the army; I expressed some surprize at this, having had some previous acquaintance with him, and told him, I think, that he had better consider of it before he took so decided a step. I think Major Turner told me, he had got into some unfortunate scrape with a woman, and it was necessary for him to quit the service; the exact words I do not recollect, but that was the tenor of the conversation that passed between us. There was very little more or less.

Did he state the nature of the scrape? No, he certainly did not; but I have some recallection, that he was about to do it, and that I stopped him, as my custom is, not wishing to enter into the private affairs of officers more than is necessary.

Did he state the name of the lady? I am pretty confident he did not.

When the application was made for the exchange between col. Knight and col. Pleydell, were the usual inquiries made, and were they acted upon? This is rather an embarrassing question. I should answer it in this way; that the Commander in Chief did not think col. Pleydell a proper officer to be placed at the head of a regiment of cavalry.

(By Mr. Creevey.)

Carter was reputed to be the natural son of capt. Sutton? I always understood that he

was.

Did he live with him as such? He lived with him as such, as it appeared to me.

You knew captain Sutton? Very well. He brought him up as his son? Yes, he did, to the best of my knowledge.

Did he give him a good education? I believe the best education he could; he was very capable of educating him himself, and I believe he took a great deal of pains with the boy.

Was he in the habit of dining at capt. Sutton's table? I cannot tell; I never dined with capt. Sutton at his house.

When did capt. Sutton die? I cannot exactly say; two or three years ago, I believe.

[The witness was directed to withdraw. Lord Folkestone stated, that Duff, one of the parties whom he had that evening mentioned to the house, as having papers in his possession, which came into his hands through the medium of one Kennett, in the city,had, since he addressed the house, called him into the lobby, and informed him, that he was willing to deliver up the раIs it your belief, that upon a complaint made pers. He had seen some of them, which from any quarter against any officer who was he had communicated to the right hon. the soliciting either for exchange or resignation, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who concurrthat complaint being, that the officer had be- ed with him in thinking they were worthy haved dishonourably by a lady, that would lead the observation of the house. The person to an inquiry on the part of the Commander in who had them, having mentioned it would Chief? That would depend very much upon be inconvenient to him to attend that eventhe mode in which the complaint was made; the complaint in question stated, that the ge- ing, he had dispensed with his further atneral knew all about it; inquiry was therefore tendance. He had accordingly promised made of the general before any decision was to bring him the papers to-morrow morngiven upon it. ing, and he would call the attention of the Committee to them at their next meeting.

Did it ever come within your knowledge that any resignation had been stopped, or any proceeding taken at the Commander in Chief's office, in consequence of an anonymous letter? I cannot exactly say that a resignation had been stopped; but this I can say, that all anonymous letters are invariably attended to.

Is it not the invariable practice of the Commander in Chief to forward all anonymous letters, conveying complaints or any circumstances attached to the army, to the generals commanding the districts or the officers commanding regiments, concerning which complaints may be conveyed in those anonymous letters? I have already said that anonymous letters are always attended to, and are sent for inquiry in their proper course; they happen almost daily. [The witness was directed to withdraw.

General ROCHFORT was called in, and examined.

(By the Chancellor of the Exchequer.) Do you recollect a person of the name of Sam. Carter, that lived with capt. Sutton? 1 do.

Do you happen to know whether Samuel

The house being resumed, the Chairman reported progress, and asked leave to sit again to-morrow, which was ordered.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Thursday, February 16.

[SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.] Earl Darnley called their lordships' attention to the subject of the late campaign in Spain and Portugal. Impressed as he was, with a deep sense of the misconduct of ministers, and recollecting that they professed a disposition to put the house in possession of every information that might be requisite to enable parliament and the country to decide upon their measures, he felt it his duty to move for several returns, calculated to attain that object. He understood that the Spanish Juntas particularly solicited the assist ance of a respectable body of cavalry. This was precisely that description of force which we could have best spared,

proceeding was adopted after the Papers were laid on the table should be such as would afford them a fair opportunity of ex

as our cavalry establishment greatly exceeded what could at any time be requisite for the purposes of internal defence. But among the various features of the mis-plaining every part of their conduct; conduct of ministers, one of the most and this course being pursued, they felt striking was their tardiness in complying not the least apprehension in submitting with the request of the Spaniards, and the to the candid decision of the house. The very limited extent to which it was at last instructions to sir T. Dyer and his commugratified. The official dispatches bore tes-nications to sir A. Wellesley, would, he timony to the injurious consequences of a deficiency of cavalry in the battle of Vimiera. He concluded with moving for a Return of the effective Cavalry in Great Britain on the 1st of July 1808, a Return of the Cavalry engaged in the battle of Vimiera, and a Return of the total of the British Cavalry in Spain, at the moment of the junction of the several divisions of the troops under sir John Moore.

The Earl of Liverpool assured the noble lord and the house, that ministers felt not the least wish to oppose the motion just made. On the contrary, it had their hearty concurrence. He only wished to amend the motion, so as to include a return of the various arrivals of cavalry in Portugal subsequent to the battle of Vimiera, and up to the time of sir John Moore's march into Spain. With the view of still further promoting the purpose of fair and impartial inquiry into the conduct of ministers, he should move for additional papers as soon as the noble lord's motion was disposed of.

Earl Darnley had no objection to the amendment proposed by the noble secretary, provided the date of the various arrivals of cavalry in Portugal were added. This suggestion being acceded to, the motion was put and agreed to.

The Earl of Liverpool then said, that in order to explain, in the most ample manner, the line of conduct adopted by ministers in reference to Spain and Portugal, he felt it necessary to move for copies of the Instructions sent to our commanders in those countries, and the communications from them to ministers, with the exception of such parts as it might be injurious to the public service to publish. He wished noble lords to understand, that the passages he alluded to were such as related to services still depending. As to services completed, there was no intention of withholding any documents that, in the slightest degree, bore upon the discussion of their merits. All that he requested was, that nothing should be done to prejudge the question of what had been the conduct of ministers; and that whatever

thought, be found in the papers relative to the Convention of Cintra already moved for; if not, they might be called for on a future day. In answer to a question across the table from lord Darnley, his lordship said, that it was an admitted fact, that the Junta of Oviedo had made an application of the nature previously alluded to by the noble lord, and that sir T. Dyer communicated the same to sir A. Wellesley.

The Duke of Norfolk wished to know whether measures had been taken to prevent the French and Spanish fleets in Cadiz harbour from falling into the hands of the enemy. We had now here an ambassador from Spain, who held a high official situation, in that country: and one of the most important points to be arranged with him, was, in his conception, that of securing those fleets, by stipulating that they should be sent to Buenos Ayres, Minorca, or any other place for safety. When he looked to the rapidity of operation that characterized the man who was at the head of the French armies, he was not without apprehensions on this subject. His grace further expressed his hopes that ministers, whatever assistance they might continue to give the Spaniards, in money and supplies, would not rashly put to hazard any considerable portion of our military force.

No answer was given to the noble Duke, and the motion of lord Liverpool was put and agreed to.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Thursday, February 16.

[CONDUCT OF THE DUKE OF YORK.] Lord Folkestone moved the order of the day for the house to resolve into a Committee on the inquiry respecting the Conduct of h. r. h. the Commander in Chief.-The house resolved accordingly.

Lord H. Petty said, that at the request of a very respectable solicitor resident in Lincoln's-inn-fields, named Tyndale, he felt it necessary to state, that he was not the same who had been examined at the bar in the course of this inquiry, and he was ap

prehensive that without such explanation | any connexion with the subject, respecting his name might be confounded with that of a man with whom he had no interference nor connection whatever, and that he was ready and desirous to verify the fact

at the bar.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, he saw no danger of mistaking the gentleman for the other, who stated himself to live at Chelsea.

which the Committee were instructed to inquire, namely, the conduct of h. r. h. in his capacity of Commander in Chief. They had no relevancy whatever to the manœuvres of Mrs. Clarke, or the stories with them connected, nor any relation to military business. However, he had no wish that any paper should be withheld that in any degree might throw light upon the general case; and he therefore abstained from any resistance of the noble lord's motion, rather from a wish not to be thought desirous of stifling any information respecting the whole subject in agitation, than from any relevancy the motion had to the question before the Committee.

Lord Folkestone could not exactly understand the right hon. gent.'s meaning by his phrase, the manœuvres of Mrs. C.; but if the suggestion he (lord F.) had offered to the house last night, had been adopted, namely, an additional instruction to the Committee to enlarge their inquiry into the general conduct of the D. of Y. in other respects, the Papers now moved for would be highly relevant.

Lord Folkestone now rose, and said, that before he proceeded to call in the witnesses, it might be deemed convenient to put the Committee in possession of the particular subject to which he meant to examine the first witness, Mr. Duff, the solicitor, who attended in consequence of the order of the house yesterday, with some papers he had to produce. Those papers, he understood, came into the hands of Mr. Duff, in the year 1804, in consequence of his being solicitor to the statute of bankruptcy, against a man named Robert Kennett, who had formerly been an upholsterer in Bond-street, and afterwards lived in Lincoln's-inn-fields, in the profession of a tooth-ach curer. A proposition was set on foot by h. r. h. the D. of Y. to raise for his use the sum of 70,0001. or 80,000l. by way of annuity, and this Mr. Kennett undertook to forward the views of h. r. h., in consideration of provision being made for him by a respectable situation under government; upon the success of his undertaking, was to depend the success of the negociation for the loan. Accordingly, application was made by h. r. h. to Mr. Pitt, to earl Camden, and others, to procure Mr. Kennett a situation at home or abroad, and particularly one which happened just then to be vacant in the West Indies. A secretary to the D. of Y. acknowledged the receipt of Mr. Kennett's letter, proposing the terms of this negociation, the receipt of which he Do you know any thing of Robert Kennett? acknowledges in another letter, but in this I am a solicitor to the commission of bankhe expressed no disapprobation of Mr. Ken-ruptcy against him. nett's proposal; and it would appear upon the face of the letter, that the success of the D. of Y., in obtaining the situation, would depend upon the loan. He should adduce the letters before the Committee, and particularly that of col. Taylor, to which he alluded. He then moved that Mr. Duff be called to the bar.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer did not mean to oppose the motion of the noble lord ; but at the same time it did not appear to him that the evidence, or the papers now proposed to be produced, had VOL. XII.

Mr. Creevey stated, as there might be some doubt to which of the baroness Nolleken's sons the evidence of Mrs. C. given at the bar yesterday applied, he had been requested by Mr. Le Maitre, her son by the first marriage, to state that he had no intimacy whatever with Mrs. C. He was in waiting, if the house chose to examine him on this point.-This the house did not think necessary.

Mr. ARCHIBALD DUFF was called in, and

examined.

(By Lord Folkestone.)

What are you? A Solicitor.

place? Some time in the year 1803.
At what time did that bankruptcy take

commission of bankruptcy, have certain papers
In consequence of being solicitor to that
relative to this inquiry come into your possession?
In consequence of the bankrupt's papers hav-
ing been seized by the messenger under the
commission, I have become possessed of cer-
tain letters, which I have now in my pocket.

Produce those Papers. [The witness produced them.]

When did those papers come into your possession? I cannot ascertain the time; sometime, I think, about the latter end of 1805, or sometime in 1806.

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