The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1807-05-27 00:00:00

MILITARY INQUIRY. Fourth Report of the Commisiostets of Military !ninny, re @sieving the Office of the Barrack•Merter.t.3enerals end Barrack Buildings, with a Supplement to the First and Third Reports. This interesting document has been just printed, and, with the Appendix.. contains 389 folio pages. We can, therefore, only give a sketch of this Report. It begins with dividing the Barrack Accommo dations in Great Britain, Jersey, and Juernsey, ex cept the budding' in fortified places, which are still eresited under •the direflion of the Ordnance, into three kinds. viz.-Ist, Permanent or established ; 2d, Temporary, the property of Government ; and, Sd, I emporary, hired. The ereCtion of such buildings (the hired ex cepted) it states, has, in all cases, originated with the Commander in Chief, who has, from time to time, signified his intentions on that head, to the Barrack Master General. But the Order of the Commander in Chief has not of itself been considered as a sufficient authority for the Barrack Master General to incur the ex pense. It was necessary that each measure should receive the canaion either of the Lords of His Ma jesty's Treasury, or the Secretary at War, and this may be called the Firveneial Authority. The R. ut then goes on to cite cases, to chew, that these Orders ani Authorities were not always communicated to the Barrack Master General in the same manner, the last et which cases took place in 1801, in which year. in pursuance of a letter dated the 15th May, from Lord Hobart, then one of the Secretaries of State, to the Barrack Master G ineral, barracks were ended for 50,003 men, and 10.000 horses. By His Majesty's regulations of the 7th of Fe bi uteri, 1804, however, by which the Barraek Office has trona that time been, an& now is concluded, the au:hol hies necessary to he ohtained, previously to the eiveinn of any barrack, are more expressly and clearly defined than they were at any antecedent prod By the Four h Article of those regulations, it is directed, that wiienever there shall be a neces iity for ereflii.g new buildings, or fur making al terations or repairs m those already built, where such alteratiie s or repairs shall erred the sum of 50;a1. the Barrack Master General is, previously to the execution, to cause a plan to be prepared, accompanied by as, estimate of the expense, which plan awl estimate are to be prepared upon oath, and steunitted to the Cummatider in Chief and to the Lord, of the Treasury for their approbation ; which plans and estimates, when so apieroved, are to be the authority for undertaking such buildings, repairs, or alterations, &c. and under these new regulations. barracks have been since built at Canter. bur y, Pleydeo, Hastings, Pett, itc. The Report next proceeds ta state the manner in which these regulations of office, on these several heads, had been, in fad, carried' DLO execution ; COOP sidering Ist. The sites of the buildings, and the agree ments for the putchase. or the hire of them. Id. The plans and specifications. 3d. The contrails for building. 4th The modes of ascertaining the cost, with the cheqitts to prevent fraud. First, thee, with regard to the sites of the build ings, and the agreements lot the purchase or hire of them. the report Statei - -. he Dirodions of the s.ommander in Chief, of which we have already seuktn,in all eases prescribed to the Barrack Master Genital the g.ineral situation intended of the barrack or oilier building, as a measure decide.; upon ; but still the particular site or position has in many ii.stat.ces been left to the determination of the fiariack Master General ; and Linutenam G•ineral De Lancey has stated to us, that iu this respell he relied entirely, both as to the site anti the price to be given for it, on his own judg. mem. enticing ifiquii ies on she spot by himself and the officers he employed. This duty, he says, he executed personally for the greater part of his time, but from the great pressure of business and al health, he was obliged lam sly to confide it to others ; and he adds, that the sites in many lease; depended upon the possibility of procuring the land, and that very frequently there was no altetuative as to price or site : he also stated to us, that upon all such oc casions, advantage was taken of the exigencies of Government. Ou our inquiry, whether he could refer us to any correspondence in the office in sup port of this latter opinion ? he referred us to the case of Bray bourne Lease, in the county of Kent. We accordingly required all the docunicau in the office relating to this land, and the history of the trans adjoin appears to be this : Oa the 10th July, 1803, the late Barrack Master General applied to Sir John Honeywood, as Lord of the Manor is which Brayboutne Lease (or Common) was situated, for permission to occupy it as a military station, proposing to pay a fait rent er cempensation for any damage which might ac crue. On the 4th August fallowing, an agreement WAS made between Sir John Honey WOOd and Lieu tenant General De hammy. whereby, in consider ation of 5751. the estimated value of the stock of rabbits on braybeurne Witten, and of the yearly rent of 751. Sir Jahn Honey wood agreed to grant a lease for 21 years to Lieutenant General De Lan. cey, of so much aid of such part of the said Warren or Common, as might be wanted fur the purpose of treeing barracks thereon. On the Ist ot Septem ber, the Rev. A. Purshouse, the Vicar of Bray. bourne, represented to time Barrack Master General, that he and the other commoners on the land (which it seems had been then taken possession of) were very materially injured in their rights ; asking for compeneation, and stating that Sr John Honey wood had no power of inclosiire, or any right to sell or lease any part of the Common, and that the corn. . . moans protes:ed against any payments being made to him on that pr;nciple. to a subsequent letter, Mr. Po:anomie, after admitting that Sir J tihn Honeywood might be entitled to the rabbits on the common, states, that as Sir John Honeyrrord did not possess one acre in the parish of Braybourne, he had not re served to himself the power of turning out one angle head cf stock to grate on the Coninsoi. ; Putshonse asserts, therefore, the invalidity of the in strument under which the possession of the soil had beers LANG by the Barrack Master General. Nc.t.- sv, I.s tanning these representatton3, it does not np ?car tLat I f Joim lionevword was called oil to settle the matter is dispute with the com moners, or to make good his title to receive• a rent for the occupation of the land ; on the con trary, we learn that the rent of 751. per annum. for about eleven acres of common, was regularly paid to him to the time of his death in March last, and that the claims of the commoners still remain un- I satisfied : but in consequence of our inquiries, which were not made till atter Sir John Honey- ' wood's death, we understand it has been recom mended to the Barrack Office. that the above rent should no longer be paid, as no legal right to the possession of the land was given by the agreement with Sir John Honeywood ; and the parties interest ed in the Common have been informed, that the Barrack Office would give such compensation as should be awarded by a Jury thing under the au thority of the Defence raft, The rabbits on this Common, for which 5751. were paid to Sir John Honeywood, were not taken and sold for the benefit of Government ; the pressure of the service (it is said) admitting of no delay, but were destroyed by the workmen employed about the barracks. Such is the transadion with respeft to the land at Bravbourne Leaze ; and in the course of the exa mination of the many papers we have had before us, respeding the purchase of land for the barrack ser vice, we have i■ several other instances observed the ptices paid by Government to be so large as to afford clear proof (independently of the general statement made by General De Lancey to that ef fed) that advantage had been taken or the exigency of the occasion. Amongst others, we noticed parti cularly. that a small piece of land, which was wanted for squaring the barracks at Perth, in addi tion to the land granted by the Corporation, was paid for at the rate of 500 guineas per Scotch Acre. The vicinity to the town of Perth probably raised the value of this Lind very considerably ; and we are aware that a similar circumstance must in very many leases have been the cause of the high prices paid by Government, for land wanted for public purposes ; but in this case, the additional piece of land does not seem to have been absolutely necessary fir the occupation of the barracks, and to have been required more for the sake of unifor mity of appearance, than for atay put pose of atria Utility. The unwiliirgness of gentlemen to have a bar rack in their neighbourhoid, has been also found to be the cause of exorbitant demands ; and, in order to remove these impediments in the way of Govern. ment, it was provided by the Ad of the 43,1 of the present Reign, usually called the Defence Ad, that it shall he lawful for His Majesty to authoti,e any General Officer, &c. to choose the ground ; and if thi owner refuse the price offered, to summon a Jury to assess the value. and oblige the party to accept the price so ascertained, provided the neces sity of occupying such ground be certified by the Lord Lieutenant, or two Deputy Lieutenants el the county, in which the said land is situate ; or, in the case of actual invesion of the United Kingdom. Under this Ad, the sites or positions of Barracks have of late bean determined upon, but the Report admits that the Defence Aft does not prevent the public from still paying very largely, the sites :e -lated for Barracks having frequently, from their proximity to towns, and other circumstances, bean considered of such great value, as to justify Juries in awarding very high prices so the owners, as in the cases of the Dunbar, Haddington, and Mussel. burgh Barracks, for the sites of which a large emir peusation was awarded to the owners, particularly in the case of Dunbar, and a piece of ground, near Bellhaven, to the Earl of Lauderdale Previous also to the passing of the Defence Ad, when the titles could only be procured in the usual mariner by voluntary metals with the respedive owners, the Report state. the public interests were not sufficiently proteded, as evidence of which, it states the Barracks of Sunderland, which were built in 1795, under a lease from the Grassmen of the Corporation of that town, to Mr. Windham, then Secretary at War, for 21 years, but without any covenant ffir renewal of the term ; and the case of the new Barracks at Lewes, built on land Or proper ty of the Duke of Dor.et,the right to the possession of which by Government would have expired on the .sth Sept. 1805. But to remedy the inconvenience attending this invalid mode of conveyance, an Ad , was passed on the 25th Jane, 1805, vesting all such buildings in the Barrack Master General for the time being ; by the operation of which, as by the De fence Aa, he is enabled to acquire such further estate as he may think necessary, in any land occupied for the barrack service; the public will ca•ly pay such price for the extension of their in terest in the land, as it is really worth, in the judg ment of a jury, independent of the budding', &c. The Report having detailed all the information which the Committee could coiled with respeft to the plans and specifications of the buildings, and the na ture and mode of the agreement or contra!' for the same, with the checks and controuls, to prevent fraudulent charges, proceeds to the head of " Buildings." The annual sum paid for this sort of buildings, it states, on the authority of a return. corrated to duly,lBo6, at 31,7021. Os. 9d.; and in its observations on this head,it states,"thatnoblame can be attached to the Barrack Office, for the very high rents paid in the first instance, for the hired build ings in the Isle of 'Wight; but that an earlier reduc tion of them might have been effetfted." Among those of this kind, which it says appeared to have brought a great and improper expense upon the public, it notices some premises near Chelmsford, belonging to Sir H. hliidmay, in right of his wife, held at a rent of 6001. a year, which it recommends should be given up at the expiration of the present lease; and also, the hired barrack in Thomas -street, Winchester, which, with all others of that class, it recommends should be given up on the first oppor. tunity ; and to reduce, by every possible means, the rents of those which it may be necessary to retain. Having gone through the several heaJs of inquiry, the Repnrt states,'tkat the existence at all, or so long, of many of the abuses and irregu larities in this department, is owing to the neglett of a proper attention to the late Barrack Master General's accounts ; that if tl.e annual mating-up and produaion of these accounts, had been pe remptorily required, the reprehensible appropriation of the public money, meaticned in the First Report, the unauthorised acgmentation of pay and allow auce to several offi:ersoui the extravagance in pi ice of stores, and hire of huilcSoss, would have. beets checked, or totally prevented. Had the accounts been examine/. to nuthori • could have ben poodnced fir the payment of up. wards of . 20001. to the Principal Assistant Barrack Master General, fer the inspedlion of barracks, which mast therefore have been disallowed. or re ferred to the Treasury for approbation. The allow ances paid in lieu of half pay, amounting latterly to 30001. per annum, mitre, before they were admit%ed, have been brought again under the consideration of Government. The allowance of a per =tap to the architects would not have been passed by the Auditors, unless distinctly sanctioned by the Lords of the Treasury, who would probably have consi dered the emohltnent so disproportionable to their services, as to have suggested some other Mode of remuneration. On an examination of these ac counts, it would have appeared ton, that the last addition of 2001. per annum to the accountatits. had been granted without aothority. Another con sequence of the delay in examining these accounts, has been the appointment of another or Second Accountant to the office, and the allowance to him, of course, of the like salary of 8001. per annum. " Much important matter," it says, " which the Committee should probably have proposed as a check on the expenditure, has been anticipated by • the Regulations dire led by His Majesty's warrant. soon atter the appointment of the present Barrack blaster General. These provide for the security of the money issued en account of the Barrack Master General, by diretling it to be kept at the Bank ; and against an unnecessary issue to him, by re quiring monthly estimates of the sums waved for the several services in each ensuing month. to be de livered to the Treasury, together with a statement of the balance inland, and of theout-standing demands on it ; and by requiring the quarterly books of all sa httits, and of the contingenelesof the Barrack Depar ment, also to be sent to the Treasury before pay ment." These, and the other new regulatious under His Majesty's warrant, it says, appear well calculated to prevent such mischief as occurted under the superintendence of the late Barrack Matter Ge neral ; but it observes, that the present Barrack Master General has felt a difficulty, from want of definite instructions, respeCting the expenditure of money for other heads of service than buildings and repain under the amount of 1001. and suggests that he should have a discretionary power to the same amount, which he may specify Under every other head. Considering then the system adopted in these regulations for checking the ex penditure in this Department, the Report con cludes with su;Testing, as imptovements, the ap poiutment of three Commissioners in the place of she Barrack Master General, the Deputy Bar rack Master General, and the three principal Assistant Barrack Masters General, to conduCl the business of that Department; one of them to be nomin Chairman, with a salary of 1,2001. a year. and the other two 10001. each. A Secretary and Accountant to the Office, et a salary of 8001. a year. A Chief Clerk in each of •he branches of accounts, stores and buildings. at 4001. a ye-r ; which, with a proportionate number of inferior Clerks, will be a less expense, by 20001 a year, than that of the present establishment. It then states, that the expense of a house for the Barrack Master General ought to be saved, upon the ground, that official hosses, where constant atten.tence is not necessary, are liable to abuse ; that all allowances should be abolished, and filed salaries substituted. The prudence of this sugges tion it illustrates by the CAI* of the architefts, who, exclusive of their official salaries and allowances. have received, on the account of 21 pet tentage, upon the amount of the building expenditure, neatly 40,0001. It therefore recommends, that they also, like all the other officers and clerks, shall have fixed salaries, in lieu of all emoluments what soever, the first architeel, 8001. a year, and the se cond, 6001. a year, with their reasonable expenses, when ordered up', detached duty. 1 he Report then concludes with pointing out the duty of the Assistant barrack Masters General, whom it recommends to re sume sheir otiginaloame of Inspedors of DistriCts, and that they should receive a fixed salary,not exceed ing 4001. a year, in lieu of all charges, travelling etpenses, kc. whatsoever ; and that in all the offices in the Barrack Department, conneeted with troops, officers who heree been in the regular army should be appointed, as likely to be the fittest persons, and also as their half-pay will be saved to the public purse. The report finally concludes witha eompli , anent to Lieutenant Geeeral Hewitt, for the regular ' delivery of his accounts. though none of them have been yet audited, since,his appointment to the office of Barrack Master General. •,.• fit the Foreign Intelligence. Ste. see lad page. THE BRITISH PR E SS, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, M•Y 27. We hare given, in our preceding columns, I sketch of the Fouaru fleecier of the Commissi:m. ers of Military Inquiry. Annexed to it are Supole ments to the First and Third Reports. The for crier relates to General Da LA amity's balance, which was stated in the First Report at 97,4131. but whit is the Commissioners now state at 104,9851. ps. 7d. ; they baring since discovered, that he had receive 4 from the Army Pay Office a sum of 75701. 9i. 7d. on ae. cou,nt of staff pay, as Barrack Master Gen eral, for which he was not debited in the Barrack Offict books, in which he took credit for the wl sole of his pay as Barrack Master General, and also al a General Office: on the Staff. This SUM of 104,! its. 7,1, is exclusive of dedullions for poundage, tcc. yt•t to be niade, amounting to upwards of 20001. inaki: ig the whole of Gen.Dr LANCtv's balance about 10; ,0001. The Suppleme..t to the Third Report ct stains some information, since obtained from Maj a-Ge neral Ebro, relative tr the supply of coals in the , Island of Alderney, and honk Mr. Ile SAY IS, . stilled in that Iteprt to bite supplied the Barrackt at Brighton. It states, that Major:tetteral fist', who had the military command in `that Island, bought, in the ntonths of August and Septemb er, 1801, coals from Mr. A11.424,1°2 1a Daviitin, the rate of fifty-seven shillings per'chaldron,.whi& Mr. D A •150 K, for coals delivered to the bairracia during the said two months, charged Coiernmentt at the rate of 7t shillings per chaldion for one lor, and. from 75 to 81 shillings per chaldron for goodie' lot. Major-Central Este further states, that on the 21 st of Odober, 1799, he paid Mr. Roo's' I. tail!' 725. a chaldron for coals ftrrnithed to him at darer'. ent times, since the Ist of January, white AV. De risme: prices in that year are at no time less tha.% gLie. per chaddran, and in the spring are as high ak 150 s. With respei to Nlk. FS alma Art', ved, was examined at his own special request, tb., Commissioners see no reason to stuped Vine of collusion with Mr. DAVISON. They think that 4 , Mr. lIARG AVE% infehtiatiott justifies them ia the reit:inks, that owing to the false representation of the terms under which Mr. Davison was pro. viding the barrack coals, the Public has paid mucis higher for them thee would have been the case, had the real terms been koown I and that in anothei view of the subjed, the barrack coals might have been provided by Mr. Davison oa commissio* without such large contingent expenses as in hit letter to the late Barrack Master General, of flit March, 1795, he stated would be necessary ; and that thereby the public would have saved coital dteably in Car pace paid for the coals supplied tt the barracks." The Supplement concludes wick recothmend4 with the advice of Mr. HANSIAVIS, that con: trigs fur supply of coals should be for each*. spedive barrack. and not as is the present prearm for tage distrids, including generally many kr; racks. The Treasury Papers assert that Anthill It et: paled to declare war against France. Anticialat: ing this event, they, With their usual Modeith ascribe it to the confidence which the present Ad. ministration inspires upon the Continent, and one of them indeed, yesterday, says 'I it is certain thit the recent happy change in our Councils hat had the happ.y 'flea of inducing Box AAAAA Z to mode& rate his claims upon the Allied Sovereigns, whose cause, he knows, will now derive front Britain eVert praEticable, and, we trust, effeaual support ) ' They also add, with equal sagacity and lose 4 truth, that the late Ministers were viewed by el European Governments, with distrust and suspicion.. Unicsi we are grossly misinformed, the imptession made oh the Continent, and at Vienna in pesticidal-, by the late changes, was precisely the reverse of that which these writers insinuate, and which, heti their utter ignorance of the public opinion on the Continent, they may very possibly believe, as the Court of Vienna received the news of the chang4 with consternation, and the recall of Mr. Arica will very much increase their apprehension and re: gret. for though the kinsman of the Dukes of R:ca , MONO and Baosoan, and of the Earl of Ater. maims, has not sufficient advantages of birth t 3 recommend him to Mr. * Goo. Ca sltan, the House of Austria has not shown the disdain of his humble ori•gin, which was foretold and lattienV. ed by the Edi,tor of The Courier, nor have we ant h2sitation to say, that it would be impossible t choose a ottccestor, whose nomination could be more agrfgoable to that Court, than the continuance 'of Mr. Anna. With respeft to St. Petersburght the opinion entertained there of Mr. Foe, and the devotion of that Court to his system of FOrigi Polities, are well known throughout all Europe. Indeed, the testimonies of praise bestowed upon lii niconery, even from the highest quarters id that vcuotry, while they afforded the most heartfelt sant , gaftion to his friends, might perhaps suggest a doubt how far any British Administration, which was not guided by his maxims, and governed by his Oa could insure that union and concert, cemeno l during the last Administration, and now happitY subsisting between the two Courts. High-sounding words and popular cries may ' 1 " at a general Elation, and have but too often le , ' successful for a time, earn in Parliament ; loot 0. , confidence of Foreign Powers is not so easily °Wis ed, and the Courts of the Continent are apt to view with suspicion and distrust, any Ministry which it in its nature unstable, and which has neit her con. tistency of condua, nor great individual talent% to recommend it. • In answer to another part of the Treatnr/ themes, we may observe, that neither Mr. for nor the Fusir es asserted, that English rrooey alone erk.4 induced Foreign Powers to rain themselves• have indeed, at various periods of this I maintained that money alone would not pun?) the good-will, and consequently not secure cordial co-operation, of Continental Powers• T have always given Continental States credit some puilie opinion, and have sospeeed