of York, to express the high opinion entertained of his services and merits? If there is no foundation for my question, I desire to be stopped. It is, I fear, not less true than dangerous. To what does this lead? In the moment of deliberation, are the Commons of England to be subject to the interference of the officers of the army? Is the character which was given of the Duke of York in this House the ground-work of this proceeding? I have heard by report that the address was waived, but for the present only, till these proceedings are over. Sir," he continued, addressing himself to the Speaker, "general officers ought to know that they owe obedience to the state, and that they have no more right to assume the functions of a deliberative body than the privates of the army or navy. Shall we henceforth be compelled to hold our deliberations under terror of the bayonet? These things ought not to be tolerated. When officers of the army sit in judgement on the Duke of York, at the very moment that we are deliberating on the charges brought against him, it is high time that this House should set its face against all such proceedings. We may address his Majesty to dismiss the duke from the office of commander-in-chief. A body of general officers will, at the same time, it appears, address the duke in terms of approbation; thus a contention will arise between the army and the House of Commons. Is there a man in this House who can be insensible to the consequence?" Sir James Pulteney, though repeatedly called upon by Mr Whitbread in the course of his speech, to set him right if he had been misinformed, suffered him to proceed without interruption. Mr Whitbread

past on to other topics, and when he had concluded. Sir James rose with a most unsatisfactory reply. "There was," he said, "some foundation for the statement which had been made, but it was only this. There existed in town a club of military gentlemen, of which he was an unworthy member; that club had lately met, and at the meeting some conversation had arisen respecting the conduct of the Duke of York as commander-inchief. The conversation turned up. on the services rendered by his royal highness to the army; and the members of the club thought themselves bound in gratitude to testify to him the high sense they entertained of the eminent advantages which the army had derived from his able administration of the military affairs of the country. These sentiments they had resolved to express to his royal highness in the form of an address; but their proceedings had no reference whatever to the circumstances of the present moment; nor was it ever intended that the address should be presented till the proceedings in that House should have closed."

The circumstances which had thus been disclosed by Mr Whitbread, and thus admitted by the secretary at war, called up Mr Canning, who, in a short but energetic speech, expressed his decided disapprobation of proceedings so unconstitutional, and so dangerous. The question was put upon Sir T. Turton's amendment, and he was left in a minority of 135 to 334. Mr Perceval's resolution was then put to the vote. Mr H. Thornton and Mr Windham both reminded the House, that the only opportunity they could have of amending this resolution, was by negativing it, and proposing another which might acquit the duke of per

March 20.

sonal corruption, and leave out the part which acquitted him of connivance. In consequence of this, ministers only obtained a majority of 82. Mr Bathurst's resolution was still to be disposed of, but it was now five on the Saturday morning, and the House adjourned till Monday. On their next meeting Mr Perceval informed them, that on the Saturday morning, as soon as their decision had been known, the Duke of York, of his own immediate and spontaneous motion, had waited upon the king, and tendered to him his resignation, which had been accepted. "The House of Commons," his royal highness said, "having past a resolution of his innocence, he might now approach his Majesty, and venture to tender his resignation, as he could no longer be suspected of acting from any apprehension of the result; nor be accused of having shrunk from the extent of an inquiry, which, painful as it had been, he had met with patience and firmness that could only have arisen from conscious innocence. It would not become him to say, that he should not quit with sincere regret a situation in which his Majesty's confidence and partiality had placed him, and the duties of which it had been his anxious study and his pride, during fourteen years, to discharge with integrity and fidelity; whether he might be allowed to add, with advantage to the service, his Majesty was best able to decide." Mr Perceval said, that having made this communication, he left it to the House without a comment: Whether it did not render any farther proceedings unnecessary, was for Mr Bathurst to determine. Mr Bathurst, however, still thinking it the duty of the House to insert such a decision in

their journals as should contain both example and admonition, persisted in moving his resolution.

Lord Althorpe differed in some points from Mr Bathurst, and wished it to be placed in the journal, that the duke had resigned; this, he said, would bring the whole proceeding to its proper close, and shew satisfactorily why it was closed. Removal from office was not, indeed, a constitutional punishment; but it would in this case be so far effective as to preclude the possibility of the royal duke being ever reappointed to a situation which he had proved himself so incompetent to fill. He had lost the confidence of the country for ever, and must, therefore, abandon all hope of ever again returning to that situation. His lordship then moved, that his royal highness having resigned, the House does not now think it necessary to proceed any farther in consideration of the evidence. To this Mr Perceval replied, that, after the House had negatived the charges, it would be unjust thus to reserve to themselves the right of again reviving the proceedings against his royal highness at any future period, and he moved as an amendment on this resolution, that the word now should be expunged. Mr Bathurst's resolution was negatived without a division, and the chancellor of the exchequer's amendment upon Lord Althorpe's motion carried by a majority of 123.

Mr Whitbread, who distinguished himself throughout the whole of these debates, made an observation wor thy of notice at the close of them. "There is," he said, "one important object, which I hope and trust will now at length be effected. I mean the annihilation of that party which has existed for more than for

ty years, secret, invisible, but possessing power so great, as to have drawn from the great Lord Chatham the assertion, that there existed something behind the throne greater than the throne itself.' This hidden, butirresistible power has upset various administrations. It still exists, and at the head of it, if any credit is to be given to a pamphlet most audaciously published last summer, and which has hitherto escaped prosecution, is the Duke of York. An end must be put to that mischievous party, which falsely assumes to be composed of the king's friends. The claim of exclusive right to such a title is either a libel on the rest of his Majesty's subjects, or an acknowledgement of devotion to the crown, with out regard to the rights and privileges of the people. If we are to behieve report, the last ministry was displaced, and the present ministry established, by the contrivances of that party. I am not, however, without hope that the eyes of princes will be opened to the peril to which the royal family is exposed by such Harigues. To the existence of such secret, evil, unavowed counsellors, under the princes of the house of Stuart, may be traced the downfall of that family, and the elevation of the house of Brunswick to the throne." Then pronouncing the moral epilogue to the inquiry, "I am far," said he, "from wishing to visit the errors of princes with any particular severity; they are not to be tried according to the rules which apply to the conduct of the general mass of society. From the cradle to the grave they are exposed to the baneful influence of flattery; and by the base views and treachery of those generally about them, they are almost cut off from the truth. Their

VOL. II. PART I.

temptations are greater, and their means of resistance less. How then can we expect the same fruit, where the same degree of cultivation is impossible?-These considerations may check our disposition to envy, but they will add to our inclination to make allowance for their errors. By a false and mistaken policy, the legislature has cut off the royal family of this country from the common rights of mankind. If they form any legitimate connection, it must almost inevitably be an union in which the heart can take no interest. I wish those bonds were broken; I know no evil, but I can foresee much good, which would arise from their repeal. I think an intermixture with the first families of this country quite as desirable as the most illustrious foreign connection. Upon all accounts, "he concluded, "I am averse to the sermon which has been proposed to be preached to the Duke of York. The examinations we have gone through have been one long and painful lecture, and if no impression has been thereby made upon his mind, it is incapable of being impressed."

One point more connected with this long inquiry was yet to be concluded. Mr Wynn moved the resumption of the de- March 23. bate upon General Clavering's conduct. The Speaker then observed, that he had received a let ter from that officer asserting his innocence, and expressing his readiness to submit to the jurisdiction of the House; which letter he would read if called upon so to do. To this Mr Wynn replied, he considered such proceeding irregular, as he had considered the letter of the Duke of York, which he once intended to make the subject of a specific motion. That intention he had aban

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doned, because the House had resolved that no farther proceedings were necessary after the resignation of his royal highness; because the chancellor of the exchequer had explained, that the most objectionable passage was not designed to convey the meaning imputed to it, and still more because he now understood that this objectionable passage was suggested from another quarter, and inserted in the letter against his royal highness's own judgement. But with regard to the present question, he felt it his duty to persevere in bringing it forward. General Clavering was defended by Sir Matthew W. Ridley and by Mr Wharton; but the motion was carried against him without a division; he was pronounced guilty of prevarication and committed in consequence to Newgate by the Speaker's warrant. There he remained till the

end of the session, persisting that he had committed no intentional fault, that indeed, being the only course he could pursue; in consequence he presented no petition to be released, and only obtained his deliverance when Parliament broke up, and the speaker's warrant was no longer in force. Captain Huxley Sandon, who had confessed himself guilty, was previously set at liberty on petitioning and expressing his contrition.

It was hoped, on the resignation of the Duke, that the system of the Admiralty would be adopted at the War-office, and the office of commander-in-chief put in commission; and this was the more expected, because it would increase the patronage of government. But ministry made no alteration in the existing system, and Sir David Dundas was appointed to succeed his royal highness.

THE affair of the Duke of York was continually before Parliament for two months, occupying a third of the whole session, to the grievous interruption of public business, and the more grievous excitement of the people, even to the extinction in most minds of all other public interest whatever. The result was at least as much matter of honour as of dishonour to the English government. The king's second son, a prince en joying the favour of his father, and so near the throne himself, had been driven from office by a member of the House of Commons who was unheard of before this transaction, and who neither possessed any influence of character, property, nor talents. It had been proved to the conviction of the country that his royal highness was so far culpable as to render his resignation proper; that resignation had taken place in consequence, and public opinion had thus obtained a more signal triumph than could be parallelled in the history of any other age or nation. The subject had been

debated at unexampled length, and

on no former occasion had more ingenuity or more ability ever been displayed in Parliament. Yet the immediate consequences of the inquiry were prejudicial to the House of Commons, to the ministry, and to the government.

The complete acquittal of the duke had been carried by a majority of only 82; but the opinion of the public was so decidedly against him, that the people would not believe it possible for any man conscientiously to have acquitted him. They did not consider that their own minds had been prejudiced upon the sub ect; that they were predisposed to believe the charges; and that the evidence was dealt out to them daily and weekly by journalists desperately hos tile to the duke, who suffered no argument which bore against him to pass unenforced, and slighted or slurred over all that could be urged in his defence. Neither did they ask themselves what was the extent of the criminality which they supposed

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