hundred and eighty-five. The auditors were
paid by fees on the accounts they examined.
The fees were at established rates, but were
sometimes increased by the lord high treasurer
on a memorial from the auditors that
the accounts were more voluminous than they
had formerly been, or by a voluntary grant
from the lord high treasurer for the pains
which the auditors had been at in making up
particular accounts. The accounts of the
treasurer of the navy appear to have occasioned
the first memorial from the auditors
for an increased allowance. This was upwards
of two hundred years ago.

The two auditors of the imprests, as
originally appointed, had no power to call
upon parties to render account, but were
dependent on the treasury for getting them.
This state of dependence on the treasury
continued (during the struggle with Charles the
First; but, in the year sixteen hundred and
forty-nine the auditors were empowered by
the committee of public revenue, sitting at
Westminster, to call before them all such
persons as had received any moneys upon
imprests or otherwise, to pass their accounts
according to the usual course of the exchequer.
Fees were abolished by the same committee,
and the two auditors were allowed a fixed
salary of five hundred a-year each for
themselves, as it was stated; and their clerks,
including all charges for house-rent, pens, ink,
paper, and parchment, and all other incidental
expenses.

With the restoration of Charles the
Second, the two auditors returned to the
former system of payment by fees, and
dependence on the treasury—a practice which
remained in force until the abolition of their
duties sixty years since. The accounts had by
that time increased so much, however, both
in number and bulk, that each of the auditors
was receiving not less, but even more than
sixteen thousand a-year, and retired when the
office was abolished upon an annuity of more
than half that sum. Each auditor had his
deputy and staff of six or seven clerks; and, as
an example of the scale of remuneration to
the auditors of the imprests, the account of
the chief cashier of the Bank of England may
be quoted; for the audit of which there was
allowed a hundred pounds for every million
of capital stock managed by that company.
The fees paid for auditing the bank account
for the year seventeen hundred and
eighty-four exceeded twenty thousand pounds.

The first attempt by the House of Commons
to establish a control over the grants of
parliament, and to check the appropriation of
supplies was made in sixteen hundred and
sixty-seven; when it was determined by the
house, that the money voted for the Dutch
war should be applied only to the purposes of
the war. Commissioners for this purpose
were appointed by an act for taking the
accompts; and, by these commissioners the
strictest scrutiny was made, as is observed by
Pepys, who was minutely examined before
them on the expenditure of the navy. "That
supplies granted by parliament are only to be
expended for particular objects specified by
itself, became," says Mr. Hallam, "from
this time an undisputed principle recognised
by frequent and, at length, constant
practice." This may be considered the first
establishment of a parliamentary audit; or,
in other words, of an audit to a certain extent
independent of the government. The
commissioners specially appointed in subsequent
reigns under various acts, to take and state
the public accounts of the kingdom, were
independent of the treasury, and generally
consisted of persons who were not members
of parliament. The functions of these
commissioners interfered in no way with the
duties of the auditors of the imprests.

As yet, except by these temporary commissions,
there was no general scheme of control
or superintendence over the whole of the
public accounts; and the system of allowing
the office which regulated and controlled the
issue of public money the power of separately
auditing the expenditure, remained in force.
Money was issued by the treasury, without
account, apart from the control of parliament.
By degrees, however, fresh attempts
were made to obtain comprehensive audit
of all public accounts. With this object
the office of the commissioners for auditing
the public accounts was created at the
suggestion of Pitt after the American war, on
the abolition of the two auditors of the imprests,
sixty years ago. The board consisted
then of five commissioners (two of them being
comptrollers of army accounts,) paid at fixed
salaries; fees for auditing accounts having
been abolished by the same act which
appointed them.

But even by these improvements no uniform
plan of audit was obtained; for there
still existed other offices independent of one
another, and responsible to the treasury.
They were the following:—auditor of the
exchequer; auditor of the land revenue;
auditor of excise; comptrollers of army
accounts, and commissioners for the accounts
of Ireland. Other offices subsequently arose
out of the exigencies of war and other
circumstances; namely, those of the
commissioners for West India accounts, in eighteen
hundred and six; and of the commissioners
for colonial accounts, eight years later. The
accounts of the subordinate officers of the
army, navy, and ordnance were examined by
the respective departments, to whom alone
those officers were responsible, but no general
account was made up for audit until twenty- two
years ago in the case of the navy, and nine
years ago in the case of the army and ordnance.
Since that time an audited account of the
appropriation of the votes of parliament for
each service, and also for the commissariat
service, has been laid before the House of
Commons by the commissioners of audit,