paid from some other source of revenue, unless perhaps the bor- rower be a spendthrift, who contracts a second debt in order to pay the interest of the first. The revenue which proceeds altogether from 100 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL land is called rent, and belongs to the landlord. Now although it be impossible to determine pre- cisely what are, or were, the average profits of stock, either in the present or in ancient times, some notion may be formed of them from the in-- terest of money ; because wherever a great deal can be made by the use of money, a great deal will commonly be given for its use ; and wherever little can be made by its use, little will be given for that use. According, therefore, as the usual market rate of interest varies in any country, we may be as- sured that the ordinary profits of stock must vary with it, must sink as it sinks, and rise as it rises j whence the progress of interest may point out in some measure the progress of profit. A high rate of interest arises from three circum- stances ; a great demand for borrowing; little riches to supply that demand ; and great profits arising from the use of slock. And these circum- circumstances are a conclusive proof of the small advance of industry and commerce. A low rate of interest proceeds from three op- posite circumstances; a small demand for borrow- ing ; great riches to supply that demand ; and small profits arising from the employment of capi- tal. And these three circumstances are all con- iiected together, and are the results of increased, industry and extensive commerce. 1. As to the causes and effects of a great oy BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 101 small demand for borrowing; when a people have emerged ever so little from a savage state, and their numbers have increased beyond the original multitude, an inequality of property must instantly arise ; and while some possess large tracts of land, others are confined within narrow limits, and some have no landed property. Those who possess more land than they can themselves occupy, em- ploy those who possess none, and agree to receive a determinate part of the product, as rent. Thus the landed interest is immediately establish- ed j nor is there any settled government, however rude, in which affairs are not on this footing. Of these proprietors some must presently discover themselves to be of different tempers from others ; and while one would willingly store up the produce of his land for futurity, another desires to consume at present what ought to suffice for many years. But as the spending of a settled revenue is a way of life entirely without occupation, and men have a continual need of something to fix and engage their attention, pleasures, such as they are, will be the pursuit of the greater part of the land hol- ders, and the prodigals among them will always be more numerous than the misers. In a state, therefore, where there is nothing but a landed or agricultural interest, as there is little frugality, the borrowers must be very numerous and the rate of interest proportionally high. This depends on the prevailing habits- and manners, by which alone the demand for borrowing is increased 102 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL or diminished. So long as there are only landed gentry and peasants in the state, the borrowers must be numerous and the rate of interest high ; because the idleness of the landlord dissipates property rapidly, and incurs the necessity of his running in debt. 2. As to the great or little wealth which is to supply the demand for borrowing; — this also de- pends upon the prevailing habits and manners of the people. In order to produce in any given coun- try a great number of lenders, it is only requisite that the property, or the command of that quantity which is in the state, whether great or small, should be collected in particular hands, so as to formconsiderablesums, or compose a great monied interest. This begets a number of lenders, and sinks the rate of interest, in consequence of those particular manners and customs which cause the specie to be gathered into separate sums or mas- ses of considerable value. But these particular manners and customs re- sult from an increase of industry and frugality ; of arts and of commerce. Every thing useful to man arises from the ground ; but few things arise in a condition fitted to render them useful. There must be, therefore, in addition to the peasants and the land-proprietors, another rank of men, who, receiving from the husbandman the rude ma- terials, work them into their proper form, and re- tain part for their own subsistence. In the infan- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 103 cy of society these contracts between the artisans and tlie peasants, and between one species of arti- sans and another, are commonly entered into by the persons them>elves, who, being neighbors, are easily acquainted with each others necessities, and can lend their mutual assistance to supply them. But when the industry of men increases, and their views enlarge, it is found that the most re- mote parts of the state can assist each other as well as the more contiguous, and that this inter- course of good offices can be carried on to the ut- most extent and intricacy. Hence the origin of merchants, one of the most useful races of men, who serve as agents between those parts of the state that are wholly unacquainted with, and ig- norant of each other's necessity. In a city, say, there are fifty workmen in silk and linen, and a thousand customers ; these two ranks of men, so necessary to each other, can ne- ver rightly meet until one man erects a shop or store, to which all the workmen and all custo- mers repair. In this province, say, grass rises in abundance ; the inhabitants have plenty of cheese, butter, and cattle, but want corn and bread, which in a neighboring province are too abundant for the sole use of its inhabitants. One man discovers this ; and he forthwith carries corn from the one province, and returns with cattle ; and thus sup- 104. HINTS ON THE NATIONAL plying the wants of both, he is a common bene-* factor. As the people increase in numbers and indus- try, the difficulty of their intercourse increases. The business of the agency or merchandise be-' comes more intricate, and divides, sub-divides, compounds, and mixes in a greater degree of vari- ety. In all these transactions it is necessary and reasonable that a considerable portion of the com- modities and labor should belong to the mer- chant, to whom they are in a great measure owing. And these commodities he will sometimes pre- serve in kind, but more generally convert into money which is their common representation. There is no craving or demand of the human mind more constant and insatiable than that for' exercise and employment ; and this desire ap- pears to put in motion almost all our passions and pursuits. Deprive a man of all business and seri- ous occupation, and he runs restless from one amusement to another, and the weight and oppres- sion which he feels from idleness is so great, that he forgets the ruin which must inevitably over- take him from his immoderate expenses. Give him a more harmless way of employing his mind or his body, according to his capacitj^, he is satisfied, and no longer feels an insatiable thirst after pleasure. But if the employment given to him be lucrative, more especially if the profit be attached to everij particular exertion of BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &e. ibS his industry, he has gain so often in his eye, that he gradually acquires a passion for it, and knows no pleasure equal to that of seeing the daily in- crease of his fortune. And this is the reason why trade increases frugality, and why among mer- chants there is the same overplus of misers above prodigals, as among the land-proprietors the con- verse takes place. Commerce increases industry by conveying it readily from one member of the state to another, and allowing none of it to perish or become use- less. It increases frugality by giving occupation to men, and employing them in the arts of gain, which soon engage their affections, and remove all desire for pleasure and expense. It is an infal- lible consequence of all industrious profes^iions to beget frugality, and make the love of gain pre- dominate over the love of pleasure. Thus, among lawyers and physicians who have any practice, there are many more who live within than beyond, or even up to the limits of their in- come. But lawyers and physicians, according to Doctor Adam Smith's theoretical division of la- borers into productive, and unproductive beget no industry ; nay, they acquire their riches at the expense of others, so that they diminish the possessions of some of their fellow-citizens as fast as they increase their own. Merchants on the contrary create industry, by serving as canals to convey it through every corner P 106 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL of the state ; and at the same time by their frugality they acquire great power over that industry, and collect a large property in the labor and commodi- ties, which they are chiefly instrumental in produ- cing. There is, therefore, no other profession ex- cept that of merchandise which can produce a great monied interest; or in other words, can in- crease industry, and by increasing frugality also, give a great command of that industry to particu- lar menibers of the community. Without commerce the state must consist chief- ly of landed gentry whose prodigality and ex- pense create a continual demand for borrowings and of peasantry uho have no sums lo supply that demand, For an exemplification of this principle, look at Virginia, the most anti-commercial state in the union, where the land is almost entirely parcelled out amongst a few over-grown proprie- tors, who, with very few exceptions, pass the whole of their lives, in every succeeding generation, in debt to an enormous amount ; and as their landed property cannot be attached for debt, their credit- ors who belong mostly to the commercial states of this country, in general have the satisfaction of losing both principal and interest. In a mere landed or agricultural state of socie- ty, money never can be gathered into large stocks or sums, which may be lent out at interest. It is dispersed into numberless hands, who either squan- der it in idle show and beggarly magnificence, or BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 10? employ it in the purchase of the common necessa- ries of life. Commerce alone is able to assemble it into considerable sums and masses ; inconse- quence of the industry which it creates, and the frugality which it inspires. Whence commerce produces a great number of lenders, by whose mutual competition in the money-market, the rate of interest is considerably lowered. 3. As to ^he increase of cominerce diminishing the profits of stock, and thus lowering the rate of interest. Low interest and low profits of stock mutually forward each others progress, and are both originally derived from that extensive com- merce which produces opulent merchants, and builds up a great monied interest. Where merchants possess great stocks, it must frequently happen that when they either become tired of business, or leave heirs unfit or unwilling to engage in commerce, a large proportion of the stock or capital naturally seeks an annual and a se- cure revenue. The abundance of money, like the plenty of every other marketable commodity, diminishes its price, and compels the lenders to accept a low rate of interest ; which very circum- stance obliges many to keep their stock still em- ployed in trade, and rather be content with low profits on their merchandise than dispose of their money to the borrowers at an under- value ofin- trest. But when commerce has become extensive, and 108 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL employs large capitals, there must arise j^reat competition among the merchants, which dimin- ishes the profits of each separate portion of trade, while at the same time it increases the aggregate quantity of trade itself. The low profi^ts of stocii induce the merchants more willingly to accept a low rate of interest, when they leave off business, and begin to sink into indolence and ease. Thus low interest for money and low profits on stock arise from an extensive commerce, and mu- tually forward each others progress. No man will accept of low profits in trade where he can have high interest on his money out of it; and no man will accept of low interest for his money where he can have high profits on the employment of his stock. An extensive commeice, by creating large capitals, diminishes both interest and profits, and is always assisted in its diminution of the one by the proportional sinking of the other. Low profits also, as they arise from the increase of com- merce and industry, serve in^their turn to pro- mote the progress of commerce by rendering the commodities cheaper, encouraging their more extended consumption, and thus augmenting in- dustry. Whence, if we consider the zvliolc connection of causes and effects, inlerest of money is the barom- eter of every community, and its low rate is an almost infallible sign of the flourishing condition of a people. It proves the increase of industry, BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 109 and its prompt circulation throughout every quar- ter ofthe state, with a force and clearness little in- ferior to mathematical demonstration. And though it may not be impossible for a sud- den and a great check to commerce, as is the case in France, now in 1809, to produce a momentary effect of the same kind, namely, to lower the rate of interest, by throwing a vast many stocks out of trade ; yet this must always be attended with such extensive misery and want of employment to the poor; with such a low price of land ,; and with such enormous profits on the stock still employed ; that besides its inevitably short duration, owing to the universal beggary speedily following such an or- der of things, it will not be possible to mistake the one case for the other; to be for a moment doubt- ful vohen^ and under ivhat circumstances, a low rate of interest is a conclusive proof of national prosperity. The value of land in Britain has progressively increased, in consequence of improvements in agriculture, low rate of interest, and the increased consumption of the produce of the soil. Before England became a trading nation, the average price of land was only twelve years purchase; and it is no more, at the present day, in France, since her commerce has been annihilated. In the beginning ofthe seventeenth century land in England was sold for a purchase-money of from fourteen to sixteen years; and at the commence- 110 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL mentofthe eighteenth century it had advanced to about eighteen years purchase; in half a centu- ry more it rose to about twenty-four years pur- chase ; and, at present, is generally valued at from twenty-eight to thirty years purchase. In some parts of Scotland the value of land has increased in a still greater proportion. We learn from Mr. Smith's Statistical Account and Agricultural Sur- vey of Argyleshire, that it is not unfrequent for estates in North Britain, and more especially in the Scottish Highlands, to fetch a purchase-money of forty years. The valued rent of the county of Argylein the year 1757 was only £, 12,466; but the real value in 1795 was Jj 112,752, having in less than ioxKy years increased nine fold. The progressive influx of wealth into Britain bears a proportion still much greater than the most sanguine calculator could expect; since, according to Sir William D'Avenant, the general rental of England for lands, houses, and mines, in the year 1600, did not exceed six millions per annum, which multiplied by twelve years purchase, the common price for land at that period, made a total value of landed property equal to seventy-two millions. The general rental of England for 1688, by the same writer computed at fourteen millions, and valued at eighteen years purchase, would conse- quently at that time be worth two hundred and iitty-two millions. At this rate he also estimated the general rental and value of land iij 1698, when BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. Ill his discourses on public revenue and trade were written. Hence, in tlie seventeenth century the rental of land had increased in more than a two- fold, and its value in more than a threefold pro- portion. By Sir William Petty's computation in the year 1664, the total wealth of the nation, consisting of lands, houses, shipping, gold and silver coin, wares, merchandise, plate, furniture, &c. amount- ed only to two hundred and fifty millions ; and the whole annual profit upon this national stock, he computed at fifteen millions. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, Mr. Gregory King, in his Political Observations, computed the landed and personal property of Britain at six hundred and iifteen millions. Mr. Hooke, in his Essay on the National Debt, &c. published in 17<50, estima- ted the whole value of British real and personal property at two thousand one hundred millions sterling. Sir William Pulteny, in his Considerations on the present state of Public Affairs, published in 1779, valued the landed and personal property of Britain at two thousand millions. The total amount of British wealth in the year 1790, was computed by Dr. Beeke to be two thousand five hundred millions sterling, exclusive of one hun- dred millions sterling, the value of foreign possessions belonging to the subjects of Britain. And finally the value of lands, houses, and per- 11« HINTS ON THE NATIONAL sonal property in Britain was computed (and with sufficient exactness) b>' Mr. Bird, in his Proposal for paying off the National Debt, p'.b- lished in 1799 to amount to two thousand seven hundred millions ; the vakie of the landed pro- perty being £ 1,580,000,000 And that of the personal property amounting to 1,450,000,000 Total of British property, £ 2,700,000,000 J'he value cvfthe whole annual produce of landed and personal property in Britain may be fairly es- timated at four hundred and five millions sterling, being computed at fifteen per cent, since the an- nual legal interest of five per cent, of this accumu- lated wealth amounts to one hundred and thirty-five millions j forthe usual allowanceof the annual value of the produce of a farm is three times the amount of the yearly rent; namely, one third paid as rent to the land proprietor ; one third expended in replacing the wear and tear of the farming stock, consisting of tools, cattle, buildings, &c and the remaining third goes as living profit to the farmer for the mainsenance of himself and his family. The same process also takes place as to capital employed in trade, one third portion goes to pay the legal interest of five per cent, to the owner of the capital ; another third goes towards the main- tenance of the trader and his household j and the BANKRUPTCY OF MiTAIN, &C. 113 remaining third goes towards the accumulation oi fresh capital. In comparing the rental and value of Britain's landed property at present with the estimate made by Sir Wi.liam D'Avenant one hundred years since, we shall find, by a simple calculation, that valuing the present British landed property, in* cumbered with tithes, at twenty-eight years pur- chase, the annual rental corresponding to one thousand two hundred and fifty millions, will amount to upwards of foi --y-four millions and a half; which proves an increased rental of thirty millions per annum in the space of one century. In the year 1798, Mr. Pitt in the House of Com- mons stated the annual income, arising from lands., tithes, mine?, timber, and houses in Britain, to be forty-four millions sterling. In comparing the present valued amount with that of the year 1700, we shall find that during the eighteenth century the national capital has in- creased in more than a ten-fold proportion ; for in- stance : In 1700 the national ca[)ital amounted to ....<£ 250,000,000 Which multiplied by . . * . 10 Gives ^2,500,000,000 114 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL But in 1800 the British national capital was of 2,700,000,000 making an excess of two hundred millions ster- ling, above ten times the sum of British national capital in the year 1700. Hence, since Sir William Petty's computation, one hundred and thirty-six years ago, the national wealth of Britain has increased in the immense sum of two thousand four hundred and fifty mil- lions ; and the annual legal interest of this in- crease of wealth, amounts to upwards of one hun- dred and twenty-seven millions five hundred thou- sand pounds sterling. If, therefore, we allow fifteen per cent, for the annual profits or produce of such increase of wealth, it will amount to up- wards of three hundred and eighty-two millions five hundred thousand pounds of additional na- tional increase in less tlian one hundred and fifty years. The national wealth of Britain having increased in so wonderful a degree, it is natural to suppose that her power has also kept pace with the aug* mentation of her riches. And whether we consi- der separately or conjointly the increased number of shipping and seamen ; the increase of build- ings and population ; the augmented manufac- tures and trade; the improvements in agricul- ture, and the increased value of lands and BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &e. 115 houses ; the increased conveniencies and luxuries of life, and the augmented circulating medium, including gold and silver, and paper currency in Britain, we shall find that they have all increased nearly in the same proportion, and have mutually kept pace with each other. It therefore requires no depth of argument, nor ingenuity of disquisition, to convince the most in- credulous mind of the comparative facility with which the present immense British revenue is drawn from such indubitable sources ; and that too, without bearing hard upon the lower orders of the people in Britain, The following table will show at one glance, the annual expenditure, computed on a medium of twenty-five years ; the national capital and the yearly national income of Britain, during the eighteenth century. Annual Expenditure com- Tears. puted on a medium of tvjenty-five years. national Capital. National Income. £ £ £ 1700 5,765,173 250,0()0,000 15,000,000 l72i 8,357,765 615,000,000 45,000,000 1750 10,473,620 2,000,000,000 200,000,000 1775 18,478,932 2,200,000,000 270,000,000 1800 26,789,604 2,700,000,000 405,000,000 Now the third part of the whole national income of a country, that part which in general goes to the accumulation of national capital, may be con- 116 If I NTS ON THE NATIONAL sidered as the nett or taxable income of that coufi try ; the other two-thirds of the gross annual in- come go to maintain the annual consumption, and to put in motion the annual productive industry of the country. Whence, as the whole yearly national income of Britain amounts to four hundred and five millions sterling, her nett or taxable income, being one-third of her gross income, is one hun- dred and thirty-five millions per annum. But her present annual amount in 1809 of tax- ation is only sixty millions, not half of her taxa- ble, and about eighteen per cent, on the whole of her gross income. The following table will show that her taxable income has increased in a greater ratio during the eighteenth century than her ex- penditure has increased ; and consequently that she is better able to bear her present annual bur- dens than she was those which were imposed upon her in the beginning of the period in question. Tears. Annval expenditure on a me- minimal taxable income. dium of 25 years. £ £ ^ 1700 5,765,173 5,000,000 1725 8,357,76"5 15,000,000 1750 10,473,620 66,600,000 1775 lequence of the rapid influx of wealth into the country from all quarters of the globe. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 15! Hence the burden of taxation necessary to pay the interest of the British national debt is always much less in reality than in appearance. 2. But independenily of this consideration, the national debt of Britain falls very far short of six hundred millions sterling. In the beginning of the year 1800, the notninal funded debt of Britain amounted to four hundred and fifty-one millions, six hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hun- dred and nineteen pounds ; but as the greater part of the funded debt was invested in the three per cent, consols, or three per cent, reduced annui- ties, the real value of f he w bole capital of the fund- ed debt did not exceed two hundred and eighty-six millions sterling; estimating the several funds at their market prices in August 1801, namely, three per cent, consols at sixty ; and three per cent, redu- ced annuities at sixty-one, &c. &c. The heads of the public funded debt in Britain on the 1st of February 1800, were as follows; Bank of England three per cent. annuities, d£ 11,686,800 Old and new South Sea annui- ties, 24,065,084 Three per cent, annuities, anno v 1751, 1,919,600 Three per cent, consolidated an- nuities, 250,484,272 Three per cent, reduced annui- ties, 69,023,876 ISS HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Four percent, do c£ 45,269,860 Five per cent, do 28,125,583 Three per cent, annuities, anno 1726, 1,000,100 Five per cent annuities, . . . 20,124,844 Total novmial capital of Britain's public funded debt in 1800 . ^6' 451,699,919 The following column will show the vast differ* ence betwen the real quantity of sterling money borrowed, and the 720??zm(2/ capital created by fund- ing the sum borrowed. In the year 1806, a loan of eighteen millions sterling was raised, but the nominal capital funded amounted to nearly thirty millions. Money borrowed in 180fi. Capital created, or funded. Interest Manage- ment. New sinking fund. Annual charge. £ 18,000,000 29,880,000 896,400 £ 13,446 £ 298,800 1,208,646 The cause of the great difference between tlie real sum borrowed and the nominal capital funded, is thus fully explained in the third volume of the Edinburgh Review, p. 478. The public debt of Britain has been contracted during seasons of difficulty and embarrassment, when the monied interest bad a ready market for their capital, and the public revenue, including the funds allotted to the payment of the interest, BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &c, 133 naturally labored under a greater or a less degree of suspicion and discredit. Partly in consequence of this distrust, and part- ly from the demand for money, the new lenders have always extorted much better terms than they could have procured at other times by relieving former creditors of their share in the old loans ; and somewhat better terms than they could have ob- tained, even at those times of difficulty, by pur- chasing shares in former loans. Thus every sum of money, which the public has occasion to bor- row during the periods of extraordinary nat'onal expenditure i that is to say, all the sums which the state ever has occasion to raise by loan, are neces- sarily procured at a very considerable disadvan- tage; the creditor receiving a premium, not only beyond what he would have obtained by lending his money at ordinary times, but even beyond what he could obtain by vesting his money in the other loans at their present discount. Financiers have still farther increased this disad- vantage by funding in those stocks, which bore the greatest discount, and a lower rate of interest ; and in order to diminish the amount of the taxes re- quired for paying the interest of the new debt, they have generally scrupled little about making a need- less addition to the principal. The loans made during the American war are now universally al- lowed to have been negociated on terms peculiarly injurious to the revenue, and it is the opinion of 134 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL many impartial persons that during the last warj also, which commenced in the year 1793, the Bri- tish finances would have suffered less, had the bur- den of the loans been thrown more upon the inter- est, and had smaller premiums been given in the form of capital. But be this as it may, the fact is undoubted that, wheneverthestateborrows,a«07wzV/a/capitalofdebt is created much greater than the sums received and employed in the public service. So long as the nation is only burdened with the annuity payable upon this nominal capital, the interest at which it has raised the money is not exorbitant, although the loans may have been made at high premiums^ because the interest is considerably under the mar- ket rate when stocks are at par. But if the prin- cipal of the debt is to be paid at par, the nation loses the whole difference between the sums real- ]y advanced and the capital created, which in every case must be very great. Thus, during the American war, and for the payment of the surplus expenses after the peace, nearly ninety-seven millions and a half were funded in the three and four per cents; sometimes without any other premium than what necessarily arose from the low price of stocks at the time ; sometimes by the grant of a premium in the form of short or of long annuities ; and, making no allowance on account of such premiums, the sum actually re- ceived for the capital added to the debt amounted BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 1S5 only to seventy-five millions five hundred thousand pounds. If then this debt were redeemed at par, the nation would lose nearly twenty-two millions, besides a farther loss on money-bills, &c. funded after the peace. During the last war, beginning in 1793> the stocks having been still lower, and the three per cents more resorted to in proportion, the differ- ence between the money received and the capital created was still greater. If we suppose the average price of the three per cents, to be sixty (that is three per cent, which is higher than the average at which the operation of the sinking fund was carried on) the nation would lose about sixty-three millions by reducing at par the stock created in the three per cents, alone, previous to the fifth of April 1801, and indepen- dent of the imperial loan. It is certainly not es- timating too high the whole loss, which such an operation must occasion, when carried through all the branches of the debt now funded, if we reckon the difference between the par and the money ad- vanced at one hundred millions sterling. Nor would it be possible to make any deduction from this amount in paying the stock-holders; for in the first place, the constant transference of funded property prevents us from discovering who are the actual gainers of so enormous a premium ; and next, though we could get at these, it would be a direct violation of the faith, upon which they 136 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL lent their money to the government. We take it for granted that the redemption is made at par ; for the necessary effects of the sudden payment of the debt mnst inevitably be to restore the par in all the permament funds, and to raise much higher than par the stock which is not redeemable as the life annuities, and the long and short annuities." How effectually this loss, which would arise to the British nation from the difference between the real sum borrowed and the nominal capital funded, if the public debt were to be paid at par, is pre- vented by the operation of the sinking funds, will hereafter appear. Now, in theyear 1 809, the real capital of Britain's funded debt, that is to say, the sum actually bor- rowed, amounts only to four hundred and fourteen millions sterling, and a small fraction, for which the interest and charges of management draw a yearly sum of twenty millions seven hundred and one thousand, too hundred and fifty-two pounds ; reckoning all the stock at par and the in* terest at five per cent. Thus, although the nominal debt of Britain is ...... £ 600,000,000 for which the nominal interest is reckoned at 30,000,000 yet the real debt of Britain is only . 414,000,000 the annual interest of which amounts to 20,701,252 BANKRU{«TCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 13^ making a burden of capital and of interest pressing upon Britain to be almost one third less than is generally imagined. And of this public debt, as we shall presently see, nearly one third part is al- ready actually /j^z'oJ o^ by the operation of the •sinkifig funds. CHAPTER II. In the year 1716 a sinking fund was first establish- ed in Britain, but, owing to the want of firmness or of capacity in the several successive adminstrations of that country, the money, which ought to have been appropriated solely to the redemption of the public debt, was generally diverted to some other object, so that at the commencement of the war in 1741, a period of twenty-five years, no more than eight millions and a fraction of the national debt had been liquidated. The following table is taken from a return to an order of the House of Commons containing a state- ment of the funded debt of Britain from the year 1730 to 1800, both inclusive. T 138 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Beginning of the Funded debt. Beginning of the Funded debt. years. yearf. £ £ 1750 47,705,122 1791 238,231,248 1740 44,072,024 1792 238,231,248 1750 72 108,898 1793 238,231,248 1760 88,341,268 1794 244,481,248 1765 127,585,281 1795 260,157,773 1770 126,963,267 1796 285,767,670 1775 122,963,267 1797 327,671,869 1780 142,113,266 1798 394,159,046 1785 226,260,805 1799 424,159,046 1790 238,234,248 1800 451,699,919 The following statement gives a general view of the British public debts, funded and unfunded, at particular periods, from the yeav 1700 to 1786, together vvith the operation of the sinking fund, established in the year 17 16, during that time. Tears. Remarks. Amount of debt. Annual interest. 1700 At the commence- ment of the 18th century, the fund- f ed and unfunded debts amounted £ £ to, ... . 16.394,700 1,109,132 1714 Do 55,681,076 2,811,904 1722 Do 55,282,987 1728 Do. .... . 51,008,431 2,137,782 1739 Do 46,954,623 1,964,025 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 139 Years. Remarks. Amount of debt. Annual interest. In seventeen years £ £ of profound peace only £ 8,328,354, of the capital paid off. 1748 After nine years of war the debt was 78,293,303 3,061,004 1755 Before the com- mencement of a new war, . . 74,571,840 2,516,719 In seven years of peace only four million pounds of debt paid off. 1763 After seven years of war the debt was 139,561,806 4,840,821 770 After seven years of peace, it was, (se- ven millions being- paid off,) . . 135,506,500 1775 In these four years about four mil- lions paid off, and the debt was, . 129,146,322 1783 After the American war of 7 years, the debt was, . . 262,318,198 786 From an authentic list laid before the British Parlia- ment, the debt was, . . . 266,725,097 140 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL It was reserved for the wisdom and energy of the late Mr. Pitt to place the finances of Britain on a solid and indestructible basis. The interest of the debt contracted in the Ameri- can war, and funds at the end of it, was „£ 4,8(54,000. The increase of revenue in the year ending Christ- mas 1784, nine months after the peace, was only £ 1,755,000 above that of the year 1774, leaving a deficiency of £ 3,108,000, less than what was re- quisite to meet the increased expenditure occa- sioned by the interest on the debt incurred du- ring the war. The floating debt in 1784 was JC 27,000,000, exclusive of loyalists' debentures, amounting to jO 2,000,000. The British funds were also in a state of the ut- most depression j thp three per cents, which on the peace of 1763, rose to jO 95, never rose higher af- ter the peace of 1783 than £ 69, and had fallen in the beginning of 1784 to £ 56. Mr. Pitt, notwithstanding all these disadvanta- ges and difficulties, funded the floating debt in the years 1784 and 1785; he imposed new taxes, which, while they were productive tp the public treasury, did not affect the sources of national industry, nor press upon those classes of the community by whom that industry is supported; he was most success- fully vigilant in preventing frauds in the col- lection of the old revenue; and made that collection more simple and less expensive, more productive to the state, and less embarrassing to the trader. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 14 i The consequence of these measures was, that in 1792, the revenue was increased (exclusively of taxes to the extent of c£ 800,000 a year, imposed to defray the expenses of the Spanish armament in 1791) upwards of ^4,000,000, of which something less than one million arose from new taxes and an increase derived from the consolidation of the cus- toms. But the measure, which above all others tended to give credit and vigor to Britain's system of fi- nance was the appropriation, in the year 1786, of an annual million to the extinction of the na- tional debt. This is the basis of what is now called the Old Sinking Fund. This measure was calcu- lated to give the firmest confidence in the stabi- lity of the national funds. The act was guarded by every provision that could be devised to ensure a fidelity in the execution equal to the wisdom and extent of the design; and in its detail so con- trived as regularly to afford to the Parliament and to the public the clearest and most distinct view of its progressive operation. This old sinking fund, established in the year 1786, had redeemed in 1792, a period of six years, eight millions, and two hundred thousand pounds of the capital of the national debt. To this yearly appropriation of a million, the additional sum of two hundred thousand pounds annually was voted by the Parliament in the year 1792; making the sum of one million two hun- 14*8J HINTS OiN THE NATIONAL dred thousand pounds to be the basis of the annual income of the old sinking fund. In the year 1792, also, on the suggestion of the late Mr. Fox, readily adopted by Mr. Pitt, an- other act of the British Parliament was passed, pro- viding that on allfutnre loans (in addition to the tax- es to be imposed for paying the interest on these loans) a surplus o^ one per cent, per annum on the capital created, should be raised for the redemption of that capital. This is the basis of the annual in- come of what is now called the New Sinking Fund. Both these sinking funds are perpetually in- creasing their annual income by the interest of all the capital of the national debt, which they respec- tively redeem, and also by that of the annuities, as they expire. Thus, say the present yearly in- come of the old sinking fund is three millions ster- ling ; by next year we must add to that income the interest of all the capital of debt which these three millions will redeem ; call it one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, reckoning the interest at five per cent, and the income of the old sinking fund will next year be three millions one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and fio on every year will its income progressively increase with a con- tinually augmented velocity and force. The same progress takes place, in the perpetually increasing annual income of the new .^inking fund. But the annual income of the old sinking fund BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &e. 145 IS limited to a maximum of four millious two hun- dred thousand pounds, beyond which sum it is not suffered to accumulate. The yearly excess of its income above four millions two hundred thousand pounds is at the disposal of the British Parliament either to be applied to the redemption of the pub- lic debt incurred since the year 1792, or to the reduction of taxes annually to the amount of such excess. The new sinking fund has no limitation of a maximum to fetter its progress; its annual in- come might go on progressively increasing to any amount, which the discretion of the British Parlia- ment shall allow. The establishment of the new sinking fund is a measure of the utmost importance to the stabili- ty of British credit. If its infallible operation were generally understood, all fears of British bank- ruptcy would vanish from the minds of the most timid, and all doubts would be removed from the scepticism of the most incredulous. In point of fact, the new sinking fund of Bri- tain has reduced every debt to an annuity, deter- minable at a period more or less distant, accord- ing to the price of stocks in the interval of its ope- ration ; of which annuity a large proportion of the persons existing at the time of the creation of the debt, must, in the ordinary course of human na- ture, live to see the end. With every additional burden, which might be vulgarly supposed to weaken the security of the public creditor, is thus 144 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL interwoven a provision for establishing that securi- ty by confirming within certain limits the extent to which any given debt can be accumulated ; and also by ascertaining the redemption of the whole debt, whatever may be its amount, within a given period from its creation. For as every fresh loan is accompanied with a provision in the sinking fund, to redeem its whole amount within a period of time determined by the existing prices of the stocks ; every fresh portion of public debt becomes an annuity, which is sure to expire at the termination of a given number of years. And as this number of years cannot well, under any supposable circumstances exceed forty, a great portion of the people who see the begining, will also live to see the end of such a portion of the public debt. Every fresh burden of debt apparently weakens the security of the stock-holder, or public creditor, by increasing the difficulty of raising an annual revenue in the form of taxes for the purpose of paying the interest upon the public debt. But the new sinking fund in reality strengthens the security of the stock-holders, by preventing the too great accumulation of the aggregate debt which is perpetually diminished by the continual en- croachments of that sinking fund upon the capital of the debt, and also by the certainty which it es- tablishes of redeeming each separate portion of the public debt within a certain period from the time of its creation. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, Sec. 145 The rapid and effectual operation of the old and new sinking funds to discharge the national debt of Britain, will appear from the following statement : Years. Remarks. Amount of debt. Annual interest. £ £ By the report of 1793 the Select Com- mimittee on Fi- nances, the debt was 247,156,670 10,332,435 In 7 years the sinking funds had redeemed jC 19, 600,000 of the capital of the debt. ' Amount of the debt, including 1800 upwards of 12 ■ millions unfun- ded. 463,878,034 ^20,186,507 From this sum of £463,878,034, Deduct as charged on account for Ireland 15,315,000 And as provided by the income- tax, the sum of . . . . . 56,000,000 Total £71,315,000 146 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL And there will remain of per- manent debt charged on Biit- ain in the year 1800 .. . £ 379,525,746 By the operation of the sinking funds from ihe year 1786, to the opening of the Budt^et 18th of February, 1801, a portion of the caoital of ''the national debt had been redeemed, to tlie amount of ^52 000,000 To which add the sum redeemed by the land-tax, 18 000,000 Total, £ 70,000,000 The sum annually applicable to the reduction of the national debt, or, in other words, the yearly income of the sinking funds in 1800, amounted to £5,233,000 The following is a statement of the annual in- come arising from the old and new sinking funds on 1 st of May, 1 806 : Old Sinking Fund. £ s. d. Annual million, 26, Geo. 3d. 1,000,000 Annual additional issue from BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. Hi 1792, perpetuated by 42d. £ s, d. Geo. 3(1 200,000 Annuities 1777 expired . . 25,000 Annuities 1796 — 1797 ex- pired 54,880 14 6 Unclaimed and expired annu- ities on lives 50,308 5 7 Annual interest on X' '^6,3 17- 489, the capital redeemed May 1st, 1806, at three per cent 1,689,524 13 4 Do. on ^2,617,400 at four per cent 104,696 Do. on £ 142,000 at five per cent 7,000 Total income of the old sinking fund in the year 1806 .... 3,131,509 13 5 New Sinking Fund. £ s. d. One per cent, per annum, on account of loans raised from 1793 to 1806, both inclusive 3,494,541 6 $ Annual interest on o£ 44,989- 533s the capital redeemed 148 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL May 1st, 1806, at three £ s. d. per cent 1,349,685, 19 9 Total annual income of the new sinking fund in the year 1806 .... 4,844,227 6 3 Ditto of the old sinking fund in the year 1806 3,131,509 13 5 Annual income of both old and new sinking funds in 1806 7,975,736 \9 8 Imperial. £ One per cent, per annum, on account of loan 1797 36,693 Annual interest on £ 673, 126, the capital redeem- ed May 1st 1806, at three per cent. . . . 20,193 15 7 Total annual income of the Imperial . . . 56,876 15 7 of old sink- ing fund . . . 3,131.509 13 o BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 149 Total annual income of £ s. d. new sinking fund . . 4,844,227 6 3 Annual income of all the sinking funds . . . 8,032,623 15 3 Capital of the national debt paid off by the old sinking fund . . . 59,076,000 by the Imperial 673,000 o by the new sink- ing fund 44,989,000 Total of the capi- tal paid off . 104,738,000 Expense of Spanish arma- ment in 1791, by de- benture paid off . . . 3,133,000 Debentures granted to loy- alists in America paid off 2,946,000 Total of national debt liquidated 110,817,000 From which deduct debt created by Tontine in 1789, and Navy-bills funded 1,458,000 And the whole capital of British national debt re- deemed in 1 806 is . . 109,359,000 ISO MINTS ON THE NATIONAL By the operation of these sinking funds, with- out any farther intervention of the parliament, the old sinking fund, established in 1786, must at- tain its maximum, namely an annual income of four millions two hundred thousand pounds, at the very farthest period by the beginning of 1811, and probably by the month of February^ 18^9. And taking the three per cents, on an average to be at JO 85, which is perhaps the fairest medi- um to take, considering the probable rapid rise of the British funds on a return of peace, owing to the immense purchases which will then be made from the accumulation of the sinking funds; and also considering how little the average is likely to be affected by the low price of stocks in the early part of the period; the capital of the old debt, incurred before the year 1 79^, amounting to about £ 240,000,000, will be completely redeemed in January 1846. If the same ])rice of the three per cents be assumed in computing the period of the redemption of the new debt, created since the year l792,the three per cents will be redeemed in less than thirty-nine years and a half from the time of making each loan. At the price of ^3^, which the funds bore in 1799, the three per cents, created by new loans, would be redeemed in twenty-three years and a quarter from the time each loan was made. The follovk'ing table will explain the several dates when the old sinking fund shall have increa- BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 151 ^ed to its greatest yearly amount, namely, four millions a year, to which add the tuo hundred thousand pounds annually voted by the Parlia- ment, making together an annual income of four millions two hundred thousand pounds; and also the dates when the whole amount of the debt in- curred before the year 1793 will be redeemed by the operation of the old sinking fund, according to the several average prices at which the three per cents may hereafter be purchased. Average prices of the three per cent, fuuds from 1st Feb. 1799. Dates when tlie old sinking! Dates when the whole of the fund will have jnTeased to debt incurred bt fore the year four niillion pounds per ann. 1793, will be cancelled, its greatest lawiul amount. '• 55 November 1808jOctober 18;32 60 August 1809|Ociober 1835 65 April 1810 September 1838 70 February 1811 August, 1841 15 February 1808 June 1842 80 February 1808 April 1844 85 February ]808| January 1846 90 February ISOSJJanuary 1848 100 February 1808; May 1852 It is obvious that in some cases the sinking fund will increase to its greatest amount sooner with the stocks at a high than a lower price, by the re- duction of the five per cents, or four per cents. The excess above £, 4,200,000, in the first year after the old sinking fund shall attain its maxi- 152 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL mum, according to the different prices of stocks, will be At 75 £ 23,000 80 203,300 85 376,800 90 488,400 .100 643,900 The annexed table will show the several periods of time in which each capital of public debt, bear- ing interest at 3, 4, or 5 per cent, per ann. repect- ivelj, will be redeemed by an annual fund of one per cent, applied by quarterly issues, in purcha- sing the said capitals at the several average prices at which the 3 per cent, funds maybe redeemed. This table shews the time in which the new sink- ing fund redeems the capital created, according to the different average prices of the stocks. Average pri- ces of 3 per cent, funds. Periods of redeeming by a sinking of one per cent, per annum quarterly payments, a capital ot debt bearing interest. issued by At 3 per cent, per ann. At 4 per cent, per ann. At 5 per cent per ann. Years. Months. Years. Months. Years. Months. 50 23 . . 31 ^27 . . Oi 30 . . 1 55 25 . . 7 29 . . 81 33 . . Of 60 27 . . lof 32 . . 4| 36' . 3 4 Q5 30 . 2r- 35 . . Of 39 . • * 70 32 . . H 37 . . 9 42 . 1 4 75 34 . 10 40 . . 51 45 . 1 4 80 37 . H 43 . . U 48 . 85 39 . . 51 45 . . 9^ 50 , llf 9,0 41 . , ^\ 48 .. 5| 53 . llf 95 44 . . ^% 51 , . 2 56 , lU 100 46 . . ^\ 53 . . 101 59 . 11^ BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 153 Hi i g <=> .g •^ *S rf To il '♦^ ^ g 00 O CO O aJi a> O ■<3 1^ ■<* n S O "^ C7> ■^ ■3 2 l^ ■* ^ Oi lO t^ -* CN^ ♦N e-S ^ C^ . IT) lO <£) CN^ o_ as Cii CO O CO T^ t^ cr> >o CO eo~ 00 b- CO CN^CJ^ CN >n a »— » 1— ( f— t •— t ' 00 00 CO o^ o o O a% CO ^ ^ ^ o CN o o o CN ^ (?•> ts CN Oi 00 b^ CO^ u^ 00 oi_ >o 't. c 00 t^ >o hT «r «r ^^ >n CO ctT ^ CO (N o C^ C^ CN o J3 O T3 U ■2 1^ ■ 4 1 t ^§ » 3 cJ "P4 cS 'zs o o o o CO ? — C 3 O '„ 1^ S:2 . vO CO O o £ 00 O^ o o .s t^ l^ 00 00 1 >" — ' -^ '— '-• ^ ^ — — ,^ ^,^ . , 154 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL As the dividends due on such parts of the old debt as shall be paid off after the sinking fund has attained its maximum, and the annuities which shall afterwards fall in, will be at the disposal of the British Parliament, either to apply towards the li- quidation of the new debt, incurred since the year 179^, or to the repealing of taxes annually to an amount equal to such dividends, and to the yearly income of such annuities ; either the new debt will be more speedily cancelled than could be effected by the operation of the new sinking fund alone, or an annual reduction of taxes in Britain to a considerable amount cannot be delayed lon- ger than the year 1811. The table on page 153, exhibits at one view the state of Britain's funded debt, long and short annuities, together with the progress of the sinking funds from January 1786 to January 1800, a period of fourteen years, and annual charges, in- cluding the sums applicable to the reduction of the debt. It only now remains to state the mode in which the Sinking funds operate in liquidating the na- tional debt. The basis of the old sinking fund, as before ob- served, is the annual appropriation of one million, by an act of the British Parliament passed in 1786, and an aftergrant of the yearly sum of two hun- dred thousand pounds in 1792, making together an annual inconie oi £, 1,200,000, this income is con tinually increasing by an addition of the yearly in- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 155 terest of all the capital of the public debt, which it from time to time redeems, and by the annuities which fall in or expire; but its income is restricted to a maximum, amounting to four millions two hun- dred thousand pounds per annum, beyond which it is not suffered to accumulate. The foundation of the new sinking fund is the grant made by the British Parliament in 179*2 of one per cent, per annum on the capital of every fu- ture loan, to be issued in quarterly payments. The annual income thus created is continually aug- mented by the yearly interest of all the capital of the debt incurred since 1793, which it redeems; and this process of augmentation goes on without any restriction, as no maximum is applied to cur- tail the boundaries of its incessantly increasing re- venue. The British Parliament sends certain commis- sioners into the stock exchange in London, to buy up a given portion of the public debt, as the annual income of the sinking funds becomes due. Say the government purchases a million of stock ; from that moment this stock becomes fixed ; it floats for sale no longer in the market ; but the British gov- ernment itself is a stock-holder to that amount and consequently receives, in the capacity of a public creditor, the existing rate of interest upon it accor- ding to the nature of the stocks, namely, three per cent, from the three per cents, four per cent, from the four per cents. &c. making the annual interest 15^ HINTS ON THE NATIONAL amount to thirty or forty thousand pounds ster- ling. By this operation a capital, to the whole amount of the purchase-money of this million of stock, is let loose from its investment in the public funds, to find its way \nto the channels of agriculture, com- merce, or manufactures, according to the will of the late public creditors who have transfered their share of stock to the government ; and thus to put in motion a great mass of productive industry in Britain. It is however to be especially kept in mind that this letting loose of capital applies only to the indi- •vidual stoc\i-\io\dGvs who transfer their share of the public credit to the government for an equitable purchase-money ; and that, in point of fact, as re- lates to the community^ no capital is let loose, as we shall presently have occasion to notice. The whole transaction being a mere transfer or shifting of capital from one hand to another. The government proceeds in this manner until it has displaced, or transferred the whole, or a part of the national debt from the individual public creditors to itself ; say to the amount of one hun- dred millions; all which it lets loose, as far as the individual stock-holders are concerned, to find its way into other channels of employment. Suppose that the government then says "I will pay off these hundred millions of debt," it will then only have to remit, or take off from the people taxes BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. I5T to the amount of the interest, which is annually paid upon these hundred millions; for it has alrea- dy redeemed^ or liquidated the capital of the nation- al debt, to the amount of one hundred millions, by its gradual purchases of stock from the individual public creditors. So that the government, first, redeems the capi- tal of the funded debt, by transfering on purchase, out of the annual proceeds of the sinking funds, a portion of the public stock from the individual public creditors to itself ; — and then, secondly, remits the interest which that capital bears, and which is now paid to itself as the public creditor, whenever it sees fit, by taking off taxes to the amount of that interest. The government buys up portions of the public debt to the amount of nearly a million sterling a month ; and is now a public creditor, or stock-hol- der to the amount oi one hundred a?id eighty millions ; that is to say, has redeemed or paid off one hun- dred and eighty millions of the capital of the na- tional debt, which is nearly a third part of its whole bulk. The yearly interest upon these hundred and eighty millions is not applied to defray the annual expenditure of the government, but goes to swell the yearly income of the sinking fund, and thus farther to diminish the amount of the national debt by continual purchases of fresh portions of its ca- pital. tSB HINTS ON THE NATIONAL It is no valid objection to this statement to say that Britain is perpetually borrowing money, and thus adding to the vast load of her national debt For in the first place, the redeeming power and jprogressrve force of the sinking funds to liquidate, far outweigh the tendency of new loans to aug- ment the public debt ; and secondly tiie one per cent, per annum on the capital of every sum bor- rowed ensures the gradual redemption of the whole debt, at periods determinable according to the prices of the stocks, during the operation of the iiew sinking fund. The yearly taxes, permanent and temporary, in Britain amount to sixty millions sterling; her war expenditure is computed to average from sixty- five to seventy millions annually. But war cannot last for ever ; and at the return of peace the yearly expenses of the British government will be redu- ced at least one third ; say down to forty millions, including the twenty millions, which are annually paid as interest for the public debt. So that in time of peace there will be no occasion for Britain to borrow any money ; and the sinking funds go on with a force and rapidity augmenting yearly to- wards the redemption of the whole capital of the funded debt. But if the war should continue for half a centn- ry to come, the progressive operations of the sink- ing funds would liquidate the national debt faster than the new loans could augment it. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 159 The government might borrow upon an ave- rage, during the war, eight millions annually; a sum which now, in 1809, is not nearly equal to the yearly income of the sinking funds ; and this yearly income is annually augmented by the inter- est of all the capital of the public debt, which it redeems. The income now, in September 1809, may be thus stated in round numbers : Old Sulking Fund. £ Annual million, 26 Geo. Sd 1,000,000 Annual additional issue from 1792, perpetuated by 42d. Geo. 3d 200,000 Annuities unclaimed, expired, &c 400,000 Annual interest on £, 80,000, 000 of capital redeemed at three per cent S,4O0,00Q Annual interest on „£ 3,000,000 of capital redeemed at four percent 120,000 Annual interest on £ 1,600,000 of capital redeemed at five percent 80,000 Total annual income of the old sinking fund be- ing its legal maximum £ 4,200,000 160 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL New Sinking Fund, -ofbotholdand £ One per cent, per annum on ac- count of loans raised from 1793 to 1809, both inclusive 4,000,000 Annual interest on £ 100,000, 000, of capital redeemed at three per cent 3,000,000 Total annual income of the new sinking fund in 1809 067,000,000 of the old sink- ing fund ..... 4,200,000 new sinking funds . . X' 11,200,000 Capital of debt paid off by the old sinking fund .... £ 84,600,000 ' by the new sinking fund -. . 100,000,000 Total capital of national debt paid off in 1809 • £ 184,600,000 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 1^1 When we consider the vast progressive force of the new sinking fund, whose operations are not re- strained by any maximum, we need be UJ a period of se- venteen years. Four hundred millions of nominal capital of debt have been created in these seventeen years, making an annual average of debt incurred to the amount of tw^enty-three millions and a fraction. The new sinking fund started with the commence- ment of this debt in the year 1793, with an annual income of only one per cent, upon all the capital created; say two hundred and thirty thousand BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. l6S pounds for the first year, taking the debt incur- red that year at twenty-three millions. From such small beginnings, the new sinking fund continually adding to its income oi one per cent, annually upon all the capital borrosved, the yearly interest upon all the capital redeemed, has, in the space of seventeen years, encroached upon the whole of the debt so far as to reduce one fourth of its bulk, and has made its own income nearly equal to the amount of the yearly interest upon all the yet unredeemed portion of the public debt. It is also to be particularly noted that the ope- rations of the new sinking fund are comparatively slow and feeble in the first years of its progress ; and that in proportion to its advancement in age it rapidly swells the amount of its income by the annual addition of the interest upon all the enormous sums of the capital of the funded debt, which it from time to time redeems. £ Nominal debt created from 1792 to 1809 400,000,000 Annual interest of that debt at three per cent. . . . 12,000,000 Annual income of the New Sinking Fund in 1809. One per cent, per annum, on all the capital of debt crea- 164 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL £ ted from 1792 to 1809 . • 4,000,00(h Annual interest upon £ 100,- 000,000 of capital of that debt redeemed at three per cent 3,000,000 Total annual income of new sinking fund in 1809 7,000,000 The whole nominal debt of Britain created since 1792 400,000,000 Deduct as redeemed by the new sinking fund . . . 100,000,000 And there remains of capital of public debt .... 300,000,000 The whole annual interest of the debt since 1792 . . . 1,2,000,000 Deduct the interest on jO 1 00,- 000,000 redeemed by the new sinking fund . . . o,000,000 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 165 And there remains of yearly interest on the yet unre- deemed portion of the debt £ 9,000,000 So that the annual income of the nevv sinking fund, now in 1809, is only two millions less than the whole yearly interest of all the unredeemed portion of the public debt. In less than ten years from this time, namely by the year 1819, it will be more than double the amount of that interest ; be- cause its income is every year rapidly increasing by that very process which is annually diminishing the capital, and consequently the interest, of the yet unliquidated part of the national debt. The following table will show how rapidly the progressive force of the new sinking fund gains upon the accumulation of the public debt, howe- ver enormous that accumulation be. Years. Capita] of debt. Income of new sinking fund. Proportion of the income of new sinking fund to the whole capital of debt. £ £ s d 1793 23,000,000 230,000 - - ■iVoth part. 1798 138,000,000 1 ,533,333 6 8 ^th part. 1803 253,000,000 3,373,333 6 8 yVtli part. 1008' 400,000,000 7,000,000 - - iVth part. Thus in seventeen years, although so enormous a capital of debt as that of four hundred millions was created, yet the income of the new sinking 160 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL fund lias gained upon it, from the proportion of a one hundreth part of the whole debt to that of one ^fifty-seventh of the whole debt ; and the progressive force of this income is increasing in rapidity every year, so that every new accumulation of debt will be swept away with still greater facility and speed than has ever hitherto been accomplished. It is likewise to be especially noticed that the income of the new sinking fnnd is in sterlingy whereas the capital of the debt \s funded stocky al- most the whole of which is vested in the three per cents, whence we may fairly cut away at least one fourth, in order to reduce it to sterling ; and then the capital of debt being only three hundred millions, and the annual income of" the new sink- ing fund being seven millions, the proportion of the yearly income applied to the reduction of the debt is about one forty third instead of one fifty" seventh of its whole bulk. CHAPTER III. I AM well aware that one of the chief reasons, which induced the framers of the old sinking fund, established in 1786, to clog and cripple its opera- tion by the imposition of a maximum, was partly BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 16? the unfounrled and mistaken notion that the sums of capital-stock bought up by the commissioners, would let loose so much capital upon the public as to reduce the value, and injure the circulation of money throughout the empire ; and partly the fear lest its too vast progressive increase might derange the order of prices in the country. And the Earl of Lauderdale even ventures to exceed this errors for in his" Inquiry into the na- ture and origin of public wealth, and into the means and causes of its increase," he roundly as- serts that the very principle of the sinking funds is false, and ridicules the whole project of paying off the British national debt as chimerical. The substance of his argument, to prove that the late Mr. Pitt and some others of the ablest and best financiers whom the world ever saw, were altoge- ther in the dark as to this important point, is as follows. His lordship says, that when the stock-holder receives his capital from the British government, who buys up his stock with the proceeds of the sinking funds, he must invest it again somewhere for the purpose of producing an income, or he must spend the capital and ruin himself The very large sums which would thus be repaid, would in- increase the circulating capital so much as to ren- der it impossible to find new channels of emplo}-- ment for all the capital thus released. The pub- lic creditor not having the means of investing the 168 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL money which he thus receives from the govern- ment in payment for his funded stock, so as to produce an income; and not choosing to spend the capital, the demand for commodities to the ex- tent of tiie sum paid off must cease. Wljence the Earl of Lauderdale infers that before the sinking funds can redeem one hundred millions of debt, three hundred millions of the real wealth of the country must be extinguished. But his lordship appears to have overlooked some very material circumstances which go to prove the entire fallacy of his conclusion, that the sinking funds, by paying off the whole or a part of the national debt, increase the floating capital of the community. The fairest and the most comprehensive view of the funding system and its invaluable attendants, the sinking funds, which I have ever seen, is to be found in the Edinburgh Reviews of Bishop Wat- son's intended speech in the British House of Lords on the national debt of Britain, in the year 1803, 3d vol. Ed. Review, p. 468; of Lord Lauderdale's book on Public Wealth; 4th vol. Ed. Rev. p. 443 j of Arthur O'Connor's pamphlet on the Present State of Great Britain in the year 1804, 5th vol. Ed. Rev. p. 104; and of Lord Henry Petty 's Plan of Finance in 1807, 10th vol. 7*2. From these Re- views I shall extract such facts and arguments as go to prove conclusively the policij and ivisdom of )the funding system, and the efficacy of the sinking BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 169 funds. The observations of my own which I shall have occasion now and then to introduce will be so very few, and so entirely founded on the great general principles of finance laid down in the Ed- inburgh Review, that I consider myself as altoge- ther indebted to that unrivalled periodical work for the following explanation of a very important part of the British financial system. 1. The fact is directly against the Earl of Lau- derdale's position, that the paying off the national debt so floods Britain with a surplus capital, as in a great measure to extinguish the national wealth by constantly throwing a large portion of the ca- pital of the community out of employment. For although one hundred and eighty millions of the capital of the funded debt have been actually re- deemed, yet the capital, thus let loose, or created, as Lord Lauderdale calls it, but which in reality is only transferred or shifted from one portion of the community to another, has not so overflowed the country as to find no channel of employment. For the price of the British stocks has not risen very high in consequence of these vast purchases of the capital of the funded debt by the government. An event which must inevitably have taken place if the capital redeemed could find no channel of employment; because then the private capitalists, not being able to raise any income upon their capi- tal, would incessantly bid against the government for the purchase of funded stocky and thus the mu- z 170 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tual competition of the government and of wealthy individuals would force up the price of stocks to such a height as to render the operation of the sinking funds utterly weak and insignificant; whereas, now, their operation is very rapid and powerful. — But, 2dly. The redemption of the national debt by the operation of the sinking funds cannot flood Bri- tain with a redundant capital. The British gov- ernment has no private purse, no other means of obtaining money than by collecting it from the public in the shape of taxes, whence all the capi- tal which it pays to the public creditors for their respective shares of funded stock is only dt transfer of so much capital from the community at large amongst whom it lay floating, until the govern* ment drew it unto itself by taxation, to certain in- dividuals late stock-holders, who may either send it into the same channels of employment which it occupied before it was embodied into taxes ; or may use it in some other occupations which are laid open by the very circumstance of subtracting so much capital from the public in the form of taxes. This must be the case, unless we choose to as- sert that all the channels of British trade, manu- factures, and agriculture, both domestic and co- lonial, are absolutely full of as much capital or stock as they can receive, which every child knows not to be true. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 171 The redemption of the national debt then cannot overflow Britain with useless capital, since all the capital which is paid off' by the operation of the sinking funds must have previously existed* in the form of revenue. The state must have re- ceived it in taxes upon individuals who had pro- duced it as profit from time to time. The whole income of the sinking funds, namely, the annual appropriation of one million two hundred thousand pounds for the old sinking fund, and the annual appropriation of one per cent, upon all the capital of loans raised since the year 1792, for the new sinking fund ; together with the interest of all the capital of funded debt which both the sinking funds respectively redeem, is raised in the shape of taxes from the community, and is applied to the purchase of funded stock from the individual pub- lic creditors. The capital therefore is not " let loose or createdr as far as the public is concerned, which Lord Lau- derdale asserts ; it is only transferred^ it would have actually existed in the community although it had never passed through the hands of the govern- ment, and part of it has been necessarily expen- ded as revenue by the managers of the funds, which would have remained in the hands of the producers had there been no impost levied. In a word the whole operation is simply this : — a given quantity of capital is drawn from the na- tion at large in the form of taxes ; and this same 172 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL capital is returned by the govenment to the nation in the shape of purchase of stock. And the whole effect of this transfer of the same capital is, that first the government draws it from a vast number of hands spread over the community -, and second- ly, that government returns it into the hands of a /e-windividuals, who sell their respective shares of the public stock. 3dly. The real operation of the British sink- ing funds is, with a pace gradually accelerated, to encroach upon the capital, of the national debt; and scarcely influencing the price of stocks, silently to transfer the property from the individual public creditors to the government. This transference is made in small portions at different times ; so that the lowest fund, or the fund which is lowest in proportion to its profits, may al- ways be chosen. During a long war a vast portion of the debt may be purchased by the commissioners ^\. a lozoer x^ie than that at which it is funded; whence, while the nation is borrowing at a disad- vantage, it is, in the same degree, reaping a bene- fit from discharging former incumbrances at little cost. After a very great part of the funded stock has been purchased by the commissioners, the remain- der will indeed rise higher than it would have done if the same stock had continued in the possesion of men who often brought it into the market. But the change is so slow that a number of channels BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 173 how empty must be filled, before the difTicuIty of obtaining employment for capital shall occasion a glut in the stock-market. No doubt, if a resolution to pay off the national debt speedily, say in four years, were to be sud- denly formed, three per cents being at sixty, every proprietor must know that by holding out he would gain forty per cent, in consequence of the stocks rising up to par, while he receives in the mean time five per cent, of interest. But when the payment is effected by a slow transference to the sinking funds, proprietors know that they can- not force their stock upon the commissioners at par. In the case above assumed, namely that off pay- ing the whole debt in four years, monied men will eagerly strive to get a share of the funds before they are near par, knowing that by this purchase their gain is sure. But in the case of the gradual operation of the sinking funds they may gain one or two per cent, and then be obliged to sell again before the commissioners choose to pay more. It is probable then that the effect of the sinking funds will be to displace gradually a part of the capital now vested in the national loans, and to re- store it to the commerce and agriculture of the coun- try, while the annuitants, who cannot engage in trade, and are anxious for the best security, being the last to sell out, will receive the highest price, that is the par of all the respective stocks, at which price the government is entitled to pay ofT 174 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL all the remaining stock-holders, whenever the pro- ceeds of the sinking funds shall enable it to take such a step. The debt will thus be redeemed with as little loss as possible, and when, during a season of peace, the revenue of the sinking funds shall be so great as to render the speedy completion of the transfer certain, the government may begin the change by lightening the national burdens in the remission of taxes; so that on one hand, the enormous taxes required to maintain the process of liquidation may not all at once be repealed, and on the other, the increased rapidity of the process of liquidation may not occasion towards its conclu- sion, too sudden a shifting of the remaining stock. To redeem the whole national debt of Britain, a revenue of more than eleven millions sterling, being the amount of the sinking funds in the year 1809, is yearly set apart with its own accumula- tions; and being raised on the income of the peo- ple, by means of taxes, which, except the legacy- duty, and a few stamp-taxes, never can be shifted upon capital; it is equally distributed over the dif- ferent kinds of profit which constitute the whole national revenue. The transfer of this sum to the sinking funds sets free a stock equal to the sum raised from the people, after deducting the expenses of manage- ment. This stock will be employed in the cultiva- tion and commerce of the country; and so far from / BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 175 being afraid lest the process of paying the debt by the operation of the sinking funds should go on too slowly, a prudent statesman, supposing the nation to be at peace, would rather incline to check the velocity of so powerful an engine, lest it should acquire a momentum fatal to the stability of commerce. Our alarm however is diminished, when we reflect upon the gradual increase of the action of the sinking funds; upon its being entirel}^ under the control of the government; and more particu- larly, upon its never being able to set free at once more than the interest of the original incumbraii ces. We hear people talk of the sinking fund ac- cumulating until in a given number of years ii shall have increased to some hundreds of millions; but its income can never exceed the nett amount of the taxes; and during the last year, when it has reached the maximum, it sets free exactly that amount of stock, and no more. If, instead of being raised in taxes, this sum had remained in the pockets of the people, togethei- with the expenses of collection and management, we cannot doubt that it would have found employ- ment as easily as the other accumulations of pro fits, wages, and rents. In like manner, had the whole revenue of the funds from the beginnins: re- mained in the possession of the nation, a real ca- pital would have been accumulated, much greater than the whole debt, which would certainly have found an easy vent in the extension of trade, the im- 176 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL •provement of waste lands, and the cultivation of co- lonial territories. But if the separation of the capital from its pos- sessors be suddenly made, a stock is accumulated in hands unable to employ it, unless by restoring it to the space which the tax has left vacant. In like manner, if the accumulation of a real capital were made by means of a fund over and above the amount of the debt, (not, of course, by means of interest,) it would be impossible suddenly to em- ploy it. The objections to the funding system, which the very deservedly celebrated Dr. Adam Smith ur- ges with so much zeal and ingenuity in his inval- able book on the Wealth of Nations, and which have been copied and re-copied by a vast multi- tude of succeeding political writers, among the rest by Mr. Albert Gallatin, the present Secretary of the American Treasury, in his " Sketch of the Finances of the United States," published in New- York in the year 1796; may all be reduced to three heads; namely, — 1st. That the funding system unjustly burdens posterity with a load of debt. 2d. That it needlessly annihilates national capi- tal without reproducing any equivalent for its loss. 3dly. That it weakens every government which has recourse to it. That none of these objections to the funding system are founded on fact or on correct reasoning BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. l77 It is the aim of the following pages to demon- strate. 1st. As to its being unjust to burden posterity ■with a load of debt. Strictly speaking, a nation has no posterity. It is a great unit from the begin- ning to the end of its career ; and therefore, although individuals shift and continually succeed each other from age to age, and from generation to generation, yet the great interests of the nation always remain the same; they are always one and indivisible. It is equally the interest of those individuals of a na- tion who shall come into existence fifty or a hun- dred years hence, that vast sums of money should now be spent in securing the national honor or the national safety, and in promoting the national prosperity and the national aggrandizement, as it is the interest of the now-existing individuals of that nation. For if it be necessary that such sums be expen- ded, either to repel the aggressions of a foreign foe, or to prevent the too great accumulation of power in a foreign country ; it is evident that without this present expenditure, the individuals v/ho arc to live fifty or a hundred years hence, in- stead of standing high in the scale of national ele- vation and character, will be born to no other in- heritance than that of the most humiliating bond- age to a strange tyrant and his minions. If then it be equally for the benefit of posterity as of the existing generation, that large portions of £ A 178 HINTfe ON THE NATIONAL capital be now expended ; it is but just and right that posterity should also bear its share of the bur- dens occasioned by such an expenditure. And it is surely more wise to spread a given burden of debt over a space of one hundred years, and over a population of one hundred millions, than to confine the pressure of its weight to twenty years, and to twenty millions of people; taking the existing po- pulation of a given country to be twenty millions, and the time allotted for each succeeding genera- tion of men to be twenty years. For the annual surplus produce of the land and labor of every community, the fund which is year- ly added to the capital and destined to increase the income of the people, is the fund out of which all taxes ought to be taken. And as this fund can- not suddenly be augmented in proportion to the public demands upon extraordinary occasions, the system of borrowing, that is \X\efu7idbig system , has been invented ; and this system, if kept within pro- per bounds, and combined with the establishment of a sinking fund, equalises the burdens of the state among the different successions of men for whose benefit they are imposed, and defers the actual levy- ing oT the supplies until the national stock shall have accumulated fo the requisite point. 2d]y. As to the funding system needlesly annihi- lating national capital, without re-producing any equivalent f(>r its loss. This objection is founded on Doctor Smith's division of the people of every BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 179 community into two classes of laborers, the pro- ductive, and the unproductive. No one is allowed, by this justly eminent writer, to be a productive la- borer unless he re-produces the capital which he employs in any given operation, together with the gradual accumulation of profit or revenue, arising from the employment of that capital. This defini- tion of productive labor manifestly confines the application of the term to merchants, to manufac- turers, and to farmers, since they alone re-pro- duce the capital which they employ in their respec- tive occupations, together with a profit upon it. All other classes of the community are condemned to the disgrace of being considered as unproduc- tive laborers. Now there can be no doubt that, admitting Doctor Smith's definition to be correct, all the cap- ital which is borrowed by a government, and which constitutes the national debt of any given country, never re-produces itself, together with a profit, during the course of its employment, or expenditure. For the money which is consumed in paying the army and navy, the civil and eccle- siastical officers of government ; and all the vari- ous expenses incident to a nation, offers no more return in the actual profits of stock, than does the capital which a man consumes in eating and drinking, and wearing apparel. In all these cases the capital employed is consu,mecl, worn out, 180 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL annihilated, producing no return of interest or re- venue. In this very limited sense of the term, the capi- tal of every public funded debt may be said to be annihilated ; that is to say, it does not re-produce itself with a profit, in the form of revenue or in- terest ', as it would do if employed in the occupa- tions of agriculture, manufactures, or commerce. But it by no means, therefore, follows that all the capital which constitutes a national debt is needlesly annihilated without re-producing awj equivalent ; as an examination of Dr. Smith's divi- sion of a community into productive and unpro- ductive laborers, and the application of certain well-known general principles of political science to the funding system, will demonstrate. Doctor Smith calls those laborers productive, who, by adding to the value of some raw mate- rial, or by assisting in the increase of its quanti- ty, realize, or fix in a vendible commodity, the effects of their exertions ; and he calls all those laborers unproductive, whose labor leaves nothing in existence after the moment of exertion, but perishes in the act of performance, without aug- menting the wealth of the community. Thus, he says, the work of the farm-servant or manufactu- ring laborer is productive, because it is fixed in a useful commodity ; but the work of a menial .servant is unproductive, because it perishes with the motion of his hands, and adds to the value of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 181 nothing. A man grows rich by employing a number of the former j he ruins himself by keep- ing a multitude of the latter. But the case of the menial servant cannot be compared with that of the laborer employed in farming or manufactures. The menial is employ- ed by the consumer^ and for his own use exclu- sively ; the farm-servant and journeyman manu- facturer are employed in the service of another party, by whom the consumer is supplied. The menial is in the predicament of a commodity bought or hired for consumption or use; the journeyman manufacturer and farm-servant ra- ther resemble tools bought or hired to work with. At any rate, there is no such difference as Doc- tor Smith supposes, between the effect of main- taining a multitude of these several kinds of work- men. It is the extravagant quantity, not the pe- culiar quality, of the labor thus paid for, that brings on ruin. A man is ruined if he keeps more servants than he can afford, or employ, and does not let them out for hire ; exactly as he is ruined by purchasing more food than he can con- sume ; or by employing more workmen in any branch of manufactures than his business re- quires, or his profits will pay. Nay, in general, there is no solid distinction between the effective powers of the two classes whom Doctor Smith denominates productive and unproductive laborers. The end of all labor is I^ HINTS ON THE NATIONAL to augment the wealth of the community ; that is to say, the fund from which the members of that community derive their subsistence, their comforts, and their enjoyments. To confine the definition of wealth to mere sub- sistence is absurd. Those who argue thus admit butcher's meat and manufactured liquors to be sub- sistence ; yet neither of them is necessary ; for if all comfort and enjoyment be kept out of view, vegetables and water would suffice for the support of life; and by this mode of reasoning the epithet of productive would be limited to the sort of em- ployment that raises the species of food which each climate and soil is fitted to yield in greatest abundance with the least labor; — to the culture of maize in some countries; — of rice in others ; — of potatoes, or yams, or the bread-fruit tree, in others ; — and in no country would any variation of em- ployment whatever be consistent with the defini- tion. According to this view of the question, there* fore, the menial servant, the judge, the soldier, the litatesman, the physician, the lawyer, the minister of religion, (all of whom, together with many others, are industriously ranked by Dr. Smith as unproductive laborers,) are to he arranged in the iame class with the husbandmen and the manu- facturers of every civilized community. The produce of the labor is in all these cases calcula- ted to supply either the necessities, the comforts. BANKRUPtCY OP BRITAIN, &C. ISS or the luxuries of society; and that nation has more real wealth than another which possessesf more of all these commodities. If this be not admitted, then we compare the two countries only in respect of their relative shares of articles indispensably requisite, and pro- duced in greatest abundance, considering the soil and climate of each; and as nothing which is not necessary is to be considered valuable, a nation abounding in every species of comforts and enjoy- ments is to be deemed no richer than a communi- ty fed upon the smallest portion of the cheapest grain, or roots and water, which is sufficient to support human life. But it is maintained, that admitting the wealth of a community to be augmented by the exertions of those whom Dr. Smith denominates unproduc- tive laborers, still they are in a different predica- ment from the productive class, inasmuch as they do not augment the exchangeable value of any separate portion of the society's stock; neither in- creasing the quantity of that stock nor adding to the value of what formerly existed. To this we answer that it is of very little conse- (juence whether the wants of the community are' supplied directly by men or mediately by men with the intervention of matter; whether we re- ceive certain benefits and conveniences from those men at once or only in the form of inanimate and disposable substances. 1»- 184 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Doctor Smith would admit that labor to be pro- ductive which realized itself in a stock, though that stock were destined to perish the next in- stant. If a player or a musician, instead of charm- ing our ears, were to produce something which, when applied to our other senses, would give us pleasure for a single moment of time, their labor would be called productive ^ although the pro- duce were to perish in the very act of employ- ment. Wherein, then, lies the difference ? merely in this ; that we must consume the one produce at a certain time and place ; and may use the other in a little more extensive latitude. But this differ* ence disappears when we reflect that the labor would still be reckoned productive which would give us a tangible equivalent, though it could not be carried from the spot of its production, and could last only a second of time in our hands upon that spot. The musician in reality affects our senses by modulating the air ; that is, he works upon the air, and renders a certain portion of it worth more than it was before he manufactured it. He communicates this value to it only for a moment, and in one place j where and when we are obliged to consume it. A glass-blower prepares some metal for our amusement or instruction, and blows it up to a great volume. He has now fixed his labor in a tangible commodity. He then exchan- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 185 ges it, or gives it to us, that we may immediately use it; that is, blow it till it flies to shivers. He has however fixed his labor in a vendible coraniodi- ty. But we may desire his farther assistance; we may require him to use it for our benefit; and without any pause in his process of blowing he bursts it. This case approaches as nearly as possible to that of the musician ; yet Dr. Smith maintains that the labor of the musician is unproductive, while that of the glass-blower is productive; even if he spoil the process, and defeat the end of the exper- iment, by pausing and giving into unskdful hands the bubble before it bursts. And if he perform the whole of that instructive operation, by contem- plating which Sir Isaac Newton was taught the nature of color, his labor must be stigmatized as unproductive. Neither is it fair to deny that the class of labor- ers called unproductive ever fixes its labor in some existing commodity. No labor, not even that of the farmer, actually adds to the stock alrea- dy in existence. Man never creates; he only mo- difies the mass of matter previously in his posses- sion. And the unproductive as well as the pro- ductive class, does actually realize its labor in an additional value conferred upon the stock former- ly existing ; only instead of working upon detached portions, it operates upon the general stock of the community. SB 185 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Thus the soldier renders every portion of the stock more valuable by securing the whole from plunder; and the judge also increases its value by securing the whole from injury. Dr. Smith calls that man a productive laborer who manufac- tures bolts and bars for the protection of property. Is he not also then a productive laborer who pro- tects property in the mass, and adds to every por- tion of it the quality of being secure ? So those who increase the enjoyment of society add a value to the stock previously existing; they furnish new equivalents for which it may be exchanged; they render the stock worth more, that is, exchange- able for more; capable of commanding more en- joyments than it could formerly command. The stock of the community consists of that part which is consumed by the producer, and of that part which he exchanges for some object of de- sire. Were there nothing for which to exchange the latter portion of the stock, it would soon cease to be produced. Hence the labor that augments the sum of the enjoyments and objects of desire for which this portion of stock may be exchanged is indirectly beneficial to production. But if this portion destined to be exchanged is already in existence, the labor which is supported by it, and which returns an equivalent to the former owner by the new enjoyments that it yields him, must be allowed to add a value directly to the exchange- able part of the stock. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 187 In every point of view, therefore, the position of Dr. Smith is untenable. He has drawn his line of distinction between productive and unproductive labor in too low a part of the scale. The labor which he denominates unproductive has the very same qualities with a great part of the labor which he allows to be productive. According to his own prin- ciples, the line should have been drawn so as to cut off on the one hand, the labor which apparently in- creases the quantity of stock; and to leave, on the other hand, all that labor which only modifies, or in some manner induces, a beneficial change upon stock already in existence. There is alike an inaccuracy in drawing a line of distinction between the different channels in which capital and labor may be employed, whe- ther we separate, with Doctor Smith and his follow- ers, the operation of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, from those arts where nothing tangible is produced or exchanged, or we place, according to the French economists and their dis- ciples, the division somewhat higher, and limit the denomination oi productive io the pursuits of agri- culture alone. All those occupations which tend to supply the necessary wants, or to multiply the comforts and pleasures of human life, are equally productive in the strict sense of the word ; and tend to augment the mass of human riches ; meaning by riches all those things which are necessary, or convenient, or delightful to man. 188 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The progress of society has been attended with a complete separation of employments originally united. At first, every man provided for his ne- cessities as well as his pleasures, and for all his tvants as well as all his enjoyments. By degrees a division of these cares was introduced ; to supply the subsistence of the community became the province of one class; to provide its comforts was the business of another ; and to procure its grati- iications was the office of a third. The different operations subservient ^o the attainments of each of these objects were then intrusted to different hands, and the universal establishment of barter connected the whole of these divisions and subdi- visions together ; enabled one set of men to manu- facture for all without danger of starving in con- sequence of not ploughing or hunting, and an- other set of men to plough or hunt for all without incurring the risk of wanting tools or clothes in consequence of not manufacturing. It has thus become as impossible to say exactly, who feeds, clothes, and entertains the community, as it would be impossible to say which of the ma- ny workmen enployed in the manufacture of pins is the actual pin-maker, or which of the farm-ser- vants produces the crop. All the branches of use- ful industry work together to produce one com- mon end ; as all the parts of each branch co-ope- ate to effect its particular object. If vou sav that the farmer feeds the communitv. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 189 and produces all the raw materials upon which the other classes of society work ; we answer, that un- less those other classes worked upon the raw ma- terials, and supplied the farmer's necessities, he would be forced to allot part of his labor to this employment, whilst he forced others to assist in raising the rude produce. In such a complicated system all labor has the same effect, and equally increases the whole mass of wealth. Nor can any attempt be more vain than that which would de- fine the particular parts of the machine that pro- duce the motion which is necessarily the result of the whole powers combined, and depends on each one of the mutally connected members. Yet so wedded is Doctor Smith to his position, that certain necessary kinds of employment are unproductive, that he actually ranks the capital sunk in a public debt in the same class with the pro- perty consumed by fire, and the labor destroyed by pestilence. But the debts of a country are always contrac- ted, and its wars entered into, for some purpose either of security or aggrandizement ; and stock thus employed must have produced an equivalent ; which cannot be asserted of property or popula- tion absolutely destroyed. This equivalent may have been greater or less ; that is to say, the money spent for useful purposes may have been applied with more or less prudence and frugality. Those purposes too may have been more or less useful ; 190 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL and a certain degree of waste and extravagance al- ways attends the ojoeration of funding and of war. But this is only an addition to the necessary price at which the benefits in view must be bought. The food of a country, in like manner, may be used with different degrees of economy, and the neces- sity of eating may be supplied, at more or less cost. So long as wars exist, it is absurd to denominate those expenses unproductive which are incurred by- defending a country ; or which amounts to the same thing, preventing an invasion by ajudicious attack of an enemy ; or, which also amounts to the same, avoiding the necessity of war by a pru- dent system of foreign policy. And he who holds the labor of soldiers and sai- lors and diplomatic agents to be unproductive, commits precisely the same error as he who should maintain the labor of the hedger to be unproduc- tive because he only protects, and does not rear the crop. All these kinds of labor and employ- ments of stock are parts of the same system, and all are equalli) productive of wealth. Yet Dr. Smith gravely remarks how much richer England would now be if she had never waged certain wars. AVith equal justice we might calcu- late how manj/ more coats, Avaistcoats, and breeches we shoijid nov/ have if v.c had always gone na- ked. 1 lie remarks stated above, apply equally to a circumstance in the theory of the balance of trade. In stating; the proportion of exports to BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &e. 191 imports, no notice can ever be taken in custom- house accounts of money remitted for subsidies, or for the payment of troops and fleets abroad. But it is very inaccurate to assert that these sums are so much actually sent out of the country with- out an equivalent. In point of fact the equivalent is great and obvious ; although of a nature which cannot be stated in figures among the imports. The equivalent is all the success gained by fo- reign warfare and foreign policy; the security and aggrandizement of the state ; and the power of carrying on that commerce, without which there would be neither exports nor imports to cal- culate and compare. An examination of the principles of the fund- ing system will demonstrate the policy and wis dom of having recourse to such an expedient. In every prosperous community the yearly pro> duce of the land, labor, and capital of the inhabi-' tants makes a certain clear addition annually to the whole stock or wealth of the country. At first, the amount of the capital is small, the pro- fits of stock high, and the yearly augmentation considerable. By degrees, the rate of this in- crease becomes smaller ; that is to say, the profit.'? of each separate portion of capital are diminished by competition ; but the whole clear gain is al- ways increasing ; so that although individual? make a smaller average gain upon a given portion of stock each ten years than they did on the samr 19« HINTS ON THE NATIONAL portion of stock the ten years immediately ptece- ding, the whole gains of the community are great- er during the second than they were during the first of these decennial periods. This is evident from the manner in which capi- tal makes its returns. Suppose the stock of a community like Holland engaged almost entirely in commerce^ and a little agriculture, to consist of eighty millions in trade, ten millions in manu- factures, and ten millions in agriculture ; and that the average rate of profit in all these branches of employment is ten per cent. A sum of ten mil- lions is netted the first year ; of which say five go to support the inhabitants, and the other five are stored up so as to increase the national capital to one hundred and five millions. Employment must be found for this additional capital. A part of it will go to the land, a part to the manufactures, and the rest to the commerce of the country. The increased competition in each branch will diminish the average rate of pro- fit, and only nine and three quarters per cent, will be netted upon the capital next year. The acti- vity and ingenuity of the people being now con- stantly at work to maintain a struggle with the diminution of profits, and to keep up the total in- come in spite of the lowered rate of gain, new lines of trade are struck out, new improvements made in the fisheries, new machinery invented, and waste lands cleared. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 193 Thus the stock of the community goes on in- creasing, and the part added gives an additional revenue, in spite of the diminished rate of gain, until all the land is made the most of, all the manufactures improved as far as possible, and all the branches of commerce are fdled with capital. But new capital is still accumulated; and it is the invariable tendency of new capital to push its way into new employments. Yet in a country like Holland there is a limit to this expansive power of stock in the nature of existing circum- stances ; and every increase of capital augments the difficulty of vesting it. At first the surplus goes to the distant trader, the round-about tra- der, and the various branches of the carrying trade ; then it makes its way into the colonies or foreign settlements of the state, by loan to the col- onist, or by investment in the colonial commerce ^ next, it emigrates thither in purchases, and per- haps carries along with it the proprietor himself. When impolitic regulations, or foreign con- quests, or colonial dissensions and insecurity ob- struct its progress in this line, it goes into the ser- vice of foreign|;states, by loans to the governments who give the best security ; next it is vested even in loans to individuals ; it then goes over in pur- chases, and probably carries along with it the pro- prietor ; last of all, it finds its way into foreign colonies. When all these channels are full, if they can be filled, the capital must cea,se to be accumu- 2 C 194 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL lated ; the habits of the people must be changed , they must spend instead of heaping up, and the nation will become stationary ; or more probably will fall into decay. Such is the natural progress of national opulence. Holland has gone through all the stages of this process, and perhaps has reached the last stage some time since. There is a striking analogy between the progress of wealth and the progress of population in every part of their history. At first when land is plenti- ful the numbers of a people double in fifteen or twenty years ; by degrees the rate of increase be- comes slower J but still the numbers augment in a geometrical progression. Emigration to the colo- nies begins to take place; the overflowing num- bers then find vent in other countries ; and 1 ast of all they remove to foreign and distant colonies. Still a boundary is fixed by nature; and that change of place will not prevent the full develop- ment of this principle is evident, when we reflect, that if we take the whole population of the earth for the subject of calculation, the effect of emigra- tion ceases to modify the result, while the princi- ple applies with the same force as before. What the increase of wealth has produced in Holland, the increase of population has produced in China. These two countries, the one from physical, the other from political and moral causes, offer to our contemplation the instructive spectacles of ex- treme cp^.es in these important inquiries. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 195 But the evils of increasing capital, like the evils of increasing population, are felt long before the case has become extreme ; and a nation is much more likely, at least in the present state of com- mercial policy, to suffer from increasing wealth than from increasing numbers of people. Are there no checks provided by the constitution of hu- man nature, and the construction of civil society, for the one as well as for the other of these evils ? Mr. Malthus has pointed out the manner in vv^hich the principle of population is counteracted; and causes nearly analogous will be found to check the progressive increase of capital. Luxu- rious living and other kinds of unnecessary expen- diture ; above all, political expenses, and chiefly the expenses of war, furnish those necessary checks to the indefinite augmentation of wealth, which there was reason a priori to suppose would be some where provided by the wise regulations of na- ture. In a wealthy state of society, therefore, much less mischief is to be apprehended from the conversion of a certain portion of capital into revenue, by means of the funding system, while the accumula- tion of national capital is going on, than men in general have been disposed to believe. Suppose that the nature of man were not war- like ; that no such expenses had been necessary as those which Britain has been forced to incur during the last century; and that consequently 196 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL she had contracted no public debts. It is not ea- sy to calculate the amount of the capital, over and above the national stock that she now possesses, which she would have accumulated during that period The sum of six hundred millions, the no- minal capital of her national debt is not enough; every pound of that enormous sum would have been laid out at compound interest, and have ac- cumulated so as probably to double during the period in question; even allowing for a vast aug- mentation of yearly expense occasioned by a more rapid increase of population; making a total of British national wealth, amounting to three ihou- sand nine hundred millions, instead of her present national capital of two thousand seven hundred millions. With perhaps half as many more inhabitants, a thing no ways desirable on any account, Britain would now possess nearly a third more than her present fixed and realized national stock, a thing to be deprecated on many accounts. If it be diffi- cult for her in the present state of her wealth to find vent for her existing capital, how could she invest an additional sum of twelve hundred mil- lions with a return of profit. The cruelties and other immoralities and mise- ries of war are out of the question ; we speak now of money, not of men; and as numbers of people are generally admitted to be no great blessing, abstractedly considered, it is no strained inference BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 197 from the preceding statements to doubt if im- mense quantities of capital be of themselves a great national good; and to suggest the possibility of a nation so circumstanced falling back, since no community can be stationary for any length of time; (for every nation, like every individual, must from the \ery necessity of its nature and condition, either improve or deteriorate) — or of becoming a prey to poorer neighbors, and to the worst of foes, its own internal seeds of putrefac- tion and decay. Let us attend now to the specific mode in which the indefinite accumulation of national capital is obstructed or retarded by the different kinds of financial policy that have been adopted in the different stages of society. In the earlier periods of civilization, when on- ly a small portion of stock has been accumulated, wars, the great article in the extraordinary ex- pense of every nation, are carried on at little cost; for these are the ages in which the numbers of mankind are very limited, and labor is but little subdivided. Each man of full strength therefore contributes his share to the public defence by ac- tual service ; and the season of warfare is conlined to a particular season of the year. A country is indeed now and then ravaged, and useful hands are always cut off. The consequence is, that ma- ny lives are lost, much misery occasioned, and a great deal of partial poverty produced. The 198 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL whole body of the nation however suffers only in this topical manner; and those members which es- cape disease or amputation are perfectly sound. One of the first effects of accumulated national stock is a division of labor, and personal service gradually wears out. Taxation is introduced, and money, that is, revenue, is required to defray the ordinary, and still more the extraordinary ex- penses of the state. These steps are gone through by different belligerents, that is, different neigh- bouring nations, in the same or nearly the same periods of time; for the nations which form, as it were, federal commonwealths, linked together by the relations of peace and war, are always run- ning with equal pace the same career of improve- ment. By degrees, wars become perhaps less frequent, but certainly much more expensive; in the same manner that all other articles of expendi- ture, public and private, increase in costliness, as subsistence, luxuries, education, government, judicatures, embassies, &c. &c. and the ordinary revenue of the state becomes less and less ade- quate to defray the extraordinary expenses occa- sioned, and suddenly occasioned by the breaking out of hostilities. Thus a government which expends ten millions a year in its government and public works during peace, will be forced at once to spend perhaps thirty millions in a single year of war. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 199 How shall this sudden augmentation of expen- ses be provided for ? It can be only in one or in all three of these ways ; either by saving so much out of the ordinary articles of expenditure, or by levy- ing three times the ordinary taxes ; or by borrow- ing money to the amount of the additional sums required. If any great saving out of the ordinary expenses were practicable it would be highly impolitic ; it would instantly diminish the revenue of the nation and of the government, and injure the wealth as well as the happiness of the community for many succeeding generations. These lamentable effects would be produced in this manner ; by diminishing the ordinary ex- penses of a nation we lessen the demand for, and in consequence the quantity of productive indus- try in all its branches ; which would also lessen the annual accumulation of national capital, from whose income alone the public revenue can be effectually and permanently drawn. For instance, say a whole nation consumes less food, less clothing, less of the conveniences and comforts of life, than it has hitherto done ; the in- evitable effect must be, that less land would be cultivated, as less would be sufficient to supply the diminished demand for food ; thus would agri- culture be discouraged j less manufacturing indus- try would also be put in motion, because less would be wanted to furnish the diminished demand 200 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL for clothing; thus would manufactures languish and decay ; less commercial enterprise would also be afloat, since less would be needed to supply the contracted demands of a narrower market for its commodities ; thus would trade be curtailed in its operations. And when a nation once becomes retrograde in its three great branches of productive industry, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, it rap- idly hastens to destruction ; the sources of public revenue are dried up, the population diminishes, the government loses its energy, the spirit of the people evaporates into indolence and weakness ; and the whole community silently and unresist- ingly sinks into the arms of a foreign foe, or of do- mestic despotism. The late and present condition of Holland is a full and striking illustration of the truth of this po- sition. The only question, then, is between the compara- tive merits of the other two systems of finance, namely, a taxation which shall raise the supplies within the year, or a contract which shall procure the extraordinary sums by loan; which of these is the safest, the easiest, and the most consonant to the natural order of things ? The expenses of every individual are propor- tioned to the ordinary state of society in which he lives. He squares his enjoyments by his common rate of gain, and by the common amount of the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 201 •contributions which he must pay to the public ser- vice. The bulk of the community, the middle or- ders, on whom the chief weight of all taxes must ultimately fall, are peculiarly unable to increase their contributions on any sudden emergency. The man who could hardly pay fifty pounds last year, would have nothing to live upon if you took from him one hundred and fifty or two hundred pounds this year. He musteither leave the country, hide his property, encroach on his capital, or run in debt. If he encroach on his capital, he is less able to pay taxes next year even to the ordinary amount, and no prudent government would listen to a scheme which should make all the individuals of the community run in debt on their own sepa- rate accounts, admitting that they could all give such security as would induce money-holders to trust them. Besides what becomes of the large class of annuitants in every country, laborers of ev- ery sort who have little or no stock on which to en- croach and can give little or no security to the lenders ; and traders on commission whose gains are so little proportioned to their capitals, but whose contributions ought to bear some propor- tions to their gains? The proper fund of all taxation is not the gene- ral capital of the community, and consequently not that part of the revenue which is necessary for the support of the proprietor and his capital, 9. D ^02 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL and which if tourhed must ultimately throw the burden on the capital. The only fund from which taxes can be safely drawn is the revenue reserved for consumption ; and the question is — How ^AxaW this be effected so as to increase at will the public revenue without injury to the wealth of the nation, or injustice to individuals ? The immediate effect of every war, civil or ex- ternal, and in a le^s degree of all those other emer- gencies vvhich happen to a nation, is to obstruct the ordinary employment of capital ; to throw a quantity of stock which was formerly profitably invested out of its place, and to prevent the new accumulations of stock from finding new channels of employment. A great mass of capital is thus collected in the hands both of the mercantile and manufacturing part of the community, shifting and floating about, ready for any speculation, or any profitable use whatever. This is the part of the national stock which na- turally seeks the service of the public; it can be employed in no other way, and should be used by the state. The owners are always willing to give the use of it to government for a certain premium; and when the crisis that occasions the extraordi- nary expenditure is past, they have the opportu- nity of re-investing their capital in trade ; partly as it may be gradually paid back to them by the state ; and partly as they may transfer their secu- rities to a class of proprietors always increasing in BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 203 every wealthy country, namely, the monied inter- est, who are constantly drawing together floating capital by profitable speculations, and have no means of employing it but in loans. The best creditor for all these descriptions of persons is the government ; at least in ordinary ca- ses its security is the most tempting and the most transferable ; so that upon any sudden call for the stock they can transfer the security and use their capital. In every country arrived at a great degree of wealth, changes are perpetually taking place in the channels of employment for capital, and in the situations of the capitalists. A tract of waste land at home is parcelled out for improvement j a new colony is added by conquest or bargain ; a new line of trade, or a new art is opened. All these kinds of changes produce a demand for stock, and cause it to be drawn from the floating mass of capital above described, or from the public funds which have arisen from that mass. But at the same time other changes of an op- posite description are going on. The accumula- tion of capital at home and abroad is always fil- ling up certain channels of commerce, of agricul- ture, and of manufactures; changes of mode and of taste are checking or destroying the demand for certain articles; not to mention the direct ten- dency of national calamities, wars, plagues, fires, famines, shipwrecks, he. to produce similar effects. And changes of this latter kind, are by much the 204 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL most numerous and extensive of the two kinds, af- ter a nation has reached a certain pitch of wejilth. Hence ih^ public funds afford a sort of enirei.ot for capital, a deposit where it is naturally collected in an useful employment, (in as much as wars are necessary evils) ready at the same time for other services, and capable of being transferred in a moment to fill ihose blanks vihich accident may occasion. The natural order of things prescribes this arrangement ; it is the mode of raising large sums least noxious to the state ; and it throws the expenses of the emergency entirely upon the sur- plus revenue of the community ; — first, by the year- ly interest paid for the use of the money borrow- ed ; and secondly, by the provisions for gradual payment which a wise nation will always make part of its funding system. 7'hereis a striking similarity in the mode in which wars affect the capital of a country and the effects produced by them upon its population. The same analogy holds here which was traced above be- tween the numbers and the wealth of a nation. The emergencies of public affairs produce the very men required by their demands, and the very sums of money with which those men may be hired by the state. The same capitals now con- tinue to employ the same men as during peace. Formerly they were employed in manufactures and trade; now those channels of employment are obstructed, and the stock is thrown into the public BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 205 service, together with the men no longer useful in the peaceable arts. From this consideration may be dedncerl a proof of the absurdities of the militia system ; and the same view of the subject which prescribes the re- cruiting system as the only SHfe means of filling the army, prescribes \\\e funding si/stem as the onli/ ^^6'modeof supplyinjT the money which is to pay that army. It does not follow that, if no war exis- ted, both the men and the money might not be more productively employed •, but it has been already showc. that both population and capital in the more refined stages of society have a ten- dency to overflow ; and that greater evils may arise from the superabundance than from the de- ficiency of both. To conclude, then, the arguments which go to prove the necessity, policy, and wisdom of adopt- ing the funding system, we say, that as the wants of the state whatever be their extent must be fully supplied ; and as this can only be done by contri- butions levied on the internal resources of the country, the skill of the financier must be display- ed, not in removing, but in palliating the evds of taxation; not in really lightening a load which must be borne, but in rendering it more tolerable by a more equal distribution of its pressure. This must be done either by borrowing money, or by paying debt. It is quite chimerical there- 206 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL fore to expect that any real saving can accrue to the public from those arrangements of finance which consist merely in blending, or in combining these very simple operations; whose object is not to save, but to modify and regulate; either to re- lieve the existing generation by drawing on the more ample resources of a future age ; or to relieve posterity at the expense of the existing genera- tion. If the expenditure of a state be at any time in- creased much beyond its usual rate, from the fre- quent occurrence of war, or from ^iny other un- foreseen emergency, it would be obviously most unjust to load one generation beyond its strength, and entirely to relieve posterity from burdens which are imposed as much for their benefit and security as for the welfare of their forefathers. It would also be very inexpedient, because the weight which, if laid all at once, would crush the prosperity of a countr}^ maybe so divided and lightened by being gradually increased as to allow its growing resources freely to expand, and the fund from which future exertions must be made to be proportionally enlarged, so as to meet with ease the pressure even of heavier demands. It is the great and distinguishing excellence of the fimding system that it enables the statesman to levy contributions on future ages, and thus fur- nishes him with ample resources for the execution of great designs ; and though in its excess it may BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, v^C. 207 degenerate into an intolerable grievance, and may even strike at the root of national prosperity, yet in its milder operation it does not in any great degree retard the advancement of a thriving coun- try. It lops off only the redundant branches, while the massy trunk, untouched and unimpaired, is left to renew for a future age its fresh and more abundant foliage. It is evidpnt, however, that if the debt of a na- tion be regularly and rapidly increasing, so that in each successive year it becomes necessary to mortgage a greater portion of its annual revenue, the period must arrive sooner or later when it will be impossible to make any further addition to its burdens. In these circumstances no mea- sure, however strongly recommended by consider- ations of public utility, can be adopted without the imminent hazard of national bankruptcy. The most effectual, and indeed the only method of guarding against this calamity, is to establish, at the period when the debt is first contracted, a sinking fund for its final redemption ; and thus, while the resources of posterity are freely antici- pated, to provide at the same time the certain means of their future relief. The design of the funding system is to lighten the burden of an un- commonly heavy expenditure by extending it over a succession of generations j while the system of sinking funds fixes a period for the discharge of these incumbrances, and thus prevents any 208 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL one generation from being overwhelmed by the consolidated debt of a^i^es. By invariably combining the expedient of bor- rowing with the practice of establishing a sinking fund for the redemption of the debt, the extremes of two opposite systems are in a manner tempered and balanced ; we are enabled to avoid the incon- veniencies peculiar to each, and to avail ourselves of all their advantages without any of their evils. 3diy. As to the funding system weakejiing the hands of the government which resorts to it. This objection appears to have, if possible, less foundation in reason and in fact than the other two which have been already examined ; for, 1st. the very pressure of necessity, and the bur- den of taxation incident to the funding system, stimulates the industry of a people to a greater and more constant degree of exertion than where no such pressure exists. A far greater quantity of labor is produced by a given number of people in Britain, under the stimulus of taxation, than is produced by the same number of people similar- ly employed in the United States, whose inhabi- tants are industriously taught to believe that all taxation is tyranny and folly. It is admitted by Mr Hume, in his Essay on Taxation, that where taxes are moderate, laid on gradually, and do not affect the necessaries of life, the poor increase their industry, perform more work, and live better than before; in a word, be- BANKkUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. S09 ,Gome more laborious and more opulent than others who enjoy the greatest advantages. He infers, that since some natural necessities or disad- vantages are favorable to industry, artificial bur- dens may produce the same € iTect ; and quotes with applause the follov^ ing remarks from Sir Wil- liam Temple's account of the Netherlands, where the laborious industry of the Dutch is contrasted with the incorrigible idleness of the Irish. " In Ireland, by the largeness and plenty of the soil, and scarcity of the people, all things ne- cessary to life are so cheap that an industrious man by two days labor may gain enough to feed him the rest of the week, which I take to be a very plain ground of the laziness attributed to the people. For men naturally prefer ease before la- bor; and will not take pains if they can live idle; though when by necessity they have been inured to it they cannot leave it, being grown a custom necessary to their health, and to their very enter- tainment. Nor perhaps is the change harder from constant ease to labor than from constant labor to ease." It is a well known truth that when the wages of journeymen manufacturers are very high, much less work upon the whole is done by them than when their wages are moderately low. It is com- mon in such cases for the men to work three days in the week, and to be drunk the other four. Now if the pressure of necessity incites the indi- i]0 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL victuals of a community to greater and more con- stant exertions of labor, it is evident that the an- nual accumulations of national stock or capital will be greater also ; since the collective wealth of the public must be acquired by the productive industry of individuals. I mean to sav, that the annual accumulations of national stock or capital would be greater in proportion than the taxes. For since taxation, as here qualified, must be in a moderate proportion to a man's clear g^ns ; if the doubling of a tax doubles his industry and its produce, he must grow richer. For instance, if he pays two pounds upon a revenue of forty pounds, his own share is thirty-eight pounds. But if he works only half his time to gain these forty pounds, and the doub- ling of his tax frightens him into regular labor, he earns eighty in the same time that he used to earn forty pounds ; then double his tax, that is, deduct four pounds from his revenue of eighty, and he has seventy-six instead of thirty-eight pounds for his own share; leaving the laborer a clear profit of one hundred per cent. And if the national wealth be augmented, the strength of the government which has the dispo- sal of that wealth, and annually draws to itself a portion of it in the form of taxes, must be also in- creased ; in so far as it has a wider field of influ- ence and power over which to exert its control. Other things being equal, that is to say, the ex- BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 211 tent anrl ronnpactness of territory, the fertility and culiare of the soil, the amount of population, the industry, enterprise, courage, virtue, and intel- ligence of the people being equal, that govern- ment is the strongest which has the command of the greatest wealth; a rich nation always being more powerful than a poor one, if the other cir- cumstances of the inhabitants of the respective countries be the same, or nearly so. Britain by her immense wealth has extended her power far beyond what the mere circumstances, physical and moral, of her condition, without that wealth, could have enabled her to do. — But, 2dly. The funding system most materially strengthens the hands of government by attaching to its support a vast number of individuals by the strongest of all human ties, namely, self-interest. For the stock-holders, whether to a large or to a small amount, feel it their interest in every extraor- dinary emergency to rally round that government whose fall would destroy their property. And where a debt is very large, the stock-holders and their immediate dependants are very numerous, and being spread over every part of the commu- nity constitute a very powerful guarantee to the stability of government. Accordingly, during the war which began in 1793 and ended in 1802, when the efforts of jaco- binism> foreign and domestic, were all directed with the most deadly aim, by violence and fraud to 212 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL overthrow the British government, the stockhold- ersin Britain immediately took the alarm, and hast- ened to the defence of their king and constitution. From all that has been said, vi'e apprehend" the springing up of three great national evils to Bri- tain, from the entire liquidation of her public debts : namely, 1st. That it will very considerably reduce the influence of the crown, by the gradual but at length total reduction of the immense patronage which the British monarch now possesses in the appoint- ment of all the officers and servants employed in the collection of the taxes and the management of the monies relating to the national debt. And the contemplation of the horrible events which, for these last twenty years, have been covering the fairest portions of Europe with blood and desola- tion, does by no means reconcile a prudent and ju- dicious mind to the adoption of any measure which has the least tendency to curtail the power of the British Executive. 2dly. The entire liquidation of the national debt will weaken the hands of the British govern- ment, by taking away that common bond of union which now exists between itself and the public creditors. A farmer, a merchant, or a manufac- turer, is naturally less attached to and feels him- self less dependent upon the government than does a stock- holder whose interest is identified with that of the state. And it would not be difTi- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 213 cult to demonstrate that no government can be strong for any great purposes of national enter- prise and charaL^ter, unless it have at its command a vast funding system, or be in itself a new-born military despotism. Which of the two is better fitted to promote the happiness of its own people, and the welfare of the other nations of the earth, let the present examples of Britain and France tell. Sdly. To these evils may be also added that of greatly deranging the whole internal economy of society in Britain. In the course of eight years from the present period, that is by the beginning of the year 1818, the annual income of the sinking funds will amount to tv/enty-two millions seven hundred and twenty thousand pounds. When this fund was first established, the evils of its excessive increase were foreseen and provided against. By a subsequent arrangement, however, the sinking funds of 1786 and 1792 were consoli- dated, and no limit was fixed for their accumula- tion. The mischief it was thought could be guard- ed against when it drew nigh, and the great acces- sion of debt, occasioned by the enormous expen- diture of the war beginning in the year 1793, had removed to a distant period the dangers which were to be apprehended from the future increase of the sinking fund. When we consider, however, not only its present amount, but how rapidly it must accumulate, inde- pendent of the strong claims of the present gene- 214 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ration for relief from their burdens, we may well look to the period when it will be expedient to limit its operation ; and thus, by rendering the reduction of the debt more gradual, to guard against the effects of too sudden a change. The collecting of that immense revenue which is at present required for the payment of the pub- lic creditors, and for the service of the state, togeth- er with the whole body of laws, regulations, and complicated establishments necessary for this pur- pose, has effected a great, though imperceptible, change in the structure of society in Britain. To this artificial state of society, however, the views, habits, schemes, and commercial arrangements of the British people are accommodated ; and any great or sudden alteration, even although it might remove one evil, would undoubtedly produce ex- tensive mischief. The abstraction of a certain portion of the rev- enue of a country is «ot the only inconvenience of taxation. The increase in the price of the com- modity taxed, the consequent diminution of its consumption, and perhaps the stagnation of the manufacture, produce fully as much confusion and evil as the mere privation of national revenue oc- casioned by the tax. But the business of society adapts itself to a change fairly accomplished, and goes on with the same regularity as before. In these circumstances, if things were suddenly reinstated in their original condition, the evil of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, v^C. 215 taxation would no doubt be removed ; but this benefit would be accompanied by all those inci- dental evils which the sudden reformation even of acknowledged grievances, never fails to produce. The redemption of the national debt is in general considered as the mere prelude to relief from taxa- tion ; but it never seems to be imagined that the repealing of taxes to the enormous annual amount of twenty or thirty millions, which are now re- quired to pay the interest of the public debt, will be a work either of difficulty or of delicacy. Yet the same skill and contrivance which were called forth when those taxes were imposed, will be required to guard against the evils that may be produced by their repeal. Perhaps, there is no business of finance in which a departure from the line of considerate caution would produce such extensive evil. There is not the same risk in imposing taxes, because an exceptionable tax may be repealed, and the imposition of a new tax raises the price of the commodity on hand, and so far is an advantage to the dealers in it ; but by rashly repealing a tax on any commodity to a great amount, the dealers in it might be all ruined by the sudden fall which would take place in the value of their stock on hand. By relieving one particular article from a tax, its consumption might be greatly increased, and it might drive from the market all other rival commodities on which the taxes were still con- tinued. 216 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The repeal of one tax might thus render various taxes unproductive, and what would be a still greater evil, it might diminish the demand for other commodities, and produce a stagnation in their respective manufactures. It would perhaps be impossible without great inconvenience to re- peal in one year taxes to the amount of more than two millions sterling. The great importance of collecting and skilfully managing an ample public revenue is displayed, with all his accustomed superiority of talents, by Mr. Burke, the great father of political philosophy in Britain, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France, written in the year 1790. London edition, 5th vol. p. 403. The revenue of the state is the state. In effect all depends upon it, whether for support or for re- formation. The dignity of every occupation wholly depends upon the quantity and the kind of virtue that may be exerted in it. As all great qualities which operate in public, and are not merely suffering and passive, require force for their display, I had almost said for their unequivo- cal existence, the revenue^ ivhich is the spring of all powers becomes in its administration the sphere of every active virtue. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 217 Public virtue being of a nature magnificent and splendid, instituted for great things, and con- versant about great concerns, requires abundant scope and room ; and cannot spread and grow under confinement, and in circumstances strait- ened, narrow, and sordid. Through the revenue alone can the body-politic act in its true genius and character ; and therefore it will display just as much of its collective virtue, and as much of that virtue which may characterize those who move it, and are, as it were, its life and guiding principle, as it is possessed of a just revenue. For from hence not only magnanimity, and lib- erality, and beneficence, and fortitude, and pro- vidence, and the tutelary protection of all good arts derive their food, and the growth of their or- gans ; but continence, and self-denial, and labor, and vigilance, and frugality, and whatever else there i's in which the mind shows itself above the appetite, are no where more in their proper ele- ment than in the provision and distribution of the public wealth. It is therefore not without reason that the sci- ence of speculative and practical finance, which must take to its aid so many auxiliary branches of knowledge, stands high in the estimation not only of the ordinary sort, but of the wisest and best men ; and as this science has grown with the progress of its object, the prosperity and im- provement of nations has generally increased 2 F f 18 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL with the increase of their revenues ; and they will both continue to grow and flourish, as long as the balance between what is left to strengthen the ef- forts of individuals, and what is collected for the common efforts of the state, bears a due recip- rocal proportion, and they are both kept in a close correspondence and communication with each other. And perhaps it may be owing to the greatness of revenues, and to the urgency of state-necessi- ties, that old abuses in the constitution of finances are discovered, and their true nature and rational theory come to be more peifectly understood; in- somuch that a small revenue might have been more distressing in one period than a far greater is found to be in another ; the proportionate wealth even remaining the same. The objects then of a financier are to secure ait ample revenue; to impose it with judgment and equality; to employ it economically ; and when necessity obliges him to make use of credit, to se- cure its foundations in that instance, and for ever by the clearness and candor of his proceedings, the exactness of his calculations, and the solidity of his funds." If then the facts unfolded to view in the prece- ding pages demonstrate that the agriculture, com- merce, and manufactures of Britain are now more extensive and flourishing than ever ; that her na- tional capital and national revenue is far greater BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &€. 219 and the condition of all her people far better than at any former period of time ; and that her public iinances are built upon a solid, and indestructible basis of permanent strength and of progressive im- proveaientj and above all, that her annual accu- mulations of capital from the yearly produce of her land and labor and the profits of her stock, greatly exceeds the amount of all her annual ex- penditure ; it must be evident to all calm and impartial observers that the British empire is now less liable to national bankruptcy than at any pre- ceding epoch of her history. THIRD DIVISION. CHAPTER I. The supposed recent annihilation of the Aus- trian empire by the arms of Bonaparte seems to have struck the minds of men in the United States from off their usual poise of steadiness and discre- tion 5 and they in general now conclude that Bri- -220 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tain must speedily pass under the yoke of France, because the Corsican tyrant has beaten the Arch- duke Charles upon the banks of the Danube. Before entering upon the inquiry as to the power of Britain to stand up alone, and single-handed against her formidable adversary, I shall examine the probable results of the subjugation of the British empire ; in regard to the condition of its own peoplej of the world at large ; and more par- ticularly of the Federal Republic of America. This investigation is the more necessary, be- cause many respectable politicians in this coun- try openly avow their conviction that the reduc- tion of Britain into a province of France will ma- terially increase the wealth, prosperity, and com- merce of the whole world, by breaking down the present trading monopoly usurped by England ; (as if fl// monopolies were not invariably losing concerns,) and above all will enrich the United States by throwing a large share of the plunder into their lap ; in consequence of their strict at- tachment and unalterable friendship to France through all the changes of her government. And that even if Bonaparte should happen to prove ungrateful to his most faithful allies, and endea- vor to subdue them also under his dominion, their valor and wisdom would etfectually defeat all his efforts, although he should come to the in- vasion of these States with all the military popula- tion of Europe at his heels. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 221 The effects which such a calamity would pro- duce upon the British people themselves, I choose to depict in the words of the Edinburgh Review- ers, not merely on account of the magnificent display of talent and of information which they uniformly exhibit upon every great subject of na- tional policy ; but more particularly because they are the great literary champions of the whig party in Britain ; and that party, during the last twenty years, have always guarded themselves with most especial caution against gliding into any exagger- ated account of the resources and comforts of their own country ; or into any depreciation^ of the terrible power and matchless political wisdom of France. In the 10th volume of the Edinburgh Review, p. 3, 406, we are told " that so far from being a country, the measure of whose sufferings is full, and to which every change must be gain, it is ob- vious on a very slight consideration, that Britain has attained a greater portion of happiness and of civil liberty than have ever before been enjoyed by any other nation j and that the frame and ad- ministration of her polity is with all its defects the most perfect and beneficial of any that men have yet invented and reduced to practice. Her people have perfect liberty of person and security of property; they have an administration of law, both civil and criminal, that is not only im- partial, but unsuspected; they have freedom of 222 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL speech and of publication beyond what any other people ever exi)erienced ; they have wealth, atid police, and moralit}^ superior to any other coun- try; and they have no privileged orders possessing a monopoly of the honors and dignities of the state. These advantages they have attained under their present system of government, and under it there is no reason to doubt that they will be preserved to them unimpaired. It is plain therefore that so far from having little to lose by conquest or revo- lution they have infinitely more than was ever pos- sessed by any other people; and that as the good which they already have, greatly exceeds that of which they are deprived, it would be in the highest degree criminal and imprudent to expose it to the desperate hazard of increasing it by the uncertain issue of a revolution. The country which enjoys these advantages must be worth fighting for, whatever may be the defects of its government. This is our first position. Our second is, that the government cannot be utterly bad and detestable, under which these advanta- ges have been obtained and secured for so long a period. Without dwelling on the horrors of the conquest itself, or on the proscriptions and confiscations* with which it would infallibly be attended, suppose the great work of subjugating Britain to be finally consummated by France; and then estimate the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 223 changes which would be produced in the condition of the surviving population. The first would be the transfer of the British sceptre to the hands of some creature of the con- queror; or the total suppression of the national in- dependence of Britain by its conversion into a pro- vince or department of his empire. The last change is the most probable, because the insular situation, maritime habits, and untractable charac- ter of the British might otherwise give them an opportunity of recovering their freedom, and con- verting a nominal into a real independence. In either event, the free constitution of England would be annihilated. It is this freedom, more than the commercial prosperity, or the national influence of Britain, which excites the alarm and jealousy of Bonaparte ; it exhales a vapour un- healthful to the constitution of despotism, and while England is free the master of France must be uneasy. Britain might still have parliaments, however, and mock elections ; but we may infer the measure of power which would be left to those assemblies, from that which we have seen intrusted to the senates of France and Holland. The consequences of conquest, however, would first come home to individuals m the destruction of their laws and personal privileges. No one can. be so extravagant as to imagine that a French government would allow a habeas corpus, a jury ^ or a goal-delivery to its English subjects. They can- 224 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL not hope for more than it indulges to its own peo- ple. The liberty of the press in France, too, may be safely taken as the measure of what it would be in England ; and in comparison with the tyran- ny now exercised there in this respect, the policy of the inquisition, the Sorbonne, and the Bourbons was perfect freedom. Their interference was mere- ly restrictive or prohibitory ; but the present gov- ernor of France compels its journalists to publish as well as to suppress whatever he pleases. He has personal quarrels too with the English press, which could not be settled by mere prospective regulations. There are more than Peltier who might meet with the fate of Palm. The next thing which the British would lose would be the security of personal liberty. They must then lay aside that high sense of personal in- violability which they now cherish so fondly ; and what is justly prized still more, the sanctity of their homes. The Englishman's house must be his cas- tle no more. Instead of their humble watchmen, to wish them respectful good-night, when return- ing to their abodes in the evening, they would be challenged at every turning by military patroles, and be fortunate if they met no pert boy in com- mission, or ill-natured trooper, to rebuke them with the back of his sword, or with a lodging in the guard house, for a heedless or a tardy reply. And after all when they arrived at their homes, instead of that quiet fire-side at which they expect- fiANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. ^225 ed to sit. in Hompsfif privacy with their wives and children, and relieve their burthened hearts by sighing with them over the sorrows of their coun- try, they might find some ruffian familiars of the police on a domiciliary visit; or some insolent young officers who have stepped in unasked to re- lieve their tedium while on guard by the conver- sation of the wives and daughters of the neighbor- ing British house-holders. It would be danger- ous, however, to offend such unwelcome guests, ot even not to treat them with all the respect due to brave warriors, who have served under Napoleon the Great. But should the English escape such intruders for the evening, still they must lie down uncertain if their dwellings would be left unviolated till the morning. A tremendous noise would at midnight rouse the father of a family from his sleep, and he would hear a harsh voice commanding him to open the gate, through which its hapless master must pass to return no more. The mostdi-^astrous effect of conquest, however^ would be the annihilation of national and indivi-« dual opulence. The mere destruction of the funds would beggar an incredible multitude; but the trade and the riches of England would infalli- bly perish with the destruction of its security for property, its equal laws, its colonies, and com- manding navy. It is only necessary to consider how much greater and more powerful Britain \p 226 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL at this moment than her population or extent of territory would naturally have made her; to see how much more she would lose in losing her inde- pendence than any other nation could possibly lose. She would fall like Tyre or Carthage if the foundation of her commercial greatness were once withdrawn. The quantity of domestic misery which would be produced in such a population as that of Britain, by this vast and general impover- ishment, surpasses all calculation. This point ought to be well considered by all those who thu)k that industry is secure of its reward in eve- r civilized society, and that it is mere romance for people in the middling condition of life to fight for political privileges, or for the choice of their rulers. The rigors of a suspicious provincial military government, would be also displayed in full force over the politicians of conquered England. Her mobs and her clubs, and even her coifee-house conversations would be effectually broken up by the sabre and the b;iyonet. Sanguinary punish- ments would repress the newly mvented crimes of suspected disatfection and sedition ; and the happy invention of military conscription would take off the turbulent part of the British youth to recruit tin legions of their master, and to extend his con- quests m another quarter of the globe. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. ^27 Add to all this the destruction of relio^ioas lib- erty, and the compulsory restitution of popery in Britain, as an immediate consequence of her sub- jugation; because the universality of that faiih would be very convenient for an emperor who keeps the pope at his own disposal ; and the c<>n- stitution and doctrine of many of the protestant churches would be peculiarly oiFensive to an abso- lute sovereign. The last great evil incident to Britain from her bondage to France, would be the general disso- luteness of manners, resulting partly from the de- basement uniformly produced by loss of liberty, but chiefly from the contagion of that profligate and licentious soldiery which would be quartered over all the land, and would naturally take the lead whenever their example could be seducing or pernicious. Such are the obvious and tremendous evils that must inevetably fall on Britain if she yield to the fate which has overtaken the greater part of the continent of Europe, and be subjugated by the arms of France. There is no fancy, unfortunate- ly, and no exaggeration in this statement ; every article of it is supported by precedents ; every tint is coloured from the life. It is even a softened delineation; for no allowance is made for the pe- culiar rancor and hostility with which Bonaparte has always avowed himself to be actuated towards England more than toward any other of his oppo>- nents." gas HINTS ON THE NATIONAL CHAPTER 11. Nevertheless, say our advocates for universal benevolence and the general good, although Britain w^ill undoubtedly suffer all, and more than all these evils, by her being reduced to a state of slavery by France, yet in the first place she rich- ly deserves it on account of her long continued maritime superiority and coumjercial ntuiiopoly ; and secondly, the world at large and the United States in particular will become more opulent and prosperous in consequence of the entire annihila- tion of the present mistress of the ocean. This point requires examination. How far the world at large is likely to be en- riched by the destruction of Britain, and the con- sequent perdition of all that living labor, that pro- ductive industry, v/hich she novv' puts in motion over every region of the globe, by the security which she affords to property, and the certainty of reward which she holds out to all kinds of use- ful exertion ; and by the substitution of Bona- parte's bloody niilitary despotism in the room of her commercial policy-— may be inferred from the following character of the French and of their gov- ernment, drawn by one who knows them well, who has had the most favorable ojjportunities of studying them intimately, and is fully competent to offer to the public the result of his information. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 229 *• As to morals, which in the absence of all pos- itive legal institutions, supply their place by a very powerful influence, the people of France and the government of France are totally with- out any system. They are the first nation in the world which has rendered variable what nature intended to be eternal; which has converted vir- tue into sophistry, and brought under disputatioa and logical scepticism the first elements of truth, and the most sure securities of social peace. Morals, in the eye of Frenchmen constitute » taste, a fashion, a modp, varying according to the circumstances of the day. All moral obligation is gone ; it is not acknowledged in practice. At the very best, the first principles of morality are regarded merely as simple truths ; as totally unim- portant and without value in action. Even honor, the best gift of the feudal system, in many points a sufficient, in almost all a useful substitute of natural morality, does not exist in the system of France. In a word, the three great principles of human action j the three great restraints on vice and passion ; namely, relii2;ion, morality, and hon- or, have all perished in France. The system of jacobinism has been followed by that of military despotism. The principles of action have taken the same course. France as a nation, and every Frenchman individually, has the morals of a soldier, a slave, and a sophist; pfone who believes nothing wit^h sufficient faith to §30 HINTS ON THE KATlONAL induce him to adopt it as a principle of action 5 of one who systematically trusts his reason, and servilely obeys his fears, his passions and his im- mediate interest, who would trust such an individ- ual ? who cotdd confide in sue h a nation ? As to the manners of the present race of French- men the picture is still more abhorrent. The niaiio ners of a nation are its minor morals ; or rather per- haps its action through the daily intercourse of mo- rals in life and domestic society. The manners in France, therefore, at the present day are such as are suited to its morals. The shadow is as deformed as the substance from which it is projected. Their private is at least as bad as their public virtue. They are as bad husbands, fathers, friends, neigh- bors, masters, and dependants, as they are citi- zens. Break their general character into all possible fragments, and every component atom will be found of the same precise quality as the general mass. Nor is this state of things temporary. There is an action and a redaction which tends to continue it. The state corrupts the individual ; and the individual supplies the stock of corruption to the state. Each mutually feeds and is fed. The minor streams, corrupting as they tlow, re- turn to swell the grand national reservoir, which overflows in its turn with an augmented force of venom, and assimilates to itself whatever it touches. BANKRUPTCV OF BRITAIN, &C. 251 Such is the civil despotism of the Fretich gov- epnment. The five means of control, and secu- rities of a moderate exercise of the sovereign pow- er, namely, constitution, an aristocracy of privi- leged classes and acknowledged corruptions, long usage, morals, and manners, have no existence, O??^ supreme will governs every thing. Treaties are without sanction ; and the public faith is the private virtue of one who has effected every thing by his contempt and disregard of truth. Regarded in its second point of view, as a mili-^ tary despotism, the French form of government is still more worthy of attention. Bonaparte is the Genghis Khan of Europe. He knows no law but the sword, no legislative assembly but the camp. The sword is his sceptre, the camp is his cabinet. Uniting the military simplicity of the Tartar conquerors with the military science of Europe, he rests not a moment from his martial habits ; he is ever in a state to take the field in the very instant of his necessity. In peace as in war he is in a state 'of encamp- ment; and the whole resources of his nation are as ready at his call as is the sword which hangs suspended in its sheath by his side. He is in ever}'' sense of the word a conqueror and a military- monarch. His system of rule is that of the feu- dal system purged of its ancient weakness. Hft is an emperor, and an emperor in the strictest sense of the word> as employed in the lower Re- iS^ HTNTS ON TEE NATIONAL man empire; an emperor at the head of confede- rated officers, all connected with their chief and with each other by a common interest ; — an em- peror elected by his fortune and his guards, gov- erning his people with military despotism, and retaining his army by military discipline. His prefects and officers are but so many Ce- sars who govern the distant provinces under their patron and political father, the great Augustus. This system of empire, as it is founded, so it must be retained by conquest. Like the princi- ple of motion it ceases to exist when it ceases to proceed. It has moreover a still more fatal char- acteristic. The adage ancient as the world, mole met Slid, it will ruish into perdition by its own im- mensity of bulk, does not apply to the present empire of France. It easily admits of accession. If another kingdom be added, it requires but ano- ther prefect. The history of mankind is as uniform as are the materials of human action. This empire must sooner or later be overturned by the jealousies of the confederate princes. But from its present and immediate energy it will in time overthrow every thing around it. Kingdom after kingdom will fall into its mass, until, having destroyed every thing about it, it will terminate by preying on itself. A new system will then succeed. The present monarchs of Europe are the fragments of feANKRUPTCt OF BRITAIN, &C. ^33 the feudal system. When the military system, under which Europe must now suffer for some -ages, shall in its turn become split and shattered, our posterity will behold new forms of empire, and modes of rule, which political prophecy, vainly endeavoring to pierce through the mists of time, cannot even dimly discern in the distance. From the personal character of Bonaparte, the human imagination, accustomed to the ordinary course of naiure, averts with incredulous abhor- rence. Every age has its standard of vice and of virtue. The atrocity of the age of Tiberius was not to be expected in the nineteenth century. Human. reason, as it was supposed, and is still as- serted by our philosophists, had made great pro- gress in the lapse of successive ages; had kept pace at least with the precession of the equinox 5 had advanced with the maturity of nature. And if this even admitted of a doubt, the im- mediate gift of Providence himself, his last best gift to man, the spirit of Christianity, had passed over the surface of the moral world, and had sof- tened the venom of original malignity and prime=- val sin. It was not therefore to be expected, that the course of time, returning by a backward cur- rent, should re-produce in the nineteenth century all those combinations of perfidy and violence, which distinguished and deformed the periods that have long been known by the emphatical appella- tion of the dark ages. This prodigy of another age, however, has appeared amongst us." 3h SI34 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL It is very remarkable that so early as the yeaf 1790, when all the ordinary statesmen, all the vul- gar politicians on the earth, were hailing the revolutionary struggles of France as the harbin- gers of a bright and a lasting day of freedom to Europe and to the world, Mr. Burke, standing upon the vantage-ground of superior political wis- dom, should have left upon record, as an eternal monument of instruction to all posterity, an intelli- gible prediction, that the wild disorder of Gallic democracy would terminate in the most horrible and unrelenting military despotism which ever sported with the happiness of human beings. *' The legislators who framed the ancient repub- lics, knew that their business was too arduous to be accomplished with no better apparatus than the metaphysics of an under-graduate, and the mathematics and arithmetic of an exciseman. They had to do with men, and they were obliged to study human nature. They had to do with citizens, and the}' v^ere obliged to study the effects of those habits which are communicated by the circum- stances of civil life. They were sensible that the operation of this second nature on the first, produces a new combi- nation ; and thence arises many diversities amongst men, according to their birth, their education, their professions, the periods of their lives, their residence in towns or in the country, their several ways of acquiring and of fixing property, and ac-* BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &e. Q35 cording to the quality of the property itself ; all which rendered them, as it were, so many different species of animals. From hence they thought themselves obliged to dispose their citizens into such classes, and to place them in such situations in the state, as their peculiar habits might qualify them to fill ; and to allot to them such appropriated privileges as might secure to them what their specific occasions re- quired, and which might furnish to each descrip- tion such force as might protect it in the conflict caused by the diversity of interests, that must ex- ist, and must contend in all complex society. For the legislator would have been ashamed, that the coarse husbandman should well know how to as- sort and to use his sheep, horses, and oxen ; and should have enough of common sense not to ab- stract and equalise them all into animals without providing for each kind an appropriate food, care, and employment ; whilst he, the political econo- mist, disposer and shepherd of his own kindred, subliming himself into an airy metaphysician, was resolved to know nothing of his flocks but as men in general. It is for this reason that M. Montesquieu ob- serves very justly, that in their classificatmi of the citizens the great legislators of antiquity made the greatest display of their powers, and even soared above themselves. It is here that our mo- dern legislators have gone deep into the negative series, and sunk even below their own nothing. S3(> HINTS ON THE NATIONAL As the ancient legislators attended to the d'fFer- ent kinds of citizens, and combined them into one commonwealth ; the modern, the metaphysical and alchemistical legislators have taken the direct contrary course. They attempt to confound all sorts of citizens into one homogeneous mass, re- ducing them all to the dead level of democracy ; and then they divide this their amalgama into a number of incoherent republics. They reduce men to loose counters, merely for the sake of sim- ple telling ; and not to figures whose power is to arise from their place in the table. The elements of their own metaphysics might have taught them better lessons. The roll of their categorical table might have informed them that there was something else in the intellectual world besides substance and quantity. They might learn from the catechism of metaphysics that there were eight heads more in every complex deliberation, of which they have never thought; though these of all the ten are the subjects on which the skill of man can at all operate. But so far from this able disposition of some of the old republican legislators, which follows with a solicitous accuracy the moral conditions and propensities of man, the Fi^ench politicians have levelled and crushed together all the orders which they found even under the coarse inartificial ar- rangement of their old monarchy ; in which inode of government the classing of their citizens BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 3S7 is not of so much importance as in a republic. It is true, however, that every such classification, if properly ordered, is good in all forms of govern- ment ; and composes a strong barrier against the excesses of despotism, as well as it is the necessary means of giving effect and permanence to a repub- lic. For want of something of this kind, if the pre- sent project of a French republic should fail, all securities to a moderated freedom fail along with it J all the indirect restraints which mitigate des- potism are removed ; insomuch that if monarchy should ever again obtain an entire ascendency in France, under this, or under any other dynasty, it will be, if not voluntarily tempered at its set- ting out by the wise and virtuous counsels of the prince, the most completely arbitrary power that has ever appeared on earth. This is to play a most desperate game." From all this it might be readily inferred how much the industry and wealth of nations would be promoted and increased by diffusing the do- mination of Bonaparte over all the civilized world. It is sufficiently natural for the present tyrant of France, and for his partisans, to exclaim incessant- ly, that if Britain were but destroyed the other nations of the earth would be enriched by divid- ing that wealth which her monopolizing spirit now engrosses ; because it is the first desire of Bonaparte's heart to destroy the British empire, as 238 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the only obstacle between him and universal do* minion ; and because it is equally the expectation of his partisans that they shall be permitted to share in the plunder acquired by their master. But it is strange that men, even of ordinary re- flection, do not perceive, that if Britain were to be destroyed, the aggregate of the whole world's wealth, industry, spirit, enterprise, intelligence, morality, religion, and every thing which condu- ces to human prosperity and happiness, would be dreadfully diminished ; because they derive mate- rial aid from the superior freedom, virtue, talent, and knowledge of the British nation under its pre- sent form of government. Now foreign conquest would infallibly bring along with it slavery, vice, and ignorance, which would immediately dry up the springs and sour- ces of agriculture, of manufactures, of commerce, and of ewfiry species of productive industry ; would immediately palsy all the physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual energies of Britain, who is now the great central pivot upon which all the la- bor that can have any tendency to meliorate the condition of human society in the whole world turns; and would thus convert the universal earth into one vast wilderness of death. This subject is treated at considerable length, and with great ability by M. Gentz, late counsel- lor of war to the king of Prussia, in a work entitled ^ De Vctat de V Europe avant et apres a la Revolution BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &e. 239 JFrangaisey pour servir de response a Vecrif, intitule, De Vet at de la France y a la fin de Van. 8." But as some positions of the Prussian Statesman are not sufficiently developed, and the whole book is writ- ten with somewhat of Germanic tediousness and minuteness, I prefer having recourse to the supe- rior political intelligence of the Edinburgh Re- view. Vol. 2, p. (5, 19, 25. M. Hauterive asserts that the destruction of all order and prosperity in Europe is caused by the vast increase of British commerce and colonies during the last century. *' But the increase of commerce is a necessary consequence of that salutary development of na- tional w^ealth and prosperity, to which human so- ciety naturally tends under any system of just ad- ministration ; it is beneficial to the country where it begins, and harmless at least to all its neigh- bors. It affords them not only example and en- couragement, but the means of imitation and im- provement ; and can never be viewed with jeal- ousy or resentment, except by that envy which despairs of emulation, or that barbarous pride which had rather that its associates should fall, than be indebted to them for its own elevation. Besides, the increased resources that have been derived from the extension of the commercial sys- tem have been in some degree common to all na- tions, and have rather bettered the condition of the whole, than altered the relations of its parts. 240 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL That some have been outstripped by others in this free and honorable competition, ought no more to be made the subject of resentment or complaint, than that one nation has amended its laws, or refor- med its constitution, with greater diligence and dispatch than its neighbors. In point of fact, the advantages that may be as- cribed to the extension of colonies or commerce, never have been monopoW zed by any one nation of Europe ; but have belonged in a great degree to all the maritime states, and in particular, to France, England, and Holland, in pretty equal proportions. When we consider indeed what France was both in America and in India, within half a century, and the prodigious advantages' which she still had until very lately in the Levant trade, and that of the West-Indies, it is surprising that a French writer should inveigh with so much bitterness agamst colonies and commerce, and represent the balance of power in Europe as i?t danger from the preponderence of England, merely because she possesses a part of those advantages which were formerly enjoyed with safety by the continental kingdom of France. The maritime powers, too, form a sort of secon- dary balance among themselves, and will in gene- ral throw their united force into the scale, to pre- vent the disturbance of the greater system to which they adhere. Their chief interest on the continent of Europe must always be to maintain BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 241 that general balance; and if their commerce has increased their weight and authority, this is a cir- cumstance which only tends to make that balance more secure. Had it not been for the maritime resources of Holland and England it is not easy to perceive in what way the European continen- tal powers could have resisted the attacks of Louis the fourteenth. With regard to the foreign relations of Britain, they may be all referred to the head of commer- cial regulations ; and she has in fact no permanent connection with the continent of Europe either in military or strictly political affairs. As a mari- time nation, she can never be led away by views of continental conquest; and as a commercial power, she must be interested in the maintenance of that general peace, by which alone the great markets of the world can be kept open to the pro- duce of her industry. Yet M. Hauterive represents her as constantly engaged in fomenting dissensions among the Eu- ropean continental powers; bribing them into hostility by her subsidies ; and holding their in- dustry and commerce in subjugation by the arbi- trary and oppressive exertions of her naval power. A sufficient refutation of this assertion is to be> found in the history of the last hundred and fifty years, which wnll show that all the wars in vvhicU Britain has been engaged have either been wars in support of the balance of Europe^ when endarj- ^ I 242 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL gered by the ambition of France ; or wars in which the quarrel was particular to the two nations, and arose from some misunderstanding as to the regu- lation of their trade or their colonies. In the wars for the support of the balance of Europe, the exertions of England have been bene* ficial to all her neighbors ; and in the quarrels pe* culiar to the two nations, her efforts have been al-r together indifferent to the other powers, and can afford no pretext for invoking the general ven- geance on her head. ' The wars against Louis the fourteenth require no explanation, nor does the conduct of Britain in the course of them demand any apology. The war of the Austrian succession was undertaken by England upon the same general principle of pre- venting the undue humiliation of that ancient mon- archy ; and the generosity with which she gave up every thing at the peace, by which her private interest might have been promoted, demonstrates by what liberal motives she had been induced to enter into the contest. The seven years war, commonly called Lord Chatham's war, on the part of Britain, was partly a war in defence of the general system of balance, then exposed to such manifest danger by the coali- tion against the king of Prussia; and partly a pri- vate quarrel between France and England on ac- count of their North American colonies. It turn- ed out gloriously for Britain, and France has never BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &:c. 243 forgiven her for the humiliation and loss to which she was obliged to submit j although that loss and humiliation, which related merely to her colonies and her marine, had no effect upon her power and influence over the continent of Europe. In the succeeding war of America, the cause of contest was peculiar to the two countries, France and England, and indifferent to the rest of Europe. Here the success was on the side of France ; she retorted on her adversary the loss of her American colonies, and proved that her maritime resources were in no respect inferior to those of her indus> trious rival. As to the charge of fomenting wars by subsidi- zing the weaker continental powers of Europe, it is a most contemptible vulgar prejudice, which could only originate in ignorance or in animosity. No subsidy ever paid the third part of the mere expense which was occasioned by a war, to the nation that received it ; and if any valuation could be put upon the loss of lives and of happiness, on the prosperity and opulence, both general and in- dividual, that it must necessarily have intercepted, we might justly say, that no subsidy ever replaced one hundredth part of what the war had taken away. Subsidies may facilitate the operations of war, but can never give occasion to it. They form a natural and salutary part of those arrangements by which allied nations equalise their contribu- HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tious to the common cause j but the statesman who could he tempted by them to engage in a war» ■when he might have remained in peace, must know' liitle of the nature of war, and nothing of the du- ties of his station." For a very full and clear exposition of the nature and mtention of the balancing systeniy and the most conclusive arguments to prove its vast im- portance in preserving the civilized world from deslrucrion ; the reader will do well to consult, and to study the first section of the third book of Mr. Brougham's masterly '*' Inquiry into the Colo- nial Policy of the European powers,'' vol. 2d. p.. ■ 192, 285, both inclusive. " The whole substance of the abuse which M. Hauterive heaps upon Britain on account of her maritime superiority, may be reduced to these three heads : — 1st. That by her Navigation Act, she has excluded all other nations from the benefits of her trade : — 2dly. That she has usurped the possession of all the commercial establishments of the world, and after having put fetters on the in- dustry of every other nation, has established over them a most tyrannous and oppressive monopoly : and 3dly. That she has invented a new code of maritime laws, by which the rights of neutrality- are violated, as often as she is at war." I shall altogether decline entering upon any dis- cussion of the third head at present, because I shall shortly have occasion to treat at large upon the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. ^45 great question of neutral rights in another public cation, where I shall endeavor to develop the whole system of policy, foreign and domestic, of the United States. Only the first two heads, therefore, of M. Hauterive's accusations against Britain, will be now examined. "1. M. Gentz, at great length, but with much force and clearness, explains the origin and de- sign of the famous statute of Charles the second, commonly called the English navigation act, of which the European continental politicians have spoken and written so much in all the bitterness of resentment and complaint, without in the least understanding its nature and aim. He then pro- ceeds to show upon the clearest and most gene- rally admitted principles of political economy, that the operation of this act has been directly detri- mental to the commerce of Britain ; and that its con- tinuance on the score of policy, can only be justi- fied from its tendency to promote the naval strength of the country, upon which its security so imme- diately depends, and to which every thing else ought therefore to be subordinate. The commercial greatness of England, there- fore, has arisen in spite of this law, and not in consequence of it ; and the jealousy which that greatness has excited is erroneously directed against this famous statute. And even if its con- sequences were prejudicial to other nations, they have no right to complain of its injustice. It is !246 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL not an international law in which they have any- intermediate concern^ but a private regulation of internal police, with which France has as little concern as England could have with a French statute requiring all Bonaparte's soldiers to be natives of his own territory." M. Gentz explains the effects of the English na- vigation act, in p. 295, 308, of his important work. I have only leisure to avail myself of a very iew of his observations. " It is, generally speaking, true that laws are pre- judicial when they impede or restrict the natural course and free expansion of human industry; when they forcibly impel it into new channels, or direct it where it would not naturally have flowed ; when they urge its progress at the expense of its free- dom. The navigation act is a law of this nature. Tt compels the inhabitant of Britain to fetch the products of foreign countries in his ov/n vessels, or to remain entirely or nearly without them. It obliges him, therefore, to devote a larger portion of capital and labor to foreign trade than he would have done in the natural course of things; if other nations had participated without restric- tion in the importation. It positively forbids him to employ the industry of a foreigner, even when it might suit his interest better than to em- ploy his own industry. It prevents him from purchasing certain articles abroad cheaper than BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 247 he can get them at home. It prevents him from making use of foreign shipping, even in those cases where the freight is cheaper than that of his countrymen, and where he would consequently import the goods at a lower price. But circumstances sometimes render it the duty of a government to depart in particular cases from general principles of state economy ; when a tem- porary or a permanent interest urges considera- tions of more importance than any of the common maxims of administration. To circumstances of this imperious nature the English navigation act owes its being. In order to form a counterpoise to the powerful states of continental Europe; to protect her insular territory, and maintain her independence, England was obliged to use every effort to raise and support a powerful marine. The importance of the object justified even co- ercive laws; wt\(\ the navigation act is indirectly coercive in its nature and operation. The English were compelled to cultivate with their own vessels, their own sailors, and their own capitals, many branches of foreign trade which would have other- wise remained, partly or entirely, in the hands of strangers. This was a powerful stimulus to the commercial marine of Britain, which was thus rendered a nursery for her navy, and an impor- tant instrument of the security and power of the state; accomplishing these objects more rapidly and more effectually than if left to the natural course of things. 24S HINTS ON THE NATIONAL But according to the genuine principles of politi- cal economy, the navigation act which secures these important objects, is far from benefiting the industry of the nation, which indeed it restrains. In commerce the true interest of every nation requires an extensive competition, and the unrestrained liberty of buying and selling to the greatest ad- vantages afforded by its industry and situation. The navigation act infringes this liberty and di- minishes that competition. AV^hence, so far from being directly beneficial, it is indirectly detrir mental to the foreign trade of Britain. This law then is not the foundation of English commercial greatness, which has arisen in spite of, and not by means of, the operation of this act. If such a law had been passed in any other coun- try, destitute of the natural advantages, character, and resources of Britain, it would have been the signal for the immediate annihilation of commerce j the suppression of all industry; the destruction of every incentive to enterprise and activity. This famous act was passed in the year 1651, during CromweH's protectorate, and confirmed by Charles the second in 1660; its chief provisions are : — 1st, No ship, unless it be British property, commanded by a British captain, and having at least three-fourths of its crew British, shall trade with the British colonies, or on the coast of Bri- tain : — 2dly. No foreign vessel shall bring any goods to England, unless tfcey are the produce of Bankruptcy of Britain, &c. ^4§ the country, to which the owner, the captain, and, at least three-fourths ofthe crew of such ship belong. 3d]y. The importation of certain articles of foreign merchandise is prohibited both in British and for- eign ships. 4thly. No sea-fish, unless caught by British fishermen, and freighted on board British vessels, shall be imported into England." " As to the monopoly which Britain is accused of usurping or enjoying, in all the colonies and all the markets in the world, the advantages to which these odious names have been applied, are nothing more than the natural and fair rewards of supe- rior skill and industry ; and it would be an injury to the world at large if they were to be intercepted or withdrawn. They are prizes won in a free and honorable competition, where the success of the victor affords instruction to those who are left be- hind, and advances the general interest together with that of the individual. In point of fact, however, it is not true that Britain has engrossed all the trade and wealth of the world for this last century. In India, indeed, her V influence has preponderated over that of France, ever since the war of 1756; yet Holland still holds possessions in that quarter of great ex- tent and value ; and the establishments of France were rather neglected than insignificant, up td war of the Revolution. In the West-Indies both Spain and France were. im possession of settlements far more valuable i2 K '250 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL than those of England; and Holland and Den- mark had also their share in that lucrative com- merce. On the continent of America England retained nothing but Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New-Brunswick, while Spain and Portugal mono- polized the trade of a whole quarter of the globe ; and France shared largely with them in that oi the northern division of that quarter. In that part of the world Britain was only a power of the second or third order. In her colo- nial possessions, therefore, it is plain that she has enjoyed no great or decided superiority ; and it is equally plain, that in a political point of view, thq possession of these colonies adds scarcely any thing to her power. The richest of them all brings in no direct revenue to the government ; they pay no taxes; and it is only in their subserviency to her industry and trade that they have any value. The real source of the commercial greatness of England then is to be found in that honest industry and distinguished skill which will scarcely be im- puted to any nation as a crime ; and which her rivals should rather imitate than decry. Nay, it is very evident that they themselves constitute and support that monopoly of which they so loud-, ly complain. Who forces the nations of Europe to buy the manufactures of England, and to ne- glect their own .'' If it be a crime in Britain to sell, it must be doubly a crime in the other European powers to BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, hc. 251 buy ; and if the European states have been en* thralled by the commercial policy of England, it is evident that they have formed the fetters for themselves, and put them on deliberately with their own hands. As to the charge of Britain having exerted her- self to depress and discourage the industry of all her neighbors, it is confuted by the absurdities which it involves. The rude and the beggarly can never be good customers ; and they who have no- thing to sell, will not long have any thing where- with to buy. England outstrips her neighbors in mechanical inventions and commercial activity ; and by means of these keeps the advantages of her pre-eminence ; but she can never desire to see her neighbors unskilful and indolent ; because she sells only to buy with advantage; and could not continue to subsist, if the surrounding countries did not supply her with commodities as valuable as those which she furnishes to them in return. If any part of British prosperity he referrible to the neglect and carelessness of other countries, who might have divided a part of those advantages which she now enjoys alone, this is their fault and their loss, and nothing but the profit and the praise is hers. They would not be better, although her enterprising spirit had not opened the sources of wealth which they overlooked ; and all the rest of the world would have been worse ; nay, they them- selves also would have been worse ; since her sue- 252 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL cess must awaken their emulation and her disco- veries direct their undertakings. What is called the inonopohj of England, there- fore, is nothing else than the preference which good and cheap articles will always obtain in the market over those that are dear and defective. It is not imposed upon the other nations by England, but conferred by them upon her ; and as they thus contribute to it, in spite of violent prejudices, and in the midst of the most outrageous clamors, it may be presumed that they find their own ad- vantage in its continuance. In fact, it pro- motes their present prosperity, by supplying them with commodities at an easier rate than they could otherwise procure them ; and subserves their future greatness, by setting before them the most perfect patterns of manufacturing ingenuity, and of commercial wisdom. In addition to these permanent and inherent sources of British prosperity, the war itself has given birth to another very important aid to her national strength. The naval power of England, and the excellent regulation of her convoys, ren- der the seas safe tp her while they are impractica- ble to any other belligerent power. Nearly all the carrying irade, therefore, that was in the hands of Holland, Spain, and France, naturally fell into her's when the ships of those nations were confined to their harbors ; and thus became a new source of revenue to -answer the exigencies of her new situation. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C.. 253 And as this was a benefit arising from the at- tempts of her enemies to injure her, and obtained in a great measure at their expense ; it is natural to suppose that their disappointment and vexation would make it the object of clamor and detrac- tion. But at the same time, it is perfectly evi- dent, that it is an event for which Britain cannot possibly be censured upon any principle either of equity or reason. For it was not brought about by any act of her usurpation or injustice ; but resulted spontane- ously from the interested wisdom of the neutral powers, who, until very lately, sought their safety in her protection ; and it has plainly been of advan- tage to all Europe, because it has given, up to the time of the issuing of Bonaparte's Berlin De- cree in December, 1806, a security and a freedom to her general commerce, which was scarcely to have been expected during the raging of a war so universal and so active. The iaw following considerations, and many more might be enumerated, will show the grounds of distinction between a naval and a military pow- er ; and also afford reasons for defending the mari- time supremacy of Britain, while we look with an eye of jealousy and apprehension on the military ascendancy of France. 1% It is obvious that a maritime power can never endanger the independent existence of any other community, nor deprive it of its natural and inherent influence among its neighbors ; it can 254 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL only intercept its commercial greatness by cutting off its foreig?itTSLde, A maritime power there- fore is formidable in a much less degree, and is a less reasonable object of general distrust and apprehension. 2. But a maritime power can scarcely have any interest in cutting off the foreign trade or posses- sions of its neighbors. The ruin of their trade would be the ruin of its own commerce. Their possessions could not be occupied or retained without land forces ; and their mere destruction could produce no other effect than that of dimin- ishing the supply of those articles, the want of which would be felt more by a commercial than by any other country. Besides, the habits of a commercial country must generally be pacific; and war will usually be more injurious to a trading, than to any other state. Now no maritime power can render a na- tion absolutely invulnerable, or ensure its superi- ority against a combination of its enemies ; and the risk to which it would be exposed in such a contest is so terrible that it may fairly be presu- med that it will not provoke general hostility by any wanton act of usurpation. 3. It ought to be remembered, as the great ground-work of all these distinctions, that mari- time power is the. natural, peaceful, and necessary result of great commercial prosperity ; and that it cannot be effectually diminished without checking BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 235 that great career of improvement, the benefits anS blessings of which are far more important than any other with which they can be put in competition. The naval strength of a nation consists primarily in the number and the skill of its seamen ; and these again depend immediately on the extent of its trade. The trade, therefore, must be diminished before the power can be repressed. But it may well be questiomed, if any apprehension of problematical and coiitingent danger can justify a measure at- tended with so great and immediate evil. Power acquired by trade, should be as sacred among na- tions, as riches acquired by trade among individuals; and the fear of abuse from some occasional excess in either, can never afford an excuse for defraud- ing industry of its reward, or imposing a check upon that salutary spirit of commercial enterprise, which is the main source of all permanent im- provements among mankind. Naval power is not naturally a weapon of of- fence, but an implement of industry ; and the emergency must be great and urgent indeed, that could justify the destruction of so invaluable an implement, because it is capable of being con- verted into an engine of war. More benefit is de- rived to the world at large from the commercial prosperity in which a maritime power has its ori- gin, than would be compensated by the additional .security which some of its rivals might possibly ^5d HINTS ON THE NATIONAL acquire from the abolition of this power, and the overthrow of its foundations. To aim at the humiliation of such a naval pow- er, therefore, is to resist the development of gen- eral prosperity ; to discourage industry and all peaceful improvement ; and to conspire against the felicity of all future generations in every quar- ter of the world." In a word, it must be allowed that those men have very singular powers of perception and of reasoning, who really believe that the industry and wealth of the world would be increased by the reduction of Britain to a province of France ; and the consequent introduction of a most atrocious and bloody military despotism, into the room of a free and popular government ; the substitution of idleness for diligence; of fraud for honesty; of ignorance for intelligence; of stupidity for skill ; of universal profligacy and iniquity for sound and upright morals ; of the most unblushing atheism and impiety for pure religion. Fortunately, for our direction on this subject, Bonaparte has not left it to conjecture whether or not he designs to augment the industry and wealth of the world when he shall have subjugated it to his domination. For in the year 1 808, to a petition of the Bordeaux merchants, praying for a relaxa- tion of his Berlin, Milan, and Bayonne decrees, lest they should totally destroy the little remainder of French commerce;, he replied, " that it was the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 25? emperor^s will not to have any commerce, but to restore Europe to the condition of the fourth cen- tury." What that condition was, the reader may in some measure learn by perusing Mr. Gibbon's very elaborate dissertation, in the 3d. vol. of his " History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," p. 30 — 98. Indeed, if the extremes of the most unqalilied despotism on the part of the monarch, and the most abject slavery on the part of the people, together with the general decay of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and the consequent penury and wretchedness of the great mass of the community, be desirable objects of restitution, we may pray for the destruction of Britain, and the universal jubilee of French da- mination. The mode oi taxation in this enlightened fourth century, would be particularly interesting to the people of the United States, a large body of whom actually broke out into an open and armed rebel- lion against their government for laying a small tax upon whiskey. In addition to all the various customs and duties on merchandises, which are imperceptibly discharged by the apparent choice of the purchaser, the policy of the great Constan- tine, which Bonaparte avows it to be his ambition to imitate, had recourse to a simple and direct mode of taxation, more congenial to the spirit of an arbitrary government. £58 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL "The obscure millions of a great empire haTe' much less to dread from the cruelty than from the avarice of their masters i and ///6'/r humble happi- ness is principally affected by the grievance of ex- cessive taxeSi which gently pressing on the digni- fied wealthy, descend with accelerated weight on the meaner and more indigent, M. de Montesquieu, indeed, as before observed, has calculated the universal measure of the public impositions by the degrees of freedom and of ser- vitude ; and asserts that according to an invariable law of nature, the weight of taxation must always increase with the augmentation of liberty, and diminish in a just proportion to the increase of despotism. But this assertion is not verified by the experience of the ancient Roman, any more than by that of the modern French despotism ; for the same tyrants that despoiled the senate of its authority, robbed the provinces of their wealth. The name and use of the imperial indictions were derived from the regular practice of the Ro- man tributes. The emperor subscribed with his own hand, and in purple ink, the solemn edict, decree, or indiction, which was fixed up in the principal city of each district, during two months previous to the first day of September. And by a very easy association of ideas, the word indiction was transferred to the measure of tribute which it prescribed, and to the annual term which it allow- ed for the payment. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 259 This general estimate of the supplies was pro- portioned to the real and imaginary wants of the government ; but as often as the expense exceeded the revenue, or the revenue fell short of the com- putation, an additional tax, under the name of super indictiony was imposed on the people, and its amount committed to the discretion of the praeto- rian prefects, who, on some occasions, were author- ized to provide for the unforeseen and extraordi- nary exigencies of the public service. The execution of these laws consisted of two distinct operations ; the resolving the general im- position into its constituent parts, which were as- sessed on the provinces, the cities, and the individ- uals of the Roman world ; and the collecting the separate contributions of the individuals, the cities, and the provinces, until the accumulated sums were poured into the imperial treasury. The whole landed property of the empire was the object of ordinary taxation ; and every new purchaser contracted the obligations of the for- mer proprietor. An accurate census, or survey was repeated every fifteen years. The lands wer^ measured by surveyors, sent into tlie provinces, in order to report distinctly their nature, whether arable or pasture, vineyards or woods ; and an esti- mate was made of their common value from the average produce of five years. The numbers of slaves and of cattle constituted an essential part of this report j an oath was ad- 260 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ministered to the proprietors, which bound theni to disclose the true state of their affairs; and all attempts to prevaricate, or elude the intention of the legislator, were severely watched, and punish- ed as a capital crime, which included the double guilt of treason and of sacrilege. A large portion of the tribute was paid in mo* ney ; and of the current coin of the empire, gold alone could be legally accepted. The remain- der of the taxes, according to the proportions de- termined by the annual indiction, was furnished in a manner still more direct and oppressive. According to the different nature of lands, their real produce in the various articles of wine or oil, corn or barley, wood or iron, was transported by the labor, or at the expense of the provincials^ to the imperial magazines, from which they were occasionally distributed for the use of the court, of the army, and of the two capitals, Rome and Constantinople. The commissioners of the revenue were so fre- quently obliged to make considerable purchases, that they were strictly prohibited from allowing any compensation, or from receiving in money the value of those supplies which were exacted in kind. This method, in a corrupt and absolute monarchy, must necessarily introduce a perpetual contest between the power of oppression, and the arts of fraud. In consequence of this arbitrary and oppressive Bankruptcy of Britain, &c. 26i system of land taxes, the agriculture of the Roman, provinces was insensibly ruined^ and in the pro- gress of despotism, which invariably tends to dis- appoint its own purposes, by willing the end and always destroying the means, the emperors were obliged to derive some merit from the forgiveness of debts, or the remission of tributes, which their subjects were incapable of paying. According to the new division of Italy, the fer- tile province of Campania extended between the sea and the Appennine from the Tiber to the Sila- rus. Within sixty years after the death ofCon- stantine, and on the evidence of an actual survey, an exemption was granted in favor of three hundred and thirty thousand English acres of desert and uncultivated land ; which amounted to one-eighth of the whole surface of the province. And as the barbarians had not yet made their irruptions into Italy, the cause of this amazing desolation, which is recorded in the laws, can be ascribed only to the maladministration of the Roman emperors. To this tax or capitation on tl>e proprietors of land, the emperors imposed a distinct and person- al tribute on the trading part of their subjects, in order to share in that species of wealth which is derived from art or mechanical labor, and which exists in money or in merchandise. Every branch of commercial industry was affected by the seve- rity of this law. The honorable merchant of Alexandria, who ^62 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL imported the gems and the spices of India for the use of the western world ; the money-broker who derived from the interest of his property a silent profit ; the ingenious manufacturer, the di- ligent mechanic, and even the most obscure re- tailer of a sequestered village, were compelled to admit the officers of the revenue into the partner- ship of their gain ; and the sovereign of the Ro- man empire, as does the worthy master of the present French territory, at once tolerated the profession and shared in the infamous profits of the public prostitutes. This general tax upon industry was collected every fourth year, under the name of the lustral contribution ; the fatal approach of which was uni- formly announced by the tears and terrors of the citizens, who were often compelled by the im- pending scourge to embrace the most abhorrent and unnatural methods of procuring the sum at which their property had been assessed. From the very nature of this tribute it could not but be arbitrary in its distribution, and extremely rigor- ous in the mode of its collection. The secret wealth of commerce, and the preca- rious profits of art or labor, are susceptible only of a discretionary valuation, which is seldom disad- vantageous to the interest of the public treasury; and as the person of the trader supplies the want of a visible and permanent security, the payment of the imposition, which in the case of a land-tax BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. '^GS may be obtained by the seizure of property, can rarely be extorted by any other means thaii those of corporal punishments. And accordingly, the cruel treatment of the in- solvent debtors of the state is attested, and per- haps was mitigated, by an edict of Constantine, who, disclaiming the use oi racks and scourges, al- lots a spacious prison for the place of their con- finement. These general taxes were imposed and levied, by the absolute authority of the monarch ; but in addition to these, the occasional offerings of coro- nary gold still retained the name and semblance of popular consent. It was an ancient custom that the allies of the republic, who ascribed their safety or deliverance to the success of the Roman arms, and that even the cities of Italy, who admi- red the valor of their victorious general, should adorn his triumph by their voluntary gifts of gold- en crowns, which, after the ceremony, were con- secrated in the temple of Jupiter. The progress of zeal and flattery soon multi- plied the number and increased the size of these popular donations, which, after a while, were made in the current gold coin of the Roman em- pire, and exacted as the debt of duty, being no longer confined to the rare occasion of a triumph; but expected to be granted by the several cities and provinces of the monarchy as often as the Emperor vouchsafed to announce his accession. 264 HTNTS ON THE NATIONAL his consulship, the birth of a son, the creation of a Caesar, a victory over the barbarians; or any other real or imaginary event which graced the annals of his reign. The peculiar free-gift of the Senate of Rome, the auri oblatio, was fixed by custom at sixteen hundred pounds weight of gold, about sixty-four thousand pounds sterling, more than two hun- dred and eighty-four thousand dollars. The op- pressed subjects celebrated their own felicity, that their Emperor should graciously condescend to accept this feeble but voluntary testimony of their loyalty and gratitude !" Such is a very faint outline of the condition of Europe in that ybz/;VA century, to which Bonaparte declares he will again reduce the world. How far such a state of things is calculated to augment the industry, wealth, civilization, comfort, and happi- ness of the various nations of the earth, let every honest man judge. CHAPTER III. The next subject of inquiry is what effect the destruction of the British empire would have upon the national and individual interest of the Uni- ted States ? BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 9>Q5 Say then that Britain is conquered, and incor- porated with the other dominions of Bonaparte ; who in consequence immediately prepares to sub- due the United States also. Do we doubt this immediate consequence ? Do we really imagine that the tyrant of Europe will permit the infant democracy of America to share the empire of the world with him, who has swallowed up and des- troyed all the ancient republics of Europe ? Is it in human nature to be satisfied with conquest while aught remains to be subdued ; does not am- bition, like love, grow by what it feeds on ; did a military conqueror ever yet volimtarili/ stop short in his career of power ; and do we expect that all human experience is to be falsified in our favor by the interposition of a miraculous and unheard of continence and self-denial in the gentle, sym- pathizing Bonaparte. Is such confidence, said Mr. Wyndham in his admirable speech in the House of Commons oa the deplorable peace of Amiens, — Is such confi- dence to be placed in the general nature of ambi- tion ? Is it in the nature of French ambition ? Is it in the nature of French revolutionary am- bition ? Is it in the nature of French revolu- tionary ambition as matured and concentrated in the bosom of Bonaparte ?" A plain man would imagine that all these idle dreams of the French not molesting the United States if Britain were but once annihilated, might 3 M $,66 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL readily be dissipated by the very intelligible hints which the Corsican robber now, at this moment in 1809, is giving us of his real intentions towards this country, whenever he shall have an opportu- nity of ripening his plans into execution, I mean his perpetual piracies upon American commerce ; his burning the vessels, confiscating the property, imprisoning the seamen, insulting the ambassador, and dictating to the government of the United States of America. And all these compliments are paid to the free and independent Americans, while the British na- vy presents an insuperable obstacle to his passage across the Atlantic, and most eflectually renders^ abortive any attempts on his part to subjugate this country. But remove that obstacle, give to Bo- naparte that naval ascendancy, mount "thetyger of the land upon the shark of the ocean," and then smile at the improbability of our receiving a do- miciliary visit from the retinue of the great Napo- leon. Bonaparte will come then, or, which amounts to the same thing, will send one of his trusty gene- rals, to fraternize the United States. But the French will not come in the first instance to the New-England or middle states, where they might expect some hard fighting on their arrival. They will prefer sailing up the Chesapeake, and landing in Virginia ; from which as a central point they will be able to diverge in all directions, and take BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 267 most effectual measures for the speedy subjuga- tion of the Federal Republic. In order merely to show that the French are very well acquainted with all the most favom'able points of attack upon the United States, I shall here insert the instructions contained in a Frenoh national newspaper, which at that time was the organ of the French Executive Directory j in like manner as the Moniteur is now the organ of Bo- naparte, and the National Intelligencer that of Mr. Jefferson; that is to say, all these papers are merely the echoes of the opinions and sentiments, which their respective masters see fit to have spread abroad among the vulgar. I desire it to be distinctly understood, that I do not quote the following piece, as showing the strict and intimate connection between the demo- cratic party in the United States, and the French government. A French national newspaper called " Le Bien Informe^^ published in Paris, and dated 26th Fruc- tidor, 6th year of the Republic (1798), a time when the Executive Directory were grievously displeased with the Federal administration of the United States for not immediately declaring war against Britain, and becoming the vassal of France, contains the following denunciations of vengeance. " He who speaks ill of John Adams (then Presi- dent of the United States), shall pay a fine of two gdS HINTS ON THE NATIONAL thousand dollars, and be shut up for two years ; he who writes against the government, shall pay live thousand dollars, and suffer five years impri- sonment. Bache is arrested, and his paper (the Aurora, published at Philadelphia) is prohibited. So much for the liberty of the press. If George the Third was driven from England he would go to America, where he has invested money ; and what you would not expect, he would be a king there ; yes they would make him king there. " All Europe will have a representative govern- ment, but America, ungrateful and without en- ergy, will have a king ; not in form perhaps, but in fact. " If France had an army to land in the United States, she ought not to send it there. Cornwal- lis ami Burgoyiie were conquered by having ad- vanced into the interior. It is true that France has neither a fleet nor an army which she can dis- pose of in the new continent ; what ought she then to do with respect to the anhnosus infans of Amer- ica ? " Not to be so imprudent as to declare war against them ; for this would be also to declare it against all the republicans, (the democrats, then in opposition to, and now possessing the administra- tion of the government of the United States,) and planters^ and even against the savages, whom we respect. It must be made against the mercantile clan, devoted to George the Third. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 269 "And how shall it be made, you will say, this war of exception ? ** A fleet of light vessels, not drawing at the most above ten feet water, some gun -boats and bomb-ketches, will go into the river Savannah in Georgia, as far as Tybee, and from Tybee to the town of Savannah. It will take possession of the magazine of stores, and burn the farm-houses on the right and left to the mouth of the river. " The same operation at Charleston in South- Carolina. It passes the bar, and by the same ope- ration burns Johnson's Island, and the buildings on Sullivan's Island. The same operation at George-Town, South-Carolina, and Wilmington, North-Carolina j go into Chesapeake bai/, and it is hy that, perhaps, by which the operation must be begun ; from Norfolk, Alexandria, the capital of Maryland, (Annapolis) and Baltimore. " Care must be taken, my friends, not to let one's self be enveloped in the Chesapeake, where one would be annihilated, if the English by sea, or the English- Americans by land, had time to advance. " The operation of the Chesapeake is an affair of eight days, and must begin at the most distant place, that is Baltimore, whence may be drawn a large contribution : Savannah, Charleston, and Norfolk, have near them little earthen forts, which can be taken without great danger from the rear. Have a care then to advance yourselves into the 270 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Deleware. One can burn on the left Lavingston- If one was sure, however, that the English were at a distance from it, one can at the same time biirn Philadelphia, It is an affair of eight days. *' Between Sandy-Hook and New- York there is a fort in a much more respectable state ; but they will bombard it. Long- Island, covered with houses, and also Nantucket, to be burned in an hour ; and Boston to be bombarded. " The master blow would be to finish at Halifax or Nova-Scotia, where the English winter in re- turning from the West-Indies; not believing you to be in force there, they keep none in the neigh- borhood. If the expedition were co-operated in hy a fleet from Canada, convoyed by a signal frig- ate, the operation would be brilliant. One might send the most part of your emigrants to Canada. " Enter New-Orleans with the consent of Spain^ take possession of the port of Natches, call on the friends of liberty in the back parts of the United States, from Kentucky to the southern limits of English America. It will be necessary to make some presents to the savages ; send back by way of Spain, General Melcourt, chief of the Creeks ; put in motion General Clark of Knoxville ; call to the French standard the legions of Florida and America raised by Genet and Mangourit ; pro- claim the liberty of the black slaves in the United States ; and give equality of rights to the people of color. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. - 27 i " It is in fine, the inhabitants of the confederate ports who Anglicise the United States. To destroy their elaboratories is to fix them for ten years in the interior of the country ; it is to put them in opposition with the planters who will accuse them for the disasters of the war ; it is to destroy the leopard who at this moment feigns a union with the eagle to devour her."* The French then would probably land in Vir- ginia, where they would be likely to be well re- ceived by their friends, the democratic planters ; and if not, it would be of no consequence ; they would proceed to emancipate, and to organize in- to an army the negroes of the southern states. Meanwhile a vast body of jacobin-rabble, already «stablished in the United States, but originally imported from France, and the French West-In- dies, from Ireland, from England, from Scotland, from Holland, from Germany, from Geneva, and from other places, the scum and refuse of the- world, the blast of anarchy and taint of crime, would all crowd to the gallic standard. With all the population of Europe at his com- mand ; with all the West-India islands under his control ; with Halifax as an excellent naval sta- tion J with Canada girding the union on the north ; and Louisiana and Florida, and the Spanish colonies hemming her in on the south ; how long would Bonaparte and his myrmidons be kept at bay by the few real Americans who might dare to 27S HINTS ON THE NATIONAL resist the mandates of the conqueror of the world ? It is too prevailing a fashion among the writers of newspapers, the authors of pamphlets, and the speakers of speeches, in the United States, inces- santly and gravely to inform the public, that the Americaji militia^ composed of a virtuous, enlight- ened, hardy, brave, and independent yeomanry, would speedily put to flight the French veteran troops, to whom all the regular armies in Europe, led on to battle by experienced generals, have yielded after the most obstinate and bloody fight- ing in large masses of fifty, of a hundred, and of two hundred thousand men, gathered together upon the field of carnage. I by no means intend to offer the least shade of disrespect to the individual valor of the men who compose the militia of tlie United States j for I do firmly believe that these men contain as good ma- terials for a fine army as any men in any other country in the world ; that is to say, their per- sonal courage, bodily strength and activity, dis- cernment and intelligence, are at least equal to those of any other people on earth. But these raw materials of an army make but a sorry show when opposed to experienced veteran soldiers, unless they be previously worked up into the requisite manufacture by constant disci- pline, and superior military tactics. Upon this very important question of the best means of na- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. S7S tiohal defence, I have only time to make a few ob- servations. He who wi-hes to see the whole sub- ject of the best means of forming and using an adequate military force, may consult the following works : namely, Caractere des Arnjees Europe'^n- nes dans la Guerre actuelle, avec une paralelle de la Politique, de la puissance, et des moyens desRomains etdes Fran9ais ; Londres ; T. Eger- ton, 1802. Doctor Adam Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Book 5, chap. 1, 3d vol. p. 69 — 94, both inclu- sive ; 5, Burke, p. 374 — 402, both inclusive ; 8, Burke, 307 — 375. Edinburgh Review, 5th vol. p. 10—15; 8th vol. p. 294—311 ; 15th vol. p. 427 — 462 ; and a letter to Mr. Wyndham from a gentleman in Edinburgh on the English volun- teer-system, published in Cobbett's Political Re- gister for February 1805. It is of no consequence whether we call men by the name of militia, or volunteers, or armed peasan- try, or by any other appellation, they are all alike ineffectual for the purposes of national defence, un- less they be kept in constant discipline, and follow the separate trade of a regular soldier, altogether Ais- tinct from, and unmingled with, the pursuit of any other calling. I shall endeavor by the help of the great lights to which I have just now referred, to show that all such soldiers, whom we will call mili- tia, for the sake of distinction and perspicuity, are j quite ineffectual to defend a country against for- 2.N 274 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL eign invasion ; because they are incapable of ac- quiring the requisite mihtary discipline; are enor- mously expensive ; are productive of grrat an.l general immorality. These positions will be sup» ported by an appeal to the most incontestible facts. A militia-army is for the most part composed of men taken from the midst of orderly and de- cent families; and \\hen encamped at a distance from home, their minds are perpetually lingering upon the scenes of their fondest recollections j upon the spot in which they first drew breath; the hill, the dale, and wood, where they sported in the hours of infancy and childhood, or followed the more robust pursuit of their game in the days of their youth; upon their parents, their brethren, their friends, and the objects of their softer affections. These men are not easily reduced to that strict discipline and subordination which are indispen- sably necessary to the preservation of an army, and to the rendering it effectual in opposing an enemy. And by the time that they begin to learn a little of the duties and functions of a soldier, they are disbanded and give way to new recruits, with whom the oflicers have to pace the same dis- mal round of ineffectual contention against all the difficulties and embarrassments of insubordina- tion and unmilitary habits, so essentially and vi- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. "273 ta}\y connected with enlistments for a short pe- riod. It is however urged by many well-meaning people in the United States, as a conclusive argu- ment to prove the superiority of militia over regu- lar troops, in effectually repulsing an enemy, that militia men have to fight for their wives and chil- d-en ; and if any thing on earth will make a man brave, say they, it is seeing his wife in danger of being dishonored, and his children of being mas- sacred by a relentless foreign foe. Now admitting the full force of this argument; admitting that a man will fight more vigorously in the sight and in the defence of his wife and chil- dren, than for any other object ; — what then ? sol- diers cannot always, nay, they can very seldom have it in their power to fight immediately before their own doors, and within the full sound and hearing of the shrieks and screams of their affrighted wives and children. And when absent from these endearing and endeared objects the minds of our militia-men would be incessantly recurring to the scenes of their domestic happi- ness -y and the perpetual yearning of the soul to revisit their wives, and children, and property, would unstring their nerves, sicken their hearts, and palsy their arms, at a distance from home; and like the Swiss, when the well-known air of the Ranz des Vaches afflicts them with the maladie du pays m foreign service, they would desert in 276 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL crowds, and in whole regiments ; leaving the general and his officers to face the enemy alone ; as the Spanish militia did lately, when they deser- ted Don Joachim Blake at Belchite. Fear of death, and a desire to avoid bodily dan- ger and pain, are essentially interwoven into the very nature of tlie human heart. But it is pre- cisely the business of a soldier to despise pain and danger, and always to carry his life in his hand, ready to !)e given up at a moment's call, in obedi- ence to the directions of the commanding officer. Now the great counteracting forces of the fear of danger and of death in military men, are found by nniversal experience to consist in a dread of shame, and a desire of glory. The dread of shame is generated in the army by the unavoidable pun- ishment and infamy at all times inseparable from cowardice, which is justly deemed the greatest of all possible crimes in a soldier, whose business it is to die at the word of command. The desire of glory which leads to acts of hero- ism and of voluntary valor, is created and fostered by a frequent intercourse with danger ; by con- tinual association with comrades of disciplined courage j by the universal applause and homage which mankind lavish upon military prov/ess ; and by the love of power, which constitutes one of the most essential parts of human nature. The basis of all military perfection is prompt and unqualified obedience to the commands of the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 277 superior officers ; without which neither the intel- lect of the general, nor the courage of the soldier, can ever have its full field of exertion. To secure a real army the officer must be first and last in the eye of the soldier ; first and last in his attention, observance, and esteem. That physical courage, the most essential pro- perty of the soldier, very much depends upon habit and discipline, appears from this well known fact ; that a veteran soldier, who has served many can - paigns on land, has often marched up to the breach made by the terrible battery of the can- non, and displayed frequent evidences of the most indubitable and determined courage, has yet been often seen to tremble with terror on board a ship at a cap-full of wind. For under such cir- cumstances, his accustomed associations, spring- ing from long habits of prompt obedience to, and reliance upon the orders of his commanding offi- cer, are broken ; and the essential qualities of his nature, fear of death and of bodily danger, are al- lowed to resume their full power, by the withdraw- ing of the artificial and counteracting forces which resulted from military discipline. And the love of glory itself, which burns in the bosom of many soldiers, both officers and privates, and which prompts men to perform such astonish- ing deeds of hardihood and valor, is kept alive by the habitual courage that is for the most part created by military discipline. It is also cherished 278 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL by the esprit dii corps ^ the spirit of the military body, not only as distinguished from the otlier classes of society, but also as marking out peculiar bodies of military men who signalize themselves above their fellows ; a spirit which has often con- verted a herd of cowards into a band of heroes: by the peculiar splendor of the soldier's garb, the accompaniment of martial music, the enthusiasm of an imagination heated by the frequent recital of heroic exploits, and by all the pomp, pride and circumstances, attendant upon the prepaiations for war ; all so peculiarly calculated to throw a dazzling lustre upon the career of the warrior. It miglit be observed in passing, that the splen- did garb of the soldier produces an aggi^egale ef- fect upon himself and his opponents. The militia in their diversified clothing produce no general and united impression ; all is broken down into detail, and minute, individual, feeble fragments. The mind does not receive that aid which a regu- lar uniform furnishes to concentrate the valor of the individual into one great, general and terrible impression. But this prompt and unconditional obedience to military discipline can never be infused into a body of militia-men, who are gathered together only for a short time, and know that they shall soon be freed from the power and control of their com- manding officers. This is in effect, holding up a high bounty to debauch the soldiers from their of- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 579 firers. It is touching the central pdint about wliich the component particles of armies are at repr»se. It is destroying the principle of obe- dience in the essential, critical link between the officer and the soldier, just where the chain of military subordination commences, and on which the whole militaiy system depends. The militia soldier in the United States is in- dustriously ii.iormed that he is a citizen, and pos- sesses the r^ ? hts of a man and a citizen, as the pri- vilege of •; 3 free birth. The right of a free and iiidepe ent man, he is told, is to be his own go- verno \ and to be ruled only by those to whom he n ..legates that self-government. And it is very natural for him to think that he ought most of all to have his choice where he is expected to yield the greatest degree of obedience. Accordingly, the militia officers in many parts of the union are obliged to be perpetually on their good behavior, and be especially cautious not to deviate into any authority or discipline; lest they should offend t!)e majesty of that portion of the sovereign peo- ple which condescends to enrol itself in the pa- per Lists of the military defenders of their coun- An army of militia consequently never can be rendered effective in the field or in the camp ; be- cause the men are never trained to those habits of patient toil, of cool indifference to all danger, and of that steady, unshaken valor, so conspicuous 280 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL in a well-disciplined soldier, and so all-important to the success of a campaign, whether it be employ- ed in offensive or defensive warfare. And what- ever may be the courage of individuals, it is well known that undisciplined valor is fatal to the pos- sessor, and useless to the community, in direct proportion to its activity and force, which only expose it to more certain and speedy destruction when set in array against the steady and well-di- rected machinery of military tactics. If we try these general principles by a variety of illustration, and of particular facts, we shall find that they are uniformly correct and just. " In the progress of human society war becomes one of the most complicated sciences. The state of the mechanical, and of some other arts, with which it is necessarily connected, determines in- deed the degree of perfection to which it is capable of being carried at any given period. But in or- der to carry it even to this degree of perfection, it is necessary that it should become the sole or prin- cipal occupation of a particular class of men ; and the division of labor is as necessary for the im- provement of this, as of every other art. Into other arts the division of labor is naturally introduced by the prudence of individuals, who find that they promote their private interests bet- ter by confining themselves to a particular trade, than by exercising a great number of different vo- cations. But it is the wisdom of the goveriiment BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 281 only which can render the calling of a soldier a particular trade, separate and distinct from all others. A private citizen, who, in time of profound peace, and without any particular encouragement from the public, should spend the greater portion of his time in military exercises, might doubtless render himself an expert parade-soldier, and high- ly entertain himself j but he certainly would not promote his own interest. It is the wisdom of the government only which can make it his interest to give up the greatest part of his time to this pecu- liar occupation ; and governments have not always had this wisdom, even when their circumstances had become such as to rest their only hope of na- tional safety upon a regular military institution. A husbandman, in the ruder condition of agri- culture, has some leisure ; but an artificer or man- ufacturer, in a civilized state of society, has none. The farmer, therefore, can afford to employ a small portion of his time in military exercises ; but the manufacturer or artificer cannot consume a single hour in them, without incurring loss ; whence his attention to his own interest naturally leads him to neglect them altogether. Besides, those improvements in agriculture which the progress of arts and manufactures natur- ally introduces, leaves the farmer as little leisure as the mechanic. Military exercises are then as much neglected by the inhabitants of the country Q o S8!2 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL as by those of the towns, and the great body of the people becomes altogether unwarlike. And that wealth which always follows the improvements of agriculture, manufactures and commerce; and which in reality is nothing more than the accunju- lated produce of those improvements, provokes the invasion of all their neighbors. An industrious, and upon that account, a weal- thy nation, is of all nations the most likely to be attacked ; and unless the government take some measures for the public defence, the natural habits of the people render them altogether incapable of defending themselves." It is true that militia exercises are not altogeth- er neglected by the American agriculturists; but these, in addition to America being yet in her na- tional infancy, will presently be seen to be quite inadequate for delending a country against foreign invasion. "In such circumstances there are but two modes of making provision for public defence ; either, 1st. by means of a very rigorous police, which, in spite of the whole bent of the interest, genius, and inclinations of the people, enforces the practice of military exercise, and obliges either all, or nearly all the citizens of the military age to join in some measure the trade of a soldier to whatever other trade or profession they may happen to follow. This mode is adopted in the United States. Or, SIdly, by maintaining and employing a cer- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. S8S tain number of citizens in the constant practice of military exercises, to render the trade of a soldier a particular calling, distinct and separate from all other employments. Men raised and used according to the first meth- od, are called militia: men embodied under the second mode, are denominated regular troops. The practice of military exercises is the sole or principal occupation of regular soldiers; and the maintenance or pay which they receive from gov- ernment is the principal and ordinary fund of their subsistence. The practice of military exercises is only the occasional occupation of militia-men, and they derive their chief means of support from some other employment than that of arms. In a militia, the character of the laborer, artifi- cer, or tradesman, predominates over that of the soldier ; but in a regular army the character of the soldier predominates over that of every other calling. Regularity, order, and prompt obedience to command, are qualities which in modern armies are of more importance towards determining the fate of battles, than the skill and dexterity of the individual soldiers in the use of their arms. But the noise of fire-arms, the smoke, and the invisi- ble death to which every man feels himself every moment exposed, as soon as he comes within can- non-shot, and frequently a long time before the battle can be said to be commenced, must render 284 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL it very difficult to maintain any considerable de- gree of regularity, order, and prompt obedience, even in the beginning of a battle. These habits can only be acquired by troops which are con- tinually exercised in large bodies. A militia, however, in whatever manner it may be either disciplined or exercised, must always be much inferior to a well-disciplined and well-exer- cised standing army. The soldiers who are exercised only once a week, or once a month, or still less frequently, can never be so expert in the use of their arms, as those who are exercised every day, or every other day. Nor can the soldiers who are expected to obey their officer only once a week, or once a month ; and who at all other times have full liber- ty " to manage their own affairs in their own. way," without being in any respect accountable to him, be under the same awe in his presence, and have the same disposition to ready obedience, as those soldiers whose whole life and conduct are every day directed by him ; and who every day even rise and go to bed, or at least retire to their quarters, according to his orders. In discipline, or the habit of ready obedience, a militia must be always still more inferior to a regular army, than it may sometimes perhaps be in the manual e\ercise, or the management and use of arms. But in modern warfare, the habit of ready and instant obedience is of much greater BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 285^ consequence than a considerable superiority in manual exercise. A militia of any kind, however, which has ser- ved for several successive campaigns in the field, becomes in every respect a regular army. The soldiers are every day exercised in the use of their arms, and being constantly under the com- mand of their officers, are habituated to the same prompt obedience which takes place in regular armies. What they were before they took the field is of little importance. They necessarily be* come in every respect a regular army after they have passed a few campaigns in actual service. This distinction being well understood, the his- tory of all ages will be found to bear the most un- equivocal testimony to the irresistible superiority of a well-disciplined regular army over a mi- litia. The soldiers of a regular army, though they may never have seen an enemy, yet have fre- quently appeared to possess all the courage of veteran troops ; and in the very moment that they took the field, to have been fit to face the hardi- est and most experienced veterans. In the year 1756, when the Russian army marched into Po- land, the valor of the Russian soldiers did not ap- pear inferior to that of the Prussians, then reputed to be the hardiest and most experienced veterans in Europe. But the Russian empire had enjoyed a profound peace for nearly twenty years 280 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL before that time ; and consequently could then have very few soldiers who had ever seen an en- emy. And when the Spanish war broke out in 1739, England had reposed in profound peace for eight- and-twenty years. Yet the valor of her soldiers, so far from being corrupted by that long peace, was never more distinguished than in the attempt upon Carthagena, the first exploit of that war. In a long peace, perhaps the generals may some- times forget their skill ; but where a well-regula- ted standing army is kept up the soldiers never forget their valor. When a civilized nation depends for its defence upon a militia, it is at all times exposed to be conquered by an invading regular army. A reg- ular army can best be maintained by an opulent and civilized nation, which can only be defended by such an army from inevitable subjugation in the event of foreign invasion. It is only therefore by means of a regular army that the civilization of any country can be perpetuated, or even pre- served for any considerable time." Another military theory which pervades the union is, that a numerous peasantry is the only sure and safe defence of a great country. Nay, a senator of the United States, and by far the ablest of all the leaders of his party, openly de- clared in Congress, during the winter of 1808 — 9a " that Britain could never have an efficient army. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 287 because she had so small a proportion of her popu- lation employed in agriculture ; and so grekt a mass of her people occupied in manufacturing and mechanical operations, which entirely unfit- ted men for the hardy and robust calling of a sol- dier J by enervating their bodies, weakening their minds, extinguishing the generous love of liber- ty," &c. &c. We are continually informed by men of great respectability, both as to talent and information, that " the proprietors of the soil, the independent yeomanry, of all classes of the community, have the most real and immediate interest in the per- manent prosperity of the country. They and their brethren, the peasantry, are of all men the most attached to liberty and independence ; they are the natural supporters of the union ; they are its effective guardians, and justly stand at the head of all the other orders of society. From among them alone can a safe and efficient military force be raised. " The militia is made up of a high spirited, generous race, who have wives and children to love and guard, landed property to preserve, and defend. They alone are the natural defence of a nation, the only source of a military power. They are not such military machines as were broken by tiie French at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Pultusk, at Elsinghen, at Wagram ; — no, before their manly prowess all the legions of Europe would bite the 288 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL . dust ;" and much more in the same soothing strain. "This doctrine, to be sure, has found multitudes of converts among the retailers of sentiment, as well as among speculative politicians. The pea- santry are always represented in this country to be so very "virtuous, hardy, spirited, free-born," &c. that we are invited to believe that there is neither worth, strength, valor, nor freedom in any other classes of the community. But the slightest acquaintance with history will inform us, that the most eminent instances of slavery are to be found in myriads of bondmen, the only name for peasants in most of the countries of Europe ; and that the progress of freedom has uniformly been co-eval with the multiplication of the other orders of soci- ety, more particularly of the mercantile and man- ufacturing classes. To render the cultivators of the soil still more interesting, they are termed " simple, natural, hap- py, ignorant," and the like. Most of the theories and declamations in favor of barbarism which is softened down into *' the rude state of society," are advanced to prove the utility of the militia-sys- tem, and the superiority of the tillers of the soil to the inhabitants of the town. And to crown all, every opprobrious epithet is lavished upon the artisan, as a dweller in cities, a consumer of spirituous liquors, and other dain- ties, a well-educated, and a civilized being. He BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C, 289 is represented as sickly, weak, ugly, puny, dissi- pated, sedentary, and seditious. But notwithstanding all this eloquence, senti- ment, and authority, the. /<7c/i' lie altogether in the opposite scale. If the bodily strength ot" artisans be less than that of ploughmen, they possess in a much greater degree that manual (iexterity and skill so necessary in the evolutions of modern war. Their health, impaired perhaps by sedentary la- bor, is speedily restored by the exertions of disci- pline, and the practice of the field. Modern warfare consists in reducing men to a state of great mechanical activity, and combniing them as parts of a great machine. For this use which of the two is most fitted by his previous habits; he who has been all his life acting the part of a mechanical implement in a combination of movements; or he who has been constantly employed as a thinking independent, separate, and insulated agent ? Obedience is the first requisite in a soldier, who for his pay must give up every faculty of body and mind to the will of another. Is such discipline enforced more easily on those who have roamed the woods, and spent their days in a vaun- ted freedom and self-control ; or in those who have never known the use of their natural inde- pendence ; but have lived, worked, and almost breathed at the will of their employers ^ 2 P HINTS OK THE NATIONAL It should also be remembered that of all troops the most expensive are those levied from agricul- tural occupations ; that artisans are naturally thrown idle by every w^ar, but the peasantry must work constantly, or the community will starve ; that the husbandmen can only be drawn into mili- tary service during certain seasons of the year ; and that hired troops naturally composed of manu- facturers can be retained in service all the year round." The consideration of expense however wiW be taken up hereafter. " It appears from the most careful survey of his- torical evidence, that a ivell-discipUned army has in all ages been a sure foundation of political power and importance ; and that such armies have been the immediate and eflicient instruments in produ- cing all those great revolutions in the affairs of men, which are recorded in authentic history. It is therefore of importance to inquire what are the peculiar qualities which characterize soldiers ; and in what manner those qualities arise out of the peculiar constitution which armies have in all ages invariably assumed. Thisinquir}^ is the more necessary, because the fundamental principles of an army are grounded on the unchangeable qualities of the human mind ; and have on that account remained stationary amidst the varying fashions, manners and improve- ments of mankind. The constitution of an army has grown out of the nature of society, and has beea found by the universal experience of man- BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. ^91 kind to be well calculated to fit those who are trained under its regulations for the purposes of war. The perfection of a military force consists in an instant and complete obedience to command ; not merely on a parade, where an}'^ man may easily obey orders, but in braving every mode of peril and of death in prompt submission to the direc- tions of the superior officer. It is therefore the object of discipline, not only to establish authority on a solid foundation, by training men to a con- stant familiarity with the peremptory decrees of martial lawj but also to facilitate and secure obe- dience, by forming and maturing those habits of mind which enable them bravely and cheerfully to confront danger. There arises also in all armies when engaged in the operations of war, and exposed to its perils, a peculiar system of manners which greatly aids the effect of positive institutions. From the ardor of zeal, emulation and honor, naturally produced by the situation of the soldiers, men are animated to unusual exertions of valor; and they rejoice and glory in scenes which the mind in its natural state contemplates with horror. It is only also in the perilous emergencies of real service, that a commander has an opportu- nity of securing the confidence, and conciliating the affections of his troops ; by displaying cour- age, capacity, and presence of mind in the midst 292 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL of dansjer ; by an unwearied attention to the com- forts of the soldiers ; by showing on all occasions a zealous attachment to the military character ajid p'ofession ; and by cheerfully participating in all the dangers and privations to which they are exposed. By these means all great generals have contri- ved to communicate to their troops an extraordi- nary portion of heroic zeal. By operating on their minds with peculiar incentives, they have given new energy to all those principles on which the excellence of the military character depends, and have called forth in their service all those en- thusiastic feelings which, in the hour of danger, animate the passions, and fortify the heart. Men who have been accustomed to this sort of trainin*:; very soon acquire all those moral habi- tudes, which teach them fearlessly to encounter danger, and it is altOij:elher in these qualities of the mind, that ue are to look for that grand distinction which exists Itctween soldiers and njen employed in peaceful occupations ; and for that superiority in the field, uhith has always enabled armies to discomfit and disperse every species of irregular force that has been rashly exposed to their attack. It is therefore highly dangerous and impolitic in any couritry to rely for its security on the ef- forts of men who are not soldiers, who employ themselves only occasionally in acquiring mechan- ical dexterity in the use of arms, and devote the BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 293 chief portion of their time and attention to wholly different pursuits. It is impossible that men so circumstanced can ever acquire the characteris- tic habits and feelings of soldiers ; and it has been found by universal experience that they have never been able to withstand the shock of a regu- lar army. Whenever, therefore, the military force of any state is formed, either wholly or in party of the un- warlike population of the country, who may, no doubt, be very easily assimilated to soldiers in ex- ternal appearance, but who never can acquire their real character, very great inconvenience and danger must be the inevitable result. For in case of invasion militia-men, or any other species of undisciplined troops, can only resort to a system of defensive warfare, which in an open and level country can never be ultimately successful, except through the misconduct of the enemy ; and which even in a country abounding in strong positions, must be of very doubtful issue. With a force imperfectly disciplined to check veteran troops by a judicious combination of sci- entific movements ; to choose positions so excel- lent as to bid defiance to the efforts of the most enterprising enemy ; and so to fortify and secure them, that superior gallantry should be only a passport to destruction ; requires such skill and talents, and such a series of prosperous events. 294 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL that it would be quite unsafe for any country to hazard its security on so rare a conjunction. The invading army might, by rapid and daring hostility, render nugatory a sj'^stem of defensive tactics ; might force its enemy to a battle in de- fence of some capital object ; and the issue of such a contest would not be long doubtful, if suc- cess depended on the persevering valor of inex- perienced troops. It appears to be self-evident, that an invader who possesses an army excellent- ly trained and disciplined, and who is opposed by a force of inferior character, must ultimately succeed in his views, if he be sufficiently rapid and enterprising in his movements, so as to pre- vent both the spirit of adventure from languishing among his followers, and the invaded country from concentrating its physical strength. The events of war are determined by the united influence of discipline and tactics, and consequent- ly the perfection of the military art is produced by a combination of skilful tactics with a high state of discipline. A general may have brought his troops to the highest possible degree of disci- pline, but may not have matured a system of tac- tics to a corresponding degree of perfection ; or an unskilful general may be intrusted with the command of excellent troops, and may be oppo- sed by a more skilful commander with an army inferior in discipline ; and the superiority of tac- tics on the one side may more than counterba- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 295 lance an inferiority of discipline. But can we thence infer that troops imperfectly disciplined are a match for veteran forces, or that discipline has not a most important influence on the decision of battles? It would be equally correct to say, that in military operations, superior numbers are not a very material advantage, because they have been frequently more than counterbalanced by the talents of a skilful general. The object of a great commander who is well acquainted with his troops, and who has gained their confidence, is generally to bring his enemy to battle on fair and equal terms, and if that can- not be done, to attack even at a disadvantage. His decision must be guided entirely by the ex- isting circumstances, and in forming a correct es- timate of the comparative advantage of the ene- my's position, and of the superior discipline of his own troops, the event of the battle, and his own character for prudence and judgment, must whol- ly depend. Marlborough seems to have united in his cha- racter all the qualities of a great general ; to have combined skilful tactics with the most admirable discipline ; not only to have excelled in perfect- ing his instrument, but to have been equally dex- terous in using it with the best possible effect. His troops appear to have possessed in the great- est perfections all those qualities, which in the hour of peril, render the heart impregnable to panic or 296 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL dismay, and they were led on to contend for victory and for fame, by commanders of tried courage and capacity, who exalted by their own example the ardor of their troops to the highest possible eleva- tion of heroic zeal. It was particularly remarked in the battle of Ramillies, how conspicuously every officer of rank distinguished himself; and even the Dutch gene- ral, Monsieur Auverquerque, forgetting his years and infirmities, was seen every where in the hot- test of the fire, encouraging and animating his men to prodigies of valor. Malborough did not waste the energies of such troops in feeble and indecisive hostility ; his mode of warfare was entirely adapted to the nature and character of the force which he commanded, and was admirably calculated to display the effects of superior discipline ; he hazarded every thing and depended in the day of battle on the tried fidelity and courage of his soldiers ; and on the sure re- sources of his own genius for a glorious result. He was fettered at the outset of his career by the timid caution of the Dutch generals ; but with such forces, and such a commander, it was prudence to attempt the boldest and most adventurous designs. The superiority of Marlborough's troops in steady and desperate valor was recognised by his ene- mies, who felt themselves unable to withstand them in the field, and frequently deserted their strongest positions at his approach. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. ^97 Indeed, the whole history of his campaigns il- lustrates strikingly, so far at least as respects the relative discipline of the troops engao-ed, the theo- ry of offensive and defensive war ; and shows plain- ly how difficult it is to defend the strongest posi- tions as:ainst an army very highly disciplined, and led on by a bold and enterprising commander. As it appears, therefore, that the success of military operations so materially depends upon the discipline of the troops employed, nothing can be more impolitic in any country than to rely for its defence on any force of inferior quality, and thus voluntarily to relinquish one of the requisite conditions either for acting offensively, or for en- suring the speedy discomfiture of an invading ar- my. The independence of such a country, when attacked by a regular army, must rest on a very insecure foundation. Its defence perhaps may be rendered possible, by a strong barrier of fortified towns ; by the nature of a country abounding in strong positions; and by the unskilful manage- ment of the invading army. If a commander with a force trained and disci- plined, after beating his enemy in the field, does not push his advantages with rapidity and vigor ; if he allows them to recover from the consternation of his first victories ; to recruit and re-animate tiieir broken and disheartened troops ; to secure their strong holds ; and to consolidate the physical 2q 298 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL strength of the country against him, his ultimate ruin is certain. He should never allow his men to rest in pursuit- of a routed foe ; nor should he stand wavering and deliberating before passes and strong positions; but appal liis enemy by the rapidity of his move- ments and the boldness of his designs ; always considering that the most sanguinary and desperate hostility is his surest policy; and that the blindest temerity does not lead more surely to destructioa in the end, than a system of protracted and indeci- sive warfare. Since then a regular army skilfully commanded has always effected the ruin of a country defended by a less effective species of military force, a na- tion ought to rest its security solely on a regular armyy But in addition to being incapable of arriving at any perfection of discipline, the militia ismoree.r- pensive than the regular system. In the United Slates they profess to have a million of militia- men, who used to be exercised three times in a year, in order to render them expert and service- able soldiers ; but within these six months, orders have been issued, and laws passed, that they shall be called out on the parade no less than eight times a year, for the purpose of enabling them to beat the French veteran troops, whenever they may see fit to pay us a visit. Say, these million of men would earn on an ave- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 299 raQ:e a dollar each per day; that the work which they mi^ht perform is worth twice as much as their wages, according to the average value of profit on trndmij; and fanning stock ; and that they spend in iiileness and drunkenness as much as their wages are worth, and we have the following rate of annual expenditure for keeping up an inetfectual military force :. £isj:ht days' wages for a million of men S 8,000,000 The value of eight days' work of these men, 16,000,000 The money spent by them in idle- ness on those days, 8,000,000 Total annual cost, 32,000,000 For which sum, or half the sum, if we take the wa- ges of labor at half a dollar a day, a very respecta- ble regular army might be maintained, and the rest of the population be permitted to follow their respective employments. Indeed, the introduction of regular armies is one of the greatest improvements in the science of politics ; for by them a nation is more effectually protected, and at a much smaller expenditure of the public money, than can be effected by any or- ganization of militia; because the loss of time and labor occasioned by withdrawing the citizen , from his peaceful occupation to become a tempo- rary and an awkward soldier, actually wastes more of the nation's caj^ital, by stopping the progress 300 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL of productive industry, than would be consumed by maintaining regular bodies of troops, whose on- ly business it is to acquire and preserve habits of military obedience, and to fight when necessary. In the progress of society, and of the division of labor, it is necessary that the calling of a sol- dier should become a distinct and separate trade of itself, in order that the other classes of the com- munity might be left at liherty to pursue their respective employments; by the operation of which the whole society is rendered wealthy and prosperous. So that the weaver should not be drawn from his loom, nor the farmer from his plough ; but that the land may continue to be tilled, and the necessary arts of life be still prose- cuted amidst tlie clashings of national conflicts ; and war itsvlf b« reduced to a game of military skill, and of financial calculation, instead of be- conjing a calamity big with the inevitable ruin and desolation of the contending countries. " The expense of raising and maintaining an ag- ricultural mditia is most enormous to the prosperi- ty and wealth of the community. In every thriving and prosperous country, there is a certain mass of the inhabitants, whose circumstances are uncom- fortable : whose fortunes are precarious; who are attached to no regular profession, but ready to shift about in order to answer any temporary demand for labor that might occur ; or to supply any blank BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 301 in the other bodies, which may leave a vacancy in the ordinary channels of industry. This class of the community is in every respect least valuable. Its members are persons of bad character, and idle habits ; men who generally owe their misfortunes to their follies or their vices ; or who are driven by more inevitable calamities into idle and criminal habits. They are a con- geries of out-casts from the sound branches of the population, and have a tendency to corrupt the rest of its members ; they are the scum and off- scourins^s of society ; or those parts, which are, from being thrown off, in a progress towards this impure and noxious state. Their numbers are continually varying with all the changes in the fortunes of the community ; with the wisdom of its internal administration ; the en- couragements which itspolice affords to industry or to idleness ; the changes in its domestic prosperi- ty, and in its external security and power. They abound in commercial and manufacturing com- munities, and more particularly in those districts which supply the more capricious desires of man- kind, and are most liable to sudden variation of demand. In almost all the large cities of the United States however, notwithstanding the abundance of land, and monopoly-price of labor, in this coun- try, we have by far too large a floating mass of this noxious shifting population ; consisting indeed 302 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL chiefly of imported Europeans ; but their number is annually increasing to a formidable amount by the facility with which their breed is promoted and encouraged. The natural destination of this class of men is the naval and military service of the state. Disci- pline will excite industry, or at least exertion, in those whom habits of idleness have rendered cal- lous to all the temptations of hire. Strict govern- ment will reform the manners, or at least restrain the conduct of those whom a life of lawless dissi- pation had corrupted. It is highly beneficial to the sounder parts of the community that such rot- ten members should be separated from contact with the rest ; even if they cannot be cured by a strongly alterative regimen. Above all, it is highly beneficial to the state, that its pressing demands for soldiers and sailors should be supplied easily and suddenly, without disturbing in the slightest degree the arrange- ments of the community. War thus creates the very means of supplying its demand, without con- clusion or derangement of the society. It fur- nishes men to the army and navy without disturb- ing the loom and the plough, or drying up the sources of national wealth ; from which its ex- penses are to be provided. It carries off the bad humors formerly secreted in the body-politic, without any danger from their contagious influ- ence to the sounder parts of the system. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 303 But the militia being raised compulsorily from all the orders of the community alike, is formed of the soundest, as well as of the floating popula- tion ; and consists of the industrious laborer as well as of the idle and profligate vagrant. An army so raised, takes away both that part of the people which should remain at their looms and ploughs, and that part which ought to be enlisted or impressed. It confounds in one indiscriminate levy, the persons least fitted for military pursuits, and those who are formed for the army by all their previous habits. It falls alike on those who are benefited and on those who are ruined by the change of life ; and drains those parts of the coun- try where no fit subjects are to be found, as well as those which abound in materials for the recruit- ing service. The regular army, recruited by voluntary en- listment, draws off precisely those who ought to enter, and leaves all those free who can be better employed as citizens than as soldiers. It is sup- plied by the districts where a floating population abounds, and does not grow at the expense of those which are full of industry and morals. It is supplied by the very circumstances which ren- der its existence necessary ; and instead of greatly aggravating, it eminently alleviates the evds of a state of warfare. The benefits of this system in military policy are exactly analagous to tl)ose of the funding sys- 304 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tem in finance. The practice of raising money by loan, enables capital to find an investment, when it is shut out from all the ordinary channels of employment, and gives the government the ben- efit of sudden assistance, without cramping the commerce which the war may still allow to exist. It forces nothing, it avails itself of circumstances ; it turns an evil into a benefit; and prevents the shocks of war from falling on the most delicate parts of the political machine. But admitting the expense, that is the loss atten- dant upon the two systems of raising troops, were precisely equal, yet they fall with very different degrees of justice upon the community. While the army can be recruited at the proportional ex- pense of the whole nation, the militia must be raised from the poorer classes as rigorously as from the rich ; so that a man not paying taxes at all, a pauper, is liable to pay as much, or to be as much harassed for the public defence as one who possesses a hundred thousand pounds a year. It has, therefore, all the evils of a poll-tax. Nay worse ; on the rich it falls as a tax which they can easily pay; on the poor it falls as a compulso- ry levy of personal service. On the rich it ope- rates as alight fine ; on the poor as imprisonment, hard labor, or exile. It is then a burden imposed with the most severity on those orders of the com- munitv, which are least able to bear the load. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 305 If is at least as absurd to defend the country in this equal manner, without regard to means, and to the stake which each citizen has in its preserva- tion, as it would be to make every man pay an equal income-tax, whether he be rich or poor. To let the burden f^ill indifferently on various classes, is as unjust as it would be to make all the wealthy orders pay a trifling contribution, and force all the poor to be servants of the public." Nor is this all ; for men who have been ever so little accustomed to a militia life, or playing at sol- diers, generally contrive to learn the habits of profligacy and licentiousness, which are for the most part intimately connected with the military calling ; although they do not learn the habits of military obedience and discipline, which in some measure restrain the evil tendency of those habits. And thus they carry a continual stream of pesti- lence and immorality into the bosom of their fami- lies, with which they either live constantly, or to which they return after a short absence spent in militia service; whence in process of time they convert nearly the whole community into one uni- versal mass of dissoluteness and corruption. And no statesman, even of ordinary experience and discretion, will doubt, that a nation cannot possibly long possess either freedom or indepen- dence, after the morals of its people are once tho- roughly tainted with the pollution of infamy and vice. 306 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Now, no such evil can accrue from the forma- tion of a regular army, which is generally compo- sed for the most part of the refuse of society, men of lawless and disorderly habits, whose separation from the other orders of the community, leaves the remainder of the population more healthy and virtuous. These men live mostly in barracks, dis- tinct from the other classes of citizens ; they have few or no ties to bind them to society ; they gen- erally remain in the army during life ; and the comparatively few that are disbanded have in gen- eral no decent families into which they can return, and carry disorder and vice with them ; they can only go back to that refuse of society, that floating popidation, from which they were taken to be- come soldiers ; and even here their actions can be restrained in their tendency to evil by the saluta- ry vigilance and vigor of a well-regulated police. Whoever desires to see how utterly ineffectual an ill-disciplined militia or soldiery is to resist the at- tacks of a regular army, will find an abundance of facts related by M. Lacretelle, junior, in his " Precis Historiqiie de la Revolution Frangaise : Assemhlee Legislative,'' published in Paris, in the year 1804, p. 178, 190. Ibid. " Convention Na- tionale^' published in Paris, 1806, vol. Qnd. p. 136, 156. Ibid. '■'^ Directoire Executif'' published at Paris, in 1806, vol. \st. Introduction p. 137„ 147, and vol. 1st. p. 194, 220. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 307 I shall merely glance rapidly at one or two of the facts which M. Lacretelle relates. " In the mean time the French expected with extreme impatience the issue of the expedition into Belgium, projected by Dumouriez, who acted with extreme precipitation. General Rocham- beau, however, did not give way to these unfoun- ded hopes : he demanded time to exercise his troops ; or at least to bend them to a little subor- dination. In truth, the want of discipline in this army was extreme. In every garrisoned town the soldiers attended democratic clubs, and deliberated upon what might be the best mode of discipline in the army for themselves ; that is to say, they set all disci- pline at defiance. This licentious conduct was mistaken for an auspicious enthusiasm. After re- iterated orders from the war-minister, the advan- ced guard made a sortie from the walls of I^ille j at the distance of a few leagues it encountered the Austrian army, which was far inferior to itself in number. The French were so disorderly in the disposi- tion of their battalions that they sutTered them- selves to be attacked. A panic terror spread it- self universally among them, and the first shock put them entirely to the rout. On all sides was heard the cry of treason among the French sol- diers, who ran away, abandoning their cannon and baggage. General Rochambeau sallied from the 308 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL walls of Lille to cover the flight of these valiant democrats ; who were no sooner within their walls than thev accused their commander Theobald Dillon of having betrayed them, and instantly murdered him, a brave and loyal chief, whom they had with so much cowardice abandoned. A second attack, led on by General Biron, was still more disgraceful to the French arms. It was directed against Mons ; the enemy showed itself at a little distance, and immediately the same cry of treason pervaded the ranks of the French, who all ran away as before. This defeat was even less bloody than the first, because they did not ap- proach so near to the Austrians as before. Two or three regular regiments protected their disor- derly retreat, with a steady and well-directed va- lor. In the mean time general Biron's camp was^ abandoned to the Austrians, and the French re- tired within the walls of Valenciennes. The news of these checks withered the sanguine and premature hopes which the democrats had en- tertained of the irresistible valor of the French raw conscripts, &c. &c. The Girondins, drunk with the delirium of a new revolution, were eager for a war, and they obtained both the one and the other of these scourges. The anarchy which preceded the fall of the throne was such that the allied kings and the emigrants of France flattered themselves with realizing the most chimerical hopes ; and the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 509 House of Brandenburgh united itself with the House of Austria. The invasion of the king of Prussia took place. Was it caused by the day of the tenth of August ? But the immediate effect of this day was to favor a very rash undertaking, by spreading tumult and discord among the French armies, and discontent in the towns and villages. Was it caused by the day of the second of September ? I will only an- swer by one fact to this odious question. Fifteen thousand French soldiers fled ten leagues because they perceived fifteen hundred Prussian hussars advancing towards them. These runa- ways were some of the soldiers levied at Paris du- ring the massacres. Tiventy-two thousand French, commanded by Kellerman, at the affair of Valmi, stopped the progress oi seventi/ thousand enemies ; but these were old, regular, well-disciplined troops, who had manifested the greatest horror at the crimes committed by the democrats. Of all the five tyrants who, as masters of the Committee of Public Safety, were also masters of the Convention, and of all France ; namely, Robes- pierre, Billaud-Varennes, Collot d' Herbois, Saint- Just, and Couthon ; not one had the least acquain- tance with military affairs, or with grand views of policy. Their extreme ignorance saved them from the faults of presumption. These most iniquitous of men divided the whole power of the republic in- to two parts ^ they reserved for themselves the ex- 310 MINTS ON THE NATIONAL ercise of oppression and massacre, andtliey confi- ded the uncontrolled domination of all the military power of France to the genius ofCarnot. And from that hour, by the introduction of the severest and most undeviating discipline^ the French soldiers became every where victorious, and car- ried the terror of the Great Nation over all the continent of Europe. Carnot created a new epoch in the military art. The German tactics employ- ed the soldiers as so many machines j the new tac- tics of France employed them as men. The French generals, exempt from prejudices, and many of them endowed with extraordinary genius, had no other care than to meditate upon all the causes which had concurred to produce their tirst victories ; to push onward to still more glorious conquests, with smaller armies and with less sacrifices; and to render themselves formida- ble even in the day of their defeat. By degrees, and by the most rigorous enforcement of military discipline, they converted their bands of raw, dis- obedient, disorderly soldiery into the best and the most terrible infantry of Europe. The Austrian cavalry however preserved their superiority over that of France even to the end of the war ; but this was for them on a thousand occasions only a barren advantage. They already perceived with humiliation how inferior was their artillery to that of the French. They came, but BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 311 with tardy steps, at length to a more fortunate rivalry in this respect. The corps of engineers and of artillery afforded a multitude of well instructed men, fitted to direct the inexperience of the new armies of France. Carnot, who had himself belonged to the first of these two corps, protected them ; and they con- tributed to preserve France. This corps had a commission attached to the Committee of Public Safety ; or rather to Carnot, who in concert with it combined those plans of campaigns, vast and bold, which far surpassed even the most celebra- ted military combinations of Louvois. These mili- tary councils were composed of men whose repu- tation and valor recommended them to proscrip- tion ; such men as d'Arcon, Marescot, Dupont, Montalcmbert, yet notwithstanding their eminent services to their country they escaped the guillo- tine. Dugommier had retarded the invasion of Spain only to prepare the means of ensuring conquest. He knew that he should have to force fortresses which had been the wreck-rocks of the most illus- trious generals. He had provided himself with an immense besieging artillery, and had combined the means of transporting them across the Pyre- nean mountains. He correctly appreciated the courage of the Spaniards ; and foresaw that the circumspection which makes all their military operations so fatal 3 IS HINTS ON THE NATIONAL to them after they have gained a victory, would be advantageous to them while they acted upon the defensive. He applied himself to teach the officers of his army how to form the £jrand combi- nations of military tactics ; so that the school of Dugommier was fertile in distinguished gene- rals. But above all, he perceived the importance of bending into the severest subordination an army, which, formed amidst the civil troubles, and hither- to destined only to act against the helpless inhabi- tants of the defenceless villages of France, had become nothing more than one universal mass of that dark and tumultuous agitation which so pecu- liarly belongs to the fanaticism of democracy. He was about to penetrate into a country where the most determined superstition had brooded in the midnight of successive centuries. The irreli- gion, the vain and ordinary boasting of the French soldiers, had already manifested the ebullition of their zeal in the most obscene and abominable pleasantries, and in the most blasphemous profa- nations, at the very first aspect of the Spanish superstitions. Dugommier at length made the discipline of his soldiery ensure their future dis- cretion. Lastly, that I might finish my selection from so great a mass of the most conclusive facts, pro- ving the all-importance of steady discipline to render an army effectual for the accomplishment BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 313 of all its purposes, offensive and defensive, every part of the service of the French army found in Bonaparte a vigilant inspector, or rather a creator of new resources. The infantry acquired a mobil- ity, more active, and more scientifically calcula- ted. The cavalry was incessantly trained to per- fection in all their manceuvres, upon the excellent horses which the plains of I.ombardy furnished. Bonaparte never rested from his efforts to per- fect one of the most precious inventions of his military genius ; I speak of the companies of guides ; a troop, whose inconceivable velocity sur- passes all the services that have ever been perfor- med by the light-armed soldiery. The artillery, the first object of his studies, received also from him new and vast improvements. One might see in all the soldiers of his army a rare mixture of the most passive obedience with an ingenious curiosity that prompted them to pre- sent their plans of military operation to their ge- neral. Bonaparte, while he applauded this dispo- sition, sometimes experienced its inconvenience. One day a chasseur, at the approach of an action which promised to be very difficult, advanced to- wards his general, and pointed out to him as a necessary operation the very same measure upon which he had himself determined: "wretch! be silent !" replied Bonaparte, who feared nothing more than the being betrayed by the sagacity of 2 i^' 314 HINl^ ON THE NATIONAL his own soldiers. After the battle was over, he sought in vain for the chasseur, whom he wished to make an officer. The subordination of all the generals, of all the .superior officers, to a young man only twenty-six years of age, who commanded them, redounded less to the splendor of his glory, than to the ener- gy of his character. The most lively emulation reigned among his generals, Joubert, Massena, Augereau, Serrurier, Dallemagne, Guyeux, Vau- bois, Murat, Lannes, Rampon, and others, which of them should be the best of the lieutenants of Bonaparte, but not one of them ever dreamed of becoming his rival. General Berthier, who aided him with all his military talents and intrepidity, was his most constant and intimate companion. The deplorable want of all discipline in the Spanish armies at the beginning of the revolution in the Peninsula, and their consequent shameful flight at the very first charge of the French troops, are fully developed in a very interesting " Nar- rative of the Campaign of the British Armn in Spain, commanded by Ids Excellency Lieiitenant-General Sir John Moore, K. B. &c. authenticated by oficiat papers and original letters ; by James Moore, Esq." (brother of the late gallant and ever to be honor- ed General Moore,) published in London, during the autumn of 1809. 1 shall merely avail myself of one or two facts on this point ; referring for BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 315 further information to Mr. Moore's work, p. 128 •—188. My motive, says colonel Symes, in a letter to Sir David Baird, bearing date Leon, l4th Decem- ber, 1808 ; for doubting if the aid which the Mar- quis de la Romana might bring, would be of any importance, arises from a sense of the inefficient state of his army, and the want of discipline in the men. It is morally impossible that they can stand be- fore a line of French infantry. At least one third of the Spanish muskets will not explode ; and a French soldier will load and fire his piece three times before a Spaniard can fire his twice. Men, however brave, cannot stand against such odds ; as to charging with the bayo^ net, if their arms were fit for the purpose, the men, though individuallij as gallant as possible, have no collective confidence to carry them on, nor ofticers to lead them ; they will therefore disperse proba- bly on ihe^first fire, and can never be rallied, until they voluntarily return to their general's stand- ard ; as in the case of the Marquis de la Roma- na's present army, almost wholly composed of fugitives from the battle of the north. A striking instance of this is given by the Mar- quis himself, who assured me that the Spaniards did not lose above a thousand men in their late actions with the French ; a proof, not of the weakness of the French, but of the incapacity of the Spaniards to resist them. In fact the French 3\6 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL light troops decided the contest ; the Spaniards ^ed before a desultory fire ; they saved themselves, and now claim merit for having escaped. By a repetition of such flights and re-assem- bling, the Spaniards may m the end become soldiers^ and greatly harass the enemy ; but as the British cannot pursue that mode of warfare, their Spanish allies are not much calculated to be of use to them on the day of battle, when they must either con- quer or be destroyed. I do not mean to undervalue the spirit or patri- otism oi ihe Spaniards, which I highly respect, and which in the end may effect their deliverance ; but they are not 720W, nor can they for a long time be sufficiently improved in the art of war, to be co- adjutors with the British in a general action ; the British therefore must stand or fall through their own means ; for if they place any reliance on Spa- nish aid for success in the field, they will find themselves egregiously deceived." A letter from the Duke de 1' Infantado to Mr. Frere the British minister in Spain, dated Cu- enca 13th December 1808, gives the following miserable account of the condition of the army under his command. " I have been obliged by the generals, and forced by circumstances, to take the command of this ar- my, until I receive the decision of the Junta. Un- fortunately a spirit of insurrection and discontent among the soldiery has placed me at my present post : and it is most assuredly, a very disagreeable BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 317 situation for me to have to correct inveterate evils, and to take tiie necessary measures to re-establish order and discipline so tofallij neglected. I cannot describe to you the condition in which I found this body of troops ; nearly famished, without shoes, a great part without uniforms, with- out ammunition, and most part of its baggage lost ; reduced to about nine thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry ; and above all, having total- ly lost all confidence in their ofiicers.** But to come a little closer to the point ; what has the American militia itself ever done to justi- fy the pompous elogium so lavishly heaped upon it, " that all the veteran troops of Europe would soon melt away, like the dews of the morning, be- fore the superior prowess and freedom-strung vi- gor of the hardy yeomanry of the United States ?" The militia of this country, both during the revo- lutionary war and since, has always run away with^ out fighting whenever it has had an opportunity. General Lee was so well aware of this propensity of the militia-men, that he used to ride along the lines, on the verge of an expected battle, and say, " now my lads of the militia, let me beseech you to fire once before you run away." But even this modest request of the general was very seldom granted. The pages of General Marshal's Life of Wash- ington bear ample testimony, that during the re- volutionary war the \^'hole interests of America 518 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL were several times on the point of being sacriticed to a blind and infatuated perseverance in the scheme of militia, and of short enlistments ; both of which amount to the same thing, namely, the substitution of an undisciplined rabble in the room of a well-ordered and well-appointed regular army^ General AVashington repeatedly pressed upon Congress the necessity of embodying a regular army, without which it was impossible to save the country, as the militia was not to be depended upon, either for its courage in the field of battle, or for its obedience to discipline in the camp. In Marshal's Life of Washington, vol. 2d, p. 245—265—279 ; 3d. vol. 2—26 ; 4th vol. 55—80; numberless facts are recorded to prove the pitiful incflicacy of the militia-s3^stem for any purposes of service or of fighting. It should be particular- ly noted also that the yeomanry, the farmers of the United States, uniformly submitted, without, ^fight- ing, to the British wherever and whenever they appeared ;* and that all the hard fighting with the enemy throughout the whole war was performed by the American REGULAR army. *' The people of New-England were incompara- bly better armed than those of any other part of the union. But as all the American troops had been raised, not bj^ Cojigress, but by the colonitd or state governments, each of which had a differ- ent establishment, no uniformity existed ^mong the regiments. In Massachusetts the private men BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 319 had chosen their own officers, and felt themselves no way inferior to their commanders. Animated with the spirit of liberty, and collected for its de- fence, they were not sensible of the importance of discipline, and would not be subjected to its re- gulations. The army was consequently in a state of entire disorganization ; and the difficulty of establishing the necessary principles of order and subordina- tion, always considerable among raw troops, was greatly increased by the short terms for vrhich en- listments had been made. The time of service of many was to expire in November, and none were to continue longer than the last of December^ The early orders issued by General Washington evidence a loose and unmilitary state of things even surpassing what might reasonably be infer- red from the circumstances under which the war was commenced. The high spirit and enthusiastic ardor which had brought such numbers into the field after the bat- tle of Lexington, was already beginning to dissi- pate, and alacrity for the service very materially diminished. Many were unwilling to continue in it, and others annexed special conditions to their further engagement. Very many insisted on stip- ulating for leave to visit their families at the expi- ration of their present term of service; and others, suspending all decision, neither gave in their names to retire from, or to continue in the army." 320 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The truth is, that, if the British generals had not been pre-determined to make no use even of the small regular army which they had under their command, America must have given up the con- test, almost without a struggle ; for her militia and short-enlistment men, could never be depended upon in the hour of danger; and none of the American generals ever made any head against the enemy, excepting the desperate action of Bun- ker's hill, where the Americans fought in sight of their wives, children, and dearest connections, until they had been allowed sufficient time to form a regular army, with which they could fight steadi- ly and desperately ; the people of the United States furnishing the most excellent materials for a fine army, by their being in general, active, able^ bodied men, and possessing great individual valor and intrepidity. A letter from General Washington to Congress, dated I9th January, 1776, is conclusive as to the miserable inefficacy of all militia-men, or troops enlisted only for a short period of service ; he says : " That this cause precipitated the fate of the brave and much to be lamented General Mont- gomery, and brought on the defeat which followed thereupon, I have not the most distant doubt ; for had he not been apprehensive of his troops leaving him at so important a crisis, but continued the blockade of Quebec, a capitulation, from the best accounts I have been able to collect, must inevita- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 391 biy have followed ; and that we were not obliged at one time to dispute these lines, (where Washing- ton was then posted) under disadvantageous cir- umstances, proceeding from the same cause, to wit, the troops disbanding of themselves before the militia could be got in, is to me a matter of won- der and astonishment ; and proves that General Howe was either unacquainted with our situation, or restrained by his instructions from putting any thing to hazard until his reinforcements should arrive. The instance of General Montgomery, (I men- tion it because it is a striking one, for a number of others might be adduced,) proves, that instead of having men to take advantage of circumstances, you are in a manner compelled, right or wrong, to make circumstances yield to a secondary con- sideration. " Since the first of December I have been devising every means in my power to secure these encampments J and though I am sensible that we never have since that period been able to acton the offensive, and at times not in a condi- tion to defend, yet the cost of marching home one set of men, and bringing in another, the havoc and waste occasioned by the first, the repairs ne- cessary for the second, with a thousand other inci- dental charges and inconveniencies which have arisen and which it is scarcely possible either to recollect or describe, amount to near as much as the keeping up a respectable body of troops 32'i HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the whole time, ready for any emergency, vvouict have done. To this may be added, that you never can have a well disciplined army. To make men well acquainted with the duties of a soldier requires time. To bring them under proper discipline and subordination, not only re- quires time, but is a work of great difficulty ; and in this army, where there is so little distinction between officers and soldiers, requires an uncom- mon degree of attention. To expect then the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did, and perhaps never will happen. Men who are familiarized to danger, approach it without thinking; whereas troops unused to ser- vice, apprehend danger where no danger exists. Three things prompt men to a regular discharge of their duty in time of action; — natural bravery — hope of reward — and fear of punishment. The two first are common to the untutored and the dis- ciplined soldier ; but the last most obviously dis- tinguishes one from the other. A coward taught to believe that if he breaks his ranks and abandons his colors, he will be punished with death by his own party, will take his chance against the enemy y but the man who thinks little of the one, and is- fearful of the other, acts from present fears, re- gardless of consequences. Again, men of a day's standing will not look BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 323 forward ; and from experience we find that as the time approaches for their discharge, they grow careless of their arms, ammunition, camp-utensils, &c. nay, even the barracks themselves have felt uncommon marks of wanton depredation ; and we are laid under fresh trouble and additional ex- pense in providing for every fresh party, at a time wiien we find it next to impossible to procure the articles of first necessit}^ To this may be added the seasoning which new recruits must have to a camp, and the loss consequent thereupon. But this is not all. Men engaged for a short limited time only, have their officers too much in their power. To obtain a degree of popularity, in order to induce a second enlistment, a kind of fa- miliarity takes place which brings on a relaxation of discipline, unlicensed furloughs, and other in- dulgencies, incompatible with order and good government ; by which means the latter part of the time for which the soldier was engaged, is spent in undoing what it required much labor to incul- cate in the first. To go into an enumeration of all the evils we have experienced in this late great change of the army, and the expense incidental to it, to say noth- ing of the hazard we have run, and must run, be- tween the discharging of one army and the enlist- ment of another, unless an enormous expense of militia is incurred, would greatly exceed the bounds of a letter. If Congress have any reason 324 HINTS ON J HE NATIONAL to believe there will be occasion for troops anotlier year, and consequently for another enlistment, they would save money and have hifinitely better troops, if they were, even at the bounty of twenty, thirty, or more dollars, to engage the men already enlisted until January next, and such others as may be wanted to complete the establishment, for and during the war. I,,uill not undertake to say that the men may be had on these terms ; but I am satisfied that it will never do to let the matter alone, as it was last yeai . until the time of service is near expiring. In the first place, the hazard is too great ; in the next, the troubles and perplexity of disbanding one army and raising another at the same instant, and in such a critical situation as the last was, is scarcely in the power of words to describe, and such as no man, who has once experienced it, will ever undergo again." " Unfortunately, Congress did not then feel so sensibly as their General, the utter incapacity of temporary armies to resit;t those which are perma- nent. Nor were his officers of high rank as yet sufficiently sensible of this fact. In a council held previous to the new modelling of the army, they were of opinion that the enlistments might be for only one year. But this cardinal blunder of relying on militia, and the consequent short enlistments of the regular troops, ought to be remembered, however the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 225 dangers and inconveniencies which it produced might now be forgotten. Militia were not nnere- }y depended upon as auxiliaries, and as covering the country from the sudden irruptions of small parties, for which purposes they might perhaps be competent, but they were also relied on as con- stituting the main body and strength of the army. Their absolute incapacity to maintain this sta- tion in the military arrangements of any country, when engaged with an enemy of nearly equal strength, and employing a regular army at all times capable of being used to its utmost extent, was at length demonstrated even to the convic- tion of scepticism itself; and under the weight of this conviction, every effort was made by Con- gress, though almost too late, to remedy the very extensive mischief which this fatal error had alrea- dy produced. And not the least of these evils was the difficulty attending all attempts to cure it. For men unaccustomed to submit their actions to the control of others, bear impatiently that de- gree of authority, and submit reluctantly to that subordination, so indispensably necessary to their own safety ; and without which, said General Washington, an army is only aji armed mob^ inca- pable of being applied to the purposes of its for- mation. Raw soldiers too can seldom be induced to pay that attention to cleanliness, to their persons, their lodgings, their food, and lo many other minute 326 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL circumstances, on which the health of alarg^e body of men collected together materially depends. They are therefore found to be much more expo- sed to disease, and to be swept off by sickness in much greater numbers, than those who have been taught by experience the value of attending to. those circumstances which the young recruit never sufficiently appreciates. Of this the unexampled mortality of the northern and middle armies of America, at the beginning of the revolutionary war, furnished evidence the most melancholy and conclusive. The total change also in their situation, their duties, and mode of living, contributes greatly to render the military life in the first instance, un- pleasant to those who engage in it. Habit conquers these impressions, and removes many of the exciting causes. Whence the veteran soldier is generally attached to the camp. But regulars engaged only for a short, and militia en- gaged for a still shorter time, receive all these un- favorable impressions, without remaining long enough to permit them to wear off. They conse- quently acquire a distaste for the service, and on their return home, generally spread among their kindred, friends and neighbors, the prejudices which they have themselves imbibed." Nor have the militia of the United States con- ducted themselves with greater gallantry or atten- tion to military discipline since, than they did du- BAJSKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 327 ring, the revolutionary war; as will evidently appear from the following testimony, adduced in a court-martial held on Brigadier-General Josiali Harmer, to investigate his conduct, as com- manding officer of the expedition against the Mi- ami Indians in the year 1790. I'he court of in- quiry was held at Fort Washington, September 15lh, 1791. September 16th. The court met agreeably to adjournment ; and Major Ferguson being called in and sworn, deposed as followeth : That some time about the 15th of July, 1790, it was determined to carry on an expedition against the Miami villages. One thousand mili- tia from Kentucky, and five hundred from Penn- sylvania, and wiiat could be collected of the First United States regular Regiment, and one compa- ny of artillery was to form the army. The militia from Kentucky began to assemble at Fort Washington about the middle of' Septem- ber ; they were very ill equipped, being almost destitute of camp-kettles and axes. Their arms were generally very bad, and unfit for service ; sometimes a rifle was brought to be repaired with- out a lock, and sometimes without a stock. The owners were asked how they came to think that their guns could be repaired at that time ? They replied that they were told in Kentucky, that all repairs would be made at Fort Washington. Ma- ny of the militia-officers said that they had no 328 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL idea of their being half the number of bad arms in the whole district of Kentucky, as were then in the hands of their own men. As soon as the principal part of the Kentucky militia arrived, General Harmer began to organ- ize them ; in this he had many difficulties to en- counter. Colonel Trotter aspired to the com- mand, although Colonel Hardin was the eldest officer ; and in this he was encouraged both by men and officers, who openly declared, that unless Colonel Trotter commanded them, they would re- turn home. After two or three days, the business was settled, and they were formed into three bat- talions, under the command of Colonel Trotter; and Colonel Hardin had the command of all the militia. The last of the Pennsylvania militia arrived on the 25th of September. They were equipped nearly as those of Kentucky, but were worse arm- ed -y several without any arms. Among the militia, both of Kentucky and Penn- sylvania, were a great many hardly able to bear arms, such as old infirm men, and young boys; they were not such as might be expected from a frontier country, namely, the robust, active wood- men, well accustomed to arms, eager and alert to revenge the injuries done to themselves and to their connexions, A great number of them were substitutes who probably had never fired a gun. Major Paul of Pennsylvania said, that many of BANKRUPTCV OF BRITAIN, vStC. 3i29 his men were so awkward, that they could not take their gun locks off to oil them, and put them on again ; nor could tliey put in their flints so as to be useful, and even of such materials the numbers came far short of what was ordered. On the I7th of October, the army arrived at the Miami village ; here were evident signs of the enemy having quitted the place in the greatest confusion. Indian cows and dogs came into their camp this day, which induced them to believe the families were not far off. A party of three hun- dred men, with three days provision, under the command of Colonel Trotter, was ordered to ex- amine the country around their camp ; but con- trary to the General's orders, returned the same evening. This conduct of Colonel Trotter did not meet with General Harmar's approbation ; and Colo- nel Hardin, anxious for the character of his coun- trymen, wished to have the command of the same detachment for the remaining two days ; which was given to him. This command marched on the morning of the 19th, and was the same day shamefulhj defeated. Colonel Hardin told him, that the number of Indians which attacked his men did not exceed one hvndred and^fiffy, and that had his people fought, or even rnade a s/iow of forming to fight, he was certain the Indians would have run. But on the Indians firing, which was 2 U 350 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL at a great distance, the militia ran away, numbers throwing down their arms ; nor could he rally them ; Major Ray confirmed the same. Question by the court. What were your rea- sons for thinking punishment for neglect of duty out of the question ? Answer. The state of the army being such, that it obliged the General not to do any thing which might tend to irritate the militia. Lieutenant Hartshorn was sworn and deposed thus : Question by the court. In what manner did you oppose the enemy when you were attacked on the 19th of October ? Answer. By endeavoring to form the line to charge them. Question. What troops came within your notice that attempted to form when charged ? Answer. Not more than thi?'ti/ federal troops, and ten militia. Question. What became of the rest of the 7ni- litia ? Answer. They gave way and ran. Question. Do you think that if the militia in that action had been properly formed, and in time, they were sufficient to beat the enemy ? Answer. They were. Question. What was the result of the action of the 19th, were the continental troops and the ten militia defeated .'* BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 331 Answer. They were cut to pieces except six or seven. Question. From the conduct of the militia^ do you think that the General had a right to expect a7iy support from them, if he had been attacked. Answer. / don't think he had. Ensign Morgan being sworn, deposed, thus: Question by the court. Do you think that the party of militia that were attached to Major IVyl" lys detachment on the 21st of October, were suf- ficient to defeat the Indians if they had done their duty ? Answer. If they had been together, I think they were. Question, What was the disposition of the mili- tia after you returned to the army, in the evening of the 21st of October ; were they well-affected to the service and orderly .'' Answer. They were very disorderly, and very inattentive to their duty; and some appearances of mutiny among them, with both officers and men ; and they turned out upon one occasion par- ticularly, to oppose a punishment that had been ordered by the General. Lieutenant Denny being sworn, deposed, thus : That on the 15th and 16th of September the Ke^i- tucky militia arrived ; but instead of seeing active riflemen, such as are supposed to inhabit the frontiers, they saw a parcel of men, young in the country, and totally unexperienced in the busi- 339. HINTS ON ilJE NATIONAL ness they came upon ; so much so, that many of them did not know how to keep their arms in firing order. Indeed, their whole object seemed to be nothing more than to see the country, with- out rendering any service whatever. Kentucky seemed as if she wished to comply with the requisitions of government as inefjcctu- allij as possible; for it was evident that two-thirds of the men served only to swell their numbers. On the 19th September, a small detachment of Pennsylvania militia arrived ; and the remainder on the 25th. they were similar to the other, too many substitutes. The General lost no time in organizing them, though he met with many diffi- culties ; the Colonels were disputing for the com- mand, and the one most popular was the least enti- tled to it. On the 18th of October, Colonel Trotter was ordered out with three hundren men, militia and regulars, to reconnoitre the country, and to en- deavor to make some discoveries of the enemy ; he marched but a iew miles, when his advanced horsemen came upon two Indians and killed them ; the Colonel was contented with this victo- ry, and returned to camp. Colonel Hardin was displeased because Colonel Trotter did not execute his orders, and requested the General to give him the command of the par- ty ; it was granted, and accordingly Hardin marched next morning; but he believed he had not two-thirds of his numbers when two miles from BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 333 camp ; for to his certain knowledge, many of the militia left him on the march, and returned to their companies. Colonel Hardin came at length upon a party of Indians not exceeding one Jmndred^hviX, was worsted, owing entirely to the scandalous behavior of the mi- litia, many of whom never fired a shot ; but ran off at the ^first noise of the Indians, and left the few regulars to be sacrificed; some of the militia never halted in their flight until they crossed the Ohio. The army in the mean time was employed in burning and destroying the houses and corn, shifting their position from one town to another. On the 21st of October the army, having burned five villages, besides the capital town, and con- sumed or destroyed nearly twenty thousand bush- els of corn in ears ; took up the line of march on the route back to Fort Washington, and encamp- ed about eight miles from the ruins. About nine o'clock, P. M. the General ordered out four hun- dred choice men, militia and regulars, under the command of Major Wyllys, to return to the towns, intending to surprise any parties that might be assembled there; supposing that the In- dians would collect to see how things were left. The General had felt the enemy, knew their strength, and calculated much upon the success of this enterprise ; it was the general opinion that the force of the savages was nothing equal to this 334 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL detachment; and unless by some such means there was no possibility of getting any advantage of them. But the best laid plan was defeated by the disobedience of the militiay who ran in pursuit of small parties, and left Major Wyllys unsup- ported ; the consequence was that the Major with most part of the regulars were killed. The General now lost all confidence in the mi- litia; the regular troops were only two hundred; and if the enemy had made an attack upon the camp that evening or the next morning, the mili- tia were so panic-struck, that very few of them would have stood, and the sick and wounded, and all the stores, artillery, &c. would have fallen a prey to the savages. The militia on their return back to Fort Wash- ington began to be refractory, showing great signs of a revolt, discharging their pieces in open de- fiance of the general orders ; some of them how- ever were detected and punished, which gave um- brage, and was afterwards the cause of many ill- natured reports, spread without any foundation, in order to injure General Harmar's reputation. Major Zeigler being sworn, deposed. That on the 8th of October Colonel Trotter was detached with three hundred men of militia, including thirty federal troops, but returned the same day without bringing any information. The next morning Co- lonel Hardin took the command of the same party -, and on discovering the enemy, his militia-men who "BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 335 were in the rear, would not come up, and support those engaged in front ; and very feio of those in. front stopped, but ran, and the militia tied in a shameful manner ; and the few federal troops not supported, fell a sacrifice. A sergeant of militia behaving very ill at that time, could not be brought to trial, on account of a brother of his being a captain, who made parties that would have been attended with bad conse- quences, should he be punished ; his brother decla- ring^ that he would raise some men, and bid defiance. Question by the Court. — I think, sir, you said, that on the 15th October, at three o'clock, P. M. you arrived at the Miami village ; what did you do after your arrival there ; were the militia in good order ? Answer. When we arrived we were very much fatigued ; having marched twenty-eight miles that day, I directed that my own men should not go thirty yards from camp. The militia like a rabble strolled into the neighbouring villages, in parties of thirty or forty after plunder ; and such was our situ- ation that a hundred and fifty warriors might have beat us off the ground. Question. — Did you see any desire in the militia to return to the ground where Major Wyllys was de- feated ; or do you suppose they would have gone had they been ordered to go ? Answer. I supposed they would ?wt have gone : they appeared to be panic-struck. S36 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Captain Doyle being sworn, deposed, That he was in the detachment of the 1 4th of October; that the behaviour of the militia in that detachment was very disgraceful ; they ran from town to town in pursuit of plunder, co7?/ran/ to orders ; and on the arrival of General Harmar at the town, two thirds of them dispersed in the same manner. On their return home the militia showed great signs of revolt ; and General Harmar would have been justified in arresting one or two of their most po- pular field-officers, and sending them home with dis- grace ; but a thing of that kind would have broke up the army. No part of that General's conduct du- ring the whole campaign could be censured, except his showing too much lenity to the militia, and thanking them for their conduct when they merited punishment. Captain Armstrong being sworn, deposed, That lie was in the action of the 19th, that after he had discovered the enemy's fires at a distance he inform- ed Colonel Hardin, who replied that they would not fight, and rode in front of the advance, until fired on from behind the fires when he retreated, and all the militia ran away^ except nine, who continued with the colonel, and were instantly killed, together with twenty-four of the federal troops. The Indians did not amount to one hundred men; some of whom were mounted, others armed with rifles, and the ad- vance with tomahawks onlv. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 33? Captain Armstrong was of opinion, that if Colo- nel Trotter had proceeded on the 18th, according to his orders, having killed the enemy's sentinels, they would easily have surprised their camp and defeated them ; or if Colonel Hardin had arranged his troops, or made any military disposition on the 19th, they would have gained a victory. Their defeat was owing to two causes, the un-officer-like conduct of Colonel Hardin, who vvas a brave man, and the coivardly behavioj' of the militia; many of whom threw down their arms loaded, and none except the party under his, Captain Armstrong's command, fired a gun. What he saw of the conduct of the militia on that day, and what he felt by being under the command of a man who wanted military talents, had determined him not willingly to fight with the one or be commanded by the other. Ensign Gaines, (who was Captain of Horse in General Harmar's expedition) being sworn, deposed. That he had served on a number of expeditions against the savages, undertaken by the militia of Kentucky y and that he never saw in any of them the like good order and military arrangement which accompanied General Harmar's expedition. The people in Kentucky never alleged any charge against General Harmar, until Colonel John Hardin had ac- quitted himself before a Board of Inquiry of several charges exhibited against him, respecting his con- duct on that expedition ; when the populace, fmd= ing that nothing which they could say to the prejiu 2x SS8 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL dice of the Colonel would be believed, levelled their malice at General Harmar; even against whom nothing would have been said in that country, if a Baptist Preacher's son in Kentucky had not been whipped in the miliiia for disobedience of orders. Question by the Court. I think you say you have been in several expeditions against the Indians ; did the militia who were with General Harmar conduct (themselves) better or worse than those in other ex- peditions ? Answer. Much better, Sir. Question. Was you in the action of the 19th of October ? Answer. I was. Question. Is it your opinion, that if the militia had been properly arranged in the action, and would have fought, they were sufficient to defeat the In- dians ? Answer. Yes, for the Indians were surprised, and if Colonel Trotter had not returned on the pre- ceding day, he must have been in their camp, and completely defeated them. Question. Do you think that, if General Harmar bad ordered the army back, after the action of the 21st, the militia would have gone? Answer. They would not have gone willingly. I think in that case there would have been danger of mutiny. When tlie militia of Major Wyllys' de- tachment were ordered lo march, they were unwil- ling to go ; and some so much so> as to cry. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 33$ As a contrast to the total want of all d^scipli ne and subordination in the American militia, I shall adduce a single instance of the high state of military discipline which Bonaparte keeps up in his army. In the year 1804, Bonaparte went to Boulogne to review what he called the army of England. He saw a single soldier straggling from his ranks ; he ordered him to fall into his place, the soldier refa^ sed ; he instantly ordered a Serjeant's company to shoot the soldier ; the company refused ; he then ordered a captain's battalion to shoot the company ; the battalion refused ; he then ordered the regiment to shoot the battalion, the regiment refused ; he then ordered a brigade to shoot the regiment, the brigade obeyed, and the whole regiment was mowed down to a man with grape-shot and mnsquetry, for a breach of military discipline in disobeying the orders of their general. In acting thus Bonaparte displayed at once his energy and wisdom ; for the commander of an army, or the government of a nation, that ever suffers his or its orders to be disobeyed with impunity, can never be effective to any great or good purpose ; but becomes justly the object of contempt at home, and of scorn abroad. I should not have dwelt so long on this head ; but unfortunately the same prejudice in favor of the militia-system prevails in England, as much as in the United States. I would now ask if the American militia would 340 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL be quite sufficient to defeat the veteran troops of Bonaparte; seeing, that if Britain be destroyed, the enemy will have powerful fleets commanding every sea, river, creek, and bay, from which the Uni- ted States can possibly be annoyed and harassed. Surely, whoever is acquainted with the quickness and activity of the French; their intelligence in a strange country ; their skill, their ardor, and extraordinary success in desultory warfare; will never advise any nation to act against them with an undisciplined, dis- orderly militia. But lest I should be considered as biassed or mis- informed on this subject, I refer the reader to the de- cisive opinion of the late celebrated Fisher Ames, (a man to whom few ages or countries have produ- ced an equal,) as to the result of Britain's ruin to the United States : see Mr. Ames's works, page SQ^, written in March 1808, published at Bos- ton in Massachusetts, in the year 1809. " Mr. Jefferson knows that there is but one obsta- cle to the progress of French power, and that is the hated British navy. Suppose that navy destroyed, would our liberty survive a week ? The wind of the blow that destroys British independence would strike our own senseless to the earth. Boastful and vain as we are, the very thought of Independence would take flight from our hearts. If Britain falls, will not America fall .'' shall we not lie in the dust at the conqueror's foot, aad with servile afl'ected joy re- receive our chains without resistance ? BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 341 It will ever be fashionable to boast of the invinci- ble spirit of freemen, as long as power is to be won by flattery. We remark that some speakers in Congress assume it as a thing impossible, that an invading foe could make any progress in our coun- try. Others, in party-opposition to them, either blind to the truth, or afraid to speak it, assent to the asser- tion, that the United States are unconquerable. Thus a dangerous delusion acquires not only a plau- sible authority, but it seems to be a violation of the sanctity of the national faith to expose it. But if Britain were conquered, Bonaparte could have her fifteen hundred ships, and the ships of all the rest of Europe, to transport an army under one of his lieutenants to our shores, as numerous as he might think necessary to ensure conquest. Power seldom long wants means. He could send over twenty thousand, and more if wanted, of his dis- mounted horsemen, with their saddles, bridles, and equipments. He would not fail to secure horses from our islands, such as Long-Island, and the exten- sive necks and promontories, which could not be de- fended against him. Being master of the sea, he could make large and frequent detachments from his camp to defenceless regions, which he would strip. To this let it be ad- ded, that the American army, if we should have an army, being concentred to some well chosen moun- tainous place, would of course leave the cities a prey. 342 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Thus it cannot be doubted, that he would have horses to remount his cavalry. Suppose a numerous French army, having two-fifths of its force cavalry, with all the formidable thousands of light artillery that brought Austria, Prussia, and Russia to his feet in a day — would the American militia face this ar- my ? Suppose they do not; then our cities, our whole coast, and all the open cultivated country are imme- diately French. Would ihe millions on and near the coast take flight to the mountains? could they sub- sist, or would they remain long unmolested there? Mountains, when no equal army was in the field, ne* ver did stop the soldiers of Bonaparte. Let us come back then to our miliiia armi/t since Mve are obliged to see that the French would effectu- ally conquer our country, if our army should not be able to check their rapid progress. Could we collect an army ? On all the coast would be terror, busy concern to hide property, and to shelter women, helpless age, and infancy. The sea-ports would not only retain their own men, but call in those of the neighbouring country to defend them. Probably they would ask an addition of troops from govern- ment. It would therefore be a very difficult and slow work to collect a militia-army equal in numbers to the French. Nearly fifty thousand men were sent to Egypt, and as many more to Saint Domingo. Had either of those armies landed here, could we have faced them with an equal force, equal in numbers .f We think not. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, kc. 343 Let Mr. Jefferson ask any old, skilful, continen- tal officer, if our army oi 7nilitia, would push bayo- nets with the French ? No military man would say, that our militia would stand the tug of war, and defeat the French. Did we not, cries some wordy patriot, contend with the British ? The answer would be long, to make it as decisive as we think it is. The British were cooped up in Boston a year. In 1778 Sir William Howe had only five hundred cavalry; and he alwavs moved as if he was more afraid of our beating him, than resolved to beat us. At Long-Island Washington was totally defeat- ed, owing to the militia giving way, and might have been easily made prisoner with his whole army. But he was not pursued. In the third year of the war, his troops, and even the militia of the states in the scene of the war, had become consid- erably disciplined. It is not denied, that with three years' prepara- tion we could have an army ; but we make 710 prep- aration ; and unless we e?ilist our men, the parade of militia is a serious buffoonery. AVhenSir Wil- liam Howe forced our men from the field, he had no cavalry ; and our men could run away faster than his could pursue. But the French, expe- rience has shewn, that when they win battles they decide the war. Myriads of cavalry press upon th,e fugitives, and in half a day the defence of a na- 344 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tion is captive or slain. Defeat is irremediable destruction. Would our stone-walls stop their horse ? Then the pioneers would pull down those walls. Shoot- ing from behind fences would not stop an army ; nor would our militia venture upon a measure that would be fatal ; the numerous and widely-ex- tended flanking parties would soon cut off all such adventurers to a man. With an army less than two hundred thousand men, but with double the common proportion of cavalry, Bonaparte has overrun the German emr pire, Austria, Prussia, and all continental Europe, from the Adriatic to the Baltic s rich, populous, and computed formerly to arm a million of sol- diers. . The democratic gazettes have uniformly main- tained that Bonaparte's unvaried success was ow- ing to the real, irresistible superiority of the French armsj to their newly-improved tactics, and to the impetuosity of their attacks. All this we believe. W^e firmly, though unwillingly, believe, that as the old Romans were superior to their enemies, so the French are at least as much superior to their ene- mies, by land. The vast extent of both empires, Roman and French, grew out of this superiority. Hence we conclude, that if our jnilitia-army should figlit a battle, they would lose it. They would inevitably lose it, and the loss of the battle would be the loss of their country. The French would hold the coast by their fleet, and the interior BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 345 by their army. Be it remembered too, that Cana- da would be French if Britain should be subdued ; and that the Floridas and Louisiana are French ah'e-.^Hy. Where then would be the security of the moun- tains ? Much dreadful experience, and more dread- ful ietirs, would follow the conquest, till at length, like the rest of the world, we should enjoy the q'liet of despair and the sleep of slavery. Popu- larity, as dear perhaps as liberty, will be sought no more ; and we shall place our happiness, if slaves may talk of happiness, in the smiles, or still better, in the neglect of a master. We have purposely omitted an infinity of proofs in corroboration of our melancholy conclusion, that in case of a French invasion, the country would be literally conquered. We should tamely accept a Corsican prince for a king, and in virtue of our alliance with France, agree by treaty to maintain French troops enough to keep down in- surrections. Far be jt from us to believe that our fellow-citi- zens in the militia are not individually brave. Their very bravery would ensure their defeat ; they would dare to attempt what militia cannot at- chieve. Nor let the heroic speech-makers pretend that our citizens would swear to live free or die ; and that they would resist till the country was de- populated, or emancipated. There is no foundation in hunaan nature for this 9. Y 346 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL boast. The Swiss were free, and loved their liber- ty as well as men ever did ; yet they are enslaved , and quiet in their chains. Experience shows that men are glad to survive the loss of liberty. They must be mad to continue to oppose that power, Avhich on trial has been found to be superior and irresistible. Myriads of persons we see are glad, on pecuniary encouragement, to go into the ar- my, where every democrat will insist there cannot be liberty, because there is restraint. It is self-evident, in spite of the groundless, and perhaps treacherous pretensions of faction, that our country is absolutely defenceless against Bona- parte, when master of the sea. The French troops have marched through countries having three or four times as many people as the United Slates, with the quietness of a procession. Does not Bonaparte confidently calculate upon the con- quest of Britain, if he can only reach the shore with his troops ? Yet Britain has twice our popu- lation, and in a narrow compass too ; and nearly one hundred times our military force. With so many proofs, after such decisive expe- rience of the resistless march of the French, is it not presumption, folly, madness, to suppose that we could be free if France had the British fleet r To our minds the proof is demonstration. We do not urge this fearful conclusion because we despise our countrj^men, or wish to see Amer- ica dishonored. Far, far from our hearts are such BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 347 abominable wishes. Look, look, fellow-country- men, as we do, to your dear innocent children. Ask your hearts, if they can bear so racking a question, if a shallow confidence in our unarmed security against Bonaparte, in case Britain should fall, does not tend to devote them to the rage of a restless, unappeasable tyrant ? We tremble at the thought, that our own dear children will be in Bonaparte's conscription for St. Domingo, in case the Gallican policy of our government should be pursued till its natural tendencies are accom- plished. We would ask all sober citizens, whether or not, if the danger of an invasion be considered as really impending, we ought not to have an ar- my to meet it ? Would a raw army, raised when the foe is on the shores, be fit to oppose him ? Would you stake the life of our liberty upon the resistance that paper could make against iron ? No, every man Vvould say, if we are to fight an invading enemy, sixty thousand strong, in 1810 or 1812, we have no time to lose in raising an army by enlistment^ stronger than that of the invaders, and training them to an equality of subordination, discipline, and confidence in themselves and their ofiicers. Such an army, with cavalry, artillery, engineers, &c. would be too expensive for our means, or for the temper of our citizens, who have been studiously taught to hold all taxes as grievances and wrongs. The thing, we grant, 348 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL is impossible. To depend on a wiilitia not e?ilis- ted, nor disciplined, is madness. It follows then, demonstratively, that our single hope of security is in the triumphs of the British navy. While that rides mistress of the ocean, the French can no more pass it, to attack us, than they could ford the bottomless pit. Hitherto we have designedly avoided all party topics. We have gone upon the supposition that the democrats do not wish their children to be- come the slaves of Bonaparte. We take it for granted, that it is of more national importance to be free, than to carry coffee to Amsterdam. If then we have so great interests depending, we cannot but wonder that Mr. Jefferson should endanger them for the sake of minor interests, which are in comparison but as the small dust of the balance. He professes to aim all his political measures at what he calls " the destruction of the British tyranny of the seas,' and exults in the con- viction that his plans are adequate to their end. God forbid that they should be ! God, of his mercy forbid, that after having led our fore-fathers by the hand; and as it were, by his immediate power, planted a great nation in the wilderness, he should permit the passions or the errors of our chief to plunge us into ruin and slavery ! Shall this French magog be allowed to pluck our star fiovn its sphere, and quench its bright orb in the sea? BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, ,&C. 349 It is well known that Mr. Jefferson is entirely convinced that Britain is now making her expiring efforts. He holds it to be impossible that she can resist Bonaparte tzoo years longer ; (that is to say, from the 18th day of December 1807, when Mr. Jefferson publicly, at his own table, made this declaration ; " that Britain would cease to be a na- tion in less than two years^) Then let him wear sackcloth. Let him gather a colony, and lead them to hide from a conqueror's pursuit in the trackless forests near the sources of the Missouri. Frost, hunger, and poverty will not gripe so hard as Bonaparte, But since he expects the speedy destruction of Britain, what motives has he to strain every nerve as he does to hasten it } He knows man- kind ; he knows Bonaparte too well to hope that the tyrant's hand will be the lighter for that merit. That bosom, so notoriously steeled against pity, will not melt to friendship. Among the infinite diversity of a madman's dreams, was there ever one so extravagant, as that a republic might safely trust its liberty to the sen- tirtienl of a master ? Every moon-beam at Wash- ington must have shot frenzy, if such a motive among politicians could have influenced action. If liberty should fall, as it undoubtedly xvill^ if France prevails, let us at least have the consola- tion to say, that our hands have not assisted in its assassination. 350 V HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Why do our public men wilfully blind them- selves, and regard no dangers but such as they apprehend from the hostility of party ? The earth on which we tread, holds the bones of the deceased patriots of the revolution. Will the sacred silence of the grave be broken ? Will the illustrious shades walk forth into public places, and audibly pronounce a warning to convince us that the independence for which they bled is in danger ? No, without a miracle, the exercise of our reason must convince us, that our indepen- dence is in danger from France; and if Britain falls by force, terror alone will bring us into sub- jection. We do not love nor respect our country less than those, who foolishly, and perhaps wickedly, boast of its invincible strength and prowess. As the destroyer of nations has enslaved Europe, and as only one nation, Britain, has hindered his com- ing here to conquer us, they have no ears to hear, they have no hearts to feel for our country, v\'ho wish to break down that obstacle, and let him in. This is not a party-effusion ; it proceeds from hearts ready to burst with anxiety on the prospect of the political insanity that is ready to join the foe. It is republican suicide, it is treachery to the people to make them an innocent sacrifice to the passions of our rulers. Let Mr. JetTerson avail himself of the power that his weight with his own party gives him, and BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 351 stop the progress o( our fate. We do not ask him to go to war with France. Consult prudence, and renounce the affectation of that false honor, which has been of late so much upon our lips. He will find that the federalists love their country better than their party. Let there be peace, merely peace ; we say nothing of alliance with Britain ; and if our champion falls in the combat, let us not, when we perish, deplore the fatal folly of hav- ing contributed to hasten his and our own destruc- tion." So far the patriotic and eloquent P'isher Ames. It might perhaps be allowable just to notice one of the immediate evils which must unavoida- bly result to the United States from the destruc- tion of Britain ; I mean the instantaneous cutting off of all supply of British manufactures to this country. The ruin of Britain would be accompa- nied with the annihilation of her commerce and manufactures ; and the United States have not now, neither can they have for several years to come, a sufficient capital, nor a sufficiently reason- able rate of labor-wages to enable them to manu- facture many even of the prime necessaries of life ; such as vvoollen-clothing, a vast variety of ar- ticles in hardware, and many other commodities which might easily be enumerated. Where then could they get a supply of these necessary articles ? From the European conti- nent ? No, that is too much destroyed by the 552 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ravages of a long and bloody warfare, to be able for many years to come, to supply even itself with manufactured goods. Add to which, the conti- nent of Europe, and more particularly that part of it called France, never can become extensively employed in manufactures, because it has not a sufficient quantity of coal-mines at command. It surely can require no argument, to prove that a nation whose fuel grows above ground, can never push its manufactures to any great extent. The immediate result then of the destruction of Britain to the United States, would be the depri- ving a large body of the American people of ma- ny of the necessaries, and more of the convenien- cies of life. How much this would tend to breed discontent among our citizens, and effectually diminish our population, I need not now consider ^ as the whole subject of Amei^ican manufactures will be discussed at length in my view of the moral and political condition of the United States; of which, at least one-third portion, (including a consideration of the agriculture, trade, manufac- tures, general and state-governments of the Union) is already prepared for the press. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 353 CHAPTER IV. But Britain is not yet fallen ; and a very slight and rapid glance over the positive and relative condition of continental Europe, will convince us that she is not about to fall, or even to bow her lofty head beneath the menaces or the violence, the craft or the courage, of her enemies. Russia^ " like a tall bully that lifts its head, and lies," appears to be much more formidable at a dis- tance, than when the enemy approaches near, and grapples with his strength. She possesses indeed an immense empire, extending over a superficies of territory, full, three millions of square miles ; bat her very great extent renders her population of forty millions comparatively feeble and intrffectual. Other things being equal, a country is more powerful than its neighbours, precisely in proportion to its having a numerous population crowded into a compact territory ; so that it can speedily and at all times, gather together its people in large masses for the purposes of offensive or of defensive operations. Accordingly Russia has never been able to call forth any large proportion of her population at one time, and to send numerous armies into the field tcf contend with her European enemies. Her soldiers, undoubtedly, possess that bodily strength, and that steady, desperate, persevering valour, which are all effectual in the hands of a skil- S z 354> HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ful general. But her officers are not sufficiently versed in military tactics on a large and a compre- hensive scale, to encounter the armies of Europe, led on by well-educated and experienced command- ers ; although she appeared to be enormously great and powerful in her conflicts with the rude and bar- barous Turks, Tartars and Persians. Whence her inability to cope with France, and her consequent entire defeat at the battle of Ausierlitz in 1805; and in the succeeding combats of Pultusk and of Gotzmolin, in the year 1807. Her maritime power is small, and is not likely to be increased by her tamely and foolishly quarrelling with Britain, at the haughty bidding of her imperial master Bonaparte. Her finances have long been in a most disastrous and disorderly condition ; nor has she taken pre- cisely the most correct method of relieving her em- barrassment in this respect by her present war with Britain. M. Ricard in his " TrailS General du Commerce^ tome troineme, p, 3Q — 62, published at Paris, in three volumes quarto. An. 7, de la Be- piiblique Frangaise^ tells us that the ordinary trade between Russia and England netts a balance of three millions sterling annually in favor of Russia; and that nearly the whole of these three millions used every year to find their way into France in the purchase of the finer French manufactures, knick- knacks, toys, and frippery. So that in this instance at least Bonaparte and his subjects gain nothing by BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 355 making Russia quarrel with Britain, in pursuance of the Corsican*b scheme of anti-commercial policy. English capital first made the Russian pot-ash, and then paid for it : English capital bought the Russian hemp-seed, paid for ploughing the land, and then bought the hemp ; English merchants used to advance the capital many months before the pro- duce of Russia appeared at the market. This pro- cess is so well understood, that the merchants of the United States, while America had any trade, used to send a purchasing capital a year beforehand into Russia to get hemp and cordage. Indeed, all countries half settled, and not half civi- lized must ever be dependant upon countries, whose equitable administration of government incites and secures the steady progress of productive industry. Hence the present war of Russia against Britain is the absurd, pitiful effort of poverty against the very wealth, which alone can lighten the penury, by employing its labor, and opening a ready and con- stant market for its produce. Such egregious blunders in policy cannot fail of receiving, as they richly merit, the most signal chastisement. It is impossible for Russia not to suffer evils of very extensive magnitude, in conse- quence of her absurdly quarelling with Britain. The sale of her rude produce to Britain enabled her boors to pay their obrok^ or vassal-money to their lords ; and her nobles to attend the court of their sovereign. The great check to the efforts of Rus- 356 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL sian agriculture occasioned by the sudden cessation of so large a demand for the rude produce of the soil is too obvious to require noticing minutely. But ignorance is the proper receptacle of French principles, and ofcourse Russia imbibes them greed- ily ; and cowering under the wing of Bonaparte's despotism (for Alexander is merely the tool of the Corsican) bends the whole of her unwieldy strength to distress the naval power of Britain, which is es- sentially necessary for the prosperity of Russia ; and to augment the territorial greatness of France, which has an invariable tendency to subvert the Muscovite throne. Add to all this, the very great want of political talents in the Russian government ; there is not a single counsellor round the Muscovite throne, that is entitled to the appellation of statesman. Indeed, Russia has all the corruption and despotism of France, without the energy of its talents and in- formation. Fiom the movements, military or political, of Russia, therefore, Europe has little to hope or fear. A rude, ignorant, barbarous people, oppressed by a ■weak, corrupted, stupid government, can never dic- tate the law to other countries possessing any consi- derable force, but must receive it from them. Wience Russia will follow the cour.se, and shape her deijtiny according to the career, of the primary nations of the world. *' But Austria" say the whole host of democrats BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 357 in the United States, " Austria is annihilated, for ever subjugated beneath the dominion of France — we sincerely rejoice," continue these zealous and enlightened patriots, " we sincerely rejoice that the Austrian empire is destroyed : not only because she dared to oppose France ; but because she was an original party to the treaty of Pilnitz ; because she is HOW, and long has been, an ally of Britain, by whose speedy destruction alone can the world find repose, and the United States in particular gain wealth, and power. Britam, the grand corrupter of the world, the common robber, the tyrant of the ocean, the dastardly plunderer of defenceless na- tions, the most cowardly of all people j Britain^ whose speedy and inevitable destruction is now laid open to the arms of the sagacious conqueror j of Napoleon, who has always treated these United States with the most T^evitci friendliness , and mag- nanimity,*^ &c. &c. This precious paragraph is copied from the lead- ing print under the auspices of the cabinet of Washington, in order to show how correctly the po- litical bearings and relations of Europe, and of the whole world, are appreciated by a very large body of politicians in the union. The question itself is of sufficient importance to demand the most serious consideration. To us, in these United States, so very far removed from the seat and centre of all intelligence, informa- tion respecting the actual condition of Europe 358 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL comes in such scanty and uncertain streams, through the tardy and occasional channels of the British and French presses ; that, from the total im- possibility of acquiring that vast body of facts, which can illumine and guide the researches of the Diis meliorilms nati of the other hemisphere, we shall be obliged in the following inquiry into the positive and relative condition of continental Europe, to rest chiefly upon the application of general principles to the known and experienced course of human af- fairs. The Austrian soldier is steadily and systemati- cally brave ; he knows neither intimidation nor despondency ; he will not forsake the field of bat- tle until ordered by his general, and he meets death with the most perfect constancy and indif- ference. Nor are these excellent instruments of offensive and of defensive warfare thrown away as useless, for want of experienced and able officers. In the late battles of Elsinghen and Wagram, Bonaparte, aided by the military talents of his most accom- plished generals, little if at all inferior to himself in genius and skilful tactics, put forth his whole strength, and stretched the sinews of his utttiosfr resources, and in the first conflict, after long and obstinate fighting, was beaten \ and in the second, after a still more severe and bloody contest, gain- ed a doubtful victory. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 359 Now although every encomium is justly due to the determined intrepidity, and the comprehen- sive military genius of the illustrious commander in chief of the Austrian army ; yet the Archduke Charles must have been well seconded by the ex- traordinary talents of his Generals, as well as by the devoted heroism of his troops ; or he alone, sin- gle, unaided, could never have conducted the ope- rations of such immense armies in successful oppo- sition to Bonaparte and his still more numerous followers. A conclusive proof that Bonaparte has been very roughly handled in these terrible battles, and that the Austrian empire is yet unsubdued, is to be found in the armistice of a month granted after the deadly encountre at Wagram, in the tar- dy, protracted negociations for peace , and in the rumors strong and frequent, blown in upon us in this uUima Thule, by every breeze that wafts a ves- sel from Europe to these shores, of a speedy re^ newal of hostilities between the two contending powers. After the battles of Marengo, and of Aus»- terlitz, Bonaparte, immediately prescribed the terms of peace, and dictated the treaties of Lune- ville and of Presburgh, to the humiliated House of Austria. Why has he not prescribed the terms of peace, and dictated a treaty to the emperor Francis now, after the mt)re bloody and obstinate battles of Elsinghen and of Wagram ? Is he not 360 HINTS ON THE NATIONAI equally desirous now of acquiring universal do- mination, as he was in the years 1800 and 1805 ? Yes ; but Austria must feel herself still able to cope Avith her insolent and perfidious foe, and is willing once again to dare him to the encountreof the bayonet and the sabre. Report says that the Archduke Charles has re- tired from the Austrian army, and that Prince John of Lichtenstein has succeeded him as com- mander in chief. The cause of the Archduke's resignation is unknown here ; but wherever he goes, he must carry with him the homage and veneration due to his transcendant military talents, and exalted heroism, from every honest and every feeling heart. His successor is reputed to possess a very extra- ordinary military genius, and to be idolized by the Austrian soldiery ; and as he is known to be the bosom friend of the Archduke Charles, it is to be inferred that no serious misunderstanding has ta- ken place between the emperor Francis and his brother. May the good providence of God prosper the cause of Austria, under whatsoever general she opposes the common enemy of mankind ; and preserve her empire from bowing its ancient head, white with the hoar of successive centuries, be- neath the iron yoke of an unprincipled, upstart usurper. Nevertheless, it must not be dissembled that the cabinet of Vienna has not of late years displayed BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 36l a political wisdom worthy of the attachment of its people, or the resources of its empire. The weak- ness of Austria has been confessedly only in her government. May her recent severe lessons of misfortune teach her to eradicate the pernicious errors of her administration. The natural resources of Austria are all suffi- cient, if well managed, to ensure her permanent rank among the primary nations of the world j and if her external commerce were more exten- sive, and her system of internal policy towards her own subjects more enlightened, she would be able to stand up alone, aufl single-handed against the whole military force of France, directed by the genius and activity of Bonaparte and his generals. Upon the authority of the late Mr. Fox, and the present Mr. Brougham, two statesmen to whose genius and political information every hom- age of respect is due, I shall state a very few of the lamentable errors of government into which the Austrian monarchy has fallen. "The extent and natural fertility of her domin- ions, particularly of Bohemia, of Gallicia, and above all of Hungary, open to a wise and energetic government, inexhaustible sources of national de- fence and national agrandizement. But these no- ble kingdoms lie almost in a state of nature, unre- claimed from the wilderness and waste. The long and melancholy catalogue of her po- litical blunders which have stopped the growth 3 A 36^2 HINTS (TN THE NATIONAL of her hereditary provinces, would'form a volume, by no means uninstructive to the political econo- mist, who wishes to contemplate the errors of statesmen ; or to the practical politician, who might be warned by the example of his prede- cessors. In some parts of the empire the peasantry are greatly oppressed by their landlords ; in oth- ers they pay too small rent, and consequently through their indolence the land is neglected. Thus in Austria and part of Styria, the feudal ser- vices were commuted for a fixed sum yearly, above thirty years ago ; it was reckoned too small a compensation then; and now it is almost a nom- inal rent. In Hungary, on the other hand, the abolition of villenage has been legally effected by the famous Urbarium of Maria Teresa; but the lords retain in practice, especially in the remoter parts, a most exorbitant power over their vassals. All over the Austrian monarchy, except in Hungary, the S37stem of military enrolment pres- ses very severely upon the people. Every per- son, not noble, or exempted by his office, is liable to serve ; if a person leaves the country and re- turns at any distance of time, he is stopped in his passage through it, and sent to the army, because he had missed his turn of service during his ab- sence. When Joseph the second wished to encour- age settlers in Poland from other parts of Europe, he thought he gave them a great exemption by BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 363 promising the fathers of families and their eldest sons a freedom from military service. The Austrian government not only carries on, upon its own account, a great variety of extensive, (it is needless to add) ruinous speculations in trade and manufactures j but has also some of the most oppressive monopolies of useful or necessary ar- ticles. In the towns a license must be bought to sell almost every article of commerce ; and for entering a new line of business, a high price must be paid. Except in Styria and Gallicia, salt is every where a royal monopoly, and except in Hungary, tobacco is strictly subjected to the same oppressive restriction. The effect of these monopolies on the prosperi- ty of the state, and their trifling utility to the revenue, may be estimated from the price to which they raise the articles in question, and the amount of net income which they yield to the govern- ment. The fossil salt, which forms nine-tenths of the consumption in Hungary, and is yielded in such abundance, that in the neighborhood of the mines it costs but two pence a hundred weight to the government, it is sold in the market for nearly forty times as much, or about six shillings and six-pence. The yearly consumption of this arti- cle in Hungary exceeds a million of hundred weight J yet this oppressive monopoly yields the government no more than two hundred thousand pounds a year. 364 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The effects of the monopoly of tobacco are nearly similar ; but we may judge more accurate- ly of them by remarking, that in Hungary, where the restriction does not exist, the best tobacco is sold ten times cheaper than the vile tobaccos of Austria and Bohemia are in those provinces ; and that when the whole profit of the monopoly was farmed, it yielded only one hundred and fifty thou- sand pounds a year. Tobacco, on the Hungarian frontier, is not seiz- ed ; but the person attempting to bring it into Austria is fined above two hundred times the price of it ; and the search for tobacco is accord- ingly as strict as for diamonds at the mines of the East-Indies. Foreign tobacco may be imported for use on paying sixty per cent, duty, but not for sale. All the manufacture and sale, without exception, is carried on upon royal account. The degree in which Hungary is oppressed by these strange regulations may be estimated from this, that she only exports annually seventy thousand pounds worth of tobacco, all of which goes to the emperor's account. The Austrians use much more of that herb than the French, and yet the total importation of tobacco into France, before the revolution, used to exceed ten times that sum. Hungary indeed, the finest of all the provinces, and sufficient, if well managed, to render Austria the richest country iti Europe, is studiously op- pressed, because its free constitution prevents the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 365 government from laying on arbitrary imposts, and monopolizing all its produce. In revenge, its tobacco is prevented from being exported, except on royal account, under the se- verest penalties. Its excellent wines are oppres- sed with duties, amounting almost to prohibitions, in order to encourage the vapid produce of the Austrian vineyards ; and those duties are exacted even in countries which no Austrian wine ever reached, as in Croatia. Even the grains which cannot bear the expense of carriage to Fiume, if brought round through the other provinces, are loaded with the heaviest duties, and the merchant annoyed with regulations still more vexatious. To conclude this melancholy picture of impo- litic conduct, the same jealousy of the people which delivered up the Tyrol to the enemy last war, still prevails with respect to the peasantry of Carinthia and Styria ; in spite of past experience, in spite even of the success which attended a just confidence in the people of the frontier towards Turkey, who since the earlier times, have been freed from vassalage, and embodied as a feudal militia. Add to these examples of the impolicy which has weakened Austria, the unfortunate confusion that prevails in her finances, partly from bad management of the revenue, partly from an exces- sive issue of paper, and the want of a bank be- yond the control of the government, but chiefly 366 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL from the signal marks of bad faith, which have at different times, and even so late as the year 1805, been given to the public creditor. The discount of the paper, which formed the only currency of Austria, was during peace from twenty-eight to thirty-two per cent, and during war much greater. The credit of the govern- ment suffered extremely from the unfair treatment of the subscribers to the Franckfort loan, in Janu- ary, 1805." *' Austria, therefore, cannot possibly long main- tain her national independence, even if she should outlive her present bloody struggle with France, unless she enter immediately and heartily upon a systematic improvement of her domestic economy; a gradual, but thorough melioration of her politi- cal constitution ; the correction of those evils in her militaty system, which in the last two wars proved so fatal to the best interests of her empire s a change of conduct towards her frontier provinces, which the experience of late years has most em- phatically prescribed ; forwarding the progress of her rich dominions ; her numerous and various population in civilized industry and wealth ; and the confirmation and extension of her foreign al- liances." Nor should the main and efficient cause of the misfortunes of Austria be forgotten ; namely, the great corrupting influence which France exercised over the Aulic Council, and the officers of tlie Aus- trian army. For a melancholy illustration of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 36? these infamous facts, see a book entitled " Les Nouveaux Interests de VEurope^' published at Leipsic, in the year 1799- I have only room for the following extract : " The emperor, (then of Germany, now of Aus- tria) has been blamed for signing the prelimina- ries of Leoben,on the 18th of April, 1798. This certainly appears to have been done precipitately ; but are those who blame him aware of the reasons which induced him to take that step ? The empe- ror had been informed by his brother the Arch' duke Charles, of the bad disposition of a great part of the officers of his army of Italy. He knew that both at Verona and Padua they affected to im- itate the French in their discourse, manners, and sentiments ; they only needed the tri-colored cockade to make the semblance complete. He was aware that they almost invariably ^d'ofm the most critical moment of an action ; whence, in spite of excellent generals, a well appointed staff, and the bravest troops, he was always obliged to retreat. He conceived that he was betrayed by these offi- cers ; for it is well known that Bonaparte, in an unguarded moment, declared that the Austrian army cost him more than his own." 36S ' HINTS ON THE NATIONAL CHAPTER V. But say that Austria is either subdued by force of arms, or cajoled into her destruction by a fraud- ulent peace, and lays herself down in bondage be- neath the iron hoofs of Gallic despotism ; yet Spain still undismayed opposes herself to the arms of Bonaparte. I know that it is the general opinion of the peo- ple of these United States, that the Spaniards will be speedily bent beneath the yoke of France. I shall extract a few sentences relating to this point, from the leading administration- print of the American government, in order to show the polit- ical affections of the democratic party in the Union, and how justly they arrogate to them- selves the merit of being the exclusive chsLxnipions of individual liberty and of national indepen- dence. " Citizens of the United States, free and inde- pendent, virtuous and enlightened republicans, be not deceived ; listen not to accounts from Eng- land, the grand arsenal in which lies are forged for universal diffusion over the whole earth, re- specting Spain : the cowardly Spaniards are bribed by that whore of Babylon, England, who has made all the nations of the world drunk with her abom- inations, her fasts, her blasphemies, her murders, her piracies, her impieties, her cowardly monopo- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 369 lies; the ha.'!e,fj'aiidtdent Spaniards, I say, are bri- bed by En2:land to resist the laivful domination of the mighty Napoleon, whose whole life and actions have been directed to ameliorate the condition of suffering humanity, to break the fetters of feudal despotism, and to enable the natural energies of man once more to walk abroad,- and to render perfect in happiness the whole federal common- wealth of nations. " But the vagabond banditti, Spaniards, corrupt- ed by the gold and the false promises of Britain, resist in vain ; Napoleon by the chastening correc- tive of war will soon subdue the whole peninsula, and purify its every corner by the presence of his numerous and invincible legions. Then will he quickly turn upon the British Isles, and with one irresistible invasion annihilate their existence for ever, and scatter all their inhabitants as outcasts and vagabonds, in the room of the Jews, who have been too long persecuted, but whom Bonaparte is now collecting together from all quarters of the globe, in order to give them a place and a nation in Britain, which is now destined to immediate and richly merited vengeance and extermination. " Is there an /io/ze^-Memocrat — is there one real, genuine, pure republican, whose bosom does not beat high with exultation at the unparalleled sucr cesses of France, and the approaching inevitable destruction of the whole British nation. Is there," &c. &c. ' 3 B Sf7() HINTS ON THE NATIONAL This subject also is of sufficient importance to de- mand our serious attention. In the 13th volume of the Edinburgh Review p. 218, a most decided opinion is given that Spain will undoubtedly be sub- dued by Bonaparte. " In an earlier age of European history, says the gentleman who reviews the narrative of Don Pedro Cevallos, it might have been worth while to chroni- cle the steps of this most profligate usurpation ; and to note the shameful alternations of flattering pro- mises, and ambiguous menaces ^ of bare- faced and unblushing falsehood, and open ferocious violence, by which this bold, cunning, and unrelenting con- queror accomplished the first part of his ambitious project. Like the lion-hunters of old, he drew his victims on in tl^e course which he had prepared for them, by cajoling and by irritation; by soothing, their appe- tites and exciting their spirits, till at last, by trick, and by open violence, the royal beasts were driven into his toils, and placed completely at the disposal of their stern and artful pursuer. These things however are now familiar, and it is among the most melancholy and depressing of the reflections suggested by the tale before us, that it has revealed nothing which all its readers were not prepared to an- ticipate : and that atrocious as it is, it harmonizes exactly with the rest of the policy, by Vi^hich Bona- parte has for some time governed Europe, We turn gladly from this scene of imperial rob- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 371 bery, royal weakness, and ministerial perfidy, to con- template, though with a fearful and unassured eye, the animating spectacle of that popular and patriot- ic struggle for independence, which the Spaniards have so unexpectedly and so gloriously displayed. In treating of the affairs of Spain in our last num- ber, we found ourselves obliged to express an opin- ion respecting the probable issue of the contest, far less sanguine than that with which the bulk of the people in Britain have been flattering themselves ; and it is painful now to add, that we can ae yet dis- cover no good reason for changing that opinion. The glorious efforts of the Spaniards have indeed in more instances than could be expected, obtained the success which their zeal and valor so amply mer- ited. The surrender of Dupont's army ; the gen- eral retreat of the enemy towards the Pyrenees, and the flight of Joseph from Madrid, have induced al- most every one to view the struggle as already deci- ded in favor of Spain, But let us reflect what the army is which the Spaniards have repulsed, in order to find out if they have as yet come to close quarters with Bo- naparte. That consummate statesman appears for once to have erred in his calculation, when he expected to take possession of Spain by the mere force of a treaty. Unaccustomed to meet with any resistance on the part of the people, he thought that his business was completed, as soon as he had gotten the royal family into his power. S72 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL He thought he had made sure of his purchase, when he had made them execute the deed of con- veyance, and only sent such a force as might be necessary to take quiet possession. When this force however arrived in Spain, it appeared that the whole work remained to be done ; and the army which was sent to keep, soon found that they had yet to fight for the crown. This is the only French force which has hitherto been engaged with the patriots. The whole force of Spain has been opposed, not to an army sent by France to conquer her, but to a detachment sent for a perfectly different purpose — to do the mere parade duty of the new monarchy. That this was a large detachment we do not deny, and still less would we dispute the claims of those who conquered it to their own immortal renown. We only contend that it was not the army with which France intended to subdue Spain. The Spaniards have not yet tried their strength against their formidable adversary. They have attacked him unawares, and beaten him by sur- prise. He has not even girded himself for the fight, and they have only overpowered him un- armed. He will rally, and renew the combat. The whole battle is still to begin. We have seen in reality nothing of it. Army after army will be poured through the Pyrenees, and ail Spain must become a field of blood. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 373 The zeal of the Spaniards has now to withstand the skill of the French captains, and the discipline of their veteran soldiers. The councils of the dif- ferent kingdoms of which the Spanish monarchy is composed, are matched against the vigor and unity of a single, practised, absolute, remorseless man. The enthusiasm of the patriots has to con- tend against the regular, habitual, animal courage of professional soldiers; and the question is, which of these two feelings is likely to prevail in the long run ; to bear up against difficulties and pri- vations, to survive disasters, and to endure the inactivity of protracted operations ? Such is the contest which is now beginning in Spain J and such are the grounds of our melaa- choly forebodings, that it will lead to the subjuga- tion of the most gallant people in the world." It is with the most unfeigned diffidence, that, only furnished with the very scanty information respecting Europe, which tardily and uncertainly finds its way to this remote country, I venture to dissent from the opinion of the Edinburgh Review- ers, whose whole writings on the great subjects of national policy show, that they generally arrive at a correct and comprehensive result by a careful and accurate induction from a vast variety of par- ticular facts. Nevertheless, I shall beg the indulgence of the reader while I offer a few observations as to the probable issue of the present contest between 374 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL France and Spain terminating ultimately in favor of the Spaniards. All the records of human history bear witness to the utter impossibility of subduing a zvhole, un- divided people, that sets itself in determined, des- perate resistance to the outrages of a foreign in- vading army. Many governments have fallen, and many governments may again perish, under the sword of a usurper ; but there is not one sin- gle instance in all the annals of mankind, of a whole numerous people or nation, fighting in de- fence of their wives, children, houses, liberty, and independence, being subjugated by a foreign foe. In vain did the Persian monarchs assail with their whole force the petty democracies of ancient Greece ; in vain was the whole power of the Aus- trian empire exerted to crush the little republics of Switzerland ; in vain did the Spanish monarchy, in the best days of its power and grandeur, at- tempt to reduce to obedience the stubborn states of Holland ; and alike ineffectual were the at- tempts of Spain to subdue the narrow territory and the scanty population of revolted Portugal. And what is more to our present purpose, the Spaniards themselves, in their rude, divided, bar- barous state, resisted the whole military force of Rome for more than half a century after Carthage fell ; and will not Spain now, in her present uni- ted, compacted state, with her whole people devo- ted to her, with her immense colonies pouring their BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 375 boundless wealth into her lap, and with another and a greater Carthage, in Britain, to aid her with fleets, and armies, and ammunition, and provisions, and every thing which can contribute to her effec- tual defence and the annoyance of the enemy ; be able to cope with France, who possesses neither the steady desperate valor, nor the power, nor the resources, nor the full and undisputed dominion of the Roman republic in the zenith of its grandeur ? In the years 204 — 1 96', before Christ, the Roman armies, together with their generals Cneius and Publius Scipio, were cut to pieces by the Span- iards, to the north of the Iberus, on the frontiers of the Suessetani. In the years 195 — 192, Scipio Africanus, partly by valor, and partly by policy in dividing the unioji of the states of Spain, and gaining the Celtiberians over to the Roman stan- dard, succeeded in subduing the bold and ardent Lacetani, the inhabitants of the present province of Catalonia, after many bloody and obstinate conflicts. When the republic of Carthage had fallen be- neath the superior valor, and the more crafty poli- cy of Rome, the peninsula of Spain still dared, with its various discordant and barbarous tribes, to maintain an unequal contest against the whole, united, well-disciplined military force of the Ro- man government. It cannot be expected that I should enter minutely into the history of the con- test between Roman fraud and oppression on the 376 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL one hand, and Spanish valor and magnanimity on the other. The seige of Numantia, however, in the years 142 — 7d A. C. a period of sixty-six years, deserves commemoration in order to show what desperate and determined valor can perform, even against the most numerous and best disciplined armies. Consult " The History of Spain," &c. in three volumes octavo, published in London, in 1793, from which the following account is taken. " The city of Numantia stood near the source of the Duero, a little above the situation of the present city of Soria. Her youth sallied from the gates, and repulsed in open fight the disciplined valor of a numerous Roman army. On the ap- proach of Quintius Pompeius, at the head of thir- ty thousand veterans, they rejected with scorn the terms of submission offered to them, namely, that they should be deprived of their arms and fortifi- cations, and pay a heavy contribution in money. They therefore rushed out upon their far more numerous opponents, and, after an obstinate con- test, vanquished Pompey ihto accepting a treaty favorable to the Numantians ; which the Roman senate, with its accustomed fraud, and disregard of the most solemn obligations, refused to ratify ; and without restoring the hostages or refunding the money, which had been given on the faith of Pom- pey's oath, instantly ordered the seige of Numan- tia to be renewed. The Numantians beheld from their walls the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 377 approach of the Roman army under Popilius Loe- nas, and disdaining the advantages of their ram- parts and situation, rushed forth to an open en- countre. Their valor vi^as successful ; and the remnant of the Roman army, that escaped the fury ofthe Spaniards, preserved during the remainder of the campaign an awful distance. The next spring the Roman eagles again ap- peared beneath the walls of Numantia, whose in- habitants again sallied forth against the enemy. Twenty thousand Romans were slaughtered by four thousand Numantians, and the consul Hos- tilius Mancinus, with his wretched fugitives from the field of battle, were surrounded by the victors on every side. They were preserved from famine- or the sword by a treaty, which was ratified by the most solemn oaths of Mancinus and his principal officers. This treaty was violated by the Roman senate with the same facility as that which had been sub- scribed by Pompey. Yet the senate affected to dis- guise its breach of faith under the appearance of rigid justice, and delivered Mancinus in chains to the Numantians, who with their wonted magna- nimity rejected the proffered victim, saying, " it is not the sacrifice of a private man which can atone for a breach of the public faith." . The Roman historians state that the Numan- tians capable of bearing arms did not exceed ten thousand. Yet Scipio, the second Africanus, who 3 c 378 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL was now appointed to lead the flower of the Ro- man legions against Numentia, although he was at the head of sixty thousand soldiers, dared not approach the walls of the city ; but suffered a whole year to elapse in restoring and confirming the discipline of his men, before he ventured to advance to the siege. His march was retarded by the attacks of the Nnmantians, whose impetuous valor, however, was obliged to yield to the steady courage and the superior numbers of the Romans. When up- braided by their countrymen for having fled be- fore those whom they had so often vanquished, they replied, " The Romans are indeed the same sheep, but they have got a different shepherd." The Numantians saw their fields laid waste by the invaders ; and their last retreat within the walls was followed by the close blockade of their devoted city. The walls of Numantia, which rose on a lofty hill, were three miles in circumfer- ence, and manned hyfour thousand brave and vig- orous citizens. The intolerant spirit of Rome demanded the surrender of their arms, their city> and their persons, to be disposed of at the discre- tion of the senate ; and the Numantians preferred an honorable death to a life of slavery. They sallied from their walls and defied the host of their besiegers to battle. But the pru- dence of Scipio restrained his soldiers within their lines, and the Numantians, as they returned, look- BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 379 ed forward to a lingering fate by famine. One hope remained ;- — to rouse in their defence the martial tribes of Spain. Five aged warriors, each attended by his son, undertook to penetrate the works of the besiegers ; they pierced the Roman lines ; hewed down the guard that opposed them j and escaped before the Numidian horse could be assembled for pursuit. But of all the numerous and powerful states of Spain, only one city, Lutia, agreed to arm for the relief of Numantia. But before their youth could buckle on their armor, they were surpri- sed by the appearance of Scipio at their gates. The Roman general had been apprised of their design, and with a select detachment had pressed forward to surprise the city. Lutia was incapa- ble of resistance ; and four hundred of her noblest youths were the miserable victims of Scipio's im- placable cruelty. Their right hands were lopped from them ; and their mutilated appearance warned the neighboring disunited provinces of the danger of provoking the vengeance of Rome. The Numantians hourly saw their scanty stock of provisions diminish, and the number of their enemies increase by fresh reinforcements to the Roman camp. A deputation, issuing from their gates, solicited Scipio to receive their submission on honorable terms j or allow them to fall glori- ously in battle with his soldiers. Scipio replied, that they must surrender at discretion. 380 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The Numantians then, sword in hand, sallied forth on their oppressors, and gratified their des- pair by an extensive carnage of their enemies. Their strength was exhausted by the unequal con- flict, but their valor could not be subdued ; and they who were driven back into the city, set fire to their houses, and with their wives and families rushed on destruction. Fifty alone were with difficulty ravished from the flames to adorn the brutal triumph of the victor ; and Numantia alone, unaided, after defying the whole military power of Rome ioY fourteen years , was confoun- ded in a heap of ashes by the indignant and un- conquerable courage of her inhabitants. And if we examine the history of the present contest between Spain and France, so far as it has hitherto advanced, we shall find that the valor of the Spaniards now, is in no wise inferior to the courage displayed by their ancestors in op- posing the Romans. The determined intrepidity of the defenders of Saragossa, and of Gerona, against the attacks of the French, equals the prowess of those heroes who so often repulsed the Roman legions before the walls of Numantia. The Spanish generals also have distinguished themselves by the disj)Iay of military talents wor- thy of the devoted valor of their soldiers ; and the exploits of Palafox,of Blake, of Cuesta, of Vane- gas, and of Romana, in Arragon, in Catalonia, in Estremadura, in Leon, in Gallicia, and the Astu- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 381 rias, have taught the experienced captains and the veteran troops of France to respect and to fear the impetuous courage of their enemy. Of the lofty spirit, the steady constancy, the comprehensive wisdom of the Spanish Junta, but little can be said. At the moment of Bonaparte's atrocious invasion of Spain, the whole country lay supine upon the verge of unanticipated des- truction ; and enveloped in that weak and defence- less state, which an entire century of feeble and corrupt government under the Bourbons had be- gun, continued, and consummated. The different provinces were unconnected by any common bond. The whole royal family, to- gether with the larger portion of the grandees and nobles of Spain were already the prisoners or the slaves of Bonaparte. In this moment of surprise, alarm, confusion, terror, ignorance, and anxiety, Murat, with a hundred thousand of Bona- parte's best troops, already spread over the coun- try, and in possesion of all the commanding for- tresses and passes, prepared to take possession of the Spanish monarchy for his master ; while Ju- not, with forty thousand French veterans, march- ed into Portugal to secure that kingdom also, as a lief of the Corsican dynasty. Yet under all these disadvantageous circumstan- ces, and in spite of the supineness of the Juntas, the enthusiastic valor of the Spanish people en- tirely vanquished the numerous, well-appointed. 382 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL higiily-disciplined armies of France. Of all the hordes of French troops that liad followed Murat over the Pyrenees, by far the greater portion was slain by the Spaniards ; many were taken prison- ers, and the remaining few fled precipitately towards the French frontier. At length Bonaparte, sensible of the determined spirit of resistance which pervaded Spain, put the whole military force of his immense empire in ar- ray against the Spanish patriots. On this second invasion he carried with him, says his own official paper, the Moniteur, '^^ four hundred and eighty thousand soldiers." If he did, the question naturally arises, as to what he has done with this formidable force ? Why has he not subdued al) Spain long ere this ? A few misguided rebels and insurgents, as he calls them, could surely never oppose any successful resis- tance against half a million of the best troops in the world, commanded by the greatest generals in the universe, with Bonaparte at their head. But, say the democrats, Spain would have been conquered long since, if Bonaparte had not thought it more expedient first to annihilate the Austrian empire, and then return to crush the whole Spanish peninsula at one blow ; after which " in less than three months," (I quote their own words) " Britain will be subdued into a province of France." Now Bonaparte's Moniteur says, that he only BANKKUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 38S withdrew o?ie hundred thousand men from Spain, in order to annihilate the Austrian empire, in con- cert with his German armies, and his vassal princes of the Confederation of the Rhine. If then the Moniteur is to be believed, he left three hundred and eighty thousand French troops under the com- mand of some of his very best generals, namely, Augereau, Soult, Ney, Victor, and others, in Spain. And what have these great commanders at the head of their numerous and invincible legions done ? Accounts of so late a date as the beginning of September, 1809, have reached this country, and inform us, that Soult and all his army are driven out of Portugal ; that Ney and his troops have been compelled to evacuate Gallicia, and the Asturias ; that Augereau is daily losing ground in Arragon and Catalonia; that Victor and all his forces have been obliged to abandon Estremadura, and have been defeated at Talavera, on the bor- ders of the Alberche ; and that all the French soldiers now in Spain are reduced to one hundred and fifty thousand fighting men. If all this has been accomplished in fourteen months, reckoning from June 1808 to August 1809, by the Spaniards against sucii fearful odds, what result might we not expect in future when the dis- parity between the contending powers shall be so much lessened ? Spain, in the midst of all the weakness and confusion necessarily attendant up- on the formation of a provisional government, has 384 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL successfully opposed an unarmed peasantry, and a rude, undisciplined militia, against almost in- credible numbers of French veteran troops, in the highest state of military discipline, and command- ed by the most able and experienced generals. The rugged natureof the Spanish territory also, full of mountains, narrow passes, deep defiles, and unfordable rivers not supplied with bridges, and above all, its being very scantily provisioned, partly from the great driness of the soil, and more especially from the very low and. miserable condi- tion of agriculture, throw serious and almost in- superable obstacles in the way of an invading army. And now, after more than twelve months con- sumed in contending with so formidable an ene- my, the Spaniards have had time and opportunity to learn the necessity and advantage of strict mili- tary discipline ; to organize their armies ; to wield the resources of the country with the greatest ef- fect for their own defence, and the annoyance of their enemy. And accordingly Spain has now numerous and well-appointed regular armies on foot, under some very distinguished generals, as Blake, Romana^ Cuesta, and Vanegas; and a conclusive proof that the state of discipline among the Spanish troops is highly improved, was shewn in Vanegas lately re- pulsing the attacks of a superior French force un- der Victor, for two successive days of hard and BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 385 bloody fighting, and then falling back to the Sierra Morena, with his troops in such good order that Victor did not venture to molest him in his retreat. More than two hundred thousand Frenchmen have laid their bones in Spain since the beginning of the conflict between the two nations ; and the Spaniards are far better able now to contend with their enemy than ever they were, on account of the present more efficient organization of the re- sources of the whole Spanish monarchy, to direct their population, their valor, their wealth and their talents in one stream of decided violence and op- position against France ; who with all her gascon- ading about " the inexhaustible number of her people that burn with ardor to cover themselves with glory on the other side of the Pyrenees," ca?i- not afford to lose another half million of men in arms, in contending for the possession of the pe- ninsula: the cW2^cn/?i'zb7z system having (as we shall hereafter prove) very materially diminished the effective population, not only of France, but also of Holland and Italy. It indeed appears to be a hopeless attempt for Bonaparte to subdue Spain ; over-run it with his armies doubtless he may; but to subjugate the Spaniards is quite a distinct, and a much more dif- ficult affair. The Spanish mode of warfare too, is peculiarly calculated to wear out and destroy the invaders, and ultimately to save their own country. They do not stake the whole of their fortunes up- 3 D 386 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL on the single cast of a decisive battle with a nu- merous -avmy opposed to the veteran troops of France ; but cut otF every individual that straggles from the enemy's camp ; so that the French in fact will never be masters of a larger portion of the country than the immediate spots of ground which their armies occupy. Bonaparte himself seems to be aware of the im- probability, not to say impossibility, of bending Spain in submission to his yoke ; otherwise he must be an idiot to /«?/ zvaste and desolate a country which he expects to govern, and from whose re- sources of industrj^ population, and fruits of the soil alone, he can derive any accession of power and strength. The Requisition of a wilderness, without inhabitants, and without produce, will not carry him one step the nearer to the accomplish- ment of his great objects, the subjugation of Bri- tain, and thence, in course, of the whole world ; but he will be so much less able to effect this pur^ pose by all the blood and treasure which he ex- pends in exterminating the Spaniards, and redu- cing their country to a desert. Spain is already so devastated by the French, that not even refreshments can be found for a traveller within a hundred miles of Madrid, and Bonaparte's army itself subsists entirely on provisions and for- age brought all the way from France. In all the Spanish provinces which the French have over- run, they have destroyed every species of animal BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 587 and vegetable food that they themselves could not consume. On quitting a country, after robbing the houses and cottages, they uniformly set fire to the wheat fields, olive groves, and vines; and all the flocks of Merino sheep, on which they can seize, they either kill or send out of the kingdom. AVhence it would appear that Bonaparte, actuated by the most fiend-like disposition, is determined at least to reduce the peninsula to a mere barren waste, if he cannot conquer it, and also take pos- session of the invaluable and boundless colonies of Spain. Are we not therefore justified in concluding that if the Spaniards be true to themselves, and heartily united in their efforts against the common enemy, they will ultimately defeat all the attempts of the Corsican tyrant to enslave them ; and be enabled to re-assert their national independence and gran- deur? Besides, nations, like individuals, become great and powerful in proportion as they are exercised by trials and difliculties. Adversity, as some French writer observes, is a crucible in which powerful minds are refined and strengthened ; but in which the spirit of ordinary characters is evapo- rated, and merely a caput mortuurn is left behind. Now occasional war is to a nation possessing considerable resources in itself, what adversity is to a valiant and v.iyielding individual. It calls forth and presses into action, all their means and 388 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL energies ; it makes the slothful active ; the ignorant wise J the timid brave ; and develops all that ex- alted genius and spirited enterprise which are too apt to lie dormant in the time of peace. Contrast the inefficiency and want of all influence among the other nations of that over-grown empire of China, whose perpetuity of pacific policy renders a population of three hundred millions of human be- ings feebler than children in all the pursuits of intel- lect and of active courage, with the power and ener- gy of ancient Rome, whose chief occupation was war. Compare the power of France now in 1809, after a lapse of twenty years, spent in carrying on and in preparing for the most bloody and wide-wasting wars, with its power in the year 1789, under the sleepy government of the Bourbons. And Britain is at this moment, positively and relatively, far more powerful, in the spirit and enterprise of her people, and in the extent and permanency of her national resources, than she was in the year 1793, when she first entered upon the conflict with the revolutionary France. Spain has been enfeebled by the long continuance of a government badly administered, and of bon- dage to the views and politics of France. She re- quires time, and difficulty, and suffering, to call forth and to mature that energy and loftiness of char- acter which will enable her to re-assume her an- cient power and strength. A long and a terrible BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 389 contest, in which much evil must be inflicted and suffered, on her own soil, with an enemy so powerful, so implacable, so perfidious, as France, will give lier an opportunity of calling into action her great poli- tical and military talents; of training and disciplin- ing avast body of effective soldiers; of diffusing intelligence over the great mass of her people, hi- therto shrouded in the deepest midnight of igno- rance and superstition; of restraining the undue and exorbitant power of the crown ; of restoring the nobility to their just influence in the community; of giving to the people a proper portion of political consequence, and a legitimate share of authority in electing their own representatives. If the contest with France be prolonged for some years, Spain might probably become one of the most powerful nations in the world ; in consequence of being obli- ged by the very necessity of her condition to use her internal resources of agriculture, her vast maritime capacities, and the boundless wealth of her colonies, in the promotion of her own national aggrandize- ment, and the prosperity of her people. It might appear presumptuous in one who must necessarily from his remote situation be entirely un- acquainted with the actual relation now subsisting between Britain and Spain, to offer an opinion in direct contradiction to the steps which the British Government is taking in regard to the present con- test between the Spaniards and French ; yet it ap- pears to me not quite consistent with sound policy to send an army from England into the peninsula. d90 HINTS ON THE NATIONAt For, in the first place, Spain is a very badly pro- visioned country, and British soldiers sent there must suffer more from famine than from the enemy. Sec ondly, people who speak different languages, never can cordially agree with each other. It is re- marked by M. Talleyrand in his " Memoir concern- ing the commercial relations of the United States with England," that an insurmountable barrier is raised up between people of a different language, who cannot utter a word without recollecting that they do not belong to the same country 5 betwixt w horn every transmission of thought is an irksome labor, and not an enjoyment ; who never come to under- stand each other thoroughly; and with whom the result of conversation, after the fatigue of unavailing efforts, is to find themselves mutually ridiculous." Thirdly, and above all, the two nations professing a different religion is the most insuperable obstacle to their joint and cordial co-operation. The Span- iards and Portuguese are perhaps the most bigoted of all people on earth to the most intolerant of all superstitions ; and would therefore have no objection to see all the British hei-etics in their country des- troyed by sword and famine. It is a remarkable fact, that after the great earthquake at Lisbon, in the year 1759, the Portuguese received the bounti- ful supply of all necessaries and comforts, which were sent to them by the munificence of the British Parliament and the private subscriptions of the Bri- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 391 tish people, and immediately turned round, and cursed their preservers as heretics. Accordingly, as far as facts have come to our knowledge, the Spaniards never have willingly and heartily co- operated with the British armies that have gone into the peninsula, to fight for them. Witness Sir John Moore's last letter in which he complains bitterly of the coldness and neglect of the Spaniards, in not furnishing him with provisions, and never joining him with their troops, but leaving him with only five and twenty thousand Britons to fight before the walls of Corunna with seventy-thou- sand Frenchmen, over whom indeed he obtained a signal victory. Witness, also, how twenty-thousand of the British were suffered to contend alone at Talavera, with fifty thousand Frenchmen under Victor, whom how. ever they compelled to retreat across the Alberche ; but both Vanegas and Cuesta paid no regard to the orders or the situation of Sir Arthur Wellesley, whose army was suffered to he four days without any food. Would it not therefore be more advisable to let the Spaniards contend alone in battle with the French on their own soil, and the British employ their ar- mies and fleets in perpetually harassing the enemy's coasts, and compelling them to consume their troops in marching and rounter-marching j and to capture the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, of the Ragu- san republic, and every oMier island, that might serve as a depot of troops and ammunition, ready to act offensively at a moment's warning ? 392 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL In the mean time every assistance might and ought to be given to the Spaniards in the articles of ammunition, clothing, provisions, or whatever may be necessary, in their present perilous condition. The small extent and scanty population of Portu- gal must determine the fate of that kingdom accor- ding to the destiny of Spain j as it would be impos- sible for the British to defend that little nook of land, if all the rest of the peninsula were in the hands of the French. For this assertion I have the authority of the late Sir John Moore, who in a letter to Lord Castlereagh, dated Salamanca, 25th Nov. 1808, says, " The frontier of Portugal is not defensible against a superior force. It is an open frontier, all equally rugged, but all equally to be penetrated. If the French succeed in Spain, it will be vain to attempt to resist them in Portugal, The Portuguese are with- out a military force ; and from the experience of their conduct under Sir Arthur Wellesley, no depen dance is to be placed on any aid ihey can give. The British must in that event immediately take steps to evacuate that country. Lisbon is the only port, and therefore the only place whence the army with its stores can embark. Elvas, and Almeida are the only fortresses on the frontier. The first is, I am told, a respectable work, Almeida is defective : and could not hold out bevond ten days agahist a regular attack. I have ordered a depot of provisions for a short consumption to be formed there, in case the army should be obliged to fall back. Perhaps the same should be done at El- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &€. 39S vas. In this ca^e we might check the progress of the enemy, whilst the stores were embarking, and arrangements were made for taking off the army. Beyond this the defence of Lisbon or of Portugal should not be thought of" If the Spaniards were left to fight their own bat- tles, Bonaparte could not very easily conquer a country so rugged and moutainous, so full of defiles, and dangerous passes, and so resolutely defended by its hardy and desperate inhabitants. And if he should nominally subdue it, it v\ould be very difficult in a region so badly provisioned, to maintain an ar- my sufficiently numerous to keep do\A n tiie insurgent spirit of a people to whom France and Frenchmen are objects of the most deadly hatred. For a succinct and interesting account of the des- picable fraud and murderous violence, bv which Bo- naparte conducted his plans for the usurpation of Spain, consult the " Manifesto of the Spanish Na- tion to Europe, dated at the royal palace of Alca- zar, Seville, January 1st. 1808." If Spain should ultimately succeed in baffling the attempts of the usurper, the benefits resulting to herself, to Europe, and to the world would be incal- culable. It would permanently weaken the over- grown power of France; would erect the Spaniards into a great and prosperous people; would give to Britain a main ascendency in the councils of Eu- rope ; would augment the aggregate of productive industry and commercial enterprise throughout the whole world. 3e 394 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The cause of civil liberty also would be most ma- terially promoted, since it is impossible for the Span- ish people, if they succeed in their present glorious efforts, tamely to submit as heretofore to the feeVjle, corrupted, despotic government of a king that ran away from them into the arms of Bonaparte, of the •whole herd of courtiers and grandees who have basely joined the usurper's standard. In all probability the absolute power of the crown would be restrained by the influence of popular re- presentation, and the Cortes restored to those an- cient privileges which prevailed in the better times of the Peninsula; before the solid principles of liber- ty, originally interwoven in the constitution of Spain, and assisted by the spirit of the people, were corrupted and over-come by the vast influence of the ^Executive, which at length swept away ail the natu- ral and civil rights of the Spaniards. But say that Spain is finally conquered; does it therefore follow that the whole world is necessarily laid low at the tyrant's feet ? — A conclusive answer to this question may be found in the 13th vol. of the Edinburgh Review, p. 225. " It is manifest that the force of the example of Spain must reach over the other states of the Euro- pean continent. Admitting that no farther succes- ses should crown the Sj anish arms, and that Bona- parte should, by overwhelming armies, beat down all opposition to his detestable projects; he has lost much, and must lose more before the struggle be at BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 303 an end. He has learned, and France has been made to recollect, a lesson of which she had of late years lost sight ; namely, the powers of popular en- thusiasim when roused by injustice and oppression. It is n )W to be apprehended that similar acts of oppression wdl be met with somewhat of the same re- si>>tance wherever they are attempted. There may BOW be other enemies to beat besides drill sergeants and imperial guards, before armies can march over the countries of unufFending allies. The feeling of power has been communicated to the people in every part of Europe ; and any such shameless aggressions as those which first roused up this feeling in Spain, will in all likelihood, give rise to revolutionary move- ments elsewhere. It can scarcely be expected that while things re- main quiet the Germans w.ll change their govern- ment^ but it is no small improvement of their con- diti^m that the enemy should have reason to dread an intestine revolution, the most formidable antago- nist with which he has ever met, as often as he at- tempts to shake by any extraordinary efforts of usur- pation the existing order of things. Nor will the Spaniards themselves fail to reap the fru ts of their valor and patriotism, however sorely they may be discomfited in their present struggle. That Bonaparte will ultimately suc< eed we appre- hend is hii^hly probable; that he will succeed with- out great efforts and losses is absolutely impossible ; and no one caa be frantic enough to suppose,, thafc 396 - HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the utmost success of his arms can subdue the people of Spain into a nation of willing and peaceful slaves. This he knows as well as we do, and will nut only offer them good terms, after the tide of fortune has begun to turn in his favor, but will finally grant them such a capitulation as their gallant resistance at once deserves, and renders it absolutely necessary for the conqueror to allow. He will rule Spain with a very light rod, if ever he rules her at all ; because he knows that there is no other chance of ruling her long. We ascribe here nothing to his virtue ; we only give him credit for some of that prudence, which never forsook him before the march into Spain ; and of which there is too much reason to dread, he has long ere now regained possession." To this last position I am inclined to demur, and to doubt the probability of Bonaparte's ever ruling the Spaniards lightly ; because the whole of his con- duct hitherto, and all the habitual tendencies of his jealous and remorseless heart, have been uniformly marked by the most unsparing, inflexible cruelty to all those over whom he has exercised dominion. Whence he will be induced rather to aim at the en- tire prostration of Spain, by draining her whole ef- fective strength off in the conscription of all her men capable of bearing arms, than to incur the hazard of a high-spirited, fully peopled nation seizing the first opportunity of throwing off his yoke. But another important question arises as to what BANKRUPTCY OF BRITxVIN, &C» 397 efiect the subjugation of Spain by Bonaparte will have on Britain ? In order to secure the spring-elections of 1 809, in favor of democracy, our democrats issued hand- bills in all the towns and villages of the United States, announcing that Spain was entirely conquer- ed, all the British armies in the peninsula annihilated by Bonaparte, and Britain herself on the point of being reduced under the yoke of France ; and /here- fo^-e all honest republicans should immediately go to the poles and vote for Mr. Jefferson, and his party. It is not my business ?iozv to notice how indus- triously the whole body of democrats in the Uni- ted States seize every opportunity of identifying themselves and their cause with the interests and policy of France ; my only design at present is to inquire by what means Britain will be rendered. less able to contend with France, in consequence of the subjugation of Spain by Bonaparte, than she is at this moment. Before this nefarious attempt was made, Bona- parte had at his entire command all the resour- ces of the Spanish nation ; whose blood and trea- sure, whose fleet and armies, he employed with the utmost prodigality in the prosecution of his plans for the destruction of Britain. Say then that he should ultimately conquer Old Spain, will he not then be weaker and less able to carry into effect his deadly designs against the British ; by all the men whom he shall lose, and all the pro- 398 NIHTS ON THE NATIONAL perty which he shall dissipate in the contest ; by the determined hatred, the reluctant, constrained submission of the gallant Spaniards; and the con- sequent necessity of always maintaining large bo- dies of French troops in the Peninsula, for the sole purpose of keeping his new subjects quiet ? Add to all this, how is he to obtain possession of the Spanish American colonies ? Will he con- quer them also by the mere terror of his threats : or win upon their aifection by his virtue and hu- manity so signally displayed in his conduct to- wards their brethren in Old Spain ? He cannot possibly murder every Spanish patriot that oppo- ses him ; and if it be seen that Old Spain must finally yield awhile to his overwhelming force, the political and military chiefs, with their fami- lies, their property, their talent, their valor, and their influence, together with a formidable Span- ish fleet, will transport themselves to the Ameri- can colonies, which are already prepared to re- ceive them, by their own loyalty, and patriotism in the revolutionary cause, and by the exertions of those governors whom the Central Junta has sojudiciously sent out to superintend the aff'airs of the colonial provinces. Thus an immense independent empire will be reared in the new world, which, while the British navy maintains the sovereignty of the seas, may bid defiance to Bonaparte, and all his hordes. And if he cannot inslave these Spanish colonies. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 399 will not their political and commercial alliance with Britain render her more able to defeat his schemes of universal domination, and to protect the world from his violence and fraud ; instead of bringing her nearer to the point of subjugation by his arms. If Bonaparte, with Spain and her colonies under his own entire control, could make no impression on Britain, by what miraculous process is he to conquer her when he shall have drained the vita\ strength of France in reducing the Peninsula to an unwilling obedience, and the Spanish colonies shall have become a vast independent empire ? Upon the great and very important question relating to the emancipation of Spanish America, a flood of light is poured out in the 13th volume of the "Edinburgh Review," p. 277, 311. The Reviewer discloses a vast body of interesting facts, respecting this subject, that could not be derived from any common source of information ; that could indeed have been obtained only by free and liberal access to Lord Grenviile, and Mr. Wynd- ham, or some other leading statesman, who filled conspicuous offices in Mr. Pitt's administration during the first French revolutionary war ; and to whom alone, many of the transactions, now revealed, could have been imparted, in conse- quence of their political relations and bearings. " The curious and interesting address, in which the inhabitants of South America, are called upon 400 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL by every consideration interesting to man, to take the management of their own affairs into their own hanHs, and to establish a just and beneficent gov- ernment, which may at once ensure their own happiness, and open a liberal intercourse of bene- fits with the rest of the world, was written by a Jesuit, a native of Arequipa in the province of Peru. This extraordinary ecclesiastic, who displays a share of knowledge, of thought, and of liberality, worthy of the most enlightened countries, died in London in the month of February 1798, and left the present tract, in manuscript, together with several other papers, in the hands of the Honor- able Rufus King, at that time Minister in Britain from the United States. It was afterwards print- ed by means of General Miranda, for the purpose of being distributed among his countrymen. The brilliant prospects which seem to be open- ing for man in the new world, and the cloud which still thickens over the fortunes of the old, offer, at the present hour, a subject of contemplation to the thinking part of the British people, than which, excepting the great question of slavery or freedom, one more interesting can scarcely be imagined. After a tremendous struggle, to which the world has seen no parallel, the power of the despot of France now^ extends uncontrolled over almost eve- ry part of the continent of Europe. The hopes BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 401 of the instability of that power, which so long con- tinued to flatter the multitude, vvlio always draw their conclusions, not from reason, but from pres- ent feeling and inclination, have given way to the alarm which a series of tremendous success has irresistibly engendered; and perhaps Britain is on the eve of being placed in the critical situation of near neighbor to a power, which combines against her all the resources of Europe, and cuts her off from an important branch of commercial inter- course. To the period, too, which may elapse before the affairs of Europe assume a condition more favor- able to human nature, the foresight of man can assign no definite boundary. In this new and por- tentous condition of Europe, Britain is called up- on to look more widely around her, and to inquire if in the rest of the world barriers can be found to resist the pressure of the torrent, and resources to supply those, of which the channel is now clo- sed against her ? In taking this important survey, every eye per- haps will ultimately rest upon South-America. A country far surpassing the whole of Europe in ex- tent, and still more in natural fertility, which has been hitherto unfortunately excluded from the be- neficent intercourse of nations, is, after a few pru- dent steps on the part of Britain, ready to open to her the immense resources of her territory j of a population at present great, and likely to increase 3 F 402 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL with most extraordinary celerity, and of a posi- tion unparalleled on the face of the globe for the astonishingcombination of commercial advantages which it unites. From the maturity for some beneficent change, which circumstances and events have for a series of years been working in those magnifi- cent regions, and from the mighty effects which they are capable of yielding for the consolation of afflicted humanity ; it seems as if that Provi- dence, which is continually bringing good out of evil, were about to open a career of happiness in the New World, at the very moment, when by the mysterious and inscrutable laws of its admin- istration, it appears to have decreed a long period of injustice and calamity in the Old. For the mighty benefits to be expected from a just and wise arrangement of the affairs of Span- ish America, we are not left to the results of spec- ulation, clear and unambiguous as they are, we can appeal to experience and to fact. We have the grand experiment of North America before us, which the inhabitants of the South are so am- bitious to imitate. The States of North America were once British colonies, and had always been beneficently administered, until the occurrence of that foolish, fatal blunder about taxing an un- represented people 5 yet has their independence BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 403 been far more profitable to Britain than their sub- jection. What is the result with regard to commerce a- lone ? The very extraordinaryfact that for several years past, before Mr. Jefferson put into practice his grand experiment of annihilating all the trade of the Union, Britain exported more goods of her own growth and manufacture to the United States of America than to the whole of Europe taken together. If such be the benefits resulting from the na- tional prosperity of the United States, how many times greater will be the advantages which must necessarily flow from the prosperity of South America? How many times more extensive is the country which the Spanish Americans pos- sess ? That country, from enjoying a much greater diversity of climate, compared with Eu- rope, than North America, is much more richly provided with those commodities for which Eu- rope presents the most eager demand. Of the soil of South America a great part is much more favorable to cultivation, much more fruitful, and cleared by nations who had made some progress in civilization. Of all the coun- tries in the world. South America possesses the most important advantages in respect to internal navigation ; being intersected in all directions by mighty rivers, which will bear at little cost the produce of her extensive provinces to the ocean. 404 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL If the populatiou of the United States, amount- ing to six millions of souls, afford so extraordi- nary a demand for British commodities, what may no* the population of South America, extending already to no less than sixteen millions, be expec- ted to aflbrd ? It is no doubt true, that the moral and intellectual habits of the people of South America are not so favorable to improve- ment as were those of the North American pop- ulation. Their industry has been cramped ; their minds have been held in ignorance by a bad government; hence they are indolent and super- stitious. But remove the cause, and the effects will cease to follow. So sweet are the fruits of labor, wherever the laborer enjoys them unimpaired, that the motives to it are irresistible ; and his activity may be counted upon with the certainty of a law of nature. The deduction, therefore, is so very small which on this score it will be requisite to make, that a very subordinate proportion of the superior advantages in soil and climate, which the South American enjoys, will suffice to com- pensate the better habits with which the inhabi- tant of the United States commenced his career. In respect to wants, the two countries resem- ble each other. From the immense extent of un- cultivated soil which it will require many ages to occupy, the whole bent of the population will be turned to agriculture ; and it will be their inter- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 405 est and their desire to draw almost the whole of the manufactured goods, which their riches will enable them to consume, from other countries. The country to which the greater part of this prodigious demand will come, is unquestionably Britain. So far beyond all other countries, in respect to manufacturing advantages, does she stand, that were the circumstances of Europe much more likely to encourage industry than un- happily they are, Britain could meet with no rival ; and as she supplies North, so could she supply South America, on terms which would in- fallibly draw to her the greater part of the custom of that immense continent. With this magnificent source of industry and wealth opened to Britain, the channels which Bo- naparte can shut against her scarcely deserve to be named ; since even that of the United States sur- passes them all. With South America then, under a free and beneficent government, though Britain might weep for the calamities heaped upon her brethren of Europe by an insatiable despot, who with the words liberty and good of mankind on his lips, would rivet his chains on the whole human race, and expend all their blood and toil for his own momentary pleasure or caprice ; yet she might laugh the destroyer to scorn, and enjoy a v^^idely-extended, permanent prosperity, which the utmost efforts of his power and rage could never disturb. 406 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL In enumerating the commercial advantages which would assuredly spring from the emancipa- tion of South America, the greatest benefit has not yet been noticed ; the mightiest event, perhaps, in favor of the peaceful intercourse of nations, which the physical circumstances of the globe present to the enterprise of man ; namely, the formation of a navigable passage across the isth- mus of Panama; the junction of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is remarkable that this magnificent underta- king, pregnant with consequences so important to mankind, is not only practicable, but easy. The river Chagre, which falls into the Atlantic at the town of Chagre, about eighteen leagues to the westward of Porto-Bello, is navigable as far as Cruzes, within five leagues of Panama. But though the formation of a canal from this place to Panama, facilitated by the valley through which the present road passes, appears to present no very formidable obstacles, there is still a better expedient. At the distance of about five leagues from the mouth of the Chagre, it receives the river Trinidad, which is navigable to Embarcadero, and from that place to Panama is a distance of about thirty miles, through a level country, with a fine river to supply water for the canal, and no difficul- ty whatever to counteract the noble undertaking. The ground has been surveyed, and the facility of the work completely ascertained. In the next place, safe harbours, at the two extremities of the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 407 canal, are supplied. At the mouth of the Chagre is a fine bay, which received the British seventy- Tour-gun ships, in the year T740, vvhen Captain Knovvles bombarded the castle of St. Lorenzo ; and at the other extremity is the famous harbor of Panama. Nay, there is still aiiother expedient ibr opening the important navigation between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Farther north, is the grand lake of Nicaraguay, which by itself almost extends the navigation from sea to sea. Into the Atlantic ocean it falls by a navigable river, and reaches to within three leagues of the Gulf of Papagayo in the Pcicific. It was the instruction of the king of Spain to the governor of St. John's castle, not to permit any British subject to pass either up or down this lake ; " for if ever the English come to a knowledge of its importance and value, they would soon make themselves masters of this part of the country." We are tempted to dwell for a moment upon the prospects which the accomplishment of this splendid, but not difticult, enterprise, opens to Britain. It is not merely the immense commerce of the western shores of America, extending al- most from pole to pole, that is brought as it were to her dooF; it is not the intrinsically important, though comparatively moderate, branch of British commerce, that of the South-Sea whalers, which will alone undergo a complete revolution, by sa- 408 HINTS ON THE NATIONAI ving the tedious and dangerous voyage round Cape-Horn; but the whole of those immense in- terests which Britain holds deposited in the regions of Asia, become incalculably augmented in value, by obtaining direct access to them across the Pa- cific ocean. It is the same thing as if, by some great revolu- tion of the globe, the eastern possessions of Britain were brought nearer to her. The voyage across the Pacific, the winds both for the eastern and western passage being fair and constant, is so ex- peditious and steady, that the arrival of ships may be calculated upon almost with as much accuracy as that of a mail-coach. An immense traffic would immediately begin to cover the Pacific ocean. All the riches of In- dia and of China, would move towards America. The riches of Europe and America would move towards Asia. Vast depots would be formed at the great commercial towns which would imme- diately arise at the two extremities of the central canal ; the goods would be in a course of per- petual passage from the one depot to the other ; and would be received by the ships as they arri- ved, and thence conveyed to their ultimate desti- nation. Is it too much to hope, that China and Japan themselves, thus brought so much nearer the in- fluence of European civilization, much more con- stantly and powerfully subject to its operation. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 409 ivould not be able to resist the salutary impression, but would soon receive important changes in ideas, arts, manners, and institutions? If so, the most beneficial results might be expected for the whole of Asia; that vast proportion of the earth, which even in its most favored parts, has been in nil ages condemned to semi-barbarism, and the miseries of despotic power. At least, it is certain that South America, which stands so much in need of industrious inhabitants, would receive myriads of laborious Chinese, who already swarm in all parts of the Eastern Archi- pelago, in quest of employment and of food This to South America would be an acquisition of in- credible importance ; and the connection thus formed between the two countries, would still further tend to accelerate the acquisition of en- lightened views and civilized manners in that very barbarous country, China herself. Such are a few of the results reasonably to be expected from a regulation of the affairs of South America. Never, perhaps, was an opportiinily offered to a nation of eflecting so great a chanije in behalf of human kind, as Britain, from a won- derful combination of circumstances, is now called upon by so many motives, to help South America to accomplish. In the year 1790, the scheme of Spanish Ameri- can emancipation was first proposed to the late Mr. Pitt by General Miranda j it met M'ith the 3 G 410 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL most cordial reception from the British minister^ but was soon afterwards laid aside for the present, on account of Britain and Spain coming to a good understanding with each other. In the year 1797, Miranda was met at Paris by deputies and commissioners from Mexico, and the other principal provinces of South America, who had been sent to Europe for the purpose of con- certing with him the measures to be pursued for accomplishing the independence of their country. It was decided accordingly, that Miranda should in their name again repair to England, and make such offers to the British government, as might induce it to lend them the assistance requisite for effecting the great object of their wishes. The instrument which was drawn up, and put into the hand of their representative, as the docu- ment to the British government, of the proposals of the South- Americans, is too remarkable an evidence of the views and plans of the leading members of the South-American communities, not to deserve at the present moment the most serious attention. 1. The first article states, that the Hispano- American colonies having for the most part resol- ved to proclaim their independence, were induced to address themselves to the government of Bri- tain in the confidence she would not refuse them that assistance which Spain herself, in the midst of peace, had extended to the British colonies of America. feANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 4ll 2. The second article stipulates the sum of thir- ty millions sterling:, which South-America would pay ro Britain for the assistance required. 3. The third article states the amount of the British force which was deemed requisite. 4. The words of the fourth article are, '' a defen- sive alliance between England, the Unitqd States of America, and South-America, is so strongly re- commended by the nature of things, by the geo- graphical position of each of the three countries, by the products, industry, wants, manners, and character of the three nations, that it is impossi- ble for this alliance not to be of long continu- ance ; above all, if care be taken to consolidate it by an analogy in the political form of the three governments; that is to say by the enjoyment of civil liberty well understood; nay, we may even say with confidence, that this alliance is the only remaining hope of liberty, so audaciously out- raged by the detestable maxims avowed by the French republic. It is the only means left of forming a balance of power capable of restraining the destructive ambition and desolation of the French system." 5. The fifth article relates to a treaty of com- merce between Britain and South- America. 6. The sixth article stipulates the opening of the navigation between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, by the isthmus of Panama, as well as by the lake 412 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL of Nicaraguay ; and the guarantee of its freedom to the British nation. 7. The seventh article respects the arrange- ment of the commerce between the dilTerent parts of South- America itself, proposed to be left on its present footing, till the assemblage of deputies from the different provinces of the continent can arrange the terms of their union. 8. The eighth article points to some project to be devised, of a connection between the Bank of England and those of Lima and Mexico, for the purposes of mutual support, and of giving England the advantage of that command of the precious rnetals v^^hich the country supplying them might have it in its power to yield. 9 — 10. The ninth and tenth articles relate to the project of alliance between South America and the United States. The principal points are the ceding of the Floridas to the United States j the Missisippi being proposed as the most advi- sable boundary to the two nations -, and the stipu- lation of a small military force from the Anglo- Americans, to aid in the establishment of the pro- posed independence. 11. The eleventh article respecting the Islands, states the plan of resigning all those which belong to the Spaniards, excepting only Cuba ; the pos- session of which is rendered necessary by the sit- uation of the Havannah commanding the passage from the gulf of Mexico. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 4l3 This document is dated at Paris, 22nd Decem- ber, 1797. The proposal transmitted to Mr. Pitt for the return of general Miranda to Britain was acceded to with alacrity ; and the General had a conference with that minister in January following. The proposal was that North America should furnish ten thousand troops ; and the British government agreed to find money and ships. But Mr, Adams, then President of the United States, declined to transmit an immediate answer ; and the measure was in consequence postponed." CHAPTER VI. It is now time to survey the positive and relative condition of the two primary contending powers, France and Britain. The over-grown and formi- dable power of France, is depicted in terms of the most animated eloquence, in " An Inquiry into the state of the nation at the commencement of the present administration ;" p. 34 — 117 — 1-58. This extraordinary pamphlet is reputed to be the joint production of the late Right Honorable Charles Fox, and the present Mr. Brougham ; who certainly cannot be accused of under-rating 414 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the terrible means of destruction which Bona» parte possesses. "View the signal advantages of France over all her enemies in every particular ; a compact and powerful territory, impregnable to attack, and commanding its neighbors from the excel- lence of its offensive positions ; an army enured to war, and to constant victory, an armed people in- toxicated with natural vanity, and the recollection of unparalleled triumphs; a government uniting the vigor of military despotism with the energies of a new dynast}' ; an administration command- ing in its service all the talents of the state ; finan- ces unburdened by the debts of old monarchies, and unfettered by the good faith of wiser rulers ; and finally, a military expedition of vast magni- tude, at every moment prepared, and applicable to any destination which the change of circum- stances might require. The acquisition of the Venetian and Tyrolese territory, with the confirmation of the French power over Switzerland, has completed the do- minion of France over the whole of Italy. From Dalmatia and the confines of Turkey, round to Strasburgh, France has drawn a line of strong possessions, by which she completely hems in Italy ; cuts her off from every communication with the rest of the world; and opens to her the closesl intercourse with herself. Her sway being so absolute here, it is natural BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 415 that she should lose no time in exercising all the rights of sovereignty. Accordingly, she models at pleasure the kingdom of Etruria ; augments Cisalpine ; disposes at will of the Court of Rome ; and dethrones by a common regimental order the royal family of Naples. Thus is the surrender ef Italy more absolute and unconditional, and in a far greater extent, than the courtiers of Charles, of Francis, or of Louis, ever da- red flatter their masters to expect. France has now become sole mistress of that splendid country from the Alps to the straits of Messina. Its position which domineers over the Mediterranean, its mighty resources ; the fruitfulness of the garden of Europe i the bays, and rivers, and harbors, which open to its produce the uttermost ends of the earth ; the forests which variegate its surface, and only break the continuity of culture to augment its powers, by preparing for this favored land the dominion of the sea ; the genius and fire of its numerous people ; the monuments of art; the remains of antiquity; the ground on which the glories of their Roman an- cestors were atchieved ; all are now in the hands of the nation of the world best able to improve them ; to combine them; to make them aid one another; and, after calling them forth, to the incalculable aug- mentation of her former forces, ready to turn them against those, if any such shall remain, who still darf to be her enemies. The other changes of dominion effected by the 4l6 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL treaty of Presburgh ; the Austrian emperor's cession of his possessions in Suabia, and his submission to the further spoliation of tlie German empire ; though important in themselves, and suffi -ient in any former period to alarm all Europe for their conse- quences, sink into insignificance after the entire surrender of Italy. All these changes have only one simple view, the diminution of the Austrian monarchy i its separa- tion from France by a number of petty kingdoms dependant on the French power ; the transfer of the emperor's influence in Germany to his ene- mies ; and his confiement to the politics of the east of Europe ; where also he is closely watched by France and her creatures. Nor does it make any difference upon the relative situation of the powers, that the sacrifices of Austria have been made to aggrandsze the dependants of France, and not France herself. That overgrown empire could not expect to keep together more na- tions and countries than it already counted within its limits. The only feat which the French power- has not attempted, is the conciliation of the various people whom it has conquered j the only difficulties which it has not mastered, are those which natural boundaries present. France therefore finds it more easy to complete the incorporation of Europe by some intermediate process, which may assimilate its heterogeneous parts, and prepare them for a lasting as well as an intimate BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 4l7 union. In the mean time, her sway over the princi- palities and powers, whom she calls mto existence, is absolute and certain ; her influence is hourly gain- ing ground. Should the course of events maintain the nominal separation of these dependant kingdoms, they may at some future period, revolt from her fede- ral empire ; but for years to come, they are as sub- servient to her purposes, as if they had no separate names. The house of Austria is completely humbled j she must receive the law from Paris ; she has sacri- ficed much, but must be prepared to surrender more. Whatever the sacrifice demanded may be, she must make it ; whether treasure, or alliances, or digni- ties, or territory, or, what is worst of all, principles. If the enemy require her to join him in turning against Russia, or sharing the plunder of Germany, or dividing and pillaging the Turk ; she cannot now balance, Agititr de iniperio. France has Italy and the Tyrol; the people of Austria are crushed ; the French are exalted and exulting. What though public stipulations leave to Austria the semblance of a great monarchy ; do we not know that the only extensive or durable conquests have been made gradually; that in treating with a hum- bled enemy the victor only rouses him by exacting too harsh conditions; and that the wisest policy is to take something, and by the present to pave the way for future gains «* The new victories of France ; the actual aggran- 418 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL' ^- tliaerrient of her empire ; the subjectioti of her ene- mies ; and the dread of her invincible arms, have noVIr rivetted the chains of the European continent, Thfe only hope is gone which Holland, and Swit^erlaad, and Italy, and Germany had of once more knowing independence. Henceforth, the object of these un- happy states must be, not to oppose France, but to moderate, if possible^ the violence of her oppressions. Were the Swiss thoroughly united together as one man, and resolved to resist the power of the masters who now surround them on every side, nothing could be expected from their efforts, but new scenes of bloodshed, and an intolerable augmentation of their burdens. While France possesses Savoy and Piedmont, and while Suabia and the Tyrol belong ta her dependants, who exist only during her pleasure, as by her pleasure they were createdj all the exer- tions of the Swiss would be inadequate to prevent them from being overwhelmed long before any al- lies could break through the strong French provin- ces that surround him. The utter despair with which the Dutch are filled of ever seeing the independence of their country re- established, so long as Belgium is in the hands df France, and their conviction that the time is yet far off when any change of affairs may reduce the French power, prevent all inclination as well as ail power of resistance on the part of Holland. The Cisalpine, and the petty states of Germany are still more dependant on France. Their disposi- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 419 ^ion to revolt unhappily signifies nothing. For a long course of years, they must submit in silence, however well inclined to rebel. The petty states by \\ horn France has surrounded herself, as well as the more powerful dominions which she has succeed, ed in subduing, are firmly united to her fortunes j some by their weakness, others by disinclination to exert their strength in a way which they deem hurt- ful to their own interest. . So that from Holland to Switzerland, and from Switzerland to Turkey, France has covered a fron- tier almost every where strong by nature, with de- pendant nations, who are not likely to revolt, and who must always bear the first shock of a war waged against her ; even if they do not actively assist in her offensive operations. If from a view of the dependencies of France, we turn to the contemplation of that prodigious empire itself, we shall find as little to cheer our prospects of the future fate of the European commonwealth. Tlie resources which she draws from Italy, and Ger- many, and Holland, are trivial when compared with the mass of real and rapidly increasing power, by which she has added these states to her dominions. A population of above thirty-two millions ; a revenue of twenty-five millions sterling, in spite of the ruin of her commerce, with a diminution of only three millions and a half for the interest of debt, notwithstanding the wars in which she has been engaged ; a regular army of five hun- 420 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL dred and fifty thousand men, known in almosfc every corner of Europe by the rapidity of their conquests, and commanded by the first generals in the world; a force not less formidable of men whose skill in negociation has completed the victo- ries of her troops ; a spirit the most turbulent and restless, the most impatient of peace and fear- less of war, animating all ranks of her people. All these form together a foundation of military superiority sufficient to alarm more powerful states than any which yet remain in her neigh- borhood. But a change has within these few years taken place in the constitution of the French nation, still more formidable in its natural consequences to the tranquillity and prosperity of Europe than any of those well-known particulars already en- umerated. We allude to the system of military conscription^ by which their forces are now re- cruited, and which has slowly grown up with the revolutionary government, and of late been Carried into complete effect all over the country ; so that it now forms a part of the establishment, likely to mingle itself in a short time with all the views and habits of the people. This conscription affects a// ranks of the com- munity; every man iu France, with a very few ex- ceptions in favor of certain public functionaries, iN a soldier from the age of eighteen to twenty- five, not merely by enrolment, as in Austria and BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 421 Prussia, but in actual service ; whatever be his rank, or his fortune, or his pursuits in life, he must give up every other view, as soon as he reaches his twentieth year, and devote his life for five years to the profession of arms alone. As there are no exemptions, unless in cases of former service, a substitute cannot be procured under an enormous sum ; frequently so high as seven hundred pounds sterling, never lower than four hundred ; and if more than a verv small number required substitutes, it would be altogether impossible to procure them ; so that, in fact, there are scarcely any exceptions to the rule of strict personal service. The rigor of the police, established all over France, renders it quite impossible for any one within the specified years to escape. In every quarter the gendarmerie have authority to ar- rest all the young men whom they can find, and detain them until they can prove themselves to be exempt from conscription. The pay of a French soldier is extremely small 5 but the rich and poor all live together, and the former contribute to improve the common fare. Every one endeavors in the first place to make himself master of the military art, in order to qualify himself for being promoted ; officers are chosen from the ranks without any regard to birth or fortune ; the emulation and interest of the common soldiers are kept up by their chance 4^2 HINTS ON THP NATIONAL ef promotion, and by the voice wjiich they are allowed, to a certain degree, in the choice of their officers. The Imperial Guard, which has many privi- leges, and is composed of persons possessing a certain fortune, constitutes a species of aristocracy of extensive influence in this system. The mili-> tary schools, the only branch of public instruq^ tion which is much attended to, secure the cojit stant supply of the higher branches of the science j and the excellent organization of the Etaf-Major- General^ to which the victories of the French arms are perhaps more owing than to any other improvement in their military affairs, keeps alive during peace the practice of their scientific ac- quirements, while it prepares the most valuable collection of practical information, so essential to the success oi warlike operations. Add to this, that the great offices of the state are all in the hands of military men ; that honors, as well as power and wealth, are almost confined to this favored order ; and that all places of trust, from the command of armies to the management of negociations, are their patrimony. Thus, it is no exaggeration to denominate France a great military empire ; to sa}'- that the govern- ment now calls forth the whole resources of the state, and that every Frenchman is literally a sol- dier. Nothing like this has ever appeared since the early days of the Roman people. The feudal militia BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, hc. 4^5 hfld not the same regularity, the same science and discipline. The insurrection of Hungary, the rising en masse of Switzerland and America, were all confined to particular emergencies. The national guards, and first conscriptions of France herself, which approach nearer to the new order of things, were still inferior to it in system- atic arrangement, and extent of operation j yet by their aid, imperfect as they were in the com- parison, she gained all that she had conquered Up to the year 1803. But her present system is, in truth, a terrible spectacle. The most numerous and ingenious people in the world have abandoned the arts of peace, not for their defence, but after having conquered all the nations around them. They have betaken themselves to a military life as their main pursuit, almost their exclusive occupation ; not from impatience of a long-continued quiet, but at the end of various revolutions, and after a series of the most destructive wars. With a government purely military, a stock of science peculiarly adapted to the same pursuits, and a species of wealth not likely to be immedi- ately ruined by such a change, they have estab- lished a regular system of discipline, which draws every man into the service of the country, and ren- ders the whole surface of the most compact, ex- tensive, and best situated country in Europe, one vast camp, swarming with soldiers. 424 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL At the head of this camp stands one who com- bines the courage of the lion with the craftiness of the fox. Bonaparte is the most false and art- ful of men ; he combines the most subtle mind with the most perfidious heart. He alternately oppresses by open violence ; seduces by secret fraud ; or assassinates in midnight obscurity. His system is to crush the weak, and beguile the powerful ; to frighten the timid, and cajole the brave. The sword is the favorite engine of his government, and is congenial to the turbu- lence of his temper. But he combines in his ad- ministration every species of support to himself, and of danger to his enemies. By the employ- ment of enlightened men like Talleyrand, he makes even philosophy administer her extensive aid to his violence. He has reduced falsehood into a system : and adapts his lies with wonderful sagacity to whatever character he addresses." In the thirteenth volume of the Edinburgh Re- view, p. 427, 462, the conscription s^-stem is amply explained, and fully illustrated; together with such a display of knowledge of the miserable internal condition of France, as could be acquired by very few residents in Britain. I would seriously recom- mend the contemplation of this horror-striking pic- ture of the actual condition of the French, and their tributary allies, to all that vast body of ingenious politicians in these United States, who so constantly furnish us with such information as the following : namely, BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 425 " Bonaparte has abolished the feudal tyranny; he has broken down all aristocracies and monopolies; he has ameliorated the condition of all the nations which he has conquered ; the present situation of atl the allies of France on the continent of Europe, and more particularly of the Freiich themselves, is infinitely better in liberty, wealih, food, clothing, lodginor, and all personal enjoyments and luxuries, than that of the British people, those vile slaves who are ground down to the dust by the despotism of the tyrant George the rhird." &c. &c. After describing with great force and accuracy the contents and bearmgs of the conscription-code itself, the Reviewer glances at its pressure upon the French people and vassal-states ; and concludes, that the victorious career of Botiaparte wdl only be sropped by the speedy and effectual subjugation of the conti- nent o\ Europe. " We have thus, says the Statesman who penned this article, given a brief abstract of the law of the Conscription, collected from the code itself. We shall now proceed to state the nature and effects of the execution, as represented to us by an observer, who with the best opportunities, has witnessed them in almost every part of France, during the progress of three levies. The grand characterestic of the present adminis- tration of France is relentless injiexihility. A host of informers secures the fidelity of the executive of- 3l i|26 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ficers. Cases of the most signal and barbarous ri- gor crowd all the daily gazettes of the empire, and even the journals of Paris ; into which they are com- pulsively and aukwardly thrust, in order that the quickening impulse of fear may be propagated through the entire mass of servitude. In the winter of 1807, a member of the congrega- tion of St. Sulpice, of the name of Fressinoux, under- took to deliver, every Sunday evening, in the church of St. Sulpice, lectures on Christian moral- ity, {La Morale Chretienne). His auditors were numerous, and consisted principally of young men, attracted by a well-merited reputation for elo- quence. After three discourses, he was summon- ed before the police, interrogated concerning his views, and informed that he could not possibly continue, unless he consented to inculcate on his hearers the sacred duty of obedience to the conscrip- tion. The criminal tribunals of France are almost exclusively occupied with one species of delin- quency ; happily unknown to the rest of the world. They entitle it " Escroqiierie en matiere de conscription s" or the extortion of money from persons liable to service under fraudulent promises of procuring them an exemption. A stranger in this great nation is haunted by the spectre of the police ; but the native is attended by another foul fiend still more hideous, and threatening him with more degrading visitations. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 427 A traveller in France frequently meets on the high roads, and particularly in the vicinity of the great cities, twenty or thirty of those miserable beings, de- nominated refractory conscripts, guarded by a body of gendarmerie, and coupled together with a rope attached to a Jiorse's tail, as a badge of disgrace. ' In the Journal de I'Empire, under the Paris head of 21st October 1807, it is stated, that a recent act of amnesty had brought back to their colors two htm- dred and four refractory conscripts, and ninety-two 'deserters, of the department of Orwe; of which de- partment the zvhole contingent amounts only to six hundred and ninety-two , in a levy of sixty-thousand men. In the details of the conscription-system there is a semblance of tenderness towards persons whose si- tuation is apt to rouse those indignant feelings, that insurgent consciousness of right, which undisguised oppression never fails to excite even among the most degraded of human beings. Hypocrisy is the de- fence of fear against just resentment -, and may therefore be well entitled, not only the homage which vice offers to virtue, but also the tribute which despotism pays to liberty. The provisions on the subject of reserve, how- ever, are altogether illusory. The ostensible pur- pose of its creation is to supply possible deficien- cies, and to assist the armies in cases of great emergency. The emergency however has always been found to exist, and the reserve is uniformly 428 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL compelled to inarch. Not only are all the con- scripts of the current thus swept away, but those of the preceding years, who have obtained a charter of exemption under the conditions pre- scribed by law, are also dragged into the tield by a decree of the military chief of their depart- ment. Another flagrant breach of law, if any enormity can be so called, which is committed not only with impunity, but under the sanction of public authority, must not be omitted. In the first tu- mults of the revolution, the parochial registers, at no period very accurately kept, were almost whol- ly neglected. As therefore no official document can be produced for youths between seventeen and twenty, the recruiting officers, within the two last years, have taken advantage of this circum- stance to include in the conscription numbers, whose appearance corroborated their assertion, that they were beyond the age, (namely, twenty- five) and whose remonstrances were rendered un- availing by their condition in hfe. The most formidable, however, of all the evils extraneous to the conscription-code, is a practice which has prevailed for some jears past, o{ antici- pafing by law the regular levies. The conscripts of 1810 were called out so early as December 1808 ; that is to say, those who in 1810 would at- tain the age of twenty, but at the time of antici- pation, were only eighteen, were made to serve in the army. BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 429 These and other causes, connected with the abuse of unlimited power, bring into the field a nu- merous population of boys, in appearance scarce- ly able to bear the accoutrements of a soldier, and who in their preparatory exercises, are objects both of pity and amazement. For the great majority even of the better clas- ses of conscripts it is almost impossible to obtain proxies. When the physical requisites are not wanting in the principal, the government indeed studiously discourages substitution. The acknow- ledged hardships and indeterminate duration of the military service tend moreover to enhance so enormously the price of the few who are found to possess all the requisite qualifications, that they fall exclusively to the share of the rich ; the sum being far beyond the reach of multitudes, who in France, with the habits of refined society, main- tain an exterior of tolerable ease. Of this class are the amnestied emigrants and old proprietaries, who enjoy under the new dy- nasty, something of the abstract right, and but little of the benefits of postliminium ; and who, in the bitterness of mortified pride, and the sadness of pining recollection, struggle to uphold a de- cent establishment with small fragments of their former estates. The revolution has on the whole had the effect of an Agrarian law, and the equalization of for- tunes is, at this moment, among the most promi- 430 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL went vestiges which the tempest has left behind for the instruction of the world. But it is not^e^sy to contemplate, without feelings of strong sympa- thy, the numbers of impoverished families and de- cayed gentlemen, who, wrestling with memory and destiny, under a perpetual recurrence of painful recollections and hopeless wishes, exhibit through- out France striking monuments of the instability of human affairs. . ; To persons of this description, who hate and despise their government, to the great body of pro- fessional men, and of drooping merchants and manufacturers, who educate their children with care and tenderness, and who find no compensa- tion in the splendor of the imperial diadem for the degradation of their own order, and the loss of do- mestic comfort, the conscription appears the max- imum of human suffering, the most odious of all wrongs, and the most vexatious of all injustice. The Lycees, or public schools, the seminaries of ecclesiastical noviciate, ihe universities of law and physic, are all subject to the visits of the re- cruiting officer, and forced to surrender up their pupils without exception of genius or taste, at a period of life when the morals are in a state of oscil- lation, when the character of the frame itself is scarcely determined, and the understanding is only in the first stages of its development. Parents are not only made to suff'er the pains of a separation under such circumstances, but BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 45! are condemned to the inexpressible grief of seeing tlie principles and manners of their children ex- posed to total wreck, in the infectious commu- nion of the common soldiery; the meanest and most profligate of mankind. The scene of real distress, exhibited at the balloting of a conscrip-' tion, when the parents or friends of the conscript are indulged, as is often the case, in drawing his ticket from the fatal urn, beggars all description. The piercing shrieks and tumultuous acclamations alternately uttered on these occasions, by a peo- ple of such natural vivacity of character, wholly overpower the feelings of a spectator. The French conscription, under the garb of equality, acts with a most partial and vexatious pressure. Men of l^rge fortune, the least respect- able of the community of France at this moment, either monopolize the substitutes, or corrupt the inspecting officers, and thus disentangle them- selves from the trammels of the law. The para- sites of the court, by intrigue and favor, secure the same immunity to themselves and their friends. The great military and civil dignitaries of the em- pire are privileged 6':f-<^r/o ; and this exemption will be gradually extended to all v/hose zeal is useful to prop the greatness of the ruling power. The burthen then falls with accumulated weight upon the three learned professions of divinity, law, and physic, the merchants, manufacturers, in a word, upon the middle orders of the people ; and a 432 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL still greater evil is inflicted, by thus confounding them with the dregs and lees of the community. Feelings and habitudes should be consulted in every general act of legislation ; and in this in- stance, the distress and inconvenience occasioned to the lower orders, bear no proportion to tiie misery inflicted on the higher and middling ranks of the people. It is unnecessary, too, to have recourse to so comprehensive a plan of compulsion, for the crea- tion of a force adequate to all the purposes of ordi- nary tvarfare. Louis the fourteenth, when at war with the whole of the north of Europe, maintained an army of three hundred thousand men, princi- pally made up by voluntary levies; and under the last unfortunate monarch of that name, the forces of the kingdom, recruited in the same man- ner, amounted to two hundred thousand ; of which Paris alone furnished annually six thousand^ al- though it now yields only fourteen hundred for the conscription. Notwithstanding the familiarizing experience of the past, and the certain expectation of the fu- ture, everij new conscription spreads consternation through all the families of the empu^e. From the commencement of the war against Prussia, until the termination of the campaign in Poland, three several levies were raised ; the last of which, pro- posed in the spring of 1807, created an indescriba- ble sensation. Although all correspondcjice rela- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 433 live to the position of the armies was rigorously interdicted, and no letters suffered to pass without scrutiny, it was impossible wholly to conceal, at least from the public of Paris, the dreadful mortal- ity which afflicted the march, and the incredible hardships inseparable from the movements of the troops, laboring under a scarcity of provisions, and the unaccustomed rigorsof a northern winter. A third conscription was generally viewed as an undertaking much too bold for the internal admin- istration, situated as it then was; and particular- ly at a moment when a belief was current among all ranks, that the emperor would be unable to ex- tricate himself from the embarrassments in which he was supposed to be involved. The government appeared sensible of the hazard, and in order to prepare the public mind for the event, caused their intention to be announced in whispers through the circles and three thousand coffee- houses of the capital. The effect was every where visible, even to the eye of the cursory observer ; an impression of ter- ror upon the countenances of those, who either were themselves exposed to the danger, or shud- dered at the prospect of new revolutionary alarms : of suspicion, and joy but half disguised, in the lowering brows of the turbulent and disaffected, constantly on the alert to improve the concurrence of opportunity, and who hailed this desperate ex- 3 K 434 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL pedient, as a confirmation of their hopes relative to the perils of the army. The orator of the government, Renarid St. Jean D'AngelVi shed tears of rerl or affected sorrow as he stated the necessity of the measure ; and the Senate rece'wed it, contrary to their habit, in silent acquiescence, and with every indication of reluc- tance and dismay, 5^ore thelaw was passed by the Senate, the minister of police had issued or- ders for the appearance of the conscripts of Pa- ris at the Registry. So securely did he rely upon the compliant disposition of that venerable body. In order to assuage the general feeling, it was found advisable to qualify the new call for eighty thousand men, by a clause which enacted, that they were then to be merely organized, and retain- ed within the limits of the empire, as a national guard. Circumstances enabled them to adhere to this condition, v\hich would undoubtedly have been violated, if the armies had sustained a defeat, or the campaign been protracted to a more distant term. It was the established practice of the Romans, in their foreign wars, to maintain an army in Italy, ready to march in case of disaster ; and a recourse to the same policy was indispensably necessary for the French commander, to recall victory, had she desert- ed his standard ; and to drive his antagonist to the conclusion of an ignominious peace, by intimidating him with the show of new and inexhaustible assail- ants. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 431 It is not easy to convey a just ideaof the state of Pans, during tliis period of uncertainty and alarm. 1 here never has existed, with a vast majority of its inhabitants, a serious reliance on the stability of the present government ; and no doubt was then enter- ta ned of its immediate d ssolution, if the armies had been broken and dispersed. The proportion of idle, profligate, and desperate adventurers, whom the revolution has engendered, or accident collected in Paris, is truly astonishing ; and there is still to be found, among the literati of ever\ class, and even in the deliberate assemblies, a numerous body, with a marked predilection for re- publican institutions. The first were and are ripe and eager for any change ; and the latter equally prepared to re-assert their favorite opinions, and co- operate in the subversion of a government, by which they are held in contempt, and reduced to a most abject and contumelious servitude. As Paris, together with the rest of the empire, was left almost destitute of troops, the danger was only to be counteracted by quickening the vigilance, and multiplying the terrors of their domestic inqitisition. Among the anomalies of human character that con- found all general reasoning, there is none more in- comprehensible than the absolute sway which this tribunal exercises over the whole of France. A people of all others the most mercurial in their tem- per ; the most thoughtless in their levity ; the most ungovernable in their fury ; under the influence of 436 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL their present system of police, lose the distinguishing features of their character ; and on subjects con- nected with the pubhc weal, display the vigilance of habitual fear, and all the sobriety and reserve of con- summate prudence. They know and observe, as if instinctively, the precise limits assigned to the range of language ; and conscious that a mysterious ubi- quity is one of the attributes of this searching police, discipline accordingly the tongue and countenance, even in their domestic seclusion. In the midst of all this disquietude and fear, pub- lic festivals were multiplied, in order to give an air of confidence to the administration at home ; apd an unusual degree of splendor brightened the court of the empress, who remained in Paris, and took a prin- cipal share in these mummeries of despotism. Her imperial majesty was constantly glittering before the public eye, either at the brilliant cercLcs of the Thu- illeries ; the numerous and magnificent fetes of the Luxembourg and the Garde-Meiible ; or in the theatres, at the meanest of which she condescended to assist, and to inhale the incense of the multitude. The bulletins announcing the most brilliant suc- cesses were regularly kept back for some days, and rumors of disaster intentionally circulated, that the grateful intelligence might produce the greater sen- sation. These, and other contrivances, however, had but little effect in quickening the sluggish loyalty of the body of the people ; who indeed, at present, for the most part, manifest a chilling indifference to the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 437 personal exhibitions of the imperial family ; and ap- pear to have lost, in this respect, all the characteris- tic fervency of their nation. These trembling anxieties, and humble precau- tions, will perhaps appear strange to those who only view at a distance the gigantic frame of this tremen- dous government, and have not reflected on the various dangers which precrpitate the fall of a power founded in force. History shows with what rapidity of descent old and deeply rooted establishments have sometimes fallen to the ground ; and the cir- cumstances of the French capital in the year 1806, may warrant the presumption, that a system, resting only on the surface, by its own oppressive weight ; with no prescriptive authority ; with ievf artificial barriers ; with no titles to veneration or to love ; might have been struck down by the first gust of adversity. The alarm which was evidently felt, while it gilds the future with a ray of hope, practically illustrates a great maxim, whicli cannot be too often inculcated upon the rulers of every country ; that for power there is no more perishable foundation than/^-ar. If the conscription be hateful to Frenchmen, it is still more so to the countries annexed to their empire. In Italy and the low countries, many motives conspire to sharpen the sensibility of the sufferers, and to foment that rancorous animosity, which they so generally entertain against their op- pressors. Their hereditary antipathies, the incalcu- 438 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL lable and heart-struck evils inflicted upon them by the French repubhc and her armies, the record of which is written in the flesh, and cannot be erased ; the ruin of their old and favorite institutions ; the defacement of their monuments of superstition and of art; the impoverishment of all classes; and the actual stoppage of every source of private comfort, and public prosperity ; all conspire to deepen their hatred against France. Under the exasperation of past and present wrongs, they send forth their youth with an ex- treme reluctance, of which their oppressors are fully aware. In the distribution of the levies among the departments, the contingent allotted to the incorporated territories is designedly small; but the proportion, nevertheless, of their refractory conscripts is astonishingly great, and the coer- cive measures for the punishment of disobedience, tend to increase the odium of the law itself. The common ends of political dominion, and the purposes of fi.-cal regulations, of the conscrip- tion, and of espionage, have given a monopoly of all offices of profit and trust to Frenchmen, whose conciliatory manners and affected moderation are insufficient to allay the jealousy resulting from their intrusion. As the Romans spread themselves over the pro^ vinces of their empire, these new conquerors in- undate every country where the supremacy of their arms is felt and acknowledged. The Napoleon BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 4^9 code, and the language of its authors, are estab- lished in the courts of Westphalia, and the go* vernin-ents and civil employments are administer* fd almost exclusively by Frenchn>en. Clerks hfjve been draughted from the post-offices of Paris to conduct similar establishments in Hamburgh atul Dautzitk ; the custom-house officers of Bour- deaux and Nantz regulate the whole Baltic coast. In the countries nominally allied to France, (which are treated with less lenity than the territories an- nexed to her empire) public authority is every- where exercised by Frenchmen, and what the re- script of the imperial legislator spares, private ra- pacity does not fail to devour. The members of the confederation of the Rhine are not subjected to the conscription ; for, like the Romans, whose policy it was, not to make their subjects or allies as warlike as themselves, the mo- dern pacificators exact no very copious supplies of men, but extort incredible contributions for the pay and clothing of their own troops. MoUien, the minister of the French Treasury, in the printed budget of 1807, felicitates his em- peror on this subject, in the following terms : — • " Your Majesty, Sire, has protected your people, both from the scourge and the burdens of war. Your armies have added to their harvest of glory, one o(foreign contributions ; which has assured their support, their clothing and their pay." It is the object of the French, not merely to 440 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL crush the armies, but to ruin the finances of Ger- many, in order more completely to extinguish the means and the hope of future resistance. In Mol- lien's Rationariiim, the " Recettes extraordinaires et eiterieures are stated at more than thirty-two mil- lions of livres ; a sum exclusive of the exactions for the maintenance of the troops, the splendid estab- lishment of the generals, and the gratification of private cupidity. This surplus is thrown into the list of Ways and MeanSy to give color to an idea publicly instilled, that foreign tribute will one day wholly exonerate the masters of the world from the burdens under which they now groan. The conscripts are kept as much as possible be- yond the frontiers, not merely for the purposes of conquest and rapine, but also that they may the sooner lose the qualities of the citizen, and be- come altogether the creatures of the general. And with a view to render this conversion more perfect, and more secure for the government, the principal leaders are frequently transferred from one corps to another, that no dangerous attach- ment to individuals may arise from a long con- tinuance in the same command. Nine-tenths of the present French officers have sprung from the ranks. Educated in distant camps they know no other country ; and habituated by long devotion to the trade of war, it has become their element and their passion. Their whole fortune is staked on the sword 5 and their attach- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 44 i ment is therefore necessarily secured under the auspicious influence of a leader, whose indefatiga- ble ambition occupies them in their favourite pur- suits ; and whose liberal impai^tialify feeds the hope of preferment, and divides the fruits of con- quest. To their credit and example is due much of that spirit, which, notwithstanding the above- mentioned causes of alienation, seems to animate the whole frame of the army ; and no small share of that portentous success which has attended the course of the French arms. Of the eighteen Marechaux cV Empire fourteen have either emerged from the ranks, or ascended from the lowest employments. Most of the Gen- erals of Division, and others who hold the princi- pal commands, have the same origin, and suffi- ciently prove that war is an experimental science j and that military renown is not the prerogative of birth, but the harvest of toil, or the bounty of for- tune. These men, whose duties have almost wholly estranged them from the refinements and indul- gencies of polished intercourse, retain all the lead- ing features of their original department in life ; a fierce and turbulent nature ; a wild, irregular ambition; a total ignorance of the utility of civil laws ; and a sovereign contempt for letters. As they partake largely of the prey, they zeal- ously co-operate in the views of him, whom ne- cessity has led them to acknowledge as a master ; 3 1. 4,42 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL but should he be prematurely removed from the scene, probably his posthumous aims will not be accomplished with equal fidelity. If it be true that military governments are at all times hostile to regular monarchical succession, there is no possibility of a quiet transmission of power in France under her present circumstances. The military of every description are also very unfit guardians for a legal constitution ; and more especially unfit are those imperial generals, in whose minds no idea of subordination to civil au- thority, or of uncontested descent in the reigning family, could ever have taken root. The same daring enterprise which has borne them forward to their present elevation, would not suffer them to remain inactive, if supreme command were placed within their reach. They w^ould tear the sceptre from a feeble hand, and dispute the prize with the same ferocious violence, and desperate resolution, with which they are now grasping at the dominion and the treasures of the rest of the world. During their contentions, the rest of the Euro- pean continent might indeed be allowed to re- spire 3 but independent of the established maxim, that a conquering nation must always be misera- ble, there is ?w prospect of amelioration for France herself The establishment o^ freedom in that country is hopeless ; nay, the great bulk of the people are alike incapable of the temperate enjoy- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &G. 443 ment of liberty, and decidedly averse from the form of a popular government. No good can acrue from the mere external frame of the Electoral Colleges and Deliberative Assemblies. 1 hey have no basis of ancient opin- ion to command respect, nor reputation of consis- tency to inspire confidence ; and have not indeed, in the view of any branch of the community, an existence or a will, distinct from that of the throne to which they are appended. Under the shadow of a constitution still preserved, their election can never take place, unless ratified by the emperor ; and depends, in practice, altogether on his nomi- nation. The princes of the blood, and the great dignitaries of the state are officially members of the seriate, and to this body the generals of divi- sion, detached from the foreign service, are regu- larly associated, so as to give them almost a nu- merical preponderance. The civil functionaries of every class have not only dishonored the republican character by a shameless apostacy, but prostitute the dignity of human nature itself, by assuming the trade of spies and informers. In all their discourses and wri- tings, they inculcate the speculative doctrine of oppression, with as much zeal as their oppressors propagate by conquest its practical horrors. The mere wantonness of despotism could never exact, nor could the most inordinate vanity relish a strain of adulation which would disgrace the worst pe- riods of Roman degeneracy. 444 MINTS ON THE NATIONAL The tyrant, who is known to require this tribute on all occasions, has it in view not only to com- plete his savage triumph over the patriotism of France, but to bring the cause oi freedom itself into general contempt, by exhibiting the base servility of those who so lately undertook to vindicate the liberties of mankind. This brutal feeling is stri- kingly displayed in Bonaparte's bulletins from Spain, which heap the most gross, unmanly, infa- mous calumnies upon the Spanish patriots, and their glorious efforts in the cause of national inde- pendence, and personal freedom. There are, no doubt, numbers in France who still cherish a preference for republican institu- tions ; many who officiously promote the mea- sures, in order to heighten the odium of the gov- ernment j and a iew who submit with evident re- pugnance to lend their personal weight to the con- solidation of the new system. But the republi- cans will make no sacrifices of interest to princi- ple, and the others can have little influence, when opposed to a majority who have fortified their na- tive dispositions by the habit of obsequiousness. The fabric of a free state can never be reared by such hands, nor framed from such materials, as the populace of Paris, or the soldiery of the fron- tiers. Should the imperial seat be vacated within a short period of time, the Legislative Assemblies miglit, like the Roman senate in their contest with Maximin, maintain a struggle with some firmness BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 445 and vigor; but with no permanent means, and scarcely with the benefit of obtaining a choice of masters. When we meditate upon the probable career of an army now augmented to seven himdred thou- sa?id men, greater than any which Rome ever maintained in the meridian of her power, and im- bued with such moral and physical energies, our apprehensions for France vanish before our mel- ancholy forebodings for the rest of the European continent. A nation of soldiers must be occupied. Plun- der is their food ; and will be sought wherever it is to be found. A people at war from principle, says Montesquieu, must necessarily triumph, or be ruined. They will labor in their vocation, and never make peace but as conquerors. Such a temperament as actuates the chiefs and instru- ments of the present French conspiracy against mankind, is essentially at war with all the moral virtues and generous principles of our nature ; with the gentle charities, as well as with the hoarded treasures of peace. The time perhaps is fast approaching, when these new pacificators will embrace the whole continent of Europe in what they term their '^ Grand system of federation a7id alliance.'" The powers already comprehended in it, will, like the allies of Rome, soon seek in avowed subordina- 446 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL lion, an alleviation of the miseries studiously at- tached to their nominal independence. Their incorporation will, however, have another character, and other effects ; not of a submission assuaged by the hope of repose and of protection ; but an unconditional surrender of all that enno- bles and sweetens existence, to a power M'ith all the rapacity which stimulated, without the mo- deration that tempered, the conquests of Rome; with the vices of her decline, and the fierceness of her infancy ; with her insolent carriage, with- out her healing arts. The genius of this domin- ion will be as different from that of the Anto- nines, as the character of the new emperor is oppo- site to that of Trajan, to whom it is now, among his subjects, the fashion to compare him. In Bonaparte, although we may admire the qualities of a consummate general, and of a pro- found politician, we can never discover the majes- tic form of a mighty monarch} but rather trace the mixed image of a Tiberius and an Attila ; the gloomy, suspicious temper, the impetuous rage, the jealous alarms of the domestic tyrant, and the immeasurable ambition, the savage manners, the stern cruelty of that barbarian, who ostenta- tiously proclaimed himself " The scourge of God.'' Secure of impunity, and careless of censure, he has at length discarded the common prevarications of tyranny, and now rests his pretensions on the avowed power of the sword. He has already BANKRUPTCY OP BRITAIN, &C. 44? burst asunder the ties that bound Europe up in one social commonwealth, and stifled even the last sighs of freedom, wherever his influence has been extended. There is not, at this moment, throughout the whole continent of Europe, a press exempt from the supervision of his police ; nor an asylum in which an obnoxious individual could find safety. When Cicero complains to Marcellus of the unbounded sway of Caesar, he consoles himself that there is still security in silence ^ although the privilege of complaint may be denied. But those who are immediately subject to the French power, have not even this consolation ; and are marked out for vengeance, unless they find matter for applause in every deed of their rulers. In the French capital, even literary criticism is under political control ; and either frowned into silence, or forced to commend, when its objects proceed from the favorites, or minister to the views of the government. The effects which this species of violence, and the ascendency of the military spirit, have uniformly exerted on the productions of the mind, are now strikingly visi- ble in the rapid decline of general literature j in the meetings and exhibitions of the second and third classes of the Institute, which are to the last degree contemptible ; and in the degeneracy of the bar and the pulpit, of which the dignity and the eloquence have wholly disappeared. 448 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The manifest tendency of these restraints on the press, is not simply to enervate the vigor and debase the faculties of the mind ; but to stifle the censure, and pervert the evidence of history, no longer the light of truth, and the witness of ages. In the year 1808, "A History of the Roman Re- public," was written at the command of Bonaparte, hy L'Evesgiie, a memher of the Institute, and Pro- fessor of History in the college of France. Its purpose is to decry the republican virtue of Rome j and it is announced in the title page, as a work "* destined to root out the inveterate prejudices which the world has entertained on that subject." The preface concludes with the following phrase : " Is it then for the French to bow the knee before Roman grandeur ? All grandeur abases itself before that of our nation ^ before that of our hero." " Compared to this state of things, the former condition of Europe, with all its lumber and frip- pery, and its manifold and fatal abuses, appears not only tolerable, but happy. We would rather see the balance of Europe bandied through the hands of the Plenipotentiaries of the Hague or of Ratisbon, than in the custody of the Protector of the Rhenish Confederation. From the scene before us we turn, with an eye of regret, to the progressive though imperfect arrange- ments of the last century ; when the two extremes nf Europe were connected by ties, not merely of ge- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 449 neral humanity, but of domestic feeling ; when the improvement, the lights, and the pleasures of each member of this great family were common and ac- cessible to all ; \\hen the excesses of political tyranny were restrained by the dread of reproach, and the weaker states protected from the strong by mutual vigilance, or rather by imaginary fears. The dissolution of a charm so salutary to all par- ties was first occasioned by that profligate policy of Russia, Austria and Prussia, which dismembered Poland. The dismemberment of Poland first broke the spell of mutual trust and apprehension, and rou- sed the slumbering genius of conquest, by showing to every ambitious state, that there was no insuper- able impediment in the jealousy or justice of their potCHt rivals. After this there remained but one serious obstacle to the subjugation of the European continent ; the Germanic constitution^ that huge body, without strength or grace, which possessed neither ability nor inclination for conquest, and stood in the centre of Europe, maintaining an uneasy, fluctuating equili- brium, counteracting the intrigues, and repressing the prurient ambition of the south. As long as this power, with all its weaknesses and vices of construc- tion, stood erect, the equipoise could not have been entirely lost 5 nor the continent of Europe cantoni- zedmto dependant principalities. It was therefore assailed with an indiscreet preci- pitation, which but too clearly indicated the object 3 M 450 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL for which it was sacrificed. A finishing stroke was put to the liberties of the north of Europe by the system introduced in its stead ; and the languid in- difference with which this substitution was viewed or resisted, afforded a melancholy presage of the uni- versal wreck that was to ensue. It is not to mere ignorance of their danger that thesupineness of the northern powers is owing. They are not only bewildered in the stupor of fear, but overwhelmed by a sense of weakness. The corrup- tions and abuses of their internal government have shaken all trust in the allegiance of the subjects ; and the experience of mutual treachery has extin- guished all confidence in their external relations. Having wrestled with their enemy, they know their unfitness for another rencountre ; and seeing no hope but in his forbearance, suffer themselves to be lulled into inaction, by professions and promises which can deceive those only who have no resource if violated. In the mean time, well assured of the adequacy of his means, both of fraud and of force, he makes war at the time and in the manner most suited to their development. He grants a truce to Austria ; and when the work of destruction is accomplished in another quarter, will return to satisfy, at one blow, all the old animosities and new antipathies of France against her hereditary rival. Russia, without resources or courage to face this athletic antagonist ; disheartened and broken by BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 451 faer late heavy fall, and debauched by the profligate expectation of sharing the spoil, will probably exult over the disasters of her neighbor, and ohsletricate at the birth of those affiliated kingdoms that are to be extracted from the bowels of the Austrian mo- narchy. Her turn will inevitably come, when the iwermediate powers are rent \nto fragments \ or, as the French term it, unravelled [rffilh ;) a circum- stan e which lays her completely open, and renders the great pillar of her security, her distance, of little or no avail. The progress of the French, during the contests of l8o6 — 7, in the north of Europe, in the accom- plishment of this object, has done more to facilitate the subjugation of Russia, than could have been ef- fected by ten times her loss of blood and treasure. Austria, if it had pleased the conqueror, might have been annihilated at Austerlitz, and Prussia soon after the battle of Friedland; but the surer policy was that which was more patient and cautious. To break down all their outworks however Prussia was to be immediately sacrificed, whose exemplary fate might inspire terror, but could not excite odium ; and whose troops were in fact the best constituted, and the most formidable in Europe. Whoever follows in thought the extension of the Roman arms over the states of Italy, and the distant countries brought under their yoke, may here trace a curious similarity, both of cause and effect; and upon a general survey of the history of mankind 452 HUNTS UN THE NATIONAL will not be surprised if Francis and Alexander ex- perience the fate of Antiochus and Mithridates. As to Spain, the imbecility of the government, the corruption of the nobles, and the long habits of slavery and superstition among the lower orders, hold out but a feeble hope for a nation which has to contend against such fearful odds, in the character and the means of the usurper, in numbers, discipline, and preparation. And it now appears that the curtain is about to drop upon the long and disastrous tragedy of the subjugation of continental Europe. England, however, remains, the last obstacle to the establishment of universal dominion, and the richest prize for the avidity of rapine. To Britain, therefore, from appetite and principle, the eye of this hydra-headed monster is steadily directed, and the whole energy of his increasing means must be ultimately applied. AVhat might be safe- ly inferred a priori^ is confirmed, not only by open threats and declarations, but also by every <^£>m«- 7f/(r expression of feeling indulged in the French metropolis. In all the diplomatic audiences, and in tiie pri- vate associations of the leading members of the government, the sentiment towards Britain betrays itself in every word and gesture, and exerts an influence more like that of passion than of the or- dinary calculations of interest, or of national an- tipathy. The public functionaries universally, and the speculative politicians of every class, BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 453 either from the force of imitation, the compliance of servility, or the instinct of plunder, manifest the same spirit in all their reasonings and dis- courses, through which it filtrates in invective or menace, or more frequently bursts forth in the overflowings of exultation, as they measure their approaches to the goal. The liberty of the seas, and commercial peace, are held out to delude the famished multitude both at home and abroad ; but the military and civil de- partments are taught to despise these objects, and to look to more congenial and substantial rewards. Power and booty are the excitements employed to quicken their zeal in fostering and disseminating those rancorous antipathies and jealousies which are to reconcile all parties to the indefatigable prosecution of a war, that is to terminate only with the ruin of England. They employ the parallel of Rome and. Carthage ; not as a rhetorical comparison, but as an encouraging and a certain analog!/. The plan of universal conquest, imputed origin- ally to Louvois, but with more truth ascribed by Mr. Burke to the French Executive Directory, is iiov/ not merely digested into a regular system, but is actually in a course of execution, and pro- ceeding with a steadiness and success, which must strike alarm into the most confident and unthink- insr. 454 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The world, in the opinion of all Frenchmen, is to be again subdued by the discipline and the arts of Rome. Folard's FolybiuSy Mac/navel on Livy, and Montesquieu on the Grandeur et Declination, are more than ever the manuals from which they draw their lessons of perseverance and cunning. The reading classes of France have always been fond of historical research. Their republic made them passionate admirers, and enliglitened imita- tors of antiquity ; and their government, availing itself of this predilection for the victorious com- monwealths of Greece and Rome, soon taught them to overlook altogether individual interests and tastes, and enjoyments, both in their foreign poli- tics, alnd in the details of their internal economy. Thej' admit no balanced advantages, or diver- ging claims. All the capacities, and energies, and habitudes of private life, are unrelentingly wrested to the production of force, for the subjugation of the globe ; or as co-ordinate with this object, for the agrandizement of the reigning family. The changes of form in their government have occa- sioned no remission in this pursuit. It has always been spoken of among them with confidence and zeal. Events have recently brought it more into notice ; and nothing now remains but to atchieve the ultimate object, " la grand pensee^' as it is em- phaticaih'- styled in the coteries of Paris." But the parallel between ancient Rome and France, and between Carthage and Britain, how- ever gratifying it might be to the vanity of the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 455 great nation, is by no means correct. For the French have neither the steady, desperate, valor of the Roman soldiers, nor is France now so pow- erful relatively to the rest of the world, as Rome was just before Carthage fell. And still less correctly does the parallel hold between Carthage and Britain. For Carthage was merely a sordid gatherer of pelf, without civilization or learning; a pedling, trading coun- try, without military talents or courage ; coward- ly, fraudulent, cruel ; worsted in perpetual con- flicts even with the petty island of Sicily. Nay, so intrinsically weak and spiritless was she, as to yield, with all her maritime and commercial ex- perience, to the first rude naval armaments fitted out by the Romans. Duillius, the Roman consul, gained a naval victory over the Carthaginian fleet with a body of mere landsmen, stowed in awkward, clumsily constructed vessels. The ships of war were rowed alongside their antagonist, and being held firmly together by the grapling irons, the men on each side fought hand to hand ; and the steady, deter- mined valor of the Roman soldiers of course pre- vailed over the feeble resistance of the rnercenarij troops of Carthage. Add to this, the comparatively small extent and scanty population of Carthage, which was also weakened by the beggarly, ignorant democracy of her government ; whence she was so constantly 456 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL torn by party-factions as to be unable to atVord any of her own citizens to serve as soldiers in the infantry. She therefore hired sh^angers to fight her battles. Her cavalry indeed, consisting of the Numidian horse, and not n\^(\e np of hired stran- gers, was so superior, as uniformly to beat the Ro- mans when engaged in an open champaign coun- try. These troops, after the conquest of Carthage, were incorporated into the Roman cavalry. It was no xery great wonder then, that Rome, having no other enemy to contend with, and being mistress of nearly all Europe, should be able to vanquish Carthage, whose fleet was ineffectual ; whose population was scanty, factious, and cow- ardly ; and above all, whose government was de- mocratic ; it being absolutely impossible in the nstture of things, that a democracy can be either lasting, or powerful, or free. " But Britain, from her geographical position ; tier insular situation ; her well-balanced and free gbvernmenfc ; the virtue, talent, enterprise, skill, and spirit of her people ; her unparalleled local advantages, both natural and acquired ; has ob- tained an extensive political influence in all the quarters of the world, and the now undisputed do- minion of the sea. Hence her power to support her t: lends, unci to annoy her enemies ; while she is herself secure against every attack from with- out. So superior are the British to the French sea- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 45? men ; so little now comparatively depends upon the number of men, and so much upon naval tac- tics, that the crowd of Frenchmen on board their vei»sels serve no other purpose than to increase their own slaughter. There is scarcely a single sea-fight in which the French escape being van- quished, however superior they may be to the English in number of men, and in weight of metal. Britain also in this most essential point enjoys a permanent superiority. Extensive commerce alone can produce good seamen ; and a stable, free government, alo7ie can create an extensive com- merce. National industry can never flourish un- der the rapacity of military despotism. Ages must pass away before France will cease to be ground down to the dust by her warlike chiefs j and until she can respire in peace, her external prosperity will be precarious, and her naval pow- er never again lift its head. Military despotism cannot, by any prodigal waste of blood and trea- sure, produce the extensive industry and commer- cial enterprise, which can only take root and grow under the equitable protection of a free and popular government. l\\ the present state of the world also, when long and uniform experience has shown what immense sources of national power an extensive commerce invariably opens, a naval power cannot fail of exercising an incredible influence over the rest of the world ; because almost all nations are vulnera- 3n 458 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ble in their trade or their colonies ; the ruin of which dries up the springs of revenue, and the means of effectually prosecuting a long-continued war. Britain possesses likewise many local advanta- ges and conveniences in the number of her navi- gable rivers and canals, which communicate with all her principal manufacturing towns, and facili- tate the transport of bulky articles of commerce from one sea to another. In the advantages of internal navigation she surpasses all other nations. No one of her midland manufacturing towns is more than seventy miles from the sea, or the port where commodities either for the home or foreign market, are shipped. National strength must always consist in a pop- ulation proportioned to the extent of territory, and excelling in courage, wealth, and industry. Britain, in proportion to the extent of her territo- ry, is more populous than any other country in Europe, excepting, perhaps, Holland. The ex- ploits of the British armies in Egypt, in Portugal, and in Spain, prove conclusively, that in valor and military talent, they are every way equal to their insolent and over-weening antagonists of France. The industry of Britain surpasses that of every other country in the world. And her public and private wealth, at this moment, exceeds the aggre- gate property of all the rest of Europe. The im- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 459 iiiense capitals of her merchants employed in com- merce; the small profits of stock and its quick ra- turns ; the low rate of interest; the skill and en- terprise of her manufacturers and farmers ; incon- testibly prove her to be in an unparalleled state of national prosperity and strength. The credit and stability of the Bank of England renders all the payments by post-bills, or bank- notes, rapid and certain. The comparatively small extent of Britain, the continual communica- tion of her trading towns with each other, London being the great emporium of the world, where all the operations of exchange with foreign countries are concentrated, the unshaken confidence of the people in the public funds, the peculiar form of the government, the habits and manners of the population, all contribute to render the circulation of the national capital active and rapid. The annual produce of the loans and public reve- nue which is dispersed in every direction to defray the nation's expenses, passes rapidly among all the classes of the community, and in its rotation soon returns into the hands of the monied men, who, when required, lend it again to the government ; so that at length, together with the produce of the yearly taxes, it is again accumulated in the exchequer. This re- turn m Britain is accomplished in the course of one year. The force of a given quantity of capital is com- pounded of its sum and the rapidity with which it 460 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL circulates. If twenty millions sterling are returned in any given country with three times the velocity that forty millions are circulated in another coun- try, the force of the twenty millions to put industry in motion, and consequently to augment the na- tional wealth and strength, will be to that of the forty millions, in the proportion of three to two. Commerce most essentially constitutes the strength and happiness of a nation, under any form of gov- ernment ; because it introduces that industry and those arts without which the manners of a people cannot be civilized. It is not the number of pas- sive, but of useful, active citizens, which makes a commercial state powerful ; and in proportion to the internal trade, the demand for its manufactures, and the extent of its foreign commerce, are the ca- pacities of a nation for permament and effectual ma- ritime power and strength." Whoever wishes to see this subject more amply examined and illustrated may consult the instructive pages of Mr. M^Arthur's Political and Financial Facts, &c." p. 178 — 206, from which the foregoing observations respecting the permanent sources of British power are taken. - So much for the parallel between Britain and Carthage. It is natural however that Bonaparte should anxiously seek the destruction of the British empire, as the only barrier to his scheme of universal domination. The earnest insatiable craving after power is the instinct of every great mind j and no- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 46 1 thing but the most invincible necessity can check its constant progress towards dominion. Perhaps he is not in reahty more base and cruel than Robes- pierre, or Marat, or the butchers of the Executive Directory ; but having more talent, and a greater physical force at his command, he is an object of more extensive alarm and terror ; and cannot pos- sibly be prevented from laying the whole world waste in blood and desolation, but by the determined and effectual resistance of Britain. " Besides, the ambitious designs of France are not of a recent date ; nor do they result merely from the towering mmd of the warrior who now wields the sceptre of her ancient monarchs with uncontrolled sway. The French have always been naturally an ambitious people, and passionately enamoured of military glory. The desire of universal dominion is as essentially the character of France, as the love of national independence and personal freedom is the character of Britaui, and a sordid craving after gain is characteristic of the Dutch. The views and disposition of Bonaparte exactly harmonize with the prevailing military passion of his people ; and to this, accompanied with his extra- ordinary genius and success in war he owes his as- cendancy to the imperial purple upon the ruins of the old monarchy, and the destruction of the recent republic of France. But his schemes of conquest are not original ; neither has he alone rendered them familiar to the French people. 46)^ . HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Under the Bourbons France uniformly endeavor- ed, whenever an opportunity occurred, to spread destruction around her, and to execute her plans of plunder and aggrandizement on every side. The restless ambition, tlie perfidy, and the insatiable spirit of the French blazed out to their height under Louis the Fourteenth, who over-ran and ravaged countries; ruined and dethroned sovereigns; frater- nized and deceived the people of foreign countries, and measured his steps rapidly onward to the subju- gation of Europe, until he was first checked in his progress by William the third, at the head of the grand alliance, and afterwards beaten into becoming weakness and submission bv the Duke of Marl- borough. It should be remembered, that wherever Louis went, he revolutionized the countries that he con- quered. Whenever he came into a new territory he established his chamber of claims^ by which he inquired if the conquered country or province had any dormant or disputed claims any cause of com- plaint, any unsettled demand upon a7iy other state or province, upon which he might wage war upon sUs.h state, and thus discover again new ground for devastation, and gratify his ambition by new conquests. He actually went to war with Hol- land, because, as he said, she had not treated him •with siiffieient respect. His overgrown power was ably but unsuccess- fully resisted by the allies during the war that ter- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 46S minated so favorably for France at the peace of Nimeguen. After that treaty, the insolence of the Grand Monarque knew no bounds, and scarce- ly a month passed without some new aggressions by France on the continent of Europe. This principle of universal domination has never been extinct ; nay, it has never slept in France, except perhaps for a few years, during the administration of Cardinal Fleury. At the breaking out of the French revolution, indeed, this object was prosecuted with greater ardor than it had been before ; and her regicide chiefs then entertained the same designs of ambition in the subjugation of the European continent, which Bonaparte has, of late years, so glaringly mani- fested and carried into execution. The plan of aggrandizement which has so lately been realized by Bonaparte, in humbling the Northern powers of Europe, and partitioning Germany, was laid as early as the year 1793 ^^ Publicola Chaussard, Commissioner of the Execu- tive power, then said, *' It is the interest of France to raise herself to the rank of a first-rate power in Europe ; thus covering with her shield the second-rate powers, and protecting them against the boundless ambition of the Northern powers. A war ad internecionenii to extermination, is decla- red between the republic and all monarchies. Austria being once subdued, the Germanic body 464 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL may become a colossus of Federative Republics, and change the system of the North. For federative republics, let us only substitute the Confederation of the Rhine, and we see pre- cisely pointed out the career which Bonaparte has since followed ; and the object distinctly mar- ked, which, after a long series of efforts, he has at length secured. In a word, the French have always been a vain, ambitious, fraudulent people , and have always abused success with the most wanton insolence, under every form of government. While they consider themselves as conquerors, no nation on earth is free from their aggressions ,; the only pos- sibility of any country obtaining tranquillity in peace is to impress France with a fixed conviction of the hopelessness of continuing the war with any beneficial effects ; which can only be done by continued hard fighting, and harassing her on all occasions, and in every direction." " The history of Europe during the last cen- tury amply proves the truth of this assertion, The peace of Ryswick was favorable to France, and led to a renewal of hostilities in four years. Defeated and humbled at the peace of Utrecht, she allowed Europe to enjoy tranquillity nearly thirty years. Victorious at Aix la Chapelle, her encroachments were so frequent and outra- geous, as to necessitate a recurrence to hostilities in lejss than seven years. Disappointed and van- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 465 quished, in the celebrated (Lord Chatham's) war vvliich succeeded, it was with the utmost difficulty that, after a peace of fifteen years, she yielded to the temptation of separating America from Bri- tain. The peace of Amiens belonged to her list of triumphant negociations ; and it produced its accustomed results ; an unsettled truce, rapid and violent aggressions, and a precipitate rupture." CHAPTER VII. ' . But are there no drazvbacks, no counterchecks to the overgrown, formidable, power of France ; is there no canker-worm gnawing at the heart's core of this horrible despotism, and threatening to des- troy ere long its vitality ? AVe apprehend this to be the case. We apprehend the existence of certain sources of weakness and decay, both inter- nal and external, which, if properly managed, and aided by steady, determined, perpetual resis- tance, may yet shatter down this colossal empire into its original fragments, and once again restore the balance of Europe. 1. The conscription system itself appears to car- ry the germ of death within its own bosom to every nation that has recourse to so unjust and 3 O 466 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL desperate a measure. For a time indeed it can- not fail to render the country which adopts it ter- rible to all its neighbors, on account of the vast superiority of numbers which it every day drags into the field. But what are the ultimate results of such a system ? The strength of every country consists in its effective population ; that is to say, the portion of its people which can bear arms, or perform any other service and labor requiring the strength of matured manhood. But nearly the whole of this effective population has been cut away in France by the short-sighted system of conscription, which has taken away almost all the males arrived at man's estate, in regular annual succession, ever since the year 1791 j the first conscription being levied in 1792, The yearly average of conscripts taken from the years 1792 to 1810, both inclusive, amounts to one hundred and .fifty thousand ; making a total of two millions eight hundred and ^fifty thousand men used up in warfare alone, independent of the civil massacres of the revolution, in the course of nineteen years. I say, all used up; because Bo- naparte is now clamoring for the levy of the con- scripts for the year 1811. The almost incredible mortality of the French soldiers may be inferred from the following ob- servations of the author of " Caractere des Armees pAiropeenes:" — " When we see these volunteers of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 46? liberty dragged to the army with an iron collar fastened to their necks i when we consider that they are in great part composed of enemies to the government; when we reflect on the disorder, the waste, the misery, the maladies, and the state of the hospitals, which consume six times the num- ber of men that perish in battle ; when we see the soldiers incessantly on the point of mutinying, and sometimes freely indulging themselves in it j their officers, some of whom cannot even read ; their generals, many of whom are grossly igno- rant ; while several who have risen to the rank of commanders in chief, were originally dealers in thread and needles, (Jourdan) monks, (Pichegru) physicians, (Doppet) barristers, (Moreau) common soldiers, (Massena) dancers, (Muller, Victor) car- men, (Brune) quack-doctors, (Massot) painters, (Cartaux) fencing masters, (Augereau) cooks, Championet) &c. &c. when we see soldiers of un- couth appearance, and in rags, we cannot but ask ourselves, how has it been possible that such an assemblage of ragamuffins could atchieve military exploits of so distinguished a stamp ?" The proofs that the conscription- system has very materially drained France of her effective popula- tion, are manifold and conclusive. The very circumstance of being continually obliged to anticipate the conscription by at least two years, and thus dragging boys of only eigh- teen years of age into the field, shows that France 468 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL does not possess, nor can supply, full-grown men in sufficient numbers to feed the gaps made in her soldiery by the perpetual waste and havoc of Bo- naparte's murderous career. In the reign of Louis the sixteenth, Paris alone by voluntary levies used to furnish annually to the French army six thousand men ; but now the con- scription, which sweeps away all the males from eighteen to twenty-five years of age, raises only fourteen hundi^ed soldiers yearly in Paris. Whence can this enormous deficit arise, unless the conscrip- tion-system has most fearfully diminished the ef- fective population of France ? Bonaparte, in all the pride of his power, when he marched into Spain, towards the close of the year 1808, had actually levied his conscripts for the yfear 1810 ; that is, two years in advance ; and yet So exhausted and drained of its effective popu- lation was his extensive empire, that he was obli- ged to withdraw his French troops from the fron- tiers, and send them over the Pyrenees into the Peninsula ; to garrison his vassal German towns with Russian troops, and to bring a hundred thousand mercenary Germans from the Rljenish confederation into the heart of France, in order to keep down the insurrection of his own oppres- sed and famished subjects. Would this sagacious conqueror have recourse to such a forlorn expedient, if he had any great numbers of disposable Frenciimen at his com- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 469 mand ? Would he, if he could possibly avoid it, thus trumpet to the whole world the weakness and the inefficiency of his own immense empire to furnish him with sufficient bodies of troops, and masses of men to enable him to carry into full effect his plans of individual aggrandizement, and family ambition ? We may be well assured, that now in the fall of 1809, a whole year's bloody warfare in the yet unsubdued Spanish Peninsula, together with the wide-wastjng campaign against Austria, have not lessened his difficulty of raising men in France ; have not tended to heal the deadly breaches made in the effective population of France by the op- pressive and impolitic system of conscription ; the pernicious and debilitating effects of which the great nation will feel in her most vital interests for at least a centurv to come. It cannot be doubted that Bonaparte and his statesmen and generals are to the full as able in all military and political expedients and manoeu- vres now in 1809, as they were after the battles of Austerlitz and of Friedland, and altogether quite as eagerly desirous of obtaining universal do- minion as they were in the years 1805 and 1807- Yet after the battles of Austerlitz and of Friedland the French ruler covered all the circles of Germa- ny with his conscripts, and speedily dictated to the humbled Houses of Austria and of Russia, the treaties of Presburg and of Tilsit ; whereas now, 470 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL after the still severer aud still more bloody battles of Elsinghen and of Wagram, the negociations for peace go tardily onward, and the Austrian ar- mies continue to maintain an imposing front, aud a menacing attitude. '.* It is true, that Bonaparte asserts in his thirtieth bulletin, dated at Vienna, July 30th, 1809, that — " the house of Austria took the field this cam- paign with sixty-two regiments of the line, twelve regiments of cavalry, twelve regiments of grena- diers, four free corps or legions, making in the whole three hundred and ten thousand men; one liundred and fifty battalions of militia, (landswhrs) commanded by ancient officers, exercised ten months ; forty-thousand men of the Hungarian insurrection, and fifty-thousand horse-artillery and miners, composing in the whole from five to six hundred thousand men. With this force the House of Austria supposed herself to be sure of victory. She entertained a hope of shaking the power of France, if ever her whole force were united. But her armies are notwithstanding reduced to one fourth of their original strength; while the French army has been increased to double the number it consisted of at Ratisbon." But it is no unusual affair for the French gov'* ernment to lie. If it were true, as Bonaparte as- serts in his bulletin, that Austria has lost above four hundred thousand men during this campaign, and that France has doubled the number of her BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 471 armies in the same period, the question irresistibly occurs — why then has not Bonaparte immediately dictated the terms of peace, and prescribed a trea- ty to the prostrate House of Austria, as he did af- ter the battles of Marengo and of Austerlitz ; when the treaties of Luneviile and of Presburg proclaimed at once to the world the complete triumph of the victor, and the unconditional sub- mission of the vanquished ? Whence can it possibly happen, that since the battles of Elsinghen and of Wagram, the negocia- tions for peace between the two contending pow- ers have gone so slowly forward ; unless it be that Bonaparte cannot raise conscripts from the dimin- ished population of France in sufficient numbers to terrify and compel Austria into a surrender at discretion of all her national strength and inde- pendence. And finally, if the conscription system has not materially exhausted the effective population of France, why has not Bonaparte sent a sufficient number of troops into Spain to beat down all possi- bility of resistance on the part of the people of that country ? Why has he suffered the Peninsula to wage war against the whole military force of his immense empire for nearly a year and a half, and now to be farther off from submission to his iron yoke than they were in the month of May 1808, at the moment when they first raised the standard of resistance to his foul and profligate usurpation ? 472 HINTS ON THE-JSTATIONAL All the intelligent Americans, of whatever po- litical party or calling in life, whether federalist or democrat, lawyer, physician, merchant, or man of letters, who have lately returned from the con- tinent of Europe, concur in stating that, in France and in Holland, you can scarcely meet with a)iy young 7ne?i i you will see old men, and boys ; old women, young women, and girls ; but all the French and Dutch young men have been consu- med by the system of conscription. When the day of retribution comes, when the rest of the continent of Europe, whose effective population has not been cut away by the inexora- ble, sweeping conscription-scheme, begins to re-act upon the intolerable tyranny and oppression of France, how ill-fitted will that overgrown em- pire of old men and slender boys be to encounter the rude shock of those iron times ? 2. After the world has witnessed for so many years the brilliant and unparalleled victories of the French arms, it might perhaps appear a child- ish paradox, to say that the people of France are deficient in natural courage ; in that steady, cool, determined intrepidity, which finally triumphs over all opposition, and is terrible, even in the midst of disaster and defeat. Nevertheless, I do consider it a material draw- back upon the real strength of France, that her population does not possess this steady, desperate, EoiJian valor and fortitude. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C, 473 A very celebrated French general, now resident in the United Slates, laid down and maintained lately in conversation, this broad and sweeping proposi- tion, namely, that fear of death, and the desire of self-preservation are instinctive in all animals, and in man are the foundation of individual cowardice ; so that no men oi any nation can ever be brought to face death coolly, particularly in large masses, ex- cept by the force of a discipline, which is more ter- rible than the instinctive fear inherent in human na- ture ; or, in other words, by counteracting one species of fear by a stronger degree of terror ; and subduing the/(?(2r of death in battle, by the cTr/azVi/r/ of death for declining to fight. Whence he concluded, that with the exception of some very ievi individuals, who might be inflamed with ambition or vanity, or stimulated by the dread of shame, or fortified by deep reflection, all nations of men are naturallrj coivards. This position was denied to be correct in all its unqualified latitude ; and several nations were ad- duced, as possessing naturally, both collectively and individually the characteristics of determined cour- age ; namely, the Americans, particularly, the peo- ple of the New-England states, who are particularly cool, self collected, and intrepid, in the hour of dan- ger ; the British, the ancestors of these New- Eng- land-men, who are naturally brave and undaunted ; and the distinction of old Sir Eyre Coote, the cele, brated Irish general, who so signally distinguished 3 p 474 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL himself in the East- Indies, was cited : Sir Eyre Coote used to say, " my countrymen the Irish, as well as the Scottish and the Welsh, are too hot and eager for action ; they rush rapidly to the charge, but never can be brought off from the field, never can be made to hear the signal for retreat, however ne- cessary or prudent it might be to fall back -, give me the ETiglis/i as the best soldiers, for they will always go steadily and coolly forward into the hottest ac- tion at the tap of a drum, and retreat in the most perfect order and regularity, under the heaviest and moet destructive fire, at the tap of a drum." The Russians, the Germans, the Swiss, the Prussians and the Spaniards were also instanced as being nations of brave men ; the Dutch, the Italians, the Portu- guese, the Chinese, and the Asiatics generally, were given up as being for the most part very sufficient cowards ; but above all, the French themselves were adduced as the most conclusive proof of the unsound- ness of the general's position in its full extent ; the French were quoted as a nation of brave and invin- cible warriors, before whose prowesi the whole world must inevitably yield. No, replied the general, whatever may be the case with other nations, my countrymen, the French, are a cowardly people ; I have had very conclusive and numerous proofs of that ; one of which I will give you ; it was one day necessary to break the Austrian line, I therefore ordered my ge- neral of division to lead his men to the charge BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 475 with the bayonet in the first instance, and on no ac- count to suffer them to fire ; to my great astonish- ttient, instead of obeying my orders, the whole of the division fired before they charged with the bay- onet ; the Austrians however were thrown into dis- order, and finally routed. After the battle was over, I inquired of the general why he had disobeytd my orders ? he answered, as I led my men up to the charge with the bayonet, I perceived that they looked pale, changed color, staggered in their gait, and shewed every disposition to run away, while the Austrian line presented a firm, steady, unmoved front, bristling with bayonets; I therefore imme- diately ordered my men to fire, in hopes that it might disorder the Austrians, and inspire the French troops w ith courage ; it did both ; the Austrian line was broken by the fire, and my men then rushed on with their accustomed impetuosity to the charge. If this be so, how then, it was asked, has it come to pass that the French not being naturally a brave people, have every where vanquished their enemies ? It was answered, they have vanquished their eiie- nues not by superior courage : but by the superior genius and military tactics of their generals ; the immense superiority of their numbers; the greater skill and intrigue of their negociators ; the weak- ness and corruption of the governments of Germa- ny, Russia, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Spain, &c. whose ministers and place-holders, and generals, were generally bought up by French money, and 476 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL vhose lower orders of the people were almost uni- versally debauched by the princij.les of jacobinism ; and therefore opposed no hearty resistance to the arms of France. Over Britain, whose statesmen she cannot bribe, and whose seamen and soldiers she cannot beat, France after nearly twenty years of hard fighting has not gained a single advantage ; but lias lost an immensity of blood and treasure in the annihilation of her fleets, and the reduction of her colonies. Now I firmly believe every syllable of this to be true ; and have no doubt that the French generals are all well aware of the want of natural courage in their men ; not only from the perpetual gascona- ding: and childish boastina: of their bulletins and dis- patches, Vkhich is incompatible with real valor, but also from their constant anxiety always to engage the enemy with the advantage of an immense su/jei'i'- oriti) of mimbei^s on their own side. And not contented with fighting the enemy in more numerous bodies than are opposed to them, they generally contrive to post a fresh army a {ew miles in the rear of their antagonists, who are thus inevitably destroyed if they happen to be routed by the attack of the French in front. Bonaparte prac- tised this manoeuvre with the most fatal success at the battle of Jena, where with more than double the number of his opponents he, after a very hard fought conflict, succeeded in putting the Prussians to the rout, and the fugitives were nearly all slain, or taken BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C, 477 captive by the French army stationed about twenty miles in the rear of the tield of battle ; and the Prus- sian monarchy was extinguished at one tremen- dous blow. The same experiment was tried by Marshal Victor lately upon the British at Talavera ; he attacked with sixty- thousand Frenchmen Sir Arthur Welles- ley who had only twenty- five thousand men under his command ; while Marshal Souit was posted about eighteen miles in the rear with twenty thou- sand men. The manoeuvre however failed, because the British beat the French, and drove Victor back beyond the Alberche; and when Sir Arthur Welles- ley fell ba; k for want of provisions. Marshal Soult finding that the English army, instead of being in full and disorderly flight towards Lisbon, after sus- taining a thorough defeat, were regularly retreating to a better provisioned part cf the country, he carried his troops off out of the British line of march as fast as possible, and made a junction with Victor. It would be absurd and childish in the extreme, to deny the meed of most extraordinary and tran- scendant talents to Bonaparte and his generals ; for nothing less than very superior genius and courage could possibly have borne them upwards to their present "bad eminence," amidst the crowds of competitors for power and rapine, at a period when all the intellect of a numerous and ingenious people was let loose by the French re- volution to struggle for mastery and dominion. 478 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL And these astonishing talents have more than compensated the want of natural courage in their men. A conclusive proof of the reluctance of the French to join the armies of their imperial tyrant, is found in the following observations taken from the very interesting and important Review of the *' Code de la Cojiscription,'' so abundantly indebted to on a former occasion. " It is impossible even to glance at this volume without being struck with the extreme anxiety which these statutes betray, to enforce conform- ity, both in the executioner and the victim. The enumeration of cases is so complete as to pre- clude the possibility of evasion. The public functionaries have their respective provinces most accurately marked out ; and are furnished Vf\ih A\s\\nci for muLe {or every act of office. The severest and most unrelenting punishment is in- flicted upon all, who from negligence, or corrup- tion, or pitjs give countenance to the slightest relaxation. The diseases which give right to exemption, are detailed with a jealous and disgusting minuteness. Precautions are multiplied without number, to secure the persons of the conscripts ; and while they are decorated with the title of " Defenseurs de lapatrie,'' the uniform tenor of these laws, and the tone of bitter reproof which pervades them, afford conclusive evidence of a general aversion BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 479 from the trade of war j and serve to convince us that these Achilleses are iiot easily roused to arms, whatever enthusiasm they may afterwards display in the field. The eighty-first page of the Code de la Conscrip- tioiii contains a proclamation, dated in the year 1800, of General Le Febre, commander of the fifteenth and seventeenth military divisions. It commences in this way. ^' To the Conscripts. '* The proclamations, the invitations, which have been made, to induce you to re-enter ihe path of honor, have not produced the effect which might have been expected. You have been deaf and insensible to the paternal measures of the government in your behalf. I forewarn you, on its part, that those which it will in future take, will be terrible. The conscripts who shall not have returned to their post by a time about to be prescribed, will be punished as cowardly deser- ters ; plunderers of the military stores ; enemies to their country. The public force will drag them from their most secret hiding-places. It will make it a duty to expel from society vile men who dishonor, &c. &c." Le Febre is now Duke of Dantzig, and em- ployed in the work of blood in Spain. The style of his proclamation reminds us of a letter addres- sed to the Cominune of Paris \x\. 1794, by one of 480 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL his co-adjutors. General Laval, who then com- manded a body of French troops at Manheiai, and is now at the head of the troops of the Confede- ration of the Rhine. " I command before Manheim. We continue to ravage the rich country of our enemies. We leave them nothing but their eyes, to weep. Live the Republic. We are all sans-culottes generals in name and effect. We adore Thee, O Saint Guillotine, who hast performed miracles ; and art more effectual than a hundred thousand men s ga ra, ga ira ! Live the Mountain !'' Some few provisions are introduced into the conscription-code, on the subject of voluntary enlistments ; but as no bounty is allowed, it is evi- dent that they do not enter into the serious consid- eration of the government. The old compromise between the military exigencies, and civil con- stitution of the state; between the effeminacy of the rich, and the wants of the poor ; between the ambition of the sovereign, and the rights of the subject, is rejected with disdain by the imperial republic ; and the student is relentlessly dragged from his closet, and the peasant from his hiding- place, by an indiscriminating and unqualified coercion. But habit soon renders submission, if not cheer- ful, at least easy ; rapine furnishes sources of mu- nificence and conciliation ; courage becomes a virtue oi necessity y strength is acquired by dis- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 481 cipline ; military ardor kindles with competition, and experience too fatally proves, that from such elements armies may be compounded, alike for- midable for discipline and valor." To the truth and correctness of all this we most cordially assent ; but although discipline may compel, and the intoxication of frequent success inflame cowards to fight; yet in case of a reverse of fortune, the feelings of nature will return, and the fear of death, and the desire of avoiding pain will triumph over all the exhortations of their generals to fight. And accordingly no nation bears successive defeats so ill as the French, who ran like sheep on every occasion, after the first few conflicts in Italy, before Suvarof and his in- trepid Russians. Unfortunately for the repose of the world, of late years, the soldiers of France, particularly when commanded by Bonaparte in person, have not been accustomed to defeat, although they are at present occasionally receiving lessons in that salutary school, under some of his best generals, from the Spaniards and the British in the Penin- sula. 3. In addition to these two sources of internal weakness, France labors under another still more alarming evil, namely, the decay, the rapid de- struction of her productive industry, which is cut up by the roots under the despotism of her ty- rant. 3 Q. 482 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL Until lately, that is to say, until Bonaporte, by his blockading edicts of Berlin, Milan, and Bay- onne, compelled the British government to retali- ate upon him with their Orders in Council, France enjoyed the benefit of an uninterrupted commu- nication with every part of the world, by means of neutral conveyance, and sent all her manufactures and staple commodities to the most advantageous markets without let or hinderance. This vast source of internal prosperity and wealth is now dried up. She expo?'fs as well as imports nothing. And if her manufacturers can find no foreign vent for their goods, they must cease to manufacture, and be reduced to extreme distress. If the cultivators of her soil can find no foreign demand for their produce : if their wine, brandy, corn, and oil, remain unsaleable, the ten- ant will be unable to pay his rent to the land- holder ; and both tenant and landlord will be alike unable to contribute their accustomed quotas to the exigencies of the state. Her agriculture, thus discouraged and diminish- ed, is left to be languidly carried on by the feeble hands of old men, of little boys, and of women, whose sons, fathers, husbands, and brothers, the ra- pacity of the conscription has dragged to slaughter in the army. The manufacturers thrown out of em- ploy have no other resource than quietly to starve and perish in honor of their imperial master Bo- naparte the Great. The merchants whose occu- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 4S3 pations are also destroyed, must live upon their Utile capitals, and then, when they are consumed, likewise perish. The total darkness and ignorance of all moral duty, and of all general knowledge, together with the universal misery and penury, which are every where so industriously spread over the whole sur- face of this immense empire, must not only ren- der the inhabitants barbarous, but materially check the progress of population, by curtailing the means of subsistence, and thus dry up the fountains, whose streams are perverted to supply the incessant cravings of the Corsican for men, to execute by the prodigal waste of human life his projects of ambition. How then is France to continue to raise funds vi^ith which to carry on her extensive schemes of subjugation ? Hitherto she has wrung her sup- plies from taxes on her own people far more op- pressive than those borne under the old monarchy; from requisitions on her friends and allies ; from the pillage and rapine inflicted on the countries which she has vanquished, and ft'om withdrawing the scanty pittance, which in the early days of the revolution had been allowed to the hospitals in lieu of their estates which she had confiscated and sold. France, while she withholds the interest of her debt, even of that thii^d portion of it, which was all that she would allow to be national, is forced 484 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL every year to confess enormous deficits in her an- nual revenue below the amount of her annual ex- penditure. The continuance of this tyrannical system must necessarily dry up the channels of revenue; for plunder and rapine lay waste the soil, instead of reaping the present and providing for future harvests. I purposely omit now all consideration of the public revenue being diminished by the resistance of oppressed, or the despair of ruined provinces. I merely ask, from ivlial sources her finances are to be supplied, provided even that she experience no great and sudden reverse of fortune ? The inexhaustible mines of South America are no longer at her disposal ; the objects of taxation in France herself are few, precarious, and unpro- ductive, on account of the drooping and decayed condition of her agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. But, say a very large portion of politicians, — " while Britain totters on the verge of bankrupt- cy and ruin ; while she is loathsome in her mani- fold corruptions ; and humbled by her fears and her frequent defeats ; France is reneiving her youth and vigor, happy under the auspicious dominion of her mighty emperor, invincible in arms, and commanding all the wealth of Europe to flow in exhaustless streams into her public treasury." No doubt France has, from the first, used the most unjust and oppressive means to acquire BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 485 property ; and has always made cruelty and ex- tortion the two main pillars of her financial system. She began very early to seize the capital of her happy people, and after it had been sold to revo- lutionary purchasers, the next crop of French ru- lers seized it a second time, under pretence that the buyers were royalists ; or in fact, because they themselves chose to take the property. In a word, every change of government in France brought a vast portion of the capital of the nation into th3 public exchequer. This new and ingenious system of finance, our modern pstility into the heart of the enemy's country; Uiy waste his long line of seacoats, and reduce ll ».u a bancu wilderness; will strip him of all his foreign possessions, and capture every island in the seas, and rivers, and creeks, and bays, from which troops may be continually detached to harass and annoy his dominions; and give him the full benefit of obstinately protrac- ting a war with the greatest naval power that the world ever saw. But if Britain ever again coops herself up in a narrow, paltry, merely defensive system, she may bid an eternal adieu to the martial glory of her ancestors ; she will lessen the power and lower the spirits of her brave and loyal people; and will be ultimately obliged to tamely submit to the most degrading terms of surrender which her in- solent and unprincipled enemy may think fit to dictate. For nearly twenty years past it has been the fashion with the French to deny all talent of aiiy kind to Britain ; and a very large body of politi- 532 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL cians in these United States, in whose opinion all the assertions of France are the decrees of oracu- lar truth and wisdom, make no scruple of daily and hourly avowing, in discourse and in print, that "the whole British nation are a set of drivtLlers and idiofSy feebler than children in their understan- ding, and weaker than woinen in their cowardice ; at once the scorn and hatred, the contempt and the detestation of every civilized people upon earth," he. &c. I have, however, a, iiiucli more formidable an- tagonist to cope with on this subject than the il- lumined statesmen just quoted. In the tenth vo- lume of the Edinburgh Review, p. 10 — 27, it is aigued with great force and ingenuity, that not enough of the real talent which Britain possesses, is ever called into the service of the government, owing to the extreme monopoly of power by the great leading families of the aristocracy of rank and wealth. The consequences of this monopoly of office I shall state in the words of the Reviewer. •'In the tirst place, all the great and important offices of the slate are virtually monopolized by a few great families. Provided there be any mem- ber of those families possessed of talents to dis- charge their duties in a decent and passable man- ner, a clann is sure to be made in their behalf; and from the nature of the government that claim is almost sure to be successful. The na- ture of the government indeed, and the weight of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 533 the opposition by which it is always confronted, renders a certain degree of talent in these privi- leged candidates indispensable. In this respect Britain has the advantage of the continental governments of Europe. Her chief places cannot be given away to persons utterly incapable of their duty ; but still the qualifica- tions required by her in a candidate properly re- commended, are undoubtedly very slender, and beyond all question, much lower than might be required, and could be obtained, if the competi- tion were free and general, a.nd if success were the sure reward of superior qualification. The second bad effect is, that persons whose natural genius and dispositions would ensure the very highest excellence in many important de- partments, are deterred from cultivating those ta- Jents, or bringing them forward into public no- tice, from the consciousness that they do not pos- sess that political influence which is necessary to give them effect ; or from despair of obtaining those recommendations, without w^hich no success is to be expected. Much admirable talent is thus suppressed for want of encouragement ; and minds that might have redeemed or exalted the age or the country to which they belonged, have wasted their vigor in obscure and ignoble drudgery. The last consequence is, that those who possess the power of nominating to high offices, being 534 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL thus habitually beset with applications from quar- ters to which they are forced to pay attention, cease to think of any other functionaries than those who come so recommended, and make no exertion to discover or bring forward those talents by which alone the exigencies of the country can be supplied in seasons of great difficulty. These reasons are nearly sufficient to account for the fact, that Britain, though containing in the mass of its population a far greater proportion of intelligence and just principle than any other that ever existed, has not generally conducted herself with any extraordinary or consummate wisdom as a government, but has often commit- ted, or persisted in the errors, which a narrow and a vulgar policy had imposed upon the least enlightened of her neighbors. It is natural to think that the highest talents should be found where there is the greatest re- ward, and the greatest field for their exertion; and in a free country especially, it seems necessary to explain how a system should have arisen, which precludes the state from availing itself of the ge- nius and the wisdom of its subjects; and prevents the people from interfering to save themselves by the fair application of the talents and the sagacity they possess. France has triumphed by the free and unlimited use she has made of the talents of her people ; but the people of England are at this moment much BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 533 more enlightened and ingenious, and capable of atFording more efficient service to their govern- ment than those of France, or of any other coun- try. If a similar field was opened for competi- tion ; if the same high rewards were held out for excellence ; and the same facilities afforded for its publication and display, we are perfectly satisfied that England would in a very short time exhibit more splendid instances of successful genius, in every department of the public service, than have yet been produced among those (the French) who have risen to such a height by their multiplication." I can readily imagine that the gentleman, who is capable of writing such an able state-paper as that from which the above extract is taken, must, amidst the ordinary occupations of life, and amidst the daily intercourse of ordinary men, whether professional or not, " droop like the melancholy eagle amidst the meaner domestic fowls j" (to use an expression of Mr. D'Israeli.) " With ruffled plumes, and flagging wing, Quench'd in dark clouds of slumber lie The terrors of his beak and lightning of his eye." For no one possessed of primary and comman- ding talents, can long remain unconscious of their power ; they must be every moment forcing themselves upon his notice, either in common collisions of intellect with men around him, or in silent, solitary study, when he compares the writ- 53d HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ten labors of others with his own more profound and comprehensive reflections. It is therefore no wonder that a man so gifted with exalted ajenius, so armed at all points with information, should sigh at, what must indeed appear to him, wasting his vigor in obscure and ignoble drudgery ; no wonder that he should earnestly desire to guide the helm of State, as much better fitted for his nervous grasp than the pen of a Reviewer. Yet with the most unfeigned respect, I in some measure venture to dissent from the conclusions of this admirable writer. 1. That a high bounty is perpetually offered for the greatest talents in general science, arts, and literature, speculative and practical, by the vast patronage, both private and public, of wealth and honor in Britain ; and that this demand, in conse- quence, has produced the most splendid exertions of genius and knowledge in these intellectual pur- suits, is not disputed. But it is urged that iiot enough of this great talent finds its way into the actual service of the government. Now a veri/ Large portion of talent and informa- tion must always be employed in carr\nng on the administration of such a very complicated system of government as that of Britain; which unites great energy of action in itself, with a very ample extent of personal liberty to its subjects ; in direc- ting the vast naval and military departments ; in managing the Parliamentary troops, and the estab- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C* 537 lished national church ; in guiding the landed, maiuif.icturing and commercial interests; in con- tending with an incessant and formidable opposi- tion of wealth, rank, influence, and talent, against ar// its measures, right or wrong; from the most important, down to the least significant of its transactions. 2. It is easier to guide a machine already made, and the uses of which are known, than to make the machine and set it in motion. A well-established government, like that of Britain, does not require «// its highest talents to be crowded into the ad- ministration. Having grown up in the habits, affections, and feelings of the people, its business can be regulated and energetically carried onward by the superintending genius of a few great men to guide its primary movements, and mtn of de- cent respectable talents to execute its subordinate* functions. The residue of its greatest and most comman- ding talents would be most advantageously em- ployed in diffusing the lights of science, of art, and of literature over the whole community. I should be very sorry to seethe whole vast body of talent which now guides the career of the Edinburgh Re- view, pressed into the actual service of the British government, unless the writers could appoint ade- quate successors to spread the same great flood of metaphysical and economical light over Britain and the v^^orld, which their genius and knowledge 3 Z 538 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL have hitherto done. But as talents are not trans* ferable, nor hereditary, it is to be feared that if Elijah were again to drop, another Elisha could not be found to receive and to wear, his. mantle. In a new government indeed, like that of France, all the great talent of the nation is necessary to bind together the discordant elements of a revolutionary chaos, and force the career of government onward, in direct opposition to the feelings, habits, manners, affections and inclinations of the people; all whose political and social establishments are yet to form, A new dynasty, whose internal mal-contents must be overawed, and whose foreign enemies must be subdued or silenced, necessarily requires a greater proportion of talent to carry on the operations of its rule, so as to produce an equal effect of power, than is demanded in a well-established government, .where each department has its fixed rules of action ; and where the hearts as well as the heads of the people aid the accomplishment of all its efforts. A ship with a favorable breeze goes steadily onward with less seaman's help than under the pressure of an hurricane. 3. It should also be noticed, that in a settled order of things the using all, or nearly all the great talents of a country in the administration, would be produc- tive of great evil and confusion; not only by with- drawing too large a portion of high intellect from " the calmer occupations of the pen and of the page,*' and thus leaving the regions of science to be explo- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, v^C. 539 red only by the feebler light of secowdary minds; but also, by introducing perpetual intrigues and clashings of contest into the cabinet itself, and con- sequently weakening instead of strengthening the hand of supreme power. For great and aspiring minds cannot possibly be induced readily to obey ; they naturally and instinc- tively seek to command ; and if all order, and none submit, the business of the nation must be very bad- ly managed. When Lord Chatham presided abso- lutely over the British cabinet, which was filled with his colleagues in office, men of respectable un- derstanding, but certainly far inferior to himself, the public affairs of the nation were carried on with unparalleled energy and force, and Britain sprang speedily upward to the first rank in the common- wealth of Europe. But afterwards, when his admin- istration was composed of a greater number of extra- ordinary men, who disputed, instead of obeying hi^ commands, every thing was quickly disordered; Chatham retired soon after, and Britain fell into that stupor and lethargy, which uniting insolence with weakness, and tyranny with cowardice, drove her American colonies into rebellion, and mdependence. And if Bonaparte shall ever settle down in peace, and establish a regular order of government, in France, he will find himself very grievously thwarted and annoyed by that great phalanx of formidable talent which he has assembled round his throne ; ow- i|?g to the restless aud unmanageable nature of ge- 540 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL nius when unemployed. At present all their activity- is engaged in condu: ting the great schemes and en- terprises, civil and military, which are necessary to guide France through her contests, and usurpations of dominion. But in peace these turbulent spirits, nursed in blood and long accustomed to power and rapine, will have sufficient leisure to employ their courage and talent m fjlans for their own aggran- dizement and the distutbance of their master. I am therefore inclined to think, that a wide field for the production and display of great talent is opened in Bntam, by always calling a respectable portion of high intellect into the service of the gov- ernment ; by occasionally raising up powerful minds from the middle and lower orders to the great offices of state, and thus perpetually fanning the flame of competition, and by encouraging the exer- tions of genius in every department of science, art. and literature, by rewards and honors. Perseverance in study, and a regular adherence through successive ages, to the great fixed princi- ples of moral and political science, have raised and maintained the British spirit, and rendered its gov- ernment, intelligence, agriculture, manufactures, commerce and marine, at once the envy and admi- ration of the surrounding woild. Great talents always follow the demand for them 3 and no effectual bounty can be offered for their o^^- neral appearance and exertion, except in a free country, whose civil and military institutions are BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 541 on a large and magnificent scale ; holding out the only great and adequate incitements of wealth, rank, intliience, honor, and power, for the full develop- ment of exalted genius. A despotism only de- mands one species of talent, the military ; and that only for a short time ; because a despotism soon sinks naturally by its own corruption into the slum- ber r,f feebleness. And a chmocracy, when once es- tablished, actually proscribes all great talent, by the nature ()f its institutions, which only require the ef- forts of ordinary intellect in their management ; and consequently whatever high talent may be produced in a dfinocracy in time of peace and freedom from national peril, it is suffered to sleep away its exist- ence in idleness and inactivity, never being matured by emplovment on a great scale, fit to rouse and to develop its powers. The following remarks are t/iken from that profound and luminous work, Mr, Brougham's ** Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the Euro- pean Powers," vol, 2. p, 247. " In fact, the foreign affairs of nations are much less apt to be influenced by accidental events, than is generally imagined. The death of a civil or military chief, who had supported the great- ness of a state by the vigor and wisdom of his councils, or the glory of his arms, is seldom, if ever, a cause of great change in the relative im- portance of that country. Great men rise in cer- tain circumstances ; they are disciplined in par- MS HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ticular schools ; the}) train up successors for them- selves ; they are called forth by certain emergen- cies in public affairs. This is more particularly the case in great sys- tems, either civil or military, in the extensive go- vernments, or vast regular armies of modern times; all the operations of which are combined, and mutually dependent one upon another. As these can only be carried on by the united exer- tions of many persons, of the same habits and cast of talents, their success must always depend on the union of men whose abilities and experience in their arts are extensive. If the general or the statesman falls, his place will be filled by some of those whose talents have assisted him in subordinate branches of employ- ment ; and the constant demand for merit, in a cer- tain department, will generally excite men to ap- ply their attention to the acquisition of the ex- cellence 30 much wanted, and so splendidly re- warded. Great occasions draw into public life such men as have long been laboring to fit themselves for their station, and new talents, new powers fre- quently spring up in a man's mind, when he is placed in a situation of pre-eminent difficulty and splendor sujicient to call them forth. The great object of every nation should be, to remove every impediment or check that may prevent such men BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 545 from rising into the stations for which their natu- ral or acquired faculties render them fit. Under 2i free government the restrictions upon the rise of real merit are much fewer than under a despotism ; and the chance of preferment is ex- tended to a much wider circle. In those coun- tries then much less consequence may be attach- ed to the existence or to the loss of a particular man." It is also strongly objected against Britain, by the most respectable men of all parties in the Uni- ted States, that she so constantly sends out to this country y^e^/e ambassadors. To this very grievous charge I confess the Bri- tish government must plead guilty. For what- ever might be the qualifications of unimpeached honor, or of gentlemanly address and manners, in the several ministers which Britain has sent to these United States, it certainly cannot be deem- ed harsh and uncharitable to say, that they have not been very profoundly, or very comprehen- sively furnished with those various natural endow- ments, and acquired information, which are essen- tial to the constitution of that rare and exalted character, a political economist, and a practical statesman. That an ambassador ought to be a statesman ; that he ought to be intimately acquainted with the internal resources and foreign relations of his own country, in order to enable him to learn 544 HJNTS ON THE NATIONAL with more exactness the political condition and the national character of the people to whose go- vernment he is sent as envoj , few who have ex- amined the importance of the subject will be dis- posed to deny. And as the points of political contact be- tween the United States and Britain are many^ and as the commercial relations of the two coun- tries are various and extensive, and without doubt highly beneficial to both; ii is of considerable im- portance that Britain send out to this country public functionaries who n.ight be able and wil- ling to discover the habits and dispositions of the American people; to develop the bearings and tendencies of their government ; to fathom their national resources ; to comprehend and to appre- ciate the complicated interests, the multiplied re- lations, the ever-varying political aspect of a country, whose institutions are all founded on the basis of popular authority and universal suffrage, under one general federal head, and no less than eighteen separate, independent, sovereign, repub- lican states. It is too true, that for several years past, Britain has not been sufficiently careful in her choice of men to represent her sovereign at the seat of the other governments of the world; considering what important consequences are involved in the exe- cution of an ambassador's very delicate and diffi- cult functions. By the institution of envoys is BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 545 kept up a direct and constant intercourse between the governments of different na1 ions ; and opjior- tunities are offered of discovering, and often of preventing, the full accomplijihrnent of those schemes and measures, which, if not thus season- ably counteracted, might eventually lead to ag- gression and to war, with all its horrible train of calamity and desolation. France, the common enemy of the human race, has generally shewn herself to be fully aware of the extensive political benefits resulting from the employment of able and active envoys at foreign courts. Bj'^ means of her diplomatic agency she has alwaj^s exercised a ver}^ extensive influence over the cabinets of other nations ; and has gener- ally outwitted the British ambassadors in transac- tions involving the most essential interests of Bri- tain. Two very important questions, as naturally con- nected with this subject, occur, which I have nei- ther leisure nor capacity to break up, and trace to their remoter consequences. I siiall therefore merely state their outlines, in the hope that some minds of greater opportunity and talent might be induced to treat them in a manner becoming their great political weight and moment. 1. Is not vanity, or self-consequence, or self-es- teem, the primary moving spritig of all govern- ments, as it is naturally of all individuals ? And is it not by perpetually appealing to the vanity of 4 A. .546 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL secondary nations, that France is uniformly able to cajole and influence, in order to plunder and destroy them? While Britain, by eternally wound- ing their vanity, and irritating their self-conse- quence, excites their hatred and disgust ; although all her great national measures have a direct ten- dency to preserve these minor countries from de- struction ? So an artful, unprincipled demagogue flatters and deceives the multitude into its own ruin, in order to forward his own base purposes ; and the multitude is vastly delighted with their worthy compatriot, who picks their pockets, and subverts their liberties ; while an upright, honorable states- man, who never stoops to lying and baseness, but really labors for the public weal, is always feared and hated by the mob, whose vanity is wounded,, and whose envy is excited by his superior integri- ty and wisdom. Will not the application of this principle to the affairs of governments explain, why secondary na- tions always lean favorably towards the most un- principled primary nation, and in consequence inevitably perish ? In Holland a French officer would receive the petition of a Dutchman cour- teously ; compliment and flatter him on the jolly rotundity of his person; send him away pleased 3 and then throw the petition into the fire : while an English commander would be reserved and dis- tant, grant the petition, and offend the petitioner. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 54? Is it thus, that the French please and influence all the minor nations of the world; while Britain generally offends them by her loftiness and pride ? Mankind, perhaps universally, prefer him who tickles their vanity, and flatters their self-conse- quence, to him who confers upon them the greatest and most permanent benefits, without at the same time doing homage to their importance. The af- fections of men are generally won by little atten- tions, not great kindnesses. 2. Can people resident in a primary nation, as in France or Britain, possibly learn how such a nation acts, and is acted upon by other both pri- mary and secondary nations; seeing that their attention is chiefly confined to the operations of the primary power, how it shall act upon, and in- fluence the rest of the world ? Is this the reason why Britain and France are so ignorant of each other's actual condition and resources ? Does not a resident in a secondary nation see how the primary nations operate upon all the world, because all the exterior political movements of the secondary are directed by the measures of the pri- mary nations ? Witness the anti-commercial decrees of France and Britain in the years 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809, by which these United States, and all the other secondary nations of the world are thrown out of their ordinary course ; whereas, no measure of a secondary nation can ever possibly throw a primary power off its balance; for instance the American 54S HINTS ON THE NATIONAL embargo of 1807, 1808, 1809, has almost beg- gaicdand destroyed the Union, but has not even peiceptihiy affected either Britain or France. Is this a sufficient reason to account for M. Gent.v, the Prussian war counsellor, living at Berlin, in the heart of a secondary country, having in his answer to M. Hauterive, given a more accurate and comprehensive view of the positive and relative con- dition of France and Britain, than has ever been done by any Frenchman or Englishman ? But to return. In this awful crisis of the world, when Britain, almost alone and single-handed, maintains the cause ol liberty, of all social virtue, and civilized enjoyment, in dreadful conflict against the combined force of the greater part of Europe and its dependencies, it behoves the British govern- ment to consider well how they shall play for the iew foreign stakes, now left m their hands ; lest* they un- wittingly throw them also entirely into the arms of France ; a measure, as far as relates to this country, which a very powerful party in these United States, known by the name of the anti-federal, democra- tic, or jacobin faction, strain every nerve to accom- plish. And perhaps, ii might be expedient for Britain to alter very generally the course of her accustomed di- plomacy, and send out to other governments, and particularly to these United States, ambassador.^ who would think more and talk less; who would carefully studj-, develop and manage the national L. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 5A^ feelings and habits of the people among whom they reside ; and who would be capable of advancing the real and permament interests of their own country, in all their various diplomatic transactions. It ought to be a matter of deep and serious import to Britain always to keep in this country a resident minister i able to comprehend the relations and inter- ests of the two people ; and of sufficient magnani- mity to endeavor to unite them in the closest bonds of amity, by promoting all those measures of policy and commerce which would redound to their mutual advantage; and thus, by conjoining in the ties of friendship the only two people who enjoy even the semblance of freedom, and an equitable administra- tion of justice, might raise a firm and an effectual barrier against that unrelenting despotism which is rolling together as a scroll the kmgdoms and the empires of the civilized world ; which is even now flooding out a tide of desolation, that has alread\' swept away the ancient boundaries and land-marks of the fairer and the better portion of the globe, and threatens to deluge the remainder of the earth with the waters of bitterness and of death. When it is recollected that ambassadors furnish the intelligence which directs all the movements of their respective governments, as to their relations with foreign powers ; perhaps, it will not be thought that too much stress has been laid upon the great importance of a cautious and prudent selection of men, fit and able to execute the very important and arduous duties of an envov. ^50 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL In some instances Britain has shewn herself tho- roughly sensible of the vast consequences resulting from the employment of capable ambassadors. She has availed herself of the great diplomatic talents of a Temple, a Marlborough, aWalpole, anda Malmes- bury. And if she would oftener have recourse to such negociators, she certainly would not be so fre- quently over-seen by France in her diplomatic trans- actions and treaties ; nor be so constantly exposed to the perilous necessity of standing alone against the armed combinations of other powers, who have been blinded to their own best interests, and duped into hostility against her by the more dexterous ma- nagement, and the more subtle policy of French en- voys. A \ery acute and able living vi^riter, (Mr. Steph- en, author of" War in Disguise," " The Dangers of the Country," &c. &c.) objects this general want of foreign policy to the British government, and considers it as not confmed merely to care- lessness in the choice of ambassadors : he says, " A magnanimous, but not very prudent con- tempt of the popular voice in foreign countries, or at least of the ??ze^?i^ of obtaining its suffrage, has been long displayed by the Cabinet of Eng- land. The British fight, pay, and negociatcj but except in a formal manifesto, do not reason to the European or American public. They aban- don to their enemies the influence of every foreign press i even where the fear of French arms does BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 65] iiot preclude a competition. This is perhaps a natural, though accidental consequence of the peculiar form of the British government. The rights and the interests of the nation, the grounds of its wars and its treaties, are copiously discus- sed in Parliament; and the British statesmen forget that foreign politicians do not always read their debates." It should not, however, pass unnoticed that in other countries, ambassadors transact their busi- ness, and come in contact chiefly with the minis- ters and leading men about the court to which they are sent ; and which men pursue some mea- sures o^fixedy permanent policy. But in the Uni- ted States, iwhere the people bear so much sway, and are perpetually changing their public officers, and consequently their public measures, a British ambassador is exposed to greater difficulties in his proceedings; and finds it almost impossible to conciliate the favor, or to gain the confidence of the many contending factions in this country, so as to obtain any very liberal or permanent ar- rangement for the mutual benefit of both nations. Add to which, he is continually exposed to a multitude of blunt and awkward questions in a country, where democracy is so much the prevail- ing fashion as to break down all the wholesome, distinctions of rank and order; and liberty and equality are carried to such a height, that the polit- ical importance of the meanest, themost ignorant o52 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL and factious citizen, is put upon the same level with that of the most elevated and enlightened. All these difficulties, however, are only so ma- ny additional arguments to strengthen the neces- sity and importance of Britain's sending out able resident ministers to the United States. But I am also vvell aware of the difficulty of pre- vailing upon great and primary talents to come out as ambassadors from Britain to this country ; which being only a minor and a secondary nation, hulds our no inducement to such men. To reside in the midst of a rude anil uniormed state of soci- ety ; to receive a scanty and beggarly salary • and to find every opening of the avenues to high political rank and honor in Britain shat against them ; can never become objects of ambition to men of elevated minds, and extensive inform/ation. According to the present system of British di- plomacy, while these men were vv-asting their best years in an inglorious obscurity at Washing- ton, " that desert called a city ;" (as Colonel Pickering terms it) and reaping nothing but a harvest of suspicion from America, and of forget- fulness from Britain ; their compeers in age and talents would be pressing forward to the highest stations of political excellence in their native land. Men, conscious of their own intellectual strength, cannot consent to sacrifice every prospect of hon- orable advancement, in order to attend for a while upon the minute movements of a feeble fluctua- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 65$ ting, unpurposed cabinet ; and then to sink into the nameless obscurity of mere private gentlemen* AVhile the greater nations of the earth, there- fore ; while France, and Spain, and Austria, and Russia, open wide and ample fields of diplomatic exertion to the ambition of Britain's abler men; the United States invite and receive only those or- dinary talents, which, indeed, enable their posses- sor to bow at a levee, and to preside with easy de- corum at a dinner; but can never qialify him to discern the great interests of a nation ; to sound the depths and shoals of political intrigue; to up- hold the dignity of his own country; and at the same time to conciliate the esteem and affection of a foreign nation. Yet precisely such men, of rare and exalted en- dowments, are indispensably necessary to come out from Britain as resident ministers in these United States. The British government has too long wider-rated the importance of America. It is now high time to distinguish between an un- principled and desperate French jacobin faction, and the highly valuable national character of the native American people ; and also to appreciate the inexhaustible resources, physical and niora.1, of this country. Unless Britain send out men of exalted and comprehensive minds, in a word, sagacious and prudent statesmen, to represent their sovereign in the United States, the mutual interests of the two 4b J54 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL countues ?iever ca?i be understood; and French influence will always continue to predominate in the Union, and to sow the seeds of discord between two nations whose reciprocal prosperity would be very greatly promoted by living together on terms of amity and affection. In order to effect this desirable purpose, the British government must offer a bounty sufficient- ly high to induce men of primary talents to relin- quish the physical conveniences and comforts, the intellectual enjoyments, all the refinements of taste that are fostered in the polished society of Europe; and to encounter the rude shocks of un- civilized life, of democratic vulgarity and inso- lence, of infant science, and of unformed art, in the United States. The salary of the British min- ister resident in America must be greatly enlar- ged ; and above all, his appointment must be made the broad and direct road to high political honor, rank, and power in Britain. If it be an object of importance that America should co-operate with Britain in defending the last remains of political freedom against the rava- ges of Gallic tyranny, the British government must send out to this country a Sir William Tem- ple, or a Horace AValpole. But if it be advisable for her to continue in perpetual broils and mis- understandings with her American brethren, she will do as she has hitherto done. It must not however be dissembled, that the BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 555 British government is not altogether to blame in omitting to send out able men as ambassadors to foreign countries. For the men of primary talents in Britain had rather go into the House of Com- mons, where their great intellect has an immediate opportunity of displaying itself, so as to make a powerful and permanent impression upon the whole British community, and thus lay open for them a broad and ample road to the posts of in- fluence and honor, than enter upon an embassy to a foreign court, where they are more out of sight of their own countrymen, and consequently, being Iiule seen and felt, are apt to glide down the stream of life into forgetful ness. The French, on the contrary, have no great theatre at home for the display of popular talents, and therefore willingly go abroad to seek objects on which to execute their schemes of political in- trigue ; and by their collective efforts of fraud and flattery, as ministers, ambassadors, agents, and spies, obtain more power and influence in foreign cabinets, than their own government ever effects by the wisdom and energy of its administration at home. Nevertheless, the British government has it in its power to create a bounty of honor and ambition sufficiently high to induce men of exalted talents to become the representatives of their sovereign in foreign countries. And until this be done the exterior relations of Britain will always be so 55Q HINTS ON THE NATIONAL lamely conducterl, as to produce much trouble and serious detriment to her best and most essen- tial interests. It is perhaps necessary to say a few words re- specting Mr. Jackson, who has very lately come to the United States as the British resident minis- ter. This gentleman in early life accompanied i,ord St. Helens as Secretary of Legation to Mad- rid, where he conducted himself so ably, and so satisfactorily to both the British and Spanish gov- ernments, as to be appointed ambassador, on the return of Lord St. Helens home on account of ill health ; which took place within two years after his first entrance into Spain. Mr. Jackson, since that time, has resided in a di- plomat c capacity, at the counts of Berlin, Constan- tinople, Paris, and Copenhagen, at all of which pla- ces he di.scharged the duties of his high and responsi- ble st.ition, with fidelity to his government and honor to himself. It appeared necessary to give this brief notice of Mr. Jackson, because for these four months past all the democratic papersin the Union have been dailyjis- sumg the most base and atrocious lies and calum- nies against this gentleman. In the month of July 1809, the account came to this country that the British government disavowed the ag-e'^ment made with the United States by Mr, Davi'l Erskine, aJ? having been concluded in direct violation of his orders and instructions. Immediately BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 557 all the democratic presses in the union resounded with clainors ai^aiiist " the bdseness and perfidy of the Biirish nation." Kmg George the Third was incesSfiii^Iy leviletl as " a hypocrite, and a tyrant," and Ml-. Canijing was greeted with the courteous appellaMons oi" " har, scoundrel, coward, fool," and many other compliments equally refined and elegant. The leading douocratic administration prints de- clared, " that the British government had given cer- " ta-n instructions to Mr David Erskine, Vv-ho strictly and literally obeyed them; but finding itself outwit- ted by the superior sagacity of Messrs. Madison, Smiih, and Gallatin, it now comes forward zvith a lie in its monfh, and endeavors to cover its own folly from the world by basely sacrificing its honest and able minister, who, inheriting all the talents of his in-* comparable father, the sage Lord Erskine, undoubt- edly the greatest statesman [l^ord^n^kine a states- man !) now in Britain, has as much wit as Mr. Can- ning, and far more wisdom." The character of Mr. Jackson, at that time on- ly the proposed Minister from Britain, was, (and is indeed to this day, October !^Oth 1809) attempted to be blackened by every species of the most infamous slander. The most atrocious, inconsistent, contra- dictory lies have been every day for these four months past invented, in order to render him at once an ob- ject of contempt and of abhorrence in the eyes of the American people. The government of the United States was incessantly called upon by news- 558 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL paper denunciations, and speeches and resolutions in democratic clubs and meetings^ " not to receive Jac^kson ; to forbid him iipoji pain of death to pollute the continent of America with his cursed foot ; to declare immediate war against Great Britain ; be- ginning with the confiscation of all British property, public and private, in and out of the United States' funds ; and pro^^ressing onward to the capture of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New- Brunswick, and end- ing with seizing all the West-India islands, half oi which are to be given to France, and the other half retained by America." All this puling, miserable jargon is perpetually bruited into our ears at this moment ; and the most extravagant assertions are made as to the precise moment in which Britain will cease to be a nation. Some of the profounder statesmen say " four months ;" others, more humane, allow her to live until the end o{ six months from the present hour, positively asserting that " beyond the early spring of 1810 nothing earthly can prolong her national ex- istence." Compare these ebullitions of democratic justice and liberality with the conduct of Britain in relation to Mr. Munroe, when appointed American Ambas- sador to the court of St. James. Mr. Munroe, was known to be an incorrigible democrat ; he had actu- ally laid a plan before the French government, when resident minister for the United States at Paris, for the destruction of Britain, and was remarkable for nothing so much as for his hatred to England. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 559 Yet against this man not a single paragraph ever appeared in the British prints, either before his arrival at, or during his stay in, or after his departure from, London. Nevertheless, against Mr. Jackson, long before he arrived, and every hour since he has resided in these United States, although he has never in word or deed expressed any dislike towards this country, the precious or- gan-pipes of democracy have been and now are incessantly pealing the loudest thunders of re- proach and calumny; greeting him with no other appellations than those of *' the Copenhagen mur- derer," " the Copenhagen assassin," " the mur- derer of thousands and tens of thousands," "the intended destroyer of the United States," and so forth, and so forth. It is a notorious fact, that while all the demo- cratic presses in the Union are daily and hourly groaning with the weight of abuses perpetually heaped upon Britain, it seldom happens that even a single paragraph of censure upon America ap- pears in the British public prints. This can only be accounted for on the principle, that the quantity and virulence of calumny vented against a given object, are generally in proportion to the importance of that object. In France the private conversations and the public works pour out a greater abundance of abuse upon Britain than upon all the other na- tions of the earth put together ; because France 566 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL feels that British wealth, valor, wisdom, and influ- ence oppose insuperable obstacles to her incessant endeavors to subjugate and insla\e the world. And in Britain France is honored with a larger portion of invective than is bestowed u})on all the rest of the habitable globe collectively ; because French power, and French violence and injiistice, immediately endanger the repose and security of the British en^pire. This rule holds equally in respect to individuals as to nations ; the tongne of slander, and the pen of virulence are directed against the brave, the wealthy, the powerful, the eloquent, the wise and good ; and not against the foolish and the feeble, the cowardly and the insignificant. The applica- tion of this principle will enable us to draw a to- lerably correct inlerence as to the rela/ive impor- tance of Britain and America to each other and to the world at large ; notwithstanding the inces- sant assurances and fulminations of our democrats here, that " the zvhole British empire is entirely de- pendent upon these United States." I cannot conclude the subject of ambassadors without stating, on the authority of a senator now in congress^ the following instance of Mr. David Erskine's diplomatic zvisdom. Towards the close of the winter session of Congress in 1808 — 9, Mr. Giles brought into the senate of the United States his famous non-intercourse bill. Mr. Giles is undoubtedly the most able leader of all the de- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 56l mocratic party in the Union, and as undoubtedly, the most virulent enemy of Britain, and the most partial admirer of France. Mr. Giles proposed the insertion of a clause in his non-intercourse bill to this effect, namely, that the Fj'ejich ships of war should be admitted into the waters and harbors of the United States, while the British ships of war should be rigorously ^.r- cluded from those harbors and waters. A gentleman rose on the floor of the senate and opposed this clause of the bill, as being highly dishonorable to America, in showing a most servile and flagrant partiality for France, and a no less base and unjust hostility against England. Mr. Giles replied, that he had waited upon Mr. David Erskine, the British minister, at Washington, and asked him if there would be any objection on the part of Bri- tain to the insertion of such a clause ; Mr. Erskine replied, that the British government would have no objection to such an exemption in favor of French ships of war, while those of Britain were interdicted. This declaration appeared so extraordinary, that it was supposed Mr. Giles had made some mistake ; and di federal member of the senate im- mediately went to Mr. Erskine, and inquired if he really were in earnest in asserting that the British government would have no objection to the admissiori of French war-ships into the Ame- 4 C 562, HINTS ON THE NATIONAL rican ports, while those of Britain were excluded ? Mr. Erskine again made answer that his govern- ment had 710 objection to the insertion of such a clause in favor of France, and to the injury of Britain. At the time when Mr. David Erskine took up- on himself to assure both the federal and demo- cratic parties of the union that the British govern- ment was altogether indifferent as to how much favor America might show to France, and how much injustice she might exercise towards Britain, he actually had in his possession the instructions of Mr. Canning, expressly forbidding him to com- mence any negociations with the American go- vernment until it had put Britain and France upon a perfect equality of treatment by the United States. The farther development of Mr. David Erskine's diplomatic conduct in this country 1 must post- pone until I discuss the foreign relations of the Union in my View of America. I shall now only add, that it has long been matter of deep astonish- ment to all the thinking part of the American public, how Mr. Fox could possibly send, and how Mr. Canning could possibly continue in the office of British ambassador to these United States the honorable David Montague Erskine, whose entire want of all native talent, and whose unpar- donable ignorance of all, even the simplest ele- ments of political information, have long since BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 663 rendered him the object of universal scorn or compassion in the eyes of every well-wisher to the best interests of America and Britain. Another very prevailing doctrine among a cer- tain class of politicians in the Union is, that Bri- tain, in addition to her speedily approaching sub- jugation by France, is now on the eve of a most terrible political revolution, from the furious con- tentions of the various internal factions which are tearing out the bowels of their common country. And they quote scraps from Cobbett's Political Register, pages from the Edinburgh Review, ex- tracts from the opposition speeches in Parlia- ment, and the 7'^(;rm- harangues of the Crown & Anchor tavern ; as conclusive proofs, that the Brit- ish constitution is about to be overturned, tlie public debt sponged, the nobility degraded, the two Houses of Parliament dissolved for ever, the clergy butchered, the merchants robbed, all the people and property put in requisition ; in a word, that all the horrors of anarchy and violence, of cruelty and blood, which have been acted on so extensive a scale in France, are to be immediately renewed " with greater perfidy and barbarity in England." But a great mistake as to the real state of po- litical parties of Britain pervades the whole pha- lanx of politicians to whom I allude. The British nation is pretty equally divided into two great political parties, the whig and the tory ; each of 5QA HINTS ON THE NATIONAL which includes within itself a vast body of talent, information, rank, property and influence. Both these parties are attached to the present form of government in Britain, both are desirous of up- liolding the constitution and the monarchy ; they only differ as to their separate views respecting the best means of accomplishing this great and de- sirable end. Where the government is both stable and free, as in Britain, parties may be safely allovved to take their full range of exertion. There must be differences of opinion, and mutual opposition will engender bitterness of contest, and some ran- corous feeling. There must be rivalships among those whom genius, rank, or reputation have made powerful ; and the contests of such opponents will often deeply agitate, but seldom endanger the safety of a nation. For the common aim oi both parties is to obtain power and place under not ove?^ the government ; as was the case in France, during the explosion of the revolution ; and as must ever be the case in the struggles of demo- cracy . It is an act of gross and flagrant injustice to con- found the strictures of the Edinburgh Review, and the speeches of the opposition in Parliament, with the ignorant scurrility of Cobbett's Political Regis- ter and the ravings of the jacobin reform-faction at the Crown & Anchor. The very able and temperate letter of the Earl of Selkirk, to Major BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 56S Cartwriejht, lately published in the London pa- pers, sufficiently unfolds the views of the reform^ ers. And a conclusive proof that Cobbett has fallen into the sere and yellow leaf of jacobinism is, the perpetual and commendatory citations of his Political Register in all the democratic papers of the Union ; the papers of that very same demo- cratic party, whose fraud and treason to their own country are no where more ably and more successfully exposed than by Mr. Cobbett himself in his lucubrations of Peter Porcupine. But whoever carefully peruses the pages of the Edinburgh Review, and the speeches of the oppo- sition in Parliament, will find, however violent or intemperate they may be in their expressions of censure against the existing British administra- tion, yet they are both equally strenuous in their determination to support the constitution and government of Britain against all the attacks of the common enemy of mankind. In the reign of George the second, an ambassa- dor from Spain to Britain, expressed his wonder, to a gentleman of London, that the two conten- ding whig and tory parties should so desperately hate each other ; and observed that the nation must be so weakened by their mutual opposition as soon to fall an easy prey to the invasion of a foreign foe. The English gentleman led away the Spaniard to see two British bull-dogs fight, which they did 566 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL most furiously, tearing each Other very terribly i after a while, a bear was turned in upon the floor where the two dogs were fighting ; they instantly ceased their mutual strife, both attacked the bear, speedily drove him off, and then renewed their quarrel with each other. This, said the Englishman to the Spaniard, is a correct resemblance of the whig and tory parties ; they worry one another incessantly ; but should any bear, in the shape of France or Spain, attack their common country, they will both instantly unite to buffet the bear ; which being done, they will worry each other as before. Lord Chatham's glorious war, which followed soon after, and for a long season completely shat- tered the power both of France and Spain, fully verified the correctness of the parallel between the political parties and the bull-dogs of Britain. Not so the miserable remnant of the jacobin faction in England ; these beings, alike destitute of property, influence, talent, knowledge, num- bers, and principle, always, in common with their brother disciples of democracy all over the world, scrupulously copy the example of their great pa- tron and paymaster, Bonaparte; and with the words " liberty, reform^ amelioration of the condition of many' &c. &c. on their lips, show by all their actions, that they are prepared for the perpetra- tion of injustice, fraud, butchery, and every crime BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 567 that can cover the earth with horror and desola- tion. Hatred to their ozvn country, more especially if that country be Britain, is the characteristic fea- ture of erm/ jacobin. That this pernicious race is not yet quite extinct in England, the following circular letter from a mercantile house in Liver- pool, to their American correspondents, written for the sole purpose of exciting these United States into a war with Britain, will sufficiently prove. The chief active, letter-writing partner in the house, is a United Irishman^ who was in arms against his own country, in the late rebellion against Britain, at Wexford, in Ireland. This let- ter has been industriously copied, and re-copied in manj^of the democratic papers of the administration party in the Union, " as a conclusive proof of the absolute necessity of America immediately decla^ ring war against the base, perfidious, cowardly, British nation ; (not a syllable against France,) seeing that the patriotic house of Dixon, Lavater, & Co. of Liverpool, (England,) have manfully y and liberally, and philanthropically, revealed the infamous intentions of the most corrupt and atro- cious government in the world." 568 HINTS ON THE ^NATIONAL Liverpool, 2d September, 180^. " Whilst we are fully convinced that, as far as it is practicable, the course of American policy will be unalterably pacific, we are not without our fears that the intercourse will again be suspended. The partial repeal of our Orders in Council, and the mild character of our constructive Blockade, may, if skilfully and temperately urged, lead to a happy issue ; but knowing that the sentiment of the British minister is lofty and unwise, — ' that Amer- ica will, America must submit,' (quoting these as Mr. Canning's own words,) we apprehend that Mr. Jackson's instructions are not quite so con- ciliatory as the novelty and oppression of the case, as well as the vital interests at stake, so evi- dently and powerfully demanded. *' Unfortunately for our country, there is a war- like character in our Councils, which is totaUy ad- verse to any permanent arrangement ; and sooner or later, this spirit, if not laid by the nation, will seek an opportunity of dischargmg itself upon America. Even where the interests of America are concurrent with the measures of Britain, the disposition is never allowed to grace the act, and the English minister, with a degree of asperity which is without precedent and without apology, shamelessly avows, that the good which was done to America hy his measures, was undesigned by his government ! How can we ultimately look to BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 569 peace from an administration where the very de- sire of doing good from a good motive is renoun- ced in the most daring and profligate manner. " It is very clear that the governments of Amer^ ica and England have not yet come together with that earnestness, or understood each other with that precision, u hi(;h the magnitude of the sub- ject, the very nature of tlio ject, con- sult " An Essay on the Spirit and Influence of the JReformation of Luther ;" the work which obtained the prize on the question proposed in 1802, by the National Institute of France ; written by M. Vil- lers (himself a revolutionary atheist,) and published at Paris, in 1804. The progress of declining protestanism in a coun- try is somewhat different, but its termination is the same ; namely, in entire projiigacy. For the mode by which protestant churches contrive to preach themselves gradually into deism, see" The History ofthe Church of Christ," by Joseph Milner, M. A. American edition, published in 1809, vol. 1, p. 99, 129, It is to be remembered that although nominally protestant countries often contrive to degenerate from Christianity into what they call deism, yet the practical effects to society are the same as those of atheism, between which and deism there is only some slight speculative difference about a first cause, or no first cause. But both the deist and the atheist hold themselves to be alike free from all moral obli- 590 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL gation ; neither of them considers himself as ac- count able to any superior divine tribunal hereafter, for h s actions on earth. And consequently deists and atheists are equally prone to commit any spe- cies of immorality and crime, that may suit their convenience, or comport with their inchnation. This practical identify of deism and atheism must be undt rstood as confined to countries where divine revelation is known, and where the gospel is or may be preached ; for in pagan countries where the sacred scriptures are unknown, the deists are much more under the influence of moral obligation than are the atheisfSy in consequence of follouing more steadily and with greater honesty the dictates o{ natural coiiscie7ice,'w\\\c\i they in common with all men, whether sitting under the light of revela- tion or not, possess as a monitor within tljeir own bosoms. The celebrated Doctor John Owen, in his Trea- tise on Spiritual MindednesSy p. 175, 12mo. edition, observes that the greatest iniquity and corruption are not to be sought for, neither will they be found among the heathens^ whether of savage or of compa- ratively civilized life. These idolatrous nations are kept within some bounds of wickedness by the light of reason, and by the operations of natural con- science- But the greatest corruption and iniquity, the most horrible blasphemy, the most atrocious crimes, the most unrelenting, cold-blooded, heart- less cruelty are to be found in the thoughts, words. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 591 and actions of injidels in those countries, where the blessings of revelation are accorded to man. All the crimes of all the pagans on the whole earth durmg the lapse of an entire century do not equal in magni" tude and horror the thousandth part of the baseness and atrocity of the French during the latt twenty years. The reason assigned by Doctor Owen for the greater criminality of the infi'lel, in Christian coun- tries, than that of the idolatrous pagan is, that Di- vine Providence suffers the lesser^ the natural light, of conscience to be extinguished in those who ivil- fully reject all belief in the greater light of revela- tion ; whence they give themselves up to the com- mission of every iniquity which their hardened hearts can devise, and which their murderous hands can perpetrate. I am well aware that many deists in Christian countries do in words deny the justice of this repre- sentation, and affect to consider themselves as ac- countable for their " deeds done in the flesh" to the Supreme Being ; but upon being closely questioned, and made to follow out their own principles into their ultimate and legitimate consequences, they iri- variabli) confirm by facts what they contradict in terms ; they invariably swamp themselves in practi- cal atheism, leaving their Deity to slumber supinely in apathy and indifference, while they pursue the career which appetite impels, or convenience dic- tates, without a7iy regard to the consequences that might accrue in a future life. 592 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL For a full commentary on this position consult what are called " The philosophical works of Lord Bolingbroke." Now hardened infidelity, whether it be called de- ism or atheism, no matter which, and the most abandoned pn fligacy, shrinking from the commis- sion of no crime however base and atrocious, is pre- cisely the definition of y^coZ/Zw^Vw. For a conclu- sive proof of the correctness of this definition I most confidently appeal to the malignant unbelief and in- famous character o^ every thorough-paced, genuirre jacobin, now resident in France, in Britain, in these United States, or in any other country ; always in- deed bearing in mind the broad distinction between the well meaning and deceived democrat, and the crafty, dtccivhtg jncobin. Precisely in this situation, namely, that of po- pery, having naturally gravitated into atheism, and that of protestantism having for want of all proper and wholesome church discipline, degene- rated into deism, was nearly the whole continent of Europe for many years previous to the French revolution; and profligacy and intelligence being more universally diffused over France than over any other nation of continental Europe, the hor- rible explosion necessarily took place there in the first instance. It was this state of society in which infidelity had untied all the ligaments of moral obligation^ BANKRUPTCV^ OF BRITAIN, &C. 593 and let loose all the depravity of the human heart to find uncontrolled vent in the commission of every enormity, that made an effectual demand for the lahois and writings of the French philosophists -, of Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Alembert, Condorcet, Diderot, and many other most unprincipled men, who devoted their great talents and greater infor- mation to the sole purpose of covering the earth with atheism and crime. Of this state of society, and of the efforts of these infidel-fanatics, the statesmen of France availed themselves, in order to guide, (not to causey for the causes were found in the universal protli- gacy, which would have produced a revolution, that is, an entire destruction of all social order, if no one politician had ever existed in France) the career of the revolution towards the exterior ag- grandizement of the great nation. A conclusive proof of the general depravity in France is the ease and readiness with which parents denounced their children, children dragged their parents to the guillotine, and no tie of kindred blood pre- vented the assassin's knife, even in the very first stages of the revolution ; which event therefore did not cause the profligacy ; it was previously exist- ing, and itself caused the revolutionary explo- sion. Nor shall we wonder at this, when we remem- ber, that scarcely any man in Paris, for some years previous to the revolution, could summon 4 G 594 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL up sufficient assurance to call the children, who ran about his house, and bore his namet his own offspring. A venerable American statesman now living, while he was minister from the United States to France, had an opportunity of seeing a French phi- losopher A\e in Paris ; the Frenchman died vi iihthe same stupid, brutal insensibility as that with which a dog or a pig would lie down and breathe his last breath. The American envoy observed, that a brother philosopher of the man who had just died, stood looking on the dead body with as much un- concern as if he had been surveying a dead calf suspended in the shambles. He therefore enter- ed into a conversation with this eiilightened being, of which the following is a very short example : the letter A stands for the American, and F for the Frenchman. " A. Do you feel no anxiety about Xhe future condition of your friend who lies dead here? F, No ; there is no future state ; Voltaire has^ settled that point long since. A. Do you think then that God will not call men to account hereafter for their actions on earth .? F. No; there is no God ; Diderot has clearly demonstrated this matter. A. If there be no God then, there can be no moral obligation ; and if so, how is human society to be held together ? BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 595 F. By the enlightened self-interest of the very few philosophers^ who will govern the canaille, the multitude, by terror.^'' Mr. Wyndham, in his never to be forgotten speech against the base peace of Amiens, says, *' the authors of the French revolution wished to destroy morality and religion. They wished these things as ends; but they wished them also as means to a higher and more extensive design. They wished for a double empire; an empire of opinion and an empire of political power; and they used the one of these as a mean of effecting the other. What are we to think of a country, that having struck out of men's minds, as far as it has the power to do so, all sense of religion and all belief of a future state, has struck out of its system of civil polity the institution of marriage ; that has formally, professedly, and by law, established the intercourse of the sexes upon the footing of an unrestrained concubinage ; that has turned the whole country into one universal brothel P" The necessary and natural progress of the hor- rible anarchy which sprung up from the subver- sion of all moral duty, and all social order, to its termination in military despotism in France, is most impressively described by Sir James MTn- tosh in his profoundly philosophical and political speech on the trial of M. Peltier in the year 1803. " The French revolution began with great and fatal errors- These errors produced atrocious 596 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL crimes. A mild and feeble monarchy was suc- ceeded by bloody anarchy, which very shortly gave birth to military despotism. France in a few years described the whole circle of human so- ciety. "All this was in the order of nature. When everv principle of authority, and civil discipline; when every principle which enables some men to command, and disposes others to obey, was extir- pated from the mind by atrocious theories, and still more atrocious examples ; when every old in- stitution was trampled down with contumely, and every new institution covered in its cradle with blood ; when the principle of property itself, the sheet-anchor of society was annihilated ; when in the persons of the new possessors, whom the po- verty of language obliges us to call proprietors, it was contaminated in its source by robbery and murder, and it became separated from that edu- cation and those manners ; from that general pre- sumption of superior knowledge, and more scrupulous probity, which form its only liberal ti- tles to respect ; when the people were taught to despise every thing old, and compelled to detest every thing new ; there remained only one prin- ciple strong enough to hold society together ; a principle utterly incompatible indeed with liber- ty, and unfriendly to civilization itself; a tyran- nical and barbarous principle ; but in that mise- rable condition of human affairs, a refuge from BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 59? still more intolerable evils ; I mean the principle of military power, which gains strength from that confusion in which all the other elements of so- ciety are dissolved, and which in these terrible extremities is the cement that preserves it from total destruction." But although the military despotism of France at present holds nearly the whole continent of Europe in chains, it will not probably prevent that terrible re-action upon itself, arising from the present confused, unsocial, irreligious, immoral, condition of Europe ; all the nations of which perhaps, ere long will be destined to run the same bloody career of revolutionary warfare, up- on which Spain has just entered. France has hitherto been the great instrument, in the hand of divine Providence, to inflict vengeance and pun- ishment, not only on her own apostacy and ini- quity, but also on the iniquity and apostacy of the rest of continental Europe. And her sys- tem of conscription, her destruction of all pro- ductive industry, her cutting away her own inter- nal resources, peculiarly fit her for experiencing much more extensive and wide-wasting calamity, than she has yet suffered ; when the day of retri- bution shall arrive. Mankind have been permitted by Divine Prov- idence to make three great and decisive experi- ments of the effects necessarily resulting from 598 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL their own uncontrolled depravity, on a very wide and ample field. 1. A revelation of the only true and pure reli- gion was made to our first parents, whose posterity soon swerved into the most horrible impiety and profligacy. Tlie flood swept away these rebels against God; and a second promulgation of the only genuine and undefiled religion was made through the instrumentality of Noah, whose pos- terity also, following the course of the natural de- pravity of the human heart, and of man's free agen- cy, speedily plunged into all the absurdities and horrors of paganism, which overspread the whole world, excepting one little spot where the oracles of God were miraculous preserved. The necessa- ry and universal fruits of paganism were to cover the earth with the most awful darkness, ignorance, profligacy, and oppression. Si. In the fulness of time our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came to introduce the last and most perfect dispensation of grace and truth, called in the sacred scriptures " the kingdom of heaven,^ and within a few years after his ascension the gospel was spread over nearly the whole surface of the earth. From the purity of evangelical doctrine and its imeparahle companion, sound morality, men gradually declined into superstition and error, until popery covered the world with darkness and profligacy. 3. The reformation, by Luther^ by Calvin, and BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, kc. 599 some other chosen instruments of Divine Provi* dence, again opened to mankind the sources of pure, evangelical light, which also soon became again darkened, and almost entirely extinguished, at least on the European continent, by the rise, and rapid and general progress oibifideUfyy which third great, and far more terrible experiment in its destructive consequences than those of pagan- ism and popery combined, is now running its career of desolation over the miserable remnant of the Christian world. From the progress of infidelity, cutting away all the ties of moral obligation, breaking up every great cement of society, and scattering its frag- ments in frantic derision and malignant scorn to the four winds of heaven ; it cannot be, but that the whole continent of Europe must ere long pass through the fiery ordeal of the most fearful and bloody convulsions ; tearing up by the roots all the little remains of civil government, and scatter- ing to pieces those potentates, princedoms, thrones, and dominations, which have hitherto appeared to withstand the pitiless pelting of the revolutionary tempest. Into what forms of polity, whether of vague, weak, unpurposed democracy ; of well-poised, energetic, and lasting aristocracy ; or of unrelent- ing, murderous military despotism, these terrible disorders and conflicts shall subside ; into how many and how great principalities and powers the 600 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL European continent shall be ultimately divided and subdivided, is not given to human wisdom to foresee. In Britain, however, a very different process has taken place from that which has laid waste, and is still desolating the continent of Europe, She ear- ly embraced the reformation in name and in effect ; in England and in Scotland popery gradually gave way to the light of evangelical truth; and civiliza- tion, order and morality follov/ed as invariable ef- fects from a producing cause. In Ireland, indeed, the greater portion of the people are still more than half barbarous, idle, uncivilized, and profli- gate, from the prevalence of popery ; which is to my mind one of the strongest amongst innumera- ble arguments for the emancipation of the Irish pa- pists, that so many millions of human beings might have the onlij opportunity which man can give of emerging from barbarous superstition into civili- zation and order, by the diffusion of instruction, by the preaching of the gospel, by the full parti- cipation of equal political rights and privileges. From the reign of Charles the second, religion in Britain gradually declined to a very low ebb, until the middle of the reign of George the second, when a great revival took place, and from that time down to the pres^'Ui houwvifal, practical reW- gion has been, and is, gaining ground in ewevy part of the British dominions. And it has been attended uniformly by an increase of industr}^ BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 601 social order, sound morals, intelligence and civil liberty. At no time however, even amidst the most griev- ous declensions of serious religion, have v\\e funda- mental doctrines of the gospel suffered in Britain those impious and destructive perversions, which they invariably underwent on the continent of Eu- rope. This great and inestimable benefit has arisen partly from there having always been a rem- nant of ^iY/7?ife//c«/ teachers and professors in the national churches of England and of Scotland, and the various other Christian sects which are spread over the British empire ; partly from the ortJwdox articles and creeds of the British national churches maintaining strong and perpetual bulwarks against all the corruptions, pollutions, and innovations of heresy ; and partly from the happy faculty which the heretics themselves in Britain have al- ways possessed of speedily preaching their places of worship empty, and leaving only the pews and benches to be reasoned into their peculiar mode of explaining away, and frittering into nothing, all the essential and fundamental doctrines of the sacred scriptures. A decisive testimony of the social benefits deri- ved to a nation from the prevalence of Christianity is borne by Frederic the second of Prussia, who was himself a most incorrigible infidel. A cler- gyman in Prussian Poland, one of the many myri- ads of continental divines, who had reasoned 4 H 60^ HINTS ON THE NATIONAL themselves, and prear^hed their flocks into demn, sent Frederic a letter, stating that he, the Polish pastor, had discovered ./?/>vw«£7 arguments against the authenticity and credibility of the Old and New Testaments. The king returned for answer, that the parson was doubtless very ingenious and very philosophical in having discovered fifty new arguments against the Bible; and probably that by hard labor and deep study, he might be able to find out a hundred and fifty more ; but if he dared to disorder the community by publishing one of them he should be hanged up {tout suite) forthwith. A conclusive proof that the pre-existing state of society in France produced the revolution in that country, is, that the same experiment was made to introduce jacobin-atheism into Britain; but failed, owing to the superior energy of the government ; the pure religion of a great portion of the people ; the sound sense, good morals, and steady habits of the nation ; making no etfectual demand for the universal diffusion of impiety, and the total destruction of all social order, virtue^ prosperity and happiness. The sa?ne experiment was also made in the United States, where it has mo^>t fatally suc- ceeded. In this country jacobin-atheism has ta- ken very wide and deep root, owing to a variety of circumstances, which at present it is not my business to state. Suffice it to say, that the very same effects have been produced by this horrible BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &e. 603 experiment in America, as were produced in. France, allowing for the different condition, moral and physical, of the two countries. Thomas Paine's '■^ Age of Reason'* was so indus- triously circulated throughout the Union by the leaders of the deuiocrytic, then the opposition, now the government-party of this country, as very materially to lessen the annual average sale of bibles in America for some years. I am very desirous of not being misunderstood, as wishing to represent the prevalence of Christian- ity in the United States as at a low ebb. I firmly believe that, in proportion to its population, there is af present as much religion iu America as in Britain. But great numbers of really religious people in this country have been, and are nozv, seduced by the jacobins ; as many religious peo- ple were at one time so seduced in Britain by the jacobins there. In fact, the wisdom and energy of the British government were the all-effectual means of stop- ping the progress of jacobinism in that country; and after it had been checked, when the whole nefarious plots of the real jacobins were gradually disclosed, the sober, serious part of the commu- nity shrunk back with horror from the whole Jaco- binical scheme. But if the government had not kept the monster at bay, and exposed his hideous deformity, many thousands of the best-intentioned people in England wou,ld have continued, as they 604 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL had beoim, to help forward the designs of jacobin- ism ; until the whole mischief had been effected, when they could only have wept over their own short-sighted folly on their way to the guillotine. In Ireland also, many plain, serious Christians were duped into being enrolled in the ranks of United Irishmen. Had our American govern- ment ^osse^sedi sufficient strength to wring the neck of this Gallo-popish-iji/idel serpent, the Uni- ted States would 7iozv have been comparatively sound from the taint of jacobinism. At this moment, however, the jacobin mob at Baltimore, in Maryland, is not one iota inferior in cowardly cruelty, and brutal ferocity, to the Paris mobs under Robespierre and Marat. Some few mouths since, the Baltimore democrats strip- ped a poor wretch naked, covered him with tar and feathers, and tore one of his eyes out of its bleeding socket, for having said — " that he hoped Bonaparte would never be able to conquer and enslave England !" Eight of these rioters were taken up, and indicted. During their trial, the mob surrounded the court house, and threatened to murder the lawyers, judges, and jury, if their brother-patriots were not immediately acquit- ted. The prisoners however were found guilty, and condemned to pay a paltry fine, and be imprisoned for a few months. Mr. Wright, the Governor, the Chief Executive Magistrate of the State of Mary- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 606 land, then issued his pardon to these jacobin-but- chers ; and pubhshed his " reasons" for so doing in the newspapers. The reason which this Chief Ma- gistrate of an independent, sovereign State assign- ed for pardoning these destroyers of all social order and civil security, was — that he did not, in the pre- sent critical state of the world, deem it expedient to check the generous enthusiasm of the people of Maryland in favor of liberty, (meaning France) ; and therefore he pardoned those bloodhounds, for having wantonly and wilfully maimed a fellow-citi- zen for life ; and invited them to continue their murderous depredations upon the peace, property, life, and limb of every honest and respectable per- son in Baltimore, and elsewhere; lest for want of exercise, their " generous enthusiasm in favor of li- berty''' might be checked. South of the Potomac the American States are very generally Jacobinical, in the full sense of the term; namely, deadly enemies to religion ; despisers of all moral obligation ; cruel, fraudulent, and fero- cious. In Pennsylvania, this last spring, 1809, the demo- crats actually chose one Simon Snyder for the State- Governor, avowedly because he was a man of jio talents or information ; declaring in all their news- papers, handbills, pamphlets, speeches, and club- resolutions, how very fatal all learning and sense invariably were to the " pure cause of democracy y" wherefore thoy invited their compatriots to elect the 606 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL *' enlightened democrat Simon Snyder ; and put down all schoolsy and colleges, and seminaries of learning !" The ^first- fruits of this precious election were, — that Governor Snyder called out a detachment of the Pennsylvanian militia, and ordered it to oppose the execution of a process of attachment issued from the Supreme Federal Judicial Court of the United States. Accoidingly the militia marched under General Bright, and at the point of the bayonet pre- vented the Marshal from serving the process. This heroic atchievement was performed in the middle of the day, in the open street of the city of Philadel- phia. Governor Snyder, not contented with this act of sedition at least, if not treason, against the General Government of the Union, wrote and pub- lished in the newspapers a letter, setting forth his ** great satisfaction at the puiriofism and intrepidity of General Bright and the militia under his com- mand, so worthy of the spirit of 1776," &c. Now General Bright had some hundreds of militia-soldiers under his command, and the Marshal of the Supreme Court was only a single individual. So much for Governor Snyder's views of courage and patriotism. The western States beyond the Alleghany moun- tains are universally democratic : among a million of specimens which might be easily collected, take only one for the sake of brevity. A newspaper at Nashville, in the State of Tenessee, dated September 9l4th, 1809, recommends 9, leading democrat as a BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 60? suitable candidate for the State Legislature » be- Cause he is a lover of plunder. " Mr. Bradford, you are requested to make known, through the medium of your paper, that Patrick Beagley is a candidate for the Assembly at the next election; his sentiments are pure republi- licarty and he is decidedly in favor of an equal Ms- tribution of property." * In Louisiana the storm of Jacobinical desolation is gathering fast. In consequence of the late im- mense importation of French banditti, black, white, and mulatto, from San Domingo, and Cuba, the effective population of New Orleans is now in the proportion o{ fourteen French to one American; and that proportion is daily increasing in favor of the French. The democratic Governor of New Or- leans industriously puts Frenchmen, who make no scruple of openly avowing their contempt and de- testation of the Government of the United States, into high and responsible offices under that Govern- ment. The explosion of a political volcano may therefore shortly be expected in Louisiana. Indeed those persons who think most anxiously and profoundly upon the present aspect of afffiirs in this country, are looking forward with the terrible certainty of conviction to a repetition of the trage- dies of Paris, Nantz, Lyons, and La Vendee, in these United States within the lapse of a few years; al- lowing indeed for this, that popery and infidelity have not yet debased the individual character of Americans generally. 608 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The great sheet-anchor of hope to this northern continent is to be found in the steady habits, the su- perior intelhgence, the sober morals, the daring en- terprise, and the dauntless intrepidity of the N'ezv- England states. Of this, however, the leaders of American democracy are fully aware ; and are there- fore with all industry and speed cutting axvay that sheet-anchor of our safety and our hope by destroy- ing all the commerce of these states ; well knowing that a merely agricultural people must always be too poor, feeble, and widely scattered, ever to make any effectual resistance to the desolation of Jacobin- ical tyranny which is* rapidly pervading this country., Is all this the idle, delusive dream of one entirely ignorant of the institutions of democracy, and their invariable tendency to anarchy, blood, and slaugh- ter ? Nay ; but the scenes daily and hourly passing before our eyes are only verifying the predictions which the paramount genius and eloquence of Hamil- ton were thundering upon us during the last ten or fifteen years, before his assassination by Burr. Whoever has inclination and leisure to see this subject well examined and ably discussed, may con- sult the late Fisher Ames's acute and impressive Es- say " On the Dangers of American Liberty,'* pub- lished in his works, p. 379 — 437, to which I have now only time to refer. Jacobinism in the United States produces precise- ly the same effects that it does every where else ; it sours all the charities of life ; it divides father against BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 609 son, and son against father, and produces the most deadly and lasting feuds among kindred. Accord- ingly scarcely a numerous family exists in the Union, the peace and harmony of which are not cut up by the roots in consequence of some of its members having swamped themselves in the Serbonian bog of democracy. ' Nor IS it possible ever to bring a democrat who happens to be a professor of Christianity to regulate his conduct by the standard of the scriptures. A great portion of the democrats throughout the Union have already cast away all belief in revelation, and with it all regard to moral decency ; but even the few who still nominally hnger upon the confines of the gospel, cannot be induced to obey its blessed precepts of brotherly love and charity, and ofobe- dien e to constituted authorities. Of this jacobin-irreligious spirit and disposition, we have a remarkable instance in the conduct of nearly a whole congregation settled in one of our neighboring counties in this state of New- York. In the year 1795, these pious people, in common with their brother-democrats of all denominations, com- mitted great violences and disturbances on account o{ Mr. Jai/s having concluded a treaty with Britain. They paraded the streets, abused their own govern- ment, execrated Britain, burned Mr. Jay in effigy, and erected hberty-poles with a French red cap on their tops, and absurd devices on their bottoms ; which liberty poles are standing to this hour, in full 4i 610 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL testimony of the stupidity, ignorance, and knavery of democracy. The minister of the congregation to which I al- lude, took occasion one Sunday, during the continu- ance of these riots, to read the thirteenth chapter of Paurs Epistle to the Heb?'ezvs tor the edification of his flock; which being done, a great proportion of the congregation grew very angry and decla- red, that the New Testament was written on/i/ for slaves under a monarchy, and was never intended for independent republicans^ Indeed this intimate connection between demo- cracy and infidelity is so generally understood in our New-England states, that when it is asked " what is become of such a one, for he never comes to church now ?" the answer almost invariably is " Oh, he is turned democrat.*' I must do the people in our southern states, name- ly in Maryland, Virginia, the tv^^o Carolinas, Geor- gia, and Louisiana, the justice to say that they are more impartial ; for there, in general, the very few federalists that are to be found, imitate the laudable example of the vast body-jacobin in those districts, in their utter disregard of revelation, and their becom- ing freedom from all the prejudices of moral res- traint. In good truth, it requires no great stretch of un- derstanding to infer, arguing from the past to the future, what will be the eutha?iasia of democracy in the United States. We see what it has accomplish- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C, 61 1 ed in France ; and however we may flatter ourselves with " being more etiligkfened and more virtuous than the base^ slavish Europeans j" and with our mobs " being rational and self-collected^ temperate and dignified** with much other unpurposed non- sense of the same sort, there can be no doubt that the same causes will invariably produce the same ef- fects, whenever a favorable opportunity shall occur. We know and feel that in this country the founda- tions of civil society have been already shaken to their very centre ; and that all the relations of life, social and domestic, have been already mildewed and withered by the blasts o{ jacobin-atheism which have long blown, and still continue to blow from off the accursed shores of the Sodom and the Gomorrah of our days ; even from the polluted coast of France, whose people have thrown off all allegiance to their God, and are now waging eternal war with every virtue that can adorn, and with every amiable qua- lity that can endear the human character to our hearts. All those who have cast their view broad and ex- panded over the eventful series of human actions and crimes which of late years has laid waste the fairest portions of the earth, and has caused that century which in its beginning wore an angel form, to assume towards its close the features of a demon, and then to vanish in a shower of blood; will unanimously attribute all the horrors that have lately darkened, and that still continue to 612 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL darken the horizon of our existence, to the efficient agency o^ one foul and feculent source of all ini- quity, even jacobinism ; for, in respect to society, sin and jacobinism are convertible terms. Jacobinism first taught its votaries, primarily in France, and then in the other countries of the globe, to cherish and to disseminate all that au- dacious licentiousness of opinion which spurns at the influence of habit, discards the experience of former times, and annihilates all the tender and elevated feelings of the human heart; which abol- ishing the standard of moral obligation raised by the hand of God himself, and revealed in his own divine word, presumes on every question, political, moral, social, domestic, and individual, to decide merely according to the dictates of personal con- venience and selfish appetite; which justifies the means by the end, prefers atheism to Christianity, and subjects every being on whom it can lay its bloody grasp, to the desolation of rapine and mur- der ; and all for the genei^al good ; good so very general that it destroys all individual happiness. The fire of jacobinism had long been pent up in the bowels of continental Europe, until at length, after having in secret consumed the bands of reli- gion and of honor, it burst forth into that tremen- dous volcanic explosion, the French revolutiony which has convulsed all the civilized earth to its basis; has changed the aspect and relations of the moral and political world ; and has made all things. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. (5l3 human and divine, to become confusion worse con- founded. With a lie in her right hand, and with the fel- lest malignity rankling in her heart, she has uni- formly declared, and even now has the impudence to declare, through all her thousand venal presses in this country, that France^ the land where the milk of human kindness continually overflows, never did, nor does now, entertain any desire of foreign conquest ; that all the schemes of domina- tion and aggrandizement, so generally supposed to have influenced the mighty views of RichlieUy of Louvois, and of Bonaparte, are all vile falsehoods and calumnies invented by the enemies of France and of universal peace. We are daily and hourly told, from the million springs and sources of de- mocracy in the United States, that France akvai/s did and does now abhor every intention of disturb- ing other countries; of subverting their establish- ed governments; of destroying their national inde- pendence; of annihilating their rights and privi- leges. All the contests of France are contests of self-defence. If we may believe the fair speeches of jacobin- ism that even yet crowd our American newspapers, pamphlets, and books, by the i^evolution France has secured unto herself for ever the most pro- found internal tranquillity; the purest and the most exalted domestic happiness; the highest and most unquestioned public faiths the most perfect. 614 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the mildest, the most equitable system of govern- ment ; the most universal, the tenderest spirit of philanthropy that can cheer and dignify the hu- man heart, too long saddened and degraded by the corrupt and tyrannical institutions of all the Eu- ropean societies (except that of France) hitherto established among men. And yet, (such is the illimitable nature of her benevolence) to other na- tions France iui parts the most uncontrolled kind- ness; a friendship liberal and enlarged beyond all mortal conception ; eternal peace ; the sublimest morality ; and the purest religion, the freedom from all prejudices. Such, the American democrats tell us, are the fruits of the French revolution, founded, as they still persist in declaring it to be founded upon the successful struggles of a virtuous people to ame- liod'ate the condition of suffering humanity, found- ed as it is upon principles that cannot fail to pro- duce the immediate, and to ensure the permanent happiness, not only of France, but oiall the other nations of the earth. And when we ask how it happens that these marvellous and exalted principles have not yet produced these beneficial results ; have not yet created nor established the social and domestic happiness of the human race ? and when we add that this same system of eternal peace has engen- dered a more extensive and a more bloody war- fare, and that this universal philanthropy has given BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 615 birth to a series of more general and complicated calamity and horror, than have ever been produ- ced by all the combined efforts of the other cor- rupted institutions of society, savage, and civi- lized, ancient and modern ; we are told, with a smile of self-sufficient applause, that the despots of the earth alone are worthy of censure for not cour- teously and gratefully receiving the blessings which France and jacobinism proffer to them ; and if we still presume to pause and to doubt, we are insultingly bidden to cast our eyes upon the emancipated and happy state of Spain, of Portugal, of Holland, of Italy, of Switzerland, and of all that vast portion of the Germanic empire which enjoys the protection, and the more than mater- nal tenderness of Gallic domination. A very slight examination of the subject will enable any man of common understanding to perceive that jacobinism rests on a wild theory, fallacious and impracticable; founded on an en- tire ignorance of the nature and end of man, and utterly subversive of the very existence of all civi- lized communities. Accordingly, we have seen in France all the elements of human society cradled in blood -, and as the only means of restraint in the absence of all law, human and divine, a military despotism enforced in all its rigor ; a military despotism which sports with the lives, plunders the proper- ty, and manacles the thoughts, words, and deeds 616 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL of the French people, in a far greater degree than the Sublime Porte and all his hordes of murder- ous Janissaries dare to inflict upon their slaves. And joined to the most unqualified, unrestrained tyranny at home, the Gallic despot carries into ef- fect the most boundless and destructive schemes of foreign domination ; thus rendering the people, upon whom he tramples as on the dust under his feet, at once the instruments of their own internal desolation, and the curses and the destroyers of all the surrounding nations. In this forced and frenzied state of society, France, although streaming with the blood of her own people, possesses vast power of plunging other countries into the gulf of her own misery, "Without having the least ability to lighten the burden of her own sufferings. It is well known that her foreign system, on which she has acted with little or no variation, excepting at occasional short intervals of feeble- ness and indecision in some few of her administra- tions, ever since the commencement of the reign of Louis the eleventh, and on which she now acts with more determination and industry than ever, forbids to every other country the hope of safety from her forbearance. Wherever she can make an impression by force or fraud, by allurements or by terror, by menaces or by blandishments, she will not be deterred by any obligation of treaties, nor be diverted by any law of God or BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 517 man, from pursuing her plan of establishing one, universal, French sovereignty over all the earth. And let it never be forgotten that her foreign system of aggrandizement, by conquest, must al- ways bear along with it her domestic system of ra- pine, violence and bloodshed ; and that every na- tion which either bows beneath her sword, or re- ceives her protection as a friend., must see all its institutions entombed in one common grave. In that dark and disastrous hour, all the privileges and distinctions of the ditferent oiTlersof the com- munity ; all the most sacred and endearing rela- tions of social and domestic life ; the personal se- curity, the property, the rights, the conveniejices, the comforts, the enjoyments of every individual, the last beamings of religion, the twilight and the day of hope ; all that can render human existence dignified, desirable, and lovely, will be swept away into the charnel-house of death. But how is Bonaparte to destroy Britain, seeing that the English are so incalculably superior to the French, in wealth, industry, courage, intelligence, religion, morals, freedom, in a word, in every thing that can render a natiori permanently great and powerful ? " The decreesy theblockadingdecrees of the saga- cious emperor Napoleon," say the enlightened demo- crats of these United States, " will speedily destroy the cowardly, perfidious British, and reduce them to 4 k 618 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL slavery iinrler the French power, by ruinvig the commerce of England, " and so forth. I remember well, how fresh ebullitions of joy suc- cessively burst forth from all the hosts of democracy in the Union, at the successive information of Bo- naparte's having issued his Berliny Milariy and Bay- onne decrees ; after each of which it was most confi- dently pronounced that " Britain could not hold out more than six months at the very farthest." This assertion was renewed with greater vehemence than ever when ** the illusfrious Jefferson had with his accustomed wisdom and foresight put forth the res- trictive energies of America, which would starve that cowardly bully, England, into unconditional submis- sion, in less than three months^ Whoever will take the trouble of consulting the columns of Mr Jeffer- son's Safional Intelligencer, Mr. Madison's Mo-^ mlor, and Mr. Duane's Aurora, and many other democratic prints, may discover a great profusion of such political wisdom, and eloquence, as that which I havejust quoted. Indeed, in their daily and hour- ly ravings against Britain, the political effusions of these statesmen surpass even the average dulness of democrac3^ The Berlin decree was issued nearly three years since; and although the " six months*'' and the " three months,* which were to complete the period of Britain's national existence, have passed away many times over, yet the undaunted democratic pro- phets in this country, still continue to rave forth BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 619 their assurances that " Britain is now acfuallv TjC' risking from the operation of the French decrees.'* The vers^ circumsrance of Bonaparte's issuing these decrees is a/«// cunfession on his part, that he despairs of ever injuring Britain ^y .fighting ; whence he is willing to aim at her ruin by bank- ruptcy ; which is a very slow process, and tedious withal, to a man of his impatient, military habits. An assassin who wished to murder a wealthy merchant who was in full credit, would hardly wait the tardy and uncertain event of his bankruptcy; if he could possibly finish the busi- ness more speedily by the dagger or the knife. The incessant clamoring also which Bonaparte makes at this time for a convention of all the conti- nental powers of Europe to meet at Vienna, in order to devise more effectual means of destroy- ing Britain, is a conclusive proof that he finds the Strength of the Great Nation alone inadequate to accomplish this desired object. The whole Euro- pean continent has been already directed against Britain, under the auspices and genius of theCor- sican, with no other effect than weakening the national resources, and preventing their repro- duction, all over the continent, and of augment- ing the wealth and power of the British empire. But happily, we are not left to rely merely on inference as to the conviction of Bonaparte that he has nothing to expect but disaster from fight- ing with Britain, and that his only forlorn hope G20 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL is to endeavor lo hanhrupt her ; for we have his own declaration to that etTect. Colonel Pinckney of the United States, son of Genei;d Cliarles Cotesvvorth Pinckney, in his *' Traveh through the SoiUh of France, in the years 1807 — 1808," kc. published in London in lb09, gives an account of his being present at an audience given by Bonaparte in his palace at Paris ; from this part of Mr. Pnickney's book 1 extract the fol- low inj^j paragraphs. " Bonaparte novv advanced to the imperial am- bassador, with whom, when present, he always begins the audience. I had novv an opportunity to regard him attentively. His person is below the middle size, but well-composed ; his features regular, but in their toui ensemble stern and com- manding ; his complexion sallow, and his general mien military. He was dressed very splendidly in purple velvet ; the coat and waistcoat embroid- ered with gold bees, and the grand star of the Legion of Honor worked into the coat. " He passed no one without notice ; and to all the amba>sadors he spoke once or twice. When he reached General Armstrong, he asked him *'If Au)erica could not live without foreign commerce as well as France?" And then added, without waiting for an answer — *' There \i one nation in the world which must be taught by experience that her merchants are not necessarv to the exis- tence of all other nations; and that she cannot BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 621 hold lis all in rommercial slavery. England is 07il}i vulnerable in her (comptoirs) counting-hou- ses." The whole flemocratic party, in these United States, (^oniimially inrorm us, that, "Commerce imwriablif weakens, corrupts, and destroys every nation which has recourse to it, by making the people weak and dissipated, cowardly and vicious ; by diminishing population ; witness the ruin of Carthage, Tyre, Sidon, Venice, Holland, and Rome in her decline; «// of which nations per- ished on no other account but because they were commercial. Whence it follows as an irresistible corollajy, that the ivisest policy of the United States will be to abandon the ocean altogether ; and leave the corruptions of commerce to be at once the bait and the destruction of the slaves of Eu- rope." This " irresistible corollary y' Mr. Jefferson has been endeavoring to draw, for the benefit of the Union, now about two years ; by abandoning all its trade to the slaves of Europe. The num- berless beneficial results of commerce to every nation that happens to have sense and spirit enough to cultivate it, are far beyond my power even to hint at ,; but the objections urged against trade are vQvy easily shown to be false and foolish. If commerce add nothing to national wealth and strength, why does Bonaparte so incessantly and strenuously endeaver to ruin the commerce of Bri- 622 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tain as the only possible means of effecting her subjugation to France? Jf commerce add nothing to national wealth and strength, how is it that Spain^ who three hundred years since was the most formidable nation in the world, has dwindleti down into its present poor and feeble state, not- withstanding her boundless American colonies, and her inexhaustible mines of the precious nne- tals, while Britain, who was three centuries ago comparatively an insignificant nation, is now be- come the most powerful state on the globe, al- though her little island yields no gold or silver mines, and is of narrow extent. How has this happened, but because Britain has been an enter- prising commercial nation, and Spain has neglec- ted trade ? Rome never zvas a commercial nation ; in the earlier days of her republic she was foolish and ignorant enough to aftect to despise trade ; and in her decline the tyranny of her imperial govern- ment, (the object of Bonaparte's fond imitation) entirely stifled and destroyed all the commerce of Europe. Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, Venice, and Holland, owed the whole of their power to their commerce, which enabled them to exist as formidable nations much longer than they could possibly have done, by continuing mere beggarly, ignorant, feeble, agricultural people. Their commerce supported BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &e. 62S them against the whole world ; and they drooped only when their trade declined. As to commerce weakening a nation by render-* ing its people luxurious and dissipated ; this asser- tion is directly contrary to fact. Trade by en- riching a whole nation, diffuses plenty, comfort, and opulence throughout all its parts; but the dissi- pation aud luxury of non-commercial, of merely agricultural countries, are much greater and more destructive than can ever take place in trading nations. For instance in the agricultural nations of Europe, as Prussia, Poland, Germany, Spain, the people are mainly divided into two classes; namely, a few ignorant, idle nobles, who have no other employment than the pursuit of vice and folly; and a great mass of the people, who are slaves, poor, wretched, spiritless boors, serfs, and vassals. But in commercial countries, as in Britain at this moment, wealth flows in and enriches the great body of the people; actually builds up the third est ate y the middle orders ; and the opulent, merchants, though living plentifully, are yet in- dustrious themselves, and are perpetually putting in motion a vast quantity of productive industry in all the departments of agriculture, trade, and manufactures. There is no opportunity for the wealthy merchants in a commercial country to be so luxurious and dissipated as are the over-grown land-proprietors in merely agricultural nations; 624 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL the middle orders of a trading people liv^e abun- dantly and prosper; and the lower classes work, earn the full means of subsistence, and re-produce their species in a continually progressive ratio. Next, as to commerce necessarily producing vice and cowardice; an extensive commerce breeds a great marine, the most effectual nursery of a hardy and intrepid body of men ; and by dividing labor, enables the state to maintain an army by voluntarj' enlistments, whose business it is to fight, instead of a paltry militia of peasantry, whose business it is to plough, and, when called into battle, to run avvay. Britain, the greatest commercial country in the world, far surpasses all the European continenial nations in the skill and valor of her army and navy. And lastly, as to commerce depopulating a na- tion ; trade, by increasing the demand for agricul- tural produce, augments the means of subsistence; and wherever these are, the population increases proportionably. On a given number of square miles, other things being equal, a much greater number of people is always found in commercial than in anti-commercial countries. Add to all this, the vast quantity of human en- terprise, courage, intellect, and knowledge, which commerce puts in motion. The least commercial are the most ignorant nations, as China and Rus- sia; and the most commercial are the most en- lightened countries, witness Britain and the Uni- \ BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 625 ted States, of which last-mentioned nation the back lands have been cleared and settled for more than five hundred miles distant from the great sea- port towns and cities, solely by the vast influx of vveahh that commerce poured into the Union be- fore Mr. Jefferson drew his *' irresistible corollary'^ in the shape of the embargo, during the v/inter of I8O7. Since that time, indeed, America has been most fearfully retrograde in all the circumstances which contribute to national peace, prosperity, strength, and honor. Commerce introduces and cherishes freedom; trade and despotism are incompatible, as is now seen most strikingly in France and Russia ; for all commercial bodies are in fact republican institu- tions, generally consisting of representative aristo- cracies, as the chambers of commerce in these United States, and the great incorporated trading companies in Britain. The subject of commerce however is inexhaustible, and my time and oppor- tunity very limited ; I shall therefore only state, that the history of the whole world uniformly proves, that trade invariably and directly promotes the in- dustry, wealth, virtue, civilization, freedom, know- ledge, power, and happiness of the people that ex- tensively cultivate it ; and indirectly augments the convenience, comfort, riches, and prosperity of the whole world. France herself for many ages wa^ the most com- 4 L 625 • HINTS ON THE NATIONAL mercial nation in continental Europe, excepting Holland, and undoubtedly she has always been the most warlike of all modern countries. Commerce first roused the spirit of resistance on the part of the people to the feudal despotism ; and reared the in- dependence of the Hanse Towns. The agricultural Germans in their woods, and the Scanrlinavians amidst their snows, were some of the most debauch- ed and profligate people in Europe. But what effect are Bonaparte*s decrees to pro- duce upon Britain r 1. Can the Continent of Europe do as well with the whole of its foreign trade cut off as B. itam can do with a very small part of her foreign trade cut Oflf? It is evident that the Corsican's decrees can only, in the utmost extent of their power, deprive Britain of that portion of her trade which she used to transact with the European Continent. But this branch of trade is very small and insignificant in comparison of the whole extent of British commerce. In the debate which took place in the Hou^e of Commons on the commercial treaty between France and Britain, concluded by Mr. Elen, now Lord Auckland, in the year 17?i6, Mr. Flood stated that the annual average value of ejr/;o;7^ from Britain to all the world, including her own colonies, had, for some years past, amounted to nearly one hundred millions sterlings and that in the year 1785, the merchan- dise exported from the British Isles into France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, Venice, Portugal, BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 6^7 and Turkey amounted only to four millions and a small fraction ; being rather less than one part in twenty of the >um total of exports from Britain. This statement referred to a time of profound peace; but in war the proportion of Britain's Eu- ropean Continental trade is still less in comparison with her whole commerce. If therefore Bonaparte can shut Britain out completely from the whole Con- tinent of Europe he can only prevent her from ex- porting a comparatively small portion of her mer- chandise ; for which benefit he irreparably injures all the Continental nations, not excepting France herself, by destroying the lohole o{ ihe'n export trade; and thus most materially cripples their agriculture and their manufactures, 2. But can Bonaparte by his decrees diminish the whole trade of Britain ? That he has not been able to do it yet, is most certain; for British commerce is now more extensive than erer. The people on the Continent of Europe are not one whit the more inclined to go naked, because Bonaparte has taken a fancy to see them all sans-culottes. The general warfare has so cut up the manufactures of Continen- tal Europe, that recourse must be had to Britain for some articles of prime necessity, and many of great convenience, or a total privation of them must be endured. The Continental nations prefer applying to Bri- tain for goods to obeying the Corsican's imperial decrees ; and accordingly large quantities of British 628 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL manufactures find their way continually into the Continent of Europe, notwithstanding all Bona- parte's endeavors to prevent it. A conclusive proof that Britain has not suffer- ed any diminution in her great staple-manufac- ture, from the operations of the terrible Beilin, Milan, and Bayonne decrees, may be gathered from the following account of the present condi- tion of the woollen manufacture in the north of England, taken from the official returns, including a period from the 25th of March 1808 to the 25th of March 1809. Narrow Cloths. Pieces. Yards. Milled in 1808—9, 144,624, making 5,309,007 1807—8, 161,816, 5,931,253 Decreased, . . 17,193, 622,246 Broad Cloths. Pieces. Yards. Milled in 1808—9, 279,859, making 9,050,970 1807—8, 262,024, 8,422,143 BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 629 Increase, . . 17,835, making 628,827 Deduct, . . 17,193, 622,246 and the total increase in yards is, . 6,58 1|; which multiplied by 2, give an increase of yards 13,162 The increase of 628,827 yards in broad cloths is at least in a double proportion to the decrease in narrows which is onlv half the width of the broad cloths. It should also be noticed, that in March 1808, the stock of cloth on hand was very great, whereas now there is scarcely any. So that not- withstanding Bonaparte's decrees, more British woollens have been manufactured, and very many more have been sold, during the last, than in any preceding year. Whence the only effect produced by these im- perial decrees is, that Bonaparte's own subjects, and allies have the satisfaction of smuggling Bri- tish goods into the European continent at an ad- vanced price of fifty or a hundred per cent, and of depriving their respective governments of the duties on these goods which would accrue from their lawful importation. 3. Although the aggregate trade of the whole world has been lessened by the decrees of Bona- parte, and, the cowardly imitations of his vassal states in the different quarters of the globe, yet Britain's; share or proportion of commerce has been 630 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL considerably augmented. France, Holland, Ger- many, Russia, Italy, Denmark, now cease to ex- port any of their various commodities, and Britain in part supplies those foreign markets, which used to be open to the goods of continental Europe. In addition to which, the trade of Spain, of her immense colonies, and of the Brazils, has been also recently unlocked to Britain, whose com- merce is now far more extensive than it ever has been at any former period ; so much so that the price of her tonnage is about double to what it used to be before Bonaparte's decrees and Mr. Jefferson's all-wise embargo were laid on, in order " to put the finishing stroke to the navigation, manufactures, and trade of Britain," as we were triumphantly told in print by the bosom-friend and most honored state-companion of Mr. Jeffer- son himself. In good truth, the impoverished state of conti- nental Europe, and the almost total dissipation of its floating and mercantile capital, in consequence of the long continued ravages of war, has not only crippled for the present, but must inevitably re- tard for a long time to come, the growth of its manufacturing industry ; whence it is now and will continue to be for many years more than ever dependant upon Britain for the primary necessa- ries and the chief conveniences of life. Mr. Comber, in p. 294 — 313, of his book so often referred to before, makes some very sensible obser- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, v^C. 631 vations on this subject. " A commercial inter- course cannot well exist, under any circumstanceSj between two nations without benefiting both ; be- cause nothing would be long sent from one to the other, for which there is not an effectual demand, and consequently an equivalent in some shape or other returned ; and if the equivalent be not of less value to the giver (on both sides) than the commodi- ty which he receives, it would be a losing trade to one or both parties concerned, and of course would speedily cease. As the demand thus maintained by an exchange of equivalents mutually encourages the production of the articles exchanged, the annual produce of both countries is augmented. Hence no nation ca7i res- train this intercourse, or throw obstacles in its way, without suffering at least as much injury as it inflicts. But in the present anti-commercial conflict be^ tween Britain and France it cannot be doubted which is the greatest sufferer ; for the frantic at- tempts made against British commerce not only fail in diminishing their export trade, but also leave en- tirely unimpaired their vast abundance of solid, per- manent wealth, their inexhaustible sources of riches resulting from habits of industry and the annual accumulation of national capital ; while at the same time the various countries of continental Eu- rope that are under the influence of Bonaparte are entirely deprived of many of the comforts and some of the necessaries of life, by the annihilation of all 630, HINTS ON THE NATIONAL their foreign trade ; and in the measures of retalia- tion to which they have driven Britain they find in- superable obstacles thrown in the way of their inter- course with each other, by the interruption of their coasting navigation, and the consequent grievous di- minution of their internal or home trade. If the issue of the contest should depend on the comparative degree of suffering resulting to the dif- ferent contending powers, a speedy determination might be confidently anticipated; but it dependschief- \y on the will of a remorseless individual, who consi- ders the misery or destruction of the whole human race as nothing when put in competition with the projects of his personal ambition, or the gratification of his own selfish pride and vanity. A termination depending upon sucli causes is extremely doubtful ; because it is not easy to calculate the precise quan- tity of national misery that can induce a people to counteract or oppose the will of a military despot. And although the improvement of a nation, and the development of its resources, may be rapidly pro- gressive ; yet its retrograde movements are gene- rally too slow and imperceptibly wasting, to pro- duce sudden and decisive effects by the entire alter- ation of great political measures. Whence a coun- try badly governed is usually suffered to sink silent- ly and gradually into destruction by the ruin of all its internal resources ; as is most conspicuously ex- emplified in the obstinate adherence to the anti-corn- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 633 viej'cial system by the present administrations of France and these United States. There is therefore no probabihty of a speedy crisis in the affairs of continental Europe, which might t^nd to counteract the measures that Bonaparte has adopted for the sole purpose of destroying Britain, And any attempt on the part of England to avert the 5'?//Y;o.fd'rf consequences of these terrible decrees, would only increase the arrogance of the Corsican, and induce him to believe in the efficacy of his anti- commercial scheme, and that the British empire could at any time be subdued by paper proclama- tions, edicts, embargoes, non-importations, and non- intercourses. It is therefore the true interest and sacred duty of Britain to persevere in the contest, until Bonaparte feels by the ruin of his own empire the inefficacy of all his blockading endeavors to destroy, or even to in- jure the British commerce. When this is once de- monstrated in the face of the whole world, the con- viction of the utter folly and feebleness of such a system of arrogance, as it regards Britain, accom- panied by the salutary experience of the grievous and irreparable evils which it entails upon the coun- tries that adopt it, will prevent otiier governments in future from imagining that " the putting forth their restrictive energies is one of the ordinary but effectual modes of coercing the British into zincondi' tional submission." 4 M 6S4 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL That this, or any other contest in which the strength of opposing powers is tried, might occasion inconvenience or distress to a few trading individuals, is a matter comparatively of no moment, and should not on any account deter Britain from maintaining her maritime rights and interests, and asserting her national honor. For although many are ba ,e enough to consider national honor as nothing when put in competition with mercantile gain and profi*^, yet it is with natiojis as with individuals^ those who have not sufficient virtue, wisdom, and courage to defend their character and honor from all attacks, are in- variably devoted to perpetual insult and degrada- tion, to ultimate and lasting bundat^n. The following Spanish gazette, dated August 8th, 1808, gives the most accurate and conclusive view of the effects necessarily resulting from Bonaparte's anti-commercial edicts. " Is the blockade of the European Continent against the English practicable f If the Old and the New Continent were under the domination and sovereignty of one sole monarch, and it v> ere possi- ble that on all the shores, and in the whole circum- ference of the earth, his orders were obeyed and exe- cuted, unopposed by cogent necessity and circum- stances, then the blockade of Continental Europe might be practicable and effective. But to ordain or expect that for one kingdom or empire, which has not even the command of the western part of Continental Europe, all the other BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 635 potentates, without any attention to their situation^ relations, and wants, should willingly deprive them- selves of the benefits of commerce, and forego the neressaries of h(e and comfort ; raise and consign to destruction the surplus produce of their countries, and give up the resources which industry and navi- gation procure ; is a pretension extravagant and im- practicable in foreign dominions, and unjust and ty- rannical at home. It is well known that ports are the sources of the wealth of States, and the channels through which specie, and all other articles of necessity, conveni^ ence, and enjoyment pass. If this entry of public prosperity be shut to mankind, they will be restric- ted to the bare produce of their soil, and be through the want of specie reduced to indigence. Without this specie (or its equivalent) they cannot be brought to raise and keep up their armies, project and at- chieve conquests. It has therefore been wisely said, that that power would cominand the European Con- tinent which could hold the dominion of the seas, and whose navigation and commerce would at the same time flt)urish. Yet in despite of these glaring truths, France has for these fifteen years past never ceased projecting ridiculous, chimerical, impracticable enterprises. She has the levity to declare the continent blockaded to the English, before she has secured the possession of the coast of Europe. This novelty captivated all the credulous, insensate admirers of fantastic extr^- i)36 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL vagance; while it met with co7idig?i derision from. the statesman, and the reflecting mind. In fact, the report of Talleyrand, the approbation of the se- nate, and the imperious decree of Bonaparte, are il- lustrious subjects of farce, and precious stuff for the pen of play-wrights. And indeed what can be imagined more prepos- terous and ludicrous than to decree, whilst engaged in a hazardous contest with Russia, Sweden, and Prussia, unpossessed of the full control of Denmark, Spain, Austria, Portugal, and Turkey, and even be- fore the reduction of Calabria, and the expulsion of the Pope and the Queen-regent of Etruria from the Adriatic and the Mediterranean ; that the whole continent of Europe should shut up its ports to the English i sacrifice its commerce and interests; bare- ly because Napoleon is pleased to ordain it so ? He has however ordained it, and the exalted imagina- tion of the sanguine and visionary French already saw the EnglisJi navy annihilated, and Britain crushed. What sad pictures did not France and her par- tisans all over the world draw of the situation of the British ? Inaction, famine, discontents, and revolutions, were successively agitating Britain ; there were many in France, (and in these United States also,) who in positive anticipation, already beheld king George humiliated, and prostrate on his knees, soliciting peace from the hero of the age, and the arbiter of the destinies of man. So BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 637 vast is the influence of error in the realms of ignorance. Bat the ill-fated, proscribed English, so far from retrograding, have made still greater strides to wealth and power ; while in France and Spain, specie vanished, and even the opulent began to feel themselves constrained to assimilate their regimen to that of the muleteer and the sheep- driver. The colonies, both Spanish and French, were by this decree, openly put to the verge of revolution ; and driven to the necessity of consulting for their independence. The allies of France, who derive their whole support from commerce, to prevent their ruin, were forced to renounce the protection and alliance of Napoleon ; their armies were on the eve of falling to pieces, and dispersing for Vfaui of means to keep them together ; destitute of commodities, and unable even to convey them, their maritime forces being reduced or over-awed, the inhabitants of Spanish America were on the point of being driven to the necessity of opening their ports to the English. This project, then, has been monstrously absurd. Bonaparte was, no doubt, aware that his decrees could not be the means of wresting the trident from the hand of England, or releasing the ports from her blockade ; or of taking reciprocal ven- geance ; it was too clear to him that Britain had the forces to block him up, and that he had none 6S§ HINTS ON THE NATIONAL io prevent it. But he had nobler objects in view ; the continent of Europe was to be partitioned between his family ; and this expedient was by him conceived to be the most effectual way to conceal his schemes from the French, who were to be dragged like beasts to the shambles for slaughter. And thus he masked under the veil of national interest the ill-disguised scheme of aggrandi- zing his own family. These decrees have been no obscure omen of the premeditated articles of the peace of Tilsit, and of the division of Europe into two empires ; of which he, the projector, was for the present to seize that which would extend in one line from the mouth of the Vistula to Corfu, confined in other directions by the Baltic, the Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Adriatic. Prussia was to hold the remainder. Necessarily must have entered into the accom- plishment of this project, the subjugation of Spain, Portugal, Etruria, the States of the Church, the Hanseatic Towns, Denmark, and finally Austria, which yet remained to be pared down. These tvere all comprehended in the Decree of the conii- nental blockade, which was the plausible means of coloring the entrance of his armies into Spain, preceded by proclamations, declaring that they come solely for the purpose of compelling the common enemy, (Britain) to keep within his owa bounds, and of inducing him to sl maritime peace. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 639 The French entered upon the stage, and be- gan to act. They no sooner had obtained the desired footing, than the mask was thrown off, and rapine and desolation of chiefs and cohorts became the order of the day. The English, with- out comparison, more sagacious and wise than the French, have seen and predicted in the execu- tion of the decree of the blockade of continental Europe, the overthrow of the monstrous empire of France, and the emancipation of the European States. Britain has saved her allies, and consigned other nations to the lessons of experience ; and in fact, they have been all undeceived, are all desirous of throwing off their shackles j and some have disclosed their sentiments, and thrown open their ports to the English, who with a generosity equal to their power, have dispensed to them un- reserved aid. The communication having been opened, they find that Britain stands more flourishing, more undaunted, and more exalted than ever, before them. Let us blush at our credulous confidence in i^r^wcA representations ; let us consign to the flames their false, seductive papers j and for ever disclaim their friendship. Struck with shame, we acknowledge our error; renounce all adherence to France^ and vow everlasting friendship to Britain.'' Indeed, it argues no very profound policy in Bonaparte to endeavor to counteract the habits of 640 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL more than a hundred millions of human beings by the will of himself, a single individual. Man is the creature of habit, whose guidance he follows in a thousand instances, for one in which he obeys the dictates of reason. Bonaparte orders more than a hundred millions of people on the continent of Europe, to forego all the benefits of foreign com- merce, and in consequence, to endure the daily and hourly privations of many of the prime neces- saries of life, and of many conveniencies and comforts which long habit has converted into necessaries. A very respectable German mer- chant informed me yesterday, that all his letters from his correspondents in Germany and Hol- land, concur in stating that a very great propor- tion of those families in continental Europe who used before the stoppage of all external trade to live in affluence and luxury, are now reduced to the same rude and homely fare with that of the peasantry inordinary times; and that the vast body of the people are ground down to an inex- pressible state of penury and wretchedness. Now there is nothing in all this that is calcula- ted to rouse the national pride, or to fan the mar- tial fire of the inhabitants of continental Europe ; but the constant pressure of privation and incon- venience pervading all their individual and social habits, penetrating into and destroying the inmost recesses of their domestic conjfort, liauiiting their tables and their beds, and casting a face of uni- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. ^41 versal cheerlessness and gloom over all the pur- suits of themselves and of their families ; can only sharpen and deepen the most deadly and unrelen- ting hatred against the sole author of all their mis- er}' ; against the individual who wantonly sacrifi- ces all their comfort and happiness in the prosecu- tion of his selfish, hopeless, impracticable project of destroying Britain. When Peter the first of Russia issued an impe- rial decree ordering all his subjects to shave ihem- selves, the commotion was so violent, and the resis- tance of the Russians to this infringement upon their long continued habits so determined, that the despotic Tzar, who exercised the uncontrolled power of life and death over his people, was obliged to recall his decree ; because he found it easier and less dangerous to the safety of his throne to take off' the head than the beard of a Mus- covite. Nor could that infatuated philosophist, Joseph the second, emperor of Germany, induce his sub- jects in Austria, where his power was absolute, to bury their dead bodies in lime-pits; because it was contrary to the mode of interment to which thev had been accustomed. And in the revolutionary war, notwithstanding the famous non- importation act of 1774, the Ame- rican army was always clothed in British cloth, which, during the first years of the war was im- ported into the United States from Amsterdam, 4 N 642 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL and afterwards from Gottenburgh, when the Dutch were dragged reluctantly into the war against England by the ascendency of French in- fluence in their national councils. The same cir- cumstance took place as to a va?.t variety of other commodities, which the habits of the American people induced them to purchase indirectly from Britain, in spite of the combined forces of the non-importation act and the war, which indeed raised the prices of imported articles to the Ame- rican consumer to an average of from seventy to a hundi^ed per cent. I am therefore inclined to think that the inve- terate habits of the people of continental Europe will so far elude the utmost vigilance of Bona- parte and his army of custom-house officers, as to enable them to import British manufactures in considerable quantities, until the day of re-action shall burst asunder the fetters of ant i- commercial bondage by shaking the enormous empire of France to the very centre of its foundations. If then Bonaparte's anti-commercial decrees cannot destroy Britain, by zvhat means is he to accomplish her ruin .^ By ^fighting ? Of the hopelessness of that experiment he has received ample testimony written in very legible and per- manent characters, at Cornnna and Talavera, within these twelve months since ; w here he has had the mortification of finding that his boasted French veterans cannot stand in battle against a BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &e. 64S far inferior number of British troops. It is in- deed the peculiar characteristic of the people of Britain, that their spirit and courage rise in pro- portion as dangers and difficulties thicken around them, and they have nothing to fear from the combined violence of the whole world directed against them, if they only remain true to them- selves, and resolutely persevere in upholding their national rights and honor against all the assaults of fraud and force. Besides, the insular situation of Britain renders it peculiarly difficult for a foreign enemy to ac- complish her subjugation. It is not quite so easy for Bonaparte to pour his myriads of armed slaves into the British isles, as into Spain or Germany. Admiral Lord Bridport used to say, "that the French might invade England as soon as they pleased, but that they should not come by water." The French have for some years past been perpetually endeavoring to invade the little island of Sicily, and have always been frustrated in their attempts by the British fleet which commands the bay, although they are masters of all the opposite coast, can command any number of troops for the expedition, and have a very short run by water to encounter. Britain is all-powerful at sea, and can annoy France, can insult her coasts, can prevent the re- suscitation of her commerce, and thus cripple her 644 HINTS ON tHE NATIONAL finances and resources. In return for all which France threatens England with invasion, but how is a fleet of flat bottomed boats to elude the vigi- lance of the British fleet, and land an army large enough to produce any serious effect on Britain? But suppose they were landed ; an English army, well appointed, and of most undaunted valor, would soon destroy any hostile force that could be disembarked. No doubt, much evil, short of absolute subjugation, might be inflicted on a country by an invading army, more particu- larly in Britain, which is very ill calculated to become the scene of military operations, owing to its vast wealth, its crowded population, its mul- titudes of traders and mechanics, its public debt and paper currency, its commercial credit, and the various factitious qualities of a nice and most complicated system of society. But the question now before us is, will Bona- parte ultimately conquer and enslave Britain ? Now, no one who has had an opportunity of ex- amining the resources, physical and moral, of the French and British empires, can for a single mo- ment hesitate to assert that Bonaparte, even if he could succeed in combining all continental Europe against England, and shut her out from all the foreign markets in the world ; that even then it would be more easy for him to turn aside the wa- ters of the ocean than to subdue the high spirit of the mistress of the deep. BANKRUPTCY. OF BRITAIN, &C. 645 And if he even succeed in making good his landing on that queen of isles, " that precious stone set in the silver sea," he will find that the tide of hostile invasion will be rolled back upon him, and upon his slaves, by the living rampart of British bodies j every day will be a day of battle ; every inch of ground will be floated in the blood of his bravest followers ; and the subjugation of Albion will only be purchased by the slaughter of all her children. The following examination into the effects re- sulting from war or peace to France and Britain, in the present critical situation of Europe, I owe to the pen of the same illustrious statesman, from whom I borrowed the account of the existing condition of Holland. " A peace with France now, would expose the British East-India possessions to a very serious increase of danger. At present, the French have not a single settlement on the continent of India, and are consequently excluded from communica- tion with the native powers. But peace, by re- storing to them Pondicherry and their lesser set- tlements, will re-open to them the avenue to in- trigue at the courts of the Indian princes. Bonaparte, unless very closely watched and spiritedly resisted, will introduce his officers in order to discipline their troops, and prepare them, by the most assiduous exertions, to dispute with Britain on her next rupture with France, the pos- 646 HINTS ON THE xNfATIONAL session of that vast country. India has long been the favorite object of Bonaparte's ambition ; the spirit which led him to attempt its conquest through Egypt and Arabia, still animates him. He regards it, not with the deliberate considera- tion of a statesman, but with the enthusiasm of a soldier ; with the ardor of vulgar prejudice, as an inexhaustible mine of wealth ; the source of the riches and power of Britain. He well knows, that during the continuance of war, his efforts to shake the British power in that envied country will be hopeless, but in peace he will prepare, in fraud and secrecy, the means of its radical sub- version. An interval of peace, if of short duration, would also open to the body-jacobin in Ireland an inter- course with their patron and master in France, whose emissaries would soon flock over in the pre- tended capacity of commercial commissaries. The commerce, the finances, tlie colonial policy of Britain have always hitherto flourished, and do now continue to flourish, during the war which has annihilated the trade, the colonies, and the credit of France. But in peace Britain would be obliged to maintain nearly the same large and ex- pensive establishments which she supports during the war, without the same extent of commerce; while France would recruit her navy, recover her commerce and colonies, and be speedily ready to renew the encountre with every advantage on her BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 6kf side, and every disadvantage on the side of her antagonist. While Bonaparte lives it is vain to expect any lasting peace for Europe. In his celebrated con- versation with Lord Whitvvorth, during the peace of Amiens, th\s poci/ic chief declared that then, ia a time of profound tranquillity, he was going im- mediately to complete his army to four himdred and eighty thousand men, and was confident of equalling in ten years that fleet which makes Eng- land mistress of the seas. Of Bonaparte's disposition there can be no doubt. The settled purpose of his soul is to aim at universal empire. He pursues this object with undeviating constancy in peace and in war. He advances to it alternately by force of arras, and by secret intrigues. He maintains in peace an army of half a million of men that he may pursue a uni- form course of encroachment, and reply to the re- monstrances of his neighbors by threats of imme- diate war. At the peace of Amiens the most liberal, /^r too liberal^ concessions were made to him by Britain, in order to afford him every inducement for the maintenance of peace. Britain asked to retain nothing which might injure the interests or wound the pride of France. With a wise and moderate enemy this policy would have laid the foundation of permanent tranquillity ; with a headstrong t}'^- rant it was only the signal for new aggressions. 648 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL The interval of peace was to him a time of great- er activity, o{ more extensive aggrandizement than the most vigorous war. He parcels out Germany, he incorporates Piedmont with France, he enslaves Switzerland, he sows the seeds of war in India, he plans another perfidious surrender of Malta, and a second invasion of Egypt. He threatens to ex- clude England from intervention in the affairs of the European continent, and he orders the con- struction of twenty sail of the line in one year. His own harbors he shuts to the trade of Britain, and he commissions spies to survey her ports. And in the midst of these aggressions he repre- sents himself to Europe, with unparalleled assur- ance, as injured, because the British ministry, awakened at last to his violence, refused to deliv- er up the key of Egypt and of India. The first wish of Bonaparte's heart was, that Britain should have joined with France in con- quering and oppressing Europe. " Two such countries," to use his own words, " by a proper understanding, might govern the world. Had he not felt the enmity of Britain on every occasion since the treaty of Amiens," (that is, had the Bri- tish yielded an unqualified obedience to whatever he thought proper to demand) " there would have been nothing that he would not have done to prove his desire to conciliate; participation in indemni- ties as well as in influence on the European conti- nent ; treaties of commerce ; in short, any thing liANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 649 that could have given satisfaction and have testi- fied his friendship." He once expected that Britain, insatiable of con* quest, like himself, might have been tempted to join in a base league against the sacred rights of na- tions ; when, after exhausting her strength in the subjugation of Europe, he would have bent his ut- most efforts to subdue the British Isles. Awakened however from this delusion, his present scheme is to overthrow Britain ; and in her the rest of the worlds He will endeavor to attain this object by a gra- dual progress, similar to that which led to the com- pletion of his usurpation in France. Violence and fraud combined effected his appointment to the con- sulate, at first for a limited period. In the third year of his sway, emboldened by a successful career, he procures his nomination for life. In the fifth he openly lays aside the mask, and assumes the absolute sovereignty of a country which had so lately braved utter extinction in the cause of liberty. Advanced in France to the plenitude of power, and secure of its duration, his ambition now takes a different range. He will pursue the degradation of Britain with the same combination of artifice and violence; the same unwearied perseverance which led to his own exaltation, ivar is an insurmountable obstacle to his progress, and he therefore desires an interval of peace. The ungovernable passion of ambition hurries him on, nut only beyond every restraint of religion 4 o 650 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL and morality, but even against the dictates of sound policy. Was there ever an act of wilder injustice than to establish a king in Holland, where royalty is proscribed by the concurrent voice of every party ? Was there ever a jnore impolitic step taken than his atrocious usurpation of Spain, by which he has converted an obedient and useful ally into a fierce and ungovernable enemy ? The same mind which planned these daring inno- vations, will hope to effect the expulsion of Britain from India, to wrest from her the sovereignty of the seas, to dismember Ireland from the British em- pire, and even to feed upon the hope of dictating a humiliating treaty in London. The man who is thus animated with the most im- placable rancorous hatred against Britam, is endow- ed with talents to which the history of nations scarce- ly exhibits a parallel in the lapse of centuries. His invention supplies expedients for every difficulty ; his subtlety has deceived successively every enemy; his mind, incessantly active, renounces all relaxa- tion, and occupies itself with perpetual schemes of ambition. He has maintained himself for years in possession of that absolute power which few of his predecessors enjoyed for so many months. He has not only baffled every assault from abroad, and conspiracy at home ; but has made them all sub- servient to his aggrandizement. The greater part of continental Europe is subject to his control, and BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &c. 65 1 every force, except the armies and the fleets of Bri- tain, has fled before him. Peace is desired by Bonaparte, only as it will fur- nish more vigorous means of war. Is he anxious to re-establish the trade and manufactures of France, in order to promote the general happiness of his sub- jects ? Can such a disposition be ascribed to him who poisons his own sick and wounded troops, and assassinates his prisoners ? No. He desires peace that he might recruit his finances and his navy. A soldier in the cabinet, as in the field, he appreciates every thing by its utility in war ; and much as he sometimes affects to value commerce, we should see him in the midst of peace, if he could prevail on Bri- tain again to make such a disastrous peace for her- self, and so advantageous to France, as was that coivardlyy infamous peace of AmiejiSy continue to keep at least half a million of his subjects armed^ and abstracted from the pursuits of industry. Let us now examine the relative situations of the two countries in war and peace. In the present war, the balance of advantages in every respect is in favor of Britain. To France war with the British has become an inglorious and a hopeless contest. Her fleets have either been destroyed and captured ; or are accounted fortunate, if, returning from a fruit- less enterprise, they reach their own harbors in safe- ty. And of late, in Spain and Portugal, her boasted, invincible veteran troops, led on by Bonaparte's 6.52 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL greatest commanders, have been uniformly beaten by very inferior numbers of British soldiery. There remains only the hazardous, difficult, des- perate attempt at invading Britain ; whi h if effect- ed would doubtless end in the entire destructi n of the assailants, and complete the victorious, prepon- derating attituile of the British empire. To Britain, war against France has been a se- ries of the most brilliant successes. It is in their allies only that the British have experienced mis- fortunes ; with the termination of almost every suc- cessive campaign, the aspect of the war has en- tirely changed. France, so terrible by land, is inactive and languid in her operations at sea. England is every where triumphant on the ocean, and reaps all the glory and benefit of active war- fare. The advantages of a peace to France are incal- culable. It will relieve her from a disastrous contest ; it will restore her colonies ; revive her expiring commerce ; recruit her exhausted finan- ces ; create innumerable seamen, arid re-establish her navy in its former splendor. But which of these benefits will Britain reap from a termina- tion of the war ? Her trade, her finances, her navy are flourishing beyond all former example. Will her security be increased by peace, or her burdens considerably lessened } In the former and better times of Europe, the advantages of peace were solid and immediate. BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 653 Fleets and armies were disbanded on both sides, and the burdens of war ceased with the signature of the definitive treaty. At present there can be 710 important reduction of Britain's war- establish- ment. She must continue armed, and bear the burden of war in the midst of peace ; all of whose advantages to her may be comprised in 1. A partial, a very small reduction of her pub- lic expenditure. 2. The diminution of insurance, and other war- charges on her trade. 3. If a satisfactory treaty of commerce be con- cluded, a more free communication with the Eu- ropean continent. Whether or not the consequence of peace would be an extension of British trade and manufactures, is a question of difficult solution. By the majo- rity of those engaged in them, this question will be ansvvered in the negative. And the expected improvement of the finances of Britain by a peace, is evidently much over-rated. No peace therefore ought to be made by Bri- tain except on terms commensurate with her pre- ponderance in war ; terms highly advantageous to herself, and conducive to the safety of conti- nental Europe. It is not enough that the basis of negociation be such terms as would satisfy Bri- tain if she were in the situation of France. For if she even possessed the power of France she would be infinitely less dangerous to the liber- 654 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL ties of Europe, than is that restless State. Moral- ity in Britain, among private and public men, is by no means at so low an ebb, as with the giddy people of France and their perjured ruler. Bri- tain does not negociate with her neighbors for the express purpose of deceiving them ; or persist in a domineering control, after declaring their inde- pendence by solemn treaties. Had Britain been in the situation of France, treaties so advantageous as those of Luneville, Amiens, and Presburg, would never have been violated by the wanton excesses of ambition. Has this ambition been moderated since the peri- od when the British were compelled to renew the war with the common enemy of human kind ? Does Bonaparte's conduct for the last seven years, particularly justify Britain in showing again that confidence which she so unwisely evinced in the treaty of Amiens, and which confidence he has so grossly, so basely abused ? Intrigue and falsehood have always been the fa- vorite instruments of the French government ; but these weapons are wielded at present with an as- surance and activity beyond all former example. Bonaparte as far surpasses in bold and systematic fraud his republican predecessors^ as they were superior to the old government. After the experience of the treaty of Amiens, a Mate of perturbation and anxiety worse than war, Britain ought to be satisfied with no treaty of peace BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 655 between her and France, which does not contain the provisions of rea/ tranquillity. Its conditions must be explicit and incontrovertible. Britain must never again rely on the professions of her enemy, nor even upon that moderate system which it is his interest to pursue. She must lay her account with meeting an insatiable spirit of aggrandizement, which will explain in its own favor whatever shall not be clearly defined, and will seize for itself whatever shall not be occupied by Britain. It is a common practice in capitulations on the continent of Europe, that the French impose upon the credulity of those with whom they treat, by inserting a clause, that *' wherever the conditions of surrender appear doubtful, their interpretation shall be in favor of the inhabitants." The capitu- lation is signed, and the gates opened to the French, who enter and violate successively t under pretext of necessity, every stipulation which they have made. Bonaparte only desires peace at present, for the sake of breaking it more advantageously hereafter^ Yfox is predominant in his thoughts, and aggran- dizement by fraud or force the perpetual object of his solicitude ; ambition, instead of being sa- tiated by success, preys upon his mind, and grows by what it feeds on. In 1803, Vv hen he consider- ed the British ministry as feeble, foolish, timid and spiritless, threats were his favorite weapons. He 656 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL menaced Britain in his message to his own coun- cils, in his communications to Lord Whitvvorth, in his appeals through Andreossi. But when the British had defied his threats, and dared him to the conflict, he adopted a ditTerent tone. In his overture for peace in January 1805, he assailed the hi/7nanifij of Britain, and affected to extol, as of incalculable value, those Indian con- quests which he well knew were barren glories. In I8O6 he represented himself to Mr. Fox as aogrieved by preceding administrations, as un- justly attacked, and as anxious to make every sac- rifice for so inestimable a blessing as peace. lu his communications with Britain at that time, he pretended to congratulate the country on the ap- pointment of a ministry " estimable by their illu- mination;'^ while at the same hour he instructed his emissaries to seek access at St. Petersburgh, and endeavor to detach that court from all British alliance, by traducing Mr. Fox as the most fickle of men; as absorbed in interests purely English j and an enemy to the co-operation of Britain and Russia. How poor Lord Lauderdale was sent to Paris; how he was duped by Talleyrand; how he was laughed at by Champagny; how he was insulted by General Clarke; and finally sent bootless home from Paris to London, it is needless now to dwell upon. The evils of war and the advantages of peace BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 65^ are so greatly on the side of France, that she ought to account no sacrifice, except her national honor, too great to avoid the one, and obtain the other. Britain has conquered from her and from Holland, Pondicherry, St. Lucia, Tobago, Surinam, Curra^ coa, Demerara, Essequibo, B M"bice, San Domingo, Martinique, and the Cape of Good Hope; has de- stroyed the French navy, and made the flower of her seamen prisoners. Against all these acquisi- tions, France has to place only Hanover; so unjust- ly occupied that it is doubtful if she should be al- lowed to introduce it into the scale of equivalents. The conthiu a fice of the war promises to be equal- ly in favor of Britain. She causes to France in- calculable deprivations and annoyance by her fleets and armies ; while the sum total of French injury to her consists in petty, privateering depre- dations on her trade, and in the threat of invasion. Of invasion no one doubts that the issue would be favorable to Britain. France challenged her rival to the combat by denying that she was able single-handed to withstand her. Britain accepted the defiance ; she has fought for nearly seven years, and been unifoTmlij victorious. While the advantages of zvar are thus entirely on the side of Britain, the benefits of peace are nearly in the same degree on the side of France. No v/onder that in such a situation the well-wish- ers to Britain should urge a continuance of war until circumstances justify the expectation of 4p 658 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL greater tranquillity in peace; more especially as the British finances are, in consequence of the powerful operation of tl>e sinking tund, in a siate of extraordinary prosperity ; in such a state that, although for tue year 1^09, a year unexampled in the weight of expenditure, the enormous sum ^i eighty-three millions and a fraction is granted for supplies, yet the addition to the national' debt du- ring this year is less than one, ^ ft ieth o^ the aggre- gate amount; and not equal to the actual yearly diminution of the public debt by the progi'essive depreciation in the value of money. War, no doubt, is a great evil ; but peace with danger and dishonor, is a far greater evil. It is the fashion among all democrats to make it a merit in any man to desire peace, and to display a great parade of words which cost nothing, and in their mouths mean nothing; I allude to the perpetual phraseology of " general good of the human race" — " blessings of humanity; horrors of war, blood and slaughter; unprofitable consumption of the labor o^ fellow-men in the arts of destruction," and a vast variety of other matter equally edifying ; as if the question of w ar or peace were a mere, na- ked, abstract proposition; and not, like every oth- er great question involving the interests and for- tunes of men, to be always examined and decided upon according to the circumstances with which it is connected. France has no prospect of either taking any of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 659 the British settlements, or of re-capturing any of her own which she has lost. It is therefore the duty of Britain to insist upon the safely of continental Eu- rope in a negociation with the common enemy. En- dangered, like the rest of the world, by the fatal prep ponderance of France, the common safety of the world can only be found in those provisions which, obtained by sacrifices on the part of Britain, shaH arrest the career of French aggression against wealc- €r states. By the acquisition of all Italy, and especially o€ Venetian Dalmatia, France has opened a direct road to the heart of the Turkish empire ; in the projected dismemberment of which Bonaparte will not now be contented with Egypt as his share. He will tempt Russia to co-operate with him in the partition of Turkey, by offering her Constantinople and the heart of the empire, pretending to desire for himself, at first, only the maritime part; he will flatter him- self, with his characteristic perfidy, that he will soon ^nd means of expelling her from her new acquisi- tions; and that, seizing for himself the whole of Turkey, he will ensure the acquiescence of Russia in his future usurpations by the threats of immediate war; threats by which he long overawed Austria; and by which he vainly thought to intimidate Bri- tain. Such a barrier therefore must be secured on the &ide of Turkey, against Dalmatia, as shall enable 660 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL her to withstand either the secret intrigues or the open violence of France. Malta is now less necessary to France, but doublj' important to Britain. It is no longer re- quired by Bonaparte nsa stepping-stone to Egypt j but is indispensable to Britain as a central sta- tion from which to detach her squadrons, in order to assert the integrity of the Turkish empire or to impede its downfal, should Kussia, seduced by the perfidious intrigues of France, concur in the 'base partition. Malta therefore must be ceded to Britain ; it can be intrusted to the honor and cour- age of a British garrison alone. The retention of the Cape of Good Hope by the British is obviously dictated by the avowed designs of France upon India. The Cape is highly important to the trade of Britain ; it is the intermediate climate to season her troops to the burning sun of India; the station from which she can threaten Mauritius, when the ambition of France again forces her into war ; above all, the retention of the Cape is imperiously re- quired by the absolute subjection of Holland to France. If the Cape be restored tt) Holland, it will become a depot to France for the assemblage of ar- maments against India. Britain then might, on condition of retaining Malta and the Cape, which no power can wrest from her, venture to forego the advantages of a state of warfare that is to her every where successful ; and submit to that increase of strength in France and BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 661 her allies, which will be the speedy consequence of peace. She might restore all her other conquests, and acknowledge the past, changes on the continent of Europe ; provided France give up Hanover, con- sent to the establishment of a barrier on the side of Dalmatia; give an indemnity to the king of Na- ples, now cooped up in the Island of Sicily ; guaran- tee the independence of Spain and her colonies un- der a government of their own choice ; and give as- surance that in future no more changes in the state of Europe shall be attempted. The treaty of Amiens is no valid argument against these conditions. It is an example indeed of less satisfactory terms obtained under an equally favora- ble combination of circumstances. But the treaty of Amiens is universally acknowledged to have been a compact in terms altogether inadequate to the just demands of Britain. At that time, the British people, weary of war, vainly expected to enjoy in a nof7imal peace the blessings of real tranquillity. A feeble, cowardly ministry, anxious to obtam a little, fleeting popularity, made concessions to Bonaparte, evidently inconsistent with the just rights of Britain ; and most impolitic and pernicious in their opera- tion to the British empire, to Europe, and to the world. The narrowness of the principles of that treaty ensured the impossibility of any permanent peace. The relations of the two powers were not accurately defined 5 no bar was put upon the ambition of 662 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL France ; there was no treaty of commerce, an ob- ject of the first consequence in preserving a good understanding between the two powers. Hence all thinking men jusflij inferred the insincerity of France, and the very puny intellect of the British administration. A treaty which only makes a kind of temporary provision for the interests of the day, neglects to lodk into futurity, and to fix, as far as possible, those nmtual obligations which may give permanence to the relations of amity, is obviously far worse than continuf-d vvar. It is in fact no more than a truce. It gives a little breathing time to the belligerents, who afterwards rush into hostilities with new causes of irritation, and with more deadly rancor. That the treaty oi Amiejis was of this kind subse* quent events have fully proved. The manner in which the detiniiive treaty itself was negociated au* gured every thing unfavourable to the interests of Britain. It was protracted, cold, and harassed by questions and discussions on subjects which were be- fore settled in the preliminaries. And after all, it was little more than a transcript of the preliminary arrangements ; and instead of taking a wide and ge- neral basis, left equal room for the future assumptions of the enemy and the complaints of Britain. The ambition of Bonaparte could not even be re- strained until the definitive treaty was signed. Al- most immediately after the signing of the prelimina- ries *' Louisiana," said Lord Grenville in his celebra- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 663 ted speech on tliis subject in the House of Lords, ** was added to the power of F. ance. This was not all ; the ink was still wet, the wax was not yet cold, with which this treaty was concluded, when Piedmont, the bulwark of Italy, was annexed to the French empire. Then, seeing the indifference of the government of Great Britain, the blow was struck by which the ancient ally of the British Crown, the king of Sardinia, was driven back from his seat. Let us look back into the progress of events. The treaty was made in the month of March, it was ratified in May ; in June Piedmont was by a formal decree annexed to France ; in Au- gust the Consular government made a grand sweep and disposal of the entire constitution of Germany, and of the powers in it. Not a day had elapsed, (he might challenge observation on the word) not a single day had elapsed, without some act of insult, indignity, or attack upon Great Britain or her ancient allies, since that time." But there were causes which operated more im- mediately upon the interests of Britain, and pro- duced suspicion in the government, and alarm in the people. Not only was Switzerland inva- ved, and her long-established liberties entombed in the yawning sepulchre of Gallic rapacity ; not only was Holland kept in a state of the most ab- ject subjection, in direct opposition to the terms of treaty, but her navy was at the disposal of France, 664 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL and hostile preparations were forming in her ports for the express purpose of annoying Bri- tain. In France also, British property had suffered the grossest violence, while justice in the French courts was denied to British subjects ; a number of vexations and illiberal restrictions had been laid upon British commerce; and designs of the blackest treachery against the internal peace of Bt itain were discovered, happily in sufficient time to prevent their ripening into danger; but which did not the less mark, the character of the power with whom the British had so lately interchanged the pledges of friendship. Colonel Dcspard and his accomplices were known to be in the pay and under the direction of France. It was proved in evidence on the trial, that Colonel Despard h\vc\se\{ avowed this connec- tion, and deferred one of his projects becanse — " he waited for nezvs and money from France.^* The peace had scarcely been concluded before a number of persons were landed in different parts of Great-Britain and Ireland, under the name of commercial commissioners, but who were proved on their examination to be French military officers. In their possession were found instructions from the French ministers, directing to such inquiries as could have no relation to commerce, and could only be useful in a military view. At length, even the Addington ministry was awa- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, v^C. 66;5 kened, and the British nation began to put itself into a posture of defence. It should however, be always remembered that Mr. Addington (now Lord Sidmoulh) did incalculably more injunf to Britain, by his foolish, feeble, administration, and his cowardly peace of Arniens, than Bonaparte could possibly have done by fifty years of war- fare against her. It is to be hoped that the British people will learn, from this fatal example, that ordinary minds are not fit to be intrusted with the helm of government ; that dulness and igno- rance are never innoxious in high political sta- tions ; that countries invariably perish when their movements are directed by zveahiess and timidity. Britam throughout the contest has always been successful. In the years of continental operations these successes were clouded by the disasters of her allies ; but when she was left alone in the struggle, they shone forth with undiminished lustre. In 1797 the Emperor of Germany was forced to withdraw from the alliance ; and every jacobin at home and abroad predicted that the lot of Britain would be either an immediate invasion, or a humiliating peace. But the British replied to these gloomy presages by the victory of the Nile. In 1799 Austria re-animated, took up arms, and although at first eminently successful, was in the succeeding year compelled to acknowledge the su- periority of her rival. Britain, become again the enly object of the vengeance of France, atchioves^. 4 Q 666 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL unaided, the victory of Copenhagen, and the con- quest of Egypt. In 1803 Bonaparte re-echoes the vulgar opinion, in defying England to contend single-handed with France. Britain again decided the question ; and how complete would have been her triumph, and the disgrace of France, had nofe her victories been clouded by the disasters of conti- nental Europe ! The safety and superiority of Britain are assured by the inability of France to attack her otherwise than with troops weakened and divided by the ob- structions to their passage by sea. Britain therefore ought to exact from France and her allies the price of cessation from successful hostility. By sta, France is at present as completely humbled as when Britain dictated peace in 1763. She is now indeed ail- powerful on the European continent ; but that power to the British, who have defied it, can cause no intimidation. The cessation of continental war reduces the contest to inere maritime operations. In these the discovery of the plan of forcing the enemy to close action, by breaking the linCf has doubled the former superiority ot Britain. It puts an end to all evasive manoeuvres, and leads promptly to that direct trial of skill and courage, in which it is the birth-right of Britons to be irresistible. A French fleet cannot now, as formerly, sneak ofl" after exchanging a iew broadsides; they have now no alternative, but to sacrifice half their ships, or come to a general engagement. The re- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, v^C. Q67 suit of a naval battle is no longer the capture of a few vessels, but tlie almost entire annihilation of the enemy's squadron. The a(:cessii;ns of strength to France by land, great as they have been, are equalled by the increase of nritaiii's naval ascendency; and were all the combined fleets of Europe to assail her with united st'enj2;tl), the result would be to her a series of bril- liant victories. But zvhaf prospect is there of peace for Europe ? Bonaparte, to be sure, has made repeated overtures for peace, accompanied by flaming professions of humanity, in which it would be a satire on the cre- dulity of any one to suppose that he was considered sincere. As well might we deem him a devout papist because he has found the re-establishment of popery in France conducive to his popularity; or Ct)nsider him a convert to Mohamedism, because in Egypt he proclaimed himself a prophet, and the de- stroyer of Christianity. In all his negociations his constant practice is, during the overtures, and in the early stages of the comraunicarions, to projnise every thing. But in the arrangement of the actual conditions, where the explicit nature of the terms prevents the possibility of subterfuge, he uniformly resorts to the most de- termined obstinacy, and provoking delay. This has been invariably the French mode of conduct ever since the first explosion of the revolution ; but 668 HINTS ON THK NATIONAL Bonaparte far excels all his jacobin predecessors in this career of fraud and falsehood. When Lord Malmesbury was sent to Paris in 1796, the Directory agreed to treat on the basis of mutucil cessions; an admission which they after- wards qualified by the very temptrate and consistent declaration that they would listen to no proposals contrary to the constitution, the treaties, and the fundamental laws of the Republic; namely, that constitution by which the chief part of their acqui- sitions was annexed to France, uhile the remainder were erected into republics dependent upon her; and those XvediX'xes by which they had guaranteed to Spain and Holland the restitution by Britain of all her conquests. If the British yield to Bonaparte in any one important point they will find him altogether m- tractable in every other. Remember the delays and artifices which he practised at Amiens. Even then it was necessary to threaten and to equip ar- maments in order to make him agree to the very few sacrifices which Britain required in a treaty so highly favorable to him. In negociation with Bonaparte, only one effec- tual plan is to be followed ; let the language of Britain be directand firm, and her terms explicit. Let her offer a peace on such conditions as her 52/rce^^ justifies, and the security of continental Europe demands. Let her tender him a treaty on these conditions with the one hand, holding in BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 669 the other the alternative of war. Let her adhere to these terms with inflexible firmness ; a firmness equally remote from haughtiness as from submis- sion. Bonaparte, as usual, will alternately storm and flatter ; but Britain must despise his threats, be- ware of his artifices, and refute his sophistry. Her claims are just, andA^r means are most am- ple for the accomplishment of these claims. She asks lo deprive France of nothing, but to stipu- late protection and tranquillity for continental Europe. If he refuse, let the war be continued ; and let him and all his vassal states enjoy the full benefit of perpetual warfare with the people that rule the ocean. Indeed, the well-known ambition of the Corsi- can offers no prospect as yet of obtaining those conditions vvliich alone can render peace eligible or safe. Pride and resentment are predominant in his heart ; the rage of ambition will stifle the dictates of sound policy ; and he will sooner en- counter all the evils of war than subscribe a treaty which is jz/i-^ to Britain, and which shall ensure the future safety of continental Europe." Yet base and unprincipled as is the character of Bonaparte, terrible and overbearing as is his power, the state of Europe is infinitely better now, under the ascendency of military despotism, than it could possibly be under the domination oi jacobinism. The military tyranny of France 670 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL does call into exertion the loftier attributes of courage and of talent ; but the murderous demon ofjacobinism, as cowardly as it is cruel, as stupid and ignorant as it is cowardly, invariably destroys in its career of desolation, all the monuments of art, and all the records of science ; all the living intellect and valor which might at once protect and adorn the dearest interests of human kind. The army of France, therefore, has done well to wrest all power from the jacobins of France. Had the powers of continental Europe remained at peace, had they not armed against the destruc- tive encroachments of new-born democracy, jaco- bin-France would have involved them all in anar- chy and blood, and seized their dominions ; the travelling guillotine would have superseded all law, order, justice, decency, religion, morality ; every ves'ige of genius and of wisdom would have been swept away by the deluge of human blood ^ vulgarity, brutal cruelty, lust, rapine, murder, and every thing that can render man hateful and loath- some to his kind, would have been spread over all the face of Europe. Say then that the leaden sceptre of dulness and of ignorance were stretched over a slumbering world; that all the noble and daring faculties of the human mind were plunged " in the sleepy drench of the forgetful lake," that all of art, of science, of literature, were annihilated; that all the conveniences, comforts and enjoyments which BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 671 the labor and the ingenuity of man, work- ini? with unremitted assiduity through a long suc- cession of ages, have contrived, planned, and exe- cuted, were swallowed up in the gulf of forgetful- ness ; that all the finer feelings, all the softer emo- tions of the heart, all that lifts man up nearer to the Great First Source of all perfection, were ob- literated ; say in one word, that the abomination of desolation — that jacobinism were triumphant , and what would be the condition of the human race ? Man would then wander on the great ocean of life, without buoy to float, without beacon to warn, without compass to steer, without chart to direct, without star to light him on his way. Ex- istence would be a weary and a cumbrous load, a misery and a curse ; and would compel the un- happy sufferer, as he stood " upon the bank and shoal of time, " to leap the gulf, to plunge into the confines of eternity, and to appear before the dread tribunal of his God; "uncalled, unhousel- led, unanointed, unannealed." , Resistance to jacobin Fra?ice therefore became a sacred duty : it held out the onli/ possibility of re- sisting her aggressions, and of repressing her en- croachments; and though resistance has failed to prevent her exterior aggrandizement, it has saved the European continent from civil disorder, from anarchy, from jacobinism. Although partitioned out among the Corsican and his allies and vassals. 672 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL it yet has regular military governments ; and every change must apparently be for the better, by sub- stituting the vigor of a new dynasty in the room of the old, worn out, feeble despotisms that have during the lapse of so many ages slumbered over the continent of Europe. " Time, or the chances of war, or the violence of re-action from the people of continental Europe, may shatter down the overgrown empire of France, and either throw the states again into the hands of their lawful princes, or the clashing of interests may produce new and contrary combinations and alliances, which, by restoring the balance of pow- er, might once more establish the independence of Europe. No doubt, the moment that the marine of Bri- tain is conquered, from that moment she is blotted out from the list of nations. But of such an event there seems to be no very great probability. Bo- naparte has used every means which his own re- sources and his influence over other powers has furnished, to rival the British navy; but every ef- fort of this kind has been defeated by the genius and courage, the skill and intrepidity of Britain's naval officers and men ; and by the wise and vig- orous measures of her government. His own powerful fleets having been nearly an- nihilated, his next attempt was to seize those of weaker powers, and by combining them with the force of his allies in a general confederacy, to dis- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 673 pute with Britain the empire of the ocean. That plan has also been broken, and the confederacy destroyed in its bud. France may build ships, but during the war she cannot fill them with sea- men. Not only her intercourse with her colonies is suspended, but even her own coasting trade i (notwithstanding Mr. Cobbett's assertions to the contrary j) she has in consequence ?io nursery for seamen. These can only be trained by long ot frequent voyages, which, whilst the war continues, cannot be made. Peace alojie can replenish the navy of France, and long experience render it efficient. This, however, is no impediment to a peace with France; for such is the superior skill and valor of British seamen, that no uneasiness need be felt as to the result of a naval engagement, under the best cir- cumstances in which France could place her navy, in case of a renewal of war. Should peace bring out of her ports a navy equal or superior in num- ber to that of Britain, the British would do as they have often done before, confide in the justice of their cause, and the blessing of Divine Providence, to crown their valor and dexterity with another addition to the splendid list of their naval victories. AVhether in peace or in war. If Britain be but true to herself, she may regard all the efforts of France to rival her as a maritime power, without dismay. The continuance of the present prosperity of British commerce, in the event of a peace, must 4 R 674 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL altogether depend upon the terms of that peace. The war ought to be maintained with perpetually increasing vigor and resolution until such a peace can be commanded, as will not only place Britain in a secure and prosperous situation, but will also affirm the future safety of continental Europe. The 7?ej^ peace which Britain makes, will be either the death-warrant of her own national indepen- dence, and of the liberties of Europe and of the world, or will secure her own privileges for ever, and uphold the rights and interests of all other na- tions against the domineering insolence of France. It is not the partial, the comparatively little in- terests of her merchants and manufacturers, that is noiv at stake ; but it is the interest of the whole British empire, and of all the posterity of the Bri- tish people; it is the interest of all Europe; nay, but it is the interest of America, of Asia, of Africa, of the universal world. Above all let Britain never place the shadow of confidence in the truth, the justice the honor, the moderation of the Fre?ich goverjiment. It is the most fatal error into which she can fall ; and that man is a most deadly enemy to his country who wishes to inspire such confidence. With such an enemy as France bvery suspicion ought to be awake. Neither the character of Bonaparte, nor that of the nation which he governs, in its present state, is enti- tled to any confidence. Justice and honor are out of the question ; interest, ambition, perfidy, violence, wrong, oppression, are the only principles of their conduct. * BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 67^^ Britain can never expect a peace to which she ciight to accede, until it is the interest of France to make it ; and the conditions of that peace will be no longei' observed by the present French government, than while they accord with the state of its interests, or the views of its ambition. Peace with such a government can hold out no cheering prospect to Britain, either in its arrangements or its perma- nence, until France imperiously feel it to be her in- terest to make, and to preserve peace. It is true, the navy of France is now in a state of deplorable degradation ; her colonies and her depen- dant states are become more limited ; the practica- bility of intercourse with those that remain is ren- dered a matter of most difficult enterprise ; and her commerce, before too contracted to produce any fa- vorable effects upon her internal wealth, has been reduced to the brink of annihilation, by Iter ozv?t decrees. France has indeed enlarged her territory to an ex- tent hitherto unknown j but she has neither secured to herself, nor to her newly organized states, the means of rendering her empire great and prosper- ous. Society must at least assume the appearance of tranquillity, before industry can be excited to those exertions which shall produce more than the mere supply of necessary wants ; and it is peace alone which, by encouraging general commerce, can recruit the energies of countries exhausted by revo- lutions, by exactions, and by war. Spain and Portugal by their hatred and resis- 676 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL tance to France, are'a vast and a perpetual drain ot blood and treasure from Bonaparte and his slaves ; Holland is reduced to the verge of absolute ruin ; France has lost the only medium through which her foreiun commerce could circulate, the intercourse of neutrals : and Russia, blinded for a time by councils, the labyrinths of which she has not sufficient capa- city to explore, has plunged into a contest in which she has every thing to lose, and nothing essential to her real interest to gain. Bonaparte boasts of having an army of eight lutn- dred thousand soldiers; but if he had twice that number the whole of his military force could not an- nihilate a single British frigate ; the whole of his pow- er cannot give effect to his blockading decrees be- yond the limits of his own harbors ; and he must either be contented to stretch his bloody sceptre over a wilderness of desolation, or give prosperity to con- tinental Europe by a peace which shall open the na- vigation of the seas, and unite the interests of Britain and of the rest of Europe, by reciprocating the pro- ductions of their soil and mechanical skill, through the medium of a maritime intercourse. But this state of things ought greatly to encour- age the perseverance and patience, not to slacken the efforts of Britain. It cannot be inferred from this, that the time is arrived when an advantageous peace may be made with France. Every day's in- telligence from the continent of Europe proves how greatly every state at enmity with Britain is suffering from the interruption of its commerce ; but the ty- * BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN^ &C. 677 rant of the continent, supported by his immense mihtary force, has the means, for a time, of stifling their murmurs, and crushing their resistance. He will, in the contest into v\hich he brings their suffer- ance with the power of Britain, push them to the utmost limits of endurance j and will first try the extent of British patience and firmness, before he will relieve the pressure of his ozun slaves, by enter- ing into liberal arrangements for a general peace. The navy of Britain is her right arm, is peculiarly calculated for offensive attack, and must continue to be wielded with vigor. It is in reality, what the lever of Archimedes was in imagination, the power that moves the zvorld. To relax in her efforts would not relieve Britain from the operation of the blockading decrees of Bonaparte, which existed be- fore the British government resorted to measures of retaliation ; and if ever Britain make a good peace for herself and for the rest of the world, it must be by always standing in the most menacing attitude ; by presenting the most undaunted front to external threats, and domestic privations. To yield is ruin ; and to betray impatience is to throw herself at the feet of her enemy. Of late Bonaparte has bent all his efforts to force Britain to renoimce her marifi7ne rights ; he is per- petually insisting upon a " a maritime peace ;" that is, a peace in which Britain shall renounce all interference and connection with the European continent ; and suffer her naval rights and ancient maritime jurisprudence, the firmest bulwark of 678 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL her safety and prosperity, to become the subject of discussion and infringement. But the British people will not accept this basis of a treaty of a peace ; they will not suffer their naval superiority, the most precious gift of Provi- dence, the most valuable legacy of their ances- tors, and which has been confirmed to them by the genius and courage of their contemporaries, who have fought and died in their defence ; to be made the subject of negociatlon^ even for a moment. I thank God, that if Britain be only true to her- self, she can most triumphantly support the con- test. While her navy stands unshaken amidst the wreck of nations, her commerce will not only be protected, but enlarged. Difficulties only call forth the resources of a great people; and the resources of England are not exhausted ; they are not even impaired ; nay, but they are augmented by the continuance of the war. She possesses now an extensive and an in- creasing trade ; her capital, her industry, and her enterprise must finally break down all the barriers ivhich are opposed to her prosperity. Bonaparte knozvs this, and he fears it; and if he cannot either intimidate or cajole Britain into her own destruc- tion, he is prepared to acknowledge ihose maritime rights, against which he now so loudly declaims, and which for that very reason the British ought as strenuously to defend. This then is the glorious object of the present conflict ; Britain is called upon by every conside- BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 679 ration of justice, honor, and interest, to defend and to uphold her maritime rights. They are as dear to her as the soil on which she treads, as the Gonstitution under which she lives, as the vital air which she breaths ; they are the only guarantee of her national independence ; they are the only sure pledge of her future commercial prosperity. If the sea cannot be her empire, let it be her grave. This is the true position, this is the high destiny a^ Britain ; and nothing but political suicide^ a total incapacity to meet the bounties of Providence, and to improve its blessings, can induce her io hesi- tate for a moment, as to the course which she ought to pursue." What then is the conclusion from all this ? The conclusion is, that Britain is to press forward most vigorously the war both by sea and land, to harass and annoy France ; to cut away all her external resources ; to impede and to cripple all her internal means ; and by every possible effort of terrible hostility to hasten the hour of re-action^ upon the French by the people of continental Europe ; to hasten that hour, when by the excess of misery, and by the destruction of all peaceful occupations, and the consequent general diffusion of military pursuits and habits, the whole continent of Eu- rope shall seek in resistance to France the only possible relief from her oppressions ; when the in- trepid Germans, the gallant Spaniards, the un- daunted Swiss, together with the other enslaved and insulted nations of Europe, shall pour their 680 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL effective and armed population on all sides, and in perpetual streams upon the swollen and over- grown French empire, and its vassal states of old men and boys, but ill-fitted to withstand so terrible an assault. And let that hour of vengeance upon the tyrant be animated and illumined by the same generous aid of blood and treasure, of genius and heroic valor with which Britain now encou- rages the people of Spain and Portugal in their opposition to the common enemy of the world. The memorable counsel which Mr. Burke gave in the year 1796, respecting the mode and the spirit with which it behoved Britain to resist France, is still more applicable to the present contest, inas- much as the French power is now more formida- ble, extensive, and pernicious than it then was. In the eighth volume of Mr. Burke's v/orks p. 9.51 — 264, are to be found observations full of politi- cal wisdom, which ought to be engraven on the ta- blets of the heart of every statesman. From them I shall extract as much as suits my present purpose, and for the remainder refer the reader to Mr. Burke himself " When I contemplate the scheme on which France is formed, and when I compare it witli those systems with vi^hich it is and must ever be in conflict, those very things which seem as defects in her polity make me tremble. The states of the Christian world have grown npto their present magnitude in a great length of time, and by a great variety of accidents. They BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 681 have been improved to what we see them with greater or less degrees of felicity and skill. Not ply the want of unity in de.^ign, and coristancy in pursuit. But unity in design, and perseverance, and boldness in pursuit, have 7iever wanted resources, and never will. We have not considered as we ought, the dreadful energy of a state, in v\hich the proper ty\\3.s nothing to do with the government, in which the property is in com- plete subjection, and where nothing rules but the 7nind ol desperate men. The rulers of France have found their resources in erimes. The discovery is dreadful, the mine exhaustless. They have everything to gain, and they have nothing to lose. They have a bound- less inheritance in hope, and there is no medium for them betwixt the highest elevation and death with infamy. From all this, what is my inference ? It is, that this new system of robbery in F'rance cannot be rendered safe by any art ; that it must be de- stroyed, or it wdl destroy all Europe; that to de- stroy this common enemy of man, by some means or other, the force opposed to it, shoidd be made to bear some analogy to \\\e force and spirit which that enemy exerts ; that eternal vvar ought to be made against it in its most vulnerable parts. In one word, with France in her present state, no- thing independent can co-exist." It is evident that a living statesman in Britain, who follows in the mighty career of Mr. Burke, with equal steps, as to native genius and talent. 6S6 HINTS ON THE NATIONAL but perhaps with more varied and extensive infor- mation, (I mean Air. Brougham^ the author ot" the luminous and profound *' Inquiry into the Colonial Policy of the European Pozvers,") has his eye stea- dily bent upon the day of approaching re-action by the European continent upon the French empire. In the following passage he glances at this desira- h\e but terrible events with his accustomed splen- dor of eloquence. " In the person of Bonaparte the success of un- principled power is strongly exemplified. Yet we are far from measuring the amount of that power by the extent of the superficies over which his au- thority is felt. The minds of men are not bowed to the yoke. The elements of resistance are not extinguished. From the loss of civil occupations, a military spirit is fast spreading itself over the continent of Europe; and in the very cloud which blackens all our horizon, we may see the bow which is set for a token, that the tempest will not be forever. *' Whether or not this generation will live to see the troubled waters subside, and the ancient land- marks of the world re-appear above the flood, is in- deed more difficult to conjecture. But whatever be the destined means of our deliverance, we think we may say with certainty that it will not be accom- plished by a coalition of sovereigns ; (but by the people of Continental Europe, following the exam- ple of the heroic Spaniards, and rising in fierce and untamable resistance against the oppressions of BANKRUPTCY OF BRITAIN, &C. 68? France ;) and that if England is to have her due and proper share in this great redemption, it must be by persevering in her ancient maxims of just and honorable policy; and by exhibiting an inva- riable contrast to the violence and selfishness of her enemy." From all that has been said we conclude, that it is at once the interest and the duty of Britain sted- fastly to abide by that high-spirited and lofty decla- ration which she made to Russia, at an hour when the ivhole of Continental Europe, with the excep- tion only of Sweden, was combined against her un- der the auspices and direction of Bonaparte. From this declaration, dated Westminster, December 18, 1807, I most gladly extract the following manly and nervous paragraphs, which display a dignity and an energy of character well-becoming a great and a magnanimous people. ** The requisition of his Imperial Majesty of Rus- sia for the immediate conclusion, by his Britannic Majesty, of a peace with France, is as extraordinary in the substance as it is offensive in the manner. His Majesty has at no time declined to treat with France, when France has professed a willingness to treat on an admissible basis; and the Emperor of Russia cannot fail to remember that the last nego- ciation between Great Britain and France was broken off, upon points immediately affecting, not his Majesty's oxvn interests, but those of his Impe- rial ally*' 6SS HINTS ON THE NATIONAL " But his Majesty neither iinrlei stands, nor will he arlmit the pretension of the Etnperor of Russia to dkfafe the time or mode of his Majesty's pacific negociations with other powers. It never wili be endured by his Mnjesty that any government shall indemnify itself for the humiliation of servinicy to France, by the adoption of an insulting and perernp- torv tone towards Great Britain. His Majesty proclaims anew those principles of mctrh'ime law, agamst which the armed neutrality, under the auspices of the Empress Catharme, was origmally directed ; and against which the present hostilities of Russia are denounced. 1 hose princi- ples have been recognised and acied upon in the best periods of the history of FAirope; and acted upon by no power with more strictness and severity tiiiiii by Russia, in the reign of the Empress Catha- rine. 1 hose principles it is the ri^^hl and the duty of his Majesty to maintam; and against ere??/ confederacy his Miijejity is dttennined, under the, blessing ot Di- vine Provi?' ^^'' .^'' -* -f. N f. « O- ~''':. ,.v.«,;<, • ,,V ^. -n^- v^ »;■ ^ C^ 'V^ \^'^ .-f K . .# '•'?/. esr "» « ,v. a\ N (. >, - "7!f!T^%c .-^' I. v^, v> ■^-^.A .0- x>.„^^' !* - ^^-*,, c>, '- \' '-* 'i'-. ^^ .o'^c .^ -v^ N-^^^ t o 0' ■^^. ,<^ '^^ \\