The National Register.
London, England, 1808-02-21 00:00:00

THE NATIONAt REGisrramag.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1808. Polon Rd.

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No. S.

POLITICAL DISQUISITIONS.

Majesty will pass into a law. It may appear, upon examina.
tion, add of this Parliament is the proper judge, that the pro•
perty which may thus accrue to the Crown, and over which Par.
!lament has no direct cantroul, has become too large, and is no
longer consistent with the vital principles of the Itritish coma.
tution. No principle of that constitution is more essential than
that Parliament should hold the purse-strings of the nations 1144
completely controul the national income wail expenditure. Btil
thia it cannot do, if the Crown, by any means whatever, be-
con►c possessed of a great revenue, which icaltogether indepen-
dent of Parliament. Whether this class of the perquisites or
the Crown ought to be regarded in this lighti it would be ab.
surd in us to pretend as yet to give an opinion. Of thii a judg-
ment can be formed, only after their present amount, and that
which it is likely to prove in future, are known. The paper*
which are to be laid before Paliament, will ailbrd the requisite
information, and tl►en l'arlia►nent and the public will form their

NUMBER EIGHT.
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lIIS MAJESTY'S DONATION
er caßrimi svmv our TIFE DROITS OF TUB ADJIIRAirrt
TO THIS JUNIOR PRINCE.

It has been lately made known to the Public that a gift of
20,000/. has been conferred by the King upon each of his sons
excepting the Prince of Wales, and that a similar sum was
given ;ome time ago to the late Duke of Gloucester. The fund
from which these donations were made is a branch of the ancient
hereditary revenue of the crown, consisting of a certain portion
of the captures made by his Majesty's ships of war, called
Droits of Admiralty; and of the property captured from any
Foreign nation, previous to a Declaration of War, known by
the name of Jura Corona.

conclusions.
But the point to svhicb we wish at present to direct the attend
tion of our readers, is the application ,shish has been made of
part of this revenae to the Princes, the younger sons of his Ma-
jesty, and to the late puke of Gloucester. It is evident that
this is by no means connected with the great constitutional ques-
tion before Parliament, whether this revenue should remain at tp•
disposal of the Crown. No one doubts that it did by law belong tq
the K ingot the time when he made this applleztiou of part of it,
in gratification of his paternal feelings. o one cee doubt that
svhateveraccrued to the King, by this source,
.was as mach his
property as the dividends upon his stuck, which his Majesty
draws at the Bank. But that property which was unquestion-
ably the Ring's, it ;aunt be absurd to vas, that the Kiri:lW
not a right to bestow upon his Family. If it be necessary that
a new arrangement, respecting this source of reveaue, should
take place, be it so. With this question at present we for-
bear to interfere. But while it remained a source of revenue le
the Crown, and white the Kiwi remained, by law, its sole and
absolute master, it is impossible that any question about hill
right to bestow a part of it upon his sons can exist.
If it be made a question, whether this J)onation was wiles and
expedient; or whether, in the present overburtbened elate of
the Nation, the money should not have been applied to alleviate
the pressure upon the people, we readily answer, that the alle-
viation of the national bsrthens ought to come front the Legis-
lature not from the King, The greatest possible economy
should be observed in the use of the public money, and Ibe
ut-
most tenderness Ui laying new impositions. No soon who tine
derstands the principles of the Constitution, would wish to see
the public burtheas relieved by donations from the Crown, be-
cause no man would wish to see is its possession more than is
requisite for its own fair and legitimate expellees,
Besides, bow small is the portion of what this source of re-
venue has lately produced, which has been bestowed upon the
Princes ? His Majesty has applied from this fund: towards the
expeuces of the State, first. one and they another.
This is all which his Ministers adsased to appropriate id
this manner. Is it to be condemned that he was pleased to hate
liorate the circumstances of his sons with the remainder/
Would It have been in any degree better employed bad it ,beer
used in purchasing more steep for his Majesty ? Would it have
been a more salutary applicAon, had it been employed in
t.)fibing the Alfuni*Th Pajliament f)11s411t a vote .
•

These hard names are useless and worse than useless ; for they
have a tendency to convey absurd ideas. In plain English, they I
mean neither more nor less than perquisites of the Crown. and
the case is exactly the same in kind with the perquisites of any
other office. In regard to the first class of these perquisites,
the Droits of Admiralty, certain arrangements were formed
some time ago, which left but a slender portion of them at the
disposal of the King. The. other class, however, are in a dif-
f•reut situation, and have remained hitherto exempt from all
controul and regulation. The eventful contest with the French
revolution, as it has been very remarkable in many respects,
Ft/ it has been distinguished in a very peculiar manner by the
vast quantities of property which this country has seized from
other nations antecedent to a declaration of war. This immense
property, fallen into the hands of the King, has at last attracted
a great share of public attention, and is about to undergo a
Parliamentary Investigation. The decision of Parliament we
have no wish to anticipate. But there is an error into which
the Public have very generally fallen, which implies real in-
justice to the high Parties concerned, and which we are anxious
to rectify.

It is very evident that the great question, witich is before
illoitrliament, respects the policy of attaching this species of re-
v.•nue to the Crown, not the purposes to which it may have
pleased the in to apply it, while the Legislature left it at his
disposal. But distinct as these questions appear to be, the
Public are very apt to confound them together; and by a kind
of hasty and negligent confusion seem to think that whatever
doubts may exist in regard to the expediency of having this
blanch of the Royal revenue in its present state, the same apply
to the Donation which has been lately made of part of this
revenue to the Junior Princes. By this means a species of
(Klima has been excited against this peculiar application of that
property which does not justly belong to it. It is no more but
fair that the two questions should be decided on their respective
merits. This the Princes have a tight to expect, and it will
he unjust in the Public not to gratify their expectation.
In regard to the first question, it is no doubt competent to Par-
liament to examine this source of income to the Crown, and if ,
it discovers that between it and the important principles of the
constitution any incongruity exists, to pass a bill for placing this
afair in a new arrangemoat, which, with the ;oiliest of Mt
No.