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

rteM

-,',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 of
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 Melville told them
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 leading
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 principle'
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 be'
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