+Source.+--_The Case of his Grace the D---- of M., to be Represented by
him to the Honourable House of Commons, in Vindication of Himself from
the Charge of the Commissioners of Accounts in Relation to the Two and
Half per Cent. Bread and Bread Waggons_ (published 1712). Acton Library
Pamphlets, No. d. 25, 1001^12.
[The following extract deals with Marlborough's "commissions" on the
bread supplied to the Army on the Continent. The Tories alleged that he
had defrauded the Exchequer by taking his 2-1/2 per cent. commission.]
The first Article, in the Report, is founded on the Deposition of Sir
_Solomon Medina_, by which you are Informed of a yearly Sum paid by him
and his Predecessor, Contractors for Bread and Bread-Waggons, to myself.
This Payment, ... I have called a Perquisite of the General or Commander
in Chief in the _Low-Countries_; and it has been constantly apply'd to
one of the most Important Parts of the Service there, I mean the
procuring Intelligence, and other Secret Service.
The Commissioners are pleased to observe, That these Sums cannot be
esteemed legal Perquisites, because they don't find 'em Claim'd or
Receiv'd by any other _English_ General in the _Low-Countries_. But I
must take leave to affirm to this House, That this Perquisite or
Payment, has been allowed to that General or Commander in Chief, in the
_Low-Countries_, both before and ever since the Revolution, to enable
him to carry on such Secret Service. The like Allowance was made to
Prince _Waldeck_, whilst he was General of the Dutch Army in _Flanders_;
it was made during the last War as well as this; and for your further
Satisfaction in this matter, I am content to refer my self to Sir
_Solomon Medina_, who cannot but own, that when he made this Allowance,
he knew it to be the constant Practice during the former Wars in the
_Low-Countries_, and particularly when Prince _Waldeck_ commanded there.
And if it be a Circumstance worth your notice, he must Inform you also,
That the Allowance of Waggons, which the Report takes Notice of, is
usual likewise; that he has allowed the like, or near the like Number to
Count _Tilly_, though he was not Velt-Marshal, and that there is a
proportionate Allowance of the same kind to other Officers. The Report
may have observed very rightly, that the strictest Enquiry the
Commissioners could make, they cannot find that any English General ever
receiv'd this Perquisite. But I presume to say, the Reason is, that
there never was any other English General besides my self, who was
Commander in Chief in the _Low-Countries_. I crave leave then to say,
That this Observation in the Report was Occasion'd through the want of
due Information in the Usage of the Army. In receiving this as an
established and known Perquisite, I have follow'd and kept up that Usage
which I found in the Army when I first enter'd upon that Service; And
upon this Ground alone, I hope that this House will not think I was
Unwarranted in taking it.
But that no doubt may remain with you, I will State, as well as I can,
what I have learnt, and during that time I have been in the Service,
have been always understood to be the Ground, as well as the Design of
this Allowance. The Contracts of Bread being of necessity at the same
Rates for the whole Army, and it being for the Security of the Service
that those Contracts should be in the fewest Hands; the certain Gain
upon so large a sum as a Contract for the whole, or even part of the
Army, even at the lowest Prices, makes this yearly allowance to have
been thought not Unreasonable from the Contractor. This being an
Allowance generally arising from Contracts that concern a variety of
Troops, all under the same General, must naturally fall under the
Direction, and come into the Hands of the Commander in Chief, as an
Allowance to enable him to carry on such Designs which could not be
foreseen, but yet necessary to be put in execution, and which chiefly
depend upon Intelligence.
I thought it more needful to give you this Account of the Nature and
Design of this Allowance, because I observe from the Report, that the
Objection is to the Justice and Reasonableness of the Perquisite it
self, without having regard to the Application or Use for which it is
intended.
But the Commissioners apprehend this not to be a Justifiable Perquisite,
because they say, the Publick or the Troops, necessarily suffer in
proportion to every such Perquisite.
If these Observations were well grounded, I should think them good
Reasons to put an end to the Allowance, and at the same time to blame
those who first introduced it: But I take upon me to affirm, that this
neither is nor can be the Cause. I have never heard a Complaint either
of publick or particular Injury from this Allowance; nor does the Report
assign any particular wherein it may be judged to be so.
This Allowance to the General can have no Influence upon the Contract it
self, which is annually made and signed at the _Treasury_, and the Price
regulated by what the States have agreed to pay for the Bread for their
Forces. I appeal to all the Officers who have served with me in
_Flanders_, whether the Forces in Her Majesty's Pay have not all along
had as much, and as good Bread, as those of the _States_, and at the
same Prices; which every Body will believe to be the Lowest, that
consider the Frugal Economy of the _States_, and the small Pay of their
Troops. And therefore I may safely conclude, that if the _English_ have
had their Bread as Cheap as the _Dutch_, they have had it as Cheap as
was possible. Nor indeed can it be imagined to be otherwise; for the
very supposition of two different Prices paid by different Troops in the
same Army, for the same Quantity of Bread, would occasion a Mutiny.
* * * * *
'Twill be necessary that I trouble the House with an account of the Time
and Occasion whence this Payment of Two and Half _per Cent._ by the
Foreign Troops commenced.
During the last War, the Allowance by Parliament for the Contingencies
of the Army, of which that of Secret Service is the principal, was Fifty
Thousand Pounds _per Annum_; but this Allowance fell so far short of the
Expense on that Head, that upon the Prospect of this War's breaking out,
the Late King assured me, That this part of the Service never cost him
less than Seventy Thousand Pounds a year; However the Allowance of
Parliament for the whole Contingent Service during this War, has been
but Ten Thousand Pounds _per annum_; Three Thousand Pounds of which, or
thereabouts, has generally gone for other Contingencies, than that of
Intelligence. The Late King being unwilling to come to Parliament for
more Money on that Head of the Service, proposed this Allowance from the
Foreign Troops, as an Expedient to assist that part of the Service, and
Commanded me to make the Proposition to them; which I did accordingly,
and it was readily Consented to. By this Means a New Fund of about
Fifteen Thousand Pounds _per annum_, was provided for carrying on the
Secret Service, without any Expense to the Publick, or grievance to the
Troops from whom the Allowance was made: For when the Publick pays,
those Troops are not at all affected, or one Farthing increased in
Consideration of this Deduction; nor is there in any Conventions for
them any weight laid upon it, the Hire of Foreign Troops being governed
by settled Rules and Treaties, and the Convention of the _States_ for
them, being in the same Terms.
* * * * *
The true design of this Deduction being to supply the Secret Service,
Gentlemen, I hope, you will observe that this, together with the
_Article_ of the _Allowance_ by Parliament, when put together, doth fall
short of the _Allowance_ given by Parliament, in the last War, upon this
Head.