humblest drink of life, small beer, cannot there be purchased without a
tax of nearly two coppers per gallon, besides a heavy tax upon the malt,
and another on the hops before it is brewed, exclusive of a land-tax on
the earth which produces them. In short, the condition of that country,
in point of taxation, is so oppressive, the number of her poor so great,
and the extravagance and rapaciousness of the court so enormous, that,
were they to effect a conquest of America, it is then only that the
distresses of America would begin. Neither would it signify anything
to a man whether he be Whig or Tory. The people of England, and the
ministry of that country, know us by no such distinctions. What they
want is clear, solid revenue, and the modes which they would take to
procure it, would operate alike on all. Their manner of reasoning would
be short, because they would naturally infer, that if we were able to
carry on a war of five or six years against them, we were able to pay
the same taxes which they do.

I have already stated that the expense of conducting the present war,
and the government of the several states, may be done for two millions
sterling, and the establishment in the time of peace, for three quarters
of a million.*

* I have made the calculations in sterling, because it is a rate
generally known in all the states, and because, likewise, it admits of
an easy comparison between our expenses to support the war, and those
of the enemy. Four silver dollars and a half is one pound sterling, and
three pence over.

As to navy matters, they flourish so well, and are so well attended to
by individuals, that I think it consistent on every principle of real
use and economy, to turn the navy into hard money (keeping only three or
four packets) and apply it to the service of the army. We shall not have
a ship the less; the use of them, and the benefit from them, will be
greatly increased, and their expense saved. We are now allied with a
formidable naval power, from whom we derive the assistance of a navy.
And the line in which we can prosecute the war, so as to reduce the
common enemy and benefit the alliance most effectually, will be by
attending closely to the land service.

I estimate the charge of keeping up and maintaining an army, officering
them, and all expenses included, sufficient for the defence of the
country, to be equal to the expense of forty thousand men at thirty
pounds sterling per head, whi