which appropriates every separate vote that
has passed the House of Commons during the
session, and completes the "ways and means"
necessary to meet these votes.

This is the extent of parliamentary control
over the cost of ruling Britannia, and it is now
necessary to describe the general heads of our
annual national expenditure.

First and foremost in the account is the
charge for interest and management of the
National Debt, and this amounts, in round
numbers, to about twenty-six millions sterling.
Those, who are inclined to make the best of a
bad bargain—and amongst them we must
include Mr. Thomson Hankey—see in this debt
of eight hundred millions a gratifying proof of
the soundness of our credit, and not of the fatal
facility which governments have of borrowing.
Nothing is more easy than to pledge the earnings
of posterity. This debt is eminently a
fighting debt. It began with a sum of more
than half a million at the Revolution of 1688,
and increased to nearly thirteen millions during
the reign of William the Third, under the title
of the "King's Debt." At the accession of
Queen Anne it was called the "National Debt,"
and it increased during her reign to thirty-six
millions. George the First received it at this
amount, and passed it on to George the Second
as more than fifty-two millions; George the
Second passed it on to George the Third as
one hundred and two millions; and George the
Third, owing to the American War of
Independence and the French revolutionary war,
with subsidies and aids to European powers,
found it one hundred and two and left it eight
hundred and thirty-five millions. George the
Fourth—"the finest gentleman of Europe"—
passed it on to William the Fourth as seven
hundred and eighty-five millions—decreased
fifty millions—and William the Fourth passed
it on to Queen Victoria as nearly seven hundred
and eighty-eight millions. In Queen Victoria's
reign, up to the close of March, 1863, the debt
has been increased by a little more than twelve
millions. The interest which has been paid on
this debt from 1691 to 1863 (inclusive) has
amounted to more than two thousand two
hundred and thirty-six millions sterling. The debt
is chiefly a funded or book debt, and is
managed by the Bank of England—the earliest
creditors of the country—at an annual charge of
about two hundred and one thousand pounds.

The next item in the account is for various
charges on the Consolidated Fund, of a permanent
nature, amounting to one million and eight
hundred and eighty-four thousand pounds. More
than four hundred and five thousand pounds of
this sum is apportioned for the Civil List and
pensions granted by the Crown, This is a
national grant, in place of all the former hereditary
income of the Crown, which is divided into six
classes, and any surplus from one class cannot
be taken to supply a deficiency in the other.
For this reason, a prudent monarch is compelled
to be economical, and not to pay fancy prices for
Windsor Castle Theatricals, or works of
promising young artists. If we add to this sum
about forty-three thousand pounds for the
repairs and maintenance of the royal palaces, and
one hundred and two thousand pounds which is
paid to the other members of the royal family,
we shall find that it requires about five hundred
and fifty thousand pounds every year to support
the dignity of the Crown and of the royal family.

The next item to the Civil List is one of
about two hundred and seventy-four thousand
pounds for annuities and pensions. This list
includes kings, heroes, and ex-ministers of a
certain standing, and one reverend gentleman
who, as ex-Hanaper-keeper, and ex-patentee (not
inventor) of bankrupts, receives eleven thousand
three hundred and eighty pounds, or nearly three
times as much as the son of the Duke of
Wellington.

Next come salaries and allowances, more than
one hundred and fifty-six thousand pounds;
then diplomatic salaries and pensions, more
than one hundred and seventy-one thousand
pounds, and then a charge of more than six
hundred and ninety thousand pounds for courts
of justice. This is made up of salaries to judges
and compensations, owing to reforms in the
administration of justice, and the large round sum
we have given, excludes a few odd pounds, and
a mysterious sixpence.

A group of "miscellaneous charges" follow,
which includes Russian-Dutch Loan and Greek
Loan (both war charges), Annuity to Greenwich
Hospital, and sums devoted to the improvement
of harbours in the Isle of Man (one-ninth of the
revenue received from customs in that island),
ten thousand pounds devoted to "secret service,"
which is only part of the sum annually placed at
the disposal of the Crown to be used in this
way, and between sixteen and seventeen thousand
pounds paid to his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, to
compensate him for loss of duties on tin.

These sums, with the interest on the National
Debt, together amount to something over twenty-
eight millions, and are commonly called the
charges on the Consolidated Fund. They have
been created by general Acts of Parliament, and
are not, therefore, necessarily brought under the
annual consideration of the House of Commons.

The remainder of the annual charges for ruling
Britannia amounts to something over forty-one
millions, and this sum is subject to the annual
control of Parliament in the votes given in what
is called Committee of Supply. The first two
of these charges—about sixteen millions and a
quarter, and nearly eleven millions and a half—
are for the army and navy, the total being nearly
twenty-eight millions. Ten years ago our fighting
expenditure was only sixteen millions, but
the Russian war raised it to a level from which
it shows no symptoms of sinking. We get for
this outlay about one hundred and fifty thousand
effective men of all ranks in our army, and
about seventy-six thousand men in our navy,
with one hundred and fifty vessels of war in
commission.

The next item in the account of expenditure