to Lord Sondes, informed us, that the final account of Lord Holland was delivered into that office in January, 1772; the final account of Mr Charles Townshend in July 1777; the final account of Lord North and Mr Cooke, in October, 1779. John Bray, Efq. deputy auditor to William Aiflabie, Efq. informed us, that the final and only account of Mr Cooke and Mr. Thomas Townshend was delivered into that office in November, 1779. From an objection hereinafter mentioned, made by the acting executor of Lord Holland, to the final clofing of that account, and from the reprefentation given to us by thefe officers, of the fituation in which the other accounts now are in the impreftoffice, none of them appear to be in fo advanced and perfect a ftate as to give us reafon to expect their fpeedy completion; and therefore we do not think the payment of thefe balances into the Exchequer ought to be delayed until the accounts are fettled, especially as we fee no reason why the paymafter in office may not be authorized to pay, out of the public money in his hands, all the fees and gratuities, whenever they become pay.

able.

Seeing, therefore, no objection to arife, from the fervices or purpofes to which thefe balances are ftill applicable, to the payment of them into the Exchequer, we adverted to fuch reafons as might be fuggefted to us by the accountants themselves, or by thofe who have an intereft or truft in the funds out of which thefe balances must be paid. To this end we examined the Honourable Charles James Fox, Efq. and John Powell, Efq.

The ftate of the proceedings in these fuits is fet forth in Mr. Powell's information to be as follows:

The accounts of Mr. Robert Paris Taylor, one of the deputy paymafters to Lord Holland, in Germany, during the late war, were examined in the office of the

auditors of the impreft, where he is furcharged with the fum of 12,0521. 13s. 10d. halfpenny. which furcharge he controverts. In the beginning of last year, the

executors of Lord Holland commenced two actions in the court of King's Bench, against Mr. Taylor and the executors and devifees of Peter Taylor, his father, who was his furety, to recover the fum of 28,1851. 9s. 52d, being the balance fuppoféd to be due from him upon thefe accounts; in which fum the furcharge is included. As the question in thefe caufes appears to be, whether Mr. Taylor was indebted to the executors of Lord Holland in this fum, or any [U] 4

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part of it, the balance of public money in Mr. Powell's hands might be increased, but could not be diminished by the event of thefe actions; and therefore Mr. Powell does not infift upon retaining any part of this balance to fecure him against fuch event; but Mr. Taylor, and the devifees of Peter Taylor, foon after filed two bills in the court of Chancery against the executors of Lord Holland, fuggefting errors, and praying that thefe accounts may be taken in that court. Thefe caufes have not yet come to a hearing; but the ground of Mr. Powell's claim to the detention of this fum of 73,1491. 10s. 7d. as collected from his information, and the letter of his folicitor, appears to be this: That should an account be decreed, every item in Mr. Taylor's accounts will be open to litigation; and Mr. Taylor having charged himself, before the auditors of the impreft, with the fum of 786,357 guilders and 9 ftivers, which is 73,1491. 10s. 7d. fterling, as a profit to the public arifing on money tranfactions in his department as deputy-paymaster, may fuggeft, in the progrefs of these causes, that he has erroneoufly charged himself with this fum; and therefore Mr. Powell claims to retain it in his hands, to guard against the confequences of a poffible decifion upon this fum in Mr. Taylor's favour.

Subjects under litigation in a court of justice fhould not be examined elsewhere without an abfolute neceffity, and not even then but with great caution. This point coming thus incidentally before us, in the progrefs of an enquiry within our province, we

may, without impropriety, venture to fay, that in our opinion, the bare poffibility that Mr. Taylor may, in the court of Chancery, object to and be discharged of a fum he has charged himself with before the auditors of the impreft, and which he was bound by his inftructions to charge himfelf with as a profit to the public, and to which, for aught that appears to us, he has never yet objected, but has, on the contrary, in part applied to the ufe of the public, is not a fufficient reafon for permitting the fum of 73,1491. 10s. 7d. to continue in the hands of the executors of Lord Holland until two fuits in chancery, not yet heard, praying an account may be taken of the receipt of 913,4051. 6s. 23d, and of the expenditure of 878,0081. 18s. 1d. during upwards of four years of the late war in Germany, fhall be finally determined in the court.

Lady Greenwich, Lord North, Mr. Thomas Townshend, Colonel Cooke, and Mr. Molloy, do not object to the payment into the Exchequer of their balances; nor do Mr. Fox and Mr. Powell as the refidue of Lord Holland's balance, upon feverally receiving their quietus, or a fecurity equivalent thereto.

Where accounts must be paffed by the auditors of the impreft, the payments into the Exchequer, made by the accountants before the final adjustment, are payments upon account only; but fhould thefe accountants be directed to pay in their full balances, they will be entitled to, and ought in juftice to receive, a fecurity and indemnification against all claims and payments whatever, to which

the

is the delay in paffing the accounts of the paymasters of the forces.

The making up and paffing thefe accounts is the concern of three different parties: the paymafter, whofe accounts they are; the pay-office, where they are made up; and the auditor's office, where they are paffed. The first ftep must be taken by the payoffice: there the account must be made up, and from thence fent with the vouchers to the auditor's office before they can be examined. Near forty-fix millions were iffued to Lord Holland; his final account was not delivered into the auditor's office until seven years after his refignation. About two millions were iflued to Mr. Charles, Townfhend; his final account was not delivered until eleven years after his refignation. Near two millions were issued to Lord North and Mr. Cooke; their final account was not delivered until twelve years after their refignation. Five hundred and feventy thousand pounds were iffued to Mr. Cooke and Mr. Thomas Townfhend; their only account was not delivered until eleven years after their refignation.

In the office of the auditors of the impreft, the custom of not paffing the accounts of a fucceffor until the predeceffor's are completed, is a caufe of delay. A difpute with a deputy ftops Lord Holland's accounts; but that can be no reafon for delaying one moment the accounts of his fucceffors; they depend not upon, nor are connected with each other. It is regular to examine and pafs accounts in order of time; but in

the cafe of the paymafter's accounts, convenience, both public and private, will warrant a deviation from this rule. Every accountant has a material intereft that his accounts fhould be paffed with difpatch: the quiet of himfelf, his family, and fortune. It is not unreafouable to prefume, that taking from an accountant his balance, may be a means of expediting the paffing of his accounts; whilft he holds a large fum in his hands, he may be lefs anxious to come to a final adjustment, lefs eager to procure a quietus, the condition of which is the depriving himself of that balance.

We are proceeding to examine the fum in the hands of the paymaster-general of the forces in office; but finding, from the variety and extent of his tranfactions, it will require a confiderable time before we can obtain the knowledge neceffary for forming a report, we judged it most confonant to the fpirit and intention of the act that regulates our 'conduct, to fubmit with all the dispatch in our power to the wifdom of the legiflature, the confideration of a fum of public money of fuch magnitude as that now remaining in the poffeflion of the paymafters. general of the forces out of office.