little diminution from any claims whatever. From thefe facts we may infer, that a paymafter general, at the time of his refignation, be it when it will, takes with him a fum of public money, a great part of which remains with him, unapplied to any public fervice, until his accounts are paffed by the auditors of the impreft; and confequently, that he has conftantly in his hands greatiy more than he wants for the purpofes for which it was flued to him. During the courfe of our inquiry, certain circumstances in this office attracted our attention, as fubjects demanding prefent correction, and prevention for the future. tinue in its prefent form, we think the interpofition of fome check neceffary, to reduce and confine this balance within its due bounds. The paymafter general can receive nothing from the exchequer, but by direction of the treafury; the treafury, therefore, fhould have the means of judging upon the propriety and neceflity of the requifition; to which a frequent knowledge of his balance is effential; and therefore we are of opinion, that in the first memorial prefented every month, by the paymaster general of the forces to the lords of the treafury, for a fupply for the army fervices, he fhould always infert the fum total of the balance of public money, for the service of the army, at that time in his hands, cuftody, or power. What those due bounds are, within which this balance ought to be circumfcribed, depends upon a variety of circumftances, of which the treasury may, upon examination, obtain knowledge fufficient to direct their judg ment. The ufual courfe of the receipts and iffues in this office, for feveral years, has conftantly put into the hands of the paymafter general a large fum of public money not employed in the public fervice, exprefsly contrary to that found maxim of prudence and economy, That more fhould not be iffued from the exchequer for any fervice, than But this ufage of office operates that fervice wants. He asks fums ftill further; it is not confined to of the treafury under fpecific heads the paymafter general in being onof fervice, and in the form of a ly, but he has been permitted, afcomputation; the treafury direct ter his refignation, and his reprethe iffue in the terins he afks it, fentatives, in cafe of his death, to without knowing whether the fer- retain the money of the public, unvice is adequate to the requifition, til the final adjustment of his acwhether the computation be juft, counts by the auditors of the imand whether he has not already in preft. The average of Lord Holhis hands full as much as he wants: land's balance, from his refignation there is no controul upon him in the in the year 1765, to the year 1778, exchequer; the only attention of when the two hundred thoufand that office is, to fee that the iffue pounds were paid into the exche. does not exceed his credit, and that quer, by his reprefentatives, was his credit does not exceed the fup. four hundred fifty-five thousand feply for the army fervices, voted by ven hundred thirty-five pounds. The parliament that year. Suppofing average of the balance of the prethe conftitution of this office to confent paymafter general, from the year year 1768, when he came into office, to the fame year 1778, was four hundred fifty-three thoufand one hundred and eighty pounds; making together nine hundred and eight thoufand nine hundred and fifteen pounds; a fum belonging to the public, in the poffeffion of only two of their officers, for nine years, and the public reaping no benefit from it whatever. The public good calls for fo effectual a correction of this evil, as to prevent it from ever happening for the future. As there fhould be a check upon the balance of a paymafter general whilft he is in of fice, it is equally expedient that he fhould retain his balance as fhort a time as poffible after his refignation; that he should pay it over to his fucceffor, and the fubfequent bufinefs be carried on by him, at least as much of it as can be tranfacted by him without caufing confufion or delay. According to the prefent courfe of business in this office, upon the refignation of a paymaster general, his accounts of the year's establishment are carried on to the 24th of June, or 24th of December, preceding or fubfequent to his reignation, as is moft convenient to the public fervice; when it is fubfequent, he receives from the exchequer, though out of office, his proportion of the fupply of the year to that time, and applies it in difcharge of the demands upon the fervice, which accrued down to that period; but of thefe demands, fome do not come in a courfe of payment, others are not applied for till fome time after they are due; neither the nett off-reckonings nor the clearings, which are the laft payments months after they become due; the general, ftaff, and reduced officers, do not all apply immediately for their pay; warrants for contingencies are frequently not produced until feveral months after they are payable; and the paymafter general has deputies in various parts of the world, whofe accounts he must have time to adjuft; it is therefore convenient, and prevents trouble to the office, that his bufinefs fhould be carried on, and fo much of the public money as is neceffary for that purpofe continue in his hands for fome fhort time afterwards; and if the balance be confined within its proper bounds, whilft he is in office, the intereft of the public will not be materially affected by the detention of a moderate ba-. lance, for a few months after his refignation. If claimants for fums directed, but not applied for, in the time of the predeceffor, muft, according to the prefent forms of office, have recourfe to the treafury for new warrants, thofe forms are inconvenient, and fhould be altered; the fucceffor fhould be empowered to pay fuch demands, under the authority given to the predeceffor, without putting claimants to the trouble and expence of a fecond application. Was the paymafter general to retain his balance until his accounts are finally adjusted, the public would be kept out of their money to a very diftant and uncertain period. It is fixteen years fince Lord Holland refigned, and his accounts' are ftill in the office of the auditors of the impreft unfettled; the prefent paymafter general has been in office thirteen years, and the first three years and a half only of his accounts accounts are sent into that office, and in their first ftage. The pub. lic have a right to be informed how their money has been expended, and as speedily as poffible after the expenditure: the evils attending delay are many and obvious, both to the perfon accounting, and to those entitled to call for the account. Being accustomed to go in one track, and long inattention to this point, in the departments both of the paymafter general and of the auditors of the impreft, added to a great increase of business, have produced long arrears; it requires, and there ought to be, an extraordinary exertion in both offices, to bring the accounts forward, and to introduce and establish that order and regularity in making them up, and keeping them, which fhould be ftrictly adhered to in every office of account. To obtain and preferve an accurate and competent knowledge of the ftate they are in, they fhould be made up and balanced once a year, to a certain ftated time, and as foon as may be after that stated time is elapfed. But the time it takes to complete the payment of certain fervices, and the manner of carrying on fome branches of the business in this office, are impediments to fuch a regulation, and feem not well calculated either for perfpicuity or expedition., There are certain fervices, for which no specific fums are appropriated, either by the vote of parliament, or by the diftribution in the establishment; but they are paid out of funds compounded of a great variety and number of articles, fubftracted from various different grofs fums, either voted or allotted for certain purposes: thefe fervices are, Chelsea hofpital, the allowance to widows, the cloathing of the regulars, exchequer fees, and falaries to certain officers. One of these funds is the poundage, which confifts of various deductions of twelve pence in the pound upon almoft every individual fum (except the half pay, of which the deduction is only fix pence in the pound) voted, or allotted by the diftributions in the establishments, for the army fervices: out of this fund are paid, ft. The returned poundage; that is, this very deduction, thus made, is paid back to certain corps; fo that this part of it seems to be deducted for no other purpose but that of returning it back again. zdly. A part of this poundage is applied towards the expences of Chelsea hospital. 3dly. The remainder pays the exchequer fees, and the falaries of the paymaster general, and of other officers. The expences attending Chelsea hofpital are paid out of two funds, blended together; the one is part of the poundage above mentioned; the other is formed of the deductions of one day's pay of every perfon named in fome of the establishments, and of fome of the perfons named in other of the establishments: to form this fund, and that of the poundage, and to make these feveral deductions, is the business of the pay-office. The allowance to widows, confifts of the pay of two private men a company, and is a part of the establishment in every regiment; this comes from the war-office, but the feveral articles are collected together from the regimental diftributions, and formed into a fund, in the pay-office. The fund for the cloathing is called the nett off-reckonings; and is compofed of deductions made in the pay-office, out of the fums allotted in the establishment for the full pay of the non-commiffioned officers and private men, in most of the regiments and corps. One effect of thefe operations is, that in making up the ftate of every regiment in the pay-office, the fum allotted for its pay in the establishment must confift of fix parts; the poundage, the hofpital, the fubfift. ence, the allowance to widows, the off-reckonings, and the clearings, and fometimes refpits. This ftate, befides the business it creates in the pay-office, must be examined, computed, and figned, by the agent; for he receives the clearings, which is the balance due to the regiment; the truth of which balance depends upon the juftness of the calculation of the other divifions: it must be examined too, and computed, by the auditor of the impreft; for the paymafter general taking credit in his account for the whole pay of each regiment, and furcharging himself with the total amount of the deductions of the poundage, hofpital, and widows, in every year, the auditor cannot know the accuracy of the furcharge, without an examination of each article that composes it. To perfons accustomed to the courfe of office, thefe computations are eafy and familiar; but they certainly must take up time; an object, confidering the prefent state of the army accounts, worth attending to. If, instead of thefe deductions, certain specific diftinct fums were eftimated and fet apart for thefe services in the establishment; if diftinet accounts were kept of the receipts and payments, under each head of fervice; if the cloathing of the regulars was voted like the cloathing of the militia, feparate from the establishment; if the fum allotted to a regiment fhould be the actual pay, and the whole of it be diftributed amongst the officers and private men, and paid to them without deduction, at fuch times and in fuch proportions as fhall be deemed beft for the fervice; if every diftinct service had its distinct appropriation, which can be easily estimated by the experience of preceding years; it fhould feem as if this branch of the pay of the army might be carried on in a more fimple, expeditious, and intelligible manner. In public trufts, the poffibility of a lofs hould be guarded against, as much as the nature of the trusts will admit, without any respect to perfons, or placing any more con-, fidence in any man than can be helped. The fums that appear to have been intrufted to paymasters general, are of a magnitude that implies danger to the public; for who can give, or find fecurity for the payment of them? At the head of this clafs of accountants, ftands an inftance of an actual lofs ; the laft account that was passed of Lord Lincoln's 's was to the 24th of December 1719, between which, and the 25th of June 1720, four hundred feventy-three thoufand one hundred twenty-feven pounds, were iffued to him from the exchequer ; of this fum it does not appear that any account was ever given, nor have we been able to trace, either in the pay-office, or in that of the auditors of the impreft, the expenditure of any part of it; neither book nor paper, relative to this account, is to be found in either of thofe offices. It has been the prac tice tice of the paymafters general, when they went out of office, to take with them the books and papers that relate to their accounts, as their own private property; but as the paymafter general is an officer appointed to a public truft, his office created for the ufe of, and fupported by, the public, and his books contain accounts of the receipt and expenditure of public money; we are of opinion, that all thefe official books and papers are, and should be confidered as the property of the public, and as fuch left and depofited in the pay-office, for the ufe and information of pofterity. The regulations hitherto fuggefted, are upon a fuppofition that the conftitution of this office continues in its prefent form; but there is a modification, which, if it can be adopted, will effectually remove the power, and therefore the poffibility, of lofs or abuse; that is, by taking away from the paymafter general of the forces the cuftody of the public cash, and placing it in the bank of England; this treafury will then be converted into an office of mere account, and the paymafter general, inftead of being the banker of the army, will be the inftrument only, through whom the army fervices are paid, without having the power of applying the public money to any other purpofes whatever. Some judgment may be formed how far this plan is practicable, by comparing the alteration it will make in the great outlines of the bufinefs of this office, the receipt, the iffue, the keeping the accounts, and the accounting, with the forms now in ufe. The impreft must be to the bank; the bank must make the payments, by means of checque drafts drawn by the paymaster ge neral, fpecifying the warrant, and the fervice: the paymafter general must keep the account of these receipts and payments, and the bank a duplicate; both muft join in paffing the accounts, the one producing the warrants discharged by his drafts, the other producing the drafts difcharged by payment. Under the prefent conftitution of this office, the paymafter general keeps his cafh at the bank; the bank receives it at the exchequer on his account; he never pays in cash, but by his cafhiers drafts on the bank: he keeps the account of all these receipts and payments, as if they were tranfacted in cafh: the warrant indorfed, or the warrant and receipt, or the warrant and regimental pay-book, figned by the agent, and receipt for the offreckonings, are his vouchers: his deputies pay, when they can, by drafts upon the agent to the remitter, who is the bank abroad, and accountable to the public. Such is the fimilitude between the mode propofed and the mode in ufe; and thus far this regulation carries with it all the appearance of being reducible to practice. We are well aware of the difficulties that must for ever attend the introducing novelty of form into ancient offices, framed by the wif dom of our ancestors, and established by the experience of ages; they are confidered as incapable of improvement; the officers educated in, and accustomed to the forms in use, are infenfible of their defects, or, if they feel them, have no leisure, often no ability, feldom any inclination, to correct them; alarmed at the idea of innovation, they refift the propofal of a regulation, becaufe it is a change, though from a perplexed |