Page:The English Reports v1 1900.pdf/517

That the sole conduct and management in carrying on the building, was under the direction of his Grace and the Duchess; and that the respondents all along acted on his Grace's credit, and looked upon him as their paymaster: and therefore it was humbly apprehended, that though by the act of 1st Geo. I. it was directed, that the money remaining due to the artificers and workmen, on account of the buildings and works at Blenheim, on or before the 1st day of June 1712, should be paid out of the arrears of the revenue granted to her late Majesty, for the arrears of her civil government; yet that the contracts made so long before were not discharged, nor the respondents remedy against his Grace thereby lessened or destroyed. [183] That as the money which was issued on account of the building in the reign of her late Majesty, was under the direction of the Duke, and was, without account, except to his Grace; so there was no doubt but the money issued by virtue of the said act, was and would be under the same controul; for the persons intrusted with the payment of it refused to pay any part thereof to the respondents without the Duke's directions. That as the Duke, by his defence, insisted that the Crown, and not he, ought to satisfy the respondents demands, and never disputed the prices, till by an exhibit proved at the hearing, which was written by one of his Grace's servants, after a stop had been put to the works in 1712; the respondents were advised they had no occasion to prove the reasonableness of the prices, the same having been all settled by the contract with Sir John Vanbrugh, who, before he entered into that contract, had received proposals from, several of the most eminent and substantial men of the trade, and found the respondents prices to be the most reasonable. That although the Earl of Godolphin was Lord High Treasurer at the time of his entering into the contract with Sir John Vanbrugh, yet it appeared under his own hand, to be made at the request and on the behalf of his Grace; and so were several other contracts which his Lordship made with other persons, for admeasuring and comptrolling the works. That by the contract with Sir John Vanbrugh, he was required to lay before his Lordship, from time to time, in the Duke's absence, an account of his proceedings; and why in the Duke's absence only? For if the contract had been made on behalf of her Majesty, this account must have been rendered as well when the Duke was at home, as in his absence. That Lord Godolphin's integrity and understanding, and his friendship for the Duke, were so great, and so well known, that it could not be believed his Lordship would have said he contracted at the request and on the behalf of the Duke, if it was not strictly true; or that he would have subjected his Grace to the performance of a contract, to which it was never intended he should be liable. Besides, the Earl was of so cautious a temper, and so great a master of the affaire of the Treasury, that if he had made any such contract as Lord Treasurer, on behalf of her Majesty, some memorial or entry thereof must necessarily have been made in the Treasury books; whereas, no entry or memorial of any contract made relative to the building at Woodstock, was to be found in any of those books. That the Duke, when in England, was frequently at Blenheim, giving the necessary directions as to carrying on the building pursuant to the contracts; and yet never mentioned to the respondents that he was not to be their paymaster, or that the contracts were not made at his request, or on his behalf. As to the objection, that the officers employed in relation to the buildings at Woodstock, were the officers of the Crown, it was true some of them were, but in different capacities from what they were in under the Crown; and it was as true, that what they did in relation to these buildings, was not as officers of the Crown, but as nominated and appointed to those employments, by or on the behalf of the Duke of Marlborough, which were differ-[184]-ent to what they were employed in under the Crown: for Sir John Vanbrugh was Comptroller of her late Majesty's works, yet he was appointed Surveyor of the buildings at Woodstock, which, on behalf of the Crown, was the proper office of Sir Christopher Wren.—Mr. Travers was Surveyor of the Crown lands, and Mr. Tailer was his deputy, and as such had nothing to do with the receipts and payments of the money for the buildings at Woodstock, but as appointed to that purpose by or on the behalf of the Duke of Marlborough.—And Henry Joynes, Tilleman Bobart, and William Jefferson were appointed to measure the works, and to cast up, state, and sign the workmen's bills, for the building at Woodstock; but were not officers of the Crown, nor would have had any power to do it, if they had not been appointed