Star.
London, England, 1805-06-01 00:00:00

' In the beginning of the year 1796, from the em-1
barragment of public credit, and the decreafing flatel
of the fpecie at the Bank, the Governors and Direc-
tors thought it prudent to reftrain their eng,tqements ;
and upem that account had refuted a;vancing the
ptogreffive payments upon the loan of December,
I 795 ; but in conlideration of the purpofes for which
the loan of April t 796, had been made, as well as of
its being comparatively (mall, they confented to ad-
vance to the contraftors, and did advance the third,
fourth, fifth, and filth payments ; requiring them to
make the feventh, being the lall payment, which was
to become due on the .16th of ()dotter in that year.
It is hated in the evidence given to your Commit-
tee, that the autumn of 1796 was a period of peculi-
ar embarraffinent, both of public and private credit,
which led to the reftriakns of payment in fpecie at
the Bank, that took place in February, 17,a7 ; that
there was a very great run on private commercial
houfe4 a great fcarcity of money, and a very heavy
prefure on the Bank for difcounts, which they had
been obliged materially to narrow, and had thought
it neceffary to contrad their acc-immoiations both to
Government and the commercial world, not, how.
ever, making any diftineion between the houfe of
Boyd and Company, and houfes of the firft mercan-
tile credit in the City of London.
Under thefe circumllances, at fome time before the
9th of September, 1796, Mr. Boyd appears to have
reprefented to Lord Melville, and Mr. Pitt, the
great pecuniary difficulty and embarrallment of his
houfe ; that the Bank had refufed to dilconnt their
bills, an.i that, with ample fecurities in their hands,
they were not enabled to Talk money to pay the
next inftalment on the loan, which was nearly due,
and requefted immediate pecuniary affillance for the
purpofe of completing their engagement to Govern-
ment.

It appears to your Committee, that in addition to
there engagements to Government, Meffrs. Boyd and
Company had large payments to make on account of
the Emperor of Germany; that they paid, on the
3 tft of O.tuber, 1796, a Turn of 186,3401. 535. id.
on account of the Dirthor of the Emperor's finances
at Vienna ; and that, in the whole of the fame year,
they remitted on the fame account fums amounting
to 4,609,5061. 91.
It appears alto in evidence, that it would have been
difficult, and perhaps impollible, for Meas. Boyd
and Company to have procured advances upon the
fecurities in their polfeftion (which we Mall hereafter
mention) or to have converted them into calk ; that
a payment of's per cent. on the loan of 18,000,0001.
was due on the 9th of September ; and that, had
they brought to market filch a proportion of their
fcrip, as was neceffary to raife the faivlfum of ao,oool.
in order to make good their engagement, the proba-
ble confequences would have been, to increafe the
difcount on Scrip, which at that time amounted on
the loan of April, from t 3 to 15 per cent. to eta
injutioufly the credit of Boyd's houfe, efpecially it it
had tranfpired that their necelities compelled them
to make filch difadvantageous tales, and mull there-
by have had a general tendency to augment the em-
barraffment of public credit.
It has alfu been flared in evidence to your Com-
mittee, that if a failure in the loans, thL in progrefs
of payment, had been occ.ifioned, either I. hr whole
or in part, by the circumilances above a ttt he clz-
ficiency could not have been flipplied by a fi . •4n
(had it been neceffary to rLfort to inch a meat
except upon terms of very confiderable kis and u,
advantage to the public.
Under theft difficulties, Lord Vileonnt Melville,
then Treaturer of the Navy, appeals to Lave foggeft-
ed to Mr. Pitt, that the firm wanted b 7• Boyd
and Company, might be (pared, without a probabi•
lity that the Naval Service would fuller any inconve-
nience from the advance, provided there was a fir&
cient fecurity for the re-payment ; and no other me-
thodhaving occurred, by which much ferious mifchief
to the public could be prevented, it was thought ad-
vifeable, by the concurrent opinions of Lord Melville
and Mr. Pitt, that the application of Meffrs. Boyd
and Company thould be complied with, and that the
fum of ao,oool. fhould be advanced, upon a fufficient
fecurity being given. And it appeals in evidence,
that, under the orders of Lnrd Melville, the fum of
40,0001- was drawn from the Bank, and on the fame
day paid over to Mr. Boyd, by Mr. Long,* then Se-
cretary to the Treafury, upon Mr. Boyd's depoliting
with Mr. Long, fecurities amounting to about
40,7001. confining in part of bills, drawn on, anal
accepted by the Eaft India Company, from their Pre-
fidencies abroad, the rell of Government Securities
which Mr. Long tranfmitted to Lord Melville, in-
dorfing upon the cover the purpofe for which the fe.
curitics had been fo depofited ; that the faid fum of
40,0001. had been all repaid, and that, with the ex-
ception of two bills on the Eall India Company, cue
for pool. payable in o.9obcr, 1797, the other for
73001. or thereabouts, payable in januai y, 1798,
all the tell of the fecurities were payable within three
months from the time of the depofit.
We do not find that any regular entry or me•
morandum, either of a cublic or fecret nature, was
made of this tranfation at the time; the itfue of the
40,0001. appearing on the books r.F the Bank, not
difchargcd by any carrefpondent payment on the
books of the Paroffice, this advance mull at all times
have been evident upon an infpeClion of the balances,
as a debt againft the Treafurer of the Navy ; but no
entry feems to have been preferred, which would in
Well have explained the application of this advance
(independent of the evidence of the parties) more
particularly after the fccurities were difcharged, and
the funds replaced.
In the courfe of our examination into this fubjelt,
we thought it proper to inquire, whether in fad any
inconvenience had been fuftained by the Naval Ser-
vice. in confequence of the diverfion of this portion
of Naval Money ; and were more particularly led to.
this inquiry, by the information, that an accepted bill
for wool. drawn upon the Victualling Office, from
Martinique, had been prefented for payment, and
that on the 18th of February 1797, the day it became
due, the holder of it was told at the Victualling Office,
there were no dials, or fomed.ing to that purpofe;
that there were many other bills is the fame fituation,
and he mull call again; and that the bill was not
paid till the tit of March, though he had fent it two
or three times for payment in that interval.
Upon further inquiry at the Viftualling Office, it
appears, that oa the 9th of February 1797, the Vic-
tualling Office applied for a funs of 70,0001. at the
Exchequer, for the payment of cavern' bills, in which ,

the bill in queflion was included 4 that on the nth of
the fame month 47,0001. was received hi part of the
70,0001. for that purpofe ; and that on the fame day
the raid bill, with many others, was affigned for pay-
ment, and would have been difcharged on that day,
or as foon after as payment had been called for. In
this inflance the delay of the affignment, and conic-
quently of payment, appears to have arifen from a
delay in the iffues from the Exchequer, and not from
a refnfal of payment on the part of the Treafurer of
the Navy ; nor has it appeared in evidence, that any I
delay of payment has been aCtually occafioned in
other branches of the Naval Service by the advance
in queflion' however fuch a praelce might in poffible
cafes have been produetive of a different refolt.
No intereff was demanded from !Aegis. Boyd and
Company for the money fo advanced, and fo repaid;
but it is to be obferved, that no intereft would have
accrued in the public had the above fnm remained in
the Bank in conformity to the provifions of the AEI.
As to the (urn of to.oool. it appears in evidence
that upon Mr. Trotter's appointmcnt to the office of
Payma'ter in the year 1786, he was informed by
Lord Melville, that fie, Lord Melville, was indebted
to the Office, in the fum of topool. At what time,
under what circumllances, and for what purpore
this fum of to,oool originally came into the pollee
firm of Lord Melville, the death of the preceding'
Paymalter, the abfence of all public documents re-
lating
to it, and the want of any other evidence, pre-
vent
us from afcertaining ; and we can therefore, only
Rate, that this fum was replaced, but without intereft,
fometime fubfequent to the year 1786 ; but the parti-1
cular time and manner of the repayment we have
not been able to difcover. • _ _

It appears alfo in evidence, that upon Mr. Trotter
[weeding to the Office of Paymaller, he was ap-
pointed Private Agent to Lord Melville ; and was
during his continuance in that office in the habit of
receiving his falary as Treafurer and other branches
of his income arifing in England, as well as frequent
remittances from Scotland ; and that the firms re-
ceived by him on Lord Melville's account, were paid
into the Mixed Fund at Meffrs. Coutts : that during
the fourteen or fifteen years of his being Paymaller,
he at various times advanced various (urns of money
on account of Lord Melville to Mr. Tweedy and to
other perfons, amounting to another turn of about
22 or 23,0001. being the Paid aggregate fum before
mentioned ; that the fums paid to Mr. Tweedy
amounted once or twice to 3 or 4.0001.; that of the Paid
I aggregate firm of 22 or 23,0001. about one half was
advanced exclofively from the public money ; the ref
from the mixed fund at Mars. Comas, where all his'
private money was kept; and the whole has been re-
paid, but without any intereft.
At what fpecific period thefe feveral rums were
paid by Mr. Trotter, or repaid by Lord Melville, we
are unable to find out ; all the vouchers, memoran-
dums, and writings relating to the nada/lions and
accounts between them, having been del4royed about
the time, when releafes, containing a covenant for
that purpofe, were mutually executed upon the (et-
dement of their accounts, viz. by Lord Melville on
the loth of February 1798, at Melville Cattle, and by
Mr. Trotter on the 23d of February 1798, in London.
Mr. Trotter dates that he alto deftroyed all the books
in which the accounts between Lord Melville and
himfelt were kept, and which contained the accounts
of other per lons betides thofe between Lord Melville
I and Mr. Trotter ; but which had all been clofed, ex-
cept fon.: fmall accounts between Mr. Trotter andi
friends, which he carried forward into new books.
rim the deflation of fuels books and papers,
fr. nr the death of Tweedy, and from want of an op-
portunity of examining Lord Melville, no means
were Afforded to us of tracing the precife application
of the various (urns fo advanced from time to time to
Lord Melville's order, and which formed the laid
aggregate fum of 2a or 23,0001. ; or which of there
turns specifically were taken from the public money,
and which of them from the mixed fund—or in what
proportion the that might be taken from the
mixed fund ccufilled of public, and what of private
money.
It appears however, that Mr. Pitt, in a converfa-
tion with Lord Melville, (ince the publication of the
Tenth Report, understood, that, betides the filid forts
of 4.0,0001. another fum of about 20,0001. iffued for
Navy Services, had been applied to purpofes not na-
val, during the LAIL treafurefhip of Lord Melville ;
but whether the above (urn of 20,00c1. was or was
not included in any of the (urns hereinbefore men-
tioned, we are unable to afcertain. _

In a letter written by Lord Melville to the Com-1
miffioners of Naval Inquiry, dated June 30, 1804, •
c_ntaineci in the Tenth Report, he Rates, that he had
' not declined to give occafional accommodation from
the funds in the hands of the Treafurer of the Navy,
to other fervices ; and in another letter to the Paid
Commiffioners, dated 28th March, tBos, he declares
he never knowingly derived any advantage from any
advances of public money.
Upon the fecund head of Inquiry referred to us by
your order, v i 2.—Whether any, and what reprefenta-
dons were made to the Lords Commiffioners of his
Majefty's Treafury, or the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, refpeding the withdrawing from the Bank any
fums of money fo iffued, fince the paffing of the Ad
of the 25th Geo. 111. c. 31 ; your Committee do not
find that any fuel reprefentations have been ever
made to the Lords Commiffioners of his Majetty's
Treafury, nor any fuch reprefentations to the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer—except what is Rated in the
evidence annexed to Mr. Raikes, and is admitted in
the evidence of Mr. Pitt—from whence it appears,
that lonic time in the rear 1797, Mr. Raikes, at that
time Governor of the B.tnk, had occafion to hold an
official intercourfe with Mr. Pitt by the authority of
the Bank ; and that when the official bufinefs was
over, io confequence of information which he had re-
ceived from Mr. Giles and Mr. Newland, he told
Mr. Pitt, in convetfation, of hii having heard at the
Bank that morning, that the Tieitiurt r of the Navy
now kept cafh at MelTrs. Coutts and Company's, and
that Navy Bills were paid by drafts on Melfrs. Coutts
and Company, infiead of drafts upon the Bank; and
that Mr. Pitt thanked him for the information ; that
the above was the purport of the communication to
Mr. Pitt, though the length of time that had inter-
vened prevented his being fore as to the terms of it.
Mr. Pitt admits the general import of the commu-
nication, with fume difference only as to the terms of
it ; which he does not undertake to recoiled with ac-
curacy, but fates it in fubfance to have conveyed to
him au impreffion that rums were drawn from the