the offer of 2001. that such an offer, in fact, had been made to her, and that the acceptance of it would enable her to go into the country, which she desired to do? I understood from her, that when she made the request to the Commander-in-Chief, she had mentioned to him that she was to receive a pecuniary consideration; as to the going out of town, that was a fixed thing before; they were both going out, as I understood; but in justice to her I will state what I this moment recoliect, that a few days ago, after my motion, she stated that I had been very incorrect, if the papers stated truly what I said, and whether it was that, or what other circumstance, I will not undertake to say; but to the best of my recollection, I understood from her, that on the day she made the application, she gave the Commander-in-Chief to understand, that a pecuniary consideration was forth-coming for the exchange.

Did you receive any other information from any other person than those who have been examined here to-night, and Colonel Knight, as to this point, upon which you founded the statement which you made to the house? I had, as I before stated to the house, had other information from other quarters; it will not become me to state to the house who those persons were; that I conceive would be very indecorous.

Did that expression which Mrs. Clarke used to a particular person, who was not to be touched, imply that there were some proceedings to be instituted concerning some other persons? I have no reason to think that she meant any more than exactly what she said, that when I get hold of those letters, she knew I was possessed of facts that would touch Mr. Donovan: I do not think she connected any other matter with it.

With respect to these letters which you carried away from Mrs. Clarke's, has Mrs Clarke since made frequent application to you for those letters? Yes, she has; and was very much enraged with me, particularly for having said what I did respecting Mr. Donovan.

Was the conversation which took place on Saturday, the conversation to which you alluded, in which you received the information upon which you proceeded? That was subsequent to my motion.

Did you see Mrs. Clarke yesterday? I was at her house late last night, about nine o'clock; I was in the drawing-room for a few mo ments, there was company with her.

Did you see Mrs. Clarke yesterday? Yes, as I have said before, I was in her drawing-room, when she had company last night.

She was in that drawing-room? Yes, certainly.

Is it possible that she should not have seen you in the drawing-room at that time? No, it is totally impossible.

I understand you to say, that being informed that the gazetting took place within two or three days after the original order, you provided yourself with the gazette of Saturday in which that appointment appeared, and so, calculating backwards, fixed Thursday as the day on which the proposition had been made? I understood from the first, that it was on the Thursday that the exchange had been applied for, and that the business was completed on the Saturday; that is entered in my book in the first conversation, that she understood it was gazetted on the Saturday, or in two or three days.

The gazette in which this is announced is dated on the Tuesday? Yes, I am perfectly aware of that fact: that is a blunder of her's;

E

but I never heard any one thing to make me doubt that it was so till to-night.

Being asked whether you were not at Mrs. Clarke's yesterday, you answered that you had been there about nine o'clock in the evening; were you not at Mrs. Clarke's house at any prior hour of yesterday? I called at Mrs. Clarke's yesterday morning, she was not at home; I returned in the evening, and had a conversation with her for a few minutes.

Did you merely call at Mrs. Clarke's house; did you not go into it, and wait a very considerable time at Mrs. Clarke's house? I was up in Mrs. Clarke's drawing-room for some time in the morning, I did not see her then, but I saw her in the afternoon.

WILLIAM ADAM, Esq. was again examined in his place as follows:

Having mentioned the annuity which was conditionally promised, can you state whether that annuity was actually paid, and if so, for how long? I can state nothing respecting the payment; I had nothing at all to do with it; I never heard any thing of it from the time when I had the second and last interview.

You have stated, that the annuity was to be continued so long as Mrs. Clarke's conduct was correct; will you have the goodness to explain that term? The term I used I meant in this sense; that her conduct was to be such as not to have any reference to any pecuniary transactions, such as I stated to have been the cause of the investigation, and the subject of the subsequent communication to her by me, that the Duke of York was to have no further connection with her; and I stated in my evidence, that at that time, nor at any time till recently, had i any notion that there were any transactions of this kind in which she had. been in any way concerned: Those pecuniary concerns to which I alluded, were the use of the Duke of York's name for the purpose of raising money, so as to involve his credit and character, but not by the sale of commissions.

Do you mean by getting in debt with tradesmen, and borrowing money? Any mode by which she could raise money,

Did you continue from the year 1806, to have the management of his Royal Highness's finances, and his money concerns? I had not, properly speaking, the management of any part of his Royal Highness's. But I wish to mention this to the house;-the Duke of York, from. causes which it is unnecessary to refer to, found his circumstances embarrassed; at a very early period he applied to me to look into them, and to get matters arranged: he appropriated to that arrangement, as soon as his income was such as to enable him to afford it, a very large sum of money, annually, 12,000l. a year, that was put under the administration of Mr. Coutts and myself, as trustees for the creditors, to settle the payments. From the circumstance of the Duke of York being a mere annuitant, and from other causes, which I should be extremely glad to explain, to render my evidence intelligible, particularly from One cause, that in the arrangement of his estates he had cast upon himthe expense of a large inclosure, which by act of parliament he was bound to see executed, which took a great deal of money, and his being under the necessity of buying tythes to a large amount, together with the property tax coming on him, we were not enabled to operate the

redemption of the debts by the payment of 12,000l. a year; it was therefore the Duke of York's wish to appropriate a larger sum; this was done, and it is still to go to a greater extent, in the hands of Mr. Coutts and myself, for the same purposes. These are the monies which come within my management, and no other. I know nothing about the Duke of York's private expenditure; I know nothing about the pension he pays to any one, but only the fund raised for the payment of debts, and also that for the reduction of the debt he owes to the public, a sum lent to him from the civil list, when Mr. Pitt was minis ter, and which Mr. Pitt and other ministers suspended the payment of to a certain tine, and which was last year begun to be paid: a fund was vested in me for the payment of 4,000l. a year of that; this will extend to the sum of from 26 to 30,000l. a year; and when it is considered that the income tax falls upon that, as well as the whole of his other property, I believe that his Royal Highness will be found to give up as large a sum of money as his present circumstances will afford. These are the only funds which fall under my knowledge; and therefore it is impossible for me to know whether a pension is paid to this or that person, and it is not correct to suppose that I am in the administration of his affairs further than I have stated.

Did Mrs. Clarke apply to you at any time since 1806 for the payment of this pension? It is extremely difficult for me to state positively that she did not, but I believe the two letters which she mentions are the only letters I have ever received from her. I cannot undertake to say, in the variety of transactions I have, that there were no others; the prominent letter was that of the 11th June, 1808, which I immediately indorsed, and delivered over to Mr. Wilkinson.

COLONEL GORDON.

Do you hold any office under the Cominander in Chief? Yes, I do. What is it? His military or public secretary.

Does the business of exchanging commissions pass through your office? It does.

Can any transaction of that nature pass without your knowledge? It is quite impossible.

Do all the documents by which the persons, who apply to exchange, are recommended, pass through your office? They do.

Do they pass first under your examination and consideration? Generally; I might almost say always.

Do you report the result to the Commander in Chief? Most une doubtedly, without fail.

How long have you held the office that you do at present? About four years and a half.

Did you hold it in 1805? I did.

When any exchange has obtained the approbation of the Commander In Chief, is there a minute made of it? Always.

After that, are the cominissions made out pursuant to that minute? After an exchange, or any commission has obtained the approbation of the Commander in Chief, it is immediately submitted to the considera tion of his majesty; after his majesty's approbation and signature has been affixed to the paper so submitted, it is sent to the Secretary at War, for the purpose of having commissions made out corresponding to the

names placed in that paper previously submitted to the King and then to be put in the Gazette.

Are the commissions also signed by his majesty before they are gazetted? No; perhaps I should explain, that they are made out in the war-office after the gazetting; the gazetting is the immediate act following the signature of the king, a notification to the army, that his majesty has approved of those appointments, and he desires his Secretary at War, to prepare the commissions accordingly: they are made out more at leisure.

You will see mentioned in the gazette the exchange between Colonel Knight and Colonel Brooke; when did that exchange receive the approbation of the Commander in Chief? On the 23d July, 1805.

When you say that that approbation took place on the 23d of July 1805, you refer to some document in your hand; is that any memorandum made in your office? It is.

Is it the course of your office, that, when the approbation of the Commander in Chief is signified, there should be a memorandum made of it? I think I may say invariably.

Was the approbation of the Commander in Chief to this exchange finally obtained on the 23d of July? It was.

Do you keep records in the office of all the applications that are made for promotions or exchanges? Yes, I do, very carefully; and every paper of every kind, and every sort, that comes into that office, I preserve with the greatest possible care.

Is that paper which you hold in your hand, the original document which is brought from your office? Yes, it is.

That which you hold in your hand being the original document which you brought from the office, is it also the document to which you just looked, and declared that the approbation of the Commander in Chief was obtained on the 23d? Yes; it is the only paper I have looked at since I entered this house, except the gazette.

You stated, that you keep an account of all the applications that are made for promotion or for exchange, and that that is preserved in the office? I did state so.

Could you, upon any other occasion, with reference to any other exchange, as you have with reference to this, find the memoranduma which denoted the time at which the approbation of the Commander in Chief was procured? Yes, I think I could, with the same felicity with which I have put my hand upon this.

Are you able to state who recommended Colonel Knight and Colonel Brooke for that exchange? This paper, with your permission, [ will read; it will speak for itself.

[Colonel Gordon read, and then delivered in a letter, from Messrs, Greenwood and Cox to himself, dated Craig's-court, July 1st, 1805. (a)

• The words in italics are in pencil marks in the original.

56

05

Is it your course, upon a recommendation of this sort being put in, to enquire into the merits of the applicants? Most undoubtedly, in every case; but particularly in the case of field officers of regiments. Is it your course to report to the Commander in Chief the result of those inquiries? Invariably.

When the Commander in Chief has ever drawn a different conclusion upon the facts stated, than that which you have drawn, has it always been his course to assign to you a reason for that? I think he has: but if he did not, I should most undoubtedly have taken the liberty to have asked him.

Where, in such a case, no reason has been assigned, are you certain that you have always asked him? Most undoubtedly,

In this case, have you any doubt that you made the necessary enquiries upon the representations made to you by this memorial? None whatever; I am quite positive that I did do so.

Was the ultimate approbation of this exchange the result of those enquiries? I firmly believe so.

proposed.

C. L.

Sir,

cannot be acceded to, His Royal Highness does not approve of the exchange

By direction of General Norton, we have the honour to inclose a form signed by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Brooke of the 56th regiment, to exchange with Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Knight of the 5th Dragoon Guards, together with a copy of a letter from Lieutenant Colonel Knight, stating, that he is satisfied with the security given for payment of the regulated difference between the value of the two commissions; and being informed the counterpart of the exchange has been sent in through the agents of the 5th Dragoon Guards, you will be pleased to submit the same to Field Marshall his Royal Highness the Duke of York.

We have the honour to be,

Craig's-court, 1st July, 1805.

Lt. Colonel Gordon, &c. &c. &c.

Sir,

Your most obedient, humble servants,
GREENWOOD AND COX.

I beg you will be pleased to obtain for me his Majesty's permission to exchange with Brevet Lt. Col. Knight of the 5th Dragoon Guards.

In case his Majesty shall be graciously pleased to permit me to make the said exchange, I do hereby declare and certify, upon the word and honour of an officer, and a gentleman, that I will not, either now, or at any future me, give, by any means or in any shape whatever, directly or indirectly, any more than the regulated difference.

I approve of the above exchange, and, I verily believe, no clandestine bar

gain subsists between the parties concerned.

C. NORTON, Colonel.