Star.
London, England, 1805-06-29 00:00:00

ELEVENTH JPORT.

REPORT eV THE SELECT COMMITTEE UPON THR
ELEVENTH REPORT OT THE COMMISSION Or
NAVAL tug!? t RV.
The Spica Committee to whom the Florenth Report of the Com.
nuflioners of Naval Enquiry, rapeaang the ilfue of Navy Bills
for the purpofe of r ding money; lofs :telling from the mole of
p.yittg the 'ntereft on Navy ant Tranfp at Bills; and money
imprettcd by the Navy Board for Secret Naval Services (except
to t.r a. the fame relates to eircuinftances cooneded with the
if rue of too 0001. for the Secret Naval Services) was referred ;
have agreed upon the following Report :
Your Committee have taken into confiJerati,n the
matters in the Eleventh Report of the Comm Antlers
of Naval Enquiry, referred to them, in the order in
which they are Rated in the Report ; 4r.d have called
for and examined loch perfons an J. documents as they
thought neceffary for the elucidation of the tranfac-
tions, concerning which it was their duty to report
to the Houfe.
They infect, in the Minutes and Appendix hereunto
annexed, the whole of the parole evidence given be-
fore them, including. both the queftions put to the
perfons examined, and their anfwers ; and alfo, co-
pies of fuch written documents laid before them as
teemed material for the confederation of the Houfe.
In (Omitting this body of evidence to the Houfe,
it teems to them that they difchatge, in the moll ef-
feaual and fatistaftory manner. the molt effential
part of their duty ; but they have alfo thaught it pro-
per to introduce that evidence with the following
statement relative to the three Leads of invelligation
contained in the Paid Report of the Commiffioners of
Naval Enquiry :
z. With regard to the fir& head, entitled :in the
Eleventh Report. 66 Boot of Navy Bills. for the pur-
ple of railing money"—lt appears that the (applies
granted by Parliament for the fervice of the Navy,
in the beginning of the year I Soo, founded on the
ufual eltimates, amounted to the turn of 53,256,5791.
;35. ltd. and in the beginning of 18ot to the gum of
16.4:9,5371. ;as. ad.
It i 6 the cuftom of the Navy Board to coiled, from
the different departments to which the expenditure
for Naval Services belongs, about the month of Sep.
tembar in each year, materials for the purpofe of en-
abling them, by accounts of the otultanding demands,
and computations of the farther expences likely to
be incurred during the remaining part of the year, to
form a compat iron between the aggregate amount of
fuch outlianding demaads, and of thole likely to am
crue, on the one hand, and the balance ss hich may
then remain unexhaulled of the fum granted for the
Naval Supplies of that year, on the other hand • and
the Comptroller .of the Navy, at the end of that
month, co.mmynicates the particulars and refult of
this comparifon to the Trertfury ; in order, in cafe
fuch balance fhostid appear to tall Ilion of the necef-
.fary or expelted dllburfements, that means thould be
ufed for making ecid t,be acficipcy•
•

' About iris period of the year I Soo, it appeared
• that the (urns remaining unapplied of the Grants for
Naval Services for that year, amounted only to
34330)231 ; and it was computed that the demands
outltanding, or to accrue before the end of the year,
would probably amount to an excels beyond that
fum, of 2,500,0cr01. This excels, in fall, did amount
to 1,522,5491. 6s. told.
A confiderable part of the ontßanding demands
of courfe confilted of Navy Bills, which, under the
law as it now Stands, are made payable ninety days
after their date. Of the accruing demands, many
were fuch as Mull be paid for in ready money. If
the remaining balance of the Naval Supplies of the
year had been applied to pay off the Navy Bills
then becoming due, there would not have been car
left for the necellary payments in ready money.
Parliament was not then fitting. It had been pro-
rogued, on the 29th of Jnly, to the 7th of Oaober,
and on that day to the Is th of November, when it
met for the difpatch of bufinefc.
If application had then been made to the Houfe
of Commons, for a new grant in aid of the deficiency
in queflion, the money could only have been obtained
Iby a loan, or by the arse of Exchequer Bills under
la vote of credit.

It appears that the regulation eftablilhed under the
A& of the 37th Geo. Il 1. c. z 6. limiting the term of
payment of Navy Bills to ninety days, had been adop-
ted with a view to remedy the great difadvantage
which had accrued to the public during. tVe latter
period of the time, when their term of payment was
fifteen months, under the previous Aft of 43 Geo.
111. C. 21. ; for at that period, owing to the great
augmentation of our Naval Expenditure, thofe Bills I
having been iffued to a very large extent, had been
depreciated fo much that they could not be difcount-
ed, or converted into oath, without a lots fometimes
of 141. per cent. or more. The fifteen months bills
bore an interea of only 41. per cent.
This evil had been (till greater under the forater
courfe With regard to Navy Bills, when there was no
fixed time or obligation for their payment. The hold-
ers then depended entirely on the difcretion and con-
venience of Government for the receipt of their mo-
ney,lxing alfo only entitled in the mean time (after the
&ft fix tnonths) to the like intereß, at the rate of 41.
per cent. per annum; and thefe Bills having been ac-
cumulated to a WI amount during the American
war, bore a difcount of from 131. to upwards of ISI.
per cent.
They were afterwards fundednpon terms calculated
on their atltual value to the hollers, at the time of
funding them.
On the &It introdu&ion of Bills payable in fifteen
months, they (offered little or no depreciation ; and
they had this advantage from the length of their term
of payment, that (though money could he demand-
ed for them at the end of that period) if the fupplies
appropriated to Naval Services fhould fall fhort of the
demands daring the year in which they were iffued,
it was almod certain that Parliament would meet be-
fore they became due, fo that Government would
have the means, by a parliamentary grant, of mak-
ing a farther provifion for the payment of them. It
is proper, in this place, to mention, that although
the grants annually made by Parliament for Naval
Services, form a fpecific fum adapted to the amount
of the eltimated expenditure for the year, yet the
:Lanai expence, and the amount of the deht which
may be contra:fled, neither is nor can be fixed, but
Imay exceed the grants to an extent which mull ne-
ceffarily be commenfurate with whatever may be the
amount of the excels of fervices beyond what had
been forefeen and included in the previous estimates,
and of the excels of the juices of articles included
in the estimates beyond the rates according to which
thrift eflimates have been formed.
While therefore Navy Bills had no limited time of
payment, there could be no unavoidable occafion for
a froth fopply of money during the courfe of any year,
beyond what had been ;Kr anted for the Naval Services
of that year, unlefs the very improbable occurrence
had happened, of the grant falling thort of the de-
mands neceffary to be paid with ready money ; and
the fame obfervation applies to the cafe of 13 months
bills; but this very circiimitance it was, which was
fo detrimental to the public intereft, by operating as
the principal caufe in producing the depreciations
above mentioned, and thereby enhancing to Govern-
ment, in the proportion of tilde depreciations, the
prices of all thole articles of navy and vittualling
Bores, for which Nary Bills were to be given in
payment. The palling of the A& 37 Gen. 111, c. 26,
fince which all Navy Bills had been made payable
at the fhort date of yo days, having put an end to
loch depreciations, has, the Committee believes,
been univei filly felt, and acknowledged to have been
a meafure of the irtmott benefit, in point of economy.
To prevent fuch depreciations was the principle of
that meafure.
When it was found, as has been already Rated, in
the month of September, iBOO, that what remained
of the grants appropriated for Naval Services, beyond
what would be required for ready money payments,'
was not fuflicient tar the difcharge of the bills out-
!landing, it became a matter of the utmost import-1
ance so confider of lime method of providing for
their difcharge, by which the praftical advantage of
the principal might be preferved, without immediate-
ly reforting to Parliament for a hen grant of naval
fupplies ; for it appears to have been the opinion of
perfons eminently qualified to form a fati,fatory
judgment of the matter, that any additional Parlia-
mentary grant at that time, whether the money
&mid be railed under it by the iffue of Exch.quer
Bills, or othet wife, would have been attended with
the very difadvantage which the meafure of the nine-
ty day bills had been calculated to prevent ; as fucli
Exchequer Bills, or other Government fecurities, on
which the money required in that cafe mufi have been
obtained, would, in the opinion of thofe perfons, have
borne fuch a difcount or depreciation of value. as
mull not only have greatly enhanced the expenditure
of the navy, and that of all other public departments,
bat alfo have proved highly injurious to the monied
interell of the country, and to the public at large. •
Under the circumstances which your Committee
have thus endeavoured to explain, it was determined,
by the principal financial department of Government,i
to propofe to the holders of Navy Bills about to be-
come due, to accept of frefh bills of the fame fort,
made payable in like manner as thole they might;
choofe to exchange againa them, leaving it however'
to their option to receive, if they (bould prefer it,
roman in call), according w Ote obligation of the

original bills; public notice of this option war. '
inily given, and renewed Bills were ac c,l7d u
exchanged againft old ones to' a cn:aider.thle event,
the amount of the intereil due on ttrt
included in the principal fum made payaos. e
end of ninety 'lays from the date of the new one.

,
It will immediately occur, that any pen ba%irg
accepted fuch a ieuewed bill, who lbould After waiL.s

have occallow for ready money, had it in his power
to difpofe of it, like any holder of any other Navy
Bill, for the full amount fpecificd in it (thefe bills
never having (offered any depreciation) ; deducting
only the intereft which remained to accrue beta eta

the time of his converting it into oath, and the tinge
what the bill fo difcounted was to become due; and
it cannot but be fiippofed that .rotny perfons found
it convenient to at in this manner.

however, though many hlltlers of ninety-day
bills had availed themfelvet of, Ole opporittnity of
exchanging them for new bills, it w.ts found that the
amount of bills outflanding and not offered to be es.
changed, was confiderablv beyond the difp 'fable past
of the Intexhaulled fup;olies of the year; and, upon
this difcovery, the Treafury determined to UN: other
Navy Bills, made payable to a merchant Of the name
of Glenny, and afterwards to the honfe of which he

was a partner, under the firm of Donaldfen and
Glenny (fuch bills being Rill made payable at 90
days after the date ;) and Mr. Goldfmid, the gentle-
man who had been long the agent of G.svernnient in
the negociation of ExChequer Bills, and other buri-
n-els of that nature, was employed to difpofe of thnfe
Navy Bills in the ufual way in which filch fecurities
are turned into cafh, and to place the money received
upon them at the difpofal of the Navy Department,
in order to be applied to the difcharge ot loch pith=
bills falling due, as the holders wore o•tt willing to ex-
change againit renewed bills.
Thofe bills fo negotiated by Mr. Goldfmid, Were
difpifed of by him, not only without lots, but with
trifling advantage to the pub:ic, as explained its
his evidence given before your Committee ; and with
no other charge for his fervice in the buftnefs than the
ufital commitlion of 1-3 th per cent. which he has
been accultomed to receive from Government for ne-
gotiating Exchequer Bills.
It will be obferved, that, fo far as old bills were
exchanged againft new ones, or paid off by cash ob-
tained on the negociation of new ones, no navy debt
was created ; the new bills, in fad, only reprefenting
and becoming the fecurity for that which had beets
created by the purchafes or other fervices for which
the old bills were originally ;lined.
It will alfo be obferved, that the only difference
between the two cafes ot bills exchanged for new
ones and thole paid off by means of the negotiation
of new ones, was, that in the Ertl inflance, the hold.
ers of the old bills accepted, in lieu of them, Ot.ittt
which they could, and probably often did, negotiate
fcr calls ; and that, in the fecoud indance, the Navy
Board themfelves procured new bills to be netitiated
for the purpofe of paying the holders of the others
with calls. In both cafes, a longer credit was ob-
tained for the actual ciircharge of the debt, for which.
the orit,inal bills had been the fecurity, without any
depreciation or additional charge, beyond what arofe
from the mere lengthened time of payment, and, its
the latter cafe, with the addition of the per tentage
allowed to Mr. Goldfmid. Therefore, as in farm,
the limitation of the ninety days was adhered to its
both cafes, fo, in effed, the benefit of tlac principle on
which that regulation had been eflablithed, was
tanned in both. _

A fuccclflve iiTue of bills, in the manner and for
the purpofe above Rated, appears, by the account
No. 4, in the Appendix to the Eleventh Report, to
have been continued from the 24th of Oftober rBOO,
to the 7th of March, 18ot. Of courfe, fuch of them
as were iftued between the commencement of fle
and the date laft mentioned, mull have been paid off
before the month of September in that year.
In that month a fimilar =afore was retorted to,
on account of a like deficiency, as on the former cc-
cafion, in the naval grants of that year, as cotopared
with the expenditure,
On the Ili of September, 18ot, the fum remaining
in the Exchequer, unapplied, of the grants for Naval
Services for that year, together with a balance in
the hands of the Treafurer of the Navy, and alto
t,oeo,ccol. paid to him out of the Vote 'of Credit,
amounted only to 2,803,0581. ss. B}cl. and left
deficiency, according to the eftimate then formed, cf
above 2aooohoool. The aCtual excel; of expenditure,
daring the three remaining months of the year, ap-
pears to have been 2,363,1311. 15s. 01.
Parliament ie that year had been prorogued on the
zd of July, and was not affembled for the difpatels
of bufinefs till the 29th of October, after intermediate
prorogations on the 6th of Augull, the 15th of Sep-
tember, and the 22d of October.
For the detail of the mires which produced the
excels of dilburfements and demands over the elli-
mates made, and fupplies granted at tile refpeEtive
commencement of each of the two years t 800 and
180 t, your Committee &fire to refer to the eviden;e.
They think it fufficient here to (late in general,
that the mode of including in the fixed fum of 71. per
man per lunar month (from which 55. is &deed
in the firft inaance, and paid over to the Ordnance,
leaving only 61. 15s. per man for the Navy), all the
Navy and Vietualling Stores for the year, whatever
may prove the eventful rates at which Croce Rotes
than be procured, mutt nee:Airily li.nder the conef-
portdcuce between the total amount of their adual
cat, and the proportion allotted to them out of the
grant fo dated, very prccarit:us and uncertain;
and that in fait the prices of tome of the molt mate-
rial of thole articles had been, at the priods in quer-
tion, extremely enhanced, in confequence of the ru
tu• e which had taken place between Rolla and filos
count, y.
The reafons which have been afligned to your Com-
mittee for the fira adoption of the meafure in 'Soo,
have been explained. The continuance of the alms
during the enfuing year up to the month of March,
mull be referred to the known flare of public affairs,
both foreign and domeftic, in the firft months of that
year, The particular fituation of affairs,in confequence
of the negotiations for peace depending in the month
of September, tBQ I, appears to have rendered it ex-
tremely anadvifable, iu the opinion of thole whole
duty it was to judge of that m
period to Parliament, in order
the itue of Exchequer Bills,
mining the motley wanted for
14sry flubs thee fans slop

MINIZEIN

matter, to retort at that
r to procure a loan, or
for tl)e purpofe ob•
the thicharxe of the
irrns over.

Thole negotiations condoned through nearly the
whole of the period (frown the 9th September 1801,1
*to the sth •of May *803), during which the latter of
the qualion took place ; and Mr. Goldfmid
has inforp.eti your Committee,that, during the nego-
ciati.otat a loan could not have been made hut on
terms 'era advantageous, by the difference of Item
ten to twelve per cent. than thole on which it was af-
terwards concluded..
The refpeaite ellimates of the Navy Debt, made
up to the 3111 of Decembir, in the years 'Soo and
1801, were, in the anal way, laid before Parliament;
and the firs item of each contained, as ufual, an ac•
eonnt of the Navy Bills then nut Banding ; including
at each period, thofe negotiated by Mr. Goldfmid,
but without dillinguiflaing them from others.
In the etbmate for the year 1802, none of there
!aft-mentioned Bills were included, having of cootie
been all paid off before that ellimate was prepared.
Wish refpe& to the whole amount of the Bills ne-
gotiated by Mr. Goldfmid, from the 24th of October,
18co, to the sth of May, 1802, it appears, upon ex-
amination of fire dates of the feversl iffues,that though
the aggregate of all the fums which they focceffiveiy
reprefinted at different periods, is correctly Dated in
the Eleventh Report at 4,300,0001. the fum actually
applied to the difehargc of Navy Bills, by the iffue of
new ones, was no more than 2,200,c001, viz, 900p001.
between the 24th of O.lober and the 7th of March,
aBot, and i,30c,0001. between the 9th of September,
18ot, and the sth of May, 18oz ; the difference aril-
kg from taking into the larger account the frefh bilis
iffired from time iodine, as others which became due
were paid off.
It appears, that the meafttre of airing the Navy
Bills in Ticino': (how or by whom fuggened, feem,
a matter of no importance) Was authorized and di-
reeled by the Trcalury, boils at firfl, and on the QC-
cation of each fuhfccient individual Mile ; and, with
regard to the cnndut9 of the Treafury in that refped,
the C,,nliticrations which have occupied the attention
of your Committee, have been—How far the meat-
fui e was expedient and beneficial to the public ; how
far it was regular, in whatever fenfe that word is to
be underltood ; and, how far it was flridly legal ?
As to the condua of the Navy Board, the r•nly ma-
terial (Ned of attention has been, how far they were
juriifi.ble and lawfully warranted in executing the
orders they received from the Treafury, direling
them to carry the meafure into effed ?
The Commitlioners of Naval Enquiry have Rated
that thir tranfidi•in appeared to them irregular, that
the circumfiance of inferring " ninety days intereft
in the bills in Tieilion," (to which bills one of thofe
gentlemen, in his examination before your Commit.
tee, has Applied the term fiditious) " had been ad-
ded to give Dieu' the femblance of regular bills, but
that there was this effential difference between them,
that the regular bills Dated the particular kind of
Bores, or fir vices, for which they were given in pay-
ment, while there bills espreffed only that they were
for fundry Naval Services."
With regard to the -queflion, how far the meafure
was of urgent expediency and benefit to the Date,
your Committee have been the more anxious in their
investigation, in confequence of the following paffage
in the Eleventh Report
" It was certainly proper that the public credit

fbould be firpported ; but. we cannot admit that this
meafure w ac indifpenfahly neceffary for that purpofe,
nor can we allow the validity of the reafon given by
the Comptroller, namely, that no funds were exclu-
, lively let apart for the payment of ninety-day bills ;
the amount being uncertain, it is in the nature of the
thing that an eflimate Mould be uncertain. All the
Supplies for the Navy are annually voted by Parlia%
runt on eilimate, and the amount paid by ninety-day
bills, forming no inconfiderable part of the Navy
Expenditure, min of courfe be included in the general
provilion for Naval Services."
Your Committee conceive, that the expreflions
4 indifpenfably ;leceffary," in the palfage jolt quoted,
and •• abfoluttly neceflary," in the evidence of the
Compirdler ri the N:rvy (inferted in No. I, p. 498,
of the Appendix to the Eleventh Report) mutt be
Under hand ro mean politically neceffary, or, in other
words, highly expedient and beneficial ; for it cannot
be furpofed that, on loch a fubje& thole exprcffions
could have been intended in the more firia and ac-
curate fence of phy fical or moral neceffity.
Refpefling the urgent expediency and public bene-
fit of the nicafure, the Commiffioners were Faired
of the opinion of the Comptroller of the Navy, as
appears by his evidence jult referred to. Your Corn-
tnittee have heard, and rtperted in the Minutes of
the Evidence taken before them, his confirmation of

that opinion, with the reafons on which it was formed.
'They have alto heard, and reported, the opinion of
Mr. Goldfmid to the lame effeB, together with his
reafons ; and likewife the opinions and reafons of Mr.
Long and Mr. Vanfittart. who were Secretaries to
the Treafnry at the refpeeive periods when the dif-
ferent iffues took place. Mr. Goldfmid had been ex-
amined before the CommiMoners, on thole faCts of
the tianf ittions which fell within his knowledge; and
he appears to your Committee to be a perfon pecu-
liarly quallF.ed to have informed them of the circum.
fiances which might have induced the adoption of
the meafure, and alto to have formed and delivered
an opinion, concerning its expediency in a financial
point of view.
That Gentleman has Rated to your Committee.
that he did at: Nally communicate to the Commit--
fioners, in the eolith of the converfations which took
place between him and them after he was fworn,
both Lis opinion on the fobjeCt, and the reafons on
which that opinion was founded.
On the other hand, two of the Commißioners who
have been examined by your Committee, have no
recolleltion of fuch communication having been
made ; and one of them has declared, in the molt
exprefs terms, that he does not believe that any fuch
communication took place.
Your Committee, however, collelt, from the tef-
timnny of both thole Commillioners that they did
not think it their duty to invelligate ;his part of she
fubjeft ; and that, in their opinion, any information
concerning it, would have been fo irreleiant .to the
objeft of their enquiries, that they would not have
Wetted it in their proceedings, ur.lefs the examinant
had " offered it as evidence,' and required it to be
taken down as a part of his examination ; which Mr. '
Goldfmid does not appear to have done, nor (as he
has exprefsly faid) to have thought himfelf autho-
rized to do.
It may be proper here to obferre, that Mr. Gold-
. •

. •

fmid's evidence is of a rofitive„ that of the Commit-
(loners of a negative kind ; and that, as they would
have cnnfidered any con munication of the fort in
queflion as irrelevant, it is very pnaible that it may
have been made, and yet have cleared thcir atten-
tion ; efpecially as they have informed the Commit-
tee, that what Mr. Goldfinid Paid, while tinder ex
amination, was extremely ditfufe and digrellivc ;
and it is alto very poflible, that when his anfwers came
to be formally reduced into writing, he may have
seen unwilling to propfe, that what he had Ilated
as his reafons and opinion in favour of the meafure,
fliould be taken down ; rightly conceiving, that the
Commiffioners were the bell judges of the extent of
their duty, and the proper ()Netts of their invetliga-
lion. This explanation is countenanced by Mr.
Goldfmid's declaration, already referred to, that he
did not think hinsfdf entitled " to order them as to
what they &mild think pope' to lay before the
public."

But whatever may have paffed between Mr.Gold-
fmid and the CoinmiiThiners, your Committee cannot
agree with the Commit!loners, as to the irrelevancy
of the quedion of the expediency and utility of the
meafure which,they were invefligating, to the ()Ned
of the Report which they were to make upon it. If
they thought it their duty to form and report an
opinion, that the meafitre, whatever department of
Government fhould appear to he refporitible for it,
was fo irregular and (as the context of the Report
teems to imply) In little confonant to law, as to be
a It matter to be fubmitted, on that account, to the
confihration of his hhijeity and the two Houfes of
Parliament, your Committee fubmit to the Houle,
whether they ought not alfo to have enquired fully
into every circumliance which might have tended,
in refpe& of expediency and utility, either to juflify,
extenuate, or (as the cafe might have been) to ag-
gravate the blame belontring tu, the adoption'of fuch
an irregular or illegal measure.

The Committee think this was the more incnrribent
on the Commiffioners, as they did, in franc degree,
inform themfelves on the pint in citteition, and have
in fact reported the opinion concerning it, which has
been Rated.
With regard to the queftion of irregularity, that wont b cer-
tainty of no ow definite Import : thr mcafure undoubtedly was,
as listed by Mr. Long, new; and Mr. Vanfittart, when the re-
newal of ilfues like chore on the firit occafion was fuggefted to
him, obferved, that fuch a mode appeared to him irregular.
If this defcription was meant to aptly to the form or lannuage
of the Bills, your Committee di not find that the form in which'
Navy Bills Mould be drawn, has ever been the fubjtdt of any
pofidve law: the form in ufe before the Statute of 34 Gen. 111.
C. at. was totally different from that which has fence obtained ;
and neither that Mt, nor the luldequent Statute of 37 Gco 111.
e. 26. prelcribed any particular form. It is true that in the Bills
iffued in the cantle of payment to contraetors, merchants, trader-
men, &c. it is the cuftom of the Navy Board to mention the
commodity or fereice fur which they are iffued; but when if-
rued by way of impreft in advance, they are in a more general
form •, viz'.B4ing for fundry works performed by him to his
Majcity's flip fo that the form tired in the bills to (Arany,
and to Donaldfon and Glenny, b-ing, as Rated in the Eleventh
Report ; viz. on account of fundry Naval Services," was not
mote general than that laft -mentioned, except that it did not
hold out a femblance, which would not have been confonant to
tha fad, of their having been ((Coed for Cervices performed by
them.

If, by irregularity, is to be underftood the eircumftance that
the bills in queftion were made payable to perfons. who were not
adtually Creditors of the Navy board, it is to be obfcrved that
they were drawn with the view, add for the purpofe, of the pay-
ment of bills for which flares had bait fupplied, or Cervices per-
formed: and that the holders of any other Navy Bills after in-
dorfement are no more creditors of the Navy Bdard, in reference
to the adtual fupply of ftorca, or performance of Cervices by them-
(elves, than the holders of the bills indorfed by Mars. Doualdfon
and Glenny were. •
In both cafes, the money is due on the bills on account of Na-
val Stores or Naval Services orighr!ty furnifhed or performed ;
but not turnifhed or performed, in whet cafe, by the holders to
whom the payment is to be made. On the whole, therefore, it
appears to your Committee, from the clrcumftances of the Woes
in queftion, as they have been shave explained,that the wools oh-
ferved upon by the o.mmiffioners of Naval koquirV,
a true defcription of the confideration on account of which the
bills were iffued.

The remaining queftion on the fubjeft of thane rifts is, whether
it was lawful, either for the Navy Eloatd to . obey the diredions
they received from the 'lreafury, or the Trcafury to give thole di
tedious ? and here it is to he obferved, that the word irregular,as
applied by the CommilEouers of Naval Enquiry to the tranfaz-
tions, according to the molt probable interpretation, feems to
your Committee to convey the impreffion that they confidered
them, in °neer other of there rcfpedts, as contrary to law. .

It is certain, as has been be6•re exil-dned, that the Navy Board
may contraa debts and Mile Navy Bills on the terms preferibed
by the Statute 37 Geo. 111. to whatever amount (beyond the 'el
tent of the fums granted) the. Executive Government in their clic-
cretion lhall think neeefrary ; the czercife of that difcmion bring
of courfe fubjedt to the fubf.quert review and fandtion of Parlia-
ment, when the Navy Debt comes to be laid before them, as it
molt unavoidably be, in order that pruvilion may be made fur its
difcharge. • •
It is no queflion, on the prctent occafion, whether the nary
Debt incurred during the currency of the years 'Soo and aim re-
fpi.dtively, beyond :he amount of the rcfpedtive grants of thufe
years, was contrasted on fufficiernt grounds. Haying ['ten con•
traded, it feems to yur Committee, that the Tritrury, as the
fupretne financial departmentof the Government, was the natural
and only authority to dircdt the Navy Board as to the belt method
of providing fatisfadtory (comities, cunfiftently with the law, to
the creditors to whom the debt Co contradti..l was due.

The Commiffinners of Naval Enquiry Bate, that they do not
conceive the Navy Board can, without the exprcfs authority of
Parlimicnt, Mike hills to raife money to be applied to the fenice
of the Navy, or any other fervice ; that, not being aware of any
power in the Navy Board to draw bills of the defcription of tbofc
Med to Glenny, and Donaldfon and Otruoy, for the purpae of
railing money, they had fought information from the Comptroller
oh the Navy on the fubk et, and that he had revred them, for the
authority under which he and the Navy Board had acted, to his
Majefty's Order in Council in June 17,6, for regulating the duties
of the feveral Members of the Navy Board, and to the Patent by
which they arc appointed; and that from thole documents no loch
authority is derived.

In another part of the Report (under their fecund head of en-
rulry) the Commiffioners Rate, that the Navy Board, by their
patent of appointment, arc required to follow filch orders and M-
I ftruttions as they may from time to time receive from the Lord
High Admiral, or the Complain/ere for executing the office of
Lord High Admiral for the time being; and that it does nor ap•
pear that they. are authorized to follow direetions which may b.;
given to them by any other department of Government; and they
hem, by another part of the paff..ge lalt referred to, to hare
thought it clear, that the ~ffeel of the pat, nt was to place the Navy
Board " exclufivety" under the controul of the Admiralty.
Your Committee have deemed it necelfary to call for the patent
of the Navy Board ; and ago for the Order in Council of the Bth
of Jure, 1796 ; an the Orderer Letter of Infltudions from the
Lords of the Adaralty to the Navy Board of the 17th of Augult,
a 796; and that they find that, in the laid patent, betides the fpe•
cial direßions therein contained, by which the Board arc com-
manded to follow fuch inittudions as they mail at any time re.
eeive from the Admiralty thete are general " empowering
them to do all things appernining to the principal Officers and
Commiffioners of the Navy to do," and granting fuli power to
the Comptroller to execute the duty appertaining to that office,
" and which was, or ought to have been performed by any former
Comptroller of the Navy, excepting fuels pans thereof as by the
patent itfeif had been entreated to the Board at large, to be con
duetted and managed by them in fuels manner as the Admiral.;
hodd awe, and alto Inch as mould thereafter, by warrant of .4

Admiraky,bc committed to the we of anger perfor, or per-
Foos."

It tbould lien), front a view of thole eludes, that if it hae bent
euliomary for the Comptroller or Navy Board to ad under direct
ordas front the Treafury, z e nfotmlty to loch ufage it rather
fandioned than prohibited by the Intcat, at leaft your Committee
have not &from:red any where In it loch an expects prohibition or
excluflon of the authority of the Treafury as would render the
exercife of filch authority, it couformable to afar, contrary to
law. And as to the ufage, it was la evidence before the Coto-
ntiffioners of Naval Enquiry, upon the examination of the Comp-
troller and Seeretai y, that the Navy Board had 'le en in the con-
ftaat praCtice of receiving and following diredions from the Trea-
fury, without any atemaunicatioo of thofe orders to the Admi-
ralty ; and it will appear from the minutes hereunto annexed,
that evidence has been given, by the Secretary, to the fame err
feet, before your Committee.
Your Committee have thus Rated what has occurred to them
as material, relative to the legality of the teastadtioao, as far as
concerns the Comptroller and the Nary Board, or the queftioo
whether they are bound or lawfully authuriled to obey orders re-
lative to fuch matters, Itappohng thole orders to be legal, which
they may receive from the Treafury.

As to the orders themfelves, your Committee fubmit, that they
cannot difeover any fair ground for confidering them as illegal,
tither in what has been previoully Rated relative to the particu-
lars of the tranfadtions, or in the evidence they have received, or
in any astute or rule of law with which they arc acquainted.
s. The Commitlinnets of Navel Enquiry have infittdcd the fe-
mod h ad in their Report. r 1..0fs arifing from the mode of paying
ate Interelt on Navy and Tranfport Birs."
Your Committee have not deemed it necefrary to enter into
much enquiry, in addition to that which the Commiffioners have
thought fit to inititute, with regard to a fubjed, which does not
appear to your Committee to have required the very particular
and elaborate inveftization they have bellowed upon it.
- - -

The Haute have before them the trafons Rated by the Navy
and Victualling Boards. for the different conftrudions which they
had put upon the Ad of 3? Geo. 111. e. 26. and It alto appears,
that the Navy Board, to long ago as the t gth of December tßot,
adopted the pradice which t►e Vidualling Board had previoudy
followed, and of which the Carnmiffioners have themfelves ap-
proved.
Your Committee will therefore tate the liberty to difmifs this
matter, with only two obfervations—Firft, that in a queltion
concerning the true coaftrudient of' a ftatute, the Commirlioners
(probably through inadvertency) have not accurately Ilatcd the
prorifioa of the Ad: their words are," That it is thereby dired-
ed, that the Bills Mall be made payable on a certain day to be ex-
puffed In each Bill, which day (ball not be later than three calen-
dar months from the day 0, the date thereof. and that every fuch
Bill mall carry an littera. after the rate of 34d. per centum per
diem, to commence from the day of the date of each Bill. But
the words of the Aa. arc, which day fhall not be later than three
calendar months from the date of Inch lilil ; and that every fuch
Bill (hall carry an intereft after the roe of aid. per centum per
diem, from the date of eat fame. The words of the former Ad
Are indeed, " that the interelt than commence from the day, &e."
and they are correctly Rated by the Commiffioners.

The fccond tibfervation is. that the lois Paid to have been fur-
tained by the public, from the imputed over payment on the 90
day Bills, Included in the period between the 16th of December,
1796, and the loth of December, 18ot , will be found *cs have been
calculated by :he Commiffioners at a fum (not con flderable indeed)
beyond its real amount.
3. On the third bead in the Report of thc Commiffioners, which
Is inrituled, " Money impreßed by the Navy Board for Secret
Naval Services ;" your Committee have confim:d thernfelves, In '
conformity to the exception in your order of reference to the Me
of Mood. for a fecret Service, which makes the fuhjedt of the fe-
cond queltion and anfwer in the examination of tht Earl of St.
Vincent, N‘.23 of the Appendix to the Eleventh Report. •
The CommiMoners have taken noti.e, in this part of the cafe,
of an ornitlim in the Order or Letter of Inftrudions front the Ad.
miralty to the Navy Kurd; dated t7th Anuft [196, and have
Rated " thso this omifTion fhould be redliflei, as they are of opi-
nion, that it is of confiderable importance, that the (event (oboe-
dinate Boards Mould have predfe Information, not only of the ex-
tent of the authority vefted iu them, but of the authority under
which they are to set."
Your Committee have already mentioned, ands the Brit bead,
what has occurred to them in general, relative to the pierce of the
Treafury to give diredtions to the Nrvy Board, and the duty of
teat Board to obey them. •
Undoubtedly the Order of Coun.:ll of Bth of June, T7O, does
contain the chute omitted in the inftrudlons of the 174 h of
Auguft ; but your Commotee have to ohferve, that the Board of
Admiralty, in their laid letter of i hfiruißions,.did exprelly Rate,
that the Order in Coencil had (Heeded that thc (corral arrange-
ments fuggeaed by them (a which the claufe in petition formed
a par.) Should be adopted and carried into execution In lath man-
ner as they Should judge proper, and that they had inclo(ed there.
with a C"py of the raid Order in Cruncil. for the farther throe.
mation of the Navy Board I; will, thereroce, be for the confide•
rattan of the Houle, whether fuffi, lent unite was no• thus even
to the Navy Beard if the cnaitirin that secret Services were to
he performed under the authority of the Heft Lord of the Admi-
ralty." and that fuch condition, though not repeated in the in
ftrudlions, had adtually made part of the plan recommrnded by
the Admiralty itfelf, and was iandlioned by the -Ad of his Mi-
kity in C. until, under which authority the whole of the titanic
dons of the 17th of Auguß war eflabliffied."' •

As to the queftion. how far the fervice to which the i6.000t
was applied. was fandioned or authorifed by the ERR Lord of
the Admirrity, and with a kffnwiedge that the expence thereof
was to be defrayed, in the firß inflame. by the Compri-one-tor
the Navy; your Committee avoid entering into any difcailion,
referring folely, in addition to what appears in No. at of the
Appendix to the Eleventh Report, to the evidence cuntaineti id
the Minutes and Appendix hereunto annelid; having inferted
in the Appendie fuch prvt of the corrcfpondehee on the frbjecl, •fs
•hey have uf ,lertiond could be laid before them, witbou• the
(inger of reverting what it plight be inconvenl ot fur the ill-
wefts of the Public to have diiclofed.

Som.. variances having been olifervcd between the cap rid:lona of
the copy of the letter from the Comptroller of the Navy to the
Commiflioners of Naval Enquiry,bearing date nn the inth of No-
vember, 1104, at printed by the order of the Houle or the 29th
of April ha, and thole of the letter Welt, as it appears to have been
adtuaUy fent to and received by the Comnsitli mere. arid which was
produce.: to yoUr Committee by one of thole Commiffioners, your
Committee have tinuight it right to inf•rt Roth, in the fuhjoined
Appendix ; and the examinations taken by them relative to that
eireumftance, form s.ise concluding part of the minister of the evi.
deuce. [The Angara of EVidaff air Mardiry.]

The Commit-rat of Stetter, to who'll fo much of the Fie
'tenth Report of the CoMMISSIONCILS Of NAVAL ENQUIIT,
wanes to the advance of te0,e931. for a feeret naval fir•
vice, was referred, and who were empowered to report their
opinion and obfervationsthereupon to the Houk ; have agreed
■pon the fallowing Report

Your Committee have taken Into their awillderation the fubjedt
referred to them ; and having examined 741113t1g perfons, and cal.
led for, and perufed certain ktters and other documents relative
thereto, ih-1, have agreed on the following-At foliation ,

Ref..lved, " That It is the opinion of this Committ:e, that the
Paid tropecL was advanced for an object, to *filch the fupplies
granted for naval Cervices were applicable; that the application
thereof te that objedt wan a mmfure in which the inttrefts and
honour of .this country were concerned; that it wal.ii...ted by the
Comptroller of tl.e Navy, under orders from the L.•rds of the
Treafury, with the knowledge and authority of the Titft Lord of
the Admiralty. and the fittell mode for anfwering the end propo-
fed ; that the clearing bill for 95,00°1. part of the laid Cum of
wa• granted on just and proper grounds—ghat the cir-
oumftances of the application of the money were of fuels a nature
that a diftlofure of them, either at the period when they took
place, or at any time Once, would have been attended with public
inconvenience ; that it milli be matter of regret. if any thing has
occurred in t..e mean time, which may have tended, in any do.
gree, to fuch difclofure; and that the reefers againft fuch dif-
, clofure 1141 eor.:Atie, and render it the duty of the Committee
to abfialn from totcrirg into say futtka particulars on the
fobjett." •

I

LONDON.

SATUaII.tY, JUNE sq.
Sr Parts—Holiday at the Pubic 0111.ec.

The Hamhurgh Mail due on Wedneflty Csinuie.t
arrived this day. .

M. 800 menu s, the French Minifter at Ha-nhin, b,
lately prefented a Note to the Senate, urgently ,!e.,
manding th.tt Magiftracy to &I-cover and comma.
nicate to him, the names of all the Frenchmen its
that city, who had not yet paid their rcfpeas to him,
as the Reprefentative of the Emperor, nor put them-
(elves under his official proteflion. His requell can.
not be refufed. It is expelled that tome meafure of
extreme feverity will be inßantly recurred to againft
the French Emigrants at Hamburgh. They will be
every one compelled to leave that city, tin der pain
of feizure, conveyance to France, and punilhment
with deith, if they continue at Hamburgh.—
Perhaps even domiciliation, as fubjeik of other
States, and the protection of other Minißers, may
not be enough to Pave them.

MADRID, MAY 24..—More than 3o flips of the line
are now lying in our ports, the greater part of them
ready to fail, ♦iz. t t at Ferrol, betides s French Sipe
which are there ; to fitted out at Cadiz ; sat Co.
runna, and 6 at Carthagena, under Rear• Admiral
&tap°. To thefe are to be added a proportionate
number pf frigates, and other (hips of war. Every
thing indicates that the part we than take in the war
will be fplendid and glorious.
HAGUE, JUNE t t.—According to the reports we
have here, Lucca will be incorporated with the king.
dom of Italy.

Private letters from Holland (late, that M. Sento.
741141m0 :sea has procured the removal of the French
Commiflioners -.vho till now refided in every Dutch
port i and that in confluence thC trade with this
country, under certain rettrisSions, may be expeCtcd
to be carried on with lef' feverity.

American papers to the 26th of May have arrived.
Our readers will rec. olfeek that the New York parer
of the :oth May, received Rime days ago, Rated thdt,
three days before a Captain LIGHT left the Havan-
nab, the Captain of an Atherican veal arrived there
had depofed that he paired through a French fleet of
nineteen fail'of the line off Cape Nicola Mole five days
before ; and that a rumour of the capture of Jamaica,
founded on *the-repo; t 'Of 'another American Captain,
was circulated at the fame time.
The following' extraBs are from the New 'fork pa-
pers of the 2111 of May :
•• Captain FAIICYILD whO arrived yeflerday from the Hermit-
oak, alter nine daps paffage, informs, that the combined French
and Spaniflt fquadrons were off Jamaica, and had fummoned the
illand to furrender, allowing 24 hours to confider the propafttioth
This was brought by an eaprefs from St. ago de Cubs."
. Captain BONN iTT, of the fawner Venetia, from Martial%
informs, that it was rsi .trted there, when* he' failed, that the
French fleet, under Admiral O Sala: conGfting of 1t fail
of the line, bad failed front Breit for Jamaica. A frigate had ar.
rived there from Breit, and 'andel 300 artillery men.
" Captain HAIaADtN, who arrived yefterday in 12 days from
the Havannab, informs. that two or three days previous to his
leaving that place, it was reported and believed by the firft mer.
chants in the place• drat a French fleet, of eleven fail of the
and eight frigatei. had landed troops on the north Gdc of the Oland
of lamaica; that they had taken two or three of tote Gnat& pats,
and were oo their rowels to /Chiffon. On the 6th inflate, Captain
H. (poke an Engliat hoop One day out from New Providence, the
Commander of which informed him, that Jamaica had been takers
by the French."
We give to the public the report as we received it from Cap•
Liam HA *RADII*. whore. veracity DO one who 'knows him will
tionbs"l--Saks Real?. •
It is our du. y to lay the above before our readers.
We'ought however to add, that the intelligence re-
ceives and iventitled to no more credit than it was
before. Another New York paper iyf the 22d obferv.
in g upon the tufuedred capture of Jamaica, has the
following article ; .•
" Notwithftandlng the repeated rumour of a French fleet of
great force having app,aral of that Mind, we are not difporcd to
give cr..dit to the report. The accounts on this faded have
come ola the Havatinah, and have probably all originated In the
mißatement, deGgned or unintentional, cif fame perfon that had
arrived there from the South-wait. That the Toulon fleet, which,
according to late advices from Europe, bad put to fea, was
der-
tined for the Weft-Indies, is by no means impnafttle ; but it It
very improbable that this fleet, either by Heir, or atter having
formed a jundtion with the Rochcfort (quadrat, could have
reached Jamaica without having been fern by Admiral COCII•
KA Ns's fquadran (in whlelacafe intelligence would inftantly have
been fent to the government of the !fluid). Our accounts, aired
from Jans'ica, it ought to be obferved, are down to the beginning
of this month, and news front that place, by Havannah, could
fcareely be later."

The reports from America on this fubjea mad be
falfe, particularly as intelligence from New York tO
the llt of June, b y the Oliver Ellfworth, arrived at
Liverpool,*affords no reafon to credit the account to
which we allude.

The New York Papers mention the arrival of the
homeward•hound China fleet at St. Helena, and as
they were to fail about the beginning of April, they
may be (portly ex:•etled in England.
The following notice has been iil'ued by our Con-
Cul at Philadelphia, dated May 21, 1805 :
• His Britannic Makßy's Conful General for the Middle and
Southern States of America gives this public information to the
merchahts and traders whom it may concern : • •
" Notice having /teen publifiled and circulated about f. cr
months fince, throughout the United States, of a ref,:lotlon hear-
ing date the 2IR of November laft, which bad be, ti palled by the
Lieutenant-Governor and Council of the Wand of Jamaica, pro-
hibiting, after the expiration of fix months from that date, tb::
importation of provifions and lumber in American or other neu-
tral vcreis; and it having. beet, reprefented, at the fame time,
that the above•mentioned refolution had taken place, in conk-
quence of inftrudtiona from his Britai,nlei Majeßy's Government
of fo peremptory a nature, as not no leave the Governor and Coun-
cil any latitude to attend to the renionfirances which have been
made againft laid refolutlon, by the inhabitants of Jamaica. it is
thought proper to declare, that no orders have brat fent by his
Majefty to the Governors of his Colonies in the Welt Indies, by
which they are deprived of the difcretion formerly entrufted to
them, of refacing, under certain eircumitancem, the rigid.provifion
of the navigation laws; and that it is therefore prefumable, that,
as Coon as the explanation on this fiabJedt (hall have reached J:1-
susaica and the other Britt& colonies in the Welt holies, where it is
believed they may have already arrived, the importation of pruvi-
lions and lumber will again be permitted in American or other
neutral mircia. (Signed) e' P. 20ND."

LONDON: Printed and Pubilthed by LEVEL KENT (of Can-
terbury-place, Lambeth), at the CT* II OfFICE. Na t, CAltr
Ana. PubAlimict alto u the ST4III WWI, Tegripeeasr.