fectionately yours,
G.

1792.

MR. PITT'S BUDGET--THE STATE OF IRELAND--THE KING DISMISSES LORD
THURLOW--DISCONTENTS IN ENGLAND--FRENCH EMIGRANTS--RETREAT OF THE DUKE
OF BRUNSWICK--MEASURES OF INTERNAL DEFENCE--THE FRENCH CONVENTION
DECLARES WAR AGAINST ENGLAND AND HOLLAND.

Notwithstanding the vast expenditure to which the country had been
recently exposed, the Budget, at the opening of Parliament in 1792, more
than realized the anticipations of Lord Grenville. The statement laid
before the House of Commons by Mr. Pitt was a complete answer to the
apprehensions of the timid, and the taunts of the Opposition. There was
a clear surplus of L900,000 in the month of January, after paying the
interest of the National Debt, the annual million devoted to its
extinction, the Civil List, the naval and military establishments, and
all other items of current outlay. Upon this basis of unexampled
prosperity the Minister proposed to remit a large amount of taxation,
and to apply a further sum towards the extinction of the National Debt.
He did not regard this surplus as a temporary or transient incident,
but as the genuine and natural result of regular and permanent causes.
In the existing state of the continent, it was impossible to calculate
with certainty upon the future, and Mr. Pitt, even in this solid
condition of the national finances, was careful not to indulge in hopes
of too sanguine a character, which a sudden turn of events, beyond the
control of English influence, might frustrate and disappoint. His
language was explicit as to his confidence in the present, but guarded
as to his views of the future. "On the continuance of our present
prosperity," he observed, "it is indeed impossible to count with
certainty; but unquestionably, there never was a time when, from the
situation of Europe, we might more reasonably expect a durable peace
than at the present moment." The subsequent course of European politics,
unfortunately, did not bear out this expectation; but at the moment when
it was uttered, the lull that had set in on the continent, and the
flourishing state of our own trade and commerce, abundantly justified
the statement of the Minister. Some additional reliance on the stability
of our prospects might also have been drawn from the fact that the
destinies of England were never in abler hands than those to whom they
were confided in 1792, with Mr. Pitt at the Treasury and Lord Grenville
at the Foreign