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The following facts are gleaned from a late English statistical work: *

For the six years ending with 1836, the average expenditures of the British Government, exclusive of payments for interest on the national debt, was

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Of this sum, there was paid on an average, for the army, navy, and ordinance,t

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Leaving an average annual amount expenditure for civil purposes, of only

£17,101,508

12,714,289

4,387,219

It thus appears that the annual payments for military preparations during this period, were no less than seventyfour per cent. of the current expenses of the Government, exclusive of £28,574,829, the yearly interest on the war debt!!

The Budget, for 1848, contained the following estimates, viz:

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One would have thought that this enormous sum was quite enough to extort from the people of England in a single year for preparation for future and unseen hostilities. But no. The Duke of Wellington, in his speculations on steam navigation, suddenly conceived the idea, that a French army might, in an unexpected moment, be landed upon the British shores from a fleet of steamboats. A panic seized the venerable chief, and he trembled for * Porter's Progress of the Nation, Vol. ii.

The average for these six years, from some cause, was unusually small The total outlay on army, navy, and ordinance, since the peace of 1815, to the year ending 5th January, 1848, is £484,231,985, being an annual average of £15.444,749. The actual payments for military preparation, during the year 1847, amounted to £18,503,146! See tract published by the 66 Edinburg Financial Reform Association."

the permanency of the Empire. The coasts of England ought immediately to be fortified, and a large home army ought to be forthwith organized and maintained, to fight the French whenever and wherever they might land from their steamers. The construction of the forts would of course furnish fat jobs for innumerable contractors, and the home army would supply younger sons with commissions, rank, and emolument. No wonder that multitudes of patriotic Englishmen were found to favor the insane project. The ministers, it is believed, were deterred from recommending the Duke's plan to Parliament, only by the sturdy opposition of the friends of peace.

A few years since, it was computed that the cost of the military peace establishments of the following Powers, was in the ratio named to the whole expenditure of the several Governments, exclusive of payments on account of debt, viz. :

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We are fond of comparing our own republican frugality with monarchical prodigality. National vanity, like charity, covers not only a multitude of sins, but also a multitude of follies. The average expenditure of the Federal Government, for the six years, ending with 1840, exclusive of payments on account of debt, was $26,474,892. During the same years, the average payments for military and naval purposes, were $21,328,903. Being EIGHTY PER CENT. of the whole amount ! A greater ratio than is expended by any monarchy in Europe, in preparing for war.*

*It is true, that during a portion of these six years, we were fighting a few Seminole Indians in Florida. If, then, we take the six years, ending with 1836, a time of profound peace, the ratio

It is with difficulty we can give our assent to the accuracy of such amazing disclosures; and yet our scepticism will vanish when we consider that fortifications, barracks, store-houses, arms, ammunition, and ships of war are all mostly constructed in time of peace. But this is not all. Men are also to be trained and instructed in the art of human slaughter, and kept ready to put in practice at a moment's warning, the lessons they have received.

*

In 1828, a time of general peace, the standing armies of Europe were estimated at 2,265,500 men. If to the pay of these men, we add the cost of their food, clothes, lodging, and of the arms, ammunition, barracks, &c., with which they were furnished, and the value of their labor which is lost to the community, we shall not exaggerate their expense to the State when we estimate it at $500 a man, making the sum total of $1,132,750,000, an amount the mind cannot realize. But before we give vent to our indignation against Kings and Emperors for thus squandering the earnings of their subjects, let us once more look at home. Our young Republic, from the moment of her birth, has scarcely had a hostile neighbor. For about two years, Canada on the north, and for the same time, Mexico on the south, have been in a belligerent position towards us. Bounded for the most part by the ocean, and by interminable- forests, we have had little to fear from invasion; and never, except in the war of 1812, has a hostile foot, other than that of a savage, pressed our soil. Yet with all our professions of economy, we have pursued the system of military preparation, after a royal fashion. Since the commencement of the Federal Government to the beginning of 1848, independent of

is seventy-seven per cent., still greater than that of Great Britain. See American Almanac for 1845, page 143.

* Balance Politique du Globe, by M. Adrien Balbi.

the prodigious cost of arming and training the militia, there have been paid from the national treasury—

For the Army and Fortifications,
For the Navy, and its operations,

$366,713,209

209,994,428

$576,707,637

Here we have half a billion of dollars taken from the people, with their own consent, for the purpose of being ready for war! To this immense sum may be added $61,169,834, expended in military pensions.

Were the money lavished in military preparation annihilated, all the mines in the world could not supply the requisite treasure. It is not annihilated, but it is wasted—that is, it is given for what yields no return of comfort and happiness to the nation at large. Let us suppose that the two millions of soldiers maintained in Europe, in 1828, had been employed at ordinary wages in building pyramids. Surely, none would deny that the money expended in raising structures so utterly worthless, was profligately wasted; and none will question that the people would have had good cause to rise in rebellion against rulers who robbed them of the fruits of their labor, for purposes so vain and ridiculous. Yet the treasures lavished on such piles, would have been far less in amount, and expended in a manner far less injurious to the public morals and happiness, than the money squandered on the armies.

M. Bouvet, in a recent speech in the French Assembly, remarking on the appropriation of 583 millions for the army and navy, about one-third of the whole estimate, well observed: "I cannot convey to you my sense of the irrational distribution of our resources, when I observe how comparatively unimportant we deem the elements of intelligence and public prosperity which is indicated by

our budgets of instruction, commerce, and agriculture, amounting altogether to hardly thirty-six millions! What should you think of the father of a family, who possessing an income of 15,000 francs, should expend 5,000 in arms and horses, while he only appropriated 360 francs to the instruction of his children and the improvement of his estate? War, founded on force and restraint, is contrary to liberty. War, enabling the strong to triumph over the weak, is contrary to equality. War, shattering the law of love, which unites individuals and communities, is contrary to fraternity. Thus the Republic, to be consistent with its own constitution, ought henceforth to endeavor to suppress the military system, and to substitute for it an international jurisdiction. Such an object is so honest, so generous, so important to the public welfare, that France need not blush to make it the principal aim of its political existence."

The desire expressed by M. Bouvet, that international jurisdiction may be substituted for the military system, will find a cordial response in the breast of every true patriot, of every faithful disciple of the PRINCE OF PEACE. But what would be a practicable and safe and proper international jurisdiction? A "congress of nations," consisting of deputies from various States, and forming a court for the settlement of controversies arising between their several governments, has been proposed. However excellent such a tribunal may be in theory, and however useful it may hereafter be in practice, it cannot be disguised, that formidable difficulties oppose its speedy organization. Pacific sentiments must extensively prevail, before governments will be disposed to enter into such an arrangement; and the erection of such a tribunal must necessarily be preceded by tedious negotiations respect

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