Star. — London, England, 1816-05-04 00:00:00

r . one of what they formerly were. Those respecting wool were 246, wine ?.77, gold and silver 283, bank rupts 388. fisheries NA.. Upon the last of those itemise thought it would well become the Legislat tures to &vise some salutary means of providing em ployment for our seamen at home. liis Lordship then turned' to Op consideration at the Poor Laws, and lamented the great ancLmultiplied abuses which privailed in the various local Acts throughout the country. A very conspicuous and absurd deformity wasalisployed . in•Me. &wince litre. the heather of strange and obsolete Acts which were them yet uti repealed. Among those was one of James I. by which it was fief:tared milaikfill for any woman to quit the kingdom without a licence from the Privy Council rand the reason given in the preamble was such ache believed their Lordships could not easily giftless. ...It wass,.that women were so Popishly in ailed. His Lordship then adverted. to a Code of Laws adopted in a neighbouring kingdom, called the Code Napoleon. He wag iru advocate for the 'measures or the merit of . that person,, but the Code hself he approved of, because it was a Code of prin• cipies, and partook in some .sort of the spirit and meaning of our Magna Charta. What his Lordship would recommend, he said, would he, for the House to appoint an asse-sor, with assistant clerks, to revise the whole of the Statute Book, mid to expunge front it ev,..py useless, mischievous, and corstradi:rut y Sta tute, and to arrange the rest under proper heads. — He concladed by moving—"That.the House resolve 'itself into a Committee of the whole House, to coo safer the best means of arranging the Stamm Laws leader proper heads." The Motion being put from the Woolsack, The LORD CHANCtLLOR advanced, and said, it was net his intention to follow the Noble Lord through the wide scope of observations which be had made, but he had no difficulty in declaring, that an arrangement and classification of the crimes oa the Statute Book was a desirable measure, though he did tint think it could easily be carried to the ex tent proposed by the Noble Lord. He thought, how ever, that a Select Committee might be appointed, who might report their proceedings and opinion to the House. After 'a few obeereatioas from Lord SrAtutova and Lord HOLLAND, it was agreed, that the question be referred to a Select Committee, and that the Yaws present in the present Session, be of the Corionistee. --Adjourned. • HOUSE OF COMMJNi; A Penal!' from the Dauk brought up a Return of the crisntity of 'Wafts Gold a"d Silver deposited ha dip ifiii:iva Offiee fur the lost tofu years.-01.ieredio he printed. Petitioss were pre%elin.+l boni the Tanners of Boston, Borough of Neivirst, the County of Itadoor, trout Gafford, and Music!. berth, againt the Leather •fat. Pedtioos trom Wierlistomb, against any &Aeration •IR the U'oollert Laws • horn Oa favour of the Waterford litrbour 13111 ; Irons the Borough of Southwark, agaittlit the Gas Ei) 4 l4 Silk and for Watchts4 and Lighting; trout Nevreaatie y i u*. rya., against the insolvent Debtors' Ac:; and front W eever agatest the Exporta•iote 44 Wool. Lord..IVIORPETH presented a retitle:* front Alston, in the County of ,Cumberiand, asaillec the Duty (In Lead, anal praying for an attvratitot in the Poor lAws. Mr. CU It WEN said, that he had a letter from a part of Cunt berlamt, odorant.); him that the Pour Rates amounted to Ws. in the polite!. Ike Petintet was then laid on the Fable. Mr. Ser;tant ONSLOW said, that there would be a Petition pre•ent.ol a.: , ,aiust the Deeds itegastry Bill, but that the prittripki of the 134'.1 were much ini.underatomi, 4tol that they wanted wily :to be amid, coalpreNer.de.l to begriirratly approved. Ater some words from Sir M. W. RIDLLY and Mr. Serjeant ONSLOW, who said he did not intend to press the Bill beyuud a second reading this Sciatica, the Peutitot was brought up and laid on the Table. Mr. Serjeaut 0/11:11.0 1 A' postponed the second rNoling of the Deeds Registry Bill to this day tortnlta, as he did that of the Fraudulent Devise Bill. Mr. SWANN proposed an additional clause. in the lielstone . 'Election Bill, that no pet'son but a resident. who paid deo( and lot, should have a vote there. The Report was then brought t.p, find orairred to be pr.uted. A Person from the Custonaoute, brought up a Return of Wooden floods and Yara exported fur the lag rte..) years.--d Aid on the l able. Mr. SCUT 1' brneght up aa Account of the Expenditure of lee Orphans' Fund aor the :ast year.—Laid on the Tab'e. sir M. W. RIDLEY gave notke of a Mutton regarding Tithes, at Friday next. Sir C. NIO:ICK gave notice, that he would on Friday move for a Cinomittee to examiee into the gross :aid net or.dace of *he Estates of Greenwich i luspis al and that on roe Oaat of May ate would make a motloo cm the aohject of the Jordan Islands. Mr. M.iNNINC; wished to call the attention of the fitoise to a misrepresentation of what he bad said on a forir.er oneetilitof •ha B.,uic itestriaiuu. Wl:at he had •.ald oat that occasion was, that the Bill was not meant ex:lusiv-ly for the interests of the Back, but for those of the Public at large. He complained of the misrepre*entation of the Reports. Sir I. NEWI'Ok I L.:ought up the Irish Teuantry BM,. which was read a firsi time. • Mr. L. FOS lEtt said, that tte Bid met the unanimous appro bation of the Bar of irelatulw The Bin was this ordered to be read a second time oei Wad. nesday next. INCOME TAX. Mr. BROUGHAM, is rising to move for copies of the circular letters from the Tax Office, to the Surveyor-General of the Income Tax, in March, May, and August, 1818,and in April, 1816, wished to state his motivcs. He learned lately toat there had been a circular sent round to all the .Surveyors to, return full and complete copies 0 the assess ments of every man's property, a full mouth after the Property Tax was put An ctul to by tha Hoe such a decided manner, it was hoped that it should be heard of no more. Now he coital isot know wkat could be the object of keeping those copies in the of fice, if it was not with a view to return to that ac cursed tax at some 'future period. The copies were ordered to be made out in the neatest and must cc*. • sect mintier, and he could nut conceive any other purpose than tl!at ,which he had alluded to, and if the Right Hon. Gentleman could .state that- there hid not been sucs a letter issued in April, he shou ld move that copies of those circulars be laid :before the - The CHANCELLOR of the EXCI - 3.EQVER was not'aware of the litter alluded tot but he - could not state that it had nut beta issued. The liouie must be aware that many irregularities had taken place in the Cullection, and that there were still arrears sh;e, and he supposed it with a view to those the re. turn of the assessments was required. - Mr. DROUGUAM repeated that the assessments . wie ordered to be copied over in 'the neate s t and Stint exact mariner, as if they were - to serve for re- Lords on a future Occasion. He therefore moved that ,copies of Lheux be laid Wore the Hee*. ' The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER slkd no objection to the production. c aer A l wigtott to koow whedxv * . there was to be one rule for the collection of the ar rears in Scotland and England. The motion was then agreed to. 7 MARRIAGE OF Till PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. " Lord CASTLEREAGH ptie notice , that he w ould onf.Mtinday.move for an, Address of ein g r 4 - tulation to his itoyal iiiFtmess the Prince Regent, an the mama* , of. the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold. The CHANCEL LO It of the EXCHEQUER moved, 'that the House do at its rising this day ad journ to Monday. CIVIL LIST. Lord CASTLEREAGH having moved the order of the day. for the consideration of the Report of the Committee on the Civil Lid. the Noble Lord said, that in calling the attention of the House to this important question, hews aware that there never came before the House a subject more embarrassing to his Ma jesty's Ministers than the• consideration of the Civil List expenditure, for its nature was so complicated, and referred to matters so minute, that it was ea u-met; difficult to indece Gentlemen to pay it all the attention it merited. 'rise expenditure of the Civil List was a subject too often misunderstood, for as it affected, the exPenditure of the Sovereign, it oc casioned in a free Government like ours a considera ble jealousy ; but the Civil List embraces much more than the - personal expenses of the Sovereign. and the support of his Royal dignity. The greater propor tion included much of the public expenditure, and WAS 33 distinct from the private expenses as were the estimates of the Army and Navy. From the esti mate of the Civil List,. it was fair to put aside the establishments of the junior branches of the Royal Family, as that charge must depend altogether on their number; and also he would be justified in re moving from the view of the House. the amount of the expenditure at Windsor, and after the deduction of these items, the amount of the Civil List would be £lO9OOO, of which only £l-09,090 Wass eppri. priated to the use of the Sovereign, including the £60,000 which were assigned for vie Privy purse.— The great mass of debts that had arisen on the Civil List, did not accrue from the-expenses of the Sove reign, but from the necessary discharge of the.public .service. The expenditure of that part of the Civil List which affected the public service in the last yeir. when compared-with the Estimate in let 4, ex ceeded that by about two huddled thousand pounds, but it was in consequence at our increased intercourse with the Continent ; but let the House consider what wits the Civil List allowed to the Sovereigns of other countries for their private expenses. lie did not desire to draw those countries as teti example for us, but merely to rebut any invidious remarks that might be made on the extravagance of the inaivid oat who held , the supreme power in England. • In France, the Civil List amounted, w twenty-four of livres, .one million sterling, which should be, directly opposed to the four hundred thousand : pounds to which he had alluded; for, independent of that ,lion, the junior branches of the Royal Family of- France had separate eitiontaz-r. . The Noble 1.6n.1 then chewed that the revenue alitted for delra)ing the Civil List since the accession of ;• jesty, had been ioadequate to ,deqay the charges uti it, but that his Majesty. had accepted ctl . ,the art ange ment froth an anxicty of economy... 4-1.0 he retained the revenue psssesied by hi's, immediate. 'predecessor, which was in its nature fructifying and improbable, he would hive saved te6,300,000.---- Preparatory to. the introduction of hii Bill, he should divide the question into three heads—first, he should take a retrospective view of the Civil List=secoadly. lie should open the best prospec tive view he could take of its future regulation —compare the expenditure with the revenue, as it now stands—and shew how far the funds were inade quate ; and en this head he hoped he should be en abled to shew the House that, in every Committee appointed to consider the Civil List, it had ever . been , admitted that the revenue was inadequate, 'and that some period should come when a remedy Mg be ' applied. Peace was the period—for this rearm, that, Bering war. many extraordinary aids were obtained— such as Droits, wlsith the Crown might render avail able to cover the expenditure. Sdly.. He should thew that prospective regulations might be looked to, which, while they upheld the dignity of the Crown, would also relieve the embarrassments. The first point to which he would refer was, the amount of the Civil List Expenditure for the last forty years: lip to 1811, it averaged • - AtIOOPPO In 1812, it atnuunted to , • - 1,950,W) Its 1815, it amounted to - . 1074,000 In 1814, it amounted to . • - • 1,361,000 In 1815, it amounted to • . *1,436,000 1n 1816, it amounted to 1,480,000. To meet this, the estimate amounted on an average to about a million, which, on the face of it, had a, tendency to create debt. The aggregate amount of debt since 180 a, was A 2 3500,800, of which ment defrayed £R762.000, and the Crown liquidated the remainder, by turning to that object Droits, the -Scotch Civil List,.and the produce of the West India Consignments. The revenoes . of the Civil List were so manifestly inadequate, that if the Sovereigns in-' curved debts, it was his misfortune not his fault. He,. however, would not now call an the House to defrar,l any debts coitracted ,up to January last. The se- cond point was the consideration of. the prospective effect of the revenues of the Civil Litt, and the mea sures best suited for their regulation. Daring the preceding year, Parliament increased the estimate of .theCiv , l List, in consequence of - the increased value of the necetasaries of life. • The amount of this esti mate was 4.1.468,000. The course which his Mal jesty's Ministers thought, it most prudent to adopt, was, to appoint a Commission, to consider the whole of the subject, and to recommend to his Royal High ness what they conceived to, e a fair and proper ex penditure to assign for the different branches of the Household; and those persons also were charged with carrying the investigation into otherbranches of the public service, and directed to estimate what the ',future charge was likely to be, 'as compared with the expenditure of former periods.. 'their estimate of the prospective services was, 141,339,495. The estimate of the last year amounted to 41,478,000. There was, therefore, a reductioa of proposed expense, ex ceeding 4199 6 000. Gentlemen would here permit him to call their attention to a very important feature of the Civil List. la consequence of the indisposition) of his Majesty, an expenditure had taken place, - in.' ' some or branches of the Royal service, double aniquatvf what it formerly was. therefore, what was the fair charge on the Civil Lit, ' it was absolutely necessary to separate it from that which was of an extraordinary nature, and which had been created sby unforeseen circumstances. In con aegis:ince of our having a Monarch dr fa" and a Monarch dr fore, considerable additional expense had been incurred. If it were not for his Majesty's 1.- rnentable situation; the country would not have been .charged with £lOO,OOO for the Windsor Establish ment, £60,000 for the 'Privy Purse, and £lO,OOO Fier . annum, which was paid separately to the Queen. this sum of £170,000 ought not certainly to be con sidered as part of the regular Civil L'st expenditure. 4 ,1 t was proposed in the , year 181% and received the sanction of Parliament, as necessary to the comfort and convenience of the suffeting Monarch and his Consort. If, therefore, they compared the estimate of the prospective serv*.ce, with that of 1811 ar 1804, deducting this stun, of £170,000, which strictly . had nothing to do with the Civil List, the real expenditure would be found to be £1,169,000. Then came the question, what proportion of this expense has Parlia.. nient contemplated ? When he used this expression, lie did not mean that Parliament were pledged in consequence of the Report of the Cornmittaa.— Because, Hen. Gentkmen might say, that unless the House at large sanctioned the opinion of the Com mittee—unless Parliament adopted it as their own— it was not binding in any way whatever. There was, however, independent' of the opinion stated by the Committee, an expenie to wh i ch he conceived they had given very great countenance, if nut a positive legislative sanction by an Act of Parliament. He here alludedsto that law which regelated the period at which the Civil Li,t accounts should be laid before the House, with a view to the adoption of some measure on the general subject. The House, on that occasion, dechled, that when the Civil List exceeded by Cl 24,000 the estimate of 1804, that then the state of its expenditure should come under the view of Parliament, to consider what steps it would be neces sary ao take. He was,' therefore, desirsus of com paring the true and strict estimate of the Civil List expenditure, setting, aside the charge of the establish ment at Windsor, with the scale of expense which Parliament sanctioned,•on an average of - seven years, up to the year 1811. He had already. stated that the estimate of the prospective expense was £1,169,000. Comparing this with the royal expen diture, on an average of seven years, en:ling with 1311, which was 5e1,104,000, it would be seen that the difference between the ten sums would be . k3.5,0:)0. If, therefore, he wits correct'in his state nasnt, he did not think that lie was calling ash Parlia ment to make a very great provision , for the Civil List, being only 435,000 more than wharthe House thought :iecessnry for supporting the splendour of the Crown, up to 1811. And it Gentlemen -Consi sikred that the estimate of 1811 was not founded on the price of nricles in the latter years, which .were by far the most expensive, he thought the House would be of opinion, that an addition of £65,000 etas not too great for new and prospective services. ?shay, what was the increased growth.of expense that' I sailed fo tit's sem of 65,0:i0 ? In considering this, lit was eectssary that h' should unite the experalhare lof the Windsor establishment with that of the other branches ii.at were to 'be provided for, Making a gross esper se to the amount of 81,339,495, Telclng Exchequerthe fees at forte..eight thousand- pounds, and the Scotch Civil List at tam thousand pounds, the totals amount of the Civil List revenue would be 41,088,000, which, deducted from £1 ,339,000, the • estimate of the prospective services left a deficibncy" of £251,000, of which aE170,000 giew was of the malady of the King. They were, therefore, to con sider how this aid of £251,000 was to be given.— There were two ways in which this relief might be granted. First, by voting an addition to the Civil List-sand next, by withdrawing certain charges, now payable. from that fund, according to the sum which the H .use might think proper to relieve the Civil List from., For many reasons he was anxious that the latter' plan should be adapted. He did not wish that the Civil List should be augmented, or that any additional aid should be given to the Crown, which would be out of the jurisdictiorsof Parliament —but he aas desirous orleaving the Crown in possession of a certain revenue, by withdrawal from 11* Civil List the burden of providing for expenses of a peculiar' description, which would ',Foyer every charge that could fairly be made on it, Those. charges should be as fixed. and unchangeable as possibli ; for he was sure the House would (eel, that many of the demands male on the Civil List-were of so fluctuating a na ture, that they midst - not *be defrayed out of a settled and regular rate. At those items were very high, at others they were extremely. low. So that, considering them,.*the Civil List was either extrava gantly provided for at one Moment, or inadequate to meet them at another, For, two reasons, he con cejved.thesnouse ought;tn agree to the withdrawal of particular items from the Civil. List. Finst, be cause the charges to. which' he alluded were not de fined,. nad ware. exceedingly fluctuating is their •amount ; and netts because, being of this fluctuatingj nature, they ought, a fortiori, to be brought specifi- Ally under the consideration of Parliament. - This fund - being granted to support the - splendour and dig ility .of the Coawn, it ought not to be burdened with expenses created' by the political situation of the' country. The expense of his ( Lord Castiereagh's) office, for instance, ought not to be defrayed from the Civil List. That. expenee, on account of the state of the Contihenr, might vary from 150 to 4'250,000 per annum. His proposition therefore was, not to vote any thing in aid of the Civil List revenue, but to withdraw those charges from it which it could not cover, and - which were of a fluctuating nature, From the first . class of the Civil List, he proposed to with draw a charge of £30,500 a-year, and to transfer it to the Consolidated Fund.. This formed a part of the provision for the junior brandies of the Royal Family. Last year, it was in contemplation to with draw from the Civil Ltst Me charge of one hundred thousand. pounds for the Windsor Establishment. Bute as there was a saving on the List, it was consi dered that, if o burthen of one hundred thousand pounds were taken from it, relief would be too extensive. There was a particular motive for with drawing this charge of £30,500. By so doing, the income of the junior branches of the Royal Family would be consolidated—it would be derived from one source, and not from several., and; in .the event of the demise of stay of that illustrious Personages, the saving would benefit the Coasefigeted Feud, aud, not the Civil List. The second sum he pose to withdraw from the fourth class, Lord Chamberlain's department, wilicl some branches that were exrrem.Ay A. From the bianch of the Bmir.l of Wort with tlit repair of pubic (.IV!es, he draw a thir g e of £lO,OOO, and 815,09' other diviiion of time Lovi Crmmberlain' —that of providirg plate for foreign The charges tinch.r both these heads wi capable of being reduced to a ~.d esti then was a deduction of twenty 7 ti% e thoi from the fourth class. In th‘.. sever: would he a small reduction ut with the Orduance. Department , A together with scm! smaller itar.s, 'lota blanch of the Civil List from a charge The greatest alteration would take plai head of occasional payments; %Odell flu/ great a degree as to prevent their being the estimate for.tlio year. Last year, tl to 4278,000. That was estimated on , two quarters of the preceding year. Bin period of peace, he thought it was not , form a proper e.!imate of the probable ex, casional payments. For these he allow ;. / ] cfy i i o9, instead of £278,000, which also should V e.:it1 ; ,i ;431 1 , from the Civil List. These sums, altogether, amon. ted to 4255,668, and the relief wanted was , !woo The whole result would he, that, tak ing the atm,2o; of the Civil List at 51,339,000, and de,turaive ,rottt it 4251,000, it would leave a sum of I.oBtWo, to answer the particular purposes fur wh ic h t h e kw was granted. lf. the third class, ther e wuu l d be i saving in the salaries of Foreign Minis ters of sit thousand four hundred pounds. The whole amnia was twenty-six thousand four hundred minds, bu t a would be reduced to ten thousand pounds. '!'Errs would be also a saving, according to the new eni. mate, of ten thousand p.Junds, under the head of liion. suls. The next branch in which a saving 1.4 d brei l made. was in the fourth class, which com:nisea t h four great divisions of the household. Web eo n _ _ 14 04/1 " t hat fi rea son t his s , Pe ibt deration had been bestowed in pointing out wha saving could be here effected. Ministers, in thei r westigation,•did not determine, tar the purpose of pulanzing themselves, to make too great a red non, which would render it necessary tor the Crowx at a fu:uprperiod, to apply to Parliament for aid_ neither were :they very sparing in lowering ibt amount of czpense. There were two extremes, ir.tl which persons forming an estimate on this part ufdt eipenditure might fall. Some in;:ht give an amourt of income,' unnecessary and improvidem—whip othets_might propose a sum for this branch of tht service, quite inadequate to meet the eveise, thill - coMpOi the Crown to appi7 t the liberality garliament. Between these two extremes ci extra, vagance and parsimony the present estimate We formed. The expenditure in the fourth clasi eat last year, two hundred send Erty•four thousand mkt —it was rated, in the new ettirtate, at two bunired !p Jac Vtinci i tsAbi Droll funds iwou and thirty thousand pounds, being a ;ay . ') y , • t Anfl liour thousand pounds. There Vasa recluctior, in th Lord Steward's department, independent of the thin I thous:au! pounds which the settleanent of the Prince Charlotte had rendered -armee- sttry. The estim. of last year., was due hundred and eigin thousand pounds. Frnrs this twelve thousand p:pund t, tor. valtecly expended Au the ;device et th; Princess "Char. lone, was to be dedentedsnithich• left alum of niatu , six thousand pounds ; 'and it was proposed to 4:10a only eighty-five thousand pounds for this de pas noon, instead of ninety-six thousand pounds. Tae of the 'Board ot Workiswas esriaatned somethinn der the amount of last year. There waejor riod, forty thousand pounds pay .ble from List, and ten thousand pounds casual expensos, alnit we're to be submitted to- Parhament. Itnii . endeet rf this, there were two other sums of In:if-five tbsn nod pounds, and fifteen thousand pounds, also Icr casual expenses—and, reducing the itoto which List year was forty-five thousand pounds, to fort/ :Tut:. sand pounds, it would. leave the total .anount, nuke this head, at £105,000. The expenses jd the depart. meet ot the Master of the Horse amonnted, lasnnear, to £45,000, exclusive of 81tn(XX), :Or the service .of the Princess Charlotte, which was now dispensed with. Instead of £15,000, it was proposed to take £40,000. The result of these deductions, would be, that the whole of the fourth class, the expense of which, last year, was £254,000, would, according to the prospective estimate; demand only £230,000. If compared with the amount of the loarth class, on an average of seven years up to 1811, it would be found that the expenditure was then 4259,000 per annum,. and, in the year 1816, it was ,0270,000. It was now. proposed to expend only £1230,000, being £29,000 less than the actual expenditure of 1811. There were two grounds on which they wore enabled to in troduce those economical regulations. The first wrs the diminution in the price of every article—and the next, that the expenses, which, for years, were more or less incurred in the maintenance and education of the Princess Charlotte, were now at an end. A con siderable-saving had als6 been latterly made, by din• continuing the system of famishing the apartments of the ;lam branches of the Royal Family ; an el. pense winch was formerly charged on the Lord Chamberlaia's department. A large men had like. wise been laid down, which had been formerly ex• pended in the equipment of the Royal Household in plate and furniture; this would not occur again, at least in so extensive a degree. Oa . all these grounds, be thought, that in proposing an estimate 4'19,00 less, in this department, than it was in 1811, he was not misleading the House, or deceiving himself ; but bringing forward that which was founded Oh a true and just consideration of what the necessity of the case called for. He had omitted to nbserve, that, in the sth branch, a saving was effected by relieving it from the issue of articles in kind, and granting a pe• cuniary allowance in lieu thereof. Taking die tourth and fifth classes together, which embraced the whole household expenditure, except the privy purse, there would .be found a very large saving. There was an in crease, in the filth class, as compared with the Esti •mate of 1811---and a small -increase of 02,100 as compared with the Estimate et last year, which prin cipally arose from compensations that had been granted to some of the Royal Servants. The exr - ae in this class was last year £137,600, it was now 8140,000. The amount of expenditure in the fout and fifth classes was, for a period of seven years, up no 1811, 8378,000 per annum. on an average; acrd this charge, he couteadej, teccived tl:c e shoal, s, that o f ich cnm pri. haw flocolitiny 70,0 C rks, cna, t ,0 00 e sho u ld 1,i,t0 14 V) from e r : comr dtpart rzc• en del „vaga' vete to:.u:y pense timate. dace! ",as;lod p our i t h th nth elms th t . A ter if 1 / 4 e. conne tei log g 2 :4)(); whid, Id reli eve thi Pril of .€3165,, I4Ce uctu ite,; IPlarn: o il dirt , compr;clll . so ffilive,u itheisze:4l B exp; 1 tl t e ti : the dad ge t nf n^. V. • i "C clorg 1