ting itself on its hereditary revenues
remained in practice. That system, my Lords, was departed from at the
commencement of the reign of Geo. III.; and a further departure from it
has since taken place, into which I shall, with your Lordships'
permission, examine presently, and compare that departure with those
proposed by the late Government. From the accounts I have seen of the
hereditary revenues enjoyed by Geo. II., I have reason to believe that
were they now enjoyed by our Sovereign, and employed in defraying the
civil expenses of the Government, and sustaining the dignity and
splendour of the Crown, they would amount to a sum larger than would be
necessary to meet those expenses, notwithstanding the increase which has
been made in them by the increased salaries of the judges, the increased
number of the public officers, and the vast increase of the royal family
of England. I say, my Lords, that these hereditary revenues would be
more than adequate to defray all these charges. I believe that these
revenues, independent of droits and West Indian duties, amount, at the
present moment, to 850,000 l. a-year; and these revenues, my Lords, I
consider as much the King's property, as I hold the possessions of your
Lordships to be yours. I make this statement, because it is important
that your Lordships should recollect it, and the public should know that
notwithstanding the magnitude of the expenses of the Sovereign, the
Sovereign has as much right to the sum which I have mentioned, as any of
your Lordships to your own estates. The system of giving the Sovereign
the amount of certain taxes to defray the expenses of the civil
government, was first departed from at the commencement of the reign of
Geo. III., when a fixed sum was appointed, instead of that mode of
payment, for its support. In process of time the expenses of the civil
government increased, and the Civil List became a debt. The consequence
was, that in the year 1815, an inquiry was instituted into the
circumstances which had caused this increase of charges upon the Civil
List, up to the period of the Regency. What was the course then adopted
by Parliament? Why, it was to bring certain charges--as, for instance,
the charges for ambassadors and ministers abroad--under the annual vote
of Parliament; and the immediate object was to avoid thereby the fixing
of any fresh debt, for which no estimate could be previously made, upon
the Civil List. In 1820 it was determin