The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Sawbridge, Mayor.
• Preface to the First Edition.
• Preface to the Fifth Edition.
• Observations, &c.
• Part I.
• Sect. I.: Of the Nature of Liberty In General.
• Sect. II.: Of Civil Liberty and the Principles of Government.
• Sect. III.: Of the Authority of One Country Over Another.
• Part II.
• Sect. I.: Of the Justice of the War With America.
• Sect. II.: Whether the War With America Is Justified By the Principles of the Constitution.
• Sect. III.: Of the Policy of the War With America.
• Sect. IV.: Of the Honour of the Nation As Affected By the War With America.
• Sect. V.: Of the Probability of Succeeding In the War With America.
• Conclusion.
• Appendix.
• Postscript.

POSTSCRIPT.

ACCOUNT of Public debts discharged, Money borrowed, and Annual Interest saved, from 1763 to 1775.

In 1764, there was paid off 650,000 l. navy-debt; but this I have not charged, because scarcely equal to that annual increase of the navy-debt for 1764, 1765, and 1766, which forms a part of the ordinary peace establishment. The same is true of 300,000 l. navy-debt, paid in 1767; of 400,000 l. paid in 1769; of 100,200 l. paid in 1770; 200,000 l. in 1771; 215,883 l. in 1772; and 200,000 l. in 1774.

From 15.483,553 l. the total of debts discharged, subtract 6.650,000 l. the total of debts contracted; and the remainder, or 8.833,553 l. will be the diminution of the public debts since 1763. Also, from 568,842 l. the total of the decrease of the annual interest, subtract 199,500 l. (the total of its increase), and the remainder, or 369,342 l. will be the interest or annuity saved since 1763—To this must be added 12,537 l. per ann. saved by changing a capital of 1.253,700 l. (part of 20.240,000 l.) from an interest of 4 to 3 per cent. pursuant to an act of the 10th of George III.; also the lifeannuities that have fallen in; which will make a saving in the whole of near 400,000 l. per annum: And it is to this saving, together with the increase of luxury, that the increase of the Sinking Fund for the last ten years has been owing.

To the debts discharged the following additions must be made.

In 1764 there was paid towards discharging the extraordinary expences of the army, 987,434 l.: In 1765, these expences amounted to 404,496 l.: In 1766, to 404,310 l.—Total 1.796,240 l.—This sum is at least a million higher than the extraordinary expences of the army for three years in a time of peace. This excess being derived from the preceding war, must be reckoned a debt left by the war. And the same is true of 1.106,000 l. applied, in 1764, 1765, and 1766, towards satisfying German demands.—There are likewise some smaller sums of the same kind; such as subsidies to Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, &c. And they may be taken at 200,000 l.—The total of all these Sums is 2.306,240 l.; which, added to 8.833,553 l. makes the whole diminution of the public debt since 1763, to be 11.139,793 l.—Towards discharging this debt, the nation, besides the surplus of its ordinary revenue, has received, at different times between the years 1763 and 1768, from savings on high grants during the war, from the produce of French prizes, from the Bank for the renewal of their charter, from the sale of lands in the ceded islands, and composition for maintaining French prisoners(a) , 2.630,000 l. Also, from the profits of ten(b) lotteries (at 150,000 l. each lottery) 1.500,000 l.; from the East-India Company (400,000 l. per ann. for five years) 2.000,000 l.; from 1s. extraordinary land-tax for 4 years, 1.750,000 l.; from debts discharged at a discount, 400,000 l.;(c) : In all 8.280,000 l.—There remains to make up 11.139,793 l. (the whole debt discharged) 2.859,793 l.; and this, therefore, is the amount of the whole surplus of the ordinary revenue for 12 years; or 238,000 l. per annum.

Soon after the peace in 1763, an unfunded debt, amounting to 6.983,553 l. was funded on the Sinking Fund, and on new duties on wine and cyder at 4 per cent. There has been since borrowed and funded on coals exported, window-lights, &c. 6.400,000 l. The funded debt, therefore, has increased since the war 13.383,553 l. It has decreased (as appears from page 47) 11.983,553 l.; and, consequently, these has been on the whole an addition to it of 1.400,000 l.—During seven years, from 1767 to 1774, 1.415,883 l. navy-debt was paid off. See above. But, as this is a debt arising from constant deficiencies in the peace estimates for the navy, it is a part of the current peace expences.—In 1768 this debt was(d) 1.226,915 l.—In 1774 it was 1.850,000 l.; and consequently, though 1.415,883 l. was paid off an addition was made to it, seven years, of 623,085 l. It encreased, therefore, according to this account, at the rate of 291,000 l. per ann.

Upon the whole, there is reason to believe, that the annual increase of the navy-debt might have been more truly stated in page 44. at 300,000 l. per ann. and this would have reduced the annual surplus of the revenue to 270.759 l. per annum.

FINIS.

[(a) ]See the particulars in a pamphlet intitled, The present State of the nation, published in 1768. Page 56.

[(b) ]Four of these lotteries have been annexed to annuities; but it is a great mistake to think that they have not been equally profitable with the other lotteries. For instance: In 1767 a million and a half was borrowed on annuities, at 3 per cent. with a lottery of 60,000 tickets annexed.. In the same year 2.616,777 l. was paid off; but had it not been for the lottery, only 1.350,000 l. could have been raised on the annuities, and 1[Editor: illegible number]0,000 l. left must have been paid off.

[(c) ]The discounts only on a million and a half paid off in 1772, and 2 millions paid off in 1774 and 1775, amounted nearly to this sum.

[(d) ]See The present State of the Nation, page 51.