Earl Grosvenorrose to request, that the noble Secretary would give the House some information relative to the failure of the First Clerk of the Treasury: and it would depend upon the answer he should receive, whether he should, at some other time, make a motion on the subject. The affair was one of the very first importance. The defalcation, at the very lowest statement of it was not less than 70,000l. He should not, perhaps, have called their lordships attention to the matter in this way, had this been an unique case; but when they saw the same frauds taking place on other occasions, in the Ordnance Department, and elsewhere, it was not a subject to be passed over lightly. These frauds had now extended to the Treasury itself, which ought to be particularly vigilant against all frauds of this kind. Still, however, he might not have thought it necessary to mention the subject in this manner, had it not been that this person had been long living in habits of extravagance, so that people were surprised how a person in his situation should have been able to expend such large sums in buildings, and other projects. This, therefore, was not a common case, in which a default might have taken place without exciting any previous suspicion. Here the suspicions of the Treasury ought to have been roused, and then much of the money might have been saved. The person in question had been a protegé of a right 107 hon. gentleman, now Vice-President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Rose) whose eyes, it might be imagined, should have been open to his proceedings.
The Earl of Liverpoolobserved, that their lordships must be sure he could not regularly afford any information on the subject. The transaction referred to was one between the Lords of the Treasury and one of the Clerks of that department; the proceedings were of some notoriety, and by the extent that was issued, a considerable sum had been obtained. It was undoubtedly competent to the noble earl to bring forward a motion on the subject if he thought proper; and it would be for the House to consider how far such motion could be entertained.