royal highness with a knowledge of these abuses and corruptions."

a

Mr. Ryder (the judge advocate) declared himself in favour of Mr. Perceval's resolutions. He reminded the bouse of the services the country had derived from the beneficial regulations of the commander in chief. The royal military college and the military asylum would ever remain monuments of his attention to the interests of his country. Lord Temple said, that never in the course of his life had he given his sentiments on any question with so much pain to himself as he should on that upon which he was now addressing the house; but the eyes of the country were upon them, and he would discharge his duty and his conscience, however acutely be might feel in doing so. This, fortu nately, was not a question affecting the loyalty of any man. It might be discussed and decided consistently with the most perfect veneration for the constitutional head of the state. That the character of a son of the King should now be under consideration, was matter of deep and severe regret; the house must acknowledge that it was; but it was a duty which, however pain ful, they must discharge; it was question, however it might affect their feelings, that they must decide. In the progress of the discussion on the charges against the Duke of York, much was said on the extreme injustice of deci ding upon the conduct of any man with out a trial-that it was dealing unfairly with the illustrious person accused, to try him in this manner-that it was judging him in his absence-that the evidence was not taken upon oath. Such objections ought to have been stated at the beginning. The course of proceeding they had adopted (and that course he would observe was not only sanctioned but dictated in a great degree by the friends of the Duke of York) could not now be changed. The noble lord acquitted the Duke of York of corruption; he acquitted him of criminal participation; he acquitted him of connivance; but he found him deeply criminal in allowing this woman to interfere in his official duties. The evidence brought forward by accident furnished convincing proofs of this crime. It was evident in French's levy. It was evident in the case of Dr. O'Meara, this minister of purity, this mirror of virtue, who professing a call

from God, could so far debase himself, so far abuse his sacred vocation, as to solicit a recommendation from such a person as Mrs. Clarke, by which with an eye to a bishoprick, he obtained an opportunity of preaching before the King. What could be said in justification of his royal highness for allowing this hypocrite to come down to Weymouth under a patronage unbecoming his duty, rank, and situation? The case of Kennett was equally strong. If he were in a situation to approach his royal highness, if he could presume to obirude his advice upon him, he would advise him to resign. If ministers did their duty, they would advise him to resign, for it was impossible his royal highness could stir a step without hearing of these things. They would meet him in every street, in every road, in every corner. Wherever he went, the deep murmurs of public indignation would strike his ear. The time was fast approaching, when we perhaps should have to fight for British interests on British ground. At such a dreadful crisis, the safety of the state, the salvation of the country, the maintenance of our constitution, the preservation of our liberties, and of every thing dear to us, would depend on the confidence reposed in him who might have the command of the army. Does his royal highness suppose that he enjoys that confidence? In every eye that glanced on him, in every voice that assailed his ear, he might discover unequivocal indications that he did not. There was no alternative for him, therefore, but to resign. In retirement he might have at opportunity of regaining, at some distant period, that public confidence which he has not now. "His royal highness," said the noble lord, "cannot be prudently.continued a servant of the public. I will no longer trespass on the indulgence of the house. I have done my duty, and I have done it with infinite pain and regret. It was a maxim of Lord Burleigh, that England could not be ruined but by her parlia ment." England cannot be ruined while her parliament docs its duty.

The Lord Advocate felt himself called on to give an opinion on this importunt question. With all the attention that he had been able to pay to the evi dence, the conclusion which he drew from it was, that his royal highness had neither been guilty of corruption, not

criminal participation, nor connivance; and that he had in no one instance abused the power he possessed as commander in chief, of giving away military

commissions.

Mr. Wilberforce confessed, that when this business was brought forward, he participated in the prejudices of many, and thought the charges so unlikely, that he could not listen to them with that impartiality incumbent upon him as a member of parliament. For this he asked pardon of the hon. gentleman behind him (Mr. Wardle). The question appeared to him to divide itself into two points: first, to what degree of corruption did the Duke of York participate in the matters proved? and secondly, what was the general effect of this corruption ? As for the participation, he could not help stating, that it was astonishing to him that his royal highness had not felt strong suspicions.-He must have known from military friends and acquaintances, that there was a prevailing opinion in the army that this corruption existed. These were things not done in a corner, but generally known and published in widely circulated pamphlets. It was a notorious and undeniable fact that army patronage was corruptly disposed of, and that the channel was through the commander in chief. The Duke of York must also have known from the histories he had read, that the mistresses of princes had ever been the source to which the corrupt had applied; that they kept, as it were, a shop open for the disposal of favours at court! If, as had been said, Mrs. Clarke came from the protection of an army broker, then the Duke of York ought to have been still more careful, and on his guard against her, as knowing she must be acquainted with all the tricks and purposes of office. Ilis royal highness also know that she was distressed for money, and tempted by her necessities; another great cause to induce her to avail herself of the means in her power. Her soliciting for strangers must also have excited strong suspicions in his mind, and he could not see how all these things could exist without that necessary consequence. Mrs. Clarke's calling on Corri to burn the papers were also a specific proof 'that a cause of suspicion had been brought home to the commander in chief. Another circumstance which aught to have flashed conviction on his

mind was not consulting these persons in office by whom he was surrendered, to keep a watchful eye on the improper influence of Mrs. Clarke. It appeared then, that the Duke of York was shutting his eyes to conviction, and kept those in the dark who would have saved him from the abyss into which he was now plunged! The hon. gentleman now noticed the difference of the circumstances of the persons prosecuting and defending this charge: the latter enjoying all that legal abilities, influence, and rank could procure, and conscquently enabled to have produced evi dence to contradict what had been heard at the bar, if such really existed, and they had not been afraid of injuring the cause by so doing. In this case, the proof must either be from Mrs. Clarke, the Duke of York, the persons who received the favours, or the agents who negociated them. It so happened that they had all these kinds of evi-dence; by Mrs. Clarke at the bar. He scouted the idea that there was a conspiracy to destroy the duke: he helicved that the testimony of Mrs. Clarke, though weak enough in personal credit, was sufficiently corroborated by circumstances to induce the house to believe the leading parts of her story; in the same manner Miss Taylor's evidence was to be received; for the letters, the undenied, the unblushing letters of the duke, proved that he suffered Mrs. Clarke to write to him on military matters, aye, and even on CHURCH matters!

A prostitute turns PANDAR for a dignified churchman, and solicits her KEEPER to curry up her impudent petition to the ear of royalty,—AND IT is DONE! Of all the facts which this heart-rending examination had disclosed, that of Dr. O'Meara's was the worst. The Duke of York is himself a mixed character; for he is a British prince; he is likewise a German bishop. What must become of a people where such immoralities are not only exempt from punishment, but are censured in a manner so exceeding polite, and soft, that they seem almost below our notice. After touching on the various cases Mr. W. declared that the address of his hon. friend (Mr. Bankes), fully expressed his mind and conviction. The Duke of York could not help suspecting; but like a man who knew his affairs were going wrong, he would not look narrowly into them, and deceived

himself with the hopes, that he might go on living as usual, without any danger. He could not say that the Duke of York knew of these transactions, and this was going as far as he could go. He inclined so much to doubt, that he would rather vote on the original address than for the original amendment. As for what had been urged against his hon. friend's amendment; that it ne ther decided that the Duke of York was guilty or not guilty; he did not see that it was proper to do so. The gentlemen on the other side wished his hon. friend's motion made stronger, that it might be more easy to deal with. He was too old a soldier to be ensnared this way, and would know how to deal with such a proposition: that motion went most nearly to state the effect produced by the evidence on his mind, and he would rather leave suspicions against the Duke of York than go any further. It was the Duke of York's own conduct and his friends who had not earlier put him upon his guard, that placed him in this situation, and not the motion he supported. The hon. gentlemen opposite had supported themselves by general statements, instead of going into particular facts. They said it was not probable the Duke of York would do it—that the duke could not forget writing the note if he had done So. For his part he believed that the looseness of mind, of kabit, and of principle, in which his royal highness lived, was likely to produce a relaxation that would leave him in that vague state which was the object of his hon. friend's motion. However much he discredited Mrs. Clarke's evidence, he could not believe there was any plot; for, if she had intended so, she could not have got into bad terms with Sandon, Donovan, Maltby, and Hovendon, people who could have assited her so much in carrying her designs into effect. Another argument was, ascribing our victories to the discipline and regulations introduced by the commander in chief. That argument had better not been urged. Our victories were gained by the gallantry of the British army, and to say they were gained by the Duke of York, was to impose upon the house. It was the same in all-our army, our navy, in every rank and class, were invincible from strength of body and independence of mind. In short, this and their victories were the

effect of the British constitution.—Magno se corpore miscet.-He called upon the house to remember they had constitutional functions to discharge, and however high the rank or possible expectations of the accused, to agree in the motion of his hon. friend. He could not go so far as to acquit the Duke of York of all connivance, but of direct knowledge of corruption. It was impossible not to make that reparation due to public morals and to the public safety, by agreeing that it was no longer proper or prudent to give the chief command of the army to him. The decline of kingdoms was ever most surely prognosticated by the decline of morals, and the effect produced on every man⚫ particularly every serious man in the kingdom, would be astonishingly great, did not parliament mark the conduct of the Duke of York with their reprehension. The hon. member now turned to the amendment of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which he accused as a pattern of courtly servility. The confidence it expressed of a reformation in his royal highness's conduct, and the gentle reproof for past offences, reminded him of an anecdote of the reign of Charles the second. When that monarch had been guilty of some breach of decorum and decency with a loose woman, which attracted the notice of the clergy, it was resolved to reprove him for his incontinence and public transgression. The body of the clergy came to the bottom of the audience room; one of them named Douglas, persuaded. the others to allow him to go up singly to his Majesty, in order that he might rebuke him with greater asperity. He accordingly walked up to the King, but instead of the expected admonition, gravely advised him, when he did such a thing again, to be sure and shut the shutters! Surely the bluntness of John Knox himself was preferrable to this kind of courtly Ain mery. His royal highness did not reget the connection as contrary to religion and morals, but as it had led to this animadversion on his character. It was not for the murder, but the discovery. This nation stands high, it stood erect and safe; If its summit touched the clouds, its base was upon the solid rock of public morals.-Build as you will, all other foundations are sand; let us then, as the genuine mirror of the uncorrupt public mind, re

flect this our main, and only desirable glory, in our vote of this night; let us give princes a salutary warning, by convincing them that to be respected they must be virtuous, and that the post of honour in public duties should not be disgraced by the private vices of the holder. Of all the vices (said Mr. Wilberforce) to which public men were addicted, that of being governed by a mistress was most extensively pernicious. The mistresses of Princes had at all times been the bane of the public good: France, under many of her Kings, had been ruined by the prostitutes of the court,-We have still a nearer example in the Emperor Paul of Russia.The scheme of the Austrian campaign was over-ruled by a mistress of the Russian Autocrat,-a mistress was the lever upon which rested the influence of France in all the European courts; and it was not to be questioned that the vices of Princes, chiefly in this way, had been made the means of their pu nishment throughout the continent of Europe. Might not the enemy have employed this very Mrs. Clarke as a SPY! Her character was fit for every thing. In the moments of laxity and voluptuousness she might have stolen from her unguarded keeper the secrets of the state; and a SPY in the magazine of arms, in the very citadel of safety, she might have discovered the avenues of attack, and have effected the main purpose of the enemy. Let us show then, hy our vote of this night, what we think of these things; let us show, as we sincerely love our King for his religious, and most exemplary, and moral character, that we censure his son for contradicting his parent's virtue. Let us satisfy the public, who demand his dismissal, by soliciting it for them, whose servants we are; and above all, let us remember, that the consummate, and last vice of nations, is a contempt of justice,a justice which is hoodwinked before the blaze of rank, and dares not look power in the face.

Mr. Canning rose amidst loud cries of Question! He felt deeply on the point of murals, but he doubted whe ther it was a subject proper for this house to take up. He denied that the house was disposed to interpose a shield between his royal highness and conviction, merely on account of his lustrious descent; but he hoped the

VOL. V.

consideration of his rank would not operate against hum. He affirmed, that if the address of Mr. Wardle was carried, corruption would appear on the record; and, therefore, justice to the illustrious Duke required that the house should, in the first instance, decide on the charge of corruption. The plan proposed on the other side was of the same nature as if a judge should say to a jury, "Gentlemen, whether the prisoner is guilty of this or that, I know not; but that is not the question for you to decide: you are to consider whether, from other circumstances, it may not be prudent to have him hanged." The grave charge of corruption having been made, that ought to be disposed of. But he allowed that after that, there were minor considerations which well deserved the attention of the house. This question, however, ought to be disposed of separately. With regard to the letter of the Duke of York to the house, he stated that the meanest person at the bar of a court of justice was forced to plead not guilty. He was forced to say that he would be tried by God and his country. Yet when the Duke of York called for trial in this way, it was to be denied him. Was that equality? The mode which the Duke of York had taken of addressing a letter to the Speaker, he affirmed to be a much better course than if he had himself come into the house, for in the latter course he must have solicited the consent of his peers. He denied that he had said that infamy must attach to the accused or the accuser, though he did say that it must rest somewhere; and it did rest with that confederacy, of which the Duke of York had been the dupe and the victim. As he had in one instance been misrepresented by addi tion, he had in another been misrepre sented by curtailment. When he said that some nien might be led to doubt whether the licentiousness of the press did not overbalance its benefits-he had added, that the evil was temporary, but the good permanent. This had been left out, and as an argument in favour of his own recollection, he alluded to the misrepresentation as having taken taken place in one publi cation only, out of twelve. Mr. Canning also observed, that before these charges had been brought forward, it would have been well to have weighed, whether the evil would not surpass the I i

good that could be produced. This was his feeling, and he would not conceal it, though he should be misrepresented so far as to have said, that the transgressions of Princes ought to be overlooked If the day should come, when the thanks of the house should be moved to the accuser, he would oppose the motion, and he trusted he would find many to join him. He concluded by again insisting upon the necessity of

coming to a distinct resolution on the charge of corruption.

Mr. Ponsonby, observed that it was utterly imposssible, to say that the Duke of York was not implicated in the corruption, when he allowed Mrs. Clarke to persevere in carrying it on. The case of Kennett was surely not connected with the army, but at the same time, an offer was made to the Duke of York as commander in chief, and the house did not find that the communication had been discontinued. This transaction was so near to personal corruption, so loose and vague in itself, that it was impossible to say it should not actuate the conduct of the

commander in chief. This was a case of all others in which the educated part of the community were capable of judge ing. They were accustomed to weigh evidence as well as the members of that house, and it was in vain for gen

tlemen of their own authority to give such a character to their own proceedings. There never was any thing so necessary as that the people should have confidence in their representatives-that they should think them honourable, and that they should really be so.

The question was then loudly called for, and the strangers were ordered to withdraw.

Mr. Tierney spoke after the gallery was cleared.

On a division the numbers were— For Mr. Bankes's amendment, 199.Against it, 294.-Majority against the Amendment, 95.

A second division afterwards took place on Mr. Perceval's amendment on Mr. Wardle's address.-For the amendment, 364-For the orignal motion, 123 Majority against the address, 241, The consideration of Mr. Perceval's Jesolutions, and all further proceedings in the business, were then adjourned 4ill Friday.

Adjourned at half-past six o'clock,

Thursday, March 16. The bills before the house were read in their several stages.

Gen. Gascoyne presented a petition from the merchants in the African trade, praying for some compensation, in consequence of the abolition of the slave trade.

Friday, March 17.

The order of the day being read, for resuming the adjourned debate on the conduct of the commander in chief.

The Speaker stated the question for the consideration of the house to be as follows:-An humble address having been proposed, and a divi sion having taken place on the expe the house came to a determination diency of proceeding by address,

in favour of proceeding by a resolution.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, he should wish to withdraw the resolution for the purpose of substituting another. The substance of the resolution he was about to withdraw, and to which he wished to make some amendment, was as follows:-" That the house of Com. mons having appointed a committee for the purpose of investigating the conduct of the commander in chief, and having carefully considered and weighed the evidence adduced before the said committee, in support of the charges alleged of personal corruption and connivance, feel it ex pedient to pronounce a distinct and hood of such allegations." To this final opinion of the truth or falseresolution he wished to add the general sense of the house. He had no wish, however, to force its being withdrawn, if the house had any objection thereto.

Mr. Tierney said, that he had the strongest objection to the resolution as it was worded, inasmuch as it would appear on the journals of the house, from such a determination, that there was in fact nothing proved against his royal highness, either on the ground of criminal corruption