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Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply, endeavoured to set the honourable gentleman right in some errors under which he seemed to labour with regard to the statement; and with respect to the charge made on ministers by the former speaker, he declared his readiness to give every information in his power as to the grants made from the funds alluded to, and declared that not one farthing of them had been received by himself. After some more conversation, the resolutions were agreed to, and a bill was ordered to be brought in thereupon.

On January 20, the Chancellor of the Exchequer presented the bill for making provision for the better support and arrangement of his Majesty's household, and for the care of his Majesty's real and personal property, during the continuance of his indisposition. It was read the first time, and a motion was made for a second reading, when Mr. Tierney rose. He observed, that from the papers produced it was impossible to understand whether the sums they should grant might exceed or fall short of what the occasion demanded. It appeared from them that the expenditure of the civil list exceeded its revenue by 124,000!. per annum. Whether this additional expense were necessary, it was impossible to say without the production of more documents: and this was certainly the first time that an addition had been demanded to the civil list without the appointment of a committee to inquire into the subject. After some further observations, he proceeded to move for papers under the following heads:1. An ac

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count of charges upon the civil list revenues as far as relates to bills in the department of the lord steward, " from July 1804 to July 18112. An account of the same charges as far as relates to foreign ministers, for the same period-3. An account of the same as far as relates to bills in the department of the lord chamberlain, for the same period.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had no objection to the production of these papers, which were therefore ordered, and the second reading of the bill was fixed for the 23d.

On the same day, the house having resolved itself into a committee of supply, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, that a sum not exceeding 100,000l. be granted for making provision for defraying the expenses incurred in consequence of the assumption of the exercise of the royal authority by the Prince Regent.

Mr. Tierney said, that the Prince Regent had now executed his func tions for twelve months, and when all the expenses attending the assumption of that office were over, the minister came forward with his outfit for the regency. The Prince had refused a sum of money the last year, how then could an outfit be asked for this year, especially as no distinct appropriation of it was mentioned? No such was ever voted by parliament on the assumption of the monarchy, and he was anxious to guard against the recognition of such a principle.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that he had intended the words to apply both retrospectively and prospectively, and had no objection to introduce them into

his motion. As to the apprchension of its being made a precedent, there was no ground for it, since on the event of the demise of the crown, the Regent would succeed also to the property of the crown.

Mr. Tierney thought that at Feast his Royal Highness should have been advised to send a message to the house on the subject; and that parliament was not justified in asking him to accept of such a sum unless they officially knew that he required it. The same idea was taken up by Mr. Whitbread, who could not but think it extraordinary, that after the credit his Royal Highness had gained from the country by declaring his intention of laying no additional burdens on the public for his expenses on assuming the regency, a demand should now be made by the minister as well on account of those already incurred, as of those that would now become necessary: After Mr. Secretary Ryder and Mr. Adamn bad endeavoured to do away these remarks, and Mr. Whitbread and Mr. Tierney had renewed their objections, the Chancellor of the Exchequer closed the debate by an appeal to the feelings of the house with respect to the delicacy proper to be observed towards the Prince, and the regard due to his dignity. The resolution, with an amendment proposed by him, of introducing after "expenses" the words "which have been or may be," was then carried without a division.

On January 27th, the order of the day being read for the house to resolve itself into a committee on the King's household bill; on the motjen, that the Speaker do leave the chair, Mr. Tierney rose, and

after alluding to the delicacy as well as the importance of the subject before them, he proce ded to observe, that the papers on the table, however correct they might be, by no means afforded the in formation desired'; 'for while they gave a comparative statement of the expenditure on the civil list for a few years, they afforded no insight into the state of the vouchers, why they had augmented in amount, and how the money had been called for. On this ground he wished to have a distant day for going into the discussion of the bill. In men tioning his objections, he began with the part relative to his Majesty's property. They were called upon to appoint three commissioners to superintend this fund, at a salary of 1000l. a year each, whence an idea might be formed of the magnitude of a sum that could afford so large a proportion for the mere auditing. He must protest against parliament's recognizing this fund, uninformed as they were of its amount and nature. He must likewise protest against the oath of secrecy to be taken by these commissioners, which would exclude parliament from the knowledge of any abuse belonging to the fund. In considering the act as it referred to the regency, he must make two assumptions in the first place, that it would place his Royal Highness on the throne nermanently, in case his Majesty did not recover; se condly, that his Royal Highness ceased to be Prince of Wales on that assumption, and of course, whatever was vested in him as such was at an end also; 'that is to say, the executive government would be entirely in him. But the principles assumed would be

violated

now

yiolated by this bill; for last year
the country only recognized one
court; but parliament was
called upon to establish two courts.
The honourable member then went
over the pecuniary provisions of the
bill, and said that it went to form
funds over which parliament would
have no controul, and that the
privy purse, instead of belonging
to the office of king, would come
to belong to the man, which was a
complete perversion of its intention.
He next made various observations
respecting the Prince's debts, which
he thought it would be better to
pay off at once, than to place in
his hands a sum "to meet certain
engagements of honour" to an un-
known extent, and with the possi-
bility of being unable, through
fresh embarrassments, to discharge
them. The charges of the civil
list were stated to have exceeded
the funds by a large annual ave-
rage, which had hitherto been
made good from other sources, and
if these became insufficient, then it
would be necessary to come to
parliament. What was this but
an indirect statement that an addi-
tion was to be made to the civil
list to the amount of this average
excedent, while in the outset the
Prince was to be curtailed of
50,0001. enjoyed by his father?
The fact was, that this was a plan
to keep the Prince Regent always
in restraint, always under the ne-
cessity of applying for something
to ministers, for which, no doubt, he
was to give something to ministers
in return. Mr. T. dwelt for some
time on the idea of distrust of the
Prince Regent shewn in the bill,
and then adverted to the great in-
screase of influence which it gave
the Queen; and he concluded with
VOL. LIV,

expressing his wish that it were deferred to a distant day, and that a committee were appointed for investigating all the matters which could throw light upon the subject.

Mr. Johnstone made some observations concurring with those of the last speaker, particularly with respect to the importance of settling a specific adequate sum for the civil list, which should not be exceeded; and he supposed that if there had not been such a fund as the droits of admiralty to have recourse to, the excess of charges would not have taken place, and ministers would economised better. He gave an instance of the want of adhering to the strict principle of the civil list, in a payment to Sir Sidney Smith of a sum for extraordinary disbursements in 1798, which was not paid till 1811. This circumstance was explained by Mr. Matthew Montague, as the mere discharge of a debt for money advanced.

Sir Thos. Turton, from a cursory view of the documents on the table, would point out one item which in his opinion would render the proposed addition of 70,0001. to the civil list wholly unnecessary. This was that of the diplomacy, the charge on which had exceeded the estimate of 1804 by no less a sum than 96,000l. He adverted to one particular sum charged, which was that of 16,000 for the Marquis Wellesley's mission to Spain for a few months; this might possibly be a very proper itern, but without further investigation he could not know it to be so.

Mr. Whitbread, after alluding to the cases of Sir S. Smith and Marquis Wellesley as proofs that further investigation was requisite, [C]

called

called upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, before the Speaker should quit the chair, to assign some reasons why the examination required should not be made. The house was required to declare blindfold by this bill that such an excess as 124,000l. ought to be incurred; the fact of which excess only came out by a side wind when the bill was brought forward. He then stated various objections to the bill, of a similiar kind to those alvanced by other speakers.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a reply of considerable length, in which he defended the general principle of the bill, and explained the cases of those persons whose grants had been particularly alluded to Mr. Ponsonby then recapitulated some of the objections made on his side of the house; and Mr. Adam gave reasons why it was proper that the bill should go into a committee. The house then divided upon the question, that the Speaker do now leave the chair, which was carried by 141 to 59.

The house having gone into a committee on the bill, the first clause, granting to his Majesty during his indisposition a further sum from the consolidated fund was read, and the blanks were filled up with 70,000l. to commence from February 18, 1812. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then proposed that the other clauses down to clause 14th should be postponed, it being his intention to divide the bill into two, and incorporate the omitted clauses in a separate bill. On the reading of the 14th clause, by which the Regent declares his intention of transferring 50,000l. a year issued to him from the exchequer, in aid of the civil list, some

of the opposition members suggested that the consent of bis Royal Highness should be expressly sig nified, before the house could proceed in the business. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then signified the Prince's consent, which was entered on the journals.

The committee on the bill being resumed, Mr. Brand objected to the sum of 70,000l. remaining at the disposal of the executive in addition to the present civil list. Mr. Adam rose, and made a particular statement of his Royal Highness's affairs, of which he had been a managing trustee, which removed Mr. B.'s objection, and seemed to produce a general wish that his Royal Highness should be relieved from the embarrassments under which he had so long laboured. The 14th clause being passed, the 15th was read, on which Mr. Brougham strongly objected to the addition of the 124,000l. from a secret fund to supply the deficiencies of the civil list. The house divided upon the clause, and the numbers appeared for it 105, against it 33. other clauses were then read, and the report was ordered for the following day.

The

On January 18th, the question being put, that the report of this bill be brought up, Mr. Brougham rose to state his objections to it. These chiefly turned upon the want of sufficient investigation into the state of the civil list and the grants made upon it, and the separate influence which would be established by the provisions of the bill. He was briefly corrected in some of his statements by Mr. Rose. Mr. Bennet then made a speech of some length, of which the chief topic was the influence of the

crown

crown in the House of Commons, the progress of which he traced historically. Mr. Sheridan then rose as the advocate of the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and recommended that the public should take upon itself the debts of the latter, extinguishing all question of the arrears of the Duchy of Cornwall. The report at length was brought up and agreed to.

The remaining proceedings on this business afforded nothing new cr memorable. The whole arrangement was finally distributed into

three bills, viz. the King's household bi'l, the household officer's bill, and the regency expenses bill. At the third reading, January 31, Mr. Bennet proposed a clause for incapacitating such officers as held places in the household from sitting in parliament, which was negatived, and the bill was passed. On its third reading in the House of Lords, February 7th, some observations were made upon it by Lord Gren ville, but no debate ensued; and the royal assent was soon after given.

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