,000,000 souls, had above 500,000 regular soldiers and
sailors in the public service. France has now, in peace, with a
population of 32,000,000 souls, about 360,000 men, between the army and
navy, in the public service; and England, with a population of
28,000,000, upwards of 150,000, besides double that number in India.
Russia, with 62,000,000 inhabitants, has 460,000 soldiers in the public
service. Austria, with 33,000,000, has 260,000. All these peace
establishments are twice as heavy in proportion to the numbers of the
people, as that of Rome was in the time of Augustus; and, in subsequent
reigns, the number of armed men maintained by the state, was so far from
increasing, that it was constantly diminishing, and, in the time of
Justinian, had sunk down to 140,000 soldiers, maintained by an empire
more extensive than that of Russia at this moment.

4. The same conclusion results from the consideration of the absolute
amount of the public revenue levied in the Roman empire, compared with
what is extracted from modern states. Gibbon estimates the public
revenue of the whole empire in the time of Augustus, at "fifteen or
sixteen millions sterling;"[40] and in the time of Constantine the
revenue derived from Gaul was L4,500,000 a-year.[41] The first of these
sums is less than a _third_ of what is now levied in time of peace on
Great Britain, with less than thirty millions of souls, instead of the
hundred and twenty millions who swelled the population rolls of the
Roman empire: the last is little more than an _eighth_ of what is now
extracted from France, having nearly the same limits as ancient Gaul.
Supposing that the value of money has declined, from the discovery of
the South American mines, a half, (and at _this_ time, owing to the
decline of those mines, it has not sunk more,) still it is apparent that
the public burdens of modern times are at least three times as heavy as
they were in the Roman empire in the highest period of its greatness. As
its strength and military establishment constantly declined after that
period, there is no reason to suppose that the absolute amount of the
public taxes was at any subsequent time greater, although
unquestionably, from the decline in the resources of those who were to
bear them, they were felt as infinitely more oppressive. And that these
taxes were not disproportioned to the strength of the empire, when its
resources were unimpaired, and its industry flourishing, is decisive