The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1805-06-12 00:00:00

I , lr I th•lr*".l.4a.. Pl', rag to W m T . mat: E.4_, 8 IdtUtt; of let *1 TreA, a ale4nfhol; It, 01 tit. Ocejsion. titifilittlltAley uid, pibehiii Apo,, in the Wit} year at uncle to the 4e, . and uncle tee ms in the coorte or ht his rid( . I. which, and Ills great eat-i s Fected modesty, 1, 3 !.ity bod 7, will m a k e , tance, and which he pass i d cite svra< azcorn!,l ", EA. of (;it!, rand. 1 - 51 it _+, at rs. Raging;, r ice, anti mother of 4111 k,wlings, nplle street, autoued by t fan, - ILION-WM.I(A nin. aft, I. 'ION. at CoIlk" Hatch, Clack, very scarce and q, Lae the itrorrtf ng which are, tout, rot. eith vets , hie de Sou ie , G vol.; lioubrackee, to % two sets of the at Spanish, 9 tom.; ; Bruc e's Travels; en.; Annual Rev — register ; II I.lllllei Wllft• P British Thtetre. e East Indies, twee. :ataleignen, at One rs, mar be bid nu and id Ur. Scan.b. .-TOW. HATCH, CUM. LINEN, CHIN N, JUKS, A NEAr ) GREENHOC . ,E K, &c &c. t. on THURSDAY at Eleven, FURNITURE, ivality, ahont three loot tilde and hest and prardl, a 614%.• neat yellow bedw.l ckey•cart, a useful tiun o; CNuti.l and ininonly fine orange ant mach a,* anft score of sheep a•:c1 .tv of other valoahte EY. EN to verge of F.achlry ding the Sale, %Oyu pnaehaser•, may be .1 Mr. Squibb, at ha Berkeley-square, osi d following Daze, at mable FURNI ,er gla.sr•c, asurws •fort&, with the and other 'Ala. :evert, and sold by which is in the beg g mom suits of chintz pwries and enriched oche., anti chant, writing, card, Pee r Moly ; bookcate:4 four-post iledslealt s Miami mideboarob. 1, hire feet six grille: tig't Brussels, Perwa, ale; catalovael On les street. , RTE, MANG:Lk. Stc. Camesdish square, 'rwel.e : _ s four.pnst, field, tire, prime boiler s, ilrewMg room tad ihogany card, Pem ukev, Brussels, and g wardrobet, grand piano forte. of Mr. Bale% No. 28, Orchard %neer, IRE, Nu. 38, &JUR • BUM AND IM -4 POUNDS PER at Twelve &Clock, veil RENT and SES, situ de on dal tch.house and sublr, s, from Wlidsuntrner, a respetiable tenant at Lady-day 1118, at HOUSE, desirably Mortimer street, cou p three moral on a held for uinc years , at a low rent. nine FURNITURE: bedsteads, good tea. Irlour, and bed-rowd card, and Pembroke Is. Foraitere, one day tlogues bail of 81 , Ims, So. 28, Orchard kVIDS4)N, tic !dished Dy JOSIAII mit of St. Ciente.!ts 'pot, &c. (Patt-Pa4 , 4 , 40174 1 t ~. ~~ •1 VirtZW I TRIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS—Tuasoar, Juke 11. ROOS PEERAGE. Their Lordshits, pursuant to the Order of the Day, resolved sy;; ,, a COlDOSittes .4 Privileges and Lord WALSINGIIMVI taken 0004* Mr. Horner was heard as Count 4, at some length, in sup port of that:Lust of the Duke of Rutland, to the above Barony. Alles which, the Committee deferred the farther consideration el the 68,1 till Friday. f ril em Weft then rearlf and the various Bills upon the Tilde sera lerseard-d in their respective stages: among these. the Arm y pay-Office Regulation Bill, the West India Pres Poets, the Post Horse Duty Farmingßll, and the Public Accotiotanti Audit Bills severalli passel Committees if the whole House, wsrusut A mendment, and were afterwards tepnrted. Lioglisro's Divorce El alto .anted through a Committee; but receiving an Amendment oo the morn of Lard AUCK 'LAND, the Report was ordered to be made to...home. The second reading eit M , -ore's Divorce El era postponed tat Thurs:lay. . Lord WALSINGIIIAM (ire the essence of the Marquis of dhereorn) moved that the Committee of the whole House do farther to morrow in the coneideration of the eass of rr ed ji s , t ae t Pout; and that the Cousel he called in at half ;rest Ism 'Mock, and theft Lordships summoned on ,the occasion, which two ordered aserirdingiy.—Ailjnuritcd. and limitations, as induced the Committee to de cline examining me ; and I come now to offer my self before this douse, in which I hid the honour to sit for so many years. in a very different situation from what I appear in now, under a most singular predicament. I heard of a rumour, which, from some Tuner or other, had reached the House of Peers, that I meant to come here, with your per misaion, to vindicate myself against charges pre ferred against me—and I now come under such re stridions, as will not allow me to enter upon my own defence. But, tho ug h I t hi n k i t my duty to pay due deference and obedience to that paramount authority, and abstain from any thing like a formal justification, 1 hope I may be permitted, notwith standing those bounds prescribed me, to offer some Ineliminary observations—first, however, returning At humble thanks for the indulgence which this House has been pleased to grant me. On the Bth of May last, this House came to fourteen Resolu tions, to which two more were afterwards added. Css the ten first of these, I shall make no observa tions at peseta, but some first to that which states. that thee& of the `2sth Geo. 111. was. for several run, suspended ; and large sums of money were drawn fronts shrEantr, Tremor, ender the pretence of being for naval purposes. That Reso lution certainly may be considered as not aridly applying perompally to me, except in as much as it was conneiksawith the 13th and 14th Resolutions, which stated, that these sums had been applied to the purchase of India St,ck, the discount of bills, and other objets of private emolument, with my knowledge and consent. It is evident, that, though it has not been distinetly so stated, in terms, the Resolutions most clearly imply, that I suffered, or directed this to be done for my own private use and benefit. These resolutions, without being arcom mied with any vindication, have been i-. lastrious ly circulated in every corner of the kin t ,dom, and sat y gentleman who now hears me rry.pa have been . .. • , t r t t . O b , • WEDNESDAY, JUNE i 2, 1805. MOOSE 01 COMMONS. Si, W. CURTIS brought the Port of London Improvement Its, whieb was read a first, and ordered to be read a second t are se morrow. Mr Wm gave ',mice, that to-morrew he should move foe team to tineg aria Bill to: renewing the Act fur reenlating the Loon and I weft Duties between Leland and Scotland Sewed public accounts were pre:elite:l from different offices, and ordered uslie on t` , e Table. 1' se Sinusitis Red Wide Duty Bill waa read a third time and i * Aprison from the Bank of England peasented, as moved ......day by Mr. Wh.tbread, a return of tire Navy money P it el from the Bank, with a list of the lames in which the like ewe dime, together with the amount of the reyective sems. Owiseml to lie on the Table. The Loyalty Lean, the Sasaltens Officer:, the Militia AL jutants and Serjeants Major, the Lepel, tile Assessed Tams. Ciareesionere, and the Iri.h Militia Bills, went through the Cernmittee stages, and were ordered to be re l ented to-morrow. The Dublin Police Bill bent through a Commiteteae -o.elered ta Inc reported on this Jay three weeks, and to be j !lewd. efOORF. presentee a Petition tram the city of Coventry, tangratu!aring the Howie on their proceedings respecting the Tenth Result of the Naval Commissioners, and exhorting aro to continue their iivorstiptions.—Ordcrul to lie mils Trble. Mr. ROSE brought in a Bill for the better employment et Eames ens geed In the Coast Trade, which WU read a first, and order ei to be read a serend time On Thursday 11.7 ft. T 3.1 soothmt Whale nisei / 801 l was read a third time. Ile Chan:cry Deputy Regiatees Bill was read a second tarn., aid committed for to-in:wring. IMPFACHMENT OF LORD VISCOUNT MELVILLE. The SPEAKER sai he had just received a let ter from Lord Viscount Melville, the contents of *Melt he was requested to communicate to the House. The letter was dated from Wimbledon, the 11th of June, and stated. that his lendship had been apprised of that House having appointed a Committee, to take into consideration the Tenth Report of she Cemmissioners of Naval Enquiry, in which his condua, whileTreasnrer of the Navy, was atraign-d—and that he had also been informed. that some proceeding; on the literent of that Com mittee were to be agitated in the House that day— ho therefore requested permission to attend them. fur the put pose of being heard in his own just ifi.;a: i•in. Mr. R. S. DUNDAS (son of Viscount Melville) then rose, pursuant to itotice, and said, that, wider standing there would be no opposition to the mrstien he was about to submit, he shbuld detain the House no longer, than by moving, "That Lord Viscount Mclviile be new admitted, and h eird ;" which b'i'g .greed to, erne fuel. the Sr EA Kea ordered the See jeart to take the Mace, and acquaint Viscount Mel ville that he may come in. • The Sergeant met nit Lnrdshir at the door, and condnaed him within the bar. making the usual re verence to the Chair; by which 112 was informed, that there wiu a chair on which he might repose himself. The chair was on the left side, just with in the bar, on which his Lordship seated himself for 40in a minute, with his hat nn—after which, he rese, uncovered, and addressed the House to the follna ing effea : " Sir, since the first agitation of this subjea, or out of Parliament, every attempt I made to ob tain a fair hearing in my own vindication, has hi ther eo failed of producing any etre& When called be fore the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry. I was perkily ignorant of the objefts of their examina tion. They had before them, and had been some time in possession of the accounts between Alexander Trotter and the house of Messrs. (butts, which I had never any opportunity of seeing, of the nature of which I was wholly iteinforrne..l, and not one item of which had they at the time communicated to me. I never indeed had any opportunity of looking at them at all, till I saw them in the ap- Pendia to the Commissioners' Report. Previously to the discussion which took place in this f louse, I applied to the Commissioners, requesting an oppor tunity of making fuller explanatinns. Tnis applica tion was suede on the 28th of March, and the an swer I received seas. that their Report and pro ceedings were now before Parliament. and that they did net think it necessary to revise or alter what had been already done. On the Bth of May, the ques tion under the discussion of this House was, whether army previous inquiry should he instituted, before f!s „ lution s should be adopted against me? and as it would be presumptuous to ore to attempt to anti t'Pnlt what line of conduit the House might think Pro adopt, I contented myself with the hopes, onld a Committee he appointed, I might have an opportunity of iseing heard before them. In this, however, I was again disappointed. from a difficulty whiah arose in the other House of' Parlia ment. For own part, I left no endeavou r un tried, to inilitee their Lordships to permit my free and unremained Appearance before the Committee of this Herne—but, from what was, no doubt, a up y r - 77 1,i r e ro es pe , r t sen he7 of their Lord s hip s own di gn i ty and thought proper to p ut a negat i ve ( Pon that and refused to permit my attendance he urre that Committee, but under such reutidlions soasibre of and a witness to the impression conveyed by such a circulation, which represented me as cri minal in every part of the conutty. Thus circum stanced, Sir, if I happened to he present in any other place or company, where such libels were:propagat ed, my answer would b.:. as it is now, that I must solemnly protest these resolutions are perfeely erro neous. I never had any knowledge of Mr. Trot ter's investing any navy money in the stocks, of his discounting bills with it, of his turning it to cur poses of private advantage, and that it — any such praeice had existence, it was altogether without my privity or consent. I am, however, aware that my stote.nent would be incomplete, if I did not advert ' to other rspreanuations made out of doors, which said that I was myself a participator of those aileg ed emoluments. I de.iied my ever having done so, in my letter to the Naval Commissioners, and I am p.isitiveiy persuaded, that if the SUMS question, fairly put, now or at any other time, to Mr. Trotter himself. he would not hesirete to controdie arty representations of that kind. lam fully convinc that he would readily acqeiz me of having; derived any benefit or profit whatever from trans.dtions of that nature. I know not whether this charge will again he revived or repeated, either here or else where; hut I do now confidently assert that the evi dence of the only two persons, Mr. Trotter and Nir. Wilson, who could be supposed to be privy to the whole, does not contain one tittle which could lay any foundation for this charge. Much stress has been laid bath in argument mad in the resolutions upon the contiii.eice and intimate connefaion between tsli. Trooer and myself, upon which I trust I may be allowed to make a few re marks. When I first came into the Navy Office, I foetid Mr. Trotter, who was introduced and re commended to sot by Sir Gilbert Elliott and Mr. Coutts, with the lamer of whom he had conneeione in the way of business. I soon distinguished him for his uneOsilinon aeivity and diligence. He was indefatigable in deteaing and disclosing to me a variety of - frauds before co :mined in withholding the pay of seamen, and different emoluments to which they are justly entitled. I encouraged and oipported him in the prosecution of the patties guilty of these malpraeices. I was desirous of going far ther, and, instead of eoisessing the protec tine of Government to the sailors themselves, I was desirous of extending it also to their wives, children, and families. In my endeavours to are this, Mr. Trotter made himself so useful, in laying before me the best arranged plans for producing the effee, that I thought h m worthy of being trusted ; and for his great and unwearied exertions, on the death of Mr. Douglas, I promoted him to his late situation in the office. and I am even now ready to say of him, that, for a great length of years, no public office could have been better condueed ; that. during the whole of that time, there was not a single instance of any stoppage or delay of payment to the seamen, and that all the balances were fairly accounted for, and transferred, without the loss of a single shilling to the public. He received, it is true, an addition al salary ; but that I thought him fully entitled to, for his additional exertions. Sir, as I have no re gular means of knowing the proceedings of this House on the grounds of any motions or resolutions proposed to it, I have been obliged to adopt the ob vious construeion which my judgment enables me to form on them. It is certainly possible for me to misunderstand some preceding ones, which I can not reasonably reconcile to she evidence on which they have been professedly founded—and if I should he erroneous in any of the future observations, I hope the House will bear in mind, that all I can do is, to present what is my own view of them. In the 14th resolution, I find it stated, that drawing mo ney from the Bank of England, or allowing it to be so drawn and lodged at a private Banker's, was a gross violation of the law, and a breach of public duty. In touching upon this subjee. I feel myself considerably embarrassed by the limitations impos ed upon me by the other House ; but even that, I hope, should not prevent me from stating one posi tive fact, which is, that on na occasion whatever , did I ever once authorise Mr. Trotter to draw mo ney from the Bank of England, and lodge it any where for his own private emolument. This I as sert in the most distinct manner, and most further contend, that neither before the Naval Commission ers, nor the Committee of this House, is there a par• cle of evidence in support of a charge of that na ture. It does not any where appear that all the instruments for drawing money from the Bank fur Naval purposes were not made out legally, and ac cording to the tree intent and meaning of the Act of Parliament. When under examination myself, I told the Commissioners no more than that I allowed Mr. Trotter to lodge money in the hands of a pri vate banker, for the convenience 01 snaking paynients during the interval that may elapse till those pay ments were demanded. I further stated, that I teuk it for granted these sums were always drawn under competent authority. I thought at the time, and had a right to believe that th e y p er f e ctly understood me; and what appears the stranrst of all is, that they reported the evidence, reported the examina tion entreaty enough to draw conclusions, in order to found a charg e , which appears to me contrai l to the evidence. However constrained I most find -mryst-ff by the limitations of the Lords, I muss make bold to say, that the assertions contained in the Re port are made in eontradiaion to truth, and the evidence which was taken before them. There is, Sir, one universal mistake, which seems to have per vaded the whole of these proceedings. The Aft of the 25th of rise King, of which I must be allowed to have some share of knowledge, never intended, nor had in its contempl ttien to make a regular digest of regu lations for the office of Treasurer of Navy. Its true interest and objeft, as very clearly expressed, were to restrain Treasurers or Paymasters from retiring from office, as had frequently been done before, with large balances unaccounted for, to remain iu their hands for a great length of time. The whole of the Ad is comprised in twelve short clauses, enjoining that the Tmeastwers accounts should in future be official, and not personal, as was the former praCtice. During the whole of my administration, that law was rigidly complied with, and in retiring from office, I have not been accused of retaining any ba lance whatever. The House should consider that, beyond the necessary eontrouL of the Trea surer, his office is quite distinct from that of the Paymaster, and that of the Paymaster General not very much conneßei with those of other persons em ployed in that department. A great deal of money must pass through the hands of inferior officers in different parts of the count? y, where the demands are made. Io the month of .lanuary last, the Pay Office was kept open for a long time, to make good small demean; and there were six thousand eight hundred and two payments made in different proportions of sums, from three or four prime's se low as 4s. (rid. and many of them even to a smaller amount, to supply such sums as different sailors were entitled to. It must, therefore, be obvious, that so anew,: n such numerous classes of demands without delay, it is necessary to have always a very large sum, ei ther in the iron chest of the office, or at some convenient banker's, as it world be endless to pay ;ham all by drafts on the Bank of England, specifying the names of the persons in whose &your they were drawn. The Ad of Parliament there ' fore did not, nor was it ever intended to apply to inserting the names of the persons in whose favour the drafts were made ; but on the contrary, enjoined, that from the moment assignments of demands were made from the respective offices, the Paymaster should bare the money ready, which he could not elle& aith nut previously drawing it from the Bank. So far there fore was the AR from making this pradice criminal, that it wes in fift prohibitory of any other method. The Act of the 2eth of George lIL, so frequently alluded to,was founded on the Report of the Finance Committee of 1792, in which it was stated that the Treasurer of the Navy, or the Paymaster, were not then accountable for the sums drawn from the Bank in consequence of assignments of demands to the public, but only to the persons in whose favour the assignments were snide. It complained of that want of responsibility to the pubic which enabled them to retain large balances in their hands until the claims were absolutely made, and then only personally responsible to the parties. To remedy this was the foundation of the Act, which rendered their accounts public, and I consider myself perfectly right in stating this to be the trueintent and construc tion of the law. But, supposing me to be wrong on this construalon. and, that the intention of the Aft was to compel the treasurer to give separate drafts on the Thank of England to every claimant, specify ing his name, and the nature of his demand ; will any one honestly say that my misunderstanding or misconstrutiou of the Aft was a gross violation of the law, and a gross breach of duty ; or even eau every positive violation of the words of an At of Parliament is, in all possible cases, a gross breach of public duty ? I come next, Sir, to another part of my examination before the Commissioners. If I then said, as I admit to have done, that I thought some emolument might fairly arise to the Pay master from his placing money in the hands of a private banker, provided it should be always forthcoming when large demands were made, I spoke in the general knowledge which every man must have of business. I did not think it un fair that, during the interval between the lodg ment of such money and the demands for it, an understanding of a mutually accommodat ing nature should subsist between the Banker and the Paymaster. In all transaaions of that kind, is there any Gentleman now present, who does not knew, that the Bankers have always some interest, and derive some emolument from whate ver money may be deposited in their hands ; and Who is not aware, that they are in the habit of giving some reciprocal accommodation to the persons so depositing Liege sums of money? This pre:lice was not peculiar to my administration of the of of Treasurer of the Navy, as it was continued for two years afterwards, uatil toy successor, Mr. , ►r- . :*" ` tkitlCl. StYPIt::Ci. Bathurst, reversed it, from an opinion that it w not consistent with the stria letter cf the law. shall, for many reasons., Sir, row abstain from g ing into any detail of the minutia of that offic which, perhaps, like others. may be the subject future regulations—but I muse maintain. that d method here condemned is much preferable to d former pradice, of leaving the money in the Bank 1 England, in the name of, and subjca to, the respor sibility of the sub-accountants; nor can I conceit how, in that manner, regularly to pay, and faithfull to administer the discharge of everydemand made m from the out-ports, I knew.that it may, and has, believe, been said, that since the praelice was chats; ed, no inconvenience has resulted to the public. T this argument all 1 shall answer is, that there 111 been hitherto but a very short experieuce of the el leas of a different system, and that, in the pnaßice r so many former years, the plan of lodging money a private bankers was found productive of very beirefi cial 'Meas. In justice to myself, I be leave to state &rod:at my intercourse with the NavalCommissionet commenced on the 2tith of April, in their letter t me, calling for an explanation of :t variety of trans aCtions. They had, as I already observed, befoe them at the time, all - the account, between Mr Trotter and the house of Messrs. Coutts, of which was altogether ignorant. I was obliged to answe off-handed, the several questions which they ha. ready, in an arranged and digested form, and ha. not within my reach any materials which coal. assist my recollection. I own that I felt rays,' disagreeably circumstanced on account of a pre vious communication from Mr. Trotter, that hi accounts with Messrs. Coutts were so blender and confused that it was impossible distinctly ti I separate them ; but this difficulty I distinctly ISSA/t1 to them at the time, with the impossibility I felt t giving from memory the explanation they required I however answered every thing as far as I WAS in. formed, and only objeded to explain those mat , tars of private and confidential communication which I thought my duty would not suffer me 10 disclose. lam thoroughly and clearly•conviucec that I never allowed Mr. Trotter to apply any par of the public money to my private use or benefit, and might safely have said so in the first instance, though so much sarcastic eloquence has been dis played, and so much acrimonious wit employed or the subject of my having said the words " 4 /.4c test y" Ivy/ erred f son." It has also been brought as an auxiliary argintent apinst me, the: I preferred holding the office of 'treasurer of the Navy, together with the Presidency of the Board of Controul for India Affairs, to that of Secretary of State with the same emoluments, which, it was said, I should not have dor.? if I had no private interest in doing so, and that i nterest. of course, of an in. dire& or clandestine nature-. I can, however, con scientiously declare, is the presence of mane, but more particularly of one Right Iltn. Gentleman, .mho very well kaws it, rec u t 1-vmov., ia sty life Weft! into the Secretary of State'. Office by my own cam sent, even for a single moment. At. the time I accepted of it "sy Hie Majesty's command, which my silty or inciention voirld not suffer me to die obey, I was told I was to hold it only for a few months, until the retern of a certain 'Noble Lord, who was then upon a foreign mission. I very cheer fully and gladly resigned it af rerw Ards, when another Noble Lord received his appoinoneut. 1 then held the office of President over the political admini stration of the affairs of India, and retained with it the office of Treasurer of the Navy—and, atter all, I fancy this preference will pot appear very extraordinary, when Gentlenidn consider :now much these two offices were always knowu to be inti mately conneaed with each othet. I have a right to apologise to the House for intruding so long upon the attention they have been pleased to shew me; but trust, I shall be excused trespassing on them with a few more observations. Gentlemen wiil, no doubt, feel the necessity a man in my situation has for doing sn, wnen they reflea, that, after retiring from the spot I now stand in, I shall have no opportunity whatever of inn rtering in any debate that may at ise, and must, therefore, he extremely d e sir ous an d anxious, hat, what their indulgence - has now al lowed me to offer, should be distinaly underitood. Every one, Sir, must he conseice., that there are a vast number of per sons, who will be fully satisfied with the partial report of the Commissioners of Na val Enquiry, who declinecHreariog any further ezpla nations from me, and that these persons have not looked to any thing like a justification. I am, there fore, I think, very justly imitletl to state, ;old even to press upon your consideration, that I *ever had, either directly or indirealy, any' means or op o r. tunity of seeing the private accounts between Mr. Trotter and NIT'. Coutts. till found th . in tut* Ap. pentlix to the deport of the Comini ss i era I am, therefore, complex:ly at the mercy of r. Trott er ' s I accounts, which I never NU the means of reading or correaing. Many th:rgs in ere evidence of Mr. Trotter, both before the Commissioners and the Committee, rested much mote upon the rteollealon of events long past, than on any present account' which he could :It the time resort to. Mr. Trotter', evidence confounded both teas and persons. Whoa he said that he had been at one time from 20 tc 23,0001. in advance for me, and bed drawn for it in the course of one day. hr "as as much in mistake or error, as he was in stating that he had known and considered Mr. Tweedy as only in the subotdinate office of 1 Messenger to the Pas-Office, hat had trust. ed him from his being in indurate confidence with me. So far, however, from that having been the ease, Mr. Tweedy was only known to not Officially es a ones sehger, and, it never haprned that 1 had aver .occa sion to see or speak to him alive once or twice its my life. The man, thertfure. 'could never FAIN been with me in habits of intercoii, se or co. fider.ae ; and, upon these pmnts, I have to l amen! that the re colleenon of Mr. 'Trotter is not now by any :room-. the same which his friends krone it to be fifteen or twenty years ago. The Commissioners, however, thought it right to proceed upcn ark =Omar, ear