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 extraor dinary 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. 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

List" of Wil

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 embraced 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. iii. 116.

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 l'urse since the War. - Memoirs, iii. 47, 105.

the support of the Crown in time of peace, was 1,200,000%; of which the Civil List amounted to about 700,000l., 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 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 comprised items of na

Civil List of

The Civil List of Queen Anne was settled by Parliament 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 100,0007. 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 1,200,000l., which were paid off by Parliament, by way of loans charged upon the Civil List itself.

8

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.1

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 600,0002.

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." " 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 800,000. He thus accepted the minimum Civil List of his

a year.

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

predecessor; and relinquished all claim to the surplus, which for the first eight years of his reign amounted, upon an average, to 100,000l. a year.1

But the king enjoyed other sources of income, indepenOther sources dent of Parliamentary control. He derived a of revenue. considerable amount from the Droits of the Crown and Admiralty, the 4 per cent. duties, and other 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. Mr. Burke estimated the total annual income of the Crown, from these various sources, at little less than a million; exclusive of the revenues of Hanover, and the Bishopric of Osnaburgh.2 During this long reign, the Droits of the Crown and Admiralty, and the casual revenues, which were wholly withdrawn from the cognizance of Parliament, amounted to the large sum of 12,705,4617.: out of which, however, he voluntarily contributed 2,600,000l. 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 4,732,6277.8 George III. also succeeded to 172,605. which the late king, more frugal than any prince since Henry VII., had saved out of his Civil List.*

Charges on

But great as were these revenues, the burdens on them were still greater. Places and pensions were the Civil List. multiplied, until the royal income was inadequate to provide for them. On the accession of George III., the greater part of the late king's household was re tained; and, at the same time, numerous personal adherents of his Majesty were added to the establishment. But while

11 Geo. III. c. 1; Rep. on Civil List, 1815.

2 Present Discontents, Burke's Works, ii. 281.

8 Report on the Civil List, 1815; Hans. Deb. 3d Ser., 143.

4 Grenville Papers, iii. 144; Wraxall's Mem. ii. 55.

5 Walp. Mem. i. 25.

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 he purchased Buckingham House, and settled it on the queen; "St. James's" according to Horace Walpole, "not being a prison strait enough."1 Here he lived in privacy, attended only by menial servants, and keeping up none of the splendor of a Court.2 "In all this," said Burke, "the people see nothing but the operations of parsimony, attended with all the consequences of pro Nothing expended nothing saved. . . . They do not believe it to be hoarded, nor perceive it to be spent." 8

fusion.

secured by

expenditure.

While practising this apparent economy, the king was engaged in that struggle to increase the influence, Parliamentaand establish the ascendency of the Crown, which ry influence has been described elsewhere. The large expen- the Civil List diture 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

Debt upon

1769.

In February, 1769, before the king had yet been nine years upon the throne, the arrears of the Civil List amounted to 513,5117.; and his Majesty was the Civil List, 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 him

1 Walp. Mem. i. 159.

2 The king continued this plain style of living throughout his reign. Wraxall's Mem., 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 pudding." — Life of Sidmouth, ii. 342. Similar examples are to be found in Twiss's Life of Lord Eldon, and in Madame D'Arblay's Memoirs.

8 Present Discontents, Works, ii. 280.

4 See Chapter I.

5 See Chapter VI.