Henry Cort

		Henry Cort Inventor - Creator of puddled iron - Father of iron trade
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Dundas, Trotter and impeachment

Henry Dundas is a key figure in the government of the country between 1784 and 1805. He comes from a notable Scottish family, and develops a notable legal practice in Scotland before being elected for Midlothian in 1774.

For most of the American War he is one of the most consistent apologists for Government policy, while back in Scotland he builds up a network of support and patronage.

Changes after the Yorktown defeat bring him into the Government in July 1782, as Treasurer to the Navy under the Earl of Shelburne. He now establishes a close link with the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Pitt.

Dundas's attention is quickly drawn to subordinate Alexander Trotter.

My Lord - Understanding by Mr Douglas your intention with regard to improving Establishment of the Pay Office and your wishes to obtain every information relative to it and which he seems anxious you should through every possible channel, I have taken the Liberty to enclose to your Lordship a full account of the present situation together with the grounds of a plan of reform which will do me infinite honor if it meets with any share of your approbation.

From letter from Alexander Trotter to Henry Dundas, 5 August 1782.

One hesitates to describe Trotter as a mere clerk, although his salary at the time is only £50 per annum. Like Dundas, he has a notable Scottish pedigree. Family archives in Edinburgh reveal how in 1770, at the age of fifteen, he sails to Virginia, where he spends nearly six years; and how, on his return, he is offered a job at the Navy Office by the then Treasurer, Sir Gilbert Elliot, who happens to be related. Another relation is banker Thomas Coutts: his father and Alexander's were once partners in an Edinburgh bank.

Dundas leaves office when Shelburne's administration falls, but soon afterwards Pitt is summoned to form a new Government. Dundas is recalled as Navy Treasurer: a post he retains for sixteen years, though he also takes on other responsibilities, notably in regulating the East India Company. But it is the naval role that brings him into contact with Henry Cort.

At the end of 1785 the post of Navy Paymaster becomes vacant. Dundas appoints Alexander Trotter, who serves under him through the rest of his term. Trotter also takes on the role of his agent for some personal transactions. Their close relationship shows many years later when one of Trotter's sons is christened Henry Dundas Trotter.

Trotter soon gets a chance to put his ideas on "improving Establishment at the Pay Office" into practice. Parliament demands changes following revelations about scandalous behaviour that may partly account for the Navy's disappointing performance in the war, and some practices are proscribed.

One change that may or may not be Trotter's initiative is a move of the Navy Office from Crutched Friars to Somerset Place, bringing it close to Coutts' bank in The Strand.

We finished business at the Navy Office in Crutched Fryers and removed all the books and papers to that at Somerset place in the Strand, and took possession thereof this day.

From George Marsh's diary, 29 August 1786.

Trotter obtains permission to use the bank to handle Navy funds, and sets up several accounts there. He uses the sums set aside for naval expenditure to make transactions for his own benefit: not an unusual practice at the time, but arguably outside the limits Parliament has set.

In July 1788 Dundas and Trotter discover how Deputy Paymaster Adam Jellicoe has been misusing navy funds. A year later they take action to recover them, with traumatic consequences for Henry Cort.

Dundas retires from the Navy Treasurer's post on 1st June 1800. He wishes to square off his balance before he leaves, previous Navy Treasurers having been strongly criticised for leaving with a balance in the red.

His Majesty's Warrant to the Commissioners of the Treasury, Chamberlain, and Under Secretary Chamberlain, and other Offices and Ministries of the Exchequer, now and for the time being, directing and commanding that the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, Treasurer of the Navy, his Executor, Administrators and Assigns be exonerated and discharged from accounting fo the sum of £24,846. 6s. 6d¼ due for the late Adam Jellicoe to the Public.

Writ of Privy Seal quoted in an Appendix to report of a Select Committee, May 1805.

This write-off is signed by Treasury Secretary George Rose. The date quoted on the document appears to be 21st May 1800, but elsewhere in the reports of both the Select Committee and the earlier Commission of Naval Enquiry it is usually said to be 29th May: there is even one citation of 31st May. Possibly there is more than one version of the same document.

The exact date may be significant, because Henry Cort dies on 23rd May. One can conceive that Dundas has been delaying his retirement while there is still a chance that Cort will be able to redeem some of the outstanding debt. Once this prospect disappears, there is no alternative but to seek a write-off. According to Matheson's biography of Dundas, the reason for his retirement has nothing to do with Cort or Jellicoe's death: rather the opportunity to take up a long-coveted post in Scotland.

But a more sinister possibility has been suggested. Some people in the Government have something to hide. And here is their opportunity, now that Cort is out of the way. And later they destroy the evidence!

It appears that the Treasurer and his confidential deputy a few weeks before the sitting of the commission indemnified each other by a joint release, and agreed to burn their accounts for something approaching to a million and a half of the public money which had passed through their hands. In this general conflagration all the evidence by which Henry Cort's case could have been established perished, and the culprits refused to answer any questions which would have criminated themselves.

From Times accolade of 1856.

Plausible, but mistaken.

The above extract cites a Commission of Naval Enquiry set up by a new administration during a period when Pitt is out of office (1801-4) to investigate supposed malpractices in the Navy department. Trotter is one of those giving evidence to the Commission.

Their conclusions concerning Henry Dundas's term as Treasurer of the Navy appear in the Tenth Report, published early in 1805. By this time, Pitt is back in office, with Dundas (now ennobled as Viscount Melville) as First Lord of the Admiralty.

The report contains much useful information about Adam Jellicoe. More politically significant, it exposes Trotter's supposed misdemeanours.

He admitted that he had made the bulk of his fortune by transferring public money from the Bank of England to his own credit at Coutts', making such payments to annuitants and others as became due, and investing the unclaimed balances into the Exchequer and Navy Bills and other Government Securities, and, generally, by lending it at interest.

From E.H. Coleridge, The Life of Thomas Coutts, Banker.

How far is his boss Melville implicated?

A motion of censure is moved by Samuel Whitbread in the Commons on Tuesday, 9th April 1805, with strong support from Charles James Fox.

What greater aggravation of his delinquency in tolerating the breach of his own act of parliament can be imagined than allowing his agent to misapply the public money, for the safe custody of which that act was intended?

From speech of Charles James Fox in House of Commons, 9th April 1805.

Melville is absent, since his place is in the Lords: but one of his sons is an MP. The debate produces one of the most dramatic scenes ever witnessed in the House, with implications for the Government because of the close relationship between Melville and Pitt.

William Wilberforce is reckoned to be a close supporter of Pitt. But on this occasion he demurs, endangering the Government's majority.

This house is now appealed to as the constitutional guardian of the rights of the people, and I should ill discharge my duty to the public, if I did not give my most cordial and sincere support to the present motion.

From speech of William Wilberforce in House of Commons, 9th April 1805.

The debate continues into the early hours. At five thirty, Wednesday morning, Speaker Abbot announces an adjournment before taking the vote.

Time for sleep. Time for reflection. Time for persuasion. Time for worry.

Later the same day, 10th April, the House reassembles. The vote is taken. The result is announced.

For the motion, 216; against, 216. The Speaker must give a casting vote.

According to eye-witnesses he sat in his chair for ten minutes, staring straight ahead as the blood drained from his face. The House remained silent in anticipation. Then he roused himself and cast his vote.

From account of Speaker Abbot's dilemma in Amanda Foreman, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire.

He supports the motion.

As soon as news of the result reaches the Lords, Melville resigns.

His replacement as First Lord of the Admiralty is Sir Charles Middleton.

Whitbread, however, is not letting up. He moves that "instructions be given to the attorney-general to proceed legally against Lord Melville and Mr. Trotter"; and that an inquiry should begin into those parts of the Tenth Report not yet considered by the House. He is backed by petitions from many parts of the country.

A Select Committee is set up to look further into the matter. It examines Trotter, William Pitt and others. The Lords refuse a request from Melville to let him testify. The Committee reports back to the Commons on 27 May, handing enough ammunition to Whitbread for him to move Melville's impeachment on 13 June.

This time Melville obtains permission to present his version of events to the Commons. After a fierce debate, the motion is amended: members vote for him to face a criminal prosecution, rather than impeachment. But he is allowed to choose between the two procedures. He chooses impeachment before his peers, the House of Lords.

The pace slows as matters become more technical. A further committee sits, to draw up articles of impeachment. They come up with eight (4th July). The Commons are not satisfied: by the time the trial begins, the number has risen to ten. But that is nearly ten months later.

Why so long? Whitbread is preparing his case. His most valuable witness is Alexander Trotter, who has been pleading self-incrimination as grounds for not answering questions. Well then, give him indemnity. A bill laid before Parliament for this purpose attracts condemnation from the Lord Chancellor.

Between August and November, Parliament is in recess. During this period comes news of a stupendous victory over the French at Trafalgar. Clearly sixteen years of supposed malpractice under Melville have not sapped the Navy's fighting capacity.

In January the whole political scene is thrown into turmoil by the death of Pitt. The Government which takes office is a ministry "of all the talents", with relics of Pitt's administration teamed up with stars of the former opposition such as Fox. The case against Melville, pursued to harass Pitt and his ministers, has lost its sting.

Westminster Hall is the scene where Lord Melville's trial opens on 29 April 1806. Whitbread heads the prosecution, ostensibly on behalf of the Commons. Melville has a powerful defence team, headed by Thomas Plumer. The House of Lords, some 135 strong, is the jury.

The Prosecution's case takes ten days to present. The witnesses they call include clerks at the Navy Office, past Navy Treasurers or their representatives, and directors of Coutts Bank (including Alexander Trotter's brother, unimaginatively called Coutts Trotter).

By contrast, the Defence calls only three witnesses. The main thrust of their evidence is that Melville has never gained anything improper from his subordinate's transactions, indeed has waived much of his ministerial salary.

The Lords (have all of them been present for the full twelve days of the hearing?) hold a separate vote for each article. Melville is acquitted on all ten. He has not given evidence: the only clue the record gives of his presence is mention of a small bow given in acknowledgment of the verdict.

But his public life is over. He retires to his Scottish estates. Not the only one to do so.

In April 1805 he quitted the Navy Pay Office for good and all. During the remainder of his life, except for the years when he was at Florence studying architecture, he lived on his estate at Dreghorn. He was a prominent member of the House of Agriculture and published a valuable work on farm book-keeping. Among other pursuits and projects of his later years was a scheme for connecting the old and new towns of Edinburgh. He had been appointed Deputy-Lieutenant of Midlothian by Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, in 1803, and again in 1839 by his successor, Francis, the fifth Duke.

Account of Alexander Trotter's later career in E.H. Coleridge, The Life of Thomas Coutts, Banker.

I made no secret of my financial transactions, which were known to ministers of state, and everybody whom it might concern, and when I was assailed in the press and denounced by the Managers of the Impeachment I received from such men as Sir George Rose, Sir Samuel Shepherd, and last but not least my relative, Thomas Coutts, the assurance of their unabated confidence and esteem.

From Alexander Trotter's defence of his actions at the Navy Office, quoted in E.H. Coleridge, The Life of Thomas Coutts, Banker.

Meanwhile the proceedings against Melville have an impact on the Henry Cort story. Despite his acquittal, the aura of sleaze lingers. Fifty years later, Cort's sympathisers can point to Melville's supposed guilt, and accuse him and Trotter of maliciously ruining Cort.

Reliable evidence suggests otherwise.

Eighteenth-century politics

Death of Adam Jellicoe

Life of Henry Cort

The pages on this site are copied from the original site of Eric Alexander (henrycort.net) with his allowance.
Eric passed away abt 2012
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