emption from taxes, because he did fo only with a view of fhewing that the expences attending the fupport of the Royal Family, did not encrease in the fame proportion with thofe of other perfons.

With respect to the eftates of Gentlemen having increased, their expences increased alfo : this was not the cafe with the charges of the Civil Lift, for the falaries upon it remained the fame, and there was no other increafe upon it except tbe excefs of thirty fix thoufand pounds upon the different articles of living, as was stated in the Lord Steward's bill. He admitted that this increased expence might have been incurred, but it was more than balanced by a furplus of fifty two thousand pounds, part of which arofe from a diminution of expences fince it was fettled in the manner it now ftood, and part from certain islands in the West Indies. He conceived that the Right Honourable Gentleman was misleading the Committee in his statement concerning the increase of the Hereditary Revenue of the crown, which he did not believe would have fo encreased if it had continued in the hands of the crown. For inftance, the revenue of the Poft Office formed a part of it; and he would ask Gentlemen whether, if that revenue remained with the crown, would they give up the privilege of franking, which had added fo confiderably to its increafe? And befides, would it have all remained at the difpofal of the crown? When King William had this revenue, fo much per week used to be taken away from it, fo that he had received no more than a fixed allowance. But if his Majefty was to take the Hereditary Revenue, he must take the Confolidated Fund and its charges along with it; by which means he would find the Civil Lift more involved than it was at present.With regard to what the Right Honourable Gentleman had faid concerning Jacobins and Anti-Jacobins, he certainly had mifunderstood him; and he had only to say, that he would place his conduct in oppofition to that of the Right Hon. Gentleman, and let the Houfe judge between them.

Colonel Lowther wifhed that the Honourable Gentleman who had mentioned the propriety of increafing the establishment of the Prince of Wales, would inform the Houfe whe ther he had received any intimation, or had reason to believe that his Royal Highnefs had incurred any debts fince the late fettlement of his affairs, or in confequence of any eftablishment that might be neceffary for the young Princefs.

Mr. Tierney faid he was not in the confidence of his Royal Highness, nor had he received any intimitation concerning

his affairs; and if he had, he should not conceive himself bound to answer a question put to him by any individual.

Mr. Tyrwhitt faid he was obliged to the Honourable Colonel for mentioning this fubject, as it furnished him with an opportunity to ftate officially to the House, that his, Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had ever fince the late fettlement of his affairs, ftrictly complied with the terms of that agreement: and that he maintained his Royal Offspring in all the dignity which was fuitable to her exalted rank and future expectations, without incurring one fhilling of debt. A Divifion then took place,

For the Refolution 83-Against it

4.

The next Refolution for fettling twelve thoufand pounds a year on Prince Erneft alfo paffed the Committee, and the Report was ordered to be received on Monday.

The other Orders of the Day being discharged, the Houfe adjourned.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Monday, March 11.

Lord Kenyon continued to prefide for the Lord Chan

cellor.

The Marine Mutiny Bill was read a third time and paffed. The time for receiving Judges Reports on Petitions for private Bills, was enlarged to Monday the 15th of April. Several Petitions were prefented for Private Bill, and referred to the Judges.

The Mutiny Bill was read a fecond time, and committed to a Committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

A Meffage from the Lords informed the House, that their Lordships had agreed to the Marine Mutiny Bill, and feveral Private Bills.

Mr. Abbott brought up the report of the Committee on the Expiring Laws, which was ordered to be printed. The Scots Small Note Bill went through a Committee, and the report was ordered to be received to-morrow.

Mr. Mainwaring brought up the report of the Committee on the Overfeers' Affiftant Bill. On a motion by Mr. Simeon, that it be re-committed on Wednesday;

Mr. Buxton objected to fo early a day. He faid, he intended to propose a claufe, but was not yet aware of how much more improvement the Bill was capable of receiving, No. 27.

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as it was one that required great attention, and, in his opinion, ought to be fubmitted to the Magiftrates of the country at the Easter Sefhons. He therefore moved an amendment, that inftead of for Wednesday next, the Bill be recommitted on Wednesday three weeks.

Mr. Simeon faid, that the circumftance of the Honourable Gentleman's having a new claufe to propose was an additional reason for his wifhing the re-commitment on Wednesday; he had also one to fubmit to the Committee on that day. The country, therefore, could not judge fairly of the Bill in its prefent imperfect ftate; but as foon as thefe alterations were made, he fhould have no objection to grant the moit ample time for its confideration.

The propofed amendment was then withdrawn, and the Bill ordered to be re-committed on Wednesday.

The report of the Committee of Ways and Means was brought up, the refolution read and agreed to, and a Bill ordered accordingly.

SUPPLY.

On the motion for bringing up the Report of the Committee of Supply, in which an Establishment was voted for the Princes Edward and Ernest.

Mr. Abbott rofe not, he faid, to oppofe the bringing up of the Report, but to explain the reafons that influenced the vote which he had given upon this question. He said it was plain that the Civil Lift, in its prefent ftate, was unable to make that provifion for the Princes which was propofed to be done from the public revenue in the Committee of Supply. From the papers already on the table, it plainly appeared that the Civil Lift, as it now ftood, was unable to bear any further charge, as a load of debt contracted during antecedent years hung heavily upon it. There appeared to him but two modes by which this debt could be liquidated

either by reducing the Civil Lift, or by charging the debt upon the public revenue. No doubt, in confequence of the Refolution of the House paffed in 1780, the House had the privilege of examining and correcting the Civil Lift Expenditure whenever it appeared to them expedient fo to do, and though perhaps fome reduction might now be made in it without impairing the fplendour of the crown, yet that reduction would not go to a fufficient extent to be any way applicable to the prefent purposes. There was, however, one confideration which fuperfeded the neceffity of all argument on the subject, and plainly proved the burden fhould be borne by the country. To prove this Mr. Abbott entered

into a retrospective view of the establishment of the Civil Lift, which his Majefty accepted as an equivalent in lieu of his hereditary and other revenues. The prefent question ought therefore to be held in the light of a contract, and treated as fuch. The queftion then would be, whether the Civil Lift, as it now ftands, was a just and full equivalent for the revenues relinquished by the crown. From all that ftood recorded upon this fubject, it was evident that, notwithilanding the various augmentations which the Civil Lift may have received, the amount of the Civil Lift ftill fell far fhort of the revenues thus relinquished by the crown. He had it therefore in contemplation to call for an account and ftatement both of the Civil Lift for a number of years back, and alfo of the amount of the hereditary revenue for a fimilar period. This Gentleman might fee ftated in the Journals for 1777, where a comparative statement was drawn for fixteen years between the Civil Lift expenditure and the amount of the hereditary revenues. The Civil Lift then stood at eight hundred thousand pounds, and the revenues given up by the crown far exceeded that fum. They for three years exceeded the fum of a million, and a profit had come to the public from them of two million five hundred thousand pounds, above all the intermediate grants that had been made by Parliament. He understood, from a Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Pitt), that these Revenues amounted to fourteen hundred thousand pounds in the year 1791, and he made no doubt but that they continued in a fimilar progrefs of increafe fince that period.

Mr. Abbott then enumerated feveral of the branches of the revenue which formerly belonged to the crown. He declined entering into minor items, but would briefly advert to the three principal branches of the hereditary revenue which had proved fo very productive to the public. On that part of the new fubfidy derived from the customs there was an increase of three hundred thousand pounds. In the Poft Office, too, one of the earliest revenues of the crown, between 1786 and 1793, there had been an augmentation of forty thousand pounds; and with respect to the crown lands, the woods and forefts had risen from between three and four thousand pounds a year to thirty thousand pounds. This was fufficient to fhew what an aftonishing increase had taken place to the advantage of the public. He would, therefore, hereafter, move for a distinct account, fimilar to that of 1777, which fhould comprehend a full view of the fubject, and clearly fhew what the crown had loft by the

bargain. When that account fhould be on the table, together with the papers now before the Houfe, Gentlemen would be fenfible that fooner or later the debts of the Civil Lift must be liquidated. As long as they exifted, they muft exift to the difparagement of the crown, and to the great distress of many individuals. Befides, every Gentleman must be fenfible that the claims of juftice should be paramount to all plans of economy. It was, therefore, his defign to move for the account alluded to in some other ftage of the prefent bufinefs..

Mr. Tierney obferved, that the Honourable Gentleman had taken up the subject as if the whole of the hereditary revenue, to which he had alluded, was at the difpofal of the crown. But it should be confidered, that if fuch vaft advantages had been derived to the public by this fettlement with his Majefty, when he accepted the Civil Lift in lieu of these hereditary revenues, there might alfo be faid fomething on the other fide the queftion. If accounts were to be brought forward, to fhew how much his Majefty would now be entitled to receive, if he had not accepted the fum he did accept when he afcended the throne, there fhould alfo be brought forward fums of money his Majefty had, from time to time, received, by way of intereft, on account of the Duchy of Cornwall, and he hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer himfelf would not difpute that these were fums which belonged to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales during his minority. The amount was very confiderable; he had heard not lefs than two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, perhaps. This was a matter that ought to be enquired into; if the public were to be told that his Majefty was fo great a lofer by the fettlement that was made between him and Parliament on his coming to the throne; and, if there fhould be any confiderable furplus on account of the Duchy of Cornwall, received by the crown, during the minority of the Prince of Wales, it ought to be given to his Royal Highnefs, to be, by him, applied to the reduction of his debts. Gentlemen fhould remember, when they talked of the hereditary revenues of the crown, that they must have been fubject to whatever charges the House fhould have choofed to lay upon them; and he apprehended, that when the matter came to be fully investigated, there could not be much difference of opinion between fenfible men upon it. They would fee it in the light of a bargain fully understood on behalf of his Majefty, when he agreed to it. The Civil Lift was then thought

equal

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