Star. — London, England, 1805-03-20 00:00:00

••.. , • . , cianfe in every mullion which here any Madam t ai b the tile or employment of the public money, either by himfelf or Lord Melville, urging in the latter cafe. that as he had drawn all the money from the Bank in the firtt inflanee, he conceived himfelf implicated in its fubfequent appropriation. Mr. Trotter gave tit to underßand.that money ap plicable to Navy Cervices, which had been ads anced by him to Lord Melville, was employed by his Lordflip in the public fervice of the State, and that' he was led to this concluflon in coniequence - of a confiderable fum fo advanced. having been returned to him by Mr. Long, one of the Secretaries to the ' 'l'reafury. Upon this Ratetnent we ;Cued our precept to Laid Melville, for an account of monies received by him. nt any petfon on his account, or by his artier, from the l'ay mailer of the Navy, between the i It of July, 1785, :Ind the 301 of Decensber, tBoca. Rating when fuch monies were received, e nd the times when,. and -.he perfons by whom the !sine were returned to the 1 ink or the Payntafter. • In anfwer to that precept ewe received (ran his Lordtbip the following letter i MIN, WilAbiedens so& Jane. tam. I hive received your regulation, et data the oak bast It la lopnabic for me wand& you with tote meow yemdt. kls more than four years (once I left the meted Treacles! the Mao vry, and at the road et doing fo, having ecommeed Armory t lopreffed isle my honk I transferred the whole minks balance to the amount d toy itteceirer. Frew dm dust I nmercepOdoe. ed any me paper of somber that remained in my hawk sad the await tie to ms (elf Of MT gh ee .and conforently, today east in the pradtke, Once I te Seabeds of cw#sybsy oe nasally foots time in earthy my mom semi deeming ads that were mfebia. I am foaled 'hoodoo an esti way emq ma terial which I could ache ep hick as mecum as yes fipeally..... but yof that circoollance. I tbiakk risk to reload yet. that daring a great pan of the time I was Tresilmeld the Navy. I held other very cenidentiel amass in Oevermmemt, Sod was intimately causedled man. So awed. I dlit not decline skin mahout Wan the fonds is die Treafurer's Bads to ether ferviceslet econated with my Mt , I Oteation as Ttealker at the Navy. If I had waselials to Make up loch an account as you require, I meld net dolt whitest Melo ,* delicate and ceahlential tremhelisso of Goveliamene, width soyduty to the public waft have realised me from Masai. (Mimed) steivisse. Defimos of being fumiesed with In account of the Menu iCaed to the Bank for the fervice of the Navy, which bad been drawn front thence and appropriated to aoy other public fervice, and judging that Come note or record of Inch wanfaaions ought to have been.preferved in the Navy Pay Office, we iffued our precept to the prefent Trealurer, for the account of the (urns of money which had been advanced or lent by the Treafurers of the ?levy, or by their direftions, to any public department, or applied by them to fer- Vices not connetied with their official fituationasTrea. hirers of the Navy, betweso the tit of January, :786, mad the 3t ft of December, 1803. la anfwer to which be informed us, that there were no Remounts in the office which enabled hint to retorn any fuels account. We did not apply in the Navy &WO for information vefinaing the !urns which bad been fo appropriated, as dusk traufaltions are Rated so have taboo plate without the knowledge of that Board. Lead Melville, in his esansinatioe, objeited anfwer iog any quettion on this fubjea. relying on the fifth chalk of the Aft by which we an eonflituted, and alto upon the cirentaasces alluded so in his letter before recited. He alto declined, and upon the fame groands, to Worm us whatim be had derived any profit or ad vantage from the eh or emptoynsent al money iffised for carrying On the carnal (treks of the navy. bt. • tween the 34..0f January, 5786. ands tft of May, stioo ; that is, from the time of the operation of the Ad for lodging money in the Bank to the time of his quitting dice. However the apprehenfiona of difelofing delicate :end confidential tranfaaions of Government might operate whit Lordblelville in withholding 4:Format:on Tepee:Mg advances to other departments, we lo not perceive how that apprehenfion can at all account for his refufing to Rate whether lie derived any profit or advantage from the ufe or emplov mentor money iffued for the firvices of the Nary. if his Lordfisip bad re ceived into his hands filch monies only as were advan ced by him to other department; and bad replaced them•as loon as they were repaid, he could not have derived any profit or advantage from loch tranfac • —dons, however repugnant they might be• to the pro %Anna of the Legidature for the fife cuttody of the public money. ' Although we were not able to afcertain what mo. aim were 'mitt over or advanced so Lord Melville, yet, independent of Inch advances, bk. Trotter ad. mite in the latter part of hie, esasinesion, that, in following his Lorcithiph infirstaices„ t* in, iraiog in his affairs as his primate agent, he had occaforoally Laid out for his ufe or benefit, from tan so twenty thoufand pounds without condd=hather he was ptevioufly is adv ance t o hi s • or whe• tiler fuch advances was evade Rom biapnblic or pri vet, balances. Mr. Trotter not only drew money frOm the Bank in large fours, which he depofited with his private bankers, Mars. Thomas Courts and Co. bat he alto • prevailed with the Cub•accountants to depth the greeter part of their balances with that honk. One of them, indeed, the Caibier of the ifiaualling, ac qtdefced with reluctance, having always, before that time, kept his balance at the Beni', and winking Min to keep it there : he Rated it to us, that it was by direCtion of Mr. Trotter be opened an account with /lefts. Thomas Courts and Co. where he tenk credit 44 the fume advanced to hien by Mr. Trotter's drafts :n :hat houfe ; but that be drew out thole fonts as .1. • public fervid, required, and kept the retitle part of ice. balance at the Bank, where be depofited loch Curs as were advanced to him by drafts on the Bank. Mr. Trotter Rates, that between the years 1791 and 1790, the greater part of the monies drawn, by him from the Bank, paSed through the hands of Melts. Thomas Courts and Co.; that the monies fo drawn were fonsetinses placed to his credit in his ac- counts with them, and at others were carried itorne• eliately to the credit of the refpeaive fob -accountants; and that the content of the Treafurer to this meafure was fignified to him in a cenverfation, is which he eeprefinted the facility that would be afforded to the public bufinefs, and the additional lanky to the Treaftwer, by the drafjs being left with the beakers, inked of their being Cent to the Bank. and the money ' hr Ought from thew*, at his Mk, by the Mefengers of the Office. Lord Melville Rain, that he certainly did permit Mr. Trotter to lodge any money drawn from the baulk fat Rohde purports in his pirate bagkees bands, ••. • • • during t he period that it was act Jeitaitied for the purpofes for which it was drawn; bin it is to ba fkrred from his evidence, that he intended Mr. Trot. ter to draw upon the Bank for the matron only of the alignments made on him by the different Boards (an accouat of which is furnifhed to him daily), and that the balance of (nth rum, till demanded. (hould alre be lodged by Mr. Trotter in the hands of his Mtvr-te bankers. The rearm given by his Lo r dliip for this permiffi on i s , the opinion that it would add more facility to the conduct of the bufinefs of the office is renhitude of fmall payments to be made, *an if the money were eo be depofited * according to the eonflieution of the office, in an iron thee ; and that the venous parties receiving (mall payments would be lets liable to be iu pofed. upon than if they were each to receiv e drafts for filch (ma fume upon the Bank, it fuch a iiiilitoce from the °Ace after eta removal to.Somerfet-place. Although the larger demands Upon the Treafuree are paid by draft. a neceffity for making the 6nall payroentsln money has always wined, and the money neceffuy for this purpofe is of coat& draten (tom dill Bank, The (ems fo drawn, if eeneenielicy only had bees IlinGo,..fitould bare been pla ce d i n t h e c h arge of the differett fob-accountants, by whom fuck de mends are paid, and riot kept in the hands of the Paymafier, who is not e,difborfer of public money, except that Mad for the Payment of Exchequer fees. With refpea to the fiat of bringiug the money from the Bank, and of the lots or embezzlement of the drafts by the Meffengers of the Pay Office, we do not and that the aptedsenfiona entertained oo this fubjea *role from tbe,eXperience of former lofis—dor none are hems us have happened. The *sloe which we had formed of the infuffici ency of the snotiies affiped for the departure from the Act of Parliament, is confirmed by the inquiries intlituted, and the meafures taken in confequence thereof by the fucceeding treafiners. Lord Harrowby, the immediate fuccelfor of Lord Melville. difapproved of the praaice, as being incon tinent with the fpirit of the Aft ; and as he had jolt quitted the office of Paymaaer of the Army, where fimilar regulations bad beeneftablifhed and carried into effect withottt any complaint of inconvenience, he was defirous of putting the office of Treafurer of the Navy upon the fame footing ; but previoufly to his directing an alteration, he deemed it neceliary to inquire minutely into the validity of the realms; urged againa the change. His Lordlhip had nearly com pleted the neceffary inquiries. to latisfy his mind that the difficulties and inconveni e e cies which might arife in the detail of the isuanefs from this change, were not fufficient to alrer the opinion he had formed, when lie was prevented by a revere fillies from at tending further to the benne& of the office. The Right Hon. Charles Bathura, who fucceeded Lord Harrowby, put a final flop to the praaice of drawing the money out of the Bank, and lodging it in the hands of a private banker, in the fommer of tilos, from a conviction that fetch praaice was incon- Utah with the titbit of the M for the regulation of the office of the Treafurer of the Navy, and that the conveniencies which were fuggefied to mink from it in facilitating the tranfaetion of bufinefs, were not of weight fufficsent to juttify the continuance of firth an irregularity. The rub accountants were likewift di tided to lodge their balances in the Bank. Mn Badnutl fates, that no reprekntations were made to him of inconveniencies tefulting front this change of (Ann ; and Mr. Trotter biedetf allows, that no material inconvenience did wife. Mr. Trotter, a few days before be quitted office. p ro p o f e d to t h e Right Honourable George Tierney, the then Tree finer, that innead of drafts being given to the Sub accountants on the Bank, payable to them or bearer, the Paymalter thould, from time to time, direa fuch rums as might be neceffary to be transferred from the Treafurer's account at the Bank to the accounts of the Sub-accountanu. This propofal, which, if ad hered to, would be an effeaual bar to his fuceeffors receiving money into their own hands by their drafts on the Bank, was adopted by Mr. Tierney ; and we learn from Mr. Latham, who aft-.d as his Paymaner, that no inconvenience was experienced from this mode of transfer, nor wad he aware of any facility or ad vantage from the intervention of a private banker. Ash is the Itrongeft refutation of the reafoning urged for a departure from the regulations ellablith ed by the Aft of Parliament, that there regulations have treed 6nce carried into execution without incon venience, we (hall not dwell longer on this fubjea— but we feel it incumbentnn us to declare our opinion, that the circumstance which aaually led to the with drawing of the money in large (urns from the Bank, previoully to its being Hilted to the Sub-accountants for the public iirvice,. was the opportunity thereby af forded to the application of it to purpofes of private ufe and advantage. As an additional fecority againil the public money being drawn from the Bank for any but public put pores' it is dire&ed by the Aft of Parliament, th a t in leach draft tall be fpecined the head of rewire for which it is drama, and that without this fpecification the draft !hall not be deemed a voucher to the Bank for the payment ; and it has been Rated to us, that this form has been Aridly adhered to, and that no mco ney has been drawn front the Sank without fpecifying a particular head of fervice. Such drafts might be in all cafes Nfficient autho rity to the Bank ; but, when ufed by the Paymatier to draw money into his own poffeffion, and for other purpofes than the fel-vices fpecified, it has been a palpable evalinn of the A. As we could not obtain information from Mr. Trotter as to the manner in which the public mon e y had been difpofed of, between the time of its being drawn from the Bank and the time of its being appli• ed to the public fervice, we called ypon Mr. Thomas Wilfoe, the Chief Clerk in the Bill and. Remittance Department of the Navy Pay odic% a branch lately ellablithed. but who has been generally employed es an affinant to the Paymafier, and by whom one of the accounts rendered to us of the difpolition of the Treafurer's balances Were Coped. The evidence given by Mr. Wilful' is of an extra ordinary nature ; he avowed having derived an ad varttage from the tifit or employment of money Mud for the payment of Exchequer •fees, the charge of which was transferred to him by Mr. Trotter in the year ifloo ; but be objected to *attire:jog every qua. lion put to him as to the difpofition of the public balances, or the advantage derived by the Paymaßer therefrom, or even to giving any ',planation of t h e official account of the Ttederses balms's. 411/hosib figata . by Ward/ s sad pleaded his beiig protege& by the fifth cla c k o f t h e A& b y which this Commit. God is conftituted, although he declared he had not derived any profit, advantage, or benefit whatever from or in confequence of the pair* money having been applied to private ufe by any peon or perfons. Such conduit in a perton in offiee appeared to us by no means creditable ' and if it were genera ll y adopted,, it might b e the means of rendering inef fraud all fpcbCommiffions of Inquiry as that under which we ad. Hieing no other means of obtaining information, as to the manner in which the public money had been applied to private ore, and the extent to which it had been tarried, but by retorting to blab. Thomas Coutts and Co. we examined Edmund Antrobus, Eiq. the principal ading partner in that hook. Prom him we learned that M. Trotter, during the time he was Paymaßer, had five accounts with this haute, of the following defcriptions, An account in his name, as Payinafter, which commenced the toth_ei January, tylitS, and was tided on the 4th of March, dot. This account was pripcipaily =Mod to the money received front the Eacisequer for the payment of Exchequer Fero, . and fame other contingendes. Slo account in his own name, which commenced the aft of Ark tos, and n now open. To this meow the greater part of the. monks drawn from • tin Bank wascarried, and blooded with his private monies. A Swats account, 'Oda continent:6d the stir of April, 1711/1, and was dieted the 534 September. t 791. is tisk Amami the money drawn from the Bank has We been blended with his private money. A private account, which commenced the 9th of OdoberoyB9, and was elated the Bth of February, 793. This account wee Brit defoibed by. Mr. Antrobus as contain. bog pubis money ; but, upon a further laveßigatioo,be area to akor that Raccoon. An account in croft for the date of Adam To luene, Rfq derad'- ed, which comm ence d the atotis of t 789, and was elated the tick May, 'Soo To this aemone was earned the money teeovered from the date of Mr. Adam Italian, late Deputy Paymaito of the Nary, which will be hereafter e Mr. Antrobus thawed great difinclination to giving us any information with refped to Mr. Trotter's ac counts without his eonfent ; alledging, that the money received by Meffrs . Thomas Coutts a nd C o . at t h e Bank, on Mr. Trotter's drafts, had been carried to accounts in his name as an individual, and not in his public capacity of Paymalter of the Navy ; but after Mr. Antrobus had taken the opinion of Counfel as to the authority veiled in this Board, to require him to difelofe the tranfadions of Mr. Trot ter with his houfe, as far as the public money • was concerned, he fubmitted to anfwer the queßions that were put to him on thofe points. By the evidence of Mr. Antrobus it appears, that public money received by Mr. ThomasCoutts and Co. from the Bank, on Mr. Trotter's drafts, had been invefled in Exchequer and Navy Bills, lent upon the fecurity of Stock, and employed by Mr. Trotter in difcounting private Bills; and that confiderable purchafes of Bank and Elia India Stock were made by Meffrs. Thomas Coutts and Co. on account of Me. Trotter. We thereupon ifued our precept to Meffrs. Thos. Coutts and Co. for the account of Mr. Alexan der Trotter, containing any entries of tams received by his drafts on the Bank, giving them an option either to produce their books, or to furnifh us with copies of the accounts. They preferred the former node, and accottlingly laid before us the books coo lib. Trotter's Amount, as Paynaller of the Navy, from its commeneanont to the time of its being elated ; The Account, in Ms own name. from tbe seth of june,tnit to the t yth of July, act ; and His Separate Account, from the a7th of February, r 789, to the aytb of histy,l79o; of which accounts we canted copies to be taken They withheld the parts of the two laR accounts pri. or and fubtequent to the • periods mentioned, and his private account as not containing any entries of fume received by Mr. Trotter's drafts on the Bank. This reafon for keeping back thus much of the ac counts was verified by Mr. William Chapman, their Clerk, who examined the accounts for that purpok. and produced to us a lift of the drafts given by Mr. Trotter on the Bank, which had been carried to Isis credit in the accounts, dillinguilhed as his own ac count. and his feparate account. The money received by Meffrs. 'llonaas Coutts, and Co. by the drafts of Mr. Trotter on the Bank, appears to have been money iffited for Navy Ser. vices, becaufe Mr. Trotter had no private account there, and drew upon the Bank folely as the agent or attorney of the Treafurcr of the Navy. If official convenience only had been the objea in opening accounts with Mail. Thomas Coutts and Co. it might have• been expelled that the public ma. ney placed there would have been feparated from all private concerns, and kept under clear and diliind heads. Inflead of this obvious caution, we do not find that even any open declaration was made to the Hoofs of the nature of the property entrufled to them ; and the whole of the public money received on account of Mr. Trotter by his drafts on the Bank, was placed to his private accounts, and fo mixed with other monies, that the one cluld not be di!: tinguifhed frourthe other; nor could it be dikovered, upon the face of the accounts, from whom leveret of the tunas were received, or to whom paid; and Mr. Trotter hitafelf could not afcertain whether certain advances of money made by him to Lord Melville, were from his public or private balances.— The manner of keeping Mr. Trotter's accounts is *Kt affigned by Lord Melville as a reafon for his not being able to aufwer tome queftions which were put to him, relative to the employment of the public money. It was not in our power, without the affillance of Mr. Trotter, to difiinguifit whether many of the items in the accounts related to public or private money ; and Mr. Trotter, when called.upon, refuted to give us that affifiance. We have therefore entered in the Appendix copies of the accounts, entitled, hit own amount, and his feparate account ; and au Allred of his account, entitled, his Paymaßer's Account.— We have obliterated the names of all entries in the two former accounts under one hundred pounds, to prevent the unnecefary expofure of private concerns. It this had not been done to the full extent we could have withal, it mull be confidered, that blending in one account official and private money erantaftions in she manner before dekribed, has rendered the bring. lug of them together into public view unavoidable. Tile infpedson of thefe accounts will afford much faller Weation of the manner in which the public money bai beep, applied than any defcription which k is in oar power to give. We have diaiagudbed is the accounts the toms, that were received by Mars. Thomas Coottsatad Co. loy lir. Moises drafts its the bad. The Vet of the account rendered to trt, entitled . Mr. Trotter's feparate account, contains only a few entries of money received by his drafts on the Bank; but the money fo. received appears diffinaly on the face of the account to have been applied to private purples. Although the only direa proof which we have been able. to obtain of public money having been carried to the creditlof Mr. Trotter's account, with Meas. Thomas Coutts and Co. is, by their having received money upon his drafts on the Bank; yet on an infpeetion of the accounts it will be teen, that fums of Inch magnitude not received by Mr. Trotter's drafts on the Bank, have been brought to his credit, as to afford Ilrong preimption that they were part of the public money—depofus of money, not receiv ed by drafts on the Bank, to the amount of one hun dred thoufand pounds and upwards on the fame day, and in the conrle of a few days will be met with fre quently. In one intlance, namely on the i tth of April 1795. the rum of one million, not received by di aft on the Bank, is placed to his credit. As a further proof of other public money, betides that received direaly from the B an k, b e i ng includ ed in the account called hi, own account, we fubjoin • Comparative ffaternent of the furns received direitly hem the Bank, and the firms paid from that account to the different tub -accountants of the Navy Pay Office, and for fervices which we conclude to be of a public nature. Amount of rum received by Mail% Thomas Conti' and Co. by the drafts of ter en the Bank, ;ad carried to the ore& of his tiara se- Amount of (urns paid from the account of Mr. Trotter with Meifra Thomas Coutts and Co. entitled His own Ar... count, to the different Sub-at. continues of the Navy Pap Office t t,716.804L 65.6& Amount of the fuma paid from the fame account, for Cervices fuppofed to be of a puhlie nature, viz. To Aft of Parlia ment Aceount,"(by which is meant the fitit part of Lord Melville's Second Treafurerthip), and " Aa of Parlia. manNewAccoont" being the Second Part e( that Tres furaffilp 3431,933 6to mut 1,295.1-1-01:=-01.1d. is, - .7 .737 •' 4 We conclude that the diff:rence, fix millions (eves hundred and eighty-three thoufand three hundred and feventeen pounds two (trilling' and eleven pence, was money iffued for navy fervicel drawn from th e Bank by Mr. T ro tt er , an d depofited with Meas. Thomas Cantu and Co. after having paired through his own hands, or the hands of tome agent employed by him to receive it by his drafts on the Bank. As the name of Mr. Mark Sprot appeared fre quently in the accounts, as paying into the houfe of Meters. Thomas Courts and Co. on account of Mr. Trotter, and receiving from thence very large fume, we deemed it neceffary to examine him a; tp the na.- ture of his. tranfaaions 'with the Paymatter of the na vy ; but after depofing. that, to the belt of his /cool. 'calm, he had not received any money from tits Bank by Mr. Trotter's drafts, he refuted to *newer every other queflion put to him ; alledging that h. had taken the advice ofCounfel, who were of opinion that he was not bound to *newer fuch titration*. Upon the whole, it appears to us to be a clearly. eftablifhed faa, that, during this Treafurerfhip, the money Wired for navy fervices was tired to a great amount for the purpofes of private emolument: and this circumflance leads us to obferve,that if a'rreaftwer of the Navy, after an increafe of his falary upcn the terms contained in the warrant under his Majeftyi fign manual; derive profit from the ufe of money Mired for navy fervices, he becomes upon prinCiples of equity a debtor to the public, and is accountable for all fuch profit, Our duty requires into add, that the withdrawing of the public money from the Bank of England in the manner and fur the purpofes before related, was, in our judgment, a difobedience to the law as ellabliffied by the 25th of the prefent reign, cap. 31. •We cannot difmifs the conlideration of this Trea furerthip without adverting to a paper delivered to us by Mr. Trotter, drawn up in jutfification of his con duit, and purporting to be a fiatement of the tranfae- Lions of his Paymatterihip.• AEtuated by a defire that all perfons who might conceive their charaeter called in queltion by our proceedings, might have an opportunity of jultifying • themeelves, and explaining their conduEt, we have never refuted to admit any details given with, that view by the perfons whom we have examined, not. withftanding filch details may have been irrelevant to the quelhons pi-circled by us. Upon this principle we received from Mr. Trotter the paper in queftion, which is attached to his evi dence of the 25th of July, 1804 i but it is Et that we fhonld offer Come comments upon it, as well as upon the evidence contained in the Appendix. And this is more efpecially called for in the cafe of an exami nant, who, to avoid the danger of criminating fele, refutes explanations required of him, and after► wards offers a jußification on his own terms. In this paper Mr. Trotter does nnt deny his havres made nee of the public money withdl a vn by him from the Bank ; and in his fubfequent examination, he in. timates, that in Co doing hs had aEted under permit: Pion, althoug h he rays he is n ot a t lib erty to (late that he has ever explicitly authorized to do to. Lord Melville, upon being afked whether he gave permiffion to the Paymafter to withdraw the money from the Bank and lodge it in the hands of a private banker, with a view to his deriving any advantage or emolument therefrom, *newer., 44 If it is meant to afk me whether I ever gave any dire& authority 4 6 to the Paymafter to ufe the money iinthe manner 44 above mentioned, I (hould certainly anfwer No a 44 but I have no befleation in laying, tbAt I believed 44 and underflood he did, and never prohibited him 44 from doing fo ;. and I believe it was to underitood 44 by others at different times, when the enablithment Is if the Navy. Pay Office was under confider Lion, 6 4 when certainly no competent provifion was made 44 for the ;s:rfon exerciling that trult of great extent' 44 and refponfibility." Whether the falary of the Paymager war not in. created when the general augmentation of the falaries of the Cafbiers took place in 1786. becaufe he was dot in the dire& charge or ufe of the public = WILT than the money for Exchequer Cass, I , • 1 I II I t I • ' I 11 f 1 4 1 f 4 . , rli