Star.
London, England, 1816-05-04 00:00:00

INCOME TAX.

Mr. BROUGHAM, is rising to move for copies
of the circular letters from the Tax Office, to the
Surveyor-General of the Income Tax, in March,
May, and August, 1818,and in April, 1816, wished
to state his motivcs. He learned lately toat there
had been a circular sent round to all the .Surveyors
to, return full and complete copies 0 the assess-
ments of every man's property, a full mouth after
the Property Tax was put An ctul to by tha Hoe
such a decided manner, it was hoped that it should
be heard of no more. Now he coital isot know wkat
could be the object of keeping those copies in the of-
fice, if it was not with a view to return to that ac-
cursed tax at some 'future period. The copies were

ordered to be made out in the neatest and must cc*. •
sect mintier, and he could nut conceive any other
purpose than tl!at
,which he had alluded to, and if
the Right Hon. Gentleman could
.state that- there
hid not been sucs a letter issued in April, he should
move that copies of those circulars be laid :before the
-
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCI-3.EQVER
was not'aware of the litter alluded tot but he -could
not state that it had nut beta issued. The liouie
must be aware that many irregularities had taken
place in the Cullection, and that there were still arrears
sh;e, and he supposed it with a view to those the re.
turn of the assessments was required. -
Mr. DROUGUAM repeated that the assessments
.wie ordered to be copied over in 'the neatest and
Stint exact mariner, as if they were- to serve for re-
Lords on a future Occasion. He therefore moved that
,copies of Lheux be laid Wore the Hee*.
' The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
slkd no objection to the production.
caerAl wigtott to koow whedxv

* .

there was to be one rule for the collection of the ar-
rears in Scotland and England.
The motion was then agreed to. 7
MARRIAGE OF Till PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. "
Lord CASTLEREAGH ptie notice, that he
would onf.Mtinday.move for an, Address of eingr4-
tulation to his itoyal iiiFtmess the Prince Regent,
an the mama*, of. the Princess Charlotte and Prince
Leopold.
The CHANCEL LO It of the EXCHEQUER
moved, 'that the House do at its rising this day ad-
journ to Monday.
CIVIL LIST.
Lord CASTLEREAGH having moved the order
of the day. for the consideration of the Report of the
Committee on the Civil Lid. the Noble Lord said, that
in calling the attention of the House to this important
question, hews aware that there never came before
the House a subject more embarrassing to his Ma-
jesty's Ministers than the• consideration of the Civil
List expenditure, for its nature was so complicated,
and referred to matters so minute, that it was ea-
u-met; difficult to indece Gentlemen to pay it all the
attention it merited. 'rise expenditure of the Civil
List was a subject too often misunderstood, for
as it affected, the exPenditure of the Sovereign, it oc-
casioned in a free Government like ours a considera-
ble jealousy ; but the Civil List embraces much more
than the-personal expenses of the Sovereign. and the
support of his Royal dignity. The greater propor-
tion included much of the public expenditure, and
WAS 33 distinct from the private expenses as were the
estimates of the Army and Navy. From the esti-
mate of the Civil List,. it was fair to put aside the
establishments of the junior branches of the Royal
Family, as that charge must depend altogether on
their number; and also he would be justified in re-
moving from the view of the House. the amount of
the expenditure at Windsor, and after the deduction
of these items, the amount of the Civil List would be
£lO9OOO, of which only £l-09,090 Wass eppri.
priated to the use of the Sovereign, including the
£60,000 which were assigned for vie Privy purse.—
The great mass of debts that had arisen on the Civil
List, did not accrue from the-expenses of the Sove-
reign, but from the necessary discharge of the.public
.service. The expenditure of that part of the Civil
List which affected the public service in the last
yeir. when compared-with the Estimate in let 4, ex-
ceeded that by about two huddled thousand pounds,
but it was in consequence at our increased intercourse
with the Continent ; but let the House consider
what wits the Civil List allowed to the Sovereigns of
other countries for their private expenses. lie did
not desire to draw those countries as teti example for
us, but merely to rebut any invidious remarks that
might be made on the extravagance of the inaivid oat
who held, the supreme power in England. • In France,
the Civil List amounted, w twenty-four of
livres, .one million sterling, which should be, directly
opposed to the four hundred thousand:pounds to
which he had alluded; for, independent of that
,lion, the junior branches of the Royal Family of-
France had separate eitiontaz-r. . The Noble 1.6n.1
then chewed that the revenue alitted for delra)ing
the Civil List since the accession of ;•
jesty, had been ioadequate to
,deqay the charges uti
it, but that his Majesty. had accepted ctl.,the art ange-
ment froth an anxicty of economy... 4-1.0
he retained the revenue psssesied by hi's, immediate.
'predecessor, which was in its nature fructifying and
improbable, he would hive saved te6,300,000.----
Preparatory to. the introduction of hii Bill, he
should divide the question into three heads—first,
he should take a retrospective view of the Civil
List=secoadly. lie should open the best prospec-
tive view he could take of its future regulation
—compare the expenditure with the revenue, as it
now stands—and shew how far the funds were inade-
quate ; and en this head he hoped he should be en-
abled to shew the House that, in every Committee
appointed to consider the Civil List, it had ever. been
, admitted that the revenue was inadequate, 'and that
some period should come when a remedy Mg be
' applied. Peace was the period—for this rearm, that,
Bering war. many extraordinary aids were obtained—
such as Droits, wlsith the Crown might render avail-
able to cover the expenditure. Sdly.. He should
thew that prospective regulations might be looked
to, which, while they upheld the dignity of the
Crown, would also relieve the embarrassments. The
first point to which he would refer was, the amount
of the Civil List Expenditure for the last forty years:
lip to 1811, it averaged • - AtIOOPPO
In 1812, it atnuunted to , • - 1,950,W)
Its 1815, it amounted to - . 1074,000
In 1814, it amounted to . • - • 1,361,000
In 1815, it amounted to • . *1,436,000
1n 1816, it amounted to 1,480,000.
To meet this, the estimate amounted on an average
to about a million, which, on the face of it, had a,
tendency to create debt. The aggregate amount of
debt since 180 a, was A 23500,800, of which
ment defrayed £R762.000, and the Crown liquidated
the remainder, by turning to that object Droits, the
-Scotch Civil List,.and the produce of the West India
Consignments. The revenoes.of the Civil List were
so manifestly inadequate, that if the Sovereigns in-'
curved debts, it was his misfortune not his fault. He,.
however, would not now call an the House to defrar,l
any debts coitracted
,up to January last. The se-
cond point was the consideration of. the prospective
effect of the revenues of the Civil Litt, and the mea-
sures best suited for their regulation. Daring the
preceding year, Parliament increased the estimate of
.theCiv,l List, in consequence of - the increased value
of the necetasaries of life. • The amount of this esti-
mate was 4.1.468,000. The course which his Mal
jesty's Ministers thought, it most prudent to adopt,
was, to appoint a Commission, to consider the whole
of the subject, and to recommend to his Royal High-
ness what they conceived to, e a fair and proper ex-
penditure to assign for the different branches of the
Household; and those persons also were charged
with carrying the investigation into otherbranches of
the public service, and directed to estimate what the
',future charge was likely to be, 'as compared with the
expenditure of former periods.. 'their estimate of the
prospective services was, 141,339,495. The estimate
of the last year amounted to 41,478,000. There
was, therefore, a reductioa of proposed expense, ex-
ceeding 41996000. Gentlemen would here permit
him to call their attention to a very important feature
of the Civil List. la consequence of the indisposition)
of his Majesty, an expenditure had taken place,-in.''
some or branches of the Royal service, double
aniquatvf what it formerly was.

therefore, what was the fair charge on the Civil Lit,'
it was absolutely necessary to separate it from that
which was of an extraordinary nature, and which had
been created sby unforeseen circumstances. In con-
aegis:ince of our having a Monarch dr fa" and a
Monarch dr fore, considerable additional expense had
been incurred. If it were not for his Majesty's 1.-
rnentable situation; the country would not have been
.charged with £lOO,OOO for the Windsor Establish-
ment, £60,000 for the 'Privy Purse, and £lO,OOO
Fier. annum, which was paid separately to the Queen.
this sum of £170,000 ought not certainly to be con-
sidered as part of the regular Civil L'st expenditure.
4,1 t was proposed in the, year 181% and received the
sanction of Parliament, as necessary to the comfort
and convenience of the suffeting Monarch and his
Consort. If, therefore, they compared the estimate
of the prospective serv*.ce, with that of 1811 ar 1804,
deducting this stun, of £170,000, which strictly.had
nothing to do with the Civil List, the real expenditure
would be found to be £1,169,000. Then came the
question, what proportion of this expense has Parlia..
nient contemplated ? When he used this expression,
lie did not mean that Parliament were pledged
in consequence of the Report of the Cornmittaa.—
Because, Hen. Gentkmen might say, that unless the
House at large sanctioned the opinion of the Com-
mittee—unless Parliament adopted it as their own—
it was not binding in any way whatever. There was,
however, independent' of the opinion stated by the
Committee, an expenie to which he conceived they
had given very great countenance, if nut a positive
legislative sanction by an Act of Parliament. He
here alludedsto that law which regelated the period
at which the Civil Li,t accounts should be laid before
the House, with a view to the adoption of some
measure on the general subject. The House, on that
occasion, dechled, that when the Civil List exceeded
by Cl 24,000 the estimate of 1804, that then the state
of its expenditure should come under the view of
Parliament, to consider what steps it would be neces-
sary ao take. He was,' therefore, desirsus of com-
paring the true and strict estimate of the Civil List
expenditure, setting, aside the charge of the establish-
ment at Windsor, with the scale of expense which
Parliament sanctioned,•on an average of-seven years,
up to the year 1811. He had already. stated that
the estimate of the prospective expense was
£1,169,000. Comparing this with the royal expen-
diture, on an average of seven years, en:ling with
1311, which was 5e1,104,000, it would be seen that
the difference between the ten sums would be.
k3.5,0:)0. If, therefore, he wits correct'in his state-
nasnt, he did not think that lie was calling ash Parlia-
ment to make a very great provision, for the Civil
List, being only 435,000 more than wharthe House
thought :iecessnry for supporting the splendour of
the Crown, up to 1811. And it Gentlemen -Consi
sikred that the estimate of 1811 was not founded on
the price of nricles in the latter years, which .were
by far the most expensive, he thought the House
would be of opinion, that an addition of £65,000
etas not too great for new and prospective services.
?shay, what was the increased growth.of expense that'
I sailed fo tit's sem of 65,0:i0 ? In considering this,
lit was eectssary that h' should unite the experalhare
lof the Windsor establishment with that of the other
branches ii.at were to 'be provided for, Making a
gross esper se to the amount of 81,339,495, Telclng
Exchequerthe fees at forte..eight thousand- pounds,
and the Scotch Civil List at tam thousand pounds,
the totals amount of the Civil List revenue would be
41,088,000, which, deducted from £1 ,339,000, the •
estimate of the prospective services left a deficibncy"
of £251,000, of which aE170,000 giew was of the
malady of the King. They were, therefore, to con-
sider how this aid of £251,000 was to be given.—
There were two ways in which this relief might be
granted. First, by voting an addition to the Civil
List-sand next, by withdrawing certain charges, now
payable. from that fund, according to the sum which
the H .use might think proper to relieve the Civil
List from., For many reasons he was anxious that
the latter' plan should be adapted. He did not wish
that the Civil List should be augmented, or that any
additional aid should be given to the Crown, which
would be out of the jurisdictiorsof Parliament—but
he aas desirous orleaving the Crown in possession
of a certain revenue, by withdrawal from 11* Civil
List the burden of providing for expenses of a peculiar'
description, which would ',Foyer every charge that
could fairly be made on it, Those. charges should
be as fixed. and unchangeable as possibli ; for he was
sure the House would (eel, that many of the demands
male on the Civil List-were of so fluctuating a na-
ture, that they midst-not *be defrayed out of a settled
and regular rate. At those items were very
high, at others they were extremely. low. So that,
considering them,.*the Civil List was either extrava-
gantly provided for at one Moment, or inadequate to
meet them at another, For, two reasons, he con-
cejved.thesnouse ought;tn agree to the withdrawal
of particular items from the Civil. List. Finst, be-
cause the charges to. which' he alluded were not de-
fined,. nad ware. exceedingly fluctuating is their
•amount ; and netts because, being of this fluctuatingj
nature, they ought, a fortiori, to be brought specifi-
Ally under the consideration of Parliament.- This
fund-being granted to support the-splendour and dig-
ility .of the Coawn, it ought not to be burdened with
expenses created' by the political situation of the'
country. The expense of his ( Lord Castiereagh's)
office, for instance, ought not to be defrayed from the
Civil List. That. expenee, on account of the state
of the Contihenr, might vary from 150 to 4'250,000
per annum. His proposition therefore was, not to
vote any thing in aid of the Civil List revenue, but
to withdraw those charges from it which it could not
cover, and-which were of a fluctuating nature, From
the first . class of the Civil List, he proposed to with-
draw a charge of £30,500 a-year, and to transfer it
to the Consolidated Fund.. This formed a part of
the provision for the junior brandies of the Royal
Family. Last year, it was in contemplation to with-
draw from the Civil Ltst Me charge of one hundred
thousand. pounds for the Windsor Establishment.
Bute as there was a saving on the List, it was consi-
dered that, if o burthen of one hundred thousand-
pounds were taken from it, relief would be too
extensive. There was a particular motive for with-
drawing this charge of £30,500. By so doing, the
income of the junior branches of the Royal Family
would be consolidated—it would be derived from
one source, and not from several., and; in .the event
of the demise of stay of that illustrious Personages,
the saving would benefit the Coasefigeted Feud, aud,

not the Civil List. The second sum he
pose to withdraw from the fourth class,
Lord Chamberlain's department, wilicl
some branches that were exrrem.Ay A.
From the bianch of the Bmir.l of Wort
with tlit repair of pubic (.IV!es, he

draw a thirge of £lO,OOO, and 815,09'
other diviiion of time Lovi Crmmberlain'

—that of providirg plate for foreign
The charges tinch.r both these heads wi
capable of being reduced to a ~.d esti
then was a deduction of twenty7ti% e thoi
from the fourth class. In th‘.. sever:

would he a small reduction ut-
with the Orduance. Department, A

together with scm! smaller itar.s, 'lota

blanch of the Civil List from a charge
The greatest alteration would take plai
head of occasional payments; %Odell flu/
great a degree as to prevent their being
the estimate for.tlio year. Last year, tl
to 4278,000. That was estimated on ,
two quarters of the preceding year. Bin
period of peace, he thought it was not ,
form a proper e.!imate of the probable ex,
casional payments. For these he allow;./] cfyiio9,
instead of £278,000, which also should V e.:it1;,i;4311
,
from the Civil List. These sums, altogether, amon.
ted to 4255,668, and the relief wanted was, !woo
The whole result would he, that, taking the atm,2o;
of the Civil List at 51,339,000, and de,turaive ,rottt
it 4251,000, it would leave a sum of I.oBtWo, to
answer the particular purposes fur which the kw
was granted. lf. the third class, there wuuld be i
saving in the salaries of Foreign Ministers of sit
thousand four hundred pounds. The whole amnia
was twenty-six thousand four hundred minds, but a
would be reduced to ten thousand pounds. '!'Errs
would be also a saving, according to the new eni.
mate, of ten thousand p.Junds, under the head of liion.
suls. The next branch in which a saving 1.4 d breil
made. was in the fourth class, which com:nisea th
four great divisions of the household. Web eon
_ _

1404/1"
that fi
reason
this s ,
Pe
ibt

deration had been bestowed in pointing out wha
saving could be here effected. Ministers, in their
westigation,•did not determine, tar the purpose of
pulanzing themselves, to make too great a red
non, which would render it necessary tor the Crowx
at a fu:uprperiod, to apply to Parliament for aid_
neither were :they very sparing in lowering ibt
amount of czpense. There were two extremes, ir.tl
which persons forming an estimate on this part ufdt
eipenditure might fall. Some in;:ht give an amourt
of income,' unnecessary and improvidem—whip
othets_might propose a sum for this branch of tht
service, quite inadequate to meet the eveise,
thill-coMpOi the Crown to appi7 t the liberality
garliament. Between these two extremes ci extra,
vagance and parsimony the present estimate We
formed. The expenditure in the fourth clasi eat
last year, two hundred send Erty•four thousand mkt
—it was rated, in the new ettirtate, at two bunired

!p Jac
Vtinci

itsAbi
Droll
funds

iwou

and thirty thousand pounds, being a ;ay.') y , • t Anfl
liour thousand pounds. There Vasa recluctior, in th
Lord Steward's department, independent of the thin I
thous:au! pounds which the settleanent of the Prince
Charlotte had rendered -armee- sttry. The estim.
of last year., was due hundred and eigin thousand
pounds. Frnrs this twelve thousand p:pund t, tor.
valtecly expended Au the ;device et th; Princess "Char.
lone, was to be dedentedsnithich• left alum of niatu-
,
six thousand pounds ; 'and it was proposed to 4:10a
only eighty-five thousand pounds for this de pas noon,
instead of ninety-six thousand pounds. Tae
of the 'Board ot Workiswas esriaatned somethinn
der the amount of last year. There waejor
riod, forty thousand pounds pay .ble from
List, and ten thousand pounds casual expensos, alnit
we're to be submitted to- Parhament. Itnii.endeet rf
this, there were two other sums of In:if-five tbsn
nod pounds, and fifteen thousand pounds, also Icr
casual expenses—and, reducing the itoto which List
year was forty-five thousand pounds, to fort/ :Tut:.
sand pounds, it would. leave the total .anount, nuke
this head, at £105,000. The expenses jd the depart.
meet ot the Master of the Horse amonnted, lasnnear,
to £45,000, exclusive of 81tn(XX), :Or the service
.of the Princess Charlotte, which was now dispensed
with. Instead of £15,000, it was proposed to take
£40,000. The result of these deductions, would be,
that the whole of the fourth class, the expense of which,
last year, was £254,000, would, according to the
prospective estimate; demand only £230,000. If
compared with the amount of the loarth class, on an
average of seven years up to 1811, it would be found
that the expenditure was then 4259,000 per annum,.
and, in the year 1816, it was ,0270,000. It was now.
proposed to expend only £1230,000, being £29,000
less than the actual expenditure of 1811. There
were two grounds on which they wore enabled to in-
troduce those economical regulations. The first wrs
the diminution in the price of every article—and the
next, that the expenses, which, for years, were more
or less incurred in the maintenance and education of
the Princess Charlotte, were now at an end. A con-
siderable-saving had als6 been latterly made, by din•
continuing the system of famishing the apartments
of the ;lam branches of the Royal Family ; an el.
pense winch was formerly charged on the Lord
Chamberlaia's department. A large men had like.
wise been laid down, which had been formerly ex•
pended in the equipment of the Royal Household in
plate and furniture; this would not occur again, at
least in so extensive a degree. Oa. all these grounds,
be thought, that in proposing an estimate 4'19,00
less, in this department, than it was in 1811, he was
not misleading the House, or deceiving himself ; but
bringing forward that which was founded Oh a true
and just consideration of what the necessity of the
case called for. He had omitted to nbserve, that, in
the sth branch, a saving was effected by relieving it
from the issue of articles in kind, and granting a pe•
cuniary allowance in lieu thereof. Taking die tourth
and fifth classes together, which embraced the whole
household expenditure, except the privy purse, there
would .be found a very large saving. There was an in-
crease, in the filth class, as compared with the Esti-
•mate of 1811---and a small -increase of 02,100 as
compared with the Estimate et last year, which prin-
cipally arose from compensations that had been
granted to some of the Royal Servants. The exr-ae
in this class was last year £137,600, it was now
8140,000. The amount of expenditure in the fout
and fifth classes was, for a period of seven years, up
no 1811, 8378,000 per annum. on an average; acrd
this charge, he couteadej, teccived tl:c

e shoal,
s, that of
ich cnmpri. haw
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e should 1,i,t0 14
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