The Sun. — London, England, 1807-01-19 00:00:00

OFTHL' COMMISSIONERS of MILITARY Ot rue OFF/OE OF THE B.ARRACK-MASTrat.G/NgRAL, ITS STORES AND SUPPLIES. This Report will be read with great earnestness by the public, for it developes, with great perspicu ity, the system by which the Barracks were supplied with stores during the •whole time of the appoint ment of Lieutenant-General De Lancey. And shews how extremely defe&ive it was in its guards against imno.sition of every kind. Thy diVide the Inquiry, 1, The mode in .which the articles were prOcnred, their prices fixed and paid, arfd their, quantity and quality ascertained and check ed. 2, The mode of distributing them to the differ ent Barracks, and of contracting and checking their use and consumption. Tile principal articles used in barracks, viz. beds, bedding, sheets, blankets, towels, ironmongery uten sils, coals, candles, beer, and forage, were provided' from the beginning of t 79.5, by Alexander Davison, Esq. of St. James's-square, - in consequence of a let ter proposing to .him to undertake the supply as an agent on commission. This appointment took place on the sole authority of Lieutenant-Peneral De Lancey, and does not appear to have been confirm ed or approved of either by the Lords of the Trea .sury or the Secretary at War. Upon this appoint ment 1.111- Davison furnished all the above articles, with the exception of coals (which he furnished as a merchant) .during a period of betweo nine and ten years. The. commission was twoand a half per cent:upon the whole amount of the supply, includ ing all per centages on making insurances, recover ing losses, averages, &c. and replacing ali damaged. or unserviceable articles. The Report says, "It " will appear that the management of this most • " important concern was left very much to Mr. Da " viSon's discretion, and we cannot find that the " Barrack Office made use of anycheck to ascertain " the reasonableness of the prices of the articles " provided. by him. Mr. Davison says he did not " procure the articles by open contract, but he got them where they could be had in the cheapest " and most expeditious manner. He did not annex "- to the bills of parcels, certificates of the reasona " bleness and fairness of the prices, because, be •‘ says, they were not required of him ; and if they " had-, it would, from the magnitude of the con . " cern, have been almost impossible to have ob " tamed them." And with resped to the quality of the articles; the Barrack Office trusted, in gene ral,• solely to the inspection of the different Barrack Masters, on their taking them into store ; tint the Report says, that in regard to the quality of the ar tides, the evidence before them does no justify an inference, that in this resped. the public has any cause of complaint. But they do not . think the same with regard to the manner in which the money concerns were tr,ins aded between Lieut.-Gen. De Lanceyand -Mr. Davi son. Mr:Davison; as agent, was to be furnished with cash and bats in time to make his payments, but not until they were wanted for that pUrpose. But it eappears that he made his requisitions for money on the foundation of estimates proposed by himself. These estimates were generally given in half yearly, end the Report says----" It is obvious that this mode of advancing.money to Mr. Davison, on. estimates so incorrcCtly and loosely made, and' which did not in cin;le a statement of the balances in ..the hands of Mr. Davison, tnight give him a command of mo ney contrary to the limitation !contained in Lieut. General De Lancey's letter ; arid, in fad,. on •an examination of these half-yearly accounts, we firid that at many petiods very large sums have been pre maturely advanced to him." . The Report then shows the amount of the sums which, by Mr. Davison's own admissions, he had in his hands, and retained for a length of time, be yond the a&ual supplies furnished ; and they state that he was not entitled to this advantage, either ac cording to the nature of his ,agreeMent, or to the usual course of business when articles are furnished on commission ; and' therefore they think that he ought to be accountable to the public for whatever 'benefit he may have'derived from the-cash balances in his hands, and that he should be called upon to state a cash account with the Barrack Office. In this be should take credit for all payments of stores, at the periods only when they were actually made, and allow such credit on the coals sold by him as is the practice 'With the whole dealers when selling to inhabitants ; and they think that, upon the face Of such account, interest' should .be charged on both sides. _ _ The articles furnished by Mr. Davison on coin rui::...sion did not include Coals. He himself proposed, in order- to saye the cxpence- of depots, that 'he should supply them at the rates which the whole dealers arc paid at the several places where the Bar racks are situated ; and he undertook to supply thern with the 'best coals, to be paid for the number of bushels aolually delivered into the Barrack master's store, on production of his receipt for the same, at the market price of the coal dealers on-the spot, at the time of delivery, to be ascertained by the production of certificates of two respe6table per sons resident in the place. Lieut. General De Lancey, in answer to this proposal, dated 25th of April, 1795, says, " that if the supplies be made at the most advantageous seasons, the mode would be beneficial to the public, and he desires Mr. Davison to execute the supply on the terms proposed. And he adds, that" the 'persons whose certificates are produced, must be of the most respe&able scription., and whose charaeter would bear the ‘r stridest investigation." Mt . Davison supplied coals on these terms to all the Barracks in Great Britain, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and Alderney, from April; 1795, to - September, •1804—for which he has been paid rtcarly 457,0001. Mr. Davison received notice early in the year of the quantities that would be wanted for the year, with an intimation that the coals should be laid in at the- most favourable seasons. This he himself fe t to be his duty; because in his half-yearly esti , roatei' he always anticipated a sum for coals, which, lit it the rest of the money estimated for, was ge itelly. advanced to him before the article was prey ded. But from an inspeetion of the accounts, the Re port states, that the delivery in the winter months often bore d very considerableproportion to the whole AT a late hour on Saturday afternoon a Telegraphic Dispatch was received at the Admiralty from Ply mouth, announcing the Re-capture of Bneues Ayres on the 12th Adgust last 1 and Mr. GRENVILLE im mediately transmitted the following Message to the LORD MAXOLt : " 4dmira!ij•_OfJ'irc, ,74n. t 7, 1807. MY LORD, " I have the honour to inclose to your Lordship a Message just arrived at the Admiralty, by telegraph, from Plymouth. I have the honour to be, &c. Bz.c. " THCMAS GRENVILLE." TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCH. (COPY.) ' " Buenos Ayres taken, and the Army prisc....-s.—Atigust izth. " WM. LEIGHTON, Mayor." It affords us, however, sincere pleasure to state, 1. that the intelligence whi c h're ac h e d the Adtniralty yesterday, though it does not positively 'con tradiel the Re-capture of this important acquisition, at least - must tend very much to relieve the' Public anxiety upon the subje&. The intelligence was brought by the 'Princess Elizabeth Packet, Captain' FoRESDALU, which arrived at Falmouth on ThurSday ‘ with Mails from Malta and Gibraltar.. On her pas sage the Packet fell in with Lord COLLINGWOOD'S FFleet : His Lordship sent a letter-to the Captain of the Packet, dated the Ist January, acquainting him that His Majesty's Brig Beagle had captured a Spanish Schooner, from Monte Video, by. which . intelligence had been obtained that Buenos Ayres had been reeaptured on the itth of August, and that General BEnEston'D and his Army had been made prisoners. His Lordship also desired Captain FORRSDALC 'to give this information to every Man of - War he might speak with, and to such. English Ships as he might have any communication with. At the same time his Lordship transmitted a Letter to the First Lord of the AdMirahy.. The Packet, as we have already stated, arrived at Falmouth on Thurs day, and the Dispatches were sent off to Ply mouth. The haziness of the weather on Friday, we believe, prevented the trans Mission of it by the Telegraph On that day, but on. Saturday af ternoon it reached the Admiralty, in consequence of which the above Bulletin was transmitted, and yesterday, upon the receipt of the Dispatches them selves, the following Letter vas sent by the First Lord of the Admiralty to the LORD MAYOR : " Admiralty Office, Jan. 18, 1807. j ` MY LORD; , , " I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship an Extra& of a Letter received this morning from Lord COLLINGWOOD, and also an Extra& of a Letter from Capt. MuDGE, from Portsmouth, describing the information given to him by the Master of the Spanish Schooner El Cupid°, captured by the ea polis Schooner on the 27th ult. (Signed) "THOS. GRENVILLE." " To the Right kion. the Lord Mayor." EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM VICE-ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWdOD, DATED OCEAN, oFF CADIZ, 15T JANUARY, 1807, ,BY THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH PACKET." I beg you will be pleased to inform my 'Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the Beagle has ju:st joined, with a Spanish Schooner she cap tured yesterday, from Monte Video, which she. lett eji the 17th September. I am korry to inform their being, re-cal tureci on the 12th of August, and Gen. BERESFORD and the whole of the troops, amounting, to abo'tt 1400, were made prisoners of War and marched into the interior." EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN MUDGE, OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP PHOENIX, TO WILLIAM MARS- DEN, ESQ.. DATED SPITHEAD, JANUARY 12TH. " The Cupido, a small Merchant Vessel, taken by the Cdpoys, sailed from Monte Video the 13th of September last, bound to St. Sebastians, in Old Spain, 'but lost her mizen mast about 10 'days after ; she put into Rio Janeiro, where they saw the 'Mas ter of a Vessel who reported Buenos Ayres to have been . retaken on the 12th of August, one month prior to his sailing, .but as the distance from Monte Video is only 107 miles, and not having heard any thing on the subje&, he.(the Master of the Vessel) did not credit the report." From the above statement . it appears that the in telligence brought by the Princess Elizabeth does not, give any additional confirmation to the report which. has been for some time circulated, of the re-capture of Bdenos Ayres. The Spanish Schooner captured by•the Beagle, and the El Cupido, captured by the Co/poy' s, left Monte Video within a few days of each other, viz. on the 13th and 17th of September, and the utmost they state is, that when they sailed from Monte Video there-was - a report that Buenos Ayres was re-taken on the 12th of August. But it cannot, be doubted that if that event had taken. place on . the • 12th of Aug. it certainly would have been known officially at- Monte Video, which is only 107 miles distant, , in less than a 'month. We stated on a former occasion our reasons.for thinking it highly improbable that the Spaniards Could have colleaed a sufficient Force to attack Buenos Ayres so early as the beginning of August, and we are very much confirmed in that opinion by the New York Paper,. of the 20th'ult. which we received this training. That Paper mentions a re port of the , re-capture of Buenos Ayres on the Bth of August, by a Spanish Force of 1900 men, and that the British Troops, to the number of 1500 men, had been either killed or taken. Pri soners. The Paper to which we allude, after ridiculing the idea of 1500 British bring defeated by 1500 Spanish troops, adds a most important fait, viz. that within seven or eight weeks Vessels from Buenos Ayres had been met at sea, from which no such accounts had been received. If this account be correa, it appears (deducting eight weeks from the 2oth December) that Buenos Ayres was in our pos session the latter end of , Otiober. We most sin cerely hope all doubt upon this most important question w a il' • be shortly removed by the•receipt of official Dispatches. WHILE the Princess Elizabeth Packet was passing through a part of Lord COLLINGWOOD'S Fleet, a heavy firing was heard in the dire&ion of Cadiz.— The cause was not known, but it was supposed that the In-shore Squadron was engaged with the Bat , teries. THE American Plenipotentiaries to the British Government received Dispatches on Saturday last from the American Minister, Mr. ARM S TRONG, at Paris. They were brought to this Country by an American Gentleman, who quitted Paris on the loth inst. Mr. Ailmsa = aoivc, it appearS, had received official assurances from the French Government that American Vessels coming from America, or return ing from England to the United States, will not be annoyed by French Cruizers, and that orders to that e ff e a had - also been given to the Privateers fitted out from St. Malo,t, Cherbourg, &c. LIE Edinburgh Paper, which we received this morning, contains the.following account of the sup posed French Privateer which was stranded on the Island of Flotta : " Thous°, JAN. s.—The accounts received here last week from the Orkneys, stating that a French Armed Ship had been stranded on the South Isles, and that the people belonging to her had taken pos session of, and fortified themselves upon the Island. of Flatto, has proved to be unfounded. The D etachment of Volunteers that embarked here on the Ist inst. and sailed for the Orkneys, in consequence of the report, returned this afternoon. • " It appears that they found the country just re covering from the alarm it had been thrown into, in consequence of the same report that had reached this side of the water, and which had been for some time no less confidently credited there than it had been here ; so much so, that a few muskets which had been colikted at .Kirkwall, the Magistrates there were preparing to send to the South Isles, to be distributed among such of the inhabitants as might be disposed to use them in their own defence. " It seems that a large ,logger-rigged Vessel, pierced for 16 guns, had been lying in Long-Hope when the storm of the '23th ult. broke out. Her appearance had excited the suspicion of the other 51iipping in that Bay; and rnpst_ o 1 therm had slipped, viods to the storm, to be out of the way of this s , posed Enemy. " It was afterwards discovered, that a Ship and SchooneK had been wrecked on the shore 'of Flotta;. and it was thence concluded, that the Schooner so wrecked must be - the suspicious vessel above alluded to ; and the story of an armed force having, landed on that Island was soon circulated, and as readily believed.. " At length, however, it was foundthat the Lug' ger in question had made hor way to Stromness be fore she was driven on shore, where she has since landed hdr guns and her cargo. She proves to bet an American, on her passage from the East Coun try for Liverpool, after having carried a cargo of West-India produce_ from St. Domingo to Tomlin.- gen. " Our Volunteers feel not a little disappointed by' the result of their expedition ; but they do not tbe less deserve the thanks of the Country for the spirit and alacrity with which they went upon the enter prize ; and, it is not doubted, that Government, if made acquainted with the circumstane-es will, A least, diret the expellee incurred on this'becasicali to be defrayed by. the public." This being (nominally) the QurEN's Birth Dap it was obsetved'Tht St. James's with all the usual pomp and ceremony.—The ball in the evening will , as for some years, be disused: Yesterday Count MUNSTER had an audience df His MAJESTY. The Royal Family attended Divine Service yester day in the QUEEN'S Palace, which was performed b one of the Chaplains in Ordinary. . . _ Yesterday Princess CHARLOTTE Of WALES . ; at tended by Lady DE CLIFYORD, visited their Mr JESTIES and the PRINCESSES. Their MAJESTIES had sele6l parties on Saturday and yesterday evenings. On Saturday night a Cabinet Council was held at Lord GREN ILLE's'. All the Members in town were present, and they continued in close deliberation from nine at night until one o'clock in the morning• A Gentleman who lately left Rome, states,t; the redu&ion of Naples has cost France 35,000 men. Vast numbers of them • have perished from the na" wholesome vapours of the Calabrias ; more, in file, than have fallen by the swords of the Calabrese. I 0 Naples, scarce a night passes without several French' men being murdered. King JOSEPH has not for many months ventured to sleep in the city. He has fitted up. and fortified the Palace Of Capo di , Monte, whither he retires every evening. LyCIEN BONAPARTE lives in the neighbourhood of, Rome, in a state of domestic but elegant retire' tent. The large fortune which Lie amassed during his Embassies to Spain and Portugal, enables him to do much good in his neighbourhood. One of the Deputies sent from Ffambttrgh to Bo,: NAPARTE, and who, fr o m p art i cu l ar i nt i mac y TALLEYOANI), had an opportunity to ascetiain tolerable precision the Condition oTthe Frenth Art in Poland, reports, that the French troops who had; on the 22d December, crossed the Oder, amounts - to 280,000 men ; and that the sick in the hosP l ' tals, at that date, exceeded 17,000 ; subsequent ac' Counts represent the sick to have increased to nearly 30,00 CL The first Garrhon Battalion',commanded by Lied' tenant ColOnel CRoUGEY, And the 241 Garrisoa Battalion, cotnmanded by Lieutenant Col. are now embarked at Portsmouth for Ireland. The .3d Garrison Battalion is embarked at Ply m outh , The 4th Garrison Battalion is commanded by Lora PORTARLINGTON: We have learned that Colonels CAMPBELL an 4 GORDON have been the most successful in recruiting for their 2d I3attalions from the Garrison Battalions; the former-got 600 men for his regiment, the 2 3 Battalion of the 8 Ist, and Col. Goaborr got 80 0 men . for the 2d Battalion of the 83d, Gen. RALFoutt' s Regiment. Major SILVER has likewise been yell successful for the Bstii 2d Battalion. Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY, K. B. and Col. M O NT' GOMERY (one of the late opposing Candidates for, St- Ives) were unanimously eleaed, on Thursday, for the Borough of Michell, in Cornwall. • A few dayS since the housekeeper of a GentlemA° at Cheats, in. Surrey, being requested by his son to place a quantity of damp gun-powder in an oven to dry, and having shortly after occasion to bake, - kiir died the wood without recollthing thecircumstal of the gunpowder in the oven . A n i mme di ate -0 most tremendous explosion_ took place in conse; quence, and the unfortunate woman had her head sivered froth her body. No other life was lost, btlt every square of glass in-the house was shattered, an° the building much injured. Soon after two o'clock on Tuesday morning, tb o , heavy Chester coa c h sto pp e d a t th e h ouse of T' Bagnall, at Eccleshall, in Staffordshire, horsekeePe' - to the coach. The people perceiving neither coach man nor outside passengers, but those in the insid e ' fast asleep, a search was immediately urdertakefi' when it appeared that the coachman had fallen from his box. at Sughill, a distance of three miles troal Eccleshall, and that the horses had instin&iveb' drawn the coach - to the door of the horsekeeper'" which is about eighty yards from the inn. 'j tip coachman was found-quite deild in the highway, 1 his usual position of driving, and w as ne i t h er bruise d nor apparently otherwise injured. He is suppose ( ' to have died suddenly on the box. The interval between the First and Second D3Y' 5 Drawing of thepresent momentous Lottery Schem e is evidently an accommodation to all s uch as declaie a adventuring before Tuesday List. But as the mense sales, within these few days, of Tickets 0 3 Shares, is a Taft known to the wh o l e town, consequently but an inconsiderable number of Tir e kets now remaining on hands ; it i s h ar dly p o ssib o to conceive, that the numerous CapUal - Prizes, Wi t ., l Two of 30,0001. each, with . which the Wheeifi li : abounds, will not stimulate to an immediate P 11 '; chase of every Ticker and Share that is to be 1 - 0 0 in the Lottery market, tton of this point, and wear that ploy, must . have been considerable indeed, if he purcitAceci„ as it was 'his duty to do, money being advanced to him for that pdrpose, at the favourable season, imd plied at the unfavourable season, because his certi ficates always stated the price of the article pn tine day of delivery. The certificates also stated the price of coals by the chaldron, whereas he made his charge by the bushel, and the certificates did not specify the quality of the coals. The Commis sioners found that there, was a greater quantity of coals stated to be received juice the Barracks than the amount of the invoice of cargoes bought by Mr. Davison. Thus on ttie cargo of 7,272 .baskets, there was an increase on the delivery of 800 bushels, so that Government were charged for 8,672 bushels,. This is attempted .to be explained by the circum rtance of buying by weight, and selling by measure; andt his gave rise to the question, whether, as Mr.. Davison undertook to supply coals as a whole dealer, he ought not to have allowed. ingrain ? Mr. Davison, in his examination, says, " he never agreed " for, nor ever heard ofany allowance or clecluClion " to be made for ingrain, neither did beallow it." The Commissioners, in the discharge of their duty, referred a question to the Attorney and Solicitor- General on the case. (To Be continued.) TO CORRESPONDENTS. The Letter signed J mat; is, upon Mr. KEMBLE'S prestounciation, has been unluckily mislaid. If the Author will favour us with another Copy, it shall he inserted ' MAI LS. Aft R.IVED -I Dublin, z kVatertorcl. D'uE-5 Gottenburgh, Dublin, t Waterford. THE SUN. soLZIA QUIS DICERE FA:tUM AUDEAT? LOltiDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1807.