AN

ANSWER,

&c. &c.

CHAP. I.

FINANCE.

THE Public will hardly require, that this important division of the subject should be treated in detail, relating chiefly to accounts. already laid before parliament, where they have undergone a full discussion in their several parts. It is however necessary to take certain general views, which we shall attempt to bring under con sideration.

At the conclusion of the war, his Majesty's ministers seem very naturally to have considered, that "the amount of the national debt and the pressure of the annual taxation were among the first objects which presented themselves to their notice." But as an apology for not precipitating relief too suddenly a most unaccountable plea is set up, and an interest pretended to be shown for the condition of the trading part of the community. How this class of his Majesty's subjects, either in whole or in part, could sustain any possible injury by so wholesome a change in the affairs of the nation at large, the author has not attempted to explain; and it is equally difficult to excuse, or to pardon, such mistaken delicacy precluding the exercise of an imperious duty, unless it shall be satisfactorily proved, that a reduction of annual burdens contracts the circulating capital, or bears some analogy to it.

We are to understand, that the peace of 1792 naturally suggested itself to their consideration as an example to follow; as they şay, that "in all political questions it is not only matter of prudence and policy, but contributes much to the facility of business, to proceed according to some acknowledged rule." Far from

denying, indeed, the truth of this observation, we are at liberty to consider whether they made a prudent choice in this precedent as a rule, and whether they have followed it.

As to loading the country with debt and taxation, can it be denied, that Mr. Pitt surpassed all his predecessors in office, and that he has only been exceeded in these high qualities by the present ministers themselves? So little moderation has, therefore, been exercised in these latter times, that it required to look far back for an estimate, on which the present peace establishment was to be framed; and, forgetting how loudly economy had been insisted upon by the prayer of the public, while the principle had been admitted even by themselves under an enormous augmentation of debt, a diminution of which was rendered so necessary, they consented to adopt a precedent even within their own memories. So much for the prudence of their choice. Whether they have acted up to the spirit of the laws and regulations they had laid down for themselves let us further examine.

As to what particularly relates to the service of the army, notwithstanding this precedent of 1792 was taken for a basis, certain pretences were found, with how much reason we leave the public to consider, to raise it from 47,000 to 99,000. One exception we readily admit must have increased it some thousands, the provision to be made for new colonies, though this was required to have been done with a very sparing hand. And it is evident, that, under an enlightened government, colonies require generally less and less force for their defence. This the author himself also acknowledges by saying, that " the same amount of force would not always be necessary for this service, but that portions might be withdrawn gradually as the colonies became accustomed to the superior administration of British laws."

The increase of population affords a miserable argument for keeping up an establishment; this increase so unfortunately appearing only in examining the registers of the poor; and should strengthen our efforts towards reduction in every form and kind, since this charge alone bears so heavy on the farming interest, as well as the public.

If, as an excuse for heaping upon us burdens, the loyalty and patriotism of the great body can be called in question, God is a witness that no reflection can be less merited. "In the peculiar form, which the press of this day has already assumed," they say, "a new force is given to public passions;" but had the author seen the subject in an indulgent light, he would have expressed himself more justly, that a new force is given to the powers of reason, among even the lowest orders, which places them under better control than an army, or even the laws. None of these

several arguments, therefore, offer the slightest pretence for upholding an extraordinary establishment in time of peace.

But we have the highest authorities in aid of our argument upon. this latter ground. How did the learned Lowth condemn restraints upon the press when, in a sermon half a century ago, and in good. times, he says, "let no man be alarmed at the attempts of atheists and infidels: let them produce their cause and bring forth their arguments to their own confusion." And Wharton, in addressing the freethinkers, admits, "that whatever be the cause of this folly, it would be unjust to ascribe it to the freedom of the press, which wise men will ever hold to be one of the most precious advantages of civil liberty." He says of himself, " that one of the meanest in this controversy, I should have been ashamed of projecting the defence of the great Jewish legislator did not I know, that assailants and defenders skirmished all under one equal law of liberty."

Now, armed with these enlightened principles, so long established and confirmed by experience, let us compare the conduct of government, at a period when even watchfulness was in repose, and opposition enfeebled by the generous spirit of loyalty by which parliament was, animated, when called upon to settle the civil list upon the accession of his present Majesty. It will hardly be credited, that the original proposal on the part of the minister was assented to and approved, all parties silently and tamely submitting to the will of the sovereign, whom we most ardently pray, feeling as we do for the prosperity of Great Britain, may be looked up to by a grateful people, as the only fountain of honor and emolument in our day.

Richly provided by the vote of parliament, and the calm which subsisted within-doors, ministers turned their attention to the crowd, and dared to proscribe, with the assistance of their usual dupes, their country friends, all the intellectual enjoyment and improvement it was in the habit of receiving, at what they were pleased to deem too easy an expense-the only means in the power of the people of judging of the lives and characters of their superiors, and ameliorating their own condition by the force of such eaxmples. There is food, it must be granted, essential both to the body and the mind: is it possible to conceive, that even under the present ridiculous thirst for high prices, whatever is palatable, or such as can be relished by the species, can possibly come too cheap to the consumer? Do we boast of freedom, and see dust thrown in the eyes of his Majesty's subjects to disqualify them to judge in the humblest way, of the learning and opinions of others? Whatever, under the protection of law, is permitted to be written, might even be encouraged to be read.

But let us now return to the subject more immediately under consideration. His Majesty's ministers very properly introduced into the king's speech on the opening of the parliament, in 1816, "that they might rely on every disposition on his part to concur in such measures of economy as might be thought consistent with the security of the country, and with the station which we occupy in Europe." In investigating the several bearings of this proposal, the writer of these remarks sees reason to beseech his Majesty to reflect, that the current expenses, of the preceding years, bore no proportion to instances occurring in any former reign, not excepting that of the glorious memory of his father's: that the termination of the war, the time to which we are alluding, had incurred an annual expenditure capable of reductions, which could not be contemplated at any former period of our history, unless it were possible to subtract tens from units.

The whole is stated up to the close of the first year after the peace as a saying of seventy millions. Is it fair to boast, that such reductions were never dreamed of, under any former administration? In the reign of George the Second, the average of the whole revenue did not exceed nine millions; in that of George the First, six millions and a half. Do ministers forget, that in the year 1814 the demands of government, exclusive of poor's rates, exceeded one hundred and thirty-seven millions, after Mr. Pitt had taken the whole income of Great Britain at less by thirty millions?

But exclusive of the interest of debt, to confine ourselves to the annual supply for ordinaries and extraordinaries, the estimate before the war was taken at twenty millions; can much be attributed to the provident hand of ministers in requiring, the second year, seven millions more, or twenty-seven millions, under a double pressure on the part of the public creditor?

So that, faithless to a treaty, after a war decidedly engaged in against the sense of the enlightened part of the country, too high spirited in herself to countenance arming a phalanx against the power of one soldier, raised from the ranks by his merit, a point of view in which it is but fair to consider it, and certainly enough to silence all claims to the glory of victory; can we sit quietly down under the weight of burdens in the proportion of near three to one?

I will not however withhold from ministers, on the face of these their own representations, which I have only faithfully transcribed, a just tribute to the manliness they have shown, so superior to themselves on most occasions, in having thrown down the gauntlet, and fairly invited these reflections on their own work.

It is true they have exhibited an elaborate picture; but, through the light thrown upon it in these pages, it will afford at least at

first glance great dissatisfaction in the public mind; and viewed more carefully, as we proceed to examine the back ground, it leaves few, and very faint traces of the fostering hand of government, while a glowing horizon still happily but too distantly presents itself, capable of answering to our most sanguine hopes.

During the year 1816, great praise is given to the chancellor of the exchequer for reducing the amount of the floating unfunded debt, and relieving the money market; but by proceeding you will clearly see it was only to make room for a renewed application to the very same fund the ensuing year; which year opened, as it seems, "by a considerable deficiency, not less than ten per cent. of the whole amount of the public revenue:" and to show the unnatural state into which these transactions reduce the country, while the funds were experiencing an almost unprecedented rise, the poor's rates at least kept pace with them; and, compared with the year when Mr. Pitt first came into power, had risen so as to be nearly in the proportion of ten to one. This has no other than a tendency to show, how a gain to the few is a loss to the many, and that the effects of such a fluctuating state of things ought religiously to be avoided.

But, of all the pretences, that of commencing these boasted reductions at the first possible period is the most extraordinary. Was it before remonstrances were reiterated from the opposition side? Were not those, which have been at length acceded to, such as had been for the most part repeatedly refused?

Parliament, compelled by the general distress, which bore so hard upon the parishes, granted a power to relieve the laboring classes, by the application of a million and a half to the employment of the poor. Nothing is said of the application of this fund, therefore I pass it over in silence.

In enumerating the transactions of this year, the abolition of sinecures is among those, which ministers are pleased to throw in the teeth of opposition, as originating with them, and too insignificant in itself to merit their own particular attention. They compute the amount in round figures at a simple 100,000l.; and have the effrontery to add, that its value is nothing, and upon this score to nothing do they lay their claim." Can such language be tolerated, under their determination to pursue an economical regime ?

We are told, "that the year 1818 opened under a more favorable aspect than the preceding;" and, goaded we may suppose under the lash of their political adversaries, "ministers found themselves in a condition of prosecuting their resolute purpose' of reducing the national expenditure." So far from this being acted upon, on the faith of their own statements, they could not