48] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812, 



-Tjerney rose to state his objections. 

 He could not easily comprehend 

 why the present act was to take 

 place immediately, when the for- 

 mer was not intended to take place 

 till the king's demise. It was 

 not to be supposed that the amiable 

 Princesses would abandon their 

 Royal parents in their atHiction to 

 spend 36,000/. a year under another 

 roof. He would put the question 

 directly to the right hon. gentle- 

 man, were the Princesses to have 

 an establishment independent of 

 the Queen? If so, what was to be 

 done with the saving that must in 

 that case arise out of the civil list 

 as to the general expenditure of the 

 Queen's household? He also ob- 

 jected to the fund upon which 

 these annuities were charged, 

 which was not the hereditary re- 

 venue of the crown, but the conso- 

 lidated fund, thereby giving no 

 chance of a relief from this pressure 

 on the public. The different items 

 of the joint establishment for the 

 Queen and her daughters amount- 

 ed to 184,000/. a year, and was not 

 this sufficient in such times? Af- 

 ter some other observations on the 

 household establishment, which he 

 denominated an ingenious mode of 

 providing for those who had the 

 good fortune to be in favour with 

 the minister, he moved the amend- 

 ment, instead of dating the bill 

 from Feb. 18th last, to limit its 

 taking effect to the king's demise. 

 The Chancellor of the Exche- 



quer made a reply to only a part of 

 the objections of the last speaker", 

 because many of his arguments 

 were wholly inapplicable to the 

 question before the House. With 

 respect to that of the fund upon 

 which the sum was to be charged, 

 he thought the hon. gentleman 

 could scarcely be serious, since it 

 was notorious that the hereditary 

 revenues of the crown had merged 

 in the consolidated fund. He did 

 not believe that the princesses had 

 any intention of setting up a sepa- 

 rate establishment, but it was no 

 reason that they should be com- 

 pelled to a residence at Windsor 

 during the rest of their lives. 



Several members spoke in oppo- 

 sition to the biil ; and the situation 

 of the Princess of Wales was again 

 brought into the debate. In re- 

 turn to some que!^tiollS on the sub- 

 ject put by Mr. Whitbread, Mr. 

 Secretary Ryder observed, that if 

 he knew any thing of the feelings 

 of the public on this topic, there 

 was no part of the conduct of the 

 hon. gentlemen opposite which had 

 created more disgust and disappro- 

 bation than the manner in which 

 they had introduced this matter to^ 

 the House. 



A division took place on 

 Mr. Tierney's amendment, ayes, 

 35, noes, 101. The originat 

 clause was then agreed to, and the 

 bill was passed. It met with" 

 no opposition in the House o? 

 Lords. 



CHAPTER 



