prior to the

Henry VIII,

In the preceding part of this work, fome account Public Debts was given of this monarch's compulsive loans, and Revolution other tyrannical exactions'; and of the acts that were paffed, by which the debts he had incurred were discharged. The firft ftatute that was paffed for that purpose, is not included in our printed acts of Parliament, but may be feen in Burnet's Hiftory of the Reformation. The grounds which are stated in the preamble to the bill, as the caufes of its being enacted, are truly infamous. It is there déclared, "That though divers of his fubjects had

lent his majefty great fums of money, which "had been all well employed in the public fervice, "and for the payment of which, the lenders had his

fecurity;" yet, in confideration of the great things that the King had done for the church and nation, which had involved him in great expences, the Parliament offered him all the money he had thus received in loan; difcharged him of the obligations he had come under; and of all fuits that might arife thereupon. Another act of a fimiliar nature, was paffed in the 35th year of his reign". Fortunately the ftatute book, cannot produce another example, of fuch defpotic, arbitrary, and difgraceful proceedings.

During the reign of Edward VI. it became an Edward VI, ufual practice, to borrow money on the Continent;

and it appears that he was indebted to banks and to individuals abroad, in the fum of £.132,372: 10,

prior to the Revolution.

Public Debts for which he paid a heavy intereft of 14 per cent. His debts within the realm, amounted to L.108,807 4 10, the particulars of which were as follows *:

Mary.

To Silley and Alderney

To Ireland

To Winter, for his Voyage to Ireland

To Barthilmewe Campagni (the King's
Merchant)

To Portefmouth and the Isle of Wight
To the Men of Armes

To the Lieutenant of the Tower

1000

£. 108,807 4 10

The reader will naturally remark, the ftriking difference, between the fums then due, on account of the Navy and the Ordnance, and the enormous and outstanding or unfunded debts, which, in later times, have been incurred, by thefe two depart

ments.

Mary began her bloody reign, with an unusual act of grace to her fubjects. A fupply had been

* Strype's Ecclef. Memorials, vol. ii. p. 312. Parl, Hift. vol. iii. p. 254.

granted

prior to the

granted by Parliament to her brother Edward VI. Public Debts for the purpose of paying his debts. The money Revolution. had not been raised when he came to the throne; and by the advice of the artful Gardner, the remitted the fubfidy, with a view of ingratiating herfelf with the people, and of rendering a Popish Prince more acceptable to her Proteftant fubjects. But, fhort as her reign was, fhe was reduced to fuch pecuniary difficulties, as to be obliged to borrow fmall fums, even fo low as ten pounds, according to people's abilities. It is proper however to mention, that when she found it was unlikely, that she should live long enough, to obtain any aid from Parliament, to pay off the debts fhe had contracted, fhe made it one of her last requests to her fifter, to fee them fatisfied *.

The conduct of Elizabeth, in regard to public Elizabeth. debts, cannot be better defcribed, than in the words made use of by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on a motion for granting a fubfidy to that Princess, in the Parliament held anno 1575:

"Notwithstanding all these expences, (alluding "to the charges in Scotland, Ireland, and in other "wars,) her Majefty hath most carefully and pro"videntially delivered this kingdom, from a great " and weighty debt, wherewith it hath been long "burthened; a debt begun four years, at least,

* Parl. Hift. vol. iii.

p. 288. 343.357.

CC 4

"before

Public Debts before the death of Henry VIII. and not cleared prior to the Revolution. "until within these two years, and all that while

running upon intereft: a course able to eat up, "not only private men and their patrimonies, but "alfo Princes and their eftates. But fuch hath "been the care of this time, as her Majesty and the "State is clearly freed from that eating corrofive; "the truth whereof may be teftfied by the citizens "of London, whose bonds, under the common "feal of the city, which have hanged fo many

years to their great danger, and to the peril of "their whole traffick, are now all now all discharged, "cancelled, and delivered into the chamber of "London, to their own hands. By means where"of, the realm is not only acquitted of this great burden, and the merchants free, but also her Majefty's credit thereby, both at home and abroad, ་་ greater than any other Prince, for money, if she "have need. And fo in reafon it ought to be, for that "The hath kept promife to all men, wherein other "Princes have often failed, to the hindrance of

It is to be remarked, that Elizabeth, and indeed her fifter Mary, were fometimes obliged, for the better fatisfaction of their creditors, to mortgage their domains. Even with that additional fecurity, Mary could not procure from the city of London, the fmall fum of £. 20,000, under 12 per

cent z.

y Parl. Hift. vol. iv. p. 2111

z Ibid. vol. iii. p. 358.

James

prior to the

James I.

James was hardly feated on the throne of Eng- Public Debts land, before he found himself, in confequence of Revolution. his own profufion, and the rapacity of his courtiers, involved in the greateft pecuniary difficulties. It was stated in Parliament, that Elizabeth had died in debt, to the amount of 400,000. But it appears, that the left fubfidies due to her amounting to £.350,000, which her fucceffor actually received, and which confequently ought to have been deducted. A state of the King's debts, was reported to the Houte, 11th March 1622; but the journals are fo defective, that it is impoffible now to discover the particulars. During this Monarch's reign, it fhould feem, that the fyftem of mortgaging grants, and anticipating their produce, was perfectly well known. For in the Parliament, held anno 1624, the famous duke of Buckingham, moved in the House of Lords, "That a meeting might be in"stantly prayed with the Commons, to propofe to "them, that certain monied men might be dealt "with, to difburfe fuch a fum as was requifite for "the prefent ufe; the repayment of which, to be "fecured by parliament, out of the fubfidies in"tended in the grant, according to what has been " heretofore done in the like cafes: concluding, "that he doubted not, that fome would be found "to difburfe the fame, upon that fecurity "."

The debts that were left by James I. upon his Charles I. fucceffor, amounted to about £. 360,000 without

a Parl. Hift. vol. v. p. 147. 219.

Ibid. vol. vi. p. 120.

including