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1711.

used to make him appear criminal. But the difcoveries made by the commiffioners for examining the public accounts, were made the immediate caufe of his difgrace. Sir Solomon Medina, a Jew, concerned in the contract for furnishing bread to the army in Flanders, made a prefent yearly to the duke of Marlborough of between five or fix thousand pounds. The general of the ftates, it seems, had the like prefent, as a perquifite to support his dignity, and to enable him to procure intelligence. . The queen ordered ten thoufand pounds a year more to the duke of Marlborough for the fame fervice. King William had also agreed, that two and a half per cent. fhould be deducted out of the pay of the foreign troops, which amounted to fifteen thousand pounds. This the queen had by a warrant appointed the duke of Marlborough to receive on the fame account.

The duke having heard, while he was beyond fea, that the commiffioners had difcovered the prefent made him by the Jew, fent them a letter, on the 10th of November, N. S. from the Hague, wherein he owned the whole matter to be true; and added, he had applied these fums to the procuring good intelligence, to which, next to the bleffing of God on the bravery of the troops, their constant fucceffes were owing. This did not fatisfy the commissioners; but, though no complaints were brought from the army of their not being conftantly fupplied with good bread, yet they faw here was matter to raife a clamour against the duke, which they chiefly aimed at. Accordingly the commiffioners reported these things to the houfe of commons, on the 21st of December, the day before their recefs (which report was referred to the 17th of January) and the next day, pursuant to an order of the house, Mr. Shippen, one of the commiffioners, laid before them: Firft, the deposition of Sir Solomon de Medina, knight, proving great fums of money taken by his grace John duke of Marlborough, Adam Cardonnel, efquire, his grace's fecretary, and others, on account of the contracts for fupplying bread and breadwaggons to her majefty's forces in the Low-Countries. Secondly, captain William Prefton's depofition about forage in North-Britain. Upon this the duke of Marlborough's letter, which he had writ in vindication of himself to the commiffioners, was, by his order or contrivance, publifhed in the Daily Courant of the 27th of December. This letter having made an impreffion in his favour on the minds of many perfons, the report of the commiffioners was, by way

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of anfwer, printed at large two days after (b); and the next 1711. day, the 30th of December, the queen declared in council,

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(b) The fubftance of the report and the duke's letter, were as follow: That it appeared by the depofition of Sir Solomon de Medina, the prefent contractor, and by the accounts of • Antonio Alvarez Machado,who < had been contractor before him, • that, from the year 1702 to the year 1711, both included, the • duke of Marlborough had received, upon account of the contracts for bread and breadC waggons, the fum of fix hundred and fixty-four thousand, eight hundred and fifty-one guilders, and eight flivers, ⚫ which amounted to fixty-three thoufand, nine hundred and nine pounds, three fhillings, ⚫ and seven pence. That, fome time after this evidence was given, they received, by the hands of James Craggs, efq; a letter from the duke of Marl

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than what has always been allowed as a perquifite to the general or commander in chief of the army in the Low-Countries, both before the revolution and fince; and I do affure you, a the fame time, that whatever fums I have received, on that account, have conftantly been applied for the fervice of the public, in keeping fecret correfpondence, and getting intelligence of the enemies motions and defigns; and it has fallen fo fhort, that I take leave to • acquaint you with another arti'cle that has been applied to the

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fame ufe, and which arifes from ⚫ her majesty's warrant, whereof the inclosed is a copy, though this does not properly relate to the public accounts, being a free gift from the foreign troops. You will have obferved, by the feveral etablishments, that, before the late 'king's death, when the parliament voted forty-thousand men for the quota of England in the • Low-Countries, twenty-one thousand fix hundred and twelve were to be foreigners, and the reft English; for the last they gave ten thousand pounds a year for intelligence, and other contingencies, without account; but his majesty being fenfible, by the experience of the laft war, that this fum would not any way anfwer that fervice, and being unwilling to apply for any more to the parliament, he was pleafed to order, that the foreign troops fhould con'tribute two and a half per cent. E e z towards

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That, being informed an information against the duke of Marlborough was laid before the house of commons, by the

towards it; and I being then his ambaffador and commander ⚫ in chief abroad, he directed me to propofe it to them, with ' an affurance, that they should have no other stoppage made from their pay. This they readily agreed to; and her majefty was afterwards pleased to • confirm it by her warrant, upon my acquainting her with the ⚫ufe it was intended for; and it has accordingly been applied, from time to time, for intelli

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gence and fecret fervice, with fuch fuccefs, that, next to the bleffing of God on the bravery of our troops, we may, in a great measure, attribute moft of the advantages of the war in this country to the timely ⚫ and good advices procured with the help of this money. And

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now, gentlemen, as I have laid the whole matter very fairly before you, and that I hope you will allow, I have ferved

my queen and country with ⚫ that zeal and faithfulness which becomes an honeft man, the • favour I am to intreat of you, is, that, when you make your report to the parliament, you will lay this part before them in its true light, fo as that they may fee this neceffary and important part of the war has • been provided for, and carried on, without any other expence to the public than the ten thoufand pounds a year; and I flatter myself, that, when the • accounts of the army in Flan<ders come under your confideration, you will be fenfible the

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Right trufty and right wellbeloved coufin and counsellor, we greet you well. Whereas, purfuant to the direction you have received in that behalf, you have agreed, with the perfons authorized to treat with 'you, for the taking into our 'fervice a certain number of foreign troops, to act in conjunction with the forces of our allies, that there be reserved two ⚫ and a half per cent. out of all • monies payable to, and for the faid troops, as well for their

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and entertainment, as on any other account, towards de'fraying fuch extraordinary con'tingent expences relating to them, as cannot otherwife be provided for. Now, we do hereby approve and confirm all 'fuch agreements as you have, or may hereafter make, for re'ferving the faid two and a half per cent. accordingly; and do likewife hereby authorize and direct the pay-mafter-general` of our forces for the time being, 'or his deputy, to make the faid ⚫ deduction of two and a half per

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the commiffioners of the public accounts, fhe thought fit to dismiss him from all his employments, that the matter might

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That on this letter and warrant they obferved, That, fo far as they had been capable of being informed, the great fums, annually paid to the duke on account of the contracts for bread, could never be esteemed legal or warrantable perquifites: nor did they find, that any other English general in the Low-Countries, or elsewhere, ever claimed or received fuch perquifites; and, if any inftance fhould be produced, they apprehended it would be no jufti. fication of it, because the pub lic, or the troops, muft necef

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farily fuffer, in proportion to every fuch perquifite; and how agreeable this practice was to that œconomy, with which the fervice in Flanders was faid to be carried on, remained yet to be explained. That the great 'caution and fecrecy, with which this money was conftantly re'ceived, gave reason to fufpect, ⚫ that it was not thought a juftifiable perquifite; for Mr. Cardonnel, the duke's fecretary, and auditor of the bread-account, had declared on oath, that he never knew or heard of any fuch perquifite, till the late rumour of Sir Solomon de Medina's evidence before the 'commiffioners. That, by the 'contracts for bread and breadwaggons, the general appeared to be the fole check on the ⚫ contractors; he was to take care that the terms of these ⚫ contracts were duly performed; he was to judge of all deductions to be made from allowC ance to the contractors: and, < whether in fuch circumstance, • he could receive any gratuity or perquifite from the contracwithout a breach of his truft, they did not prefume to ⚫ determine. That the general might with equal reafon claim.

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a perquifite for every other • contractor relating to the army, · as for thofe of the bread and bread-waggons; but his grace being filent as to this, the commiffioners ought to fuppofe he had not received any fuch al'lowance.' As to the deduction of two and a half per cent. from Ee 3

the

1711.

171,1.

might take an impartial examination.' This declaration was entered in the council-books; and the day following

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the foreign troops, the commiffioners obferved : That the warrant for it had been kept dormant for nine years, and ⚫ the deduction concealed fo long • from the knowledge of parliament; for which his grace had not affigned fufficient rea• fons. That the calling it a free gift was inconfiftent with the words of the warrant, which ⚫ exprefs an agreement, and with that part of his grace's letter, 'which took notice, that "he, being ambaffador and general, ftipulated for this very stoppage by the late king's order." That therefore they were of opinion, that a deduction, fo made, was public money, and ought to be accounted for in the fame manner as other public money. That the ten thoufand pounds granted yearly for the contingencies of the army,

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was at first intended by parliament for the fervice of forty ◄ thousand men, without diftinction; and was fo far from having always been thought exempt from account, as the duke had fuggefted, that, in a privy-feal, dated March 5, 1706, there was a claufe to releafe and difcharge the duke of Marlborough from a fum of feven thoufand, four hundred and ninety-nine pounds, nineteen fhillings and ten pence, part of this money; which thewed, he would otherwise have been accountable for it. But that they no where met

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with any mention of this deduction of two and a half per

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cent. and therefore presumed, the reason why it had never been brought to an account, was, what his grace suggested, that he never confidered it as

public money. In the next place, the commiffioners fub⚫mitted it to the house, whether the warrant, produced to juftify this deduction, was legal, and duly counterfigned? or, whether, admitting it to be fo, • either the stoppage, or the pay<ment, had been regularly made?

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That the warrant directed that it fhould be stopped in the ⚫ hands of the paymafter, or his deputy, and iffued thence by the duke's order only. But this method did not appear, by the pay-master's accounts, to have been at all purfued; fo far otherwife, that the payments to the foreign troops were always made complete, and their receipts always taken in full, without any notice of a deduction. That when any part of the ten thousand pounds, contingent money, was drawn out of the paymafter's hands, for any fecret fervice, the gene• ral's warrant, and his fecretary's receipts, were the paymafter's vouchers. But that Mr. Cardonnel, as he declared on oath, never gave any receipt for any part of that two and a half per cent. nor did Mr. Bridges, as he also declared on oath, ever fee any warrant for that purpose, or know any thing, as paymafter general, of this deduction. That if Mr. Sweet, at Amsterdam,

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