Droits of Admiralty. enemies, are plundered, but the men by whose hands the plunder is got in, deprived of that, which had the war been commenced otherwise than in the way of piracy, would have been their due. Thus do those on whom it depends, bribe one another to commit piracy!-piracy which has been made legitimate, because by their power, and for their own benefit, it has been made unpunishable."-Plan of Parliamentary Reform, p. xvii. There is nothing more nauseous, than to hear men of sense sometimes talk about the splendour and dignity of the crown. Where is the necessity and utility of this royal ostentation? Is it intended to inspire the people with fear or respect for majesty? Men are widely different in a barbarous and and civilized state. When they become enlightened, they value things in proportion to the benefit they confer; and they are neither filled with love nor fear by external appearances. It is the reality, and not the semblance, they worship. The mere profession of religion will not then protect from abhorrence its sanguinary, rapacious, and hypocritical ministers. The judges and magistrates of the land are subjected to the same ordeal. They are abhorred and despised when, instead of being the impartial ministers of justice, the protectors of the weak against the violence of the strong, a terror to evil-doers, -they are the mere tools of a corrupt and plundering system, the oracles of delusion, the revilers of the poor, who arm themselves with the terror of the law only to stifle the complaints of hunger and privation, and screen from punishment the lawless excess of opulence and power. Lastly, royalty itself is subject to a similar inquisition. Men compare the cost with the benefit. They consider the utility and the end of the office; and they reflect whether the name of King and Prince, without discharging any necessary duty in the commonweal, is a sufficient equivalent for withholding from 100,000 persons the means of comfortable subsistence. The examination of the various sources of the royal income, has by no means tended to increase our respect for monarchy. The present family, since the accession of the King, cannot have received much less than 100 millions of principal money out of the pockets of the people. When we reflected on this enormous sum-and how much it had abstracted from the enjoyments of the community, we could not also help reflecting on the services and characters of the individuals by whom it had been wasted. Of the old King, of course, it was impossible to think any thing but good; for although his obstinacy lost America, he preserved Hanover; and although he incurred 400 millions of debt, and plunged one-fifth of the population into pauperism, he preserved to the community the blessed comforts of religion and social order, which they now enjoy. Droits of Admiralty.. For a king to discharge his duty to his people, it is hardly sufficient that he is neither passionately addicted to wine, nor women, nor gaming, and that he does not occasionally amuse himself with cutting off the heads of his subjects, like the Dey of Algiers. Betwixt private men, and those who fill important public stations, there is a wide difference. The former may live and die fools, and society has no right to complain, provided they observe the laws, and neither burden the parish nor their friends. But the condition of a king is widely different: he has no privilege to be a fool; he has important duties to perform, which it is incumbent upon him to discharge; he is elevated above the rest of mankind; he receives an enormous income: it is not sufficient that he is harmless and inoffensive; he ought to be actively beneficial. To judge of the benefits derived from the present King, it is sufficient to compare the state of the country when he ascended the throne, with the condition to which it was brought when his intellectual twilight subsided into total darkness. It may indeed be said, that the King has been a mere instrument in the hands of the boroughmongers; that he has been altogether passive, and had little or no share in producing the calamities under which the people now suffer. It is no great defence for any man to' say, that he is an instrument in the hands of others, especially a mischievous instrument; but has it ever been proved, or even asserted, that the wishes or judgment of the King were in opposition to the pernicious policy of the last fifty years? It seems much more probable that he has been a willing leader, than a reluctant follower, of that system, whose leading principles are alike hostile to the civil and religious liberties of mankind. This supposition" at least is warranted by the general character of the King. His intellectual endowments have always been supposed nearly on a par with those of the Yeomanry cavalry. His religion partook more of the bigoted intolerance of the fifteenth, than the liberality and indulgence of the nineteenth century. His whole reign has been the triumph of high tory principles; the maxims of his government being formed on the despotic principles of Lord Bute;and whatever may be urged about the passiveness and inoffensiveness of his character, it cannot be denied, that he has always shown sufficient energy to choose, and obstinacy to persevere, in counsels which, events have proved, tended more to the misery than the welfare of his people. Avarice too has always formed a prominent feature in the King's character. There can be little doubt his Majesty is the richest individual in Europe, perhaps in the whole world. His savings from the revenues of the duchy of Cornwall, the privy-purse, the Scotch fund, and the Leeward Island duties must be immense,-several millions at least. He is a great f Droits of Admirulty. landholder and fundholder, and thus connected, by the ties of interest, with the two great branches of the system. Notwithstanding, however, this enor mous private property, whenever his prodigal children had outlived their incomes, or even when there was any excess in the expenditure of his own Civil List, instead of this property been applied to meet these charges, the public was invariably called on for additional supplies. The history of the different members of the royal family is too well known to require illustration. The notable scheme of the lottery Duke, and the filial affection of the presumptive heir to the crown, will not alter the impression previously formed by the public on the virtues of this family. The present conduct of the Regent seems entitled to some consideration. The crisis is important; and as we have said so much about the incomes of these great personages, it seems right we should say a few words about their duties. This too is proper at a moment, when some men seem at a loss whether to ascribe their sufferings to the Oligarchy or the Monarchy. Some have imagined a resemblance betwixt the Regent and the Emperor Tiberius. Both certainly disappointed the expectations men had formed of their virtues and capacity before their accession to power. One lived secluded from the sight of his subjects at the island of Capri, and the other at Brighton. Women and wine formed the chief employment and amusement of both. Here, however, the parallel seems to end. There was considerable difference in the elements of the two characters, as well as in the degree in which these elements predominated. Profound dissimulation and wanton cruelty cannot justly be ascribed to the Regent, but these were the leading traits in the character of the licentious and sanguinary monster of antiquity. The claims, however, of his Royal Highness to the character of a manly, generous, and humane prince begin to appear rather equivocal. Where are we to look for the manly qualities of the Regent ? In submitting to the guidance of such men as Castlereagh, Vansittart, and Sidmouth, with whose names is associated every thing that is despicable, and nothing that is great or honourable in human nature? Are we to look for his generosity in his ostentatious charity to the Spitalfield weavers, out of the property of English sailors? Are we to look for his humanity in his letters of thanks for the Manchester atrocities? To this, and every similar question, it is usually answered, it is the ministers, and not the Regent who is to blame. But who are we to blame for the employment of such characters? Who is to blame for the prevalence of such councils? Are these evils to be ascribed to the borough-mongers, or the Prince? To us it appears, notwithstanding the influence of the borough faction, that a Droits of Admiralty. patriotic and clever prince has sufficient power to govern the country conformable to his own inclinations, whenever those inclinations are favourable to the happiness and welfare of the people. Men are justly accountable for crimes it is in their power to prevent; and if the Regent, from indifference, the love of pleasure, or any other cause, suffer other men to ruin the country, and trample on its laws, it is rather too great an indulgence to royalty to exempt him from reprobation. Having now given a full exposition of the Droits of Admiralty, we shall subjoin some official documents to confirm and illustrate our preceding statements. The following are taken, verbatim, from a parliamentary paper, intituled "Accounts relating to Droits of the Crown and Admiralty," and ordered to be printed on the 1st of June, 1818. A Summary Account of all Monies received as Droits of the Crown and Droits of the Admiralty; specifying the Nations from which they have arisen, and the general heads of Expenditure to which they have been applied, from the 1st February 1793 to the 18th March 1818, so far as the same have passed through the Registry of the High Court of Admiralty, and High Court of Appeals for Prizes. Droits of the King in his office of Admiralty, including sundry miscellaneous condemnations, not classed under any of the above na tional heads 914,896 3 6 £5,395,935 0 Brought forward ... 5,395,9050п08 Interest arisen by the Investment (by the Registrar) 9** of the Droit Funds in Exchequer Bills. Interest paid in by the American Commissioners.. 18,000 00 278,706 4 8 PAYMENTS. £5,692,960 0 4 To Cuptors... 2 Indemnification to sundry Commanders of His Majesty's Ships Deduct dividends received from the Estate of Messrs. Willis and Waterhouse, under £ s. d. 2,914,074 8 0 54,921 8 9 13,413 9 7 19,434 10 11 John Crispin, Esq. as a Compensation for important Services rendered to the British fleet under Earl St. Vincent Marshal of the Admiralty Expenses of Repairs to Prizes, Charges at the Outports, Agents Law Charges, including bills of costs of the King's Proctor, Admiralty Proctor, and others Registrar for Poundages on issues of money and other charges 4,335 12 46,975 $7.19 32,45630 103,383 79 16,256 3 5 318,688 118 Claimants, including Primage and other allowances to Masters 272,071 6-5 The Exchequer : In aid of the Civil Liste buioru vsian£1,199,000~0~ In aid of the 44 per Cents Daties bon fees 40,000, argon 200 ga |