At The End Of The Examination It Appears That Mr. Cummings Still
Held In His Hand A Slight Balance Of 28,000l., Of Which He Had
Forgotten To Make Mention In The Body Of His Own Evidence.
"This
item seems to have been overlooked by him in his testimony," says
the report.
And when the report was made, nothing had yet been
learned of the destiny of this small balance.
Then the report gives a list of the army supplies miscellaneously
purchased by Mr. Cummings: 280 dozen pints of ale at 9s. 6d. a
dozen; a lot of codfish and herrings; 200 boxes of cheeses and a
large assortment of butter; some tongues; straw hats and linen
"pants;" 23 barrels of pickles; 25 casks of Scotch ale, price not
stated; a lot of London porter, price not stated; and some Hall
carbines of which I must say a word more further on. It should be
remembered that no requisition had come from the army for any of the
articles named; that the purchase of herrings and straw hats was
dictated solely by the discretion of Cummings and his man Humphreys,
or, as is more probable, by the fact that some other person had such
articles by him for sale; and that the government had its own
established officers for the supply of things properly ordered by
military requisition. These very same articles also were apparently
procured, in the first place, as a private speculation, and were
made over to the government on the failure of that speculation.
"Some of the above articles," says the report, "were shipped by the
Catiline, which was probably loaded on private account, and, not
being able to obtain a clearance, was, in some way, through Mr.
Cummings, transferred over to the government - SCOTCH ALE, LONDON
PORTER, SELECTED HERRINGS, and all." The italics, as well as the
words, are taken from the report.
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