ed clear
above 580,000 pounds a year; because, when they were afterwards granted
to George the First, 120,000 pounds was added, to complete the whole to
700,000 pounds a year. Indeed it was then asserted, and, I have no
doubt, truly, that for many years the nett produce did not amount to
above 550,000 pounds. 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 pounds 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 pounds 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 pounds, applicable to the service of the Civil List of his
present Majesty. So that, if this reign commenced with a greater charge
than usual, there was enough, and more than enough, abundantly to supply
all the extraordinary expense. That the Civil List should have been
exceeded in the two former reigns, especially in the reign of George the
First, was not at all surprising. His revenue