DOCKYARDS; GREENWICH HOSPITALS NAVY.
XII.—Revenue and Expenditure.
The revenue of England, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, hardly exceeded L600,000 a-year ; un der Charles I. it was about L800,000; under Charles 11. from L.1,200,000 to L.1,500,000. James II. raised it to L2,000,000, a sum, however, which fell considerably short of the contemporary revenue of Holland, and was not above a third of that of France. After the revolution, the necessity of great military efforts led to the imposition of the land-tax, and the average revenue under King William was about L4,000,000; under Queen Anne, the same motives for exertion produced an augmentation to L.5,000,000, and eventually to L.6,000,000. In the pacific reign of George I. the revenue rather exceeded L.7,000,000, and a farther, but gradual augmentation took place towards the middle of the century.
interest of the existing debt. In 1738, an extra ordinary demand for money caused a trespass on the inviolability of this Hind, and the principle once in fringed, there was no limit to subsequent encroach amnia. The sinking fund continued to bear the name, but it had not, so lately as 1772, discharged 15 millions of the public debt. At last, in 1786, Mr Pitt revived this measure, following in substance the plan of Sir R. Walpole, but investing the new reserve with additional precautions, by nominating a special Board of Commissioners, and rendering them independent not merely of the treasury, but, in some respects, of Parliament. It was then that the public first became familiar with the term Consolidated Fund, which means nothing more than the aggre gate of the permanent taxes ; from which aggregate government pledged itself to pay a million yearly to the commissioners for the redemption of the public debt. This fund of a million was to be farther aug mented by public annuities as they expired, and by the interest of the redeemed debt, which was to be paid as formerly by government at the bank, but in to the hands of the sinking fund commissioners. The measure, now brought into operation, paid off the fol lowing sums: The extinction of these sums, so inconsiderable at present in our eyes, had a powerful effect in reviving public confidence and raising the price of stock.
The only dread was lest a renewal of war should ne cessitate new loans of far greater amount than these annual liquidations. To counteract this impression Mr Pitt added, in 1792, an annual L.200,000 to the previous million, and (what was of much more im portance) obtained an act of Parliament, declaring that all future loans should carry in themselves the means of their gradual extinction, by including, for the sinking fund, a surplus of one per cent. over and above the money required for the current service. This provision, and the great commercial prosperity of the year 1792, produced a rise of the three per cents. to the extraordinary price of 98; but this flat. tering prospect was soon overcast by the wars of the French revolution. After these wars burst out, our financial operations assumed a very different aspect ; for though our debt sustained a periodical reduction from the sinking fund, it was augmented in a much greater proportion by the new loans.
The great addition in the last year arises from the con • of the British an& Irish Exchequers, by which above L.100,000,000 of stock were added to the mass, without, however, producing any virtual change in our finances ; the interest of by far the greater part of the Irish debt having been paid in England. As the larger proportion of our debt bean only three per cent. interest, and is, of course, considerably below the value of L.100 mo ney for L.100 stock, the value in cash of our debt would not (taking the three per cents. at L.75) ex ceed L.700,000,000, were there not a large addition to be made from Long Annuities and unfunded debt; the effect of which is to carry the value of the whole public debt in cash to nearly L.750,000,000. But as there seems no more reason to anticipate the li quidation of the debt of England than of that of other countries, the more correct plan is to follow the French method of computing a financial burden by the amount of the annual interest. This, in our case, is above L.46,000,000, if we include our an nual payments to the sinking fund ; or somewhat more than L.31,000,000, if we leave that fund out of the question.