Charges on the civil list. casual sources of revenue in England. He was in possession of the hereditary revenues of Scotland; and of a separate civil list for Ireland. He retained the rich Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. With these additions to the civil list, Mr. Burke estimated the total annual income of the crown at little less than a million; exclusive of the revenues of Hanover, and the Bishopric of Osnaburgh.1 During this long reign, the droits of the crown and Admiralty, and the casual revenues, which were wholly withdrawn from the cognisance of Parliament, amounted to the large sum of 12,705,4617.: out of which, however, he voluntarily contributed 2,600,000%. to the public service: while 5,372,8341. were appropriated as the expenses of captors, and payments to persons concerned in taking prizes. The surplus actually enjoyed by the crown, after making these deductions, amounted, therefore, to 4,732,6271.2 George III. also succeeded to 172,605l. which the late king,— more frugal than any prince since Henry VII.,-had saved out of his civil list.3 But great as were these revenues, the burthens on them were still greater. Places and pensions were multiplied, until the royal income was inadequate to provide for their payment. On the accession of George III., the greater part of the late king's household was retained; and, at the same time, numerous personal adherents of his Majesty were added to the establishment. But while the expenditure of the civil list was increased, the king and his family were living, not only with economy, but even with unkingly parsimony. In 1762 1 Present Discontents, Burke's Works, ii. 281. 2 Report on the Civil List, 1815; Hans. Deb., 3rd Ser., 143. 3 Grenville Papers, iii. 144; Wraxall's Mem., ii. 55. 4 Walp. Mem., i. 25. 1 he purchased Buckingham House, and settled it on the queen; "St. James's," according to Horace Walpole, "not being a prison strait enough." Here he lived. in privacy, attended only by menial servants, and keeping up none of the splendour of a court.2 "In all this," said Burke, "the people see nothing but the operations of parsimony, attended with all the consequences of profusion. Nothing expended-nothing saved. . . They do not believe it to be hoarded, nor perceive it to be spent." 3 . tary influ ence secured by the civil list expen diture. While practising this apparent economy, the king Parliamenwas engaged in that struggle to increase the influence, and establish the ascendency of the crown, which has been described elsewhere. The large expenditure of the civil list could not fail, therefore, to be associated with the fidelity and subserviency of the court party in Parliament. The crown was either plundered by its servants; or Parliamentary support was purchased by places, pensions, and pecuniary corruption.5 the civil list, 1769. In February, 1769, before the king had yet been Debt upon nine years upon the throne, the arrears of the civil list amounted to 513,5117.; and his Majesty was obliged to apply to Parliament to discharge them. This demand was made at an untimely moment, when the people were exasperated by the persecution of Wilkes,— when the policy of the court was odious, and the king himself unpopular. But if the country was discontented, Parliament was held in safe subjection. Inquiry was 1 Walp. Mem., i. 159. 2 The king continued this plain style of living throughout his reign. -Wraxall's Mem., i. 8-10. Mr. Addington, writing to his brother, 29th Dec., 1804, said he had just partaken of the king's dinner, "which consisted of mutton chops and pud ding."-Life of Sidmouth, ii. 342. Supra, chap. i. 5 Infra, p. 309. Further debt in 1777. demanded into the causes of the debt, and explanatory accounts were sought: but all investigation being resisted by ministers, the amount was granted without information. In the following year, motions for inquiry into the expenditure of the civil list were renewed, with no better success.1 Lord Chatham avowed his conviction that the civil list revenues were expended in corrupting members of Parliament 2; and the civil list expenditure, and the withholding from Parliament such an explanation of its causes, as had been customary in former reigns,- formed a prominent topic in Mr. Burke's celebrated pamphlet on " the Causes of the Present Discontents." But the same causes of excessive expenditure,whatever they may have been,-continued without check; and after the lapse of eight years, the king was again obliged to have recourse to Parliament, not only to discharge a debt of 618,3407., but to increase his annual civil list to 900,000l. a year. On this occasion, accounts explanatory of the arrears were laid before Parliament. Ministers no longer ventured to withhold them but they were not deemed satisfactory by the opposition. Again the causes of increased expenditure were freely animadverted upon in Parliament. The income of the king was compared with that of his predecessors, the large amount of secret service money, and the increased pension list were noticed,-and insinuations made of covert influence and corruption.3 But Parliament acceded to the demands of the king. When 1 Parl. Hist., xvi. 843, 926; Walp. Mem., iii. 343; Rockingham Mem., ii. 90, 167. The Duke of Richmond, writing to Lord Rockingham as to a division in the Lords, says, "The division of twenty-six on so courtly a point as paying his Majesty's debts, and enabling him to bribe higher, is, I think, a very strong one."Ibid., ii. 92. 2 Parl. Hist., xvi. 849. 3 Parl. Hist., xix. 103, 160, 187; Walp. Mem., iv. 92. the speaker, Sir Fletcher Norton, addressed the throne, on presenting the bill for the royal assent, he said, the Commons "have not only granted to your Majesty a large present supply, but also a very great additional revenue; great beyond example; great beyond your Majesty's highest expense." The speaker's uncourtly address became the subject of remark and censure in the House of Commons: but his friend, Mr. Fox, having come to the rescue, he was thanked for expressing with "just and proper energy, the zeal of this House for the support of the honour and dignity of the crown, in circumstances of great public charge."1 conduct, however, was not forgiven by the court; and in the next Parliament, he was punished by the loss of the speaker's chair.2 His upon the Promptly as these demands of the crown were met, Debates they yet excited lasting dissatisfaction. The public civil list, expenditure and the national debt had been prodi- 1779. giously increased by the American War, when the abuses of the civil list were again brought under the notice of Parliament. In 1779, the Duke of Richmond moved an address to the crown praying for the reduction of the civil list, which was rejected by a majority of more than two to one. But a few days afterwards Mr. Burke's Mr. Burke gave notice of his motion on economic re- economic form, with which his name has since been honourably ref associated. On the 11th of February, 1780,-fortified, in the meantime, by numerous petitions,-he propounded his elaborate scheme. This embraced a considerable reduction of offices, a diminution of expenditure, and improved administration and accounts in the 1 Parl. Hist., xix. 227. 3 3 Dec. 7th, 1779; Parl. Hist., xx. 2 Parl. Hist., xxi. 798-807; 1255. Wraxall's Mem., i. 372. scheme of reform, 1780. Mr. Burke's 1781. various departments of the state; and in his masterly review, the expenditure of the civil list attracted a large share of his scrutiny. Describing the royal household, he pointed out the social changes which had taken place, and the obsolete character of many of the offices which were still retained. "The royal household," he said, "has lost all that was stately and venerable in the antique manners, without retrenching anything of the cumbrous charge, of a gothic establishment." Examples of profusion and abuse were given, -useless offices, and offices performed by deputy,the king's turnspit being a member of Parliament 2, jobbing, waste and peculation in every department, without restraint. He proposed the reduction and consolidation of offices, the diminution of the pension list to 60,000l. a year, and the payment of all pensions at the Exchequer. Mr. Burke obtained leave to bring in five bills to carry out these various objects: but his Establishment Bill was the only one which was considered in that session. It was read a second time, and several of its provisions were discussed in committee: but it was ultimately defeated by the government. The discussions, however, led to a proposition from Lord North, for a commission of Public Accounts. In the following year, Mr. Burke resumed his efforts, ment Bill, and again obtained leave to bring in his Establishment Bill. In advocating this measure he was boldly supported by young William Pitt, who then first offered himself to the notice of Parliament. The bill was lost on the second reading.5 1 Parl. Hist., xxi. 30. 2 Ibid., 33, and Lord Talbot's Speech in 1777; Ibid., xix. 176. 3 See Parl. Hist., xxi. 111, where it is printed at length. 4 Ibid., xxi. 714. 5 Parl. Hist., xxi. 1292; Wraxall's Mem., ii. 333; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, i. 54. |