5H] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



the crown had been exhausted. 

 He concluded with moving as an 

 amendment to the preamble of 

 the bill, that instead of the words, 

 " And whereas it is highly ex- 

 pedient, that the ordinary reve- 

 nues of his Majesty's civil list 

 should be made adequate to the 

 ordinary charge? thereon j and 

 that several of tlie charges which 

 have heietufoie Ijeen borne upon 

 the civil list revenues, should in 

 future be made a cliarge upon, 

 and be defrayed out of the 

 consolidated fund of Great Bri- 

 tain, or otherwise provided for," 

 there should be iiiserted, the 

 words, '' And whereas it is highly 

 expedient, that the expenditure 

 of the civil list shoidd not ex- 

 ceed the revenues of the same, 

 and that the several remaining 

 charges which iiave heretofore 

 been borne upon the civil list ex- 

 penditure, or have been made 

 good by ajiplications of the droits 

 of the crown, should in future be 

 made a charge on the consoli- 

 dated fund of Gieat Britain ; or 

 that the amount of such expen- 

 ditiu'e not provided for by ])ar- 

 liament, if a sum exceeding the 

 revenue arising from the droits 

 of till? crown, or other resources, 

 should every year be submitted 

 to parliament." 



The debate consequent upon 

 this motion, in which several 

 speakers on both sides took part, 

 ■was terminated by a division, in 

 which there appeared. For the 

 amendment 116, Against it 230 ; 

 Majority 114. 



The civil list bill received its 

 second reading in the House of 

 Lords on June 6th, after a short 

 discussion, the Marquis of Lam- 

 down remarking, that after the 



refusal of the other House to 

 institute an inquiry on the sub- 

 ject, he had no hope of persuad- 

 ing their lordships to such a mea- 

 sure. 



On the motion for the third 

 reading, June 13, Earl Grosvenor 

 made an attempt to obtain an in- 

 quiry by moving a postponement 

 of the reading, which was nega- 

 tived, and the bill was read and 

 passed. 



The closest contest between 

 the ministry and opposition, on a 

 subject connected with finance, 

 took place at a debate in the 

 House of Commons, on May 7th. 

 Lord Althorp rose, pursuant to 

 notice, to sidimit to the House a 

 motion on the subject of the in- 

 crease or diminution in the num- 

 ber or amount of the salaries and 

 emoluments of different public 

 offices. He said, that being con- 

 vinced that retrenchment was 

 practicable, and finding that no- 

 tiiing had been done, he had 

 thought proper to bring the ques- 

 tion before the Flouse, that he 

 might not be supposed to have 

 made his former remarks on this 

 topic tmadvisedly ; and the ob- 

 ject of his intended motion was, 

 for a conunittee to examine and 

 consider the increase or diminu- 

 tion of salaries of office since the 

 year 1798, and to report what 

 measures might be adopted for 

 further reductions, without detri- 

 ment to the public service. His 

 reasons for urging this motion 

 were, that frequent inquiries into 

 the public expenditure had been 

 productive of great advantage by 

 repressing abuses ; of which he 

 gave some instances. In 1806 a 

 committee had been appointed, 

 which had almost exhausted thet 



subjec 



