The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-05-26 00:00:00

Wife
presented by Viscount ilaitoax. from Susses; the
Ike of Beat ►o*T, from the county of Mout-ester ;
the Earl of W AILWICK, from Warwickshire; Lord DAt as.
from Hertfordshire ; and Lord Iterravon, from the
county of Carniartheu.—The petitions were ordered
to lie on the table.

CIVIL J.IPT PILL.

The Order upon whitta their Lordships were sum-
moned being read,
The Earl of LIVERPOOL, pu suant to his notice,
rose to move the second reading of the above Hill. He
did not consider, be observed, that inquiry, previous
to the introduction of the measure, was necessary;
and upon two grounds ;—first, because no measure of
the kind had heretofore been preceded by inquiry; and,
secondly, because the whole subjcrt underwent a
thorough invetoigation in the Session of 1816, re-
specting which a full report had been before Parlia-
ment and the public, and upon which Parliament had
deliberately decided upon an arrangement. In his first
gracious communication from the Throne, his Majesty
expressed his wish that the arrangement should be
founded upon the principle o oich governed that of
1816. The measure then before their Lordships ac-
cordingly proceeded upon that principle, with some
comparatively slight variations corresponding with the
altered state of the Sovereign, from the capacity of
Regent to that of King. Nothing more was required
than what bad been determined upon in 1816, and be
was sure that neither the feelings nor the liberality of
Parliament would induce it to awesome the arrange-
ment so as to make it depend upon the variations in
price of the articles of life from one year to another.
No stable ground could indeed be rested on such &princi-
ple. An important alteration was made in the arrange-
ment of the Civil Li•t expenditure by Mr. Burke's
Bill, and more particularly by the Act of 1816, when.
through the principle of clussitication, an important
beck was plated upon the expenditure of the Civil
List ; and it was•esperially provided, that where the
'expenditure in any one year fortn-d an excess of
5.1100/., a particul it account of the whole expendi-
ture of :he Civil List in such year should be laid before
Parliament. He then particularly adverted to the
,bird class, which included the allowances to &tubas-

iadors to foreign Courts, and which, as all the others,
was calculated and-arranged with a view to strict eco-
nonty—with a view to the particular nature of the
case. He was, as be had said on a former evening,
opposed to the principle of separating the exposes* of
the Crown itself from the other great departments of
the State—there existed not the smallest ground for
altering the course long pursued by Parliament in that
respect. The King was constitutionally regarded not
only; as the bead of the Executive, but the fountain of
all power, dignity, and honour; and on the whole it
was deemed the wiser course to connect the King in
such a measure with the Civil (government of the coun-
try. Adequate provisions were adopted for preventing
the Civil List fr..nt running into debt, and it was com-
petent for Parliament to call for annual accounts if
deemed proper. With respect to the casual revenues
of the Crown, a new arrangement was adopted is
and by the present Act an additional security
was given to Parliament and the public, with respect
sit a due appropriation of the expendiittre, and against