CHRONICLE. 



281 



for government, he should furnish 

 them, the profits of them being ap- 

 plied in the same manner as those 

 of the vessel contract. This con- 

 versation took place on board of 

 ship; and, when it was finished, 

 Mr. Hugh Rose said the defendant 

 was in the cabin, and desired the 

 witness to go down to him ; which 

 he did, for the purpose of mention- 

 ing his acquiescence in the terms of 

 the agreement. The defendant as- 

 sented by inclination of the head, 

 rather than by any expression. The 

 witness, for nine or ten months 

 after this, went on with the vessel 

 contract, and supply of stores, to a 

 very great extent. The witness 

 saw an account-book, which he was 

 now shown, in the West Indies, in 

 March or April 1797; he settled 

 accounts with the defendant on the 

 footing of that book, on the 31st of 

 March. He stated to the defend- 

 ant the account of profit and loss 

 as upon that book. When the de- 

 fendant and the witness settled, the 

 defendant paid him 153,273^. 17^. 

 lOd. short. 



Upon examination bylord Ellen- 

 borough, the witness said, that 

 he had no doubt of the agreement 

 being understood by the defendant, 

 and that the accounts were settled 

 by it. 



Mr. Nathaniel Winter was in the 

 house of T. Higgins and Co. mer- 

 chants in the West Indies, at the 

 time of these transactions. By the 

 di'sire of Mr. Matthew Higgins, he 

 informed himself, from the books, 

 what Mr. Higgins's profits were: 

 and Mr. Higgins told him, if the 

 defendant should call, to show him 

 the statement of the profits on the 

 books; the defendant did call, and 

 the witness gave him an account on 

 paper, which he looked at, but the 



witness could not exactly recollect 

 whether he took it away : if he 

 were called on for a decided answer 

 one way, he should say he did. 



Upon cross-examination, he said, 

 the witness's house, that of T.Hig- 

 gins and Co., purchased goods for 

 Mr. M. Higgins at a commission. 

 There were accounts rendered to 

 the defendant from Mr. M. Hig- 

 gins with false names. The wit- 

 ness had applied to persons, to put 

 false names to such accounts. 



A letter which had been before 

 proved to be in the hand- writing of 

 the defendant, was then put in and 

 read. It was addressed to the act- 

 ing commissary-general of Barba- 

 does, and was written shortly after 

 the West India inquiries had been 

 instituted. It told the acting com- 

 missary, that, if he were asked any 

 thing about the defendant, he had 

 time to make out any thing that 

 was necessary ; and desired him to 

 be circumspect, not to give answers 

 on the defendant's general business, 

 or to make a hasty or incautious 

 statement of facts. It went on — 

 " For Heaven's sake, do not be un- 

 modeUing my accounts again, as 

 they cost me more trouble than I 

 ever had with any thing ; and they 

 desireno better than to perplex me. 

 If you can better them, do so." 



Mr. Dallas, in a long speech, in- 

 sisted, that the jury could not find 

 the defendant guilty merely from 

 Mr. Higgins's evidence, whom he 

 conceived an accomplice. 



The attorney-general, in reply, 

 stated, that Mr. Higgins was not 

 an accomplice, inasmuch as he was 

 not a public officer. He said, the 

 money which had passed through 

 the defendant's hands, in this ne- 

 farious agreement, amounted to 

 nearly a million sterling ; the pro- 

 fits 



