The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-20 00:00:00

CIVIL LIST.

When steamers were again admitted into the House,
Bail GREY was proceeding with a statement of the
alterations made in the Civil List as it at present stood
It was proposed to transfer a considerable portion of those
sums which'had been formerly voted under the general
head of the Civil List to the Consolidated Fund. For
England, it was proposed so to transfer the salaries paid
to • the Lord Chancellor, the Chief and Puisne Judges,
Speaker of the House of Commons, &c. &c. For Ire-
land, it was proposed to charge on the Consolidated Fund
instead of the Civil List generally, the salaries of the
Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Chancellor, the Judges,
&c. &e. ; and for Scotland, it was propoSed to transfer
the salaries of his Majesty's Commissioner of the General
Assembly for .the Church of Scotland, the hared eery
Usher of the 'White Rod, &c. &c. It was also proposed
to charge on the Consolidated Fund the' Diplomatic Sala-
ries and Pensions, heretofore paid out of the Civil List;
and sl.o such part of the Civil List Pensions, hitherto paid
nut of the Civil List or Hereditary Revenue, as were not
provided for in the Civil List -now under the consideration
of Parliament. It was also proposed to charge on the
Consolidated Fund that part of the Speaker's salary -
now derived from fees, and to apply these fees in
aid of the Fee Fund of the House of Commons.--
There were other articles hitherto paid out of the Civil
List in England, which it was proposed in future to vote an-
nually as part of the supplies—such -as the salaries or
allowances of the Lord President of the Council, of the
Lord Privy Seal, the First Commissioner of the Treasury,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. &c, These sums
under the various items mentioned amounted together to
sum of about 114,000/. Then they bad to consider the
stun still charged under the general Civil List more imtne-
diately under the controul of the King. This had been
reduced from about 1,084,000/. to 970,0001., being a
reduction of upwards of 100,0001. And it would be
agreed that there was no King that had ever reigned in
England who was better entitled to have the sum men_
tioned included in the Civil List than his present Majesty_
But it was proposed to carry the separation will farther,
so as to diStinguish those sums allowed to his Majesty for
the support of the personal dignity of his station from
the sums he applied to the exp nses of the Governmen..
This was the object of transferring to the Consolidated
Fund certain salaries and pensions before-mentioned, such
as the diplomatic salaries, the allowances to the Lord
Chamberlain, the .Master of . the Horse, &c. It was
proposed
to make a considerable. reduction in the Pen-
sion Lists of England, Scotland, anti Ireland, hut it
...vas proposed to do.this gradually, so that the immediate
saving to the public would not be great, although .the
eventual saving would be' considerable. After all these
transfers from' the Civil List, it would now, in the prm•nt
plan he reduced to a sum of about 510,0001. instead of
1,630,000/. as it formerly stood, or 970,000/. as had been
proposed by the late Government. It n,,w remained to
state what were the articles in the Civil List to be voted
now. In the first class of these were the sums to be al-
low, d for the King's Privy Purse, and the sum to he al-
lowed for her Majesty's Household. The first of these
items was 60,000/., and this their Lordships would hardly
think too much when they considered that it was no more
than what had been allowed in 1779, and no King could
hive been more deserving than his present Majesty. • The
sum fixed for the Queen's Household was 50,0001., which
w,s certainly not too much for the purpose ; perhaps he
might say that it should rather be more, considering that
50,0001. was the sum allowed for the late Queen Char-
loite, which was afterwards increased to 58,000/. This
was more particularly the case when it was considered
how excellent was the character of, her present Majesty.
He deeply regretted that her Majesty's name should 'ever,
in any way, have been introduced into political discussions
at the pm esent time, and more particularly that some allusions
and insinuatioos had been made, which were totally and ab-
sOlutely without foundation, and from which in every viet-v
she ought to have been exempted. There was one ar-
ticle which had not been provided for in regard to her Ma-
jesty. It so happened that, from particular circum-
stances, no outfit had been allowed her, although it Wes
well known that a sum under that head had been allowed
to the late Queen Charlotte. He regretted that a Pup' had
not been allowed tinder that head, although the present
Ministry had been placed -in such a situation that they
could not well propose it. The next class was the sala-
ries of the Officers of State, reduced from 130,000/. to
119 0001. Another class relatel to the salaries of time
Lord Chamberlain, the Master of the Horse; and, taking
these and °Our two classes together, a considerable saving
would be made in the five classes on the whsle. There
was another circumstance connected with this subject, to
which he was anxious to call the attention of their Lord-
ships. Ile was concerned to find that it had teen stated,
and generally understood abroad, ,'tat 20,0001. was to he
added to the Civil List. This was a very great mistake,
which, probably, had arisen in this way. It had been
propoied that when the expellees of the Civil List should
exceed the sum voted by Parliament to the amount Of
10,000/., that circumstance should be intimated to
Parliament. But owing to certain circumstances, and
for some particular reasons, it bad been deemed expe-
dient to raise. that sum to 20,000/. Of course this
‘eas no addition to the Civil List, but only an addi-
tion to the amount of the excess which might be
,:xpended beyond the amount granted by Parliament be-
fore it should be imperative to intimate the excess to
the Legislature. That was the nature of the transac-
tion. lie was not aware that he had an)thing furthei