The Statesman. — London, England, 1812-01-22 00:00:00

TITi" NTATrSMAN. =NU why it was actually and originally vested in the Crown, and for what purposes and uses it was so vested ? In so doing, 113 was aware that his lion. and Learned Friend opposite must be compelled to admit that it was vested for certain specific pur poses, bicause all the gretit law authorities on the subject had solved its claims. My Lord Coke, in his 4th Inst. says, 44 that the grant of tonnage and poundage was given for the safeguard of the seas ; " and be added, " it pertained to the Lord _High Admiral to see this consideration perform ed." Quoting one of the archives in the Tower, he says, 46 prkate adventurers take this duty of Lord High Admiral on themselves for the sake of the tonnage and poundage, and so themselves con tribute to the safeguard of the seas, and this has been shown to have occurred often, particularly in the 7th and 9th of Henry [V." These Droits of Admiralty then arising from the different descriptions before alluded to were partly relating to the Crown and to the office of Lord High Admiral; and the same Learn ed Judy expressly states, as one reason why they were so granted, " because the Crown was bound to clear the narrow seas of pirates and of wrecks, and this is to pay the expence." In the case of ship money it was laid down by all the Judges during the memorable reign in which that question came under discussion; and they could not be suspected of under-rating the prerogative of the Crown, 44 that prizes are the natural profits of the sea for guard ing it."—The Honourable Gentleman referred to a variety of opinions on the subject, all il lustrative of his proposition, viz. that the grant of Ithe Dreits of Admiralty were for the expences of the castes of the.sea, at a time when Parliament had it not in their contemplation to grant 180,0001. for the provision of the Crown, much less did they imagine that the amount of these Droits would be 8,000,0(X/1. come down to later times he would refer to the opinion of the Learned Judge who presides in the Court of Admiralty ; in the prize cause of the Aleibide, that Learned Judge had ear -1 tied the principle of the right of prize in the Crown to a further extent than ever before carried ; for he had laid it down, that up to the moment of adjudi cation, 46 prize is the creature of the Crown." But how did the Learned Judge (Sir William Scott) sup port that proposition ? lie says, Capta beUa cedunt rcipublici, because he may use it for the purposes of both: therefore it was not held by the Sovereign in the light of private property. formerly, the ex. pence of wars was defrayed by the Crown, because no particular appropriation was made by Parliament for that purpose ; that iu the times to which he was now referring, those hereditary branches of Crown Revenue wore dwindled away, and were supplied by parliamentary grants. Lord Mans field, in a case which came before him, had laid down that the practice of providing for the ea. peaces of the war first was established after the Re• volution in 1688, though he would admit that on cer tain oceasious, as in the 9th of Henry 111. might be found particular appropriations for this service. It was widest in what way these facts pressed upon the present argument. We were new le a different, State to what we had been in those periods ofour his& tory already alluded to, and as, by the regular supplies which are now voted by Parliament for the expences of war, these separate funds cannot be needed for the purposes to which they were origi nally applied, the ground upon which the propriety of their existence could at all be said to rest, must utterly fail. As soon as Parliament took it into their own hands to defray the expences of war, Par- liament and the country should have the profits (hear ! hear !); but the expences were now trans. ferred from the Crown to the country, and the country, which was thus called upon to supply the means of those expences, were defrauded of its just rights to the profits accruing. The jealousy and vis gilance of Parliament had, in all times, been directed ' against the uncontrouled appropriation of the revenues of the Crown. One of the most esteemed regalias was the temparatities of bishoprics ; but it was found, that these funds were abused, and that' the Crown became placed above the controut of Par- I liament. Accordingly, as early as the reign of Ed ward I. laws were passed to restrain these temporali ties from being subject to its disposal. The wreck of the sea was another of those Prerogatives of the Crown, which similar and successive encroach ments of the Parliament from the time of &dward I. had restrained; while the prerogative of mines had been the object of such restrictions no fur ther back than the reign of William and Mary. The tenths and first fruits had, also, been granted' away for a benevolent and religious purpose (Queen Aune's Bounty), by that excellent Princess : brat this grant had been made net by the Mown, but. by i authority of Parliament, wads-ow asnolslts a perpetual alienation could be performed. Thee, instances weal() sufficiently prove, he believed, that the Parliament had always regarded separate faith in the possession of the Crownc as subject to thus' coutrout, and they would serve as a precedent for' , Gentlemen to form their **ions upon the prima., occasion. But these were not the only instances; that might be adduced. In the reign of Charles 11.' 1 the right of purveyance were abolished, as being lee I consistent with the rights and privileges of the psi.. ple. In adverting to the laud revenue, he observed; that it was vested in the Crown for public purposes, and for easing the burthens of the subjects: the In.. tention was, by its application to the expences of the Government, to exonerate from unnecessary pres. sure the subjects of this realm. This was its object, bat has this object been attained?. No one would say it had. It was requisite, therefore, that Parliament should interfere, and step in between the Crown and the digital:lSr of the Crown Lands, and prevent it - - . .•. . eaten funds, list of the names of all persons appointed Magis trates under the 324 of George 111. specifying the Counties in which they were to sit, those in which they are now, their qualifications, the other situa tions they held under Government, &c. &e. was ordered to be laid before the House as speedily as possible. Mr. RYDER, in order to point out what he con ceived to be an inaccuracy in what had fallen from his lion. and Learned Friend (Sir S. Itomilly) on a former evening, respecting the increase of offeuders committed for trial at the Old Bailey, moved for a Return of the number of persons committed to the jails of Loudest and Westminster, for trial at the Old Bailey, iu the years 1807, 1808, 1809, and 1810. Sir S. ROMILLY said, the Right Honourable Gentleman must hare been mistaken. 'Then. was no inaccuracy in his statements. He had made them from the Upturns, and could now repeat them on his memory, pledging himself for their being found correct. In 1806, there were committed for trial at the Old Bailey, 8 4 2.9 ; in 180/, 1007. He would not be certain that it was 1007, but he knew that was very sear the number. He was certain it was a few above 1000. In 1808, 1110 ; in 1809, 1219.; and in 1810, /4124. 'The Return for the last year had not been laid before the House, but he had taken the last-mentioted number from a communication which he had that day received from tho Uudersecre tary of State. After some farther conversation, in leltich Mr. Ry der, Sir S. Remaly, and Lord Ossulston, partici 7 pitted, the motion was agreed to. DROITS OF ADMIRALTY. Mr. BROUGHAM Lose to call tire attention of the House to a subject bf great importance, which, though it had often been incidentally before the House, had never been brought forward (to his know ledge) as a question of itself before. The present he thought the proper time to go into the subject, as a new arrangement was shout to be made with respect to the Civil List. This was the time for them to see, once for all (when the Crown was pos sessed of funds to an enormous amount), if the Crown had the power of raising money without corn ing to Parliament, and of applying it without the consent of Parliament. He would first call the :Men. tion of the House to the funds arising from the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. The fund arising from the former, when them was a Duke of Corn wall, was severed from the Crown, but vested in the Crown when there was no Duke. The annual amount of the suns thus accruing to the Crown from the Duchy of Coruwall, was, according to what he believed to be the most moderate calculation he bad ever beard, not less than 13,0001. Besides this sum, there bad accrued to thescrown, during the minority of the Prince, from the same source, by the way of tithes only, not less than 150,9001.; so that, within ' that period, a sum little short of half a million had been derived to it. He would not estimate the rove- SUS arising from the Duchy of Lancaster at any par ticular aurae both was vedentood to billy . &Table. rani .% over that, he should the Tour ands Half per Cat. Fund, raised by des Unposed en Barb does and the Leeward This, from the average of the last live years k he would take at 35,0001. per annum. How it had latterly fallen off, he knew not : but it had, in the course of the last four years, fallen off consi derably, as the returns of the first year of the five made it amount to 61,0001. This, be contended, was raided by a most unjust tax, because it was an un equal tax, and it had the worst influence on the pros. perity of those Islands. The excess of the Scotch Cavil List, he understood, emanated to 60001. An exclusive provision was made for the Crown of 180,0001. per annum, and then there were to be add ed, the Droits of the Crown, and those of the King, as Lord High Admiral, which office, for the last cen tury, it had been customary for the King to hold.— This fund of Admiralty Droits arose partly from the proceeds of vessels wrecked on the coast, and from the seizure of ,pirates' goods ; but the great bulk of it arose from prizes made of vessels detained in ports at the commeucement of hostilities, of vessels entering our harbours ignorant that England was at war with their nation, driven in by stress of weather, or taken by non-commissioned captors. From returns made, it appeared that on the 13th of May, 1810, no less a sum than 7,314,0001. had been paid, net proceeds, into the hands of the Registrar of the Court of Ad miralty, to the Bank, and to different persons ap pointed by the Crown to receive it. To that a.consi derable sum had since been added, so that he would take it at 8,000,0001. to use round figures, though be thought it probable that its produce exceeded that sum. The question for the House to consider was, whether,- ws thr-Jaw-el•-msret -stood,-theteow could have such separate funds ? and if that,were es tablished, whether it was safe for the Constitution that such a law should remain itsforce any longer?— If the Crown could possess such funds without being accountable to Parliament for the application of them, there was no limit to the grievances which might thence arise.' They might he lavished on a fa vourite, on a mistress, or given to a Minister to sup port undue or unconstitutional influence in that House, 9r at elections throughoet the country. If this were to be permitted, there was an end to the in dependence of Parliament. Their power of granting supplies, and of withholding them when p*vs.nces were supposed to exist, till those grimaces were re dressed, were no more •; and it was but a mockery for the Crown to ask Parliament for the supplies wanted, as all necessity for doing so mat ease, it the law would allow the sums that might ho wasted to be raised in another way, without the lesessow concurrence of the representatives of the, • the grounds - we, ,e►e re- be, Elate • the IVO dila* 040 iiasea—____ could be defended upon constitutional principles ? , hostilities, but it gave an interest in commencing them It was not; and there were precedents to justify his 'in a way the least honourable to the national cha. assertion. In the celebrated case, commonly called racter, the least consistent with that good faith ' can. t h e Devonshire case (Coke's R e p orts), it. was laid dour, and ma g nanimit y , which, until the p rese n t that the treasures of the King, times, formed such proud and venerable features i i theabotmxi udo m epeace and the sinews of war, could the charactee kee r oft w te w i eEsghliastithp is i eo l ple e . e — eu [ r i a l b ef e r, v; h: te a lrid t beingben d ow n as granted but under the authority of the Privy ; hear!] He Seal, all warrants of Sign Manual being illegal. This I behind him had been alluding, and was aware that was the opinion of that eminent lawyer ; and it was 1 the practice which he now reprobated, as the de. one that wonkl-heellowed its due weight cud autho- ; grading distinction of our recent history, wa s no t rity. He would further add , t hat thou g h the Droits I quite new, or quite unprecedented. He perfectly of the Crown ate what are called separate regalia, yet I recollected, for it was an event that happened at no • they are put upon the same footing as the other re-' great distance of time from the period to which he galia, by the most eminent law authorities. In con- I had before directed the attention of 'the lloste, the demising the practice which had now obtained, of so , event of the Dutch war. This was indeed an event i vast a revenue leis% in the possession of the Crown, ' which, had he all the eloquence of all his Ilonoura.; unchecked by any controul of Parliament, or of any ble Friends who surrounded him, he should yet other authority, and managed by the Regi e st b ra el r i s ev an ed, . d t w h A e languag e exntpressiei l of his andt ee er f ms liigs respectingoflabh orrenc. it. [llea adequate td Receivers of the Admiralty, who acted, he without any responsibility, he was not advancing any hear!] It was a war entered upon for the sole putl new aoctrinet or expressing sentiments peculiar to pose of intercepting the Smyrna fleet; a war of all himself. Charles 11. had appointed a separate Re.. others the most undisguisedly infamous and degra. iceiver, by commission, as Treasurer of Prize-money ; ding [Hear, hear !]; a war of crime and plunder ' and he would take the liberty of re adin g to the House of larcen y and pillage; a war exceeding in baseness !an account of the transaction, in t h e words of an and atrocit y even the late attacks on th e Spanish and eminent author, Lord Clarendon. lie (Lord Clarets- Danish ships. [Hear ! hear ! hear !] Such was don) was required to affix-his Seal to a bill, making the memorable war of Charles the Second, such the and constituting the Lord Ashley, Treasurer of all motives in which it originated, and alti. nigh he the money that should be raised upon the sale of all might met anticipate the calamity of ever seeing P r izes which were or . &humid be takea in the War , such • a Ring, or one the least resembling hi nt then carrying an against the Dutch, with power to again wield the sceptre of-these realms, it was no 10 , 1 make all snots offices as should be necessary for the ' their duty, as the Representatives of the People and ' service; and that he should account for all monies so the guardians of their rights and interests, to ay. Ireceived to the King himself, and to no other person point a sufficient guard against the possible recur. whatsoever, and pay and issue out all those rence iu subsequent times of similar abuses; for Neu monies which he should receive, in such man- ,in our own time transactions had taken place, aril. 1 ner as his Majesty should appoint by warrrant l u g p robabl y from less dis g raceful and p ernicious under his Sign Manual, and by no other war- ! causes, which, nevertheless, were certainly subject to rant ; and that he should' be free and exempt from i. the imputation of having borne some reference to the 1 accounting into the Exchequer. To this request the . fund of Admiralty Droits. He would not dwell Chancellor replied, " that he would speak with the upon the Copenhagen Expedition, because he did not King before he would seal that grant, and that he de. ; believe that however it may have mingled, it formed I sired much to speak with himself."—" The next . the chief or the only motive of that (as he leemtd morning," continues Lord Clarendon, "he waited . it) unprincipled and ill-fated enterprize. [liar, upon the King, and informed him of the Bill that was I hear!] But he would mention an event, as so th e brought to him, and doubted that he had been sur- ; true origin of which no trace of doubt existed iu Ili; prised. That it was not only such ass original as i mind, the capture of the Spanish frigates. film, Iwas without any *precedent, but in'itself in many ; hear!] He would recall to the recollection of the ;particulars, destrtwtive to .his service,. and to the; House, the precise time when that affair took i right of other men.% Thit..ol rec;ivers of any part ' place—he would remind them that it was at a period ;of his revenue were accountable in his Exchequer s ! when the Spanish Envoy in London and the British 1 and could redeive their discharge* in no other place; ! Ambassador at Madrid were employed. in carrying lad that if so great a receipt as this was already, ou a negotiation, and then ask them, if they could ' [here the Honourable Member observed, that the i hesitate to believe that a licence issuing under there receipt was certainly great—but it was not eight mils ; circumstances, to make war on unoffending mer llons—it was only a hundred thousand pounds— ; chantmen, to destroy and burn them before any de -1 at laughl—and as it evidently would be, should ' claration of hostilities, and to bring the hulks ad' ! pass without the most for Mal account, bis Majesty ! cargoes of the vessels into British ports, could hare 1 might be abominably:cozened, nor could it in any : possibly sprung from any other cause, or have been ether way be prevented. lie therefore besought his ! directed to any other object ?—[,flear, hearq—But Majesty,_ that be would reconsider the thing itself, : admitting, what in fact he never would admit, that end hear it..ikkated, at least that the Treasurer . the design was as pure as the Right Honourable Gen. ` ,might be first heard, without which it could not be I tleman opposite might assert it to be, was it not done in justice; " and,, In a conversation with enough t o induce them to ~osaletnn that institution as Lfsed Ashler btiaself, Be observed; 14 that the ex- bad and unfit to exist, which served at least to ram. emption front making any account but to the King municate suspicion, and to justify foreigners, as himself, would deceive him ; and'as it Was an un- well as the subjects of this Government, in belie,- usual and unnatural privilege s so it would never be ' ing that a sordid principle nad led to the ;Alin.? of allowed in any court of justice, which would exact 1 foreign vessels, and the massacre of their crests, I both the accountaud the payment, or lawful discharge i and had at once been the cause of staining the na of what money lie should receive, and if he depend- tional character, and plunging .the country into all ed upon the exemption he would live to repent it."— the evils attendant on a state of war? What more These constitutional views, -continued the Honour-, likely than suspicions of this kind tq sow dissen t able Member, were not much relished by Charles IL ; sion at home, to embitter animosities abroad, and but as there was some force in the arguments, he con- alienate every country from our interest ?—[/fear, 1 aented to delay the matter till he had further eonsi- ; hear!]—!t was wars of this nature which had dis tl dered it. The delay, however, was not very long, I graced the reign of Maury VII. perhaps the mean ; for he shortly afterwards made the .Chancellor affix est and most apacious of the race of English King. his seal to the grant. It appeared at length that the These wars had been likened by Lord Bacon "to King sent a positive order to the Chancellor to seal a mixed metal, a treasure made up of a strange the Commission, which he could no longer refuse, j ore, in which iron appeared on the surface, but gold which the historian says, " he did with the more and silver were at the bottom." If, then, he had been trouble, because he very well knew that few men correct in estimating the ordinary revenues of the I : knew the Lord Ashley better than the King himself crown at the sum of 180,0001. per annum, and if he ' did, or had a worse opinion of his integrity."— had been right in looking, not indeed at the person " Nor was it difficult," Lord Clarendon afterwards who wore the Crown, because that was unconstitu ' went on to state, " to persuade the King (who tional doctrine, but at Ministers, and if not Minis , thought himself more rich in having one thousand ters at favourites, as men liable to err, it was U 11• pounds in his closet that nobody knew of, than in necessary to press Isis argument further. Parliament, fifty thousand pounds in his Exchequer), how many it was well known, was never reluctant to grant conveniences he would find in having so much money whatever justice and liberality might require. No :at his own immediaterlisposal, without the formality proposition that would bear iuvestigatiou, nothing of Privy Seals arid other mess's warrants, and the that had solid merits to support it, ever came before iadeeeney.,and 'Mischief which would attend a formal that House in vain. Some might think Parliament I account of •all. his generonAilonatives and expense, was too apt to vote without inquiry,. but when there 1-which should be' known only to himself." Such was something to be done that shuasted the eye of Ithen were the Mews, finch the principles of the inquiry, when some job was to he accomplished, I glad Lord Clarendon, lan :Officer rd . the Crown or some minion, odious to the people, whose de vised a king mitp of the reigning:Sovereign. What 1 merits stood catalogued before their• sight , wa s to be *.-sasaallfxga-tix.ahai__:aiore forcibly. that all grants I su pported; then it was, that Inatead. of quarteritta 0 this deacrlption were dangerous to 'the Consti- him on the Consolidated Fund, or of ranking his tution, alien to its spirit, and repugnant to its funds- on the Pension List among the Nelsons, the St. *septa! character. Ile hoped, for the sake of that ob- Vincents, and the Wellington:, recourse was had. jettt'which they all had or ought to have in common, unkno wn.to Parliament and title country, to the 4 1 'the object of maintaining the practice and 'principles , per cent. Fund, or to the Dfoits of Admiralty. -- : its( Parliament, as established and recognized at the I [Hear, hear !] This fund then stood exposed in ad I Revolution, he should not be found to ask too much I its native contamination, neither more nor less than when he asked of the Ministers of the present day I a Job Fund, a fund unworthy of the Royal darer -Ito accede to doctrines which had the additional and s ter to possess; unworthy of the character'of OW peculiar merit of having been the doctrines not only ' figment tb suffer to exist.—[Hear, hear !]-1f it was of an eminent statesman, but of a statesman related : thus liable to be made subservient to the worst put by domestic ties to the most arbitrary monarch that poses, to the gratification of the desires, or to the ever sat tittr " fish throe s.—[Hear, hear !]- i satisfaction of a favourite's nt ities, it was not its- on Eng!! _Jae.- 2 Feeling it u Ld eces sar y f or his purpose to detain the House further in support of the positions he had laid down, being perfectly indifferent whether they were or were net.granted him, he now begged leave to call their attention to those practical observations arising but of the a b uses o f w hi c h the fund alluded to had furnished the means and the occasiou.—[ ll ear, hear !] --All that he had yet said on the subject of Parliamentary inquiry, and the necessity of its rigid exercise at every period, on all that wes connected with the expenditure of the Crown, applied equally to all branches of the regalia. Bat the fund 'no* Particularly under consideration had altogether a se parate character and distinct origin. That charao tar and origin were such, that it would not be an eas Jr task to name, or to imagine an institution that should at the same time be so detrimental to the Interests, the well understood interests of the C r ow n, and the View, hear, hear !] It gave l in the first place, to the moat important interests of the country .— own an interest in going to war.---Illear. hear Q--- ii r, Viva en interest net merely in the commencing the Drell then s ith r iy of the fear, tient atecessit cumbent on him to prove that the actual application of this fund had been abused. [Hear, hear was enough if he had established a uecebsa,,y ter dewy to corruption ; but as the Right Hon. Gentle man seemed to challenge him for facts, he was by no means unwilling to produce them. The papers on the ' table brought down the accounts to the Ist of May. 1810, and it appeared by these papers, that since tile .first establishment of the Civil List during the pre sent reign, it had been first raised by the sum of 100,0001. ; at a subsequent pe r i od b y 60,0001., th" by the abstractil s a'n of certain charges to which it In/ been before sokject . , it was afterwards virtually raised 135,0001.; thus making a real annual increase to the original 800,0001. of the sum of 305,0001. A sum of 100,0001. had been also voted to his kb jesty for defraying the expences of new palace' and buildings. There had been, in addition to all these sums, an accumulation of half a million during the minority of the Prince of Wales.—V e revenues arising from the Duchy of Lancaoor the Scotch Funds, were also to be taliJii into the concurrence of the representatiees et the . the dliepeuiltea of the Crown Leads, and prevent IC! I He would now state the v.ounds wit tome *Win them. He would nest call the atten- J to donht that the right was vested les 0001elins fee ties of die Boom to the way in which those funds, its sole and separate use; and is se be did tombs( the object of his present inquiry, were 11 not mean to qoestion or *spots tbd ; aloe be observed, that whoever might re- ! thrt all prizes were vested co ' - - gar disbatee this, wherever they might be, I Crown j or, as a Right Breseurabir - Ma he knew, that they never reached the Each*. Judge lo the High Court of Admiral' s . 61 Zzereee lusted out by a warrant under the' decisioa in a late came, had said very .• - • by the persons who happened to have 44 that prize is the very creature at *Gomm * • Ohl Meals_ 9. 11 0°.i end thew Pewees were ander meant to show , from the earliest am suet e! reelsealownr, no sort of contrail; we did doctrine was not .10 the smiths ma owe hum that air account whatever was re-. Leger OF litotateof the *seed s thee. It sa%O ' t not he en • bat he did not soboet;oest lke In the Id se new distil mood se. Was seeha disposal, how. Richave Wt. orb eareasly it She orb• seer, of Ile isosserel Mt Crams, a thing to be cert. lebrated work of Chief Justin Bale. Be would ask template*seMbeal *mere? Was its practice that r II I 1 ~? 1111 • .