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arrived. Hence, partly from too scrupulous an attention to the minutie of form, and too little regard to order and dispatch, the supplies of the necessary comforts and medicines for the sick were tardy and irregular; and the ill effects of the climate and season of the year were greatly heightened and extended. At last, when the sickness became alarmingly fatal, the medical board was applied to, to send one of its members to investigate the nature, the causes, and the most effectual cure, of it, on the spot: but, strange to tell, they severally declined the task; either because such an undertaking was not within the line of their duty, or because their skill and experience did not extend to diseases of the army.

Such is a summary of the evidence on the two great branches of the investigation, on which a vote of censure was moved against ministers in the house of commons. We have already stated and examined the reasons they assigned for the retention of Walcheren so long after the attack on Antwerp was abandoned. The charge respecting inattention to the cure and comfort of the sick, they seem to

have admitted: for, soon after the termination of the inquiry, the old members of the medical board were dismissed, and the board itself was put upon a different footing.

In reply to the charge, that they had set on foot the expedition without any rational prospect of success, and that the information on which they had acted was vague and imperfect; they contented themselves with maintaining, that at the time the armament first assembled there was every probability of its gaining complete success; and that to the unfavourable direction of the wind, which detained it upwards of a fortnight in the Downs, after every thing was ready, ought to be ascribed its failure. How far this defence is well grounded, and especially what probability of success an armament could have, under the command of lord Chatham, however unprepared the enemy had been, has been already discussed. The defence of ministers, however, was deemed so satisfactory by the majority of the house of commons, that they not only acquitted them, but voted them worthy of commendation, for having planned and executed the expedition to Walcheren.

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CHAP

CHAPTER X.

Circumstances which drew off the Attention of the Nation from the Walcheren Investigation-Mr. Yorke's Motion to exclude Strangers-Remarks on itHis Unpopularity in consequence-Loses his Election for CambridgeshireHis Conduct discussed in the Debating Societies-Character of these Societies -Complains of a Breach of Privilege-Mr. Gale Jones committed to Newgate-Analysis of Sir Francis Burdett's Letter to his Constituents-Speaker's Warrant issued against him-Delay in executing it-Doubts of the Sergeant-at-Arms-Disturbances in the Metropolis-Attorney General's Opinion— Remarks on it-Sir Francis Burdett arrested and conveyed to the TowerRemarks on bis Conduct.

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I might naturally be supposed that the nation at large would be moved with indignation at the proofs of imbecility and incapacity exhibited in the investigation, respecting the expedition to the Scheldt, and that this indignation would have spoken in such strong and dreadful terms, that the ministers who planned and executed it would no longer have deemed it prudent to retain their situations. A knowledge of the British character, as it displays itself in the interest the nation takes in public concerns; in applying to themselves, more than any other nation, the glory or disgrace of their military transactions; and especially a recollection of the unusual interest they had taken in the inquiry respecting the duke of York, certainly appeared to justify this supposi tion; and there can be little doubt that the consequence of the investigation into the expedition to Walcheren would have terminated in the removal of ministers, either by the direct or indirect means of the public indignation; either by lead. ing many of those who voted for them to have absented themselves,

or to have voted differently in consequence of the strong and general expression of the public sentiment; or by inducing his majesty, in consequence of that expression, to have dismissed them, even though they were applauded and fenced by a majority of the house of commons. But, as has been already hinted, means were found, in the first instance, to deprive the people of that regular supply of information respecting the proceedings as they went on, which was necessary to keep alive their interest, and to let them into the knowledge of all the blunders that had been committed, and into the detail and particulars of the disgrace, expense, and loss of lives, which had followed from those blunders: and afterwards, when they were likely to have fixed their attention on the summing up of the evidence; on the weakness of the defence of ministers; and more especially on the vote by which their representatives were about not merely to acquit, but to applaud the authors of the disgrace, expense, and loss of lives; an occurrence was eagerly seized by the friends of the accused, which 03

most

most completely absorbed and drew off the public attention and interest.

As soon as the house of commons had determined to enter on the investigation respecting the expedition to the Scheldt, Mr. Yorke, the member for Cambrideshire, put in force the standing order of the house, by which strangers were excluded during the examination of the several witnesses. His reason for this measure was plausible and specious: he contended, that in consequence of the public receiving the evidence respecting the duke of York in detached portions, they formed their opinion against him from a narrow and partial view of the subject; that in consequence of this, his royal highness's case and statement never received a fair and full investigation by the nation at large, who were in fact his judges; since from the strong and universal expres sion of their opinions, he had found himself compelled to resign his situation; and that, therefore, a regard to the cause and ends of justice, and to the character and fate of ministers, demanded that the public should not receive the evidence on this case, till they received it complete, and bearing both on the accusation and defence of those whose conduct was arraigned. In reply to this, it may be remarked, that by publishing detached por tions of the evidence on any accusation brought before the house of commons, it is as likely that favourable as unfavourable circumstances should first come before the public; and it might with more propriety and force have been contended, that the speech of the member who summed up the evidence against ministers should not have been printed, because it appearing first

in the newspapers, might prejudice the mind of the nation before they read the reply. But while we consider Mr. Yorke's motion as origi nating from a regard to the cause of justice, and tending, as it is maintained, to secure the accused from rash and violent invective, and ultimately from ignorant and undeserved condemnation; let us examine it in another point of view. It is too evident that the expression of public opinion is too often necessary, even under our happy constitution, to keep the representatives of the nation, and much more ministers, strictly to their duty. But by depriving the people of the means of judging of the causes. and the authors of the calamities and disgrace at Walcheren, (and the great majority of the nation were most effectually deprived, by having the evidence presented to them in one mass, so that they had no opportunity or leisure to read and digest it,) the fate of ministers was left entirely to the house of com mons: they were no longer responsible to the nation, but to the members of that house.. Had the members been chosen in a different manner, most probably the voice of the nation and the voice of the par liament would have coincided: but as it is constituted, it is all the better for occasionally hearing the opinion of the public, especially on a question where the character and fate of ministers are implicated. If it then be said, that by moving the standing order Mr. Yorke prevented the nation from forming a partial and unjust opinion on the merits of the investigation; it may on the other hand be urged, that by so doing he removed the check and guidance of the public voice, and left the decision of the question to men who were at least as likely to

incline

incline towards the accused, as the nation would have been to have passed an unjust sentence upon them. Mr. Yorke's conduct on this occasion was justly appreciated both by ministers and the public. The former were so sensible of the benefit they had derived from his seasonable enforcement of the standing order, that he soon obtained from them the situations of teller of the exchequer and first lord of the admiralty.

In consequence of these appointments, he necessarily vacated his seat for Cambridgeshire; and in the popular indignation that was roused against him throughout the kingdom, as well as in the defeat of his attempt to be re-elected, the sense of the nation was unequivocally pronounced on the merit and motives of his services to ministry. It was expected by himself and his friends, that, however unpopular he might be in other parts of England, still in Cambridgeshire he would retain influence enough to be re-elected. In this county, his brother, lord Hardwicke, possessed considerable property and sway; and in one part of it, (the district of Ely,) respect and veneration for the memory of his uncle, who had been bishop of that diocese, remained in considerable force. But all these favoura. ble circumstances were unavailing; and from the reception he met with in Cambridgeshire, where he possessed so large a portion of influence, might easily be collected the idea that was formed of his late conduct by the nation at large.

He was opposed in his election by lord Francis Osborne ; and so decided and general was the sense of the freeholders of the county at the meeting which was held to nomi

nate a representative against their late member, and in favour of the new candidate, that Mr. Yorke thought it proper to decline a poll. At this meeting, the whole of his political conduct was canvassed with the utmost freedom. He was accused of having lent himself a ready and zealous supporter to those measures which had aimed at the liberty of the subject;-to have opposed all attempts to introduce œconomy, or to restore the constitu tion to its original purity. The part which he took during the investigation of the charges brought against the duke of York, and the imputation of jacobinism and conspiracy which he had cast on those who questioned the innocence of his royal highness, were not forgotten. Perhaps no candidate, during a poll, ever heard all that could be said, justly or unjustly, against his character and conduct so openly and strongly brought forward. In vain he attempted to defend himself: he was indeed partially heard; but he spoke to men who would believe nothing good, nothing patriotic, nothing principled, to have proceeded from one who had invaded one of the privileges of Britons, by depriving them, as far as in him lay, of the melancholy consolation of knowing who were the authors of their calamities.

Mr. Yorke was destined to become the origin of proceedings which rendered him still more unpopular; and which, while they freed ministers from public indignation respecting the issue of the expedition to Walcheren, exposed them to it on another account, and for some days shook to its centre the tranquillity of the metropolis. There are several debating socie ties in London, where questions, 04

chiefly

chiefly of a political nature, are discussed. Soon after the commencement of the French revolution, the proceedings and speeches of the members of these societies outraged so completely the necessary restraints of order and good government, that by the operation of the acts (usually called the Pitt and Grenville acts) they were silenced. They were not opened again till several years afterwards: and for some time after their reopening, the subjects discussed in them were of a nature little connected with politics, so that government did not put in force the law against them. By degrees, however, they resumed, in some degree, their old character; suited indeed to the altered sentiments and views of the times, which no longer were interested in discussions on the abstract points of politics, or would endure the open avowal and defence of republican doctrines and principles. Of one of these socieLes John Gale Jones was the chief supporter, and the most popular and able orator. This man had been known during the most violent days of admiration for the French revolution; and his political conduct, at that time, had exposed him to much trouble. Either for the purpose of securing a numerous attendance at the debating society, which he supported, and thus making it a more profitable con cern; or because he thought the public attention ought to be called to the character and most prominent actions of public men; or from a mixture of both these mo, tives and reasons, he never failed to propose for discussion the most popular political topic or event of the day. Nearly at the same time that Mr. Yorke enforced the stand

ing order for the exclusion of strang ers from the gallery of the house of commons, Mr. Windham indulged himself in a violent attack on the cha racter of those gentlemen who report for the newspapers, and on the liberty (or, as he termed it, the licentiousness) of the press. As the members of the debating societies not only discuss but come to a decision, questions that admit of comparison or contrast are always selected. The motion of Mr. Yorke, and the consequences it had and was likely to have on the pending investigation, were the common topic of conversation throughout the metropolis. The speech of Mr. Windham was not calculated to excite such general attention; but the general character of that gentleman, his known aristocratic principles, and especially the contrast between his behaviour to the newspaper reporters and the picture he drew of them, and between the anxiety he always expressed to have his speeches well heard and faithfully given in the public prints, and the total indifference which he asserted in parliament that he felt on those points had drawn upon him no small share of the attention and· conversation of the inhabitants of London. Mr. Gale Jones therefore, in conformity to his usual plan, proposed for discussion in the British Forum (for such was the name of his debating society): "Which was most deserving the censure of the public,Mr. Yorke's enforcement of the standing order of the house to exclude strangers from the inquiry into the Walcheren expe dition, or Mr. Windham's late attack on the liberty of the press? " The subjects for discussion, with the decision of the preceding night, were always placarded in different

parts

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