< A; ) 21 - 1 dommiffloncrs on F E E S, G R ATU IT IES, & c. cxxi authenticate the fame by affixing his Signature thereto, which, under the circumftances in which I at prefent ftand with relpeCt to the Poft Office adminiftration, appears to ine to be ellential. 11 It is not Lord O'Neill's intention or mine, if it can be avoided, to render the fads upon which this Minute is founded, or confequently the Minute itfelf, public; it is our wiffi that it mould be refervcd for the future infpe& ion alone of the Poftmafters General, and their Secretary for the time " being, communicating its contents firft, however, to the parties implicated, and to none other; and alio fuch parts thereof to the Accountant General, as may enable him to carry into effe6t the enquiry he is therein dire6ted to make. If, however, the parties fhall decline or omit to comply with the directions therein con- tained, the publication of the tranfaction will become inevitable, and in that event there can be no ground on which my Lord O'Neill or I fhould defire the knowledge of this Minute to be kept back, as it is folely from confideration for the perlons implicated, and on no perl'onal ground referable to ourfelves, that we are defirous of referve in this matter. I have the honour herewith to return you all the papers with which the Poftmafters Gene- ral have been furnifhed connected with this fubject. In the event of the resignation or difmiflal of the two Gentlemen to whom the latter part of the Minute immedimelv points, there will remain vacancies to be filled up in the North and Munster Roads. The former fituation will of courfe be filled up by the next Officer in fucceffion ; to the latter it will be for my Lord O'Neill to make the appointment, which I have no doubt he will caft upon the perfon whom he lhall deem the moft deferving of reward on account of paft fervices. As I am in hourly expectation of being permitted to retire into private life, it would be highly improper in me at all to interfere with any fpecies of patronage, more efpecially with • one of this magnitude, and of the difpofal of which the future good government of the Poft Office fo much depends. I have the honour to remain, Sir, Your very obedient, ( Signed) CLANCARTY. ( A.) No. 2i. MINUTE of the Poftmafters General, on their Secretary's Report, dated 5th October 1809, THE Postmasters General having felt the dcepeft regret in forming their opinion upon the Report of their Secretary of the 5th inftant, and on the feveral papers connected therewith, it is with the greatest pain that they feel theinfelves called upon by their public duty to act with harshness towards some of their oldeft Officers, whofe characters their Lordships had always considered not less impeachable than they had hitherto been uniin- peached. Much as they sincerely lament that perfons so long in the public fervice, and who were in the enjoyment of most lucrative situations, ( the reward allowed by the liberality of Govern- ment for long and meritorious conduit) should have permitted themfelves fo far to forget what was due both to themfelves and their duty, as to be guilty of the faCts charged againft them in the Secretary's Report, their Lordships derive fome fatisfaCtion from the confider- ation, that thefe also have not arisen from any laxity of difcipline in their adminiftration of the Poft Office concerns of this country. The Postmasters General having very eagerly perufed the feveral anfwers of Meffis. Maturin and Twigg, in the anxious expectation that thefe Gentlemen wouid have been able to have alledged somewhat in justification of themfelves, and thereby have relieved their Lordffiips from the painful necessity of leaning with a heavy hand upon thofe for whom, tiil their confideration of this subject, their Lordships had entertained the higheft refpeCt. They have unhappily been disappointed in this expectation. The anfwer of Mr. Maturin acknowledges the whole of the charge ; while that of Mr. Twigg equally in fubftar. ee admits the faCts, but urges his own opinion of the fairness and equity of producing a falfe compu- tation of his profits, in order to justify a false demand for compenfation upon the liberality of the Public. From the Representatives of the late Clerk of the Connaught Road, the Poftmafters General have waited in vain for an anfwer to the charges produced by the Secretary's Report ao- ainft the late Clerk of that Road. Certain, however, that the fame fyftem has been adopted, the fame pruftices made ufe of in this Road, on which to found an illegitimate demand tor an unjultifiable compenfation from the public purfe. On the Leinster Road mal- practices of a fimilar nature have been purfued, but the Poft- masters General are happy to find that the a& ual Clerk of that Road, although doubtlels responsible to the Public for every shilling oflofs which the Revenue has sustained from the jmifcondud of the perfon employed by him, is altogether free from any participation or even