1831.] MINISTERIAL PLAN DISCUSSED. 39 was an evil loudly complained of. All the divisions and subdivisions, additions and subtractions, which the right hon. gentleman has gone into, all go to make greater confusion.' So said Sir Henry Parnell. Mr. Brougham, on the same occasion, also said, 'Another word as to my disappointment, and the disappointment of the country, regarding the surrenders and savings of the country. First, as to the last -the savings. It may be my error, but it seems to me that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has made out the savings to be greater than they really are.' Here the learned gentleman insisted that the supposed savings included the salaries of the late Duke of Clarence. He then passed to the surrenders, vehemently insisting that the House and the country had been led to suppose that the so-called hereditary revenues of the Crown had been given up. to the hereditary revenues of the Crown, I did hope, and I expressed my gratitude, founded on that hope, that the Duchy of Lancaster would be included in the cession made by his Majesty. I now find that it is not included." And hereupon the learned and vehement speaker made a violent attack upon the speech which the ministers had put into the mouth of the king. It was in vain that the ministers endeavoured to explain. The whole affair was by the opposition declared to be so confused and extravagant a jumble, that they resolved to refer the civil list to a select committee 1 Mirror of Parliament, 1830, p. 226. 'Then as 40 LORD ALTHORP'S EXPLANATION. [1831. in order that a large saving should be effected, and some order be introduced, which would enable the world generally to understand the matter. The ministry resisted, were defeated, and resigned. And now Lord Althorp appeared in the character of Chancellor of the Exchequer, to perform the part on which his criticisms had been so freely expended while in opposition; and, strange to say, he disappointed his friends and satisfied and pleased his opponents. The result of all his consideration was simply to make a different distribution of the items of expense, but he left the actual expense nearly, if not entirely, what he found it. 'I think,' he said, 'the great recommendation of my plan is the abstraction of 460,000%. per annum from the civil list not under the control of parliament, and of placing it hereafter under the control of the House. The suggestion of the right honourable gentleman the late Chancellor of the Exchequer was that 970,000l. should be granted for the civil list, over the disbursement of which, this House could exercise no control. My plan is, that only 510,000l. should be so circumstanced: and, although what I have opened to the House may not occasion any immediate saving, it will ultimately lead to it.' What related to the personal comfort and dignity of the sovereign he proposed permanently and for the life of the king to settle and appropriate; but the other parts of the civil list he proposed either to place on the consolidated fund or in the annual estimates, and thus to keep those sources and items of 1831.] LORD ALTHORP'S EXPLANATION. 41 expense continually subject to the supervision and control of parliament. The sums which the preceding ministry had proposed to appropriate to the king's own personal expenses, all, in fact, which were included in the first and permanent class, Lord Althorp left undiminished;1 and in the remaining portion a sum under 20,000l. was all that was ever pretended to be saved, and even this small sum was doubtful.2 This plan, and the items included in it, the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed to submit to the committee, stating, however, very significantly, that he was not by any means prepared to permit any alteration or modification of his scheme. On the subject of the hereditary revenues he at once frankly declared that he had been mistaken. * The language of Lord Althorp, when speaking of the expenses of the royal household, deserves remark, as it shows that a man may pass his life in finding fault, without being, in fact, the least aware of the actual circumstances which affect the question upon which he daily presumes to give peremptory opinions. 'But on this point (the household expenses) there is no actual reduction. * * I will candidly confess, that when I first looked at this class of expenditure I was surprised at finding, that whilst the articles of life had diminished of late years so much in price, the expense of maintaining the royal household had considerably increased. But on looking more closely at the matter, I have come to the conclusion, that no reduction can be made in this class of expense without compelling his Majesty either to alter his style of living or to incur debt. I am convinced the House has no wish to compel his Majesty to do either.' On this subject some curious information may be found in the Memoirs of Plumer Ward, vol. ii. p. 176. Lord Althorp said 20,000l. Mr. Calvert declared that it was only between 5,000l. and 10,000l.—a paltry sum, he said, of which ministers were themselves ashamed. 42 COMMENTS OF SIR H. PARNELL. [1831. When he first read the king's speech, he believed that it was intended to give up those revenues, including in that phrase those of the Duchy of Lancaster. He now not only did not believe such to have been the royal intention, but he did not, in fact, think that the king ought to be the first king called upon to give an account of his private revenue. This is a strange reason. Somebody must be the first, and if such a thing were good at any time, it was good in the case of King William. The salaries of the ministers at foreign courts were by the proposed plan to be placed also on the consolidated fund, but not made annually subject to parliamentary supervision. That Mr. Goulburn and his party should exult over such a statement cannot surprise us; but their joy may perhaps be supposed hardly a fair criterion of the wisdom or propriety of their opponents' scheme. But Sir Henry Parnell cannot be deemed an unfriendly critic; and his judgment, given with pain, at the moment made a profound, and for the ministers a most unfavourable impression on the public mind. This impression was in some degree, and for a time, removed, by a suggestion which the people were glad to accept and believe-viz., that this abundant civil list was a sort of bribe to check the opposition of a hostile court. Sir Henry said that he approved of the intention to submit the proposed civil list to the committee already appointed, and of the division which had been made between the expenses for the comfort 1831.] COMMENTS OF SIR H. PARNELL. 43 and dignity of the sovereign, and those other expenses which had hitherto been most improperly confounded with the first, and unwisely as well as unjustly spoken of as the expenses of the king, under the general name of civil list. Thus far he was able, he said, to speak in approval of what his noble friend had proposed, but he could not approve of the mode in which the diplomatic salaries were to be dealt with, as he saw no reason why they should not be subjected to the annual scrutiny of parliament.' Without entering into details, he added, 'I cannot avoid expressing my disappointment at not finding the noble lord make any actual reductions below the statement of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer. In my opinion, there was room for such reductions, although I cannot undertake to say exactly where they ought to be made.' He, however, distinctly objected to the amount of the salaries of the household officers, and to the emoluments of the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Steward, and the Master of the Horse. The closing remark of this old and attached friend of the Whig party ought to have been felt more keenly than the bitterest sarcasm in the mouth of an opponent. 'I regret exceedingly that his Majesty's present ministers, having the opportunity of making reductions in the offices to which I have alluded, have not taken advantage of the opportunity thus afforded them for manifesting their determination of abiding by the opinions expressed by them before they became members of the cabinet. By neglecting to take this |
