HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



69 



It was not therefore very fair in the 

 honourable gentleman to endeavour 

 to excite the passions, in a cause 

 which ought rather to be examined 

 with great coolness and delibera- 

 tion. He admitted that the contents 

 of the report were of a grave and 

 serious nature, and that it was im- 

 ])ortant ti} have them fully inrcsti- 

 gated, and that, with reference to 

 any instance of irregularity, it was 

 the duty of the house to set thi-ir 

 mark upon the transaction, after a 

 full and fair consideration of the 

 case; but at present he saw nothing 

 to justify hjs consent. He thought 

 the best course to be pursued would 

 be to rt-fcr the report to a select com- 

 niKtee, in order to decide upon the 

 whole of the c4se. In judging of 

 this transaction, the house was to 

 ti'ike into its consideration the mo- 

 tires, the circumstances, and the 

 necessity which led to it, although 

 it might have been a violation of the 

 law. It they should decide upon its 

 merits, upon a consideration of whe- 

 ther any loss had arisen, and that it 

 was not justifiable in the noble lord 

 to connive at the practices of his 

 paymaster, still much of that wonld 

 depend on the circumstance, the 

 extent, and the danger that had 

 been incurred. It did not appear that 

 lord Melville had been aware of the 

 private purposes of profit to which 

 his treasurer had applied the money ; 

 the suras vested in the bouse of 

 Me*^srs. Coutts and co. did not np- 

 pear to have been lodged there for 

 the benefit of the noble lord, or his 

 paymaster, but in the course of 

 business ; and the same practice pre- 

 Tailed, ef drawing in gross for small 

 payments instead of detail. The pay- 

 master had to advance from day to 

 day to the sub- accountant?* in order 

 to afford the means of saftisfying 

 1 



assignments, for which the parties 

 had a right to demand immediate 

 payment. After a variety of other 

 observations, he moved, as an amend- 

 ment, " that the tenth report of 

 " the commissioners of naval en- 

 " quiry be referred to a select com- 

 " raittee of the house," but after, 

 wards, on the suggestion of Mr. 

 Fox, he consented to move the 

 previous question. 



Lord Henry Fetty supported the 

 motion, and rested much upon the 

 ground that lord Melville had acted 

 in violation of the law. 



The Attorney General spoke in 

 favour of the amendment, and Mr. 

 Tierney against it. The latter said, 

 that, during the time he held the 

 office of treasurer of the navy, he 

 felt no inconvenience result from a 

 compliance with the act of parlia- 

 ment, and that the report, like that 

 of the committee on the Middlesex 

 election, should be taken as conclu- 

 sive evidence against lord iMelville. 

 He had already as fair a trial as the 

 nature of the case would admit of, 

 and no committee of that house 

 could throv,' any more light upoa 

 the subject. 



Mr Canning thought the justice 

 of the house must require of it to 

 give an opportunity of examining 

 whether the whole of the charge 

 against the noble lord might not be 

 done away ; for there was no ana- 

 logy between this ca^e and that re- 

 ferred to, of the Middlesex election, 

 where the parties were fully heard 

 by themselves and counsel, and al- 

 lowed to cross examine witnesses : 

 but here the parties, instead of being 

 fully heard, were not heard at all. 

 The breach of the law, in this in- 

 stance, was by no means clear ; for 

 the law could scarcely have meant 

 that which was physically impossible. 

 F 3 In 



