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1s; to which being added the fum of 154,8621. 8s. id. claimed for charges of management, and fees, the total fum paid every year by this nation, in confequence of its debt, will be 8,719,5341. 9s. id.: and fhould thefe arrears of the navy and ordnance, making together 12,742,4151. os. id. be converted into annuities of 31. per cent. taken at the rate of 60 per cent. which is more than the prefent price, above 8,000,00cl. more will be added to the capital, and increafe it to upwards of 238,000,000l, including more than 6,000,000l. in exchequer bills and extraordinaries of the army; and above 150,000l. a year will be added to the annuity, and above 13,000l. a year to the expences attending it; which will, together, make the annual fum to be paid by this nation upwards of 8,882,5341.

It is expedient that the true flate of the national debt fhould be difclofed to the public; every fubject ought to know it, for every fubject is interested in it. This debt is fwelled to a magnitude that requires the united efforts of the ableft heads and pureft hearts, to fuggeft the proper and effectual means of reduction. The nation calls for the aid of all its members to co-operate with government, and to combine in carrying into execution fuch meafures as fhall be adopted, for the attainment of fo indifpenfible an end: this aid the fubject is bound to give to the ftate, by every other obligation, as well as by the duty he owes to his country; and, with fuch general aid, the difficulties, great as they appear, will, we truft, be found not infurmountable.

A plan must be formed for the reduction of this debt, and that without delay; now, in the fa

vourable moments of peace. The evil does not admit of procrastination, palliatives, or expedients: it preffes on, and must be met with force and firmnefs. The right of the public creditor to his debt, must be preserved inviolate: his fecurity refts upon the folid foundation, never to be fhaken, of parliamentary national faith.

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The obvious means of reduction is the creation of a fund to be appropriated, and invariably applied, under proper direction, in the gradual diminution of the debt: this fund must be the furplus of the annual income, above the annual expences of the flate, to be obtained and increafed by the extenfion and improvement of the fources of revenue, and by a frugal adminiftration of the produce. plith the firft of thefe does not, in many inftances, depend folely upon the will and power of the ftate. To open new or enlarge old channels of commerce, to fet up new or improve old branches of manufacture, often require the concurrence of other nations, and of other bodies of men: but frugality in the management of the revenue, the object to which the act by which we are confiituted, has pointed our attention, is within the reach of every government. It needs no copcurrence or affittance from without: it poffeffes in itfelf full, abfolute and uncontrouled powers, to regulate the management of every article of its revenue: it can quicken the paffage of a tax or duty into the public coffers: it can direct it from thence, without delay, to the purpofe for which it is intended: it can abolish ufelefs offices; cut off fuperfluous and unneceffary expences; and reduce thofe that are neceffary within certain and reasonable limits: it can call its officers

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Where the refources of a country are fo extensive, fo various, and productive, a fpirit of frugality, univerfally diffufed and kept alive, cannot but be attended with the moft powerful effects. The fubjects of this kingdom are opulent, generous, and public-fpirited: let the diftreffes of their country be fairly laid before them; and let that intereft they and their pofteri. ty have in this conftitution be appealed to, and they will contribute chearfully and liberally to her relief.

The fubject muft place confidence in the integrity and witdom of the government: he fhould have no doubt but his contributions to the public fervice find their way, undiminished, without deviation or delay, to their proper object: and and let him no more feck for fhifts and fubtleties to evade the payment of thofe duties and taxes which the wisdom of the legifla ture have deemed the most eligible, and which the neceflities of the ftate fully justify.

Let public benevolence take the lead of private intereft. Example may produce much; and must begin fomewhere. An extraordinary and unprecedented conjuncture in the finances of a country may require extraordinary and unprecedented efforts. Every man may

dedicate a portion of his income, or fome fhare of his affluence, according to his faculties, to this great national object: let the produce of fuch a general exertion be wifely directed, and faithfully applied; and this debt, enormous as it is, will begin to melt away: and every man who contributes to fo great a work will feel the confolation refulting from the difcharge of the most important of his duties, by having aflitted in relieving public diftrefs, reftoring public credit, and averting a national calamity. Office of Accounts, Surryfreet, Dec. 4. 1783.

(L. S.)

(L. S.) (L.S.)

T. ANGUISH,
A. PIGGOTT,
RICHARD NEAVE,
SAMUEL BEACHCROFT, (L. S.)
GEORGE DRUMMOND, (L. S.)
WILLIAM ROE, (L.S.)

The Twefth Report of the Commiffi oners appointed to examine, take, and ftate, the Public Accounts of the Kingdom.

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THE treasurer of the ordnance amoug the public accountants upon the certificate of accounts depending in the office of the auditors of the impreft. We required from that office the laft declared account of the treasurer of the ordnance, with the materials from which it was made out. Two accounts were transmitted to us in confequence of this requifition; the one, the final account of John Rofs Mackye, efq. treafurer and paymatter of the office of ordnance, from the ft of January to the 16th of December 1780; the other, the account of William Adam, efq. from the 16th to the 31ft of December, being the remaining part of that year: the firit was declared the 7th of September 1782;

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the other, the 11th of January 1783.

The account of a treasurer of the ordnance contains the receipts and payments of an entire year, unless there have been more treafurers within the year than one; and, in that cafe, each treafurer makes up an account for that part of the year during which he had been in the office. We confined our examination to the first of thefe accounts, as being for the longest period.

The materials which were fent to us with this account, and had been received by the auditor from the treasurer, were a ledger-quarter books and debentures: from the infpection of which, together with the examinations of Charles Harris, efq. one of the deputy auditors of the impreft, and Cuthbert Fisher, efq. chief clerk in the office of the treasurer of the ordnance, we are made acquainted with the forms of, and fubject matter contained in, thefe books and inftruments; and with the manner in which the auditor proceeds in examining and auditing thefe ac

counts.

The ledger contains a complete account of all the fums received and paid by the treafurer during the period of the account. The fums with which he charges himfelf are thefe-the balance remaining due on his last account-the money imprefted to him from the exchequer the voluntary charge-and, the imprefts vacated.

The fum imprefted from the exchequer is verified by the impreft certificate. The voluntary charge includes all the fums (except the imprefts vacated) that have come to his hands by any other means than from the exchequer the entry of this charge in the ledger

is figned at the end by three or more of the principal officers; and upon the authority of that figna. ture the auditor admits it.

The imprefts vacated, are fums which the treasurer ftands charged with, in confequence of the accounts of money iffued by way of impreft, either by him or his predeceffors, having been fettled during the time of the account. When a clearing debenture is made out, either for the whole amount, or for a part, of a debt due from the ordnance, the fums that have been advanced on account are entered by the clerk of the ordnance in the margin of the debenture; the treasurer pays the balance only; but he takes credit for the amount of the debenture, and charges himfelf with the imprefts. If a part only of the fums imprefted have been expended, the account is fettled by the clerk of the ordnance, and the balance is directed by the board to be paid to the treasurer; the imprefts in the one cafe, and the balances in the other, form the account of the imprett vacated. This account is figned in like manner with the voluntary charge, and admitted upon that authority; but the auditor, finding the perfons, who have been thus cleared, either returned infuper, upon fome former account, or inferted in the lift of imprefts in the account depending, writes them off, as far as they are cleared, oppofite their names in the margin of that account in which they are fo inferted,-the discharge contains all his payments: the vouchers for them are the quarter Looks and debentures. The quarter books are of two kinds; the one relates to the civil, the other to the military branch of the ordnance. The civil quarter book contains the titles of all the offices

in the feveral departments of the ordnance, and fome other offices, the duty of which confifts both of land and fea fervice; together with the falaries or allowances allotted to each office, and the fignature of the officers themselves fet oppofite their falaries or allowances. The military quarter book contains the complete corps of engineers: it conlifts of the names of the officers, their pay, and the fignatures of the agents who receive it. Thefe quarter books are 'entered in the ledger, and that entry is figned by three or more board officers. This fignature is the authority to the auditor for the rate of the allow ance; and the ignature upon the quarter book, of the perfon receiving, is the evidence of the pay

ment.

A debenture is an inftrument that defcribes the debt due from the ordnance: it contains the name of the creditor-the fum due-the rate of computation-for what particular fervice-the time when it was performed-and, whether pay able out of money applicable to the land or fea fervice: it is figned by three officers of the board, of whom the lieutenant-general, or, in his abfence, fome other board officer, and the clerk of the ordnance, muft be two. The debentures are numbered, and fent to the auditor in bundles, with a lift to each bundle, containing the number and date of each debenture, the name of the perfon entitled, and the fum. The debenture, indorfed by the perfon named in it, or his alignee, is the voucher to the auditor for the pay

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the name of the perfon to whom it is iffued. The impreft bills, which are the inftruments that authorise the treafurer to advance the money, contain the fum to be advanced, the perfon to whom, and fometimes the fervice: these are never produced to the auditor, but are retained by the treasurer until the imprefts are vacated by debentures; after which, their end being anfwered, they are depofited with the other ordnance papers, in the Record Room in the White Tower, under the clerk of the ordnance. This impreft account is figned at the foot of it by all the board officers, and is the authority by which the auditor allows the treasurer the articles contained in it.

The auditor examines the computations and caftings in thefe books, lifs, and debentures; and, having compared them with their correfpondent entries in the ledger, he from them forms the official account; which agrees in fubtistance with the account in the ledger, but is different in its form, and in the arrangement of the articles. In the ledger, the payments, both upon the quarter books and by debentures, are entered in the fame order in which they appear in thofe books, and in the debenture lids, diftinguifhed only into payments for the land and fea fervice; but in the official account they are difpofed and claffed under various diftinct heads of fervice, according to fuch divifions and arrangement as it has been customary for the auditor to make use of in his office. Another difference is, that in the ledger the treafurer enters only the imprets paid by him during the time of the account; but the auditor in his account charges the treafurer with the total fum remaining infuper at the foot of the pre

ceding account, and difcharges him, at the foot of the account depending, of fo much of that fum as remains uncleared by him, with the addition of the fum iffued by him on impreft during the period of the account.

At the end of the ledger, is an abstract of the whole account; which, after the balance is agreed between the treafurer and the auditor, is figned by the treasurer, and attefted by him upon oath before one of the barons of the exchequer.

The total charge upon the treafurer, in the account before us, is 2,732,3891. 118. 104d. of which 1,752,874. 125. 7 d. is the fum remaining infuper upon the last preceding account. The total difcharge is 2,731,5681. 188. 44d. of which the fum remaining infuper (being the amount of the impretts iffued by the feveral treafurers of the ordnance, from the year 1673 to the 18th of December 1780, and not cleared) is 2,092,3531. 78. 41d. and the balance of cafh remaining in the hands of the treasurer is82ol. 13s. 6d.

This inquiry into the proceedings of the auditor of the impreft, relative to the accounts of the treasurer of the ordnance, gave us no infight into the manner in which the bufinefs of the ordnance is conducted to obtain this knowledge we had recourfe to the chief clerks, as the efficient officers in the feveral branches of this department. We examined John Boddington, efq. fecretary to the board of ordnance; Robert Mackenzie, efq. fecretary; and Mr. Nicholas Wittwer, minuting clerk to the lieutenant-general; John Vigden, efq. first clerk in the office of the furveyor-general; William Nettlehip, efq. first clerk to the clerk of

the ordnance; Mr. Thomas Day, late clerk in the office of the florekeeper; and Mr. William Weaver, first clerk to the clerk of the deliveries. From thefe examinations, and from the instructions for the government of the office of ordnance, given by king Charles the Second, in the year 1683, fubmitted to our infpection, and which, with very few alterations, are the rules that govern the office at this day, we have been enabled to obtain fome knowledge of the manner in which this extenfixe branch of the public expenditure is tranfacted.

The office of ordnance is governed by a mafter-general, and a board under him, all appointed by feparate letters patent.

The board confifts of five principal officers-the lieutenant-general-the furveyor - general — the clerk of the ordnance-the storekeeper-and, clerk of the deliveries,-any three of whom form a board. The mafter-general and lieutenant-general are cach, by virtue of his office, in two capacities; the one military, the other civil: in their military capacity the mafter-general is commander in chief, and the lieutenant-general fecond in command, over the artillery and engineers.

In his civil capacity the mafter general is intrusted with the entire management of, and control over, the whole ordnance department: all warrants from the king, privy council, or, in fea affairs, from the board of admiralty, and all letters from fecretaries of itate, conveying orders relative to the ordnance, are directed, not to the board, but to the mafter-general; and the board carry them into execution under his authority, and in confequence of his direction: he can do alone

any

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