Star.
London, England, 1820-05-26 00:00:00

his present Majesty might have dispensed with as
Regent, which, in his more exalted station, were abs
solutely imperative. There were two or three ob-
vious ones; for instance, the establishments'of Wind-
sor Castle and Buckingham House must be sup-
ported by his Majesty._ Still, however, nothing more
was asked than what had been granted in 1816 ;
though the expenses had since then increased, the
charges on the Nation were to remain the same. It
had been observed, that the change in the prices of
articles of consumption might allow a diminution of
the former settlement; but he would put it to the
justice and liberality of their Lordships, if they
would look so narrowly at the arrangements neces-
sary for the maintenance of the Royal dignity, as to
allow them to be regulated by the fluctuation in the
prices of the common articles of life? but, in fact,
there was no foundation for any such change on the
ground of high or low prices, as it was well known
that, at the time of the sitting of the Committee, in
1816, the prices were lower than at present, on ac-
count of the great fall in the value of agricultural
produce. The Noble Lord said, that there had been
former arrangements which had been really more li-
beral than the present.. It was right, whatever was
granted, whether more or less than eight or nine hun-
dred thousand pounds, should be expended is his
Majesty thought fit, subject to the controul of-Par-
Lament only in case of any great excess. The prin-
ciple to be acted on was that of Mr. Burke's Bill, in
178(2, and that of the Bill of 1816, by which a classi-
fication was established as to expenses, and a limita-
tion as to the mode, and thereby a check was placed
on any tendency towards extravagance. The sums
voted could not, according to the present plan, be ap-
plied to any abusive purpose, nor could the excesses
of one department be shifted to another. The limita-
tion wit.:, that if the expenses of any one year ex-
ceeded the income by fifteeen thousand pounds, then
was an obligation thereby created of laying the
whole before the inspection of the Parliament.—
Ile had promised not to trouble the House with the
details of the subject; but there was one branch of
it which he could not avoid remarking upon—be-
cause a motion relative to it had been made, and
certain accounts connected with it laid upon the
table. It was the third class to which he alluded,
and which comprised the allowances to Ambassa-
dors, and the salaries and expenses of foreign depart-
ments. That motion was preliminary to another,
which had kr its obkzt a new arrangement of the
Civil List, by separating the King's Household from
the Departments of State. He had strung objec-
tions to such a measure. Ile should be sorry that
in the arrangements of the Civil List they should
separate the King from the Civil Government. It
was of the greatest consequence that his Majesty
should be looked to as the source of all power in the
State, as well as the fountain of mercy and ho-
nour—(Hear, heal).— It would be highly unbe-
coming if he were to be made a mere pensioner of
Parliament. Our ancestors had acted wisely when
they connected the Royal expenditures with those of
the Civil Government. As to the allowances to
Ambassadors to Foreign Courts, they were regu-
lated in a manner most advantageous to the public
interest. Before 1816 they were indefinitely at the
disposition of the Crowd ; but it was felt by the
Committee then that a distinction ought to exist be-
tween regular salaries and. allowances and extra dis-
bursement.. The Committee therefore recommended
that these extra disbursements should come under
the specific notice of Parliament, by being specially
voted as they arose. This was acted upon. It had
been objected that these expenses ought to be re-
duced to .something like a certainty, and that esti-
mates ought to be laid before Parliament of the
amount of the salaries; but surely the persons who
received the appointments should not be expected to
do more as to expense, than not to run in debt.—
The allowances'in general were hardly sufficient to
maintain them without the assistance of a private
fortune. By the arrangement of 1816 the Public bad
the full advantage of any saving arising out of the cir-
cumstances of the country ; it was not so on some for-
mer occasions. The saving in one class did not now go
in aid of excess in another; but in the third class the
saving went to the Consolidated Fund. This branch
Parliament could move for an account of annually, to
ascertain whether the expenses were greater than
the exigencies of the Government. It was not ne-
cessary that estimates should be given in, but if any
circumstances should occur like those which had
h p iened a few ,ears ago, when we were shut out
fwai the Centinenr, and of course had no Ambassa-
dors there, the country should have the advantage
of the consequent reduction. By the present classi-
fication Parliament would be better enabled to in-
vestigate them if all the accounts were brought in
as a single one. There was one more point he wished
to say a few words upon. Ile meant the Droits of
the Admiralty, and other casual revenues of the
Crown. Those casual revenues, it was well known, in
1760, belonged to the Crown, and Parliament had
made the settlement then with as perfect a know-
ledge of that fact as it had in 1816. There should
be no obligation to bring these revenues before the
House, is long as the King did not come to Parlia-
ment for the payment of his debts; in that case,,
indeed, Parliament ought not to be excluded from
all necessary inquiry. But the present Act went so
far as to give a security which never existed before,
that an annual account should be laid before Parlia.-
, ment of the amount of the casual revenues, and the
expenditure of those revenues. The Droits occurred
chiefly in time of war, and their application de-
pended necessaiily upon circumstances. His Lord-
ship then re-stated, that the Bill asked for no addi-
tion to the means granted by that of iSi6, notwith-
standing the change in his Majesty's expenses, which
had since taken place. By the present arrangements
there would be a saving of about 140,0001. annually,
in certain departments ; but, above all, a security
was given, which did not exist by any Bills previous
to that of 1816—that if, in any one year, the expen-
diture of the Civil List exceeded the income by
15,0001. the whole account should be laid before Par-
liament. His Lordship then concluded, by moving
the second reading of the Bill.
Loci" KING said, that there was the same studied
ambiguity and perplexity in the present Bill, as
isormed the grand source of objection to all former
arrangements. He'did not approve of the present
mode of classifichar cationed on , nor
the Civil that thList e expenditure should
be partly g,