Star.
London, England, 1812-02-13 00:00:00

pp-r- -
advantage would be obtained,. in this and in
sof
other respects, by separating- the accounts into pans,
Isla instance, by making up and delivering in the
wits byfor the horse b •
battalions, or brigade and
acc°
valid battalion. distinct from the accounts of the
earthing battnlions, or the accounts for recruiting se-
-wately, or the accounts for the whole of the Artil-
n serving at home and in the Mediterranean, &c.
• fe whose service issues are made tinder the distribu-
tion before spoken of, distinct from the account of the
Artillery serving in other parts abroad.
It was admitted by Mr. Drewry, that in every one
ithese cases, except in the first, such a separation
ie the accounts would uchfacilitate the making of
dt IT in the Agent's Office, and that the same
tellent would follow in the first also, if the compa-
las of each battalion were kept nearer together—but
le doubted whether the subsequent examination of
the accounts in the Surveyor General's Office, would
be facilitated by the, measure ; because as the men
we frequently transkrred from one battalion to ano-
ther, and from the marching battalions to the horse
brigade and invalid battalion, &c. it would be
accessary to have the accounts with the Muster Rolls
for the whole regiment, for the purpose of checking
the pay of the men so transferred—and Mr. Drewry
is confirmed in this idea of the subject by the opinion
Of Mr. Bartley, of the Surveyor General's Office ;
bat it is the opinion also of Mr. Bartley, that if the
accounts for the home service of the Artillery were
trade up by the Agents distinctly, they might be de-
livered into the Surveycr General's Office within six
sleight months after the period of ,iach account ;
red Mr. Drewry agrees that in sada a case they
could be given in, in a much shorter time propor-1
tionably than at present.; we therefore recommend
this alteration in.the making up of the Artillery ac-
count!, for it would be highly convenient to bring
under examination the very varied and intricate ex-
renditure of regiments on home service recently after
ithas been incurred, and if a preceding suggestion
of ours were adopted, by which the issues for the ser.
vice of the Artillery serving out of Great Britain,
were to be made not on distributions, but on Bills of
Exchange approved by the Board, a further conve-
eicuce would be obtained by the measure ; for the
Board would then be enabled to ascertain at short in-
tervals the actual state of the balance in the Agent's
hands, as it appears that these balances arise almost
exclusively front the monies issued under the distri-
butions. It must be maned, that the accounts of the
Peasicts paid to invalids of the Artillery, and of the
allowances to half-pay nod retired Officers of that
corps, have not been delivered in by the Agents ear-
lier than the other accounts of the corps, although it
is admitted that they have no connection with each
other. The reason alledged for this omission is, that
0 it bad not been the custom to deliver them in other-
wise, and no instance was receliterted when the. Agents
bad been required to deliver them in sooner."
The accounts of the German Artillery were in the
same state of arrcar, 44 owing," as it was said, 44 to
" the accounts of that' part of it which was upon ser-
a vice in Portugal, not having been received s'nce
" they had been in that country,"—then nearly two
years.
These several accounts, and almost all the other
accounts of the military corps in the pay of the Ord-
nance, are examined in a separate branch of the Sur-
veyor General's Office, wider the immediate superin-
tendence of Mr. Bartley. From him we learn, that I
previously to the appointment of the late Surveyor
General, Colonel Hadden, there were only twoclerks
exclusively employed on this service, but that nine
including himself, had been mlssequently so employ-
ed, by which means the department had been enabled
to get through more than a year's accounts in each
year, and thereby considerably to reduce the arrear
which existed at the time of that appointment. We
have given a paper in the Appendix which strongly
confirms this statement. *We refer to the Exami-
nation of Mr. Bartley and of Mr. Angell, of :he 14th
December 1809, fer a description of the very satis-
factory mode in which this business is conducted, as
well in respect of the arrangement of it amongst the
Clerks, as of the vouchers required in suppcnt of the.
charges in the accounts. - From their information it
appears also, that the Agents or Paymastets of thin
teveral corps, are considered as responsible for the
accounts of all persons who have obtained money
through them, and that the objections and queries
which arise on the accounts, are all transmitted to
them fur explanation, with a desire generally that
.they may be answered without delay, but that there
is no time limited, within which it is reqeired that
theexplanation should be returned to the Surveyor
General's Office. If those objections to the accounts
be not satisfactorily explained, the same' are ulti-
mately charged against the agents, but," cases have
" occurred,' it is stated, is in which the Board have
" comidered them as itaitled to relief, on proof of
" the payment of the money charged as disbursed,
" and on its being satisfactorily :Ileum that the
" Agents hrtd taken every step in their power to pro
-
N care a settlement with the subordinate Paymaster."
The Agents, however, can only have recourse to the
Board in the event of their not being able to recover
the sum disallowed from the subordinate accountants,
fur those officers are not appointed with the concur-
rence of the Agents, neither do they give any secu-
my to the Agents for the due accounting for the mo-
te)* issued to them. -
The accounts thus examined in the military branchl
elf the Surveyor General's Office, undergo no further
examination, end they are passed by the Surveyor
General putting -his signature of approved" to
therm They are then transmitted to the OffiCe of
the e Clerk of the Ordnance, where being put into de-
titre, the Imprests,to the Agents are vacated to
at amount f them.
Our informatiea respecting the other Ordnance
military accounts in Messrs. Greene ooti and Cox's
agency, Was obtained from Mr. Falconer of their
sirtce. The only particulars deserving of attentin'n,
v►hich, as appears from his examination, distinguish
this branch of agency from that already noticed, are,
tkat the pay of the Royal Military Artificers serving
at home and in certain fixed stations abroad, as well'
Is the pay of the Royal Military Surveyors and
utaftsrnen, is issued monthly to the Agent, according
' we t7ke this opportunity of inserting in the Appendix,
titetnems . communicated to us front the Surveyor General's
"6, which are connected with an observation made in the e2d
tP.
,ut our Thirteenth Report, area which were there omitted to
ez_,l; Ird Iptetiug the great iacrea4e in the quantity of buiiness
the Surveydr General's (Bice duriog the Liam that
riaCto held that sttuati,a.

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LONDON.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13.
PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE fiel.ooK
3 per Ct. Cons. for money 621i—Do. for acc. 621
S per Ct. Reduced 62i 63-4 per Cent. 781 i
S per Ct. 93i i—Bonds t Os. 17s. pr.—Ontniunt
Exch. Bills 16s. 17s. pre.—Long Arms. 16 3-16ths
Swtt I's is the only Office that sold a Prize of £20,000 in

ikarts, in the last Lowry.

The complexion of the latest intelligence from the
North of Europe has certainly been of an hostile de-
scription, so far as France is concerned. A coalition
between Russia, Denmark and Sweden has been :me
than once hinted at in the communications lately re-

to monthly returns of the effectives of these corps, Commerce and Manufactares, complaining, on the
'And that they give in regular half-yearly statements Peat of the Indians, of the want of commercial inter.
of the money received and disbursed on account of course, is viewed as a broad hint from the Executive
these and of the corps of engineers ; and that on the
itself, as to the wishes of the Government. That a statement ending the 30th of June 1809, amounting
to £50,460: Ss. hid. there was a balance of about partial trade with America is already opcnei, cannot I
4'1500 due to the Agents, and on that of the 31st of be doubted; and it is inferred, by those who are sup
December in the same year, amounting to £58,042. posed to be in the confidence of the American poli-
6s. ad. about £lOOO remaining in their hands ; that ticians in this country, that our Orders in Council
the
home sand in of the
Guernsey and Jersey,alilitar Artifice
isrissued tog
servingthe at
.will be either rescinded or greatly modified, itnmedi-
order of Officers of Engineers commanding the corn. ately on the PRINCE RECIANT'S being divested of the
panics or detachments of this corps,aaccording to the Parliamentary restrictions. In this case, it is under-
muster rolls which they transmit monthly, and that stood that the British interests in America will in-
the Captaies of the several companies have an allow..
ance-from the public of £36. 10s. and of two-pence stantly preponderate over those of France.
in the pound on the expenditure, as a remuneration u The Jubilee, GIIENCD.Y, has arrived in the Clyde,
for this service. That the Agents make up the ac- from Halifax, in 20 day's, but we have not heard
Counts of each corps half-yearly, and that these ac- that she brings any news. •
counts to December 1807 had been delivered into the ,
Surveyor General's Office in January 1810, leaving i As might naturally be expected, rumours of a to-
therefore an arrear of two years' accounts ; and that tal or at least partial change in Administration still
the reason given for this arrear, was partly the same
continues afloat in the political circles. The only dr. as was given for that of the artillery accounts, viz.
The time which elapses subsequent to the period of cumstances which can be relied on with certainty on
the accounts, before the accounts and vouchers relat- this subject are the resignations of Mr. YORKE, of his'
ing to the engineers and artificers serving in Ceylon seat at the Admiralty Board, and of the Earl of
are received.
Aveeseonn, as Steward of the Household. 11l health
It is of such material importance to so many per-
sonsis mentioned as the cause of Mr.Yortee's resignation,
individually, as well as to the public generally,
that the making up and the examining of all military ibut we have not heard any reasons assigned for the
accounts of expenditure should not be unnecessarily Noble Earl's relinquishing his office. Lord KEITII
delayed, that it should be considered, we think, whe. I and Mr. WELLESLEY POLE have been mentioned as
ther the issues for the service of all the ordnance mial
Mr. YORKE'S successors at the Admiralty. While
litary corps in Ceylon, and perhaps in Canada also,'
upon this subject, we think it our duty to lay before
might not be separately accounted for. It can very sel-
dom occur, we imagine,that there will be such transfers our Readers the following article from a Dublin PA
between these and other Ordnance Stations, at home , per of Monday last, which arrived in town this
and abroad, as should create a difficulty in adopting' morning:
this suggestion.
is We understand that Secretary HAY Iris received
Mr. Ridge is the Agent or Paymaster to the Ord-
Staff and Field Trains serving at home, and a letter from the Duke of BEDFORD, assuring him,
he pays also the field duty pay to certain Engineer that on the removal of the restrictions an entire
Officers serving at home, which we noticed in our change of Administration will take place."
statements respecting that corps, and which is includ-
ed in Mr. Ridge's accounts under the head of inci-
dents. For these services he has 10s. a day pay, and
2d. in the pound on all sums passing through his
hands. This last allowance seems to be general on
the expenditure for the ordnance military corps, but
it is only on that for the ordnance staff and field '
trains that we find the whole poundage charged to
the public, for in the artillery and engineer services
the officers above the rank of subalterns, pay their
own poundage, as do the subalterns also on their ex-
tra pay. This charge may probably therefore have
been inadvertently admitted in Mr. Ridge's accounts
of disbursements. The issues are made to Me. Ridge
monthly, upon an estimate computed on the effectives
of the staff and field trains, and transmitted about
the middle of each month. These cstimatds do not
contain a statement of balances in hand, because the
computations are made, it is said, for the exact num-
ber of effectives, and frequently fall short through the
alterations which take place towards the latter end
of the month. And on none of the other statements,,
as for the allowances to the Ordnance Staff, &c. is
the balance in hand noticed, it being deemed unne-1
cessary, because the accounts are rendered hal f•yearly.
We learned, however, in June 1810, from Mr. Este,
who has the management of the Ordnance business in
Mr. Ridge's Offices, that these accounts had not been
delivered in later than for the year 1806, but it was
at the same time added that those for 1807 and 'lBOB
were nearly ready.
This delay was imputed to the want oEreceipts for
pay and contingent disbursements from officers and
individuals then on foreign service, and to a difficulty
about some small travelling charges of persons in the
field trains. So far as concerns tne consideration of
balances in this agent's hands, it is certainly not of
much moment that thew accounts had not been more
speedily transmitted, for the balances in the three
years named were calculated not much to exceed nine
hundred pounds ; but admitting the general principle
of the expediency of all public accounts being sent in
for examination shortly after the periods to which
they relate, the causes alledged' for the delay in this
instance cannot be approved ; for the expenditure un-
der Mr. Ridge's management, is confined to the home
service only, and his attention should at all times be
directed to procure the requisite vouchers previously
to the embsulation of the officers and other persons
in the Ordnance Service to whom he has made pay-
ments. At all events, the accounts ought to be re-
gularly delivered in, and if vouchers are not produ-
ced for any disbursement in them, the charges should
be disallowed.

Yesterday the LORD CHANCELLOR, Mr. PERCEVAL,
and the Marquis WELLESLEY had audiences of the
PRINCE REGENT, at Carlton House.
The Duke of CAMBRIDGE visited the PRINCE RE.
GENT yesterday.
Yesterday morning the Duke of YORK left town for
Windsor, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel BROWN,
one of his secretaries.
Her Grace the Duchess of GORDON has, for seve-
ral days, been dangerously indisposed, at the Pulteney
Hotel, Piccadilly.
Colonel BLOOMFIELD, J. C. LANOMEAD, Esq. Sir
C. M. POLE, and Lord Astmaus BEAUCLERK, are
rival candidates, in the event of a dissolution of Par.l
liameat, for the Borough of Plymouth.
The Bill for amending the Debtors' Bill, of the
39th of his present MAJESTY, has been printed, as
amended in the Committee of the House of Com.l
mons. It enacts, that the Courts from which 'the'
process has issued, may order Debtors, confined with-
in 20 miles of the place of the General Sessions of the
Peace, to be brought before said Justices, instead of
the Judges of Assize. This regulation has been deemed
necessary, in consequence of the great distance be-
tween the Assize towns, and many gaols in which
Debtors are confined.
According to an Account laid before the House of
Commons, the duties on Sugar, in Great Britain,
amounted, in the year 1809, to 5e4.,78a,170 18s. 3d.
In 1810, to £4,844,673 55.; and 1811, to JE 1i,5862018
15s. sd.
It is reported, that the eldest son of an English
Earl has been drawn in, by some most artful influence,
to read in a Popish Church at Palermo, his recant*.
tien from the errors of the Church of England
Anxious as we are to see the principle of religious
freedom universally recognized, we cannot suppress
our astonishment that any well educated youth should
be brought, by any influence, to embrace the tenets of
the Roman Catholic sect—that of a Print must have
been ineffectual—perhaps he called in to his aid that
of a Woman !
DuEt..—A meeting took place at Wimbledon Com-
mon, on Saturday last, between Mr. B.;---11, (an
Irish Gentleman, settled in America), and Major
in consequence of the latter Gentleman
having, in the course of conversation, the evening be-
fore, animadverted in very strong terms on the mea-
sures lately adopted by the American Government
against England, as also on the character of the Ame-
rican nation in general. After the first fire (which
wounded Major D— in the right arm), Mr. B—'s
friend ( Mr. P—) proposed to Major D—'s se-
cond, that the Major should apologise, which being
refused, another shot was called for, which took effect
in Major arm, below the elbow, and effec-
tually pot a stop to any further proceeding. We un-
derstand the business has since been accommodated
by the seconds.
CORONER'S Istoutst.—Yesterday afternoon an in.
tair!st was held at the Three Tuns Public House,
Cross-street, Hatton-garden, on the body of Mr.
ARCIIER, watch maker, in Kirby-street, Hatton-gar-
den, who was burned elmost to a cinder, by the pre-
mises taking fire on Monday afternoon last. He was
very far advanced in years, and sick in bed at the
time of the accident. Verdict, Accidental Death.
The Grand Jury threw out five Bills of Indictment
brought by the Society for the Suppression of Vice,
' ag iinst butchers for selling meat to the labouring
ceived from the Baltic ; and by an article in clue poor on the Sunday morning. By the evidence it ap-
peared, that the poor people who were thus provided
Idol:Ian Mercury of Monday last,an Edinburgh paper with a Sunday dinner, worked till near midnight on
of most respectable authority, we learn, that the King the Saturday, and that they were served before ten
of DENMARK has prohibited Freach privateers from o',l ick in the forenoon. It was also clear that the
meat left unsold cart the Saturday, would not in many
bringing their prizes into his ports. A Fr. nch
c ises keep sweet till Monday, and that the poor are
vateer which attempted to bring in an American, her able to get a j lint at a cheaper rate:
prize, was filed upon by a ft.rt in Jutland. The ASSERTION. —• ARIIHMETIC RULES sufficient to
above intelligence lias been communicated to a Da- teach Subs ractien, Mul iplicatiort and Division, are
nish Merchant residing in Leith. )t to he found
.in any English Treatise on that
' Science. Instructions to supply th's deficiency vtill
appear in a Work to be published in a few days, by
In addition to the intelligence from America which
E. BUDD, No. 100, Pall-Mall—London, Feb. 1812.
we gave yesterday, we have been favoured with the .
The Hest: armed ship arrived in Leith Roads, on
perusal of several private letters, ail of which breathe Saturday, from Longhope ; and the LIVELY, frem
a similar spirit of pacification. ale letter of the Sc. Malta. Sailed from the Roach the CkIAItLLS tender,
cretary at War to the Chairman of the Committee of to the Northward.

• .