'JL' 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 35Z 
 B875 
 
 V.5 
 
 i rr i ntTm B arnmiHi <iMitrmHm M ,f,n i i t M ' , no ,PMI IItmmfinfifJtMiim*if\m M U\^ »f J9»MM»liUnrtr iL. 
 
ADDITIONAL FACTS, - 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 SERIOUS ATTENTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 RESPECTING THE 
 
 EXPENCES OF THE WAR, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 STATE OF THE NATIONAL DEBT, 
 
 Quandi v'lnctr datP impeto, e da I' ir* 
 
 Si /afcia la ragitny ne Jl dejdv.dt ; 
 
 T. cheV cicco furor ft inanzi iira ; 
 
 Se hen dipot Jt fiar:gc, e Jl fofpira 
 
 H'O'i f per J'ttJ'6, chc /' error i' emeiidt. ARtoiT*. 
 
 By niLLIAM MORGAN, F, R. S. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 gRiNTED FOR J. DEERETT, PICCADILLY; T. CADF.LL, JUN. 
 AND VV. DAVISS, (successors TO T. CAQRLL) STRANO. 
 
 1796. 
 
] 
 
vn Jiifh tllipv/ ziHj /li I • ^^/r^ ^ ' -' 
 
 .q« ofh T. INTRODUCTION^ o.i 
 
 nO .'^i^inim offj'lo IrbTlB orh lo rioiindoiq 
 
 ovig "01 Laoubni v/ori mc; I L;.:. ^ .;r, . ;., :^-:ii 
 -oinh pmio'^ ^m o) noiiiLlG ni ^T^niwoiiol 3ff) 
 ^riionlvnoD l^o oqod aibi arfj xftiv/ Ion .zin^nt 
 nohu\otq >o rn^fi'(i jfiolaiq ^rfj jf.d) aiofiinlffi 
 
 iU i A' Qf the w^r, and the ilate of the finances, 
 ■^-"'^■'I'liad no other wifti than to engage the atten-. 
 ' ; tidn of thisxountry to the dangers with which 
 \:A ii^^ is threatened b)r the prefect lyftem of pro- 
 ^ fiifion in' th<i'-^^blic expenditure; and it 
 ^'■"' affords me fincere pleafure to think that my 
 '" 'efforts have not been altogether in vain. ^ The 
 '' '^^ ftdtements which have been given in' that 
 * * -trad: of the enormdus magnitude of thfe na- 
 tional debt, - and of the accelerating progrefs 
 with which it i^ increafing, feem to' have 
 ""^ i made fome impreffion on the public; and if, 
 ■" /in" the remoteft' degree, they fhould prove to 
 '"' fce^Uie humble means of awakening an -effec- 
 '; -^ tt'dl opiporition^ ^to the- prefent war, my pur- 
 ofii^ :i:^:ioiii oijdv/ 3->-;:..iin:BJib ^i ,nOill.. ■ "pofe 
 
 <S ♦"/,., '\ ,(,- 
 
 'S t 
 
( -4 ) 
 
 pofe will have been obtained. I was fenfible, 
 when I firft engaged in this work, that no 
 fairnefs or impartiality in my accounts would 
 be fufficient to fecure to them either the ap- 
 probation or the aflent of the miniftry. On 
 this fubjecfl, however, I have always felt very 
 little anxiety; and I am now induced to give 
 the following, in addition to my former ftate- 
 ments, not with the idle hope of convincing 
 minifters that the prefent fyflem of profufion 
 _,, is wrong, but with the more rational hope of 
 ^ convincing the public that my accounts-of it, 
 fo f^r from being exaggerated, have hitherto 
 beeni much too favourable. I feel no inclina- 
 tion to enter into controverfy, much lefs to 
 notice the pamphlets which have been written 
 ^gainft my, former tradt. Whether the au- 
 t,; , thors of;thcm are to be confidered as the or- 
 is; gans,,.or the advocates of the Treafury* is of 
 • ■:;- little confequence. The fadls they attempt to 
 '. deny are more and more confirmed by the 
 melancholy experience of every day, and I 
 am only furprifed that Minifters, in the pre- 
 fent ruinous ftate of , our finances, when 
 knowledge and inquiry muft be fo injurious 
 to their interells, ftould chufe to provoke dif- 
 cufiion. In circumftances where filence and 
 2 obfcurity 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 oblcurity would have been their beft frtends, 
 the flippant eloquence either of their aJhe- 
 rents or themfelves, appears to be very unfea- 
 fonably employed ; and it is hardly poffible to 
 imagine a greater abfurdity, than that of 
 hoping to fupply a deficiency of argument 
 on an arithmetical fubjecfl, which admits only 
 of plain fads and computations, by ridiculous 
 attempts at oratory and declamation. 
 
 B 3 ADDI 
 
1 iW ti^rfl aand n^Bsi LIuov/ ^iIiurA Jo, 
 
 •^Ino ztifirhii rf'»f' ,]»/! Ii;L»(l3inr{jiiji infi no 
 
 vuoIiijiLn 7(! inoi luu: iiiiill nidqla 
 
 
ADDITIONAL FACTS, 
 
 c, mc. 
 
 
 
 On the Comparative Expences of the prefent 
 and the preceding Wars, 
 
 ..i;Jl 
 
 IT has been objected to my former flate- 
 ments, that the comparative view which 
 they gave of the expenditure of the laft three 
 years was oppofed to the expenditure of two 
 years in which we were only engaged in a 
 conteft with our American colonies, when the 
 exertions are faid to have been altogether tri- 
 fling, and to have borne no proportion to thofe 
 mighty efforts which have diflinguiflied the 
 prefent above all the wars that have ever pre- 
 ceded it. Without difputing this exaggerated 
 reprefentation, I fhall only obferve, that the 
 expences, which the woeful experience qf 
 late years has made to appear as trifling, were 
 
 con- 
 
_( 8 ) _ ■ 
 
 conficiered at tfie time lii wfiicli tTiey x^irc 
 incurred as the nioft enormous ever fullained 
 by this country; and that there is not a doubt, 
 iif in comparing the American with the feven 
 years war, the expenditure in the former had 
 been ilated to begin with the year 177B, but 
 that the minillerial advocates of that day 
 would have exclaimed againft the injuftice of 
 fuch accounts. The objection, therefore, to 
 the period at which the comparifon is made 
 to commence in my ilatements is totally 
 groundlefs ; but were it admitted to the ut- 
 moft extent, it would not invalidate the 
 truth of my aflertion ; for if the firft three, 
 or any number of fucceflive years in the- pre- 
 fent war, be compared with the fame num- 
 ber of fucceflive years in the American or any 
 other war, it will be found that throughout 
 every period our expences in this war have 
 greatly furpaffed the mod enormous extrava^ 
 gance of all former times. 
 
 In order to remove every difficulty on this 
 fubjed:, 'I (hall give the account both on the 
 fuppolition of the laft war*s having begun 
 in the 3^ear 1776, and alfo on the minifterial 
 fuppofition of its not having begun till the 
 year 1778; for the refults upon either hypo- 
 thefis only differ in the degree by which the 
 prefent profuiion is to be diftinguifhed. It 
 mull:, however, be obferved, that as the ex- 
 perience of the preceding years proves it to 
 be impoffible at the commencement to efti» 
 mate the vvhole expence of a campaign, it 
 ^i^w ,;gai:{ii7J/ za ifioqqfi 6i -ibam eul eii- { wiH 
 -aoo 
 

 ( ^ ) 
 
 will be necc0ary in the following account 
 to confine it to the firil: three years of the 
 war, leaving the prefent year till the growing 
 expenditure of it fhall have attained its 
 maximum. I had indeed included this year in 
 my former ftatements, but it was, as I then 
 obferved,* on the fuppojfition thd.t againji all 
 probability^ the expences would not exceed 
 the provifions which have been made for 
 them,; and the additional millions lately 
 raifed not only prove my lufpicion to have 
 been 'Well-founded, but that the moft liberal 
 grants at the beginning of a fefTion are no fe- 
 curity againfl further applications to Parlia- 
 ment for new fums, which in any year of 
 former wars would of themfelves have been 
 deemed an alarming addition to the public 
 debts. . --^-^-— »., - - 
 
 ' * Fcias.'p. 6. 
 
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( '2 ) 
 
 In forming thefe ftatements, I have fal- 
 lowed the method adopted by Mr. Grey, in 
 his mafterly and unanfvverable fpeech to the 
 Houfe of Commons on the loth of March 
 laft, and it appears from them that the ex- 
 pences of the firft three years of the prefent 
 war are more than double thofe of the fame 
 term in the American war, and very nearly 
 one half greater than even thofe of the firft 
 three years of the American and French war. 
 But the moft remarkable circumftance attend- 
 ing this unprecedented expenditure is the 
 great proportion of it which has been incur- 
 red without the previous confent of Parlia- 
 ment. In the year 1782 a committee was 
 appointed, of which I believe the prefent 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer was one, to 
 examine the public accounts of the kingdom, 
 and in the report of that committee it is ob- 
 ferved, ** that the enormous amount of the 
 ** extraordinarics incurred without the con- 
 *' fent of Parliament is an abufe of the moft 
 ** alarming nature, enabling Minifters to de- 
 ,** ceive the nation, by keeping back the 
 ** great expences of the war, and concealing 
 ** thereby the extent of its engagements.*' 
 When this report was delivered, the extraor- 
 dinarics ih three years had amounted to ele- 
 ven millions and a half, and in five years to 
 twenty-lix millions nearly — an expenditure 
 moft enormoufly extravagant, and well de- 
 ferving the cenfure pronounced againft it. 
 But in fpite of that cenfure, and even under 
 
 aa 
 
( '3 ) 
 
 :\n adminlflration compofed of fome of thofe 
 very perfons who formed the committee, the 
 cxtraordinaries of the prefent war, exceeding 
 all the profiilion of former times, have 
 amounted, in three years only, to imore than 
 thirty-one millions /* In whatever manner, 
 therefore, the comparifon be made, whether 
 from the elHmates, or from the cxtraordina- 
 ries, whether during the firfl: three years of the 
 American, or during the firft three years of 
 the French and American war, the truth of 
 my former aflertion is equally confirmed, 
 ** that the expence of the prefent is unpa- 
 ** ralleled even among the mofl exfrava- 
 
 * Some idea may be formed of the rapid progrefs of this 
 evil, from the following comparifon of the extraordinaries of 
 the army : 
 
 In King William''^ war, which lafted nine years, £. 
 
 they amounted to - - 1,200,000 
 
 In Queen Ann's war, which lafted eleven years, 
 
 they amounted to - - a,ooo,ooo 
 
 In George the Second's firft war, which lafted 
 
 nine years, they amounted to - 3,500,000 
 
 In the firft three years of the war of 1755 they 
 
 amounted to - - - 2,434,893 
 
 In the firft three years of the American war 
 
 they amounted to - - 5,215,990 
 
 In the whole 35 years — 14>350>S83 
 
 In three years of the prefent war they have 
 
 amounted to . . - 14,509,314 
 
 A fum exceeding their amount during 35 years of former 
 wars, by 150,000/. Nay, from the 15th of November to 
 the 3 1 ft' of December laft, a period of about _/£r I'^eeksy they 
 amounted to 1,101,000/. which almoft equals their whole 
 amovmt during n'me years of King Williaiiv'i war. 
 
 C 3 ** gant 
 
(14 ) 
 
 " gant wars that ever defolated this coun- 
 ♦' try." 
 
 The principal juftiiication of the prefent 
 enormous expenditure is founded on the ftu- 
 pendoOs magnitude of our exertions in this 
 war, which are reprefented fo far to furpafs 
 thofe of any former war, as to lead us even to 
 admire the frugality of Minivers in having 
 been able to u^iCieafe our forc*:^ in a proportion 
 fo much greater than our expences. Without 
 entering into an examination of the effeds of 
 our exertions, particularly in the laft campaign, 
 I fhall beg leave, in order to prove what little 
 fupport thefe afTertions derive from fad:, to 
 tranfcribe a minijierial ftatemcnt of the naval 
 and military force employed during the fame 
 periods in this and the former war, 
 
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( >5 ) 
 
 
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( '6 ) 
 
 It appears from tliefe ftatements that, al- 
 though the war eflabhlliment during the lafl 
 three years has been proved to exceed in ex- 
 pence the fame eftabhfliment during the firfl 
 three years of the French and American war, 
 by more than twenty milhons, only nine 
 ihips of the line, and on the whole num- 
 ber of every defcription, only three fhips 
 have been annually employed in the one cafe 
 more than in the other ; but that in the army, 
 on the contrary, the number of men employed, 
 {q far from exceeding, appear to have been 
 annually about 7000 fewer in the prefent than 
 they were in the former war. The enormity 
 of our expenditure, therefore, does not pro- 
 ceed from any fuperiority in our exertions, and 
 is even aggravated by the very ftatements which 
 are intended to juftify it. 
 
 In regard to the importance of our conquers, 
 I have only to obferve, that the fettlements of 
 our Allies, for whom we were faid originally 
 to engage in the war, can hardly be reckoned 
 in that number; and as to any other conquefts 
 they certainly afford a very inadequate com- 
 penfation for the lofs of blood and treafure by 
 which they have been acquired, admitting 
 even that a country, whofe pofleffions are al- 
 ready much too extenlive for its decreafing 
 population, could derive any real advantage 
 from an addition to its foreign territories. If 
 however, we boaft of our conquefts, it be- 
 hoves us alfo to look on the other fide of the 
 •account, and in this cafe I am afraid we fhaU 
 4 have 
 
k '7 ) 
 
 have but little caufe for triumph. When wc 
 behold our enemies, exclufive of N/ce and 
 Savoy and fome of the finefl provinces of 
 the German Empire, in the full pofTeffion of 
 the Netherlands and Holland, by which we 
 are excluded from every port, from Embden to 
 Bilboa, we can derive but little confolation 
 from regarding our new poffeflions on the 
 other fide of the globe ; or from the refled:ion 
 of having expended above Q7ie hundred fnilliom 
 in acquiring them. ' 
 
 SEC- 
 
( i8 ) 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 On the Debt Incurred by the War, and on the 
 prefent Amount of the National Debt, 
 
 IN ftating the amount of the unfunded debt 
 in my former account* at fixteen millions, 
 I did it on the fuppofition that the war would 
 end with the enfuing campaign, and that the 
 probable expences, which could not imme- 
 diately ceafe, would be more than equal to fo 
 much of that debt as had been incurred pre- 
 vious to hoftilities. But further information 
 has proved this ftatement to have been under- 
 rated. The navy debt, inftead of five millions, 
 at w^hich it was then taken, appears to have 
 been increafed by the war, on the 3 1 ft of De- 
 cember laft, to the following amount. 
 
 Whole debt on the 31(1 of December, 179^ - 10,788,984 
 Sums received from grants of 1796, and applied to 
 
 theferviceof the year 1795 - i5S4^"'?75^ 
 
 Vote of credit for 1795 " " ^7^>373 
 
 12,507,115 
 Deduft the debt on the 3 1 ft of December, 179a 2j74Sj99i 
 
 Increafe of the navy debt " 9,761,124 
 
 * Fads, p. 8. 
 
 The 
 
( '9 ) 
 
 The more accurate amount, therefore, of 
 the unfunded debt incurred by this war, will 
 be, 
 
 £■ 
 
 Navy debt on the 31ft of December, 1795 9,761,124 
 
 Ordnance debt on do. - - 210,194. 
 
 Increafe of Exchequer bills - - 500,000 
 
 Expe(5led increafe of the Navy debt above the efti- 
 mates in 1796, and faid to be provided for in the 
 two lail: loans - - - 4,000,000* 
 
 Allow for expences which cannot immediately ceafe 
 
 with the war, the very moderate fum of 5, 50o,ooof 
 
 Whole increafe 1 9,9 7 1 ,3 1 8 
 
 From thefe ftatemcnts it appears that the 
 debt incurred by the prefent war, including 
 feventy-eight millions which have been 
 funded J cannot be lefs than ninety-eight mil- 
 lions ; fuppofing, againfl: all probability, that 
 the Emperor*s loan will not be ultimately paid 
 by this country, and that fufficient provilion 
 has been made in the two budgets of the pre- 
 fent feffion for the whole expenditure of the 
 year. 
 
 The prefent Miniftry claim to themfelves 
 much credit from having provided for the ex- 
 traordinaries of every preceding year in the 
 fupplies of the following year, fo as to pre- 
 vent that accumulation of the unfunded debt, 
 
 * Of this fum there were 2,822,389/. expended on the 5th 
 of April laft. It is not probable, therefore, that the provifion 
 in this cafe will be fjfficient to pay half the extraordinary ex- 
 penditure during tiie prefent year. 
 
 f This fum is allosved in a mlmjienal pamphlet, and is moft 
 piobably much belov/ the truth. 
 \ % Facts, p. 7. 
 
 D which 
 
( ^o ) 
 
 which had grown to fuch an enormous mag- 
 nitude in the American war.— But the expen- 
 diture of the laft three years, and {tit fee and 
 loan in the prefent year, are not only in dirc(ft 
 oppofition to any claims of this kind, but 
 prove that there never was a time in which 
 they could have been urged with Icfs propriety. 
 So great has been the difference between the 
 fupplies and the real expenditure, that it is 
 impoffible, from the mere knowledge of the 
 one, to form the moil diflant idea of the other. 
 In every department the arrears are enormous 
 beyond all precedent. In the navy particu- 
 larly (which has often been felecfled as the 
 moft ilriking objedt of mifmanagement in 
 former adminiftrations) the evil has acquired 
 its greateft force. At the end of the third 
 year of the French and American war, the 
 unfunded debt in that department amounted 
 to the fum of 10,372,6:28/. At the end of 
 the third year of the prefent war it amounted to 
 12,507,1 15/.— Or, if a deduction be made 
 ot the debt which exifted at the commence- 
 ment of each of thofe wars, the accumulation 
 in the former will appear to have been 
 6,369,055/. while in the latter it has fwelled 
 to 9,761,124/.! It is with very little reafon, 
 therefore, that the advantage of going to 
 market iL'itb ready money, rather than with 
 promiffory notes at a coniiderable difcount, is 
 pointed out as one of the good confequences 
 of preventing the floating debt from accumu- 
 lating in an irregular manner.— Whenever this 
 
 hypo- 
 
( ^' ) 
 
 hypothefis fhall be carried into effed, I have 
 no doubt but that its truth will be fully efta- 
 blilhed by experience. Sohttle regard, how- 
 ever, has been paid to it for the laft three 
 years, and (o far has tlie contrary practice 
 been purfued of going to market wtth&ut ready 
 money, that the floating debt has endangered 
 commercial credit by its magnitude, and ren- 
 dered a new loan neceflary to prevent worfe 
 coniequcnces. 
 
 If it could be proved that neither exchequer 
 bills at a difcount 'of five and a half per cent, 
 navy bills at a difcount of lix per cent, nor 
 bills dated at Hamburgh and drawn in London, 
 came within the defcription of promiflbry 
 notes, it might perhaps be allowed that the 
 expences of the. war had been difcharged as 
 foon as they were incurred ; but as this is 
 known to be impoihble, and my bufinefs is 
 only withy^^^, I Ihall leave all theories of 
 finance to thofe who have more leifure to at- 
 tend to them. 
 
 Whether taxes have been provided in the 
 fupplies of the foregoing years for paying the 
 intereft of the navy debt when it ihall be 
 funded, or whether no fuch proviiion has been 
 made, it is certain that hitherto no intereft 
 can have been paid on more than twelve mil- 
 lions and a half of this- debt ; and therefore, 
 that it lupplies were granted for this purpole,, 
 they have been dire(^fed to other channels, and 
 mud be made up hereafter by new fupplies. 
 It is true, that in opening every budget, except 
 
 D 2 the 
 
( « ) 
 
 \htjirft of the prefent feflion, Mr. Pitt under- 
 took to provide not only for the intereft of 
 the navy debt then exilling, but alfo for the 
 intereft of its probable increafe during the 
 courfe of the enfuing year. Thus in the budget 
 of 1794, he appropriated taxes for one mil- 
 lion of navy debt to be contracted in the 
 courfe of that year. In the budget of February 
 1795, he ftated the increafe of the navy debt 
 to have been, on the preceding Chrillmas, 
 3,594,000/. fo that in addition to the million 
 which he had provided for 1794, it became 
 neceifary to make proviiion for a further furu 
 of 2,594,000/. and as the increafe of the 
 navy m the year 1795 would probably keep 
 pace with its increafe in 1794, taxes were 
 propofed in that year to pay the intereft of 
 ;i, 594, 000/. and 3,594,000/. making toge- 
 ther 6,188,000. Of this fum 1,609,898/. 
 were funded in the five per cents, fo that the 
 unfunded debt to be provided for in February 
 1795 was 5,478,102/. In December 1795 
 the navy debt appears to have been 12,507, 115/. 
 Dedudting 5,478,102/. which are faid to have 
 been provided for in the preceding February, 
 from this fum, there remained in December 
 a further furn of 7,029,013/. to be provided 
 for by new taxes in this year. It is now pro-, 
 pofed to fuqd live millions of this debt,* 
 
 * It was propofed, at the beginning of the feflion, to provide 
 for the intereft of this fum by an annual lottery. But that mo-. 
 r(z( injlitution is referved for fome further exigencies of the war. 
 
 and 
 
( -3 ) 
 
 and to make provifion for a further increafe, 
 during the courfe of the prefent year, of four 
 milhons. But if the navy debt accumulates 
 at the fame rate as it has done in the year 1795, 
 he ought, inltead of four millions, to have 
 provided for nine millions. * Reafoning, 
 therefore, from pali: experience the in<Teafe of 
 the unfunded debt, inftead of twenty millions, 
 will more probably be as follows : 
 
 /• 
 
 Navy debt and ordnance, including the five 
 
 millions propofed to be funded -r 9,97 1,3 i8f 
 Further increafe of the navy debt in the prefent 
 
 year ... 7,008,940 
 
 Increafe of Exchequer bills - 500,000 
 Expences which cannot immediately ceafe with 
 
 the war -^ ^ - 5, 500,000 J 
 
 22,980,258 
 
 * At Chriftmas laft the debt was - 12,507,115 
 
 In the year 1 795 was funded ^ 1,609,898 
 
 1^,117,013 
 Dedu6t the navy debt in 1794 - 7,108,073 
 
 Increafe of the debt in 1795, and therefore its 
 
 probable increafe in 17)0 - - 7,008,94.0 
 
 Debt, for which no provifion was made in Dec, 7,020,013 
 
 i45037»9?3 
 Dedu(5t what is propofed to be funded 5,000,000 
 
 Whole debt to be provided for in the year 1796 9)037j9S3 
 
 f See page 19. 
 
 X See J<ot. f, page 19, 
 
 Hence 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 Hence it appears, that inftead of ninety-' 
 four millions, as I had modeftly ilated the 
 ex pence of the war, in my former account, * 
 the principal of the national debt, exclufive of 
 the £m,peror's loan, will be increafcd (if peace 
 were concluded at the end of the enfuing cam*, 
 paign) above one hundred millions. But even 
 thele computations are certainly much too 
 moderate. On the 5th of April laft, it ap- 
 pears that out of the whole fupplies for the 
 year, which were voted {ince the 29th of Oc- 
 tober, the fum of 12,513,082/. had been ex- 
 pended in the difcharge of part of the arrears 
 of laft year, and in the fervices of the prefent 
 year; .fo that, including 2,822,389/. added 
 to the navy debt, fince the 31 ft of December 
 laft, the public exigencies have required more 
 than fifteen millions in the firft three months 
 of the prefent yeaf; and if they proceed at 
 the fame rate during the remainder of the year, 
 the whole expence of the war will probably 
 add to the capital of the public debts above one 
 hundred and twenty millions. ^ 
 
 In my former trad: I gave as correal a ftate^ 
 ment of the whole amount of the funded debt 
 as I could Golledt from the Report of the 
 Committee for examining the pitb'lic accounts 
 in 1791 j and from the votes of the Houfe of 
 Commons, for the lall: four years,; which, in- 
 cluding the ftock redeemed by the Cornmif« 
 fionersfor managing the Smking Fund, I made 
 
 * Faas, p. a. 
 
 1 to 
 
( 25 ): 
 
 to be three hundred and thirty-feven milhons 
 nearly ; and with the addition of the Empe- 
 ror's loan, about three hundred and forty- 
 four millions *. The more accurate account 
 of this debt, on the 31ft of December lafl, 
 appears to have been as follows : 
 
 Stock in the three, four, and five per cents - 311,847,670 
 Prefent value of all the annuities - 24,730,269 
 
 336,577,939 
 Emperor's loan - • 7,205,133 
 
 343»783»07z 
 
 By the afliftance of fome friends, and par- 
 ticularly of the F^arl of Lauder da/e^ who 
 among other valuable communications, has 
 favoured me with copies of the feveral papers 
 which have lately been laid before Parliament 
 on the fubjed: of the finances, I have procured 
 fuch information a6 to enable me now to give 
 a more corred: account of the unfunded debt 
 than I have hitherto done. I am ftill fenlible, 
 however, that its real magnitude conliderably 
 exceeds what it is ftated to be in the follow- 
 ing account j and unlefs the arrears in every 
 department are fairly laid before the public, I 
 do not fee how it can ever be poffible to give 
 the v/hole amount of this part of the national 
 debt. 
 
 * Fafts, p. 22. 
 
 Navy 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 *Navy debt on the 3 ift of December, 1795 10,788,984 
 
 Ordnancedebt onthe3ift of Dec. 179$, 210,194 
 
 Exchequer bills, confiftln? of votes ) ^'^ '° *^ 
 - ^ - - ' *» < 2,000,000 
 
 L2, 500,000 
 
 of credit for ' . 1 2,000,000 \ 6,000,000 
 
 
 Ditto, iflued on the land and malt tax, after de- 
 dutfting 2,750,000/. for thofe which have been 
 ifTued on account of the prefent year 1,827,000 
 
 Extraordinaries of the army, being the diffe- 
 rence between their amount in the firft and 
 fecond budgets of the prefent feflion - S35>^77 
 
 Probable arrears of the army, not yet brought 
 to account, which may be eftimated at leaft 
 at - • - - 3,500,000 
 
 /.22,862,85i 
 
 If this film be added to the funded debt, 
 the whole will amount to three hundred and 
 iixty millions nearly, which is as much as 
 the national debt was ftated to be in my former 
 trad:, with the Emperor^s loan included. It 
 follows, therefore, that if any errors were 
 committed in that publication, they were fuch 
 as ought to have fecured to me the approba- 
 tion, and not the cenfure of the Miniftry ; 
 for, by leiTening the amount of the debt, I 
 muft have contributed in fome degree to dif- 
 pel thofe gloomy apprehenfions which are fo 
 unjuftly entertained in regard to the expenca 
 
 * It IS now propofed to fund a part of this debt, together 
 •with three millions and a half of Exchequer bills and /our mil* 
 lions of the balance due to the Bank. This will increafe the 
 funded and lefTen the unfunded debt. But as the meafure has not 
 yet received the fandion of Parliament, I have thought it beft 
 to continue the accounts of thefe debts vsx their prefent ftatc 
 
 of 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 of the war — a war glorious beyond all former 
 example, not only m the number of its vic- 
 tories, but ** in having extended our com- 
 •* merce fo far beyond its utmofl limits in the 
 ** moll flourilhing times of peace, as to have 
 ** already fhed immortal honours on the name 
 *• of Pitt!''* 
 
 * The ajfertion may be found in one of the miniflerial 
 pamphlets; the proof is perhaps referved for the next publica- 
 cion of the fame kind. 
 
 1 SEC-? 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 On the Loatii of the prefent War. 
 
 MY chief objecflions to the loans of the 
 prefent war arofe from their having 
 ieen made, for the moft part, in the three per 
 cents, rather than in a flock bearing a higher 
 interefl, by which means the capital of the 
 debt was increafed unnecefiarily. In juflifica- 
 tion of this prad:ice the miniilerial writers 
 feem to have recourfe to an opinion '* That 
 
 * the Interejl is the only circumftance to be 
 
 * attended to in borrowing money, that the 
 
 * expences of a war mean only the fums 
 
 * which have been adually fpent in it, and 
 
 * that the creation of a needlefs capital is a 
 
 * matter of perfed: indifference, lince it can- 
 
 * not be conlidered as forming any addition 
 
 * to the amount of the public debts.*' — 
 Leaving Mr. Pitt's adherents to reconcile 
 thefe politions with his former fentiments on 
 the fubje(^,* 1 fliall only obferve, that at this 
 
 * See my Review of Dr. Price^s Writings, page 19, &c.— 
 but more particularly the debate on Lord j^o/in Cavendijh's bud- 
 getin the year 1783. In his oppontion to that budget, Mr. 
 Pitt reprobates in the llrongeft terms the plan of borrowing 
 in the thrte per ceuts^ and infifts that the only method of con- 
 ducing loans lb as to haften the operations of compound in- 
 Tereft in paying off the national 4ebt, is to borrow in the Jive 
 per cents. — See the Parliamentary Regiiler, publiflaed by Mr. 
 Debiett, Vol. VIII. 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 moment the capital, which has been borrowed 
 in the prefent war at fixty-three, is redeeming 
 at fixty-fix per cent, and that in the year 1792, 
 the capital which had been borrowed in the 
 American war at fifty-four and a half, was re- 
 deemed at ninety- fix per cent, that is, for every 
 100/. received in that war, the public were 
 paying in 179:: about 175/. So long, there- 
 fore, as the adherents of the Minifler boafl: of 
 his exertions in providing for the difcharge 
 of the national debt, fo long will the excefs 
 of the capital, above the money actually re- 
 ceived, form a very eirential part of the ex- 
 pences of the war. But when he has ceafed 
 to make this provision, and confidcrs every 
 addition to the debt as a perpetual burden 
 upon the country, they may then, and not till 
 then, recur to the opinions of thofe ftatefmen 
 who borrowed upon this principle, for a jufti- 
 fication of his conducft. 
 
 The minifterial defence of the laft loan * 
 I do not underftand. It feems to be founded 
 on the fuppolition that it would have been 
 impoffible to prevail upon the contractors for 
 the loan to accept a ftock which bore a high 
 intereft, or in other words, which did not form 
 a capital one halj greater than the fum which 
 they advanced. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the loan-mongers 
 arc pretty corredl in their ideas of the value of 
 a large capital; and though the national debt, 
 
 * 1 mean the loan in December laft. 
 
 E Z 3I> 
 
( 3° ) 
 
 in the opinion of tlie minifterial writers, may 
 not be increafed by funding in the three per 
 cents, it is evident that the better judgment of 
 thofc perfons teaches them to j:egard their pro- 
 perty as confiderably increafed by this circum-i 
 fiance. 
 
 Without entering into any further compu- 
 tations on this loan, it will be fuflicient to re- 
 mark, that it has borne a premium of ten, and 
 even twelve per cent, and therefore that the 
 terms, which on eighteen millions give a pro- 
 fit to the lenders of 1,800,000/. mull be highly 
 injurious to the public. 
 
 Thefe terms have, no doubt, been rendered 
 more profitable to the fubfcribers, by the King's 
 Meflage to Parliament, after the bargain was 
 fettled j and by the refolution of the Commif- 
 lioners to purchafe in \.\iq four per cent s . before 
 it was fettled. But thefe are meafures which 
 have not hitherto been fatisfadtorily explamed. 
 They happened, indeed, to be well-tuned for 
 the lenders; — perhaps a little fo refight* might 
 have made them equally fo for the borrower, 
 — It is attempted to account for the latter 
 of thofe meafures by reprefenting it to have 
 been adopted in conlcquence of the impolTi- 
 bility of purchaiing three per cent, confuls in 
 the month of November, becaufe the books 
 of thofe annuities were fliut at that time. * — 
 This explanation can by rso m.eans be admit- 
 
 * See Mr. Francis's Speech in the Houfe of Commons, on 
 Friday, Feb. 26, 1796, page 15. Debrett's Debates, Vol. XLIII, 
 
 ted; 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 ted ; for it is highly improbable that a cir- 
 cumftance which had recurred twenty times 
 within the hill ten years, fhould not have 
 fooner impeded the operations of the Com- 
 miflioners, and induced them to adopt a Simi- 
 lar condu<^. 
 
 SEC- 
 
( 3^ ) 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 On the Sinking Fund. 
 
 THE plan which was adopted by Mr. Pitiy 
 in the year 1786, for redeeming the na- 
 tional debt I have already proved, * not only 
 to be a prodiidiion oi Dr. Price, mutilated 
 and rendered impotent by injudicious altera- 
 tion, but alfo that it was the weakelt of three 
 plans which had been propofed for the pur- 
 pofc, and communicated by him in confe- 
 quence of repeated apphcation from Mr. Pitt 
 on that iubjed:. Thefe are fads which can 
 be no more denied, than that the Minifter af- 
 fumed the whole merit of the meafure to him- 
 felf, without ever mentionmg the name, much 
 lefs the fervices of Dr. Price. His adherents, 
 improving on the (ileiice cf the Minifter, have 
 attempted to depreciate thofe fervices, and by 
 this means to difcharge him from every obli- 
 gation on their account. The application of 
 a million annually in the purchafe of flock is, 
 certainly, " No new invention or difcovery.'* 
 But was Dr. Price ever fo abfurd as to fup- 
 pofe that he had made fuch adifcovery ? His 
 plans, it is true, like all other effedual plans, 
 were founded on the operations of compound 
 
 * Review of Dr. Price's Writings, chap. ii. 
 
 inte- 
 
{ 33 ) 
 
 intereflj but they were not valuable merely 
 on this account. They had other merit to 
 recommend them, and this Mr. Pitt him- 
 felf has fufficiently proved, by adopting the 
 weakell of them in preference to one of his 
 own, which, on the reprefentations of Dr. 
 Price, he had been induced to abandon as flill 
 more weaic and ineft'edf ual. * 
 
 The principal objed:ion to the two ftrongei' 
 plans of Dr. Price arofe from the additional 
 taxes which they would require, to the amount 
 of 600,000/. per ann. in the courle of five 
 years. This deterred Mr. Pitt from diflin- 
 guifliing his adminiftration by adopting either 
 of them ; and although he thought it impro- 
 per, and even imprad:icable, to increafe the 
 taxes at that time about iio^oool. per ann, 
 for iive years, he foon after found it expedient, 
 in a much Ihorter term, to increafe them for 
 other purpofes about 800,000/. per ann. 
 Nay, Vv'ithin the laft three years the Minifter,, 
 who in 1786 Ihrunk from the addition of 
 600,000/. per. ann. to the taxes, has had tlie 
 refolution to increafe them above four mil- 
 lions, and, if the prei'ent fy ftem fhould con- 
 tinue two or three years longer, he muft have 
 the flili bolder reiblution to increafe them as 
 many millions more. 
 
 The prefent plan for difcharging the public 
 debts, which was enfeebled at the time of its 
 firfl eftablilhment by injudicious reflridtions, 
 
 * See my Review of Dr. PrzWs Writings, page 19, S:c. 
 
 I I have 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 1 have already fhewn to be flill further en- 
 feebled, by invariably confining its operations 
 to the redemption of the three ^^r cents.* In 
 the firll feven years, the ftock purchafed by 
 the Commiffioners amounted to 10,109,400/. 
 which afforded a free revenue of 303,282/. 
 According to Dr. Price\ calculations^ 
 4,076,572/. ought to have been purchafed in 
 the three per cents, and 5,038,133/. in the 
 four per cents, which would have given a free 
 revenue of 323,762/. ; fo that in this fhort 
 time above 20,000/. per ann. has been loft to 
 the fund, in adtlition to the much greater lofs 
 which it has fuftained by the neglect of ex- 
 changing the ioMxper cents, into three per cents ^ 
 when the price of the former was fo nearly 
 equal to that of the latter. -f- 
 
 In regard to Mr. P///'s meafure of pro- 
 viding an additional fum of i/. per cent, on 
 the capital of every new loan, I have already 
 explained its operations in difcharging the 
 debt, and proved how much they are im- 
 peded by nis method of borrowing in the 
 three per cents.\ I have no wiih to do in- 
 juflice to Mr. Fht\ meafures, or in the leaft 
 degree to diminilh thofe wimortal honours^ 
 which he has acquired by his adminiftration; 
 but I muil acknowledge, whatever may be 
 the opinion of his adherents, that I have yet 
 to be convinced that this meafure deferves 
 
 * Fa^ls, Sea. V. f lb. p. 37. 
 
 X lb. Appejnd. p. 47. § See Not. f , page 19. 
 
 ho^ 
 
( 3S ) 
 
 honour. Though the principle is old, the 
 provifion, when applied to the national debt, 
 is, I believe, the work of the prefent Chan- 
 celloi^f the Exchequer, and by this provil'on 
 he has certainly fo far made the finkirg fund 
 his oivn. But it was the glory of Dr. Price^s 
 finking fund to be founded upon a fyftcm of 
 peace, by applying the favings derived from. 
 the lapfe of the temporary annuities, and 
 from an ceconomical expenditure of the pub- 
 lic money, to the real extinction of the debt. 
 In afiirting his plans by additional taxes he 
 meant to infpire the nation with confidence, 
 from the vigour with which they operated at 
 their outfet. By thus infpiring confidence, at 
 a period when it was moft wanted, he hoped 
 to fecure a continuance of thofe peaceful ex- 
 ertions, in order effecftually to deliver the 
 kingdom from its incumbrances and its dan- 
 gers. On the contrary, Mr. Pitt's finking 
 fund is founded upon a fyftem of war. In- 
 flead of reducing, it feems calculated only 
 with greater facility, to increafe the national 
 debt. Additional taxes are annually laid, not 
 for the falutary purpofe of giving vigour to 
 the plan by accelerating its operations at the 
 outfet, but for the pernicious purpofe of giv- 
 ing vigour to new loans, and of leading the 
 nation to fuppofe that the fafler its debts are 
 accumulating, the fooner they will be extin- 
 guilhed. The greater amount of the fums 
 appropriated to fuch a finking fund, only 
 proves the growing incumbrances of the na- 
 
 F tion i 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 tion ; fo that when it is boafted that Mr. 
 Pitt has already made an addition to his fink- 
 ing fund of 770,000/. /^r ann. the public in 
 this triumph have to regret, that within the 
 lafl: three years the capital of the funded 
 debt has been increafedy^i'^«/y-y^T;^« millions. 
 II the prcfent expenditure continues, neither 
 the minifterial exultation nor the public re- 
 gret are likely to be lefTened, until the evil, 
 which grows one hundred times fafler than 
 the remedy, Ihall have acquired that force 
 which no .delufion can withftand, and at laft 
 overwhelm both the lender and the borrower 
 in one common ruin. 
 
 Such are the operations of Mr. P///*s fink- 
 ing fund, nor fhall I conteil with him for the 
 honour of its invention. I feel but little fatis- 
 fadion in contemplating its eflPefts, or behold- 
 ing the fleady perfeverance with which it is 
 carried into execution. If the national debt is 
 to be difcharged by the afliftance of fuch a 
 plan, I am certain that the purpofe will be ef- 
 teded by a much more fummary procefs, 
 than the tedious accumulations of compound 
 intereih 
 
 1 cannot conclude this Section without no- 
 ticing the many wretched inlinuations with 
 which the minifterial writers are continually 
 endeavouring to deface the memory of Dr. 
 Price. In themfelves they are utterly con- 
 temptible ; but when proceeding from the ad- 
 herents of Mr. Pitty they certainly do very 
 little honour to bis adminiltration. He fhould 
 q re- 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 iecolIe<n: that there was a time when, profef- 
 jing at lead much refped: and efteem for this 
 excellent man, * and anxious to avail himfelf 
 to the utmoft of his ailittance, he not only 
 felt, but exprelTed his obligations-f- for the 
 lights he had received from him. It fhould 
 alio be particularly remembered, that Dr. 
 Price never intruded himfelf upon any mi- 
 nifter with his fuggeftions. On the contrary, 
 his advice w^s fought with earneftncfs, and it 
 was communicated with that fame difintereft- 
 cd Zealand alacrity which always dirtinguiihed 
 his exertions for the public good. — He never 
 difhonoured himfelf by applying for places 
 and penfions, as a recompence for his fervices 
 — He lived, as he died, an honejl and indepen^ 
 dent man. 
 
 * Extraft of a letter from Mr. Pitt to Dr^rice, dated i ^th 
 Jan. 1786. 
 
 " I think feme points may occur which may be better ex- 
 " plained in converfatioa than by writing, and I am anxious 
 *' to avail myfelf to the utmoft of your alliftance where it 
 *' may be fo material." 
 
 Extract of another letter from Mr. Pitt to Dr. Price, dated 
 1 8th April, 1786. 
 
 " I cannot omit adding how much I think myfelf obliged to 
 " you for the lights I have already received from you on the 
 " fubjeft, and how thankful I Ihall be for any further fuggef- 
 *< tions which may occur to you upon it." 
 
 f I mean in private, for I do not know that Mr. Pitt ever 
 mentioned his nam? in public. 
 
 F a SEC 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 On the Public Income and Expenditure. 
 
 'TpHE annual excefs of the revenue above 
 -*" the expenditure has uniformly been main- 
 tained by the Miniftry, from the firft efta- 
 blifhment of the Confolidated Fund in 1786, 
 to the commencement of the prefent war. In 
 my Review of Dr. Price's writings, which 
 was publifhed in the year 1792, I gave an 
 account of the pubhc finances for five years, 
 from 1786 to 1790, from which it appeared 
 that the expenditure exceeded the income dur- 
 ing that period by 6,330,693/. or on an ave- 
 rage, by more than one million and a quarter 
 in each year, and that the deficiency had been 
 fupplied by loans and extraordinary receipts, 
 amounting to 6 , 1 9 1 , 1 05 A Without entering 
 further into this fubjed;, which cannot be very 
 interefting at prefent, I fhall only ©bferve, that 
 in the years 1791 and 1792 the finances feem 
 to have improved confiderab ly ; and had we 
 pofTefied the wifdorn of adhering inviolably 
 to a fyfi^em of peace, it is probable that in a 
 :fcw years the induitry and enterprize of the 
 
 na^ 
 
( i9 ) 
 
 nation, by prevailing over the burdens with 
 which they were loaded, might have raifed 
 the revenue even above the expenditure ; and 
 fo far at leaft have afforded the rlinifter fome 
 ground for his triumph in the flourilhing ftate 
 oi the country. But the prefent war has de- 
 flroycd all thofe profpedts, by creating, in 
 the Ihort term of three years, an addition to 
 the taxes of more than four millions and a 
 half,* and confequently incrcalnig the defici- 
 ency in the revenue to a greater amount than 
 ever. 
 
 In the year 179 1 , when the income and ex- 
 penditure were reprefented to be nearly equal, 
 the permanent taxes produced 1 4, 132, 000/. -j- 
 In the years 1793, 1794 and 1795 it became 
 necelTary to lay freih taxes, which, according 
 to the eilimates, were to produce 2,842,000/. 
 In order, therefore, that the revenue Ihould 
 be adequate to the public exigencies, it ought 
 to produce the amount of thefe two fums, or 
 16,974,000/. From the accounts juil laid 
 before Parliament, its whole produce in the 
 
 * In this fum are included the taxes impofed in the prefent 
 feflion of Parliament. 
 
 f In the year i ygz taxes were repealed to the amount of 
 220,000/. but as this was done on the fuppofition that the re- 
 venue would ftill continue to improve (o as to produce more 
 than it did in the preceding year, when the income and expen- 
 dirure were nearly equal, it is evident that the fum of 
 14,132,000/. ought to be taken as the efficient produce of the 
 old taxes, and therefore that the taxes which were repealed in 
 J 792 ought not to be deducted from that fum. 
 
 ye^r 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 year ending the 5th of April lafl, appears to 
 have been as follows ; 
 
 Produce of the taxes exifting in 1791 — - — . — 13,05815:7 
 
 Produce of the taxes impofed in the years 1793, {,• 
 
 1794, and 1795 — — — — 2,818,361 
 
 D«du(5 the fum wliich has been re- 
 ceived on the ftock of wine in 
 hand, which cannot be accounted ^. 
 
 the annual produce of that tax — 357,000 
 
 Dediuft alfo the duties of 1796, re- 
 ceived fince Chriftmas — — 45^>57? 405»57^ 
 
 Nett produce of the taxes impofed in the laft three years — 2,422,783 
 
 Whole produce of the permanent revenue — — — 15,48?, 310 
 Deficirncy — — — — — — . — 1,492,690 
 
 16,974,000 
 
 If to this fum be added the annual defi- 
 ciency in the land and malt tax, amounting 
 to 250,000/. the intereft paid to the Bank for 
 ca(h advanced (which in Chrillmas lafl ex- 
 ceeded eleven millions), the intereft paid on 
 the unfunded navy debt, &c. &c. I think the 
 computation will be very moderate which 
 makes the difference between the expenditure 
 and the income to be no more than two mil- 
 lions. But it will appear from the following 
 statement that this is by no means likely to be 
 the whole deficiency. 
 
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( 4« ) 
 
 
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( 42 ) 
 
 If to this deficiency of 2,661,948/. be 
 added the fiim of 200,000/. which has been 
 annually voted for the finking fund, and alfo 
 the intereft ufually paid to the Bank for the 
 funis which are C(;nllantly advanced by them 
 on the credit of the land and malt tax, and 
 on other fecurities, the expenditure, fuppofing 
 the war even to terminate with the prefent 
 campaign, will exceed the revenue on the 
 ordinary peace ellablilliment by the fum of 
 three millions nearly. But this is not the 
 whole of the evil which is to be apprehended. 
 Should the taxes fall in the fam.e proportion 
 at the clofe of this war> as they fell at the 
 clofe of the j^mcrican war, the deficiency 
 will be augmented by the further fum of 
 2,890,000/.* Suppofing it, however, to be 
 augmented by only half this fum, ftill it 
 will be neceffary to impofe new taxes to the 
 amount of more than four millions and a half, 
 in order to place the revenue in the fame fitu- 
 
 * During the American wra-, the expenditure in any one 
 year never exceeded the fum of 2.i,690,ooo/.§ nor the perma- 
 nent taxes the fum of io,i78,oo/.t At the clofe of that war, 
 the revenue, exclufive of the deficiency in the land and malt 
 tax, fell fliort 1,318,800/4' In the prefent war, the expendi- 
 ture of the jaft year appears to have been 31,181,000/. and 
 the amount of the permanent taxes 15,4.81,000/. If the re- 
 venue therefore be duninifhed at the clofe of this war in pro- 
 portion to the excefs of the expenditure, and alfo to the excefs 
 of the permanent taxes above what they were in the American 
 war, the deficiency will be found to amount to 2,890,000/. 
 nearly^ 
 
 § Dr. Price's Sratc of the Public Debts in 17S3. Sedl. 3. page 13. 
 + Dr. FnVf's Poftfcript to the above pamphlet, page 10. 
 
 ♦ Ibid, 
 
 ation. 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 ation, with regard to the expenditure, as It 
 was before the commencement of the war. — ■ 
 With this profped: before us, and at the very 
 moment when an application is made for a 
 third loan within fourteen months, which 
 completes an addition to the public debts of 
 forty-three millions and a half, we are alTured 
 that *' we fhall go out of this war in a better 
 '* ftate than we went into it.'* It is undoubt- 
 edly very wrong, and I can honeRly fay the 
 farthefb from my intentions, either to alarm 
 the nation, or to increafe the pride and info- 
 lence of the enemy by aggravating the ac- 
 count of our finances. But is it lefs dan- 
 gerous or lefs criminal to purfue the contrary 
 courfe ? — To allure the nation into a fyflem 
 of perpetual expence by prefenting falfe views 
 of its profperity — and to divert its attention 
 from the precipice towards which it is im- 
 pelled, by pointing out the gulph into which 
 its enemies are plunging ? 
 
 SEC- 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 On the general State of the Nation, 
 
 TF the aflertions of the miniflerial writers be 
 •*■ well founded, we have very little reafon to 
 regret the addition of one hundred millions to 
 the debt, or the growing preffure of the public 
 burdens. '* The progrefs of national im- 
 '* provement has continued without interrup- 
 *' tion— The foundations of general credit 
 •* have remained unfliaken.— The taxes are 
 ** produd:ive.— Trade increafes. — Buildings 
 ** multiply. *r — And the mafs of national pro- 
 *' perty accumulates to fuch a degree, as to 
 ** dillinguilh the prefent war above the moll 
 *' flourilhing years of peace •" fo that we are 
 almoft led to with it may be continued merely 
 for the fake of promoting the welfare and 
 happinefs of the country. But are they feri-, 
 ous in all this idle declamation and triumph ? 
 Is it poliible that they fhould gravely repre* 
 fent the revenue to be productive, when the 
 amount of the old ta^es has decreafed, within 
 
 t I fuppofe bqrracks ^re inclu^led in the number. 
 
 the 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 the fliort term of three years, * above one mil- 
 lion and a quarter, and when it is even con- 
 flantly becoming more deficient in proportion 
 as new taxes are impofed, and the public dif- 
 trefs is aggravated by the continuance of the 
 war ? 
 
 With equal reafon is the nation congratu- 
 lated at this time on the improving ftate of 
 its commerce, when the trade of the country 
 is known to have diminiflied fo dreadfully as 
 to oblige thoufands of its manufacturers, tor 
 want of employ, to enter into the army and 
 navy, in order to preferve themfelves from 
 llarving. 
 
 Much flrefs has been laid on the in- 
 creafed amount of the exports and imports 
 during the war. But furely very little can be 
 inferred in fuch a feafon from this circum- 
 l1:ance. Nay, the flightelf attention muil con- 
 vince us that it is merely artificial, and has 
 arifen principally from the war itfelf. The 
 cloathing and provilions for our fleets and 
 armies. — The naval flores imported. — The 
 millions of gold coin, and the other fupplies 
 which have been exported for our fubiidized 
 Allies on the Continent, will eafily account 
 for any increafe of this kind, and, fo far 
 
 £• 
 
 * In the year 1792 the produce of the per- 
 manent taxes was - - 14,354,000 
 
 In the year 1795 the produce of the fame taxes 
 wa. . ... 13,0-8,527 
 
 Difference » 1,295,473 
 
 G -41. from 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 from being beneficial, prove it to' be highly 
 injurious to the welfare ot the country. * In 
 the year 1788, when we were reprelented to 
 be at the height of our profperity, the exports 
 and imports amounted only to ^6,151,000/. 
 while the cuftoms produced 3,767,000/. In 
 the year 1795, the exports and imports are 
 flated to amount to 49,447,000/. and thofe 
 very cuftoms have produced only 3,247,000/. 
 fo that the one is increafed above ibirUen mil- 
 lions^ while the other is dimimjhed 520,000/. / 
 Leaving thefe contradictions to be reconciled 
 by thole who are mjore interefted than myfelf 
 in deceiving the nation, I fhall even admit the 
 annual average of the exports, during the lall 
 three years to be, according to the moft exag- 
 gerated ftatements, 24,800,000/. and the an- 
 nual average of the imports to be 21 ,200,000 /. 
 fo that the whole may amount to forty-fix 
 millions. Suppofing now, againll all com- 
 mon fenfe and probability, that the imports 
 and exports are equally advantageous to the 
 country, and that a profit is made upon each 
 o^ ^ity per cenL In this cafe, which is ex- 
 travagant in the higheft degree, the profits of 
 all our foreign trade will amount to- twenty- 
 
 * The fiidden increafe of the exports from 20,394,180/. in 
 1793, 1026,748,083/. in 1794, and 1027,270,000/. in 179J, 
 fiiihciently ])roves it to have arifeu from the war; and this is 
 further contirmed by the circumftance of thofe exports having 
 increafed principally, in the laft two years, to Germany, while 
 tliey have even decreafed to Portugal, Spain, the btreights, 
 TurKey, the Briuili Continental Colonies^ and the Britiih 
 Weft indies. 
 
 2 three 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 three millions. — And yet even thefe profits, 
 when compared with the fums to be in future 
 raifed by taxes,* will be no more than fuffi- 
 cient to pay the ordinary cxpences of a peace 
 eftablidiment in this kingdom. 
 
 If it could be proved that national property 
 increafes in proportion as taxes multiply, what 
 encouragement might not be derived trom the 
 profpedf before us ? The adherents of adminif- 
 tration might then triumph with good reafon 
 in our growing profperity, and war be jufl:ly 
 reprefented as more beneficial to a country 
 than the mofi; fiourilhing years of peace. 
 But it has hitherto been found from experience, 
 that the addition of every new tax is fo lar a 
 diminution of the general mafs of wealth, and 
 inftead of increanng the property, that it al- 
 ways aggravates the didrefs oi a country. In 
 Great Britain, particularly, every perlbn in 
 the leail acquainted with its prcfent, compared 
 with its former flate, muit be convinced of 
 this fad:. In confequence of increaied taxa- 
 tion provifions necellarily become dearer, and 
 in this kingdom they have rifen fo m.uch 
 higher in proportion tiian the price ot labour, 
 as to render it impoffible for the poor at pre- 
 fent to maintain themfclves and families by 
 their wages. This has produced a growing 
 diffrefs among them, and notv.'ithibmding 
 their number is diminilhing, the poor-rates at 
 this moment are four times greater than they 
 
 * See page 4 1 . 
 
 were 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 were at the Revolution. Whatever appear- 
 ance of fplendor, therefore, the Capital may 
 difplay, the great bulk of the nation is dread- 
 fully impoverilhed ; and every new war, by 
 increafing the difference between the articles 
 and the means of fubfiftence, aggravates this 
 evil in difcouraging marriage or promoting 
 emigration, and in either cafe accelerating a 
 depopulation which has been gradually going 
 on for the lafi: century. 
 
 Were an opinion to be formed of the na- 
 tional profperity from a few inftances of over- 
 grown merchants and capitalifts in the prin- 
 cipal towns, we might perhaps be led to con- 
 clude, that at no former time had it ever 
 . attained its prcient height. But this is a 
 ■wretched deluiion. The commerce, like the 
 agriculture of the country, is continually en- 
 grolTed into fewer hands, and we are haften- 
 ing into that flate which knows only of two 
 claffes of men— the very rich, and the very 
 poor. By drawing the capital into one point, 
 which was accuftomed to diverge a thoufand 
 ways and afford fubfiflence for as many fa- 
 milies of moderate fortune, the effed; in that 
 point is certainly more fplendid in appearance, 
 but in reality it is much more injurious to the 
 public. It is alfo a melancholy truth that from 
 the enormous magnitude of the national debt, 
 a great part of the traffic confifts of fpecula- 
 tions in the funds;— a traffic productive of 
 no good to the community, which, by con- 
 vertmg commerce into a lyffem of gambling, 
 
 changes 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 cliangcs the merchant into a capitalifl, who 
 employs his money, not in enriching his 
 country by laudable enterprize and induftry, 
 but in adding to its diftrefs by trading in loans 
 and contradis. 
 
 To the other evils which have been occa- 
 fioned by the prefent war, mufl be added the 
 very fevere fhock which it has given to the 
 commercial credit of the country. So enor- 
 mous have been the expences — fo far have they 
 furpafTed all the eftimates of the Miniller, and 
 all the provifions which have been made for 
 them by Parliament, that, excluiive of the ar- 
 rears in the army, the navy, the ordnance, and 
 every other department, to the amount of 
 many millions, * recourfe has been had to the 
 paper credit of the Bank, to fuch an unprece- 
 dented deo^ree, as to oblige the Dire«5tors to 
 reduce and almoft entirely to defifl from their 
 ufual difcounts in fupport of the trade of the 
 country. This fingle circumftance produced 
 a fcarcity of cafh and a diftrefs in all mercin- 
 tile negociations which threatened the whole 
 nation with the woril confequences, and a fe- 
 
 * In a pamphlet which is ftated to be the fubftance of Lord 
 Auckland^ fpeech in the Houfe of Lords, on the 2d of May, 
 it is gravely aflerted, that there were at that time neither "out- 
 ftanding debts and demands," nor " floating and unfunded 
 debt" of any kind; although, in the fame pamphlet, it is al- 
 lowed that the unprovided Navy debt was 2,300,000/. and th,it 
 the balance due to the Bank, including five millions propofed 
 to be funded, amounted to more than eleven millions: but 
 as it is highly improbable that Lord Auckland fliould himfelf 
 have written fuch a book, I do not wiih to hurt his feelings hy 
 noticing it as bis publication, 
 
 cond 
 
( 50 ) 
 
 cond loan, amounting to fcven millions and a 
 half, became necefTaiy within three months of 
 another loan ot eighteen millions, in order to 
 dilcharge the arrears at the Bank, and to en- 
 able them, by recurring to their former dif- 
 counts, in fome meafure to reftore the totter- 
 ing foundations of commercial credit. If, 
 however, the expenditure continues as it has 
 begun in this year, the evil will return, and 
 the remedy mufl: foon be repeated. But a 
 credit which is fo often deprelled by the pub- 
 lic exigencies, and which requires the fre- 
 quent repetition of fuch remedies for its fup- 
 port, is not likely to be long able to maintain 
 itfelf, much lefs to afford ground for that mi- 
 nifterial triumph on its ftability which has of 
 late been difplayed with fo little regard to 
 truth or decencv. 
 
 It mufl:, no doubt, afford great confolation, 
 in the midil of the dangers and diflrefs to 
 which we are expofed from accumulating 
 debts and taxes, to be informed, that by abo- 
 lifliing one hundred and forty-four offices in 
 the Treafury, and fubftituting threefcore 
 others in their flead,* a faving has been pro- 
 duced which (if the grant had not been ante- 
 dated three years) would have been rather 
 more than fufficient to pay Mr. Burke's laji 
 penfion. Let it, however, be remembered, 
 that the merit even of this oeconomy is un- 
 
 * This is dated in the Treafury pamphlet to which I have 
 5tlready alluded in the prefeut work.— See note, p. 1 9. 
 
 juftly 
 
{ 51 ) 
 
 jufrly afcribed to the prefent minlilry ; for 
 the abolition of the offices was for the moft 
 part effedled by the Marquis of hanfdown in 
 the year 1782, and the principal fhare which 
 they appear to have had in the alterations, has 
 been to fubilitute other offices in lieu of them, 
 and by this means to reduce a faving of 
 10,900/. to the very moderate fum of 2,700/. a 
 year. With equal truth and juftice are the 
 offices fuppreffied under the civil lift attri- 
 buted to their care and management, rather 
 than to the well-known operations of Mr. 
 Burke*s, bill. But while fo much zeal is dif- 
 played in recounting the offices which have 
 been fuppreffed, it would not have been amils 
 at the lame time to have added to the cata- 
 logue the numerous and very expenfive places 
 which have alfo been created by the prefent 
 adminiflration.* Had this been done, it 
 
 would 
 
 * In this catalogue may be included the following places: 
 
 Board ff Comptrol^ for" the management of the affairs of the 
 Eaft Indies; confifting of a Prefideut and two Commiilioners, 
 who receive 5000/. a Secretary, who receives 1000/. per ann, 
 — Under Secretary — Counfel — Solicitor — Affiftant Solicitor — 
 Chief Clerk— twelve other Clerks — Precis Writer — Ailiftant 
 ditto — Accomptant — four jVIedengers — Houfekeeper — and 
 Chamber-keeper; the emoluments of whofe appointments are 
 not acc"urately knowm. 
 
 Third Secretary of State^ with an Under Secretary, Chief 
 Clerk, Clerks, Office-keepers, IMelTengers, &c. 
 
 'Tranfpcrt Board, confifting of five Commiifioners, who re- 
 ceive 1000/. a year each. Secretary, two Clerks, fix Alliftant 
 Clerks, Office-keeper, Houfe-keeper, two Meffengers, and a 
 Porter, whofe emoluinents are not known. 
 
 H Bai' 
 
( 5^ ) 
 
 would have been found that their plan or 
 ceconomy has much the ikme tendency to re- 
 lieve the n.ition of its burdens, as the Chan-^ 
 cellor of the Exchequer's finking fund has to 
 pay off the pubHc debts, which are annually 
 increafing one hundred times failer than they 
 are difchargcd. — But it is needlefs to expatiate 
 On a fubject fo unprofitable. If ,the favings 
 and frugality of Minifters are the only auxi- 
 liaries we can call to our aid, it may well be 
 fcud that our fituation is forlorn and defperate. 
 The prefent is indeed a momentous period; 
 and all the abilities and virtue of the nation 
 are neceflary to extricate us from our diffi- 
 culties. But while millions are added an* 
 
 Barrack EJiahliJJpnent^ by which are created feventy-five 
 places from 70/. to 700/. per ann. 
 
 Foreign Minijlers, liich as, a Mmifter to the Swifs Cantons, 
 five or fix Secretaries of Legation, &c. 
 
 In the Exctfc, a Chairman and DeputyS 
 
 Chairman - I with additional fala- 
 
 In the Cujiomsy a Chairman and Deputy j ries. 
 Chainnan • - J 
 
 In the Foft Office^ a Comptroller and Surveyor General, 
 TravelHng Surveyor, Deputy Clerks, &:c. &c. 
 
 In the Secretary of State's Office, many additional appoint- 
 ments of Clerks, &c. and the falariet. of the Under Secreta- 
 ries are advanced 500/. a year each. 
 
 In Scotland^ additional falaries have been given to the Judges 
 and Sheriffs. 
 
 To thefe may be added the New Boards of Agriculture* and 
 Is'aval Architecture; the Telegraph appointments — the addi- 
 tional places in every department of the revenue, in confe- 
 quence of the new taxes vvhicii have lately been impofed, to- 
 getlier with an immenfe multitude of other offices which my con- 
 fined knowledge prevents me from enumerating. 
 
 * The Secretary and onder Sccr .tary to this board rcetive a falary. TJ>c 
 commjffionei s I believe for the moll part officiate grntuitcnnj'. 
 
 2 mial Ijr 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 nually to the public burdens, while every 
 new campaign, diftinguifhed principally for 
 the enormity of its expence and the length- 
 ened profped: of the war, deflroys every hope 
 of checking the evil in its progrefs, it will 
 be in vain to attempt our relief. With an 
 ordinary peace eftablilhment, already equal to 
 the rental of all the landed property, and even 
 exceeding the profits of the whole foreign 
 trade of the kingdom, if the nation fliould 
 continue to acquiefce in that fyftem of pro- 
 fuiion, which at prefent exhaufts our re- 
 fources with fuch tremendous rapidity, I do 
 not believe that any effort of virtue or ability 
 will be fufficient to fave us from ruin. 
 
 FINIS. 
 

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