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BIER. F. I. HARTWELL. [Addressed to the Com. of Naval Inquiry.]

No. XVII. Navy Office, 20th November 1804.- GENTLEMEN.-You having by your precept of the 1st instant, required that there be laid before you an account, shewing what standing contracts with the Navy Board had determined between 1st October and 19th December 1801, and an account of the standing contracts in force at the latter date, and which continued so for twelve months afterwards; also, a copy of the minute or directions for altering the practice of including the day of the date in reckoning the interest on ninety-day bills: -We acquaint you, that the contract for tin machines of 6th November, for Portsmouth and Plymouth, and the contract for leather liquored for Portsmouth, are the only standing contracts that determined between 1st October and 19th December 1801. We inclose an account of the contracts in force at the latter date, with a copy of the minute required; and have the honour to be,-Gentlemen, &c. W. PALMER. S. GAMBIER. F. I. HARTWELL. -Addressed to the Com. of Naval Inquiry ] [Here follows a detailed account of the contracts.]

No. XVIII. Transport Office, 12th Oct. 1804.- GENTLEMEN,-In return to your precept of the 5th instant, requiring an account of the amount of the bills of this office, payable at ninety days, issued in each year, upon which the interest of the day of the date, and the day of payment was included; and a statement of the circumstances which led to the adoption and dis continuance of that mode of calculating the interest; we enclose to you the said account, and have to acquaint you, that the persons to whom payments were made by ninety-day bills, were, in strictness, entitled to their money upon the completion of the several services performed; but an interval of several days having almost invariably occurred while their accounts have been under investigation, and the bills were preparing; it was upon this ground, and upon the construction we entertained of the intention of the act of parliament, that the interest was allowed by us both for the day on which the bills were dated, and that on which they became payable. This mode has, however, been altered ever since the month of December, 1801, from which time the interest has not commenced till the following day, understanding the like alteration was to be made by the Commissioners of the Navy, with

whose office list our daily accounts of bills issued are constantly incorporated, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury.--We are, &c. &c. RUPT. GEORGE, AMBROSE SERLE, THOS. HAMILTON, E. BOUVERIE. [Addressed to the Commrs. of Naval Inquiry ]

No. XIX. Navy Office, 16th October, 1804.--An account, shewing the amount of the ninety-day bills issued from this office in each year, during the time interest was allowed both on the day of the date of the bills, and the day of payment. Commencing. Ending. 36 Dec. 31 Dec. 1796 1 Jan. 31

Amount.

1797

90,534 14 11 3,537,291 8 8

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1798

2,611,926 17 2

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No. XXI. Treasury Chambers, 1st May, 1804.-GENTLEMEN,-The sum of ninety-five thousand pounds having been imprested to for naval services,

and the Lords Commissioners of His Ma jesty's Treasury being satisfied that disbursements for those services have been made by them to that amount;-I am conmanded by their lordships to direct you to cause a clearing bill for the said sum of ninety five thousand pounds to be made out, to discharge. in the books of your office from that imprest.--I am, Sc. N. VANSITTART. [Addressed to the Comrs. of the Navy.]

No. XXII. THE EXAMINATION OF THE RT. HON. THE EARL SPENCER, K. G.; TAKEN UPON OATH, THE 6TH NOV. 1804.

Q. It appears, that between the 4th October 1799, and the 9th April 1801, navy bills, amounting to one hundred thousand

pounds, were issued by the Navy Board to

for naval services, of which five thousand pounds have been repaid to the Treasurer of the Navy on the 9th October 1802, and the remainder of the imprest cleared and taken off by an order from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, seventy thousand pounds of which sum were advanced between the 4th October and 22d November 1799, during which period your lordship presided at the Board of Admiralty; was any part of this transaction known to your Jordship. I apprehend the transaction was known to me at the time; but I have not now a sufficient recollection to speak precisely on the subject [Signed by EARL SPENCER and by the COMMISSIONERS.]

No. XXIII. THE EXAMINATION OF THE
RT. HON. THE EARL OF ST. VINCENT,

K. B.; TAKEN UPON OATH, THE 2D OF
NOV. 1804.

Q. It appears that between the 4th October 1799 and 9th April 1801, navy bills, amounting to one hundred thousand pounds, were issued by the Navy Board to

sufficient cause exists for their investigation. The method of stating the public accounts is a circumstance particularly deserving of their attention. I will defy, Sir, any man, however conversant he may be with accounts, to say that the statement of the public accounts as annually laid before parliament, in 8 papers, is such a statement as conveys an intelligible history of the reve nue of the country, from the period of its payment by the subject, to the period of its repayment by the government. How there fore can what is unintelligible be fair or secure from fraud in a matter where every thing should be fully explained and open to the capacity of every one? If you take any branch of revenue in No. 1, of the public annual accounts, you may find the total receipt of that branch, but if you endeavour to ascertain by whom it was received, and who are responsible for that receipt, your labour will be in vain. In the customs you may find that coffee paid so much, and tobacco paid so much; but this is of very little satisfaction to a member of the legislature who wishes and should know who received so much. Why should not the account state what each collector received, and the man. ner in which each collector applied what be received? The Commissioners of Customs will answer as they do to us: * our accountant and comptroller-general' are men of such unimpeachable character that par

account which they may sign." I maintain, Sir, that parliament neglect their duty if they depend upon any man's character where such dependance may be avoided, by giving the clerks of the Custom-house a little more trouble, and by a very trifling additional expense in the item of printing for parliament

for naval services, of which five thousand pounds have been repaid to the Treasurer of the Navy on the 9th October 1802, and the remainder of the imprest cleared and taken off by an order from the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, thirty thousand pounds of whichliament may confide in any abstract of an sum were advanced on the 9th April, 1801, at which time your lordship presided at the Board of Admiralty; was any part of this transaction known to you? A. None whatever.-Q. It appearing that the sum of fourteen thousand pounds was advanced by the Navy Board to Messrs. T. Hammersley and Company, between the 18th of February and 21st of April, 1804, for a secret service; was the Comptroller of the Navy authorized by you to perform any secret service for which this money was advanced, or had you any knowledge of the transaction? A. He was not; nor have I any knowledge of the transaction.[Signed by EARL ST. VINCENT and by the COMMISSIONERS.]

REFORM OF FINANCIAL ABUSES.
LETTER 1.

SIR, The Commons House of Parliament have expressed so honorable a determination, by their late conduct, to fulfil their duty to the public as guardians of the public purse, it is to be hoped that they will sift from the bottom the whole system of our finances. They can turn to no side but

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- Why should not the same system of keeping accounts be adopted for the public, as is made use of universally by merchants? The universality of its adoption, is proof of its superiority-it may give some more trouble, and it may speak too much truth, and there may have been hitherto good rea sons against it; but the time is now arrived when such reasons cannot hold. The pub lic must have fair dealing, and they will have it. Let every man who receives money from the subject be obliged to keep a debi or and creditor account with the state. And let every man's account be laid before par liament, so that the application of every farthing of the subject's money may be seen and no longer hid in obscurity: Look at the sums annually paid for incidents, char ges of management, in anticipation of the revenue, for stationary, for coals and can

dles, for ministers' messengers; the whole system forms such a labyrinth, that it is beyond the reach of any individual member to produce an explication of it. He may move for the particulars of accounts, and under the present system of keeping them, the proper officer will always be able to provide a very satisfactory one; he may even detect fraud, but these will be easily convertible into clerical errors; but of what use is it to say more in proof of the inadequacy of the system on which the public accounts are kept, after what has so lately come to light? Is it possible, that any clerk in a regular mercantile house could have embezzled and made use of the funds of it without detection, to the degree in which Mr Trotter has embezzled the public money? It certainly must be admitted that even the existing method of stating the public accounts is much more fair, than the method in use previous to the suggestions of Mr. Abbot having been complied with. But if Mr. Abbot was acquainted with the perfection of the Italian system of book-keeping, his patriotic spirit would induce him to patronise it, as being equally well adapted to public as to private accounts. The carrying of it into effect would, in fact, be attended with infinitely less difficulties, than is experienced by many merchants in London, the whole accounts being confined to one description, namely, the cash account. The government should be charged as debtor for every farthing the subject pays, and should be made a creditor for every sum it legally pays; this account might be composed of abstracts of the receipts of the different branches of the revenue, and of the expenditure of the different departments; but each head so abstracted should refer to some page in the ledger, in which every item of which it is composed might be read. If folios are printed by pardiament to enumerate the heroic fètes of a governor-general of Bengal, why should not one folio be printed in a session to give the people an idea of what is going forward at home? This subject, Mr. Cobbett, should occupy the early attention of the legislature. 1 do not propose it to embarrass the government, but solely with a view of serving the public. If the government, adopt my recommendation they will prove their intentions to be honest, and if those who compose, in parliament the opposition to the government, do not improve the method of stating the public accounts, their labor may be for the moment of great utility, but will not secure the purse of the nation from future peculators.-I am, yours, &c.-VEBAX.-April, 11, 1805.

SOMERSET-HOUSE ECONOMY. SIR,-1 lately troubled you with an account of some of the ruinous hardships, sustained by West Indian proprietors (p. 417 of this vol.), and among other topics, I adverted to the extreme depression, which the price of rum had lately suffered, and to the indecent conduct of the victualling office in advertising for rum, or brandy, (in the alternative) when spirits were wanted for the navy. Much of the saccharine matter of the sugar-cane, as you very well know, is not sufficiently rich, to be capable of being converted into sugar. This, therefore, (except the very small portion of it, which can be disposed of in the form of molasses) must either be distilled into rum, or be altogether wasted. By the laws for regulating the intercourse between our islands in the WestIndies and the United States of America, the export of rum from the former to the latter is impeded most distressfully to the English planters; (and I may add most unwisely, but I shall not for the present enlarge on this latter subject). Under these impediments, surely the least that the planter can expect, is that every encouragement should be given to the consumption in the parent country of this article, which, by an injudicious application of the principles of the navigation laws, he is prevented from sending to its natural market. While the num ber of the Register, in which you inserted my observations on this head, was in the press (March 22d), the victualling office was making a contract for 200,000 gallons of spirits. The spirits supplied to the navy are, you know, Sir, exempt from duty; so that the West Indian proprietor has in this competition no compensation whatever for the expensive transport of his rum, the high freight, insurance, and other charges attending a voyage across the Atlantic: he, therefore, never can enter into this competition on an equal footing with the importers of hostile spirits-the brandies of France and Spain. Accordingly, Sir, brandies were on this late occasion offered to the victualling officers of the navy at, I understand, 3s. id. per gal. while rums could not be afforded for less than 3s. 2 d. And (will it be credited) while our enemies exclude us from nine-tenths of the ports of Europe-while they confiscate every ounce of our colonial produce, and every package of our domestic manufactures, on which they can lay their hands will it be credited, that, in order to save the sum of 1,4581. 13s. 4d. (for that the exact calculator will find to be the gain upon this notable sample of enlightened parsimony), the contract has been made in the

produce of our enemies, while that of our own subjects is doomed to remain in the warehouses of the importers. To any man accustomed to contemplate a national plan of sincere national economy, this must appear a gross, absurd, inconsi tent mockery: but by those, who are acquainted with the system of naval administration, develloped by the late reports-of securing the spiggot, while the liquor runs out at the bung-of straining at gnats, and swallowing (no offence to Sir Home Popham) swallowing cables-of sending back the holder of a bill for 191. 10. without his money, while an upper clerk is gambling with millions of the public treasure-by those initiated into these. mysteries, Sir, the sacrifice of the interests of our own colonies, of our own commercial navy as employed to bring home colonial produce, and the encouragement of the productions of our enemies, in order to effect a saving of 1,458l. 13s. 4d., will be seen to be perfectly in order, consistent, and of a piece.- It seems not unlikely, that parliament will think some parts of our naval economy worthy its notice; and if so, I hope that branch, to which I have here called your attention, will not be neglected. If the Victualling Office should be permitted to buy the spirits produced by our ene mies in any case, (the propriety of which I think highly questionable,) at least such purchases should be prohibited, whenever the price of rum does not exceed that of brandy, by a sum more than sufficient to give the West-Indian planter a liberal compensation for the cost of his longer voyage, dearer freight, insurance, ullage, and cost of casks.-X. X-London, April 2, 1805. Erratum in X. X's. former letter p. 419, 1. 30, for 1001. per cwt. read 1001. per cent.

AFFAIRS OF INDIA.

SIR, Allow me to trouble you with a few lines, in addition to my last letter, on the affairs of India. I am told, that I have misled you in two very material points. That the debts of India, which I state at thirty millions, are only twenty, as allowed by Mr. Francis, and that the revenues of India are above thirteen millions, instead of ten, the sum I give credit for.-I shall be rejoiced if it turns out that I am indeed mistaken; for if there is an actual revenue in India of thirteen millions, a debt of twenty-one, even of thirty millions, may be paid off in a very few years.- -But, Sir, I un

derstand the revenues of India to be the

sum received in one year, from the land, &c. from subsidies with foreign princes, and from the sale of exports. These various heads produce, as I think, ten millions. I do not call money borrowed, in any one year, or bills granted on England for money borrowed, a part of the revenues, though it will be part of the receipts of a year--With respect to the debts of India, I meant to in clude all that is owing, in bond, certificate, of postponed payments, and from the information that. I have received, I think the whole debt must, at this moment, be thirty millions sterling. - I do not believe it was the wish of Lord Melville, while he was the minister of India, to with-hold any informa tion from parliament, and, I think, Lord Castlereagh is equally anxious to give the fullest information.- -But, Sir, no man can look at the accounts presented last year, without discovering, in one moment, to what the vast increase of debt in ten years has been owing. The expenses of India, in 1793-4, were six millions one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds. They have progressively increased since 1793, and for the three last years they have been above ten millions each year. In these ten years, we have conquered Mysore, and we have a sub-idy from the Nizam, and we have ob tained cessions of territory from the Mah. rattas.If, therefore, the establishment of 1793-4 was necessary, the additions which have been made to it since that period, are also necessary. I humbly contend, that the establishment of 1793-4 was higher than necessity required, and would now be suf ficiently large. If so, Lord Cornwallis will be able to reduce the public expenses above four millions a year.--I am sorry to say, however, that my opinion is by no means the general opinion. I have often heard it said, that we ought at least to have twenty-five thousand British troops in India, in addition to an army of above one hundred thousand native troops, that we have in India at this moment. Can the population of England afford the men? Will the revenues of India pay such an army? Impossible.The prosperity of the East-India Company, and of England as connected with it, demands therefore, that in future the expenses of India shall be four millions less than its annual revenues, which will be the case if Lord Cornwallis can reduce the establishments to the amount at which they stood when he quitted the government of Bengal.. ASIATICUS. 12th April, 1805.

red by Cox and Baylis, No. 75. Great Queen Street, and published by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Corent Garden, where former Numbers may be had; sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall.

VOL. VII. No. 17.]

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LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1805.

[PRICE 10D.

"I know the ministers" [Messrs, PITT and DUNDAS] "will think little less than an acquittal, that they are not charged with having taken to themselves some part of the money, of which they have made so liberal a donation to their partisans, though the charge may be indisputably fixed upon the corruption of their "politics. For my part, I follow their crimes to that point to which legal presumptions and natural in"dications lead me, without considering what species of evil motives tends most to aggravate or to ex"tenuate the guilt of their conduct. But, if I am to speak my private sentiments, I think, that, in a "thousand cases for one, it would be far less mischievous to the public, and full as little dishonourable to "themselves, to be polluted with direct bribery, than thus to become a standing auxiliary, to the usury and "peculation of multitudes, in order to obtain a corrupt support to their power. It is by bribing, not so "often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind.”- BURKE. Speech on the Nabob of Arcot's debts, 28th Feb. 1803. See his Works, Vol. IV. p. 314.

609]

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. MEETINGS OF THE PEOPLE.-- Under the above general head, several subjects, which were, and which still are, entitled to particular attention, would have been noticed within the last three or four weeks, had not the delinquency of the second person in the king's ministry rendered, for the time, every other subject comparatively unimportant. The conduct and the apparent views of the powers of the Continent; the critical situation of affairs in the East-Indies; the dangers to which our colonies in the West-Indjes have become exposed, through the negligence or the ignorance and imbecility of those, whose duty it was to provide against the attempts, recently made by the enemy in that quarter; the distracted state of Ireland, and the, imminent peril to the whole empire from the possible, and even the probable, effects of, the discontents there prevailing these are all subjects, which require only to be named to command the most serious attention. Look which way we will, the eye is sure to light upon some circumstance of menacing aspect. But, as the mariner, on whose parched and quivering lips death is contending with life, is totally unaffected by those conflicts of the elements, which, while he was in health, were wont to strike terror to his heart; so the people of England, smarting under the injuries which they have experience1, and do yet experience, from those whose duty it was to watch over and protect their persons and their property, appear to be, as well might be expected, quite insensible to the dangers that threaten them from without. They were chearfully making sacrifices of every sort; zealously exerting themselves in every way, for the defence of their country, and the preservation of their government; but, in the midst of those sacrifices and exertions, circumstances arise, facts come to light, which lead them to doubt, not only whether their exertions will be useless, as to the producing of any good, but, whether

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they may not produce evil, by prolonging the duration of that system of corruption, the secret springs of which have now been exposed, and the tendency of which obviously is the total annihilation of that throne and of those liberties, which it is the bounden duty as well as the anxious desire of the people to preserve. That such a doubt, and at such a time, is most dangerous no one will, I think, deny; and that it exists must be evident to all those who have either eyes or ears; for, the effect produced by the discoveries of the TENTH REPORT is seen in every countenance, and heard from every mouth. Reproach people with forgetting the dangers to be apprehended from invasion, and they instantly remind you, that, if their earnings are to be taken from them and heaped upon upstarts, instead of being applied to the exigencies of the state; if the money they are compelled to pay in taxes is to be used for the advantage of those who handle it, and in defiance of all law; and, if, when men are accused, and are proved to be guilty, of misapplying the public mony, those men find, even in the ministers themselves, advocates to palliate, not to say justify, their conduct: if such be our situation, say the people, it behoves us, before we think any more about the dangers of invasion, to ascertain whether this our internal situation is to be changed; to ascertain whether, in defending the country, we are really defending and protecting any body but the Melvilles, the Trotters, &c. &c. This is the language, not only of the hearts, but of the mouths of the people; and, that, at a moment so perilous, such a doubt should have been started must be matter of deep regret with every man who is anxious for the welfare of his country. But, it has beed started; the acknowledged delinquency, the clearly-proved malversation of some men high in office, and the endeavours made by others to screen them, have excited this dangerous doubt in the minds of the peo

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