within its precincts.  But on various grounds, and by various means,—­such as petition, purchase, composition, and extraordinary services—­the citizens of London have at various times obtained the remission or enjoyment of these different sources of income.  The metage dues are therefore as much their property as an hereditary estate is that of its acknowledged proprietor.  Their title to these dues is of considerably longer standing than that of his Grace the Duke of Bedford to Woburn Abbey, and those of so many lay impropriators of church property.  If royal charters and Acts of Parliament are of no greater value than waste paper, there is of course nothing more to be said on the subject.  There is nothing, then, to oppose as a barrier to any act of spoliation.  Blackstone, indeed, says that Parliament is omnipotent to bind or to loose, and competent to annul charters and to repeal its own statutes.  It is certainly no new thing for Parliament to stultify itself, but it is also certain that the Legislature will better consult its reputation by occasionally repressing its eagerness to cancel the proceedings of its predecessors, and by abstaining from too frequent indulgence in acts of confiscation.

The coal duties, however, demand a fuller consideration than any other department of City finance.  The first charter of Richard II. confirmed to the Corporation of London “the custody” of the persons and property of all orphans.  According to ancient custom, the citizens could dispose by will of only one-third of their personal estate, the remaining two-thirds being paid into the Court of Orphans in trust for their children.  A very large sum of money was at times thus invested, to the no small advantage of all parties concerned in the arrangement.  But in the seventeenth century the Corporation became involved in debt to this fund, and to private individuals, to the extent of three-quarters of a million sterling.  This state of bankruptcy was by no means the result of imprudence or ostentatious extravagance.  During the Rebellion the City had been despoiled by both parties under various pretexts.  After the Restoration the great fire consumed a vast amount of city property and necessitated a ruinous outlay in the reconstruction of entire streets.  To this was added the shutting up of the Exchequer by Charles II., and the seizure of the charter when the City refused any longer to provide the means for his selfish and disgraceful prodigality.  A better era, however, was inaugurated by the accession of William and Mary, in the fifth and sixth of whose reign an Act was passed for raising what was called an “Orphans’ Fund.”  The estates of the Corporation were charged with the annual payment of 8,000 pounds towards the liquidation of their debt, and for the same purpose a duty of 2,000 pounds a year on the personal property of the citizens was paid till 1795.  To meet these heavy charges a duty of fourpence per chaldron was levied