The National Register. — London, England, 1809-03-19 00:00:00

TILE NATIONAL REGISTER. 186 %%orld thvy felt, and were reialy to condemn conduct so palpably Irroct. Air. Secretary Cot !V NING 141 , 4 ready to admit that were there zany man in that House ho might be more particularly pointed eat as free from every kind of undue influence— •if there were thoe to whom the country would, on the present occasion, above ;.11 others, look to for an opinion given on ground, destitute of teiord to party or management, he had believed it was the Hon. tieatleman. He had always been confident that lion. Gentle wan would not compromise his feelings of justice on the import ant question, nor begin now to act the part of a parliamentary tactician. Such was the expectation he had entertkined of the conduct of the Honourable Gentleman, and he must confess that lie saw with surprise the course which he had taken. The _Honourable Gentleman was persuaded that the House ought to come to a decision which would have the effect of displacing the Duke of York from his 0 ice of Commander in Chief; but aft' :• allow ing all the weight which was due to the aro i' onients; on which he founded that opinion, still it was very doubtful whether the 'Louse t cold be warranted, to come to such a vote. Was it candid treatment to the Illustrious Personage whose ease was 'older con sideration to act thus ? Was such a proceeding respectful to the first Personage in the Kingdom, to whom the Address was pro posed to be presented? Was it consistent with Farliamentary practice, that a vote so undecided as the Amendment of the lion. Geutleman (Mr. Bankes) should be preferred to one, which stated a 'dear and specific opinion upon the principal point of the charg e? The Han. Gentleman had said there was no re cord, n othing excepting the Journals of the House. Was not slink record sufficient? and, if substantiated, was it not enough to blast the fame of his Royal Highness in the eyes of posterity i Such then was the effect of that .Amendment supported by the non. Gentleman ( Mr. Wilberforce) though he was ready to admit the charge of personal corruption and connivance had not been proved (A cry of No! Aro !) The Right Honourable Secretary then proceeded to remark upon the strong points of the evi deuce, and concluded by saying, he should give his vote for the amendment as proposed by his Right Hon. Friend (the Chan cellor of the Excheque...) Mr. G. Po x sox nv spoke shortly against the Resolutions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was convinced the I)uke of York ought, from the evidence given before the House, to be removed from his present situation. The Question was then loudly called for from every part of the House, and strangers were ordered to withdraw.—A divi sion then took place on Mr. Bankes's amendment, Ayes 199 I .Toes :294 I Thijorityagaitpit the Amendment 95. A second division next entued on the Chancellor of the Exche quer's first Resolution, moved as an Amendment uu Col. War 41e's Address : Noes 123 I Ayes 364 I Majority in favour of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Amendment X24l.—Adjourned. Thursday, March 16. No L•usinc:s of importance. Frin'try„March 17. DUKE OF YORK. "The SPEA Ern. stated the question for the consideration of the !louse to be as follows humble Address having been pro posed, and a division having taken place on the expediency,of proceeding by Address, the house came to the determination of proceeding by a resolution, to the following effect :—" That Charges having been brought forward against his Royal High see.: the Commander in Chief, accusing him of criminal corrnp sion and connivance at certain abuses in army promotion=, ap pointments, &c. the house feels it incumbent to give a distinct .:nd pointed opinion of the truth or falsehood of those charges, e. ; on the propriety of this resolution, therefore this debate as now to be resumed." Mr. PERCCVA r. said, if the. Gentlemen on the other side of the house bad no objection, he shouhi wish to withdraw this Itesolution for the purpose of substituting another in its room. As the house had come to the determination of pro ceeding by resolution instead of address, and as he had no wish to► rescind that detcrm+n a 'io►n, but merely to substitute another resolution, ►cith a little alteration, in its room, he thought the purpose might be aitaint.d without putting the question to a vote. this resolution he wi-hed to add the general opinion and settle tif :he house. ale had no wish, however, to force its being liicawit. if the house had any objection, lint he could see u IUit!OU why an opposition should he gi vest to such a step. MARCH 1 9 Mr. TIERNEY said that he had the strongest objection to the Resolution as it Was w orded, imesranch as it would appear on the Journals of the house, from such a deter mination, that there was in fact nothing. proved against his Royal 2 iglii:ess, either on the ground of criminal corruption or como‘ance, or in any other way, which shut out the. pi.E:sibi lity of giving an opinion on the other part of his caadnet, certainly deserving of the strongest animadversion. In his pri vate character the people had no interest, but in his public cha racter their interest was very materially concerned : it was pro bable he might one day or other come to the throne, and is the charges exhibited against him of corruption were proved, a Will of Exclusion must necessarily follow. if the records on the Journals of the house stated the conduct of the Commander in Chief to he vicious, it would be degrading not to follow that statement by a representation that he was unfit any longer to hold the situation at the head of military affairs. But he would them come orfore the house as a public Functionary, and if Royal Personages were to take the situations of Public tionaries, they must of course, as much as any other person; and if the house neglected to express their condemnation of the im proprieties which had been proved, the whole country would stand up in indignation. The Duke of York as a man is entitled by rank to every respect ; he is a man in private life who is both kind and beneficient, but it becomes Members of Parliament, as a duty which they owe to their constituents, however painful the execution oft hat duty may he, to take care that public offices are not filled by persons to whose character the most trifling suspicion is attached. Unless we express, as our duty requires, a distinct opinion of the abuses which have been proved, we shall be ashamed to look the public in the face. WVt respect to the Letter from the Duke of York to the house, it appeared to him to be the production, not of his Royal Highness himself, but of the Cabinet Ministers. The rig!.t hon. Gentleman on the other side of the house had accused the hon. Gentleman, who brought forward the charges now pend ing, of baying consulted wiser and cooler heads than his own. It might be fairly said, however, that the Duke of York cons suited weaker heads than his own, for he would never have been so base and so mean as to write such a letter, which was evidently intended to form a ground for the present proceed ing, He, (Mr. Tierney) was ready to say, on oath, that according to his opinion the Duke of Y ork was nut guilty of corrupt practices ; but there were many other Gentle, men who might be or fliliereot opinions, and who would be obliged to declare by this vote what those opinions were. It was to he regretted the Duke had not resigned, in the first instance, which he might have done without any possible impu tation against his character, and by such condttet he would have saved a great deal of that unpleasant feeling which pervaded the house on the present occasion. But, as this case now stood, the best method to adopt would be to give a general Virlir of the case; and unless the Chancellor of the Exchequer thought proper to come to this determination, he should not be allowed to withdraw his resolution. Mr. MA un tun Frry.Grt Ln begged for one moment the at tention of the House, and reminded them ho w• very liable to misrepresentations different Gentlemen must unavoidably be, if they were prevented from being sufficiently audible. lie had felt it his duty to vote for both the Addresses ; but in doing so, he declared that no Honourable Member who had voted on either of the Majorities against those. Addresses could possibly have f'ett greater pain than he would at the disgrace or deg radation of any branch of the illustrious family to which the !loyal Duke belonged. Ile objected to the Resolution of the Right Honour, able the Chancellor of the Exchequer, because it was professed ly to end in an Address, supposing he had no objection to the matter contained in that Resolution. Ile had voted for the Ad. dresses, because he approved of the 'ratter, though he thought an Address was not the mast desirable mode of proceeding, and that for two reasons ; one, that he did not think that House was to call in the aid of the Crown to do that which they were suffi cient to do themselves ; and another was, that an Address on such a subject did not appear to him to be the best mode of con . . slitting the feelings of a Sovereign and a Father; yet even with, those disadvantages he was compelled to vote for the Addresses in preference to the Resolutions of the Right Ilononrable Gen- . demon. As to all thnt had been said with respect to out-door influence, he was far from being disposed ever to let any popular cry have any undue influence on his vote in that house; hut at the same time he thought it to he the duty of the Representa. fives of the People, not to be inditfereat or insensible to the pub lie opinion. N