The National Register. — London, England, 1816-01-14 00:00:00

NATIONAL R sM of the expense of the war, and their palliative remedies; but we have not now time to discuss them, or point out, further than by comparison with our own observations, what errors in fact or in theory they may have promulgated. We shall not, however, ultimately shrink from the duty of detecting them, if they exist. " The cost of the war consists principally of the sums raised since its commencement to defray its current expenses ; the sums raised to pay the yearly expenses of the debt contracted w h e n those first mentione d- sums were insufficient ; and the amount of that debt which still remains unpaid, or, which is the same thing, the sums which must still be raised in order to extinguish it. " 1. To estimate the first head with any thing approaching to Accuracy, would be hardly possible ; because, beside the extraor dinary or war taxes, it consists of the growing surplus of other taxes, which, but for the war, might have been diminished or entirely repealed. But if we omit these entirely. and only con sider the Nvar taxes, and confine ourselves to the period during which, from the enormous amount of the debt, and the approach ing failure of public credit, it became necessary to attempt raising a considerable proportion of the supplies within the year, we shall obtain a sum, however enormous, yet much within the truth.. The war taxes amount now to above 25 millions, exclusive of the portions transferred to the consolidated fund, and appropriated to the debt. Ten years Property, or rather Income-tax, at 10 per cratt.;has been paid, making at the least 120 millions, besides what was paid at 5 and 6.1 before 1806. Indeed, we have the Chancel lor of the Exchequer's admission in 1813, that, before that time, above 200 millions of war taxes had been paid this war. Since he said so, 70 more have been paid ; so that 270 milli ans have been thus raised, exclusive of all that were levied last war. " 2. If we reckon up the sums yearly p aid for the interest an d other charges of the several loans, from 1793 to 1811 inclusive ; that is t• say, 22 times the charges on the loans of 1793, 21 times those on the loans of 1794. and so on, till we come to the loans of, 1811, we shall obtain the sum of 238 millions and a half paid for throe loans. The charges of the loans for 1812,1813, 14 and 15, remain to be added, which will swell the amount to above 240 mil lions, although, since that time, the bulk of the loans have been charged upon the sinking fund. " 4, The funded debt beibre the year 1793, was 238 millions and a quarter, in round numbers. Its annual cost was nine minima and a quarter. In 1802, the capital had increased to above 589. Millions—the yearly charm to 23 millions and a quarter. By the last returns, February 1815, the debt was above 1023 millions and a half; or, deducting the stock redeemed by the sale of the land tax, 1068 millions, iwekonlng the floating debt and outstanding de mands at 68 and o half, and the annual charge above 41 and a ,marten, —being astinerease in the debt of 838 millions , and, in the: yearly charge, of ~St millions. Now, of the whole-debt, about 800 millions and a half are still unredeemed ; and the late operations hive reduced the linking fund to about eleven and a half, which will take forty-five years to complete the redemption, according to Mr. VansittarOs estimate. During that .period, therefore, we must vontinue to raise taxes to the amount of $4 millions a year, in con sequence of the late war On other words, before we have done with it, We shall have paist.ls3o millions, beside what hes been already paid. Thus, the total cost of the war, upon the very low I climate which was made Of the former heads, comes to more than the enormous sum of 2040 millions. " If it had not been for the debt contracted in the late war, we , 2totild, some years since, have had no debt at all remaining, sup- posing us to have raised but a very little more than the original picking fund of 1786 required. Now, we are saddled for thirty yvarm with taxes to the amount of above forty-four millions a year— nearer one half than - one third of the whole income of the nation, a:Tot-ding to Mr. Pitt's estimate of it in 1798. " The burtheas which are most felt by the bulk of the people, tiat is, by the middle and lower classes, are the customs, excise, punt assessed taxes. The net produce of these three branches, for the ) ear 1814, was abort 36 millions, (exclusive of the war duties); the gross amount levied upon the community being about 41 mil- I.:pus. Of almost the whole of this enormous burthen, therefore, we might now be free, were it not for the expences of the late war. •"che conclusions drawn from the past seem to be—that we should be somewhat more cautions of again plunging into a war— :la I that, having paid so Much already, we have a right to be ex e opted from every penny of our burtheas that is not absolutely re ..sssary. Let us cast our eye for a moment over the state albs account v.kioli the prospect of peace ,:cans' to present. lAN% 114 — " There were levied during the y ear 1814, t he last for wish+ accounts have been bid before Parliament, taxes to the enor mons amount of 76,893,9131.; the net produce of which was 68,781,1331. Of this sum, 24,562,0731. are war taxes ; which were originally imposed, upon the ground that the exigencies of the war required them • and paid, upon the faith that with those exigencies they should 'cease. There remains of net permanent revenue, 41,219,1601. " The expenses of the national debt for the same year amounted to 43,033,2371. ; but taking into the Recount outstanding demands and the loans and unfunded debt of the present year, before the war can be wound up, an addition of a million and upwards must be made to this annual charge ; so that the whole permament reve nue will do no more than pay the interest and other expenses of the debt. " Of the 44 millions and a quarter, which is the estimated ex pense of the debt, a large portion. viz. about 15 millions, belongs to the sinking fund. Let us, however, take it at 12, after making the deduction for the operations which ave lately been practised upon it. Can any man devise a reason.against taking seven millions of this sum in aid of the public necessities?—'Phis would leave a sink lug fund of five millions, which would gradually, perhaps as quickly as is either advantageous or safe, in time of peace, pay off the debt. As to the effect of such an operation upon the funds, it would be inconsiderable. Many persons question altogether the effect of the sinking fond upon the price. of stocks; contending, that if, the money were not applied to the purchase of stock by the Com missioners, it would be in private hands, and find its way to the same point through other channels. " The breech of faith with the public creditor will hardly be urged against this necessary measure, after the ease with which the inroads of 1813 was suffered to be mad. upon the sacred fund. " Were it allowed to accumulate unti! nearly the whole debt stood in the name of the Commissioners, 35 or 46 millions a year must be suddenly thrown loose, in a manner extremely detrimental to the national capital. " But it may be said, that even this resource will prove inadequate —the peace establishment being estimated at 18 or 19 millions. "If the country permits such folly in its rulers, It deserves the • consequences—endless taxation, and peace without repose. " The Nand to which we have been referring, as the only one . that, properly speaking, remains within our reach, is seven mil lions a year. T,o something like this, then, the expenses of the country should hie reduced. " The whole civl expenses of the country in 1814 (exclusive of - the debt), amounted to 4,039,7431. This includes several heavy articles of expense belongiag to the war, as secret service money at home and abroad, grants to the Germans, am.; and some things which are accidental, and ought not again to occur in our accounts until we can afford them, as improvements in architecture, &c. The amount of the civil expenses of the country and its colonies, therefore, did not, strictly speaking, exceed three millions and a half for that year. All the rest ot the vast expenditure was to support the war. There were ten millions fur loans, or rather subsidies, to foreign powers---aboat twenty-two for the navy—four I and a halt' for the ordnance-161 for the ordinary—and 17k for the extraordinary expenses of the army—tuakins a military or warlike expenditure in one year of no less than seventy millions and a half. " Then look at the establishment of 1790, the last year of the entire tranquillity. The Navy costs two millions and a quarter ; the Army a little more than a million and three quarters ; the Ordnance has been half a million. But as the pay and expences generally have been increased since that period, we may allow that the seine • number of ships mid troops will require more than &tar millions and a half—perhaps above seven millions. Then, as our colonies ar6 extended, a larger force is required for them ; but means should be taken to make the settlement. defray this additional expence. As for keeping up a large army at home, because it adds to our power in Europe • to our name abroad • to our weight at Congresses, and so forth—t h ere is one answer—We can't afford it. " As for the Income Tax, it is on every principle so oppressive % so contrary to the principles of the constitution, so destructive ot individual security and comfort, that we cannot suppose a free people will endure it one instant after the termination of the crisis which alone justified it." In many of these points we agree. The property tax should •be given up; and the sooner the whole of the sinking fund is applied to the relief of the burthens of the people the better. l'he amount ofour peace establishment will depend on the nature _of tbe . peace itself ? and the warlike genius of Europe. But we lauth, ~~• I. . - •