Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-03-29
"THE QUEENS PAY"
What the Royal Family of Englan'
Costs.

Statute 1, 1897, 'for the maintenance |
the Queens household at the honor and |
dignity of the Crown" amounted in
gross to 9385,0O0 a year Besides be-
ing sovereign the Queen is also Ouch |
ess of Landcaster, and derives from her
we'll managed ducal possession further
varying an annual income, averaging,
say, 926, 600. It Is, however, the form
er amount only that comes out of the
Consolidated fund-that is out of the
revenues of the kingdom: and from
the 1856, 900 SO derived must first be
fairly deducted, before estimating the
Royal national income, the charge
thrown on the civil list, for pensions,
at the rate of FL, 200 a year, for with
those pensions the sovereign has really
nothing to do. What their amount
now reaches does not appear. The
civil list of f3S5, 600 is also charged
with G13, ZOO year for ''royal bounty.
aims and special services" which fall
Oh the Queen as representing the nation,
and diminish the income personally
enjoyed by her Majesty.
What ever the net income of the
Queen under the the act of 1887 may
| be, it is notorious. That it is less
in amount. than that of her Majesty's
predecessors for the last one hundred
and seventy years, and in purchasing
powers than during by far the greater
part of that period; 2. That it does
not reach the income possessed by the
other great sovereigns Of Europe;
g. That Queen Victoria has not ex-
ceeded In her expenditure, as most of
! her predecessors in that time did, her
civil list; and 4, has not had the other
pecuniary resources which they one and
all had, from Queen Ann down to Viii
liam "
Queen Ann had an annual provision
! from Parliament of 100000 year,
whereon debts accumulated during the
twelve years of her reign of 1000, 900,
which Parliament had to discharge.
George 1. had cival list Of similar
amount, but in reign of twelve years
Parliament had to pay it's debts to the
extent of 91,OoO,O In the thirty
three years of the reign of George II.
the debts on his civil list of 9S00,00
were 9453, 000 which we're also dis
charged by Parliament, and III the lat
ter years of his rule the taxes assigned
to him for the civil list, there being
then no consolidated fund to charge
it on, produced more than the G800, 900
by about half million. The civil list
of George III. was originally $500, 600
a wear: at the end of seventeen years
it was increased to 100000, subse-
quently to e960, 900, and in the latter
years of his life it was augmented to
81, 100000. Nevertheless, in the course
of his reign of sixty years debts ON his
civil list were iquidated by Parliament
out of taxation by the large sum of
| f3, 81, 600. In his reign, too the cas-
ual revenues and debts Of the crown
| which had not been surrendered to the
nation produced e12,000,000 and were
received by the skiing for his personal
use. And until the then Prince of Wales
reached his majority, George III. took
for himself the income of the Duchy
of Cornwall. The civil list of George
~ was 9510, 900, and that of William
". the same amount. Neither of these
monarchs incurred debts that Parlia-
ment had to meet, but both, in addi-
ton to the civil list, were in receipt of
the revenues of the Duchy of Corn
wall
No doubt the civil lists of the first
| four of these sovereigns were charged
with some public Liabilities and abused
by unrestricted pensions from which
the present civil list is free But the
value of money was generally in those
reigns. but part of that of George III.
excepted much greater than it is now
all the sovereigns OF the house of Han
over had incomes derived from that
kingdom, which the Queen has not; and
| they all had inherited private fortunes,
while her Majesty inherited nothing,
and had her fathers debts to pay on her
accession to the thrown. During all
these reigns Parliament made separate
provision for the members of the royal
| family.
In the former reign the privy purse
appropriation included that of Queen
Adelaide, who, on becoming Queen
Dowager, had charge on the CONSOLE
dated fund of f1OO, 600 q year; whereas,
the grant to the late Prince Consort
was only 100000 a year. And as the
former sovereign had no children,
while her Majesty had nine children,
who remained and remain a charge on
the civil list until otherwise provided
for, the burden on her civil list
has of course been much greater than
that on the civil list of King William
Notwithstanding the greater pres
sure, and By means of Or
der and economy, the present civil list
has been sufficient for the Queens ex-
penditure and the nurture and educa-
ton of the royal family, and out of it's
economies Osborne has been purchased
and built and maintained.
These civil lists have been granted to
the four last sovereigns on their sur
render to the nation of the royal hered-
itary revenues, the casual revenues
and droits of the crown excepted. This
arrangement originally pecuniarily adj
vantageous to the sovereign, has, by
improved care and management of the
royal property SO surrendered, now be-
come profitable to the nation. Thus,
in the accounts of the receipts and ex-
penditure of the commissioners of her
Maiesty's woods, forests and land rev.
enues for the year ending 31st of
March, 1869, there will be found two
items paid into the consolidated fund
that is, to the nation-amountin to
e45S, 2O6, or e73, 206 in excess of the
civil list of the Queen paid out of the
consolidated fund; and Already in the
course of the present financial year the
crown lands have contributed to the
revenue of the kingdom the sum of
e331, 900. This considerable pecuniary
balance in favor of the nation on the
arrangement of 1897 for the mainten-
ance of the sovereign and the honor
and dignity of the crown is, moreover
irrespective of the other substantial
advantages the country derives from
the arrangement, to the great pecuni-
airy detriment of the sovereign were no
such arrangement i'll existence; for the
hereditary possessions of tie Crown
include the ancient parks in and around
London, which, devoted, in conse-
quence of their transfer against the
civil list, to the nation, are applied
towards the health, the recreation, and
enjoyment of the population of the
metropolis. Without civil list charg-
ed on the consolidated fund, and thrown
on the hereditary possessions of the