HC Deb 06 July 1863 vol 172 cc251-2
MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALD

said, he wished to inquire, in reference to the sum of £4,000 a year proposed to be given up to the new King of Greece. Whether it will be surrendered simply by the authority of the Crown, or whether it will be necessary to make a communication on the subject to that House; and, if so, when and in what form will that communication be made?

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

said, in reply, that in the opinion of the Government it would not be possible for the Crown to make any surrender of public money without the authority of Parliament. According to the practice of the Constitution, he believed that there were no means of compelling the Crown to receive any public money; and there was no doubt of the Crown having exercised the power in former years as to the non-receipt of some of the interest on foreign loans, which other countries had guaranteed to pay. But to make a convention to abandon the right to receive was a totally different thing; and with regard to the surrender of the sum of £4,000 a year, referred to by the hon. Member, it would be requisite for the Government to apply for an Act of Parliament. With respect to the time and form of proceeding, the Government had looked back to the precedent of the Austrian Loan, by which Austria was burdened with a debt to this country during and subsequent to the war which closed in 1815. A convention, dated in 1823, was formed between Great Britain and Austria for the settlement of that loan, and under that Convention Austria engaged to pay a certain sum of money, and Great Britain engaged to forego all claim in excess of that sum. After the Convention was formed, a Bill was brought into Parliament and received the Royal Assent in 1824. The sum of £4,000 a year, referred to by the hon. Gentleman, must, in the first place, be the subject of a diplomatic arrangement; and as it would not be until after such arrangement that Her Majesty's Government would be able to apply to Parliament for an Act, he apprehended that it would not be in the power of the Government to submit a Bill on the subject to the notice of Parliament during the present Session.