Introduction

Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 4, 1672-1675. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1909.

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Citation:

'Introduction', in Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 4, 1672-1675, ed. William A Shaw( London, 1909), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/cal-treasury-books/vol4/viii-liv [accessed 27 November 2024].

'Introduction', in Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 4, 1672-1675. Edited by William A Shaw( London, 1909), British History Online, accessed November 27, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/cal-treasury-books/vol4/viii-liv.

"Introduction". Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 4, 1672-1675. Ed. William A Shaw(London, 1909), , British History Online. Web. 27 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/cal-treasury-books/vol4/viii-liv.

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In this section

Introduction

Broadly speaking, the bankruptcy of 1672 had a two-fold effect on English Governmental finance for the remainder of Charles II's reign. (1) The national income was diminished by the amount of the yearly value of fee farms sold. (2) The expenditure was increased by the amount of the interest which had to be paid upon the bankers' debt. Each of these two transactions had a peculiar character, and it is necessary to explain them before attempting a tabular resum of income and expenditure for the period covered by the present volume.

(1) The sale of Fee Farms. The fee farms represented the hitherto unalienated or unsold Crown remains of the chantry lands which had been confiscated under Edward VI. The rentals of such lands were collected by local receivers, who paid their receipts to the respective superior Receivers General of Crown lands, and the latter in turn paid their receipts into the Exchequer. In a statement therefore of yearly income received in the Exchequer the item of "Receivers General" ought to account for the full yield of these fee farms of the Crown as well as of the other Crown lands. But as a matter of fact this is not found to be the case. The amounts paid in yearly by the Receivers General do not by any means represent the total yearly yield of fee farms and Crown lands. This arises from the fact that many yearly charges were in the respective counties made upon the above source of income. Such charges were paid by the Receiver General, and were allowed to him as a credit in his account. He therefore only paid into the Exchequer the net balance of his receipts. It must not be supposed that such charges were novel and that they had been instituted by Charles II. They were mostly very ancient in date as well as in character, and covered in their totality most varied species of expenditure, payments for repairs of roads and harbours, castle guard rents, annuities to schoolmasters and ministers of the Gospel, and so on. For instance, the royal bounty of 100l. per an. to the poor ministers of the Isle of Man was a charge on the fee farm rents of Lancashire and was paid by the Receiver General of that County to the Earl of Derby, who, with the Bishop of Man, distributed it yearly to the recipients (see pp. 722-3 infra). Similarly the provision for the King's Preachers in the County of Lancashire (an institution which goes back to the reign of Elizabeth and in a different form even to that of Edward VI) was made by the Receiver General of the County paying 200l. yearly to the Bishop of Chester, who paid it away to four godly preaching ministers chosen by himself. Each county in England and Wales (or rather each Receiver General's district, which occasionally comprised several counties) had its own list of such "fixed charges" as they were called.

When the fee farms were sold it was no longer possible to meet these county "fixed charges" in the old way. Each case appears to have considered as it came up and any arrangement was made which was feasible at the moment. Failing any other alternative the charge was thrown upon the national Exchequer, and from that time onwards it will figure in the Exchequer expenditure table. This was what was done, for instance, in the above quoted case of the King's preachers (see p. 865 infra). In the case of the poor ministers in the Isle of Man the annuity of 100l. was transferred and charged upon the Excise. It therefore acted as a diminution pro tanto of the receipts from the Excise, and so figures, in effect, in the Exchequer revenue or income table. In the case of the officials of Hampton Court the charge of their ancient fees was transferred to a rent payable nomine decimae to the Crown by the Dean and Chapter of Westminsterthese nomine decimae rents being specially (in the Act for Sale of Fee Farms) reserved from sale (see p. 458 infra). In this case also, therefore, the effect of the transaction will appear as a diminution of Exchequer revenue, not as an increase of Exchequer expenditure. The whole of this subject is brought together in the index to the present volume under the head "Fee Farms (County payments)."

From such an explanation it will be at once apparent that the effect of the transaction of the sale of Fee Farm rents of the Crown is not traceable in more than a fraction of its entirety in the tables of Exchequer income and expenditure given below. Its effect appears on both sides of the balance sheet, as an item of decrease of revenue and as an item of increase of expenditure. Further it appears or figures not under one item, but under many. The main heading under which it does appear is in the item Receivers General in the table of income. Prior to the transaction of the sale of fee farms of the Crown the Receivers General had paid into the Exchequer the following sums :

Year ending Easter s. d.
1661 478 12 9
1662 17,270 16 1
1663 34,014 6 2
1664 34,416 19 2
1665 11,487 1 4
1666 14,679 7 0
1667 6,595 19 9
1668 15,584 7 5
1669 11,844 8 0
1670 12,613 18 4
1671 12,839 15 3

If this be taken roughly as an average net income of certainly over 12,000l. a year the diminution of income is at once apparent on turning to the table below, p. xx. From 1673 onwards the item of Receivers General yields only between 1,000l. and 1,500l a year.

But as has been already explained such a figure by no means represents the total diminution of income which the executive had to face as a consequence of the sale of fee farms. So far as I am aware no tabular statement of the transaction as a whole was ever drawn up. The statement printed below, pp. 111-2, is at once incomplete and unworkable for the reason that the transaction was not complete in 1673. The sales continued until 1679. The account in question may be condensed as follows :

Annual value. Purchase price, or money paid.
s. d. s. d.
Rents and reversions sold 9,907 0 2 80,007 4 10
Rents and reversions in process of sale and partly paid for 144,612 16 0 645,304 7 10
Duchy of Lancaster rents and reversions not yet put up for sale 5,304 6 6 (worth) 64,605 12 0
789,917 3 10

From its form it will be seen that this account of April, 1673, is an estimate of the probable yield of the transaction rather than an account of its actual yield.

As a matter of fact the amount of rents thrown on to the market seems to have been too great for instant absorption. The purchase price had to be reduced from 18 to 17 years and then to 16 years for rents in possession, and finally a rebate of something like a quarter's rental had to be made from the 16 years' purchase. Even with these reductions it was impossible to force the sale, and in the end the executive was driven to (almost forcibly) apply the unsold remainder to the liquidation of debt. The loan of 60,000l. from the City, the banker Lindsay's debt of over 36,000l., and the Customs Farmers' advance money of over 187,000l. on balance, were liquidated in this way. (All the details of these several transactions are brought together in the index to the present and preceding vols. of the Calendar under the respective heads of London loan, Lindsay, J., Customs Farmers, 1671.) A final element of confusion in this very complicated transaction of the sale of fee farms was introduced by Charles's own easy-going good nature. Under the guise of fictitious sales he freely gave away blocks of fee farm rents to individuals. Treasurer Danby himself, for instance, benefited largely from such royal bounty (see pp. 541-3 infra). In their totality these grants are brought together in the index under the heading Fee Farm (grants).

Among the Duke of Leeds' MSS. at the British Museum there is one volume (Addit. MS. 28,073) devoted to the subject of the sale of fee farms. This volume contains entries of each particular contract, but in an exceedingly confused form and not strictly chronologically. With much trepidation I have attempted a re-arrangement of the entries according to counties and an abstraction of the whole as follows. If the account is complete then the conclusion to be drawn is that the total annual value of fee farms sold was something over 50,000l. (fn. 1)

Table I.Total Annual Value Of Fee Farms Sold.
s. d.
Bedford 1,349 0 2
Berks 888 12 11
Bucks 745 9 10
Cambridge 219 8 6
Chester 529 15 4
Cornwall 521 13 0
Cumberland 375 15 7
Derby 691 11 11
Devon 1,534 9 10
Dorset 203 19 6
Durham 2,633 9 4
Essex 4,681 1 1
Gloucester 1,327 4 0
Hereford 488 17 10
Herts 844 12 7
Hunts 108 18 2
Kent 1,409 5 3
Lancaster 1,452 7 0
Leicester 1,669 19 8
Lincoln 1,825 0 8
Middlesex and London 1,528 3 0
Norfolk 535 5 9
Northampton 3,312 7 5
Northumberland 3,099 17 11
Nottingham 516 19 0
Oxford 857 0 10
Rutland 340 11 0
Salop 311 10 2
Somerset 266 17 6
Southampton 883 9 6
Stafford 253 10 6
Suffolk 782 16 7
Surrey 122 19 2
Sussex 701 3 3
Warwick 349 8 9
Wilts 898 14 4
Worcester 553 17 9
Yorks 13,825 3 11
Total 52,640 9 10

The second result of the stop of the Exchequer by means of which Charles's income was lessened is easier of explanation than the transaction just described. It was not until 2 years after the stop that Charles was able to keep his promise and arrange for the payment of 6 per cent. interest on the bankers' debt. On the 23 July, 1674, a great seal was issued providing 140,000l. for 2 years' interest to the goldsmiths, viz. from 1 Jan., 1672, to 1 Jan., 1674 (see the warrant for this great seal on p. 540 infra). In calculating the sums due to each banker compound interest was allowed, that is to say, the 6 per cent. interest due at the first half-yearly period, June, 1672, was added to the principal debt as from that date, and so similarly the interest dividends due at Jan., 1673, June, 1673, and Jan., 1674. By this means Charles kept faith with the bankers as far as their interest was concerned. But this payment so arranged in 1674 was only a provisional and interim arrangement pending the permanent settlement of a specific fund for charging the interest upon. When in 1677 Charles allocated such a fund and granted the bankers annuities on the Excise, the same arrangement of allowing compound interest on the unpaid instalments of interest due from 1 Jan., 1674, to 1677, was again adopted. The unpaid instalments of interest for these 3 years, 1674-7, were added half yearly to the principal sum. In this way the amount of the principal debt owing to the bankers was by the year 1677 increased by the amount of 5 years' compound interest, viz., 2 years from 1672 and 3 years from 1674. It was on this enhanced or increased sum of principal debt that the annuities granted to the bankers in 1677 were calculated. In his own time and in his own way, therefore, Charles kept his word with the bankers as to the payment of their interest. It is necessary to emphasise this, as the idea is constantly disseminated that Charles played fast and loose with the bankers and that they were robbed of their interest after having been robbed of their capital ; whereas in matter of fact the arrangements for the payment of their interest were scrupulously honest. From the moment that the bankers received their annuities their payment was ensured and became only a matter of official routine. Tallies were made out half-yearly at the Exchequer drawn on the Excise, the tallies were delivered to the bankers and were paid by the Receivers or the Commissioners of Excise at the Excise Office. It only remains to point out two merely technical features in this transaction. (1) As the interest money was paid at the Excise Office it does not appear as an expenditure item in the Exchequer expenditure. It figures in the national balance sheet only by way of diminution of the receipts from the Excise. (2) In each banker's grant of annuity there was a covenant inserted that he would within a twelve month assign to his own creditors pro rata shares or parts of his own annuity in the proportion of the deposits of those creditors. When these assignments had been made accordingly and duly enrolled, the individual depositors or customers of the bankers became entitled to their own annuity on the Excise and received their tallies in their own name. They thus became investors in the first funded national debt of this country.

The two transactions which have been described above represent in their combined effect a diminution of Charles' income as follows :

Annual value of fee farms sold 52,600
Annual amount of interest paid to bankers 70,000
122,600

Bearing in mind, therefore, on the one hand that this diminution of effective income would have to be faced, and on the other hand that Charles was committed irrevocably to the second Dutch war, it would seem that the task of the Lord Treasurer was a hopeless one. It may be safely asserted that such task would have been indeed worse than hopeless if the Lord Treasurer's staff had remained long in the hands of Lord Clifford. Such of the Treasury records in the present volume as cover the short period of his treasurership bear witness to the merely personal ability of this worthless, unscrupulous gamester, but of any broader administrative ability there is not a trace. His utter recklessness is amply vouched for. In Sept., 1673, Sir William Temple writes to the Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as follows : "A little before he [Clifford] left the Treasury, upon [the occasion of] a letter [which] it seems your lordship had written to desire his inspection into that [the Treasury] of Ireland before he left the [white] staff, and an expression in it that without some methods the King would be forced to run out [exceed his income] there [in Ireland, he, Clifford] fell into a fit of raillery before the company that was there, saying among other things, my Lord of Essex would be taken for a gentleman that is resolved to live within his compass ; the good man must needs have his bread and butter meet ; but he's out of the story : we run out [exceed our income] here [in England] and he must run out there in spite of his teeth : with a good deal more of this kind which was told me by one that was there and heard it all. For aught I hear he practised as he preached, for one of his best friends told me he might be arraigned for the bounties he used in the disposal of the King's money about six weeks before he left the staff ; and all has gone at that rate that I hear by a state of the revenue lately brought in, the King will owe at the end of this month 500,000l. more than he will have to realise, and all since the stop in the Exchequer."

Ample confirmation of this gossip is furnished by the long list of money warrants and letters of direction which Clifford signed in the few days prior to the 19th June, 1673 (infra pp. 161-82).

On the latter date Clifford was succeeded as Lord Treasurer by Sir Thomas Osborne, then Viscount Osborne, of Dunblane. Anticipating his later creations (as Viscount Latimer in Aug., 1673, and as Earl of Danby in June, 1674), it is convenient to speak of him consistently as Danby.

Within an incredibly short space of time Charles's finances took on another aspect under the guidance of the new Lord Treasurer. Owing to the fact that the larger administrative side of Treasury work was shaped not in the Treasury Chambers but at the Privy Council, it is not to be expected that the more statesmanlike and comprehensive aspect of Danby's administration of the Treasury should be revealed in the Treasury records calendared in the present volume. In the Privy Council he gave his advice inter pares for a regulation of expenses : at the Treasury Chambers he merely transacted the routine side of Treasury work, signing warrants, writing letters, passing accounts, considering claims, and so forth. But throughout the record of even this merely mechanical routine work there shines the illuminating sense of a statesman consistently sound, clear headed, businesslike without ever condescending to be brilliant. That this was the impression produced by his personality upon the business community is evident from the speedy restoration of the credit of the Navy which had taken place under his tenure of the office of the Treasurer of the Navy, and it is still more evident in the view of his contemporaries as to his administration of the higher office of Lord High Treasurer of England. With the second Dutch war on his hands, towards which the Parliament had granted an inadequate supply, he still succeeded in restoring credit so far as to be able to borrow money at 8 per cent., whereas previously 10 per cent. had been paid for loans to the Government. He not merely paid the seamen in ready money, whereas previously for years they had been paid only in tickets or part tickets and part money, but he also furnished the stores with cash to enable them to make purchases at cash value instead of at 40 per cent. enhanced prices for deferred payment. And when he subsequently came to settle the claims of householders for the quarterings and nursing of sick and wounded seamen he was particularly solicitous to protect the householders from the fraud of speculators who had bought the quartering tickets at a discount. Finally he never rested until he had made a completely honest, even a generous, provision for the interest due to the bankers. In doing all this Danby was struggling not merely against the natural financial difficulties of his position, but also against the violent opposition of interested factionsa faction about the Court on the one hand which resisted his efforts at economy (see Lord Conway's letter to the Earl of Essex, dated 1674, Mar. 31, among the Essex Papers), and on the other hand a Parliamentary faction which sought his downfall.

But apart from Danby's businesslike and administrative capacity it has up to the present remained a mystery how he managed to accomplish so much. The following tables of revenue income lift the veil from this mystery and furnish a perfectly natural explanation. There is evidence in the economic life of England in the seventeenth century of that same cyclical recurrence of depression and expansion which characterises the economic life of the modern world. In the middle of its career Cromwell's Government had felt the benefit of such a period of mercantile expansion. The Restoration took place at the moment of the lowest depression following on that expansion, in fact that depression made the Restoration possible. If the course of the cycle had been normal, revival and expansion would have ensued in or about 1666 ; but two unrelated causes contributed to postpone it. In the first place Cromwell had financially bled the country to death in his ambitious policy to be strong at once abroad and at home. The financial embarrassment of Charles's Government was in some measure due to this exhaustion of the country, as witnessed in the diminished yield of the taxes. In the second place the mere accidents of the extraordinary expenses connected with the Restoration (the disbandment of the Commonwealth Army and the pay of arrears to the Navy) and the subsequent plague, fire, and Dutch war and the depletion of the currency by the exchangers all acted as forcible deterrents to postpone the return of economic expansion. The revival which should have come in 1666, therefore, only made itself felt in 1672. One contributory cause of the revival was doubtless the temporary dispersal of currency medium and of capital which resulted on the stop of the Exchequer. Prior to the stop, not merely investors' capital, but also the currency itself, had been engrossed in the hands of the bankers, and the breaking down of that dam turned both currency and capital into other and more fructifying channels.

I am not concerned with the external evidence of this revival. I am only concerned with its effect on Charles's finances and on Danby's administration. In a word, it brought Charles's income up with a bound and made him for the moment solvent. For the first time since the Restoration Charles actually received the income which Parliament had voted him in 1660. In the following tables it will be noticed that the Customs yielded over 400,000l. in 1674, and over 700,000l. in 1675. In the year Mich., 1670, to Mich., 1671, the Customs had yielded 162,000l. Similarly the Excise (which is if anything a surer indicator of internal trade activity) yielded over 750,000l. in 1674 and about 500,000l. in 1675. Its prior yield had been from 250,000l. to 300,000l. per an. These increases, therefore, much more than counterbalanced the loss of income from the sale of fee farms. As a result Charles's fixed, settled or hereditary revenue, which had been fixed in 1660 at 1,200,000l., but which had never before 1672 amounted to more than 900,000l., rose in 1674 and 1675 to over 1,400,000l. This of course is quite independent of the money which Charles received from Louis XIV, as that money was not paid into the Exchequer nor accounted for there.

These simple figures furnish the key to the mystery of the financial success of those years of Danby's Treasury administration which are covered by the present volume of Calendar. In the following tables I give in accordance with the plan consistently followed in these introductions the figures of Exchequer income and expenditure for the period in question, and the chief accounts of departmental expenditurethe latter of course in a condensed form.

Hereditary Revenue of the King.
Michaelmas 1673. to Easter, 1674. Easter, 1674, to Michaelmas, 1674. Michaelmas, 1674, to Easter, 1675. Easter, 1675, to Michaelmas, 1675. Michaelmas, 1675, to Easter, 1676.
s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.
Customs 199,819 16 1 226,070 2 4 279,796 17 4 449,973 8 5 228,907 10 4
Excise 459,189 0 11 265,132 3 6 304,340 0 0 194,837 3 6 104,417 17 0
4s. per chalder on sea coal 500 0 0 500 0 0 500 0 0 500 0 0 500 0 0
12d. 19 6 3 219 6 3 219 6 3 19 6 3 19 6 3
Society of Tobacco Pipe Makers 2 13 4
Clerk of Bills 13 6 8
Farm of logwood 250 0 0 250 0 0 250 0 0 250 0 0
" " duty on French shipping 3,250 0 0 1,847 16 7
" " licences of concord 250 0 0 528 14 4 184 7 2 131 18 10
Trefoil seed patent 1 0 0
Rent of lighthouses 20 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0
Custody of idiots 5 0 0 5 0 0 5 0 0
Receivers General 676 7 10 394 3 11 300 0 0 1,310 0 0 800 0 0
Rent of lands and fee farms 3 9 4 0 2 6 46 0 0 31 13 4 3 4 4
Sheriffs of counties 674 13 3 660 1 8 533 13 11 458 17 0 648 0 0
Bailiffs of liberties 45 7 5 55 16 4 60 9 6 33 15 8 64 11 6
Fines and forfeitures of penal obligations 21 15 0 1,367 2 3 1,976 18 10 1,949 2 9 2,738 3 9
Lands seized and extended 11 12 6 0 19 11 11 7 6 2 7 3 16 19 1
Fines of leases 1 10 4 76 12 10 731 0 0 126 7 10
First Fruits 2,695 19 0 1,147 5 0 343 16 0 1,563 6 0 1,914 15 1
Tenths 1,590 13 8 3,965 12 3 2,386 4 5 3,901 5 0 2,434 5 2
Goods forfeited 1,555 19 0
Hearthmoney 61,656 7 6 162,533 14 4 107,421 6 5 63,255 16 8 87,141 15 7
Prize goods 76,000 0 0
Sede vacante rents (Durham Bishopric) 4,974 5 9
Farm of imported salt 575 0 0 659 11 1
Fines of alienation 700 0 0 1,300 0 0
Sale of woods 14 17 8
Imprests repaid 47 3 10 6 19 2 20 15 5
King's Bench Fines 804 17 4
Debt of Sir G. Benyon 442 0 0
Licence for planting matter 6 0 0
Greenwax 250 0 0
813,428 3 9 666,508 2 3 700,390 8 1 720,255 0 10 430,018 11 5
Parliamentary Revenue of the King.
Michaelmas, 1673, to Easter, 1674. Easter, 1674, to Michaelmas, 1674. Michaelmas, 1674, to Easter, 1675. Easter, 1675, to Michaelmas, 1675. Michaelmas, 1675, to Easter, 1676.
s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.
4 per cent, duty in Barbados 765 0 0 10,100 0 0 3,679 13 8 600 0 0 400 0 0
Law duty 2,100 0 0 750 0 0 102 8 10 2,800 0 0 4,500 0 0
Rent of Bombay 10 0 0 10 0 0 10 0 0
Royal Aid 679 7 3 32 13 0 210 5 2 21 3 5 84 5 0
Additional Aid 339 9 4
Eleven months' assessment 743 1 1 192 12 3 1,666 4 3 843 5 9 81 14 11
Wine Act 9,648 3 4 117 14 4 2,129 5 6 820 12 2 230 16 5
Wine and Vinegar duty 15,994 2 2
Retrospect of First Wine Act 54 10 5 962 6 0
Subsidy [of 15 Car. II] (laity) 4,444 1 5 109 15 5
Sale of fee farms 17,929 15 4 57,069 19 6 12,532 5 2 22,027 11 2
Eighteen months' assessment (25 Car. II) 391,615 19 9 318,238 1 6 148,805 12 2 16,095 9 1 10,010 9 5
Loans on " " 218,016 0 0 3,000 0 0
Loan money into Exchequer 24,000 0 0 1,717 10 0
Money paid by States General 40,000 0 0 6,620 0 0 765 1 1
Coinage duty 5,203 14 5 9,452 4 4 4,456 4 9 1,733 11 6
Subsidy (23 Car. II) 812 18 8 1,037 8 5 307 0 7
Poll 4 9 0
One month's assessment 0 10 0
Wine Licences 24,100 2 6 82 0 0
Eighteen months' assessment (15 Car. II) 41 17 6 741 8 0
Queen's dowry 200 0 0 2,700 0 0 3,700 0 0 3,000 0 0 5,103 2 10
726,339 10 3 399,184 8 8 191,773 3 1 75,878 8 1 22,977 8 2
Table of Expenditure.
Michaelmas, 1673, to Easter, 1674. Easter, 1674, to Michaelmas, 1674. Michaelmas, 1674, to Easter, 1675. Easter, 1675, to Michaelmas, 1675. Michaelmas, 1675, to Easter, 1676.
s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.
Privy Purse 20,711 10 8 18,476 2 8 23,164 12 5 27,729 5 11 20,580 0 2
Queen Consort 4,000 0 0
Cofferer of the Household 135,200 0 0 50,350 0 0 37,966 1 11 80,711 1 8 26,750 0 0
Treasurer of the Chamber 34,039 13 9 13,266 9 5 23,399 13 0 16,054 0 0 7,632 0 0
Robes 4,540 7 5 2,000 0 0 8,200 0 0 2,000 0 0 2,300 0 0
Great Wardrobe 8,984 10 9 9,628 19 0 17,188 4 3 8,560 4 8 8,000 0 0
Stables 7,095 18 0 5,000 0 0 5,000 0 0 5,500 0 0 7,000 0 0
Jewel Office 10,255 15 7 7,290 3 11 2,915 1 11
Works 9,294 5 0 7,018 12 2 14,204 7 2 3,350 0 0 4,400 0 0
Buildings at Windsor Castle 6,604 17 4 3,384 7 2 2,981 18 10
Navy 511,330 19 4 353,980 19 9 293,617 7 5 255,488 17 6 107,610 9 1
Ordnance 85,790 2 3 33,000 0 0 39,900 0 0 10,314 0 0 21,294 0 0
Lieutenant of the Tower 3,173 4 10
Ambassadors 26,884 14 1 16,889 6 7 32,471 1 0 6,136 0 0 21,285 14 10
Secret Service 21,111 10 0 19,388 10 0 55,144 5 11 59,802 12 0 41,338 7 7
Mint 8,719 8 3 4,280 11 8 4,000 0 0 6,000 0 0
Gentlemen Pensioners 3,003 15 9 4,999 5 2 1,139 2 1 3,585 15 7 4,894 1 9
Guards and garrisons 341,892 19 3 160,912 0 8 200,255 14 9 132,102 8 3 129,000 0 0
Tents, toils and pavilions 1,000 0 0 1,377 0 0 1,000 0 0 500 0 0 1,000 0 0
Grooms of the Chamber to the Queen 249 3 4
Annual allowances 10,151 16 5 10,590 3 8
Liveries of the Exchequer 792 11 9 1,736 12 1 434 18 0 1,278 8 0 802 2 7
Royal Bounty 2,525 16 8 3,680 11 2 3,942 5 1 5,002 17 3 1,153 13 10
Rewards, pensions and fees 13,564 9 0 11,193 11 8 14,550 8 10 5,793 15 0
King's messengers 259 7 4 238 7 4 317 9 4
Extraordinaries of divers nature 31,835 7 0 24,637 15 7 28,336 12 8 71,191 15 4 11,788 18 7
Loan money repaid 168,436 19 6 189,088 4 8 36,342 4 11 71,766 1 5 1,709 4 1
Interest of monies 26,438 13 8 48,465 12 3
Fees and annuities [salaries] 39,787 17 10 30,260 16 2 57,370 17 10 32,392 4 9 34,303 16 6
Assignations on various branches of the revenue 44,480 13 0 31,170 2 9 44,750 5 9 19,047 5 10 26,231 2 10
Royal presents of Jewels 3,850 0 0 5,330 0 0 3,100 0 0 3,000 0 0
Lord Privy Seal's diet 360 0 0 1,100 0 0 724 0 0 736 0 0
Defalcations 200 0 0 200 0 0
1,568,118 18 4 997,015 4 3 1,014,581 16 4 833,490 1 8 494,817 18 1
Income. Expenditure.
One Year ending Mich., 1674 2,605,460 4 11 2,565,134 2 8
One Year ending Mich., 1675 1,688,297 3 2 1,848,071 17 1
Half Year ending Easter, 1676 452,995 19 7 494,817 18 1
Hereditary or Fixed Revenue of the King.
Year ending Michaelmas, 1674 1,479,938 6 0
Year ending Michaelmas, 1675 1,420,645 8 11
Half Year ending Easter, 1676 430,018 11 5
Tables Of Departmental Expenditure.
Excise.
(A.) London Farm separately up to 1674, Nov. 13.
(B.) Country Farm separately
(C.) Receivers and Cashiers of Excise from 1674, Nov. 13.
(D.) Commissioners : recapitulating A, B, and C from 1674, June 24.
Excise A (London).
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, June 24 to 1674, June 24 Included in the account of the London Excise 1671-4 (in introduction Calendar Treasury Book volume iii., p. xvi.)
Excise B (Country).
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, June 24 to 1674, Sept. 29 Rents of farms of Country Excise 211,275 0 0 Interest allowed to the farmers on their advances before the commencement of their farm 6,351 9 4
Minus amount not actually received thereon 6,588 0 4 Ditto on ditto after the commencement of ditto 1,026 16 1
204,686 19 7
Incidents 291 4 10
Salaries 1,800 0 0
Allowances by special order 2,362 0 7
Ready money paid into the Exchequer 231,166 5 9
Profits of fines 66 11 10 Money paid by special warrant 3,100 0 0
204,753 11 5 276,127 6 10
Excise C (London and Country).
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1674, June 24 tp 1674. Nov. 13 Receipts from London Excise 66,666 13 4 Salaries 2,478 10 0
Office rent 85 0 0
Incidents 542 13 8
Receipts from Country Excise 52,814 9 0 Payments by special order 2,160 0 0
Pensions 15911 12 10
Ready money paid into the Receipt 97,835 8 2
119,481 2 4 119,013 4 8
Excise C (London and Country).
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1674, Nov. 13 to 1675-6, Jan. 22. Receipts from the late Receivers of Excise 2,000 0 0 Salaries 11,762 10 0
Paid to the Duke of York 30,000 0 0
Pensions 64,312 3 11
Receipts from the late Farmers in part of their arrears 4,832 8 6 Interest on farmers' advances 20,438 16 6
Receipts from the Excise Farmers and daily cash : Paid on tallies towards discharge of the bankers' interest 43,419 17 2
Ready money paid into the Receipt 487,328 5 2
London 238,694 6 8 Office rent 200 0 0
Country 413,852 4 3 Salaries 1,655 0 10
659,378 19 6 659,176 13 8
Excise D (Commissioners' General account for London and Country Excise recapitulating the Receivers' and Cashiers' account).
Charge. Discharge
s. d. s. d.
1674, June 24 to 1677, June 24 Rents : London Excise 600,000 0 0 Money received of the late Farmers of Excise charged in this present account and accounted for by Sir John James and others 120,405 6 0
Rents : Country Excise 1,050,000 0 0
Advance money of succeeding Farmers of Excise advanced before hand 250,000 0 0 Received by the Receiver and Cashier of Excise and accounted for by him 666,332 7 7
Salaries 14,669 0 10
Office rent 300 0 0
Incidents 1,548 15 6
Pensions 74,989 12 9
Allowances by special order 362 1 6
Interest to bankers and others 37,931 10 3
Advance money repaid to late Farmers of Excise 245,000 0 0
Ready money paid into the Exchequer 608,128 7 7
Interest on advance money and current cash 20,694 5 5
1,900,000 0 0 1,904,259 0 9
This account may be quoted as a typical example of the Exchequer method of balancing an account. The debit balance or "remains" at the foot of the account is 60,399 9s. 8d, which is partially accounted for by items of "supers" set upon various sub-farmers or collectors as follows depending upon :
s. d.
Sub-farmers of Excise for arrears before Xmas 1660 14,095 18 1
Farmers of Excise before 1658, March 25 17,197 16 0
Ditto, after 1660 Xmas 4,053 6 5
Ditto, from Xmas 1665 14,843 18 2
Ditto, from 24 June, 1668 2,188 3 9
Ditto, from 24 June, 1671 1,770 9 2
Ditto, from 24 June, 1674 1,503 1 6
Customs.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, Sept. 29 to 1674, Sept. 29 Revenue of Customs, London 545,483 13 9 Accounted for in the Cash Account for this year[this Account is lost] 638,268 18 10
Revenue of Customs, outports 218,092 13 2
Overpayments discompted 4,404 19 1
Fees, &c., of Collectors of the outports 13,520 15 9
Contingencies 4,542 16 8
Repayments of half subsidy 61,086 3 2
763,576 6 11 721,823 13 7
1674, Sept. 29 to 1675, Sept. 29 (Cash Account) Receipts, London 504,323 19 0 Rewards and salaries. London port 27,122 14 3
Receipts, outports 169,706 18 0 Fees, &c., of patent officers of outports 2,523 2 6
Interest money received of the East India Company 19 1 9 Annuities and pensions 23,090 10 0
Creation money 650 0 0
Allowances to officers of the Exchequer 972 8 4
Freight 2,172 3 2
East India Company 2,762 19 7
Incidents 8,921 5 10
Annuities and pensions 5,183 6 8
Ready money paid into the Exchequer 596,576 8 6
874,049 18 10 674,049 1 9
1674, Sept. 29 to 1675, Sept. 29 (General Account) Receipts, London 564,624 12 0 Accounted for in the Cash Account 674,049 18 10
Receipts, outports 231,511 0 3 Overpaid by Collectors 75 4 11
From East India Company 19 1 9 Fees, &c., outports 13,452 6 5
Contingencies, outports 4,863 15 8
Repayment of half subsidy 110,985 7 2
764,154 14 0 803,517 3 1
1675, Sept. 29 to 1676, Sept. 29 (cash Account) Receipts, London 490,509 13 8 Salaries, &c., London 30,563 14 10
Receipts, outports 137,526 13 9 Salaries of patent officers in outports 1,370 15 5
Salaries and pensions 17,422 0 0
Creation money 540 0 0
Impost wines 3,675 0 0
Allowances to officers of the Exchequer 1,368 1 4
Allowances of Customs to new built ships 2,504 14 4
East India Company 6,650 16 9
Incidents 10,339 14 2
Annuities and pensions 5,033 6 8
Ready money paid into the Exchequer 548,515 7 1
628,036 7 6 627,983 10 8
1675, Sept. 29 to 1676, Sept. 29 (General Account) Receipts, London port 569,531 6 6 Accounted for in Cash Account 628,036 7 6
Receipts, outports 232,039 2 0 Defalcations and discompts 149 15 4
Receipts, Plantations 369 0 7 Salaries, outports 13,532 6 5
Incidents 4,988 6 9
Repayment of half subsidy 163,436 7 8
801,939 9 1 810,143 3 9
Navy.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, July 12 to 1674, Dec. 31 Ready money out of the Exchequer 1,117,313 18 5 Emptions and provisions for the Navy 177,323 13 3
Balance of Cash received from previous Navy Treasurer 8,900 0 0 Transport 1,391 0 9
Travelling Charges 4,245 5 11
Rent 1,421 19 3
Pilots 3,634 6 5
Tallies on the Customs received from previous Navy Treasurer 38,000 0 0 Ships bought for the King's service 25,576 13 5
Freight 47,921 3 4
Rewards, bounties, &c. 70,817 16 2
Paper orders received from previous Navy Treasurer 470,504 3 0 Press Gang and Conduct money 2,541 4 3
Particular Victuals 2,525 18 2
[French King's] money received from W. Chiffinch 85,000 0 0 Loss of Clothes 297 6 0
Navy Office Salaries 13,008 10 5
Pensions 7,288 6 5
Yards, wages 12,055 11 6
Money received from the French Commissary for provisions for French ships in English waters 6,729 11 10 Yards, extraordinaries 141,095 9 5
Yards, ropeyards 18,082 7 7
Wages (seamen and commanders) 571,292 17 11
Orphans and widows 17,702 11 8
Interest for money borrowed 5,461 14 5
Former accomptants' imprests cleared in the time of this account 15,755 17 6 Salary and allowances to Navy Treasurer 5,700 0 0
Ordinary allowances 50 0 0
Stores sold 5,239 4 7
Overpayments 67 7 0
Rent of Lordship Fields at Chatham 30 0 0
1,747,540 7 5 1, 129, 433 11 6
Balance of supers remaining charged on subsidiary accomptants at the end of this accompt (total, 822,428 8 6) over such supers standing charged on such accomptants at the beginning of this accompt (total, 661,108 5 6) 161,320 0 0
Paper orders carried forward to next accompt 461,786 10 11
1,752,540 1 5
1674-5, Jan. 1 to 1675, Dec. 31 Ready money out of the Receipt 438,485 17 5 Emptions and provisions 87,781 18 6
Navy Office Salaries 9,643 4 9
Sale of old provisions 3,354 2 8 Rewards 33,079 18 9
Rent 980 1 3
Defalcations out of sundry bills 1,167 0 0 Pilotage 460 0 1
Press Gang and Conduct money 1,126 14 4
Overpayments 40 3 4 Wages of Commanders and seamen 86,530 8 5
Rent of Lordship Fields at Chatham 20 0 0
Wages of the yards 46,697 17 9
Freight 25,764 17 9
Sundry victuals 17,155 15 1
Widows and Orphans 144 16 6
Interest 179 5 1
Prince Rupert 1,104 0 0
Navy Treasurer's salary 3,800 0 0
Ordinary allowances 33 6 8
443,007 3 6 318,013 16 5
(In this accompt the item of 1,279,214 16 5 of remains standing in the charge is balanced by the following items in the discharge) Supers or imprests depending 850,023 4 2
Paper orders carried forward 452,510 1 9
Cash in the hands of the Navy Treasurer 101,154 17 6
Ordnance.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, June 30 to 1674, June 30 Money received at the Exchequer 93,790 2 3 Wages 6,502 19 7
Munition and habiliments of war 110,690 17 10
Money received on sale of stores 15,261 5 10 Ordinary allowances 15 6 8
109,051 8 1 117,209 4 1
1674, June 30 to 1675, June 30 Ready money out of the Exchequer 83,314 0 0 Wages 9,070 8 11
Emptions, munitions and habiliments of war 122,914 18 0
Money with which the Accomptant voluntarily charges himself, being not charged in the Exchequer (mostly from sale of stores) 31,214 0 2 Fuel for the office 100 0 0
Ordinary allowances 15 6 8
114 528 0 2 132,100 13 7
1675, June 30 to 1676, June 30 Ready money out of the Exchequer 37,543 13 0 Wages 9,844 18 4
Emptions, munitions and habiliments of war 21,947 16 3
Provisions sold out of the stores 17,909 18 8 Ordinary allowances 15 6 8
55,453 11 8 31,808 1 3
Army ; Guards and Garrisons.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, Sept. 20 to 1674-5, Jan. 1 Ready money out of the Exchequer 340,080 4 10 Pay and entertainment of the Guards 216,973 12 4
Pay of new raised regiments 44,915 18 10
Pay of garrisons 60,423 19 4
Medicaments, fire, candle, &c. 22,721 15 5
Due to the chest at Chatham 1,391 17 9
Widows and orphans 1,744 16 0
Payments by special warrant 1,701 14 0
Sir Stephen Fox's salary as Paymaster of the Army 514 5 10
340,080 4 10 350,386 19 7
From 1674-5, Jan. 1 to 1675, Dec. 31 Ready money out of the Exchequer 210,000 0 0 Pay and entertainment of the Guards 144,193 4 3
Items payable on sundry orders registered in the Exchequer [and transferred as a loan to the Paymaster of the Army] 56,805 19 9 Pay of garrisons 45,122 14 2
Contingencies 4,903 10 3
Pensions to reformed officers 1,037 6 2
Payments by special warrant [being part discharge of the loan transaction on the debit side of this accompt] 46,530 10 3
266,805 19 9 259,527 1 11
Great Wardrobe.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
From 1673, Sept. 29 to 1674, Sept. 29 Ready money out of the Exchequer 16,475 11 0 Payments for work and goods 18,319 17 8
Work and goods during the Earl of Sandwich's time 2,014 17 8
Payments by patent and dormant warrant 3,378 1 7
Salaries 3,960 0 5
Annual payments and sundries 203 9 10
16,475 11 0 27,875 10 11
1674, Sept. 29 to 1675, Sept. 29 Ready money out of the Exchequer 25,668 7 11 Payments for work and goods 14,592 18 9
Liveries and vestments 3,409 18 2
Salaries 2,939 13 6
Annual sundries 26 19 0
25,668 7 11 20,969 9 5
1675, Sept. 29 to 1676, Sept. 29 Ready money out of the Exchequer 22,000 0 0 Payments for work and goods 9,398 10 3
Payments by patent and dormant warrant 3,288 5 9
Salaries 2,656 4 2
Annual sundries 203 9 10
22,000 0 0 15,546 10 0
Cofferer Of The Household.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673. Sept 30 to 1674, Sept. 30 Ready money out of the Exchequer 187,550 0 0 Expenses of the Household and stables 90,129 9 4
Goods sold 143 16 6 Salaries 3,582 14 4
Rent of Reading meadow 105 0 0 Payments by Royal warrant 17,630 1 10
Divers creditors 11,914 3 10
Duke of York's diet 10,400 0 0
Purchase of horses 160 0 0
Remains of stores, &c. and sundries 1,150 13 7
187,798 16 6 134,076 9 4
1674, Sept. 30 to 1675, Sept. 30 Ready money out of the Exchequer 118,387 2 6 Expenses of the Household and stables 85,946 18 7
Sale of stores 132 9 4 Salaries 3,582 1 6
Rent of Reading meadow 225 0 0 Daily alms 219 0 0
Payments by Royal warrant 1,284 8 4
Pensions 3,476 7 10
Divers creditors 5,442 11 6
Duke of York's diet 10,400 0 0
Purchase of horses 160 0 0
Sundries 51 0 0
118,734 11 10 110,562 7 9
1675, Sept. 30 to 1676, Sept. 30 Ready money out of the Exchequer 58,473 10 9 Expenses of the Household and stables 78,107 3 1
Rent of Reading meadow 105 0 0 Salaries 3,579 7 10
Daily alms 219 12 0
Payments by Royal warrant 4,753 6 8
Pensions 2,185 17 7
Divers creditors 2,740 15 0
Duke of York's diet 10,400 0 0
Purchase of horses 160 0 0
Sundries 51 0 0
58,578 10 9 102,197 2 4
Paymaster Of The Works.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, April 1 to 1674, Mar. 31 Ready money out of the Exchequer 14,177 15 10 Works at the Tower 3,286 10 0
" Westminster 200 1 7
" St. James's 664 14 0
Provisions out of the stores 144 11 9 " Denmark House 384 19 9
" Hampton Court 539 14 0
" Greenwich 335 2 3
Officers of the Works, &c. 1,575 9 3
Extraordinary Works 1,315 4 3
Sundries 62 0 0
14,322 7 7 8,542 14 11
1674, April 1 to 1675, Mar. 31 Ready money out of the Exchequer 21,222 19 4 Works at the Tower 484 0 2
" Whitehall 4,666 9 5
" St. James's 606 16 11
Provisions out of the stores 173 12 6 " Westminster 546 2 10
" Denmark House 1,462 4 7
" Hampton Court 1,006 3 9
" Greenwich 259 1 4
" Audley End 240 12 8
Officers of the Works, &c. 1,580 14 5
Extraordinary Works 4,299 10 2
Sundries 62 0 0
21,396 11 10 15,309 0 8
1675, April 1 to 1676, Mar. 31 Ready money out of the Exchequer 9,750 0 0 Works at the Tower 269 0 11
" Whitehall 3,609 12 6
" St. James's 562 13 1
Paper money (or uncashed and unassigned orders dating from 1668 to 1671) here brought to account 17,500 0 0 " Westminster 140 19 3
" Denmark House 1,061 17 5
" Hampton Court 1,001 17 6
" Greenwich 147 17 11
Officers of the Works, &c. 1,597 12 8
Provisions out of the stores 132 13 9 Extraordinary Works at Audley End 176 4 1
" Newmarket 229 18 7
" Denmark House 203 14 10
" Duke of York's stables 186 9 9
" Mr. Gill's house 210 17 5
" making a new store cistern in St. James's Park 372 13 8
" cleansing Hampton Court river 60 0 0
" at the Guard House in St. James's Park 206 5 6
" repairs at the Mews 87 4 10
" making a fountain in the Bowling Green 600 11 2
" laying pipes from Charing Cross to the fountain in the Bowling Green at Whitehall 266 4 6
Extraordinary Works " repairs of Longford Bridge, co. Midd. 26 12 10
" mending the highway between St. James's Park wall and Goring House 44 15 8
" making a new board floor in the theatre at Whitehall 87 6 5
" making a pedestal for the brass figure at Charing Cross 13 3 0
Money unrealized on the paper orders as per contra 12,891 19 0
Sundries 62 0 0
27,382 13 9 24,117 8 0
Treasurer Of The Chamber.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, Sept. 29 to 1674, Sept. 29 Ready money out of the Exchequer 47,316 3 2 King's alms 186 8 0
Rewards and largess 388 16 8
Clerk of the Closet 8 0 0
Ditto, for interest money 1,350 9 8 Serjeant of the Vestry 60 0 0
Trumpeters 560 0 0
Musicians 1,398 17 0
" for wind 232 14 2
" Lutes and other private Music 868 17 6
Virginals 107 10 0
Tuner of the wind instruments 60 0 0
King's and Queen's Footmen 810 0 0
Child riders 51 18 4
Falconers 712 3 7
Cormorant Keeper 84 0 0
Huntsmen of the Privy Buckhounds 1,979 6 4
Officers of the King's Parks, etc. 24 6 8
Yeomen of the Bows 31 18 9
Officers of the Tents and Toils 194 1 8
Officers of the Leash 9 6 8
Huntsmen of the Otter Hounds 94 12 4
Surveyor of the Dresser 27 7 6
Justice in Eyre beyond Trent (Duke of Newcastle) 100 0 0
Yeoman Usher of the House of Peers 164 5 0
Officers of the Jewel House 158 18 4
Officers of the removing Wardrobe of Beds 791 13 4
Officers of the Bears, Bulls, and Mastives 33 16 5
Apothecaries 22 5 0
Repairer of the Bridges 20 0 0
Clockmaker 159 6 8
Marshal Farrier 750 0 0
Locksmith 28 14 2
Moletaker 40 8 4
Ratkiller 12 3 4
Bowling Green Keeper 45 12 6
Nurseryman and Pond Keeper 30 0 0
Yeoman of the Revels 23 5 10
Keeper of the Theatre 30 0 0
Coffer Bearers 54 15 0
Bedgoers to the King 40 0 0
Bedgoers to the Queen 60 0 0
Waiters on the King's and Queen's Robes 40 0 0
Keepers of the rich coats 12 0 0
King's Laundress 20 0 0
Grooms of the King's Chamber 602 5 0
Grooms of the Queen's Chamber 146 0 0
King's Gentleman Usher Daily Waiters, Quarter Waiters, Yeoman Ushers, etc. 942 1 8
Queen's ditto 527 4 2
Watermen 173 15 0
Messengers of the King's Chamber 2,095 0 0
Ditto of the Queen's Chamber 75 0 0
Yeomen of the Guard 6,332 4 4
Annuities and Pensions 847 9 4
Payments by Royal Warrant 1,958 19 4
Payments by Lord Chamberlain's Warrants 5,036 14 8
Gardening Charges 450 18 0
Apothecaries' bills 6,903 0 3
Jeweller's bills 317 8 8
Watermen's bills 1,577 10 0
Officer's riding and travelling charges 7,532 4 0
Artificers' Bill 1,702 14 2
Farrier's Bill 120 0 0
Ordinary Allowances 216 13 4
48,666 12 10 47,802 16 2
1674. Sept. 29 to 1675, Sept. 29 Ready money out of the Exchequer 39,453 13 0 Items ut supra 40,059 8 1
Ditto for interest money 281 9 10
39,735 2 10 40,059 8 1
1675, Sept. 29 to 1676, Sept. 29 Ready money out of the Exchequer 25,950 4 2 Items ut supra 26,350 15 1
Ditto for interest money 43 8 10
25,993 13 0 26,350 15 1
Wine Licences.
Charge. Discharge.
s. d. s. d.
1673, Mar. 25 to 1674, Mar. 25 Receipts from licences in the counties 11,485 11 7 Necessaries and incidents 1,547 19 4
Salaries 1,770 0 0
For elapsed licences, &c. 327 17 11 Money paid into the Exchequer 9,180 18 3
Fines and law costs 191 11 11
12,005 1 5 12,498 17 7
1674, Mar. 26 to 1675, Mar. 25 Receipts from wine licences in the counties 11,147 16 6 Necessaries and incidents 1,473 5 10
Salaries 1,870 0 0
For elapsed licences, &c. 221 10 0 Money paid into the Exchequer 7,924 1 0
Fines and law costs 286 0 6
12,054 18 0 10,967 6 10
1675, Mar. 26 to 1676, Mar. 25 Receipts of wine licences in the counties 11,520 15 3 Necessaries and incidents 1,098 18 4
Salaries 1,862 10 0
For elapsed licences. &c. 262 19 5 Money paid into the Exchequer 5,897 1 6
Fines and law costs 284 17 0
12,068 11 9 8,858 9 10

There are three large outstanding conclusions of general interest which may be drawn from the above tabular mass of figures.

(1) The general expenditure of the country was at last provided for or met as by a State that was (momentarily) solvent, or equal to the task of paying its way.

(2) The cost of the second Dutch war was in excess of the provision which Parliament had made for it, and yet that cost was honourably liquidated.

(3) Under the influence of his momentary solvency Charles gave way to a wild outburst of extravagance in the matter of his secret service and his mistresses.

(1) The first of these points can be dismissed at once, as the figures printed above speak for themselves.

(2) The second needs elaboration.

In consequence of three successive prorogations Parliament had not sat between the 22nd of April, 1671, and the 4th of Feb., 1672-3.

The second Dutch war had therefore been in progress for over a year before the Executive received the aid of a penny piece from Parliament. When at last in Feb., 1672-3, the Parliament did meet, Charles gave it to understand that he expected it to make provision, not only for the effective carrying on of the war, but also for the bankers' debt.

"I have been forced to a most important necessary and expensive war, and I make no doubt but you will give me suitable and effective assistance to go through with it ... You will find that the last supply you gave me did not answer expectation for the ends you gave it [viz.] the payment of our debts. Therefore I must in the next place recommend them again to your special care."

In his following speech the Lord Chancellor elaborated on this demand in the following terms :

"In the next place to the supply for the carrying on of the war, His Majesty recommends to you the taking care of his debts. What you gave the last session did not near answer your own expectation ; besides, another considerable aid you designed His Majesty was unfortunately lost in the birth ; so that the King was forced, for the carrying on of his affairs, much against his will, to put a stop to the payments out of the Exchequer. He saw the pressures upon himself growing, and inconveniences to his people, by great interest, and the difference through all his business between ready money and orders. This gave the King the necessity of that proceeding to make use of his own revenue ; which hath been of so great effect in this war. But though he hath put a stop to the trade and gain of the banker, yet he would be unwilling to ruin them, and oppress so many families as are concerned in those debts. Besides, it was too disproportionable a burden upon many of his good subjects ; but neither the bankers nor they have reason to complain, if you now take them into your care, and they [shall] have paid [to] them what was due to them when the stop was made, and six pounds per cent. interest from that time. The King is very much concerned, both in honour and interest, to see this done ; and yet he desires you not to mistime it, but that it may have only the second place ; and that you will first settle what you intend about the supply."

It is evident from the terms of these speeches that both Charles and his ministers looked upon the stop of the Exchequer as having furnished the Administration with war funds during the recess of Parliament. Herein they were completely mistaken, as has been already shown in the introduction to the preceding volume of this Calendar. All that the stop of the Exchequer had done had been to set free his ordinary current income for the purpose of meeting his ordinary current expenditure. Had the stop not taken place the current income would have been paid automatically to the bankers in liquidation of debt ; then fresh loans would have been taken in from them and the ordinary expenditure would have been met out of such loans. The only difference that it would have made to Charles's financial position in the beginning of 1673 would have been that, in the one case, he would have had the usual current twelve months' debt (plus arrears of debt) upon him ; whereas in consequence of the stop he had (hypothetically) no current twelve months' debt, but a two year old or postponed bankers' debt (plus arrears of debt). The misunderstanding on the part of Charles's ministers arose from the fact that it was not then the custom to draw up a yearly budget (including a statement of debt as well as current revenue and expenditure). The Exchequer half-yearly statements ("declarations") were only of current income and expenditure. The departmental debts separately were not stated ; in fact they could not be, for in some cases departmental accounts were not declared until ten years or more after the current year. The total of these departmental debts, therefore (which would have represented the national debt), could at best only be guessed at.

This, however, is, by the way, and merely to make clear that, during the first year of the second Dutch war, Charles had no benefit from any source whatever of any specific war fund.

To this part of Charles's request Parliament made no reply whatever. On the first effective day of their sessions the Commons in Grand Committee with alacrity and unanimity voted him an eighteen months' assessment, and after the interruption of the quarrel over the Declaration of Indulgence this vote was made effectual, and the Act for the Eighteen Months' Assessment was passed (25 Car. II., c. 1). This was the only Parliamentary aid of any kind which Charles received towards the cost of the second Dutch war ; in fact, it was the only Parliamentary aid at all which he received between 1671 and 1677.

The first payment into the Exchequer on the head of this assessment was made on the 23rd of May, 1673, and the total receipts from it up to 1676 were as follows :

s. d
From 1673, Easter, to 1673, Michaelmas 278,277 9 0
" 1673, Michaelmas, to 1674, Easter 391,615 19 9
" 1674, Easter, to 1674, Michaelmas 318,238 1 6
" 1674, Michaelmas, to 1675, Easter 148,805 12 2
" 1675, Easter, to 1675, Michaelmas 16,095 9 1
" 1675, Michaelmas, to 1676, Easter 10,010 9 5
" 1676, Easter, to 1676, Michaelmas 3,195 2 5
1,166,238 3 4

After the last-named date nothing came in on this head save small items of arrears.

The complete yield of the tax, therefore, was very little in excess of this total of 1,166,238l. 3s. 4d. When Parliament voted the tax it had been intended to yield 1,238,750l. As to the expenditure on the war no statement was ever drawn up, and it is now impossible to do more than roughly approximate it. The bulk of the expenditure fell under the three heads, Navy, Ordnance, and Army. Taking only the three years, 1672-5, inclusive (and this will necessarily give an under-estimate, because the financial effect of departmental debts carried forward would necessarily drag into several later years) the expenditure on these three heads was in round figures :

Navy 2,250,000
Ordnance 500,000
Army (Guards and Garrisons) 1,000,000

Taking the average normal peace expenditure on the Navy as 300,000l. per an., Ordnance as 50,000l. per an, and Army as 200,000l., this gives an excess of war expenditure during the years in question of :

Navy 1,000,000
Ordnance 300,000
Army 200,000
1,500,000

Thus the least statement of the expenditure of the war exceeds the Parliamentary supply for it by between 300,000l. and 400,000l.

(3) Charles's extravagance as to his mistresses and his secret service.

The difficulty of treating this subject adequately arises from the elusive nature of the expenditure, and also from the fact that two and a half centuries of accumulated misrepresentation have to be swept off the field as a preliminary to the investigation. In the first place, so far in date as the present Calendar of Treasury Books has travelled, Charles's memory must be for ever cleared of the aspersion that he starved the administration for the sake of lavishing money on his so-called harem. During the years that the executive was pinched for money the cause lay in the inadequate yield from those sources of revenue which the Parliament had allocated for the supply of Charles's revenue. Parliament had solemnly undertaken to find him 1,200,000l. a year to meet the national expenditure. For the first twelve years of his reign the supply allocated had fallen short of this sum by at least 300,000l. per an. But although thus straitened for money Charles had not starved the administration. He had kept all the services runningArmy, Navy, ambassadorial and civil service, &c., and to do this he had not only turned into the national Exchequer every penny of extraneous or non-parliamentary money which he received before the era of the arrival of the French subsidies, but he had also postponed his own private claims (such as for the Household, &c.) to the claims of the more public service, such as the Navy. When once this elementary fact (which is vouched for by every page of this Calendar) is grasped, the subject of Charles's expenditure on his mistresses and on secret service sinks into minor significance.

Without pretending that it is possible to tell in what way and to what extent Charles spent money on secret service and on his mistresses, it is possible by a process of elimination of the unfit to narrow the question down and to strip it of the extravagant misrepresentations which have passed current for centuries. If the table of expenditure supra, p. xxii, be carefully examined, there are certain heads which at once attract attention. These are :

(1) Extraordinaries of divers natures.

(2) Annuities and allowances.

(3) Rewards and royal bounties.

(4) Fees and annuities.

(5) Privy Purse.

(6) Secret service.

(7) In addition, certain pensions were granted which do not appear specifically under any of the above heads, because they were granted or charged upon certain branches of the revenue, such as Excise, Customs, Navy, First Fruits, Hanaper and Subsidiary Farms and the Irish Revenue. The Receiver or Treasurer for each of these revenue branches accounted for them in his general account, and so these pensions remain hidden away in the departmental accounts, and do not come to the surface.

Let me take these items in the order indicated.

(1) Extraordinaries of divers natures.
It will be found without exception that all the items under this head occur in their proper place in the present Calendar. All the items are easily explicable ; they have no occult significance, and the expenditure or allowance, or whatever it is, will be found in every case to be duly authorised by Great Seal, or Privy Seal, or Royal Warrant and Treasury Warrant. The following table gives a complete abstract of these items of extraordinaries for the Exchequer half-year, Michaelmas, 1674 to Easter, 1675. Any other Exchequer half-year account would have yielded similar results.

Extraordinaries of divers natures. Michaelmas, 1674, to Easter, 1675.
s. d.
J. Anselm, for cost of patent of creation of the Earl of Northumberland and other services, as by sign manual of 1674, Sept. 23 698 18 0
Ralph Williamson and Samuel Charleton (cost of suit against the Navy Victuallers) 76 2 3
Thomas Green, for salaries and incidents of the Office of Exchanges 1,000 0 0
Sir William Turner for the costs of law prosecutions in the Exchequer, &c. 200 0 0
Anthony Seagar for incidents of the Treasury Chamber 104 15 9
Maurice Kingwell, late Lieut-Col. of the regiment at Dunkirk, in full settlement of salary to him and his company 492 1 0
Francis Bowman, for stationery for the Secretary of State's Office 100 0 0
Thomas Bedford, for pay, &c, of the Commissioners appointed to treat with those of the United Netherlands about trade and navigation 2,000 0 0
Isaac Legouch, king's jeweller, for a jewel for Count Sparr 1,080 0 0
Same for same for the two Swedish Ambassadors and other persons 350 0 0
Same for same for the Envoy from the Elector of Mainz 150 0 0
Same for same for the Marquis of Anjou and others 1,100 0 0
Same for same for Count Horne, of Sweden 400 0 0
Same for same for the three Belgian Ambassadors and Monsieur Odyke 1,500 0 0
John Ward, for Exchequer fees on the receipt of money furnished for paying the debts of the Netherlands captives in the Tower 55 0 0
Richard Sherwin and William Webb, for incidents for the Office of Taxes 65 0 0
Earl of Bristol, without account, as by the privy seal of 18 Nov., 1674 2,120 0 0
John Locke, incidents for the Council of Foreign Plantations 230 15 0
John Brisbane, expenses of his journey to Algiers for the liberation of captives 400 0 0
Sir William Boreman, for expenses in the king's park at Greenwich 334 18 1
Same, for the dwarf orchard, &c., there 100 0 0
Earl of Arlington, for Post Office defalcations for franked letters, &c. 2,844 6 7
Sir Samuel Morland, for satisfaction of the lesees of Vauxhall 400 0 0
John Lawrence, for expenses in Crown law suits 148 9 7
Mark Browne, merchant, for provisions taken out of the ship "Providence," for the relief of Montserrat, in 1666 909 0 0
Sir Robert Viner, in settlement of tallies on the Royal Aid, as by privy seal of 1673, Dec. 24 6,000 0 0
Bernard Smith, organist, for the cost of placing the organ in the Chapel Royal at Windsor 110 0 0
George Weld, for allowance for acting several years as Lieutenant of the Tower 1,178 14 0
John Chace, for the rent of lands bought by him from the king 19 7 6
Sir Robert Southwell for setting up the Dutch Clothworkers 105 0 0
Thomas Povey, for the 4 ministers appointed to preach in the island of Jamaica 140 17 2
Sir Charles Wheeler for the transport of soldiers from the Leeward Isles, &c. 1,242 12 2
Thomas Gould, in part of tallies on the Royal Aid, as by the privy seal of 1669, Aug. 9 154 4 0
Earl of Bath in part of arrears on his several allowances 25 7 0
Edmund Ashton, for a jewel bought from him by the King 750 0 0
George Benyon, to enable him to pay a similar sum due from his father, Sir George Benyon, to the King, as by the sign manual of 1674-5, Feb. 3 442 0 0
Sir Allen Apsley, in part of 20,000l. for the Duke of York, as by the privy seal of 1670, June 14 1,500 0 0
Same in consideration of his surrender of the Mastership of the Hawks 6,264 10 6
John Baines, Commissary of the Musters, for the use of Sir Tobias Bridge's foot company, as by the privy seal of 1674, June 11 2,770 13 8
37,562 13 7

All the above items can be traced in the present Volume of Calendar. In the Exchequer accounts they are brought together under one head of "extraordinaries" simply because, being of a miscellaneous nature, they did not fall under any of the usual specific headings of departmental expenditure. That is to say, the existence of an item of "extraordinaries" is simply a matter of classification.

(2) Annuities and allowances.
The head may be briefly styled the pension list. All the items comprised under it are brought together in the Index to this Calendar under the head of "Pensions." An examination of the list will convince any student that pensions to mistresses under this head form a very small proportion of the whole.

(3) Rewards and Royal bounties.
This head comprises grants of an occasional (i e non-recurring or non-annual) nature. All the items contained under it are brought together in the Index under the head "Royal bounties." The grants are invariably comparatively small and of an eleemosynary nature.

(4) Fees and annuities.
This head comprises such portions of the ordinary civil service salaries as were not included collectively under one or other departmental establishment account.

(5) Privy Purse.
There is, of course, no account of the expenditure of the money paid to the Privy Purse. A certain proportion of it was doubtless expended through Chiffinch in largess to the mistresses. But on an average Charles only took about 20,000l. a year for his Privy Purse, and the uses to which he put the money were more various than his mere personal expenditure. For instance, the item of healing medals for use in Charles's touching for the King's evil (a heavy item, as will be seen from the item Healing medals in the Index) was charged on the Privy Purse. It would be absurd to suppose that even so much as half of the income of the Privy Purse was spent on the mistresses.

(6) Secret service.
The secret service expenditure of Charles's reign falls under 4 heads.

(a) What was spent in Parliamentary corruption. During the later years of Danby's tenure of the Lord High Treasurership this portion of the secret service money was issued to Charles Bertie, Secretary to the Treasury, and was dispensed by him. The total so paid to him during the period covered by the present volume can be gathered from the item Bertie, C., in the Index.

(b) What was spent for intelligence. This head was worked by the Secretaries of State (see Secretaries of State in the Index), but the amount was comparatively small.

(c) Expenditure on items of a public and perfectly harmless nature, which were put under secret service for no more reason than the various items supra, pp. xlii-v, were put under Extraordinaries. For instance, the salary of 4,000l a year to the Lord Treasurer was periodically issued to Sir Stephen Fox as secret service money, and was by him periodically handed over to the Lord Treasurer. There are several other such instances in the present volume.

(d) Charles's own secret service expenditure. This is represented by the names in the Index to the present volume under Secret Service after eliminating the names of Charles Bertie and the Secretaries of State. The main bulk is credited to Sir Stephen Fox, but large deductions have to be made from his total for such items as have just been mentioned.

(7) Coming to the seventh head indicated above, p. xli, viz. that of pensions hidden away under departmental accounts, it will be of advantage to give the details of these from the departmental accounts themselvessuch accounts that is as fall within the limits of the present volume.

Departmental Pensions.

Pensions Charged On The Navy

(exclusive of the allowances to widows and orphans).

Earl of Anglesey for his pension of 3,000l. per annum [as former Navy Treasurer].

Thomas Bond, boatswain to the "Royal Katherine."

Thomas Bates in consideration of the loss of his leg aboard the "Lyon" in the West Indies.

Sir John Chicheley, late commander of the "Royal Katherine" and Vice-Admiral of the fleet in the Straits.

William Clerke, a seaman wounded in the West Indies.

John Fowler, late Judge Advocate of the fleet.

John Hart, as captain's pay of a second rate.

Robert Hutchins, late master of the "Greenwich."

John Hodges, late master of the "Diamond."

Dame Katherine, widow of Sir John Harman.

Sir Joseph Jorden, in consideration of service at sea.

Sir John Kempthorne as Rear-Admiral of the Red.

Thomas King, boatswain to the "St. Michaell"

William Markham, late surgeon of the "St. Andrew."

William Procter, a seaman wounded in the West Indies.

Whetney Parry, as gunner of a third rate.

Thomas Rawlings, late boatswain of the "Violet" hulk.

Henry Rigg, a seaman wounded in the West Indies.

George Salby, for his sufferings.

Abraham Sommers, another wounded soldier.

James Shepheard, late boatswain of the "St Andrew."

William Wooley, another wounded soldier.

Annuities And Pensions Of The Excise.
Duke of Monmouth 6,000l. per ann.
Heneage Lord Finch 4,000l. "
Earl of Anglesey 3,000. "
Earl of Bath 1,000l. "
Earl of Arlington 2,000l. "
Lord Byron 500l. "
William, Lord Crofts 1,000l. "
Sir William Killegrew 500l. "
Duke of Buckingham 2,500l. "
Edward Progers 200l. "
Colonel Thomas Howard of Berks 300l. "
Lady Henrietta Maria Howard 200l. "
Colonel Thomas Howard of Suffolk 500l. "
Sir Francis Windham 600l. "
Viscount Ranelagh 1,500l. "
Christopher, Lord Hatton 1,000l. "
Earl of Derby, Thomas Cholmeley, and William Bancks for several poor ministers of the Isle of Man 100l. "
J. Harvey for the Queen 10,972 19 3 per ann.
1,236 16 1
Viscount Grandison for Duke of Southampton, Duke of Grafton, and Earl of Northumberland, 3,000l. per ann. each
Viscount Grandison, for Duchess of Cleveland 6,000l. per ann.

Annuities And Pensions Payable (By Patent) Out Of Customs.

Prince Rupert, 2,000l. per ann.

Duke of Albemarle, 1,000l. per ann. as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Duke of Lauderdale, 3,000l. per ann.

Earl of Bath, 2,000l. per ann. as 1st Gentlemen of the Bedchamber, and 56s. a day as Governor of Plymouth.

Earl of Middlesex, 1,000l. per ann. as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Lord Buckhurst, 1,000l. per ann. as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Earl of Manchester, 1,000l. per ann. as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Earl of Ossory, 1,000l. per ann. as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Earl of Carlisle, 1,000l. per ann.

Chas. Lord Gerard, 1,000l. per ann. as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Earl of Sunderland, 1,000l. per ann. as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Sir Joseph Williamson 462l. 10s. each, quarterly, as Secretaries of State.

Henry Coventry 462l. 10s. each, quarterly, as Secretaries of State.

Bishop of Sarum, for the Order of the Garter, 800l. per ann.

Sir Ed. Walker (Garter), 100l. per ann.

Thos. Doyley, 100l. per ann.

Amias and Juliana Hext, 200l.

Lord Chandos, arrear of annuities, as by Privy Seal of 1674, March 27, 150l. per ann., 200l. per ann.

Earl of Inchiquin, 500l. per ann.

Richard Topham, 200l.

Ellis Lloyd and John Morgan, 300l. per ann.

Phillip Browne, 500l. per ann. for a limited number of years, to settle 3,000l.

Town of Berwick, 100l. (for bridge).

Town of Dartmouth, 40l.

Town of Lyme, 100l. (for 7 years for the Cobb).

Earl of Anglesey, 20s. a day.

List Of Pensions Paid By Tallies On The Customs.

Prince Rupert, 4,000l. per ann.

Earl of Nottingham, 666l. 13s. 4d. and 500l. per ann.

Hy. and Charles Fanshaw, as executors of Eliz. Visct, Fanshaw, on her annuity of 600l. per ann.

Pensions Paid By The Cofferer Of The Household (in his account for 1675).
s. d.
Sir Stephen Fox 1,000 0 0
Ann Jenkins 30l. each.
Elizabeth Dike
Mary Pomeroy
Elizabeth Leigh
Ann Pickerton
Elizabeth Fox 60 0 0
Christian Harrell 131 1 5
William Chiffinch 100 0 0
Dorothy Chiffinch 93 5 0
Thomas Stanley 10 0 0
James Davis 20 0 0
Wm. Boreman 30 8 4
Mary French 40 0 0
Wm. Ramsey 30 0 0
Thom. Assiter 17 13 4
Ann Cartwright 10 0 0
Edward Stisteed 30 0 0
John Bagott 40 0 0
Elizabeth Bishop 20l. each.
Richard Binnes
Francis Pursell
Gervas Price 24 6 8
Tho. Clarke 10l. each.
Giles Rose
John Webb
Alex. Houlsden
John Lane
Sarah Whitmore 12 3 4
Suzan Gibbes 9 2 6
Robt. Fenn 44 6 8
Lucian Sanctrillia 30 0 0
Francis Mathey 27 7 6
John Sayers 36l. 10s. each.
Abraham Harcourt
John Knight 140l. per ann. each.
Richard Wiseman
William Stanhope 54 13 0
Charles Legard 60l. 16s. 8d. each.
Jeremia Gohory
Andrew Galloway
Elizabeth Randiew 60l. per ann.
John Deladell
Catherine Hope 80 0 0
Lady Mary Scroope 300 0 0
Pensions To Divers Persons In The Office Of The Stables viz.
Charles Fox 120 0 0
Silius Titus 53 0 0
James Phillipps 6 12 6
Michael Cragge 26 10 0
Henry Sharpe 18l. 5s. per ann. each.
Martin Kincklin
Griffith Eldridge
John Whopshott
Thom. Moody
John England
Andrew Cockaine 50l.
Annuities And Pensions Paid By The Treasurer Of The Chamber.
Nevill Kidwell, late footman, 40l. per an.
Robt. Ramsey late trumpeters, 16d. a day each.
Sam Markeland
George Posgrave
William Porter
Henry Peacock
Edwd. Hart, late serjeant of the Buckhounds, 90l. 14s. 3d.
Hy. Taylor, late a Groom of the Privy Buckbounds, 13d. per day.
Thomas Windham, one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber, 460l. per an.
(Signet of 12 May, 1674) to be distributed to each of the King's late servants as the King shall direct.
Robert Warren 62s. 6d. per an. each.
Walter Price
Anthony Thatcher, and Thomas Luke, four of the King's decayed watermen at

Now, with the exception of the petty Navy pensions, everyone of the above sums can be traced in the present Calendar as being authorised (sometimes in unblushing language) by Great Seal or Privy Seal, and by Treasury Warrant.

The conclusion to which I wish to point as the result of the above examination is not so much that it is possible to estimate correctly the total of Charles's expenditure on his mistresses (it is indeed not possible), but rather that the utmost possible total falls far short of the extravagant guesses and assertions of two centuries of gossips. Select the names of the ladies in question, one by one, under the heading Pensions, in the Index ; add to their pensions any grants of Royal Bounty from the item Royal Bounty in the Index ; add to these again the several special grants under their several names in the Index, whatever those grants be, whether of Wine licences, Cornish Duchy rents, chains in the river, or what not ; and finally add to the total of these a small proportion of the total of Privy Purse money and a small proportion of the total of secret service money. The result will be the outside statement of the total of this unsavoury portion of Charles's expenditure.

I do not attempt to perform this operation myself because of my conviction that the historical importance of this subject has been grotesquely exaggerated. Anyone who edits a Calendar of Treasury records sits for the time being in the very centre of the circle of the National executive, and from that centre he can, with certain limitations, view the whole machinery of departmental Government at work. Years of pre-occupation with this subject have convinced me that Charles's Executive was ably and honestly served, and that the financial straits which hampered that Executive arose from the total insufficiency of Parliamentary supply and not from Charles's personal extravagance. Of such extravagance there is no trace in the Treasury records until the time of the arrival of the French subsidies. Louis's subsidies paid (and more than paid) for Charles's mistresses. The bill which Charles himself paid was a different oneit was the impotence in European affairs to which he was reduced as a result of French intrigues in English domestic politics. In his diplomacy Louis XIV. had two strings to his bow. (1) To get England (or Charles) to aid him in his European designs. In the second Dutch war this plan was tried and eventually failed. (2, in case of the failure of No. 1) to stir up strife between Charles and his Parliament and people, and by means of that strife to reduce England to impotence. This plan was tried for the remainder of Charles's reign and was effectual. But why was it effectual? Because Parliament, in the blindness of its faction, allowed itself to be made Louis's dupe and catspaw. Through all the stupid fury of the debates on the Indulgence, of the attack on Danby and of the Popish plot, Charles saw clearly enough from what quarter the storm had been raised. Did Parliament know it, too? Or did Shaftesbury? If either of them did, there is one verdict of history that will have to be re-considered. For two centuries we have taken it for granted that in the diplomatic struggle of the later years of Charles's reign his mistresses played an alldecisive part. This is only because we have up to the present derived the later portion of Charles's history from French archives.

Wm. A. Shaw.

Footnotes

  • 1. Such of the Queen's jointure rents as were sold could only be sold as in reversion of her death They were, therefore, not part of the King's income at the time of sale and their sale did not pro tanto diminish Charles's revenues. The fee farm sale conveyances are entered on the Close Rolls 22-5 Car. II., and indexes to them are contained in Vols. 72 and 73 of Palmer's Indexes. Among the land revenue records at the Record Office the series entitled "Sales of Fee Farms (Enrolments)," also contain entries of the sales under the head of each separate county. Just as it is impracticable from these records to compile an account of the totality of the yearly value of fee farm rents sold, so it is impossible from the statement of Exchequer income (see below, p. xx.) to construct an account of the total purchase money. Before the sales commenced loans were taken in on credit of such sales, and payments were charged upon them by way of tallies, and both these devices practically intercepted the purchase money before it came into the Exchequer.