The National Register. — London, England, 1809-02-05 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Ikuhject of Mt. Knight's business, 'and that of others by menus of letters; how did Colonel Wardle get possesskm of these letters? A, lie took then up, read them, kept them, and I never could get them hart. Q. How did these letters come in the way of Colonel War dle ? A. I waS removing some articles, and among them pa wn, and this!. happened to he lying loose, and be took them. Q. bid he take them away with the consent of witness, or without her 4utburity ? A.. He did not take thew by my con sCnt. Qs, Were these letters written to witness by the Duke of York ? A. No,. Q. Whose letters were they ? A. They were from different Mends. Q. Did witness ever hear of an offer of money front the Duke of 1 - ‘ofk for suppressing the publication of these letters, or make one ? A. Never. _ Q. Did witness ever threaten to put these letters into hands that wapiti make them public, unless certain claims she made were complied with ? A. Never. I never wrote to any one best to Mr. Adam on the subject, and he has my letters, let him produce them. Interrogated by Lord STAN Lry.—Q. Was the Duke of York present when witness received the letter that contained the 2001. ? A. No. _ _ _ Q. How soon did witness tell the Duke of it ? The same may. tlutcrrogated by Sir F. Burdett). Q. Did witness receive any other monies for transactions Of a similacalescription with those mentioned by Mr. Knight? A. I did not expect to be ex amined as to any other subject this night.—Here the witness was permitted to withdraw. Mr. W. ADAtit thought it necessary to state to the House, that so far back as the year 17::9 he had been honoured with a com munication from the Duke of York on the subject of his pecan'. are concerns, and that since that period he had been in the habit of directing his attention to his Royal Highness' affairs. It came to his knowledge in the year 1805, that a person, calling himself tke husband of Mrs. Clarke, had brought an action of crint. con. against the illustrious Duke. This circumstance made it neces sary to enquire into that Lady's affairs ; and it fell to his lot to say that it was discovered that the Lady's conduct had not been so correct as she wished to represent it. Her connection with his Royal Highness it was apprehended might tend to injure his reputation, not in. his military capacity certainly, but with re spect to pecuniary twitters, by her extravagance and the debts. contracted. At this period, however, the Royal Duke was not inolined to believe that there was any thing wrong in the conduct of this Lady, and it was not until some very important discoveries were made that his !loyal Highness was convinced of her misbe haviour. She had repeatedly endeavoured to extort money from him, and these attempts could be brought home to her by proof. It was discovered, that in 1806, Mr. Clarke, and several per son's, had written to the Duke in order to obtain money. Soon stficr he had an interview with the Lady, his Royal Highness baying undertaken to defend her in an action, in which she had described herself as a widow. In the course of the proceedings it appeared that she was a married woman. Her account of herself was very contradictory; on one occasion she sail she was married at Pancras, awl on another at Berkampstead, where her father was a farmer. She also stated that her husband was tile nephew of Mr. Alderman Clarke. His Royal Hir,liness having signified his wish to separate from this lady, he (.Ir. Adam) was asked whether he had any objection to communi cate that determination to her. His Royal Highness stated, in a letter, that though Mrs. Clarke had not in any respect acted correctly, be was willing to give her an annuity of 4001. a year, but his Royal Ilighue. , 3 tytainin4 the power to withdraw the annuity if she mi,conductea herself. Havoig communicated the message of his Royal Highness, he left Mrs. Clarke, and bad not teen her from that time to the present. The ATTORNEY GESEHAL then put several questions to Colonel Wardel Q. I would ask the Hon. Member whether he collected what he stated to the House from Mrs. Clarke, and w hether he has stated any information that we did not collect from her? A. 1 bad a good deal of information from her, which I wrote in any memorandum-book ; she said much to me. Q. Does the lion. Member know whether she told him on Thursday, :he 25th of J uly, the payment of the 200/. was made ? A. From her a,•:iertions, from first to last, no doubt remains on my mind that she did. TheCUAN zt.on of the EXCLIZQVER was anxious to know FEE'; 5. w hat courie .the Honourable Member who brought forward this question intended to purNe. Colonel WARDLE was as desirous as any gentleman could be that the business might be proceeded in with every possible dispatch. It would, however, be necessary for him to wait the arrival from Spain of several essential witnesses, among orbefs Captain Huxley Sande!), and hl:3jor-General French. Todeed he could not well say when they would arrive, as no return having been made of the killed and wounded, it was impossible to say whether they were living. After some pointed diiimaeversions from Mr. ADAM, Mr. WAR nLE assured the House he should be ready to bring for ward Captain Maling's case on Friday. It was then ordered, on the Motion of Mr. Wit A !MIN, that the minutes of evidence, taken that night, be printed and laid before the Hoase- TIIVIttoDAY, 1:13. 2. INCREASE OF' THE ARMY. Lord CA STLER EA Gil/ having moved the second reading of the Militia Enlistment Bill, said, that it surely was not necessary for him to enter upon a detail of the reasons for a large military force at present. The executive Government ought to intim' a sufficient force, if possible, both for foreign exertions and home defence. As long as the people of Spain were true to themselves, we were bound by duty and interest to support them. He could nut believe the struggle to be at an end; but if it were at an end. something might grow out of that circumstance which might atford a field for British exertion. Great interests might be at stake at a distance. as well as at home. and it was proper to be precared. A deduction for the losses in Spain must be made, and he stated that a very considerable proportion of the battalions of the army (about 56) were below six hundred rank 'mod tile, and the addition by this measure would only raise these to 900 rank and file. In the army that went to Portugal, the first battalions had been filled up from the second, which rendered it a very efficient army, 29,000 being comprised in 32 battalions; and this measure was intended to fill up the deficiency, and also to supply the casualties in Spain. His Lordship then observed, that even while the country were labour ing under these measures, and under the burthens of unlimitled service, still there was something so stubborn in the nature of the recruiting service, that the numbers were constantly about 1,200 men a month under all circumstances. lie contended, that it was necessary to allow men to enter for unlimited service it they pleased, as this, at all events, would leave .a permanent feature in our force. lie called on the House to make the exer tion required, as it was their first ditty to their country. •It was impossible that at present there could be any danger to the liberties of the country, not only by the checks established, bet by the feeline,s of the regular army itself, which felt as strong,ly as any other description of men the value of the Constitution. The dangers to our liberties from a regular army were past e or, if not, the checks at present established were surely sufficient. Lord TEst eta: said, that the Noble I.Grd had now shewn us the nature and spirit of the measure, for the transfer was not now made on an emergency, hut in contemplation of an emer gency. So that this was now to become a regular system from year to year. This, he said, was a very bad mode of increasing the regular army, and as a regular system, he had the strongest objection to it. His Lordship also defended the plan of his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Windham), and stated, that when the Noble Lord laid his cold fingers upon it, it was producing at the rate of 24,000 a year, instead of the 13,000 produced by the Noble Lord ; and out of the 27,000 that volunteered from the Militia, 20,000 were for limited service at a loWer bounty. The pip was then read a second time, and ordered to becpats mitted on Monday nexto—Ad.;ourned, FRIDAY, FULL, cOmyITTEE Or SITIPP&T—NAVY FSTIMATIM The nonce hating gone 19t0 ;Committee of Supply oo the motion of Mr. Iluskisson. __ The following sums were-Teta t... For Wages for 130,000 asesier 13 months, at the rate of It. 17s. per man per month, 3,126,500 0 0 For Victuals for 130,090 men for 13 months, at the rate of 21. 19s. per man per month, 4,985,500 0 0 For wear and tear for the Navy for 130,000 men for 13 months, at the rate of 1/.. 19s. per man per month, 3,295,500 0 0 There was then voted to provide foe out standing Exchequer 13ills u . 10 500,000 0 0 For the same ; . . . 4500,000 a a