8 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

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LXIII.

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whence this revenue should be levied. Thoughthat impost yielded more profit , the bargainmight be esteemed hard; and it was chiefly thenecessity of the king’s situation , which inducedhim to consent to it. No request of the parliament,during the present joy, could be refused them.

Tonnage and poundage and the other half ofthe excise were granted to the king during life.The parliament even proceeded so far as to votethat the settled revenue of the crown for allcharges should be 1,200,000 pounds a year; asum greater than any English monarch had everbefore enjoyed. But as all the princes of Europewere perpetually augmenting their military force,and consequently their expense, it became requi-site that England, from motives both of honorand security, should bear some proportion tothem, and adapt its revenue to the new systemof politics, which prevailed. According to thechancellor’s computation , a charge of 800,000pounds a year, was at present requisite for thefleet and other articles, which formerly cost thecrown but eighty thousand.

Had the parliament, before restoring the king,Insisted on any farther limitations than thosewhich the constitution already imposed ; besidesthe danger of reviving former quarrels amongparties; it would seem, that their precaution hadbeen entirely superfluous. By reason of its slenderand precarious revenue, the crown in effect wasstill totally dependent. Not a fourth part of thisfpm, which seemed requisite for public expenses,