File:The V- (victualling) committee framing a report. (BM 1868,0808.4869 1).jpg

English: Members of a parliamentary committee seated round an oblong table; two tiers of raised seats are on the farther side of the table, in the centre of the upper tier sits the chairman, immediately below him the clerk of the committee is 'framing' the Report. This is the Committee appointed to examine the conduct nominally of the Navy Victualling Board, actually that of Christopher Atkinson, a corn factor of Mark Lane, M.P. for Heydon, employed by the Board to purchase malt, &c. on commission, who was accused of cheating by overcharges and false accounts. He had been attacked by letters in the 'General Advertiser', at first anonymously, and then from Oct. 1780 by one Bennett. In Feb. 1781 he was dismissed by the Board, in the same month he brought an action for libel against Bennett. Pie did not produce his books to the Board as requested and in the winter of 1781-2 burned them. The Committee sat from 7 Mar. 1782 to 25 June 1782 and examined members of the Victualling Board.

The persons in the print are portraits, and are indicated by numbers, but any explanatory notes there may have been are missing. With the print was issued a 'New Song' of which there is a MS. copy. [Printed in Wright & Evans, pp. 11-13, “from a unique impression in the possession of Mr. George Fores.”]
The Chairman (left) (Samuel Whitbread) is saying, “This is certainly the first instance of an accused Man sitting as Judge on his own Cause and requires particular attention.” The clerk (2) is writing; he says, “The Man who ventured to hold forth such Malpractices, has rendered his Country service”. A man (3) standing on the right of the Chairman, who from the Song appears to be Montague Burgoyne of the Victualling Office, is saying, “His whole defence rests on the proof of his Partners & Clerk, & such Evidence should be cautiously trusted, they being interested”. No 4, on the left of the Chairman, evidently one of the seven Commissioners of the Victualling Office, is saying, “ He has behaved so well to us that we must endeavour to bring him through, but the burning his Books is the greatest preventative”. No. 5, seated on the right of the clerk, is saying, “Such infamous overcharges besides 3500£ a year, deserves the severest punishment”. No. 6, on the clerk's right, says, holding down his head, “We must be tender, we may be in the same situation at a future time, then this will appear as a precedent”. No. 7, on the right of the middle tier, has two faces, one in profile to the left, the other to the right. One says, “He has much Money, that is what I deal in. I must be tender”; the other says, “I must carry appearances against him to please the Public”. Probably Bamber Gascoyne, Junior, the two faces being an allusion to his house 'Bifrons' at Barking, which had two fronts, see BMSat6056; see “infra” the words spoken by No. 14. The next four are seated on the farther side of the table, immediately under the two upper tiers of seats: No. 8 (left) says, clasping his hands and raising his eyes, “Oh Heavens, what can we expect of the Man who burns his Books & denies his Affidavit?” (That is, in his libel action against Bennett, where he swore that he charged no more for his purchases for the Victualling Board than the prices he paid.) His neighbour (9) is saying, “The great overcharge on the 250: I Malt at Plymouth, should not escape our notice”. No. 10 turns to his neighbour on the right. saying, “You must instruct me for his Interest, I have a refreshing Fee for You”. No. 11 answers him, “This damn'd Affidavit entirely oversets us! - But still we can't leave him”; he is pointing to a paper which he holds in front of him inscribed, “Kings Bench . . . C.A.”, representing the affidavit in question.
No. 12, evidently Atkinson himself, is standing up at the right end of the table, in profile to the left, his hand on his breast, looking towards the clerk; he says, “Upon my Honor & Reputation notwithstanding the Charges against me, I served them with Industry and Sometimes with Integrity”. The next two are seated at the right end of the table, both in profile to the left. No. 13 (next Atkinson) says, pointing to No. 11, “The getting him upon the Committee was a noble stroke, we can now leave out the Evidence that affects him, as we have a Majority”. The man next him, without a number, sits with a book on the table in front of him inscribed “Letter, Scourge, W. Bennett, C. A.”, evidently containing the Press attacks on Atkinson. He is saying, “Suppressing Evidence so material to the Enquiry & deliver'd by such unimpeachable Characters, must deserve Censure.”
The next six sit, right to left, on the nearer side of the table facing the chairman. No. 14, with a pen in his hand and papers in front of him, is saying, “The Quibbles used by Bam [Bamber Gascoyne] are intended to tire out the Committee”. No. 15, evidently one of the Commissioners of the Victualling Office, says, “The letter we gave him was intended to do him honour, & should have contented him after detection”. No. 16 says, “The overcharges did not affect us, & I wish the Fellow damn'd that first made them public, I feel the loss of presents”. No. 17 says to No. 16, “A very decent account of overcharge in which he bot of one Person”; he is holding in his hand a paper inscribed “Flour 1300 at Is, 826 at 2. 300(?) at 9, 10, 11 . . .” No. 18 says, turning to No. 19, “We did not dismiss or accuse him till an instance was clearly traced out & proved of his not having done Justice to the Crown”. No. 19 answers, “We thought him to be our confidential Servant”. Nos. 20 and 21 sit at the 1. end of the table; 20 says, “This Burning Books seems to be a concerted plan between his Lighterman & himself, to prevent detection, as every other Person in the Trade preserve theirs.” 12 August 1782

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