The Sun.
London, England, 1806-06-12 00:00:00

LORD MELVILLE.

The Trial having concluded, we conceive that we.
may, without disobeying the orders of their Lord-
ships, lay before our I:callers the following abstra&
of the proceedings upon this interesting Trial.
WE can only to-day present our _Readers with a
sketch of the Trial, reserving a more complete and
full report of it till to-morrow. The first day (29th
April) was occupied in reading the Charges against
Lord MELVILL&, ten in number, and his Lordship's
answers to them, and_in hearing the case opened by
Mr. WHITBREAD. In the course of his Speech he
stated the 'substance of the Charges and the evidence.
he had to adduc'e in support.of them. He went over
the political life of, Lord iVIELvILLE from his con-
nexion with Lord- NORTH to his, removal from his
Majesty's Councils. He contrasted his conduct'with
that of Mr. PITT, of whom be spoke in the highest
terms. He then went into a history of the office of
Treasurer of the ,Navy, and Of the regulations made,
by which the salary of the office was raised to 40001.
a year, on the express condition that the possessor of
it should not employ the money to any purpose of
private emolument. AIr.WniTBREAD, then adverted
to the 4.6 t passed on the suggestion of Lord MEL,
var..t, for preventing the money for Navy Services
frpm being drawn from the Bank, except. for naval
services. . .

He procee,ded to shey;•, that money had been
drawn out of the Bank by Mr. TROTTZK2 the
Paymaster, and placed in the hands of Messrs..
CooTrs, and employed to purposes of private
profit. He charged Lord MLLVILLE with connis
wing at Mr. TROTTER'S so employing the public
money, and with borrowing large sums-Of ntoney
of Mr. TROTTER, which money he knew was PubAic
Money. He then alluded to the. manner in which
these -pra6tices had been discovered by the, Navat
Commissioners, upon whose Report certain news.
lutions had been submitted by him to the liouset
Cominons. The House of C0Mr49,11-4 4ad done hint
the honor of adopting these Resolutions ; a train
of proceedings had followed, the result of which
was, that Lord MELVILLE should be impeached,
at their Lordships' tar. The House of corn,.
knons had cone him the further klonopy to placer
.him'at the head of the Committee appointed to ma-,
stage the Impeachment. lid was, perfealy sensible
how little qualified he was for a situation so, eminent
:incl, so arduous; but he would at least bring to the
discharge of the important duty imposed on him al;
the assiduity, zeal, and energy, of, which he ‘,7.
master, and all the devotion to the public. good,
which bad induced him originally to t*e.up, t4i4
;natter.,

The Ntanager.s proceeded,. on the second day inf
.• •
Trial, to bring forward evidence. They producer;
cvidonce to shew the increase of the salary of tll
Treasurer of the Navy. Lord MELVILLE'S, ap-.
pointmcrt to the Office, and the provision o the,
Ad by which all Public Money in the hands, of th. 9.
Treasurer is required to be kept at the Banl4. The,
third, fourth, and fifth days were occupied in. pre-_
ducing evidence to transactions, that took place dm,
ing Lord MELVILLE'S Treasurership, when I\ll-.
DOUGLAS was his Paymaster. Several witnesses were
called to. prove, that of the Public Mongywhiclit had,
been paid to Mr. DOUGLAS part of it had been paid.
in to Messrs. DRUMMOND, on account of Lord MEr..7.
viLLE. Bank Notes were. produced, which having
bpeu first paid to the Paymaster of the Navy, were.
afterwards carried to Messrs. Dnummorip, and,
placed to •Lord MELVILLE'S account. The exami-.
nation of his Lordship before the Commissioners of
Naval, Inquiry was also road. .On the 6th day.
Mr. WI.IITSREAD declared, he begged leave to
depose upon, oath, that he, heard Lord MELvlt.r..g
say, with regard to a sum of 10,0901, pUblic Money,
he would not reveal the application of it, being re-
strained by motives of public duty, private. hpnour,
and personal cenvenien-ze.

On cross-examination, the lion. Manager saidi,
that certainly the Noble Lord's speech went to de..
c4tre that he had not applied it to the purposes of

private gain.
IVlr.TßorrEit's appointment to the Office of Pay.
master of the Navy was then proved, and the mu.
tual rc-iease between Lord MELVILLE and Mr.TRoT.
TER, in which was a clause for destroying vouchers,
was put in and read, dated Ist!' and 23d February,
1803.

Mr. ALEX. TT :OTTER was then called. Thefol-
lowing is the outline of the evidence :—He ac
knowledged that be bad made pro& of the Public
Money ; that. he was agent to Lord Mgoli.L2';
that he frequently lent him money out of the Public
Money—purchased East India and other Stock, and
Loyalty Loan for c46int. On one occasion Lord
MELVILLE; in a conversation
,with the witness,
"stated the probable rise of East India Stock, and I
observed to his Lordship, that if he was impressed
with so good an opinion of that stock, I thought, in
consideration of his own interest, he ought to invest
a sum of money in it. His Lordship's observation
seemed to throw it aside, by saying. he had no
money. to invest in stock, I had mentioned to his

Lordship that there were considerable balances lyii-,g
at all times in my hands that were not called for,
and in all• probability would not be called for; and
I advised his Lordship to give me 'leave to lay, out so
much as Would purchase 13,0001. or 14,0001. East
India Stock, but which his Lordship refused in the
most positive manner, inasmuch that I feared I had
incurred his Lordship's dis Pleasure in proposing it.'.'

«3t occurred to me, however, that I might borrow
the money upon the security of that Stock, and I
proposed to his Lordship that. I should endeavour to
do so; and that I shoUld lay out that money in the
purchase of East India Stock; to which his Lordship
readily-assented..l mentioned that I then lived with
a relation of my own, who was a man of considera-
ble importance in the City, and that he would be
enabled to raise-this sum of Money for me." This,
Mr.TROTTEit said, he found difficult; but being un-
willing to disappoint his Lordship, he advanced the
Money from the public money; but Lord MELvn.LE
remained perfealy 'unacquainted with his having
made use of the public money in the transaction, and
be, the witness, charged interest for the whole from
the first day it was 'advanced until the final settle-
ment of the accounts between them. Upon his cross
examination he stared that he hadnot the least reCol-
le6tion of Lord MaLvir.,LE having applied the
10,0001. to any purposes 'of private benefit ; 'that
lie bad represented. to Lord MELVILLE that it would
facilitate the Public Service if money were drawn
from the..)3ank of England and placed in COUTTS'S
that upon no occasion did Lord MELvzi.LE ever di-
re& him to lay out the Public Money for his use;
that in the only instance in which such a proposal
was made, it was indignantly reje6ted ; that the pro-
fit made from the use of the Public Money was all
his own ; and that the release ai._ :!luse i^ F.-.)/ toe
clestruCtion of all paprs and voucilcrs bcc A Feu them
was suggested by himself.

th.e seventh day Mr. TROTTER was re-examin-,
ed as to 1_,;3 fortune when he was -appc.inted Pay-
master, and as to present amount of it :he stated
it to be about 52,0001. Ha stated also, that al--
though -the accounts were always signed, by Lord
MELVILLE, when be presented them, yet his Lord-
ship never examined any of the items, or scarce look-
ed at them ; if he had, it would have appeared on the
face of them, 'that the Loyalty Loan money was ad-
vanced froth- the chest accoUnt,(i. e. Public Money).
But he could never prevail on the Defendant to give
any attention to his private account. Ha was, again.
examined as to the Clause in the release between
himself and Lord MELVILLE, by which all vouchers
were .to be destroyed, and he again said that the
Clause had been suggested by himself.
'On the Bth day Mr. MARK .SPROT was examined ;
he said he had advanced 50,13001. in consequence of
stock put into his hands—he paid the money to .Mr.
TROTTER, with whom be had had large dealings.-
IHe
.declared that he never had had any pecuniary
dealings with Lord MELVILLE ill his life; that his
various money transa&ions with Mr. TROTTER were
entirely upon Mr. TROTTER'S own account.
On the gth day the Right Hon. GEORGE TIER-.
NET was called to state the manner in' which ho had
altered the mode of keeping Accdunts during his

Treasurership.
A Writer to the Signet was called to prove, that
the clause for the destruction of voucher s in the re-
lease was an unusual clause in such instruments in
Scotland..

On the loth day (May t 0); the Managers closed

their case.

. Mr. ROMitLY summed up the evidence on behalf
of the Managers.
The Court then adjourned to Tuesday the 13th
May, when Lord MztvlLLE's Counsel, proceeded
upon the Defence. Mr. Pf.ompat's Speech occupied
Iwo days. In our Paper of to-day we can only give
a very shore sketch -of it. He complained of _the
manner in which the Noble Lord had been.prejudged
throughout the Country by the circulation of writ.:
jogs against him—he complained of that -extra
ordinary outrage to all justice and honesty, the
circulation of infamous libels through all part;
of of the Kingdom with an astonishing degree of in-
dustry and a&ivity. He then proceeded to draw
an outline of the Charges against Lord MEL-
viLLE.—With respea to the 10,0001. the irre-
gular anplication of which was charged against the
Noble Lord; it would be sufficient for him to say,
that it arose at a period when there was no written
law against it. He would not rest there. So far
from its being a crime for tr Public Accountant to
make even the greatest temporary use of the Public
Money for his advantage, he would spew their Lord-
ships that there was no law, no condition, no, not
even any express or implied obligation against it ;
yet it had been alledged by the HOn. Member who
_ned the proceedings that such application was al-
Nvays a crime by law, which law was sanctioned and
declared by the 1-Ip..;_,e of Commons. He denied,
however, the existence of such a law ; he affirmed that
no Resolution of either Ho= could have the eit--ea
Elit he Wii3 prepared to s-ew that it was nbt

,
:11-)1A1-

on 0: yi. Public

Maney was a high crime and ruisde6eartour.—H,
dwelt, particularly on the case of- Lord HOLLAND.

He then adverted to and commented at consider-
, ..
able length upbn the connexion between Lord iticL-
VILLE and'Mr. TROTTER. Mr. TROTTER had beet"
brought forward to convia,Lord MELVILLE with the
boon of indemnity held out to hirri. Every motion of
interest operated therefore to incline the weight of
his evidence against Lord MELVILLE rather than in
his favour. He had his
.9‘va indemnity to establish,
'which was not to be granted unleSs he gave a full, -I
fair, and satisfactory evidence; and every one knew
how these words would be interpreted by the Prose-
cutors. He. had on the other side nothing to expect
by favouring the Noble- Defendant, humbled and
reduced as he now was, and he could earn his in-
demnity only by a full disclosure of all he knew re=
spelling the_ points laid to his charge. What was
the effect of Mr. TaorrEtt's evidence amidst these
circumstances? it were.not only to exonerate Lord
MELVILLE, but to take .the whole,triminality upon
himself. What a deep accumulation of crimes. did he
here take upon his' own head ; and could he have'
given such an evidence under such circumstances, in-
duced by such interests, and compelled by such ter-
rors, unless the obligation of truth, the first obliga-
tion of the law and the safestdefence of the witness,
had rendered it indispensible. Mr. TROTTER dis-
tinctly avowed that the whole system and property
Were his own. He next spoke to the profits which
could by any possibility have been made by the 'use
of the Public Money in 14 years: They amounted to'
22,0001. ; yet it had been proved that his Lord-
ship had in the I,l.ices- he had filled voluntarily relin
quished 34,11.1061. which he might have received, as
::-.A;aries attached to those places. Adverting to.
- the. purchase of the East -India Stock, the Learned
Manager who summed up had said, that the ac-
count given of it was a perfe& farce; for that no
man but au ideal would have lent money upon. Stock
so circumstanced—yet that ideot was found, and who
was he ?—Why it Was that fool MARK SPROTT.—
After pressing these points at. considerable length—
arguing that-the .Papers destroyed did not ap-
pear to _be public 'ones—shewing that Lord
MELVILLE had been in the habit of destroying
his private Pallets, had-dwelling, ttpon public services
rendered by Lord MELVILLE, he trusted that on the
whole of the case, their Lordships wouldsee no proof
of criminal or corrupt intention in the Noble Lord.
Evidence was then called on the. part of Lord
MELVILLE, particularly to shew that his Lordship:
had declined receiving a very large sum to whicii he
was entitled as salary.. '
Mr. ADAM having summed up the Evidence
for the Defence, Mr. WHITBREAD made a
_ge-
neral reply.

THE Proceedings in the Trial of his Lordihip were
this day resumed. Their Lordships went in the usual
procession to Westminster-Hall, and delivered, in-
dividually, their Judgments upon the several
Articles :

On the first Charge the numbers were, guilty 15,
not gUilty 120. Second Charge, guilty 57, not
guilty 79. , On the third there was a majority of
41 for the acquittal, and on the fourth he was una-
nimously acquitted.

On the sth Charge the numbers were-•—• Guilty 5 ;
Not Guilty . 131.
On the 6th his Lordship was acquitted by a ma-
jority of 3g, and on the 7th by a majority of 31.
On the Bth Charge the majority for an. Acquittal
was 70—On the gth 103.

On the loth and last Charge the majority was
111.

PLYMOUTH, JUNE i I.—This morning seven Sail
of homeward-bound East India Ships, and two Sout h -
Sea Whalers, passed by to the Eastward, last from
St. Relena ; the Pursers of some of the Ships landed
and sat off with their Dispatches in the course of the
night.
The rolontaire Frigate, lately captured at the
Cape of Good aope, is said to have passed by with
them tbr Port F mouth.

Sailed the Ikarrior and Centaur, of 74 gnns each,
to join the Channel• Fleet.

PORTSMOUTIi, JUNE 1 .-Arrived La Volontaire
Frigate, lately captured at tire Cape of Good Hope,
from thence with a Fleet of South-sea Whalers and
Transports, viz. Sally, Kingston, Alexander, Dulex,
..4/rook Trason, and one other, Whalers ; Indefati-
gable, Wilding, Sarah, Elizabeth, Juno, AlbiOn,
Messenger, Harlequin, Golden Grove, Agnes, Tra-
an4 -Fame, Transports, with the Union and
Thames American detained Ships, some of which
are paSsed by for the Downs.
Arrived also the Boadicea Frigate, Capt.. MAIT-
LAND, from the Coast of Ireland.

Sailed the London, of 98 guns, Polyphemus and
4frica, of 64 guns each, for the Channel Fleet ;
and L'Espiegle Sloop of War on a crnize. Also the
Mississippi detained Ship, SxmAz9RE, for her original
port of delivery (Nantz). _ _

- HALE PAST SEVEN o'Ci,ocx.—The Purser of the
Devaynes East lndia Ship, homeward-bound, is, just
arrived here, and brings the intelligence that he left
the following Ships off Portland, proceeding up
Channel : Barring, Airlq Castle, Castle .Eden,Car-
nzarthen, General Stewart, Devaynes,•and Travers,
from the East Indies. They left Si; Helena 13th
April, at which time there,were eight Whalers there:
they, came from St. Helena without Convoy.