The National Register. — London, England, 1809-12-03 00:00:00

THE I4tATIONAL 'REGISTER; meat had been adopted by so many of the immediate friends et Lord Castlereagh, upon the condition that it should be recon ciled to Lord Castlerengh's feelings; and when they, and our Lordship among the first, had devised and concerted with the King's First Minister the mode of carrying that object into ex ecution, 1 cannot help thinking that I should have been much, and justly, blntned, if I bad insisted upon taking the com►ouni cation to Lord Castlereagh out of your hands into my own. I now come to your Lordship's statement. That statement ip as follows " As it may he inferred, from a statement which has ap peared in the puhlic papers, that Lord Camden withheld from Lord Castlereagh a communication which he had been desirel to make to him, it is necessary that it should be understood, that however Mr. Canning might have conceived the commuri ratiou alluded to, to have need made to Lord Camden, it was never stated to Lord Camden, that the commuuication was mace at the desire of Mr. Canning ; .and, so far from Lord Camden having been authorised to make the communication to Lord Castlereagh, he was absolutely restricted from so doing. As it may also he inferred that Lord Camden was expected to prepare Lord Ca:tlereagh's mind for any proposed *Change, it is neces sary that it should he understood, that Lord Camden never en gaged to communicate to Lord Castlereagh .any circumstances respecting it, before the termination of the. Expedition." This statement appears to the to have been much misunderstood. It has been construed, as if your Lordship had meant to aver that what you were restricted from doing, and what you had tkot engaged to do, where one and the same thing: whereas your Lordship's statement, in point of fact, contains .two dis tinct propositions, and refers to two separate periods of time. The period during Which your' Lordship states yourself to have been " absolutely restaicted" from making a communication to Lord Castlereagh, extends from the 28th of April, on which day the first communication was made by the Duke of Portland to your Lordship, to the time at which the proposed arrange ment for the new distribution of the business of the War De pertinent was superseded by your Lordship's tender of your re signation. The period during which your Lordship states yourself " not to have engaged" to make, a communication to Lord Castlereagh, extends from the time of the tender of your Lordship's resignation to the termination of kite Expedition to . the Scheldt. It ought, however, to he obserlred, that during the first of these two periods,—fromahe 28th of April to the' 12th of July,—the nature Qf the communication L be made to Lord Castlereagh, and the nature of the restriction imposed upon your Lordship, were entirely changed. Previausly to , the Bth of June—the communication which your Lordship would nave nad to make to Lord ,Castlereagh, was simply that I had represented the ex pediency. ,of a change either in his de- . 'pertinent or mice, and that no decision whatever had yet been taken upon this representation. With respect to. this commeni-' cation, it does not appear that the restriction upon your Lord ship was absolute and indefinitte.. But t knew nothing of it existence. Subsequently to the Bth of June, the cotatitanication • to be made to Lord Castlereagh was, that au arrangement was incontemplation for anew distribution of the bttsiness o! the:War Department. With respect to his commuoication, not only was the restriction upon your Lordship not oely indefinitely con tinued ; but your Lordship actually received on the 28th OfJune an injunction to make this communication to Lord Castlereagh at a period distinctly specified, viz. the sailingasf the expedition. And this injunction was only superseded by a voluntary act of your Lordship's, your tender of your own' resignation on the Wit' of July, as the basis of another arrangement. During the whole of the period, from the 28th of April to the 12th of July, the concealment practised towards Lord Castle reagh, was either without my knowledge and contrary to my belief, or it was against my earnest remonstrances. It was w it it ut my knowledge and contrary to my belief, up to the week in which Partiatueot rose; and from that time forth it was against my earnest remonstrances. • Even when I learnt, in Juae, that the communication had not been made by your Lord ship to Lord Castlereagh, 1 did not learn that you bad been pre vented from making it by any absolute restriction. It was not till the month of July, in the course of the discussions which took place from the • 13th to the 20th of that month, respecting the proposal for postponing the new arrangement to he founded on your Lordship's resignation, and for leaving to your Lordship's discretion theitime ofdizelosure to Lord Castlereagh, that I learnt that the silence which you had ohServed towards,,ltins Pad bee. , imposed upon your Lordship by the injunction of the Duke of Portland, I did 'not know till then with • as wilo the con , - • ; cealment hitherto practised had origisaited, I frankly ()ma that 1 thought it had originated with your Lordship; I was anxious above all things, that it should not be ever suspected that it had originated with me; or-that 1 had been a consenting party to it, or even (till a late period) conscious of its exsienee. In my correspondence with the Duke of Portland at this period, there fore, at the same time I resisted the new delay then proposed,. I disclaimed any concurrence in the concealment which had bees hitherto practised, and requested " that it might he remem- , bored hereafter, whenever that concealment should he alledged• against irte, as an act of injustice to Lord Castlereagh, that it did not originate in my saggestiou, that, so far from desiring it, I had conceived (however erroneously) your Lordship to he the channel of communication to Lord Castlereagh ; and that up to: a very late period I had believed such communication to -have heen actually made." The Duke of Portland in answer acknowledged my repented remonstrances against the concealment; stating himself, at the same time, not to have been aware that I had at any time be lieved the communication to have been actually made; but as suring me " that he should be at all times ready to avow that the concealment had originated with h imself (the Duke of Port- I land) ; that he had enjoined it to all those w ith w hum he had corn " municated from motives which he was at all times ready to justify; and that he was desirous of taking whatever blame might have 'been or might at anytime he incurred by it, upon himself." This. as I have said, was my first knowledge of ens restriction, what ever upon your Lordship's communication to Lord Castlereagh ' If I am asked why I believed your Lordship to have actually made the communication, I answer, because it was natural that you should make it ; because the expectation of your making it was the motive which induced me to desire (and I did desire). that the communication should be made by your Lordship; be cause the manner in which you first received that commonica.. lion (as reported to m! by the Duke nf Portland), tended to con firm the belief that your Lordship was the fit channel of commu nication to Lord Castlereagh; and because I knew not of the. existence of any impediment to your por,tiing w hat appeared to me, and does still appear to me, the natural and obvious course to be pursued upon such an occasion. If it , be objected that I ought not to have been contented with presuming the disclosure to have been made, but ought to have diligently ascertained that it was so; first, [answer, that no aerson naturally sets about ascertaining that of which he entertains no doubt; and, secondly, I answer,-that the atomenfony suspicion of the fart was excited, I did set about ascertaining the truth ; and that upon ascertain ing it, I did remonstrate in,the strongest manner against the con cealment, and enforced that remonstrance by the tender of my own resignation. It was on the 26th or 27th of June (five or s ix days after Parliament rose) that I discovered my suspicion to be; 'founded. On the 27th I remoustrated. On the 28th I tendered ' iny'resignation. And in the course of the same day, your Lords.' ' ship (at I have already stated) received an injunction to make the communication as soon as the. Expedition should havesailed., 'The secant] of the two periods to which yo a- Lordship's stale 'ment refers, begins from thellittli of July, the day of the tender of your . Lordship's resignation. It does not appear, nor does; your Lordship's statement aver, that at any time during this se coed period, the restriction which had originally been imposed upon. your Lordship was renewed ; or that any other existed, except, that which your Lordship has imposed upon yourself, and which was therefore no longer binding upon your Lori!. ship. than while you might youiself be willing that it should bind you. Of the extent to which this self-imposed restriction appears to have gone, I had not any suspicion. I knew, indeed, that your Lordship had stipulate) to keep the time of the disclosure to Lord Castlereagh, in your own hands; but subsequently to lin being made acquainted with that stipulation, I had received the a-surances, which I have already described, on behalf of •' Lord CrAol ere:lg h's friends," and had relied on those assurant es. It was not till the 6th of September that Ilearnt that' those as surances had not been carried into (street. It was not till the 19th o'September that I learnt that )(At Lordship had b en no party to them. Then, indeed, I learnt that your Lordship had not only " nut engiged ' to nuke the communication previously to the." issue of the lixpedition being known here,"—hut that ht July You had ." stated to one of our colleagues„"---(not the Duke o(' Pitraand)—" to/to teas urging as earlier communication. that the time of communicatioo, sit for its you were concerned, 'was for you to decide ; but tha no one pad a right to say, you did not perform that part in the transaction in which you were cutieerned, if you did not open Our lips to Lord 'Caigloroosis bc• . , • DEC. 3. : . - • 1 11 ■