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He who "turneth the hearts of men, as the rivers of water are turned," would give energy and effect to your philan thropic exertions, and hasten the predicted era, when "nas tion shall not lift up sword against nation, nor learn war any more;" when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; when "there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy, in all his holy moun tain." EIRENIKOS.

REVIEW OF AN IMPORTANT LETTER FROM GERMANY.

In the Repertory and Daily Advertiser we have had an is Extract of a letter from an European gentleman to his friend in Boston," dated "Anhalt Dessau, March 17, 1817."

Both the occasion and the object of the letter may be seen in the following passage :

"Our first boat for the season brought me a series of pamphlets published by the society in Massachusetts called the FRIENDS OF PEACE. I was rejoiced to find from them, that such strenuous and able exertions were making in a country, whose political influence in Europe is daily increasing, for putting an end to the greatest scourge among mankind. Desirous of aiding in this good cause, I have thought that the religious and moral arguments, which these gentlemen have so forcibly urged against the barbarous custom of war, might be strengthened by the mention of a few facts, which show the embarrassment it produces in the financial concerns of a country, and the consequent distress and oppression among a people. I have therefore undertaken to send you a short account of the origin and present condition of the national debt of some of the most important kingdoms of Europe."

In this paragraph, by some mistake, the title of the "series of pamphlets," with a little variation, is given for the name of the Massachusetts Peace Society. This however

does not affect the value of the communication. The ob ject of the writer is to aid in the cause of peace, and the information he has given is of an important character. An abstract of the most interesting items will be exhibited.

AUSTRIA.

"Austria affords the most striking and best example of the ruinous effects which war has upon the finances and public credit of a nation. I therefore select her for the first. In the beginning of 1783, she had, properly speaking, no national debt; but she contracted one of 180,000,000 German florins, or half as many Spanish dollars, in prepar ation for carrying on the war against the Porte, in which she engaged as the ally of Russia. Before this war was brought to a close in 1791, it had carried up the debt to 342,000,000, which was farther augmented by the war against France. In October, 1797, at the time of the peace of Campo Formio, to 600,000,000 of florins. In 1806, her debt was found increased to 1,200,000,000. But it stopped not here; the disastrous campaigns of 1809 brought still greater ruin upon her finances and her credit. In a state of desperation she calls in her bank paper and by mere arbitrary power, annihilates 80 per cent. of the whole amount. But she was not to be saved by such a violation of public faith; it gave only temporary relief. In 1816, her debt amounted to the enormous sum of TWO THOUSAND MILLIONS.

"An increase of the land tax is the common mean of increasing the public revenue. This is regularly fixed at 30 per cent. on the annual produce. In time of war the military extraordinary land tax is resorted to, which is fixed at 60 per cent. on the net annual produce of the land of the nobles, and at 30 on those of mere simple proprietors ; so that all the lands contribute 6-10ths, and those of the nobles 9-10ths. of what they yield, to aid in the destruction of mankind. This would be incredible and quite insupportable were it not that the basis of the valuation of the

produce is that which was fixed in 1745, and therefore vastly lower than the present actual value.

"To account for this great accumulation of debt we have only to look at the history of her standing armies for the last century. At the commencement of it, during the war of the Spanish succession, Leopold I. and Joseph I. called 130,000 into the field. The army had been increased before 1771 to 200,000; in 1788 to 364,000; by the wars with France, before the close of the century, to 496,000; and finally for the great struggle in 1809, to 500,000 regular troops, and 250,000 militia."

ENGLAND.

"In 1689, when William III. came to the throne, England had a debt of 600,000 pounds. His wars carried it up to 16,000,000. At the death of Anne, 1721, the debt was 54,000,000. At the close of the American war,

257,000,000. In 1813, 812,000,000 pounds !"

This is the last statement the writer of the letter had seen. In the Evangelical Magazine for Nov. 1816, we have a review of a pamphlet entitled "Means of improving the condition of the poor in morals and happiness." In this work the national debt is stated at "nine hundred and forty-three millions" sterling. The writer proceeds :—

"Not to lose sight of the intimate connexion between war and public misery, between large armies and a large national debt, I will add a word by way of history of England's armed force. The standing army was begun by William III. who had 7000 men in Great Britain, and 12,000 in Ireland during the troubles there. Anne increased it to 18,000." George III. maintained from 30 to 40,000 regular troops till the commencement of the French revolution. In 1796, increased them to 100,000; in 1804, to 112,000; in 1808, to 230,000, besides 100,000 militia, who had all the character of troops of the line, except in the right not to be sent out of the kingdom—and, in addition, a volunteer corps of 300,000.

The history of the navy is not very different. It begun under Henry VIII. In the reign of James I, it was composed of 132 ships and vessels of all kinds; increased by William III. to 172-by George II. to 277-by George III. in 1774, to 355-in 1803, to 656-in 1813, to 1044, those in ordinary not included. The equipage for which, at the last named period, amounted to 143,000.

"Perhaps you may think I have been labouring to prove a self-evident truth-that standing armies are expensive establishments and that wars necessarily bring a nation into debt, and that national debts must be provided for by taxes upon the people: still they are truths which cannot too often be brought to view. I think so badly of mankind, as to believe that neither religious nor moral restraints are the most powerful, which can operate upon them. I might have enlarged very much upon the subject of England's present misery and danger, and shown its connexion with her wars and her debts; but her political troubles and her general distress are better known in your country than

here.

FRANCE.

"It would be doing great injustice to France not to mention her among the nations which had the most powerful influence in the introduction of any thing now existing which is pernicious, more particularly of the evil upon which I am writing, as she deserves the sole credit of commencing the establishment which so powerfully promotes it. It was through her influence that standing armies began to be thought necessary for the support of sovereign power. In the year 1445, she first conferred this blessing upon mankind.

"Austria first made her army a permanent one in 1680 -England in 1689-Denmark in 1701-Russia in the beginning of the last century under Peter the great.

"What misery the wars of Louis XIV. caused to France may be seen in the present abject state of the country;

they cherished and consumed the natural military spirit in the people, which never satisfied itself till it brought them into that condition, when it was declared that all France was but one camp, and every man capable of bearing arms a soldier-the end of all which was what we now see. As to their public debt-it was enormous immediately before the revolution-the deficit in the last year of Bonaparte's reign was 1,400,000,000 francs.

PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA.

"Prussia as a kingdom exists only since 1700. The whole annual expenses of Frederick's court, between 1700 and 1713 did not exceed 4000 Spanish dollars. During the reign of his successor Frederick William I. an immense treasury and an army of 100,000 men were collected. Thus Frederick the great came to the throne of a nation in which every 15th person was a soldier. At his acces sion he numbered among his subjects scarcely 2,000,000— which by conquest was almost quadrupled before his death in 1786. But he left his kingdom in the worst of all situations-it must devour, or be devoured; and so it has ever since been, either preying upon, or a prey to others. The close secrecy which is preserved in regard to its finances and debt prevent me from being able to give any thing upon that subject. The same is true of Russia. I know only that in 1790, she owed but 20,000,000 roubles, which have since been augmented to several hundred millions. The army has also been increased from 260,000, as Catharine left it at her death in 1790, to 650,000.

"I perceive all which I have said may be answered by the single remark, that if wars are necessary the consequences are not to be considered; but it is certain that they are often unnecessary, and in a country where those who have to pay the cost retain in their own hands the means of carrying them on, I think the foregoing considerations may not be without their use. However hopeless may be the case in Europe, in America it is surely possible.