5^2 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



goTernor of the bank, had occasion 

 to hold an ofiioial intercourse with 

 Mr. Pitt by the authority of the 

 bank ; and tliat when the official 

 business was over, in consequence 

 of information which he had receiv- 

 ed from Mr. Giles and Mr. New- 

 land, he told Mr. Pitt, in conversa- 

 tion, of his having heard at the bank 

 that morning, that the treasurer of 

 the navy now kept cash at Messrs. 

 Coutts and co.'s and that navy bills 

 were paid by drafts on Messrs. 

 Coutts and co. instead of drafts 

 upon the bank, and Mr. Pitt thank- 

 ed him for the information, that the 

 above was the purport of the com- 

 munication to Mr. Pitt, though the 

 length of time that had intervened 

 prevented his being sure as to the 

 terms of it. Mr. Pitt admi(s the ge- 

 neral import of the communication, 

 ■with some difference only as to the 

 terms of it ; which he dors not under- 

 take to recollect with accuracy, but 

 states it in substance to have con- 

 veyed to him an impression, that 

 sums were drawn from the bank and 

 carried to a private banking house, 

 to a larger amount than was sup- 

 posed necessary ; that he took an 

 early opportunity of stating to lord 

 Mclvilic the information given him 

 liy Mr. Ilaikcs ; and though he can- 

 not state precisely what furtiier 

 passed between himself and lord 

 Melville upon the subject, it im- 

 pressed him with a belief, that 

 though sums were drawn from the 

 bank and lodged in a private bank- 

 ing-honse, no sums were so trans- 

 ferred but such as vcre necessary to 

 carry on the details of the service in 

 payment to individuals ; and that it 

 Avas difilcult to carry on the various 

 payments in detail in any other 

 way ; that he did not himself parti- 

 cularly advert to the i>rovisions of 



the act, nor did it occur to him, 

 that drawing from the bank such 

 sums as were necessary for carr^^ing 

 on the details of service was an ille- 

 gal practice ; that, relying on the 

 opinion of lord Melville, he madft 

 no investigation into the necessity of 

 the practice, and m as so far satisfied 

 w ith the general statement given to 

 him, that he did not think it neces- 

 sary to communicate the circum- 

 stance to any other of his majesty's 

 servants, to make any further en- 

 quiry, or to take any further stopi 

 upon the subject ; that he, Mr. Pitt, 

 had no knowledge or information of 

 any irregularity in the management 

 of the public money advanced far 



naval services, 

 communication 



except 

 of Mr. 



from such 

 Raikes, till 



he was acquainted, after he Avas out 

 of office, by lord Harrowby, that 

 he, lord Harrowby, thought the 

 practice which prevailed in this re- 

 spect had been irregular, and was 

 ., taking steps to put a stop to it. — 

 That he, Mr. Pitt, had no know- 

 ledge or reason to suspect any pri- 

 vate profit was made of the naval 

 money, or that the business of the 

 office was so conducted as to admit 

 of it, till the conversation with lord 

 Harrowby; nor had he any know- 

 ledge that private profit had in fact 

 been made, nor that any naval mo- 

 ney, except the 40,0001. had been 

 diverted to purposes not naval, pre- 

 vious to the enquiry that took place 

 before the commissioners of naval 

 enquiry. And lord Harrowby, in 

 his evidence before us, states, that 

 it did not immediately appear to 

 him, for the reasons given in his evi- 

 dence, Avhen he was appointed trea- 

 surer of the navy-in June 1800, that 

 the practice of drawing money from 

 the bank into the hands of a private 

 banker, if carried on bona fide for 



the 



