d have been anxious to carry on the
war beyond their own frontiers. This system both created the desire and
afforded the means of success; and with the war, they carried, wherever
they went, the system of requisition; not, however, before they had, by
these and other revolutionary measures, entirely destroyed all the
sources of national prosperity at home.

Wherever the French armies have since gone, their subsistence, at least,
the most expensive article in all armies, and means of transport, have
been received from the country for nothing. Sometimes, besides
subsistence, they have received clothing and shoes; in other instances,
besides these articles, they have received pay; and from Austria and
Prussia, and other parts of Germany and Italy, they have drawn, besides
all these articles of supply for their troops, heavy contributions in
money for the supply of the treasury at Paris. To this enumeration ought
to be added the plunder acquired by the generals, officers, and troops;
and it will be seen that the new French system of war is the greatest
evil that ever fell on the civilised world.

The capital and industry of France having been destroyed by the
revolution, it is obvious that the government cannot raise a revenue
from the people of France adequate to support the large force which must
be maintained in order to uphold the authority of the new government,
particularly in the newly-conquered or ceded states; and to defend the
widely-extended frontier of France from all those whose interest and
inclination must lead them to attack it. The French government,
therefore, under whatever form administered, must seek for support for
their armies in foreign countries. War must be a financial resource; and
that appears to me to be the greatest misfortune which the French
revolution has entailed upon the present generation.

_Jan. 31, 1812._

* * * * *

I consider the Portuguese troops, next to the British, the best in the
Peninsula.

_May 3, 1812._

* * * * *

It is very difficult to manage the defence of the kingdom of Portugal,
the whole country being frontier.

_June 11, 1812._

_How to establish National Credit._

When a nation is desirous of establishing public credit, or, in other
words, of inducing individuals to confide their property to its
government, they must begin by acquiring a revenue equal to their fixed
expenditure; and they must