The Sun.
London, England, 1822-04-12 00:00:00

MR. THEODORE HOOK.

Extracts from a Copy of a Report of the Commissioners of Co-
lonial Audit to the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's
Treasury, dated 22d October, 1821 :
" M r LORDS—Pursuant to your warrant, dated 10th Fe-
bruary, 1820, we have the honour to transmit the state of the
attested account of T. E. Hook, Esq. as Treasurer of the Mau-
ritius, from the 9th October, 1813, when he entered upon that
office, to the 28th of February, 1818, when the charge of the
Treasury was taken from him.
This account has been framed either from the official books
of the Mauritius Treasury, signed by Mr. Hook, his admission
before us, or calculations necessarily resulting from established
data.

" Your Lordships are already inforMed, that after the dis-
covery of the deficit in the Treasury, amounting, as was then
thought, to 60,868 dollars 521 cents., Mr. Hook replaced
11,208 dollars 48 cents., and that his property sold to the
amount of 13,223 dollars 21 cents.

" A part which was unsold, was estimated at 1,380 dollars,
for which sums Mr. Hook has claimed, and we have allowed
him credit.

" The balance now due from him amounts to 55,224 dollars
50 cents.-12,8851. 14s. fid.

" Whatever suspicion may arise respecting the disposal of the
specie before or subsequent to this period, it is only during
this time that we have data sufficient to establish the amount
which appeared to have been disposed of without lawful autho-
rity.—During that period it amounted to no less a sum than
186,481 dollars 86 cents.

" In endeavouring to explain the circumstances, Mr. 1-Took
alleged that various entries in the weekly statements of receipts
in specie from the military chest were altogether fictitious.
Why they had been so stated, what was the object or purpose
of the fiction, he has not in any way explained.
" To clear up, in some degree, the obscurity arising from
these erroneous statements, it will be necessary again to de-
scribe the general nature of the transactions between the Com-
missary-general (Mr. Goodsir) and the Government, respect-
ing the payment of specie into the Treasury from the military-
chest. Fot a certain period, the commissariat-bills were sold
in the market for specie : Al r. Goodsir paid the soldiers partly
in notes, and paid into the Treasury certain sums in specie, as
having been the amount which had thus been paid to the sol-
diers in notes. From November, 1817, to May, 1818, both in-
clusive, by arrangement between the Governor and the Com-
mander of the forces, the commissariat bills were delivered over
to the treasurer, to be disposed of for the Government, and the
commissary drew upon the Government for the amount of those
bills, receiving in part specie and in part paper. It is obvious,
that during the continuance of this arrangement,' no specie
could have been received from the military-chest into the Trea-
sury. Yet, in the returns signed by the treasurer, submitted
each week to the Governor, and delivered by him to us, it is
stated that certain sums in specie were received from the mili-
tary-chest.

' In endeavouring to account for the irreconcileable differ-
ence as to specie between the monthly and weekly statements
Mr. Hook formerly urged,. that the monthly accounts were in
this respect mere hypothetical statements of the transactions of
the Treasury as they ought to have stood ; the weekly return
correct statements of the facts. 'We submit to your Lordships
so much of his answer, in writing, to our query respecting the
missing specie, as will show that he now abandons the weekly
returns as being fictitious :---‘ In considering the answer to this
important query, the Board are requested to put out of their
minds the fictitious balances upon which the accounts have been
made up, as far as relate to the negociation of paper and specie
with the military chest. The statement which I have now the
honour to sub.-Att is founded in truth, and bona fide transac-
tions in the Mauritius Treasury, as correctly stated as my me-
mory and that of Mr. Goodsir, who was employed in the con-
duct of them, will permit.'
" Your Lordships will recollect that the payment to Mr.
Goodsir of one per cent. as for specie paid into the Treasury,
amounted to 3953 dollars; Mr. Hook, therefore, appeared prima
facie chargeable with the sum of 395,300 dollars. He has now
stated, that the whole sum actually paid by Mr. Goodsir, in
specie, into the Treasury, amounted only to 60,000 dollars ;
that the per centage was allowed him on 70,000 dollars more,
because he paid specie to some merchants for Treasury notes
to that amount, to prevent their demanding payment at the
Treasury. That the per centage on the remainder was paid
upon so much of the amount of the Commissariat Bills as was
received by him from the Treasury in paper instead of specie.
Upon these points we have examined Mr. Goodsir ; he has also
corroborated the allegations of Mr. Hook by his oath, and has
also stated, that from November, 1816, to May, 1817, inclusive,
he did not pay any specie into the Treasury.
" Under all the circumstances, therefore, we have felt our-
selves at liberty to admit that the weekly statements were ficti-
tious, as far as relates to the receits from the military chest
from November, 1816, to May, 181'7; but in other respects, in
general, we thought Mr. Hook bound by his own signature.
" Upon this principle, we have thought him responsible for
the sum appearing by the weekly statements to have been re-
ceived in specie between September 7, 1816, and October 31,
1817, beyond the sums brought forward in the monthly ac-
counts, amounting to 89,756 dollars 16 cents.
" Mr. Hook asserts positively that no such amount was re-
ceived. It appears, however, by a warrant, dated 19th of No-
vember, 1817, that a per centage was paid to Mr. Maure for
specie to the amount of' 288,752 dollars, paid into the Treasury
between September, 1816, and June, 1817. This warrant in-
cludes the per centage on the sums admitted by Mr. Hook to
have been paid into the Treasury by Mr. Maure, and also on
the further sum of 75,667 dollars. The letter of the Chief
Secretary, authorising the warrant, states that the per centage
was granted on the report of Mr. Hook; and he has informed
us repeatedly, that the payments by Mr. Maure were made
into the Treasury, not precisely in the months for which the
contract was made, but as suited the convenience of Mr.
Maure.

" The Report however, of Mr. Hook, does not accompany
this warrant, and he has suggested to us, both on examination
and in conference, that even if he made a Report to the effect
stated in the letter of the Chief Secretary, it might have been
upon the orders of the Governor, with the view of allowing Mr.
.iaure the advantage of the per centage, although no specie to
the amount stated in the warrant had been paid by hint into
the Treasury.'
" To rely upon a suggestion of this nature, in which Mr.
Hook imputes to the Governor himself, and others, a gross con-
spiracy to defraud his Majesty's Government, was impossible ;
we have, therefore, with another exception, felt bound to hold
Mr. Hook accountable for the suns with which he had charged
himself in the weekly statements ; if indeed the Report upon
which the warrant appears to have been founded was in writ-
ing, and in our possession, it would not carry the evidence be-
yond what we possess, the acknowledgment of Mr. Hook in his
own hand-writing.
" The other exception to which we have referred arises from
the entry in the Weekly Statements of all the Revenue as hav-
ing been received in specie, while it appears by the returns of
the collector that almost the whole was received in paper.
Upon what principle these erroneous statements, with respect
to the receipt of specie, both from the military chest and the
collector, were made, we are at a. loss to conceive. Whatever
might be their object, their tendency has obviously been to em-
barrass the accounts, and to prevent the discovery of the real
state of the chest, although the returns were ordered for the
very purpose of giving the Governor information on that point.
Having thus stated the facts, shewing the amount of spe-
cie for which, in our opinion, Mr. Hook is bound to account,
it is our duty to refer shortly to the 4tlth Geo. 111. c. 141, sec.
19, upon which we think he is chargeable with the difference
in value between the specie and the paper substituted in its
stead.

" To us it appears that the specie intrusted to the treasurer
was public money, within the very terms of the 19th section of
that Act, and that he was responsible for the loss sustained by
Government from the improper disposal of such specie, whe-
ther arising. from fraud or negligence ; and that the loss is in-
deed diminished by the substitution of paper in lieu of specie,
so that, credit being given to him for the paper, he is only re-
sponsible for the difference in value between the paper and spe-
cie. No question, we think, can be made as to his neglect,
when it is the very essence of his defence that his returns, sign-
ed by himself, were fictitious ; that month after month he sign-
ed and swore to the monthly statements, and week after week
attested the weekly statements, without ever examining into
the state of the Treasury.
" There is one other article of charge, to which, rather from
its circumstances than magnitude, it is our duty again to call
the attention of your Lordships. It arises from the difference
of interest which would have been due to the Government upon
certain bills to the amount of 20,000 dollars, originally deposit-
ed in the Treasury as security for Cle residue of a loan from
the Government to Bonhomme and Co., and that which was
due upon certain other bills to the amount of 19,836 dollars 51
cents, delivered over with the Treasury by Hook, as a security
for such residue.

" The original loan was 30,000 dollars, secured by three
bills for 10,000 dollars, payable respectively on the 10th May,
10th June, and 10th July, 1817. The first was paid when due;
time was given for the payment of the others, at first by the
Governor, with peremptory orders that they should be paid at a
certain time. 'This time was afterwards prolonged by NIL
Hook, contrary to the express orders of the Governor, and
without any communication to him ; because, as Mr. Hook al-
leges, he thought that the enforcing the payment wpuld ruin
the house.

" Under these circumstances Mr. Hook made arrangements
with Bonhomme and Co., by which, as is stated by them, part
of the interest was paid, and the two large bills exchanged for
others, smaller, and due at different dates. Upon the first dis.

cowery of the deficit in the chest, Mr. Hook converted some of
these bills into cash, which he applied in liquidation of his
debt, and substituted in their place other bills, his private pro-
perty, granted also by Bonhomme and Co.
" The Governor, subsequent to Mr. Hcok's departure, ap-
pears to have entered into an arrangement with Bonhomme
and Co. respecting the substituted bills, and so far to have ra-
tified the acts of Mr. Hook as to have accepted them as security
for the proportion of the debt remaining unpaid.
" Any interest, however, which Mr. Hook might have re-
ceived from Bonhomme and Co., consequent upon the non-
payment of the original or exchanged bills, is not brought to
account.

" We have, therefore, charged him with the difference be-
tween the amount of interest which would have been due upon
the original bills up to the 20th June, 1818, the day on which
the arrangement took place, and that which was due upon the
substituted bills. For the difference of principal, Mr. Hook is
charged in the balance of his account, credit being given only
for 19,836 dollars 51 cents.

" We have already reported to your Lordships the admission
of Major Webster, one of the Members of that Committee,
upon whose honour and integrity all the conflicting parties
place the firmest reliance, that upon a careful examination of
all the documents in the Treasury, he was fully convinced of
their error. It appears indeed clear, upon a comparison of the
statement of vouchers with the Treasury accounts, that when the
certificate was obtained, there was a deficiency of more than
100,000 dollars, when, in fact, from the non-entry of various
sums admitted to have been received, but not brought to ac-
count, there ought to have been a surplus of 44,006 dollars 81
cents. beyond the amount stated in Mr. Hook's account, and
in the certificate of the Committee.
" The diminution of that deficit between the date of this ex-
amination (19th November, 1817), and that of the second ex-
amination (28th February, 1818), by about 40,000 dollars, is
demonstrative that it could not have been occasioned by rob-
bery, which s 1 r. Hook frequently endeavoured to impress upon
our minds.

" It is also a prominent feature in the case that, on the
morning of the second examination (28th February, 1818),
r. Hook stated to the Committee, that' he had not examined
the chest till that morning ; that he had that morning counted
it, and invited them to do the same.'

" They did so, and found the deficit of more than 60,000
dollars.

" To explain the contradictory results of their examination
and his own, Mr. Hook states that he had examined the chest
by a memorandum which Mr. Chaillet had given him, which
memorandum, however, he had destroyed.
" To the judgment of your Lordships, therefore, we submit,
whether it is possible that a man of extraordinary intelligence
and firmness, as Mr. Hook certainly is, who had counted the
chest by a memorandurri given him by his Clerk, and found it
correct, and whose statement was suddenly and unexpectedly
disproved by the discovery of a deficit to the amount of 60,000
dollars, should not immediately have stated how and by whom
he was misled, and have insisted upon his Clerk's showing from
what materials his memorandum was framed.

" Mr. Hook did not make any such appeal. On the contrary,
instead of proceeding to challenge inquiry, and sifting pub..
licly to the bottom how Mr. Chaillet could have framed and
delivered to ,him a false statement, he was contented, as he
himself alleges, with privately asking Mr. Chaillet for his
explanations, and with his answer, that he did not understand
the matter ; and produces from this very person, by whom he
had been thus misled disgraced, and ruined, an affidavit that
he believed Mr. Uook ignorant of the non-entry of the 37,150
dollars, which Mr. Allan had brought to light ; but not ad-
verting to this memorandum—this second fabricated statement,
framed (as Mr. Hook alleges) by him, and which, therefore,
he alone could have explamed.
" In addition to these extraordinary circumstances, neither
the fallacious entries in the weekly accounts, nor the admis-
sions by Mr. Hook, that he had frequently lent money to in-
dividuals from the chest, without the authority of the Governor,
and against the express tenor of his oath, nor finally, the
whole transactions respecting the Auditor-General and the bills
of Bonhomme and Co., will escape the recollection of your
Lordships.
" Where so many instances are proved of his dealing with
the Government property as his own ; where the discovery of
the real state of the chest was once prevented, by the credit
given to a fabricated statement of vouchers which he produ-
ced ; where it might have been prevented a second time, if cre-
dit had been given to his assertion,—it will rest withl your
Lordships to determine, whether there are any grounds upon
which he ought not to be held responsible for the full amount
of the deficit.

" Colonial Audit Office, Feb. 27, 1822."

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF HIS

MAJESTY'S TREASURY,

THE MEMORIAL OF THEODORE EDWARD HOOK,
Shereeth—That your Lordships' memorialist, in consequence
of an alleged deficiency in the public chest of Mauritius, of
which he had charge as Treasurer of that island, was by order
of Major-General Gage John Hall, the Officer administering
pro teinpore the Government of the Colony, dragged from his
house at midnight to the common prisons of Port Louis,
all his property of every denomination being at the same
time seized and sealed up. That in consequence of the dread-
ful hurricane which had occurred the preceding night, (and
had not even then subsided) the dungeon to which your Lord-
ships' memorialist was doomed was reported uninhabitable,
and he was therefore allowed, by the indulgence of the officers
of justice, to proceed, at four o'clock in the morning, to the
house of a friend, where he remained virtually in custody for
nine days, and after all legal proceedings had been abandoned
by Major-General Hall, in direct violation of, the colonial
law, by which, when the first step had been taken, a prosecu-
tion should have been carried on against your memorialist,
or he should have been discharged within twenty-four hours.
That at the expiration of nine or ten days, during which time
your memorialist was, without any legal form or authority, kept
in custody, and ail his property sealed up, a message was sent
to your Lordships' memorialist, informing him, that the Major
General intended to send him to England when he could, but
that till an opportunity occurred he should commit your me-
morialist to prison, unless he furnished security for his appear-
ance in Mauritius to the amount of fifteen thousand pounds
sterling, which enormous and excessive bail your memorialist
put in.

And further your Lordships' memorialist begs to show, that
after a space of more than two months, your Lordships me-
morialist was taken into the military custody of Captain
Pritchard, of his Majesty's 56th regiment and a detachment of
soldiers, by virtue of an illegal paper purporting to be a war-
rant to him directed by Major General Mall, and that your
Lordships' memorialist was kept in such military custody for
the space of eight months and twenty-two days, your memo.
rialist having surrendered himself to the said military force
without resistance, in release of his bail.

That your Lordships' Memorialist was embarked on an
overladen ship witth several other prisoners, three of whom
were since convicted of felony at the Old Bailey, and that be-
fore quitting the Isle of France, your Memorialist applied to
Major General Hall for a small proportion of his salary for
February, to purchase some articles necessary for a long
voyage (every part of your Memorialist's furniture, even his
dressing-case, having been sold in liquidation of the alleged
debt due to the Government), and that the said Major General
was please to reply, that he did not feel " disposed or autho-
rized" to grant any sum whatever for any such purpose.
And your Lordships' Memorialist begs further to shew, that
the ship in which he was in custody having encountered a vio-
lent tempest off the coast of Africa, in which she was disrnast-
, ed and saved from foundering only by the exertions of the
troops, your memorialist, after suffering the greatest distresses
and privations, was detained upwards of four months at the
Cape of Good Hope, while the vessel underwent the requsite
repairs, and consequently was inevitably involved in expences,
for the defrayment of which he was compelled to draw on his
friends in England, to whom he is still indebted in the amount
of such drafts. And further, your Lordships' memorialist begs
to state, that at St. Helena, where the ship was detained for a
month, and the charges of living are exorbitant, he should have
found himself in great distress, had it not been for the hospita-
lity and kindness of his Excellency Sir Hudson Lowe, the go-
vernor of that colony.
And your Lordships' Memorialist further begs to show, that
he has now been four months in England, without. any income
or resource, his salary having entirelj ceased since January,
1818, and having given up every species of property of which
he was possessed, in liquidation of the debt with which he yet
stands charged ; that he finds himself, after six years absence
from Europe, thrown on the world without the means of
existence.

Your Lordships' Memorialist, in consequence of the extreme
difficulty of his circumstances, applied to the Right Hon. Earl
Bathurst, that he would be pleased to afford him some means
of present subsistence, and save him from the, ruin which im-
pends over him. In reply, his Lordship was pleased to sug-
gest, that as your memorialist's case had been referred to your
Right Hon. Board, he should make his application to your
Lordships.
And your Memorialist has, in consequence, ventured to ap-
peal to your Lordships, that you would be pleased to consider
his case favourably, and afford him some present relief from
the effects of the precipitation and violence of Major-General
Hall's temper and disposition, rendered more oppressive, as
they have not only deprived him of every means of living, but
have removed him from the local means of tracing those per-
sons for whose business and misconduct your Lordships' Me-
morialist is so bitterly suffering.
THEODORE E. HOOK.

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