But this was not all. The constructors of private lights and beacons were not animated by a pure unadulterated zeal for the public welfare; they levied excessive tolls on the vessels which profited by their guiding rays. To erect and maintain a lighthouse constituted an industry of so profitable a character that the privileges in virtue of which they existed, and which were nearly all found in the hands of the Trinity House, excited a very widespread feeling of jealousy and discontent. The legislation which had taken place on this subject was rigorously examined, and as a result these privileges disappeared. This important discovery was made in the reign of James I. The king found himself specially interested in making it; for, by its return to the crown, the monopoly of licensing the erection of lighthouses would have largely increased his private income.
The pretensions put forward by James I. greatly embarrassed the judges charged with the examination of the rights of the Trinity House; and the inquiry might have lasted for years had it not been abruptly concluded, after our English fashion, by a compromise. It was decided that the fraternity of the Trinity House should be authorized to erect lighthouses, but that the crown should enjoy the same privilege in virtue of the common law. From this decision it naturally came to pass that, instead of remaining, as Elizabeth had designed, the exclusive property of the Trinity House, the lease and monopoly of the fires lighted on the coasts were granted or sold by the sovereign to certain private individuals.
As a result of this decision, says M. Esquiros, in his lively manner, there was not a bare and desolate angle of rock in the kingdom which was not coveted by speculators as a site for a tower and a beacon-fire. Lord Grenville, an able statesman and shrewd man of the world, wrote in his diary in the form of a note or memorandum: “_Mem._ To watch the moment when the King is in a good temper, to ask of him a lighthouse.” It would be difficult to estimate the amount realized by those persons whom the king favoured with such marks of his goodwill; but from the luxurious state they maintained it is evident their profits must have been immense.