The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1805-04-09 00:00:00

t_ . _. ~.~.....~... ~--- i ...~- . I' 4• 'I I lora 41' :rem to mate or tech accounts as tney required. e rid not do it without disclosing delicate ad r iJential transAOions of Government which his enlist have restrained him from. o True, in e -4." (said Mr. W.) Lord Melville did held other 5 iel situations, foe while lie was Messner of the try, he conduled me of the War Departments, arid was also at the head of the Board of Controul, hut the knowledge of these delicate and confidential transalions should not have restrained him horn re vealing, but they ought to have restrained him from doing. There was a time when there was not money enough to pay she navy. Why ?—because trillions had been a orlied to private purposes to en-. rich - private individuals. Mr. Dundes ailed in his own person the part of three persons, in which case, if three persons had lat;en employed, they would have severally been a check on each other. Mr. Dundas lent money to Mr. Dundas in his three . several capacities and, having broken the Ai€.l of Parliament, he had acted wrongly and ill, and is amenable to the country for a great breach of duty. The neat Article of charge was his having connived at the public money being drawn out of the Bank by the payma:zer, fur private purposes. When we find that in such a trensalion a false account has been given. we e cennot help anpeeting the motive to have been freudulent and sinister. Mr. Whitbread then adverted to Mr. Trotter's exa• minetion, in which it appears that, notwithstand ing all the eels of Parliament, and the Commissioners sty--he confesses thee he did, and it was always in tended he should apply the public money to his own pr'vate use, and f"r his own private benefit and ad vantage. From a ror.on of Mr. Trotter's descrip tion, he was not surprised to hear such a defence for himself, but he could not he otherwie: than astonished to find that Lord Melville also made the very same defence for him; but he really did so. not withstanding he had, by the order of Council. con firmed the very Art that torbeel it. He ridicsded the excise of drafts being math easier given en private hank than on the Rank of England, and "hew el that Mr. 'fritter himself had since advised that the money should be at the Bank. Then conies, said hr. :another fe mire if more ertranrdinert hue. Mr. Toner would, by aeling as he had done, he more secure. If any loss, of great magnitude, had happened. what world have become of him ? Why, then, did lie pot himself in a state of being insecure? He was never, in any re'ren, so erdponsible while the money was in the Bank, nor was Lord Melville' both, howecer, became entirely so from the moment they took it away from thence. Supposing, however, it would have been more secure in the strong chest ef 'qr. Courts's I tense than in that of the Bank of Enel srsd ; the fact and truth is, it wee ,tot at Mr. Coons's ; it was travelling about in various d tines, ilificnunting private bills, purchasing stock of veriitua birds, sp.culeting in nay; bills. and various other metters,according to the fancy of Mr-Trotter; and to talk of its being fur greater security, or for greater convenience of giving drafts and making payments, were vain and frivolous pretences. The next point is, what has he done with the money ?-- • He has, in the course of sixteen years, had. in his + bauds no less than the enormous slim of one ban ked dad thirty : four m;lliNgs of the public money. Of this aggregate sum he has frequently had no less than Preen milliva in the hands of private bankers. There is, said he, a most apparent negleet of duty in Lord Melville to know of this and suffer it to be done, without knowing who And what Mr.'frottee was. He has permitted this man, who, under all the circumstances of his conduit, should not have been entrusted with so many farthings, to sport s.v le. at his own will and pleasure, with so many millions. Lord Melville was also highly blameable in not knowing the state of the accounts of the Pay master, and it was peculiarly his duty to have, from time to time, inspeCted them ; this, however, he had never once done. In what he had been saving, he assured the House that it was not his intention even to insinuate the slightest de gree of blame on Mr. Colo s's House respelling these sums of money having been lodged there ; their name frequently OMITS, bit it is used by him merely from the necessity of the case, and the nature of the trans. anion, and not otherwise. in the least, Well, then, said Mr. W. he carries his money to Mr. Coutts's house : when arrived there, two accounts weiti!il have been suifi.. lent, a public and a private account, sinless, by blending them together, lie had a wish to puzzle and confuse ; and yet he takes credit to himself that the public have not suffered by him. Instead of two, therefore, Mr. Trotter opens five account , , his own account, his own separate account, his private account, his Ail of Parliament account, and his Paymaster's account, to the amount of five hundred thousand pounds year, and he may and does call them all his melt private accounts ; and, if he drew for a million a-day, as he Mad once done, and ran off with it, Lord Melville must have been accountable for it. But would he pay it !--No. What then is the consequence ? It is very plain : the public must have suffered, as they did in the case of Mr. Jel lico. Mr. •trot.er has dealt in every sort of stock, said Mr. Whitbread; lie has discounted private bills, and bought navy bills, but he never brings, or attempts to bring, any account of the use or interest made of the public money to the Sce milt or credit of the public. What should have been the conduct of Lord Melville under such circumstances, standing in the various official situations he did ? Situations which enabled him to know the most secret teantAltions of Govern ment? Ought he not to have told Mr. Trotter. in the most peremptory terms—' Sir, you should not have thought of entering into such speculations as Navy Bills, because it may be supposed you derive information from mc, which ought not to be divulged to any one. You must henceforth cease to do so, or you must quit my service.' This would have Leen no more than proper language ; for Mr. Trotter was then aetually Lord Melville's servant, and appointed to the place solely by him. If Mr. 'trotter's speculatiens had failed, he must have been crushed and gone. Lord Melville would have been hi the same doleful predicament. Who then must have paid tile money ? Why the public, who Lace already paid it in the first instance. In stead of sit b conduit, Lord Melville had suffered tots man to take advantage of and turn the public main iy to his own private uses at a moment when tile nation was in the greatest distress, and borrow joie motley on loans b.-wing an exorbitant interest. Yfere was st•ther proof of his being guilty of a great '..a,, ,, ... , breach of duty. No less a sum than 216,0001. of the public money had been paid at one time, and this, he said,brought him to another performer in these trans- Spr e ett the broker, who should have been by the Cohunissioners compelled to answer. He thought in th;i% instance particularly, the Com missioners ,o - t r a wrong, and were very blameable. Through Mr.liprott's hands it appeared there passed 310,0001. ; ailf# through Mr. Montagu Lynd's 65,0001. Lora. -Melville confesses, said he, that he knew of these ileansAftions, and the less he knew of theln in detail, the more he was to blame.— Lord Melville sacs in excuse, and Mr. Trotter- sue gests the wire idea to the Commissioners, that Mr. Trierre's salary was too small. 'Filet salary was settled by-Lord Melville himself, at 50 A year, the Commissioners had recommended it to he raised to 8001. a year ; but that was never done till 1800, jest as Lerd Melville was going out of office ; hut it had, in co, been always more than 5001. a year, on account of small balances which were allowed to remain in the Paymaster's hands, and which made it 8001. Lord Melville, on going out of office, raised it to 8001. ; and then Mr. Trotter voluntarily, and of his own accord, gives up 3001. a year of it to Mr. Wilson. The ex cuse, therefore, of the salary being too small, is a pretence and false statement by Mr. Trotter, and Lord Melville should have come to the House of Commons, and said,' You have received a false ac count from Mr. Trotter, and a false report from the Cemmissemers :' but he does not ; on the contrary, he stiffer% the account to stand, and even verifies it. WAS all this risk which Lord Melville ran for the sole benefit of Mr. Trotter? He mold reercely suppose it possible ; and, in deed, when we recoiled and consider his own defence, he thought there must have been a participation. There are large sums of m 'trey in the name of Mr. Dun,'" as Treasurer of the Navy ; great speculations are made, and they are ,uniformly lucky. To have steered clear of sus picion of participation, a communication between Lord- Melville and Mr. Trotter, tinder any circum stances, should not have existed. There were also three account' in the !tame of Divides : one of the Right Hon. H. Ihradas ; the second Henry Dun das ; and the third Mr. DllfliAS. Whether any of these arc the Treasurer of the Navy, or, whether the three be the same, he would not pretead to say. Several sums had been paid for the salary of Treasurer of the Navy, but all these would not answer the Vim put by Mr. Trotter to Lord !Melville's account, rip to the year 18(10, when he last went out of the offiee ; and he must re peat it as a most singular circumstance, that when all Mr. Trotter's speculations were so uni formly lucky, and Lord Melville knew it, he should not have prevented his proceeding in them, lest it might he supposed he had divulged official or State secrets. Mr.Whithread insisted, that Mr. Trot ter was the most improper man in the kingdom to he the agent of Lord Melville. What ! the Paymaster to the Treasurer of the Navy his own agent ? a man entrusted with such immense sums of the public money, was a most extraordinary and astonishing combination. From the time he became the pay master he should instantly have been discharged as Agent. Besides all this, it remains to he accounted for how he came eetpratnted with Mr. Trotter, and whet very extraordinary circumstances concurred in producing such ,unlimited and unheard of con fidence. From being a clerk in the Navy Pay Of. lice. Lord Melville first makes him paymaster arid then los agent. Before he was the Paymaster, he had no money ; afterwards he has, and Lord Melville borrows it of him. How could he have any then, unless it was the public money ? Before he was the PAvinaster, he never could have lent him 5001. in stead of which he soon Afterwards lends him 20,0001. at one their. When Mr. Trotter is asked by the Commissioner., did you make any advantage for yoursellof the public money ? His answer is, I wo'n't tell.—Did you ever do it for Lord Mel ville? Wo'n't tell.—Did Mr. Tierney ever make advantage of it ? Atter some hesitation, No. —Did Lord Bay ling?—Nn.—Did Mr. Bathurst? No.—Did Lord Melville, again? —Wo'n't tell.—From such conduct And such answers, what inference could be drawn but that which he had before mentioned ? He next adverted to the examination of Mr. Wilson, who ought, he said, to be pursued by the Commis sioners. Did Lord Melville make advantage ? Wo'n't tell. Such a connedion of circumstances was never before heard of ; it skewed they were all in the secret, and must protect each other ; and then came Mr. Sprott, with the opinion of counsel on every head of the examination, guarded at and de termined not to answer a single one of them. Ile then took notice of I.ord Melville's letter. When asked a plain question by the Commissioners, viz to what cause are these deficiencies owing ? He answered, "I desired Mr.'l'. as far as I am concerned, to give you all the information in his power " Did he so No. Mr. Trotter would answer notherg; and it was only on the 2rah of dime 1804, that this steward of the public money for 20 years khesv any thing how that money had been used by his servant. You lend me, said his Lordship, 20,0001. and I shall make no inquiries. His letter was, in fad, no answer, but to mislead—there was nn occasion to disclose delicate oranealtions of Government ; hut it was clear he wanted to shelter himself under that pretence. 111,re was, he said, one part of the ac count to which there was no clue whatever. The Aft olPerliament account refers to the I stTreasurership, and amounts to 915,5101. and upwards. The Ad of Parliament new account refers to 2d Treasurer shipond amounts to upwardsof 2,000,0001.; andthe 34 account, which refers to nothing at all, amounts to upwards of 210,0001. The Ad of Parliament Ac count should have closed in 1785, and yet there are many payments on account of it made its 17951 these two accounts were paid to Messrs. Coutts'e House. Why the Treasurer or the Navy did so, and yet there was no account how this money was drawn oat of that house, when Lord Melville and Mr. Trotter laid their heads together, and stated, that Mr. Trotter kept his accounts in such a manner that he could not tell which was his ; it was 4 false account, for so exact was Mr. Trotter in his Ac counts, that he immediately paid over all his be lances to the next Treasurer of the Davy. Lord Melville says, From the manner in which Mr. Trotter kept my accounts, it is impossible I can an swer that question.' The Commissioners then ask him more particularly, Did you ever au- is thorise him to make advantage ?' His answer was— , To the best of my recollraion I never did.' Astonishing, said Mr. W. that a man of strong memory, as his Lordship has often shewn himself to be, should have any difficulty in even recoll-a ing so particular and remarkable a circumstance. It was A very feeble way of defending this violation of an eel of Parliament, to allege that allowances and perquisites were permitted, on account of the salary at the Paymaster being too small before— bectuse it was in Lord Melville's own power to en crease it not only to 8001. but even to 10001. 15001. or whatever sum he pleased. Bit the feet was, he knees very well that the salary, be it what it may, could be of very immaterial consequence to a man who had so lucrative a business, and so much mo ney at his disposal, as Mr. Trotter had ; and the Freasurer of the Navy, when he had the legitimate power of remunerating the services of his inferior as he thought proper, preferred the method of do ing so by breach of the A& of Parliament. The effe& of this was evident, and, in a great degree, inevitable, throughout the whole of the department, for it always followed as a necessary consequence, that where the superior himself was lax in the per formance of hit . duty, the example was imitated by all his inferiors; defalcations then ensue throaehout the whole system, and the public at last must lie left to pay the penalty. As one in stance of this he would mention the melancholy case of Mr. Jericho, which could not fail to affect the lettings of every gentleman. That unfortunate man was a clerk or sub-.accountant in the same of tics', And, as usual, was allowed to retain for a time cnnstderable balances in his own hands. At the time he was speaking of, Mr. Jericho's ba lances amounted to the sum of 22,0001. the accumulation of a considerable time, when Lord Melville took it into his head to call for an account of them. Mr. Jericho's answer was, that lie was sorry to have them so long in his hand, but if they were not wanted immediately for the ser vice of tee Navy, he Was willing to give the Trea surer securities to a greater amount titan any balan ces he should ever be likely Ed receive. This answer ap'seared to have perfectly satisfied the Treasurer. He had some conversation with Jericho upon it, not withstanding which, he suffered him to continue in his office, knowing that he was speculating all the time with this money in the fund funds , and wellknowine also, that in so doing,' he was ailing in diteet dis obedience to the Al of Parliament. Mr. Jericho. had, indeed, good reason to be sorry that the balances had ben suffered to remain so bug ie his hands, the temptation of which led 11;:n hurl spe culations, not so lucky indeed as those of Mr. Trot ter, but, of so unfortunate a nature, as brought on the ruin both of himself and his family. Had Lord Melville performed the duty enjoined him by law, and suspended him immediately on discover mg his proceedings, as he was empowered and enjoined to do, the lots to the public wind.] have been no more than the original deficit of 22,0001; but, by continuing him in office, he suffered 11,0001. more to be added to the original balances, and then issued an extent of the crown agaitist his effete, soon after which, poor Jericho died, and the money was lest to the public. This was (lid e one, but a melancholy one indeed, of the et lets produced by a system so hog and fatally pur sued, and it also afforded a strong instance of the falsehood of the statement given in to the Privy Council. Jericho's balances were never investi gated from the year 1782 to the year 1769, when Lord Melville called him to an account, ner were they even investigated then, and the extent issued, but the balances suffered to accumulate in the manner already described till the ye.ir 1787. There WAS. therefore, a general know ledge and understandiag from one to another throughout the whole office, and, of course. not one of them would dare to accuse another ; nor, indeed, was there any OCCAS4I for them sa to do, :at it was plain that they were connived at by Lord Melville, and, as he in his conscience WAS p,r , seAded, for his own personal emolument. The document moved for by the Rt. I lop. Gent. opposite to him (Mr. Pitt) of Lora Melville's letter to the Commissioners, instead of explaining this transac tion sAtisfaelorily. served, in his mind. to confirm every former inference against him, notwithstand ing his offer to verify it by his oath. It was little more than a repetition of his former Answers. If the Noble Lord WAS ready to justify himself by a trial, why did he not come fairly forward to that trial, and procure the witnesses and vouchers to prove his innocence? The Report, containing the charges against him. allowed him full time to prepare himself in every way he could think ne cessary ; and yet, though it was on the Table of that House, and before the public, ever since the 13th of February, Lord Melville, tip to the present day, had brought forward no other justification 61411 that tinsatisfaaory letter he sent to the Commi.sioners upon the subjen. That letter was no more than a repetition that he had no recollection of having given Mr. Trotter permission to employ the public money for his own emolument; that a delicacy to 1 some affairs of Government prevented him from being more explicit in his answers. and that the subj ect was involved by the con fusion in which Trotter kept his Accounts. Ti' give implicit credit to these statements, would require, indeed, an uncommon portion of credulity. Would any man in the least conversant with busi ness believe that when I.ord Melville borrowed 20,0001. of Mr. Trotter, the latter did not tell hint whether it was his own or the public maoey he was lending hi It I Would any one credit that Trotter kept his ac mints so loosely, that he could not, by a 'very dune : Cference, find out whether or not he had on much amiable money of his own? That he was not so extremely loose in his accounts, was proved sufficiently, Isy the little difficulty he found in turning over to his successor , the balances in his bands.— When Lord Melville declared that he did not know ingly receive any emolument from the manner in which the money was employed—but, that whatever emolument was made by Mr. Trotter in thee way, was exclusively his own—was not even that to be deemed an admission, that he was not ignoiaet of those emoluments having been derived from the illegal application of the public money ? In loves tigattug this subject, it would be proper to enquire whim t h an Mr. rustier was ?In considering this, :ill lie could find was, that Mr.'Prntter was simply a Clerk in the Navy-ffice. He would not say that he was fiat worth a shillmg, but, it wits clear, that, from his r teM -,',tnatinn and his salary, h' could not then be very rich, nor very much concern• d in hinting Wnat was lie now? His coodition was evisteotly improved to a most extraordinary detziee imbed ; for, on the statement from the banking house o f Contts, they found that his private business trans :fel rd there annually was not to a less amount Clan 11,0101. azitioally. When Lot d Melvill e told t h em that he dzistroyed firs the public vouchers srhich could shew the transfer of the money applicable only for naval purposes to other set vice: ; and se condly, that he destroyed the private rolich..rs which alone would shew in what manner the ace:int-as at the banking-horse were conilitaed. he calieJ on :toy gentleman to lay his hand on his heart, and •;JV whether he really believed that 114'1 was not done in anticipation of the pr:seot enq f!ry ? The first de strunion, which related to what should remain as record in the office, for the information of posterity, Lord Melville hat no right to answer; and the second he could never believe him to have committed, but for sinister pui He would appeal to the Right Hon. Gentleman op. posite him (the Master of the Rolls), whether such a statement as this of a man destroytn; those vouch ers, in which only an enqui y could be mad-, wt,uld be received as a proof of his innocence in a Court of Equity ? Amongst other things greatly to be com plained of on this score, even Jericho's ledger, from which much explanation mis;lit be made, was also amongst the many articles destroyed. From all these matters he could discover QO circum stance which did not tend more to aggravate than extenuate the condo& of the Noble Lnrd and his subordinates in office. bibs Lordship admitted that of his own accord he had destroyed the document from which some unerring liglats may be drawn, and in his exculpation had not eV2LI offerrd the only sort (,t vindication to which au innocent m m would na. turally resort, namely, that of being confronted with thy• other witnesses. Having thus Hole through tne sulaaance of what he had to offer, and fur the length of which he had to apologise to the House, ne lid he should regret, if in the c; urse of his s-rvations, he had been led to exceed that line of temperance and moderation which he prescribed to himself in the outset of his speech. From every view which he could take of the subjen, he could scarcely doubt of the general assent of the House to the propositions he hid to offer. The cheratierofthat House was involved in the decision of the present case, andif, in the representa t i ves of the peeple,heioul t not find the guardians of the public purse, he mu teased that be knew mit where to fled them. I.oek ing to the vaeiairs descriptions of Gentlemen of which the Idolise was c mposed, he knew not of any who were not equally concerned in resist ing and condemning such an application for the private benefit of any individuals of the money wrung in various ways from the hands of their re. speelive constituents. If he looked to the respeela• the class of the landed interest, or what was ins plastically called the Country Gentlemen, lie had every reason to expel their full cencarrence, as they would never have arty participation in such pro ts, and were, from time immemorial, always foremost to condemn encroachments and rnis apelications of the public purse, to which they diameters contributed so very great a propor tion. To that descripricn of Gentlemen, who belonged to the army and nave, he could ups peal with the greetest confideace. Their generon spirit would revolt at a system which evidetety tended to distress the poorer sort of the men at tached to their own protessinn, andperticularly in the Navy, where one of the greatest grievances was the delay in the payment of seamen's wages. The com mercial gentlemen were perhaps more than any other peculiarly interested in the suppression of this un derhand kind of dealing. hey were competent judges of the mode of keeping accounts, and the consequence of destroying vouchers of great im pornince, and he was confident they would never section such a system. Mr. *trotter, with tFc public money in his hard, met them in their own market, and with the advantage of supe rior information. But great as that was, it was no: the only bad etre& these it reguhr proceee ings had upon the commercial interest, by tempt ing persons to speculate upon money that did not beleng to them He vowed to God, that if they did not condemn this pre lice, he knew net what description of persons may nit comparatively approve it. Let them compare the case of Trotter with that of the unfortunate Astlett. He would ask them, if tit. Astlett now came to any of them, and said—" Gentlemen. I have been unfortunate in the possess; m of money which seas not my own, and therefore speculated; had 1 foiled, the loss was yours, but, havine succee led, I now tender you your own ;" would they think that a satlicient jueee cation of his conduet ? The C. 1943 were the FA7I:. with this differenee, that Mr. Trotter succeeded is his speculations, and Mr. Astlett bad failed; hut both were equally injurious to, and subversive of, the principles of commerce. The eentleinen of the law must also feel an interest in the subj. dt. Thee wild presided or rreaised in the Courts of Equity. must condemn it on the principles of thew Courts, and he saw a Right Hon. Gent. (the Attorney Gene . • ral) opposite to him, who must, consistently, be me mica! to such proceedings. It was but a short titre since that Right Hon. Gentleman was lead in g Counsel in a prosecution against a man who only wrote a letter tar the late Chancellor of the chequer, offering hint a bribe, arid on that occasion he recollected, that the principal ground on which he rested the heinousness of the offence was, the superiority which British Statesmen possessed over all others, in ancient or modern hitters . filet siipenisriry of talents and high sense of dee rater, which raised' them above not only the imputation, but even the suspicion of venality -- When ,he House recollesned the mess of uses un- der which the country groaned, that nothing Of Was suffered to escape it, and that the prin ci p le ' those, whose duty was to propose client, seemed to be—" catch where vitu c in," he hoped that beton they would give their concurrence to the mew' sition of any new ones, they would take Cafe the the produce of those which had been alreadl led on, should not be Abused He then thevedthet the resolutk N m, on which the Act of rli.tment , ten. had been brought in shoule. be read. win b e ' ing sksne pro forma. he moved a suing of resolutions; the first of which was, "That, on the f Set of.laneam 1782 the Hotter had corn, to a resolution, that it +Y.I expedient that balances of the public money shell =M. T.( Icor* treafurer feedw tha the I r otas a