HC Deb 22 May 1806 vol 7 cc335-6
Mr. Rose ,

preparatory to a motion which he proposed to bring forward to-morrow, relating to the Public Accounts at present unaudited, observed, that a noble lord (H. Petty) had, last night, detailed to the house such a series of accounts, respecting the issues and disbursements of public money for military expenditure, during a period of above twenty years, as could not fail to excite great anxiety in the mind of the public, as well as in that of the house, that this subject should undergo the most minute and radical investigation. In that anxiety no man more deeply participated than himself: he was desirous that the business should be probed to the very bottom; that whoever were the persons upon whom the duties of examining and adjusting those accounts devolved, should be brought forward, and made to account for such an extraordinary delay, and apparently gross and unpardonable negligence; and if they could not satisfactory account for their conduct, that they might be subjected to that shame and reproach which should appear to be due to it. With a view, as early as possible, to accelerate that enquiry, he should, to-morrow, move for several documents, in order to shew to the house, distinctly, what were the accounts that had been proceeded upon, and what were not, with the real sums under each distinct head of military expenditure still unaccounted for. He had no objection to name, now, the papers for which he intended to move; and if the noble lord, after hearing them specified, wished to add any more, he might move for them at the same time, as it was his sincere wish to give every aid in his power to the enquiry. The papers for which he meant to move were, Accounts of the sums issued from the Exchequer to principal accountants, and by them to sub-accountants, to be disbursed for military purposes, from the close of the American war to the time of appointing the commissioners of accounts, and since; and also what part of those sums had been investigated, and what part not; together with several other documents, The right hon. member repeated his earnest solicitude, that the enquiry should proceed with the strictest scrutiny, and, if any circumstances of delinquency should appear, let the parties implicated be who they might, it was his earnest wish, that, without favour or affection, they might be dragged into public notice, and punished with a severity adequate to their guilt.