THE INTEREST AND THE POWER OF ENGLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIIL, Issue 99, 26 April 1878, Page 4

THE INTEREST AND THE POWER OF ENGLAND.

Under this title n series of letters by " A London Physician " have appeared in the Morning Post, From the latest of these tetters we reproduce the following instructive deductions arrived at bv the writer. First, as to money:— Wo are not only rich, but our -wealth, one year with another, increases at a rate that may well be deemed marvellous. A siDgle fact of the many recently submitted to the Statistical Society will prove this. We know the aggregate amount of a part only of the incomes of the people of the United Kingdom, but this aggregate, made up as it is of several kinds of income, whsn capitalised according to the prac'rice of financiers, yields a total of 240 millions as the new capital added to the national treasure every year. So great is the increase of wealth since 1815, when the war with France terminated, that the charge of the national debt, which then -amounted to a third of the entire capital of the country, has now fallen to the low figure of a twenty second part. So much more wealthy are we that we could [bear the presure of a debt, of 3000 millions with no greater strain than our countrymen of 1815 bore their burden of 900 millions. Money then will not fail us when next we are called upon to cbnstise even the most powerful disturber of peace. "2. War Material and Appliances. — Of these, aa of money, we have a practically inexheuFtible supply. Neither coal nor iron, neither mechanic cal skill nor inventive iagonuity, will fail us. In all theße things we are, more than other nations, self-sufficient. "3. Men.— The population of the United kingdom tak^-s rank after those of Russia, Turkey (with Eygpt), and Germany ; and approaches nearly those of Fiance and Austria-Hungary, and exceeds that of Italy by some 6,000,000. It is four timeß bb great .as the united populations of Roumenia, Servia, Monteuegro, and Greece, England's! recruiting ground, which may be said to comprise its colonies, may be roughly estimated to embrace 40,000,000 souls, being some 3,000.000 less than that of Germany, some 4,000,000 more than that of France aud Austria-Hungary. As to tbe recruiting ground of Russia with its 87 5 000,000 of inhabitants, we know little ; but if the tribes of Central Asia are to be counted in her favor our Indian Empire must be thrown into our scale. When next we fight, with Turkey as |our ally, (and the conduct of Russia tnuat, sooner or later, render that union inevitable) we may reckon tbe Turks among recruits. Certain it is that if we act with common sense end the most ordinary prudence in our foreign we shall be able to command moro men than any of the nations of the Continent. "4. Ships.— As it is inconceivable that France should be arrayed against us, and hardly credible that Austria or Turkey should, I shall assume as possible that England without a single ally may have to face a hostile combination of all the other Powers. On this extreme assumption she would enter on the war with 510 armed vessels of all sorts, of which 61 are ironclads, against 228 ships of all kinds, of which 57 are ironclads. These figures do not of course represent the real disparity of force, if we assume Turkey for our ally, her fleet, with that of Egypt, would add 165 fighting vessels. In this event the figures would stand thus: — England, with Turkey, 675 ships ; other Powers (less France and Austria) 228 ships. "We should have ships enough to encounter any hostile combination, to protect all our possessions, and to ensure ample supplies of food probably at no great increase of cost. If we substitute sailors fop ships, England would muster 82,000 against 49,000 ; and if Turkey, with Egypt, were added in, some such total as 136,000." As to our command of men under the system of voluntary enlistment, that (3ays the writer) I will illustrate by two instances, the one general, the other special. "We had been fighting with France some sixteen years when we first sent troops to Portugal, and these troops we contrived to reinforce and maintain at such a standard of efficiency that "Wellington, after six years of continuous flighting, drove France out of Spain, and followed her to her capital. As a special fact this ' must suffice. "We had been seventeen years at war when we contrived to send on the unfortunate expedition to "Walcheren a mixed armament of soldiers and sailors to the number of 70,000, of whom 42,000 were soldiers. All this, be it recollected, was done nearly 70 years ago, when our population was not much more than half what we number now, and our wealth but a seventh part or so of what we now possess. Grentlejneu of the peace at-any-price party, "when next you have occasion to disparage England's power, to frighten her with threats of a conscription, or plead her poverty as an excuse for inaction, please to bear these and such like facts in mind. Do what you will you cannot prevent wars, but you can give a monopoly of fighting to such a miscreant as Eussia has once more shown herself to be. To such a Power as this — a very monster of perfidy and violence — you would hand over England's sword. To whom do you propose to give Britannia's trident ? Germany is ready to accommodate you.