Army, .... £7,540,405 Navy, 8,018,873 Ordinance, . . . 2,947,869 Total, . . . £18,507,147 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 hostili- ties. But no. The Duke of Wellington, in his specula- tions 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 steamboa.ts. A panic seized the venerable chief, and he trembled for * Porter's Progress of the Nation, Vol. ii.
f The average for these six years, from some cause, was unusually small. The total outlay on army, navy, and ordiuance, 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 " 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 Gourse 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 pro- ject. The ministers, it is beheved, were deteiTed from recommending the Duke's plan to Parhament, 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 seve- ral Governments, exclusive of payments on account of debt, viz.