the advance made for the original purchase, and paid it into the act of parliament account at the Bank, in discharge of his own deficiency. The excess, viz. 12,743/. was paid in discharge of a part of lord Melville's deficiency, so that lord Melville obtained the benefit of the difference between 23,000l., which the stock originally cost, and the 32,7001. for which it was sold.

It appears, however, that with the produce of this, and other stock, that was sold to the amount of nineteen thousand pounds and upwards, lord Melville had not money enough; he was under the necessity of applying to Messrs. Coutts, and they lent him, in the regular course of business, upon good security, 13,000l. This sum of 13,000l. he paid immediately into his public account at the Bank. We know the clerk who paid it, and we have the bank-notes with which it was paid; we know the money was drawn by a draft, signed with lord Melville's own hand. Let me ask; if he was not indebted to the public, why did he pay this money out of his private pocket? He could not intend to make a present to the public of the 13,000l. nor of the 32.000l. nor of the 19,000l.

Still the account was not clear. In addition to all that had been done, he made the public pay itself. After having put all these sums together, they did not make up the balance. In this emergency, he went back to a gentleman, to whom he had lent money some years before; the treasurer of 1782. He said, I served you a good turn in 1784. You shall serve me a good turn now; you shall help me to make up the remaining balance, amounting to 5,3331. 6s. 8d. I pray your lordships to attend to the specific sum. The money was in the Bank of England, its proper place; in the account of the ex-treasurer of the navy, from which it could not be so removed without a violation of law. He took it out of his ex-treasurership account, and paid it into the account of his second treasurership. Why, what a farce and mockery is this!" I have made up all my accounts; I am not debtor to the public in a single shilling; and I have never used any of the public money for any other than public purposes."

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impossible for circumstances to go, if I have not egregiously failed in my statement to your lordships. We are now upon the eminence where I engaged to place you. You must now see all the transactions of those eighteen years. How the stream of corruption, of smaller dimensions in the beginning, swelled in its progress to a much greater volume; till the whole was returned to the gulf whence its origin was derived. The termination of his dealings alone would convict the noble defendant of the crimes and misdemeanors we allege against him. We shall farther prove to your lordships, that these acts were notorious; and that they were known to be impro per and illegal during the whole time they were carried on. That they were brought to the notice of lord Melville; that some of those persons who were criminally engaged in the transactions, and are now indemnified, knew the illegality and impropriety of such conduct, but none dared to accuse. We could prove to your lordships, by a memorable instance, that the Bank knew such things were done. A conversation took place between the noble defendant and one of his colleagues, in which the matter was mentioned to him; but he contrived to put it aside, and the inquiry was not prosecuted.

At the time Mr. Trotter lent him the first 4,000l. without interest, it must have come under his consideration. At the time of the purchase of the East-India stock, it must again have been forcibly impressed upon his mind, by the remarkable conversation which then took place; and, at the conclusion of the whole it was again so manifest, that if he had before believed Mr. Trotter possessed the philosopher's stone, and could conjure up as much money as he pleased, he must then at least have discovered that the secret was in the treasurer's cash account at the Bank. My lords, Mr. Coutts knew this to be improper, and so stated it to Mr. Trotter. Mr. Wilson, who acted for Mr. Trotter in his absence, but never made any use of the public money for himself, knew it to be improper, and (to use his own forcible expression), always acted in trembling. But this answer may be given. What? if these things were notorious during so many years, and were not taken notice of, is there not a great degree of persecution in charging lord Melville criminally at this distance of time? My lords, we deny that the charges have been exhibited in any but the true spirit of justice. We claim credit from your lordships for so much in the name of the Commons of the United Kingdom. We contend that the Commons are just and honourable prosecutors of the noble defendant. They cannot act in the spirit of persecution; and not only they cannot act in that spirit, but even those of their members who have had the conduct of this business, cannot have acted in the spirit of persecution either. Persecution is an odious and disgusting compound of malevolence and power.

of our navy, set a splendid example to power: he did that which many have been too justly reproached with neglecting. Whilst in the exercise of power, he endeavoured to deprive it of that factitious and depraved addition of influence arising from abuse; he set on foot inquiries. Those inquiries were followed by legislative provisions; those legislative provisions appointed men to investigate abuses in the naval department, who, to their immortal honour, will be remembered in the annals of their country, the naval commissioners.+ To them the praise, to them the merit of the in vestigation. To them all the honour for the good which must result from this prosecution. To us only the secondary praise and the grateful reflection of having done our duty.

My lords, we shall also have to prove that lord Melville made great profit of the public money. But we shall have in answer to that, that lord Melville is not rich, and that if a man had taken all this money, he must be a rich man. My lords, the acquisition of money and riches are perfectly distinct. That lord Melville is a slave to the passion of avarice in its most sordid form, that he likes money for its own sake, was never imputed to him by

me or any man.

Has our conduct betrayed any thing like malevolence? If it has, our conduct has done injustice to our feelings. We have no malevolent feelings whatever; and I trust and hope we are free from such imputation by the acknowledgment of the noble defendant himself. As to power! Was the hand of power stretched forth to crush a weak and unfortunate individual, who might be obnoxious to the court, or no favourite with the people? No, my lords: the noble defendant, at the time he was first attacked, was a man in great power, holding one of the highest offices in the state; assisted and protected as long as it was possible by one of the most able men, and the most powerful minister that has almost ever existed in this country. He had friends innumerable, and many friends he still possesses, even among your lordships. It was the voice of justice that spoke, or that voice could not have prevailed. But the very notoriety of the transactions, shows how powerful he was, and how impossible to institute the prosecution at an earlier time. Many knew, but nobody dared to tell. Why? Because he was all powerful in the vessel of the state; from the keelson to the top gallant mast head he was every where. His influence was felt in all quarters. When he issued forth from his habitation in Somerset-place, could he go to the east, and not see proofs of his power? If he turned to the west, he was in the seat of his power also. Did not his patronage extend from the sources of the Ganges to the Orkneys? Was there a ship sailed which was not fraught with tokens of his sway? Was there an exciseman made, or a viceroy appointed, that he was not consulted? If these things were so, my lords, can we be surprised that inquiries were not sooner instituted? The knowledge of these transactions was extended to a large description of persons; but to the House of Commons as such, they were unknown, or known only to some of its members in a particular manner. It required some extraordinary circumstances in the political world to make it possible to bring the noble defendant to trial, and, as I hope, to justice. It required, first of all, a person to set things in motion. Happily such a person existed. The predecessor of the noble lord in the Admiralty. He whose fame was cradled under the blazing batteries of Quebec; hic, the conqueror off Cape St. Vincent; he who, with a salutary disregard to precedence, selected the immortal Nelson, and sent him to the battle of the Nile; thereby preparing him for the everlasting day of Trafalgar, his sweet and glorious death: he who at this moment is carrying the British flag triumphant before the blockaded ports of the enemy; or if he has again ventured forth, is even now inflicting upon him fresh ven. geance; adding to our security, and his own great renown. He it was who, in the interval between the more perilous duties of his profession, being appointed to the administration

But if a man loves money for its own sake, he may perhaps be less dangerous than if he loves it for any other cause; and if he loves money as the means of. acquiring any other thing, he must part with money, to obtain it. Avarice, in its naked form, is so disgusting, that "to be shunned, it needs but to be seen." As the pander of other passions, she is less hideous, but far more mischievous. She is as truly herself, when disguised under the fascinating mask of pleasure and hospitality, as when sitting amidst her filthy hoards. But she assumes her most formidable shape, when she becomes the tool of power. To what

On May 14, 1806, the following resolu tion was passed by the House of Commons: "That it appears to this House, that the conduct of the Earl of St. Vincent, in his late naval administration, has added an additional lustre to his exalted character, and is entitled to the approbation of this House." See also the case of the Hedgeses, antè, vol. 28. p. 1315.

† On May 2, 1805, the House of Commons passed a vote of thanks to the commissioners of naval inquiry in the following resolution: "That the commissioners appointed by an act of the 43rd year of his majesty's reign, to inquire and examine into any irregularities, frauds, or abuses, which are and have been practised by persons employed in the several naval departments therein mentioned, have, as far as appears from the reports which they have hitherto made, exerted themselves with great diligence, ability, and fortitude; and that their conduct in the execution of the arduous duties entrusted to them, entitles them to the warmest approbation and encouragement of this House."

enormities have not men, in all ages, been driven, to obtain money as the means of power? And if this ill-gotten money was employed by the noble defendant for the purpose of obtaining political influence in Scotland or elsewhere, the consequences of his rapacity are more to be guarded against than would have been the bare accumulation of wealth.

I shall trouble your lordships with but very few more words; but general impressions have been sometimes created, with regard to particular men, which make it almost impossible for those who have lived in habits with them to believe, that they should have done the thing of which they have been accused, even if the most incontestible evidence is brought against them. Many may say, lord Melville is of a spirit so frank and generous, we know so well the good qualities of his heart, that notwithstanding the evidence before our eyes, it is impossible we should believe he has done things so reprehensible. Your lordships, I doubt not would spurn at a general defence of that sort. But we are all fiable to the influence of our partialities and passions: and if this were the first instance in which a peer of parliament had been so charged, even I and my honourable friends behind me, might hesitate, and say, let us consider whether what we have proved can be true. Are the things before our eyes possible?-Alas! my lords, we can refer you to the page of history. Look back, and unfortanately you will see how many splendid personages have appeared at your bar, impeached for the same sort of offence which we charge upon the noble lord. Several instances have occurred. But there is one whose name is great among mankind, who, in the agony of his soul before his peers, confessed that he had been guilty of peculation :-that man was lord Bacon. Of whom, without detracting from any who has lived in times past or present, it may be said

Genus humanum ingenio superavit; in whose writings wisdom dwell ;-upon whose lips she hung; who knew every avenue to the human heart, and has pointed out to each its appropriate guard; of whom it was said by the marquis d'Effiat, with an almost pardonable hyperbole, that he resembled the angels; so that when he stood and shook the plumes of his immortal genius, that heavenly fragrance so filled the circuit wide of the intelfectual world, he might well have been mistaken for one of the celestial band. Even he, by this degrading passion, was thrown to the earth, and the basest among the sons of men might say, "Art thou, too, become like one of us?"-If then, lord Bacon did so, may not lord Melville have done so? My lords, hat he has done so, we aver, and we will prove it irresistibly to his conviction.

Adjourned to the Chamber of Parliament.

SECOND DAY.

Wednesday, April 30, 1806.

The Lords and others came from the Chamber of Parliament into Westminster-hall in the same order as on Tuesday last.

Lord Chancellor.-Gentlemen, managers for the Commons, you may now proceed with your evidence, and the Lords will be pleased to give their attention.

Mr. Whitbread. My lords, we shall now proceed to adduce the evidence in support of the articles exhibited against lord viscount Melville; and the learned manager near me will take charge of that part of the case.

Mr. Giles.-My lords, the first evidence which the managers propose adducing to your lordships is intended to establish the introductory matter contained in the preamble of the articles of impeachment. For this purpose we first refer your lordships to the act of the 20th of the present king, chapter 54, appointing commissioners to examine the public accounts of the kingdom. I apprehend it will not be necessary to give your lordships the trouble of hearing that act read. I only notice it as a matter of form, and shall proceed to offer to your lordships the reports made by those commissioners. I at present mean to trouble your lordships with only the third and the eighth of them, and I shall call upon Mr. Whittam (who is an officer of the House of Commons, in whose possession those reports are) to produce them.

Then George Whitlam, esq. came to the bar, when the clerk administered the oath as follows:

The evidence that you shall give upon the Impeachment of Henry viscount Melville shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, and the contents of this book.

Mr. Giles.-Are you clerk of the Journals of the House of Commons? Mr. Whittum.-I am.

Mr. Giles.-Have you in your custody the reports of the commissioners appointed to examine the public accounts of the kingdom? Mr. Whittam.-I have.

Mr. Giles.-Will you produce the third and eighth reports of the commissioners? Mr. Whittam.-This is the third report, and this is the eighth [producing them].

[The witness was directed to withdraw]. Lord Chancellor.- Do you read the whole, or only a part?

Mr. Giles. We wish only for a part; if the learned counsel for the defendant call for any other part we have no objection to its being read.

Mr. Plumer.-My lords, I am not apprized what part of the third report the honourable managers wish to select in support of the prosecution. That third report appears to me an extremely material one-I am not at pre

sent prepared to point out the specific passages I think material.

Mr. Whitbread. My lords, the managers have no objection to the whole report being entered as read, and that will give the learned counsel the advantage of the whole.

Lord Chancellor.-Do the counsel for lord Melville consent to that course being adopt ed? if not, the whole must be read.

Mr. Plumer. My lords, I am afraid the passages we rely upon must be read at some time or other, and, perhaps, it will not signify at what time that is done.

Mr. Whitbread. It will perhaps save much time if the whole is read at once.

Then the third report of the commissioners of public accounts was read, and is as follows:

"To the honourable the knights, citizens, and burgesses, in parliament assembled. "The third report of the commissioners appointed to examine, take, and state, the public accounts of the kingdom.

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Having finished our examinations of all those public accountants that came to our knowledge in the first class, as far as relates to the balances of public money in their hands, we, in the next place, directed our attention to those accountants who receive public money out of the Exchequer, by way of imprest, and upon account.

"The certificate of the accounts depending in the office of the auditors of the imprest, transmitted to us pursuant to our precept, fur- | nished us with a list of these accountants: as much of this certificate as relates to the subject matter of this present report, is inserted in the Appendix. We took them into our consideration in the order in which they stand upon that certificate; a rule we pursue in regard to all lists of accountants, unless there is some special reason for departing from it.

"The set of accountants therein first mentioned, are the treasurers of the navy; and of these, the names that stand first are the executors of Anthony viscount Falkland, whose final account is dated the 4th of April 1689, and from whom a balance of twentyseven thousand six hundred and eleven pounds six shillings and five-pence farthing, is declared to be then duc. We did not mis-spend our time in a pursuit where there was so little probability of benefit to the public: a debt that has subsisted for near a century, may be presumed desperate. Passing over therefore this article, we issued our precepts to earl Temple, as representative of the late George Grenville, esquire; to lord viscount Barrington, lord viscount Howe, and to sir Gilbert Elliot, baronet, as representative of the late sir Gilbert Elliot, for an account of the public money in their hands, custody, or power, as late treasurers of the navy. The returns made to our precepts are set forth in the Appendix; from which it appears that the balances of VOL. XXIX.

public money remaining in their respective hands, upon the days therein mentioned, amounted together to the sum of seventy-six thousand seven hundred ninety-three pounds eighteen shillings and one penny farthing.

"That we might learn for what reasons, services, or purposes, these sums are permitted to remain in the hands of treasurers of the navy, so long after they are out of office, we examined several of the offices in this department, namely, George Swaffield, esquire, cashier of the victualling; Andrew Douglas, esquire, paymaster; Mr. Adam Jellicoe, chief clerk to the paymaster; and Mr. Francis Cook, ledger writer. By them we are supplied with the following informa

tion:

"The office of the treasurer of the navy is divided into three branches, the paymaster's, the cashier's, and the victualling branch. All the money he receives is for the navy services, and placed under, or carried over to one of these branches; the money in each branch is subdivided, arranged, and kept under va rious different heads of services; the whole balance, at the time he leaves the office, continues to be liable, whether it be in his hands or in the hands of his representatives in case of his death, to the same services for which its several parts were originally destined; and the commissioners of the Navy, Victualling, and Sick and Hurt offices, each in their several departments, continue to assign bills upon him for payment, until they have reduced his balance to such a sum as, in their opinions, will not be more than sufficient to answer purposes for which it has been usual to leave money with him, until his final account is passed. These purposes are, first, to carry on the recalls upon those ships books which were open in his treasurership, and the payment of the half-pay list and bounties to chaplains. The ships books are usually kept open for recalls for seven or eight years after the expiration of the treasurership, in order to give those seamen who, by being either turned over to other ships, or employed in other places, could not attend at the time their ship was paid, an opportunity of receiving their wages when it is in their power to apply for them. The only fund applicable to this service is the money in the pay branch, placed under the head of " to pay ships and carry on recalls:" this service is at an end when the ships books are made up. They are made up as they come in course in order of time; and after the last is closed, the half-pay lists are also closed, and the payment of the bounty to chaplains ceases.

"The other purpose is to pay the fees and expenses of carrying on, making up and passing his accounts. Upon passing every annual account, fees are paid to the auditors of the imprest, out of the money in his hands, under the head of "To pay Exchequer fees, and other contingent expenses of the Pay-office;" but upon passing his final account, there is a 2 X

book was made up in 1771; that lord Barrington resigned this office in 1765, and his last ship's book was made up in 1775; that lord Howe resigned this office in 1770, and his last ship's book was made up in 1778; and that sir Gilbert Elliot died in 1777: hence it appears, that for near nineteen years there has been in the hands of Mr. Grenville, or of his representatives, and for fifteen years in the hands of lord Barrington, and for ten years in the hands of lord Howe, and for three years in the hands of the representatives of sir Gilbert Elliot, considerable sums of public money (exclusive of the sums on the heads of wages, half pay, and bounty to chaplains), destined to purposes which (except the pass

"All the ships books which were paid by Mr. Grenville, lord Barrington, and lord Howe, are made up, and consequently the balances which the three boards have left in the hands of these treasurers must be for the purpose of paying the fees and expenses of carrying on, making up, and passing their accounts. Of sir Gilbert Elliot's ship books, five hundred and six are still open for recalls; and payments, if applied for, are made upon them once a week; and therefore, whatever sums stand upon his account, in his paymaster's branch, under the heads of wages, half-pay, and bounties to chaplains, are still applicable to those services; and the residue of the money permitted to remain with him, is for the purpose of paying the fees and expenses of carrying on, making up, and passing his accounts.

"How soon then will these several sums be wanted for this purpose? the accounts of the treasurers of the navy are made up and passed as they come in course in order of time; the officers must finish one year before they begin upon another; and a subsequent treasurer's account is never finished till his predecessor's is finally closed. The state in which their accounts are, in the office of the auditors of the imprest, is this:-The last which is declared, is Mr. Grenville's account for the year 1758: of all the subsequent accounts, only some sections of their respective navy and victualling ledgers are delivered into this office; which parts of a treasurer's accounts are usually sent thither as speedily as they can be made up after the year expires.

"From an account of the balances remaining in the hands of these treasurers, at the times they respectively ceased to be treasurers; and an account of the times when their last ships books were made up; and a State of Mr. Grenville's balances, and of the balances of lord Barrington, lord Howe, and sir Gilbert Elliot, every year since they severally went out of office, all transmitted to us from the Pay office of the navy, pursuant to our requisitions, we find that Mr. Grenville resigned this office in 1762, and his last ship's

have not yet existed, and which, if we may judge from the progress hitherto made in passing these accounts, are not likely soon to exist.

"Where public money is appointed for a service or purpose to arise at a future time, we are of opinion, the public alone ought to have the custody and use of that money, in the mean time, and until the service or purpose calls for its application.

"When the fees and the gratuity become payable, we see no reason why the treasurer in office should not pay them, in like manner as the treasurers out of office pay them now.

"We did not form our opinion upon these balances without first hearing the late treasurers themselves, or the representatives of those who are dead; and therefore we examined earl Temple, lord viscount Barrington, lord viscount Howe, and sir Gilbert Elliot, baronet; not one of whom made any objection to paying their balances into the Exchequer, upon condition, some of receiving their quietus, others of being made secure in such payments. We do therefore conceive, that' the balances of public money, now remaining in the hands of earl Temple, as representative of the late George Grenville, esquire, and in the hands of lord viscount Barrington, and of lord viscount Howe, and of sir Gilbert Elliot, baronet, as representative of sir Gilbert Elliot, late treasurers of the navy, ought to be paid into the Exchequer, for the public service, leaving in the hands of sir Gilbert Elliot the sums in his account placed under the heads of wages, half pay, and bounties to chaplains, to carry on the services to which the same are applicable; that such payments should be without prejudice, and a proper security and indemnification be given to each of them against any loss or detriment that may accrue to them in consequence of such payments.

"The right honourable Welbore Ellis, the present treasurer of the navy, returned to our requisition, a balance in his hands upon the 31st of August last, of three hundred fortyeight thousand nine hundred forty-one pounds eleven shillings and nine-pence. The act directs us to examine into all balances in the hands of public accountants, for the purpose