Parliament, Naval Spending and the Public. Contrasting Financial Legacies of Two Exhausting Wars, 1689-1713

Abstract

During the period from 1689 to 1713 England and France fought two long wars which put their financial capabilities to an extreme test. England met the challenge with a reliable system of long-term credit. Less well known but equally important was England’s achievement in managing short-term debt (this article chiefly examines the navy’s) by methods that were centralised and transparent. In France issuance of short-term paper during the 1702-1713 war proliferated, and arrangements for dealing with it – half-public, half-private, decentralised and obscure – became imbedded. The contrasting financial inheritances had notable consequences.