318] 
directed to the proper officer, fpe- 
cifying the fervice, the time, and 
the fum. “This ticket was, upon 
payment, left at the office; and at 
the end of every quarter the fuper- 
intendant took up all thefe tickets 
from the feveral offices, and, after 
examination with his check-book, 
gave to each principal officer one 
general voucher, figned by himfelf, 
for the total fum contained in all 
thofe tickets, and paid by him dur- 
ing that quarter. 
Much the greateft number of the 
Wwagegons, horfes, and drivers, em- 
ployed in the fervice of the army, 
Were procured by the quarter maf- 
ter general, ‘The commander in 
chief ordéred the eftablifhment, that 
isy the number which he judged to 
be neceflary for the occafions of the 
army, and in what proportion they 
fhould be diftributed amongft the 
feveral corps, and for the different 
fervices. This eftablifhment was 
permanent, and kept conftantly, as 
far as it could be, compleat. The 
quarter maiter general. made a re- 
turn of them every quarter to the 
commander in chief; which return 
was called the diftribution, and 
contained an accoynt of all the wag-. 
€ons, hories, and drivers at that 
time under his direction, and in 
what fervice employed : for all thefe 
he was refponfible, and paid the 
hire and contingent expences. The 
other departments had likewife 
waggons, horfes, and drivers in 
their fervice; which were procured 
by. them{elves, and paid by their 
refpective principal officers. All 
thefe departments had artificers and 
labourers, procured by the overfeers 
in the feveral branches, hired by 
the day, and paid in each refpeftive 
Office. 
‘Fhe receipts given for thefe fer- 
ANNUAL) REGISTER;,. 1796. 
vices were of two kifids; either fe+ 
parate receipts, given by indivi- 
duals in the common form; or one 
receipt, prefixed to a litt compre - 
hending the fignatures of many per- 
fons; of the latter kind, one uni- 
form mode was adopted in all thefe 
offices; two {pecimens of which,, 
the one taken from the inftance of 
waggons, horfes, and drivers, and 
the other from that of labourers, in 
the office of the quarter mafter ge- 
neral, are inferted in the appendix. 
The firft column contains the names 
of the perfons entitled, or fuppofed 
to be entitled; the fum hé is en- 
titled to receive is wrote in the laft 
column but one; and in the laft are 
the fignatures of the fame perfons, 
wrote or made either by themfelves 
or by perfons deputed by them. _ 
In purfuing this inquiry into the 
methods and forms by which this 
expenditure has been carried on, we 
have had in view two principal ob- 
jects; one is, to difcover whether 
any fraud has in faét been commit- 
ted upon the public in the courfe of 
thefe money tranfaétions ; the other 
is, to obferve whether the public 
has been fufficiently guarded againft 
~ fraud and impofition, in the modes 
adopted for carrying on this expen- 
diture. : 
Could a fingle inftance of fraud 
be difcovered in any of the accounts 
of thefe officers, {uch a difcovery 
would fo corrupt and vitiate that 
account, as to fubjeét the whole of 
it to a revifion and unravelment; 
though adjufted and pafled with all 
the folemnities of the exchequer. 
Thefe accountants are charged 
with all the {ums they have received 
of the paymafter general of the 
forces, by the warrants of the com- 
mander in chief. _They cannot dif- 
charge themfelves, but by the re- 
i ceipts 
