venues of Civil List of William The Civil List being now free from the expenses of Other rethe late king, was fixed by Parliament at 845,7271. the Crown. But during the whole of this reign the king enjoyed, in addition to this income, the hereditary revenues of Scotland, amounting on an average to 109,000l., and the Civil List for Ireland of 250,000l. He also received the Droits of the Crown and Admiralty, the 4 per cent. duties, the West India duties, and other casual revenues, which were still vested in the Crown, and independent of Parliament.1 King William IV., on his accession, for the first time surrendered the interest of the Crown in all these sources IV. of revenue, and accepted a Civil List of 510,000l. The future expenditure of this amount was divided into five different classes, to each of which a specific annual sum was appropriated, including a Pension List of 75,000l. At the same time, the Civil List was still further relieved from charges, which more properly belonged to the civil government of the State. These charges included judicial salaries, which had been paid partly out of the Civil List, partly out of the Consolidated Fund, and partly out of the fees of the Courts, - the salaries and pensions of the diplomatic service, and numerous miscellaneous expenses.2 These arrangements were not concluded until the accounts of the Civil List expenditure had been referred to a select committee of the House of Commons, and freely investigated. The Wellington ministry resisted this investigation, and fell: when the settlement of the Civil List was left to the Whig ministry of Lord Grey.3 The committee, in their inquiries, not thinking it con Civil List of Her Majesty. No debts upon the Civil List during three reigns. sistent with the respect due to his Majesty to scrutinise the details of his domestic household, nevertheless recommended several reductions in the salaries of the officers of state, amounting in the aggregate to 11,5297.1 The king, however, remonstrated with his ministers against the proposed reduction, saying: "If the people, according to the new (reform) bill, are really to govern the House of Commons, and the House of Commons is to decide upon the amount of salary I am to give to my servants, then the prerogatives of the Crown will in reality pass to the people, and the monarchy cannot exist." The ministers yielded to this remonstrance, and induced the House of Commons to restore the Civil List to the amount originally proposed.2 The Civil List of Queen Victoria was settled on the same principles as that of William IV., and amounted to 385,000l.: the only material variation being that in lieu of the Pension List of 75,000l., her Majesty was empowered to grant pensions annually to the extent of 1,2001. The Crown was thus finally restricted to a definite annuity for the support of its dignity, and for the personal comfort of the sovereign.3 It may be added, as at once a proof of the wisdom of these arrangements, and of the improved administration of our later sovereigns, that neither in the reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty, nor in the reigns of George IV. and William IV., has any application been made to Parliament for the discharge of debts upon the Civil List.4 Importance While the Civil List has been diminished in amount, of relieving 1 Report on the Civil List Accounts, March 21st, 1831. 2 Roebuck's Hist. of the Whig Ministry, ii. 159; Hansard's Debates, 3rd Ser., iii. 959. 3 Hansard's Debates, xxxix. 137, et seq. 4 Rep. 1837-8, on the Civil List. neous its relief from charges with which it had formerly been Civil List incumbered has placed it beyond the reach of miscon- from extrastruction. The Crown repudiates the indirect influences charges. exercised in former reigns, and is free from imputations of corruption. And the continual increase of the civil charges of the Government, which was formerly a reproach to the Crown, is now a matter for which the House of Commons is alone responsible. In this, as in other examples of constitutional progress, apparent encroachments upon the Crown have but added to its true dignity, and conciliated, more than ever, the confidence and affections of the people. of Hanover. Until the accession of her Majesty, every previous Revenues sovereign of her royal house had also enjoyed the revenue of the Kingdom of Hanover, which was now detached from the Crown of England. Former sovereigns had also inherited considerable personal property from their predecessors: but her Majesty succeeded to none whatever. The Crown, however, still retains Duchies of the revenues of the Duchies of Lancaster and Corn- and Cornwall. The former are the property of the reigning wall. sovereign; the latter the independent inheritance of the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall. The estates of both these duchies have been largely augmented by judicious management, and by vigilant attention to the interests of the Crown. Lancaster the Duchy At the commencement of her Majesty's reign, the gross Revenue of revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster amounted to 23,0381., of Lancasand the charges to 14,1267., leaving a net revenue of no ter. more than 8,9127. In 1859 the gross revenue had increased to 45,436l., and the net revenue to 31,349., of which 25,000l. were paid to her Majesty's Privy Purse.1 When George, Prince of Wales came of age in 1783, the Duchy 1 Parl. Papers, 1837-8, (665); 1860, (98). Revenue of of Corn wall, Private property of the sovereigns. Provision for the royal family. the income of the Duchy of Cornwall was less than 13,000l. a year. On the accession of her Majesty the gross income was 28,456l., and the payments were 12,670l., leaving a net income of 15,786. In 1859, the gross income had increased to 63,704l., and the net revenue to 50,7771.; of which no less than 40,7851. were paid over to the trustees and treasurer of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. And out of this ample revenue, accumulations exceeding half a million, are said to have been invested for the future benefit of his Royal Highness. In addition to these public revenues, the rights of the Crown to its own private property have been secured. The alienation of the land revenues of the Crown having been restrained by the 1st Anne, a doubt subsequently arose, whether the restrictions of that Act extended to the private property of the sovereign, acquired by purchase, gift or devise, or by descent, from persons not being kings or queens of the realm. But such restric tions being without any colour of justice, an Act was passed, in 1800, declaring that property so acquired, could be disposed of like the property of subjects.2 On the accession of George IV., however, doubts were suggested whether this Act applied to property acquired, by the reigning sovereign, before he had succeeded to the throne, which were set at rest by statute in 1823.3 While the Civil List has been ample for the support of the personal dignity of the Crown, Parliament has also provided liberally for the maintenance of the various members of the royal family. A separate annuity to the Queen Consort, with a large dowry in case of the death of the king,- annuities to the brothers, sisters, 1 Parl. Papers, 1837-8, (665); 1860, (13). 2 39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 88. 34 Geo. IV. c. 18; Hansard's Debates, 2nd Ser., viii. 509, 651. and other relatives of his Majesty,-establishments for each of his children on coming of age, and even allowances for their education and maintenance, marriage portions for princesses of the royal house,-such are the claims which have been made upon the liberality of Parliament, in addition to the Civil List. To these must be added, in the reign of George III., the debts of the Prince of Wales. the Prince The prince came of age in 1783, a time ill- Debts of suited for heavy demands upon the public purse. of Wales. The people were still suffering under the accumulated burthens of the American War; and the abuses of the Civil List had recently undergone a rude exposure. But the prince's Whig friends in the Coalition Ministry, overlooking these considerations, proposed a settlement of 100,000l. a year. They were glad to have this opportunity of strengthening their political connection with the heir-apparent. But the king was more sensible than they, of the objections to such a proposal at that time; and being tenacious of his own power,-loving his son but little, and hating his ministers very much,-he declined an arrangement which would have secured the independence of the prince, and drawn him still more closely to the party most obnoxious to himself. He agreed, therefore, to make the prince an allowance of 50,000l. a year out of his Civil List, which had already proved unequal to his own expenditure, and limited his demand upon Parliament to an outfit of 60,000l.1 To a prudent prince such an allowance would have been ample; to the spendthrift and the gamester it was a pittance. The prince was soon in difficulties; and his "debts of honour" to the blacklegs of Newmarket, and 1 25th June, 1783; Parl. Hist. xxiii. 1030; Lord J. Russell's Life and VOL. I. P Times of Fox, ii. 8; Lord Auck- |