n, and is charged on the consolidated fund. But it is only from
the reign of William IV. that the sum thus voted has been restricted
solely to the personal expenses of the crown. Before his accession many
charges properly belonging to the ordinary expenses of government had
been placed on the civil list. The history of the civil list dates from
the reign of William and Mary. Before the Revolution no distinction had
been made between the expenses of government in time of peace and the
expenses relating to the personal dignity and support of the sovereign.
The ordinary revenues derived from the hereditary revenues of the crown,
and from certain taxes voted for life to the king at the beginning of
each reign, were supposed to provide for the support of the sovereign's
dignity and the civil government, as well as for the public defence in
time of peace. Any saving made by the king in the expenditure touching
the government of the country or its defence would go to swell his privy
purse. But with the Revolution a step forward was made towards the
establishment of the principle that the expenses relating to the support
of the crown should be separated from the ordinary expenses of the
state. The evils of the old system under which no appropriation was made
of the ordinary revenue granted to the crown for life had been made
manifest in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.; it was their
control of these large revenues that made them so independent of
parliament. Moreover, while the civil government and the defences
suffered, the king could use these revenues as he liked. The parliament
of William and Mary fixed the revenue of the crown in time of peace at
L1,200,000 per annum; of this sum about L700,000 was appropriated
towards the "civil list." But from this the sovereign was to defray the
expenses of the civil service and the payment of pensions, as well as
the cost of the support of the royal household and his own personal
expenses. It was from this that the term "civil list" arose, to
distinguish it from the statement of military and naval charges. The
revenue voted to meet the civil list consisted of the hereditary
revenues of the crown and a part of the excise duties. Certain changes
and additions were made in the sources of revenue thus appropriated
between the reign of William and Mary and the accession of George III.,
when a different system was adopted. Generally speaking, however, the
sources of revenue remained as