Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/348

(in the firſt years at leaſt) that it did not amount to ſo much^[1]. But it muſt be obſerved, that under theſe ſums were included all manner of public expenſes, among which lord Clarendon in his ſpeech to the parliament computed that the charge of the navy and land forces amounted annually to 800000𝑙. which was ten times more than before the former troubles^[2]. The ſame revenue, ſubject to the ſame charges, was ſettled on king James II^[3]: but by the encreaſe of trade, and more frugal management, it amounted on an average to a million and half per annum, (beſides other additional cuſtoms, granted by parliament^[4], which produced an annual revenue of 400000𝑙.) out of which his fleet and army were maintained at the yearly expenſe of^[5] 1100000𝑙. After the revolution, when the parliament took into it's own hands the annual ſupport of the forces both maritime and military, a civil liſt revenue was ſettled on the new king and queen, amounting, with the hereditary duties, to 700000𝑙. per annum^[6]; and the ſame was continued to queen Anne and king George I^[7]. That of king George II, we have ſeen, was nominally augmented to^[8] 800000𝑙. and in fact was considerably more. But that of his preſent majeſty is expreſſly limited to that ſum; and, by reaſon of the charges upon it, amounts at preſent to little more than 700000𝑙. And upon the whole it is doubtleſs much better for the crown, and alſo for the people, to have the revenue ſettled upon the modern footing rather than the antient. For the crown; becauſe it is more certain, and collected with greater eaſe: for the people; becauſe they are now delivered from the feodal hardſhips, and other odious branches of the prerogative. And though complaints have ſometimes been made of the encreaſe of the civil liſt, yet if we conſider the ſums that have been formerly granted, the limited extent under which it is now eſtabliſhed, the revenues and prerogatives given up in lieu of it by the crown, and (above all) the diminution of the value of money compared with

1. Ibid. 4 Jun. 1663. Lord Clar. ibid.
2. Ibid. 165.
3. Stat. 1 Jac. II. c. 1.
4. Ibid. c. 3 & 4.
5. Com. Journ. 1 Mar. 20 Mar. 1688.
6. Ibid. 14 Mar. 1701.
7. Ibid. 17 Mar. 1701. 11 Aug. 1714.
8. Stat. 1 Geo. II. c. 1.