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Earl of Darlington and others, ending the 24th of June 1757. and declared the 13th of july 1770. We tranfmitted to the auditors of the impreft copies of thefe lifts, requiring from them the names of thofe perfons therein mentioned, whofe accounts have been cleared fince the paffing of thofe final ac

counts,

From the returns to this requifition it appears, that the total fum iffued by Lord Chatham up on account, and remaining unaccounted for at the time of the declaration of his final account, was 1,091,6891. 6s. 8d. that fince that time infupers have been cleared to the amount of 148,0541. 4s. 5d. which leaves, of his iffes, 943,6 51. 28. 3d. unaccounted for at this day.

The lift upon the final account of the Earl of Darlington and others, amounted to 286,0941. 18s. 2d. of which 2331. 68. 8d. only has been accounted for; fo that the fum remaining infuper upon that account, is 285,8611. 11s. 6d.

We proceeded to the accounts of the fubfequent paymafters general, in the order in which they fucceeded to that office. We required from the auditors of the impreft, lifts of the perfons remaining infuper upon the final accounts of Henry Lord Holland, Mr Charles Townfhend, Lord North and Mr Cooke, Mr. Cooke and Mr. Thomas I ownfhend, and upon the two accounts of Mr. Rigby, ending the 24th of December 1769, being the only accounts at that time delivered by him into the office of the auditor. We required from the pay-office of the army, lifts of all perfons to whom money had been iffued on account by the paymasters-general of the forces, purfuant eithe to the king's warrants or the warrants of commanders in chief abroad, fince the 24th

of December 1769, with the fums iffued to each. Thefe lifts, tranfmitted to us from the pay-office, we likewife fent to the auditors of the impreft, for them to examine and certify what perfons there inferted had paffed their accounts, and for what fums.

The lifts produced to us in confequence of thefe requifitions, are all inferted in the appendix, and furnish us with the following facts:

The payments upon account made by Henry Lord Holland, between the 25th of June 1757 and the 24th of June 1765, and now remaining to be accounted for upon his final account not yet declared, amount to 12,246,956l. 125. 1od.; and this lift does not include the infupers upon the unfettled account of Robert Paris Taylor, efq. his late deputy in Germany.

Upon the final account of Mr. Charles Townshend, ending the 24th of June 1766, and declared the 29th of June 1782, remain infupers to the amount of 202,0981. 195. iod.

Upon the final account of lord North and Mr. Cooke, ending the 24th of December 1767, and declared the 7th of September 1782, 189,7341. 7s. 6d.

Upon the final account of Mr. Cooke and Mr. Thomas Townfhend, ending the 24th of June 1768, and declared the 19th of April 1782, 34,750l. os. 5d.; and upon the two accounts of Mr. Rigby, ending the 24th of December 1769, 165,9671. 9s. 3d.; and upon the lift of payments iffued by him and the fucceeding paymasters-general of the forces from the 24th of December 1769 to the 6th of May laft, pursuant to his majesty's war rants, 17,444,9031. 78. 5d. and pur fuant to the warrants of commanders in chief abroad, 7,420,013!. 55.

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He has likewife iffued to feveral perfons, fince the 24th of December 1769, the fum of 5,218,6251. 118.; which fum has been accounted for, and is, therefore, not included in the above lifts.

Among these perfons ftill fubject to account, are feveral to whom va rious fums have been iffued at different times: we have selected a few of the most confiderable; and collecting together all the fums iffued to each in all these lifts, we have stated the total for which each perfon ftands at this day accountable to the public.

The refult from thefe lifts is, that under the head of iffues for the extraordinary fervices of the army between the year 1746 and the 6th of May laft, 664 perfons remain at this day accountable to the public, for the fum of 38,933,920l. 168.; and of them fix perfons only for the fum of 4,214,4871.: and according to the prefent course of the exchequer, every one of them must pafs his accounts of the whole fum he has received before the auditors of the impreft, or he cannot have his quietus.

It is equally expedient for the public and for the perfons concerned, that the ftate of this infuper account should be made known. Whoever of these accountants are, upon the balance of their accounts, indebted to the public, fhould pay fuch debts; if the public are in debted to them, they should be paid; if their accounts are even, they ought to be quieted; if, through ignorance or delufion, they think themselves fecure, they ought to be warned that prerogative procefs hangs over their perfons and eftates; and the longer they delay paffing their accounts, the greater difficulty they will find in avoiding it.

That perfons, entrusted to fuch

an extent, fhould continue fo long without being called to account, and, being fo deeply interested, fhould not long ago anxioufly have preffed to have their accounts adjufted, was a difficulty that feemed not eafily reconcileable with public attention or common prudence: the examination of one of these accountants might throw fome light upon the fubject.

up.

In the final account of lord North and Mr. Cooke, Anthony Bacon, efq. is fet infuper 27981. 9s. 4d. for victualling the forces in the Ifle of Man; and for incidental charges in the years 1765, 1766, and 1767: in Mr. Rigby's accounts, ending the 24th of December 1769, he is likewife fet infuper with Lewis Chauvet, efq. 11,7451. 75. 3d. for negroes employed in the ceded iflands. We procured two of the warrants for the payment of parts of thefe fums; the firft, dated the 10th of February 1767, for the payment of 11041. 6s. 1od. “ on account to fatisfy and difcharge the like fum due to him;" to this warrant were annexed an account ftating the articles he had fupplied to the forces in the Isle of Man, as the ground of his claim, and a report of the controller of the ar my accounts: the fecond, dated the 20th of December 1768, for the payment of 10831. 1cs, 4d. "without deduction and without account," in full for the balance of his account of negroes employed in the new ceded iflands: to this warrant is annexed a flated account, containing all his receipts and payments for this fervice, and the ba lance ftruck.

We examined Mr. Bacon relative to the circumftance of thefe pay. ments. The firft was a claim by him upon the treafury, for having pursuant to an agreement, fupplied (H 4)

for

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for a certain time, certain articles to the troops in the Ile of Man: the treasury referred this claim to the controllers of the army accounts; and upon their report, granted him the warrant for the payment of the fum that appeared to be due to him: the other was a ftated account, confifting of various fpecific fums paid to him from time to time, by warrants, either upon the exchequer or the paymaster-general of the forces, for fervices performed purfuant to a contract with the treafury, for fupplying negroes for the ufe of the ceded iflands. These fums were not imprefts, but directed to be made without account. Upon production of proper certificates of the execution, this account was fettled by the treafury; the balance ftruck, and paid to him by that warrant.

As the first of thefe payments was made to him in confequence of the report of the controller of the army accounts; and the fecond, as the balance of a stated fettled account, Mr. Bacon confidered them as accounts completely adjusted: he did not conceive himfelf any longer refponfible, or fubject to render any other account for the fums he had received in confequence of these two engagements.

It is more than probable that many of the perfons in thefe lifts are in the like fituation. Satisfied that their accounts with the public are finally fettled, they rest perfectly fecure from being ever called to account again; and yet, the names of all the perfons in the lifts of Lord Chatham and Lord Darling ton, have, twice a year, for feveral years, been iffued with the writ of diftringas ad computandum to the fheriffs of London and Middlefex; and, had that proceís been execut. ed, iffues must have been returned

upon them all for neglecting to bring in their accounts.

Mr. Bacon's two accounts having been fettled, one by the controller of the army accounts, the other by the treafury; we examined Sir John Dick, bart. one of the controllers of the army accounts, and John Martin Leake, efq. one of the clerks of the treasury, relative to the examinations given to accounts of this defcription in their offices.

All the ilues for the army extraordinaries ought regularly to be examined by the controller of the accounts of the army; but in some cafes, as where the agreement is to furnifh articles upon commiffion, or where the vouchers of an account ftating the performance of a contract are competent and require no reference, they have been examined by a clerk of the treasury, and payments have been directed to be made in confequence of that examination, without any other reference, and without account.

Every contract with the treafury is entered in the controller's office. Where it is an agreement only by a minute made at the treafury board, either a copy of that minute is brought to the controller's office to be entered, or the controller has recourfe to the original minute when neceffary. Every account or claim grounded upon the contract or agreement, is generally referred, with the vouchers and other neceffary inftruments, by the lords of the treasury, to the controller for his examination and opinion: he compares the articles in the account with the terms of the contract or treafury minute, and with their correfpondent vouchers; he examines the computations and caftings, and requires the certificate of the proper officer, of the faithful execution of the contract in every

part;

part; he corrects the errors in the account; he states his doubts, and reports his opinion to the lords of the treasury, who form their judgment upon his report, and cirect payments accordingly.

Iffues directed by the treafury upon these contracts, may be either previous to the execution of any part of the contract, or in confequence of either a part or the whole having been performed: the firft is without the intervention of the controller or the treafury clerk, and must be upon account: the other two are in confequence of the reference to one of them, and may be directed to be made, either upon, or without account; but they are ufually upon account. Hence we may collect the fituation in which the fub-accountants under our confideration may at prefent ftand. To fome of them the fums they are charged with, may have been iffued on account, and no examination whatever had of the expenditure. To others, fums may have been iffued, either upon, or without account, in confequence of the reports of the controller of the army accounts, or of the examinations of the clerks of the treafury; and the auditors of the impreft have feen reafon, according to the rules of their office, to fet them all infuper, though fome of the warrants may have been filent, or have even directed the iffues to be made. without account. There can be no doubt that thofe perfons whofe accounts have never been examined, are bound to pass them: but thofe to whom payments have been made in confequence of accounts examined and approved by officers duly authorized, ftand upon a different ground. If fuch an examination be liable to no fufpicion of careleffnefs, partiality, or collu

fion; if it has fuch credit as to warrant the actual payment of the demand, any farther check feems to be unneceflary. The auditor follows exactly the fteps of the controller; he re-computes, re-cafts, and re-examines the fame or fimilar vouchers. It is true, he may correct the errors of the controller, as the latter has corrected his errors; for the statements of the auditor have been referred to and corrected by the controller; but if the poffibility of error were a ground for re-examination, checks would be endless. If two perfons compe tent in accounts do their duty; if each examines, and they both agree, the probability is they are both right, for it is highly improbable they fhould both err exactly alike; and, therefore, if an office for the examination of accounts be faithfully executed, there is no neceffity for the interpofition of any other office by way of check.

The paffing these accounts in the office of the auditor is not only useless, but attended with very confiderable expence, and the public pays it. The fees paid for paffing an account of extraordinaries in the office of the auditor, are in proportion to the length and period of the account, and the trouble it gives to the office. Where the account comprehends a number of years, the auditor is paid from ten pounds to twenty-five pounds for each year of the account. All the fees for paffing a fhort account through all the exchequer offices, amount to about 401. and a long one to 120l. Eftimating the expence of paffing the accounts of 664 infupers (the number in these lifts) in the auditor's office, one with another at a medium of 801, each, it will amount to 53,120l. a fum to be paid for bufinefs unne

ceflary,

neceffary, and which ought, efpecially in the prefent ftate of its finances, to be faved to the public.

It will not be difficult to diftinguifh which of these accounts have been examined, and which not. The controller keeps entries of all his reports in his office. The treafury can certainly with eafe find out what accounts have been fettled by their clerks; and by the publication of thefe lifts of infupers, they who are alive, and the reprefentatives of thofe who are dead, will fee the fums for which they stand accountable to the public; it nearly concerns them all to examine into the state of their accounts, and to be ready to produce them when called upon by proper authority.

We are of opinion, that all these lifts of fub-accountants fhould forthwith undergo a fcrutiny in the treafury, and in the office of the controller of the accounts of the army; that fuch of the perfons therein named, or the reprefentatives of those who are dead, whofe accounts have been either imperfectly or not at all examined, fhould be compelled to produce their accounts in the office of the controller of the accounts of the army, in order for their examination; and that those perfons whofe accounts fhall appear to have been fufficiently examined, either by the controller or the clerks of the treafury, fhould be relieved from the neceffity of paffing their accounts in the office of the auditors of the impreft, and thould, by fpecial warrants to be granted for that purpose, have their infupers cleared in the final accounts of the paymasters-general of the forces, from whom they received the fums with which they ftand charged, and be enabled to obtain their quietus.

The next fubject to which we di.

rected our attention, was the fate of the accounts of the paymastersgeneral of the forces in the office of the auditors of the imprett. The account we had been examining, was the last declared account of a paymafter-general of the forces, and of the year 1767; only one account more of a fubfequent year, which is that of Mr. Cooke and Mr. Thomas Townfhend, ending the 24th of June 1768,has been declared. An arrear of 14 years in the accounts of an office fo important and of fo extenfive a public expenditure, was a subject that called for inquiry.

We required from the auditors of the impreft the state of the accounts of the paymasters - general of the forces in their offices, diftinguishing the times when the several parts of the accounts were delivered in, and the progress made towards completing the fame.

In the return to this requifition from the office of Lord Sondes, the first article is the final account of Henry Lord Holland, for fix months, ending the 24th of June 1765 it is ftated to have been delivered to the auditor in 1772. The accounts of three fucceeding paymafters, for the three fucceeding years, have been declared; but this account is neither declared, nor ready for declaration. It was incumbent upon us to enquire into the caufes that obftructed the completion of an account of fo remote a period.

This account had been under our confideration in the beginning of the year 1781, as far as regarded the balance then due from the reprefentatives of Lord Holland to the public: what farther progrefs had been made in it fince that time, both in the auditor's office and in the pay office, we learned from Jofeph Hughes, cfq. one of the deputy

auditors,

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