ABSTRACT
Just as there was a revolution across the English Channel in the late eighteenth century, so too there was one in Britain. It took place in the terms and conditions determining the conduct of the bureaucracy of the British state. It consisted of a sequence of reforms bringing about significant changes in attitude, both in those who served the state and in those who judged the performance of its bureaucracy. It was reinforced by public opinion and by legal developments. Quiet and nonviolent though it was, the revolution that affected the British state had features in common with measures taken in France to make state bureaucracy and finance more efficient there. However, despite the adoption of similar expedients in the two countries, differences in cultural heritage between the two states gave rise to different effects. Whilst measures in France at first tended to undermine the credibility of fiscal management, those in Britain tended to reinforce confidence in its management, giving rise to a marked difference in attitude towards British state finance in 1815 to that which existed about 1780.
