has been befides, at all times, a large arrear of pay; which, tho' kept in the account, could never be claimed, the perfons to whom it was due having left neither affignees nor reprefentatives. The precife amount of fuch foms cannot be afcertained; but they can hardly be reckoned less than 13 or 14 hundred thoufand pounds. On Dec. 31, 1754, when the navy debt was reduced to nearly as low as it could be, it ftill amounted to 1,296,567). confifting chiefly of articles which could not then be difcharged fuch articles will be larger now, in proportion to the increase of the establishment, and an allowance must always be made for them in judging of the state of the navy debt, tho' they are not diftinguifhable in the account. In providing for that which is payable, the principal object of the legislature, is always to difcharge the bills for they are the greatest article; they bear an intereft of 4 per cent. and when the quantity of them is large, they are a heavy incumbrance upon all money tranfactions. Both the fubfcriptions which I have mentioned were opened avowedly for that purpose only; and the money granted in 1764, towards the discharge of the navy debt, was applied to no other; the faving of intereft thereby made was 26,000l. and the faving in the subsequent year, of one per cent. on 1,500,000l. has been mentioned already. A small deduction muft however be made from thefe fums, for the non-intereft bills, and for the interest upon the others which has been converted into principal. All fuch allowances and deductions amount how ever to a very trifle; and as I cannot afcertain them exactly, and they are fo in confiderable, it will be fufficient to have taken this notice of them. The proceeding with respect to the army, at the conclufion of the war, was fimilar to that which had been followed with respect to the navy: the extraordinaries brought to account were provided for, and more forces were voted than the peace establishment was intended to be, in order to allow for the gradual reduction of those then on foot: it could not, however, be made fo faft as was propofed : many regiments were at very diftant parts of the globe, maintaining or purfuing the conquests they had made: the next year was found not fufficient to reduce them; great expences were fill neceffary, and Nov. 1766. large arrears came in, by all which the extraordinaries of the army incurred and not provided for in 1763, were fwelled up to the fum of 987,4341. which were paid out of the fupplies for 1764: thofe incurred in that year, and provided for in the fapplies for 1765, amounted to 404,4961. which, added to the former, amount to 1,391,931. 35. The extraordinaries of the ordnance difcharged within the fame period, as not having been provided for in che fupplies for the year in which they were incurred, amount to 107,8781. viz. 52,3591. in 1764, and 55,519. in 1765. It may be faid, that the whole of thefe extraordinaries, whether of the Navy, of the Army, or of the Ordnance, are not to be imputed to the war, but the whole was debt: the exceedings of the Navy bear the name of debt: thofe of the Army and Ordnance are of the fame nature; and whoever will look into the accounts, will find that most of the articles can relate only, or relate principally to the war. There will indeed always be extraordinaries; but it would be a melancholy profpect if we had any reafon to apprehend, that upon a fettled peace eftablishment, they would be nearly equal to thefe: when I come to state that establishment, I will endeavour to form fome calculations concerning them. The deficiencies of grants and of funds are alfo generally, but not neceffarily, ars ticles in the fupplies for times of peace, for estimates muit always be vague, and the produce of taxes uncertain; but there may be an overplus as well as a deficiency, and the one is applied, the other is provided for, each as it arifes; when the deficiency happens it is a debt, paid in this, but incurred in the former year: That of the land and malt is indeed conftant: Thofe taxes are always given for more than they ever produce, and the confequence is, that a debt is thereby contracted, which is regularly difchaiged in the fubfequent year; it varies, but it is commonly estimated at 100,000l. and as in conformity to the eftablished method of making up the public accounts, I fhall, in ftating the ways and means, reckon thefe taxes at the whole fum for which they are given, I must in order to ballance the accounts, reckon the deficiency in the fupply at 300,000l. per ann. but as fo much may, upon an average, be expected every year, till a reduction of the land tax fhall take place, and as it cannot be attributed to the war, I will diftinguish it from the debts paid off within the last two years, when I enumerate them together: The other deficiencies of grants muft, however, be included in that account; they are accidental, and are incurred in the fame manner as other parts of the unfunded debt, by fervices being performed before they are provided for. The principal articles, however, of the deficiencies now under confideration, which might with more propriety be carried back to the war, are, the intereft upon Exchequer-bills, which Exchequer bills, are a part of the unfunded debt contracted by the war; the difference between the estimated and real deficiency of the land and malt, a difference which is chiefly owing to the land-tax being doubled, to the effect which additional duties, and the abfence of large fleets and armies may have had on the confumption of malt, and to the intereft paid to the Bank on large fums, and at an high rate for the loans on both. As, therefore, deficiencies of grants always come properly under the denomination of debt, and as far as the greater part of thefe peculiarly belong to it, I hall reckon all that have been provided for fince the peace, on this head, as debt difcharged, for which purpole 129,4891. was granted in 1764, and 249,660l. in 1765, amounting together to 379,1491. The deficiencies of funds within the fame period were 384,8541. viz. 147,593. provided for in 1764, and 237,260l. in 1765. These deficiencies are of funds created for the purposes of the war, they are therefore directly a debt of the war; to difpute their being fo, becaufe they arife every year, is only prov ing that the war has left fuch annual charge upon the public: It is, ftrictly speaking, the intereft of a fum unfunded fo far as the fund upon which it was charged is deficient, and it is a charge which, though it may vary, will to a degree long continue. The Exchequer-bills are the only large unfunded debt which has not been taken notice of, amounting to 1,800,000l. No. part of them have been paid off, they have only been continued, but the intereft upon them has been reduced from four to three per cent. The bank, on the renewal of their charter in 1764, engaged to circulate for two years 1,000,00ol at 3 per cent. The remaining 800,000l. have been already mentioned to be iffued at the fame rate in 1765, and they have generally been above par. There were, befides, three little debts paid off within the two years I am confidering, which do not belong to any of the foregoing articles. 7,000l. were granted in the fupplies for 1764, to reimburse Mr. Touchit his expences, in the expedition against Senegal. Another 7,000l. was granted in 1765 upon account of expences incurred in Nova Scotia, fome of them previous to the war, and others during its continuance. The fum of 10,000l. was alfo granted to the government of Barbadoes, in compenfation for the affit ance given by them in the expedition againt Martinico. The feveral articles of the unfunded debt having been now ftated, the account of that debt outstanding, paid off, or provided for in the years 1764 and 1765, appears to be as follows: Subfidy Deficiencies of land and malt for two years The unfunded debt remaining at the end of the feffions 1765, though the fum was ill large, was yet fo circumftanced that the burthen of it was not very heavy, as a great part of it did not bear intereft, and above half of it was not immediately payable; a large proportion of the Navy debt must always be in thefe circumitances: The 50,000l. to the Landgrave of Heffe were not yet due: The mifcellaneous German demands unprovided for were not liquidated : The million Exchequer-bills taken by the Bank, could not be claimed till the expiration of the term for which they had agreed to circulate them: The remaining 800,000l. were iffued at three per cent. and, certainly, were not an incumbrance, for they generally bore a premium. Of the Navy debt, which was payable, and not provided for, no more than 471,5891. bills were in courfe of payment when the account was made up; they, too, were about par, and, therefore, not a load upon the market; nor was poftponing the discharge of them a hardhip on the proprietors who might fell them at par; and at the fame time that the debt was brought into such a favourable fituation, the ways and means of the year were found to exceed the fupplies about 870,000l. To have applied part of that fum to any purpofe which would have made the remainder ufelefs for purposes of equal importance, would have been wafting it, and there was not fo much of the unfunded debt actually bearing 4 per cent interest: That the pub. 600000| 600000 lic, therefore, might avail itself of the whole fum, it was neceffary to difcharge therewith a part of the funded debt: The Navy annuities laid in 1763 upon the finking fund were undoubtedly the first object; 25 per cent. upon them was very nearly the fum: The Navy-bills not included in the fubfcription amounted to much lefs, and yet to fo much,that, had they been provided for out of this furplus, no part of the Navy annuities could have been discharged, as less than 500,000l. may not be paid off at any time, and 500,000l. would not have been left; but exclufive of this confideration, even fuppofing that the whole of the one had been exactly the fame fum as 25 per cent. upon the other, it would ftill have been right to have preferred the annuitants The provifion made for them on the finking fund was always intended to be temporary; they accepted it in the expectation of being paid off as foon as the opportunity fhould offer; they had merit with the public in fubfcribing, and were therefore entitled to favour: With refpect to the public, it was more important to make a beginning in the reducti on of the funded debt, which is exceffive, than to take a quantity of paper circulati on out of the market, which could hardly be faid to be overloaded with it, and the ftocks must be more fenfible of a reduction of debt made in a mode which proved that order was restored to the finances, than to any further dimunition of the unfunded debt, which would not Pppp 2 have = have carried with it fuch a demonftration, Unfunded debt paid off £. 4,092,058 Total debt paid off 870,888 4,962,946 1,500,000 vour, upon a review of the whole, to form fome estimate of the annual expence to be borne upon the plan then formed, and of the abilities of this country to bear it; the fubfequent alterations may, by this means, be more clearly feen and confidered. The money voted for naval services, exclufive of the navy debt, was as follows: In the fupplies In the fup. for 1764. for 1765. 16,000 men, includ- Total paid off & unprovided for 6,462,946 But this great difcharge of debt was not accomplished at the expence of the peace establishment; on the contrary, that was kept up higher than ever it had been before; the extent of our dominions, the increafe of our power, the refentment of our enemies, and the jealoufies of our neighbours require it: the peace would, indeed, be fhort and hollow, if it were followed by fuch an avowal of weakness as reducing the army below the numbers neceffary for preferving our conquefts, and rifking upon any fudden emergency our fuperiority at fea, for want of a conftant provifion to maintain it. The evils of the war are not to be remedied by giving up the advantages obtained by it; and whatever the diftrefs of our finances might be, it was not to be recovered by means unworthy of the dignity, and dangerous to the fafety of thefe kingdoms: the peace eftablishment was therefore formed on a much larger plan than after the former war it has been enlarged (I think unneceffarily) this year; but, on the other hand, many of the pretent expences are merely occafional, and others are only the temporary remains of the war which will gradually diminish: I will not, however, incumber the account I mean now to give of the fums granted in 1764 and 1765, with calculations of the reductions which may be expected, nor confound the efta-, blishment of that time with the prefent; but I will first compleat a state of the fupply for thofe two years; I will next go through the ways and means by which it was raifed, and then deducting from each the articles which only accidentally occurred, and allowing for thofe which muft either increase or decline, I will endea 832,000 832,000 398,568 407,734 10,000 5,000 200,000 200,000 1,231 1,231 3,000 5,000 Total. £. 1,444,799/1450965 This expence is about 500,000l. per ann. more than the naval fervices (exclufive of debt incurred) on an average of seven years during the last peace a mounted to, and higher by almost 300,000l. than the higheft of thofe We have learned, by fatal experience, years. that ten thousand feamen were not a fufficient preparative for war in times of perfect tranquillity; for the loffes fuftained at the breaking out of the laft war, were chiefly owing to the want of hands, which could not be procured fo foon as the occafion required, by the most vigorous prefs, and the moft liberal bounties; not, that in order to provide against the like diftrefs, a cumbrous body of idle feamen should be constantly kept in pay: failors unemployed foon lose their hardinefs and activity; but bufinefs may be easily found for fuch a number as fixteen thoufand, in the duty of their refpective stations, and in the prevention of that clandeftine trade which is equally baneful both to the commerce and the revenue of these kingdoms: the making them ferve on board the finuggling cutters, at the fame time preferves the vigour of our naval force, and improves the means of fupporting its if thefe cruizers were laid afide, fome other fervice must be devifed to take the men out of guard-fhips, and harbours, to exercife and to feafon them: if no men could be fpared for this, fome other provifions must be made to check the preva lence This establishment exceeds that maintained during the last peace almoft 300,000l. per ann. but the excefs is not in the army at home, which is rather lower both in numbers and expence than it ufed to be the garrifons of Gibraltar and Minorca have been reduced from 3260 to 2116 men on the British establishment, the difference being made up by Irish regiments; in confequence of which arrangement between 30,000 and 40,000l. are annually faved to Great Britain but the increafe in the plantations is in numbers from three thoufand feven hundred and fifty-five men to ten thousand and nine, and in expence upon this account only from between 80,000 and 90,000l. to above 275,000l. per ann. The halfpay and Chelica hofpital are each of them more than double what they were at the conclufion of the preceding war; and in thefe three articles principally the difference between the two periods confifts. : A great part of the American army is ftationed in the new acquifitions: fome of thefe provinces are frontiers: the allegiance of the inhabitants cannot be relied on; and the fecurity of the old colonies, Total In the fupplies for 1764. 1. s. d. 617704 17 10 372774 6 4 11322 7 3 155644 11 In the fupplies for 1765. 1. s. d. 608130 10 7 387502 3 II 11291 8 6 135606 12 4361 14 6 2605 15 2 103794 2 109107 18 4 18331 17 11 1696 1664 6346 3 5 6491 17 4 1283873 17 51268502 8 9 and the advantages obtained by the peace. depend upon preferving thefe in fafety and fubjection: an increase alfo in the expence of the ordnance is on the fame foundation equally neceffary: for many new fortifications must be erected, and additional garrifons must be maintained in the feveral ceded countries. charge of the ordnance in 1764 and 1765 was, principally on account of America, greater than during the laft peace by about 60,000l. per ann. and exclufive of extraordinaries incurred and not provided for, was, The |