The abrupt cessation of hostilities occasioned reductions in the large naval and military establishments which had to be maintained for the vigorous prosecution of the war; and the promptitude with which they were effected, aggravated not a little the general distress that followed. The Government, defeated in their proposal to continue the property tax, and having thereupon voluntarily given up the war duty on malt, found themselves suddenly deprived of £17,000,000 of revenue, and had no option but to discharge forthwith, and in no sparing manner, a large portion of the forces of the Crown. Of the 100,000 men required for the Navy in 1815, only 33,000 were retained in 1816; the military establishment was also fixed during the Session, at 111,756 men, not counting the regiments serving in India, paid by the East India Company, nor the contingent quartered in France and provided for by that nation. To effect the necessary reductions in the land services, some 50,000 of the regular Army, the Militia 80,000 strong, and of course the foreign corps, nearly 21,000 men, were disbanded.[129] Some of these changes did not take place until 1817, but they affected the Coldstream as early as the 24th of December, 1815, when the Regiment lost 400 men; on the 24th of March, 1817, simultaneously with the reduction effected in the army of occupation in France, another diminution of 200 men was made in the establishment; again, shortly after the 2nd Battalion returned from Cambrai (December, 1818), the services of four Lieutenants, sixteen Ensigns, two Assistant-Surgeons, and 200 men were further dispensed with; and lastly, on the 25th of August, 1821, four companies were abolished, twelve Officers were seconded, and 216 Non-commissioned officers and men were discharged.[130] The sweeping nature of these reductions, rendered necessary by the termination of the war, is perhaps best appreciated by comparing the Regimental establishment as it stood in the spring of 1814, with that which was in force in the autumn of 1821:— 1814. 1821. 22 Companies. 16 Companies. 4 Field-Officers (Colonel, 4 Field-Officers (Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel, and 2 Lieutenant-Colonel, and 2 Majors). Majors). 22 Captains. 16 Captains. 46 Lieutenants. 20 Lieutenants. 20 Ensigns. 12 Ensigns. 2 Adjutants. 2 Adjutants. 2 Quartermasters. 2 Quartermasters. 3 Surgeon-Major and Battalion 3 Surgeon-Major and Battalion Surgeons. Surgeons. 4 Assistant-Surgeons. 2 Assistant-Surgeons. 1 Solicitor. 1 Solicitor. 2 Drum-Majors. 2 Drum-Majors. 1 Deputy Marshal. 1 Deputy Marshal.[131]