The National Register. — London, England, 1809-10-15 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. DUEL BETWEEN THE KING'S MINISTERS At length the precise case of Lord Castlereagh has !men brought forward. " The following are the letters which passed between the two Ministers of the Crown, on the occasion of the flagrant breach of the peace which they committed at Putney Heath. COPIES OF TUC CHALLENGE AND ACCEPTANCE. SIR, St. James's-square, 19th September, 1809. It is unnecessary fur me to enter into any detailed statement of the circumstances which preceded the recent resignations. It is enough for me, with a view.to the immediate object ofthis letter,, to state, that it appears a proposition had been agitated, without any communication with me, for my removal from the War Dewittlent ; and that towards the close of the last Session, havh%g urged a decision upon this question with the alter native of your seceding from the Government, procured a positive promise from the Duke of Portland (tbe execution of which you afterwards considered yourself entitled to enforce), that such removal should he carried into effect. Not‘vithstanding this promise, by which you consider ou pronohnced it unfit that I should remain charged with the conduct of the War, and by which my'sithat ion as a Minister of the Crowd was made depend-- tint on your will and pleasure, you contiuned to sit in the same Cabinet with me, and to leave me not only in the persuasion that I possessed your confidence and support as a colleague, but you allowed me, in breach of every principle of good faith both public and private, though thus virtudly superseded, to origi nate and proceed in the execution of a new enterprise of the most arduous and important nature, with your apparent con currence, and ostensible approbation. You were fully aware that if my situation in the Government had been disclosed to me, I could not have submitted to remain one moment in office, without the entire abandonment of my private' honbur and public duty. You knew I was deceived, and you continued to dt‘ceive me. _ _ I rim oWare, it may he said, which I am ready to acknow ledge, that when you pressed for a decision for my removal, you also pressed for its disclosure, and that it was resisted by the Doke of Portland, and some members of the Government sup posed to he my fcieuds But 'I never can admit, that you have a right to . make use of such a plan, in justification of au act af fecting my . honour, nor that the sentiment: of Athers (out* jai tif y an arciiiiescence in such a delusions's your pan; who had yourself felt and'ittted its unfairness. Nor can I admit that the head of •any administration, or any supposed friend, (whatever he their motives) .can authorise or sanction any man in such a course of king and persevering deception. For were Ito admit such a principle, my honour and character would be from that moment in the discretion of persons wholly unauthorized, and known to you to he 'unauthorized, to act for me in such a case. It was therefore your act and your conduct which deceived Inv ; and it is impos:.ibie for me to acquiesce in being placed in a si tuation ,by you, which no man of honour could knowingly sub mit to ; nor patiently suffer himself to be betrayed into, without forfeiting that character. I have no right, as a public man, to resent your demanding, upon public grounds, my removal from the particular office I have held, or even from the AdminiAratien, as a condition of your crintinuing a Member of the Government. But I have n distinct right to expect that a preposition, justifiable in itself, shall not be executed in an unjustifiable manner, and at the ex ponce of my honour and reputation. • And I c ons id er t h at you were bound, at least, SO avail yourself of the same alternative, namely your own resignation, to take yourself out of the pre dic a ment of practising such' a deceit towards me, which you did e‘erciso in demanding a decision for my removal. Under these circumstances, I must require that satisfaction from you to which I feel myself entitled to lay Claim. I am, &c. . CASTLEREAGH. The Right lion. George Canning, &c. &c. MY Loan, Gloucester Lodge, Sept. 20, 1609. The tone and the purport of your, Lordship's letter, which I have this moment received, of eourse preclude any oth er answer ft') my part to the - misapprehensions anAmisrepreseotations with wOich it abounds, than that.l will cheerfully give to your Lord b.,ip the kat Vogt ion which 70u require, I am, &c. . . GEORGE CANNING. A . Lord Viscount' CoAlerearsi ►, u‘c. • ••••••1.11 166 - -, STAT EAIENTS CIRCULATED RP TIM TrailiNDl OP M. c 4 ifiviscr,.nrismtwall TO Tits ctiAloss anbacurr 4o4Drar 11131 ir LOaQ CAsizz; • . :!? • 0.'...r REAGH. It is perfectly true, that SO long ago a; Easter Mr. Canning had represented to the Duke of Portland the insufficiency (in his opinion) of the Government, as then constituted, tocarry on the affairs of the country, under all the difficulties of the times, and had' requested that, unlesirsome changeshould be effected. in it s . he might be permitted to resign his office. It equally true that in the course of the discussion, which arose out of this represen. tation, it was proposed to Mr. Canning, and accepted-by him, as the condition of his consenting to retain the seals of the Foreign Office, that a change should be made in the Wur Department. But it is not true that the time at which that change was ulti mately proposed to be made, was of Mr. Cniming's :choice ; and . it Is not true that he was party or consenting to the concealment of that intended change from Lord Castlereagh: With respect to the concealment, Mr. Canning., some short time previous to the date of Lord' Castlereagh's letter, wkhont• - the smallest suspicion of the existence of any intention on the'part of Lerd Castlereagh to make such an appeal to Mr. Canning as that letter contains, but upon information that some misap prehension did exist as to Mr. Canning's supposed concurrence in the reserve which had been practised towards Lord Castle- reagh, transmitted to one of Lord Castlereagh's most intimate friends, to be communicated whenever • Ire'shight think proper,. the copy of a l e tter a dd resse d . b y M r. Canning to the Duke of Portland, in the month of July, in which Mr. Canning requests, " in justice to himself, that it may he remembered, whenever hereafter this concealment shall he alleged (as he doubts not that it will) against him, as an act of injustice towards. Lord. Castle. reagh, that it did not originate in his suggestinns—that so far from desiring it, he conceived, however erroneously, Lord Cam. deli to be the sure channel of communication to Lord Castle reagh; and that up to a very late period he believed such com munication to have been actually made." The copy of this letter, and of the Duke of Portland'sanswer to it, " acknowledging Mr. Canning's repeated remonstrances against' the concealment," are still in the possession of Lord Cal tlereagit's friend. .. The communication to Lord Camden, to which this letter re era;' was made on the 28th of April, with Mr. Canning's know. ledge, and at his particular desire. Lord Camden being the near connection and most confidential friend of Lord Castlereagh, it never occurred to Mr. Canning, nor was it credible to him, till he received th e most pos i t i ve asseverations of the fact, that Lord Camden had kept back such a communication from Lord Cas tlereagh. • With respect to the period at which the change in the War Department was to take place, Mr. Canning was induced, in the first instance, to consent to its postponement till the rising of Parliament, partly by the representations made to himself of the inconveniencies of any change in the middle of a Session,.but principally from a consideration of the particular circumstances under which Lord Castlereagh shod in the House of Commons after Easter; circumstances which would have given to his re moval at that period of the Session, a character whicit it was certainly no part of Mr. Cunning's wish that it should bear. Mr. Canning, however, received the most positive promise, that a change in the War Department should take place imme diately upon the close of the Session. %Viten that time arrived, the earnest and repeated entreaties of most of Lord Castlereagh's friends in the Cabinet, were employed to prevail upon Mr. Can ning to consent to the postponement of the arrangement. At length, and most reluctantly, he did give his consent to its being postponed to the period proposed by Lord Castlereagh's friends, viz. file termination of the Expedition then in prepar ation; but he di.iso upon the most distinct and solemn assuran ces, that whatever might be the issue of the Expedition, the change should take place at that period; that the Seals of the War Department should then be offered to Lord Wellesley (the person fur irhose accession to the Cabinet, Mr. Canning wan known to be most anxious), and that the interval should foe diligently employed by Lord Castlereagh's friends, in preparing Lord Castlereagh's mind to acquiesce in such au arrangement. it was therefore a matter of astonishment to Mr. Canning, whet) at the issue of the expedition, he reminded the Duke of Portland, that the time was now mine for his Grace's writing. to Lord . Wellesley, to find, that so far from the interval having been emlilo3ell by Lord Cast let-y:1;01's friend°, in preparing Lord ••10'1