Notes on France and Great Britain, [1784–1789]
Notes on France and Great Britain
[1784–1789]
Comparative view of France and the British islands in Europe.
| France. | British islands. | ||
| Extent. | 150,000 square miles | 104,000 square miles. | |
| Souls | 17,000,000. | ||
| 5¾ acres to each person | 6¾ acres to each person. | ||
| Ecclesiastics | 500,000. | ||
| Paris 600,000. | London. 1,000,000. | ||
| Rental | 52,800,000 | 32,000,000. | |
| Plate, jewels &c. | 52,500,000 | 20,000,000 | |
| Current coin | 52,500,000 | 20,000,000. | |
| Paper currency | none | 380,000,000. | |
| Standing army | 10,717 guards | ||
| 133,780 French & foreign infantry. |
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| 28,979 do. cavalry. | |||
| 173,476 | |||
| 9,230 Invalids for garrison duty |
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| Militia | 62,600 | ||
| 245,306. | |||
| Navy. | |||
| Revenue | 12,546,666£ | 10,213,000£ | |
| Interest of debt | 2,022,222£ | 4,860,000 | |
| Debt | 6,600,000£ in | 1689: at the revolution | |
| 20,000,000. | 1697. peace of Ryswick | ||
| 6,748,780. | 1701. Q. Anne’s accesion. | ||
| 50,000,000. | 1714. Q. Anne’s death. | ||
| 50,000,000. | 1727. death of G.I. | ||
| 46,661,767. | 1739. beginning of Spanish war. | ||
| 78,293,313 | 1748. peace of Aix la Chapelle. | ||
| 72,000,000. | 1755. beginning of French war. | ||
| 140,000,000. | 1763. Treaty of Paris |
MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 234: 41844); entirely in TJ’s hand; undated; endorsed by TJ: “France & Engld. compared.”
Since precise figures on the public finances of the French monarchy did not become available until the publication of Jacques Necker’s Compte rendu au Roi in 1781, TJ presumably compiled this comparative view of France and Great Britain sometime during his years in France (J. F. Bosher, French Finances 1770–1795: From Business to Bureaucracy [Cambridge, 1970],126).