xisted only on
paper. Under Sandwich abuses of all kinds seem to have been carried
further than before. The navy in 1776 consisted of 317 ships of various
sizes and 49 sloops.[110] Of these 123 ships were "of the line of
battle," a term then generally restricted to the first three rates,
ships of sixty-four guns and upwards. In spite of the large sums voted
for repairs, many of the king's ships were utterly unseaworthy, and it
was alleged with truth that ships, perfectly capable of repair, were
sold as useless, while others, for which much money had been voted, had
not had a penny spent upon them. On this matter more must be said later.

A bill enabling the king to embody the militia in times of rebellion met
with strong opposition on the ground that it would place a dangerous
power in the hands of the crown, and was subversive of the
constitutional idea of the militia as a purely local force to be used
only for domestic defence; it was, however, finally carried by large
majorities. On the other hand, North's proposal to extend the militia to
Scotland was defeated by 112 to 95, for the country gentlemen, who
regarded the militia system with extreme jealousy, voted against it. For
the army a vote was obtained for 55,000 men, of which 25,000 were to be
employed in America. It was easier to vote the money than to find the
men. The difficulty of recruiting was alleged by government to be a
result of the briskness of trade and such like causes. Already the Irish
army was reduced by drafts to less than the 12,000 men that by statute
were to be kept in that kingdom, and the government excited the
indignation of an independent section in the Irish parliament and of the
protestants of Ulster by obtaining leave to withdraw 4,000 men more. The
conduct of the government in this matter and in that of the hiring of
German troops was strenuously though ineffectually attacked in the
British parliament. The supplies voted for the year 1776 amounted to
L9,097,000. The land tax was raised to four shillings in the pound, and
that with other ordinary ways and means would, North calculated, bring
in L7,143,000. He proposed to make up the deficiency by borrowing
L2,000,000; the loan was to be funded, and the interest of the new stock
was provided for by new taxes on carriages and stage coaches, dice and
cards, by an additional stamp duty, and by raising the penny stamp on
newspapers to three-halfpence.

[Sidenote: _COMMISSIONERS FOR PACIFICA