Star.
London, England, 1820-05-06 00:00:00

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distinctions, stood his afflicted country in no larger
a sum than 11. 18s. Bd. a. year !—(Loud laughter).—
Next came the Minister of St. Botolph's, and, as he
descended, appeared .hose more useful, mere indus-
trious, and not less eminently distinguished Officers
of State, namely, the Churchwardens of St. John the
Baptist, at salaries of £l. 3s. and £5. each ! Then
came the Schoolmaster of Southwark—in short, the
ark itself contained nothing like the variety of the
seventh class l—(Loud laughter). Here were sped-
. mens of every description of human beings—Clergy,
Laity, Gents, and Nobles ! Nor were they always
sorted together in -pairs, as in the ark—but four or
five of the same species were combined together ;
sometimes, perhaps, for the sake of variety, there was
but one of the same kind. The Universities appeared
conspicuous in the seventh class. There were Regius
Professors in abundance, Corporations, a Mayor, a.
Minister of the Savoy, &c. But, not satisfied with
these terrestrial objects, they must also include celes-
tial ones. There was the Astronomer Royal, at a
salary of £62. 10s.; the Master of Christ's Hospital,
the Genealogist, the Master of the Hawks, the Mas-
ter of the Ceremonies, the Marshal of the Ceremo-
nies, &c. But even the beasts of the forest were not
deemed unworthy the dignity of a place in the se-
venth class ! Het e was a salary to the Keeper of the
Lion. in the Tower, and a Latin Secretary was re-
tained at £7O a-year ! There was next an Exchequer
Watchman ! He (Mr. Brost ham) did not know if'
the Ri!...ht Hon. Gentleman was acquainted with this
personage—(llnch laughter). But for his part, pro-
vided the watchman did his duty, he would not
grudge him a larger salary. There were, perhaps,
five of these dignitaries, who had together a salary
of £lOB a-year. Tu his sorrow, however, he found
in another part, that these Gentlemen watched to the
tune of thousands per annum ! All that he wished
from them was, that they would produce much bet-
ter evidences of their official activity in the Exche-
quer department, than were to be found in the un-'
fortunate confusion of the Civil List. He had been
turned aside front the immediate subject of the mo-
tion by these remarks, but they would be found ser-
viceable towards the general object be had in view.
He wished that what was necessary to support the
honour and dignity of the Crown should be given.
Ile objected to have this arrangement made for the
life of the Sovereign, be it short—which GOD forbid,
or be it long, which he anxiously hoped for. But
let it continue, as long as there was found no reason
to alter it, by mutual consent. Why was a grant
made only for life? because the Sovereign granted
his hereditary revenue only for life. But this limited
commu ation was the most ridiculous blunder that
could w ell be committed. IVhat was the consequence
in the Lae reign of sixty sears? Tins, that
meat had to maks' six hew trrangemsnts of the Civil
List during that time, and to pay eight times the
arrears of the Civil List, and sometimes thc,e fresh
art ange4nents occurred within a short ir.terval. It a
commutation extending only to the lite of the Sove-
reign were made, if the life were shot t, it might be
too much—it long, to o little. The only remedy was
for Parliament to take permanent possession of all
these Revenues, carry them to the Consolidated Fund,
and pay the Sovereign a settled annuity instead—to
keep separate from the provisions of the Crown the
salaries of Judges, the salary of the Speaker of the
House of Commons—a provision, next to that of the
Monarch, that ought to be the least grudged by the
country. By all means, however, have the expenses
provided for by estimates; and, if necessary, there
ought to be a Civil List extraordinary. In this man-
ner only could the digrity of the Sovereign be best
consulted, a cLir and necessary arrangement of the
civil exiendittire seemed, and economy satisfied.—
With respect to the Droits of the Admiralty, he
would only remind the House that they possessed all
the bad qualities v,hich rendered revenues of this
nature the objects of dislike to Parliament. They
were occasional, coming at intervals—sometimes
slowly, sometimes in a lump, and, what was worse
than all, they could be turned-wit:: the greatest faci-
lity to a bad account. In proof of this lie should
mention, that in Iso7 the slim of £118,050 carnv
into the hands of the Sovereign, all at once, by the
lunacy of a rich person. Some time after, anoiher
stint came in in like manner, of £47,000 ; in 1809, a
sum of 1:62M00. Ile did not cite these sums to
complain of their enormity, but he objected to their
irregularity, because some such sum might by acci-
dent be brought into the hands of the Soveiek,,n
at some unlucky season—at the eve of a General
Election, for instance. Again, to mention other,
instances of the accidental falling in of money :
in 1801, the confiscation of a ship produced to the
Crown the sum of £105,000. Another shortly after
brought in £40,000; another, in 1798, £60,000.
But the proceeds of the Dutch prizes amounted to
£1,030,000, the Spanish prizes to £2,200,000. Such
was the irregularity of the proceeds; but there was
one circumstance which would no doubt give rise to
serious reaction in the. minds of the House. In
1306 his Majesty was graciously pleased, out of his
great goodness and condescension, and in considera-
tion of the burthens of the country, to send down
a Message to Parliament that he was willing to lay
one million out of the Droits at the disposal of the
house, with a view to relieve the digresses of the
people. In answer to this gracious Message, the
Commons returned their most . grateful acknowledg-
ments. Did he charge the Parliament with obse-
quiousness? Certainly not. But our ancestors would
have discovered in these things a strange conversion
of our constitutional order. What ! the Sovereign
coming down to Parliament, and out of his gracious
condescension giving money for the relief of the dis-
tresses of his subjects—to Parliament, whose functions
it was to controul the provisions of the Sovereign,
and instead of the King asking for pecuniary aid
and. the• Parliament granting rt—the Crown giving
an. the Parliament thanking him for the donation.
There was a part of the funds which were of a per-
manent nature, though not of large amount, which
required to be spoken of; namely, the surplus reve-
nues,from Batbadoes and the Leeward Islands, and
the Civil, List of 'Scotland. The first of these did
riot amount trilnose than £25,000, and the second
consumedlin liensions, without the knowledgr
or contioul of Parliament. The services for which
these pensions. were ranted, might be good or bad,
or there might be no services at all. So that in fact,
these windfalls might easily be converted to effect
niitchicf—to make a job ; he did not mean to use