1775 £10,138,061 1776 10,266,405 £2,000,000 1777. 10,604,013 6,500,000 1778 10,732,405 6,000,000 1779 11,192,141 7,000,000 1780 12,265,214 12,000,000 1781 12,454,936 12,000,000 1782 12,593,297 13,500,000 1783 11,962,718 12,000,000 1784 12,905,519 12,879,341 1785 14,871,520 10,990,651 Total £129,975,229 £93,869,992 The American war terminated in 1783; but as the loans of the two following years were raised to wind up the expenses of that struggle, it is proper they should be included. The total expense of the American war will stand thus:-- Taxes £129,975,229 Loans 93,869,992 Advances by the Bank of England 110,000 Advances by the East India Company 3,200,000 Increase in the Unfunded Debt 5,170,273 Total 232,325,494 Deduct expense of a peace establishment for eleven years, as it stood in 1774 113,142,403 Net cost of the American war £119,183,091 In addition to this must be noted £1,340,000 voted as compensation to American loyalists in 1788, and £4,000 a year pension since, and even now, paid to the descendants of William Penn, amounting, with compound interest, to an enormous additional sum, even to the present date, without reckoning future liability. And this glorious colony parted from us in blood and shame, in consequence of a vain attempt to gratify the desire of the House of Brunswick to make New England contribute to their German greed as freely and as servilely as Old England had done. Encouraged by the willingness with which his former debts had been discharged, George HI., in 1777, sent a second message, but this time for the larger sum of £600,-000, which was not only paid, but an additional allowance of £100,000 a year was voted to his Majesty, and £40,000 was given to the Landgrave of Hesse. As an illustration of the barbarity of our laws, it is enough to say that, in 1777, Sarah Parker was burnt for counterfeiting silver coin. In June, 1786, Phoebe Harris was burnt for the same offence. And this in a reign when persons in high position, accused of murder, forgery, perjury, and robbery, escaped almost scot free. In April, 1778, £60,000 a year was settled on the six younger princes, and £30,000 a year on the five princesses. These pensions, however, were professedly paid out of the King's Civil List, not avowedly in addition to it, as they are to-day. The Duke of Buckingham stated that in 1778, and again in 1782, the King threatened to abdicate. This threat, which, unfortunately, was never carried out, arose from the King's obstinate persistence in the worse than insane policy against the American colonies.