§ Mr. Henry Martin,pursuant to notice, rose to move, "That there be laid before the house, an Account of all sums of money which have been issued to any persons between the 5th of Jan. 1793, and 5th of Jan. 1802, out of his majesty's Exchequer, or by the Paymaster of the Forces, without other account than such as should be rendered thereof to his majesty, or to the lords commissioners of his majesty's Treasury for the time being, specifying the persons to whom, the times when, and the services for which all such sums have been issued; together with a list of the persons who have rendered accounts of any of the said sums to the lords of the treasury, specifying the times when such accounts were respectively delivered, 464 and the times when any, and which of such accounts, have been passed." This was part of a motion which he had made in the last session, though he had, on the suggestion of the difficulty of making out the account in its more extended form, consented to narrow his motion in that instance. As it was material that the house should be in possession of every information respecting that part of the public expenditure to which his motion referred, he felt it to be his duty to bring it forward at this early, period of the session in the whole extent of his original proposition. As he was not aware of any objection that could be made to the production of the papers he called for, he should barely submit his motion to the house.
A conversation of some length took place on the question being put, in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Rose, and Mr. Long, though they had no objection to the principle of the motion, yet put it to the hon. gent. whether, as this object was to be brought under the consideration of the Finance Committee, he would not delay pressing any motion upon it, till that committee should have reported thereon. They likewise stated, that to call for these papers, in this instance, when the different offices were engaged in complying with the precepts of the Committee of Finance, would be productive of much inconvenience, and even if they did order them, it would take a year at least to make the return to the order; that it was impossible, in many instances, to comply with the terms of the motion, particularly as to the dates at which the accounts had been separately examined, there being no entry in the minutes to that effect, and the practice having been, before the adoption of the existing regulations, for either of the lords commissioners of the treasury, as the occasion might serve, to examine any of the accounts given in to the treasury. They observed, too, that the order of last session had been complied with in 34 days after it was made, because by the regulations acted upon since the year 1802, the accounts were filed in the offices, and there was no difficulty in taking them off the file to return to the order of the house; but as no such regulation existed previous to that period, there would be much difficulty, inconvenience, and delay, in rummaging the offices in order to comply with the order of the house. Upon these grounds, they put it to the hon. gent. whe- 465 ther he would still persist in pressing his motion at present.
>Mr. Martin, Mr. Calcraft, Mr. Tierney, and sir John Newport, considering the importance of having these accounts brought under the notice of parliament, thought that the motion ought to be complied with, as any trouble that might be occasioned by a compliance with the order of that house, would fall upon the servants of the public, in the discharge of their regular duty, and certainly such inconvenience was not to be considered in the exercise of the constitutional control of that house, upon all matters of account touching the public expenditure. If the return could not be made till after a long interval, then it was the more necessary that the order should be made to call for it so much the earlier. As to the investigation of the subject by the Committee of Finance, they had reason to think, that none of the accounts referred to in this motion, were laid before that committee; and though the papers could not be produced during the present session, that was not a reason why the motion should not be complied with. If the return should not be made this session, or according to the terms of the motion, it would next session, and conformably to such documents as might be found in the offices, and the hon. mover might in the next session, bring forward any proposition which it might be his intention to ground upon the return.—Upon an understanding to the effect of the latter statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer acceded to the motion, and an order was made for the production of the Account.