civil list from extra neous charges. relieving its relief from charges with which it had formerly been incumbered, has placed it beyond the reach of misconstruction. The crown repudiates the indirect influences 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. Revenues of Hanover. Until the accession of her Majesty, every previous 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 Duchies of to none whatever. The crown, however, still retains and Corn- the revenues of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall. The former are the property of the reigning 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 wall. Revenue of the Duchy ter. At the commencement of her Majesty's reign, the gross of Lancas- revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster amounted to 23,0381., and the charges to 14,1267., leaving a net revenue of no more than 8,9127. In 1859, the gross revenue had increased to 45,4367., and the net revenue to 31,3497., of which 25,000l. were paid to her Majesty's Privy Purse.1 When George, Prince of Wales, came of age in 1783, Revenue of the Duchy 1 Parl. Papers, 1837-8 (665), 1860 (98). wall. the income of the Duchy of Cornwall was less than of Corn13,000l. a year. On the accession of her Majesty, the gross income was 28,456l., and the payments were 12,670., leaving a net income of 15,786. In 1859, the gross income had increased, under the admirable management of the Prince Consort, to 63,7047., 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.1 Former sovereigns had themselves appropriated the income of the duchy, during the minority of the heir-apparent : but her Majesty generously renounced it; and out of this ample revenue, accumulations exceeding half a million, were invested for the future benefit of his Royal Highness.2 property of In addition to these public revenues, the rights of the Private crown to its own private property have been secured. the soveThe alienation of the land revenues of the crown having reigns. 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 restrictions 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.3 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 1823.1 1 Parl. Papers, 1837-8 (665); 1860 (13). 2 The country had the full benefit of this royal generosity and foresight, on the Prince's marriage. Report of the Council of the Prince of Wales, 1863; Debate on Prince 3 39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 88. 4 4 Geo. IV. c. 18; Hans. Deb., 2nd Ser., viii. 509, 651. Provision for the royal family. Debts of the Prince 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, 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 came of age in 1783,-a time illof Wales. suited for heavy demands upon the public purse. 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 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 60,000. 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 the sharpers of St. James's, left little for the payment of the royal tradesmen. On the revision of the civil list in 1786, another effort was made by the prince's friends to obtain for him a more liberal settlement: but Mr. Pitt was cold, and the king inexorable. The prince broke up his establishment, yet failed to pay his debts. In 1787 his affairs had become desperate, when the heir-apparent was saved from ruin by the friendly intervention of a London alderman. Mr. Alderman Newnham having given notice, in the House of Commons, of an address to the king on the subject of the prince's debts, and being supported by the friends of his Royal Highness, the king thought it better to arrange a compromise. This resulted in the addition of 10,000l. a year to the income of the prince out of the civil list; and the voting of 161,000l. for the payment of his debts, and 20,000l. for the buildings at Carlton House.2 No less than 63,700l. were afterwards granted by Parliament, at different times, for the completion of this costly palace, which, after being the scene of tinsel splendour and bad taste for little more than twenty-five years, was rased to the ground to make room for metropolitan improvements.4 The king assured the House of Commons that the prince had promised to confine his future expenses 1 25th June, 1783; Parl. Hist., xxiii. 1030; Lord J. Russell's Life of Fox, ii. 8; Lord Auckland's Corr., i. 54; Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt, i. 123; Wraxall's Mem, iv. 464. 2 Parl. Hist., xxvi. 1010, 1048, 1064, 1207; Tomline's Life of Pitt, ii. 260; Lord Auckland's Corr., i. 415, 417. 3 Viz., 35,000l. in 1789, 3,5007. in 1791, and 27,500l. in 1795. 4 Court and Cabinets of the Regency, i. 99; Lord Colchester's Diary, ii. 336, iii. 522. Mismanagement of the land revenues the public. within his income; yet so little were these good intentions carried out, that in 1792 his Royal Highness confessed to Lord Malmesbury that his debts then amounted to 370,000l.1 In 1795 they had increased to the extraordinary sum of 650,000l.; when he was extricated from these embarrassments, by his ill-fated marriage with Caroline of Brunswick. To propose a grant for the payment of these debts, was out of the question : but an additional annuity of 65,000l. was settled upon him, of which nearly the whole was appropriated, for many years, to the gradual discharge of his incumbrances.2 In 1803, an addition of 60,000l. was made to his income, and his debts were ultimately paid off. After a youth of excess and extravagance, the spendthrift prince, though still fond of building and enlarging palaces at the public expense,-learned, in his old age, to husband his own resources, with the caution of a miser. Parliament has since cheerfully granted every suitable provision for members of the royal family: but its liberality has not been discredited by any further application for the payment of their debts. We have seen that the income arising from the land revenues of the crown was surrendered to the state, by George III. in exchange for a civil list: but for a long on behalf of time the state was deprived, by mismanagement, of the greater part of the benefit to which it was entitled. Leases were improvidently, if not corruptly, granted,— often without any survey of the property, and even without a copy or counterpart of the lease being re 1 Lord Malmesbury's Corr., ii. 415, 418. 2 King's Message, April 27th, 1795; Parl. Hist., xxxi. 1464, 1496; Ibid., xxxii. 90, 135; 35 Geo. III. c. 129. 3 43 Geo. III. c. 26; Parl. Hist., xxxvi. 1197; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. 13; Lord Colchester's Diary, i. 413. |