- 
STATE PAPERS. 
thefe departments were defrayed by 
the deputy paymafter general of the 
forces, purfuant to the warrants of 
the commander iri chief iflued for 
that purpofe. The quarter mafter 
general and chief engineer were 
confidered in that army as checks 
tipon the expenditure on behalf of 
the public: they were to fee that 
the articles fupplied were good of ' 
the kind, adequate to the fervices 
they were intended for, and that 
there was no waite. | 
We are therefore of opinion, that 
the orders of 23d December 1780 
fhould be put in force — forth- 
with throughout the whole army; 
that no officer fhould be permitted 
to have a property or intereft in any 
article whatever, which the duty of 
his office obliges him to provide for 
the fervice of the army: if pur- 
chafed, it fhould be purchafed by 
and for the ufe of government; if 
hired, it fhould be hired of perfons 
unconnected with military fervice. 
We are likewife of opinion, that 
the payments fhould be taken from 
the military officer, and thrown 
upon the deputy paymatter general 
of the forces, who is the proper 
cafhier of the army, to be carried 
on by him, in purfuance of the 
warrants of the commander in 
«chief. 
The other point, in which we 
think the public have not been fuf- 
ficiently guarded, is the allowance 
of the vouchers without fufficient 
examination: this defect pervades 
every branch of the expenditure 
under our confideration. ‘Uhe prin- 
cipal officers in thefe departments 
are the perfons accountable: they 
make up,-pafs, and fwear to the ac- 
counts; but, having a variety of 
other material bufinefs to tranfact in 
their feveral ftations, they have no 
[325 
leifure to attend to the a&tual pay- 
ments: a quarter matter general, 
whofe account amounted to above 
600,000 /. was for five months to- 
gether upon duty in the field, with- 
out having been able once to attend 
his office. He is likewife obliged 
to pafs the account of a fum never 
received by him, but iffued to and 
expended by an affiftant deputy 
quarter maiter general, whom he 
neither appointed nor knew ; and 
the warrant iflued to this afliftant 
ftates, that the fum therein directed 
is to be accounted-for by the quarter 
matter general. The chief engineer 
confiders himfelf as liable to ac- 
count for fums, no part of which 
he either receives or pays, nor are 
the payments made in his name ; for, 
though the fum is made payable to 
him by the warrant, yet he never 
actually receives it; but he indorfes 
the warrant to the paymafter of the 
works, who receives the whole, and 
with it difcharges bills, either di- 
rected to him for payment by the 
chief engineer or the commander 
in chief, or at his own difcretion 
without the intervention of either, | 
and takes the receipts in his own 
name. 
This important bufinefs of ex- 
penditure, that requires attention, 
circumf{pection, accuracy, and fide- 
lity, muft be entrufted to inferior 
officers, clerks, and even to itran- 
gers. 
The making-up, and examination 
of the accounts is conducted in the 
following manner:—every quarter 
the accountant collects together 
from his deputies, afliftants, and 
clerks, all the vouchers for the pay- 
ments made by them auring that 
quarter: they are abftraéted, di- 
gefted under heads, and bundled up 
together. ‘The abftract is produced 
[Xx 3] to 
