The Sun.
London, England, 1819-03-31 00:00:00

WINDSOR Ec:TABLISIINIENT BILL.

The E,fil of LIVEItP6OL moved the Order of
the Day on which their Lordships were summon-
ed-, for the House going into a Committee on thii

The Eirl 01 SJJAFTESBURY aceoldfingly took
the Choir.

Befole thek Lordships entered into the consi.:
leiat ion at the claims,

EarI,GREY rose, and, pursuant to his notice,
tyidressed the Committee at some length, chiefly
in reference to cite clause-granting' the salary of
10.0001. per annum to the Custos P,2rsor,w. The:
Noble Earl hOped, that in thus coining feirward
on a gromid of public duty, no mien would deem
116 adverse to the system of adequate rewards for
real public "rtrvices on the one hand, or that he
was callous to the iofirmitil's or afflictions of suf-
fering greatntiss on the other. It was with ileep
regret he felt himself thus called upon ; but in
the present distressed situatirin of the country,
no expence, however small, should be untreces-
.lll ►%Vent -upon incyrre el. s Ii ..)
the avowed principle, of the Bill itself, as set
forth in the, preamble. On a recent occasion, he
understood the Noble E4rl to admit that the, late
Bill was in effect as Much caleulated to meet the
expences which should attend her late Majesty as
Queen Consort, as upOn the, principle of provid-
ing for the care of his Majesty's persOn ; as, were
'it otherwise, there should be considerable expenee
incurred in reference to her Majesty's dower aVtl,
other charges ; and it seemed to him to be &min-
ed, that the sunrin question, namely, the,:10,0001.
a year, was to be considered as a part of these ex 7
pences. Admitting that to he the case,' for the
argument's sake, these corisiderations now exist-
ed no longer,,and of course no necessity for a
continuance .of the expense on the same scale in
any one particular. The reductions he cordially
approved of, hu'l he should think 50,0001: per an-
num would afford a Ilrge establishitient even for a
King under such unhapp.y circumstances as his
Majesty laboured; but he must regard with some
.Surprise, that a considerable portion of that sum
speared to he considered as applicable to the
heeping up Windsor Castle as a regal residence.
Why was not such part of the,exrence met in a
similar way with the other littsyal Palaces ? He
would now Come to the principal point on which
be had to address the Committee, namely, the
prOposed grant of 10,0001. per annum to his Royal
Highness the Duke of York as Custos ,Pets,nim ;
and in viewing this pall of the question, his Lord-
ship considered tie patine of the Privy Purse
calculated, lie thought, to enable the Sovereig ►
to perform acts of personal liberality and benevo-
lence, 'and this was accorded npop'l4 principle of
public utility ; hut, as unhappily no opportunity
for these could now present itself, the sum in
question, he thought, it__ necessity,
taken front that fond. The expenees to he in•
vented by his Royal Highness ill his bell.r 'capa-
city were talked of. He would ask, what e 3,7.
penees ? Those of a table were defrayed front Chet,
tither source. With respect to travelling charges,
the Royal Duke had under anr:ther official e•ta-
-bli3hment totmetoos horsey allowed him for tra-
velling. lit'a tvotd, it appe fired to him that the
additional .C.l4)CliCe iu Ilt:VS!ion could be 5 titied
Oil no rational or 06eq/latt ground whatever. He

[PRICE SEVENPENrr,

shoAl oierefore feel it los dsitir.
.ei 019.4
ssi S BilF.shotild come tinder their
coili,:tleratiolii to otrei it a tlrritled tlegitive,

The Earl of LIVE Ft OteOn contended •tliat the
Nob'e liar) had generally formed au erroneous
view of the groom! and principle npon whit h the
various arrangements had 'been formed in conse-
quence of his NI ijesty's- lameoten indispoenion,
froin the cornmeneement to thr very treasure theft
before the' Committee. Those seta al arrange-
ments had, until that 'proposed by his Noble' awl
Learned Friend towards, the end of the fast Ses-
-
siOn, in consequence of.'the very 14ccaricees seate
: of ber Majesty's health; been" silently and pas.
stvely, at least, to:gine:red in by their leordenios.
Until the period of her late M:e'resty's detii.e.he
!relieved no man seriorislY entertained a thought
-of pronosiog any il.i.nortAnr - itheriiiim iii %Aquae
was -called the ' Windsor Establishineitt. The
qnestion then came before Pailiament upon new
grotnids, and_ even with reference to the ditni-
niihed pro'tabilities of the recovery of our..al-
fl,eted Sovereign. What he had l,,id (IOW') re 4
specting her late Majesty's rights and pri‘ileges,
not only ati Queen Consort, hut will) respect to
doaver, was incontrovertible, and was never yet _
disputed. And with reference to these conside
retions, the late Windsor Feitablis)iment_ was
formed on'a ground of considerable public- eco-
nomy ;.;for the expence to he incurred would be
conch greater if these rights had been distinctly
provided for. With respect-to the grant in tkiles•
tion, that of the ten thousand pounds per annum,
no idea had ever been entertained, till OA y lately,
that it should come frirm any otlit r fund thaulthut
'deliberately resolved upon by Parliament in the
first ' instance; and as to expences of keeping op
Windsor Castle as a -Royal Residence, it was •
eVery Way so obviously circumstanced d fferently
Irons. all the other legal Palaces, that the "ex---
pences were -.thought ativisable'to be charged
upon- -a different fund, . and not. rhfaiwn as a
.
charge upon the Prince Regent. Rectoring more
particularly to the question of the grant, he ar-
gued it could neither properly, legally, nor justly
be taken from die Privy Purse; which was al-
lowed by all to he the private and personal property
of the Sovereign, and the savings from it devisable
by the will of his Majesty, or descendable to his
heir, as much- as any description of private pitt-
perry 'belonging to any of their Lordships. It
was at the sok disposal of- the Soveteign him-
self ; and ,he -had ample reason to kootv ho'
-great a portion of it hail been appropriated by our
gtacious but afflicted Sovereign, while his ca,pa-
city holteo, to acts o 1 teal eh:oily and beeevo.
hence. The food was uniformly recognized as
sacred by Parliamcnt, and'invi'olable, as the pd.
vote property of the Sovereign. His benevolent
arrangements were aniply-fitllirtved tip by the la-
mented Personage. who afterwards had the listri-
bution 'of it 5 and it was well known also how-
great a portion of her own resources was expended
iu the satire benign puipoes i'Fle could not think
the Noble Earl had taken a fair -view of this Ott
Of the subjeci, especially as, regarding the present
Custos., The moue! Oils claims and. objections
which it woul,d attach to that Illustrious Person
shodld be' considered, and the little prospect
there existed of % shilling of the money merging
in Iris pucker. Indeed, it must .be generally
knOWn, that no Man whatever could be invested
with such a situation without its involving a very
consid, liable expence. It should be considered
who received ths vast savings which arose hoot
recent events, 'especially the libe'ral relinquish-
e
ment to the- public of the sum of 58,000/ per
ann. by his Royal Highness the PriUce Regent.
~Besides this, the whole establisliment'was reduced
front 100 to 50,0001. per annum, maki,,g, witlit
those he had allotted to, an aggregate savine of
90,0001. per annum. The abet arson of the grant
determieed, after much deliberation, to be
_con-
tinued,by Parliament, woolds.be in the teeth 'of
that decision, mid inconsistent-wHi Aliose princi-
ples of fairpcss,libetaloy, and jitstice with which
Parliament had nuifornily aced in refeteuce to
-this most important subject, .
The Marquess of BUCKINGIiAM argued turciblk
, .
in favour of the arrangement, but more particu-
larly with respect to the proposed Grant to the
person so properly appointed to fill the important
('thee of Custos Persorm. He ,seemed to think the
Grant so far from improvident, that, in a prenoiary
Voila of view, it wonld be but of little advantage
to the 111ustrious -Personage in 'question. , His
Lordship also was in favour of keeping' up air -
eit ablithwent for our venerable and afflicted Sove-
reign to a certato extent, commensurate with ideas _
of regal splendour, ,That a reletence to the possibi- ,
HI (and in Such a case he thought possibiliyies ra-
ttier than probabilitia-should be regard( d), of a
restoration of his Majesty to a healthy state of
ntind, even were it tempormy, as it must ft,ttit- '
rally have a MOSE oniavoarable- effect upon his
feelings to pereeive'himself divested of the urdi-
-
nary appendages of 'Royalty. .
The Earl of LAVDERDALC argued warmly in,
favour of lie. proposed Gyant to his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Fork--a grant which he. thought
should not be so much eonsideled in.the light of
a salary, as of a vtmuneraiion for eOraordinarf
expences. For, these, he contended-, it would be
tar trout excessive ; few of their Lordships, per-
haps, 'had an idea of the number and amonoi of
the expellees incident to rite situation. He per-
fecily agreed with ;he Noble Earl 6Ra:ice, that
it; was iiiipOssible that. -Vas liament coold, codsis:-
i-otir, charge the annoint opon the Priyy Purse,
'whreli would go to involve a violation of private
property of a most dangerous charicter. Th;:.;
Act ender which that fund was conferred opois
Ithe Sovereign, so fully veste4 It, us to nrake the,
pioceeds liable to the Sovereign's debts, it he '
0.,,,,,1 ,my; and these, in a possible case, may be
disposed of for tlia benefit of his Majesty's erctli.