itary, and civil expenditure had been reduced between
1860 and 1865 from thirty-eight millions to thirty-one. Under the
Derby-Disraeli government the figure rose in two or three years to
thirty-four millions and three-quarters. By 1873 it had been brought down
again to little more than thirty-two millions and a quarter.(246) That
these great reductions were effected without any sacrifice of the
necessary strength and efficiency of the forces, may be inferred from the
fact that for ten years under successive administrations the charge on
navy and army underwent no substantial augmentation. The process had been
made easier, or made possible, by the necessity under which the German war
laid France, then our only rival in naval force, to reduce her expenditure
upon new ships. The number of seamen was maintained, but a reduction was
effected in the inefficient vessels in the foreign squadrons; two costly
and almost useless dockyards were suppressed (much to the disadvantage of
Mr. Gladstone's own constituents), and great abuses were remedied in the
dockyards that were left. In the army reduction was made possible without
lessening the requisite strength, by the withdrawal of troops from Canada,
New Zealand, and the Cape. This was due to the wise policy of Lord
Granville and Mr. Gladstone. In spite of the increased cost of education,
of army purchase, of the rise of prices, and all the other causes that
swell estimates, the country was still spending no more in 1873 than when
Mr. Gladstone took office in 1868.(247) To this story we have to add that
nearly thirty millions of debt were paid off in the five years. Well might
men point to such a record, as the best proof that the promises of economy
made at the hustings had been seriously kept.(248)

(M123) When the time came for him to take stock of his own performances,
Mr. Lowe, who was apt to be cleverer than he was wise, made a speech at
Sheffield, in September 1873, that almost recalls the self-laudation of
Cicero over the immortal glories of his consulate. He disclaimed any share
of the admirable genius for finance that had been seen in Pitt, Peel, or
Gladstone, but he had read in the Latin grammar that economy was a great
revenue, and he thought that he could at least discharge the humble task
of hindering extravagance. "The first thing I did as chancellor of the
exchequer," he said, "was to issue an order that no new expenditure
whatever would be allowed without my opinion