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 i .1
 
 FACTS 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 SERIOUS ATTENTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 RESPECTING THE 
 
 EXPENGE OP THE WAR, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 STATE OF THE NATIONAL DEBT, 
 
 Flagitio additis 
 
 Damnum. HOR. 
 
 By WILLIAM MORGAN, F. R. S. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION, IMPROVED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. DEBRETT, PICCADILLY, AND T. CADKLL, 
 
 JUN. ATJB W. DAVIES, (SUCCESSORS TO T. CA- 
 
 ELL) STRAND. 
 
 1796.
 
 Stack 
 
 Annex 
 
 sr 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIRST EDITION. 
 
 IN the following tract I have confined my- 
 felf entirely to an examination of the effects 
 which the war has already produced on the 
 finances of this country; and I think it will 
 appear that the expenditure of the laft three 
 years has added fo enormoufly to the national 
 debt, that if the fame unexampled diflipation 
 of the public treafure be continued much 
 longer, it muft inevitably terminate in bank- 
 ruptcy and ruin. 
 
 I have not entered into a defcription of the 
 
 carnage and the miferies by which this war 
 
 has been fo peculiarly diftinguilhed, and which 
 
 muft ficken every friend of humanity, well 
 
 A 3 know- 

 
 knowing that confederations of this kind . fel- 
 dom influence the councils of ftatefmen, or 
 even fufficiently roufe the indignation of a 
 people. While the ravages of war are fpread^. 
 ing death and defolation at the dillance of a 
 thoufand miles they are but little regarded, 
 Misfortune muft make very near approaches 
 to the great mafs of mankind before it excites 
 their alarm. It muft prefs immediately upon 
 themfelves before they ferioufly begin to feel 
 for the miferies of their fellow creatures. In 
 whatever deteftation, therefore, I may hold 
 this war both in regard to its principle and the 
 manner in which it is conducted,. I have 
 chofen to appeal to the lower paiTion of felf- 
 intereft, rather than to the fublime feelings of 
 humanity; being convinced, notwithstanding 
 this country may boaft of as many good men 
 as any other, that this is the only means of 
 awakening an effectual oppofition to the pre- 
 fent fyftem. 
 
 I have been much indebtcfi, in the compo- 
 
 fition of this work, to a pamphlet bearing 
 
 3 th 6
 
 the fame title, which was published during 
 the American war by Dr. Price and another 
 learned and eminent patriot who is ftill living ; 
 and I had once intended to have divided it into 
 the fame general heads of the " King's Civil 
 Lift," " The Chancellor of the Exchequer's 
 Civil Lift," * The firft Lord of the Admi- 
 ralty's Civil Lift," &c. But the lofs of our 
 property is not the only lofs we have fuftained 
 by the prefent war, and therefore whoever 
 reads that admirable pamphlet, will foon per- 
 ceive that it was more expedient at this time 
 to adopt a different plan. Having no other 
 wifh than to promote the happinefs and li- 
 berty of this country, I am anxious only to 
 expofe the errors and mifconduct of minifters 
 fo far as to awaken the public attention to the 
 calamities with which we are endangered ; be- 
 ing fatisfied that, when thefe are clearly feen 
 and underftood, the authors of them will be 
 fufficiently reprobated without the trouble of 
 expatiating on their wickednefs and incapacity. 
 January ith, 1796. 
 
 ADVER-
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THE principal additions which have been 
 made to this work in the prefent edition, 
 may be found in the pth page, in two notes 
 in the i6th and 4^d pages, and in the 
 Appendix. 
 
 February iqth, 1796.
 
 Pullijhed by the fame Author > and printed for 1. 
 Cadell y Jun. and W. Davies in the Strand, 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 or 
 Dr. PRICED WRITINGS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 FINANCES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 To which are added, the Three Plans communicated by 
 him to Mr. PITT, in the year -1786, for redeeming 
 the National Debt an Account of the Real State of 
 the Public Income and Expenditure, from the Efta- 
 blifhment of the Confolidated Fund to the year 1791 
 -and alfo a Supplement continuing the Account to 
 1795, and dating the Amount of the Public Debt in 
 the Beginning of that Year. Second Edition, Price 
 2s.6d.
 
 FACTS, 
 
 &c. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 On tie EXPENCE of the Prefent War, 
 
 W*! 
 
 HATEVER difference of opinion may 
 be entertained refpecting the jujlice and necef- 
 ftty of the prefent war, there can be none in 
 regard to the enormity of the expence with 
 which it is attended. Compared with every 
 other war in which this country has been in- 
 volved, it will appear to be fo ruinous, as 
 hardly to admit of any provocation fufficient 
 to juftify the evils which it has already pro- 
 duced. We are faid to be contending for all 
 B that
 
 that is mofl important to property, focial 
 order, and the religion of mankind, and are 
 called upon to facrfice every other intereft 
 rather than not fucceed in attaining thefe ob- 
 jedts. But have not wars, fo far from im- 
 proving, always been found to deftroy the 
 property of a nation ? and have not the cru- 
 fades which have hitherto been carried on in 
 the name of religion,* invariably difgraccd 
 and ruined the caufe they profefied to main- 
 tain ? The confequcnces of this war may pof- 
 fibly be different ; although its warmeft ad- 
 vocates mud: acknowledge that the profpect at 
 prefent is neither encouraging nor confolatory. 
 Feeling, however, no difpolition to enter 
 upon this part of the fubjecT:, 1 mean only to 
 ftate a few fa efts concerning the public expen- 
 diture for the laft three years, being fatisfied 
 that if thefe do not imprefs the reader, it would 
 be in vain for me to attempt it by arguments 
 of any other kind. 
 
 It is a melancholy truth, that every war in 
 which we have been engaged for the laft cen- 
 tury, has uniformly proved more xpenlivq 
 than any that had preceded it. But the Ame- 
 
 * This, I believe, is the firft cru&Ue for focial order. 
 
 ricaa
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 rican War was fo peculiarly diftingiufhed in 
 this refpecfl, as to create an opinion that we 
 had then arrived at the higheft point of pro- 
 fan" on, and that neither the credit nor the re- 
 fources of the country could furvive a repeti* 
 tion, much lefs an aggravation of this evil. 
 The experience, however, of the laft three 
 years has fhewn this opinion to have been ill- 
 founded, and that the limits of our expendi- 
 ture were at a much greater diftance than the 
 extravagance and diffipation even of that war 
 had taught us to place them. Of this fact no 
 doubt can be entertained by any perfon who 
 is in the leaft acquainted with public affairs ; 
 and the following ftatements are given, not 
 with the view of proving what is already fo 
 well known, but in order to point out the 
 enormous magnitude of the fum by which the 
 expences of the firft four * years of the pre- 
 fent war have exceeded thofe of the fame term 
 in the American war. 
 
 * This is faid on the fuppofition that the fupplies for the 
 next campaign are provided for. 
 
 B
 
 War TLjlabtiflmenl actnrdlnf to the 
 EJlimatts of Lord NOK.TH. 
 
 Navy 
 Army 
 
 {In the Year 1776.) 
 
 . 
 
 3, 12 7,o 5 6 
 
 -3,461,282 
 
 ce 472:817 
 
 Total. 
 
 (IntheY 
 
 Kavy 
 Army 
 Ordnance 
 
 8,576,714 
 
 (lathe Year 1778.) 
 
 : 
 
 Navy . .4,00.1,895 
 Array 4^59,107 
 
 Ordnance 683,300 
 
 - 9>544>32 
 
 <In the Year 1779.) 
 
 Navy 4,589,06-9 
 
 Army 5,913,081 
 
 Ordnance 917,374 
 
 Amount of the Efti- 
 . mates for four 
 
 Years ' .36,70:, 705 
 
 Eflailifbmtnt aecerjbtg' t 
 ijiimatcl of Mr. PIT T. 
 
 (In the Year 1793.) 
 
 . 
 
 Navy 3>97>9i5 
 
 Army 3>9937i5 
 
 Ordnance 783,767 
 
 Total. 
 
 8,749,397 
 
 (In the Year 1794.) 
 
 Navy 6,340,000 
 
 Army 5,525,000 
 
 Ordnance 1,345,000 
 
 I3,2IO,CO 
 
 (In February 1795.) 
 
 Navy 6,315-523 
 
 Army 11,036,967 
 
 Ordnance 2,321,011 
 
 (In December 1795-) 
 
 Na\y 7,071,000 
 
 Army 9,6^0,000 
 
 Ordnance 1,744,000 
 
 18,416,000 
 
 Amount of the Efti- 
 mates for four 
 Years .60,048,898 
 
 , Neither of thefe fums include the votes of 
 credit, mifcellaneous fervices, &c. which be- 
 ing nearly in the fame proportion to each other 
 as the above eftimates, do not affect the con- 
 clufion to be drawn from this flatement 
 ** That the expences of the firfl four years 
 ** pf the prefent war are two-thirds greater 
 i " than
 
 ( 5 ') 
 
 " than thofe of the firft four years of the moft 
 " extravagant war in which this country had 
 44 ever been engaged."* Had the compari- 
 fon been made with the expenditure of other 
 wars, the refult would have been much more 
 ilriking.-f But it is to be obferved, that the 
 prefent year has produced the new phenome- 
 non of two budgets, and therefore in order to 
 give a full and adequate idea of the expence 
 of this war compared with that of the Ame- 
 rican, it will be necelTary to ftate the whole 
 amount of the debt incurred by both wars 
 during the fame period from their commence- 
 ment. 
 
 As the expences of the next campaign 
 are faid to be provided for by the loan in De- 
 cember laft, I mall in this account give the 
 whole of the debt incurred from the year 1776 
 
 * If the year 1775 had been taken as the firft year of th* 
 American war, the excefs would have been ftill greater. 
 
 f In the year 1704, which was diftinguiflied by the battle 
 of Blenheim, the capture of Gibraltar, and other exploits, 
 Lord Godolphin's eftimates, as laid before Parliament, were, 
 for the Navy, - 2,693,135 
 
 Army, - 1,801,005 
 
 - Ordnaoce 153,000 
 
 ^.4,647,140 which is not one-fourth the 
 amount of the eftimates for 
 the laft campaign. 
 
 to
 
 C 6 ) 
 
 to 1780, which includes an equal number 
 of campaigns with the prefent war, admitting 
 even, againfl all probability, that the expences 
 of the next campaign will not exceed the pro- 
 viiions which have been made for them by 
 the laft loan. 
 
 Debt
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
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 ( 9 ) 
 
 The probable expences which cannot im- 
 mediately ceafe with the termination of the 
 xvar, and which have been eftimated in the 
 account of the American war, together with 
 the bounty on corn, the arrears now due for 
 the cloathing and pay of the army, the fums 
 borrowed of the Bank on the anticipation of 
 the land and malt tax, the addition to the 
 navy debt lince Chriftmas, and other articles 
 too numerous to be mentioned, may not only 
 be placed againft fo much of the unfunded debt 
 as was incurred previous to hoflilities, but 
 may be ftated fo far to exceed it, that ex- 
 cluflve even of the Emperor's loan which 
 has already been granted him, and of another 
 loan to him with which this country is threat- 
 ened for the enfuing campaign, the expence of 
 the war, which commenced only in February 
 1793, may be fairly eftimated at one hundred 
 millions. In other other words, the debt in- 
 curred by the prefent war is more than double 
 the debt incurred during the fame period by a 
 war which was then reprefented with truth to 
 be the moft expensive that had ever been car- 
 ried on by this country. 
 
 C Were
 
 ( 'P ) 
 
 Were the progrefs of our expences to be 
 traced during the feveral wars in which we 
 have been engaged for the lait century, we 
 ihould find it uniformly accelerating in every 
 department. We mould find the accounts 
 of the navy, the army, and the ordnance, as 
 if proud of keeping pace with each other and 
 furpafling thofe that have preceded them, con- 
 tinually increafing in the enormity of their 
 amount. But the limits which I have affign- 
 ed to this treatife will not allow me to enter 
 into a minute detail of thefe particulars, and 
 therefore I mall confine myfelf to one article, 
 which may perhaps be fufficient to give the 
 reader a proper idea of the reft. 
 
 Ordnance EJfimates voted in the Tears t 
 
 - - 
 
 I75* 2 99> T 57 i??^ 47 I S i 7 T 793 783.76? 
 
 J 757 437> 6 " '777 59 1 .? 1 ? J 794 1,345,000 
 
 1 75% 391*807 1778 683,299 (Feb.) 1795 2,321,011 
 
 1759 554>277 J779 9^7.373 (Dec.) 1795 i,744> 
 
 Total in 4 years 1,68^,863 2,666,316 6,193,778 
 
 From this flatement we may perceive the 
 progreflive increafe of 'the ordnance eftimates. 
 In the American war they were one half grea- 
 ter
 
 ter than in the preceding war. In the prefent 
 they are more than double what they were in 
 the American war: nay in the laft year* 
 alone they were nearly equal to their whole 
 amount in the firfl: four years of the Ameri- 
 can war : and in the prefent year they are 
 more than equal to the whole amount of the 
 firfl four years of the preceding one. In the 
 army and navy the expenditure has increafed 
 in the fame proportion. Nor is the evil con- 
 fined to thefe important departments only. In 
 every inferior department it has proceeded 
 with an equal pace : even the fecret fervice 
 money, which in the war of 1755 was 
 44,ooo/. per ann. and which had increafed 
 in the American war to 86, coo/, per ann. 
 amounted in the laft year to the ihipendous 
 fum of 151,0007. / But it is unneceffary to 
 enter further into particular inftances. The 
 accounts which I have given of the debts al- 
 ready incurred by this war afford fufficient 
 proof of its exceeding ail others in expence. 
 
 * The ordnance eftimates in this year were rx *e than half 
 the air.ouiit of Lord Godolpbins eftimates tor the whoic of the 
 war eftablifhment in 1704, and in the prefent year they fau ery 
 Kttle fliort of the whole of the army eftimates in that memorable 
 year. (See Note, page 5.) 
 
 C 2 Whe-
 
 Whether thefe debts have been compenfated 
 by the value of our conquefls in Corjica^ 
 Uljle Dieu, and elfewhere or whether the 
 public money has been expended with ceco- 
 nomy and wifdom, are matters which admit 
 of much doubt, but being entirely foreign to 
 my purpofe, I fhall not enter upon the confi- 
 deration of them. My defign in this treatife 
 is not to examine the operations of the ivar 
 minifter, but thofe of the minifter of finance. 
 Inflead therefore of inquiring into the manner 
 in which the public money has been expended, 
 I fhall now inquire into the mann^a; in whicfy 
 it has been borrowed. 
 
 SECTION,
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 On the LOANS In the prcfent 
 
 .H.AVING in the foregoing fed ion exhi- 
 bited the enormous amount of the expenditure 
 in the laft three years, it may be neceflary 
 here to add, that this has been done by an 
 administration which at its commencement 
 had aflumed to itfelf the greatefl merit in re- 
 ducing the public debts. From fuch an ad- 
 miniflration, therefore, it will be naturally 
 expected that the money has been raifed to- 
 wards providing for this expenditure by bor- 
 rowing on the moil frugal terms, and that 
 care has been taken that no needlefs addition 
 has been made to the capital of a debt which 
 had alarmed the nation by its magnitude long 
 before this expenditure had become neceiTary. 
 It has been very juflly objected to Lord North's 
 loans, that they were chiefly made in a flock 
 which bore a low interefl, by which means 
 
 the
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 the capital of the public debt was increafed in 
 a much greater proportion than it would have 
 been, had they been made in a flock which 
 bore a higher intereft. 
 
 The following comparifon of the loans 
 made in the firft four years of the American 
 war, and thofe which have been made in the 
 prefent war, will mew how far Mr. Pitt 
 has corrected the errors of his predecei'ibr. 
 
 Borrowed in Cafe rcccivtJ. 
 
 - f 
 
 1776, 2,150,000 Stock in the 3 per cents, ?.'. 85 per cent. 1,^7,500 
 
 1 777 5,000,000 Stock in the 4 per cents, at 95 per csnt. 4,750,000 
 
 1778, 6,000,000 Stock hi the 3 per cents, a: 66^ per cent. 3,990,000 
 
 1 779 7,000,000 Ditto at 60 per cent. 4,200,000 
 
 20,150,000 Capital Ca(h received 14,767,500 
 
 1793, 6,250,000 Stock int!i^ ? per cents, at 72 per cent. 4^500,000 
 
 1794, 11,000,000 Ditto at 67! per cent. 7,425,000 
 
 1794, 2,750,000 Stock in the^per cents, at 84 per cent. , 
 
 J 7,no,oco 
 
 1795, 6,000,000 Ditto at 80 .per cent. -* 
 
 Rb. 1795, 18,000,000 Stock in the 3 p:r cents, at 62 per cent. Ii,i6o,coo 
 
 Dec. 1795, 26,100,000 Do. ^at 66 per cent. 17,226,000 
 
 70,100,000 Capital f Cafh received 47,421,000 
 
 It appears from this account, that Lord 
 North for receiving the fum of 14, 767,5007. 
 
 * The average price of ftock in thofe yeaiCi 
 f Exclusive of the Emperor's loan. 
 
 added
 
 added to the capital 5,382,5007. more than 
 the money advanced, and that Mr. Pitt 
 for the fum of 47,421 ,ooo/. has added to the 
 capital 22,679,0007. more than the money 
 advanced, which ought not to have exceeded 
 1 7, 284,0007. had he borrowed even upon no 
 better plan than his predecefTor. If the Em- 
 peror's loan in the three per cents be added to 
 the above account, the capital in this cafe will 
 be 73,933,0007. and the fum received 
 49,568,0007., which will make the excefs 
 of^ the former above the latter equal to 
 24,365,0007. During the whole courfe 
 of the American war, Lord North funded 
 73,4OO,ooo/. in the three and four per cents, 
 for which the fum of 47,968,0007. was ad- 
 vanced. Mr. Pitt therefore in the firft four 
 years of the preient war does not feem to have 
 borrowed money on a much better plan than 
 Lord North did during the whole term of the 
 American war j the one having created a need- 
 lefs capital of more twenty-two millions and 
 a half on a fum of 47,421,0007.,* the other 
 having created a needlefs capital of twenty-five 
 millions and a half on a fum of 47,968,0007. 
 
 * Or, including the Emperor's loan, of 24! millions on a 
 fum of 49,568,0007. 
 
 3 But
 
 But if this war be protracted, the terms of 
 the loan muil necefTarily become worfe and 
 \vorfe, fo that by the time it has continued as 
 long as the former war, it will be well if the 
 capital of the debt increafes only twice as fail 
 as the money is advanced. By adopting the 
 ruinous method cf borrowing in the three per 
 cent s y Mr. Pitt has, in this inilance at 
 leail, relinquiihed the principles with which 
 he commenced his adminiftration. He was 
 then aware that the redemption of the public 
 debts was facilitated by the converilon of this 
 fiock into another bearing a higher intereil, 
 and fubmitted a plan for that purpofe to the 
 consideration of Dr. Price* If the debts be 
 redeemed with greater eafe in a flock bearing a 
 high intereil, they mull neceffarily accumu- 
 late fafler by borrowing in a flock bearing a 
 low intereil, -f- This is the flock, however, in 
 
 which 
 
 * See my Review of Dr. Prices writings on the finances of 
 Great Britain, p. 19, &c. 
 
 f Some perfons of the firft abilities have maintained, that 
 it makes no difference in what (lock the money is borrowed, 
 fince even- loan is to be considered only as a perpetual annuity; 
 and therefore it is of no confequence how much the capital is 
 increafed. This opinion (which I cannot imagine Mr. Pitt to. 
 entertain) is founded on the fuppofition that the debts are neve?
 
 ( '7 ) 
 
 "which the Minifter has chofen to make th6 
 principal part of all his loans, but particu* 
 larly the laft, which almoft wholly confifts of 
 it. In that loan eighteen millions have been 
 borrowed by creating a capital of 26, ioo,ooo/* 
 flock in the three per cents, and granting an 
 annuity for 64 years of 58,5007., which, 
 reckoning intereft according to the rate at 
 which this money was raifed, is worth 
 i,2i2,ooo7. If thefe two fums be added, 
 their amount will be equal to 27,312,0007. 
 which is juft one half greater than the money 
 .received; that is, for every ioo/. received 
 in money, the public debts are increafed 
 I5O/. Had this money been raifed in the 
 Jour per cents, by granting 1 2o7. flock for 
 every ioo7. .advanced, the capital would 
 have been increafed only to 2i,6oo,ooo7. 
 and the intereft in both cafes would have 
 been very nearly the fame. For according 
 to the prefent terms, the public creditor for 
 every ioo7. advanced, is allowed an annuity 
 of 6s. 6d. 1457. flock in the three per 
 
 to be paid, and confequently that "every addition to them is 4 
 nearer approach to bankruptcy. If this be true we muft be 
 acknowledged to have taken very long and alarming ftrides to- 
 wards ruin in the laft three years. 
 
 D cents
 
 cents (the interefl of which is 4/. 75.) and 
 alfo a drawback in the proportion of i/. los. to 
 I2O/. flock in the three per cents, amounting 
 to i/. i6s. id. which is nearly equivalent to 
 is. per annum in the long annuities. Thefe 
 three fums, 6s. 6d. 4/. *js. and 2s. amount 
 together to 4/. 15^. 6d. which is within Jix- 
 pence per cent, of the interefl on 1 2O/. flock 
 in the. four per cents. In other words, by 
 borrowing this year in the three per cents* 
 rather than in the four per cents, Mr. Pitt 
 has faved 45OO/. per ann. on the whole loan, 
 which is worth about ioo,ooo/. but has 
 created a needlefs capital of more than five 
 millions and a half. I fay needlefs capital, 
 for certainly, if the commiflioners, inflead of 
 confining themfelves to the three per cents, had 
 occafionally purchafed in the four per cents 
 (and which they ought to have done) that 
 ilock would have fo rifen in value as to 
 have enabled the Minifter to have borrowed 
 even upon better terms than I have flated. 
 There cannot be a flronger proof of this 
 than the fudden rife in that flock pro- 
 duced by the commiflioners purchafing in ic 
 for a few days jufl before the opening of the 
 loan. A common obferver might have been 
 
 led
 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 led to infer from this circumftance, that the 
 Minifter, aware of the bad confequences of 
 borrowing in the three per cents, had re- 
 folved to change his plan, and had taken this 
 courfe in order to facilitate his operations, 
 and render them more advantageous to the 
 public. But the plans and operations of Mi- 
 nifters of ftate do not lie open to common ob- 
 fervers. The loan, as is well known, was 
 made in the three per cents, which being de- 
 prelTed by this fudden and temporary change 
 in the conducl: of the commiffioners, contri- 
 buted, with other circumftances equally curi- 
 ous, though not perhaps fo unaccountable, to 
 render this loan one of the moft diftinguifhed 
 for its extravagance of all the loans that have 
 ever been made in this country.* 
 
 Thus, then 4 , it is evident that the expencesof 
 the war have not hitherto been rendered lefs 
 enormous by any wifdom or ceconomy in 
 raiting the money to provide for them, . On 
 the contrary, the profufion in borrowing feems 
 to keep pace with the profufion in expending^ 
 and the public debt, which terrified the na- 
 tion by its magnitude when it approached to 
 
 * See note A, Appendix. 
 
 D 3 v fifty
 
 fifty millions, has in ten months received 
 even an addition which greatly exceeds that 
 fum. If the debts be increafing at this rate, it 
 will naturally be alked, " to what ftupendous 
 **. amount muft the whole mafs of them have 
 " accumulated by this time?" Thisisaquef- 
 tion of the utmoft importance to the intereft 
 and happinefs of the country, and the follow- 
 ing fe&ion will be employed in the folutioa 
 of it-* 
 
 SECTION
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 On the NATIONAL DEBT. 
 
 of the Funded Debt on the ijl of January, 1796, "which had been incurred 
 previous / the If ear I 784. 
 
 Principal. 
 ** 
 
 618,437 
 
 1 8,000 
 
 Intereft & 
 
 Managern 
 
 & 
 
 80,204 
 
 54* 
 
 80,202!. Exchequer annuities, of which nine years 
 
 remain uncxpired, value 
 Annuities for Lives, with benefit of furvivorihip, 
 
 granted by 5 Geo. III. 
 
 Life Annuities granted in the years 1745, 1746, 
 
 1757, and 17821, which, in 1783, were 64,574!. 
 
 but now fuppofed to be 52,000!. valued at eight 
 
 years purchafe 
 
 "88,029!. Long Annuities for 64 years 
 Stock in the 4 fer cent. Confolidated B; 
 408,880!. Short Annuities for 12 years 
 Stock in the 5 fer cent. Bank Annuities 
 Bank Stock 
 
 ,Reduced Bank Annuities 
 Confolidated Bank Annuities 
 Annuities borrowed in 1726 
 South Sea Annuities 
 
 Ditto boirowcd in 17^ 
 
 Whole amount of the capital and intereft of the 
 
 3 fer cents . 187,611,254 5,7*4,434 
 
 
 
 416,000 
 
 52,000 
 
 ears 
 
 ^14,323,000 
 
 688,029 
 
 d Bank Ann. 
 
 52,750,000 
 
 ',3*4,737 
 
 :ars 
 
 3,895,800 
 
 408,880 
 
 lities 
 
 17,869,994 
 
 9Qii54: 
 
 11,686,800 
 
 
 
 41,540,074 
 
 
 
 107,399,696 
 
 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 
 
 24,065,024 
 
 
 
 1,919,600 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 257,502,485 
 
 * Thefe and the Short Annuities are computed at the fame rote of intcreft 
 as the 3 fer cents, produce when they are at 64, which was the intereft al- 
 lowed by the ChanceUor of the Exchequer on his laft loan.
 
 to the Funded Debt finee ike Year 1788. 
 
 Borrowed on a tontine in 1789 
 
 l4,ooil.Sh.Ann.fori2years,hor.i789 
 Stock in the 4 ptr cent. Consolidated 
 
 Bank Annuities, borrowed in 1794 2,750,000 
 Ditto in ditto borrowed in 17 95 6,ooo,o?o 
 
 Val.includ. 
 Managtnu 
 63,350!. Long Annuities borrowed in . 
 
 1794 1,314,000 
 
 86,255!. ditto borrowed Feb. 1795 1,789,000 
 58,980!. ditto borrowed Dec. 1795 1,220,500 
 
 Stock in the 3 per cent. Confol. Bank 
 
 Ann. borrowed in 1793 6,250,000 
 
 Ditto in ditto borrowed in j 794 1 1,000,000 
 Ditto in ditto borrowed Feb. 1 795 18,000,000 
 Ditto in ditto borrowed Dec. 1795 21/00,000 
 Ditto in the Reduced Bank Ann. 
 
 borrowed in ditto 4,500,000 
 
 Nary Bills converted into 5 ftr tent. 
 
 Bank. Ann. in 1794 I >94933O 
 
 Ditto ditto in 1795 2,012,040 
 
 principal. 
 
 jt>" 
 1,002,140 
 
 Intertft & 
 Managem. 
 
 *43,ooo- 
 14,001 
 
 ,750,000 353,93* 
 
 4>3*3>5 0<9 
 
 208^027 
 
 61,350,000 j,S6?,ic8 
 
 Total 79,520,402 
 
 Debt contracted prior to Jan. 1785 (fee p. 21) 257,502,485 
 
 'Whole of the funded debt an . irs inter-ft 337,oiZ ; 887 
 
 Amount of the unfunded debt and irs intereft at 
 
 3 per cent, (fee p. 8.) 16,000,000 
 
 353,022,887 
 
 2,686,923 
 
 Emperor's loan, confif- 
 ting of ftock in the 
 3 per cents. 
 
 Annuity of 230,0001. 
 
 for 25 years, worth 3,371,800 231, 507 J 
 
 Topjl of the debt and its annual expence, inclu- 
 ding the ftock redeemed hy the comraiffioners 
 for managing the consolidated fund 
 
 Prime. Int. -\ 
 
 ,S33,333 116,725 ! 
 ,371,800 i3i>57-' 
 
 11,857,286 
 
 800,000 
 
 12,657,286 
 
 360,228,020 13,005,518 
 
 * Takjyi at random, but probably much below the truth. 
 
 With
 
 With a debt of between three and four 
 tired millions, and a war ftill raging which 
 threatens to increafe the amount with many 
 millions in addition, is it poffible to contemplate 
 our fituation without alarm ? Or can the cir- 
 cumftance of our enemies being in the gulph 
 of bankruptcy and ruin (even admitting it to 
 be true) fecure us againft the danger arifing 
 from a perpetual accumulation of new debts 
 and taxes ? Our refources, great as they are 
 reprefented to be, muft inevitably fail if this 
 fyftem be continued; and when we are in- 
 volved in the fame ruin with our enemies, it 
 can afford us but little confolation to reflect 
 that they have plunged into the gulph before 
 us. 
 
 This country has the greaterl reafon to la- 
 ment, or rather to execrate thofe meafures which 
 have fo often interrupted_its peace for the laft 
 century. By the feven years war, which be- 
 gun in 1755 and ended in 1762, the public 
 debts were increafed above feventy-one mil- 
 lions. By the American war, which begun 
 in 1775 and ended in 1783, they were in- 
 creafed above one hundred and twenty mil- 
 lions ; and by the prefent war, which begun 
 only three years ago, but which may not end 
 
 till
 
 till the next century, they have been already 
 increafed above one hundred millions ; fo 
 that the intereft and management of the debt, 
 the money appropriated for the finking fund, 
 together with the civil lift and other expences 
 of government, even were peace concluded 
 immediately, would require taxes to be 
 raifed annually to the amount of twenty -two 
 millions ! 
 
 I had obferved on a former occafion,* that 
 the yearly rents of all the landed eflates in the 
 kingdom were not fuppofed to exceed eighteen 
 millions, and therefore that they were not fuffi- 
 cient to pay the ordinary expences of govern- 
 ment. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has 
 lately maintained in the Houfe of Commons 
 that thefe rents amounted to twenty-five mil- 
 lions annually. I am unacquainted with the 
 fource from which he derives his informa- 
 tion, though I am the lefs difpofed to confide 
 in its accuracy from his having chofen at the> 
 fame time to affert, that the perfonal property 
 of the nation exceeded 600 millions, without 
 adducing either proof or argument in fupport 
 
 * See the Appendix to my Review of Dr. Price'* writings 
 on the Finances of Great Britain, p. 14. 
 
 I Of
 
 of his aflertion ; arid to eftimate this and the 
 landed property together at 1300 millions, 
 without making any allowance for that part 
 of the one which is inverted in mortgage upon 
 the fecurity of the other, and which ought to 
 have been deducted before the value of both 
 kinds of property could have been ftated with 
 tolerable correctnefs. If it be confidered that the 
 land tax at four millings in the pound, though 
 charged not only upon lands and houfes, but 
 alfo upon places and pen/tons (which certainly 
 have not declined of late) produces in general 
 about 1,900,0007. per annum, it is highly 
 probable that the Miniiter's eftimate greatly 
 exceeds the truth ; for two millions would 
 not be more than fufficient to account for a 
 rental of twenty millions annually, on the 
 fuppolition even that this tax were afleffed 
 only in the proportion of ha/fthe fum which 
 is voted by Parliament, and that the growing 
 produce of the place and penfion-lifl were to- 
 tally excluded from the account. Admitting, 
 however, the accuracy of Mr. Pitt's ftate- 
 ments, and we have then the confolatjon to 
 think that the taxes have not yet exceeded the 
 annual produce of all the landed property in 
 the kingdom, but that the war may be conti- 
 E nued
 
 (26 ) 
 
 nued even at its prefent rate of expence,* al- 
 mofl: fjteen months longer before this will be 
 effected. 
 
 Perhaps the hopes and expeditions of fomt 
 perfons may be flattered with the idea that, 
 though our debts are accumulating fafler than 
 ever, they are alfo difcharged with increafing 
 rapidity, and that the period mufl come when 
 the operations of the finking fund will relieve us 
 from the greater part of the taxes with which 
 we are now loaded. How far thefe hopes arc 
 well founded, and how foon they are likely 
 to be realifed, may poflibly be inferred from 
 the following feftion. 
 
 * In February laft taxes were laid to the amount of 1,645,000^ 
 and in the following December other taxes were propofed to the 
 amount of i,i23,ooo/. and yet the intereft of many millions of 
 the debt ftill remains to be provided for. 
 
 SECTION
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 On tke Progrefs which has hitherto been made 
 in difcharging the Public Debt. 
 
 IT appears from the ftatement in the forego- 
 ing Section (page 21) that the national debt 
 in 1786, or at the time in which the confoli- 
 dated fund was eftablimed for its redemption, 
 exceeded 257 millions, and that this debt at 
 the prefent time has increafed to the enormous 
 fum of 360 millions.* Out of this latter fum, 
 however, muft be deducted the flock which 
 has been purchafed by the commifiioners in 
 the interval between the two periods above- 
 mentioned, and the remainder will "give the 
 real amount of the national debt at this time, 
 as well as mew the degree in which it has ac- 
 cumulated fatter than it has been difcharged. 
 But as the purchafes (with the exception of a 
 
 * If the Emperor's loan be excluded from the debt, this fum 
 will be 353 millions. 
 
 E 2 few
 
 few thoufands) have always been made by the 
 commiffioners in the three per cents, it will be 
 neceflary, before an accurate idea can be 
 formed of the amount of the debt in 1786, 
 compared with its prefent amount and with 
 that part of it which has been redeemed, to 
 convert the whole of the debt at thefe two pe- 
 ri o*ds into the three per cents. 
 
 Amount
 
 .2 2 
 
 a 3. 
 
 . 
 
 j O v 
 
 ^f 
 
 S- 
 
 - 
 
 
 r's loan, confiding of ft 
 per cents. 
 *1. annuity, equivalent 
 
 4 
 
 ||||1U 
 
 [iftipl 
 
 ^;*ggii< 
 
 in m MI *! H n 
 
 *!
 
 ( 30 } 
 
 With the exception of the tontine and fhort 
 annuities borrowed in 1789 (amounting to-, 
 gether to 1,769,000 three per cents,) thej 
 \vhole of the above difference > exceeding i 1 2 
 millions, (or including the Emperor's loan, 
 121 millions,) h;:s been added to the public 
 debtjiince the commencement of the prefent war. 
 By the addition of frefh taxes in confequence 
 of every new loan, and by the annual appro- 
 priation of one million from the confolidated 
 fund, about 17! millions * of the three per 
 cents have been redeemed fince the year 1786; 
 that is, the public debts have accumulated in 
 three years to a fum which is feven times 
 greater than the fum paid offin ten years. Com- 
 pared with the whole amount of the debt at the 
 prefent time, the ftock redeemed is to the whole 
 flock in the proportion of one to twenty-four 
 nearly, and the national debt from this com* 
 parifon will appear to have been leflened in the 
 courfe of ten years about ten-pence in the 
 pound ! At this rate it is obvious that the total 
 difcharge of the pubjic debt muft be a tedious 
 procefs. Suppoiing the war to be now ended, 
 
 * It (houkl be obferved, that this is only about tijrcc-fourtbs 
 of the nee Jir/s capital which has been already created by the loans 
 for die prefent war. 
 
 the
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 the fums appropriated for the finking fund to bo 
 faithfully applied, a itricT: ceconomy to be ob- 
 ferved in all the expences of government, and 
 the peace of the country to remain uninterrupted 
 for the next forty years, the amount of the 
 public debt at the end of that period might, 
 perhaps, be reduced to one hundred and Jiflv 
 millions. But this profped:, dark and com- 
 fortlefs as it is, in our prefent circumllances 
 is much too favourable. The termination of 
 the war feems to be at as great a diflance as 
 when hoftilities firft began. Inftead of ceco- 
 nomy, therefore, an increafed profufion in 
 the public expences is likely to continue, and 
 not only to add to the debt, but to produce an 
 alienation of that fund whofe operations with- 
 out any fuch addition were already much too 
 feeble for any ufcful purpofe. What reafon 
 alfo have we to believe, when the prefent war 
 is concluded, (admitting even that its pre- 
 tended objects are attained in the eftabliihment 
 of focial order, religion, and morality) that 
 this couutry (hall be bleffed with the undif- 
 turbed enjoyment of peace during the long in- 
 terval of forty years ? How much of the lafl 
 forty years, or of thofe that preceded them, 
 has been thus diftinguifhed ? I fear that the 
 
 experience
 
 ( 3* ) 
 
 experience of thofe years will afford but a 
 melancholy prefage of what is to be expected 
 in future. The Seven Years war the Ame- 
 rican war the Spanifh and Ruffian arma- 
 ments and the prefent war, form the hiftory 
 of the greater part of the laft forty years. 
 During this period almoft every year has been 
 marked with new impofitions either to make 
 up the deficiencies of the preceding, or to 
 provide for the expehces of an approaching 
 war. By this means the fhort intervals of 
 peace have had little or no effect: in leflening 
 the public burthens, and the nation has been 
 invariably plunged into every new war with 
 nearly the whole load of debt which had op- 
 prefled it in the preceding one. If, therefore, 
 we reafon from the experience of former 
 times, we mall not be induced to place more 
 confidence in the Minister's operations for re- 
 deeming the national debt, than if we con- 
 fined our reafoning to the particular experi- 
 ence of his adminiftration. I do not know 
 even whether, confidering all circumftances, 
 it would not have been better that the finking 
 fund had never been eftablifhed. If the debt 
 had increafed as it has done within thefe three 
 years, without any profpect of its being dif- 
 i charged,
 
 ( 33 ) - 
 
 charged, the nation perhaps might have been 
 awakened into a fenfe of its danger, and long 
 before this tiii-e have adopted effectual mea- 
 fures towards checking the growth and pre- 
 venting the pernicious' confequences of this 
 evil; But inftead of this, it has been led to 
 place its whole reliance on an impotent plan, 
 and with the hope that this will operate as 
 powerfully in redeeming, as a war does in in- 
 creafing the public debt, it gives itfelf very 
 little concern about the enormity of the amount 
 to which this debt is accumulating. But thefe 
 are delufions which, if perfifted in, muft ter- 
 minate in ruin. It is, indeed, hardly poilible to 
 conceive of a credulity fo abfurd as that which 
 can fuppofe a country to be in a ftate of always 
 maintaining its credit, though its debts are in- 
 creafing twenty times fafter than they are dif- 
 charged. Such, however, appears to be the 
 cafe with this country at prefent, and it is to be 
 feared that we mall learn wifdom only when it 
 is too late to profit by its inltruclions. 
 
 SECTION
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 On the Management of the Sinking Fund, 
 
 LHE plan which the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer has adopted for redeeming the national 
 debt, is well known to be one of the three plans 
 which at his requeft were communicated to 
 him by Dr. 'Price in the year 1786,* and, 
 though originally the weaker! of the three, 
 has not only been mutilated and enfeebled by 
 his alterations at its firft efuablifhment, but 
 rendered Hill more ineffectual by fubfequent 
 neglect and mifmanagement. . In the original 
 plan, the redemptions after the firft three 
 years were all fuppofed to be made either in, 
 the four or the fve per cents ; and this fup- 
 pofition w r as founded on the principle that 
 money might be improved at a higher intereft 
 in thefe flocks than in the three fer cents, and 
 
 * See my Review of the Writings of Dr. Price on the Fi- 
 nances of Great Britain, Chap, ii. 
 
 Of
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 of confequence that the debt would be dif- 
 charged fafler by confining to them the chief 
 operations of the plan. But excepting at a 
 time when it ought not to have been done 
 (which was jufl before the opening of the 
 laft loan) no purchafe hath ever been made in 
 the/bar per cents. On the contrary, a pre- 
 ference has invariably been given to the three 
 per cents ; by which means, though a larger 
 capital appears to be redeemed, the reduction 
 of the debt is in reality retarded. 
 
 When \hethree per cents are at 70, and the 
 four per cents at 84, money is improved in 
 the one at 4/. $s. yd. and in the other at 
 4/. i^j. ^d. per cent. If, therefore, one mil* 
 lion were annually laid out during the term 
 allotted for the finking fund, or 26 years, 
 in purchasing three per cents at 70, and ano- 
 ther million in purchaiing/or/>^r cents at 84, 
 the capital redeemed in the former will b$ 
 65,918,0007., and in the latter, 58,798,0007. 
 But the real value of the ' one is only 
 46,142,5007,, and its i-ntereft 1,977,5407., 
 while the real value of the other is 49,3-90,2007. 
 and its intereft, 2,351,9207. Hence it fol- 
 - lows that, though greater progrefs appears 
 to be. made in difcharging the national debt 
 F 2 by
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 by purchasing in the three per cents , (which, 
 perhaps, may account for the preference given 
 to this flock) yet that, in facl:, this progrefs 
 will be retarded, and the free revenue at the 
 end of the term be lefs than it would have 
 been if the purchafes had been made in the 
 four per cents, by 374, 3&o/. per annual. But 
 the price of the four per cents has generally 
 exceeded the price of the three per cents in a 
 much lefs proportion than that of 84 to 70 : 
 confequently the preference given to the latter 
 has been injurious to the finking fund in a 
 much higher degree than I have ftated it. In 
 the year 1792 the three per cents were at 96, 
 while \\iz four per cents were only at 102; 
 and yet the Chancellor of the Exchequer per- 
 fifled in the fame courfe, and chofe to improve 
 the public money at little more tnan ^/. per 
 cent, when he might have improved it with 
 equal eafe at 4/. per cent. But by neglecting 
 the opportunity which the peculiar Hate of the 
 funds then offered, the lofs was much greater 
 than what followed from the mere accumula- 
 tion of compound intereft. When the three 
 per cents had riien to 96, they were within 
 4/. of being at par, and within 6/. of the 
 price of the four per cents, taking the latter 
 
 at
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 at 102. It might therefore have been propofed 
 to the holders of ftock in the four per cents, 
 either to pay them at par, (which in this par- 
 ticular cafe might have been worth while to 
 have done by a frefh loan) or to have allowed 
 them for each ioc7. in that Hock, ioo/. in 
 the three per cents, together with an annuity 
 of i/. for feven years. This being worth 
 67., and added to 967., the valueof ioo/. in the 
 three per cents would have amounted to 1O2/. ; 
 fo that by the propofed exchange, the holders 
 of both flocks would have been placed exactly 
 in the fame fituation. By this means the pub- 
 lic, at the end of feven years, would have 
 entered on the poffeffion of a free revenue of 
 i/. per cent, on 32,750,0007., or of 327, joo/. 
 per annum. The value of this annuity for 
 ever after the expiration of the above term, 
 and reckoning intereft at four per cent, (which 
 is more than could have been made of money 
 in 1792) is 6,222,5007. It is evident, there- 
 fore, that, by a neglect the moil inexcufable, 
 the Minifter has loft to the public in this {In- 
 gle inftance above Jtx millions. Let this be 
 added to the prefent value of the deficiency 
 in the free revenue after 26 years, in confe- 
 quence of r^urchaflng always in the three per 
 
 cents 9
 
 ( 3S ) 
 
 tfttts y rather than in the four per cents, and the 
 amount of the whole lofs will exceed (en mil- 
 lions / 
 
 Such are the Minifter's operations of finance 
 in regard to the finking fund, or rather in dlf- 
 charging the public debt. What they are in 
 accumulating this debt has already appeared in 
 the foregoing fections. In both cafes they 
 are without a parallel ; but the operations in 
 the former are conducted on a fcale fo much 
 more contracted than thofe in the latter, that 
 I am apprehenfive of appearing to trifle with 
 the reader by dwelling fo long upon them. 
 
 SECTION
 
 C 39 ) 
 
 SECTION VL 
 
 Mlfcellaneous Obfervatiens* 
 
 r ROM the firft eftablifhment of the confo- 
 lidated fund in 1786, the expenditure has in- 
 variably exceeded the revenue ; but more par- 
 ticularly fince the commencement of the pre- 
 fent war. The deficiencies in the fix years 
 preceding the war amounted to feven mil- 
 lions nearly, which were fupplied by loans 
 and extraordinary receipts.* In the laft 
 three years, though additional taxes have been 
 laid to the amount of four millions, thefe de- 
 ficiencies have conftantly increafed, fo as in 
 the prefent year to fall very little fhort of two 
 millions. -f It is probable, therefore, that an- 
 nual loans will become necefTary in future to 
 provide for the ordinary expences of a peace 
 
 * See my Review of Dr. Price's Writings on the Finances of 
 Great Britain, Chap. iii. 
 f See note B, Appendix, 
 
 cfta-
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 a 
 
 eftabliiTiment j and thefe loans, by requiring 
 new taxes, will produce further deficiencies, 
 fo that by borrowing each year, not only to 
 pay the deficiencies of the preceding year, but 
 alfo the interefl on the deficiencies in former 
 years, the national debt will be increasing at 
 compound interefl: in the fame manner as it is 
 reduced, but with this alarming difference, 
 that the operations in the one cafe are ten times 
 more powerful than in the other. 
 
 If thefe are likely to be the effects of the 
 public debt with the expenditure only of a 
 peace eltablimment, or on the fuppofition that 
 the war were immediately clofed, what mud 
 be the confequences of obftinately perfiiling 
 in a fyflem of profufion, which, if long con- 
 tinued, would ruin any country, however un- 
 impaired its flrength and refources ? 
 
 That the deficiency in the revenue proceeds 
 chiefly from the diftreffed and overburthened 
 ftate of the nation is felf-evident : but it mull 
 alfo be acknowledged, that it proceeds in fome 
 degree from the nature of the taxes which have 
 lately been impofed. Thefe, in order to ren- 
 der the war lefs obnoxious, have been laid in 
 fuch a manner as to caufe the lead immediate 
 preffure on the poorer part of the people. Now, 
 2 as
 
 ( ft ) 
 
 as this clafs conftitutes the great bulk of the 
 nation (and if the prefent war continues, is 
 likely to conftitute a much greater) it is obvi- 
 ous that a tax which is not immediately paid 
 by them can never be efficient. Such taxes as 
 thofe for licences to wear hair-powder, to kill 
 game, &c. may do to fill up the column of 
 ways and means in a Minifter's budget, but 
 their produce, compared with the ferious mag- 
 nitude of the public exigencies, muft always 
 be trifling and contemptible* Our difficulties 
 are great, and are daily becoming greater* 
 The only way to furmount them is, by meet- 
 ing them fairly, and by being made fenfible, 
 by the Itrong meafures which they really re- 
 quire, of the danger with which they threaten 
 us. Inftead of this manly conduct, the hopes 
 of the nation are buoyed up by delufive repre- 
 fentations of its wealth and profperity.* The 
 
 public 
 
 . * There cannot be a more convincing proof of this than the 
 exaggerated computations of the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 in regard to the probable future amount of the revenue, when 
 he opens his yearly, or rather his half yearly budget to the 
 Houfe of Commons. The grounds upon which fome of thofe 
 computations are founded, are very curious. Thus, in Fe- 
 bruary laft, although the produce of the permanent taxes had 
 gradually diminiftied for- the three preceding years, he take* 
 G the
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 public are taught to believe that a tax upon the 
 moft infignificant articles will prove to be an 
 important branch of the revenue. Hence a mul- 
 titude of thefe taxes are levied, a multitude of 
 new officers become neceffary to collect them ; 
 thus influence increafes and the revenue fails, 
 and the deficiencies being blended with the 
 fupplies of die next year, are not only over- 
 looked, but by increafing the amount of thofc 
 fupplies, are perverted even into a proof of the 
 fiourifhing ftate of the country : for the cir- 
 cumftance of being abk to raife a large loan 
 has conftantly been adduced as an argument in 
 favour of the greater ability of the nation to 
 
 the mean of thofe taxes for four years as the probable amount 
 of their produce in the following year; and in December laft, 
 notwithftanding the experience of the former half year had 
 proved his fuppofitions to be wrong, and that the revenue was 
 ftill diminishing, he again takes the mean of the three foregoing 
 years as the probable amount of the taxes m the enfuing year. 
 It is hardly neceflary to obferve, that the plain way would hav 
 been, to have deducted the average of their deficiencies in the 
 three preceding years from their amount in the laft year,, and 
 taken the remainder as the probable amount of Uieir produce in 
 the next year. But this method of computation, by lefiening; 
 the prefent revenue, would have rendered it neceflary to have 
 iiicreafed the number of new faxes ; and therefore another fpe- 
 -cies of arithmetic was adopted, lefs accurate, indeed, in it* 
 principle, but much better fuited to the purpofes of a minifter 
 wf Hate, 
 
 i bear
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 bear it. The competition of rapacious loan- 
 mongers to fhare in the fpoils of the country, 
 fupported by the fictitious credit of paper mo- 
 ney, may perhaps enable the Minifter to tri- 
 umph in the facility with which the public 
 debts are accumulated, and the temporifing 
 expedient of ineffectual taxation may ferve 
 him as a proof of our inexhaustible refources 
 to provide for thofe taxes. But a fyftem 
 founded upon delufion mufl end in difappoint- 
 ment and ruin. It was the boaft of a French 
 minifter of finance, that the American war 
 was carried on during his adminiflration 
 without impofing a new tax upon the French 
 people, and it was this very circumftance 
 which produced the revolution. He borrowed 
 immenfe fums annually, and endeavoured to 
 provide for them by the ineffectual means of 
 ceconomy j for in that country taxation had then 
 arrived at its limits.* A fyftem of ceconomy 
 
 under 
 
 * The taxes, exclufive of the expences of collection, 
 amounted to 24,375,ooo/. and the number of inhabitants ex- 
 ceeded 27 millions. In Great Britain the taxes, iuppofingthe war 
 now terminated, ought to produce 22 millions at lead, although 
 the number of inhabitants, on the moft extravagant calculation, 
 does not amount to eight millions. Compared therefore with 
 the inhabitants in each country, the taxes in Great Britain are 
 G 2 three
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 under a government -which exiftedby corrup- 
 tion neceffarily failed. New loans became 
 neceflary to pay the intereft of former loans. 
 The mafs of debt continued to accumulate, 
 till at length it overwhelmed public credit and 
 buried the government in its ruins. With 
 fuch an awful warning before us, ought we 
 not topaufe? Our refources are not incxhauf- 
 tible, nor is our credit unbounded. During 
 the laft 40 years, the national debt has been 
 increafed almoil: 300 millions, and at this very 
 moment it is increafing fatter than ever. \Vith 
 two loans in one year, amounting to 36 mil* 
 lions flerling ; with a loan alfo in the fame 
 ^year to our ally, the Emperor, of 4,6oQ,oooA 
 and with an addition to the navy debt of one 
 million and a half j the whole fupplies for the 
 next campaign ftill remain unprovided ! The 
 extravagance of Lord Chatham's adminiftra-? 
 tion, in the feven years war, was long the 
 fubject of animadverfion, till it was fucceeded 
 
 three times greater than they were in France when their refources 
 totally failed. How far we may be able ftill further to increafe 
 the proportion before we arrive at the fame ftate, may perhaps 
 be inferred from the produce of the revenue during the laft three 
 years, as well as from the difficulty of finding proper objects of 
 taxation, for the prefent year,
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 by the greater extravagance of Lord North's 
 adminiftration in the American war. The enor- 
 mity of public profurion was now fuppofed 
 to have attained its highefl point, and pro- 
 voked, one of the heft patriots which this or 
 any. other country ever produced, to exprefs 
 his fentiments of it in the following words: 
 
 " J have in this edition inferted a brief 
 " hiftory of the finking fund, and alfo a 
 " particular account of the increafe of the 
 " public debts from 1776 to 1783, and of 
 " the ftate of our finances at the time of fign- 
 " ing the preliminaries of peace. This ac- 
 " count is, I believe, as correct as it is pof- 
 * ' {ible at prefent to make it j and I have 
 " chofen for many reafons that it fhould 
 " form a part of this work. Hereafter, 
 " probably, it will be read with amaze- 
 *' ment. Our folly, in this inftance, is 
 " without example. Lord North enjoys the 
 " fingular diftinclion of having contributed 
 " more to it than any former m milter. By a 
 " war which has degraded the kingdom, and 
 *' a difiipation of treafure which was never 
 " equalled, he has, fn the fhort compafs of 
 " feven years, doubled a debt before too 
 ** heavy to be endured; and let future ge- 
 
 " negations
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 '< nerations rife up, and if poflible, let them 
 " call himble/ed."* Had Dr. Price lived 
 to have witneffed the profuflon of the laft 
 three years, he would have retracted, or at leaft 
 he would have moderated a part of this cen- 
 fure ; for Lord North no longer enjoys the 
 difHnction of being the moft extravagant mi- 
 nifter that has ever affliled this country. 
 
 * Dr. Price's Preface to the 4th edition of his Treatife oa 
 Reverfionary Payments. 
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE A. (Page 19.) 
 
 THE minifter, in communicating the late loan to the Houfe of 
 Commons, congratulated them on his being able, in the 
 fourth year of a war, to borrow money at fo low an interest as 
 4/. 13*. &/. or rather 4!. i$s. 6d. percent. If every addition to the 
 debt is to be confidered as a perpetual burthen upon the public, 
 this triumph perhaps may have been well founded. But if, on the 
 contrary, according to his own profefled principles, regard is to 
 be had in the terms of every new loan, to the difcharge ot the debt 
 as weil astolhd payment of the intereft, a little attention will con- 
 vince us that the plan he has adopted of borrowing in the three per 
 cents, although it has the fpecious appearance of Teflening the in-* 
 tereft, does, in facl:, by creating a needlefs capital, increafe it very 
 confiderably. In the laftloan, the creation of 145*. ftock for every 
 lool. received, rendered it neceflary, in addition to the intereft of 
 4/. 155. 6d. percent, to appropriate i/. 9*. per ann. for the redemp- 
 tion of this ftock. The whole intereft, therefore, on each tool, 
 of this loan amounted to 61. 4*. 6d. Suppofing on the return of 
 peace that the three per cents will continue on an average at So per 
 cent, (which is 16 per cent lefs than they Avere before the com- 
 mencement of the prefent war) then will the abovementioned an- 
 nual fum of i/. 9J. redeem at that price a capital of 14.5,1. in thirty- 
 feven years and a half; but if the ftock is higher, it will ofcoudc 
 be a proportionably longer time before this is effected. Now ha<i 
 the debt been funded in the/oar per cents, the money, as I haveai- 
 ready obferved, might have been borrowed at 4/. i6s. To this 
 fum i/. 6s. might have been added towards discharging the prin- 
 cipal, and the whole intereft would then have been 6/. 2f, for each 
 ioo/. Stippofing theprice ofthefourper cents to bear the fame pro- 
 portion to the price of the three per cents as they do at prefent, that 
 js, iuppofing when the latter are at eighty, tlie former will beat 
 ninety-five, then will a capital of i2ol. in the four per cents, by the 
 annual appropriation of i/. 6s: and its intereft, be discharged ia 
 thirty-feven years and a half, or exaclly in the fame time as i45/ 
 ftock in the three per cents will be difchargedby the annual appro- 
 priation of i/. 9-v. It follows, therefore, that if the laft loan had 
 been borrowed in the four per cents, a faving of zs. 6d. percent might 
 have been made in the intereft for the firft thirty-feven years and a 
 half, whichon eighteen millions, amounts to 22,5007. perana. and 
 a further faving of the long annuity, dr 58,5007. perana. for the 
 .remainder of fixty-four years after this term. If the tkree per cents 
 fliould rife higher than eighty, the redemption of the debt in that 
 Ifock will be retarded much more than it can poflibly be in the/or 
 fcr cents, and consequently the lofs to the-public will be ftill greater. 
 But if the loan had been funded at par in the Jive per cents, andl/. 
 fer cent had been appropriated to the redemption of the debt, tht 
 public creditor would have received $1. per cent for his money, or 
 ff. 6d, more than he is allowed in the lalt loan, and yet the whole 
 
 capita!
 
 ( 4? ) 
 
 capital would have been redeemed in little more than thirty-fix 
 years and a half. In this cafe, a laving would have been made of 
 4*. 6d. percent, or 40, sod. per ann. for the firft thirty-fix years and 
 a half, a faving of ;,ioo,ooo/. in the thirty-feventh year, and alfo 
 a faving of the whole of the long annuity, or 58,5oo/. per ann. for 
 the remaining twenty-fix years and a half after that per:od. Hence 
 itis evident that the lo v intereft at which money is railed, at- 
 fords no proof of the bargain's being advantageous to the bor*- 
 rower ; for the public creditor may receive a higher intereft, and 
 yet the nation be enabled to difcharge its debt at lefs annual ex* 
 pence, and in a much ihorter time than if it leiTens that intereft by 
 in '-euiing the c;p'fl. lathe lail loan this was particularly the 
 caie, :ndit might eaiily be prjved that the nation loft aboye a 
 million by borrowing in the three per cents rather than in \\\sfi--vf 
 per cents, ft! pofing even that the former will be all paid at twenty 
 percent u nc.tr par, or rather that a capital of 26,iGOjOoo/. will be 
 difcharged for lefs than twenty millions in money; a fuppofitiou 
 hi.;hiy improbable, fliould the country ever recover its credit and 
 be able to redeem the debt at all. 
 
 NOTE B. (Page 39.) 
 
 THE average produce of the old taxes for nine years, preceding 
 the conclulion of the laft war, was 8,144,3047.; in the year after 
 the war, their producefvnk to 6,933,928!. This deficiency in the 
 revenue, proceeded partly from the increafe of fmuggling, but prin* 
 cipally from the reduction of the public expenditure > for as mo/t 
 of the articles confirmed in war are charged with heavy duties to 
 government, it is obvious that the greater the profufion of the 
 public money, the greater mud be the produce of tiie public re* 
 Tenue. In the prelent \\ar, which exceeds all that ever preceded 
 it in the enormity of its expence, the revenue vnuft of courfc be 
 increafed in a higher degree than in any other war, and confe- 
 quently whenever it tenni".atesj the deficiency mult be fo much 
 the more alarming. During the American war, the extraordinary 
 annual expenditure amounted, on an average, to abcut fixteen 
 millions; in the prelent war it amounts, on the mod moderate 
 computation, to twenty-five millions. On the termination of the 
 one, the revenue became deficient oncmilliyn and a quarter, in the 
 produce of the old taxes; and I think it may be fairly expected 
 that on the termination of the other, the whole deficiency will fall 
 very little fhort 6f two millions; for the expences are not only 
 greater, but the taxes have been.fo much increafed fmcethe Ame- 
 rican war, that were the expences equal in both, it is probable 
 that the effect produced on the revenue, in this fingle circum- 
 ftance, would be very nearly in the proportion abovementioned. 
 It might alfo be obferved, that every additional tax is a frefh en- 
 couragement to fm'iggling, and therefore that it is to be appre- 
 hended that the public revenue will be injured by thofe illicit prac- 
 tices in a much higher degree than ever. But I feel no pieafure in 
 anticipating evil ; i am only forry that there is not virtue enougJs 
 to prevent it. 
 
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