the reformation having prevented their establishment here, the kingdom was not concerned in those violent measures which led to, and at last effected, their abolition. The acts of the British legislature relating to religion breathe the liberal spirit of an enlightened age. The first which occurs is that passed in the year 1778, in consequence of a motion by sir George Saville, "for the repeal of certain penalties and disabilities laid on "roman catholics by an act of king William to prevent the growth of popery."-The same motive, a consideration of the cruelty and bad policy of continuing a deprivation of privileges when the reasons on which they were grounded cease to exist, induced the legislature to pass another act in 1791, "to relieve upon certain conditions, and under certain restrictions, persons who (from their protesting against the temporal power of the pope) were called protesting roman catholics, from cer"tain penalties and disabilities to which papists are by law subject." POPULATION. In the year 1689, when the tax of hearth-money was abolished, the number of houses in England and Wales was computed at about 1,230,000 which, at six persons to a house, brings the population to 7,280,000.* According to the returns made of the population of England and Wales in 1801, that of the former amounted to 8,331,434; and that of the latter to 541,434: to which must be added the army and navy 469,188 convicts on board the hulks 1,410. In all 9,334,578 persons; which, if the extent be 50,000 square miles, as stated by Zimmermann, is 186 persons to a square mile.-Of this population that of London was 864,845 persons. According to the chevalier de Tinceau, who published a statistical view of France in 1803, in which he adverts to the population of the British dominions, the population of Ireland is somewhat more than 4,000,000 persons, and that of Scotland 1,607,760. And that of Guernsey, Jersey, and other small islands 80,000 persons. FINANCE. a Anderson. 583. FINANCE. As pecuniary resources are the main-spring of government, as on them the possible force to be exerted by a state in a great measure depends, it may be satisfactory to the reader not only to know the present state of the revenue, but the state of it in preceding periods. Therefore the writer has reverted to the revolution; an era memorable for the commencing of the funding system, as well as for the perfect establishment of our present constitution. For although Charles the Second, left a debt amounting to .1,328,526, of which the bankers had been defrauded by the shutting up of the exchequer, and had charged his hereditary revenue with six per cent interest, yet no parliamentary provision was made for the payment of the interest till the year 1699, when the revenue of excise was charged with the interest of three per cent, and the capital was declared to be redeemable at a moiety of the whole sum, or £.664,263.-The whole revenue in 1693, we are informed by sir John Sinclair, amounted to £.1,570,318. It therefore became necessary to make large parliamentary grants, and to raise large sums by way of loan, for the purpose of carrying on the wars in which king William was engaged. GRANTS OF PARLIAMENT AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. In 1688 the sum of £.2,726,007. In 1696, .11,530,159. During the fourteen years of king William's reign, £,55,407,078, The grant made by the first parliament of queen Anne, in 1701, £.6,238,628. In 1710, after eight years of war, the unprecedented grant of .17,107,095. During the thirteen years of queen Anne's reign, £.80,587,400. The grants made by the parliament called in 1715, the year after the accession of George the First, £.6,104,726. a Sir John Sinclair's Hist. of Revenue. 45. 2d part. In In 1723 the small sum of £.1,750,000. During the thirteen years of George the First's reign, the grants amounted only to .34,794,818.-It is to be observed that the national debt at this king's accession amounted to .54,145,363. The grants made by the parliament called in 1728, the year after the accession of George the Second, .3,511,694. In 1747, after a war of eight years, £.10,680,000. In 1760, after a war of six years, £.19,101,067. During a reign of thirty-four years, £.205,798,561. The grants made by the parliament in 1762 amounted to £.18,299,153. The grants of 1773, the year before the American war commenced, were £.6,980,210. The grants of 1782 amounted to £.24,261,477. The grants of 1791 were .14,064,656. The total of the supplies for the year 1801 amounted to £.46,886,303. NATIONAL Debt. The accumulation of the national debt is another object deserving our attention in the financial system. At the revolution, it was only £.664,263. At the death of William the Third, .16,394,702. At the death of queen Anne, £.54,145,363. At the death of George the First, .52,09 2,235. In the year 1739, £.46,382,650. In the year 1749, £.78,166,906. In the year 1755, £.75,077,264. THE CIVIL LIST. The civil list, as settled after the revolution, in 1689, was £.600,000 a year. The The revenue of the crown, as settled at the same time, was 1,200,000 a year. In the reign of George the First, the civil list was augmented to £.700,000: and at the accession of George the Second it was augmented to .800,000.-Moreover, a revenue of £.100,000 a year was settled on the queen, in case of her surviving his majesty. The state of the civil list, as settled at the accession of his present majesty, according to Blackstone, is as follows: "In the late reigns, the produce of certain branches of the excise and customs, the post office, "the duty on wine licenses, the revenues of the remaining crown lands, " and the profits arising from courts of justice, (which articles include " all the hereditary revenues of the crown) and also a clear annuity of "£.120,000 in money, were settled on the king for life, for the support "of his majesty's household, and the honour and dignity of the crown.. "And as the amount of these several branches was uncertain, if they "did not amount annually to .800,000, the parliament engaged to "make up the deficiency. But his present majesty having, soon after his accession, voluntarily signified his consent that his own hereditary "revenues might be so disposed of as might best conduce to the utility "and satisfaction of the public, and having graciously accepted the "limited sum of £.800,000 per annum, for the support of the civil. "list (and that also charged with life annuities to the princess of Wales, "the duke of Cumberland, and the princess Amelia, amounting to £.77,000) the said hereditary and other revenues are now carried "into and made a part of the aggregate fund, and that fund is charged "with the payment of the whole annuity of £.800,000. "The expences defrayed by the civil list are those which in any manner "relate to the civil government; as the expences, of the household, all "salaries to officers of state, to the judges and the king's servants, the appointments to foreign ambassadors, the maintenance of the queen "and royal family, the king's private expences or privy purse, and other very numerous outgoings, such as secret service money, pensions, and "bounties." d 66 C Smollet. 2. 432. Blackstone. 1, 332. NAVE NAVY AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. King Richard the First, when he weighed anchor from Messina in Sicily, upon his expedition against the infidels, is said to have, had "an "hundred and fifty great ships, fifty-three gallies, besides barks, tartans, " and other small vessels attending the fleet, with ammunition and provi"sions."-This is a proof of the king's zeal in the cause in which he was embarked: and it appeared soon after that he had exhausted his revenue and resources to fit out this vast fleet.-Neither the size of the ships, nor the number of men, is given. In the war in which Henry the Eighth engaged against France, in conjunction with his father-in-law, Ferdinand king of Spain, he had eighteen ships, with 3000 men on board. Of these ships there were only six of three hundred tons and upwards.'-In the ensuing year Henry sent out a fleet consisting of forty-two sail. one ship of 100 guns, Beside these fifty-nine Queen Elizabeth is said by Camden in the year 1561" to have been " able to send out 20,000 fighting men for sea service." According to Burchet, the queen had in 1573 nine of 88 to co, and forty-nine from 58 to 40. ships of the line, she had fifty-eight vessels from 38 to 20 guns, and twenty-nine from 18 to 6; so greatly had the naval force of the kingdom been increased during her reign. In the year 1688, according to Davenant, the tonnage of the royal navy, which in 1660 was only 62,594 tons, was increased to 101,032 tons. In the year 1720 the navy consisted of an hundred and eighty-two ships, of which fifty-nine were of 70 guns and upwards: in all 9940 guns. In the year 1715 the tonnage of the royal navy was 167,596 tons: in 1727 it was 170,862: and in 1749 it was augmented to 228,215 tons. The following comparative statement of the naval force of Great Britain and the powers with which she was engaged in war, in 1781, is given by Mr. Anderson. "Her navy," says he, "was at this time on a "most formidable establishment: it consisted of no less than four hundred " and e Anderson. 1. 174. 1 Idem. 2. 23. 8 Idem. |