CHAPTER IV. - Ancient Revenues of the Crown.-Settlement of the Civil List of William and Mary :- Civil List of Queen Anne, of George I. and George II. Civil List, Expenditure, and Debts of George III. :— Civil List of the Regency, and of the Reigns of George IV., William IV., and Her Majesty :- Duchess of Lancaster and Cornwall:- - Private Property of the Crown. Provision for the Royal Family :- Management of the Land Revenues, on behalf of the Public :- · Civil List Pensions. - Prerogatives of the Crown, in relation to the Royal Family. THE history of the land revenues of the Crown presents as many vicissitudes, and varied fortunes, as are to be found in the domestic annals of any family in the kingdom. Vast possessions of the Crown in early times. The entire lands of the realm were originally held of the Crown, by various feudal tenures; and the royal revenues were derived from fines, fees, first-fruits, and tenths, and other profits arising from these lands, and from the rents of the ancient demesnes of the Crown. To support the barbarous magnificence of his household, — his numerous retainers, and rude hospitality, - was nearly the sole expense of the king; for, as feudal superior, he commanded the ser vices of his tenants in the field, who fought by his side with an array of men and horses, equipped and maintained at their own expense. By means of escheats and forfeitures, there was even a Extensive for- danger of the Crown becoming the absolute profeitures. prietor of all the lands of the realm. But vast as were the king's possessions, they were not vast enough to satisfy the rapacity of his followers; and in every succeeding reign, the grants and alienations of crown lands ex alienations. ceeded the escheats and forfeitures. The estates of the Crown were further diminished by wrongful appro- Grants and priations and encroachments. Repenting their liberality, kings frequently resumed their former grants; and alienations improvidently made, were unjustly and violently revoked. Yet such had been the waste of the once ample revenues of the Crown, that Henry III. complained that they had become too scanty to furnish his royal table; and the needy monarch was reduced to the necessity of giving tallies for the supply of beeves and grain for his household. An extensive resumption of grants, however, and the for feiture of the estates of rebel barons, retrieved his fallen fortunes. Such was the liberality of Edward II. that an ordinance was passed by Parliament prohibiting the alienation of crown lands, - which was repealed, however, by a Parliament at York, in the 15th year of his reign. But the profusion of this king was supplied by prodigious forfeitures. Richard II. again, was not less profuse in his grants, no less prodigal in his confiscations. The Wars of the Roses were so fruitful of forfeitures, that a large proportion of the land of the realm became the property of the Crown. Had it been retained, there would have been no monarchy in Europe so absolute as that of England: but the spoils of one faction were eagerly grasped by the other; and the Crown gained little by the lands which it won upon the field of battle, or wrested from their owners on the scaffold. In the reign of Henry V. the estates of the Crown were considerably augmented by the appropriation of the Alien Priories, one hundred and ten in number. Yet the income of Henry VI. was reduced so low as 5,000l. a year; and in his reign, several general resumptions of grants were authorized by Parliament, in order to supply his necessities. The rapacity of Henry VII. was needed to retrieve the revenues of the Crown; and his exactions and thrift repaired the waste of former reigns. His acquisitions, however, were as nothing compared with the wholesale plunder Increase of by Henry VII. and of the monasteries, and other religious and charitable foundations, by Henry VIII., which has been valued land revenues at upwards of 30,000,000l. sterling.1 Yet such were the magnificence and prodigality of this king, that at his death, his treasury was found to be entirely empty. The Crown was as poor as ever: but the great nobles, who were enriched by grants of the Church lands more provident than their royal master held them fast for their descendants. In the seventh year of the reign of James I. the entire land revenues of the Crown and Duchy of Lancaster amounted to no more than 66,870% a year, while the king's debts exceeded a million.2 During his reign he sold lands to the extent of 775,0007., and left debts of about an equal amount. Destruction nues during the Common But more evil days were at hand for the land revenues. Charles I., unable to obtain supplies from Parliaof land reve- ment, and gaining little from his illegal exactions, was forced to sell and mortgage the property wealth. of the Crown. The Parliament, after his death, completed the spoliation, of which he had set them the example; and sold nearly all the royal estates, in order to pay the arrears due to the Parliamentary forces, and discharge the debts of the new Government. At the Restoration, these sales were declared void; and many of the estates of the Crown were then recovered. But they were recovered, to be again squandered and dispersed. In three Charles II. had reduced the income years, of the crown lands from 217,900l. to 100,000l. a year. In the first year of his reign he surrendered the Court of Wards and Liveries, and the military tenures, in exchange for a settlement of certain duties of excise; being the first instance of a surrender by the Crown, of its interest Their recovery and subsequent waste. 1 St. John on the Land Revenues of the Crown, 68. 2 lb. 79. 8 Scobell, part ii. 51, 106 227, &c. 4 12 Car. II c. 24. 4 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:2 but he compensated the Earl with other lands and manors. 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.5 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.” 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; 16. xiii. 208 850; Ib. xiv. 95, 269, 305, &c. 5 In 1697 and 1699, Com. Journ. xii. 90; lb. 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 improvi dence of - 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 kings. 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. |