All these facts were confirmed by the proof adduced by the commons, that after the death of Mr. Douglas, lord Melville confessed in the month of January 1786, to Mr. Trotter (who succeeded Douglas as paymaster of the navy), that he was indebted to the public in the sum of 10,600l.; which sum of 10,600 exactly corresponds with the deficiency of 1,600/.on the "old accountt" and of 9,000l. on the "new account." proved to be the residuary balances of divers payments made by the authority of lord Melville, for purposes extra-official and unexplained, to a much greater amount, and reduced to the above-mentioned sums by different repayments, all of which were traced back by the commons to private sources.

On the second of these charges, contained in the second article of impeachment, it was in the first place shewn by the commons.

That subsequent to the appointment of lord Melville for the second time to the office of treasurer of the navy, an act of parliament was passed, intituled, act for better regulating the office of treasurer of his majesty's

navy ;"

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Whereby it is, among other things, enacted, "that from and

after the 1st of July 1785 no mo ney for the service of the navy shall be issued from his majesty's exchequer to the treasurer of the navy, or shall be placed, or directed to be placed in his hands or possession, but the same shall be issued and directed to be paid to the governor and company of the bank of England and to be placed to certain accounts according to the ser vices for which it is craved and issued ;"

"And the monies to be issued unto the governor and company of the bank of England, on account of the treasurer of his majesty's navy, shall not be paid out of the bank, unless for navy services, and in pursuance of drafts to be drawn on the governor and company of the bank of England, and signed by the treasurer of the navy for the time being, or the person or persons au thorized by him;

"And that upon the death, resig nation, or removal of the present, and every other treasurer of his majesty's navy hereafter to be appointed, the balance of cash, for which he shall at that time have credit on his account or accounts, as treasurer of his majesty's navy with the go. vernor and company of the bank of England, shall, at the end of the current month after a successor shall be appointed to the said office, ac tually vest in such successsor, in trust for the service of the navy, and be forthwith transferred, carried over and placed to the account of such successor. "

1

And, in the next place, proved, that, in direct breach and violation of the said statute, lord Melville gave permission to Trotter, his paymaster, to draw from the bank of England, for other purposes than

for immediate application to navy services, sums of money issued to the governor and company of the bank of England on account of the treasurer of the navy, and to place the same in the hands of his private banker; that Trotter, in consequence of this permission, did draw from the bank of England large sums of public money, and place the same in the hands of his private bankers, in his own name and at his own disposal, and beyond the control of the treasurer of the navy. By which the said statute was grossly violated, and the enactment relative to the transfer of the balance of public money, on the death, resignation or removal of the existing treasurer of the navy, to his successor, would have been in a great measure frustrated and rendered nugatory, if Trotter had died, while these balances of public money were in the hands of his private banker.

It was also shewn, that the reasons assigned by lord Melville for granting permission to Trotter, to place the public money in the hands of his private bankers, were frivo. lous and unfounded, and were, therefore, probably not his real motives for permitting such a breach and violation of the law

On the third of these charges, comprehending the third, fourth, sixth, seventh, eight, and ninth articles of impeachment, it was proved by the commons that Trot ter, by permission and connivance of lord Melville, applied to his private use and emolument, the public money so taken illegally from the bank of England and placed in the hands of his private banker, and derived great profit therefrom, and that lord Melville knew and un ́derstood that he derived such emo.

lument, and did not prohibit him so to do.

It further appeared in evidence that Trotter, by desire of lord Melville, opened an account, called the chest account, in which he debited lord Melville with 10.6001. being the sum of money, for which lord Melville, by his own confession, was indebted to the public, when Trotter first became paymaster under him; that various advances were made, at subsequent periods, on the same account, in consequence of requisition from lord Melville to Trotter, of the nature of commands; with which requisitions Trotter invariably complied without any remonstrance that no interest was ever charged to lord Melville, or paid by him on these advances that Trotter always con. sidered lord Melville to be immediately indebted to the public in this chest account: and lord Melville understood and knew himself to be so indebted that Trotter having advanced to lord Melville in 1797, the sum of 10,000l. in order to pay the instalments on his subscription to the loyalty loan; aud having in the first instance debited lord Melville for that sum in another account kept between them, intituled their account current, did afterwards, for his own greater security, transfer the same to the chest account, and did present a copy of the said accont bearing on the face of it a statement of the above transaction, to lord Melville, by whom it was regularly, duly, and formally settled and signed, and to whom the origininal book or a duplicate thereof, so settled and signed, was delivered; and that at subsequent periods, Trotter presented other statements and duplicates of the said accounts, containing the

same charge, which lord Melville did in like manner settle and sign. It was further proved, that notwithstanding lord Melville must have known from this transaction, that the money advanced to him by Trotter, by means of which he was enabled to hold the loyalty loan, was public money, he permitted the dividends accruing on that stock to be carried to his credit in his account current with Trotter till May 1800, when by a paper signed with his own hand, he authorized Mark Sprott to dispose of the same, which was accordingly done, and the produce carried to the credit of lord, Melville in his account with Messrs. Thomas Coutts and Co. his bankers. It was also shewn in evidence, that there was an account between lord Melville and Trotter, called their account current, which was opened within less than three months after the appointment of Trotter to the office of paymaster in January 1786, and was not finally closed till May 1800, when lord Melville left the navy payoffice that during that interval it had been frequently balanced and signed by both parties, and duplicates exchanged that no interest was ever charged on either side in this account, though the balance upon it against lord Melville was generally from 10,000l. to 20,000l.; and that large sums of money were advanced by Trotter and placed to this account, derived from the public money illegally drawn by him from the bank, on the pretence of navy services, and placed by permission of lord Melville in the hands of his private banker.

It was further proved, that when Trotter was made paymaster of the navy in 1786, he was unable to

make advances of money to lord Melville from his private fortune, which did not exceed at that time the sum of 1,000l. or 2,000l. ; and that nevertheless within three months after his nomination to the office of paymaster, he advanced 4,000l. to lord Melville, without interest, his pecuniary circum. stances being perfectly known to lord Melville, when he accepted of that loan.

It was also shewn, that while lord Melville was thus receiving advances of money, without interest, from Trotter, his attention must have been forcibly drawn to the transactions of that personage in regard to public money, by a very singular conversation, which took place between himself and Trotter in 1789, wherein Trotter had the audacity to propose to him, lord Melville, treasurer of his majesty's navy, holding his place by authori. ty of a warrant, which strictly prohibited him from deriving any emolament from the public money in his possession, to lay out the public money for his lord Melville's private interest and advantage; but though this proposal was rejected by the noble lord, it appear ed not, that then, or at any subse quent period, he made any inquiry, into the amount of the public mo. ney in the hands of Trotter, nor into the uses to which it was applied, or risks to which it was expos ed; instead of which, he continued to accept advances of money from Trotter, without paying interest for them, or even inquiring from what source the money was derived.

With respect to the account cur. rent between lord Melville and Trotter, it further appeared, that the first item of that account, conI 4

sisting

sisting of a loan of 4,000%. advanced by Trotter to lord Melville, was supplied from the fund entrusted to Trotter for the payment of exehequer fees, and that in the bond given by lord Melville for that sum, there was no engagement to pay interest for the same. It was also proved, that on September 4th, 1792, the sum of 8,000l. was drawn by Trotter from the bank, on pretence of navy services; out of which the sum of 4,0577 10s. was employed the same day in the purchase of 2,000l. East India stock for the use and benefit of lord Melville, according to his express desire and request: and that no interest was charged to lord Melville for the purchase money of the said East India stock, though the divi. dends were carried to his credit, and the stock itself ultimately disposed of for his benefit in May 1800.

Lastly, it was proved, that in May 1800, when lord Melville quitted the navy pay-office, he was under the necessity of raising the sum of 50 0007. or thereabouts, to make good that part of the defi. ciency in his act of parliament account at the bank, which arose from public money applied to his own profit and advantage: and it further appeared in evidence, that the sum total of public money advanced by Trotter to lord Melville, and enjoyed without interest by lord Melville, amounted on the 31st Decem ber,

was

In answer to the first of these charges, comprehending the first and tenth articles of impeachment, it contended by Mr. Plumer, counsel for the defendant, that independant of the act of 25 Geo. 3, which was posterior to the commission of the supposed offences charged in these articles, and independant of the warrant, the treasurer of the navy was not restrained, either by common or statute law, or by the nature of his official duty or trust, from making a temporary use of the public money intrusted to him, before it was wanted for the public service; provided it was at all times ready, when called for, to answer the purposes for which it was destined. With respect to the warrant, the learned council admitted, that it precluded the treasurer of the na vy from making profit of the public money in his hands; but he argued, that the breach of this engagement, had it been committed by lord Melville, (which he denied), did not amount to a public crime or offence, and though it might subject him to civil consequences, could not be the foundation of a criminal charge against him.

This doctrine was impugned, in a very able reply on the part of the managers, by the attorney-general, who contended that a breach of duty, which, between individuals, created nothing but a civil remedy, was in a public accountant an indictable offence. The duty of every officer appointed by the king, was a public duty, which the law would vindicate by criminal proceedings, The warrant prescribed a course of public duty to the defendant, which if he infringed, he was liable to have an indictment or information filed against him by the law officers of the crown. The moment a pub