these commissioners to remedy the inconve.niences, and prevent the losses to which the publie was subject from the then mode of conducting the business of the navy pay office; and most of the subsequent regulations were grounded upon them.--On the 18th of June, 1782, the House of Commons, in a committee, took into consideration the reports made by the said commissioners; and, among other resolutions, came to the following: "That it is the opinion of this com

mittee, that from henceforward the pay"master general of his Majesty's land "forces, and the treasurer of the navy for the "time being, shall not apply any sum or sums of money imprested to them, or "either of them, to any purpose or advan"tage or interest to themselves, either aircatly

or indirectly." * -On the next day this resolution was agreed to by the House. In fartherance of the intention of the House of Commons, we find that his Majesty, on the 26th of the same month, directed, by warrant, that the salary of the treasurer of the navy, being at that time £2,000 a year, reduced by taxes and other charges to £1,850, should be increased, by an additional allowance to £2,150; that his annual income in future might amount to the sum ' of £4,000 in full satisfaction of all wages and fees, and other profits and emoluments, theretofore enjoyed by former treasurers.

-The same commissioners, in their eighth report, of the 20th of Dec. 1782, respecting the then mode of passing the accounts of the treasurer of the navy in the office of the auditors of the imprest; state that their examination on that subject has enabled them to form an opinion upon another point of moment to the public, which opinion we shall give in their own words;---" The legis "lature have, in the last session of parlia.

rr

ment, introduced into the office of the pay"master general of the forces a regulation, "which, as it seeins to us, may be applied as beneficially to the office of the treasurer of "the navy. The custody of cash applicable

to the navy services may be transferred "from the treasurer to the Bank of England, and the account only of the receipts "and payments be kept in his office; all "the sums now received by him may be re

ceived by the Bank; sums from the Ex"chequer may be imprested to the Bank;

sums directed by the le teis of the differ"ent boards to be paid to him, may be di"rected to be paid into the Bank; all bills "assigned upon him for payment may be

* This resolution should be particularly attended to.Note of the EDITor.

"paid, and all extra payments may be made "by his drafis upon the Bank; the payment "of the seamen, the artificers and labunters "in the yards, and the persons in the bos"pital ships, and on the half-pay lists, must "be carried on in the same manner it is fr now; these men cannot be paid by drafis; "they must have cash, and with that cash "the pay clerks must be entrusted as they " are at present; and the treasurer must "continue to be responsible for them, as "for officers of his appointment, and under "his controul; but this will be no obs ree"tion to the regulation. The money may be "all issued to the pay clerks by the drafts of "the treasurer upon the Bank, according to "the requisitions of the navy board, in like

manner as many of these sums are issued

at this day; and, upon the death or resig "nation of a treasurer, the balances of his "cash in the Bank, and in the hands of his 65 pay clerks may be struck immediately, and "carried over to the account of his succesIn this situation, the treasurer, nei"ther receiving nor paying public money bin "self, can be neither debtor to, nor credi "tor of the public, except as far as he may "be responsible for his clerks. On passing "his accounts, the bill indorsed, or requisi "tion of the navy board, is both his autho "rity and voucher for his draft; the draft "indorsed is the voucher for the Bank to

prove their payment. If these accounts "agree (and they ought frequently to be compared together) it is highly probable "that they are both right." *———— We are not aware of any measures taken by parlia ment on this report until the year 1785, when an act was passed (25 Geo. III. cap. 31.) intituled "An Act for better regulating "the Office of the Treasurer of His Majes "ty's Navy," which directed,-That from and after the 1st of July, 1785, all monies for the service of the navy should be issued from the Exchequer to the governor and company of the Bank of England, in like manner as they had been theretofore issued to the treasurer of the navy: that all such monies so issued, should be placed on an account or accounts to be raised in the books of the Bank of England, to be entitled "The "Account of the Treasurer of his Majesty's "Navy," inserting the name of such treasurer for the time being for the pay branch, cashiers branch, and the victualling branch;

*Particular attention should be paid to this; because the act of 25 G. III. cap. 31, was founded on it, and other reports of these commissioners, as appears by the preamble of the said act. Note of the EDITOR.

lic money in his private banker's hands, but not, as it would seem, to the extent understood by Mr. Trotter. Mr. Trotter, on being questioned whether he had derived any profit or advantage from the money withdrawn by him from the Bank, refused to answer under the provisions of the fifth clause of the Act by which we are constituted; and he availed himself of this clause in every question which bore any relation to the use or employment of the public money, either by himself or Lord Melville; urging in the latter case, that as he had drawn all the money from the Bank in the first instance, be conceived himself implicated in its subsequent appropriation. Mr. Trotter gave us to understand, that money applicable to Navy Services, which had been advanced by him to Lord Melville, was employed by his Lordship in the public Services of the State; and that he was led to this conclusion in conse quence of a considerable sum, so advanced, baving been returned to him by Mr. Long, 'one of the Secretaries of the Treasury. Upon this statement we issued our precept to Lord Melville for an account of monies received by him, or any person on his account, or by his order, from the paymaster of the navy, between the 1st of July, 1785, and the 31st of December, 1800, stating when such monies were received, and also the times when, and the persons by whom the same were returned to the Bank or the paymaster.

-In answer to that precept, we received from his lordship the following letter: "Wimbledon, 30th June, 1804.-GEN"TLEMEN, I have received your requisi"tion, of date the 26th instant. It is impossible for me to furnish you with the "account you ask.-It is more than four 60 years since I left the office of treasurer of "the navy, and at the period of doing so,

having accounted for every sum impressed into my hands, I transferred the whole "existing balance to the account of my suc❝cessor.

From that time I never consider

ed any one paper or voucher that remain"ed in my hands as of the smallest use to "myself or any other person, and conse

quently, being often in the practice since "I retired to Scotland, of employing some "time in assorting my papers, and destroying

those that were useless, I am satisfied there " does not exist any one material by which

“situated, I did not decline giving occasional "accommodation from the funds in the trea "surer's hands to other services not connected "with my official situation as treasurer of "the navy. If I had materials to make up "such an account as you require, I could "not do it without disclosing delicate and "confidential transactions of government, "which my duty to the public have re "strained me from revealing. MELVILLE." Desirous of being furnished with an account of the sums issued to the Bank for the service of the Navy, which had been drawn from thence, and appropriated to any other pub. lic service, and judging that some note or record of such transactions ought to have been preserved in the Navy Pay Office, we issued our precept to the present Treasurer for an account of the sums of money which had been advanced or lent by the Treasurers of the Navy, or by their directions, to any public department, or applied by them to services not connected with their official situation as Treasurers of the Navy, between the 1st of January, 1786, and the 31st of De cember, 1803. In answer to which, he informed us, that there were no documents in the Office which enabled him to return any snch account. We did not apply to the Navy Board for information respecting the sums which had been so appropriated, as those transactions are stated to have taken place without the knowledge of the Board Lord Melville, in his examination, objected to answering any question on this subject, relying on the fifth clause of the Act by which we are constituted, and also upon the circumstances alluded to in his letter before-recited. He also declined, and upon the same grounds, to inform us whether he had derived any profit or advantage from the use or employment of money issued for carrying on the current Service of the Navy, between the 1st of January, 1780, and the 31st of May, 1800; that is, from the time of the operation of the Act for lodging the money in the Bank, to the time of his quitting office.- However the apprehension of disclosing delicate and confidential transactions of Government might operate with Lord Melville in with holding information respecting advances to other departments, we do not perceive how that apprehension can at all account for his refusing to state, whether he derived any

ment of money issued for the Service of the Navy. If his Lordship had received into his hands such monies only as were advanced by him to other departments, and had replaced them as soon as they were repaid, he could

not have derived any profit or advantage from such transactions, however repugnant they might be to the provisions of the Legislature for the safe custody of the public money. Although we were not able to ascertain what monies were paid over or advanced to Lord Melville, yet, independent of such advances, Mr. Trotter admits in the latter part of his examination, that, in following his Lordship's instructions, or acting in his affairs as his private Agent, he had occasionally laid out for his use or benefit from ten to twenty thousand pounds, without considering whether be avas previously in advance to his Lordship, or whether sucb advances were made from bis public or private balances. Mr. Trotter not only drew money from the Bank in large sums, which he deposited with his private bankers, Messrs. Tho. Courts and Co. but he also prevailed with his Sub-Accountants to deposit the greater part of their balances with that house. One of them indeed, the Cashier of the Victualling acquiesced with reluctance, having always before that time kept, his balance at the Bank, and wishing, still to keep it there; he stated to us, that it was by direction of Mr. Trotter he opened an account with Messrs. Thomas Coutts and Co. where he took credit for the sums advanced to him by Mr. Trotter's drafts on that House; but that he drew out those sums as the public service required, and kept the greater part of his balance at the Bank, where he deposited such sums as were advanced to him by drafts on the Bank. Mr. Trotter states, that between the years 1791 and 1799, the greater part of the monies drawn by him from the Bank, passed through the hands of Messrs. Thomas Coutts and Co.; that the monies so drawn were sometimes placed to his credit in his accounts with them, and at others were carried immediately to the credit of the respec tive sub-accountants; and that the consent of the treasurer to this measure was signified to him in a conversation, in which he represented the facility that would be afforded to the public business, and the additional seCarity to the treasurer, by the drafts being left with the bankers, instead of their being sent to the Bank, and the money brought from thence, at his risk, by the messengers of the office.--Lord Melville states, that he certainly did permit Mr. Trotter to lodge any money drawn from the Bank for public purposes in his private banker's hands, during the period that it was not demanded for the purposes for which it was drawn; but it is to be inferred from his evidence, that he

intended Mr. Trotter to draw upon the Bank for the amount only of the assignments made on him by the different boards (an account of which is furnished to him daily), and that the balance of such sum, till demanded, should alone be lodged by Mr. Trotter in the hands of his private bankers. The rea son given by his lordship for this permission is, the opinion that it would add more faci. lity to the conduct of the business of the office in the multitude of small payments to be made, than if the money were to be deposited, according to the constitution of the office, in an iron chest; and that the various parties receiving small payments would be less liable to be imposed upon than if they were each to receive drafts for such small sums upon the Bank, at such a distance from the office after its removal to Somerset-place.

Although the larger demands upon the treasurer are paid by draft, a necessity for making the small payments in money has always existed, and the money necessary for this purpose is of course drawn from the Bank. The sums so drawn, if conveniency only had been studied, should have been placed in the charge of the different sub-accountants, by whom such demands are paid,, and not kept in the hands of the paymaster, who is not a disburser of public money, except that issued for the payment of Exchequer tees.--With respect to the risk of bringing the money from the Bank, and of the loss or embezzlement of the drafts by the messengers of the pay office, we do not find that the apprehensions entertained on this subject arose from the experience of former losses; for none are known to have happened.--The opinion which we had formed of the insufficiency of the motives assigned. for the departure from the at of parlia-. ment, is confirmed by the inquiries instituted, and the measures taken in consequence thereof by the succeeding treasurers.-Lord Harrowby, the immediate successor of Lord Melville, disapproved of the practice, as being inconsistent with the spirit of the act and as he had just quitted the office of paymaster of the army, where similar regulations had been established and carried into elect without any complaint of inconvenience, he was desions of putting the office of treasurer of the navy upon the same footing; but previously to his directing an alteration he deemed it necessary to inquire minutely into the validity of the reasons urged against the change. Flis lordship had nearly completed the necessary inquiries, to satisfy his mind that the difficulties and inconveniencias which might arise in the detail of the business from this change, were not sufficient te