1786 L11,867,055 1787 12,923,134 1788 13,007,642 1789 13,433,068 1790 14,072,978 During those five years the sum of L4,750,000 had been allotted to the Sinking Fund for the payment of the National Debt; and a further sum of L674,592, accruing from the interest of stock and expired annuities, had gone towards the same object--a crushing retort to the taunts of Fox and Sheridan, that the Sinking Fund was a mere pretence. On the whole the sum of L5,424,592 had been paid off from the National Debt in five years. It is therefore not surprising that three per cent. Consols, which were down at fifty-four when Pitt took office at the end of 1783, touched ninety in the year 1791. The hopes and fears of the year 1792 find expression in the fact that in March they stood at ninety-seven, and in December dropped to seventy-four. For the present Pitt entertained the highest hopes. In his Budget Speech of 17th February he declared the revenue to be in so flourishing a state that he could grant relief to the taxpayers. In the year 1791 the permanent taxes had yielded L14,132,000; and those on land and malt brought the total up to L16,690,000; but he proposed to take L16,212,000 as the probable revenue for the following year. The expenditure would be lessened by L104,000 on the navy (2,000 seamen being discharged), and about L50,000 on the army; L36,000 would also be saved by the non-renewal of the subsidy for Hessian troops. There were, however, additions, due to the establishment of the Government of Upper Canada, and the portions allotted to the Duke of York (on the occasion of his marriage with a Prussian princess) and the Duke of Clarence. The expenditure would, therefore, stand at L15,811,000; but, taking the average of four years, he reckoned the probable surplus at no more than L401,000. On the other hand, he anticipated no new expenses except for the fortification of posts in the West Indies and the completion of forts for the further protection of the home dockyards. On the whole, then, he reckoned that he had L600,000 to spare; and of this amount he proposed to allocate L400,000 to the reduction of the National Debt and the repeal of the extra duty on malt, an impost much disliked by farmers. He also announced a remission of permanent taxes to the extent of L200,000, namely, on female servants, carts, and waggons, and that of three shillings on each house having less than seven windows. These were burdens that had undoubtedly affected the poor. Further, he hoped to add the sum of L200,000 every year to the Sinking Fund, and he pointed out that, at this rate of payment, that fund would amount to L4,000,000 per annum in the space of fifteen years, after which time the interest might be applied to the relief of the nation's burdens. Then, rising high above the level of facts and figures, he ventured on this remarkable prophecy: