316] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790, 
expenditure, and many other arti- 
cles of expence in that department, 
were not within our reach in this 
inquiry, We examined alfo capt. 
David Laird, the agent for victual- 
jers ftore fhips and {mall craft ; and 
Mr. William Butler, an affiftant 
commiflary. 
From the information given by 
thefe feveral officers, and from the 
vouchers and papers they have fup-~ 
plied us with, we have been able to 
acquire fome knowledge of the 
tules by which thefe departments 
have been governed; and to trace, 
in fome meafure, the manner in 
which thefe branches of the public 
expenditure have been conducted in 
North America. 
The fubjects of expence, which 
thefe officers are employed about, 
may be diftinguifhed under two ge- 
neral heads; the purchafe of articles 
wanted for the ufe of the army, 
and the payment for fervices per- 
formed. 
The prefiding officers in thefe 
departments, though they are the 
perfons who mutt render the ac- 
count, yet, from the extent and 
multiplicity. of their bufinefs, can 
very feldom themfelves attend 
either to the purchafe or the pay- 
ment: they have their deputies, 
affiftants, {upetintendants, agents, 
infpectors, conductors, clerks, and 
ether officers under them, who are 
the aéting perfons entrufted with 
the conduct of different parts of the 
tranfaction, and upon whofe know- 
ledge and fidelity they rely for the 
duc execution of that truft. Some 
of thefe inferior officers make the 
bargains, fome attend to and cer- 
tify the execution, others are em- 
ployed in the payments, and take 
the receipts: each departunent has 
its office where the payments are 
made. The perfon who receives, 
muft be either the perfon himfelf 
who is entitled, or his affignee or 
agent; and he muft produce an 
order, ticket, or certificate of the 
proper officer, either directing the 
payment, or authenticating the ma-_ 
terial circumiftances of the purchafe, 
or fervice. The receipts are gene- 
rally taken in the name of the prin- 
cipal, whoever the officer may be 
that pays them; becaufe, the war- 
rants of the commander in chief 
beingunade payable to the principal, 
he, by receiving the tums, becomes 
the only perfon accountable; and 
he cannot difcharge himfelf but by 
vouchers, which upon the face of 
them appear to be for payments 
made by him: but there are in- 
ftances, where the auditors of the 
impreft have, in. particular cafes, 
allowed receipts, taken in the name 
of the deputy, to be vouchers for 
the principal. : 
The payments are, for the moft 
part, made in dollars, at four fhil- 
lings and eight-pence each fterling, 
but computed in New York cur- 
rency, which is to fterling in the 
proportion of twelve to feven: the 
fums we fhall have eccafion to men- 
tion hereafter are all in fterling. 
The price paid for the purchafe 
of the articles wanted varied ac- 
cording to the demands of the ar- 
my, and the means. of fupply; but 
the price of many of the fervices 
was regulated and fixed. 
It was not practicable for us t¢ 
examine into the cireumftances at 
tending the purchafe of the ftores, 
materials, and variety of articles 
ufed in the feveral departments : 
we could form no judgment of the 
neceility there was for procuring 
them, or of the value, or of the 
price; the means of information 
Woy 
