What Becomes of the Public Revenue
Of the seventy millions of the Revenue more than one-third is disposed of by the interest of the National Debt, a charge not liable to any important variation. It was less by 89,412l. in 1862 than in the year before. But the difference is very slight on such a sum as 26,142,606l. The armed force of the country is the next great channel of expenditure. The Army in 1862 absorbed 15,570,869l., an increase of 399,000l. over its cost in the previous year. The Navy required 12,598,042l. in the same period, or 733,626l. less than in 1861. Together they account for more than 28,000,000l. of the public expenditure. The naval and military operations in China figure in both years of this return. In 1861 they drew from the Exchequer 3,043,896l.; and in 1862 a further sum of 1,230,000l. The votes or money for fortifications rose suddenly from 50,000l. in 1861 to 970,000l. in 1862. There are small variations, both of reduction and increase, dispersed through an immense number of items, but when the gross sum they absorb is reckoned up, the difference between one year and another is scarcely worth noting.