Star. — London, England, 1809-08-25 00:00:00

Pirktotia FUND. Yesterday there was a General Meeting of the tub tailless to this Fund, co evened by public advertise. • Sir FRANMS BARING (the Chairman) opened the business. It was in consequence of the sense lately expressed by a numerous and most respectable Meeting o f Merchants and Bankers, that the Committee per fectly coincided in the opinion of that Meeting, and at their recommendation thought it proper to con vsne a General Meeting of the Subscribers. • It was no w s i x ' y e ars since the public were fi rst appealed to b y t he Committee ; and the sub:scriptions which had been s ax eived at that time very greatly surpassed the wat ottat hopes of those who were the first promoters et the Institution. More than 400,0001. had now been received ; but on the other hand, relief had b an a fforded to many thousands of wounded and di, a bled men, and to the families of those who had be at in the service of their country. As the war was now on land, where the losses are much greater t h an in sea.fights, the claims upon the Fund •would 1 consequently he in future mere numerous ; and as the entire sum originally subscribed would go no far oss than the present claims upon it, it appeared ne cessary to replenish the Fund, and again appeal to the liberality of the public. A Gendernaa of the C o mmittee (Mr. Marryatt) was prepared to state fully to them the manner in ..which, the Fund had hitherto been applied. . , MARRYAIT then rose, and made a detailed statement of the receipts and disbursements of the Fund. The sum originally received by subscription sage sa newhat,more than £350,000, to whiCh sutn was to be added the interest of the money that had been invested in the fronds, and the. profits on stock s e a t, which, added to the sum originally received, a mJunted to the total sum of £424,832,165. 7d. of which, .iftsr deducting the sums- voted in rewards, annuities, and presents,reft a balanee of k93,22:155.51 ' Many of the gratuities, however, which timer had vote d, had never been claimed, and there would be a coasiderable prsfit, if the stock were sold at the pre sent Fist ; so that he calculated the actual la:dance to be about ag130,000, which would probably be entitely• - absorbed by the claims that were. now ekpected to he made by the families of above 3000 killed and' 6000 wounded, including those who had been killed and teeunded at the battles of Corunna. and Talavera. He trusted that the Meeting would he perfectly satis fied with the conduct of the Committee, in the admi-s nistration of the fund hitherto ; but as the character of the war had changed in a great measure, and was now carried on mote by land than by sea, the Committee thought that new regulations ought to be adopted in future, as the cliintrants would probably be much mote numerous. Alter he had stated the nature of the dif ferent disbursements, he should submit to them some resolutions for the future management of the Fund. As to the sum given directly t. the wounded and the families of those which had fallen; this amounted to about i 230,000, and was a part' of the expendithre about which there could be no objection. It would ap pear by the accounts that 84.0,000 had been given to the Naval and Military Asylum, for which that:Society undertook to receive and educate all the children, of - either sex, recommended by the Committee t whose case mild give then; any claim upon the Patriotic Fund. The price of advertising in the public papers, amounted to no less than £ll,OOO. Great as this stun w.ts, he was convinced that it Would not have been far the iincrest of the Fund to have been note sparing of ezpence on this Subject. On the contrary, the Committee received many letters cif cnmplaint, if they delayed the advertising the receipt of the smallar subscriptions. The amount of the sums voted as rewards to merit s amounted in the whole to V6,C10, and is would be recollected, that it was one' of the re,olatiGtos of the ofiginal subscribers, that rts- - ward 6 or ;lonourabie bauges should be given to distin guished merit, There had been some little difference 1 of opinion use n the propriety of donations of this sort ; hut, he thought, that necessity, they . must be dispensed with iii fatisse. The 'claims. of merit alone must, yield is merit accompanied bi s edistress. He wasll here take occasjorettsauswersomembiervations which had been made against the institution itself; as , interfering with the Legislature. If this hardhearted ' doctrine were to prevail,: it would go as well to cry dawn all public charities, or private benevolence. It might as well be argued, that, because the Legisla tore had established Poor Rates and Workhouses, it :vas interfering with the Legislattare to give any }IS- M:A.3IWe to the poor. , Besides the alleviation of pris vate distress ar.d sufferin, `the fund had been pro ductive t , f a very great public advantage. It was well known, that a great cause of the repugnance of the poor to let their children go inco the army or navy, ' that they thought that they should thereby,, if any casualty happened, lose that assistance from them in the decline of life, which otherwise they might have expected. This repugnance- was, in a great measure, done away by the sums which.it was known Patriotic Fund paid to the *aged parents of those Al in the service of their country. Perhaps, at r: :1)2 lature period, the Legislature might think it Proper to adopt such a regulation. .There was • . about £16,000 which had been voted to theselief of British prisoners in France. Thii did not come ander the letter of the' original resolutiona but it came within the :spirit .of them. When Bonaparte %fused to permit an accredited agent for English risaness to remain in France, or any . supplies to furnished them by the British Governmentonany ',l these prisoners were .redneed to the greatest dis.; ; a:-,.1 he Committee had only given such relief amounted to an addition of three-halfpence a-day •.-) the allowance of the aged, the infirm, and she I 'oho were not able. to endure such privations as "rose who were in health. They had also established hospital and a schOol at every depot of prisoners -.1 ranee.. This money had been managed with such eiconomy and attention by those who superintended :he distribution. of it, that he believed more good was : aver done at less ezpence, and that this was an ex penditure which ought to be continued. With respect tile wounded, he apprehended that there must he al!eration ; and that for the futUre, the relief could o .d y be given to those who were disabled by their wounds. Thaae who were wounded - slightly, or mien sastala, would not wish to be paid for the mere pain Of '.:eirsvound, at the ezpence of the widows and co-' phans their companions who had fallen. This.al ":l-4!ion'bejshonlei also, propos e Th,the shape of a Re •slut.on. After several general observationa, on the advantages already derived (rum•an rtiopeal to the nerosity of the public, he concluded by tuoving a Re solution-for a similar appeal on the present occasion. This resolution was seconded by Mr. Bowe, and carried unanimously. The Resolutions were all carried unanimotisly, as were also. Votes of Thanks to the Chairman and to the Committee. Sir FRANCIS BARING And • Mr. MARRYATTi in the name of the Committee, returned thanks. An additional subscription then conimeuced, which we understand was very considerable. NAVAL REPORTS. • We have received several Reports of the Commis sioners of Naval Revision, printed by an order of the House of Commons, dated April 11, 1809, from which we propose to make some selections from time to time. The Ninth Report is on the subject of the Trans port‘Office. Under that branch of the Office con fleeted:with the provision for the prisoners of war, it is stated, i , that at the end of March, 1807, the num ber of prisoners in Great Britain stood as follows ; trench ' - - - 23,699 •- • Spanish - . - - 2,937 • Dutch - - 2 Izt the West Indies, at Malta, and Halifax : • Frew* • -, - - - - 2,940 - - - 815 • none. Sp,nish DWtch . , ~ ..,, Total 30,295 Of these 11,000 were distributed in 21 prison-ships at Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Chatham. The Commissioners then proceed to,state the com parative advantages of prison-ships and prisons, which they .consider as greatly in favour of the latter, and that therefore the system of prison -ships should be abolifhed as speedily as possible. " The total amount of the expence of maintaining the 21 prison-ships before mentioned, may be esti mated 463,234 6s. 4d. per annum, whereas, at the two prisons on sht,re, at Stapleton and Norman Cross. .which will contain 10,500 prisoners, (nearly as many as the prison-ships before mentioned), the annual expence of the establishment for .prisoncrs.in health is -no more than 2550 pounds. But it is not only the additional expence incurred by the system of keeping prisoners on board ships; which proves.that system to be disadvantageous. The num ber of 'officers and seamen established on-board those 21 prison ships is 513, and the number of marines 768 ; and thus our fleets, it is obvious, are deprived of the services of thOse men at a time when they are much wanted for manning our navy. tat, even afer having incurred thii expence, and submitted to these disadvantages, the prison ships will last only a few years, 'whereas prisons on land will last far a consi. disable length of time, and obviate all theinconveni encies we have enumerated as attendant upon the sys tem of keeping prisoners on board ships. One prison is now building at Dartmoor to contain about 5,000 prl. sorters, which will tend to diminish the evils vre allude to ;. one or two more of the same description would probably render prison ships altogether unnecessary. Daring the two or three last years preceding thepeace of Amiens, the Transport Board had in charge a num -4.6r .of prisoneri at home and abroad, fluctuating ge- nerally from 30 to 34,000 men, notwithstanding • the operations of an established Cartel, which allowed the Constant exchange of man for man: rank for rank; and at 'the same time permitted all Officers to retire to their respective countries, upon condition of not serving until regularly exchanged. Since the renewalafthewar,hq*- , ever, the present 'French Government has crnstantly rejected every overture for the re-establishment of a Cartel, and detained all descriptions-of per:.ons, and military, who were in France when the war broke out, or who have been captured since then, though a very different condnct.has been .observed on the part of this country, for abbot three thousand French pri soners and invalids; non-combatants, -captured by U 3, have been permitted to return home " • - Daily ration to French prisimers of war' in hettlth : ti lb. of bread. plat af'peate.. • tb of fresh beef. sr- Mr.- • The Tenth Report is oceupied With' the subject of the Victualling Office. With !egar to „It, the Corn ; rnissioners state, " That nothing short. of can entire new system is likely to be effectual.. When the Commissioners investigated the state of the. accounts of the Victdalling Office in 1788, they had on that occasion to notice not only arrears ofacconnts of very cricieot dates, but also debts due to the Crown, to a very considerable amount. - Of these debts due to the public, tontraired prior to 1786, the sum of 136,1421. Bs. 10Id. is still due ; and they give it as theiraapinion, a that there is too ' much reason to apprehend ihat the abownientioned sum will proye a loss to the public.". " Since 1786, additional debts, to the amount of fit) less than £224,185. 10s. 11-.ld. more have become due to Government, and are still unrecovered ; thus raising the total amount of money due to the Victual ling -Department to the sum of £351,327. If2s. " A considerable part of the•debts due to the Public consists in what -are - termed in official language, army "stoppages ; that is, the value of tho pro. 1 -visions furnished td troops, when embarked for a pas, sage on board any of your Majesty's ships, or on board transports, and which is stopped 6om the pay of the persons to whom the provisions have been furnished, according to the number-of days they have been vic tualled. These debts arose out of the system of ma nagement in existence prior to the 25th December; 1797, (so far as related to regiments then at home) and prior to the 25th June, 1793, with respect to those stationed abroad, when a new system was adopted, which has in a great measure put a stop to. the losses which the public was, under the former system, so liable to sustain." The reasons assigned by the Victualling Board for this great delay, are 44 want of room to employ Clerks, and the pressure of current business." The Commissioners, however, represent at consi derable length, that these excuses are by no means sa tisfactory ; and then go oo to observe, that 64 The necessity and utility of the immediate inves tigation of accounts is strikingly apparent ; for in the ease of any incorrect or suspicious circumstance ap pearing, it affords the means of obtaining elucidation without delay, which a lapse of time, or the death of the parties, may render impossible, when accounts are' . suffered to remain in the office for many years without being,lionidated4 and, in the event of an accountant making uneustifiable or irregular charges, the imme • • ; „' t •y. cila notke of preient the,i-e; petitioaplifietn wheffeas, if Ihey.paes unetieedi the accodntant nata.rallt conaidee that. they have been aamittest:nndthus . .thttie olatkins'a tacit approbation, and may be of ithg centhittafite before it:is-detected ; and when, detected; the' death . .of the party, and sfari ous other causes, may reside? the recovery of any sum of money thus improperly charged impossible. ' • Wexannot avoid remarking, that when it becomes notorious that the accounts delivered into any office generally lay there for a considerable time, and some- • times for years, before they•are finally settled, it offers an inducement to men of incorrect principles to hazard the-making tsf unjtmt charges, which they would not venture .to do were - the accounts more speedily. ex amined, midlinelly liquidated." • The Commissioners then proceed to detail a plan for the more effectual performance ofthe dutiei of the office. They then-proceed to state, that the arrears of imliqUidated accounts are accumulated to an enor mous amount in this office. " We should be glad if it were in our power to give a more favourable statement with respect to the ar ears of unliquidated accounts than we have iseen able to do, in regard to the debts due to the Cr..uy;, ; but on this subject it becomes our duty to state, that those arrests are so enormous, embracing periods so remote, and involving sums of money to so large an amount, that nothing lets than a radical and speedy reform of the system of management, in regard to the examination and liquidatian of accon•-.•:, in the Veal . - ailing Office, - can prevent a.contirmir;on of the irregit lantiet which have arisen under the present system. • "The accounts which come under the considera;ion of theVictualling Board are r twodescriptions ; those relating to cash, and those relating to stores. 44 We ShAl first speak of those relating to cash ; these may be divided into four classes. • " lst. —Accounts of commission agents, or persons employed .by the Victualling Board to purdhast pro visions at home for the navy, on commission. " 2d—Accounts of Porta Agents, or persons re *e...iving appointments under the Victualling Board, re sident* in the East and West Indies, and other places abroad, for the: purpose- of obtaining supplies of pro .visions,on the spot for. the navy, or Of taking charge of" supplies, and issuing thein to ships as occasion may • . require. • 3.—Accounts of Home Agents, or Storekeepers, or persons receiving appointments under the Victual ling Board, and resident at the Victualling Establish ment at Deptford, Cliatham,• Portsmouth, and Ply mouth, and other places at home, for the, purpose of supplying your Majesty's ships with provisions. from time to time. 4th.—Those comprehended in the fourth class may be termed promiscuous accounts, being the ac counts of pursers, correspondents, and other persons, who have occasional transactions with the Victualling Board, and have consequently had imprests gran;ed to them. " In entering upon the investigation of the accounts of the Victualling Office, we followed the coarse pur sued in making our inquiries into the state of accounts at the Navy Office, and calling upon the Victualling' Board to furnish us with a statement of the arrears of. ♦business and accounts in that Office. , . .-.. " By thesw,:erpent2whielt *e received in return to our precept, dated December 9, 18c11,:it ;appeared that the a:nount of the cash accour .5, tilillqUilitted in the Victualling Office . nt that time, was at follows : • Accounts of Conimistion Agents ' 1'2,740,583 0 0 of Foreign Agents ' • tz,15 : 1,92. 17 3i of Hume Age::ts and Stcrekeepers 939,1:94 14 4 4 i • . •• . Pranicsitious Acznins. The amount 4these 13 not . c ti•ier, I , r thty are • stated to he.e ' .g sr idixg ; a: ‘e ilitc of r!- centdater, .tr..l in ?gin: of numbers to a great . extent; and iA t letter fror.a-clie - 'V i , ztnailieg Board to ti. Admiralty, 0: 20th November, '. Ibo 6, it is stated, thin rho3i of them cf (.I.i.ies • . sit'...err..tent to the tilt January;l792, rit i :1' tli_ u.grez..t.e arricunt be estimated at About TOO,CCO 0 0 • ' .efv,9ss,loo' 11 81 1 We shall first speak of the Commission Agents' ae' counts. These accounts, which invOlv...l sums to the amount of £i744083, are 13 in number, and com& r periods from October 81, 1/9+, to May 6, 11106.. IFour of these accou nts are with one house, that of Messrs. Jordainc,-Shaw, and Co. for tint purchase of Irish provisions for the navy,.and involve the immense ; sum of W 2,005,673, as follows : - 1 'trials beef and pork, from Jam 4.5, 1719, to Jam 11,1900.468,7'9 Ditto, from Feb. 1, 1900, to Aug. 9, ISM - • 749,945 Ditto; from Nov. Sp, 1900; to July YS, 1801 754,875 . Bonet, from Jan. SI, 1799, to Oct. 17,1;99 . . 10;1M., • ge2,C011,67S . 1 The account for beef and pork, supplied from the 2414.Novernber 1800, to 25th July . 1801; amounting to 1474,875, his not yet been investigated and stat ed, so as to be ready for the Board's consideration and decision ; but the tivo others for beef and pork, namely, the - one from . the 25th Jaithary 1799, to the 11th of January 1800, .for X188;722, and the other from Ist February 1800, :to 9th August,lBoo,.for IL '749,945, making, together the sum of £1,238,66t ; though they have been ready for the Board's decision thereon ever since the 18th March 1802, upicards . of five years, have not yet been passed by the Board: • ":•The one also for butter, amounting to . £lO4l, has been ready ever since 14th December 1802; not withstanding which the Board have not yet come to any determination upon it. " Two other:Of the CommiSsion Agents *accounts arewitli Mr. Charles Flower for suptilving cheese one from the 6th February.lBoo, to 3 - . l,st arch 1801, and the -other frOnt. 2d .Marcli 1801, to .15th 'October 1802. These account's have also been'reported to the .Board as ready for their decision liiimer lotg ago as the 16th of November 1862, and the latter +ea the 18th of September 180 . 1, hut nevertheless they still remain unliquidated. . . " These two accounts involve the sum 'of no less than J 6252,477. . • • • " The remaining seven of the CominissiOn Agents' Cash Acc,ounts are .stated to us as not.beit4 yet.xcady to be laid before the Board for final decision, . " These last accounts embrace the sun of 443),731 " With respect to the Foreign .A.genp '' , c jzsh ac counts, the amount of the . . money invol'ed:in, them' was, as before stated, on 9th, Ticc z etilb#:.;l•BoBi 86,554,922. 17s. Sid. and, they are ._40,"Aw0411:, number. " These accounts _ related torhiact •••• 11 7 sa& taken place, and expences - th i lf Yfatt tureen sth April 1770, 'and. AN .` clod of 27 years ; the whlle'of \4hict,itativftit many of thein were . or such very old dites, rgmaine tk • M 117) , ~ 77 nnadjustesi at the). tinie *re iiiitilitisiliteci oat in iliiries into the state Of aceaunts in the Vietnallirki , 0 o,•• , a Since, theni It appeared the statementl',% - e Chairttsan of the Victualling Board, who his the su perintendence .of the C as h Department, that six but of the forty-two accounts before-Mentioned have been finallyalecided upon, and passed by the Board. 46 These six accnunt‘ comprehended the sdriof 41,498,274. 19 . a..00. thus redliellg the number of the beforementioned outstanding Foreign Agents' .Cash Accounts to thirty-six, and the amount at the imprests to the sum of 45,0.56,647, 18s. Sid: • a - The principal accofint of those sir recently pass ed, was that of Mr: Arthur Cnthbett, Agent Victu. ailer in the East ladies, from 'the 11th May . l7Bo, to 11th of March 1785, the imprests on which-amounted to R 1,021,526. •14u. 60. 14 'fhis ACCount . w an, urufer the-ermlidetati on of the Commissioners of 1788, who, in their Nitith •Report, state some very extraordinary circtobstances with re spect to a few of the itehis of expense Charged in it, tending to shew.the eitisteoceof enormottshbuses in India.. They say, 4 wecatiinotliotveter Avoid offering a general opinion upon . the. Victualling of your Majes ty's fleets in India dOringihe lasL war (tile American war) ; namely, that of the trionies'which ;taunted to have been erpeaded.in lihrchases by Ate Agent Vic tualler there, amounting to more than one million of pounds sterling, a moiety Gf that sum, upon the.most moderate caloulaticiny would have been saved .to the .pablic if that bralkh tithe service had keen conduct ed with zeal and . cConnttly.' Notwithstanding,-how ever, what thns; Cianinisianiers stated, no less than 22 years were suffered to elapse, from the time Mr. Cathbert's accounts coded, before they were liqui dated; and the party . himself had been dead many years prior to their being "pawed. . ft is much to helamented that an account, in volving sums of money to so ithisense an amount, should have been suffered to remain imliquidated for so many years. ~ W. cannot think that the examination of any account, however strict it may be, can beat all effec tual at such a distankedf time; and it is therefore not surprizing that the publie.striuld not have recovered any part of those sums which a speedy examination would no doubt have • shewn they were entitled to : the circumstances which occasioned the expenditures, so far from being fresh in recollection, must be totally lost sight of ; neither the necessity nor the propriety of dihburseinents can therefore be judged of ; still less can the reasonableness of the charges be ascer tained ; moreover, as the party himself, in this case, had been dead. many years before his accounts were passed, even the chance of obtaining any information from him; on doubtful pOints, was altogether lost. a An account of still greater importance is now pending, embracing a period of more than eleven years, and involving the sum of 41,418,236. 6s. 9d. namely, the account of the Hon. Basil Cochrane us Contractor and Agent in the East Indies, from 15th October 1791 to 31st December 1805 : in examina tion and liquidation of which, without further delay, too much atte:ltion cannot be paid. . a Fifteen out of the forty-two unliqUidated cash accounts : t foreign agents have been prepared, and ready (sorne.of them for many years) for the Board's exa , .c.inatiOn, but still wait to be taken up by them, a'r!it passed. - . . .. a Two of these accounts, amounting to one hun dred twenty-two thousand three hundred and twenty eight, pounds, and two-pence farthing, have been ready for the Board's final deteimination upwards of eighteen years, and one, amounting to two hundred firty . .six thousand three hundred and thirteen pounds, twelve shillings ) and one, penny, for upwards of 20 years, i>tit they still remain unpassed. The following ore the periods at whiclt.the whole of thoso fifteen accounts were ready for the Board's deterniinatiou. Names of Foreign Agem-3. Sims. When ready. a d f • • '. nenry Davis . 256,313 12 1 146 March 1797 John 13e!Afuis . 96,810 1• 3 25. h July ISB litliberelllacknure ' 26,517- 18 11i 35th MArch 1739 Walter, -Urquhart 86,724 12 oi z6:h June 1791 John Obey, sen. . ' 7 - ,107 - 5 AU ' Oth It-no . Ibo 9 Jahn ticincv,.jurt: ‘ 16,270 II 3 ..._ _.., "sl:hontaa rzgsrald . Thomas Aldridge Divd.Hearly, . W.M. WUh Penn' Osborne Aleisiidit Donaldson William ikstras . 'Geary Dirabi4oiisk: 15,109 14 6 Sth Fob. 3,488 19 11 slit March 1 -14,679 18 9. — • i 369,7:35 18 101 14th May 1804 10;442 * 7f 15th July 80,7E9. 5 .31 20th Aug. 6,123 2 6 12th Oct. 2,349 17 2 ISth Sept. Ism 838,652 .; 7 lot 17th Dec. • . . 411,g514718' 19 . 9 , " Thus, account's, to the amount of £1,855,718 16s. SiL'haVe'bieri'.' Suipestilatt, some of them for a great Maziy . years;- though they: ktad go to through thatpare of .the eta.mhattion , .which .as entrusted to the clerks, and.had.been ,reptirted . recty for the final decision of the Commissioners. The cash accounts - of the home agents and 'lntorkeePer'S; . anscitnititif -tO the sum of £989,294 1:1 471 d. kontpiikaiates from Ist May, 1797, to 30th '7u •1806: ai k stme o fourteen in number,' the whole of which itiOtemaul unsettled, thntigh 'ten of these ac coutits ilteilii i irebeeit'preparel. and ready for being •• passed' 'by the' lifoardlor r1: - .ny. months. , c The wholp.o£ the prorniscuous accounts,, part of which only, namely,4,Onse of dates..,subsequent to the 'l-st of Jazinary, 1192, are" estimated to amount to ab0ut .3 .00,000f.• tinpassed, though many cf them ate years standing. • . . “ We before mentioned that thesuntsof money .inirol.:4l in ..theaccounts which were unliquidated in the Vietnalling . Office, according to the Statement from, that. Office, dated December 9, 1808; was £10.,985,000 /Is. &:.d. We hive'also stated; that rsince then, six aCcounts of fereignLigegts have 'been pased . : the following statement will tbarefore 4 sh ew the amcnnit:of those which still remain muliqtaatedi Apc..os- ! of.ccininlission,A,,gents • .. 4'4'7 ,x. - 0 a or Foreign Agsintsestiffilaited : • •. • • Det.9,11306N40%929 17- * • •• C .•77.7!= Pasf silkCe A 5409,2- 19 • ,'.4,43,347 23 ts and broe f t eepeol,.. 4t Pt .. oi . inis Asians.' grfoo,ooo 0 0 Tav sAntl " dit:tt - ece 8 i a Zs. ' 4lli6dilt . accounts in the v la i s c t : ski a - nand belhltaram of JCW6,925 Vl. 4 6htelidirtnnefiggitp4P7, tri cleared; Imprests on Or•toisinioinCsrocini,no very olcidatel;'namely from 'the Ist of January;l7/ ()e 4; to the Sin DSc. 1791." ). • .