PARLIAMENT AND THE SUPPLIES.

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for the levying of a new tax or duty, or the repeal of an existing impost, must emanate from the ministers of the Crown. On the other hand, Parliament will not permit any person to lend money to the Crown, or to any department of State, for public purposes, without its sanction. All money transactions between the Bank of England and the Treasury, without express parliamentary authority, are forbidden. Advances out of the public funds can only be made by authority of Parliament, except in certain very special cases. The Crown cannot remit any loans or debts due to it by foreign powers, corporations, or individuals, without the consent of Parliament, though the conduct of the Crown in this respect has been occasionally irregular. When a sum of money to which the Crown is entitled is surrendered by a foreign power, it is customary to surrender the same by treaty, which is not contingent upon the assent of Parliament. But when the Crown. undertakes to pay a sum of money, such payment is made conditional upon the assent of Parliament.

I daresay many of you remember reading in English history about the conflicts between the King and Parliament respecting the question of granting supplies. Since the introduction of parliamentary government, however, the demands of the Crown for

supplies for particular services have seldom been refused. As a general rule, whatever sums are required for the use of the State, the Commons freely grant; though it is always in the power of the House to refuse to grant any particular item until satisfied with the reasons given for it. The House of Commons has the right of withholding altogether the supplies asked for on the part of the Crown; and before the introduction of parliamentary government, as you all well know, this power was often made use of to wrest from an arbitrary monarch the redress of grievances. But now there is no longer any need to resort to such an extreme measure. The precedent of 1784 is the solitary instance since 1688 in which the Commons have exercised their power of delaying the supplies, and then the experiment failed, and has never been repeated.

Though all money matters ought first to receive the sanction of Parliament, yet there are certain occasions when the Crown may be compelled to defray expenses which have not been provided for by Parliament, and hence assume the responsibility of incurring expenditure without the previous knowledge of Parliament. Such was the case when Mr Pitt, at the commencement of the French revolutionary war, advanced upwards of £1,200,000 to

THE CONSOLIDATED FUND.

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Germany without the knowledge of Parliament; and again in 1859 and 1860, when there had been an excess of expenditure of more than £1,000,000 not voted by Parliament. To meet these unforeseen disbursements, provision is made by means of the Treasury Chest" and the "Civil Contingencies Fund." The "Treasury Chest" is a fund maintained to supply specie required by the treasury chests in the colonies, and to make the necessary advances for carrying on the public service at the various naval and military stations. This fund is limited to £1,300,000. The "Civil Contingencies Fund" is limited to £120,000, and is for the purpose of defraying unforeseen expenditure for civil services at home. There is also another fund, that for "Secret Services," but the greater part of the amount is annually voted in supply. In former times the taxes which were granted by Parliament were handed over to the King, to be expended by him in maintaining his state, and for keeping up the military and naval services. He had also estates in various parts of the country, called the crown-lands, the rents and profits of which were paid into his treasury. The revenue, or annual income of the country derived from the taxes imposed by Parliament, and the income from these estates (with the exception of the

Duchy of Lancaster, which belongs to her Majesty, not as Queen of England, but as Duchess of Lancaster) is now collected into one fund called the Consolidated Fund. The first charge upon this fund is the payment of interest upon the National Debt called the Funds, and upon the unfunded debt.

The next charge is an allowance called the Civil List, apportioned to the Queen for the support of her household and the dignity of her crown. This was fixed by statute at £385,000, to be paid annually, and to be appropriated as follows: Her Majesty's privy purse, £60,000; salaries of her Majesty's Household, and retired allowances, £131,000; expenses of the household, £172,500; royal bounty and special services, £13,200; pensions, £12,000; and miscellaneous, £8040. On the Consolidated Fund are likewise charged various sums allowed to members of the royal family. The sum for carrying on the civil government, including the salaries of the Ministers of State, judges, and others, is also charged upon the Consolidated Fund, the remainder of which is paid into the Exchequer, for the public service, to defray the expenses of our army, navy, civil service, &c.

I have said that all naval and military authority

HER RELATIONS WITH OUR FORCES.

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is centred in the Sovereign, but subject to such constitutional restraints that it cannot be exercised to the detriment of English liberty. By the Bill of Rights it is expressly enacted "that the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law." This consent to the continual existence of a standing army is given only for the period of one year at a time by a resolution of the House of Commons. By modern practice, the numbers of men to be employed in the army and navy are annually fixed by resolutions in Committee of Supply, and afterwards included in respect to the army in the Mutiny Act, and in respect to the navy in the Act of Appropriation. It is a direct infringement of the constitution for the Crown to raise more men for the land and sea forces than have been voted by Parliament; but upon occasions of great emergency the Government have assumed the responsibility of increasing the army or navy beyond the numbers actually voted, and have afterwards applied to Parliament to make good the deficiency in the supplies granted for this service. The constitutional security against the abuse of the royal prerogative in the direction and control of our forces lies in the general responsibility of ministers, and the necessity for