Star.
London, England, 1809-05-25 00:00:00

FRAUDS IN THE WEST INDIES.

The Ninth Report of die Military Inquiry Com-
mission, which is now printed, treats of the Reports
a other Commissioners appointed to exatnine the
Accouuts of Public Expendittre for his Majesty's
Forces in the West Indies, which Reports the Mili-
tary Commissioners declare to "disclose such a mass
of public corruption in persons connected with the
West India Military Expenditure, as has never pro-
bably been equalled in the history of this country,"
It appears that Mr. Isaac Phipps was appointed
Deputy Paymaster-General for the West Indies In
1791, with express orders to proceed thither:

" To draw for such money onlyas should be absplinely necessary;
to negotiate the bills to the best advantage for the publid, and at
the highest rate of exchange that could be obtained ; and to keep
a regular account of the profit and loss which might arise there-
from. He was also to charge himself with the profit which
rni;_lit arise from the Awe of coin to the troops; and be was to
oxidbit to. the COmmander in Chief, as often as required, an
exact account of all his receipts and payments, and of the balance
remaining in his hands."

These orders he executed in the following manner:
be never performed the duties of the office in the West
Indies at all ; he appointed as his •-leputies a succes-
sion of persons named J. Orzme, Hugh Rose, John
Gordon-, and Sayers, who derived gain from the pub-
lic money in every possible way, of which gain he,
Phipps, was a partaker (at one time by an indenture
between the parties) to the amount of one moiety.
Se The whole expenditure of the Pay Department in the West
indiet, from 25th December, 1732, to 24th December 1800, is
stated in the first Report of the Commissioners (for examining
West India Accounts), to hate amounted to two millions and
sixty-four thousand eight hundred and ninety-four pounds six
shillings and ten-pence, but previously to Ist January 1794, the
expellees of the Commls.ariat were paid through the Deputy
Paymaster. The public bills which were remitted by or on ac-
count of the individual who acted for Mr. Phipps as Deputy Pay-
router, and which had not been traced by the Commissioners, as
they state, without much I.bour and assiduity, amounted to
about forty-one thousand three hundred pOunds, by Mr. Granite;
sixty-two thousand pan nds, by Mr. Gordon; and sixty-one thousand
pounds, by Mr. Sayers; on which the Commissioners make the
following observation To what purposes the stuns thus re-
d milted were destined, whether wholly to supply fonds for mer-
• candle pursuits, for drawing private bills with advitntage, or for
▪ speculations of any other nature, dur means of intelligence will
• not, at this moment, permit us to venture an opinion, although
• we have positive proof of the proceeds of those remittances
4 having been applied to the pivot ass: of the persons whose
4 names are before mend med. The loss upon these bills by ex-
• change is nevertheless charged to the pubic, in the same man-
• ner as if they had been negotiated through other mediums in the
• West Indies."

" These are the more prominent parts of what is stated in the
Reports of the West India Commissioner!, relative to the con-
duct of the Deputy Paymaster-General and of his Agentsi duripg
the period of the last war."

The Commissariat comes next in order. Mr. Va-
lentine Jones was appointed Commissary-General in
1795, we believe ; after having held various offices
collaterally or subordinately connected with it.
_ _

" Mr. Jones, t.herefore, (as the Report states), even before he
became Commissary General, bad had much opportunity of be •
coming acquainted with the whole detail of the army expendi-
ture in the West Indies, both ordinary and extraordinary ; but
this acquaintance, as will appear in the sequel, did not lead to a
correct and faithful discharge of the duties, which, by accepting
the office, he bad undertaken to execute."
" In January 1797, the enormous amount of the bills drawn
en the Treasury, not justified by any statement or account sent
home, had so particularly called for the aniniadiersion of the
Lords of the Treasury, that General Sir Ralph Abercromhy, then
Commander in Chief, was desired to make an enquiry into the
donduct of Mr. Jones ; and if the result was not entirely satisfac-
tory to him, he was further desired to send Mr. Jones home."

'We cannot enter into all the particulars of Jones's
conduct. We shall give the following as a specimen:

" Amongst Valentine Jones% vouchers (the Commissioners
state), there was one dated 18th Aeg'ts;, 1796, in which it ap-
peared that Valentine Jones had bought of Murphy, of Do-
minica, precisely the same number of puncheons of rum, stated to
be s/1 rum, at twelve shillings and fourpence-halfpenny currency
per gallon, and casks at fifty shillings each. In an examination
of Mr Murphy, tie Cosurnisi.ioners s:ate, that he denied any
knowledge of the transaction ; but, that at the time when he was
in Martinique, he was often a7l•licd to by the agents of Valen-
tine Jones to sign receipts to vouchers for articles which be had
not supplied; that he bad no doubt but that the receipt for the
price of the rum in question was one of th.:m. He did this, it
• is further stated, because he understood it was a matter of
• form, and done daily by all the marchants of St. Pierre.' On
this transaction the Commissioners calculate the fraud on the pub-
lic to amount to nine thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine
pounds seventeen shillings and nine-per.ce.
" Other transactions In the purchases of rum are stated in their
third and eighth Reports; in all of which the vouchers appear to
Dave gone through the form of a certificate signed by the Com-
missary of Aecounts, Mr. Dori:ford ; but that the real quality
of the rum, the price really paid for it, and genera'ly the real sel-
lers, are other than elk: represented on the face of the vouchers.'•

To this we shall only add, that among the charges
made to this Jones by his subordinate agents, is one
for*" COLOURING" new rum, to give it the appear-
ance of old ; which new rum was served out to the
British troops, while their country was paying for old
for them. When we add to this, that the most de-
Aructive waste of human life is occasioned in the
Arest Indies by the use of new rum, and that pos-
iibly the colouring itself was a deleterious mixture ;
our mind cannot extend itself to the comprehension
)f any human punishment commensurate with the
;riminality of these miscreants.
The following are specimens of Jones's conduct in
the article of provisions : __ _

" It appeared from the evidence of Mr. Arthur Bair, a mer-
chant at Martinitlue, that in the years 179 G and 1797, certain
carrous of IA-ovisions were consigned by lotiti, Tot b, and Cc. of
Bel East it Irelard, to Valentine Jones, which Mr. Blair, at thedu..
sire of alcnt ;nt Jones, permitted to pass through his mime, un-
der ar agrip•n•tn: franc I,,:tes, that he would take them for Gom
verEr.lent a• a p:icew!,i:h ht: (Jones) fixed. The bills of lading
were :lien tle;lened to Mr. :.'!air, who rec:ived bills of exchange
from Mr. Jones fur the payment long before the provisions were
clelivatkl into the King's stores : Mr. Blair said, that he could
have Iro kirni of provisions cheaper in the island ;
that Jon: ,:fit t w:o VitlentiLe Jones's father.
" 7::::1112w Hirins purchased, out of an American
ssel t \ linntlicd pipes of wine, at fifty-nine
pouvas !, (An zency per pipe ; this was afterwards
sold to V.il•-11i; r Jones, for GI: Ilse oc the public,at ninety pounds
curruncyi.er pip( .

.c ir, ';slr, Ciudtn havicg offered to
sell corny ft:l,:- to :he Corn .arc litre raf, Va!trtineJopes was
referred 1,1. 1 zo N.% ai.a NOW purellased it at twelve
,!ollars per 1-7trr,i, lie would have sold it to
v:dentire ii fcr tl!e same .1 he Commissioner; state
that in all Mr. Jones's';.rflour pu based during the
it twenty-oat dollars per bar_correspondirg
rel was chat ed fi.r it."
Jones's fraUds moon the public in the negotiation
of bills are nest developed ; -and in the detail of these,
the name of Mr. Hugh R.os?.the Deputy Paymaster's
Deputy, again appears : an att..rnpt mode by. Jones,
too, to ensure concealmere, is d..-tected in a letter to
Mr. John Glasford, a prson at that time under exa-
mination by the Commissioner. " On the whcb,"
• says Jones in that letter, " yuu have one general
41 answer in your power, which is, that you cannot
„ remember points of business so long gone by."
7,101 following is the summary of Valentine Jones's

conduct, 23 Five:: in one of cite Commissioners'ke -
ports, of *itch the Report before us is the review :
It Roisters therefore to us, that Valt•nrine loneauety surly
' framed slid estaldished,by means of combinations and intricacies
I almost impervious, an over-ruling and highly injurious toluene,
• over the whole transactions of the public, -tonnected with the
• pay and enormous extraordinaries of the why' iu this part of
• the world: This influence was dissemidated in various diree•
tions, through every branch of the department, and embraced
• persons of even the lowest description employed therein p--and
• this influence, matured into a regular and far-extended system,
• produced an immediate loss and injury almost incalculable;—
' and its remote consequences have been-little less prejudical by
• furnishing examples and precedents, tbjaare tobe clearly traced
• since that period, in nearly all tratupertions of a similar deverip-
• tion:.

" We have now (say the Military Commissioners), concluded
what more immediately relates to Valentine Jones himself; but
we find a large mass of evidence dispersed through the West-
India Reports, imputing the most dishonest conduct to many of
Valentine Jones's assistant or resident Commissaries in the diffei.
rent islands, and to ethers in the public departments of Govern-
ment. Thus in the Second Report from Barbadoes, dated Ist
May, 180:." it appears front the examination of Martindale, who
had been clerk to the Resident Commissary at Bridgetown, Wil-
liam Smith, that his master had sold rum from the King's stores
at a dollar per gallon, and replaced it bt other rum for which he
paid Ss. 9d. and that a formal complaint of this transaction was
nude to Valentine Jones,ivho refused to listen to it. Another
transaction of the same kind is stated In the Sixth Report, of Fret-
well Philips, Assistant Commissary in Barbadoes, who, in 1797,
employed an auctioneer to sell or.* hundred tierces of damaged
flour from the King's stores, and got him to sign a false vendee
paper as for two hundred and fifty tierces, sold at the same rate
of price, by which Philips could take credit in his store account
for one hundred and fifty tierces more than were told, and ap-
ply them to his own use at the inferior price of damaged flour.-:-
And in the Eighth Report, dated St. Vincent, Ist August, 1894,
it is stated, that Michael Sutton, the Assistant Commissary, was
in the habit oftaking the empty casks as his own peredisite, for
which he received at one time upwards of one thousaud five hun-
dred and eighty pounds."
The Report next notices the inadequacy of the pre-
sent system of keeping accounts to check and prevent
such frauds and abuses, and recommends that a Board
of Accounts, consisting of three efficient Members,
should be established.
" Ii such a Board, constituted with the powers specified in the
'Report of the late West India Commissioners, ivere to reside in
that country, and were occasionally to visit the several islands and
colonies, the Commissioners think that the appointment of a
Conunission, like that of the Selected Commissioners, would not
be wanted."—They add, " We may state, therefore, that al-
though the orpence of such a Board, would, no doubt, greatly ex-.
ceed that of the present Office of Accounts, yet that it would pro=
bably be much less than the expence of the present Office of Ac-
counts, and of that of the Selected Commissioners together. And
it seems at the same time that the simplicity of the duties of such
a Board, and probably its efficiency also' would be superior to
their concurring duties. Were it though: advisable to adopt this
suggestion, the Board should be instructed to keep regular mia
mites of all proceedings, to sign all e2rtificates and other public
acts, and to state, if they differ in opinion respecting any matter,
their reasons fur such difference at large, and to enter them with
their signatures in the Book of Minutes. It would be expedient
also, that the three Commissioners should give security, like the
°Hirers in the Pay and Commissariat Departments, conditioned
that they will not be interested in Any plantation concern, or
other business or dealing in the West Indies.'.!

The Report also suggests--" that the judicial administration in
the West Indies would be improved, if Chief Justices were apa
pointed from this country, whose qualifications should be, that
they have been practising Banisters at the English Bar, of seven
years standing at least ; that they should be 'restricted from? being
connected in any plantation concern or mercantile engagement in
the West Indies; that their salaries be paid by this country, and
be 20001. sterling per annum, without any fees or perquisites
whatever."

The Commissioners then conclude their Report in
the following words :
" We have, now completed time slew of the abuses in the West
India 4rmy Expenditure, and of the Measures to he adopted to
prevent their recurrence, which we have undertake, to exhibit.
The evil has doubtless been of great magnitude, widely extended,
and deeply rooted. But if the opportunities for fraud shall be
ditninished, by making the contracts in this country for the neces-
sary supply of the fortes in the West Indies; ifa reviler controul
over those who direct and !nonage the expenditin e be established,
if the account be investigated soon after it is incurred ; and if, in
case of malpractices, the offenders be immediately prosecuted in
the country, and an impartial and firm administration of the law
can be insured ; it may be expected that the evil which his here-
tofore existed, will be in a creat decree prevented.

LAIY IiGELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, MAY 34.
COWAN v. MABBItLY.

Mr. GARROW stared this to be a qui tam action, to
recover penalties to the amount of £4O, under the
statute of Elizabeth (the sth Eliz. c. sect. 31
which prohibited any smith, mason, carpenter, &C. or
any other trade therein specified, from employing any
person as journeyman who had not served a regular
apprenticeship to such trade, under a penalty of 40s:
for each offence. This Act of Parliament was
passed for the purpose of protecting those who had
taken the trouble of acquiring knowledge through the
ordinary mode of acquiring it, by apprenticeship,
against those who might set up without such skill,
and without having taken the ordinary pains to ac-
quire it. The defendant was an eminent coachmaker,
and employed many hands in the various branches of
which coachmaking consisted ; among the rest seve-
ral blacksmiths, who had not served a regular appren-
ticeship, and therefore he had incurred these penalties
in the instances in which he had employed such men.
But what was curious was, Mr. Maberly had gone the
cheapest way to work in the defence of this cause ;
he had not retained any Counsel ; well Iknowing that
my Lord Chief Justice would watch the plaintiffs
case, and see that it was proved, with more correct-
ness than any gentleman at the bar could do.—lt then
appeared in evidence, that the defendant employed
tcn or a dozen smiths, some of whom had not served
an apprenticeship, but not that any of them had:pre-
viously worked at the trade less than seven years ; but
that none cf them were employed purely at smith's
work, but were engaged in the mixed and compound
character of coachmaking, and used to do only that
part of smith's work which belonged to coachmaking,
opon w:iich
Lord ELLENBOROVGII observed to the Jury, that if
they were of opinion that the defendant had employed
these smiths, or had employed carpenters, wheel-
wrights, painters, or those of any other trade, in his
ccmfiound business of coachmaker, and not in the simple
trade itself of blacksmith, &c. he could not he said
to have incurred the penalty of this Act, even if he
had employed 50 men who had not served an appren-
tice,hip. It would be hard indeed if he were liable,
in such a case, because it would then follow that any
man who undertook to build a bridge must be liable
for these penalties in every instance in which there
happened to be empked either mason, carpenter, or
smith, who had not served his apprenticeship ; and
many of each of these trades must be employed in
that undertaking. The statute of Elizabeth meant
that the penalty should a ttachionly where such persons
were employed in any one of these trades:hat ty, and
unconnected, not as they Wed here, as mere putts Of.
a compound of trades, to produce something from ,

•

I _

. •
then 2 all, such ass eat& via,. If the Jury were of that
opinion, they►' *mild find a verdict for the defendant.
—Vergfict for the defattlant.
LOAD Eu.susoaotron then observed, that Mr. Ma-
berly had gone somewhat economically to his defence,
by declining to retain Counsel in this case, and leay7,4
ing it to his 'Lordship to watch the plaintiff's case
but however he had a right to do so.
The Clerk of the Attorney for the Plaintiff said,.
that Mr. Maberly had declared that he had no id.ta
of the necessity of defending this cause by Couusel,
because the plaintiff must be nonsuitei upon the poin t
of law, if he should be able to prove the fact oil which
he sued.

ERA
The Nint
mission, wh
of other Co
Accouuts o
Forces in tl
tary Commi
of public cc
West India
bably been •
1 • It appear
. Deputy Pa
1791, with
" To draw fc
to negociate tl
the highest rat
a regular ACCO'
from. He v
rni;.,lit arise fn
II
exidbit to. the
exact account
remaining in 1
These on
he never pe
Indies at ali
sion of pees
Gordon, ar
lic money i;
Phipps, wa
between the
" The who
indiet, from S
stated in the
West India At
sixty-four the
shillings and to
expellees of t
Paynauttr. '
' count of the in
router, and w
they slate, wi
about forty-on
sixty-twothow
pounds, by M
following obse
4 mitred were
• candle plant'
4 speculations
• not, at this t
• we have posi
4 having been
4 names are be
4 change is an
• ner as if the)
• West Indies.
" These are
Reports of the
duct of the De
the period of tl
The Corn
lentine Jone
1795, we bi
collaterally
" Mr. lone
became Comm
coming acqual
ture in the W
this acquaintaz
correct and fail
the office, he h
" In Janus:
en the Treasui
' home, had so
Lords of the 1
Commander it
Conduct of Ml
tory to him,
We cann,
conduct. V
44 Amongst
state), there 14
peered that V:
minica, precise
be els, rum, at
por gallon, ani
of Mr urp!
knowledge of I
in Martinique,
tine Jones to
not supplied;
price of the rui
• is further sti
6 form, and dc
this transaction
1k to amount
pounds sevente
" Other tran
third and eight
Dave gone thro
missary of Age
of the rum, the
lers, are other
To this w
made to this
for" COLOUI
ance of old
British troop
for them. I
structive wa!
West Indies
sibly the colt
our mind cm
of any hump
criminality o
The follow
the article of
" It appearee'
chant at Marti
cat-roes of I)rovi
Zelhist in Irelat
sire of Valent;t:
der an agrip.n•t..
vermenz a• a i
were :hen
• from Mr. !one
del:vs:red I
the t:.
that Jon:, ,:f it
wise! it \
pour& .!,:.1..•
. sold to
curn.nry i r 1.
"
sell &only
referred 1,1. I i
d!nllars per ha:
1/;:lentirt. Jr:
that En all Mr
correspont:irz
rel was chart
Jones's f
of bills are
the name c
Deputy, al
• too, to enst
Mr. John 1
munition b
says Jones
sts answer
ss rememh
The 101 l