The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1810-02-24 00:00:00

*Whet teiltnierl to *weer, so lei from its being
tslodi as au IllekilOWledgOlflit, it wee always taken ell
if the qu-stiiiti had 'lever been put.
Mr. Wllllllol' supported the motion. He could
see thi rea.ion lot not following up the same line of
conduct they had Observed with regard to procsir.
ing the narrative now in their possession. :He
could tor, however, see aoy reasou for presuming,
than the paper now celled for, when produced,
would be found more injurious to the navy than
the present. Upon what grounds its production
was resisted he tould not understand. At the
time the original Motion was made for the natrs-
hie, had any Member, upon surmise that the&
might be more than one, moved, that "arty war-
retiree," instead of " a narrative," should be
produced ; what possible objection could have been
offered to the amendment ? The very nature of
the communications constituted these papers
public; and if any form was necessary to render
them more obviously so, it could readily be re-
wined to, as was dune with the narrative.--
The fault of Ministers, in not making them
pass officially, could not be urged fur their own
protection ; neither was the now-existence of pea
pers any ground foe refusing a motion for their
production. He then cited several instances, where
papers, which were kiwis', out to exist, had been
moved for, but of those now called for, no one,
after what had pa,sed, could doubt the existence;
and, he trusted, the HOOVC would insist an their
being produced.
Mr. Caxxisio said, he was anxious to state his
mesionefeeebe vote eL,ch he felt binuself compelled
to give on the present occasion. The shortest,
*envied. and fairest way of effecting that object,
appeared to him to be, to state candidly what lie
thou.:tit the must correct mode of proceeding. He
should have considered it fortunate, if. after the
failure of the Expedition to the Scheldt, His Ma..
je.ty's Governateut had instituted such so inquiry
as would have enabled there to meet Parliament
with au opinion on the subject; he was aware that
such opinion could not be binding upon Perlis.
went; fur, after all, it might say, that Ministers
were t:ieutselvesi %blame; but, suppose the opi.
Moil was, that e existed howhere, he would
still be glad to see. that that opinion was foauded
upon inquiry; and not the result of any more equi.
vocal proceeding. indeed, so completely was be
impressed with the idea that His Miiksty's Mini-
ster. would have adopted such a line, that he came
down to the House. oil the very first day, with as
intention of asking, as a matter of course, the
narratives of S.r Richard Str iclien and Lord Chile
them, if soy such there were. He alissieoned the
intention, however. from obvert mg it to be air gr.
*Jena opinion that such papers did not exist. After
the speech from the Throat ;lie Jul nut speak trout
a heeling of hostility to any Luau) but after that
speech he made up his miud, as be believed most
permits did, that no such narrative existed. The fact
letnrceer turned out • to be otherwise, the uarrative d:d
mast, but it d.d not seem to exist to Ley beneficial
purpoae—it did riot mem iuteuded to make part of
**documents upon which they were to form their
itelgturet in the Inquiry, nor upon a hich the Elmo
eutive eloterement itself was to form its judg.
messi—(lleur l hear ! hear ! from the Opposition).
He cimisidersd the situation in which the llotoe was
riser.' an anturtutiate sue ; it turned out that a
mtinit;ttle mertimpeetuat of “ii; is feerardir- •
the course of investigatioo. to exert, without the
knowledge of the Goverrioneet. With respect to
Lent Chatham. he wished to speak of him with
that regard and respect. to winch, upon his own
account, and upon accouut of his illustrious tilt.
live, now no more. he wee entitled ; but what Was
the situation of Lord Chatham, when he undertook
the conduct of the Expeditiou to the Scheldt ? lle
was certeisly a Cabinet Minister, that was, in other
words, a Privy Councillor, lovebird uith a high pop
liticel shanties,. But when he agreed to accept
the comeniuid of the Expedition, when he placed
himself in that situation, he became as much ree
sponsible for his conduct, in the discharge of it, as
any a'an who had risen from the raiike—( Hear
hear ! jean the Opposition.)—He had no more
right to a short arid noel road to the King'. ear,
than any ether ()alive In far as i.e •as re•p ot".
sible fur advising the Expedition. in his capacity
as Csiiioet Councillor, he wa, respoubilile to Par.
Ild111•!Ut alone; but, for the execution of it, he was
rrtisomnble to the Kiug ; Lut then, reirousiLle in
those ordinary ways o h:cli were open abet loon. It
was not right that the defence cf. one Officer should
go to the office, while that of the other went to the
King. if he was wrong in his optnunis, it did not
proceed so much from errors in reasoning as in
principle. If the principles which be sumistained
were true, the narrative of Lord Chethem ought
to have been presented, either through the See
cretary of State. or through the Counuatider-in.
Chief of the Army. He heard that some doubt
hod arisen, in consequence of Lord Chatham's ap-
pointment; by the sign manual of the King. It
was supposed that some new and extraordinary
right must have resulted, end that that of present.
ing ■ narrative to the King, in persou, was among
the number. lu this, he (11r.C.) could not segeiesee.
The instructious of all Foreign Ministers received
the some sanction, and 3rt thee was no instance
of a Foreign Minister claiming the same privilege
as Lord Chatham. Theo certainly were obliged to
;4ive iu et-count of their proceedings. but they
passed through the Secretary of State. A Cabii:et
Slinieter might certainly denoted an audieece of
the King; and if the audience was between the
individual and the Sovereign osilyAr should think
that the House bad no right to desnaud it. No
man could answer whether ihr t ommehication was
of %acts a nature, but Lord 011011,ln himself. He
had given nit ive to the King; but after.
wards, by • retrograde movement, according to
the march of the nonstnutioh, it was mode of&
coil. It was a sound doctrine in politics, Una%
Hi. Majesty had always an adviser, so that, 'tr.
such • Paper ex.sted at •11, it might eit•ify be
clothed in en dicta fem. The saute pewees,
whit 'ride e similar !leper official is the fame,
ineaure. might also in the errs st.--They hod
had a genera's, lona raos from the Honourable
Gentleman lrebad Li m, who 41t1 ohs" if he thought
such a paper did exits', he would vote for he pro.
doctien. For his dolt pert, he should not ;:e quite
gip far es the Hon. Gentleman ; for, thianth he
should know that it 'silted. he would fe I it nos
cowbell' ea hiss Is look lute its nature. 9-