was infinitely irritable; and his behaviour indicated the utmoft feverity of affliction and mifery. By degrees his memory forfook him; and he became wild and incoherent. His friends felt for his unhappiness and melancholy; but could not prevent their confequences. For having taken the refolution to destroy himself, he effected his purpose by opening the jugular artery, and bleeding to death.

It is difficult to fay, whether Mr. Bembridge has been more fortunate, as he has furvived his difgrace. An information was filed against him by the attorney-general, charging him with neglect of duty in having connived at the concealment of certain articles in the account chargeable to the late lord Holland, as paymaftergeneral of his majesty's land forces, to the amount of forty-eight thoufand seven hundred and nine pounds ten fhillings and a fraction. The trial was agitated before the earl of Mansfield and a fpecial jury, in Weftminster-hall.

Mr. Lee, the folicitor-general, conducted the profecution in the abfence of the attorney-general; and was affifted by fir Thomas Davenport, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Wilfon, and Mr. Baldwin. The information, evidence, and facts, were confiftent and concurring, and fubmitted explicitly to the jury. In order to prove that Mr. Bembridge had fworn that the duty of his office confifted in examining and ftating the accounts of paymasters-general, as well ex-paymasters as thofe in office, there was exhibited his own examination upon oath before the commiffioners of the public accounts. To establish the custom of paffing the accounts of paymastersgeneral, as well thofe in office as ex-paymasters, Mr. Hughes and another gentleman, from the office of

the auditor of the impreft, were fworn. They furnished a detail and history of the tranfactions attending the paffing the accounts of lord Holland. They mentioned the periods when the accounts began to be paffed, and when they were fent from the payoffice to the auditor's-office. They ftated that if any doubts arose upon the examination of the accounts in the auditor's office, it was customary to refer queries to the accountant of the pay-office for anfwers and explanations. They obferved that two errors had been discovered after the final balance had been pencilled at the bottom of the accounts, and that the accounts were fent to the pay-office to be rectified. It was then that above the two articles omitted, entries were made of other items to the amount of forty-eight thousand feven hundred and nine pounds ten fillings and a fraction, As to the concealed articles, they were proved to confift of monies chargeable to lord Holland's account between the years 1757 and 1765.

For the payment of certain fums for fees on paffing the accounts of lord Holland, a warrant was produced; and it was demonstrated that Mr. Bembridge had claimed and received two thoufand fix hundred pounds for ftating and examining thefe accounts. Mr. Rofe, of the treafury, proved the examination of Mr. Bembridge before the lords of the treafury; who had called him before them on an intimation from lord Sondes, the auditor of the im preft, that a discovery had been made of the entry of items to the amount of forty-eight thousand feven hundred and nine pounds ten fhillings and a fraction. And it appeared that Mr. Bembridge had all along been perfectly well apprized of the omiffion.

Mr.

Mr. Bearcroft, as counfel for Mr. Bembridge, addreffed the jury in his favour. The facts charged were admitted by him; but he denied that his client had committed any crime defcribed by the law of England. He contended that though the accounts of the ex-paymaiters had from custom been examined and ftated by the accountant of the payoffice, this was in fact no part of his duty; and that therefore he was not obnoxious to any legal imputation of criminality for having neglected it, and far lefs liable to legal punishment. He faid, that the cafe had been greatly mifconceived, and that mifreprefentation and ignorance had attempted to fix a ftigma where it was altogether unmerited. He defcribed Mr. Powell as the friend and benefactor of Mr. Bembridge; and he stated, that if there was any criminality in the matter, it was wholly imputable to the former. He faid, that it would ill have become Mr. Bembridge to have acted the spy and informer against his patron Mr. Powell. And he thought that if the prefent profecution was admitted to be justifiable, it would follow, that every clerk in a public of fice was bound in duty to be a fpy and an informer. He urged, that if a facrifice was to be made to the public for the neglect of duty, it had already been gratified. The death of Mr. Powell was furely a fufficient atonement for the tranfgreffion complained of. He affured the jury, that the whole of the balance due from the executors of lord Holland was as well fecured to the public as any property in the kingdom. He contended, that the accounts of lord Holland, formerly paffed and examined, were not in reality final accounts but merely pencilled, and balanced up to the time they were de fivered into the office of the auditor

of the impreft. And he called upon witneffes to afcertain the fact, that to ftate and examine the accounts of the ex-paymasters was no part of the duty of the accountant of the pay-office, and to establish the character of Mr. Bembridge as a faithful and diligent officer.

Mr. Bangham, who had been upwards of thirty years in the payoffice, protefted upon oath, that he did not conceive it to be the duty of the accountant to examine and ftate the accounts of ex-paymasters. He went farther; and observed, that within his memory the accounts of an ex-paymaster had been examined and paffed by other perfons than the accountant. Mr. Crawford expreffed his belief that it was not the duty of the accountant to attend to the accounts of the ex-paymasters; but he acknowledged that his opi nion was to be founded so much on the actual knowledge of the fact, as in a strong impreffion that had taken poffeffion of his mind. As to the general integrity and ability of Mr. Bembridge, thefe witneffes were fully fatisfied. Mr. Lamb depofed, that on the recommendation of Mr. Sawyer, he had examined and stated the accounts of the late earl of Chatham, after he went out of the office of the-paymafter general; and that no perfon but himself had any fhare in the bufinefs. Now at the time when this examination and ftate were made to Mr. Lamb he was an army agent. To the general character of Mr. Bembridge as a most active, honeft, and able officer, there appeared high and great teftimonies. In his opinion there concurred upon oath, lord North, lord Sydney, Mr. Rigby, Mr. Burke, Mr. Caswell, and Mr. Champion.

The folicitor-general made a reply to Mr. Bearcroft, and offered a

few

few obfervations to the attention of the jury. It was idle, in his opinion, to maintain that there was no criminality in the conduct of Mr. Bembridge, as the law of England now flood. He was not, indeed, prepared to quote a cafe from any book, that an accountant of the pay-office had been tried, convicted, and punished, for the fort of conduct now under confideration. But it was eafy to demonftrate from the old, as well as the recent treatifes on the law of England, that malfeafance, misfeafance, and nonfeafance, were indictable and punish able offences. A magiftrate of London had been recently convicted of nonfeafance, that is, of not having been fo active as he ought to have been in quelling the riots in June, 1780. It was obvious, that every man in a public office was refponfible for his official conduct, and punishable for offences of omiffion as well as commiffion. Mr. Bembridge was a public officer. It had been proved by his own teftimony upon oath, that he knew and confidered it to be his duty to examine and pafs the accounts of the ex-paymafters, as well as the paymatters in actual office. It had been proved, that he had received two thoufand fix hundred pounds, for paffing the accounts of lord Holland, which were in fact the accounts in queftion. It had been proved, that he himself had made no fcruple to a vow that the fum of forty-eight thousand seven hundred and nine pounds ten fillings and a fraction, had been omitted in the former accounts from Holland.

It was a frivolous defence, in the opinion of the folicitor-general, that Mr. Bembridge had connived at a criminal concealment of the public money on the part of Mr. Powell,

and that he was not bound to betray his benefactor. If such reasoning and arguments were to be allowed, where would the mifchief end? It would not end with Mr. Bembridge. There would not be a public office in the kingdom where fuch connivances and criminality would not obtain; and how much and how deeply in this view of the matter, would the public fuffer and be injured?

Lord Mansfield informed, the jury, that the cafe refolved itfelf into two proportions. The first was, that it was the duty of the accountant of the Pay-Office to examine and ftate the accounts of the ex-paymafter as well as the paymafters in office. The fecond was, that the defendant being bound in duty to examine and poft the accounts of the late lord Holland, had wilfully, corruptly, and fraudulently, connived at the concealment of forty-eight thousand feven hundred and nine pounds ten fhillings and a fraction. He then gave a general ftate of the evidence, and declared, that as to the point in law he had no doubt, but that any perfon holding a public office under the king's letter patent, or derivatively from fuch authority, was amenable to the law for every part of his conduct, and liable to be punished if he fhould be convicted of not having difcharged his duty with fidelity.

The jury after being out of court near a quarter of an hour, returned, and found the defendant to be guilty. An application was made, but in vain, for a new trial. And Mr. Bembridge was fentenced to pay a fine of two thoufand fix hundred pounds, and to be confined in the prifon of the King's-Bench for the space of fix months.

CHAP.

May 12th. ORD John Cavendifh having stated to the commons the deficiencies of feveral taxes and parliamentary grants, and the neceffity of their being fupplied and made good for the interest and fervice of the public, moved the following refolutions:

That a fum not exceeding forty fix thousand four hundred fortyfour pounds, and eleven pence, be granted to his majefty, to replace to the finking fund the like fum paid out of the fame, to make good the deficiency on the fifth day of July, 1782, of the fund eftablifhed for paying annuities granted by an act made in the 31 year of his late majefty, towards the fupply granted for the fervice of the year 1758.

That a fum not exceeding one hundred and fixty thoufand one hundred ninety-one pounds, eight hillings and eight pence farthing, be granted to his majesty, to replace to the finking fund the like fum paid out of the fame, to make good the deficiency on the fifth day of July, 1782, of the fund established for paying annuities, granted by an at in the 18th year of the reign of his prefent majefty, towards the fupply granted for the fervice of the year 1778.

That a fum not exceeding fixtythree thoufand eight hundred eightyeight pounds, eight fhillings, and feven pence halfpenny, be granted to his majefty, to replace to the finking fund the like fum paid out of the fame, to make good the deficiency on the fifth day of July, 1782, of

the fund established for paying annuities, by an act made in the 19th year of the reign of his prefent majefty, towards the fupply granted for the fervice of the year 1779.

That a fum not exceeding one hundred forty-one thoufand eight hundred feventy-one pounds, seven fillings, and feven pence three farthings, be granted to his majefty, to replace to the finking fund the like fum taken out of the fame, to make good the deficiency on the tenth day of October, 1782, of the fund established for paying annuities, granted by an act made in the 20th year of the reign of his prefent majefty, towards the fupply granted for the fervice of the year 1780.

That a fum not exceeding one hundred and thirty-eight thoufand fix hundred eighty-two pounds, feventeen fhillings, and four pence, be granted to his majefty, to replace to the finking fund the like fum paid out of the fame, to make good the deficiency on the tenth day of October, 1782, of the fund established for paying annuities, granted by an act made in the 22d year of the reign of his prefent majefty, towards the fupply granted for the fervice of the year 1782.

That a fum not exceeding two hundred eighty-two thousand five hundred and two pounds, eight fhillings, and two pence, be granted to his majefty, to make good the deficiency of the grants for the fervice of the year 1782.'

In a committee of fupply of the houfe, thefe refolutions were agreed to, and ordered to be reported. In