Chapter III: Of Public Debts (3)

If it should be found impracticable for Great Britain to draw any
considerable augmentation of revenue from any of the resources above
mentioned, the only resource which can remain to her, is a diminution of
her expense. In the mode of collecting and in that of expending the public
revenue, though in both there may be still room for improvement, Great
Britain seems to be at least as economical as any of her neighbours. The
military establishment which she maintains for her own defence in time of
peace, is more moderate than that of any European state, which can pretend
to rival her either in wealth or in power. None of these articles,
therefore, seem to admit of any considerable reduction of expense. The
expense of the peace-establishment of the colonies was, before the
commencement of the present disturbances, very considerable, and is an
expense which may, and, if no revenue can be drawn from them, ought
certainly to be saved altogether. This constant expense in time of peace,
though very great, is insignificant in comparison with what the defence of
the colonies has cost us in time of war. The last war, which was
undertaken altogether on account of the colonies, cost Great Britain, it
has already been observed, upwards of ninety millions. The Spanish war of
1739 was principally undertaken on their account; in which, and in the
French war that was the consequence of it, Great Britain, spent upwards of
forty millions; a great part of which ought justly to be charged to the
colonies. In those two wars, the colonies cost Great Britain much more
than double the sum which the national debt amounted to before the
commencement of the first of them. Had it not been for those wars, that
debt might, and probably would by this time, have been completely paid;
and had it not been for the colonies, the former of those wars might not,
and the latter certainly would not, have been undertaken. It was because
the colonies were supposed to be provinces of the British Empire, that
this expense was laid out upon them. But countries which contribute
neither revenue nor military force towards the support of the empire,
cannot be considered as provinces. They may, perhaps, be considered as
appendages, as a sort of splendid and shewy equipage of the empire. But if
the empire can no longer support the expense of keeping up this equipage,
it ought certainly to lay it down; and if it cannot raise its revenue in
proportion to its expense, it ought at least to accommodate its expense to
its revenue. If the colonies, notwithstanding their refusal to submit to
British taxes, are still to be considered as provinces of the British
empire, their defence, in some future war, may cost Great Britain as great
an expense as it ever has done in any former war. The rulers of Great
Britain have, for more than a century past, amused the people with the
imagination that they possessed a great empire on the west side of the
Atlantic. This empire, however, has hitherto existed in imagination only.
It has hitherto been, not an empire, but the project of an empire; not a
gold mine, but the project of a gold mine; a project which has cost, which
continues to cost, and which, if pursued in the same way as it has been
hitherto, is likely to cost, immense expense, without being likely to
bring any profit; for the effects of the monopoly of the colony trade, it
has been shewn, are to the great body of the people, mere loss instead of
profit. It is surely now time that our rulers should either realize this
golden dream, in which they have been indulging themselves, perhaps, as
well as the people; or that they should awake from it themselves, and
endeavour to awaken the people. If the project cannot be completed, it
ought to be given up. If any of the provinces of the British empire cannot
be made to contribute towards the support of the whole empire, it is
surely time that Great Britain should free herself from the expense of
defending those provinces in time of war, and of supporting any part of
their civil or military establishment in time of peace; and endeavour to
accommodate her future views and designs to the real mediocrity of her
circumstances.