The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-05 00:00:00

Last night the Noble Lord—who is now Chancellor, of
the Exchequer. presented to. the House of Commons the
Ministerial estimates of the Civil List, and made his first
important essay as Finance Minister. The subject excited
more than usual interest, from its connexion with the dis-
solution of the last Ministry, and the accession of the pre-
sent. The discussion which it underwent before, how-
ever, deprived the details of all novelty, and left nothing
to public curiosity but the amount of the proposed reduc-
tions, or the principle of the new classification... The
latter was the. most important point, in which the settle-
ment proposed by the present Government differed from
that of the last. In the arrangement brought forward by
the Administration of the Duke of Wellington, the Civil
List included not only those expenses which are incurred
for the personal comfort of the King, and the splendour of.
the Crown, but likewise the charges of other branches of
the civil service, such as the salaries of Ambassadors, Judges,
and other officers. This arrangement was not peculiar to-
the last Administration: it has existed ever slot!e the time
of Queen Anne, when the civil. services paid efor out of
the revenue granted to the Crown were sepatated from
the grants for out naval and military establishments voted
annually by Parliament. But in the debate which took
place on the measure proposed by the late Government, a
new classification was recommended on grounds that
caught to have procured its adoption, and Lord Althorp
did not hesitate in this respect to depart from the plan of
his predecessor. Instead of dividing the Civil List ex-
pences into ten branches, as had been done by Mr. Gold-
burn, his Lordship arranged them under five : instead of
including in them many miscellaneous charges, he includes
only those which relate to the comfort or splendour of the
Sovereign. Nor is this distinction unimportant, as the
Cieil List is fixed for a whole reign without reduction or
chance, while the other charges will come under the annual
revision and be subject to the annual vote of Parliament.
Ti!e public will thus likewiselearn how much of the national
revenue is actually placed at the personal disposal, or ex-
pended for the personal use,•of the King, and will be saved
from a belief in those gross exaggerations of the expence of
Royalty to which the confusion of our financial accounts
have hitherto given countenance, and with which factious
ignorance, has often tried to excite sedition or 41isaffection.
The five beads of expence under the proposed Civil List
aria-Ist, the Privy Purse, for the King and the allow-
ance for the Queen, amounting to 110,000/. ;-2d, tire
s caries of the great officers of the Household, amounting
to 130,000/. ;-3d, the expences of the Household, or in
other words the tradesmen's bills, amounting to 180.000/. ;
—4th, the sum allotted for the Royal bounties and
charities, amounting to 23,000/. ;—and last, the Roya!
pensions, amounting to 75,0001. The first grant is the
same as that proposed by the late Administration. In the
salaries of the officers of the Household, which amounted
to 140,000/. by the estimate of the late Administration,
there appears a reduction of 10,0001., which is nut a real
saving to the public, but arises from the transfer of the
officers'
..salaries, connected with the Board of Works,
to the general estimates of the year under the con-
trail of Parliament. Under the head of the expences
of the Household, which amounted by the late estimate
to 210,0001., the reduction is to be accounted for in
the same way--namely, by the separation of the expenses
of the Board of Works from the expenditure of this de-
partment. The sum allotted for Royal charities and
bounties remains unchanged. In the last item—namely,
the Royal pensions,—the greatest saving will be eventually
effected by the present arrangement, though no immediate
reduction is contemplated. The pension list amounted at
the death of the late King to 150,0001.—the late Ad-
ministration proposed to reduce it to 140,000/., and to fix
it at that estimate. Lord Althorp very properly decided
that ouch a charge was excessive in the present state of the
country, and ought to be reduced. The pensioners at
present on the list, he admitted, had no legal right to
their respective annuities, their title having ceased with
the demise of the Crown; but he contended for their
equitable claim, as they had relied on enjoying the same
bounty under the new reign. Ti.ere will thus be no im-
mediate saving ; and the public will derive no benefit from
the new arrangement, except as the pensioners die off,
when the half of the sum now appropriated to this class
will become available to the general service of the country.
Considering it, however, to be unjust to deprive his
present Majesty of the same means of gratifying his affec-
tions, or rewarding his servants, which have been placed
at the disposal of his predecessors, and as this would be
incompatible with any reduction of the pension list unless
under certain restrictions and regulations, the Noble Lord
proposes that the oldest 75,000/. on the list shall belong
to his Majesty as the grants respectively fall in. Thus,
while the 75.000/. of pensions last imposed accrue to the
public as their possessors die, the oldest may he filled up
by his Majesty. The whole of the immediate saving will
amount only to about 20.0001., in which is included the
salary of the auditor of the household (amounting to
2,400/. a-year), whose office is abolished. Thus the whole
sum settled upon his Majesty for supporting .his !muse-
hold, paying his great officers and servants, rewarding his
friends, or gratifying his ch az itabht feelings, amounts to
about half a million sterl•ng. We do not know that we
can add much, in the way of remark, to this plain state-
ment of facts. A British Sovereign has usually had what
is called an outfit for his Queen. The zeal of subserviency,
tire bones of spot tion,—nay, the ardour of honest affec-
tion,—have always united in offering this tribute to the '
new Sovereign, for his royal consort. William IV. is the
first King who has said, " I will have none of it !" And.
in so doing, he Las shown a generous and conceding spirit.
Times,

The House of Commons was last night engaged in
matters of importance, not less so for their intrinsic value,
than as off nding, from the manner of their treatment, an
earnest of that uncompromising hostility of party which
is likely to characterise the ensuing Parliamentary cam-
paign. In the early part a Bill, which, perhaps, was
expected, at the time of its introduction, to pass muster
unnoticed, gave rise to a discussion of some interest and
not a little curiosity. Upon the demise of the late
King, the inconvenience of being obliged to appear be-
fore the Lord Steward, and in his Court to take cer-
tain oaths, was general y felt and complained of
amongst the Members of the House, and as the pro-
ceeding- happened to have been made more vexatious
in consequence of the accidental absence of the then
Lord Steward, it was thought of sufficient importance
to require- a legislative measure for its remedy. Mr.
W. Wynn undertook to bring in a Bill fur the purpose,
a main object of which was to excuse Honourable
Members from the obligation of this ceremony, and
which Las already passed through some of its elementary
stages. Unfortunately, however, the Right Honour-
able Gentleman incorporated with it a clause for the
repeal of the oath of abjuration, which has subjected the
whole to the strongest opposition. The ground upon
which the repeal was first contended for, was, that the
oath was unnecessary, inasmuch as the Act of Settlement
has already provided far the exclusion of all the de-
scendrnts of James the Second from the throne ; but the
ohjection is, that the oath is the more comprehensive of
the two, for the Act only excludes the lineal descendants
of the abdicated Monarch, whereas the oath embraces,
in its repudiation, all who derive through that Prince,
and who may be Catholics. The opponents threatened to
divide the House if the Bill was pressed ; but upon at
understanding that the measure was still open to dis•
cossioo, consented to its being p Lased through the
stage which it was then undergoing. The great busi-
ness of the night, however, was the new Civil List,
wlsich the Ilinisters have, fur the first time intro..
duced. Of a measure involving so much detail, it
would be impossible in this place to give even a sum-
mary; but the general effect, and that in wlilch it differs
from the same estimate of preceding Administrations, may
be described to be as the transferring to the Consolidated
Fund certain classes of charges, such as Judges' salaries,
Surveyors of Works, &c., which were heretofore upon the
Cie ii List, so that they may he open to inquiry, and pot..
sibly curtailment, by Parliament, amongst the other items
of supply in each year. The proposed plan was made the
subject of much comment ; but though some disappoint-
ment was expressed, no substantial opposition w: made,
and it remains to be yet passed through a more trying
alembic of criticism, as its several details come to be de-
veloped. A most liberal act of the King was stated by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer—his Majesty refused to
i
accept of a sum of money for an outfit for the Queen.
1' he remaining business of the evening was of no great
importance, and the House adjourned at twelve o'clock.—
.112oe n ing Herald.

The divisions on the question of the Civil List, whicl;
led to the appointment of
the present Ministry, must be
of
fresh in the recollectionmostti, Of our readers. Lord
Althorp laid upon the table of the house last night papers
relating to the e,timate of the future annual charge of the
papersth be referred to
Civil List, and on moving that thes
a Committee, he stated the views of I.linistry with
respect to that subject. He reminded thee
the Houseobjec.
that the
question on the occasion alluded to arose u
Lions to the Civil List as proposed by the late Government
" because that C:vil List contained in many pointsmt
not connected with the dignity of the Crown, or matter
the personal comfort of his Majesty." When the King de-
frayed the whole of the expenses of Government out'
of the Revenues of the Crown, there was no ne-
cessity for separating the public from the private