like Christian, got fast set in the slough of despond, where he left his royal highness up to his neck in mud, and all the placemen, pensione:s, and anti-jacobins in England, will never be able to pull him out. It was remarkable, that notwithstanding the situation in which Mrs. Clarke was placed with his royal highness, she never was found to have raised a single shilling for the immediate and separate purpose of herself. If she had, the ingenuity of the royal duke's friends would have wormed it out; notwithstanding, too, the unfair imputation cast upon her talents, as capable of traud, and forgery, and crime; yet, in no one instance of the many related at the bar, between both sides, did it once appear that, in all her own individual wants, she ever sought for money but when it was to discharge the pressing demands, as she herself called it," of the poor tradesmen ?" She came here helpless and friendless; every thing that was severe and harsh was the treatment she suffered; the unkindest construction was put on her words, her looks, her gestures; whilst other witnesses were treated with attention, and even kindness. Every thing was done to discredit her, nothing to protect her; yet with all this, and a predetermination to put her down, she rose, till she put her adversaries out of Countenance. Could any thing carry with it more artlessness than her observation respecting that man, Donovan? When acquainting the house of certain matters of his conduct, she at once said that she knew be would deny them; so in fact he did deny them, till his own letters, and at last his own acknowledgments, compelled him, against his will, to corroborate her account. Truth and justice triumphed, truth and justice prevailed: and putting all the oral testimony given at their bar out of the question, the circumstances were so strong, that on them alone conviction was established. They were strong enough in any eriminal court, to convict a man for minor offences, and when oral evidence and circumstances here agreed as they did, he did not, could not see how honest, upright men could shut their eyes, or their ears against it. The Attorney General, he believed, thought that in Mrs. Clarke he had a witch at the bar, or a Maid of Orleans, who had put all the faculties, pleas, and rejoinders of the gentlemen of the long robe to the rout; and it would seem that truth to lawyers was like the red rag to the viper, it extracted the poison from them. It was a painful thing to say that the house has the Duke of York's honour to set up against the body of evidence before them ; the honour of a Prince it is true; but then there was the honour of the house of Commons, and the welfare ax well as the happiness of the people on the other side. It was the honour of the Duke contrasted with the conscience of the house. When this contrast was considered, it was meet to shew that the testimony of a learned gentleman (Mr. Adam) contradicted the assertions of the royal duke: then, and in that case, has common sense to decide. He trusted, for one, that common sense would not be at a loss. From this topic the hon. baronet made some remarks on the inconsistent evidence given by Col. Gordon and on that of Mr. Adam, similar to those made by Lord Folkstone. It was observable that those gentlemen who exculpated his royal highness, took little or no notice of the application of Dr. O'Meara to Mrs. Clarke, so unbecoming any man, and particu larly a minister of christianity. This man laid his credentials at the feet of Mrs. Clarke; and it actually appears, that, probably in consequence of the promised interference of the Duke of York, he at last obtained so much of his object, as to be per --- mitted to preach before his Majesty. ✦egna; and that we had almost got It was a circumstance worthy of observation, that almost all the witnesses who had been called to invalidate the testimony of the principal evidence, instead of effec ting their purpose, had contrived to weaken their own credibility. They bore some resemblance to Balaam of old, who being brought to curse, could only pour out blessings. The defenders of his royal highness, have had recourse to the last resource employed on occasions of accusation; they have produced a number of witnesses as to character, and have endeavoured to shew the benefits derived to the army from his royal highness. In this he thought they had been equally deficient; and the honour of his royal highness now rose like the ghost of Banquo, with twenty mortal gashes on its head. After such evidence as we had heard, and after the humiliating anknowledgement which the house had heard, it was perfectly impossible that his royal highness could remain at the head of the army of England. A right hon. gent. has warned the house, with great energy, not to be warped in their decision by popular opinion or popular clamour, These warn-, ings were very unnecessary. During all the period that he had sat in that house, the popular sentiment seemed to have less deference paid to it, than any other influence whatever. If the house wished completely to convince the people of their determination to do justice, he knew one way of doing so; and if all the gentlemen who sat on the treasury bench, all who have any emoluments under the crown were to walk out of the house at the time when the division took place, and leave it, whatever that decision might be, he was convinced the people would be satisfied! The Master of the Rolls said, that he wished much to hear the evidence canvassed and commented upon before he expressed his opinion, and, with that view had delayed offering himself to their attention until that moment. There were many parts of the ingenious speech of the hon. Baronet, in which he agreed; it should be his endeavour, in what he had to say, to discharge his duty with impartiality, and assist in the promotion of their common objec: He allowed that the discovery of the truth. He felt it difficult to know what the house would be at. He wished the hon. mover of the address had not driven them to the necessity of coming to a decision upon that point. He agreed in the definition which the hou baronet had given of corruption, to constitute which the receipt of money was not essential; any improper motive, any undue influence, was corruption! The address proposed might have the effect of convicting the Duke of York by a minority. Every one agreed as to the necessity of ascertaining the credibility of Mrs. C. if she were not to believed in all, her evidence was only circumstantiala species of evidence inferior to that which was direct. there were many parts of her testimony true; that the only questionable part was that respecting the private conversation with the duke. -Such testimony as that, however, was always to be doubted. It was evident that Mrs. Clarke came forward under angry impressions, and a witness so coming forward, could not be perfectly credible; that is, could not be unsuspected. To what extent, then, was Mrs. Clarke's testimony corroborated? It was a contradiction in terms for a man to say that he was uncertain whether he believed her evidence or not, and yet act as if he had believed it. After adverting to the observations made by the different individuals in the house, regarding the sense of the people, he thought it the duty of every member to investigate the evidence before them with coolness and deliberation; to attend to the truth only, and examine according to the best of their judgment, and then there could not exist a doubt but their decision would be satisfactory to the country. would be received, and be for the consideration of the jury to consider what weight was due to it.-As to Mrs. Clarke's contradictions, with the exception of the 2001. note, he must confess they were altogether immaterial with respect to the charges brought against the Duke of York. Many gentlemen who had spoken in the debate had dwelt upon the fascinating charms of Mrs. Clarke. For his part, he could see none of those Sir S. Romilly thought it impossible to believe, with the evidence they had before them, that the Duke of York had not acted under a knowledge of these corrupt practices existing; he would say still farther; and he was convinced that the evidence warranted kis assertion, that there was connicance on the part of the duke with respect to Mrs. Clarke! He agreed most cordially, therefore, with the original motion, proposing an address, praying to remove his royal high-qualities when she was brought to ness from the important command. He was a servant of the public, and as such they had a right to enquire whether his services to the public could be continued with advantage. The charges stated against his royal highness had been committed to writing, and were on the records of the house; they were, therefore, bound to determine whether he was to be acquitted of these charges or not; but with respect to the guilt they might attach to him, it was not necessary they should confine themselves to the letter of the charges. New matter had come out during the investigation; letters unthought of, and other circumstances unknown when the enquiry began, had been brought to light. Though it had been said they were bound to come to a decision, it appeared that his royal highness, so far from being willing that they should do so, had in his letter to the house referred to some other place as an ultimate place of trial. In that unfortunate letter he lamented that his royal highness had received the worst advice. Of that letter he could only say, that if it were in his power he would wish to blot it out from the records and memory of the house. It was a painful duty he had to discharge, but he could not say that he disbelieved the evidence of Mrs. C. The fact was, that in any court the evidence of an accomplice was admissible, even in a capital offence. Though it might not ultimately be credited, still it the bar. But he might be accused of wanting taste, or perhaps it might arise from the disgust and aversion he entertained of such a woman. Mrs. Clarke had given her evidence pertly and carelessly; but she had frequently given it with the force and ingenuousness of truth. Some excuse, too, was to be made for her sharpness and levity, in the frequent laugh of approbation from the house that followed that sharpness and levity. But there was to be found in the minutes on the table, evidence stronger than Mrs. Clarke's, of the duke's connivance, he meant the duke's own letters." Tell General Clavering, my angel, there is no use in applying for him, as no new regiments are to be raised, only second battalions to the existing corps."These were the duke's words, and the house would see that his royal highness did not complain of the impropriety of applying, but says 66 there is no use in his applying." Did not that establish proof of the connivance? But the house would do well to look to the way in which Mrs. Clarke had come forward to state the facts which she had done. When first examined at the bar, she was unconscious of the letters Sandon would produce. So with the collection produced by Nichols, which she might imagine to be in existence, but could not at that time foresee they would be produced in evidence. But they were ultimately produced, and what should operate with the house to give her credit generally was, that those ness had said, does he behave libe very letters corroborated, in many rally to you? does he supply you instances, the tale she had previous with money? He protested he could ly told. Out of that collection of see no other way of accounting for papers to which he alluded, the case the enquiry. At the same time, he of Kennett was produced, which was did not mean to say that he would pregnant with a piece of evidence of find his royal highness absolutely the most important feature and im guilty of personal corruption; but pression, he meant the letter to Col. could he, when asked, as an honest Taylor in favour of Mr. Kennett, man, lay his hand upon his heart, and containing the recommendation of say, there was no ground for suspi Sir Horace Mann ; yet he would ask, cion? The learned gentleman then who, that was acquainted with the put an hypothetical case, embracing infamous character of that man all the facts charged against the would have believed that fact, had Duke of York, and called upon the it not come to light in the way it house to say, if such facts were mohad? But there was other evidence ved at their bar against any comman before the house which appeared to der in chief, whether there would him so strong and convincing, that not be sufficient grounds to approach it was impossible for scepticism itself his Majesty's throne, and tell him, to doubt, he meant the evidence of that the high office to which the inMiss Taylor, and the note respecting dividual had been raised, could no Major Tonyn. He saw no just longer remain with safety in his grounds for disbelieving the former; hands. He felt, he said, the greatest and the fact of her having the care and superintendance of the education of youth, was a fact that told greatly to her credit, and the more so, as the parents had recently with drawn their children from under her care and tuition. That was a circumstance that proved the opinion they previously entertained of her good conduct, and as parents they were not unmindful of the morals of their offspring. He could see no reasonable motive to induce Miss Tay--if the house should once lose the lor to come forward and state a va riety of falsehoods against the son of her King. If he had succeeded, he said, in establishing her credit, it would be necessary to look to her evidence; and, first, as to the conversation, "How does he behave to you, darling?" In looking to that fact, he would aşk, what honest purpose could the duke be enquiring into, if he did not mean to question Colonel French's behaviour to his mistress respecting promotion? What could that behaviour relate to but money transactions? And was it not to be interpreted as if his royal high respect and veneration for every branch of the illustrious family on the throne; but that was not to be weighed against the independence of that house, and the wrongs of the people. "If, (continued the learn ed gentleman,) it should once appear to the public that the house of commons looked with indifference upon corruption and state abuses, and that its members struggled only to obtain possession of wealth and emoluments confidence of the people, and should sink in the public estimation, and by not paying attention to those impottant duties, which as representatives of the people they were called upon to perform, then would it be accountable for the evils that might flow from a popular disesteem, and who was there that could contemplate such things, and forget the mischiefs of civil war, and the hor rors and atrocities of a revolution, carried on by the lowest orders in society?" The learned gentleman concluded a very animated and eloquent speech by saying, that he never |