Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1876 — English Pensions. [ARTICLE]

English Pensions.

The English often complain of the heavy expense with which their Government is carried on, and the "large taxes •which rich and poor have to pay to sustain it. One of the largest items of this expense is created by the pensions which are yearly paid out of the treasury. The custom of awarding pensions to a great variety of persons, and for a great variety of reasons, is a very ancient one in England, and. is so firmly rooted that it would be very difficult to abolish or even to curtail it. Yet that it has grown to be a great burden and evil, is seen and confessed by most Englishmen. In this country, pensions are only given to the soldiers and sailors who have fought in defense of .the Nation; in England they are given not only to soldiers, but to statesmen and officials, to writers, artists- and sculptors, to inventors, travelers and dis-

coverers. The largest pensions, or annual incomes, that are paid from the English treasury are those awarded .to the royal family. Besides the enormous income of about $2,000,000 received by the Queen, for instance, Prince Albert had an annuity of $150,000 a year. When the Queen’s oldest daughter was married, Parliament voted her a dowry of $200,000, and an annual income of $40,000 besides. The Prince of Wales receives about $300,000 a year in the same way. The whole amount taken every year from the treasury to pay the annuities of the royal family reaches $2,800,000. Every officeholder under the British Government, after serving for a certain period, is entitled to retire upon a pension for life, The same is the case with army and navy officers. Some of the pensions paid to the high dignitaries on their withdrawal from oft flee are very large. For example, the Lord-Chancellor, the highest law officer, who also presides over the House of Lords, and takes rank above the highest Duke, gets SIO,OOO a year for life on retiring. He may only have held the office for six months, or even less. The mere fact that he has been Chancellor entitles hira to a pension. Besides these pensiofls'to public officials, a large number is given for a great variety of reasons. The House Mininter has every year the sum of £1,200 at his disposal for life pensions, to be given to people who have claims upon the royal bounty, who have done some personal service to the Crowh, who have made useful discoveries, or have done something in literature or art.

Other pensions are given for something that ancestors or relatives of .the persons receiving them have done in the past. Some of the reasons for giving these are very curious. For example, there are now living two gentlemen who receive $2,000 a vear for life, because their ancestors aided Charles 11. to escape from the battle of Worcester, two centuries ago. A German baroness gets the same sum for having faithfully seived Queen Victoria for eighteen years All those who instructed the Queen in her early years—her French, dancing and singing masters, draw SSOO a year for life. The daughters of Sir Huuson Lowe, who treated Napoleon so cruelly when he was a prisoner at St. Helena, get $250 a year for their father’s services in that respect; and the daughters of Sir George Cathcart get $1,500 a year for that officer’s gallant conduct at Inkerman. Many writers receive comfortable pensions, which they are sure of having to the end of their lives. Tennyson, who as Poet Laureate is expected to write an ode when a prince or princess gets married, draws SI,OOO a year for this slight and not frequent service. The widows of Tom Hood and Douglas Jerrold, and some others, have SSOO a year. You can easily see that all these pensions, the number of which, of course, is constantly increasing, make up an ennrmous expense. Very many of them are given without any good reason; and there is a vast deal of grumbling about them in England. But it will probably be long before they are done away with. — Youth,'» Companion.