Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/165

Rh treasurer of the navy Mr Dundas' services were in tlie highest degree beneficial His arrangements for the disbursement of the money appropriated to this branch of the public service, substituted order and economy in the place of perplexity and profusion. He, at the same time, provided for greater promptitude in the. payment of the seamen's wages; and, in order to render the service still more attractive, he introduced and carried through parliament, various measures calculated to improve the condition and increase the comforts of the seamen in the royal navy. In particular, he got an act passed for preventing the passing of forged instruments. By this act, the wills and powers of attorney, executed by seamen, were required to be counter-signed by the officers of the port at which they were dated, and thus a check was given to numerous frauds against the families of sailors who were either absent or who had fallen in the service of their country. He also introduced a bill which was afterwards passed, empowering seamen, to make over half their pay to their wives and families. By these and other reforms which he effected in the naval department, Mr Dundas, while he greatly increased the efficacy of the navy, showed a humane consideration for those engaged in the service, which is at this day gratefully remembered by many members of that profession, who can speak from their own experience of their obligations to one who was most justly called "the sailor's friend." Among the measures introduced by Mr Dundas while he held the treasurership of the navy, was the act for the regulation of the money destined for the service of the navy. Previously the salary of the treasurer of the navy was £2000 per annum; but the perquisites attached to the office, and particularly the command of the public money, added greatly to the emoluments. In order to prevent the risk, profusion, and irregularity inseparable from such a system, Mr Dundas' bill fixed the salary at £4000, and prohibited the treasurer from making any private or individual use of the public money. It was in consequence of a supposed violation of this statute, that Mr Dundas, at a later period of his life, was exposed to much unmerited obloquy, and made the subject of a public inquiry, to which we shall have occasion more particularly to advert in the sequel.

In the session of 1784, Mr Dundas introduced his bill for restoring the estates in Scotland, forfeited on account of the rebellion of 1745. The expediency of this measure as a*means of conciliating the inhabitants of the northern part of the island, and reconciling them to the reigning family was manifest; still it was necessary, for obvious reasons, so far to cover the true motive, and to represent the boon as a reward to the people of Scotland for the services which they had rendered in the armies of the country, during the recent wars. And such accordingly was the tone taken by the supporters of the measure.

As president of the board of control, Mr Dundas' services were no less beneficial to the country. His sound judgment and remarkable business talents, combined with his intimate acquaintance with the complicated and multifarious details of the East India company's affairs, enabled him to simplify and reduce to order what had been previously an absolute chaos. Hence, also, in parlia-