Strange as may seem the assertion, it is, we believe, nevertheless true, that both Europe and America have expende3. more money in preparing for war, than in actual hostilities.
In the old world, every important city was anciently walled and fortified, and even in our own days, we have seen the French people already burthened with debt, lavishing millions in erecting a wall thirty miles in circumference around their Capital.* When we examine the expenditures made in time of peace for military preparation, we are astounded by the stupendous results, and can scarcely credit the testimony of official statements.
- This work of prodigal folly has been falsely ascribed to the late King ; it was demanded by the liberal or popular party, under the leadership of Mr. Thiers. The Republic, instead of lessening the burdens of the people, have actually, although unmenaced by a single State in Europe, increased their military preparations. On the 1st December, 1848, the eflFective force of the French army amounted to 502,196 men, and 100,432 horses; and to this was added a large navy, with between twenty and thirty thousand seamen.
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, exclu- sive of payments for interest on the national debt, was £17,101,508 Of this sum, there was paid on an average, for the army, navy, and ordinance, f .... 12,714,289 Leaving an average annual amount expenditure for civil purposes, of only . , . . . 4,387,219 It thus appears that the annual payments for military preparations during this period, were no less than seventy- four 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 esti- mates, viz: