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 paste 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