The Sun.
London, England, 1803-12-08 00:00:00

that was never performed, to a very large amount.
The Defendants•pleaded not guilty.
Easx.nre'Opened the case in the absence of
the At tOroeybeneral, and'made a very able speech, in
which he touched on,the immr.nse 'win-t:Mee of the
subjed, particularly at the present moment, when
there was so much call for the exetlion of this
Country in' efery department. This case,' he said,
would develope a scene, the which, if i: had not
been detected, roust have ended in the absolute ruin
of this' mighty Empire. It would appear that the
Defendants, who are Cooper's, and who live at
ROthethithe, had a contrast' with the Commission.
ers of this Navy for supplying His MajestYN 'Ships
;t the Dock-yard of Woolwich with hoops for,
masts, tar barrels, buoys for anchors, and other
articles, &c. and thatithey had committed frauds
Which never were befOre heard of in a •Cour'Cof.:
Justice. That in the course of their serving these •
Dock-yards, they had given diredions to their,
Cooper to overcharge almost every article of work
done and materials found ;
an
as to hoops to
masts, they were' to charge hundred fur every
Ship, even although there should • not be half the
number furnished: that an hundred had been ac-
cardingly 'charged, when less than fifty had been
supplied : that new heads to barrels, &c. had been
charged by hundreds, when not ooe'new head had
been ever made: 'that the Cooper who did the work
for these Defendants stood still for whole days for.
Want of materials to proceed, and still lie kept
charging Government the 'same .as if the miterials
,were found Anttthe work &he that the 101.2
these over-charges had from. 81. to fol. a-week,, for
this supposed work, when his fair earning could not
amount to more than, from 3 to 4. pounds a- week,
and that the Defendants .had e all the charges
as if Government had been .suoplie;l with all these
materials : • that in one Vessel, called the Aramanthe,
to whose mast, there were 16 hoops, 160 had been
charged, one word, that upon the whole' of the
Defendants' chat& 'to 'Government, the real value
of all the Materiali, and the'labour bestowed in, the
Dock-yard of Woolwich, was"z3sl. 6s. Bd. 'where.
as the charge they aduaily made—would it be he.
hewed when heard, and would it not excite atto.
nishment When believed, was no Less than 2 650 i .
811. 9d.—all which they 4tually received. It tftis
species of pradice was to go on, this Empire, with
all. its resources, great as they were, would soon
be brought to ruin. He stated how this fraud was
committed : he said, that the Cooper brought into,
the Storekeeper's Office an account of work done and
.materials 'found, and there it was entered in the
ship-work book, and then signed by, that Clerk,
and that was done without
.any examination what-
ever ; so that here • the.erroy began, for the Cooper
imposed upon this Office, and all the. rest was of
course ; .for this, entry being madOn',2he ship.work
book, and this signature being isatialassthis account,
it became a regular document ; -3144thert it, had the
certificate, of all beitig regular ai-aiiiitter.of course.
Alkhis was negligence of a blameable kind in the
Offices where this happened; 'for Vl:Attending to
the kcgulations of 1797 in dieseOfffea4k, thia fraud
must have been prevented altogether.
He then called his evidence, when it appeared
most manifestly.that the frauds were committed as
they bad been stated, Three of the Witnesses who
had been ernployed, proved that they had received
diredions from-the Defendants tomake these charges
in a particular form ; that the onedireded and the.
other paid them; that they constantly overcharged,,
every thing; frequently set. down many-things that:
were not furnished ; that they were paid for' work
which they never did and that they were paid the
same whether they worked
.of not, provided they
brought to the Defendants
:vouchers; so that
, they could charge Government the suite 'its
the work was done anti materials found : that
they often charged what came into their own heads,
always more titan was done ; sometimes a great
deal more than double ; in some instances ten times
the quantity. That the Defendant John Hedges
said, that if it were not • for over-aarges, their
contra 't would 'not be worth having., That .a
cooper ',at '. this rate had,,wpges for what. he never
did, and,got froM 81." to tel. aweek, when his real
earning tie veiamounted to much
,more than three,
appeared alio by the, evidence of those. who were un--
, eartrOted With,the fraud,, that it was .impossible for,
all the articles charged by, tliese Defendants tro.ave
been used in the time, if„allthe ships a.; the pl,,,ee
had been supplied with them. That there ';,as' note
room on, the masts of the flips for a.l:, the hoops;
that were charged. That not. one DA, head to bar..
reit; Sec. had been furnished by.;,;na Defendants,,aL,
though they had charged ly..,nifreds of them.
Defendants Mr. DALLAS
On' the part of ttt2-
, addressed the Jury the; topicks he urged were
these ; That A. these vouchers were regularly sign...
ed by the (Akers under, Government, whose duty.
it was ts,inspee3‘thern,,and as the Defendants never
sum: Amended any of the. business themselves, but
Iscrt it to their working cooper, it was not a crimi-
nal negligence in them to take it for ga-anted that
thesA,vouchers were coned., That as Government
had ,pnfidence in these. Officers, which it, mani.
festa by continuing them in their differeht employ.
merits, and had even promoted 'someof them, it
was not PIO much for the Defendants to trust them
also; and it was their misfortune to trust to the
diligence .of these gentlemen. As -to the three
cooper*: who had been estamined, and who swore.
tothe overcharge, the Jury would be very cautious,
iii convidineand consigning to ruin for ever men
of such-good. chirafter as he should prove the De..
fendants to be ; for these three witnesses were upon
their own oaths recorded robbers at the best—,men
who were interested in making these false charges
to-enlarge their incomes it was true that the re.
sult of it was to put a' great de,al of money into the
pockets of the Defendants, but were the Witnesses
without any participation in the ghat, if they did not
know it, &c. ; and he maintained there was
no proof to fasten any guilt on the Defendants,
except of these three coopers,, who were unworthy
of credit,