The Sun.
London, England, 1809-05-02 00:00:00

ilaced

'lister* must participate-in the disgitee arising from
the miscodduiSt of'such worthless ag.entak That the
accounts had not been called for earlier, he thought
an instance Of scandalous 'neglea ; it was, in fad,
-giving a bounty to roguery. Such abuses as had re-
cently been the subject of discussion in that House
would probably never have existed, had not, the ne-
gled im4 profuseness of Ministers rendered their de-
tedion uncertain and remote. -He then spoke-of the
careless manner in which accounts were investigated
at the Treasury. The Committee bad proposed to
give the Commissioners for their remuneration the
sum of fO,OOOl. instead of wha t'fhey had thought
proper to take to themSefres; but even this sum, as
it was pia much as gocaLiervantS, of the.public ought
to receive, he could not think them entitled to, The
Hon. Gentleman concluded a syeech of considerable
length by moving several resohltions, the substance
of which was, That to 'permit' any persons to hold a
'pecuniary trust without' some check, and ' without
calling regularly for their accounts,. must itreOtably
lead- to evils the most serious; that negled must
have existed on the part of ooVernnient, in not Wav-
ing called for such account s-; that the Commission-
era were chargeable whoa the most rep;ehensible
negleCt, and in appropriating to themselves the sums
they had claitneu as a recatmeration for their services
bad shamefully abused the confidence reposed in
them ; that the Commissioners stood accountable to
'the Public for such sums, and that their accounts
ought to be referred to Auditors.
Mr. THORNTON riaiti3 to vindicate the Committee
with respeel to the stnit the Hon. Gentleman thought
they-were for voting improperly to the Commis-
sioners. The Commit' tee were of oliinion -that they
must stand accountn'ole to the public for the whole
of the 'sums they 112. d unjustly claimed, and that the
auditors might charge interest on the sums they had
entrusted to private bankers, as well as On the .rims
they 'had approKiated to themselves. With such
.dedudions, they did not think 10,0001. would•be
too great a rew and fur their services. lie had no
obje6,tion to beltow censure where it was merited ;
but he thought it svotsld• be-preposterous to pass it on
the head of t'ue present Admieistratioo, as. amidst
'the cares which were•necessarily felt there, it could
not be a matter of surprise that -an -instance of ne-
-001 on the part of their predecessors shouldescape
observation;, ,

The Citamtult.Lon of the Exctructurnt -said, that
• measures 'had been already 'taken to put a stop to
such abuses. No Administration conl.l merit cen-
• surCin this instance less than the -present, as the tre-
glea diet not originate with then.---No Govern-
Juent could look jou) all• the actions of those in office
b6fotetltem. Had their attention teen called to
snich'abuses, then if they had.-negletled to put a stop
to 'limn, their condna would have ins rited censure.
That the accounts should be regularly called for .he,
• coukl not deny ; but when it had•beenlong negleCi-•
cd•by one Administration, it was not 'very likely to
&inir to another. He could not think anclragene-
' tel censure as that proposed just, as its greatest
weight 'must fali on the Govern men t of tt he, day, whe
were certainly least culpable. He concluded by .mov-
ing the previous question. _ _ _

Sir JOlll4 NEWPORT censured the condua of the
Commissioners, and the negligence of Government,
in strong,terms. Were sneli, flagrant abuses slightly
passed over by them, it might be said they gav,s their
sanaion to the violation a. their own •a;;As. :He
tOr one thought it . would .be proper- to carry an Ad-
.
drelis to. the Crown, pra)cing that the Atternc;y:Ge-
neral might br instrueted to proceed against ilteni.
Mr. Rosetlionght the Treasury in whae time the
Commioionerl were first appointed could alone merit
censure.—At the liine they were appeinted, it never
once, occurred to him thaft hey were to have !I pound- .
age; he expe6leri, as in. every siinflar'n7prrintment,
that when the busitiesS was done the Coininissioners-
Would have tendered their accounts, and been paid
the 'sum their services might appear tea merit. lie
declared no private friendship had prbcurea the
appointment of the cotnitissioners.:,'He Concluded,
vindicating the present -Administration and opposing
the resolutions.

Mr. Wnintatsn, in 'a speech .of tursiderable
length, contended,: that the condott of the Com-
missioners loudly called for,,the-peinted finger of re-
probation. The Hun. Gentleman took occasion to
enter into a long, detail on the pamphleteering me-
rits of one of the ConniiisSsioners (Mr. Bowles),
whose services in the vineyard of the Treasury the
Hon. Gentleman represented as the basis of his ap.
pointment to the Commission. In strong terms he
deprecated the manner in Which Members of that ,
House. had been assailed by letters from these Com-
missioners, canvassing -their votes on the instituted
imptiry.. At a time, he said, whet'! Mr. Pitt Made
application to these Gentlemea for some stoney to-
wards the public service ; they stated that they had
none in 'their hands,.though they adually held
191,0001. 'of the public money. Yet one of those
Gentlefuen, he sail, was. a life and property•man,
who professed his teadiness to risk every thing be
possessed in patriotic endeavours for the country.
He would strenuously advise the House to untruss
those Dutchmen, and take even out of tlu,lr brogues
the last 'shilling of the public. money.. He would
not, he said,• travel joie the silence of tire grave on
this occasion, and advert, in speaking of the cont.
mission itself, to the' deceased Mr. Pitt. Jri this
respea he would so tar deviate from the unhallowed.
libeller of the late vit Mons Duke of Bedford. He.
could not see why foer Commissioners should be
appOinted instead of three, unless it were to make
room for that favourite of the Tr.e:isery (Mr.BOWles),
connected as
,he was with three distoznished Per-
sonages; one, who flow held a high official sitnii-
tioe in Spain; the second, a Secretary of State; and
the third, die Editor of the 'Anti-jacabin. Mr.
Bowles's religion, be observed, was like, that of the
Pharisee, why preached well, bet condueled inn-
self to the contrary. Like the servant,: who when
called to account by his master, returned for answer,
that he ailed upon an exPeaatlon of rise In his
wages, these Commissioners had,- with
,uticonetter;
able effrontery, after pockettiug 1`33,0001. boasted
of the great sacrifices they had made to the tub-
tic intereSt, ' If Mr. Bowles, in his Dutch character,
had been suffered to escape without censure, ht
may perhaps hereafter start up. again as a Spaniard,
or a 'Prussian. The motion of the 'Bight
.Honour-
able Gent leinan opposite, tor the previous cie,,tiiio,