allowed, nor was it thought necessary. On this account his lordship did not feel authorised to propose any remuneration to such of the king's domestics whose aid was not now required, fearing that it might be drawn into an injurious precedent: but as they had not been discharged on the succession of the heir to the crown, the house might, in its liberality, take their situation into its view. In fact, it was entirely and solely a question for the house, although it seemed to derive some support from the clause inserted in the bill of 1812, respecting the privy-purse, by which the custos was authorised to make provision out of it in certain cases. The Queen had the power of given certain allowances for superannuation, and this would afford the house a precedent for continuing the same power to her Majesty's successor. He did not apprehend that any difference of opinion should prevail upon this point. Further explanation at present his lordship held needless, especially as he should wish to interpose a Committee before he called upon the House to decide; before that Committee all the details might be minutely examined. Parliament was not called upon to make any grant, but to sanction a reduction. The noble Lord submitted the outline of the arrangement with the utmost confidence on the liberality and justice of the House, and concluded by stating, that he intended to move, that the consideration of the whole Windsor establishment be referred to a select Committee, whom he should name, and that their report should be submitted to a Committee of the whole House. He then read the names of the gentlemen whom he proposed as that select committee, among whom were Mr Tierney, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Calcraft, Mr Brougham, Mr Bankes, Lord G. Caven

dish, Mr W. Lamb, Sir A. Piggott, Mr Wilberforce, Lord Morpeth, Mr Littleton, Mr Vesey Fitzgerald, and Mr Wellesley Pole.

Mr Tierney was glad that this question was brought before the house in so satisfactory a manner-satisfactory, because it did not call for immediate decision, and because its final issue would be the result of the most diligent and minute deliberation. In the view which he took of the subject before the house, the Noble Lord seemed to think the proposed reduction, as it was termed, to be a voluntary offer of economy on the part of the government. He (Mr Tierney,) on the contrary, viewed it as a necessary consequence of cir cumstances which had lately occurred. By the death of her Majesty, a great part of the Windsor establishment was done away with, and the house were called upon to see at what expense the subsequent arrangements in that department could be made, for the money so spared to the country was the property of the public, and it was the province of the house, and of that alone, to decide how it was to be disposed of. The house, on looking at it, should consider that it was a sum which had necessarily fallen back to them; the cause for which it had been granted having ceased to exist. In considering it, therefore, he should first look to the measure of economy, and inquire about the expense after. In discussing this question he was anxious to treat it with all that gravity and decorum which its nature and importance demanded, and would therefore look back as little as possible to circumstances which, if adverted to, he could not commend. But there was one subject of past transactions which he could not possibly omit to notice he could not shut out from his recollection the appointment of four lords and four grooms of the

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bed-chamber, by the very individuals who now came forward to say they were an useless burden upon the public. If it were necessary, then, to have those attendants upon the person of the King, why give them up at present, for the same cause still existed for them? His Majesty was unfortunately in the same situation now as at that period. But if not necessary, why continue them for seven years? Here, according to the present avowal of ministers, there was a sum of L. 42,000 lost. When the continuance of those lords and grooms was proposed in 1812, he opposed them. He stated the expense as too great; but great or small, he contended that it was unnecessary. At that time it was objected to him, that his opposition was invidious, that the attendance of these lords and grooms of the chamber was necessary to support that splendour which should attend the Royal person, and that a saving by dispensing with them would be an insult to the sacred person of the King in his then affliction: but how did the case stand now? After all the obloquy which had been heaped upon him for his objections and that he had met no small share of it no man could deny-after all that had been said about his motives in that opposition, it at length turned out that he was right, and his Majesty's ministers wrong. When, in 1812, an establishment was proposed for the Prince Regent, a number of lords and grooms of the bed-chamber were of course to be provided, and it was suggested that the four lords and grooms who attended the King might also in turn attend the Prince. This was objected to. It was said that they were old and faithful servants of the King, and that they ought not to be separated from his Majesty. But what was the fact? These old and faithful servants, were

sent down to Windsor to make room for new ones; to give room for fresh patronage in the formation of the new establishment for the Prince. But he would dismiss that part of the question, and come to another. With respect to the sum of L.10,000 to be given to the Duke of York, he should say, that any extra expense to which his Royal Highness might be put in the care of his Majesty, ought most undoubtedly to be defrayed by the public, be the sum great or small; but if that sum be necessary, let it be shown how it was so, let the House be informed what that sum was for, and how it was to be expended. In 1812, on the proposition of the sum of L. 10,000 to the Queen, the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that a great part of it would go to make good certain family expenses which she would be put to. He (Mr Tierney) was not satisfied that it was not too much but she had it, and it would be but fair to ask how it had been applied, and what had become of it. He was disposed to give to the Duke of York as much as to the Queen, but if it was to be given for the care of the King's person, let its necessity be proved, and he had no objection. He would say, show me that this, that, or the other expense could, in the slightest degree, contribute to his Majesty's comfort or convenience ; that it could serve even to gratify that caprice, or humour any puerile whim, to which his unfortunate state rendered him subject; if that could be made out, he would not hesitate to give his Sovereign not only L.10,000, but L.500,000. But then, in the discharge of that duty which he owed the public, he would not consent to vote a single shilling which was not within the range of that principle. Let the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) lay before the house, not mere

ly the sums which were said to be required, but something like the particulars of what they were for, and then it would not be difficult to come to a right understanding; but while they were wrapped up in L. 100,000 and L.50,000 and L.108,000, it would be impossible to know any thing farther about them than that these large sums were asked for purposes not fully explained. There was, for instance, the sum of L. 50,000 which was said to be for the Windsor establishment: now that was the very thing he wished to have explained. His Majesty, it was too well known, was incapable of even ordinary enjoyments. He could not, if he were rightly informed, speak or be spoken to; and indeed the necessary measures which were taken for the preservation of his health, and, if possible, the cure of his malady, rendered such a seclusion from every thing like conversation absolutely essential. His regimen was, from the same cause, so very plain, that the tenth of L. 50,000 would be much more than sufficient to supply it, with all the necessary forms of attendance. Then how was the sum of L. 50,000 to be expended? But who were to reside at Windsor? They were told, there were to be six equerries. What for? What use could they be? To give a bulletin once a month in their turn; but surely that could not require the attendance of six gentlemen, and the expense of supporting their tables. The Noble Lord had spoken of the privy purse, and said that it was the private property of the King; in that, under the present circumstances of his Majesty, he by no means agreed. A privy purse had been granted to his Majesty, and very properly it was placed at his entire disposal, without any control. It had afterwards been increased to its present sum of L.60,000 a-year. This

he did not conceive too much. It was right that a Sovereign Prince should possess the means, to a certain extent, of rewarding those whom he conceived to have a personal claim upon his bounty, of assisting from his own private income decayed noblemen and families of distinction, and of performing several other acts of benevolence, which would lose all their value by being made the subject of public discussion or control. But then this sum was granted, not because the man was liked more or less, but because he was a Sovereign Prince, and in no other capacity could he use it. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, who was acting as the Sovereign Prince of this country, had an equal sum of L. 60,000 a-year granted to him in 1812; and now the country was burdened by the unfortunate calamity of the King, with an expense for privy purses alone, of L. 120,000. There was, besides this sum of L. 60,000 privy purse of the King's, the further one of L.10,000 which he got from the Duchy of Lancaster; and this sum, it was now boasted, was offered rather as a boon and a saving to the public. He maintained, that the whole of it ought to be applied to the use of the public, as his Majesty was incapable of applying it as intended. There was a part of it which must be excepted. It was, he knew, burdened with pensions which had been granted by his Majesty to several individuals, and some which the Queen had been since authorized by act of Parliament to grant; these amounted to L. 34,000, leaving a balance out of the whole sum, of L. 36,000 which belonged to the public. He begged the house would take this into their serious consideration : it was a subject which called for the inquiry they were about to enter into. He should like to see the sum to be paid

At

to the Duke of York paid out of it, as far as it went. One charge was fully justified to his apprehension. It was pretty generally known, that it had been the King's earnest prayer, on the approach of his present malady, and before he was delivered to a particular class of physicians, either from a recollection or a fancy of what he had before endured, that some other physician should also be in constant attendance. He had obtained a promise to this effect from the illustrious person next in rank to himself-he meant her late Majesty. In this promise the King's happiness had been most properly consulted, and to withdraw such a consolation at present would be barbarous. the same time he thought the charge was capable of being diminished. It could not be difficult to discover some medium course by which the expense of two physicians, as connected with the distance from London to Windsor, might be regulated so as to produce a saving to the public. By this saving a provision would be created for some of the servants of the household. He was at present very much in the dark with regard to another subject, and this was as to the salaries for life. The Noble Lord had mentioned one circumstance which was before unknown to him. It was, that those who received these salaries, only got about one half of their emoluments when those salaries were paid. By this it was clear that, instead of any after claim, they were already before hand with the public. He had no wish to detract from the real splendour and dignity of the Crown, and he would not oppose this regulation, if it should appear to be in conformity with old and established usage. He was distinctly in favour of maintaining some establishment at Windsor, because he should regret to see a venerable and beloved'

monarch reduced, in his affliction, to reside in a palace not his own. He thought his establishment should have a nobleman of rank at its head, and that one or two equerries should be in attendance to receive the visits of distinguished foreigners who might desire to see Windsor Castle. But an establishment on any larger scale, an establishment incumbered with five or six equerries, went beyond whatever conceptions he could form of propriety. He was aware that the vote which he had to give was one of great delicacy, and ought to be guided at once by duty to an aged sovereign, and to the situation of the country, which could admit of no superfluous burden.

Mr Canning made a few observations on what had fallen from Mr Tierney, contending that the admissions of the Right Hon. Gentleman, if acted on in the spirit in which they were professedly made, would probably leave little difference between his opinions and the view taken by Lord Castlereagh. With respect to the Queen's household the present estimate was founded on two distinct precedents; those of Queen Caroline, and the Princess Dowager of Wales. In each of these all the domestics of the household retired on full salaries. It was true that by the act of 1812, certain burdens were imposed on the privy purse, in addition to those of his Majesty; but they were burdens ejusdem generis, and constituted rewards to old servants, similar to what his Majesty himself would probably have conferred. As long therefore as this act continued in force it was impossible to doubt that any accummulation must remain at his Majesty's disposal. With regard to the allowance of the Duke of York, it was but justice to that illustrious person to say, that whether it were right or wrong he was not responsi.

ble for the suggestion; as it was clear from the bill which had come down from the Lords that his Royal Highness had accepted the office without any stipulation whatever. The Committee would decide whether the proposed sum were too large; and if it should not appear excessive, the right honourable gentleman had intimated that he was not disposed to object to it. At present it was desire able that the estimates submitted by his Majesty's ministers should undergo the fairest and fullest examination. Mr Tierney, in explanation, said that he knew well the provisions of the act of 1812; that he was disposed to act liberally towards the Duke of York, and only wished to see some general scale, upon which the allowance in question might be regulated; and that, if L. 10,000 ayear should appear to be a proper sum, the fixing it upon the privy purse would only be doing that which the King himself, in a lucid interval, would do for the sake of being placed under his Royal Highness's care.

On the 22d of February the House resolved itself into a Committee on this establishment; when Lord Castlereagh rose and announced his intention to move a series of resolutions, the first of which was that, instead of L. 100,000, L. 50,000 be appropriated for the establishment generally; the second, that annuities be granted to the servants of her late Majesty to the amount recommended by the Committee; the third, that L. 10,000 be granted to the Duke of York, to cover the expenses attending the care of his Majesty's person; and the fourth, that the L. 10,000 should not be payable out of the privy purse. His Lordship then entered into a lengthened explanation of each of the above resolutions. He did not anticipate that the sum of L. 50,000 would be

thought extravagant, when it was considered that one-third of that would be requisite to keep the palace of Windsor in repair, and that out of the remaining two-thirds the expenses of attending on his Majesty's person were to be taken; thus leaving little more than L. 16,000 for the real expenses of his Majesty. With respect to a suitable provision for her late Majesty's servants, Parliament was not limited to the precedents of Queen Caroline and the Princess Dowager of Wales; they had likewise the precedent of Queen Mary. It was true, those cases could not have been before Parliament; and therefore, while now they looked at the equity arising from the expectations founded on usage, Parliament could exercise its own discretion. The sum now to be voted was positively less than the sum in the case of the Princess Dowager of Wales, and about the same as in the case of Queen Mary, notwithstanding the length of time intervening, and the changes in the wages of servants. The third and fourth resolutions he would bring under the consideration of the Committee at once, because he was bound to forsee that the third was likely to receive an amendment which he believed the fourth resolution would meet, as embracing the system and principle which would be attempted to be overturned. The plan now adopted showed an evident inclination to follow the precedent of 1811 and 1812; and if the principle of that act were recognized there could be no alteration made, in the emolument given to the custos, as there was none in the power and responsibility of the office. right honourable gentlemen (Mr Tierney) proposed that the custos sbould be paid out of the privy purse, and not from a public fund. This

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