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is owing, that we are still blessed with a king and a country?

Now thn, fellow countrymen and fellow subjects, be assured, that among these heroic and inestimable d- fenders and supporters of their king and their country, there is not one, whose parents, and whose priests, have not taught him, that loyalty is a religious, as much as a civil duty; and that, when he is fighting for his king and his country, he is performing a duty to his God.

(Signed)

John Douglass, D. D. vic. ap. Lond.

Shrewsbury.

Petre.

Dormer.

Hen. Chas. Englefield.
Wm. Jerningham.
John Throckmorton.
Thomas Gage.

George Jerningham.
Marmaduke Langdale.
John Webbe Weston.
Francis Canning.
Charles Bellasyse, D. D.
Wm. Sheldon.
Charles Conolly.
George Silvertop.

John Charlton.

James Langdale.
Richard Kilby Cox.
John Collins, D. D.
Lawrence Nihell, M. D.
Charles Butler.
Michael Ann.

Wm. Throckmorton.

Thomas Lloyd.

J. Bew, D. D.

Richard Ltler.
Charles Fairfax.
Brian Salvin.

John Webbe Weston, 'jun.
James Wheble.
Thomas Stapleton.

Ralph Riddell,
George Cary.
John Cary.
Edward Blount.
William Cruise.
Edward Jerningham.
Charles Horny hold.
Thomas Walmesley.
John Prujean.
Francis Cholmeley.
Francis Witham,
Henry Huddlestone,
Francis Eyre.

John Greenham.

M. Constable Maxwell.
Robert Clifford.

Robert Rookwood Gage
Thomas Wright.
Nicholas Selby.
Anthony Wright.

John Wright.

Thomas Wright, jun.
Thomas Thorpe.

John Gabb.

James Yorke Branston,

Edward Wright.

Edward Walsh.

Finance Report.

The finance report, which Mr. Giles was ready to present to the house of commons on the last day of the last session of parliament, when the usher of the black rod unexpectedly presented himself, and the session was closed by a prorogation, has been printed and laid before the house of commons. The principal point and feature of it is as follows:

"The evidence received during the last session, contains an account of two transactions in the payoffice, of a most irregular and im. proper kind, which were disclosed on the examination of Mr. Thomas, accountant in that office: by whom

it

it was stated, that a draft for 7000l. payable to the right hon. Thomas Steele (at that time one of the joint paymasters), or bearer, had been drawn by the cashier on the 11th of May, 1799, under the head of extraordinaries of the army, and entered in the cash account of the office, with Mr. Steele's receipt as a voucher; and that another sum of 12,000l. was drawn for, precisely in the same manner, and a receipt given in the same terms, on the 3d of July, 1800. Of these two sums, the first was not repaid until the 3d of February, 1807; nor the latter until the 8th of April; with interest upon both sums, from the date of their issue to that of their repay ment, amounting to 7390l. 13s.

"The correspondence between Mr. Steele and Mr. Thomas; letters of earl Temple (one of the joint paymasters in 1807), addres. sed to lord Grenville, Mr. Steele, Mr. Rose, and lord Harowby; three minutes of the lords of the treasury, directing what steps should be taken for securing the sum remaining due (for the first sum had been repaid previously to any proceedings of the board of treasury): minutes of the paymaster-general entered in the book of the office; and several other papers, are inserted at length in the appendix, though not perhaps absolutely necessary for understanding the subject, that no circumstance which has reference to this business, may be withheld from observation. But the part to which the committee think it most material to direct the attention of the house, is the account given by Mr. Steele himself, when he desired to attend the former committee on the twenty-sixth of March, 1807, and made his own statement of the circum

stances relating to these transac tions. He said, "the two sums mentioned by Mr. Thomas were is. sued by my direction, and I have no hesitation in stating that they were not issued for the public service. I thought, as others did at the time, that I had full authority to direct those issues. I was urged to do so by private considerations of a very peculiar nature, which oper. ted at that time upon my mind; and I thought that, by directing them to be issued to myself, and making myself responsible for them, I could not by possibility incur the suspi cion of concealment or fraud. It was my intention that they should have been replaced in a very short time, but it was not in my power to accomplish it; they remained charged against me in the pay. office book till the beginning of the present year, when the former of the two sums was repaid; and the whole subject having been brought lately under the consideration of the

board of treasury, they have directed me to repay the remaining sum with the interest due upon both sums, by instalments, at stated periods, which I have engaged to do. I cannot take upon myself to defend my conduct in this instance, which I must admit to have been incorrect, but I console myself with thinking that the public will have suffered no loss." And, being asked, whether he knew of any other transaction of the same kind, during the time he was in the pay. office? he said, "I do not." And being asked, whether he knew of any arrear of the like, nature ari. sing from the transaction of any former paymaster? he said, "I certainly do not." And being ask ed, whether any notice was taken

of this transaction by the treasury previous to the beginning of this year? he said, "I apprehend it was not even known to the trea. sury, previous to this year." And being asked, whether any notice was taken by any other public office? he said, "Not to my knowledge."

The report then proceeds to state, that Mr. Rose, being examined, said, that the facts respecting Mr. Steele were not communicated to him until the 10th of February, 1806, at which time he considered himself completely out of office, and could not interfere officially, but he desired Mr. Thomas to write to Mr. Steele; he also had a conversation with that gentleman, and wrote a letter to him upon the subject, the answer to which led him to rest satisfied, that the whole matter would be communicated without delay to lord Grenville, or the paymastergeneral. The report then notices two sums of 110,000l. paid to Boyd and co. for services, which failed; the former of which was repaid, and the second was not, but is still in a course of legal proceeding, in consequence of the bankruptcy of that house. The report coucludes with suggesting regulations to prevent similar abuses.

"Upon the important subject of recommending measures which may prevent similar abuses in future, your committee observe great concern, that the most obvious, and perhaps the only effectual remedy, has been found by experience hi. therto unattainable; but they think it necessary to represent as their deliberate opinion, that without an earlier examination, and auditing of

accounts, irregularities can hardly be prevented; and that temptation will never be wanting to make use of public money, while there exists a great probability of its being for a long time uncalled for. After the accounts come before the commis. sioners for auditing, no attention is wanting in requiring proper warrants in discharge for every payment, and no sum is allowed without a voucher of that kind; but so slow has been the progress hitherto, that notwithstanding the observations made on the subject by the committee of finance in 1797 and 1798, not one account of any pay. master-general has been finally settled and decared, nor made ready for declaration, in the nine or ten years which have since elapsed.”

Mr. Paull and Sir Francis Burdett's recent Duel.-Mr. Cooper's state

ment.

A publication which appeared in the morning papers of Saturday last, signed "John Bellenden Ker,"* renders it impossible for me to remain any longer silent under representations and aspersions the most artful and unfounded that ever made their way to the public. If I have remained hitherto silent under such aspersions and misrepresentations from the pen of John Horne Tooke, and others, it has really been from contempt for the calumniators, and not for any apprehensions of the result of a full developement of the circumstances of the recent duel, either as affecting Mr. Paull, or myself. I shall be brief as possible in stating the

* See p. 426-428.

facts

facts themselves; but I cannot help observing that many of these facts will appear in a very different point of view to that, in which they are given to the public by Mr. John Bellenden Gawler: he will excuse me for using the name by which he is best known to the pub. lic.

My object was not concealment, but I understood distinctly from Mr. Paull, that both he and sir Francis Burdett had decided against the utility of any statement beyond a mere mention of the meeting; and even that, if judged necessary, to be without the names of the seconds. To this moment I cannot imagine one substantial reason for any other line of conduct; and I leave it to the public to judge, if there is one new fact brought to light, (though a most reprehensible attempt has been made on the part of Mr. Gawler, to turn my conduct and character into ridicule, on a most serious occasion,) except, in deed, that he has proved, what I never denied, my ignorance in the loading of a pistol, the measuring of a distance, and the dropping of a signal." He, on the contrary, is an adept in the science of duelling; that he has long traded in af. fairs of this kind, that he seems equally indifferent to his appearing in the field, or in the forum, where he certainly has been no iaconsiderable actor in his day. Un fortunately for Mr. Paull and my self, Mr. Gawler was the second to sir Francis Burdett, on the intended affair with Mr. Whitbread. For the sins of my principal, and myself, an opinion was given by Mr. Paul to Mr. Gawler on that occasion, which did not seem to

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have escaped the recollection of Mr. Gawler on the recent duel.

The public has been already in. formed of the meeting at the Crown and Anchor on the 1st of May, and the letters that were then read by Mr. Jones Burdett at that din. ner. I attended as a friend of Mr. Paull, to whom I had been introduced by a near relation in the India service.-Alter quitting the Crown and Anchor, he requested me to attend him as his second upon a most unforeseen, unexpected, and unfortunate affair, in which he found himself engaged with his friend sir Francis Burdett. Mr. Paull said he was loth to im pose this duty on me on account of my family circumstances; but that the hour was late; and from what I had seen, not a moment was to be lost, if he (Mr. Paul) meant to stand well with his friends or the public. He immediately wrote two addresses to the electors of Westminster, which having dis patched, he then wrote a letter to sir Francis Burdett, and gave me instructions, from which I was upon no account to depart. These instructions were, " to explain coolly and deliberately to sir Francis Bur dett the injury he (Mr. Paull) had sustained, both in a public and pri vate point of view; that after the explanations that had passed be tween him and sir Francis in the early part of the week, and espe cially on Thursday, sir Francis was left without an excuse for his conduct; and that, at all events, the manner, the time, and terms made use of to strike the blow, without any previous hint having been given of the mode of attack, was so unfeeling aud ankind, that

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October, (which was at a dinner at the Crown and Anchor,) a dinner was fixed on, and sir F. named as the chairman in a public advertise. ment, and of which sir F. was advised on the same evening by Mr. Paull, who received in answer that extraordinary private letter, which was read by Mr. Jones Burdett, at the Crown and Anchor; upon the receipt of which Mr. Paul dispatched, by express, an answer to sir F. at Wimbledon, in which he expressed his sincere concern that any mistake or misconception should have taken place, and the grounds upon which he (Mr. Paull) was induced to conclude sir F. would have ta

an apology he had a right to insist upon, and that, if refused, one other alternative only remained. As we proceeded to Wimbledon, Mr. Paull represented to me the painful necessity of this measure; but he had no alternative, as the insult was gross, wanton, and unprovoked: He stated to me it was long the wish of his heart to see sir Francis Burdett in parliament, but that unhappily his wishes were counteracted by an influence superior to his own. That on Sunday last, he (Mr. Paull) repaired to Wimbledon on hearing that a dis. solution was intended; that he had a long conversation with sir Francis, the result of which was, that though sir Fraucis would not pub-ken the chair. He apologized, ha licly offer himself as a candidate for Westminster, and though (contrary to Mr. Cobbett's opinion) he despaired of the country, he should be well pleased to find that so much public spirit existed in the city of Westminster, as to return both Mr. Paull and him to parliament. Mr. Paul said, he concluded the conversation by requesting sir Francis to nominate him, as he had done last October, (which was at a dinner at the Crown and Anchor,) to which sir Francis most readily consented; Mr. Paul stayed dinner, and was sorry to perceive that Mr. Tooke's opinion was decidedly against sir Francis Burdett going into parliament; to which opinion he (Mr. Paul!) attributed the conduct of ir F. Burdett, as exhibited by the letters from him, which were read by his brother at the Crown and Anchor meeting. Connected as Mr. Paull had been for a long pe riod with sir Francis Burdett, and the assent given by sir Francis Burdett on the Sunday, to nominate Mr. Paull as he had done last 4

said, in a manner rather humiliating, for the liberty he had taken under the influence of misconception, aud offered to do away the effect of the advertisement in any manner that sir F. would prefer; that in another letter on the following day, sent by express, Mr. Paull reiterated these expressions of regret, and offered the same means of remedying the advertisement; but no farther objection was stated, no de. sire expressed for withdrawing the advertisement, no remedy pointed out; all which he attributed to the subsequent consent given by sir Francis to serve if he was elected to represent the city. That on Thursday, Mr. Paul, on entering the drawing-room of col. Bosville, was accosted by sir Francis in the most cordial and friendly manner; that Mr. Paull took sir F. into an ad joining room, when he shewed him an advertisement in a newspaper called the Pilot, in which Mr. Pauil was announced as the chairman to put certain resolutions, which personally regarded sir F. Burdett,

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