100 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



fects of the system which the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer had 

 this year forsaken and impaired : 

 a system sanctioned by general 

 approbation, and proved by expe- 

 rience to be solid, wise, and eco- 

 nomical. It has indeed required 

 many sacrifices, and may require 

 more : but it is a most dangerous 

 delusion to suppose that great 

 achievements may be performed, 

 without great exertions. If we 

 cannot reduce our expences to our 

 income, we must raise our income 

 in proportion to our expences." 

 Mr. Vansittart concluded with 

 moving a scries of resolutions, to 

 the number of thirty-eight, relat- 

 ing to public debt, expenditure, 

 and revenue, the object of which 

 was to show that, under all the 

 diflSculties under which we had 

 been placed, our resources were 

 adequate to every exertion we 

 should be called upon to make for 

 the defence, independence, and ho- 

 nour of the country. These resolu- 

 tions were agreed to unanimously. 

 House of Commons, March 21. 

 — Sir Charles Pole rose in pursu- 

 ance of the notice he had given, to 

 call the attention of the house to 

 the last report of the commission- 

 ers of naval revision. By refer- 

 ences to the documents in the re- 

 ports of the several commission- 

 ers named by that house, or spe- 

 cially appointed by government, it 

 would be seen that complaints of 

 the arrears of accounts in the civil 

 department of the navy had been 

 most loud; and that hitherto no 

 regulations had been adopted for 

 curing the increasing evil. The 

 commissionersappointedinl786, in 

 their ninth report, after showing the 

 many frauds and abuses which re- 

 quired the superintendence of abi- 



lity, experience, and professional 



knowledge 



.f,v, say, " sucU circum- 

 stances and facts as have come to 

 our knowledge appear to us to be so 

 replete with fraud and abuse, as to 

 require the adoption of the most 

 decisive measures that can be sug- 

 gested for their prevention in fu- 

 ture." And again, " when the im- 

 mense sums which were paid, dur- 

 ing the last war, are considered, 

 and such abuses adverted to, it; 

 justified the most alarming appre- 

 liensions with respect to the admi- 

 nistration and application of the 

 national property." It was these 

 observations, coupled with any 

 little knowledge he might have on 

 the subject, that had induced him to 

 read the tenth report now on the 

 table with much attention. Hav- 

 ing done so, it would be sufficient 

 for him to lay before the house 

 briefly the state of the imprests 

 out- standing as well as every other 

 arrcar of office. After which, he 

 should hope to prevail on the house 

 to agree with him in the resolu- 

 tions which he should offer to them 

 in the words of the commissioners 

 of naval revision. 



The first statement of arrears of 

 accounts is dated the 9th of De- 

 cember, 1806. The unsettled cash 

 account then amounted to theenor- 

 mous sum of 10,985, 1 00.?. \s. S^d. 

 Commission agents in arrear to the 

 amount of 2,740,883/. in Maj-, 

 1806, and four of these accounts 

 with one house, Messrs. Jourdaine, 

 Shaw, and Co. 2,003,673/. Fo- 

 reign agents' cash accounts in ar- 

 rear the 9th of December, 1806, 

 to the amount of 6,554',922/. 17«. 

 These accounts embraced a period 

 of twenty -seven years. Mr. Cuth- 

 bert's accounts ending in March 

 to 1,024.,526. 

 Strange 



1785, amounted 





