Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert PeelAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert Peel
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
Lord Castlereagh, in recounting the aid given by Great Britain to
the sovereigns of the Continent in this grand effort to put down
the intolerable military dominance of Buonaparte, drew a picture of
expenditure such as no country had presented since the commencement
of history. He said that the nations of the north of Europe were so
exhausted by their former efforts, that not one of them could move
without our aid; that this year alone we had sent to Russia two million
pounds; to Prussia two million pounds; to Austria one million pounds
in money, and one hundred thousand stand of arms; to Spain two million
pounds; to Portugal one million pounds; to Sicily four hundred thousand
pounds. By these aids Russia had been able to bring up men from the
very extremities of the earth, and Prussia to put two hundred thousand
men into the field. We had sent during the year five hundred thousand
muskets to Spain and Portugal, and four hundred thousand to other parts
of the Continent. There was something sublime in the contemplation
of one nation, by the force of her wealth and her industry, calling
together the armies of the whole world to crush the evil genius of the
earth.
But Lord Castlereagh called on Parliament to maintain the same scale
of expenditure and exertion till the great drama was completed. He
estimated that there would still be wanted for 1814 four million pounds
for the Peninsula, and six million pounds for Germany. He stated that
our army in all quarters of the world amounted to two hundred and
thirty thousand men, and that it was probable that we should have
occasion to send from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand men to
Holland, which, he recommended, should be raised by drafts from the
militia. Of seamen, one hundred and forty thousand, and thirty-one
thousand marines were voted, as it was resolved to chase the flag of
the troublesome Americans from the seas. All these proposals were
assented to without hesitation, and with the warmest encomiums on the
achievements of Lord Wellington in Spain and the south of France,
Parliament adjourned on the 26th of December till the 1st of March,
1814.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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