The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1809-12-06 00:00:00

COMMON COUNCIL, OVILDIULL,
-- •
The Luau Nauru stated, that this being the
firia time lie had attended the Court, since his pro-
motion to the high office •f Chief Magistrate, he
took that opportunity of assuim them, that it
should be his uniform endeavour, while in (office, to
preserve the rights and priviieger of his fellow-citi-
zens, and the dignity and honour of that Corpora-
tion. He also begged leave to remind them, that
any caution upon his part must 'woke unavailing, •
unless ►econded by their zealous co-operation and
support. He ►honld always be ready to convene a
Court, or Common-hall, in obedience to any requi-
sition; and hr would snake it a point to be punc-
tual in intending at the hour appointed ; a conduct
which he earnestly ieconimended to the ecveral
'members. •
LORD MAYOR'S THANKS..

Mr. ANGEl;O5ve.d----0-1.111;u:;1 '' '''''' Thanks to
the late Lord 'Mayor, for his uorrontiing attention
and able dischar•ie of the duties of Ins Aire ; alaot
for the gtilerousleneridence evii.i:til br Inu), upon
all occasoniN, toward s the widows mud
orphans Of our brave soldiers. Moreover. for the

easy access %Yawl' all uteiabers of tlie Court had to
Innis upon all ocensioos; a conduct, such as this,
justified the words of the Lord Chief Huron of the
E%chespier, tvpreseuttng him as good and up-
right Al apstratt.
Air. JACKS ICCOlsilvd the motion.

A Ali:tube r (show name we could not learn) re-
;retied the liceessity under which he felt himself,
of opposing this motion ; but he could not think of
thanking a man, who had infringed upon the rights
of his kilos-citizens. It was the undoubted pri-
vilege of the citizens to meet for the purpose of
expressing their opinion upon the conduct of the
Administration, and, in the exercise of this privilege,
they had been olostructell by the late Lord Mayor.
(Applauscs.) To one, who had been guilty of
conduct imeli us this, he could not agree in giving
a tote of thanks.

Mr. Alder:lieu COHSE agreed, that it wcs the
duty of every Magistrate to attend to the isupular
rivileges, and give them his support ; but or the
1110110/1, upon the prevent occasion, wail particularly
guarded, and inntaiued front einnueritting that
claim to tut to, among the other good qualities of
the late Loris :11.a or, he thought ha could with
propre ty Ins support to the motion. Ile was
willing to allow him every honour he could demand,
upon the eruuiol of his piety awl humanity.
Mr. WAITIIXAN regretted, as well aa Ins worthy
friend, the necessity of opposing the present mo-
tion. If such a motion could be acquiesced
upon the ground Of personal civility, there was not,
perhaps, a Member in that Court, who would be
more willing to acquiesce than himself ; but such
a ground would not justify the ',Airport or i!ucli
motion. He l'iad a public duty to perform, and
he should perform it. There was an act in the his
of the late Lord Mayor's official career that
perhaps had no perallel. What Sir Brook Watson
had done was nothing in comparison; his conduct
originated in party feeling, and was in some Inca-
sure excused by it; but the conductor the late Lord
Mayor was in direct hostility with the feeling of the
whole country ; it went to present them' from ex-
pressing their chwipprotration of the unfortunate
Convention of Omni. That too was the second
time of his tiering refrosed.toconverie them for great
national purpose.. It was impossible, lie said, to
look at the great metropolis over which he was '
placed—it was impossible to look at the chair, '
and consider its vitriol", its important duties,
without perceiving that he was runt a Mall to
fill it either with dignity or propriety ; his con-
duct he could nut avoid cnnsideriaig as most din.
graceful, as proceeding either from art ignorance
of his duty, or an unwillingness to discharge it ; he
had refused to coil a Livery or the City of London,
whets not a Sherdi under the influence of the ,
Clown refused to call the different counties fur
the purpnae of addressing Ilia Majesty upon an
occasion of such diaappointinente--(App/auseo.
With respect to the hie/tin/We entertainment, so
far front allowing him (the Lord Mayor) any merit
for that act, he toirsidered it as a great insult to
the Court. When that Court had expressed its
unwillingness to feast, either at the expense of die
City, or at the Terminal expense of each indivi-
dual fur himself, wail it out as insult to invite the
members? and when the Lord Mayor had declared,
.upon his honour, that he would give them nothing
else but cold beef, yet afterwerds exceeded that
homely fare, did it not plainly indicate an intention
of buying their vote of thanks?—(llere there were
lead cries If No.' its!)—Gentlemen might cry no,
no, if they pleased, but he could see no other mo-
tive for s sumptuous eotertaiiitnent upon the Deco-
Mon. If he had supported the rights of his fellow..
citisens, he would never have been honoured with a
Baronetcy— '.4pp(aeser)-11 the intuition of first
Magistrate did nut require a profundity of learning,
at all events it required common sense ; and he •
wauld leave it to the Court to determine how far
that essential ingredient was manifested by the lute
Lord Mayor. But there was another resew for
refusing lieu the thanks, besides those already stat-
ed; they had refused the thanks to the former
Lord Ar, ayor, and, if they were to grant them to
the present, would prove themselves guilty of the
greatest injustice to him.
Mr. SAUCE,. DIXtIN Raid, that the proper way
of noticing the objections of the Gentleman npie-
site. would lie to cull fist the filleSlloll
and treat all his oleserveti (((( s with the silence of
cnntemio. He censured much the iiidulgence of
the Gentleemni in words that cut deeper then the
sound or Ilse knife; with respect to the refusal of
thoughs to the former Lord Mayor. it was entirely
upon a different 'account, and cool.' not possibly
call for the refusal in the pree•nt instance. If the
late Lord Mayor had offended the Livery of Lon-
don, to the Livery he wen accomituble.
Mr. JACKS did not expect that there could have
been any objection, after the very guarded manner
in whirls the motion was worded. If there was rue
disorder in the Court. the Gentleman eho now yen-
snred WAR the priucipal emigre of it. %1 nh respect
to the dinner, it was not tile sumptuous entertain-
ment that hod been represented to them. Ile'
&meted, that this Court had nothing to do with the
reimiuct of the Lord Mayor towards the Common
flail.
Mr. Illswmen called upon the Cpurt to reflect
upon the pliaislanient which the late Lord Mayor
bad received for this act, which was is much tom.

plained of. They should retnernlier, that h► was
placed in a Situation, in wliich justice sethied
to require that no wan should lie placed, that of
1. inflicting punishment on himself ; besides, they
should recollect, that the conduct was never re-
peated again ;Nu that there was rept-titauce, us well
as punishment, calling for their lenity ,
The question bring then put, wdi curried with
some dissei.tient voices.

A Memorial front the Grand Jury of Southwark,
1 was referred to a Committee of General Purposes.
EXPEDITION 'PO THE SCHELDT.
l'he requisition being read,
Mr. WAITIIMAN rose. fie said triat he had the
honour of calling the attention of the Court to a
matter of green.; importance. Indeed, it appeuied
that every succeeding occasion of their meeting v.as
wore importatit than the foregoing. Soeli :Is the
serious crisis to which the country had armed.—
The present occasion was, perhaps, the moat. im-
portant upon which they, or any other assembly,
had ever met. The question was, perhaps, the
greatest that lied been agitated in any Court. If
they had not the privilege of approaching the
Throne to state their free opinions upon such cala-
maims events us they had witueesed, or It; 'Wring
it, they did not exercise it, under such circum-
stances us the present, from that moineut they
might date the downfall of 'he Constitution. (Ap-
pious(%) The question before them embraced so
many points, it afforded so vast a variety of circum-
stance and principle, that no human exertion could
possibly do it justice. Though therefore he might
be under the necessity of occupying more of their
time than would be either couvenient to them, or
agreel'ile to himself, still, he apprehended, the view
tunst be superficial, so wide and general was the field
upon which his observation was to be exercised.
'I hey bad of late experienced four of the greatest
failures that ever disgraced the country, aud the
lass of four of the grentest armies that ever left her
shores ; yet no consideration had tuiceit place ; tin
address had been voted, except upon the famous
Convention of Cintra, the reception of which was
probably prevent to their recollections (App/atirAs).
Ile should not undertake even • short recapitula-
tion of our failures, it would occupy too much
time. It *peered from the statements of the
public prints, that within a few years, no less than
fourteen expeditions had taken piece; he believed
that they exceeded that oumbfr, and amounted to
about twenty ; but even upon the former calcula-
tion, how rutlanchely 11(41 it to oheeree, that out of
all, there should have been tut one successful, and
that tine the very expedition that least deserved it,
that ought not to have allVeettled.—lle alluded
to the expedition to CopeehaFen. (Applausev).
Out of all there disasters, that Court had only gout.
up with ant nub frees, and the reception they met
upon that occasion v as to he accounted fur by the
neglect into which they bad permitted that privi-
le;4e to sink ; it was so ueeeereised that it heroine
even iptettiolialde applentsev). it was probalq
in their recollectiou, that on the calamitous failure
at the fielder, an address was moved ; but the
Court came to an unaccountable resoiation, that nut
address would hues been a persoual insult to His
Majesty; his address upon the Convention of Con-
tra had been regarded as an insult ; but when be
folioed it, conscious of the delicate rituation in
which he was placed, and of the necessity of gusted-
ino against churges of jacebinism, &c. he had looked
bock to the affair of Minorca, as a precedent ; the
prayer of hinsiiddress was not only constructed upon
the same plan, but composed iu the state words of
the address upon that occasion ; and yet those iden-
tical words were the very ones selected by His Ma-
jesty's advisers for disapprobation and reprimand—
/ape/miser). To chew how differently our anima-
aura thought, and the Government of their days
acted, he would refer them to the address voted in
the year ,en, from which he hied copied the now ob-
jectionable part of his motion. At that tune a gra-
cheis answer was returned ; and, what was remark-
able, His Majesty, in noticing that address to his
Parliament, observed, that the complaints of his
subjects proved to him how deeply they were inter-
ested fur, and bow nicely they considered his ho-
hoar, and what satisfaction he felt for such interest
and consideration; end yet they who, upon a late
occasional, addressed His Majesty, in precisely the
same words,, were told, that the interposition of the
City of London was not necessary to induce His
liliejesty to institute an investigation upon a sub-
ject which bad disappointed the hopes and expec-
tations of the country. lie would allow that they
might have no great skill in military affairs, but
them were other consider:lthaca involved with that
Convention. to which they were perfectly comity-
tent, aiel upon which it era only just that their
opinions should have an influence; it appeared to
ohin.l . a
7,nd must appear to them all, that when an ariey
000 was landed in t
at country, it was an indis-
cretion, without proVisimus or other preparations, to
push oft ; it chewed that the person who .thus
pushed on, was very desirous of glory, with-
out considering whether, in the pursuit of it,
he stood justified in the eyes of prudence and
of the nation. (Applause:./ They were tuld that
an inquiry did take place, and the nature of that
'inquiry was said to resemble a grand jury, which
he would beg leave to deny ; on the contrary, it
differed from it, and differed in this essential point,
that • grand jury is intended for the protection of
innocence. but tin{ was instituted for the protrc-
tiou of guilt. (Applinists.) 1111mn the business was
brought before Perfumes*. before those who are
called the Representatives Or the People, they re-
fused to enter into it, and not only del thaw re-
fuse to eater into it, but appoint the very persons
to conduct another expedition, fraught with further
expense and farther calamity. (Applauses.) The
only pretence that comsid be offered fur this was,
that another army was wanting to co-operate in
Spain ; but it should be recollected, that this was
after the expedition under Sir John Moore, who was
misled by the Ministry, and brought by them into
a situatino, against his better judgment, from which
lie could only extricate his troops by the sacrifice
of his own life. Could they rotifer the loss of this
officer, the lose of specie, the liras of soldiers, of
all that this disastrous match had brought upon the
country, mid yet not go up to His Majesty?
There was ;midterms inquiry into the Convention of
Cintra, nor into the disgraceful fatal affair of Ge-
neral Moore; it seemed as if the not" had lost its
sense of shame ; not only had it neglected to in-
quire, bet the very same men who had plunged it in
this disgrace, were perisitted to equip another ar-

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try, while the besotted looked on r.:1; out to.
terposing its supplicutions, address« a, and 'tattoo-
stratices, against vu rawfol a caleuritj —lopp/wises).
--eltwas, he ,coueeived, the part of hi wore Gum-
rid in .weigh eircurnstatices ; courage vas a great
irpouitty in the composition of such n character;
batt‘o could tor help thistkinitit Inferior arid sub..
ordinate; the ( oininntiest wan as ihe tanks lend pro-
bably as wrath couta4e as the most disiingoished
talker ; the superiority consisted in knowledge and
pi udence ; in that cool sagaciouo view, which saw
where it would be of use to risk the lives of brave
men, and where it would he a disgrace (applutcses).
How fur this distinction was 'perked, said this gape-
rinrity -proved. in the ipstatice of Sir Arthur el -
lesle, now Lord Wellington), he left to them-
selves, and the history of the transaction, to deride.
Immediately alter that event, which he c.,lled a vic-
tory, he was under a necessity of
retreat; a retreat conducted, not with the ~k;11.
the circumspection; the prudence, and tali e•s (•I
General Moore ; but, even according to li's oat( ..(
coma, precipitate and disastrous. It was slog
mai-Wile to ohs. rve, that throe was ii Meg account
(row Lord Welliiigtori, and a long letter from Lord
Chatham, printed in the same Gazette. It appear-
ed from his Lordship's own Rcemibt, that he *us
in danger, and had left the post of H ~,,,, ur to die
Spauierds; 'halite was under the nectssity of adopt-
ing a quick morrow-et—a thing whin h, when
ascribed to the enemy, MOM a precipitate retreat;
but when applied to ourselves, means only a ju-
dicious celerity.—(Applatisrel. Such, was the (1.--
count of Lord Wellnigton Inuiselr. He appealed
to that account, whether all he stated etas not fact.
Su great was the celerity of his Lordship, that thou-
s:yids of sick and anuuded well were left behind ;
and yet, so fir from tut inquiry being itistiruted, the
country was Unsuited by the rent of a title, for ell
action which coutributed nothing to the glory or *r.
twity of the nation! (Applauxet.) There wet, Marty
circunistantes which he was obliged to over look,
because other mutters, :nom iinportant, pressed upon
Lim, to which lie 'felt himself obliged to call the
attention of the Court. They 'acre now come
to the 31st of July, at which time the vast arma-
ment from this conntry landed at Walcheren.—
This aas a greater army than had ever been sent
from this country; if it had any rational object is
view, it delayed five or six weeks, until the oppor-
tunity of effecting that object hid gone ;it
would be right to give the Coutt a untion of this
army; the best way was to look at the gross facts,
which would aid their conceptions, and give them
sufficient strengths If it bud any rational' ob-
ject in view, it was to create a diversioit in !mewlr
of our allies ; yet the armament did not get into
the Scheldt until the 31st of July, and pence tied
been signed between France and Austria oil the
12th of the same mouth. But, with respect to the
armament itself, which probahly the Hon. Baronet
(Sir W. Curtis) would describe more. accurately
by-and-by (a larigA). there were 43 men of war,
and 15(ii armed ships, in all; besides the transports,
and about one lintirlred thousand men. lie could
give them,. description of every branch of ord-
nance, bill it was perhaps sufficieut to say; that
that expedition must, at some time or other, cost
the country about eight millions, and the loss of
six thousand men, not including the sick
wounded. Thirty-eight thousand mesa Irides' with
Lord Chatham, or, if they took the account of an
j officer, who had g üblislied a livid; 181)01) the suhjecr,,
fort)-eight thousand. It would naturally be ex-
' vector', that, before to vast an allotment wits sent
out, some definite ofiiect most have beets to the
contemplatiou of Ministeri ; that object must have
been of sufficient magnitude; and the most cor-
rect information been obtained with srepect to
the state of the country, its Airtificatioile, •Ize.
He could give what he had heard, upon no slight
authority, win the informatiou of the Govern-
went; on the festli July, it appeared filiat there
were only Ore, hundred invalids, besides the aoth
Regiment hoot Spain, which Was mostly composed
of wounded men, to the garrison of Antwerp ; so
that that which appeared impregnable to Lord Chat-
ham, was guarded principally by insalids. Three
thulium' eight hundred men were all the forces
occupying Walcheren, and other places. They
should bear in mind that it was nut until fourteen
days after their arrival, that Flushicg surrendered,
and that surrender was owing mostly to the exer-
tions of the fleet.--(Applowses.)—Not above five
thousand soldiers of this immense army could be
employed on this occasion, r.t which the filet as-
sisted; so that if the surrender of Flushing was the ob-
ject, 3,000 men were sufficient for that purpose.—
After this surrender, Lord Chatham stood still
for another fortnight, after which he came to a
conclusion, that Antwerp, and all other
were so well fortified, as to render all limber ~
forts utiadvisable. It was quite evident, from the
dispatches, that there was a difference of opinion(
'between the mtlitary and naval costimenders, wtutu
the particulars of which the public was not made
, acquainted. It wn. th.,t there was a find
account Ltivert in 7'!:. Genesee, of the dispatches of
Sir A. Wellesh y and Lord Chatham, while there
appeared but a short extract from that of Sir Rich-
, and Strachan. (Here he went into the particulars eef
Sir Richard Straehan's dispatch, from which he
concluded,that he was derid.lig the Commatider-in-
Cbief.) A tier stating that Lard Chatham had giieit
'bp the notion of proceeding ausinst Antwerp, lie (Sir
R. 5.) had, in the most uileonivocal mariner, offer-
ed the co-operation of the fleet for that In tlwse.
Could there be it greater coodemmition than this ±.l
Could any honourable nom r st tinder such an im-
putation i-If he forbore to call for all inquiry, af-
ter such* circumstance, it was wonderful of *halt
stuff the Counnandin-in-Chief collie' he unadei—
(Applairser.) But it might be said, that Lord
Chatham was deterriat by the Dumber, she had
collected there since his. arrival; even taking his
Lordship's own description, there were about
thirty-five thousand men occupying the different
places ; so that while the priocipal force of the
French was employed iu another quarter, by the
lioiperor, there was a formidable number of ship-
carpenters, invalids and tax gatherers, to resist out
army in Woolcheren. With all this pompons
enu-
merstinn, he wets sure that there woe not above
eight thousand effective men; hat even if there were
thirty-lire thousand men. shillala it be said that •
they were sufficient to terrify the vast•annameut
brought against them? (Nirs lierrible,,eit this time,
coming into the Court, Mr. Waithinan exclaimed)
i• I ant sure this worthy Gentleman's Woad %%01114

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