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

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• (PRfCt SIXPINCS.

of individuals, for whirr he is •,:oswerai.... To these a
tws he should confine himself this night ; but there
was still a further charge against Lied Melville;
and, if what was said in the evidence be true, he .:
thought it would appear pretty clearly to every
impartial mind, that there is the strongest aid i
pearance of p inicipation in the profits. In breig-
mg forward so serious and important a charge as eia.O.oi
this, it was necessary the accusers should stand as lir-V
fair with the House as possible; and in order to .".'
do so, he should endeavour to shape his condu&
in such a way as to obew them ghat he was aOu-
ated only •by a sense of duty, and that in the exe-
cution of the painful task, that sense of duty had
imposed on him, he would state every circumstance
with the striaest impartiality and regard to truth.
To the honour of the cliaraaer of the various Com-
missioners employed by the House, and of those
who, during a long lapse of time, hate held high
offices of great trust and profit, no such charges as
the present have been brought forward against
any one; :mil, it is indeed somewhat .emarkable,
that the very last charge of the kind that was
brought before the House, was brought by Lord
Melville himself, against au officer of high rank
and station abroad. He meant the case of Sir T.
Rembold. The mode of proceeding on that ocra. ' ".' 'fi
sion, adopted by Lord Melville in the first instance,
he would not follow at present, as be thosight it was
marked with certain features of severity he did not
feel himself inclined to copy. His intention was to
move certain resolutions, which were nearly similar
and consonant to the tenor of the report, and of
the sentiments of the commissioners olio drew it
up. In adopting this mode, it would be necessary
to consider atte.rtively the nature of the evidence,
and the condua of the commr.sknters consequent
thereon. In the firo place, then, it is to he recollefted.
that they found deficiemeies to 4 very large amount.
It is of little erm.equentr., in tie way of osettmeut, to
be exact as to thepret kr sums : wh ther they were a
high as to or 500,0001. at a tine, or more or less,
signifies hut little ; it :s the direct violation of the
law which constituter :he criminal ate, and not the
magnitude of the sum. The Gs ant truth is,
there were actual deficiencies to a great amount.
Mr. Whitbrired then observed, that as he should Nave
frequent occasion to mention the name of Mr. "fro:.
ter, he did not then do it in any degree byway of
charge against him; but only to speak 04 h;rn As the
agent or second to Lord Melville. The report cf
the Commissioners first describes the Treasurer of
the Navy as not requiring, as aceouatant of the pub.
lie, to have balances in his hairdo as the directions cf
the Aft are positive that the issues of money for
Navy services shall be mole to the Bank, and that
the money shall not be drawn from thence but ler
Navy Services. Secondly that he is responsible for
the public money. It appears hither in the ho tory
of the office of Treasury of the Navy, that ma t.::e bob
of August 1756, Lord Olelville procured an Or .11.-r of
Council, authorising a new regalatiou in the Office
of freasurer of the Navy, in-,contorrnity with the
provisions of the Alt of Parliament, end direetly
confirming them. Mr. IV hittlitool here read the
Order of Council to that erica, and then observe.i,
there were two stages of proceeding in this busi-
ness on the part of Lord Melville, whiehavere, in his
opinion, highly reprehensible; firstoan actual and
direa breach of the Act of Perliamermand then brine-.
ing, as a mere mockery, the order of council, though
he never, in any shape or in any degree whatever, iie
tended to pay the least deference, attention, or r espeet.
either to one or the other of them. He had, he said,
attended to the evidence given, and that which hail
been extorted—for there was a material difference ;
that which was given, was what was all in their
own favour ; and that which was extorted, only
against them. He had, with very much surprise,
heard this called ex parte evidence; but, for his
part, he could not see with what reason or justice.
It they were not guilty, had they not an opportunity
of defending themselves ?--the Commissioners only
asked them particular questions, and if they were
innocent of the charge implied, could they not,
in answer to the question, whatever it was, say
no! That single word would have instantly cleared
them of every thing. Mr. "'tenet was firs called,
and he did not know how the deficiencies arose—then
he did know the AR of Parliament had been
violated ; the money had been taken from the Bank
and was become his own, and he would sort answer
a word concerning it. On the Bth ofJune he denied
any knowledge of the matter. but in a short time
after he found oat that he did, and he should base
to contrast his evidence with that given before e other
Commissioners. A precept was then issued Iry the
Commissioners to Lord Melville. on the 96th June,
requesting an account of the motries received by
him, or any person on his account. Mr. Whitbread
then made several comments on Lord Melville's
Letter on this subjed to the Commissioners, dated
June 30, which he thought a most extraordinary
one, especially that he should not be able to account,
front memory, as to many of these transaCtions.
What, however, is the reason, said he, that Lord
Melville is compelled to resort to his memory
Why, truly, neither more nor less than that which
constitutes in itself a high misdemeanor ; his
having destroyed the public papers which crm-
tained the information, and so had put it
out of the power of the public to investigate
their own accounts. Some years ago, the Hight
Hos. Gentleman and bis colleagues had called the
attention of the House to the conduct of Officers in
the Public Offices, and on that occasion the Aft was
pawed, that when any officer quitted an office, the
papers should be left ; Lord Melville also states,
"that independent of not being able to give the in-
formatitm required in consequence of the destritetion
of papers, he begged to remind the Commissioners,
that during the ume be was Treasurer of the Navy,
be held other very confidential situations under Go-
vernment, and was intimately acquainted with
others. So situated, he did not decline giving oc-
casional accommodation front the funds in the
Treasurer's hands to other services, and if he bad Ibe

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