The Sun.
London, England, 1809-08-25 00:00:00

' VAL U

;

We have received several Reports of the Commis-
sioners of Naval Revision,.primed by an order of
the House of Commons, dated April it, (809, from
which we propose to make some ,selediuns from
time to time.

The Ninth Report is on the subjea-of the Mans-
port .Office. Under that branch of the Office, con-
neaed with the provision for the prisoners of war,
it is stated, '" that at the end of. March, 1807, the
nuniber of prisoners in Great Britain stood as fol-
lows

French - - ..‘ - . ~ 23,699
Spdirish - _ - - • 2,937
Dutch - - - - - 2

In the West Indies, at Malta, and Halifax :
French -2.04 e
Spanish , -
Dutch None.

Total

Of tSese 11,00° were distributed in (2 t prison ships
PimpUth, Portsmouth, andChatham."
. Tlie.COmmissionerS-then proceed to state the corn-
parat ire advantages of prison-ships find prisons, which
they consider•as greatly in favour of thb, latter, and
that therefore the system of PrisOnships should be
abolished as speedily as possible. •
The total amount of the expence
,of maintaining.
the 21 prison-ships' before,mentioned„ may be. esti-
mated at 68,2341, Gs. 4d. per..anuotn. • whereas, at'
the t wo prisons on shore, at Stapleton and Norman
Cross, which will contain 10,560prison,trs, (nearly
as many as tne•prisim-sliiPs before-mentioned)
annual eix`;,,ence of the establishment for prisoners
in tivaltl' is no.. more than -two thousand eighthun-
dred i'tpdltifiy.pounds.
But ;‘s not only the additional expence incurred
by'tne_sv.stem of keerin, priSoners on board ships,
which 6lat sysiew disad%'•antagceous. The
nuMber or Officers and seamen 'establiithed on boardr
those .2,t prison 'snips is 5,43, and the number of
marines 7G3'; and this our fleet..., ,it is. Obvious, are
deptiV,d of the Iservices of •those met at a time
when they are much wanted for manning ourinavy.,
But, -evto after. having incurred this expenee, and
submitted to these disadvantages,_ the prison-ships
will last only a; feW years, whereaS prisons on 'land
will last for a:con,iderable length time, ancl ob-'
aiitheibconwnitncies wb have enumerated. as •
Intendant upon the system of keeping pri§oners on
board ships,

One prison is now building at *Dartmoor to con.
Lain about fire thousand prisoners, winch will tend
to diminkh the evils weallude to; one or two more
Orthe same description would probably render pi-
son-ships alfog,etho unnecessary. During the,two
t?r three Jest ycars preceding the peace of Amiens,
the,Transpert Board had in charge a number of pri-
souers at home and' abroad,. fuauating gecerally
froM thirty to thirty-four thousand men, not,,vith-
standing the • operations, of an established .cartel,
hieh allowed the constant exchange of. man for
man, rank for rank, and at the same time permitted
all, Odieers to retire to their respative countries,
upon conditions of not serving until regularly ex.
changed._ _ _ -

• Sincc the renewal of the war, however, the pre-
sent French Government has constantly re:jet:led
every overture for the re-establishment of.a cartel,
and detained all dose; iptions of persons, cii it and mi-
litary, .why were in Franca when ttie- war broke ouc,
or who have 1-)e, en captured since then, though a very
different conciud has been 'observed on the part of
this country, for about three thousand French pri-
soners and invalids, non-combatants, captured by us,,
have been permitted to return home.
Daily-ration to French prisoners of war in health.:

z 1 lb. of breaa pint of pease.
lb. of tresh beef. 1-3 d oz. salt.

The Tenth Report is occupied with the subjea of
the Victualling Office, With regard to it, the Com-
missioners state, " That nothing .short of an entire
new system is likely to be eliedual.7. 'When the.
Commissioners investipted the state of the accounts
of the Viaualling Office in. i7BB,thev had on that,
occusiov, to notice not only arrears of accounts of
very ancient dates,,but also debts due to the Crown;
to a very considtr4le.amount.. . .

. . •
Of these debts. aue to the public, contra led prior.
the win' of 130,1421. Bs. 101.(1. is still due;
and.they .give it.as-theirA)pinion, " that there is too
much reason to.apprehend that the qbove-mentioned
sum will prove.a•loss to the public." . .
." SitiCe J73:Ci, additional debt 4: to the amount of
no less thau -1(A. pid, more have. be-
come due to Government, and' are still unre,
covered thus. raising the .total amount -Of money
due to the Vikualling Department to the,surn of
3,51,3271. 19i. .
" A considerable: part of the debts due to the
public, consists iu What are termed itt official lan-
guage, army vitualling stoppages that is; the value
of the provisions furnished to troops, when embark,
ed for a passage on board any of. your Majesty's
ships, or onboard transports, and which is stopped
from the pay of the persons t whom the provisions
have been furnished,. according to the number of
days they have been vianalled.. These :debts arose
out of the system of management in existence prior
to tbe 25thjil.xember, 1797,!(50 far as related to.
regiments then at home) and prior to 25th of June,
1798; with respea to those r.tationed.abroad, when
a new system was adopted, which has. in a great
measure put a stop to the losses which the public
was,. under the former system so liable to sustain."

TL,e, reasons assigned by •the Victualling Board for
this great delay, are- " want of rieurn to employ
Clerks,-and the pressure of current: business."
The Commissioners,_ however, represent at 'con-
siderable length, that these excuses are by no means
satisthaory ; and then goon to observe, that
" The necessity and utility of the immediate in,
vestigation of accounts is strikingly apparent.; tbr
in the case of eny incorrect or suspicious circum-
stance appearing, it affords the .means of obtaining
elucidation without delay, which a lapse of time,
or the death of the parties, may render impos-
sible, when accounts are suffered to remain in
the office for many years without being liqui-
dated; and; in the event of an ,accountant mak-
ing unjustifiable or irregular chargo, the imine-
diate notice-of such improprieties will prevent- the
repetition of them ; • whereas, if they pass unnoticed,
• tie accountant naturally concludes that.they have