The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-04-11 00:00:00

subject of enquiry. He did not mean to cast the
slightest suspicion on the Government, butn it
dwia:
impossible for any lumber to understand the ac.
counts before Cite !louse; all they could make out
would he that so many millions were drawi by
ferent intik iduals. If a Committee were appointed,
;;;2y would see that the manner in which our Commis.
sarint srstein had been carried on in Spain was the
most absurd Commissariat system on which any coati.
try had ever carried on liar. The Immense expernli.
tore in the Peninsula called loudly for enquiry. The
persons who furnished the means of, transport to oar
army were chiefly of the lowest classes of the peo.
ple in Spain; and they ought to have dealt e ith such
a description of persons in a way which would have
been intelligible to them. But instead of this, the
mules and services were paid to them by bits of paper
or draughts of the Deputy• Commissary on the Com.
missary-General in Lisbon. Whets an ignorant man
in the mountains got one of these pieces of paper,
from being used to the paper of 'his own Government,
he attached but little value to it, and it .was generally
purchased by persons In the suite of the Gommissa.
riat at an enormous discount. Ile could bring per.
sons before the Comm.ttee who had made 50 and 60
per cent. in buying thk paper, and who had not even
had it at first hand; and at every intermediate stage
a great profi' must have been made on the same paper.
If the London dealer got 50 per cent. profit, the
sum actually received by the Spanish muleteers must
not have been one-fourth part of the sum paid by
Government. This was not a system of a day,
but a system of several yews. He would be
answered that there was a difficulty in getting
specie; but in the first place he would observe,
that there was no plait of getting specie, which
could be compared with the discount on the bills to
these poor people who only got ono:fourth of them.
Paper in Europe seldom went beyond 25 or 30 per
cent. discount ; but here was a discount of 75 per
cent. This mode of paying, in what might be com..
paratively termed a savage country, created the very
difficulty which was felt; for it forced Government
to spend twenty millions where only five qiillioni
was wanted ; it created the very scarcity ; end Go.
vernment were obliged to pay for it at last. All this
originated in a completely false eystem of Commis-
sariat. But the deception to the poor people did
riot stop there. Bills were given on the• Commissary at
Lisbon, and the people had no means of knowing
good from bad bills. At this day bills at Lisbon
could be bought at 20 per cent. discount. What
possible benefit could be derived from thus having a
mass of floating paper which must at last be paid off
at par. The consequence of all this had been the
grossest peculation. A person by getting the ear of
the Commissariat, knew what bills were likely to be
first paid. One gentleman at a house at Lisbon had
made an enormous fortune, and many persons hail
enriched themselves by the sanie means. Government
must pay for all the discredit attached to this paper.
He hoped, that now that we were on the point of
entering on a new war, this system would be en-
quired into; an he hoped that the suggestion of his
Hight Honourable Friend (Mr. Tierney) for the a?.
pointment of a Committee up stairs would be
agreed to.

—The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, did
not think that a Committee could be productive
of such advantage as a Committee on the spot, armed
with power to examine on oath. He did not deny
the facts stated by the Hon. Gentleman, but they had
'.qt come to his knowledge. Those Gentlemen of
the Committee in the Peninsula having for years been
exclusively employed in this work, mast prosecute
the investigation with greater advantage than Go.
tlemen who had other avocations could be supposed
to do; and upon the whole, therefore, he thought
that it would be better that the substance of this in.
vestigation, when completed, should be laid before
Parliament. He wished that any Gentleman pos-
sessed of information with respect to any peculation
would furnish it to those Commissioners who would
avail themselves of it.

Mr. BARING said, it Was not the peculation of
individuals, but the system pursued under the sanc-
tion of Government, of which he complained. A
person who remitted money to Lisbon, might pur-
chase Commissariat Paper to-morrow if he chose.
Ile knew that the lower classes of the Commissariat
had had persons following them, buying up the pa-
per as it was issued, but this must be the conse-
quence of the system. It was not the peculation
bat the system on which the Commissariat Wl3 going
on, and the sanction given to that system by Govern-
ment, which required investigation. Ail that the
Committee in the Peninsula could do was to examine
the vouchers of the different items of expeaditore.
He believed that none of the Accounts of the Petite
sula had yet been audited.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
observed, that the circumstances which deprived es
of the wual means of riegociation in the. warfare in
the Peninsula, could never be expected to Eat
Win. It was not his wish to disguise the deprecia-
tion of paper in the Peninsula; but it vvas found ah•
solutely impossible to make every payment at the
time in ready money.
Mr. BENNET lamented that it appeared from the
statement of the Chaucellor of the Exchequer, that
the nation was so near to the end of its resource"
It believed the House, therefore, to examine the
more minutely We the accounts that were laid before
it. The charges for the Army Extraordinaries welt
enormous, and the public money seemed to have bem
squacdered without any consideration of the pocket
of those from w horn it was drained. He wished lot
explanation upon many of the items, particular!!
upon that which regarded Lord Aberdeen, sr°
whose name WB3 placed the large sum of 25,0001.
Por the service of Spain still larger amounts welt
charged, a part of which had no doubt been sppte'
printed to that expedition which she had sent oo 10
her devoted colonies, which the Hon. Merlin
hoped would never reach its destination. 'lke troy!
at home, on the enetrary, remained unpaid,
vriti
the exception of the Carps of Gen. Whittingline.
which had placed the Usurper Ferdinand upon °'
Throne at Madrid.—L Ikar, hem'!]--Ile rec"',l:l
mended that AlinisSers should narrowly watch'(,
communications between the inhabitants of
Spain and-'Bonaparte. The llon. Member requtrel
explanation from Ministers regarding the sum t:
10,0001. paid to Lord Wm. Bentinch, who had he:.
employed egeind the Wog of Naples, m