in any part of the hereditary revenues. During this reign, a large proportion of the fee-farm rents belonging to the Crown, was sold by Act of Parliament;1 and further grants of these rents were made during the reigns of William III. and Queen Anne. The liberality of William III. to his followers, provoked remonstrances from Parliament. He was even obliged to recall an enormous grant to the Earl of Portland, which conveyed to that nobleman four fifths of the county of Denbigh, with a reserved rent of 6s. 8d., payable to the Crown: but he compensated the Earl with other lands and manors.

8

So jealous were the Commons, at this period, of the continual diminution of the hereditary revenues of the Crown, that several bills were brought in to resume all grants made by Charles II. and James II., and to prevent further alienations of crown lands. At the end of William's reign, Parliament having obtained accounts of the state of the land revenues, found that they had been reduced by grants, alienations, incumbrances, reversions, and pensions, until they scarcely exceeded the rent-roll of a squire.

restrained.

Such an abuse of the rights of the Crown could no longer be tolerated; and on the settlement of the civil Alienations of list of Queen Anne, Parliament at length inter- Crown lands posed to restrain it. It was now nearly too late. The sad confession was made, "that the necessary expenses of supporting the Crown, or the greater part of them, were formerly defrayed by a land revenue, which had, from time to time, been impaired by the grants of former kings and queens, so that Her Majesty's land revenues could then afford very little towards the support of her Government." 7

1 22 Car. II. c. 6; 22 and 23 Car. II. c. 24.

2 1695 Parl. Hist. v. 978; Com. Journ., xi. 391, 395, 409.

8 Com. Journ. xi. 608.

4 In 1697, 1699, 1700, 1702, and 1703: Com. Journ. xii. 90; 1b. xiii. 208, 350; lb. xiv. 95, 269, 305, &c.

5 In 1697 and 1699, Com. Journ. xii. 90; 1b. xiii. 62.

6 Com. Journ. xiii. 478, 498; St. John on the Land Revenues, 99.

71 Anne, c. 7, s. 5.

Yet to preserve what was still left, it was now provided that no future lease (except a building lease) should be granted for more than thirty-one years, or three lives; and that a reasonable rent should be reserved. If such a law as this had been passed immediately after the Restoration, the land revenues would probably have provided for the entire charge of the civil list of Queen Anne. But at least the small remnant of crown lands was saved; and in that and the next two reigns, some additions were made to the royal estates, by escheats and forfeitures.1

Constitution

the improvidence of kings.

While this waste of the crown property had been injurious to the public revenues, it favored the deal results of velopment of the liberties of the people. Kings with vast hereditary revenues, - husbanded and improved, would have been comparatively independent of Parliament. But their improvidence gradually constrained them to rely upon the liberality of their subjects; and their own necessities, and the increasing expenditure of the state, at length placed them entirely under the control of Parliament.

Importance

of a settlement of the

revenues of the Crown.

No constitutional change has been more important in securing popular control over the executive Government, than the voting of supplies by the House of Commons: nor has any expedient been better calculated to restrain the undue influence of the Crown, than a strict settlement of its revenues by Parliament. In the reign of Charles II., the principle of approRevenues of priating supplies to specific services by statute, which had not been without previous recognition, Revolution. was formally established as one of the conditions, under which Parliament granted money for the ser

the Crown

prior to the

1 Much curious learning is to be found concerning the land revenues of the Crown in Wright's Tenures; Hargrave's Notes to Coke on Littleton; Coke's 1st Inst. ; Spelman's Works (of Feuds); Lord Hale's History of the Common Law; Gilbert's Hist. of the Exchequer ; Maddox's Hist. of the Exchequer; Davenant on Resumptions; Dugdale's Monasticon; Rymer's Fœdera; Rapin's Hist.; and an interesting summary in St. John's Observations on the Land Revenues of the Crown, 4to, 1787.

vice of the state. But until the Revolution, no limitation had been imposed upon the personal expenditure of the sov ereign. It had been customary for Parliament to grant to the king, at the commencement of each reign, the ordinary revenues of the Crown, which were estimated to provide, in time of peace, for the support of His Majesty's dignity and civil government, and for the public defence. To these were added, from time to time, special grants for extraordinary occasions. The ordinary revenues were derived, first, from the hereditary revenues of the Crown itself, and, secondly, from the produce of taxes voted to the king for life. The hereditary revenues consisted of the rents of crown lands, of feudal rights, the proceeds of the post-office, and wine-licenses; and, after the surrender of feudal tenures by Charles II., in 1660, of part of the excise duties.

In the reign of James II. the hereditary revenues, together with the taxes voted for the king's life, amounted on an average to 1,500,9647. a year.1 Whatever remained of this annual income, after the payment of the necessary expenses of the Government, was at the king's absolute disposal, whether for the support of his dignity and influence, or for his pleasures and profusion. Not satisfied with these resources for his personal expenditure, there is no doubt that Charles II. applied to his own privy purse, large sums of money which had been specially appropriated by Parliament, for carrying on the war.2

To prevent such abuses in future on the accession of William and Mary, Parliament made a separate Settlement of provision for the king's "Civil List," which the Civil List" of Wilembraced the support of the royal household, and liam and the personal expenses of the king, as well as the payment of civil offices and pensions. The revenue voted for

1 Parl. Hist. v. 151; Hallam, Const. Hist. ii. 279.

Mary.

2 Lord Clarendon's Life, iii. 131; Pepys's Diary, Sept. 23d, and Dec. 12th, 1666, whence it appears that above 400,000l. had gone into the Privy Purse since the War. - Memoirs, iii. 47, 105.

the support of the Crown in time of peace, was 1,200,000l.; of which the Civil List amounted to about 700,0007., being derived from the hereditary revenues of the Crown, estimated at 400,000l. a year and upwards, — and from a part of the excise duties, producing about 300,000.1 comprised The system thus introduced was continued in tional expen- succeeding reigns; and the Civil List still comditure. prised not only the expenses of the sovereign, but a portion of the civil expenditure of the state.

The Civil List

items of na

The Civil List of Queen Anne was settled by Parliament Civil List of in the same form, and computed at the same Queen Anne. amount as that of William III.2 Her Majesty, while she feared the revenue granted to her would fall short of that enjoyed by the late king, promised that 100,000Z. a year should be applied to the public service. So far, however, from fulfilling this promise, during the twelve years of her reign, she incurred debts amounting to 1,200,000, which were paid off by Parliament, by way of loans charged upon the Civil List itself.

The Civil List of George I. was computed at 700,000l. a Of George the year; and, during his reign, debts were incurred to the extent of 1,000,000l., which were discharged by Parliament, in the same manner.

First.

Second.

The hereditary revenues were continued to George II., Of George the with a proviso that if they should produce less than 800,000l. a year, Parliament would make up the deficiency. The king, however, was entitled to any surplus above that sum.5 This was an approximation to a definite Civil List, as the minimum at least was fixed. For the last five years of his reign these revenues had risen, on an average, to 829,1557. a year: but during the whole of his

1 Parl. Hist. v. 193; Com. Journ. x. 54, 438; Smollett and Hallam state the Civil List at 600,000%.

21 Anne, c. 7.

8 Parl. Hist. vi. 11.

41 Geo. I. c. 1; Burke's Works, ii. 309.

51 Geo. II. c. 1.

reign, they amounted to less than 800,000l.1 In 1746 a debt of 456,000l. on the Civil List was discharged by Parliament. This debt was stated by the king to have been incurred in consequence of the hereditary revenues having fallen short of 800,000l. a year; and parliament was, therefore, bound by the terms of its original contract, to make up the deficiency.

On the accession of George III., the king consented to make such a disposition of his interest in the he- Civil List of reditary revenues of the Crown in England, as George III. Parliament might think fit. Hitherto the Crown had enjoyed certain revenues which were calculated by Parliament to produce a sufficient income; but now the king agreed to accept a fixed amount as his Civil List, "for the support of his household, and the honor and dignity of the Crown." 2 This was the first time that the direct control of Parliament over the personal expenditure of the king had been acknowledged; and it is not a little curious that so important a change in the relations of the sovereign to Parliament, should have been introduced at the very period when he was seeking to extend his prerogatives, and render himself independent of other influences in the state. It soon appeared, however, from the debts incurred, that his Majesty was not inclined to permit this concession to diminish the influence of the Crown.

The money arising out of the hereditary revenues, secured by various Acts of Parliament to the king's predecessors, was now carried to the "aggregate fund," out of which the annual sum of 723,000l. was granted to his Majesty, during the continuance of the existing annuities to the Princess Dowager of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland, and the Princess Amelie; and as these charges ceased, the amount of the Civil List was to be increased until it reached 800,0002. a year. He thus accepted the minimum Civil List of his

1 Report on Civil List, 1815, p. 4; Burke's Works, ii. 310.