THE ANSVVER OF THE Right Honourable THE EARL of DANBY TO A LATE PAMPHLET Entituled An EXAMINATION of the IMPARTIAL STATE of the Case of the Earl of Danby LONDON Printed by E. R. to be sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers Hall 1680. THE Earl of Danby's ANSWER c. I Have lately seen a Pamphlet called An Examination of the Impartial State of the Case of the Earl of Danby and pretended to be an Answer to that State but instead of being so I find it as I believe was the whole intent of the Author to be only a scurrilous Libel against the Earl of Danby every Page of it having something of that Nature in it I cannot learn certainly who is the Author although he says he has been very conversant in my Affairs and pretends to be furnisht with more particular knowledge of them than other Men but I believe that is but a pretence for the more specious wounding of me because it is too Knavish a part for any body who was a Servant or Officer under me to do for his own sake had the subject matter of it been true but I find it to be so generally false that it is impossible for any that related to the Exchequer or Treasury to be so ignorant of the matters of Fact besides to have told so many untruths knowingly and under Colour to do his King and Country service is an Action too black to believe of any Man although I must confess I know not how far such a Man may go as abandons all the Rules of Honour and Generosity in speaking of one under Restraint things that he knows ought not to be said of any Gentleman He is so sensible of this fault himself that he thought it needed an Apology but is able to make no better an one for it than by another untruth which is that he says it is charged upon every body by the Author of the State of my Case that Malice may have too great a share in the Prosecution of me Whereas the Expression in that Book is in the beginning of the Book and speaks only of the Cause which makes some men suspect whether malice may not have too great a share c. So ill has that Reason supported him against the want of Generosity which otherwise he confesses himself he might justly be censured for Though he hath shewed himself a very mean Enemy yet he has been so favourable to me through his whole Book that most of his Reasons and Inferences have been suitable to this beginning and I intend not to trouble my self with repeating or answering them nor with his frequent Contradictions of himself but shall barely inform the truth of those matters of Fact which the Author has falsly related having no design but to Vindicate my self from all Aspersions of having done any thing knowingly to the prejudice either of my King or Country The Examiner has pursued no Method and therefore I must be excused to take the matters of Fact confusedly and to Answer them in the same order as they stand in his Paper In the first place Page the 3 he charges me with having applied two thousand seven hundred seven pounds five shillings and eleven pence to my own use and to have been short so much in my Account of the Navy which is very false for the Money was remaining in my Hands and always owned by me to be so but it is true that his Majesty at my leaving the place of Treasurer of the Navy was pleased to remit me that Sum on the Ballance of my Account and I hope his Majesty is best Judge whether my Service in that Station deserved such a reward The next matter of Fact mentioned as to Money is the 18 Months Tax For I shall take notice of his Suggestions upon that and other things when the Facts are cleared This was payable in six Quarters viz. third of June 73. third of September 73. third of December 73. third of March 73. third of June 74. third of September 74. And I entred to the Treasury the 19th of June 73. so that I received all that came in of that Tax saving what was paid between the 3d and 19th of June 73. Insomuch that the Examiner in that particular is so near speaking true that the whole six Quarters were paid in my time but besides the first three Quarters which the Examiner confesses were Assigned by my Lord Clifford there was also twenty one thousand one hundred sixty three pound six shillings and eight pence charged by his Lordship on the fourth Quarter of that Tax and if the Examiner were as knowing as he pretends to be in the Exchequer he must know that the last three Quarters of that Tax brought clear into the Exchequer only the Sum of five hundred sixty five thousand four hundred ninety eight pounds thirteen shillings and ten pence half penny after all Charges deducted out of which Sum is likewise to be taken the aforesaid Sum of twenty one thousand one hundred sixty three pound six shillings and eight pence When he comes to what the King lost in his Customs by the Corn-Act and the Act for prohibiting French Commodities he answers that by calling them slight particulars although one of them was above sixty thousand pound a year and the other estimated to me by the Commissioners of the Customes at one hundred and fifty thousand pound a year and herein he Arraigns his own skill as much as he undervallues the Kings loss by saying Page the 6th that none can guess what those Acts might lessen from the Customs Whereas the Computations are duly made thereof every year by the Comptroller of the Customs by whose Certificates the Corn Debenters amounted in my time to more than sixty thousand pound a year for the years 76 and 77. and what the loss by the Prohibition hath amounted to could not appear in my time At last he ends that Paragraph with an Argument to confute the Author of my Case by which he has done me much more kindness than that Author did for he says it will appear the Customs never yielded so much as in my days by which he acknowledges a better Management of that Revenue in my time than before and let who the Examiner pleases have the Honour of it since his Majesty has had the Profit His 7th Page is so full of falsehood and ignorance that I know not of which there is most for he charges me with hindring Money from coming in to the Exchequer which was lent on the fifth part of the Excise and diverting it to other uses which is notoriously false and he says Mr. BARTIE or a Private Letter was the Voucher for the Commissioners of Excise placing and having allowed to their Account many Sums of Money which were paid by my Private Direction Which is not only untrue but utterly impossible there being nothing less than a Tallie or Privy-Seal which can be such a Voucher The next Charge
this Examiner endeavours to lay against me is about the Poll Bill and that because some of the East-land Merchants were not paid for some Goods which were contracted for by the Comissioners of the Navy beyond the Sum that Act amounted to It is in this as in most of the Particulars throughout his Book both the Examiners misfortune and mine that he knows so little of the matters he meddles with for if he had known better he would have given both me and himself far less trouble For as an Exchequer man he must have known that the whole Bill brought in but two hundred fifty six thousand two hundred twenty three pound two shillings and four pence to the Kings use of which he Charges me with the receipt but of two hundred fifty two thousand nine hundred pound in my time and it was all Issued according to the Direction of the said Act to the Navy Ordnance and Forces which himself in the last foregoing Page has said could not be otherwise so that he might have answered himself why no care could be taken by me to reserve mony for them out of that Act and before my going out I had procured the Kings Warrant for making them Assignments upon the Revenue for their remaining Debt but was removed before the said Assignment could be perfected and had the Examiner either been privy to the proceedings of the House of Commons or that he would but have perused the Act it self he would have known that the Parliament gave Credit by that Act for three hundred thousand pound in Money and an indefinite Credit for Goods and Stores beyond the said three hundred thousand pound so as had the Act held out but to the Money-Credit given by it the East-land Merchants had been long since paid the greatest part of their Debt and therefore the Reader will see how unjustly I deserve the Reflection made upon me in that particular In the same Page he does against his will acknowledge the Improvements of the Kings Revenues in my time only he has no mind to admit me any share in the doing it which as I have said before I am contented with the Kings Service having been performed and For the Case of Mr. Bret c. it has been so lately Re-examined that it has sufficiently justified it self and I do further aver that his Majesty did by that Contract with Mr. Dashwood and Partners get neer fifty thousand pound a year increase to his Revenue of Excise more than ever any did offer by a certain Farm or than ever was made before of that Branch of the Revenue For the Improvements in Ireland he pretends to know little of them because he fears it might be to my advantage for otherwise he seems through his whole Book to pretend to such a general knowledge as could be ignorant of nothing in this World In the 9th Page he tells you most truly that you are not always to appeal to the Weekly Certificates for proofs In which I agree with him for I have had out of the Exchequer some of those Certificates which have not been true and that to the mistake of ten or twelve thousand pound in one Week but in the same Page he takes great pains to shew that I could not know what interest I paid though I might know what I agreed for which is very ridiculous for there was no allowance made for interest of Mony but upon an account of the particular sums lent the times of lending and days of Repayment stated and adjusted by one of the Kings Auditors upon Oath examined by the Chancellour of the Exchequer allowed and sign'd by the Lord Treasurer and Chancellour of the Exchequer and consequently what Interest was paid must needs be known both to my self the Chancellour of the Exchequer and the Auditor before whom the said Account is stated and whereas the Examiner asserts that nothing will be found in the Weekly Certificates of the payment of any such Interest at all it is so much the contrary that in many of the Weekly Certificates it will appear that such Interest is therein accounted and I dare be confident there will not appear above eight per Cent. unless it be for some inconsiderable Sum or Time In the next Paragraph Pages 9 and 10 he comes to what he calls the Foundation of all his Work and says he will furnish the Author of my Case with a Computation more particular than perhaps he desires and will pull off the Vail which if he had done he would have Corrected the Author of that Case by setting down a true Computation as I would have done myself if the said Author had consulted me before his Book had been Printed But there are divers things I would have altered in that Book had I been the Author of it although I know not one matter of Fact that is untrue in the whole Book except the said Computation which was to my disadvantage nor has this Examiner made appear that there is and if I had been so friendless as he supposes me that no body would have writ that Book for me I would at least have been my own Friend so much as to have set down the Sums in it to my own advantage where they had been true and so ought this Examiner to have done if he had been honest He laies hold of a mistake of the Author of that State for I cannot call it an untruth because it is a Sum less than the true one and to the prejudice of him whose Case he Designs truly to represent It is a Computation the Author of the State makes by a Certificate of the Pells from Easter 73 to March 79 amounting to eight Millions two hundred seventy six thousand seven hundred sixty seven pounds besides Interest to the Goldsmiths and other particulars which makes it very uncertain and besides that it commences from a time three Months before my entrance to the Treasury and is liable to the Examiner's Cavil unless by his knowledge he would either have rectified it or his Printer's mistake who I rather believe has told the untruth on my side for he has made it Eight millions sixty two hundred seventy six thousand seven hundred sixty seven pounds which makes fourteen Millions two hundred seventy six thousand seven hundred sixty seven pounds But I suppose he means the first Sum of eight Millions c. That he may the better disguise what he there indeavours to have believed which is that the Revenue in five years and three quarters viz. From Midsommer 73 to Lady-Day 79 amounted to the above Sum of eight Millions two hundred seventy six thousand seven hundred sixty seven pound whereas he cannot possibly be so ignorant as not to know that what has arisen from the Revenue alone in that time has not been near that Sum and by Sir Robert Howard's State thereof for the year 75 which is hereunto annexed he tells you it amounted that year but to six hundred
done to that in pag. 6. wherein he says That the Rebellion in Virginia ceased quickly and while both that Rebellion and the War with Algiers hapned if there had been a considerable Fleet for Summer and Winter Guards kept out besides it had been a matter of some consideration So that where he cannot possibly deny the Facts he endeavours to blemish them by something else But in this instance that will not serve his turn the Summer and Winter Guards having been as great as the need was then for them and the Merchants will be the best Judges how their Trade was then secured as well as how that War was supported against the Algerines With this state of the Revenue at Lady-day 79. viz. that the Debt then upon it amounted to one million four hundred eighty five thousand five hundred seventy pound sixteen shillings and four pence the Examiner ends his Computations concerning the Treasury the truth of which will be best decided by the Records themselves But before he closes that part of his Book he thinks fit to leave his Civil Remarks to the Reader about me and threatens me with Ballads which by his stile it looks as if he could perform much better than matters of Account Having gone through the matters of Fact mentioned in this first part of the Examiners Paper I should take notice of some of his suggestions before I proceed to the other part of it but those being only Observations of his own who has dealt so unfaithfully in things which are visible upon Record I think it will not be necessary to say any thing to them only I will inform the Reader that whereas this Examiner says that the Office of Treasurer of the Navy depends upon the Lord Treasurer or Commissioners of the Treasury for money to pay yet those Supplies I received whilst I was Treasurer of the Navy were two parts of three in Orders and Assignments and left upon me to borrow Money as I could upon them insomuch that most of my time and care was then employed in that work although I made it far more easie afterwards to the present Treasurer of the Navy while I remained Lord Treasurer I must likewise desire the Reader to observe that although this Examiner insinuates pag. 3. that it would puzzle the Author of the State to name any persons who were of opinion that the Kings condition was in great straits for money in the first six Months after my being Treasurer yet that is not only true but is testified to be so by that state of the Revenue drawn up by Sir Robert Howard the 21st of June 73 which is mentioned in Sir Philip Floyd's Letter for he thereby makes appear as hath been said already that the Expence of that year which in the Establishments is always accounted to commence in January does exceed the Income of the said year by the sum of one million one hundred sixty three thousand four hundred pounds Now besides that State of Sir Robert Howard's my then Secretary I am confident the King and his Royal Highness will both remember the straits of the Treasury to be then such and the difficulty so great to get money for paying off the Fleet at the end of the War that it was doubted whether some Ships must not have been sent out of the River to Sea again only for want of Money to pay them and although means was used to discharge the Seamen of that Fleet without Tickets yet most of the Money was borrowed which was raised for that purpose and not without great hardship as the credit of the Exchequer stood at that time I know his Majesty will also remember that in March 1675 a state of his Revenue was delivered to himself from Sir Robert Howard which state is remaining in my custody a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed wherein Sir Robert sets forth to his Majesty that his Revenue was then in so ill a condition that it could afford him clear but six hundred fifty six thousand one hundred seventy two pound that year insomuch that it was thereupon proposed by him to help his Majesty to eight thousand pound a Week in aid of his Revenue for his subsistance and upon a condition to have all the three great Branches put into the hands of such Undertakers as should be named to his Majesty In so strait a condition was the Exchequer understood to be so many years ago by those who certainly ought to know the Condition of it much better than the Examiner and therefore it puzzles no body but himself to name persons who were of that opinion A Copy of the Paper delivered to his Majesty from Sir Robert Howard the 5th of March 1675.  li. s. d. ob The Sum that seems the foundation and measure from whence the Suspentions are made is 1351968 00 00  The Sum remaining after the Suspention made is 1175315 00 06  The Sum suspended is 0176653 00 06  The last years expences amounted to 1841931 18 02  Out of which the Navy had 0599320 04 11 ½ Spent the last year besides what the Navy had 1242611 13 02 ½ The Sum of Expence after the Suspentions made for a following year is 1175315 01 06  The Income for the following Year to discharge the Expence of 1175315 l. 1 s. 6 d. may arise from these Branches  li. Charge li. Customs 600000  100000 †The rest of the Excise is charged Excise by the moity of Pentions 050000   First Fruits 10ths 016000   Law-Duty 015000   Small Branches 020000  010000 Hearth-Duty 150000  082828 Toto 851000 Toto 194828 The clear Income remaining is 0656172 00 00 The Income short of the proportioned Expence by 0519143 01 06 He proceeds page 16 to Affairs of State in answer to which I shall trouble my self no farther than to shew his false Quotations of my Letter of the 25th of March 1678. and of the Book called The State of my Case as to so much therein as concerns that Letter leaving the malicious Inferences and Observations through this Part as well as the rest of his Pamphlet to such as are more ingenuous and more knowing in Foreign Business than I perceive the Examiner is of which this one Instance may suffice Of his Belief that the French Interest was promoted by the Marriage of the Lady Mary to the Prince of Orange Besides his frequent applying of things to me which are not only untrue but not so applyed by the Author of that State he takes the liberty to affirm that some things are in my Letter of the 25th of March which are not in it and that they are said to be so by the said Author of the State although there be not such a word in his Book and he makes one of the said false assertions a principal foundation not only of accusing me but of aspersing the King to the greatest degree imaginable whilst he would