HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



101 



Strange to say, but it was true, and 

 proved the necessity of the reso- 

 lution he was about to propose, 

 these accounts were not settled 

 until twenty-two years after the)' 

 were closed. The honourable Ba- 

 sil Cochrane's accounts involving 

 the sum of 1,418/., not settled 

 accounts had been eighteen, and 

 part of them twenty years ready 

 for the board's decision, and not 

 yet passed. Between the period of 

 the 19th of December, 1806, and 

 the 18th of May, 1807, six cash ac- 

 counts had been passed, which re- 

 duced the imprests to 9,486,825/. 

 9s 8d. exclusive of abqut 177 un- 

 cleared imprests, or promiscuous ac- 

 countsof old dates from 1774-10 De- 

 cember 1791. There were foreign 

 agents' store accounts in arrear 

 from 1779. Home agents and store 

 keepers' store accounts in arrear 

 from 1785. It also appeared that 

 store accounts had been ready for 

 the board's decision from seven- 

 teen to twenty years, and not yet 

 passed. There were additional ar- 

 rears of these accounts at Ports- 

 mouth, Plymouth, Chatham, Do- 

 ver, Cork, and Yarmouth. Sir 

 Charles Pole having thus stated the 

 arrears of accounts in the victual- 

 ling office, submitted to the house 

 in the words of the commissioners, 

 the following resolution : " that 

 this house is of opinion, that nei- 

 ther of the plans recommended by 

 the commissioners of naval revi- 

 sion in their tenth report, nor any 

 other, will be attended with any 

 material good unless all the mem- 

 bers of the victualling board be 

 men of real ability, professional 

 knowledge, and uninterrupted in- 

 dustry : and unless, as recom- 

 mended in tiieir first report, re- 

 pealed in their second, and again 



enforced in the tenth, in the choice of 

 them no other circumstance should 

 be regarded than that of their being 

 the fittest men that could be found 

 for the execution of the various 

 duties they are to undertake." 



Mr. R. Ward said, that the true 

 object of the honourable baronet's 

 motion was to cast an indirect cen- 

 sure on the board of admiralty. 

 There could be no other motive 

 than this for wishing now to enter 

 upon the journals of the house, a 

 resolution, the truth of which no 

 man could deny, and which was 

 the very ground laid for what the 

 present board of admiralty had 

 done towards the very system of 

 reform in the naval civil depart- 

 ment now urged by the honour- 

 able baronet. The motion went 

 to charge the admiralty with blame 

 without any single argument to 

 support it. He was therefore com- 

 pelled to move the previous ques- 

 tion. The chancellor of the ex- 

 chequer spoke to the same effect. 

 Mr. Bastard observed that the 

 commissioners of naval inquiry 

 had said, many reports had been 

 made relative to the conduct of the 

 victualling board, but not one had 

 been acted upon. Mr. Wellesley 

 Pole stated, that the noble lord at 

 the head of the admiralty, having 

 in view the very paragraph in the 

 report now under consideration, 

 had actually called for his naval 

 advisers for the express purpose of 

 recommending the fittest persons 

 to fill those stations, and that they 

 had done so accordingly under the 

 very terms of the report. These ap- 

 pointments took place in Decem- 

 ber last. The old arrear had amount- 

 ed to upwards of 1 1 ,000,000/., and 

 a million and a half had accumu- 

 lated since the teath report : not- 

 withstanding 



