ABSTRACT
As already demonstrated, the public commitment of Irish money towards the maintenance of the army and the barracks by means of parliamentary taxation constituted a key contribution to the British Empire in the period 1692–1770. However, at times of particular political or economic crisis or emergency, additional funds were required at short notice. In England, the provision of such funds via the creation and maintenance of a national debt constitutes a key aspect of the late seventeenth-century financial revolution. The emergence of an English national debt was directly related to the expansion of the empire, as the debt was created in order to finance the maintenance of a naval and military establishment capable of winning wars and defending newly acquired territories. 1
