The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1809-03-14 00:00:00

the I its joorned Debate, relative to an eon hut of his Royal Iligligiv,i4o • Chi t, be how resumed," was i The SpE A KER oriefly.e pet . trial ____ rotation lichee the I loin, The Secs, ram, at rose , rid, thatln * the owiervatiu., he w tellk t he should be as brief as poss . .ble ;' Seniaptl::reil is , .tivided into two bean 1. 4" the Duke of York harp,;; corruptly . par a in Irreel . a ler deiposal of commissions; one u rim IlaVlag rrinitterl tech trauractione to • tuke place tow 1w -evil, while he must have had a reasonable g iiii d fur suspicion; for either of which he wee to tie co:Isidro:II as uutit fur the office of Com. nialuder-M-Chiel. and be dislodged.. A. the eels donee had been already so clearly remarked upon. he should out take tip the time of the limi...e by going again into it. lie was Indy convinced, Iron. what had already parried un the aubret of Mn.r Florke's testimony, that her evidence au. Mi. sidered, by the majority of the House, as unworthy of belief. (4 general cry of No ! co! no!) He at least considered suet' to he the care, and his object would be to uoint out to tense who dis credited iiertestiinotay, generally, that that being set aside, no other ground exited I :ar believing that his itoval Highness had any k mei ledge of cor- motion. - Her evidence event to prove a partici- patina, which, if believed, would require a stronger measure. The Right Hon. (S'erit. their entered into an argument to prove that Mrs. Clarke had not any sle4ree of influence over his Royal Highness, for she appeared ignorant of the listed course of busilica ; 1 , bad she been its the 1101)4 of cooversiog with his Royal Highness, it, could not have town in ; and that this was tic case, watt clearly proved by vari- MIS parts iif toe evidence ; she did not even know Went an nppointinent was to take place. or why should she be in anxious to g. , The Gazelle ? MO the been in the habit of traffi •kir.g with the Doke for elinalissiims, she would sot Leave heed izaaraiit of the .recerting ; nor wool I she, as its olio case it was prove), have lust half her money. By the (-tiers of )Irs. Clarke to Captain S.,ottlen,, it wall I have Itet - n her iiitt•re,t that the levy should have en•Jtioued, it she was to have reef-wed a gui nea a ru iii. As to the cope of Major Torero. it actually uroverl, not only that there we re no gmaade fir (.0 a tymin, but that there ea* in fact nroof of even wai l r of cominaniration with the Duke of Yin k, na the subject of military promotirsuis So littl e d .I h e k n ow of military hueitiess. that al though 5004. was at stake., rood else anxious to nii- Cita it, }et stir was a• whole week sgoormit that he had Leen appointed to a in ,iority ; mud it the true she washed to stop it, fir dowered by her lettv.* ;root Weybridge. the appointment had taken place eight 'Lye; it also appeared,' that not th.- sinallest step lia'l ever been !Atm tai s t o p it. As to Colonel Sonw's ease. ,, Wheie No.. Clarke snide her complaint. end OS told he 'should lie immediately put upon halflniv, he was actually tyon half-pay at the time. the case of Samuel Carter had (teed sufficient' , oli..erved tipon ; and us to qr. Dodder, his tint aresece proved that be had espoa-ed the cense of Mrs. Clarke; for. "lieu asked lons be had minimal b•s appointment? Ite .replied. that he had purchased it of her ; this too it at a time when she had no inflininee with the Duke; the whole of this C 211.1, therefor', went fur nothusg. 'lhe Right Hum (Sentient:dr - then came to the questioo how far guilt was to be attached to his Royal Hi.. linesa for not entertaining orrepicion ? It was coliteiehel, that at least he on 'tit to hare hail sorne ruspitiou. Now the wholi • ens of cor ruption :siphon was htfore our eyes, we mpg 'think so ; but it was a matter of doubt whether we should have thought so had not this been the case. it had been said that it was a matter of notoriety ; this he denied ; fur even those coni e rned did not kiwi" that it lees through Mrs. Clarke'. tufbitawe they were to he served ; the notoriety, therefore, weld for nothing. An Roo. Gentleman had stated that Ins Royal flightless should have had suspicion from her expensive establishment, and teat 10,004 1 - a.y e ar wee but a tnorlei ate Mamie to support it.— He, however, greatly differed 'wit)."; tkat Gentle.. man, and thought it might he Mail aimed at a much smaller rate. Froar tint view of tlie .object he therelore concluded. that the Duke of York knew nothing of the corruption, not had rimy reform to sespeet that such correptious rusted. The Right Ifni. Gentleman their drew a comparison of the admirable state of discipline in wt.:v:l o u r army is at ;morel to that in which it was w: leis he first took the command, stated this to I Pf. the result of his activity and attention. nod traded the Hoare would not, by their vote, deprive the coun try of his (more stiviCea. • Sir Faitticts Buatierr—" In risily.; to spenk upon thishoilijeet, I must acknowledge, Sir, I feel it to be a mast painfuldirty I am about to undertake, and after the very able mania r in which it hoe been already treated by other ,, i ',how thick it avoid ill lett•nm, me to detain the I louse with a tedious de tail of the evidence which has beeu set forth to the II iii , ... It is at present fresh io the recollection of all, cod therefore what lam desimus of doing, is merely to attempt to draw some reeults from that which has already heels NO twfore. you, or at least to 'hew the effect that the reasoning of others has liiiil ;mon my mind, mid the grounds upon which I think our derision night to Ita fow.ded. The first Ilan that has struck me, from the commeacesuent el the...! lortrervaill4.. hat been the very extraordi air; Califi Uri otirsuiel by those who are His Ma jesty's Miniiarer, with respect to the Honourable Member ano has brought forward the original um. lion. It has appeereil astonielting to me. that the Right !Inimuralsle and Learited Gentleman oppo site. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, au officer Of the public. and His Majesty'e k.tarriey-firriend. the pubat accuser, and indeed all the Crown Lawyers. whose duty it is to detect and popish pidshe deliisquencirs, have harm upon' this occa sitie Two' duty surely cons :a in seeing justice 'lime in whatever numiwr to c can best be promoted, moil to take up a' nobles delinquency so the m o user b •sr calculated to .eoseetete ro convict ion. —( Hear ! Ileac!/—With -egging to toe Honourable Mover. I e m p t ily ag ree with the I limmaratile (:motional, who iniseertil the Chancellor of the Exch.- pier. that he put terra upon a troubled (weals, to a small skiff; I know not with what m limier of saga in the barna •' , ,1 be roilierked, hie of iilje ,f 4 I sere, tout he has steered by a polar atir v orflAst it,pill m:d r' n r:- I- '; L bring hint though all stomas and dangers. He was told, that if he failed in making snit those charges and aCCUOUtIOIIS, it i i nl ^ must attach to his charac ter ; and it wiereven at the Same time stated, by Right Honourable Secretary, that he had placed himself in such a dilemma, that, upon the decision of that question, hie character and reputation must bang. I trust, that iii this stage of the business, and .iffier the long and protracted debate, in winch so many attempts have been made to do away the effects of the evidence adduced, it at least caiinot now be said, that any the smallest discredit or itifa my can attach to that /lon. Geut. who brought this :natter forward. —( Hear ! Hear ')—l t' therefore the Right Hon. ( 4'lo. opposite, (the Chancellor of the Exchequer), must still sienewhere attribute hilianay in these transactions, he must consent to let it rest upon his own shoulders. His speech has been said to be most ingenious and able ; but, if so, I think I must also state, that it has been so snehistical, and so unuandid, that it appears rather to have been the defence of an advocate, than, as it ought to have been, the summing up of the eii dance before a court. It was evidently deficient of all candour or admission, (pi the one side, and ex celled in sterling difficulties upon the other; and indeed was, upoe the %%hole, the iiiree injudicious defence that Learned Gentleman could possibly have ivade. Ail the evidence adduced at the Bar eeislil not induce him I. come to nay other conclusion, thau. that this woman, Mrs. Clarke, hall no influence whatever upoir the mind of the Duke of York.. I believe, however, lie w ill stand alone he that ceuclusion ; hut it proves that his mind was so blinded by some circumstance or other, kis impassible what he said could have iiiiy influence whatever upon the decision of the House upon this great mid important question. He could not see the plainest object iii the 61-mutest daylight, and yet. he appeared able to pick up the most trifling particles even its the most utter darkines.— The principle hitherto has been to attempt doing sway the evidence of • Airs. Clarke. Now, Sir, when we consider what has been the evidence of that inslividuel, how long she has berm under exit- . minatium and how many boars site his beau sifted, by lawyers, in order to produce !something trout her owu mouth, attaching agaiest lu:rselfscveu fr ' her cradle 111:110St up tut lie time she appeared Mt the her, we must be astonished zit the truly consistent manner in which she gate her e+ideiice. Sine stands. Sir, in this prtdieameut, that you saw the worst of her at the brat ; for she appeared before us under the most unluvoureble impressioas, and all t h at has coine out from her first appearauce to the close of her examination, has produced impreseimis ufgnite a different nature and tendelicy. She came, iii deed, smiler such poi titular &sit:leant:tees, in point of her kiwis"' character slop situation in life, that, uielnubteilly, very little utteetion was prod to her evidence; but its you went on, other circumstances came forward, the rendered it imposeilde that city such evidence could have been given by any out, but upon that most simple of all inteutions, that of telling the plain mad honest truth (Hear! hear!) It so happened, however, tied ul l these alto en deavaured to entrap her, or to make her discredit herself, found theuiselves constantly foiled. Hislla jesty'is Attorney-General eitainincil her bier after hour, and was continually defeated hut if he hail succeeded iu the slightest degree, 'he would have endeavoured to overturn the 14kt:taller testimoily. Hypothesie' hurt been raised upon hypothesis, sur mise upon surmise, and inference upon inference, cud Mow,, when all of them had failed, Mrs. Clarke was to be raised by them into the Leciitest prodigy that ever existed ; and, its short. it has been stated, that no withers ever WA , examined that 'sovietised abilities, understanding, and cimiiing, equal to ,lrc. Clarke. If I thought her capable of rearing up that drama that has been exlebited, I too emild certainly unite with them in saying. she ass unc °rase greatest geniuses; fur she would be surely us eapeble of writing the tragedy of RiarlfretA, as .11r was capable of trumping tip such a store. %Ye- should consider, however, that the grand co n necting link its her evidence is her COW. uesion and influence with the Duke of York ; and whether. under all the eircuinstunces, yeti have not ' the best evidence that the nature of the ease can ail init.—You hive reason to believe, t h at the MlN ante. of itself, was a corrupt iiifluenee with the Comennieler-iii-Chief, and that he had reasoia to snap ect that such a corrupt influence esisted ; in any cominon case, this would be acknowledged tine best evidence, and why not sirens it such in the preeeit instance? Shama! of hi; Royal High nese '—for, I urn sorry to say, that the very defence which has beets made, must appear, iii anytime es disgraceful. The Learned Gentleman begau with stating, what is very usual with Gentlemen of the Long Robe, that other people were mistaken in laying down erroneous premises, and drawing false conclusions ; and his conclusion was, that the evidence of Mrs. Clarke was not at ull I do not agree with either Isis premises ot his con elisions, for I think the evidepce of Mrs. Clarke is certaiidy,to lie adinitted, but with due suspicion. When, however, we And her evidence corroborated by that of Miss Taylor, in regard to fact*, it muy rather lie thought wonderful that there can be such strong and convincing proofs produced OpOissueh a ani t ject,wd have been tieon this occasion. Itul it been a fabricated evidence, she met have known 11101 e than she stated. Nothing is more colaruon then for Judges to state to a Jury the grounds of credit, as well as the grounds of discredit; Nutt had this Brent done fairly by ant , atilt Right Honour able Geatlemen in this ease? With reepret to Miss Taylor, there is not the smallest seism' to doubt her; and vet merely because she .ap:icars to he a relation of Mrs. Clarke, they supeose that all this is nothing but an infamous scheme of these two V/01110U to discredit and defame the Duke of York ; but even were this the ruse, the manner in which they have gone about it would not only shew waist of ingenuity, but would exoose themselves, as being the boldest women that ever existed. If the emit• as to Colonel Freni•h, for instance, be a trumped up story between these two persons. surely Mrs. Clarke cannot be that genius diet the Rielit lion. Gentlernaii states her to lie, for she certainly would have taken rare to make it so stron g a clue. that no doubt could possibly exist. 'fee Rielat lion. Gentleman's airgismelits here d. -tresael one !mother; all his 1611,positiont have • cell ianfnended and hisser niers the inerecliiineras e cud hypotheses of his owu brain, leaving out every thing that can lead your judgments in the evidence übtaily before us. —( Hear! Hear 1,1 Upon the whole, it is in usyniiiiil the most weak and inju dicions Weasels that could possibly be set up for arty individual. The Ilea. Member below•me, who moved the Amemsinent to the Address, has, I think, taken s most injudicious blue as a Member of t'arlimuctit ; for le.• was giving up that which its perfectly tenable as that which was untenable.— This, 1 think, is impossible to agree to, as no one can shut his eyes against the corrupt influence and crinsinul eolinsvance stated iii the evidence. They have brought no evidence whatever to rhea that Mrs. Clarke is Hot to les believed. although the Duke of York leis had one of the most able and experienced solicitors in Loudon, Mr. Lerden, who has used every 1111 . 411 N to bring witnesses Irma every quarter, until lie fo un d it impossible to tiring more, against the testimony of this IVittiess. An Ibis. and Learned Gentleman opposite (Mr. Bur ton,) has said, that Nina Clarke has contruilicted herself uo less than eh times, an assertion which is merely made to supply the deficiency of witnesses to do so. It is surely, (lieu, a very different thiug, whether untie-asks do contradict themselves, or are contradicted by others—for in the former case it is evidence as it were point blase, while in the latter the witnesses themselves may be mistaken. The alleged colitrailictious in her evidence as to the ease to which 1 have alluded, err as tow Nether a note was a lout, note, or a 2001. note, which she sent to be changed ? and %el:ether the trameacrion was to he kept only a semi from the Duke, or from the poi tic ? Illit hi this Mrs. Clurke's state ment id susi•ly as plausible as that of Mr. Knight, and there can he no reason to disbelieve her more than the other. The same attempt. have been made to discredit the testimony of Mier Taylor, merely because she did wit aish to divulge sit first the residence of her father road mother, suer the place where she was born. This is the must absurd simile of discreditiug a witness that ever 1 heard. 'there was an • Hon. Member who spoke early in this debate. I beg pardon, I must call him a Learned Gentlenom, ler lie is !Its Majesty's At torney-General, to whom I Wetted with Use greuteat attention; and although I never had an - opportunity of kn o wi n g him, 1 did expect that lie would have stated some luminous points. SOME eln fellation of the ease ; but how have we !wen ilis apooiiited ? Sir, I reineinlwr having heard of a great Lawyer, a Mr Duetting, who, on 'wing asked by a Client to tee mend him to a Counsellor the most proper fur his case, asked him " a hat is your case ?'"l'lie person applying answered. " it is a tt.4 bad case." If so,' said Mr. Dunning, )on had better take the worst Counsellor you rout get; for if yon employ a man of genius he will be hampered with it, but a had Counsellor will not stop upon imy point, for lie will go on without ceasing, and by using many words, have the op presence of making a greet defence." Hear! hear!) .dud so, in the ',resent iestauce„ the defence made by that Learned Counsellor opposite has, I confess, given me a very strong impression as to the depth of his understanding; and it puts nee in mind of an am, who will reject the choicest fund for the sake of enjoying a feast upon thistles; or of Chris tian in The Pilgrim's Praereas, who, when lie was in the slough of Despowl, had to leave litsfraielling corupattion in the mud, as the Leoriled fileatFe man had left his client, the Doke of York, and out of which all the Anti-Jacobins in the laud. would not be elite to extricate him. Wear! hear! 'war !,1 That same Learned Gentleman, to wards the conclumou of his speech, *pie:tiled to the compusaimiate fielicar of the House. Now. Sir, althoogie this is not the time for preying attention to such considerations, yet it did fix us my mind a strong impression' of the complete aud invertible eviikowe otteinling this case in every putt. He Jid not stern at all to be uppraling to the full extent of the Shit( meat of the Chancellor of the Exche quer, for lie seemed disposed to give up a consi derable pert in orals r to save the rest. He seemed to express a great doubt as to the hand-writing of the note about Captain Toliyis ; tor, after it had been proved by the best of evidence, the worst am brought forward to rebut the hest, and he boldly cults it a tin-eery. because Mrs. Clarke hail stated that she could write very like the Duke of York. Why, Sir, this is hot melancholy testimony against such a weight of evidence its has been brought forward upon this particular point, stud it makes it appear that nothing lint tireindice colud actuate any one to make such en essertion. With all those talents, and that genius, which are aserili ' ed to Mrs. Clarke, it should seen) that the utmost she hurl dour was to raise a sum of motley in the Mite's name, and not even for her own bAll/Or• She has turned her talents to no account whatever ; and what is still more extruordinery in her transactions is, that there should have been such unnecessary fidelity in her dealings with her employers, as well as towards her creditors.—She made nothing for any purpose of her own, for it was to pay the tradesmen's bills. and to satisfy the poor people's demands, who had sold goods for the use of the Duke of York. I should be sorry to speak disadvantageously of his Royal Highness's conduct, but I must say. I think what he is said to hair allowed Mrs. C. has beret exaggerated. Mrs. C. comes to your Bar under such disadvantageous circumstances, as, I think, should have prevented any generous or well-ihroossed mind from inking advantage of her. Net evils hare justice has been done to her; although, with respect to the sit u called in ',draft of the Duke, all the milk of human kinduess has been 'hewn to them by the Right Honourable and Learned Geollenian op. liosite. The Hun. Member for Cambridgeshire stated arguineuts, which, I think, ere also very extra. ordniary, in order to prevent your coming te.a fair conclusion o p en the consideration of the (softener, which conclusion the House must ultimately ensue to, if it act fairly and honourably towards the country. If Mrs. Clarke hail no truth in lwr, she has had at least the singular faculty of extracting truth from others, who were brought for the pur pose of contradicting her. arid chnisging the ultimate decision. Captain Sandell, amongst others, is said not eta be worthy of belief, be cause he prevaricated 11l one lustaiwe, as to to e letter of the • Duke's handariting ; but the fact is, that witnesses are the more to be believed upon some points, whim they come to conceal the truth as to another puha ; for their evidence, wheu corroborated by others, is more lorrible thou SirliethteoYldwr a trt u t a D lly oi ll i t o ri v t a ig u il w t t rw uld a d r e d uy it a ita fi l emak et, 4 7, 1 lie did deny it ; hut it was afterwards extrecelii from him. In short, Mts. Clarke has alwaysgiviii you the mewls of extracting the truth froin others, and their evidence has uniformly tended to nor. roborate hers. This is really doing nothing but justice to Mrs. Clarke, and I wish equal justice to r be done to both aides. But, Sir, putting all the positive evidence out of the question, I say that the eircuusstautial evidence is of itself so idiom; as to jsstify the House in passing u decisimi in maim' s . sty with the Address. It is amid' a nature, that, in a Cuuyt ofiustice, with a very slight degree of poestive evidence, it would b e su ffi c i ent to con demn any individual tried for his life. But what is most extraordinary iii this place is, that the leg a l _gentlemen of this House seen, to lose all those uhi. litres which they display elsewhere. (Near! hear!) lo fort, all three witnesses, although brought for the purpose of contradicting Mrs. Clarke, yet ea. pealed to Mr. Attursiev-General not to be anti. cient, and he. at length, thought Mrs. Clarke sle solutely best itched, and, as it were, gave up the trial to get rid of her. How is this to be accounted for, when they say, at the revue time, that Mrs, Clarke is possessed of such talents amid Online', that nobody is like her. .uirl that she is equally powerful as an enchantress > In suck a defeuce, appears they can do nuthilig, but have recourse to ramie marvellous expedited., in order to get the bet ter of Mrs. Clarke's evidence. It is like applying a piece of red doth to the teeth of the viper, in order to extract the venom. (Hear, hear!) 111, howeve r , the parole testimony be doubted, there are written documents on your table that cannot admit of a charge of falsity. Here we hove the Duke's uwu letters ;inn! it is a painful thing to find t hut we Lave the Duke's honour pledged to the contrary of what moist necessaiily Le concluded from his own hand writing. Are we to be told that Mrs. Clarke's evi dence IS not to be believed, because here is the wont. of honour of II person of his Herd Highness's omit mid character, to subvert it ? We have the evidsine too sof the particular friend of the Duke of York, iu direct contradiction to his Royal Highness; and eau then believe, flow die general character of the Duke of York, and the honour of a Princa,that these thugs are not possible. or that it must require mole thin ordinary evideinse to convict hint of crimes ai:tl misdemeanor.. ? This is really argumentuat ad absurdnee, for it has been said that the Duke of York 'could not do ull this, as it was coinrary to eoninrion sense. 1Y hy, Sir, I own that the whole of these tninsuctions are contrary-ecompletely so. Colonel GIIAOII 11.111 been called a very able evi dence. Ido not understaiiil the meaning of this expression, for 1 know nothing of witnesses except as to how far they tell truth or falsehood. They env that his evideuce cannot be . cootrarlicted by that of Mrs. Clarke. Mark iris situation iii respect to the Duke, and observe how he concludes ut most every answer with en exception. as is (love hi mei chants' areouuts. nuich /vernally conclude with errors reeeptcd ; end contrast his meaner a ith that of Mrs. Clarke, in order to juils.e which of teir testimonies is tnost to be credited. Colonel Oordon's evideuce has bee., in ide the grand stalk hig horse upon ail occubions; and it is argued from it, that.nocorruption roc .I take place, as orscial Inrins were absolved. [lime the Hon. Aileiniet made some allusion to the evidence of Watteau and Sander:, and also to the raise of Samuel Carter, bat the nature of ohich we could nut distiuct ly hear.] It wag attempted to set the ease of Carter off to great arleatitege in favour of the Duke of York; but if it amount to any thing, he thonglit it should rather le construed us aim act of generosity is Mts. Clarke. it was singular that this woman was broneht to the Ilse with every prejudice against her testimony, and yet (send he) the more you learn of her, the more y ei have *Neon to mitigate the had opinion you eaten:ailed of her. Then we come to seine eases that are said to hese nothing at all to do with Mrs. fluke ; but I think they evidendy chew to what an extent Mrs. Clarke's, mil uence wrist. 1. weighed heavily upon the Duke, and adieu* • picture of hypocrisy and profligacy united. (hear ! hear ! hear !) It is truly revolting to propriety and decelity. lam very sorry at observing the hoe of detain e that has been adopted for his Royal Highness, stud wish his advocates had adopted that in, de lel ich was proposed by my Hos. Frieutl, who b: ought forward these charges, by shish the character of the Duke of York would not have been so soon exposed.— Since it had come before them in this shape, ho nesty and justice r equired them to nicet it, and the evidence upon it is trimly of as heasy a nature as can well be coma" ved." The How Baronet then alluded to the roc of Colonel Shaw, whose letters, he thought, proved what were the general feelings of the army. es In the case of Major Turner too, it appeared that Mrs. Sinclair Sutherland had also been in the habit of asking favours of the Duke, ill. though it had been stated by the Secretary at War to amount to nothing, ar Major Turner's reshot'. I tion had not beets accepted of, on account of Stole See.berlaud's representing to Col. Guelon, that lie had believed ill to a lady. Ile knew net what military roles apply to such cases, but he begged the House to lime to the conduct of his Royal Ilighnese the Duke of York !firma. It was evi dent the Doke felt no remorse in shaking her ofr, and exposilig her to poviity and to infamy. Styli conduct (said Sir Francis) makes a man'e blood ✓un cold. The evidence of Mrs. Clarke is a nudge chilly commie with the honour of a Prim e. She offers to give up her annuity to pay ber debts, hut that annuity, when applied for, was refused by the Duke. although formerly promised. And 011 what grounds was it so refused ? Why, he states, that altliongh a bond had loreu promised, yet no bond had been given ! There is the Honour of a Prince for you!!! I think the evidence adduced may she* clearly that the honour of a Palace is nut at all to be relied upon. His !Royal Highnen.'s desire to procure motley by soy means, or from ally quer. ter, was also eminently cuii‘iiii•uoits. The trans action with Kennet. was one which even alone should call for the iiiterference of the House, se it Mewed that the Duke of York was capable of recommending a worthless character to a place under Government, in the hopes of obtaining die loan of a large sum of money for it.—Da you not all this corruption ?—Corruption and money are said to be synnos ~,,, us terms; and bemuse the Lhc had out receieed c 1 1 .,: money iu band, the Chalices 1 I 1 1 I i 1 i 1