By the corrected Statement

Leaving an Excess over Supples

£. 41,500,898

£.41,100,000

£.41,671,185 £.170,286

£.70 0

70 O

10 12

Three per Cont. Reduced

Three per

Cent. Consols.

Navy Five per Cents.

of 4l. 198. 7d.

Lord H. Petey entered into a calculation to shew, that, by a deduction of the supplies which were extraordinary in the votes of the present year, such as the payment of the Loyalty loan, the subsidies to the king of Sweden (280,000l.), the emperor of Russia (500,000l.), and to the king of Prussia the remainder of the sum total on credit, and the excess of the extraordinaries of the present year, the supplies to be prospectively raised, would be reduced from the supplies of the present year, already stated, to 38,100,1301.-The first resolution being moved,

Mr. Rose observed, that the noble lord had excluded from his consideration, in the first formation of his plan, any estimate founded on the subsidies that might be necessary; and yet, scarcely a month had elapsed, when he came forward with subsidies to the amount of nearly one million! He had always been of opinion, that lord H. P.'s supposi tion that 32 millions would be suf. ficient prospectively for the war, was totally fallacious. Sir Thomas Turton said, the event had proved that the war expenditure could not be confined to 32 millions. After a few observations in explanation of the

statements before the committee, the resolutions were agreed to and ordered to be committed.

Of the various plans of finance, that took up so great a portion of the time and attention of the house of commous in this session of parliament, it has been thought proper to give a ful leraccount than is permitted, by our limits, to many other proceedings, because their object is of vast im. portance; and because, out of the discussions to which they give birth, some results may arise for the correction and improvement of our po litical economy.

In an account of the proceed. ings of parliament, relating to finance, the progress of the Com mission of Military Enquiry is not to be omitted. This commission, which had been appointed in the last year of the administration of Mr. Pitt, and renewed under the present administration, had brought to light abuses of very great magni. tude in the barrack department. It appeared that general Delancey, barrack-master-general, had been in the habit of drawing, through the medium of Mr. Greenwood, the army-agent, immense sums of the public money, long before they were wanted; and that in a part only

of his accounts, (as there had not been time for examining the whole,) there were over-charges, and misstatements to the amount of no less a sum than ninety thousand pounds*. The report of the commissioners, (being their third,) made early in the present session of parliament, related to Mr. Alexander Davison, banker, and colonel of a regiment of volunteers. This man, who had been lately tried for bribery at elections, and imprisoned for that offence, soon after his coming out of prison, had been made treasurer of the ordnance; an office in which, from three to four millions passed through his hands of the public money. It appeared from the report, that in consequence of a bargain with general Delancey, Davison was to receive a commission of two and a half per cent. for supplying the articles of beds, bedding, sheets, blankets, towels, iron-mongery, candles, beer, and forage; but that, as to coals, he was to supply this article as a merchant.

It appeared from the report, that the way in which the public was injured by Davison, was two-fold. First, by following the example of Delancey, in drawing immense sums of money, long before they were

*Vol. XLVII. (1806) p. 79.

expended by him. for the public service: he had always in hand a million or more of the public money; of the interest of which he thus deprived the public. Secondly, ho imposed on the public in the price of the articles furnished. On this head there did not appear to have been any means of detection afforded, as far as re ated to the articles furnished on commission: but ample means of detection were found with respect to the coals, and the commissioners did not fail to make a proper use of them. The bar- ́ gain concerning the coals was this: Davison was to buy the coals on his own account, and to sell them to the barrack-offic, at the whole. sale prices, at the several places where the barracks were situated: and, that these prices might be ascertained in a regular way, Davison was to produce certificates that his prices were fair; these certificates being signed by persons of the most perfect respectability. But it appeared that Delancey had never made any inquiry into the character, or the means of knowledge possessed by the persons who signed Davison's certificates, save in one single instance +. Had he conceived himself to be under any check or control,

it is probable that, in his tricks, he would have been less daring.

In the first place, he charted, in point of measure, as a retailer, not making the allowance always made by wholesale dea ers, of one chaldron in twenty so that, supposing his prices to have been fair, he thus gained one twentieth part more, than would have been done by a fair wholesale dealer. This, how ever, was a trifle, compared with what follows. It appears, from a comparative view of the prices which Davison paid, and those which he charged to the government, (and which were paid to him for a course of nine years,) that the average of the price charged to the public, was eighty-one shillings per chaldron; and the average of the price paid by Davison, sixty-one shillings per chafdron; making a difference of twenty-five in the hundred. To this sum, again, must be added, the one chaldron in twenty, which Da. vison ought to have given in, as the wholesalers do, amounting to five pounds in the hundred more: thus making a gain of thirty pounds in every hundred. Farther still, Da. vison was bound to make the de. liveries in the most favourable seasons; instead of which, he made almost the whole of them in winter, when coals were dearest, though he had bought them at the seasons when coals were cheapest; and that too, through the most shameful and cul pable inattention, if not the connivance of general Delancey, with the public money. For many other instances, and the most accurate details concerning the fraudulent

dealing of Mr. Alexander Davison, we refer our readers to the report of the commissioners.---The wealth that this man accumulated at the expence of the public, must have been immense; nor was he at any pains to shade it from the pubic eye, but, on the contrary, seemed desirous to display it by the utmost splendour and magnificence*. In short, he seemed destined to rouse the attention of government to the conduct of their servants, and the agents of its servants.

Lord Archibald Hamilton, who had given notice, in the house of commons, of a motion which he intended to bring forward respecting the third report of the commissioners of military inquiry, on the 2d of February, caled the attention of the house to this subject. He had in. tended to have moved, that the attorney-general should be instructed to take the necessary measures for ascertaining and securing, by due course of law, such sums as should be due to the public from Mr. Alexander Davison, in consequence of the transactions disclosed in the third report of the commissioners of military inquiry. But he had since learnt that the business was in the hands of the treasury, with whose proceedings he willing, especially after some communication he had had with his no. ble friend (lord H. Petty). to in. terfere. He thought it his duty, however, to state the view with which he had taken up the subject. He had considered that, the report having been made, it was far from being creditable that it should have

un

been

been supposed to remain so long on the table unnoticed; and also that it would have been more desireable for the house to have instituted some process against Mr. Alexander Davison, than that it should have been done by the treasury. Nor had he yet wholly relinquished that , opinion, though by his communica. tons with his noble friend, it had been very much weakened.

Lord H. Petty took the present opportunity of explaining to the house the proceedings of the treasury with regard to the matter in question, which he was not surprized to find had attracted the notice of his noble friend, and of the house in general. The commissioners of barrack accounts had, very properly, communicated to the lords of the trea. sury their opinion, that it was very necessary that Mr. Davison should produce his cash-account with the barrack-master-general. Mr. Da

vison, after delays which he endea voured to excuse, declared his rea. diness to give such information as to his cash-account, as he could give; but stated at the same time, that his cash-account was so mixed with other accounts, that it was impossible he could give a clear view of it. It was not competent for lord H. P. to say, in the pre. sent stage of the business, whether there was any evidence on which to found a criminal prosecution: but if it should, the attorney and solici tor generals would be instructed by the lords of the treasury to institute proceedings upon it. Mr. Davison had written to the lords of the treasury, stating, that he would produce, in his own defence, an account which would prove satisfac

tory. The commissioners, however, by the direction of the trea sury, had called for the cash-account, and directions had been given, and measures taken for the recovery of the sums due.

1

Mr. Robson, Feb. 18, moved for certain papers relative to abuses in the barrack department. Four years had elapsed since he had first recommended and pressed an inquiry into the expenditure of that department; and since that period, six millions had been granted for that service in Great Britain, and two millions for Ireland. If his suggestions had been acted upon, there would have been a saving of two millions for the public, out of the sums paid for the hire of buildings, the repairs of buildings, and the rent of temporary barracks. As an instance of the abuses in the above articles, he mentioned a collusion between a Mr. Page who had be come barrack-master, and a Mr. Green, a lawyer at Winchester, stated in the second report of mili tary inquiry.* In proof of the utility of producing the papers to be moved for, he stated that last year he had confined his inquiry to one parish or district in the Isle of Wight, and that in this place he had since found that the rents of the temporary barracks were reduced to one half. Barns hired for that purpose, and rated at £.2,200, were now lowered to £.1,100 by means of the mo. tion he had formerly made on that subject.

Lord Howick declared in a very earnest manner, and wished Mr. Robson to be assured, that if his motion could possibly have been complied with, without interfering

with