discharge the civil list debt was to be raised chargeable on
the civil list duties. In the reign of Queen Anne, the crown was found
in debt. The lessening and granting away some part of her revenue by
Parliament was alleged as the cause of that debt, and pleaded as an
equitable ground, such it certainly was, for discharging it. It does not
appear that the duties which were then applied to the ordinary
government produced clear above 580,000_l._ a year; because, when they
were afterwards granted to George the First, 120,000_l._ was added to
complete the whole to 700,000_l._ a year. Indeed it was then asserted,
and, I have no doubt, truly, that for many years the net produce did not
amount to above 550,000_l._ The queen's extraordinary charges were
besides very considerable; equal, at least, to any we have known in our
time. The application to Parliament was not for an absolute grant of
money; but to empower the queen to raise it by borrowing upon the civil
list funds.

The civil list debt was twice paid in the reign of George the First. The
money was granted upon the same plan which had been followed in the
reign of Queen Anne. The civil list revenues were then mortgaged for the
sum to be raised, and stood charged with the ransom of their own
deliverance.

George the Second received an addition to his civil list. Duties were
granted for the purpose of raising 800,000_l._ a year. It was not until
he had reigned nineteen years, and after the last rebellion, that he
called upon Parliament for a discharge of the civil list debt. The
extraordinary charges brought on by the rebellion, account fully for the
necessities of the crown. However, the extraordinary charges of
government were not thought a ground fit to be relied on.

A deficiency of the civil list duties for several years before was
stated as the principal, if not the sole ground on which an application
to Parliament could be justified. About this time the produce of these
duties had fallen pretty low; and even upon an average of the whole
reign they never produced 800,000_l._ a year clear to the treasury.

That prince reigned fourteen years afterwards: not only no new demands
were made; but with so much good order were his revenues and expenses
regulated, that, although many parts of the establishment of the court
were upon a larger and more liberal scale than they have been since,
there was a considerable sum in hand, on his decease, amounting to about
170,000