1 
 
 f ON THE 
 
 oB: :bt of the nation, 
 
 ?^g' COMPARED WITH 
 
 4K ITS REVENUE; 
 
 8 
 
 AND THE 
 
 IMPOSSIBILITY OF CARRYING 
 ON THE WAR 
 
 WITHOUT 
 
 PUBLIC OECONOMY. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for J. Debrett (Succeflbr to Mr. Alm^n) 
 pppofite JBurlington Houfe, Piccadilly. 
 
 M.DQCLXXXl,
 
 
 THE 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 Page 
 JNTRODUCriON. i 
 
 Chap. I. On the national debt. i^ 
 
 Chap. II. Of the annual revenues for the 
 fupport of government y and the charge of col^ 
 le5iing them, 06 
 
 Chap. III. Some obfervations on the com^ 
 mtjponers reports, and on the expenditures for 
 the civil lift, ^ ^ 
 
 Chap. IV. StriBures on the navy and 
 army expences, compared with their amount 
 in the lajl %var, g2 
 
 Chap. V. Conclufon. \ 109 
 
 114G193
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 ^ Page 57, In the note, fccond line from th? bottom » fof- 
 mnd read 9. 
 
 Page 59, line 9, iox people's rc&d pulflic.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE defign of thcfe fheets is, to frame 
 a clear and dilHnd; account of the 
 different branches of the national revenues 
 and refources, the modes of collecting or 
 procuring them ; and the caufes on which 
 the revenues depend for their increafe or 
 decline ; and thereby enable the public to 
 judge of the profpedt there is for their con- 
 tinuance at the prefent annual amount; un- 
 der the circumilances in which the natioQ 
 and its trade now ftand. I fhall likewife make 
 fome remarks on the mode of iffuing the re- 
 venues from the public treafury, and on the 
 expenditures for the navy and army : So 
 that individuals, of whatever complexion, 
 or whenever led by refle^flion, or prejudice 
 in political opinions, may difcover the re- 
 fources and condition of their Country, and 
 be able to determine, whether any real 
 grounds exiit to alarm us for cur opulence 
 
 B and
 
 [ 2 ] 
 
 and fafety. And if they do, from what errors 
 and milUkes in our conduct, the dangers 
 and diflreffes, which hang over us, have 
 arofe. 
 
 The exchequer of a great nation can ne- 
 ver he condudied upon the fame narrow 
 principles of oeconomy, whereby the tradef- 
 rnan neceflarily regulates his counter. But 
 it fhould neverthelefs be remembered by 
 thofe entrufted with the public purfe, that 
 neither the lafety or protection of the em- 
 pire, nor the dignity of the crown, or the 
 fplendor of majefty, in the leafl: depend on a 
 carelefs profufion, a iavifli expenditure of 
 the national wealth. 
 
 The great executive officers of the flate, 
 who are appointed by the Sovereign, and 
 rcmoveable at his pleafure, being entrufled 
 with the difpofition of the revenue for the 
 feveral ufes of government, for the King's 
 houfliold, and all the other branches of the 
 civil lift, are the perfons refponfibje to the 
 people for the expenditure of the money 
 belonging to the public. 
 
 A fpecific fum having been granted to 
 
 ^ fupport the civil lift, the Parliament, I ap- 
 
 1 prehend, would be confidered as ad:ing dif- 
 
 refped;fully towards their Sovereign, to ex- 
 
 ; amine into, or in any wife interfere with 
 
 the difpofal of that fum ; fo long as his Ma- 
 
 jefty's fervants were attentive to make it 
 
 provide for the fervices for which it was 
 
 given.
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 given. But if the money Hiall be rendered 
 infufficient to anfwer thefe ufes, either by 
 negledl or inattention, or by being perverted 
 to other purpofes, the civil lift expenditure 
 then moft undoubtedly becomes an object 
 of parliamentary enquiry. 
 
 However, the collection of the whole of 
 the revenue, and the expenditure of thofe 
 fums granted for the navy and military eflab- 
 lifliments, and other charges of government, 
 not included in the civil lift, thefe fhould be 
 truly and clearly accounted for to the people, 
 from year to year : for it has been the inva- 
 riable pradlice of Parliament, to grant the 
 money of their conftituents for expreifed 
 purpofes, and to be applied to no other ufes 
 whatever. To grant the people's money on 
 any loofer terms, might be dangerous to a 
 great degree : for if the ufe to which the mo- 
 ney is to be applied fliall not be exprefled, 
 how are the people to judge if it fliall be wife 
 to give ? or, after having given, how are they 
 to learn if it has been faithfully applied ? 
 
 No minifter has yet been fo wicked, and 
 at the fame time bold enough to affert, he 
 was not accountable, for the expenditure of 
 the public purfe, to thofe who gave it. 
 Therefore, whatever evafive reafons may be 
 ufed at any time to delay the inveftigation 
 of the national accounts, and to fatisfy the 
 unfufpicious temper of the people ; the great 
 executive fervants of the Crowai can allign 
 
 B z no
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 no juft fubflantial motives to exculpate their 
 want of duty to the public, whenever they 
 fliall have negleded to arrange their ac- 
 counts with fufficient method and perfpi- 
 cuity, to fhew plainly to the people, in the 
 next feffion, if the money voted in the for- 
 mer had been applied to the fpecific articles 
 of expence for which it had been granted. 
 
 The people granting money for particu- 
 lar ufes, they had power to withhold, and 
 afterwards to be denied an explanation of 
 the expenditure, would be making a mere 
 mockery of the rights of the fubjed: : be- 
 caufe their money might, in fuch cafe, as 
 eafily be applied by bad minifters in purfuit 
 of falfe glory, or to undermine the conftitu- 
 tion ; as, under wife and honell minifters, 
 to the protection and profperity of the em- 
 pire, and rhe fecurity of the private rights 
 of the fubjed. 
 
 Therefore a clear arrangement of the 
 public accounts, as fliall fhew the expendi- 
 ture of the revenues, fliould be annually laid 
 before Parliament; that the Commons might 
 be able to fatisfy the people, whether the 
 grants of the preceding feffion had been 
 faithfully applied to thofe fpecific ufes, for 
 which the money had been aiked and given. 
 
 I muft here obferve, that fuch an account 
 
 is the more? neceifary, fince Minifters have 
 
 fallen into a pradtice of running the nation 
 
 in debt by their own authority, without tlie 
 
 2 warrant
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 warrant of Parliament j I mean. In the arti-» 
 cles of the navy and army extraordinaries. 
 
 Whereas the faithful application of the 
 people's money, taking care to incur no debts 
 but what they (hall legally be authorized to 
 contra(5l, can only juftify the fervants of the 
 Crown, entrufted with the national purfe : 
 and there feems to lay the great conftitu- 
 tional ground, the Minifters of this country 
 ought always to tread on. How then can 
 thofe be juftified, who, after having re- 
 peatedly framed eftimates for the fucceed- 
 ing year, at the dole of the former, fhall 
 have been fo inattentive to the nature of 
 the fervice, as to luffi-r, as repeatedly, the 
 amount of the eftimates, at the end of each 
 X'efpedlive year, to have been feveral millions 
 ihort of the actual expence ? This aiTertion, 
 the extraordinaries for the army and navy 
 will confirm ; for they have been i welled to 
 an enormous amount in the pi-elent, far be- 
 yond the fame unjultifiahle mode of proceed- 
 ing in the lorm«ii war. Such conduciit on 
 the part of the Minilterc, is in fadt running 
 the public in debt without legal authority ; 
 making the cuflom of fixing bounds to votes 
 of credit a ridiculous ceremony. 
 
 The extraordinaries for tlie army, at leafi:, 
 were more exc 1.1 feable in the former, tiian in 
 the prefent war ; becaule the difiiculty of 
 accounting, and of controul, became much 
 greater from the Hanoverian chancery, and 
 
 a foreign
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 a foreign Commander in Chief, in Ger- 
 many : neverthelefs, the unauthorized ex- 
 pences, under the head of army extraordina- 
 ries, have exceeded, in the prefent, thofe of 
 the preceding war, beyond all comparifon. 
 The navy extraordinaries have been fwelled 
 in a great degree, to the prefent very exten- 
 iive and unprecedented amount, from no re- 
 gular provifion having been made, through 
 this war, for the army tranfport, and vic- 
 tualling fervices ; which, in the former, 
 were regularly provided for in the votes, at 
 the end of each year ; but during this, have 
 lain involved in the navy debt : thereby 
 throwing into the vortex of the navy (al- 
 ways a favourite expence, becaufe fo eifen- 
 tial to the public fafety) a charge that Mini- 
 fters might perhaps wifh to lefTen or conceal, 
 for fear of alarming the nation by its amount. 
 Annual eftimates, fo very inadequate to 
 the expences fure to be incurred from fuch 
 diftant warfare on land, can only arife ei- 
 ther from ignorance or negled: in the official 
 departments of government ; or elfe be done 
 to prevent the public from being fenfible of 
 the enormity of the expence, before they 
 Hood committed lof the difcharge ; left 
 refledion might have led the nation to re- 
 pent too loon of their concurrence in a mea- 
 fure, fure, if it failed, to reduce the ftrength, 
 and be deflruftive of the commerce, of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Without
 
 t 7 ] 
 
 Without the reprefentatlves of the people 
 (hall be made acquainted with the probable 
 extent of the year's expence, how can Par- 
 liament be enabled, from time to time, to 
 judge if the purfuit deferves the charge 
 likely to be incurred to fupport it ? which 
 the power to withhold the fupplies, gives 
 them, in fad:, a decided right to deter- 
 mine on. 
 
 Hence it is evident, that if the repre- 
 fentatives of the people iliall permit fuch 
 enormous debts, contraded in fo uncon- 
 ilitutional a manner, to pafs unreproved ; 
 and remain fatisfied with a fummary ac- 
 count of the expenditure of the grants and 
 extraordinaries of the former year, without 
 calling for proofs or documents, to remove 
 fuch doubts and mifapprehenfions as may be 
 flarted in the Houfe, by any of its Mem- 
 bers ; but, on the contrary, rather negative 
 the meafure that would tend to inform and 
 elucidate : — I fay, if a majority of the Com- 
 mons were to proceed, on any occafion, in 
 this manner, fuch majority muft be confi- 
 dered as adliing contrary to the duties of their 
 trufl, and furnifh flrong grounds for fufpi- 
 cion, that fome undue influence had ope- 
 rated on their minds. Therefore, if the 
 Commons fliall at any time become fo fub- 
 fervient to the Minifters, as to vote frefh 
 fupplies, relying on the general affertion, 
 unaccompanied with any clear, fatisfadtory 
 
 accounts.
 
 [ 8 1 
 
 accounts, that all the tbrmer grants were ex- 
 pended, and ftill farther debts conrradiedi 
 the people would be fully jufUtied to call on 
 their icprelcntatives, to give them an ac- 
 count of the expenditure of the formei* 
 grants, and likewife of any extraordinary 
 debts incurred without their confent or 
 knowledge, before they voted frefh fup- 
 plies. 
 
 If, from corruption, or other improper 
 motive, the reprefentativcs of the people 
 fhould be induced to treat fo juft and law- 
 ful a requifition with contempt, the only 
 remedy would then lay in a calm, but firm 
 addrefs from the fubjedl to the Sovereign, 
 praying his Majefty will gracioufly pleafe to 
 dilTolve an afTembly, who fhall have violated 
 their truft, and deceived both him and his 
 people. 
 
 I apprehend, by the laws and conftitution 
 of this country, the executive power to be 
 lodged folely in the Crown, and that neither 
 the people or their reprefentatives have a 
 voice in condufling it. And I apprehend 
 alfo, that the refponfibility lays with thofe 
 officers his Majefty fliall, in his wifdom, 
 call to his councils, and entruft with the 
 executive departments of the ftate. 
 
 But, as no material operations can be car- 
 ried into effed without fupplies of money; 
 and as thofe fupplies are free and voluntary 
 gifts from the people, given through their 
 
 reprefentatives,
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 rcprerentatives, for the common beneSt> 
 the withholding fuch fupplies muit imme- 
 diately flop any meafures of the executive 
 power, that fhould appear liable, in their 
 confequences, to be hurtful to the nation. 
 Therefore the particular purpofes are al- 
 ways ftated in the eftimates, and declared in 
 the votes, for which money has from time 
 to time been granted. 
 
 Thefe circumftances furely make it in- 
 cumbent on the Commons, to be in- 
 formed, from their own enquiries and re- 
 fearchcs, whether the m.oney has been faith- 
 fully applied to the ufes for which it had 
 been given. And it is likewife the duty 
 of the Commons, to take care that no 
 expences are ever incurred by the lervants 
 of the Crown, to any confiderable amount, 
 without their fandion havmg been firft ob- 
 tained. 
 
 If ever national oeconomy was neceffary, 
 it mufl be at fuch an alarming criiis as the 
 prefent, when we are haftily defcending 
 from our towering height ; not, as fomxC 
 have argued, to fit down i-dfc and contented 
 in a narrower circle ; but to find ourfelves, 
 in that narrower circle, encomDaffed with 
 numerous diftreffes, weighed down by a 
 preffure of debt, having our anceftors', as 
 well as our own, to provide for, which for- 
 mer mifmanagement has prevented from be- 
 
 C ing
 
 f 1° ] 
 
 ing reduced; and our prefent folly and im-« 
 prudence is enlarging — at a time when 
 our foreign commerce, and its carriage, 
 the fources of all our wealth, are failing ; 
 fources to which we owe that maritime 
 Urcngth, whereby we have long refifted the 
 moll formidable combinations, and held the 
 lead upon the ocean. However, under thefe, 
 or worfe circumftances, that debt, let me 
 remind the landholders, muft have fome 
 faith and regard fliewn to it, or our national 
 credit will be gone for ever. 
 
 My countrymen, we ought to remember, 
 a period will arrive, when this great debt, 
 if we continue thus to increafe it, can na 
 longer be transferred to poilerity. And it 
 behoves us to take care, that we are not the 
 generation to receive the blow. 
 
 In order to inveftigate, in a clear and 
 comprehenfive manner, the public revenue, 
 its operations and effects, it becomes necef- 
 feiry to proceed with caution and candour 
 to the enquiry : tracing the rife and pro- 
 grefs of our great national debt, and the 
 fupplies referved, from time to time, for its 
 intereft and redudion ; and what revenues- 
 have remained, and are likely to remain in 
 future, for the exigencies of the ftate ; and 
 on what refources thofe revenues depend. 
 Searching likewife into the wafte, negled, 
 ormifmanagement that may prevail, either 
 
 ill
 
 [ II ] 
 
 in the collecftion or expenditure of the pub- 
 lic revenue ; what undue influence may be 
 eradicated, which has gathered round the 
 executive power, from time and accidental 
 circumflances ; arifing out of the vaft num- 
 ber of dependents upon government, from 
 appointments annexed to levies, debts, difiri- 
 but ions, and obfolete ejlablijld?ne7its : fo that 
 every perfon may have fufficient materials to 
 be enabled to draw conclufions, as to future 
 confequences ; and to confider whether any 
 material reform might lake place, confiftent 
 with the dignity and charaSler of a great na- 
 tion. Thus circumftanced, with truth to 
 guide men's judgments, they would feldom 
 be found to differ in opinions. It is the 
 artful perverfion of truth, that leads men to 
 draw falfe conclufions -, and produces thofe 
 various fentiments, formed according to the 
 medium of error through which they have 
 been drawn. 
 
 The revenues arife out of cuftoms, and 
 various articles of excife, with fundry in- 
 land duties, all of which are made perpe- 
 tual ; and likewife from the land-tax, and 
 the excife on malt, which are voted only 
 from year to year. 
 
 The application of thefe revenues is to be 
 found in the intereft paid on the public 
 loans; in the difcharge of the civil lift ex- 
 pences -, and of thofe incurred fs^r the navy, 
 
 C 2 the
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
 the army, the ordnance, and their dependent 
 branches; and in thofe contingent expences, 
 condudled at the treafury board, under the 
 heads of contracts and agencies of various 
 kinds. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ON THE NATIONAL DEBT, 
 
 SHALL, in the firft place, take a review 
 of the public debts, from their origin to 
 the prefent day : which debts, for the re- 
 dudiion of the capital, depend folely on the 
 furplus of the revenues, or annual income, 
 after the peace eftabliflmient fhall have been 
 provided for. 
 
 The debt commenced in the reign of 
 King William ; the annual income being in- 
 fufficient to fupport the expence of the wars 
 in which the nation were then involved; 
 the Commons, therefore, to avoid oppreffive 
 levies, borrowed from individuals the fum 
 wanted to compleat the year's expences, be- 
 yond what the annual taxes could fupply. 
 In order to obtain thefe loans, the faith of 
 Parliament became pledged for the interefl 
 agreed on between the ll:ate and the lender; 
 and certain duties, or taxes, were mortgaged 
 for that purpofe. Thefe loans were made 
 either irredeemable^ with an intereft pro- 
 portioned to the lives or term; or elfe re- 
 deemable, and the intereft not to ceafe till 
 the principal was repaid ; which repay- 
 ment
 
 [ H ] 
 
 mcnt was only at the option of the legifla'. 
 ture. The lender not having it in his 
 power to reclaim his principal, conftitutes 
 the only difference between the public loans, 
 and thofe made by individuals with each 
 other. 
 
 This fyflem of finance, or method of 
 raifing extraordinary fupplics in time of war, 
 has been invariably pradlifed, under the dif- 
 ferent adminiftrations, fmce the clofe of the 
 laft century ; whenever more money has been 
 wanted for the neceflities of the ftatc, than 
 the annual amount of taxes would fupply. 
 In the reign of George I. the Minifters and 
 Parliament, alarmed at the growing extent 
 of the national debt during the two former 
 reigns, the better to provide for its future 
 redu(!^ion, to ftrengthen public Credit, and 
 to fecure the confidence of monied men 
 againft future emergencies, eftabliflied the 
 finking fund; which fund was to confift of 
 the furpluffes ariling from the duties or taxes 
 mortgaged, from time to time, to pay the 
 interefl on different loans j therefore, wher^ 
 any furplus arofe from among ihefe fpecific 
 branches mortgaged, either by reduction of 
 the interefl, the expiration of the term for 
 which it was appropriated, or by an increafq 
 of the branch of merchandize or confump- 
 tion out of which the duty or tax originated; 
 thefe feveral furpluffes were direded by the 
 legiflature to be thrown into one aggregate 
 
 fund^
 
 i'uhd, Jn- order to be yearly applied towirds 
 
 f the redeemable part of the 
 
 .: : i i-ie e"ig^,ncies of government 
 
 iuake it neceiTiry fc; Parlia.iient to 
 
 ::te Jic .^.mount of thv'i {iiiking fuiid 
 
 . ni'ver the current expcnce of the year. 
 
 Both advc nt 2;es and difadvantao-es will 
 be fo'ind to refult from the prelent fyil:ein 
 of fniance, viewed in a national light; that 
 is, '^ it m -y operate, in any degree, to aftedh 
 either the commerce, or the conilitutioa of 
 our country. 
 
 By th:- advantages arifing from this fyflem 
 of finance, the flate has been enabled to pro- 
 cure much larger fums within the year, in 
 times of war, than could have been obtained, 
 without great oppretrions on the people, 
 through any tax, aid, or fublidy ; becaufe 
 the inlereft, which is all thrr is fettled by 
 Parliament to be taken from the pocket of 
 the fuhjed:, is not more than a feventeentk 
 or twentieth part cf the fum wanted for the 
 national exigencies of the year ; which fum, 
 by thefe means, is voluntarily lent by indi- 
 viduals to the Hate, the faith of Parliament 
 being only pledged for the intereft of the 
 money borrowed. 
 
 From ths funds eftabliflied by thefe debts, 
 an immediate intereft became at all times 
 attainable for the fuperfluous wealth of the 
 kingdom j v/hereby hoarding of money no 
 longer prevails, even with the moft timid ; 
 
 aod
 
 [ i6 ] 
 
 and the mlfer is induced to bring his wealth 
 into circulation, and, though ufelefs to 
 himfelf, makes it of fervice to fociety, with- 
 out ufury or extortion. 
 
 The funds have furnifhed an eafy ex- 
 change for property : the bank, eftablifhed 
 upon this fyflem, introduced the circulation 
 of papery and, by the fafety and fecurity of 
 its notes, procured by degrees a credit, 
 which extended to every corner of the king- 
 dom; affording thereby great affiftance to 
 the inland trade, and to comm.erce in general; 
 by the fubftitutes afforded for the barter and 
 exchange of merchandize of all forts. 
 
 The bank, whofe credit, from its iitua- 
 tion and engagements, is involved in the 
 credit of the flate, will, I apprehend, pre- 
 ferve the prefent confidence given to its pa- 
 per, fo long as the national debt fliall be 
 confined within proportional bounds to the 
 influx of wealth, annually realized througli 
 our export trade. When any difficulties or 
 embarrafTments arife with refped: to the in- 
 tereft of the debt, the bank will in fome de- 
 gree feel the blow. 
 
 Government alfo have derived additional 
 flrength and fecurity from this debt, by in- 
 dividuals becoming more immediately inte- 
 refted in its fupport. 
 
 On the other hand, the difadvantages 
 which have arofe from this fyftem of fi- 
 nance arc confiderable, and call for much 
 9 care
 
 [ '7 1 
 
 care and attention on the part of our re- 
 prefentatives, to prevent dangerous confe- 
 quences arifing to the conftitution. 
 
 For the debt, created by this fyftem of 
 finance, has furnifhed the executive power 
 with that deftrudUve weapon, indireB in^ 
 jinence, through the appointments to offices 
 of collediion, and of the feveral arrange- 
 ments for the management of that part of 
 the revenue appropriated to pay the intereft 
 of the debt ; of which the Minifter becomes 
 the ad:ing truilee, and the fole channel to 
 favour and indulgence in the diftribution of 
 every new loan. This fyftem, in order to 
 provide, from time to time, for the in- 
 creafmg debt, has created taxes, and burthens 
 upon commerce, not to be removed or re- 
 duced, without wounding the faith of Par- 
 liament. It has accuftomed the nation to 
 be lefs alarmed at the amount of the fura 
 raifed within the year \ and confequently 
 lefs concerned about the expenditure ; be- 
 caufe the public, at the making of the bargain 
 for a loan, feel only the weight of the inte- 
 reft, which has frequently been not more 
 than a twentieth part of the fum raifed ; 
 fo that the burthen may, in great meafure, 
 be faid to have been transferred from time 
 to time to the ihoulders of poflerity. 
 
 Thefe circumflances too have contributed 
 to make the gentlemen of landed property 
 more indifferent of the appropriation of the 
 
 D fjnking"
 
 [ i8 ] 
 
 finking fund, from year to year ; preferring 
 the current expences, regardlefs either of 
 the objedt or amount, to the reduction of 
 the debt, if it faved a {liilling in the pound 
 on the land-tax. Befides, the finking fund 
 being once eflabliflied, the Minifler could 
 more eafily obtain from Parliament the ap- 
 plication of it to any favourite purpole, 
 without too clofe a fcrutiny into his views, 
 than the attainment of an equal fum, for 
 which no provifion had been made. 
 
 Thefe are doubtlefs alarming circum- 
 ftances, being liable to work much evil to 
 the conftitution in the hands of bad Mini- 
 {lers ; having a natural tendency to feed cor- 
 ruption. But, at the fame time, let us re- 
 member, that thefe evils cannot operate to 
 any dangerous extent, except through the 
 fupinenefs and treachery of our reprefenta- 
 tives. And a diligent, virtuous exertion on 
 the part of our prefent Houfe of Commons, 
 might foon correct thofe mifchiefs, which 
 any former Parliaments may have over- 
 looked, connived at, or encouraged. 
 
 At the end of Kin^- William'.^: reio;n, the 
 public debt amounted to rather more than 
 fix millions and a half. Of this fum, fix 
 hundred thoufand pounds and upwards had 
 been borrowed in the reign of Charles II. 
 The loans in William's reign were made at 
 an interefl: of eight or nine per cent, per 
 nnnunii owing to the fcarcity of money ; 
 
 which
 
 [ '9 ] 
 
 which arofe from the infancy of our foreign 
 commerce, compared with its rtate about 
 fifty or fixty years afterwards. For though 
 the a6t of navigation, made in the reign of 
 Charles II. fo vv^ell calculated to promote 
 foreign commerce, was gathering ftrength, 
 yet at that time our trade had been carried 
 to no great extent. 
 
 In December 1714, at the end of Queen 
 Ana's reign, about thirteen years from the 
 firfl period, the national debt came to forty- 
 eight millions and a half; and the intereft 
 paid on it yearly came to two millionfi nine 
 hundred and thirty-nine thoufand pounds. 
 Of the forty-eight millions and a half, three 
 millions eight hundred thoufand pounds 
 were the debts of the former reigns ; forty- 
 one millions and a half had been really bor- 
 rowed in Queen Ann's reign ; and the re- 
 mainder of the debt, amounting to three 
 millions two hundred thfoufand pounds, a- 
 rofe from compound interell: on fome ex- 
 chequer bills, converted into principal; and 
 a nominal capital of twenty-five per cent. 
 engrafted on the adual loans of 171 1 and 
 1714. 
 
 Expenlive as Queen Ann's wars have been 
 generally confidered, money was obtained at 
 a lower intereft, than in the former reign. . 
 For commerce had brought an addition of 
 wealth into the kingdom fince King Wil- 
 liam's time ; and thereby extended circula- 
 
 D 2 tion :
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
 tion ; which had likewife been affifted by 
 the fecurity given to bank paper. 
 
 In the years 1719 and 1720, three mil- 
 lions were added to that portion of the re- 
 deemable debt, engrafted into the South-Sea 
 Company's fund, in return for the Com- 
 pany's buying up a confiderable part of the 
 irredeemable annuities, in order to make 
 them redeemable ; and by this addition to 
 the capital, as it flood in December 17 14, 
 .. t-y^^ ^he amount of the debt came to fifty-one 
 ' ' millions and a half. 
 
 In the year 1727, at the clofe of George 
 ^ ^ the Firft's reign, the capital of the debt 
 amounted to * fifty millions feven hundred 
 thoufand pounds ; in which were included 
 fix millions two hundred thoufand pounds 
 given in the terms of fome of the loans, be- 
 ■ ing a nominal capital, and to be paid only 
 on redemption. The annual intereft, in- 
 cluding the irredeemable annuities, came at 
 ,3S0,(^this period to two millions three hundre4 
 and eighty thoufand pounds ; fo that, in 
 the fpace of fifteen or fixteen years, the prin- 
 cipal of the debt had been reduced near one 
 million, and the annual intereft paid on 
 it five hundred and fifty-eight thoufand 
 pounds y. 
 
 In 
 
 * Reckoning in the unfunded navy and vi£lualling 
 debts, to the amount of one million feven hundred and 
 thirty-feven thoufand pounds. 
 
 t I'his redudion of intereft arofc from three thou- 
 fand
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
 In the year 1739, the debt owing by the 
 ftate to individuals, amounted to * forty-five ;^,>^*^^ 
 millions three hundred and thirty thoufand 
 pounds, reckoning in the fix millions two 
 hundred thoufand pounds of nominal capi- 
 tal, mentioned to have been given in the 
 terms of fome of the loans. And the inte- 
 reft at the fame time came to one million 6^; 
 
 nine hundred and lixty thoufand pounds. 
 
 Hence it appears, that in the fpace of 
 thirteen years from 1727, the principal of 
 the debt became reduced near five millions 
 and a half; and the annual intereft -f four 
 hundred and twenty thoufand pounds. 
 
 The year 1739 was juft before the com- 
 mencement of the firft war in George the 
 Second's reign. In four years from the 
 clofe of that war, in December 1753, the 
 
 fand pounds life annuities fallen in ; from a confidera- 
 ble part of the long and fhort annuities being made re- 
 deemable, with an addition of three millions of capita], 
 in return for lowering the intereft paid on the annui- 
 ties. The remainder of the five hundred and fifty-eight 
 thoufand pounds arofe from the fall of intereft, by the 
 increafe of money in the kingdom. 
 
 * Including the unprovided navy debt, to the amount 
 of one million three hundred thoufand pounds. 
 
 t The reduftion in the intereft paid on the national 
 debt, in the courfe of thirteen years, arofe from be- 
 tween three and four thoufand pounds life annuities 
 having fell in ; from the payment of a part of the capi- 
 tal ; and from the fall of intereft, by the increafe of 
 money within the kingdom. 
 
 national
 
 [ 22 ] 
 
 rtational debt amounted to * feventy-thttc 
 millions fix hundred and eighty thoufand 
 pounds. Of this fum, fix millions two 
 hundred thoufand pounds, mentioned in the 
 former ftatements, and one million, added 
 to the loans in 1747 and 1748, were nomi- 
 nal capital. The intereft of this debt, at 
 the end of 1753, came to two millions fix 
 hundred and feventy thoufand pounds a year : 
 and the ftatements in the margin fhew, 
 that in four years from the end of the war, 
 the capital of the debt had been decreafed 
 one million and a half; and the intereil fe- 
 
 * Debt the end of 1753, — — ;^. 73,680,000 
 Paid off from 1749 to 1753, zt ^ per ) ^ ^^^ ^^^ 
 
 cent. — — — 3 ' ' 
 
 D®, at 3 per ^ent. — — — 400,000 
 
 Debt at the end of the war, — £. 75,280,000 
 
 IntereH: paid the end of 1753, — j^. 2,670,000 
 
 Annuities fallen in lince 1739, — — 29,000 
 
 Capital paid off, at 4 per cent. — — 48,000 
 
 D% at 3 ' />^r f^??/. — — — — 14,000 
 
 £. 2,761,000 
 Dedud intereft 1739, — — 1,961,000 
 
 Intereft increafed by the war, — £. 800,000 
 
 Capital of the debt in 1749, — £■ 75,280,000 
 Capital of d" in 1739, — — 45,330,000 
 
 Debt 
 in 
 
 in^curred byjhe war^egun |^_ 2,^,950,000 
 
 10 vcnty
 
 I 23 1 
 
 venty thoufand pounds a year. And they 
 alfo (htWf that the war had added thirty 
 millions, including a million of nominal 
 capital, to the former debt ; and that, from 
 the reduction in the value of moncv, from 
 the increale of commerce, and a few life an- 
 nuities falling in, the intereft became, at the 
 end of the war, increaled only eight hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds beyond its amount in 
 
 1739- 
 
 The great increafe of our export com- 
 merce had brought fuch an influx of wealth 
 into the kingdom by 1753, that the intereft 
 paid on a debt of near * feventy-four mil- 
 lions came to two hundred and lixty-nine 
 thoufand pounds lefs, than the intereft paid, 
 in 17 14, on a debt not quite fifty-one mil- 
 lions fterling. And in which debt were 
 included the annuities raifed by King Wil- 
 liam, and the bankers' debt contrad:ed by 
 Charles II. 
 
 At the end of 1763, after the clofe of the 
 war, the national debt came to one hundred 
 and thirty- feven millionc- -f ; being the a- 
 mount of the redeemable capital j the un- 
 funded 
 
 * Intereft pnid in 1714, — ^T. 2,939,000 
 Intereft paid in 1753, — 2,670,000 
 
 £. 269,000 
 
 t Amount of the funded debt, December 1763, in- 
 cluding the civil lift million, raifed in 1726, and the 
 D 4 three
 
 [ M ] 
 
 funded part of the debt, reckoned into the 
 account. In this debt were included of 
 nominal capital, {even millions tv.'o hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds, granted prior to 
 1753 'y and one million tw® hundred thou- 
 fand pounds, given to the loans of 1759 and 
 1760. 
 
 The 
 
 three million five hundred thoufand pounds raifed in 
 
 1763. 
 
 Principal. Intereji. 
 
 Funded debt, — — ^.125,081,000 4,042,000 
 
 Debts contradled by the 
 war, being for navy, 
 victualling, and ord- 
 nance bills, to Decem- 
 ber 1762, and charged 
 on the finking fund, - 3,483,000 139,000 
 
 Debts charged on the fur- 
 plus of 1764, — — 1,800,000 — — * 
 
 Debts to be paid off or 
 
 funded, left by the war, 6,857,000 — — 
 
 The interefl: eftimated, — — 163,000 
 
 Irredeemable intereft, — — — 484,000 
 
 Total, — »_. — ^.137,221,000 4,828,000 
 Charge of management, — — 77,000 
 
 Amount of the public debts, funded and unfunded, at 
 
 the end of 1 754, the one 
 
 million charged on fait 
 
 duties excepted, which Principal. Intereji. 
 
 will be cleared by 1757, jT. 72,148,000 2,442,000 
 Irredeemable annuities, — — 212,000 
 
 Capital added the end of 
 
 1763, by the war, — £• ^S->^1 Z-)'^'^^ 2,174,000 
 
 Deduct
 
 [ 25 ] 
 
 The annual interefl: upon this debt of 
 one hundred and thirty- feven millions, camei 
 to four millions eight hundred thoufand 
 pounds, excluiive of the charge of manage- 
 ment : fo that the v/ar had increafed the 
 public debts iixty-five millions ; near fixty- 
 four millions of which had been borrowed 
 of individuals. And the intcreft the nation 
 had annually to pay for this fum, amounted 
 to two millions four hundred and feventy 
 thoufand pounds. 
 
 Confiderable fums of the money thus 
 borrowed, were fent out of the kingdom 
 during the war, and expended in fupport of 
 the army in Germany. The expence, how- 
 ever, was not thrown away, as the objects 
 of the war had in great msafure been an- 
 
 Priricipal. Intereji, 
 
 Brought over, — j^* 65,073,000 2,174,00* 
 
 Deduct the nominal capi- 
 tal, added to the loans 
 of 1759 and 1760, — 1,230,000 -— -* 
 
 The money actually bor- f^. 63,843,600 -— — ^ 
 
 rowed of individuals to 
 
 fupport the war. 
 Irredeemable rntereft, fubfiiling in 1 754, 
 
 fmce fallen in, — — — 8,000 
 
 Intereft reduced in 1755 2nd 1757, — 291,000 
 
 Being the amount of the intereft paid {^. 2,473,003 
 by the public, in 1763, for the 
 /. 63,870,000 borrowed to fupport 
 the war. 
 
 E fwered j
 
 I a6 ] 
 
 fwered ; though perhaps they might have 
 been better fecurcd, had the peace been not 
 fo haftily concluded. The objedls were— 
 to increafe the nurfcries for feamen — to 
 ftrengthen the navy— and improve the com- 
 mercial interells of our country. 
 
 The increafe of our export trade, of tht 
 vend of our manufactures, and the fur- 
 ther encouragement given to the adl of 
 navigation, from the effecSts of that wcll-di- 
 redled war, have contributed to draw fo 
 much wealth into the kingdom, that, under 
 all the additional debt incurred, govern- 
 ment were enabled, after the peace, to 
 fund at three per cent, what they could not 
 difcharge. 
 
 In proof of this aflertion, at Midfummcr 
 1775, juft preceding the defcdion of the 
 American colonies, the debt, which in 
 2763 amounted to one hundred and thirty- 
 feven * millions, had been reduced to one 
 hundred and twenty- fix millions ; and 
 wherein three millions of unfunded debt 
 were included, confifting of navy and ex- 
 chequer bills, part of which had been 
 iilued to prepare for the prefent war. 
 
 The intereft of the debt, the end of 1763, 
 
 * Redeemable debts the end of 1763, £, 137,221,000 
 D* — — June 1775, 126,054,000 
 
 Capital paid off, — — ^.11,167,000 
 
 came
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
 came to four millions eight hundred and 
 thirty thoufand * pounds j and at Midfum- 
 mer 1775, to four millions four hundred and 
 forty thoufand pounds ; making a faving of 
 three hundred and ninety thoufand pounds 
 in the amount of intercll on the national 
 debts. 
 
 And I cannot omit obferving, that in the 
 twelve years from 1763 to 1775, the peace 
 eliabliihments, voted annually for the navy 
 and army, were to a far higher amount 
 than they had been in any former period 
 of peace between England and the reft of 
 Europe. For the fums -^-oted in the fpace 
 of twelve years, for the navy and army, ex- 
 
 * Intereft the end of 1763, paid on the 
 
 redeemable capital, — — ;C' 4>34-4»00* 
 
 Irredeemable intereft, ^— —• 484,0c* 
 
 Total of intereft paid in 1 763, exclufive 
 
 of the charge of management, — ;^. 4,828, oo* 
 
 Redeemable intereft paid June 1775, — £. 3,973,000 
 Irredeemable intereft, — — — 467,000 
 
 Total of intereft paid, exclufive of the 
 
 charge of management, — — £. 4,440,000 
 
 The amount of the reduced intereft, £. 388,000 
 arifing from feventeen thoufand pounds life annuities 
 fallen in, and the difcharge of a part of the capital 
 of the debt. 
 
 In 1781 and 1782, a further faving of intereft, to the 
 amount of tvt'o hundred and twelve thoufand pounds, 
 takes place, by the reduction oi four per cents, to 
 three^ 
 
 E 2 cceded
 
 [ 28 ] 
 
 ceeded the peace eftablifhment for the fix 
 years from 1749 to 1 755, upon the general 
 average for each year, rather more than one 
 million a year ; which made an excefs for 
 the eftablilhments, during the twelve years 
 from 1763 to 1775, of fourteen millions *. 
 
 And 
 
 * Excefs In the navy expence for each year, £. 750,000 
 Excefs in the army expence for each year, 420,000 
 
 Increafed annual expence, — ^. 1,170,000 
 
 Equal, for the twelve years, to — £■ 14,040,000 
 
 I fhould be ferry, if the outward difference in thefe 
 f atements of the national debt, from tliofe of Dr. 
 Price, fhould be conftrued, upon a curfory view, as 
 tending to contradidi his reprefentations upon that 
 head; becaufe I have no ground for any fuch ftep; 
 befides, I wifh to acknowledge my obligations to the 
 Doctor, and fome others, for the information received 
 from their publications. The difference, in fact-, 
 arifes merely from the mpdes of arrangement, in 
 order to anfwer the different objects each may have 
 had in view. The Doctor's principal objed feems 
 to have been, to fhew the idle extravagance that had 
 from time to time been pradlifed, in raifing the pub- 
 lic loans , and which muff ever be the cafe, when 
 a loan becomes engrafted into a fund confiderably 
 below par: becaufe that plenty of money, which 
 only can enable the Parliament to difcharge th^ 
 debt, lifting the fund to par, or near it, will often 
 oblige the nation, bcfidcs paying an annual intereft for 
 it till redeemed, to difcharge the loan of fixty or fe- 
 ycnty pounds, with one hundred pounds : andwhen an 
 irredeemable intercil or annuity has been annexed to a 
 loan at the time of raifing it, fuch annuity becoming 
 
 afterwafds
 
 [ 29 ] 
 
 And unlefs the fhips of war had heen In 
 better condition, and the warehoufes much 
 fuller of naval ftores, than they were, when 
 the prefent war broke out ; I fliould con- 
 ceive, the fourteen millions increafed ex- 
 pence, for the peace eftablifhment, in the 
 twelve years, or the navy part at leaft, 
 amounting to nine millions, would have 
 been more ufefully beftowed, if the money 
 had been applied to the further redudlion 
 of the public debts. 
 
 However, for the nation to be able, 
 during thofe twelve years, to provide for an 
 increafed efl:abli(l:iment, to fuch a large a- 
 mount as fourteen millions ; and pay offbe- 
 fides, eleven millions of the debt incurred 
 
 afterwards incorporated into a feparate fund, and bear- 
 ing a price in the market, unconneiled with the loan 
 that produced it; in holding up to \\tw the extrava- 
 gance of the bargain, it is but fair and reafonable to 
 ftate the value of the annuity, according to the price it 
 bears in the market. 
 
 Now, the object of the prefent ftatements is, fimply 
 to fhew — the fums a6tually r^ifed indifferent wars— the 
 terms on whick the money had been borrowed — and the 
 reduiSlions that have taken place in the debt, or its in- 
 tereft, in the intervening periods of peace ; in order to 
 difcover the progrefiive fall or rife of intereft, in the 
 courfe of the century. For this end, therefore, in the 
 prefent ftatements, the annuities have been throv/n into 
 the general mafs of intereft paid on the refpedrive loans 
 to v/hich they had origiaally been annexed ; marking 
 only the periods v/hen any of the annuities have 
 fallei) in. 
 
 2 hy
 
 [ 30 1 
 
 by the war, are ftriking proofs of the wealth 
 and folid advantages which had refulted, in 
 thofe years of peace, from our commercial 
 intercourfe with the four quarters of the 
 world ; proofs too ftrong for any fophiftry 
 to overturn. 
 
 Thus ftood the amount of the national 
 debt, and of the intereft paid on it, at that 
 unfortunate sera, deilined, in the future an- 
 nals of our hiftory, to mark the period of 
 our grandeur f Jlrength, and opulence. A 
 i^ru(5ture, which had been raifed on the ba- 
 fis of induftry and commerce ; and to that 
 fl:ru(5lure, and our happy conftitution, we 
 owed the extent and union of our empire : 
 which a deliberate folecifm in politics firft 
 disjointed, and an obftinate perfeverance has 
 iince torn afunder. 
 
 The higheft interefi: paid in Queen Ann's 
 wars, was for the money borrowed in 171 1 
 and 171 2, which came to feven and a half 
 per cent, and the capital to be redeemed, 
 with twenty-five ^fr cent, addition; but the 
 grofs capital, however, running at fix per 
 cent, was open to a reduction of intercft, as 
 money funk in value. And in the two fol- 
 lowing ■* years, money was borrowed for an 
 intereft of five, and five and a half ^^r cent. 
 on the fums lent, with an addition of 
 twenty-fix or twenty-feven per cent, to the 
 capital, to be paid only on redemption. 
 
 * 1713 and 1714. 
 
 In
 
 [ 31 ] 
 
 In the firft war of George the Second's 
 reign, upwards of thirty years from Queen 
 Ann's time, money was borrowed, in the 
 year 174^* on public fecurity, at four per 
 cent, per aiinum, with a lingle life annuity 
 of thirty {hillings upon every hundred 
 pounds lent. 
 
 In 1747 and 1748, the annual intereft to 
 be paid on the money borrowed, came to 
 four pounds eight Shillings per cent, on the 
 fum fo lent, and to be rede-aned with ten 
 per cent, addition to the capital. 
 
 In the year 1759, during the laft war, 
 money was raifed rather under three and 
 a half per cent, intereft on the amount of 
 the fum lent, which was to be redeemed 
 with fifteen per cent, additional capital. 
 
 In the year 1761, twelve millions were 
 raifed at three per cent, with an annuity of 
 ont per cent, for ninety-nine years. And in 
 1762, twelve millions were borrowed for 
 four per cent, interefl during nineteen years, 
 then to be reduced to three per cent, and to 
 have an annuity oi ont per cent, annexed for 
 ninety-eight years. 
 
 Whilft, in the prefent war, feven millions 
 were raifed, in 1779, at fix and a half per 
 cent, for twenty-nine years, then to be re- 
 duced to three per cent. 
 
 In 1780, twelve millions were borrowed 
 
 at four per cent, intereft, with an annuity of 
 
 one pound fixteen fhillings and threepence for 
 
 eighty years, on every hundred pounds lent. 
 
 E 4 And
 
 f 32 1 
 
 And in the prefent year, 1781, twelv^ 
 millions have been borrowed at an intereft 
 of iive and a hzlf per cent, and not reduce- 
 able more than a quarter per cent, without 
 the redemption of the whole twelve mil- 
 lions, with feventy-five per cent, or nine 
 millions additional capital. 
 
 The money borrowed and funded fince 
 the commencement of this unfortunate war, 
 amounts to forty-four millions, with an ad- 
 dition of nine millions, to be paid on re- 
 demption ', making, fmce the beginning of 
 1776 *, an increafe to the common debt of 
 
 ♦ Amount of the funded Principal. Intereji. 
 
 debt, June 1775, £' 122,954,000 4,368,000 
 
 Money borrowed from 
 1776 to 1781, both in- 
 clufive, — — 44,000,000 2,012,000 
 
 Annuities annexed to the 
 loans, for ten, twenty- 
 nine, and thirty years, •— ^- 420,006 
 
 Nominal capital annexed 
 to part of the forty- 
 four millions, and to 
 be paid on redemption, 9,150,000 — — 
 
 £. i76,i04,eoo 6,800,000 
 
 Deduct reduction of intereft in 1781 and 
 1782, on the loans of 1758, 1760, and 
 1762, — — — — 212,000 
 
 Total of debt and intereft, £. 176, 104,000 ^T. 6,588,000 
 Charge of management, about — £. 80,000 
 
 fifty
 
 t 33 i 
 
 fifty-three millions ; and the intereft to be 
 paid on it amounts to two millions four hun- 
 dred and thirty thoufand pounds a year. 
 But a very fmall part of this debt can be re- 
 duced under five or fix and twenty ye^^rs : 
 and if we confider the terms of the loan of 
 1 78 1, the interefl of which mufl continue 
 for ever at five and a quarter per cent, or the 
 twelve millions be paid off with twenty-one 
 millions fterling, we fhall find no money 
 has been raifed befides, on more improvi- 
 dent or higher terms, in the courfe of this 
 century. But if to the forty-four millions 
 already raifed in fupport of this ruinous war, 
 fhall be added the unprovided debts, that, 
 by the end of 178 1, will be due for navy, 
 tranfport, army, and ordnance fervices, the 
 loans from the bank, and for exchequer 
 bills ; the demands on Parliament, to dif- 
 charge thefe feveral accounts, cannot be lefs 
 than feven or eight and twenty millions, 
 exclufive of the expences that Ihall be in- 
 curred in 1782. And, whether Parliament 
 fliall fund it in the next feflion, or let the 
 debts run on at intereft, and an increafing 
 difcount, the burthen, both of intereft and 
 difcount, will equally fall on the fhouldcrs 
 of the public ; therefore it may be fairly 
 aflerted, that, by the end of the prefent 
 year, the money raifed, and to be raifed to 
 defray the expence of this vvar (exclufive of 
 any nominal capital) will amount to the 
 F enormous
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 enormous fum of feventy-two millions ; 
 which will exceed the fum borrowed in the 
 courfe of the laft war, by fix or feven mil- 
 lions. This additional debt will, at the 
 loweil: computation, require an annual inte- 
 ' . (f-ft-fj reft of three millions eight hundred thou- 
 '' flmd pounds to difcharge it. So that, with- 
 
 out providing for the expences of 1782, the 
 WOf^hTt) national debt will amount, including the 
 CJW l^^ nominal capital, to two hundred and three 
 or four millions ; and require an annual in- 
 tereft to provide for it, of full eight millions 
 fterling. 
 
 The intereft paid for the ufe of money, 
 when the fecurity is good, forms the fureR 
 criterion to judge of national wealth ; for 
 though the terms of adjuftment may be ex- 
 travagant to a degree, that are given by ti- 
 mid financiers, in order to pufli the loan 
 into the market, and fecure the firft ad- 
 Vance j or by improvident Minifters, as 
 douceurs to oblige the friends of govern- 
 ment ; ftill thefe temporary advantages, 
 granted in the conditions of the loan, can- 
 not affedl the rate of intereft to be paid an- 
 nually for the ufe of money borrowed. 
 What I would from hence infer is, that 
 the intereft, whatever may be its amount, 
 will always find its natural level, by the 
 proportionable rife or fall of the principal 
 on which fuch intereft ftiali be paid. 
 
 Upon this ground, the following conclu- 
 3 fion
 
 [ 3S 1 
 
 Hon may be fairly drawn ; that, as the interefl 
 of money, which, from the clofe of the lad 
 war to the commencement of the prefent, was 
 at three and three and a half per cent, is 
 now raifed to upwards of five per cent, it is 
 evident the national wealth has been re- 
 duced, for want of its annual fupply; owing 
 to the decline of our commerce, and the lit- 
 tle employment for our merchant fbips, in 
 the way of trade ; and likewife to the trea- 
 fure, which, in the laft five or fix years, has 
 been carried out of this country, by the ll:ate 
 and individuals, to the enriching of our 
 difaffed:ed colonies, and the impoverifhing 
 Great Britain. And furely it muft be a 
 very great indifcretion or negledt, in thofe 
 who diredt our finances, to fuffer the fub- 
 jecfls of a country, depending for its ex- 
 iftence on commerce, to remain reftridted 
 to a lower rate of interell, than the legifla- 
 ture confents to allow for money borrowed 
 to fupport the expences of government. 
 
 Fa CHAP.
 
 [ 36 3 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 OF THE ANNUAL REVENUES FOR THE 
 SUPPORT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE 
 CHARGE OF COLLECTING THEM. 
 
 I SHALL now proceed to examine the 
 feveral heads of the revenue, drav^^n 
 yearly from the pocket of the fubjedl, ei- 
 ther through our commerce or confump- 
 tion : from whence the provifions are made, 
 for the civil lift eftabliihment — the intereft 
 of the national debt and the fupplies for 
 the fupport and prote6lion of the empire : 
 which lafl: expences the regular revenue has 
 been fufficient to difcharge in peace i and 
 in tim.e of w^ar, the additional expence has 
 been fupplied by loans raifed on the credit 
 of the annual taxes. 
 
 The public revenues confift of many dif- 
 tin(5t heads, fome of vi^hich comprize feveral 
 different branches. 
 
 The cuftoms, are certain rates or duties 
 levied on the various articles of merchan- 
 dize. 
 
 The excife duties arife out of fundry 
 commodities lor home confumption merely; 
 taking in /pints of all kmds, as w^ell im- 
 ported.
 
 [ 37 ] 
 
 ported, as diflilled in England ; leer, ale, 
 cyder, &c. foap, candles, JLirch, hides, tea, 
 coffee, chocolate, retail licences, papers of forts, 
 parchments, painted f Iks, gilt and fiver wires, 
 glafs, hops, and coaches -, with certain addi- 
 tional articles, taxed liuce the prefent war, 
 as male-frvants and audi ions. 
 
 The other inland duties arife from the 
 pofl-officcy fait, fl amps (wherein the late tax on 
 poji'horfes is inckided) wine- licences, hawkers 
 and pealars, hackney-coaches, alienations, pen-- 
 fons, houfes and windows. Bclides thefe, 
 there are fome cafiial receipts from the 
 duties on coinage, and gum fenega -, from 
 feizures and lotteries, American revenues, 
 and from the crown rents j together with 
 the cuftoms and excifes in Scotland. The 
 feveral heads here enumerated, conftitute 
 the whole of the perpetual revenue, and are 
 colledied under the executive authority, 
 without the neceffity of appl) iag to Parlia- 
 ment, from year to year, to ohtain them. 
 
 The taxes gathered from moft of thefe 
 articles, have increafed with our commerce 
 and confumj^'ion : bt,idcs, all of them have, 
 at different periods, had further duties laid 
 on, as circumftances have arole to admit of 
 the addition. 
 
 As new loans were wanted, new taxes 
 have been aaopted ; and they, in their turns, 
 in like manner in;, eafcd. All theft; branches 
 of the revenue were, at their firft eftablifh- 
 
 ment.
 
 f 33 ] 
 
 ment, appropriated, or mortgaged, either 
 to pay the expences of the civil lift, or 
 to difcharge the intereft on the national 
 debt. And whatever fums were afterwards 
 found, at the end of the year, to remain, 
 from any of thefe branches of revenue 5 
 whether from the difcharge of any part of 
 the debt, or other redudion of intereft; 
 from its fall, or annuities dropping in ; or an 
 increafe in the amount of the duties or taxes, 
 from the increafe of our trade and con- 
 fumption ; in any of thefe cafes, fuch fur- 
 plurfes were to create the fmking fund, and 
 await the future difpolition of Parliament. 
 And whenever that fund, or any part of it, 
 was to be fpared from the current expences 
 of the year, it has ufually been applied to- 
 wards the redudion of the debt. The re- 
 maining branches of the revenue, thofe not 
 made perpetual, are the land and malt taxes, 
 s;ranted annually, and confequently can only 
 be appropriated to the current expences of 
 the year. Thefe, with the perpetual re- 
 venues before enumerated, make the whole 
 of the national income. 
 
 The great objed of enquiry into the na- 
 ture and ftate of thefe colledions, for the 
 intereft of the people, is, to difcover whe- 
 ther, from the changes which time and cir- 
 cumftances have produced, any material fav- 
 ines can be made, or undue influence re- 
 moved, either in the modes of colleding or 
 
 ilfuing
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 ifluing the revenue, or in the expenditure of 
 it afterwards, consistent with public 
 
 DIGNITY, JUSTICE, AND GRATITUDE. 
 
 The cudoms are a principal branch of 
 our revenue; and, arifing out of commerce, 
 may be confidered as the fource and fupply 
 of many other branches. For, commerce 
 being the foundation of our v.ealth and 
 profperity, our confumption, which can 
 only make the excife productive, mull: de- 
 pend on the flourifhing condition of our 
 trade; at leaft, to carry that confumption 
 to any great extent, beyond the mere ne- 
 ceffaries of life. That part of the revenue 
 arifing out of the trade, feems to be in a 
 perplexed and complicated ftate, and flands 
 in need of much reform; for, though pro- 
 du(flive of but little more than half the ex- 
 cife, the duties of the curtoms are colledted 
 at a much greater expence. Upon an ave- 
 rage of four or five years, juft preceding the 
 difpute with our colonies, the charge for 
 falaries and incidents at the cuftom-houfe 
 came to two hundred and ninety thoufand U]0 ^d 
 pounds a year; and the net produce of,, £->_,* 
 cultoms colledled in England came, all ex- ^' * 
 pences deducted, to two millions and a half 
 a year, upon the average. The fees and 
 perquifites of all denominations, taken from 
 the merchant or trader, are eilimated at 
 nearly the amount of the falaries and inci- 
 dents :
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 dents : fo that, for a net produce into the 
 exchequer, from the duties levied on mer- 
 chandize, to the amount of two millions 
 and a half, the charge of bringing it thither 
 cofts the iiation betwen five and :'x hundred 
 thoufand pounds; or twenty ^er cen t, on 
 the net produce. 
 
 One caufe of this great expence is, that 
 as our commerce has increafed, and various 
 articles grown more in demand, from the 
 increafe of our wealth, the prices of the dif- 
 ferent commodities have rifen ; and confe- 
 quently, when the neceffities of the llate 
 have called for a further fupply, the Parlia- 
 ment have taken advantage of thefe circum- 
 fiances to increafe the duty, as far as the 
 commodity would bear. 
 
 And the iniMortune is, that almoft every 
 addition of this kind continues to be fepa- 
 rately levied ; whereby many affortments 
 of goods have five or fix, or more, feveral 
 duties, aids, ox fuhfidies, to eftimate and col- 
 lect on. Thele circumftances produce much 
 unncccilary expence to trade, from the ad- 
 ditional ofiicers and fees required to pro- 
 mote difpatch ; they fetter and obftrudl 
 commerce, throwing the merchant entirely 
 at the mercy of the colledtors, and other 
 officers of the cufioms : the variety of 
 tedious calculations becoming, by thefe 
 means, a fcience of long pra<Sice to com- 
 prehend.
 
 [ 41 ] 
 
 prehend, and of much charge to get diT- 
 patched. 
 
 If thefe complicated levies were all re7 
 duced to one Timple charge on each aflbrt- 
 ment, or article, in the different entries, the 
 numbers neceffary to afcertain, gather in, 
 regiftcr, and difcharge, rhe duties on com- 
 merce, would be very inconfiderable, when 
 compared with the prefent numerous train, 
 attendant and depending on the cuftom- 
 houfe ; or rather, on the lords of the trea- 
 fury; to which the commiffioners of the 
 euAoms feem only a fubordinate acting board, 
 with little or no real controul over the num- 
 berlefs officers in the department. Whereas 
 the commiflioners of the cuftoms ought to 
 be placed, for the general good, upon the 
 fame footing with the excife, with power 
 given them to nominate, change, prefer, or 
 difmifs their fubordinate officers, according 
 to their merits or demerits. But the fre- 
 quent appeal to, or interference of, the 
 treafury, which intereft and connection is 
 continually making, renders the commif- 
 fioners cyphers, or mere agents, on number- 
 lefs occafions ; at the fame time that the 
 treafury interference and controul contri- 
 butes to releafe the commiffioners from re- 
 fponfibility, the great incentive, among man- 
 kind in general, to the faithful difcharge of 
 their trult. 
 
 There are feveral patent places in the 
 G cuftom-
 
 [ 4a ] 
 
 cudom-houfe, to a large amount ; the pro- 
 fits of which places arife from fees, and are 
 hrld as mere fmecures, condudted by depu- 
 ties, whofe principals never appear ; and 
 who do not (fome of the principals at leafh) 
 even know the bufmefs or nature of their 
 offices. Thefe are circumftances, which 
 call loudly for reform ; and, if entered into 
 with that intent, might efte(fl much real 
 good to the nation ; particularly by Ampli- 
 fying duties, and promoting thereby the dif- 
 patch of bulinefs, and by relieving the bur- 
 then on trade ; or elfe producing an addi- 
 tion, to no lefs amount, in all probability, 
 than two hundred thoufand pounds a year, 
 .into the treafury, without the affiftance of 
 further taxes. And at the fame time con- 
 tribute to lefTen the influence of that power, 
 which a former Parliament folemnly decided 
 to have i^een ificrcqfed, to be i7icreajingy and 
 ought to be dimintjhed. 
 
 The excife is the moft produdlive of any 
 branches of the revenue ; and is collected 
 much nearer the expenditure, and conduced 
 under wifer regulations, and a more cecono- 
 mical plan, than the cuftoms. The fees 
 and perquifitcs are fewer than in the cuf- 
 toms, and the falaries and incidents amount 
 to three hundred thoufand pounds on about 
 five millions, * malt included ; being rather 
 
 * The malt, though given but from year to year, 
 is under the directio^i of the excife, 
 
 better
 
 [ 43 1 
 
 better thanjjx ^ cent , upon the grofs pro- 
 duce. As additional taxes have been laid, 
 from time to time, on mofl articles of ex- 
 cife, feveral of them want, for the national 
 advantage, to be conlblidated into one fimple 
 tax. 
 
 Of the inland duties, that of fait has 
 pfually produced about two hundred and fe- 
 venty thoufand pounds a year grofs, and has 
 been colled:ed for a little more than twenty- 
 fix thoufand pounds a year, or barely jteri 
 fcr cent. The flamps, prior to the lait in- 
 creafe, laid in 1777, produced about four 
 hundred and eighty thoufand pounds a year 
 grofs, and were colle(5ted for about thirty- 
 five thoufand pounds a year, or feven and a 
 half ^cT cent. Any of thefe articles, that 
 have had additional impofts laid on them, 
 from time to time, which continue to be 
 feparately colledied, ought doubtlefs to be 
 conlblidated and reduced, wherever it can 
 be done, to one fimple tax. The tax 
 upon hawkers and pedlars amounts in the 
 grofs to eight thoufand pounds a year, and 
 is gathered at an expence of two thoufand 
 eight hundred pounds. The grofs produce 
 from the hackney-coach tax comes to thir- 
 teen thoufand two hundred pounds, and 
 cofts to collect it two thoufand one hundred 
 and thirty pounds a year. " 
 
 The poft-office revenue has increafed very 
 
 much fince the beginning of this century, 
 
 G 2 and
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 and brings to the public treafury, after all 
 expences are paid, upwards of one hundred 
 thoufand pounds a year. The increafe or 
 decreafe of this branch muft depend on the 
 wealth of individuals, and the intercourfe 
 and circulation from trade. 
 
 The alienations, wine-licences, crown 
 rents, duties on coinage, and gum fenega, 
 with the four and a half per cent, duty on 
 the Leeward Iflands, do not all together a- 
 mount to more than eighty or ninety thou- 
 fand pounds a year, the outfide. Of thefc 
 fix articles, five ftand in no need of reform : 
 but that 18 not the cafe with the other ^ the 
 crown rents, or land revenues as they are 
 termed, call for the immediate interferenc'e 
 of Parliament. 
 
 Thefe crown rents were relinquished to 
 the public at the beginning of this reign, in 
 confideration of Parliament fixing his Ma- 
 jefty's civil lift at eight hundred thoufand 
 pounds a year for life, freed from all un- 
 certainties. And the rents being now a 
 part of the national income, the executive 
 officers of the crow^n are equally refpon- 
 iible to the people for their produ(5tion, 
 and the care of them, as for any other taxes 
 or collections. Therefore Parliament are 
 bound, in duty to the people, to examine 
 into, and correct, any wafte or abufes, 
 which have crept into this particular branch 
 of the revenue, either through connivance 
 or neglect. 
 
 The
 
 [ 45 1 
 
 The land revenues, or crown rents, are 
 learcd out under various grants or tenures, 
 and to a number of individuals, at the an- 
 nual fum of twelve thoufand feven hundred 
 pounds, exclufive of the f}nes to be paid on 
 renewal : they are parcelled out, in the dif- 
 ferent counties of England and Wales, into 
 fix hundred and forty-four allotments, con- 
 fifling of manors, fmall parcels of lands, and 
 tenements. By a valuation in the year 
 1 75 1, thefe feveral allotments were elHr 
 mated, according to the improved value, 
 exclufive of fines, at the yearly rent of fixty^ 
 nine thoufand pounds, which makes an in- 
 creafe of fifty- fix thoufand pounds a year on 
 the prefent rents ; whilll: both the rents, and 
 fines on the renewal of leafes, never brought 
 in, on an average for thirty- three years, 
 from 1728 to 1760, to near the amount of 
 the rental. 
 
 Befides the feveral allotments enumerated, 
 there are in North Wales fundry ancient 
 revenues, of much the fame nature, fpread 
 over the different counties, fet at three thour 
 iand one hundred and ninety-eight pounds 
 a year ; confifiing of four hundred and 
 ninety-four allotments, Ibme of them under 
 five fhillings : moft of them have been long 
 negleded, and are become obfolete ; but 
 open, in all likelihood, to revival, at a much 
 higher rent, according to the increafed value 
 of lands. 
 
 S At
 
 r <6 ] 
 
 At prefeat, this branch of revenue, called 
 the crown rents, is ufelefs, or rather burthen- 
 fome on the Irate j and feems to be kept up 
 merely to fupport certain titular officers, 
 under the appointment of tlic crown, and 
 which anfwer no end or purpoie, but to 
 ilrengthen and pror.iote its influence. 
 
 The amount realized irom thefe land 
 rents, has been charged wivii fundry ilipends 
 and penfions, for feveral years paft; and the 
 little that remained was generally iffaed to 
 the furveyor of the woods, to repair parks, 
 lodges, &c. 
 
 For the care and collection of thefe rents, 
 the furveyor-general, and his inferior fur-» 
 veyors, the auditors and receivers, were 
 eflabliflied, over the crown lands in Eng- 
 land, and the principality of Wales. 
 
 There is alfo an ex1abliil:iment belong- 
 ing to the diiichy-court of Lancaifer, con^. 
 iifcing of forty regular officers; whilft the 
 dutchy eftates, in point of public benefit, 
 are in much the fame predicament with 
 thofe before mentioned. 
 
 Such kind of unprofitable eftablilhments 
 muft have a tendency to create vexatious 
 fuits, for the purpofe, at one time, perhaps, 
 of private -;ain ; and at another, to intimi- 
 date or perplex. Therefore, it would create 
 a confiderable faving to the nation, and de- 
 ilroy much improper influence, to fell thefe 
 feveral tenures outright, and aboHHi the 
 
 different
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
 difitrent offices belonging to all thefeufelers 
 branches of revenue ; offices which neither 
 convey utility to the ftate, nor dignity ro the 
 crown ; and tlie abolition can be oppofed 
 only by weak, unpopular minifiiers, as it 
 would deprive them of one of the engines 
 of their fecurity and defence. 
 
 To hold under thefe tenures, mufl be an 
 injury to improvements, as the rents arc 
 liable, at the expiration of every leafe, to be 
 raifed to their full value. So that the per- 
 fons, who hold under the grants, would 
 certainly be glad to purchcfe from the pub- 
 lic the fee-hmple, at the higheft value that 
 could in reafon and juftice be fet on them; 
 to be freed from any future demands of fees 
 and fines, and trom all rsxatious fuits : and 
 there can be no doubt, but the nation mieht 
 obtain, from the fale of thefe eflates, a very 
 conliderable fum of money. 
 
 But to return to the remaining branches 
 of the revenue : the * fixpenny and fliilUng 
 taxes on peniions and ofiice places, produce 
 about ^f- one hundred and forty thoufand 
 pounds, and are colledred at the expence of 
 two or three thoufand pounds, a year J, 
 
 * No place arifing either out oi fees^falary, or pen' 
 Jjofj, is rated, that is under fifty pounds a ) ear ; yet 
 that tax is gathered, on one million eight hundred and 
 thirty thoufand pounds. 
 
 t Thefe taxes liad better, furely, be aboHfhed, by a 
 reduction of the falaries they arife out of. 
 
 X The receivers, befides, hold back feven or fright 
 thoufand pounds in their hands, from time to time. 
 
 The
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
 The houfe and window tax, prior to the 
 prefent war, came to three hundred and 
 eighty thoufand pounds : the charge of col- 
 ledion is five pence in the pound, allowed 
 among the collecftors, and the receivers-ge- 
 neral of the land tax; befides the falaries 
 to the commifhoners, and the furveyors be- 
 lon^ins: to the land office. 
 
 The tax on the land varies from two, to 
 three, or four {hillings in the pound, as the 
 exigencies of the government fliall require. 
 Four fhillings in the pound is the higheft 
 rate that has ever yet been laidj and when at 
 that rate, the land tax is granted for two 
 millions fterling. The charge of collecting 
 the land tax, at four fliillings in the pound, 
 with the houfes and window taxes *, amount- 
 ed, before the laft houfe tax, to about fixty- 
 three thoufand nounds, with a reduction of 
 about nine thoufand pounds from the above 
 charge, for every fhilling in the pound the 
 land tax fliall be lowered. 
 
 In 1778, upon the new tax made on 
 houfes, feven additional officers were ap- 
 pointed, under the commiffioners ; and the 
 falaries of a hundred and fifty-four furveyors 
 increafed twenty-five pounds a year, or fifty 
 per cent, beyond their former amount | 
 
 * Land tax, — — jT. 2,000,000 j 
 
 Houfes and windows, — 385,000 
 
 ;^- 2,385,000 ^ 
 
 which.
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
 'which, with the five pence in the pound to 
 the receivers and colle6lors for the counties 
 and diftridls, will make an addition to the 
 above charge of twelve thoufand pounds a 
 year. The land, houfe, and window taxes, 
 before the lall: new tax, were collected (the 
 land at four lliillings) under three pe?' cent. ; 
 whilft the new houfe tax, though gathered 
 by the fame colled:ors, and with fcarce any 
 additional trouble, is to incur an expence of 
 four and a half per cent, on the fum to be 
 collected, adding between five and fix thou- 
 fand pounds a year to the falaries of the fame 
 furveyors, who, till 1778, had made the pa- 
 rochial furveys of the land and windows 
 for between thirteen and fourteen thoufand 
 pounds a year; whilft the charge of furveys, 
 lince this new tax, will now amount to 
 nineteen thoufand pounds a year. 
 
 The cafual fupplies arifing from a lottery, 
 and feizures, have latterly come to about 
 two hundred and thirty thoufand pounds a 
 year. There f re alfo the cuftoms and excife 
 in Scotland, with fome inland duties there, 
 to no very confiderable amount. The grofs 
 produce of thcfe articles do not all together 
 exceed three hundred and forty thoufand 
 pounds a year ; and the cuftoms and excife 
 in Scotland amount to no more than two 
 hundred and fixty thoufand pounds a year, 
 including expence of colledting; the charges 
 and incidents for which colledions come to 
 H ninety
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
 ninety thoufand pounds, or thirty per cent, 
 on the gi'ofs produce ; whilfi: only part of 
 the remaining produce comes to England, 
 the reft being expended in that country. 
 
 I have now taken a view of our collec- 
 tions, or national income, down to 1775, 
 when this rupture broke out between Eng- 
 land and her colonies. 
 
 Since the year 1776, the following addi- 
 vtions * have been made to the national in- 
 come, to furnifh interefl for the loans of the 
 lail five years : — Cuftoms on ^oods charged 
 before with duties, eight hundred and ninety 
 thoufand pounds ; increafe on the articles 
 already excifed, eight hundred and forty- 
 fix thoufand pounds ; additional duties on 
 houfes, ftamps, and fait, four hundred an4 
 pine thoufand pounds ; and on new articles, 
 
 * New articles taxed : 
 
 Audlions, — 
 
 — 
 
 ^•37'0oo 
 
 Male-fervants, 
 
 — 
 
 100,000 
 
 Poft-horfes, — 
 
 • 
 
 164,000 
 
 
 ;^. 301,000 
 
 Old taxes increafed : 
 
 
 
 Cuftoms, — 
 
 — 
 
 ^T. 892,000 
 
 Excifes, — 
 
 — 
 
 846,000 
 
 Houfes, — 
 
 — 
 
 264,000 
 
 Stamps, — 
 
 • — 
 
 76,000 
 
 Salt, — 
 
 — 
 
 69,000 
 
 J^ew articles taxed. 
 
 
 301,000 
 
 
 . 2,448,000 
 
 never
 
 I 51 1 
 
 never taxed before, three hundred and one 
 thouiand pounds ; making together an ad- 
 dition to the former taxes or collecftions of 
 two millions four hundred and forty-eight 
 thoufand pounds. 
 
 I fhall now proceed to draw into one 
 point of view, the whole that is collected 
 officially from the pocket of tke fubjedt, 
 every year. 
 
 Hz The
 
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 Thefe
 
 [ 53 1 
 
 Thefe articles *, upon examination, will 
 be found about equal to the above amount } 
 for the taxes on land and malt, clear of the 
 charges of coUedlion, were barely two mil- 
 lions and a half; and the linking fund, or 
 unappropriated furplufles ariling out of the 
 perpetual branches of the revenue, came to, 
 for the year 1775, two millions nine hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds.— Thus the revenue, 
 after providing for the interefl; of the debt, 
 and the civil lift eftablifliment, left a re- 
 mainder for the fervices of the ftate of up- 
 wards of five millions, the land-tax at four 
 fliillings in the pound; and of four mil- 
 lions, with the land-tax at only two fliil- 
 lings. — In 1779 and 1780, the finking 
 fund was rather higher than in I775» 
 amounting to three millions in each of 
 thofe years. But this increafe arofe merely 
 from an increafe in our confumption, no 
 part of it from foreign commerce ; for the 
 cuftoms were decreafed fince the war in 
 their net produce, although additional Ju- 
 
 * Net produce of the finking fund in 
 
 1775 — 2, goo. 000 
 
 Land and malt taxes, the land at 4 5. — 2,500,000 
 
 £. 5,400,000 
 
 Net amount of Scottifh taxes, unappro- 
 priated, about — — — i 230,000 
 
 A part of which never come to • 
 
 England. £' 5i(>30iOoo 
 
 ties
 
 r 54 ] 
 
 ties had been laid on articles of trade* 
 Therefore it is fair and reafonable to infer, 
 that the great confumption, which made 
 the taxes more productive, was promoted 
 and fupplied by the circulation and expen- 
 diture occafioned by the war. 
 
 If to the grofs revenue in 
 1775, amounting to — — 11,900,000 
 
 Shall be added the taxes created 
 fince the war, of — — 2,448,000 
 
 The money borrowed in this 
 year, making — — 12,000,000 
 
 And the fums lent by the Bank, 
 and given by the Eafl: India 
 Company, amounting to — 2,400,000 
 
 Thefe feveral fums, amounting 
 
 to — — — ;r. 28,748,000 
 
 fhew the avowed expence of the year 1781 : 
 but what the expences of this year lliall 
 exceed the eight or nine-und- twenty mil- 
 lions, will depend on how much the debts 
 for the navy, army, and ordnance are in- 
 creafed, at the end of 1781, beyond their 
 amount at the end of 1780. — Thus much 
 for the collection of the revenue, and ad- 
 ditional aids; but the expenditure of twenty- 
 nine millions (terling, within the compafs 
 of a year, opens a far wider field for en- 
 quiry and reform. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE COMMIS- 
 SIONERS REPORTS, AND ON THE EX- 
 PENDITURES FOR THE CIVIL LIST. 
 
 IT was the expenditure of the mone\'', 
 that more particularly awakened the 
 alarms of the people, and drew forth the 
 petitions from the counties. Petitions the 
 people were fully juftified in fending up to 
 their reprefcntatives ; but which would pro- 
 bably have carried greater weight with 
 them, if they had meddled lefs with fpe- 
 culativc points, though they feemed to 
 reqiui-e reformation -, being fubjedls, wifer 
 arJ fafer to bring forward for parliamentary 
 dilculiion, in times of peace. Therefore it 
 might have been better, If the petitions of 
 the people had been confined to the conduct 
 of the Commons, and the appropriation, 
 by the fervants of the Crown, of the free 
 grants from the pockets of the fubjeds. 
 Here, I rather apprehend, lay the extent 
 of the people's title to any interference with 
 the executive power; here bounded their 
 authority, and their more immediate right 
 to queftion, through their reprefcntatives, 
 
 PI 4 the
 
 [ 56 ] 
 
 the condiKft of miniders : an authority fuf- 
 ficient to anfwer every wife and falutary 
 purpofe; and, when firmly and temperately 
 exerted, will never fail bringing to light 
 material a6ls of corruption, if fuch /hall 
 have been pra(flifed, or any mifapplication 
 whatever of the public money -j which be- 
 comes highly criminal, whenever it is ap- 
 plied to purpofes difF>.rent from thofe for 
 which it had been fpecifically given. 
 
 I bend with reverence and refpe(fl before 
 the great executive authority of my coun- 
 try ; and wifh fincerely never to fee any of 
 its inherent rights invaded or circumfcribed 
 in the fmalleft degree. But the Crown, in 
 whom that power concenters, delegating to 
 the great officers of the ilate, the rcfpon- 
 libility annexed to all executive adts, and to 
 iffues of money from their refpedtive de- 
 partments J thofe officers are by the confti- 
 tution to anfwer to their country for their 
 advice or their conduct, at the rifk of tlieir 
 lives; whenever arraigned by a charge from 
 their Prince, or impeached by Parliament. 
 
 And thefe great officers of government are 
 bound in duty to account to the people for 
 the application of the money granted by 
 Parliament, fo far as to plainly fliew the 
 money had been carefully collected, and 
 faithfully applied to the ufes alone for which 
 it had been granted. This is what the peo- 
 ple are entitled to know, and is all they have a 
 5 right.
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 right, I conceive, to demand of their re- 
 prefentatives 5 and which Parliament ought 
 farely to lay before the public, without 
 being called upon fo to do. — But how did 
 the laft Parliament a6l in this refpe6t ? In 
 the Upper Houfe, a motion w^as made by a 
 noble Lord for a commillion of accounts, 
 upon the foundeft principles of reafon and 
 juftice ; yet that motion was over-ruled ; 
 and fo was another in the Lower Houfe, of 
 a fimilar kind: both ftridly conformable to 
 former precedents*. 
 
 In the laft Parliament, the Commons, 
 roufed by the loud and ferious calls of 
 the public for a redrefs of grievances, and 
 an examination into the ftate and expendi- 
 ture of the public revenue ; voted, that 
 the influence of the Crown had palled its 
 proper bounds, and ought to be reftrained; 
 yet that fame Parliament afterwards reje(fled 
 every attempt to check and reduce the un- 
 due influence exercifed by the fervants of 
 the Crown ; throwing out every fubfequent 
 motion that tended to lay open the chan- 
 nels of corruption, if any fuch there were. 
 
 What indignation muft the people en- 
 tertain towards their former reprefentatives, 
 who were unable to explain to them what 
 
 * Vide inquiries made, by commifTioners, who were 
 members of parliament, or by particular Cdmmittees, 
 appointed to examine into fpecific heads of expence, in 
 the years 1691, and 3 ; 98 ; 1703, 11, I3> and 18 j 
 1728 J 1741, 43, 49, 58 i and 1761, 62, and 63. 
 
 1 duty
 
 [ i8 ] 
 
 doty required at their hands unafked ! At 
 the fame time, a majority of thofe very re- 
 prefentatives were fo infiittiated, as to nega- 
 tive every motion leading to an explana- 
 tion of the public accounts ; thereby re- 
 fufing to examine themfelves, or even to 
 fuffer any members of the Commons to 
 proceed to an official enquiry, though 
 many very refpedable independent cha- 
 racfters had exprelTed a defire to that end, 
 as well in difcharge of their duty, as in 
 compliance with the voice of the people. 
 However, fome of the leading members of 
 the lafl: Parliament, apprehenfive left too 
 evident contempt for the juft and rea- 
 fonable requifitions from the people, con- 
 tained in the county petitions, might make 
 the national appeal in the end too ferious 
 for them to withfland, did, from fome fuch 
 motive, bring forward the appearance of an 
 enquiry into the national revenues and ex- 
 pences, and thereby produced a Commiffion 
 of Accounts; which was, by a majority 
 of the Houfe, transferred, without pre- 
 cedent, to men who were not reprefenta- 
 tives of the people, or in anywifc refpon- 
 fxble to them for their conduct ; and over 
 whom the Parliament, nor any committee 
 of its members, had power given them to 
 diredl or promote any particidar line of 
 inquiry iri the progrefs of the bufinefs, fur- 
 ther
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
 ther than the loofc and general terms of 
 the commiillon extended. 
 
 However, this femblance towards an in- 
 veftigation of the public accounts, an honeft 
 unfuipccHng people readily confided in, as 
 intended to correft and reform the errors 
 and abufes crept in by time, and a change 
 of circumftances, into the collecflion and ex- 
 penditure of the people's money. 
 
 It mult, upon reflection, carry with it an 
 awkward appearance, and furniili ground 
 for unfavourable fufpicions, to fee this com- 
 mittee of perfons out of Parliament, brought 
 forward by thofe whofe conduCl, with re- 
 fped: to the finances, they are to examine 
 and report on, as well as the errors and 
 miftakes vvhich time had introduced. 
 
 The lad Parliament furely were wanting 
 in duty to the people they reprefented, to 
 be ignorant of the expenditure of the pub- 
 lic money; and, when called upon for a 
 fatisfacftory explanation, to confign the en- 
 quiry to men who were not members of 
 the legiflature. 
 
 The propofition ou^ht to have been re- 
 jected by the former Houfe of Commons 
 withdifdain, that attempted to appoint fiich 
 a commilhon, fo difgraceful to themfelvcs, 
 and which will be confidered in the world, 
 as a fbriking tellimony of their indolence, 
 or contempt for their conftituents ; or thnt 
 fome undue influence had operated on their 
 I 2 minds.
 
 [ 6o ] 
 
 minds, to prevent that effedual reform, 
 which the Ilime commillioners, in a dif^ 
 fercnt fituation, as members of the Houle, 
 would have produced. 
 
 The commiffion is doubtlefs extenfive in 
 theory, as it goes to the colled^ion and ex- 
 penditure of the pubhc revenue in general. 
 It impowers the commillioners to examine 
 upon oath all the few ants of the Crown, civil y 
 and military y and navaly with refpeSi to the 
 colleSiion and expenditure, through their federal 
 offices. It authorizes them to fear ch into any 
 corrupt and fraudulent praSliceSy or other mif- 
 conduSi com?nittcd within any of the refpeBiue 
 departments ; and f jail from time to time report 
 their proceedings y as foon as pojjible after thetr 
 determination on them, They Jl:all likewife 
 report an exaB fate of the fees or gratuities 
 paid or given in colleBingy ijjuing, expending, 
 and accounting for fuch public monies, and the 
 authority under which fuch fees or gratuities 
 are paid or received, and what defetls they 
 may ohferve in the prefeiit mode of contra^ing 
 for public fcrvicesy &c. jlnd they are to re- 
 port what in their judgment Jl^all appear ft 
 and expedient to be ejiablijkcd, in order that 
 the monies granted, raifed, and appropriated 
 for the public fervicc, may hereafter be re- 
 ceived, ijfued, expended, and accounted for, in 
 the manner the mofl expeditious, effectual, be- 
 neficial, a?jd advantageous to the public. 
 
 This
 
 [ 6i ] 
 
 This was a tafk the reprefentatlves of the 
 people in the laft parliament, could by no 
 means be j unified in affigning to men who 
 were not members of their own body ; for 
 it is they who are accountable to the people 
 for the grants and application of their mo- 
 ney, and which in confcience they are bound 
 to deliberate on and attend to with care. And 
 it is thofe reprefentatives only, who are com- 
 petent to judge and decide of any alterations 
 or amendments which time and circum- 
 ftances may have made neceflary : but how 
 can they be competent to decide, without 
 going into the enquiry ? 
 
 Are not the grounds of complaint, that 
 too great profulion prevails in the expendi- 
 ture, and too much wafte and remiflhefs in 
 coliedting of the public revenues ? Were 
 not the petitions from the counties, the 
 motion of a noble Earl in the Upper, and of 
 an honourable Member in the Lower Houfe, 
 all founded on thefe ideas ? Do they not go 
 to reiiecftions on the fervants of the Crown; 
 who feemed to evade any examination before 
 the legillative bodies, where they only could 
 be juftified ; and then exerted their influ- 
 ence for a committee out of the Houfe, 
 with loofe and undefined authority, who 
 were to examine into errors and abufes com- 
 mitted under the controul of the minifters, 
 and in fomc of their refpedive depart- 
 ments. 
 
 I 3 Can
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
 Can any thing be more derogatory to the 
 dignity of the people's reprefentatives, and 
 the duties of their trult, or more humili- 
 ating in their fituation, th^n for the lafl: 
 Parhament to have fufFered fuch a commif- 
 fion to pafs into the hands of men not mem- 
 bers of their body ? 
 
 The committee are doubtlefs refpedtable 
 characters 3 but, not being niembers of either 
 Houfe of Parliament, how are they to pro- 
 ceed in their enquiry, without the afliftance 
 of the executive officers, whofe conduit: they 
 are to examine into -, and who murt, if they 
 chufe fo to do, have it in their power to re- 
 tard or mifiead them in their progrefs ? 
 All former cominillions were given to mem- 
 bers of the Parliament -, and every fpecific 
 objed; of their refearches exprefsly declared 
 in the votes of the Houfe -, as the commif- 
 lioners appointed at different times, from 
 king William's reign down to George the 
 third, will fhew. 
 
 Therefore it is curious to obferve, that 
 the prefent comiBiiTioners are directed to 
 examine into errors, miftakes, and frauds in 
 the colledtion and expenditure of the reve- 
 nue, without any paths marked out to guide 
 them through the labyrinth, in this vail 
 field for inquiry ; and which is fo very con- 
 trary to the inftrudions given to former 
 commiffioners of accounts; to whom ob- 
 jeds of great magnitude were in the 
 
 cleared
 
 { 63 ] 
 
 cleareft and moft pointed manner marked 
 out, relative to the army and navy, ipecl- 
 fying the; feparate articles of the navy to 
 be iearched into : whilft, in the prefcnt 
 commiirion, no other objed: is pointed out 
 particularly, but the balances remaining ia 
 the hands of the feveral receivers, treafurers, 
 and pciy?7inj}ers ; an objed; extending to ijo. 
 negle(5t or abufe, but what the executive 
 authority has power to alter and correcft. 
 
 Before I proceed to make any comments 
 of my own on the public expenditure, 
 fimilar to thofe on the collection, I fliall 
 take a review of the reports, to fee if any 
 eflential difcoveries have been made, or 
 fleps taken, that may work any ufeful re- 
 form, either in the collection or the ex- 
 penditure of the revenues, or in the attain- 
 nient and diiburfements of the loans. 
 
 The firfl report relates to the balances 
 in the hands of the receivers general of the 
 taxes on land, windows, and houfes. The 
 arrears owing thereon, the 14th of July 
 1780, up to the preceding Lady- day, came 
 to three hundred and ninety-nine thoufand 
 pounds ; and the balances laying in the re- 
 ceivers hands, in July and Augud 1780, 
 including the new taxes on fervants and 
 inhabited houfes, amounted to fix hundred 
 and hfty-feven thoufand pounds. The grofs 
 amount of thefe taxes, when the land is at 
 
 four
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 four fhillings, comes to upwards of * two 
 millions feven hundred thoufand pounds : 
 fo that fix hundred and fifty-feven thoufand 
 pounds were not more than equal to a quar- 
 ter's colledlion on the counties of England 
 and Wales : at the fame time that the ba- 
 lance in the hands of the receiver for Scot- 
 land exceeded a year's tax. 
 
 Befides the fum of fix hundred and fifty- 
 feven thoufand pounds in the hands of the 
 receivers general, in July and Augufl 1780; 
 there were arrears to the amount of one 
 hundred thoufand pounds, owing on the 
 land tax and window duties, between the 
 years 1755 and 1777; and why thofe ar- 
 rears have been fuffered to remain fo long 
 unfettled, the lords of the treafury can befl 
 inform the public. 
 
 I do not mean to infer, that fix hundred 
 and fifty-feven thoufand pounds, were not 
 a larger balance, than ought to remain with 
 the tax-gatherers ; but I mean to aflert, 
 there could be no neceffity for a commif- 
 fion of accounts, either to difcover the 
 amount, or correct the abufe : for the re- 
 
 * Land Tax — — £. 2,000,000 
 
 Houfes and Windows — 385,000 
 
 Inhabited Houfes Tax — 20 4.,000 
 
 Servants Tax — — 100,000 
 
 2,749,000 
 
 10 gulations
 
 [ 65 ] 
 
 gulatlons eflabliflied by Parliament are fuf- 
 iicient to bring thofe taxes as expeditioufly, 
 into the Exchequer, and on as eafy terms, 
 as any collediions under the excife. The 
 receivers general have only to call on the 
 collecftors of the divifions, who are obhged 
 to pay in at fixed times, to their order; and 
 the fpeedy and efFe<3:ual means of forcing 
 the money for thefe taxes, when they be- 
 come due, from the pockets of the fub- 
 jecfts, are too well known for any to con- 
 tend, when peremptorily demanded by the 
 collecflor. Therefore I doubt not but a 
 difcerning public will readily agree, that 
 the treafury-board alone are to blame, if 
 thefe taxes are not as regularly remitted to 
 the exchequer as any branch of excife. 
 
 The receivers general, who talk of their 
 falaries as inadequate to their trouble, may 
 depend upon it, that men of probity and 
 property will never be wanting, who can 
 bring fufficient fecurity, and will readily 
 accept the ofBce for fixteen ihillings and 
 eight pence per cent. 
 
 The receiver general for Scotland appears 
 to conlider the ufe of the public money in 
 his hands as the only advantage he has for 
 executing the office, and does not look upon 
 the large balance as more than a reafonable 
 equivalent for the trouble and expence of 
 executing it. However, as the land tax 
 raifed in Scotland was fettled to be paid into 
 
 K the
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
 the exchequer, clear of all dedudlions, I 
 fhould apprehend it remained with his 
 countrymen to pay him for his trouble; 
 and their negled: lb to do, could give him 
 no claim on England, or juftify him in 
 keeping the money for any time, for his 
 private emolument. Neverthelefs, it muft 
 be readily acknowledged, that he ought to 
 have an equal reward, proportioned to the 
 amount of his colled:ion, with any other 
 of the receivers general. 
 
 The fecond report contains remarks on 
 the balances in the receivers hands, who 
 conduct the other branches of the revenue, 
 all of which they apprehend are paid up 
 properly, the poli-office excepted 3 which, 
 from the increase in that branch of revenue, 
 would admit of a larger weekly payment 
 into the exchequer, than feven hundred 
 pounds, the fum fettled in queen Anne's 
 reign, and appropriated for a particular 
 purpofe ; the remainder being at prefent 
 only paid quarterly. But furely thefe cir^ 
 cumftances can never require the interfe-t 
 ren<:e of Parliament, and the afliftance of a 
 fpecial commiflion, to alter and corre6t. 
 
 The fecond report remarks alfo, that the 
 eafy duty annexed to the commiffioners of 
 the taxes on land, ftamps, fait, hawkers and 
 pedlars, and hackney-coaches, furniflies a 
 llrong prefumption, that upon inquiry a 
 confolidation might be made of fome of 
 
 thefc
 
 [ 67 i 
 
 tllefe offices, beneficial to the public ; tbey 
 being at prefent under five feparate boards. 
 Two of the boards meet three times in a 
 week, one of them twice, and the other 
 two only once a week. It is true, as thefe 
 boards had been eflablifhed by Parliament, 
 it was necefTary for Parliament to decide on 
 the abolition, or alteration, that may take 
 place concerning them ; but the extent of 
 their duty, and the time that duty took up, 
 muft have been long known to the trea- 
 fury ; and it was in their power to have 
 propofed to the Commons fuch favings, as 
 might refult from throwing more of thefe 
 taxes into the hands of one fet of commif- 
 fioners ; at leaft a fpecial commifTion could 
 not be wanted for this trifling reform. 
 
 The third report goes to an examination 
 into the flate of the balances which ufuaily 
 lay in the hands of the treafurer of the navy. 
 The different balances in his hands, brought 
 into one fum, will appear confiderable, and 
 are miore than could be at all necefTary, if 
 the mode of appropriating the ifTues from 
 the trcafury was altered. Thefe ifTues are 
 made to the treafurer of the navy, at the 
 requifition of the navy-board, and confifl 
 of three feparate branches, t6e Pay, the 
 CaJJjiersy and the Vi5lualling, In the firfl 
 are contained the wages for feamen, arti- 
 ficers, and half- pay ; in the fecond are paid 
 the navy bills, and demands for wear and 
 K 2 tear.
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
 tear, marine ftores, and tranfporting naval 
 llores of all kinds. In the third branch 
 are difcharged the contradis and engage- 
 ments for the vi(5lualling offices ; but the 
 grofs ilTues from the Exchequer, both for 
 the pay and vid:ualling, pafs firil into the 
 calhier's account. 
 
 The fourth and laft report, which clofes 
 the commiffioners refearches during the 
 iiril nine months, relates to the balances 
 in the hands of the paymaflers of the 
 army. 
 
 The balance in the hands of lord Hol- 
 land, or his executors, from June 1765, 
 the time his lordfhip quitted the office, 
 down to December 1777, amounted to 
 four hundred and fifty thoufand pounds ; 
 in 1778, two hundred and two thoufand 
 pounds of the above fum were paid ; and 
 from December 1778 to December 1780, 
 two hundred and forty-eight thoufand 
 pounds remained in the hands of the exe- 
 cutors. 
 
 The balances in the hands of the pay- 
 maflers, or their reprefentatives, from lord 
 Holland, down to Mr. Rigby, came to 
 about one hundred and twenty thoufand 
 pounds all together. 
 
 The fimple intereft on lord Holland's ba- 
 lances, calculated at four pounds per cent. 
 for each year, amojanted to two hundred 
 
 and
 
 [ 69 1 
 
 and forty-eight thoufand pounds ; and the 
 intereft on the other paymafters balances, 
 to forty-fix thoufand pounds ; which, for 
 the fifteen years, from 1765 to 1780, is a 
 lofs to the public of nineteen or twenty 
 thoufand pounds a year. This fum is an 
 objed: worth faving ; and, whilfl: the ftate 
 is paying intereft for exchequer bills, for 
 votes of credit, or for advance on the land 
 tax, it is highly improper to fuffer any ba- 
 lances, to a confiderable amount, to lay 
 in the hands of either the receivers or pay- 
 mafters ; efpecially when, at this day, iliues 
 are to be made on the fliorteft notice at the 
 exchequer, through the alliftance of the 
 bank. 
 
 And if the treafurer of the navy was in- 
 difcriminately to apply his cafh to the pay- 
 ments for either of the three branches, 
 •inftead of keeping feparate calh accounts 
 for each of them, and if other branches of 
 expenditure were to do the fame, the ba- 
 lances in the treafurers or paymafters 
 hands never need be to any confiderable 
 amount. 
 
 However necefiary thefe large advances 
 to paymafters might have been formerly, 
 the intercourfc government now holds with 
 the bank, makes any real iliues ufelefs, ex- 
 cept for paying wages of different kinds; 
 as all larger fums would be beft difcharged 
 by drafts on the bank. 
 
 The
 
 [ 7° J 
 
 The idea of difficulties ariTing in the 
 balancing thefe calh accounts, at any par- 
 ticular period, fe^ms rather unaccounta- 
 ble. If the balances in the hands of a 
 treafurer or piymafter, and his clerks, are 
 ftruck, and found to be bona fide in their 
 polTeffions, no difficulty could be made by 
 the fucceflbr in receiving the balances, and 
 taking on him the truft. The treafurer 
 and paymafter are only refponfible for de- 
 falcation in their pay clerks ; all other pay- 
 ments, made to fpecific orders, are cleared as 
 they go : and no great embarraffinents could 
 arife to the adjufting the pay clerks balances 
 at the feveral pay offices in town, or at the 
 different dock-yards, if the fervants of the 
 Crown were fo inclined. 
 
 The agents of regiments, after they have 
 received any fum authoritatively, can draw 
 no embarraffment on the paymafter; and 
 when any pay clerk has been fufped:ed of 
 embezzlement, there has been very little 
 trouble or time required to bring his ac- 
 count to a balance, and to afcertain very 
 accurately to what amount he has been a 
 defaulter. 
 
 There can be no doubt but the accounts 
 of thefe great treafurers and paymafters 
 might be adjufted, and palTed more expe- 
 ditiouHy, than has ufually been the cafe. 
 
 The idea of a paymafter withholding the 
 public money, in confequence of an official 
 
 difpute.
 
 [ 71 ] 
 
 difpute, that may laft for years, between 
 him and one of his deputies, feems too 
 injurious to the public intereft, for any 
 fervant of the ftate to connive at. 
 
 This plea or pretence to withhold the 
 public money is further aggravated, by a 
 paymafter for the army having been fuf- 
 fered to keep back four hundred and fifty 
 thoufand pounds for twelve or thirteert 
 years, and two hundred and fifty thoufand 
 pounds for two years paft ; at the fame 
 time that the amount acknowledged to be 
 in litigation does not exceed feventy-five 
 thoufand pounds. 
 
 Parliament are bound in duty to take 
 care that every poflible check fliall be efta^ 
 blhhed, to prevent material embezzlements; 
 but it muft lay with the head department of 
 the finances to determine what lums of the 
 unexpended money fhall be fuifered to pafs 
 from time to time out of the exchequer, 
 into the hands of the treafurers and pay- 
 mafters. 
 
 Difficulties will be raifed, where errors 
 and abufes, which time and cuftom have 
 fandified, are brought forward to be abo- 
 lifhed, or reformed ; becaufe the private in- 
 terefts of many individuals will be liable to 
 fufFer from fuch fteps. 
 
 And whenever the executive officers of the 
 Crown fhall trufl the fecuiity of their 
 power, or the concealment of their mif- 
 
 condudf.
 
 r 72 ] 
 
 condudl, to the affiftance and fupport which 
 lecret influence affords, they will be averfe 
 in their hearts to that effediual reform, 
 which goes to root out fuch influence, 
 whatever appearances they may outwardly 
 aiTume. 
 
 Thefe reports as yet have gone to no 
 material reforrn j for though a faving of 
 lixty or feventy thoufand pounds a year 
 might arife from any conliderable balances 
 being no longer fuffered to lay in the 
 hands of the receivers, treafurers, and pay- 
 mafters ; ftill the pradtice can never be 
 effedually prevented, but by proper exer- 
 tions on the part of the treafury-board. 
 
 And their lordfliips, I conceive, had no 
 fort of occafion to give the commiffioners 
 nine months tedious refearches, to remedy 
 an evil which the attention of the treafury- 
 board only can effectually prevent. There- 
 fore thefe refearches have done little more 
 as yet, than to amufe the public, and con- 
 tribute to lull their fears afleep; which have 
 been done effed:ually ; for the honefl, un- 
 fufped:ing mind flatters himfelf reformation 
 is at work, and quietly waits the event. 
 May men of thofe opinions find in the end 
 they have not been miflaken ! 
 
 I fliall now proceed, having, I hope, 
 
 candidly commented on the reports, to 
 
 make fome remarks on the different branches 
 
 of the expenditure; which, with the regular 
 
 2 revenues.
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 revenues, and the temporary loans made 
 under the faith and fecurity of Parliament, 
 amount for this year to ahnoft twenty-nine 
 millions fterling. 
 
 Of this enormous fum, upwards of a 
 million of pounds fterling * are expended 
 in the gathering in the revenue, including 
 bounties 2:1 ven for the encouragement of 
 different productions ufeful in trade and 
 man u fa (ft u res. 
 
 In the ilTuing and difpofal of the re- 
 maining twenty-feven millions and a half, 
 for the feveral ufes and demands of go- 
 vernment, and afterwards auditing that ex- 
 penditure; the falaries and incidental charges 
 of the public offices, through which this 
 vail fum palfes, to the final clofe of the 
 accounts ; with the fees, perquifites, gra- 
 tuities, and penhons, paid by the way out 
 of the public money, will, I may venture 
 to aifert, amount to one million four -f or 
 
 five 
 
 * This million does not include any of the fees or 
 perquifites of offices, paid by the merchant or others, 
 for which no allowance is made out of the revenue. 
 
 t This includes the civil eftabliftiments, for iffuing 
 and auditing the public expenditure; for the admi- 
 ralty, and its fuhordinate boards of navy, viiStuallinir, 
 ^'c. ; likewife for the feveral dockyards, with the 
 naval ilorekcepers, and ao;ent victuallers ; for the 
 army paymafters and their clerks, and the commilTa- 
 ries and agents ; with the civil ellahlifhnient be- 
 longing to the board of ordnance ; the charge in- 
 
 j[^ turrtd
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 five hundred thoufand pounds more ; mak- 
 ing, together with the charge of colle<fting, 
 two millions and a half fterling : and the 
 twenty-fix millions, which remain, are left 
 to defray the expence of the civil lift, of 
 the naval and military eftablifhments for 
 the current year, and the intereft of the 
 national debt. 
 
 The expences for the civil lift eftablilli- 
 ment was fettled, in the beginning of the 
 prefent reign, at eight hundred thoufand 
 pounds a year. — In 1769, it was five hun- 
 dred and thirteen thoufand pounds in ar» 
 rear; which a former Parliament very in- 
 dulgently difcharged. In the fucceeding 
 eight years, the civil lift was again in ar- 
 rears to the amount of fix hundred and 
 eighteen thoufand pounds; which the laft 
 Parliament, following their predecefix)rs ex- 
 ample, difcharged, without inquiry or hefi- 
 tation, or any ftep taken to fearch out the 
 caufes of thefe frequent great deficiencies, 
 in order to difcover whether they arofe 
 from wafte, extravagance, or improper pen- 
 lions, or any other mifcondu<5t in the fer- 
 
 curred for paying intereft at the bank, and other 
 public funds ; the intereft paid for anticipating the re- 
 venues, from time to time, and on the unfunded 
 debts contraifled by government; fuch as intereft on 
 navy and exchequer bills, Sec. v^rith all the fees, per- 
 quilites, and allowances granted in the fettling and 
 adjufting the dift'crent accounts. 
 
 I vants
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
 vants of the crown. And they not only 
 paid the arrears with the people's money, 
 without knowing if they were juflified in 
 fo doing, but fettled one hundred thoufand 
 pounds, in addition to the civil lift, during 
 his Majefty's life. 
 
 Queen Anne, exclulive of the allow- 
 ances for the branches of the Royal Fa- 
 mily, had but fix hundred thoufand pounds 
 a year for the maintenance of her houihold, 
 and the dignity of the Crown. 
 
 Of the two lafl Kings, George the Firil 
 had but fix hundred and eighty thoufand 
 pounds, exclufive of the allowances to the 
 Royal Family, under every additional affift' 
 ance, through his reign i and George the 
 Second had, exclufive of the allowances to 
 his Queen and Royal Family, fix hundred 
 and eighty-feven thoufand pounds, upon 
 the average for thirty-three years, reckon- 
 ing in every additional grant- or afiiftance 
 obtained through the courfe of his reign. 
 
 Thefe two laft Kings, from their at- 
 tachments and vilits to their native coun- 
 try, incurred confiderable expences the pre- 
 fent King has avoided ; and which the na- 
 tion were not bound either in juflice or 
 generofity to provide for. 
 
 The prefent King had, from his accef- 
 fion, the latter end of 1760, a fettled in- 
 come of eight hundred thoufand pounds, 
 fubjed to no uncertainties; and, after pro- 
 
 L z viding
 
 [ 76 ] 
 
 viding for his Queen, his Mother, and the 
 reft of the Royal Family, full fix hundred and 
 fixty thouland pounds a year remained. By 
 the death of his brother, the Duke of York, 
 in 1767, twelve thoufand pounds a year fell 
 in to the King : In 1769, five hundred a'nd 
 thirteen thoufand pounds were given by Par- 
 liament to pay his debts^ which, upon the 
 average amount for the firft eight years of 
 his reign, made the King's expences, after 
 providing for the Queen and Royal Family, 
 leven hundred and thirty thoufand pounds 
 a year. In 1772, the Princefs Dowager 
 died, which brought the King a further ad- 
 dition to hie income of fixty thoufand 
 pounds a year, making his income, exclu- 
 live of the Queen, and the other branches 
 of the Royal Family, fcven hundred and 
 thirty thoufand pounds. However, in 1777, 
 a frefli application was made to ParHament, 
 for the difcharge of his Majefly's debts j 
 which, in the courfe of eight years, from 
 1769, came to fix hundred and eighteen 
 tnoufand pounds, and made the King's an- 
 nuil income for thofe eight years, exclufive 
 of the expences of his Queen, Aunt, and 
 Brothers, (Sec. feven hundred and eighty 
 thoufand pounds. And from 1777, by the 
 additional one hundred thoufand pounds to 
 the King's income, his Majefty has had 
 from his fubjecfts, exclufive of the Queen 
 and Royal Family, eight hundred and thirty 
 
 thoufand
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
 thoufand pounds a year, to fupport his houf- 
 hold, and the dignity of his Crown. 
 
 The fervants of theCrown.inthelatere'g-n, 
 never had more than fix hundred and ninety ■■^0 
 thoufand pounds a year, reckoning every 
 addition, to fupport the fame articles v^^hich 
 the fervants of the Crown, during the firft 
 eight years of the prefent reign, expended 
 annually feven hundred and thirty thoufand ^^ 
 pounds to provide for ; and, during the fol- 
 lowing eight years, {(^ven hundred and eighty 
 thoufand pounds ; and from 1777, eight 
 hundred and thirty thoufand pounds a year. 
 Neverthelefs, the talk abroad is, that the 
 houfiiold and falaries are growing again into 
 arrears. 
 
 When his Majefly's fervants have been 
 fo carelefs and profufe, as to fuffer large ar- 
 rears, in fhort fpaces of time, to accumu- 
 late in their departments, which the in- 
 come cannot difcharge ; it then becomes 
 incumbent on the Commons to examine 
 the expenditure, and fejrch into the caufes 
 of the deficiencies, before they proceed a 
 fecond time to grant any further aids to 
 difcharge them^ left any part of the mo- 
 ney fliould have been applied by fome of 
 the fervants of the Crown to corrupt pur- 
 pofes, fuch as might be fubverlive of the 
 conftitution in the end. 
 
 For Parliament, at any time, to grant 
 an additional fupply, before the debts Ihall 
 
 have
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
 bav€ been explained, could be confidered 
 in no other light, than as a glaring breach 
 of the truft repofed in them by the people. 
 Becaufe it may tend to betray the nation, 
 at fome period or other, by furni(hing a 
 precedent for bad miniflers in future to be 
 carelefs and indifferent as to what wafte or 
 extravagance they run into in the expen- 
 diture of their Sovereign's income, feeing 
 that without difficulty, or even the leaft in- 
 quiry, they could eafiiy fupply all defi- 
 ciencies, whatever may be the amount. 
 
 No fubje(ft can have a wi(h to reduce his 
 Sovereign's income, or to controul him in 
 the mode of expending it, whilft his fer- 
 vants (hall be attentive to make it fubfer- 
 vient to the expences of his houiliold, and 
 the dignity of his Crown. But when im- 
 provident fervants run their Prince in debt, 
 and come to Parliament for relief; the 
 Commons might reafonably be expelled to 
 make inquiry into the caufe of the debt; 
 which would have led the lall Parliament, 
 in 1777, to have looked into the ftate of 
 the penlion lift ; and to have aflced. Why 
 die penlions paid at the exchequer, and 
 thofe by a paymafter, were increafed in 
 1775 near thirty thoufand pounds, and in 
 1776, feventy thoufand pounds a year be- 
 yond their amount in 1760? Alfo, what 
 were the amount of the fecret pcnfions, 
 and to whom paid ; for though their ex- 
 
 iftcnce
 
 t 79 J 
 
 iftence was not denied, yet all explanation 
 was, contrary to reafon and juftice, with- 
 held by the laft Parliament ; they rejed:ing 
 the motion for laying the account before 
 the public, although the neceffity of it had 
 been urged by one of the members of the 
 Commons ; who accompanied his affertions 
 with fome circumftances of a very dan- 
 gerous tendency ; leaving no other alterna- 
 tive for the minifters' defence, but either to 
 bring forward the lift, or elfe (liew t© the 
 public the falfliood and calumny of the 
 charge. 
 
 It may naturally be fuppofed, that the 
 Parliament, had they examined into the 
 civil lift debts, would have afked, why the 
 falaries and allowances to our minifters at 
 foreign courts were increafed, from 1765 to 
 1775, thirty thoufand pounds a year more 
 than their amount in 1754 ? — both times 
 of peace. Why the privy purfe, wardrobe, 
 ftables, and board of works, came to eighty 
 thoufand pounds a year more in the pre- 
 fent, than in the laft reign ? Whether it 
 could in anywife affed: the eafe and con- 
 venience of the Sovereign, or the dignity 
 of the Crown, if certain ufelefs and nomi- 
 nal offices, with large falaries, were abo- 
 lished ? fuch as a treafurer and comptroller 
 of the- houfehold — the one without caft], 
 and the other without power. A lord war-. 
 den of the cinque ports, and a conftable of 
 
 Dover
 
 [ So ] 
 
 Dover Caflle — now that the charge and 
 protedion of the coaft is no longer en- 
 trufted to thele ports, and their lord war- 
 den. A furveyor and auditor of land re- 
 venues — when fcarce any lands or revenues 
 remain. A mafler of the hawks — when 
 none are trained, and the amufement no 
 longer prad:ifed. A lord, the paymafler of 
 penSons — that might as well be paid at 
 the exchequer, or the bank, for the falary 
 of a common clerk. Chief Juftices in 
 Eyre, with very large appointments — when 
 the diftributive juftice they were to prefide 
 over, the motives of their eflablidiment, 
 have long been at an end. Thefe are the 
 circumftances for Parliament to look into ; 
 and which could never be done, confident 
 with the refpect due to the Sovereign, but 
 when the negle(ft and mifmanagement of his 
 fervants have rendered the royal income in- 
 fufficient to provide for his Majefty's houf- 
 hold, and the dignity of the Crown. 
 
 Thus, taking in the civil lift, is the ex- 
 penditure of near three and a half, of aim oft 
 twen ty -nine millions, raifed for the year 1781, 
 to be accounted for: fix millio s fix hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds muft be applied todif- 
 charge theintereft of the funded debt * : the 
 remainder, rather more than eighteen mil- 
 
 * The amount, after allowing for the redudion of 
 intereft, ^. 212,CC0, in 1781 and 1782. 
 
 lions
 
 [ 8i ] 
 
 lions and a half, goes to defray the difFerent 
 branches of the navy, and the navy tranf- 
 ports, the army; the ordnance, and their 
 tranfport fervices. Thefe are the great fields 
 of profit and advantage to all concerned in 
 them, except the failor and the foldier, 
 Thefe are the gulphs to be explored, and to 
 which the petitions of the people were par- 
 ticularly pointed. But the expences of the 
 feparate branches of thefe great departments, 
 the fervants of the crown, perhaps, did not 
 chufe to lay open to the people ; rather 
 wifhing to conceal them from the public 
 eye, in one general mafs : and the laft Par- 
 liament, either through indolence or com- 
 plaifance, feemed too readily inclined to 
 meet fuch wifh. For, othervvife, would 
 they have recorded their refolution to re- 
 main ignorant of what it was their duty to 
 know, by rejecfling every motion that went 
 to the elucidating the accounts ? and which 
 Minifters would hardly have ventured to 
 withhold, if the lafl Parliament had been 
 refolved to be informed. 
 
 M CHAP.
 
 [ 82 ] 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 STRICTURES ON THE NAVY AND ARMY 
 EXPENCES, COMPARED WITH THEIR 
 AMOUNT IN THE LAST WAR. 
 
 OUR navy, at the clofe of the lafl war, 
 was in a very refpedtable ftate ; the 
 fhips in much better condition, and far 
 more numerous, than they were in the year 
 2776, at the commencement of our colony, 
 or tranfatlantic war. This naturally leads 
 us to conjedlure, that many fhips had been 
 fuffered to decay, and ftores to wafte away„ 
 without being repaired or repleniflied, dur- 
 ing the twelve years from 1764 to 1776, 
 And though the war was then avowedly be- 
 gun, and might have been with reafon pre- 
 dicfled in 1775, if not fooner ; and every cir- 
 cumftance that experience fuggefted, told us 
 to beware of France and Spain ; yet in May 
 1778, after France had declared her inten- 
 tions to fupport our revolted colonies, many 
 of our lliips were in a defective flate, and in 
 fuch want of /lores of every kind to equip 
 them; that in two months from the 
 
 refcript
 
 [ 83 1 
 
 refcript delivered by the French Am- 
 bailador, and his hoftile departure from 
 hence, it was with great difficulties and de- 
 lays, much as the time preiTed, that Admi- 
 ral Byron's fquadron, of twelve or thirteen 
 fhips of the hne, could be difpatched to fol- 
 low the fquadron of France to America ; 
 which, inftead of following, we fhould have 
 been there ready to receive. But fo defec- 
 tive were our navy, that, when with diffi- 
 culty this fquadron was aflembled at Spit- 
 head, fome of the running rigging, it has 
 been credibly aflerted, were unreaved from 
 other ihips, in order to promote the difpatch 
 of the fquadron. 
 
 Thefe are flriking proofs of the neg- 
 leded ftate of our navy, when the war broke 
 out in Europe j though, in common pru- 
 dence, we ought to have had I'le hulls in 
 conftant repair at all times, and ilores fuffi- 
 cient in readinefs to equip a formidable fleet, 
 fo as to be able to put to fea on the fliorteft 
 notice. And had we been fortunate enough 
 to have our fleets properly arrayed, and fent 
 in time to the protediion of our fcttJemcits, 
 when France declared againft us, neither Do- 
 minica, St. Vincent, nor Grenada, had beea 
 taken. 
 
 At the clofe of the lafl: war, in 176-^, we 
 were in pofleffion of a fleet, that, with com- 
 mon care and attention, might have been 
 eafily renewed, and kept in condition to 
 copae out of harbour on a fhort notice. 
 
 M 2 Wc
 
 [ H ] 
 
 We had at that time one hundred and 
 nine * fhips of the line, including thofe of 
 fifty guns, and eighty fubftantial frigates, in 
 commillion ; and building and in ordinary, 
 forty fhips, from fifty guns and upwards. 
 
 From the wear of the war, and from ly- 
 ing in ordinary, many of the fhips, even 
 during peace, would want repairing, or re- 
 building, from time to time. The mafts 
 and yards, if properly taken care of, might 
 lafl: many years; fo would guns and anchors ; 
 and thofe flores liable to decay, might, by 
 proper management, keeping always a ftock 
 of materials on hand, foon be prepared for 
 ufe. 
 
 * In commiiTion the end of the war, in 1763 : 
 
 Ships. 
 Ships of the line, from 100 to 60 guns, — 90 
 Ships of 50 guns, — _ — «« j^ 
 
 109 
 
 From 44 to 4.9 guns, — — " — 14. 
 
 From 38 to 24 guns, — — — 64 
 
 Ships out of commiiTion in 1763 : 
 Ships of the lie building, — — — u 
 
 In ordinary, of the line, f to be repaired, or 1 
 including Ihips of 50 \ broken up, and > 29 
 guns, L rebuilt, 3 
 
 4P
 
 t 85 ] 
 
 But the great efTential objed to be atten- 
 tive after is, the repairs or renewals of the 
 hulls, as thofe fliall be found to decay. If 
 the hulls had been carefully attended to, 
 through the laft peace, our navy would ne- 
 ver have been in that defecftive ftate, which 
 the number of fhips, fo inadequate to the 
 demand at the beginning of 1778, confirmed 
 to all Europe. 
 
 By the end of 1779, or the beginning of 
 1780, eighty fliips of the line, or upwards, 
 were aflerted to be in commiffion ; but 
 feveral of thofe fhips have been found fitter 
 ^rade than real fervice. 
 
 In the fummer of 1781, there were not 
 quite ninety fhips of the line in commifiiion; 
 with about twenty-five from fifty to forty- 
 four guns, and rather more than eighty from 
 thirty-eight to twenty-eight guns. The 
 fliips in ordinary, repairing, and waiting to 
 be repaired, or rebuilt, confifted of about 
 twenty-nine or thirty of the line, and ten or 
 eleven frigates of twenty-eight guns and 
 upwards. 
 
 There have been taken or deftroyed, 
 fince 1775, -f- eight (hips of the line, two of 
 
 f Loft, or deftroyed : Gum* 
 
 3 Ships of — 74 
 5 — of — 64 
 2 of — 50 
 
 4 of — 44 
 
 12 of — 32 
 
 12 — — of 2Ji 
 
 M 3' fifty
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
 fifty guns, and twenty-eight frigates, from 
 forty-four to twenty-eight guns. Ofthofe 
 of the line, one * only had been loft between 
 April 1780, and the fummer of 178 1. 
 Neverthelefs, though eight line of battle 
 fhips were launched between March 1780, 
 and the middle of 17S1, and one or two have 
 been taken from the Dutch, we had not 
 above four or five line of battle fhips more, 
 the middle of 1781, than were in commif- 
 iion the end of 1779, a year and a half 
 before. Whilll; the Princefs i^melia, the 
 Terrible, the Buffalo, and others, almoft as 
 defed:ive, have been reckoned into the MpB^ 
 fliips of the line, alTerted from time to time 
 to be in commiflion. 
 
 Can any circumftances more ftrongly point 
 out the negled:, or uncommon decay, of our 
 navy, during the lafl twelve or fourteen 
 years ? And it muft be evident, froin the 
 ill-conditioned hulls fent into fervice, that 
 government have all along been more in 
 want of fhips than men; for otherwife, thofe 
 fit for ftrvice muft have been more in num- 
 ber: and neceflity only could fend fuch {hips 
 as the Princefs Amelia, Terrible, and Bufflilo 
 into adion : The Princefs Amelia and Buffalo 
 have ferved to imprefs a very falfe idea of our 
 ftrength ; furnifhing the States of Holland 
 with a plea to boall, that their fquadron had 
 been oppofed by Hups of greater force than 
 
 * The Culloden, of 74 guns. 
 
 they
 
 [ 87 ] 
 
 they really were 3 as thofetwo, from their de- 
 cayed condition, had not the weight of metal 
 fliips of their dimenfions ufually carry. 
 
 The fadt is, that after all our exertions 
 for thefe two or three years paii, fmce the 
 war broke out with France (and I do 
 allow they have been great) the fliips of the 
 line fit for real fervice are fcarcely equal, at 
 this day, to the number of fhips of the line 
 that were in actual fervice at the clofe of 
 the lafl war *. However, by liaving fhewn 
 what this nation can do, in the public and 
 private dock-yards, upon proper exertions ; 
 thofe circumflances corroborate, in the 
 ftrongefl degree, the negleft of our navy 
 for feveral years back. 
 
 From the beginning of 1766 to the end 
 of 1777, being twelve years of peace in 
 Europe, fifty-five fliips of the line under- 
 went fome repairs; and forty-two were 
 built, from fifty guns and upwards. From 
 the beginning of 1778, when France open- 
 ly declared her hoftile deligns, to the mid- 
 dle of 1 78 1, being three years and a half, 
 four or five and twenty fliips, from fifty 
 guns and upwards, have been built ; 
 amounting, in the fifteen years and a half, 
 to fixty-feven new fliips of the line, includ- 
 ing eleven or twelve of fifty guns. And 
 Vv^ithin the above periods were alfo built 
 about fifty or fixty fhips and large frigates, 
 from forty-four to twenty-eight guns. 
 
 • Though five (hips of the line have been taken from the 
 Spaniards, as well as one or two from the Dutch. 
 
 M 4 Sixty-
 
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 TIki
 
 t 89 ] 
 
 The building and repairs of thefe Hilps 
 can hardly be fet at more than four mil- 
 lions ; whilft the fums granted in thofe fix- 
 teen years, for building and repairing fhips 
 of war and docks, came to lix millions fix 
 hundred thoufand pounds. 
 
 As 67 fhips, of ^o guns and upwards, 
 have been built iince the beginning of 1766, 
 it is fcarcely poilible for 70 fhips of the line 
 to have undergone repairs any thing near 
 equal to two-thirds of their original coft, 
 and our navy be, at this day, neither more 
 numerous, or in better, if fo good condition, 
 as at the clofe of the laft war. If fuch llout 
 repairs had taken place, we ought to have 
 had 140 fail, of 50 guns and upwards; and 
 no crazy ihips among them: therefore I ap- 
 prehend it will be difficult to account, under 
 the head of buildings and repairs, for fo 
 much even as four millions. 
 
 In the defcription of the fliips, fome little 
 errors of time, or rates, or numbers, may be 
 found; but none of confequence enough to 
 affe(5l the leading arguments here maintained. 
 
 The grants in the naval department, for 
 building and repairs of fliips and docks, have 
 been confidered by parliament as confined fo 
 fpecifically to thofe uies -f*, that even the 
 pay of the eftabliflied officers of the feveral 
 dock-yards, has been always provided for, 
 
 f Therefore, the burning of cordage and fails cannot 
 afFcdt the money, I apprehend, appropriiitcd for the hulls 
 of the fhips, 
 
 N under
 
 r 9^ J 
 
 under the head of ordinary; which likewiTe 
 includes other expences incurred in and 
 about the dock-yards, as the extrads of fome 
 of the articles under that head will fhew i 
 fuch as the eftablilhments for the yards,* 
 the v.ages and provifions for officers and' 
 men ferving on board the fhips in ordinary, 
 the charge for harbour moorings and rig- 
 ging, and for the common repairs of his 
 Majefty's fhips in ordinary. Thefe feveral 
 articles of expence, in the lafl: peace, v/ere 
 not lefs than tvv^o hundred and thirty thou- 
 fand pounds * a year : and the annual amount 
 of the ordinary of the navy, during the 
 twelve years of peace from 1764 to 1775, 
 came, on the average, to four hundred and 
 twelve thoufand pounds -f, 
 
 * Under the head of ordinary, are the following 
 charges for 1776 : 
 To the fix dock-yards, — — j^- 24,598 
 
 Wages for fhips and veffels in ordinary, — 42,529 
 Victuals to officers and men ferving inordinary, 18,815 
 For harbour nioornigs and rigging, — 40,450 
 
 Ordinary repairs for his MajelTy's fhips in 
 
 ordinary, — — — — 113,442 
 
 * ;^- 239^834 
 
 f Total amount of the ordinary of the navy, 
 
 for twelve years, from 1764 to 1775, £> 4,944,000 
 
 Average for each year, — ^.412,000 — -— 
 
 Total of the ordinary of the 
 navy for fix years, from 
 17^0 to 1755, • — — — ^.1,700,000 
 
 Average tor each year, — ^.283,000 — • 
 
 Exccfs £, 129,000. 
 
 Yet,
 
 [ 91 1 
 
 Yet, during the fix years of peace^ frorrt 
 1750 to 1755, the ordinary of the navy 
 came to no more than two hundred and 
 eighty-three thoufand pounds a year, on the 
 average; which makes an excefs of one hun- 
 dred and twenty-nine thoufand pounds a 
 year, during the laft peace — And yet our 
 navy appears to have been in a worfe condi- 
 tion, in all refpetfts, at the commencement 
 of the prefent, than of the former war. 
 
 The records of Parliam^ent inform us, 
 that in fix years of peace, from 1750 to 
 1755, the money granted to build and repair 
 fhips of war came to no more than fix hun- 
 dred and forty thoufand pounds, or one hun- 
 dred and feven thoufand pounds a year; 
 which were found fufficient to preferve the 
 fhips in fuch good condition, that, from the 
 breaking out of the war in 1756, to the end 
 of it in 1763, no more than one million five 
 hundred thoufand pounds were required of 
 Parliament for building and repairing fliips, 
 during thofe years of adive fervice ; this 
 was not quite two hundred thoufand pounds 
 a year; yet fufficient to leave eleven fliips of 
 the line upon the fcocks *; and amounted, 
 
 * Grants from 1750 to 1755, for build- 
 ing and repairing fhips and docks, be- 
 ing fix years, — — ^, 640,000 
 
 Grants in tiie eight years from 1756 to 
 
 1763, — — — 1,508,000 
 
 ^ 2,148,000 
 Equal to ;^. 153,000, on the average, for each year. 
 
 N 2 for
 
 IT' 
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
 for the fourteen years from 1750 to 1763, 
 to no more, on the average, than one hun- 
 dred and fifty- three thoufand pounds for each 
 year. 
 
 Whilft, from 1766 to 1781, being twelve 
 years of peace, and four of war in Eu- 
 rope, the money granted for building and 
 repairing fliips and docks, came to fix mil- 
 lions fix hundred thoufand pounds, or four 
 hundred and twelve thoufand pounds a year; 
 fufiicient to have built one hundred and fifty 
 fhips of the line, and one hundred and twen- 
 ty, or more, flout frigates; and left a larger 
 fum than could be wanted to make any ne- 
 ceflary alterations or additions to the docks, 
 to receive, and repair them in. 
 
 When fuch extenfive grants come to be 
 ccntrafled with thofe in the fourteen years 
 from 1750 to 1763, it mull: ftrike us with 
 artonilliment, to know our fleet had been fo 
 defective, and unequal to its ftrength and 
 condition at the clofe of the laft, when the 
 prefent war broke out in Europe. 
 
 Thefe ftatements are fufiicient to raifc 
 doubts and fufpicions, as to the appropri- 
 ation of the money granted for the fole pur- 
 pofc of building and repairing the hulls of 
 the men of war. But thofe doubts have 
 been increafed by the pains taken to ward 
 off all inquiry into the naval expenditure, 
 at leafi: to any effcdual explanation. 
 
 3 In
 
 [ 93 3 
 
 In fliort, during the laft parliament, all 
 attempts to obtain a fatisfad:ory account of 
 the difpofal of the money granted to keep 
 our navy in good repair, were ehided. Even 
 the motion made for examining the furveyor 
 of the navy, as to the condition of the ihips, 
 was rejected. 
 
 Such condud, from whatever motives it 
 may proceed, joined to the enormous fum« 
 that have been granted to build and repair 
 the {hips of war, will naturally lead men to 
 fufpe(5l the money had been applied to ufes 
 foreign to thofe for which it had been given. 
 
 And, unlefs the money has been other- 
 wife applied, it muft be difficult to account 
 for the weak ftate of the navy, when the 
 war begun in Europe *. 
 
 Jf there has been no negle6l or mifma- 
 nagement ; if the money has been conflantly 
 applied to build or repair the fliips of war; 
 and the diflrefs arofe from a fudden unex^ 
 ampled decay of timbers ; from caufes not to 
 have been forefeen, or prevented ; it would 
 furely have been prudent and wife in mini- 
 flers, for their own reputation, and the 
 general fatisfadtion of the public, to have 
 
 * Bcfides the fums already enumerated, the navy 
 debt, by the end of the fifth year of the war in America, 
 and the third from the rupture with France, came to 
 double the amount of that debt, at the end of the laft 
 war, or during any one year of it. 
 
 made
 
 [ 94 J 
 
 made thofe canfes, and the application of the' 
 money, clearly appear ; which might ealily 
 have been done. 
 
 The recorded flate of the fliips, and the 
 decay of timber, the furveyor of the navy 
 muft have been capable of proving ; and the 
 office-books v/ould certainly have fliewn, 
 without much time or trouble, the quantity 
 brought each year into the refped:ive dock- 
 yards, oi timber, plank, iron, bolts, nails, pitch, 
 turpentine, rofin, paint, oakwn, and any other 
 materials ufed in building or repairing the men 
 of war i the coft ofthefe articles, and the amtiial 
 amount of pay to working fiipwrights, joiners, 
 caulkers, painters, fmiths, &c. ; with the cojl 
 of his Majcjiys Jhips or "jej/'els launched from 
 merchant yards, would have enabled parlia- 
 ment to judge, with fufficient accuracy, of 
 the application of thofe grants. 
 
 No fupplies can be voted for purpofes 
 of higher confequence to Great Britain, 
 than thofe given to keep the hulls of our 
 fhips in a condition for fervice, whenever 
 called for. The importance of this obje(5t 
 muft be evident to every man in the king- 
 dom ; as money alone, without the afTiftance 
 of much time, cannot rcplenifli or provide 
 the necefl'ary fupply, when the lliips have 
 been fuffered to fall into decay. Thefe cer- 
 tainly were the fentiments of the minifler 
 at the end of the lall war ; for, in ftating the 
 eflimates for 1765, he obferved, The peace 
 
 ejlablijhment
 
 [ 95 ] 
 
 ejiablifimenf for the navy was enlarged, being 
 the moji conjiitutional force, ajid bejt fecurity 
 for Great Britain ; and therefore one hundred 
 thoiifand pounds a year more than before wert 
 to be employed in Jhip- building, to keep the 
 navy on a footing to be rejpe^ed by ail Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 This was fo far from being the condition 
 of the fliips, at the end of thirteen or four- 
 teen years, that they were found to be in 
 fuch a weak flate, as to be defpifed by all 
 Europe. Yet the reflecftion of what has been 
 done towards the increafe of the navy fince 
 the war broke out, muft add to our aftonilh- 
 ment at the defedive flate the fliips were in 
 when that war began ; and teach us to la- 
 ment, left thofe exertions may have come too 
 late, which, if attended to in time, would 
 have given us a decided fuperiority over the 
 fleets of France and Spain, in whatever part 
 of the world they might be colleded. 
 
 Our navy is eilentially neceiTary for the 
 fafety and protedlion of the empire ; the fe- 
 curity of our commerce depends entirely 
 upon it. Therefore it was unpardonable 
 not to be prepared for every event that 
 might happen, from the deliberate rupture 
 with our colonies. 
 
 If our naval force, at the commencement 
 of the war in America, had been in the con- 
 dition the liberal grants to fupport it, gave us 
 every reaibn to ej^ped 3 the full difplay of 
 
 that
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
 that ftrength, in the beginning of the con- 
 teft, had, in all probability, prevented any 
 foreign powers from openly leaguing with 
 onr revolted colonies ; and thereby flopped 
 the breaking out of the war in Europe ; 
 which France and Spain were tempted 
 to embark in, merely from the negledl of 
 our navy. Spain, at leaft, would have ven- 
 tured, on no other ground, to declare againft 
 us ; for to this day, that power has formed 
 no league with North America. And if 
 France, from her reftlefs and ambitious tem- 
 per, had been imprudent enough to join the 
 revolters againil us, fhe muft have yielded, 
 early in the flruggle, to our fuperior force at 
 iea. A fuperiority eafy to have been ob- 
 tained, if we had been fufficiently prepared 
 at the outfet j though difficult now to 
 recover. 
 
 A maritime flate ought always to bear in 
 mind the following truths happy would it 
 have been for us, if minifters and parliament 
 had done fo fome years back : — That the 
 nation who commands upon the ocean, will 
 command the trade that palles through it. 
 For without fuch a fuperiority at fea, nei- 
 ther our colonies, or other pofTcfiions in 
 America or Afia, proftrate at our feet, yield- 
 ing to unconditional fubmiffion, could fecure 
 us their exclufive trade. An advantage we 
 long enjoyed, the fource of all our flrength, 
 and opulence 5 and which can only make the 
 
 colonies
 
 [ 91 ] 
 
 colonies worth any great exertions to regain 
 them. 
 
 From thefe circumftances, tv/o very na- 
 tural and important queftions mufl arife in 
 the breaft of every man, who feels for his 
 country, or the fecurity of his property. 
 Tell us then you our rcprefentatives, who 
 furely know the caufes, w^hy the fhips of 
 the line, when the war broke out, were not 
 more numerous; and why, of thole put into 
 commiffion, feveral were hardly fit for the 
 ilighteft fervice, as experience has too fa- 
 tally confirmed. 
 
 Thefe are queftions, that can in no degree 
 tend to harrafs or retard the executive ope- 
 rations of the ftate : They are blended with 
 no facflious principles, and originate from no 
 difcontent. But are fuch, as the public 
 have a right to call on the Commons to ex- 
 plain ; finding that fix millions and a half 
 had, during lixteen years*, and only four 
 of them adtive war at fea, proved fcarcely 
 adequate to preferve and renew the hulls of 
 the fame number of line of battle fhips, 
 which a little more than two millions one 
 hundred thoufand pounds had done during 
 fourteen preceding years -[-; andfeven of them 
 the moft extenfive, and hottefl naval war, 
 this country had ever been engaged in, 
 
 * From 1766 to 1781. 
 \ From 1750 to 1763. 
 
 Q The
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
 The army has been a very heavy expence 
 to the nation, ever fince the rupture with 
 our colonies; and that fatal idea was adopted, 
 of carrying on a war by land at three thou- 
 fand miles diftant from the fource of all 
 fup plies ; whereby the expence incurred in 
 th^- laft fix years, from our armies warring 
 in America, will be found to exceed con- 
 siderably the charge incurred for our armies 
 in Germany, Canada, the Havannah, and 
 elfewhere, in fix years of the former war ; 
 as \^ ill appear from the following ilate-^ 
 tnents. 
 
 The
 
 [ 99 J 
 
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 Th^
 
 [ 100 ] 
 
 The tranfport fervice for the troops, and 
 the vidualling them on board, are not in- 
 cluded in the comparifon, for either war ; 
 becaufe thofe heads of expence are carried 
 into the extraordinaries of the navy. 
 
 The extraordinaries came, in the Cix years 
 of the laft war, for the navy, to between 
 thirteen and fourteen milh'ons -, and for the 
 army and ordnance, to about feventeen mil- 
 lions ; making together thirty millions and 
 a half*. 
 
 Whilft the extraordinaries, in the fix years 
 of the prefent war, will amount, by the 
 end of 178 1, for the navy, to nineteen mil- 
 lions ; and for the army and ordnance, to 
 twenty-one millions, at the loweft compu- 
 tation ; making together forty -f millions or 
 
 * The extraordinaries, from 1757 to 1762 inclufive, 
 
 came, for navy fervices, and for tranfports for the army, 
 
 to - - ' £- i3,5CO,oco 
 
 For ordnance, - - 2,170,000 
 
 For army, -» - 14,800,000 
 
 £■ 30j470,ooo 
 
 t The extraordinaries from 1776 to 1781, inclufive, 
 
 will amount, for navy fervices, and tranfports for the 
 
 nrmy, ^o - ■■ » £, 19,000,000 
 
 For ordnance, - - 3,700,000 
 
 For army, - ■- 17,500,000 
 
 £' 40,200,000 
 
 upwards j
 
 [ loi 1 
 
 upwards ; and exceeding the fame heads of 
 expence, in the lall: war, ten millions fler- 
 ling, in the fpace of fix years ; although no 
 more feamen have been employed; and fewer 
 troops by forty thoufand have been in pay; 
 during the prefent, than in the laft war. 
 
 Thefe ftatements are made in order to 
 ihew, how much the expences for the fea 
 and land armaments have, in the prefent, 
 exceeded their amount in the former war. 
 At the fame time, our ill-judged purfuits 
 are very likely to lofe the nation, thofc 
 folid advantages, the wife exertions of the 
 former war had won. 
 
 In the extraordinaries, are contained mofl 
 of thofe agencies, contracts, jobs, and 
 fchemes, which this tranf-atlantic war has 
 given birth to. 
 
 What can be more inconfiftent with the 
 nature of mercantile tranfa»flions, or more 
 contrary to the true interefts of the people, 
 than to have thefe contracts and eneage- 
 ments, at leaft the greateft part of them, 
 fettled by the lords of thetreafury? tranf- 
 aiSlions, which neither they nor their fecre- 
 taries can have time or knowledge to exa- 
 mine or condudl ; and which have too often 
 been beftowed on members of Parliament, 
 or others, whom that board might wilh to fa- 
 vour or indulge ; regardlefs whether he; are 
 lufficiently acquainted with the aflbrtments 
 of goods they undertake to provide. 
 
 l£
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
 If the advantage of the public was ths 
 fole objecft; it might with reafon be ex- 
 peded, thefe treafury contrads, as they 
 are ufually termed, would be adjufled by 
 that office, whether navy, army, or ord- 
 nance, to which they immediately belong- 
 ed ; and granted, like thofe contradts made 
 l)y the navy and victualling boards, to the 
 ioweft bidder *; who mufl:, to afford it, be 
 one of thofe perfons, whofe profeffion it is 
 to make or provide the articles wanted. 
 Therefore, it is very improvident to call in 
 a middle man or agent, often unacquainted 
 with the bufmefs he is to tranfadt, and who 
 muft have a handfome profit on his contradt, 
 to induce him to accept it. 
 
 Our troops are as diiHnguiflied for difci- 
 pline and valour, as thofe of any power iu 
 Europe; but our navy is in truth our bul- 
 wark. The infular fituations of Great Bri- 
 tain and Ireland muft furnifli fupplies of 
 feamen, if properly encouraged, no king- 
 dom in Europe can equal : and their har- 
 bours and docks, for fafety and conflruc- 
 jtion, excel thofe of every other poten- 
 tate. 
 
 Mafters on the ocean, we command its 
 foreign traffic ; and without the Tecurity o£ 
 
 * No injury could arlfe, as thofe contra6lors are 
 required to give ftcurity, proportit>n€d to the trufl, or 
 the amount of the engagement. 
 
 com-
 
 [ 103 1 
 
 communication and paffage, our diftant co- 
 lonies, and pofTeffions muft lofe their value. 
 
 With fuch a navy at our command, at 
 the commencement of the quarrel with our 
 colonies, or even when the war began in 
 Europe, as the grants during the lafl: peace 
 ihould have fecured us, all might have been 
 well at one half of the expence that has 
 already been incurred ; which, if peace could 
 not have been preferved in Europe, would 
 have proved fufficient to have ftripped France 
 and Spain of their heft illands and ports ia 
 the Weft Indies, had our navy been in a con- 
 dition to exert its wonted lirength. 
 
 The fole advantages Great Britain derived 
 from the Americans were, from their con- 
 fumption of our manufactures, and the re- 
 turns made of their produce, confifting 
 moftly of raw materials, or articles for re- 
 exportation from hence ; and likewife from 
 the employment furnifhed by thefe means 
 for our merchant fhips. 
 
 The advantages to America in future, as 
 ilie increaies in population, muft depend on 
 foreign commerce; as her fituation, and the 
 produd:ion of her lands, equally invite her 
 to trade : therefore, had we been mafters 
 at fea, without fetting a foot upon the con- 
 tinent, America muft have yielded to our 
 commercial laws ; the only laws, had we 
 been wife, we ihould ever have exercifed 
 with rigour. But folly and infatuation have 
 
 tempted
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
 tempted us to wade our ftrength and treafurc 
 in carrying on a land war, where no im- 
 prelllonp could be made, and where every 
 circumftance was (o hoftile againft us, that 
 the proviiions to fubfift our army were to 
 be carried, as well as the ammunition, three 
 thojfand miles by fea. 
 
 All the efforts on land have tended to 
 weaken and impoverilh Great Britain ; and 
 the large fums of money, neceflarily fent 
 after the army, have contributed to enrich 
 our difdffedted colonies. 
 
 Setting afide the juftice of the war, the 
 policy and wifdom of the meafure cannot 
 be defended. We fhut our ears to their 
 complaints, yet were unprepared to chaflife 
 them by land; and at the fame time in- 
 capable of oppofing our rivals in commerce 
 on the ocean. Idly believing France would 
 let flip the moft favourable opportunity of 
 attacking us, v/hen at variance with cur 
 colonies ; and our navy had been long negr, 
 3e(5led : a negle(5l of the molt dangerous 
 confcquence, from the time that muft aU 
 ways be required to recover it; which folly 
 and inattention can hardly excufe; and might 
 only have been expedled from the hand of 
 treachery. And, hnce we have got up our 
 naval force in fome degree, we have not 
 known how to ufe it to advantage. Ill in- 
 formed, it's to be feared, of the movements or 
 ilrengthcf cur enemies, we feejn to have been 
 1 coun-
 
 [ 105 ] 
 
 countera6led in every plan or meafure \vc 
 have attempted to carry into execution. 
 
 From jealoufies at home, our ableft fea- 
 officers, and fome of our beft generals, havo 
 been flighted or infulted, and drove into 
 retirement, to preferve their reputation from 
 the invidious attacks, raifed from pique, 
 refentment, or mifcondud: in others. 
 
 If any thing can divert the dangers that 
 hang over us, and fave this country from 
 the deltrudlion that threatens her commer- 
 cial interefts, it muft be exertions at fea : 
 and, fo circumftanced, fliall feveral of our 
 braveit, and the moft experienced of our 
 admirals, be fuffered to remain on fhcre ! 
 The fervants of the Crown are bound, by 
 every tie of duty to their country, to call 
 them, at thefe perilous times, into fervice, 
 and force them to explain the motives of 
 their difguil. If their reafons were fri- 
 volous, and they (hould ftill perlift in rc- 
 fuling to come forward, and exert their 
 abilities and courage to preferve and ftter 
 us through the ftorm, they ought in that ' 
 cafe to be flruck off from the Jill of ad- 
 mirals, with every mark of contempt from 
 their fovereign, and the execrations of their 
 fellow-fubjects. But if their complaints 
 were well founded, and they had retired 
 merely to preferve their rep'jtations; feeing, 
 at the fame time, they were baitled, and too 
 ill fupported, to be able to exert their abi- 
 
 P liti^i
 
 [ «o6 ] 
 
 lities for the general good ; it might then 
 be wife and prudent in the people, if their 
 reprefentatives refufed to make application, 
 to join in an humble addrefs to their fove^ 
 reign, praying his Majefty would gracioufly 
 pleafe to remove the obftacles to thofe gallant 
 experienced fea officers ferving, at this very 
 critical and alarming juncture. 
 
 There is not a moment to lofe ; a naval 
 blow muft be ftruck, or we are a ruined 
 nation. It is not by land, but on the 
 ocean, America is to be brought back, if 
 that can now be done. As Canada, in the 
 laft war, was faid to have been won in Ger- 
 many ; fo, in the prefent war, it may with 
 equal reafon be urged, that America is only 
 to be regained at fea. 
 
 We feem not to have ad:ed either with 
 candour, generofiiy, or difcretion, with re- 
 fped: to America, lince the defection took 
 place, for, in every attempt to treat with 
 our revolted colonies, inflead of advancing 
 with fair and manly proportions, thofe 
 who have been entrufled to negotiate, ap- 
 pear to have diifembled and intrigued too 
 much, ever to acquire confidence. 
 
 Our troops have borne fatigue with great 
 patience and perfeverance, and exerted a 
 wonderful degree of condudt and valour. 
 But when difappointed, or fruftrated, in 
 their fchemes, they have, on fomc occafions, 
 in thdr predatory excurfions,. I am afraid, 
 
 debafed
 
 ■[ «07 ] 
 
 debafed the charadler of the foldier by re- 
 venge, and ftained their valour by ufelefs 
 acfls of cruelty. 
 
 Information, with regard to America, 
 has been induftrioully withheld from the 
 public ; whilft impreflions of the weak- 
 nefs of the revolters, have mifled us. And 
 now, with all our dear-bought ex:^erience, 
 we feem to be going on, to wafte our ftrcngth 
 upon the continent of America; which 
 might, to far more advantage, be employed 
 elfewhere. 
 
 When fcarcely a match for France and 
 Spain, we have haflily and impolitically, 
 though I admit we had caufe of refentment, 
 declared war againlt the Dutch ; treating 
 them, at the fame time, not as a nation we 
 were going to war with in a fair and ho- 
 nourable manner, but as if they too were 
 rebels, who had revolted from Great Bri- 
 tain. 
 
 After the depredations committed on the 
 Dutch commerce, without any of that pre- 
 vious notice, which the interefls of fo- 
 cicty have taught the civilized nations of 
 Europe to adopt, before they proceed to 
 hoftilities, can we expert that fuch con- 
 duct will go unrevenged, fliould the powers 
 combined againft us bear us down ? What 
 we have as yet done againft Holland, I am 
 afraid, will not weaken her as an enemy 
 in any material degree ; being chiefl , the 
 P 2 deftru(5tion
 
 [ io8 ] 
 
 deftrndlon of private property, to the in- 
 jury of individuals, belonging to different 
 nations ; and done in a manner the efta- 
 blilhed rules of war condemn : rules no na- 
 tion can be more concerned, and therefore 
 ought to be more folicitous to maintain, 
 than Great Britain. If Holland fhall have 
 it in her power ever to retaliate, can we 
 fuppofe that fhe will fix bounds to her 
 depredations, by confining them only to the 
 extent of ours ? It is more than probable 
 that, urged on by refentment and revenge, 
 fhe would know no bounds. Therefore, 
 whatever juft grounds, in our own opinion, 
 we might have for declaring war, it was 
 hazardous, to the lafl degree, to do it, as we 
 were fituated : and to do it in the manner 
 we did, an adt of indifcretion we may ulti- 
 mately repent, in all human probability; 
 becaufe it furnifhes pretexts for every other 
 nation to exclaim againfi: us ; and if we fall, 
 vve ihall fall unpitied and defpifed. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 [ 109 ] 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 ^Tp H U S far, my countrymen, we have 
 ■*- proceeded in our inquiry, carefully 
 avoiding all fpcculative and conjectural 
 points ; drawing reu.r^rks merely from facfts; 
 and making the rife and fall of mterefl the 
 only criterion to judge of the increafe or 
 decreafe of national v^ealth. 
 
 The amount of the public income has 
 been fairly ftated, as well as the fources 
 from whence it flows, and the charges of 
 gathering it , with the expence incuired in 
 iffuing it from the trcafury, and the appro- 
 priation of it afterwards ; alfo the debts we 
 are incumbered with, part left us by our an- 
 cellors to provide for, and part contracted 
 by our own extravagant purfuits. 
 
 A candid examination has alfo been flated 
 of the reports, in order fo enable every fel- 
 low-fubjcd: to difcover their tendency. But 
 if our reprefentatives do not proceed deeper 
 into reform, than they leem at prefent in- 
 clined to go, the pccitions of the people 
 will be poorly gratified. 
 
 To work an effedual reform in the 
 
 finances, 
 3
 
 L 110 ] 
 
 finances, lb as to produce any confiderable 
 favings, either in coUeding or expending 
 the revenue, the feveral complex duties and 
 taxes fhould be fimplified ; all ufekfs places, 
 of whatever denomination, which exift at 
 prefent, and fuch as fhall become ufelefs 
 upon any real reform taking place, be abo- 
 liflied. 
 
 All fees and perquifites allowed, fliould 
 
 be regiftered, and then converted to the 
 
 augmentation of falaries in the refpedtive 
 
 departments, in proportion to the truft and 
 
 attendance : and no perfons fhould be placed 
 
 at the head of offices they do not regularly 
 
 attend, fufficient to tranfad; the bufinefs. 
 
 The fulleft reward mi2;ht then be ^iven to 
 
 thofe who conduced the official bufmefs ; 
 
 and very material favings made in office 
 
 expences, for coUedting and iffiiing the 
 
 revenues, and controuling the expenditure ; 
 
 not, in all probability, to a lefs amount 
 
 than five or fix hundred thoufand pounds a 
 
 year, from falaries, fees, and perquifites, 
 
 reckoning thofe fees never brought to any 
 
 public account : and from the fale alfo of 
 
 the Crown lands. Nothing would be found 
 
 chimerical or difgraceful in fuch a reform, 
 
 nor anywife inconfirtent with public dig" 
 
 nity^ jujiice, and gratitude. 
 
 The various collections which confiifute 
 the national revenue, {hould lofe all dif- 
 tind:ion, as to the particular branch or tax, 
 
 when
 
 [ III ] 
 
 when it reaches the exchequer ; for there 
 the taxes might all confolidate, to be after- 
 wards iffued as from one general maf^j ; 
 which, when co]led:ed, fhoiild be lodged 
 at the bank, as the great depofit of cafh 
 for the nation. No intereft could then be 
 charged the public, fo long as any part of 
 the revenue remained with the bank. All 
 diftindlion fhould likewife be deftroyed, as 
 to thole fpccific duties and taxes hitherto 
 appropriated for payment of the intereft on 
 particular loans, fuch intereit to arife in 
 future out of the general mafs of revenue ; 
 but to remain on the credit fide of the 
 national account, until the transfer books 
 were ready to open for payment. At the 
 fame time, the bank fhould have every fatis- 
 fadlion they could delire; advancing no fur- 
 ther for the public than they do at prefent, 
 which is as far as the collateral fecurity, 
 under the faith of Parliament, arjd their own 
 circumftances, mayindice th^m to go. 
 
 Such a regulation would make a con- 
 liderable faving, both in the trouble and 
 expence of arranging accounts, as well as 
 in the intereft paid for temporary loans, and 
 the difcounts allowed to the bank, for antici- 
 pating feveral branches of the revi;nue. 
 
 The chancellor of the exchequer, hi 1764, 
 boajled he had raijed the fupp lies without loans 
 or lotteries; and confequently the Jpirit of 
 gaming had not been encouraged^ or the power 
 
 P 4 exercifed
 
 [ "2 1 
 
 eicerc'ifed of d'ffpofmg of ticket s^ commijionsi or 
 fubfcriptions, not unpleafiftg, he obferves, to 
 minifiers^ ^he minijier in 1781, conjiders 
 loans in a different light j cbfcrving the then 
 loan was indifcriminately taken, and any in- 
 ter efi to be procured by Juch a loan, was a poor 
 compenfation for the fatigue and anxiety of the 
 burthen ; end that no biifnefs could be more 
 difagreeablc than fettling the terms. 
 
 However, I fhould imagine loans might 
 be made more open and impnrtial than 
 they have been fometimes. And it would 
 have been much more beneficial to the 
 public, for the laft loan, if it fhould ever 
 be paid off, to have been raifed by adding 
 eighty or ninety thoufand pounds a year, 
 life-annuities, to the intereft, inftead of 
 feventy-five per cent, to the capital ; becaufe, 
 upon the annuity lives would be falling, 
 and in a few years a reduction of intereft 
 might take place : both thefe circumftances, 
 as they occurred, would produce a faving to 
 the nation. 
 
 Loans fhould be open to all who can 
 make their firft depofitj in which cafe, four 
 or five hundred thoufand pounds would be 
 found as fatisfacHiory, as twice that fum dif- 
 tributed among a fet of particular fubfcri- 
 bers J for wemaybeafTured, the mgniedmen, 
 taken indifcriminately, would be contented 
 with a fmaller advantage, than thofe feled:ed 
 few, who may be idle enough, perhaps, to 
 5 confider
 
 [ 113 ] 
 
 confider their portion of a fubfcriptlon ai 
 a douceur, or a reward. 
 
 From the various circumftances which 
 have been flated, relative to the finances, 
 as well regarding the irregular aids, as the 
 conftant revenues, confiderable favings and 
 other advantages might undoubtedly accrue 
 to the nation by a real reform. For let us 
 remember, that whatever denomination the 
 charges attendant on the coUe5ling^ bor- 
 rowing, ijjuing, expending, or auditing, af- 
 fume ; whether Jalary, incident, or pe?i^ 
 Jion ; whether douceur, perquijite, or fee -, 
 public or private ; they are alike drained 
 from the pocket of the fubjedl : and if 
 prefTed too hard to-day, it wdll only render 
 us lefs able to bear the burthen of to- 
 morrow. 
 
 Much oppofition would probably gather 
 againft any efFcdiual reform, from the in- 
 jury and difappointment that might be ap- 
 prehended, and, without proper attention, 
 would arife, to individuals. But in pur- 
 fuing reform. Parliament would never lofe 
 fight, it is to be hoped, of private juftice: 
 in which cafe, no great difficulty could oc- 
 cur, in making every perfon, deprived of 
 any legal emolument, full amends. The 
 men of real bufmefs might be ulefully em- 
 ployed in other departments, as vacancies 
 arofei and, till that happened, have a fair 
 and reafonable compenfation. 
 
 Q^ As
 
 • [ 114 ] 
 
 As to men who enjoyed great patent, or 
 other places, or who held them in rever- 
 fion, given them by their Sovereign, the 
 rewards of pad or prefent fervices j to dif- 
 polTefs luch perfons without their confent, 
 or a fair and equitable compromife, would 
 be an a<5t of the hicrhefl- national iniuflice. 
 But fuch a breach of public faith will never 
 be committed ; as it may eaiily be avoided, 
 by penfions adequate to the advantages 
 which the offices produced; and which com- 
 mon juHice mull fecure to thofe who en- 
 joy them at prefent, or have a reverfionary 
 claim. 
 
 Men may be deferving of large penfions, 
 and, whenever they are, a generous public 
 will not be backward to give what the 
 merit of national fervices entitles them to. 
 At the fame time, don't let large eftablifli- 
 m.erits, arifmg from offices founded on fees 
 drained from the pockets of the fubjed:s, 
 be indifcriminately given, where no plea of 
 merit can be found, and often to the leaft 
 defcrving, through court favour or indul- 
 gence, or to purchafe private influence ; 
 whilil, in order to tranfad: the bufinefs of 
 the office, a deputy mull: be provided, whofe 
 filary or perquiiites are equal to what the 
 principal's oug t to be, if, inflead of a man 
 of high rank, he vvas a man of real bafi- 
 hefs and knov/ledge, and on a level with 
 the office. 
 
 Some 
 
 i
 
 [ "J ] 
 
 Some general reform is acknowledged to 
 be wanted in the fyftem of our finances ; to 
 corredl errors, abufes, and extravagance, crept 
 into the colledtion and expenditure of public 
 money, from a variety of circumftanceF, 
 which time and various accidents have oc- 
 cafioned : no period can arrive, to make 
 fuch reform more neceffary, tlran the prefent 
 alarming crifis ; when dangers threaten 
 from every fide -, when our commerce is 
 going from us, and our expenccs increaf- 
 ingj as the levies of this year, amounting 
 to twenty-nine millions, and the unfunded 
 debt laying behind, fufficiently prove. 
 
 Sanguine, carelefs minds, who look but 
 to the provifion of the day ; and interefled 
 ones, who wifli to conceal the decline of our 
 wealth, may both be led to fay ; Are not 
 the furpluffes of the taxes, after providing 
 an interefl for fifty millions of additional 
 debt, as large at this time as they were in 
 1775, before the prelent war begun, or any 
 part of the debt for this war had been con- 
 tradied ? a time when the nation was al- 
 lowed to be in a molt fiourifhing condi- 
 tion : And is not the fmking fund at this 
 day equal to what it was then ? Nay more, 
 is it not double the amount of what that 
 fund was five or fix and twenty years 
 ago ? The fad:s are admitted as to the 
 amount of the furpluffes which create the 
 finking fund; but an examination into the 
 Qa articles
 
 [ 1.6 1 
 
 articles of taxation will fliew, in charafters 
 fo plain, who runs may read, that thofe re- 
 sources are declining faft, which furnifhed 
 the fupplies necelTary to replenish what 
 from time to time became exhaufted. 
 
 The land and malt taxes, with the fink- 
 ing fund, make the whole of the annual 
 revenue, that remains unappropriated, to 
 anfwer the naval and military eftablifh- 
 ments ; the refl being applied to the civil 
 lift, and the intereft of the public debts. 
 
 The two firil articles are generally the 
 fame ; allowing for the rate of the land 
 tax : And it is true, the finking fund has 
 kept increafing with the increafe of the 
 national confumption ; but then the peace 
 eftablifliments, our rulers have taken care 
 fhould increafe alfo ; for, prior to the laft 
 war, when the finking fund was but one 
 million and a half, the peace eftablifhment 
 did not amount to more than two millions 
 three hundred and fifty thoufand pounds a 
 year, on an average of fix years ^ whilft the 
 eil:abli{liment on the average, during the 
 laft tv/elve years of peace, came to three 
 millions and a half a year — an increafe that 
 has not yet been accounted for; but which 
 our reprefentatives ought to explain, after 
 the very ill-conditioned ftate of our fhips 
 of war, to meet our enemies, in 1778. 
 
 But to return to the fubje6t of our 
 ^oances.— The furplufi^es, which conftitute 
 
 the
 
 [ i'7 ] 
 
 the finking fund, depend entirely on the 
 national confumption, to make thofe taxes 
 they arife from produ(5live ; and confump- 
 tion muft depend on the influx of wealth 
 to fupply it : without fuch fupply it can- 
 not long continue. That influx of wealth 
 depends on our foreign commerce, and the 
 vend of our manufa(S:ures ; all which had 
 increafed with our poflefhons in Afia; and 
 as the population and produce of our iflands 
 and colonies in America increafed. Hence 
 thofe ftreams of riches flowed, by which 
 our numerous wants have been fupplied. 
 From fuch refources, our accumulating 
 taxes, from time to time, have originated, 
 Thefe ftreams had gathered as they run, 
 firom the revolution, until the prefent fatal 
 war begun. 
 
 The laft glorious war had particularly 
 in view the extenfion of our commerce ; 
 in which it fucceeded, and laid a founda- 
 tion for induftry and policy to improve; 
 that might have lafted for ages, had not a 
 fyftem been purfued, inimical, nay deftruc- 
 tive in its nature and tendency, to the views 
 of the merchant. 
 
 The cuftoms, which prior to the laft war 
 did not produce more than three millions, 
 or bring into the treafury more than one 
 million and a half, clear of charges, had 
 increafed to five millions when the prefent 
 war broke out j and brought net into the 
 
 trealurjr
 
 [ n8 1 
 
 trcafury two millions and a half, and up- 
 wards. And the debentures, which are 
 tcftimonies of the annual amount of the 
 drawbacks paid in re-exporting of im- 
 ported commodities, were increafed, during 
 the laft peace, one million and upwards be- 
 yoi'id their amount about the years 1749 
 and 1750. No ftronger proofs can be 
 brought to fhew the increafe of our com- 
 merce, and of courfe of the employment 
 of our merchant {hips. 
 
 The excite duties, which in 1754 did 
 not reach three millions, in 1775 extended 
 to. near five millions : therefore it is evi- 
 dent, that the great increafe of our export 
 ^nd import trade, furnifhed thofe refources 
 v/hich fed confumption, and kept our wealth 
 from being exhaufled. 
 
 The figns and marks of our increafing 
 wealth, until this fatal conteft with our 
 colonies begun, were plainly to be traced 
 in the increafe of the cujftoras, in the great 
 rife of the rents of lands, which, in the 
 fpace of forty or fifty years, had nearly 
 doubled their amount ; at the fame time, 
 alfo, the fee-fimple of the lands was in- 
 creafed ten or fifteen years purchafe beyond 
 their former value. In fliort, the graduai 
 fajl of intereft, from the time of Queen 
 Anne's wars, the great extenfion of credit, 
 and the eafy terms on which difcounts were 
 to be obtained, until within thefe four or 
 
 five
 
 t "9 ] 
 
 five yeirs, all go to denote the plenty of 
 money that came into circulation, more 
 than lufficient to anfwer the continued 
 wants oi credit. Advantages owing to our 
 increaiing export and import trade, the 
 iburce of all our ftrength and grandeur, 
 and which realized a confiderabls balance 
 in our favour, at the end of every year; 
 and by that means repleniflied the wafte, 
 and kept feeding the crufe as it exhaufted. 
 And (imilar balances might have continued 
 for a long feries of years to enrich us, but 
 for our ill-judged policy; which is likely 
 to remain a monument of our folly and dif- 
 grace to future ages. 
 
 Fads will fupport what has been aiTerted 
 with refped: to the extent and advantages 
 of our commerce ; and fad:s will alfo point 
 out its decline. For in 1779, in the fourth 
 year of our conteO: with our difafFed:ed colo- 
 nics, p.nd the fecond year of the war with 
 France, and the firfl: with Spain, our ex- 
 ports were decreafed five, and our imports 
 four millions bclovv' their amount in 1773* 
 and for fome years back. — But our com- 
 merce defer ves a feparate invelligation ; 
 which fhall in a very fhort time be laid be- 
 fore the pLiblic. 
 
 The debentures, the great tefl: of re- 
 exportation, did not amount, in 1779 and 
 17B0, to a million flerlingj which, on an 
 average of four years, from 1771 to 1774, 
 
 exceeded
 
 [ I20 ] 
 
 exceeded two millions one hundred thou* 
 fand pounds. And many of our manufac- 
 tures, and other articles, are confumed in 
 America, to fupport the prefent war, which 
 now contribute to fwell the lift of export 
 goods, at the fame time that they operate 
 in their effed:, directly contrary to the prin- 
 ciples of export trade, by impoveriihing 
 inftead. of enriching the kingdom. 
 
 It ought to be confidered, that there are 
 alfo many of our manufactures, relating 
 to the navy, army, and ordnance, bring 
 no wealth into the kingdom, though they 
 help to keep up induftry and labour, and 
 promote circulation ; giving the outward 
 appearances, without producing the national 
 returns which flow from commerce. The 
 millions annually expended in war, being 
 profitable only to a few individuals who fur- 
 round the treafury, fuch as agents, contrac- 
 tors, and others, whofe gains arife out of the 
 pockets of their fellow-fubjed:s. This mode 
 of employing our manufacturers can be no 
 compenfation for the lofs of our foreign 
 trade, both in Europe and America, which 
 is going from us very faft; whilft we feem 
 to behold the lofs with much indifference ; 
 as if we either did not know its value, or 
 were under no apprehenfions of any part of 
 it leaving us : at the fame time that the moft 
 ilriking proofs are continually coming for- 
 ward to convince us. For not only the deben- 
 3 tures
 
 [ i2r ] 
 
 tures are declined, but the receipt or annual 
 balance into the trealury, from thecuftoms,is 
 lelTened below the amount prior to this war; 
 although additional duties to full two hun- 
 dred thoufmd pounds a year, have been laid 
 on merch >»ndizc lince the war broke out. 
 
 The high intercft of mon^y is another 
 proof of our declining wealth i which has 
 nearly reached the flandard or level it was at 
 early in the piefent century. High interefl 
 has ever been confidcred as a fijn the mo- 
 ney in circulation was inadequate to the de- 
 mand ; and as foreign commerce, and the 
 vend of our manufadiures increafed, the in- 
 tercit of mon-y, upon examination, will be 
 found to have lell : a proof that money grew 
 more plenty in the kingdom. As money 
 incre-c^fed, the rents of lands became in- 
 crealcd alfo; and were advanced in value 
 from twenty to thirty years purchafe, and 
 upwards. So th..t, for feveral years prior to 
 the prefent war, nay, during the lail war, 
 few landed efiates yielded their pofi'efTors 
 more than two and three quarters or three 
 per cent, interefl for their money. And 
 mortgages on lands were attainable for four 
 per cent, the outfide, under the heft fecu- 
 rity. Whereas at prefent money is with the 
 utmofl: difficulty to be procured at live per 
 cent, on undeniable landed fecuritv ; and 
 numbers cannot fupply their wants at that 
 premium. 
 
 R The
 
 [ 122 ] 
 
 The value of land has fallen confiderably: 
 eftates have been fold,' in the kit two or three 
 years, as low as twenty years purchafe, of 
 rather under ; and none higher than twenty^ 
 live years purchafe. The complaints from 
 farmers of their rents being too high, are be- 
 come very prevalent in niany counties ; and 
 the numbers failing on their farms, or grow- 
 ing greatly in arrears of rent, all tend to ve- 
 rify the alTertions relative to the decay of 
 wealth. Money was to be obtained in the 
 lafl war, and only a few years back, on long 
 bills, for four per cent, when good names 
 were upon them. No long bills are now to 
 be difcounted, in general, for legal interefl, 
 however fubftantial the credit of the bills; 
 And the government fecurities unfunded, 
 and fure of being difcharged in two years; 
 are at an alarming difcount, much greater 
 than at any period of the lail: war. Credit 
 too is in a tottering ftatc, being greatly cir- 
 cumfcribed, and alarmed at a fliadow. Thefe 
 fadts are too clear to admit a doubt ; and arc 
 melancholy proofs of our decline, no fo- 
 phiftry can evade. 
 
 Such Unking teftimonics of approaching 
 diftrefs, as are here enumerated, it would 
 not be in the power of art or management to 
 ^ffedt the appearance of, by any combina- 
 tions whatever, if that great fource of wealth 
 had remained undiilurbed, the numerous 
 ftreams of commerce, which the lall glori- 
 ous
 
 ous war fecured, and years of fucceedine 
 peace had realized, in the opulence, power, 
 and grandeur of our empire. 
 
 Our commerce, and the vend of our ma- 
 nufadtures, through a fcries of years prior to. 
 the prefent war, had brought into Great 
 Britain much more wealth than the annual 
 wafte confumed : this liore in referve, this 
 national capital, if I may fo term it, the 
 happy effects ot our atl of navigation, and 
 the increafe of population and indullry in 
 our colonies and iilands, muft now be drawn 
 forth into confumption, to make our taxes 
 produdive, and furnifh thofe fums, from 
 whence the demands of government are to 
 be fupported. 
 
 This lalt refource, our internal wealth, 
 or national capital, may help us out for a 
 fliort time, but mull neccllarily diminifli, 
 and foon be exhaufted ; unlefs feme frefli 
 fupplies are found out to repienifli the wafte : 
 and of courfe will leave us, under a declining 
 trade, only the more impoveridied in the 
 end. The figns of that approaching period 
 are too plain to be miftook. 
 
 If, therefore, our foreign commerce and 
 navigation are not reftored, our expences 
 will by necelhty con trad: : as they contrad., 
 our taxes will become lefs productive, and 
 our revenues in confequence reduced. For 
 the taxes from the land and excife, the in-*' 
 hand duties and cuftoms, all depend for their 
 R 2 proJudioa
 
 [ 124 ] 
 
 produdion on induflry, and the vend of our 
 nianufad:ures ; on merchandize, and the em- 
 ployment of our Ihipping : for, without this 
 chain of circuni (lances to promote and feed 
 excefs and difiipation, our wants muft foon 
 remain unfatisfied; and confumption de- 
 cline, of courfe. Therefore, taxes colledled 
 on articles of confumption, cannot come in 
 proof of the increafe of wealth, but merely 
 of the wafte of it. 
 
 As neceflity narrows our confumption, 
 our prefent wonderful fyllem of taxation will 
 be circumfcribed. The melancholy p^i^riod, 
 I fear, is not far off, when that fyftem muft 
 contract ; the building totters ; nor can it 
 furnifh fupplies much longer for the heavy 
 expence of the war, and the debts we have 
 not only incurred ourfelves, but thofe alfo 
 our anceftors left us to difchar2;e. For 
 though the fiat of power may create taxes, 
 that power cannot make them produ(5tive, 
 when the fources they are to arife from fail. 
 
 Therefore, if the fame wafte and extrava- 
 gance Ihall be continued, as has prevailed 
 for thefe three or four years paft ; if the 
 war fhall be carried on at the fame enor- 
 mous expence, and our commerce, difre- 
 garded, be left further to decreafe, and at 
 laft expire ; ruin muft overtake us, beyond 
 the efforts of the wife, the firm, aad honeft, 
 to retrieve. 
 
 I fpeak not from conjecture : the proofs 
 
 of 
 
 2
 
 [ 125 ] 
 
 of our declining wealth are too ftrlking to 
 admit of any doubt : therefore, the ap- 
 proaching indications of our danger ought 
 to ring the alarm, to warn us on our guard, 
 and teach us to refled: ferioufly on our li- 
 tuation. 
 
 Natural caufes led us to opulence, ftrength, 
 and grandeur : caufes as natural, but of a 
 different tendency, will have a contrary ef- 
 fed:. The fads which have been ftated, 
 clearly point out the fcurces from whence 
 our ways and means have hitherto arofe : 
 thofe commercial ftreams dried up, the land- 
 holder will in great meafure be oblig-ed to 
 fupport the public burthens j for many of 
 thofe, whofe fortunes lay in moveable wealth, 
 would call: the burtren from incmfelves, 
 to thofe whofe property were fixed ; and, 
 colleding together at leaft a part of their 
 effects, would, with thofe remains, feek 
 fhelter in fome riung flate, fome lefs en-t 
 cumbered country. 
 
 The country gentlemen, the landholders 
 of all defcriptions, would do well to look 
 around them, and to reflc(fl: on their fitua- 
 tion, before it is too latej a fitiiation far 
 more alarming than many of them hitherto 
 feem to have been aware of. 
 
 Whenever the day of diftrefs arrives (and 
 arrive it will foori, if we purfue the fame 
 fyftem of conduct as we have done for a few 
 years paft) the coimtrv gentlemen will be 
 
 left.
 
 [ 126 ] 
 
 left, under the reduced value of their lands^ 
 to fupport the accumulating burthens of our 
 taxes, made light before by our extenfive 
 commerce ; but, deprived of that affiftance, 
 the landholders will remain, almofl alone, 
 to provide for the exigencies of govern- 
 ment ; and to feed the national creditors 
 from the produce of their lands -, at a time, 
 when the price of labour has become in- 
 creafed from the weight of taxes, which will 
 of courfe increafe the expences on their 
 eftates, whilfl the diftreffes of their country 
 are driving them to the neceffity of lower- 
 ing their rents. 
 
 From the confidence the national credi- 
 tors have been taught to place on Parlia- 
 ment, that faith and fecurity, folemnly 
 pledged to them, muft not be deftroyed, 
 whatever opinions men may be led to throw 
 out in private converfation. No fuch flab 
 muft be given to public credit : the moft 
 profligate dare not ftrike the blow, unlels 
 they were the moft thoughtlefs minifters 
 alfo : as, otherwife, they would be fenfible 
 of the danger of the attempt, and be re- 
 trained by fear for their own fafety. 
 
 No ftate can make any great exertions, 
 wherein the fubjefts have not full confi- 
 dence and fecurity in its protection of their 
 property ; therefore public credit is eflential 
 to the fafety and dignity of the ftate, and to 
 ihe welfare of the people, in every country 
 
 governed
 
 L 127 ] 
 
 governed by principles of wifdom and found 
 policy. For, (to iife the exprejjion of the ce- 
 lebrated MonJ\ Neckar,) the inter efl of a na- 
 tion^ if rightly underjioody will always reji upon 
 the bafjs of fidelity andjujiice. 
 
 Public credit is full as neceflary for the 
 fupport of government, as p ivate credit is 
 in the condud:ing of commerce : without 
 credit, no extenlive concerns in trade, either 
 foreign or domeftic, could be carried on. 
 Bat credit cannot fublift without a found 
 bottom, a folid foundation of real wealth, 
 or aflets, fomewhere exifting within the 
 kingdom, fufficicnt to anfwer the paper 
 floacing in circulation, upon tlie itrength 
 and fecurity of that real wealth : which pa- 
 per, though continually ifluing forth, is 
 conflantly returning to be renewed or dif- 
 charged ; and thereby puts the exiltence of 
 the real wealth within the kingdom to the 
 teft. As this is an intricate fubjedt, and va- 
 rious opinions have been formed on it by 
 the wifefl: and moft refpediabie characters, 
 I {hall endeavour to explain myfclf more 
 fully on the great quefu^n. Whether pa- 
 per, the fubflitute for real wcdlth, can hold 
 its credit and confequence in circulation, 
 when that real wealth is materially reduced ? 
 — I think not, and will allien my reafons. 
 
 In the firfl place, I conceive that no pa- 
 per, either public or private, can get into 
 circulation, without the full value being 
 
 produced
 
 [ 128 ] 
 
 produced for it ; for in that pernicious pa- 
 per, wherein men lend their names without 
 any real property exchanged, the iflues of 
 mere fwindiers ; till fomebody has had cre- 
 dulity to advance, or lend real money on the 
 credit and fecurity of that paper, it cannot get 
 into circuiiition ; and whenever due, if not 
 paid for by the perfon from whom the note 
 originated, he, or his credit, muft fail. And 
 fo it is with all the paper, nominal or real, 
 whether payable on demand, or at more 
 diftant periods ; there muft have been folid 
 wealth to bring any of it into circulation ; 
 and fo there muft be to difcharge it after- 
 wards ; otherwife, it will produce an im- 
 mediate failure or difcredit fomewhere. 
 Therefore, this private paper, which is all 
 voluntary ifTues, mufi: have real wealth fub- 
 fiftinoj to anfwer it, of which the paper is 
 but the counterpart; or that paper muft 
 foon blow up, and a total llop be put to 
 its circulation. 
 
 The bank paper is by far more exteniive 
 than the private, but ftands on much the 
 fame eround ; and could not long keep out 
 in circulation, without a foundation of real 
 wealth to fupport it, of which the paper is 
 only the fubftitute. 
 
 From the readv exchan2;e of bank notes 
 at all times, it is evident, that fort of paper 
 has obtained credit and confidence through- 
 out the kingdom : but, as nobody would 
 
 think
 
 t 129 ] 
 
 think of hoarding bank notes, therefore few 
 XDr no notes will long remain out, that are 
 not ufed in circulation ; and none can exift 
 in ufe, but as the fubftitute for real wealth, 
 which had been given to draw them into 
 circulation. P'or the bank neither lends on 
 exchequer bills to the public, nor ilfues for 
 the ftate, orprivate merchants, to the fmall- 
 cd; amount, without intereft and collateral 
 fecurJ ty. 
 
 We will fuppofe, on thefe occafions, the 
 bank fupplies the ftate or individuals with 
 their promiiTory notes j adding fo much more 
 paper to what was before out upon their 
 credit ; the treafury and the merchants fend 
 thofe notes immediately into circulation ; 
 they then become fubdivided ; part will re- 
 turn to the bank for real cafh, to anfwer the 
 various ufes wherein fmall fums are wanted 3 
 and part will be kept for a while in circu- 
 lation. But when the taxes are collecfled, 
 or the loans raifed, from whence the ex- 
 chequer bills, or other debts contracted by 
 government, are to be difcharged; or when 
 the merchant has been paid for the goods 
 he had fold ; in any or all of thefe cafes, 
 the returns are made to the bank, for their 
 loans, more or lefs, in cafh, or in their own 
 notes, according to the circulation arifing 
 out of foreign commerce; that is, as the 
 balances accruing in our favour from the 
 export trade, fhall extend, or contracft. 
 
 It would be impoffible to preferve in cir- 
 S culation.
 
 L ^30 1 
 
 culation, to any ufeful purpofe, that paper, 
 the reprcfentative of wealth, when the fub^ 
 ftance, \ht real wealth, was done away. 
 The promifibry notes the bank fends forth, 
 are not compuhbry ; they will float about, 
 in proportion to the increafe or continuance 
 of the fubflance, they were originally iflued 
 to reprefent. And as the amount of the 
 fubflance decreafes, the notes will contract, 
 and return into the bank. As our wealth 
 is drained from us, thofe figns will die away. 
 There is no management or intrigue, united 
 to power, that could force paper into circu- 
 lation, and keep it at its natural value, un- 
 lefs it could be changed, on demand, for the 
 fum in gold or filver, for which it is the 
 fign ; and then it is in every refped: equal to 
 the payment in coin. 
 
 The gold and filver will inevitably wafte, 
 and be carried out of the kingdom, as the 
 balance on trade turns againil us : but at 
 the fame time, as the fubllance diminilhes, 
 the fhadows will contradl in proportion. 
 
 If the paper, atter acquirmg confidence 
 with the public, flood firm without the 
 fupport of ti^at real wealth it merely repre- 
 fent., and whereon its intrinfic value has 
 been ufually confidered to depend; from 
 whence arif^s the prefent apparent fcarcity 
 of money, and the high interefl it bears, com- 
 paratively, with the interefl a few years 
 J^ack ? Th-is could not be the cafe, if th-e 
 3 paper
 
 [ '31 ] 
 
 paper could remain to an equal arriouht iri 
 circulation, when the gold and filver was 
 draining away ; for it would be only coin- 
 ing more paper, as the real wealth wafl:ed> 
 and all mud be well again ; and the king- 
 dom in the fame flounOiing itate as when 
 the real wealth remained among us. 
 
 If this argument was well founded^ Ame- 
 rica would have been under no diftrefs for 
 money, fmce her defedtion from the parent 
 country. But it is not within the authority 
 of congrefs, or any firmer legiflative power, 
 to make paper a legal tender, fend it into 
 circulation, ftamp whatever value they think 
 proper on it, and preferve it there from any 
 depreciation j the reafon is, the mere adt of 
 making it a legal tender, cannot give confi- 
 dence to it : confidence, which only can 
 ftrengthen credit, and promote the circu- 
 lation of paper, is the effe(5t of time and 
 puncfluality : paper muft be in lured at all 
 times its real value ; which depends on the 
 certain and fpeedy means of exchanging it 
 for the amount in gold or filver that had 
 been flampt on it by authority : the tenders 
 too, inftead of being legal, and compulfive, 
 muft be voluntary and free to accept or not; 
 no other method can give currency to paper, 
 and fecure it from depreciation. 
 
 If paper cannot be readily exchanged for 
 the money it is certified to anfwer, it muft 
 fink in value ; the paper itfelf being of no 
 
 S 2 worth,
 
 [ 132 ] 
 
 worth, but according to the gold or filver 
 to be obtained for it. It can carry no intrin- 
 fic value to a foreign market; and when 
 received in payment, it is no more than 
 giving the fecurity of the ftate, or the bank, 
 for that of an individual ; and whatever 
 faith may be placed in the ultimate dif- 
 charge, it will affuredly depreciate in pro- 
 portion to the diRance of time, and the 
 uncertainty of payment. 
 
 What I mean to infer from hence is, that 
 it is impoffible for paper to be kept out in 
 circulation, that is payable on demand, and 
 its credit fupported, any longer than there is 
 wealth remaining in the kingdom to anfu'er 
 it. Therefore, as our real wealth fhall wafle, 
 or be drained out of the kingdom, the pa- 
 per will gradually revert back to its fourcc 
 and become annihilated : for, as the bank, 
 to anfwer claims, called in its debts, thofc 
 debts would, many of them at leall, be dif- 
 charged with its own paper. 
 
 It would be impradicable to define the 
 amount of the real wealth circulating in 
 thefe kingdoms, and of courfe the extent 
 of its fubftitute, the credit that wealth 
 fends forth, to conduct the amazing ex- 
 change or barter carried on through our 
 manufadlures and our commerce; the variety 
 of circumftances they depend on, the la- 
 byrinth in which they are involved, are 
 not to be explored. The attempt, 1 think, 
 
 would
 
 [ 133 1 
 
 would be Improper ; becaufe, if miftaken, 
 the errors only ferve to furniHi ground for 
 difputants to contend ; and for all thofe who 
 brought us to our prefent fituation, to laugh 
 at our fears and apprehenfions of approach- 
 ing ruin ; by which means the temperate and 
 ill-informed part of the community, and 
 the country gentlemen living at a diftance 
 from the capital, are lulled into fecurity, 
 and led to believe the evil at leaft is far 
 off; as the writer of the ** Letters to a young 
 Nobleman" peremptorily afferts. However, 
 if that writer is no better informed of the 
 wealth and refources at home, than he 
 feems to be of the fupplies that Alia can 
 afford us, there is but little reliance to be 
 placed in his alTertions. 
 
 Though I do not pretend to afcertain 
 the amount of our exifting wealth within 
 the kingdom ; or the extent of our refources 
 without it ; nor the period of our grandeur ; 
 fure 1 am, the race we are now running, and 
 which the author of thofe Letters urges us 
 to run on, will, without greater and abler 
 exertions at fea, and more oeconomy in our 
 operations by land, bring us much fooner 
 to diftrefs, if not to ruin, than he feems to 
 apprehend. 
 
 It will lead us fpeedily into that fitua- 
 tion, wherein our fyftem of taxation mud 
 inevitably decline; and, cealing to be pro- 
 dudtive in any degree equal to its prefent 
 amount, will revert back to the fame 
 
 contrad;ed
 
 [ «34 ] 
 
 contradled flate its different produces yield-^ 
 ed about fifty or fixty years ago ; at the 
 fame time leaving the neceffaries of life 
 much dearer, and the nation encum- 
 bered with an enormous debt, which it will 
 be dangerous to annihilate, and difficult 
 either to provide for, or difcharge, without 
 the affiftance of an exteniive foretgii com- 
 merce, equal in value to what the lail war 
 had fo wifely and providently fecured to 
 
 116. 
 
 FINIS 
 
 »-'•
 
 HARV FACILd, 
 
 IN order -Pe^ce of the pre- 
 fent 'w 
 The fui^^ charges of col- 
 ledion, tl^^^^^f }^^ finking 
 fund • wh^^°"^'^ income that 
 remains tc^^eir amount muft 
 be procun 
 
 The finking Mhe 
 given, in ^ears, 
 
 1757, for 1,781* "^^ 
 
 175*. i,9°oduce £. 
 
 Vjll: 1% — 14.340,000 
 
 1761, lyydjol, 
 
 1762, 1,00 — 2,900,000 
 
 e fix 
 >oo a 
 
 — 15,360,000 
 'ed of 
 
 years, 44,000,000 
 , that 
 igthe 
 
 efti- 
 
 — 30,000,00a 
 
 Hence 
 fix teen m 
 lions, tha 
 
 £. 106,600,000 
 paid 
 )f the 
 — 9,000,000 
 
 le number of years, 
 d twenty-four mil- 
 
 000 124 214
 
 ^ POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 IN order to prove, beyond the poflibility of doubt or contradiftion, the enormous expence of the pre- 
 fent war, the following comparative ftatements have been drawn. 
 
 The furplufles irifing from the different branches of the perpetual revenue, after the charges of col- 
 ledtion, the intereft of the public debts, and the civil lift, are all provided for, conftitute the finking 
 fund ; which, with the land and malt taxes, voted annually, make the whole of the national income that 
 remains to anfwer the naval and military eftablifliments from year to year ; all beyond their amount muft 
 be procured from loans, or extraordinary fupplies. 
 
 The finking fiind 
 
 Jivcn, 
 
 s 
 
 
 r. 
 
 ■7S7.f« 
 
 .786,00 
 
 ■7S«. 
 
 .9o6,oi> 
 
 '759. 
 
 .43<l.o<: 
 
 1760, 
 
 .,6<,,,o<, 
 
 17«i. 
 
 ,762.00 
 
 1762, 
 
 ,009,00 
 
 ' ("Thus the finking fund, in the 
 
 ]j fix years of the lad war, fur- 
 
 i nilhed towards the exigencies 
 
 I of government, — — 
 
 The land and malt, fet at about 
 
 £.2,560,000 a year, for the 
 
 fix years came to — — 
 
 Money aflually borrowed in the 
 
 fix years, of the public, — 
 
 jf .90,856,000 
 Nominal capital added to fome 
 of the loans, to be paid only 
 on redemption of the debts, — 1,230,000 
 
 £■ 
 
 11,496,000 
 
 15,360,000 
 64,000,000 
 
 The finking fund, on the 
 
 average of the five years, 
 
 from 1776 to 1780, has 
 
 been faid to produce 
 
 £. 2,868,000 a year, — 
 The finking fund for 1781, 
 
 fet at — — 
 
 Land and malt for the fix 
 
 years, at £. 2,560,000 a 
 
 year, — 
 
 Money aflually borrowed of 
 
 the public in the fix years, 44,000,000 
 The unprovided debt, that 
 
 will probably be owing the 
 
 end of 178 1, has been efti- 
 
 mated at — — •?o,ooo,ooi5 
 
 £■ 
 
 14,340,000 
 
 2,900,000 
 
 — 15,360,000 
 
 £. 106,600,000 
 Nominal capital to be paid 
 on the redemption of the 
 debt, — — 9,000,000 
 
 Hence the prefent war will, by the end of 1781, have coft the nation, in the fame number of years, 
 fixtecn millions more than the laft war, without reckeninj the nominal capital ; and twenty-four mil- 
 lions, that included. 
 
 O 
 
 c