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Their

amount in

Geo. III. IV.

and Victoria.

honour and dignity of the crown. And, as the amount of these several branches was uncertain, (though in the reign of Geo. II. they were computed to have sometimes raised almost a million) if they did not arise annually to 800,000%. the parliament engaged to make up the deficiency. But his majesty George the third having, soon after his accession, spontaneously signified his consent, that his own hereditary revenues might be so disposed of as might best conduce to the utility and satisfaction of the public; and having graciously accepted the limited sum of 800,000l. per annum for the support of his civil list; the said hereditary and other revenues were carried into and made a part of the aggregate fund, and the aggregate fund was charged with the payment of the whole annuity to the crown of 800,000%. which, being found insufficient, was increased in 1777 to 900,000l. per annum. Hereby the revenues themselves, being put under the same care and management as the other branches of the public patrimony, produce more and are better collected than heretofore; and the public was still a gainer of near 100,000l. per annum by this disinterested conduct of his majesty.

On the accession of George IV. he also placed his interest the reigns of in the hereditary revenues of the crown at the disposal of Wm. IV. the house of commons, and they were carried to the consolidated fund for his life, 1 Geo. IV. c. 1; and by the same statute, a revenue of 850,000l. in England, and 207,000l. in Ireland, was granted to his majesty for life. On the accession of William IV. the hereditary revenues of the crown were also surrendered in the same manner, and the clear yearly sum of 510,000l. was directed to be paid out of the consolidated fund, for the support of his majesty's household and of the honour and dignity of the crown, 1 Wm. IV. c. 25. And by the same statute, the civil list was relieved from those expenses which had no immediate connection with the royal dignity, or personal comfort of the sovereign, but which belonged rather to the civil government of the state. It was also provided that if the civil list ever exceeded the sum of 539,000l., the particulars and cause of such

c Stat. 1 Geo. III. c. 1.

excess was to be laid before parliament. On the accession of her present majesty, a similar course was pursued in all particulars. By the 1 Vict. c. 2, the hereditary revenues of the crown were carried to the consolidated fund during the life of her majesty, (s. 2.) and the yearly sum of 385,000l. is to be paid out of the consolidated fund, for the support of her majesty's household, and the honour and dignity of the crown; and by s. 10 it is enacted that whenever the total charge on the civil list shall in any year exceed the sum of 400,000%., an account of the particulars shall be laid before parliament.

The expenses defrayed by the civil list were those that in [ 334 ] any shape related to civil government; as, the expenses of the royal household; the revenues allotted to the judges, previous to the year 1758; all salaries to officers of state, and every of the king's servants; the appointments to foreign ambassadors; the maintenance of the queen and royal family; the king's private expenses, or privy purse; and other very numerous outgoings, as secret service money, pensions, and other bounties: which sometimes have so far exceeded the revenues appointed for that purpose, that application has been made to parliament to discharge the debts contracted on the civil list; as particularly in 1724, when one million was granted for that purpose by the statute 11 Geo. I. c. 17, and in 1769 and 1777, when half a million and 600,000l. were appropriated to the like uses, by the statutes 9 Geo. III. c. 34, and 17 Geo. III. c. 47.

But at the commencement of the last reign an alteration as to this was made, and the revenues of the judges, the appointments to the foreign ambassadors, and the maintenance of the royal family, were charged on the consolidated fund,to which is now added the secret service money and the only charges on the allowance to her present majesty, are the following:

The allowances to the various branches of the royal family were formerly charged on the civil list, but they are now charged on the consolidated fund. 1 Wm. IV. c. 25, and 1 & 2 Wm. IV. c. 20. These allowances in the year 1838, amounted

to the sum of 278,8571. By an act of
the present queen, 1 & 2 Vict. e. 8,
her majesty is enabled to grant an an-
nual sum of 30,000l. to her royal high-
ness the duchess of Kent, charged on
this fund.

£ 60,000

First class: For her majesty's privy purse
Second class: - Salaries of her majesty's house-
hold and retired allowances - 131,260
Third class - Expenses of her majesty's house-
hold

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172,500

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Fourth class: - Royal bounty, alms, and special

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Fifth class: - Pensions to the extent of 1,2001.

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The nature of the civil list.

The civil list is indeed properly the whole of the king's revenue in his own distinct capacity; the rest being rather the revenue of the public, or its creditors, though collected and distributed again, in the name and by the officers of the crown: it now standing in the same place, as the hereditary income did formerly; and, as that has gradually diminished, the parliamentary appointments have increased. The whole revenue of queen Elizabeth did not amount to more than 600,000l. a-year : that of king Charles I. wash 800,0007. and the revenue voted for king Charles II. wasi 1,200,000. though complaints were made (in the first years at least) that it did not amount to so much. But it must be observed, that under these sums were included all manner of public expenses; among which lord Clarendon in his speech to the parliament computed, that the charge of the navy and land forces amounted annually to 800,000%. which was ten times more than before the former troubles. The same revenue, [335] subject to the same charges, was settled on king James II.:1 but by the increase of trade, and more frugal management, it amounted on an average to a million and a half per annum, (besides other additional customs, granted by parliament," which produced an annual revenue of 400,000l.) out of

f This item has been much reduced under the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 2.

Lord Clar. continuation, 163.

h Com. Journ. 4 Sept. 1660.

i Ibid.

ibid.

Ibid. 4 Jun. 1663. Lord Clar,

Lord Clar. 165.

1 Stat. 1, Jac. II. c. 1.

m Ibid. c. 3 & 4.

par

which his fleet and army were maintained at the yearly expense of 1,100,000l. After the Revolution, when the liament took into its own hands the annual support of the forces both maritime and military, a civil list revenue was settled on the new king and queen, amounting with the hereditary duties, to 700,000l. per annum, and the same was continued to queen Anne and king George I.P That of king George II. we have seen, was nominally augmented to 800,000%, and in fact was considerably more: and that of George III. was avowedly increased to the limited sum of 900,000. That of George IV. was further increased to the sum of 1,057,000l. That of William IV. was settled at 510,000l. and that of her present majesty at 385,000l., but with respect to our last and our present sovereign the charges, as we have already seen, are much lighter. And upon the whole it is doubtless much better for the crown, and also for the people, to have the revenue settled upon the modern footing rather than the ancient. For the crown; because it is more certain, and collected with greater ease: sent mode of for the people; because they are now delivered from the the royal feudal hardships, and other odious branches of the prerogative. And though complaints have sometimes been made of the increase of the civil list, yet if we consider the sums that have been formerly granted, the limited extent under which it is now established, the revenues and prerogatives given up in lieu of it by the crown, and (above all) the diminution of the value of money compared with what it was worth in the last century, we must acknowledge these complaints to be void of any rational foundation: and that it is impossible to support that dignity, which a king of Great Britain should maintain, with an income in any degree less than what is now established by parliament.

Advantages of the pre

managing

revenues.

flections on

prerogative.

This finishes our inquiries into the fiscal prerogatives of General rethe king; or his revenue, both ordinary and extraordinary. the royal We have therefore now chalked out all the principal outlines [ 336 ] of this vast title of the law, the supreme executive magistrate, or the king's majesty, considered in his several capa

n Com. Journ. 1 Mar. 20 Mar. 1688.

Ibid. 14 Mar. 1701.

P Com. Journ. 17 Mar. 1701. 11 Aug. 1714.

Stat. 1 Geo. II. c. I.

A A

The former

power of the crown.

cities and points of view. But, before we entirely dismiss this subject, it may not be improper to take a short comparative review of the power of the executive magistrate, or prerogative of the crown, as it stood in former days, and as it stands at present. And we cannot but observe, that most of and present the laws for ascertaining, limiting, and restraining this prerogative have been made within the compass of little more than a century past; from the petition of right in 3 Car. I. to the present time. So that the powers of the crown are now to all appearance greatly curtailed and diminished since the reign of king James the first: particularly, by the abolition of the star-chamber and high commission courts in the reign of Charles the first, and by the disclaiming of martial law, and the power of levying taxes on the subject, by the same prince: by the disuse of forest laws for a century past : and by the many excellent provisions enacted under Charles the second; especially the abolition of military tenures, purveyance, and pre-emption; the habeas corpus act; and the act to prevent the discontinuance of parliaments for above three years; and, since the Revolution, by the strong and emphatical words in which our liberties are asserted in the bill of rights, and act of settlement; by the act for triennial, since turned into septennial, elections; by the exclusion of certain officers from the house of commons; by rendering the seats of the judges permanent, and their salaries liberal and independent; by restraining the king's pardon from obstructing parliamentary impeachments; and above all by the passing of the reform act. Besides all this, if we consider how the crown is impoverished and stripped of all its ancient revenues, so that it must greatly rely on the liberality of parliament for its necessary support and maintenance, we may perhaps be led to think, that the balance is inclined pretty strongly to the popular scale, and that the executive magistrate has neither independence nor power enough left to form that check upon the lords and commons, which the founders of our constitution intended.

Benefits which the

crown

But, on the other hand, it is to be considered, that every prince, in the first parliament after his accession, has by [337] long usage a truly royal addition to his hereditary revenue settled upon him for his life; and has never any occasion

enjoys.

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