Was it unavoidable for as to pay in the same year, on account of the deficiencies of the Civil List 584,713 pounds?
Was it unavoidable that the other additional allowances to the Royal
Family, in that year, should amount to 366,660 pounds?
Was it unavoidable that the Civil List for Scotland should amount to 126,613 pounds?
Was it unavoidable to give for the relief of suffering French and
Dutch Emigrants, in that year, after, the Bourbons and the 'Orange
Boven' had been restored, the sum of 79,591 pounds?
Was it unavoidable to expend in that year (including) an arrear of the former year, in SECRET SERVICE Money, the sum of 153,446 pounds?
Was it unavoidable to pay last year, out of the taxes for the relief of the Poor Clergy of the Church of England, the sum of 100,000 pounds?
"I could ask them a great many more questions of a similar nature and tendency; but here are enough for the present; and, if the Citizens of London should happen to be satisfied, that all these expenses were unavoidable, all the taxes, of course, are unavoidable, and then it is clear, that the present distress and difficulty of the country are to be attributed to unavoidable causes. But, if the citizens should think, that a very large part, nine-tenths, for instance, of these expenses might have been avoided, then they will come to the opposite conclusion, and, if they be not beaten at a single blow, they will not fail to communicate that conclusion to his Royal Highness.
"As to the hint about irritating and misleading the people, the charge can apply only to the enemies of Parliamentary Reform; for we deal in soothing language, in the inspiring of hope, and in the promulgation of useful political truth, and, therefore, the charge cannot apply to us. But, when the Prince is advised to talk of the TRIED wisdom of the Parliament, he compels us to fix our eyes on those 'distresses and difficulties,' of which he is graciously pleased to speak at the same time, and which, at any rate, have grown into being under the existence of that 'TRIED wisdom.'
"I have just received from America the most authentic accounts of the happy state of the people there. English goods were selling at auction for a fourth of their prime cost; and the Americans say, that they are, in this way, getting back what they lost by our Orders in Council, under which their ships were seized and condemned. The ruin, in America, is wholly confined to the agents and merchants connected with England. The country at large is in the most flourishing state; no beggars, no paupers, no distress, and their newspapers are filled with true accounts of our distresses. Still, let us cling to the Old Ship, and let us try, in spite of all opposition, to make our own country as happy as America. But, here is another mark of our distresses not being of a temporary nature. The market of America is gone for ever as to most articles of manufacture. I shall, however, treat more fully of this another time.
"I am, with the greatest respect,