The Sun.
London, England, 1805-04-09 00:00:00

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way to proceed. it was highly material to ot.iLler
the. nature. of theevidenee that had been adduced. In
the first place, the Commissioners ducovered, that
in 41rea etnoradidion to lain, certain enormous dc.
neiencieg existed in the Department of the Treasurer
of the Navy, amounting at an average to. about
43 or +4,0001. a year (w!lether a little less dr a
little
.more was iintnaterial,- it was not the sum, hut
the intrattitm of the law that rendered the transac.
tion 'culpable), On that foundation the Commis.
*loners raised 'their investigation. He should have
frequent t.)CCisipn to name Mr.. Trotter in the course
olnis speech, be would therefore observe here, that
what applied to Mr. Trotter di;i oot apply to
hint „l;tne, iditti Melville anti Mi. Trerterwqe
itirtitificti. Lord Mzly tile was worthy t 1 seen a
~-:tzsottil' as Mt. 'Trotter, and Mr. Trotter wait

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Naval Inquiry, the Noble Lord declirei Ile never
derived any advantage 'from 'the use of 3r.- Lord
Blaney followed, and had mode a -similar deelara.
tion. Oa the stli of January 17540 Lord Melville
again became 'Treasurer of tile Mies., whicti
situation he retained till the tit of June, 1800,
and it was to this period of sixteen years that
the . Honourable Gentleman intended to canfinc
his animadversions. In 1785, the Right Honour.
able. Gentleinan epposite to him proposed a plan of
public retreochment, founded on the Report of the
Committee before mentioned, in which he held
the most brilliant prospeCts to the Country; but no.
fortunately he was mistaken in the charader of the.
persons whom he had seleded 'to carry this pieta
into execution. The Noble Lord had been one of
those persons, and one too, in wtoo.c praise the
Riede - Hon. Gentleman had been m .st loud. As
kid been solicitous to place hirmelf app.
e in chi:l-an ,of reform 00. 4,ltet ice might
faeillty suppress all s4rital the No.
Lotd hiniselt intredueed the Bill for •regu.
hying the office of Treasurer of the Navy; The
Bill passed into o law, the .language of which was
so clear and' determinate, that he would defy.the
most dexterous lawyer in the profession to torture
the letter of it into any c-nstrudion foreign to the
obVious One. If it were possible rhos to pervert
the letter of the Ad, and to force it to'contradid•
the spirii of it, be Was persuaded that the feelings
of. the House- would revolt at any such nefarious at.
tempt. - The preamhle of the Ad stated it to be.
founded on the Report of-tfie Committee, and in.'
tended. to render the Treasurer of the Navy an Ac.
counrant instead 'of a - Banker, by which means
neither he tier any of those under him would incur
the temptation of haz tiding. the public money in
unsafe spectilations. There was one provision in
the At the Operation of which Was to commence on
the tit of July, 1785, to which he wished parti.
cularly call the attention of the • fi.e.oe. It
was therein directed, that on that day ell the pub_
lie money its the possession of the Treasurer of
the . Navy should be deposited in the Bank tof
England, and that from that day no "part of, it
should be issued from the Batik but on draughts,
specifying the service fur. whiCh it was intend.
ed. Le.rd Melville, however, on Ilk own sole au-
thority postponed making this deposit until the
first ofjanuary, 1786--Why, ? -Becauie, forsooth,
the errangemeots in his office could nut be Completed
before 'lilt time ! What, not in six months ? The
feloky of the cause thus assigned for this shameful
delay was evident,. and impelled us to search for
the nue woe. 0.0 the 3t st December, 174. the
haloce of the public money in Letd Mel v
handi - did net muchoeotered., 70.,0001. He was
diteded by the At of Paoliamerit to transfer this
sum te the Biok of England on the xst of July,
1785, but on the otst Of December, 1785, he had
not done so, and she balanie then amounted to above
a hundred and thirteen thousand pounds, being-an
increase of about forty. three thousand pounds. No
proof could be established; but the fair inference to
be drawn from this delay undoubtedly was, that
Lord Melville hail withheld the public money
from its proper destinatinn fer the purpose al his
own private emolument. . This tronsedtiotO was
comprehended in what he would call the lirst part
of .Lard Melvillei.secnr,d Treasurership. In the
second part arose the ekts which Formed the basis
of the charges ageing the Noble Lord. He,would
state them under three Morbid
.heeds. The first
was, that under' his own. authority, without the
consent of Parliament,. and even in diredt violation
of the Al of Parliament, he .had diverted to other
public services the money appropriated by law to
the :Naval Department. Secondly, that he had
connived at a system of peculation in an
dual, who will hereafter be responsible for his
own. contiud, hut for whoin Lord" Melville is
now responsible. To these two charge}, be would
confine the propositions which he meant to" sub.
ink to the House to-night ; but unless what. had
been- said could be unsaid', and. whet had been
done, undone, there existed hut too clear a,prouf
that Lord Melville had participated in the freude.
lent profits of his Agent. Should the House agree
to his present Motion, he pledged himself to prose-
cute this part of the subject still further., - To the
honour of men who have held high official situations
in this Country, it most be said, that socharge of a
similar nature too not been brought for many years.
The lair exhibited was by Lord_Melville himself
againit a Gentleman Who filled an itnportatit office.
abroad; . Sir T. Rumbold. - In a case like. the pre.
sent he did not conceive that there existed any-neo
crssiry for a precedent, but, if there did, he should
be unwilling to follow that just mentioned, As
he thought too much severity had been shewno
in the proceedings. His intention was to move
certain Resolutions, grounded on the Report of
the Commissioners, and. coupled with Resolu,
tion of Censnre of the conduct of the 'Noble Lord.
The House would afterwards have to consider in what