The Sun.
London, England, 1809-02-16 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

• . .
charities (which, with the necessary estimates con-
nealed therewith, were immediately after laid' on
the table by Mr. Fuiter), and that Mr. Foster un-
derstood'him to mean the general add annual Na-
tional Accounts. •
Mr. C. DUN DAS presented a Petition fron)the
Orkney and Shetland Isles, complaining that not 4e-
ing annexed'to any near county, they were not
presented in Parliament, and praying to bonneted,

HOUSE OF COMMOAS.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15.
Mr. Beazely and several other witnesses were
ordered to be summoned to attend at the Bar of the
Committee appointed to inquire into the conduct of
the Commander in Chief.

The Estimates of 'the Debt of the Navy- on the
31st of December were laid on the table by Mr.

&c,
On the motion of Mr. WAtung, Mr. William
_ _

R. Waal).
Mr. Alderman COMAE brought up the Reports of
the Committees .for the Improvements at Temple
Bar and Snow-hill, and for widening the avenues to
Blackfriars-bridge.—Leave given to bring in Bills
pursuant thereto._
Petitions were presented from the Debtoreconfin-
ed in the different Gaols, praying relief. ‘.
Sir CHARLES POLE reminded the House of the
order that had been issued in consequence of a pro-
position from him, two Sessions ago, that the Re-
ports of the Committee' of Naval Revision, subse-
quent to the Third Report, should be laid before
them. That order had not been complied with, and
he now wished it to be repeated. Atter an observa.
tion from the Chancellor or the Exchequer, explain-
ing
the cause of the delay, the motion was agreed to.
IRISII MILITIA.
On the motion of Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY, the
Order of the Day for the second reading of the
tl.d4 consolidation and amendment Bill
was read.
Sir J. NEWPORT °Laved, that iss many parts of
this measure were not understood, he hoped that
time would be given to consider it, after it was
printed, in order that means might be devised to pre-.
vent a waste of public money without effect, similar
to what had already taken place.
Sir A. WELLESLUY mentioned, that he had stat-
ed in the House last night his intention of, letting
the Bill lie over a month after the blanks were filled
up in the Committee,-for the purpese of attending to
any necessary alteration or ameudioent.
Sir J. Ne%vrOwr expressed himself satisfied, and
the Bill being read a second tirne,was committed for
to-morrow.
. ,
Sir A. WELLESI.EY brought in a Bill for allowing
a proportion ot the Mdiii.l of' Ireland to vulutiteer
into the line, which was reat,l, a first time, and unler-
ed for a .becutid reading to-morrow.
. EARLDOM OF LINDSAY.
Lord HENNIKER, pursuant to his notice, rose to
'call the attention of tine House to-the case ot Alhe-
triarie‘BeFtie, in whose room a Writ had been order-
ed last, night fur the Borough of Stamford. Previous,
however; to stating the, few observations lie had
to make, he had to wove that. the Acts respecting
the is,uieg of Writs should be read by. the Clerk.—
(This mutton having ineen c •mplied with), the Noble,
Lord adverted to fete Laws, and remarked that as
Gosi.rat -11urtiu bhAb4A;ll tcer,
,I he
ing of:the to supply his place, had
!nature. It was in this, as in the carne where a son
sticce'eds his father_ General 13:trtie hod to go bat±
Ir 4) feArs, to prove the exi,oence of the Earldom.—
lie had not been summoned as a Peer at Parlianient,
and till that was !dune lie•ought not, en die motien
of any Gentleman, to be secluded from his seat in the
House ot commons, ,as hod been done cot the 13th
of March, 180, when General Egerton succeeded
to the Earlcioin of Bridgewater„ and had received a
written summuns to attend as a British Peer. To prove
that General Bertie was nut in a. similar situation, he
had received a letter from him this morning, signed,
" A. Bertie," e. tiich would not have been his signa-
ture had he reached the Peerage. lle rtrust,
.sf 41,
therefore, remain a Conninoner,and it was impre-
per to supersede him in the representation 01 the
_Borough of Seim ford. The Noble Lord concluded
by moving that the Speaker do issue his supersedeas
to the Clerk, of the Crown, &c. to
.supersede} the
iPiue of a new Writ. for Stimford, in the rednt
of General Alpemarle Beale, stated".; fo.have site-
ceeded to theEarldoiu of Lindsay.
Nlanoex explained the reasons that had ht-.
duced 111111.t0 move for the new Writ.
The Sir-AKRE stated the accustomed form of pro-
ceedings, in the case of succession to a Peerage, to
be worded thus. The new Writ was moved tor iii
the room of 4. 'B. '" summoned by his Majesty's
Writ, or called to a Peerage in Parliament." Hoppa
fOrther information, as was the case in the present
instauce,rt wasdiseuvered that soar' was riot the true

M'llowal was ordered to attend on 'the Duke of
York's Committee. •
. •
MAJOR COVELL.
IME.WiIITEREAD begged the House would excuse
his trespassing on their time for a few minutes, as
though he had no motion to submit to their notice,
he rose to do an act of justice to a very meritorious
Officer, whose feelings had been hurt.by what pass-
ed in the Committee last night. Major Covell called
upon hint thismoming and subMitted to his perusal
a letter trom a General Otlicer who ,had served itt
Spam" which spoke tone of high eotrneedatiou.
of Ins services in the arduous task of superintending
the retreat of the Vith*Regiment, in the.retreawen-
der Sir John Moore, and- declaring him fully com-
petent to discharge all the duties of that , situation.
On expressing to him (Mr, Whitbread). ;how much '.
his feelings were hurt by what had passed in the
Committee, he had told him, : that no person in the
House imagined that any, stigma atteched .to his
name ; but, on the contrary, that his an was ac-
knowledged by every one.: Teat tolooet Gordon
had been compelled, in the course Of his examina-
tion, to•give evidence not lisparaging to him, though
it was highly flattering to Celoeei Shavie: that the
House.had afterwards ordered these minutes to be
erased from their Journals, as irrelevant to the mat-
! ter under their consideration.. Major Covell answer-
ed, that he was fully sensible of the
.Mclination of
. the House to du him justice ; but that the impression
to leis disadvantage would,goforth to the world duo'
the mediton of the Newspapers, and his charaaer
would be materially injured, unless he could prevail
upon some Member of 4k House to do hint justice
by reading the. letter from General Leith to Lord
Musgruvc to the Himse, and thereby giving it publi-
city: Hon. Gentleman here read the letter al-
luded to, dated 141 h February. • In it General Leith
said be thought it but justice to Major Covell to
: state, rho owing to theindisposition of Lieutenant-
' Colonel Sims, .that.,Oiticer had only beep able__ to
command the 7tith Regiment one day, and that du-
ring all the remainder of the campaign in Spain,
Major 'COvell had commanded it; , that without
meaning any disparagement .to Colonel Showy; los:
considered'MajorCoveil as being as fully adequate to'
do the duties of that corumand as any Officer M. the
stiVice that Colonel Shaine had been five years a
Sttbaltern in this Regiment, when Majut Covell was
Captain in it, ~which he had been for thirteen years,
and that he' (General L.) did7not think the interests
otthe7tith Regi►t ent. had been attended to, when
Colonel Shave wits promoted to the Lieutenant-Cu-
lonelcy, vacant by the retirement of Colonel Simi,
in preference to Major :Covell. He concluded by
recominending the latter to Lord Musgrove, the urt•
turel 'guardian, of. the. Regiment. Mr. Whitbread
observed, that thisletter did not stand in need of any
comment. .
Sir A. WELLESLEY said, that be knew* both the .
Officers whose names were mentioned, to be men.
of great merit, and. honourable to the service, HO
Must, hoWever, state something that seemed to have;
been omitted or forgotten on the part of Major Co-
vell, namely, 'that, his .cammission as Major was
dated in 1807, while Colonel shawe was a Lieut.-
Col: in 1604, and therefore there was Ito injustice
in preferring the one. to the other in a competition
for thisconunission in the 76th Regiment. Besides,
he ;knew, having. been in the 7tith Regiment him-
, .self, that Col. Shag's serviet: had been. performed
that Regiment, which he had catered iIS.B S.u.bal-
. tern, in 1787, and in whiCh he had been regularly
promoted to an Adjutancy and a company. He
•served :its it in India under Lord Cornwallis, and
under hint (Sir A. W..), with distinguished honour,
and thus his claims to the L tent. Culonelcy of the
; 76th were well grounded on the' services he had
dune in that regiment.' In consequence of these
circumstances he had recommended him strongly
for that: urpose to the Commander in Chief, as well
as from his own,knowledge of his zeal and abilities.
I Mr. 'MUTBREAO was proCeeding to explain,

.. . •
stateot the ease, a Supersedeas was isued. There when. the SPhAKER interfered, to teiminate any ir-
was only one exception to this rule, when the persoti regular discussion. .
succeeded to an Irish ur Scotch Peerage,' but n
was ot , 'IN
....te 10,50,0001. and the I,ttoo,aool. Exchequer
a Peer of Parliament, as happened lately in the Rib's Bills were read a third.tiine, and:passed.
Barony of Forrester, where the motion was worded, The Malt Duty Bill will was reacki third time,
"as Peer .of the United Kingdom." That such was and passed with an additional clause, to exempt the
the mewling of the acts was clear, from iiS•being Receipts given by the. Receiver to the Collector, from
required, that if a, new Writ was issued during the payment. of stamp duty. • •
recess ,of Parliatifeet, the Speaker was ~directed to S Mr. flusKissurg propot.ed another clause, • for e%.-
have the certificate• of two Members, that the per- J emptieg the pensions given on retiretnent, to our
son vacating his twat had been summoned to thu Ministers tt, Foreign Ceuris,, from the pnytueut of
Upper House tty'a Wiit under the Great Seal.— .
The nietion was agreed to. the Land Tux. This he stated .would be a saving
to the public, by with-holding the per :tentage,
Mr. O'HARA gave notice, that he would
,on Fri -_
day move 'lot leave to bring in a Bill for regulating which by the present system went into the pocket
NI of the Collator of the,tax, which tax, was made up
the Office of Constable in Ireland. to the pensioner by the Civil List, under the head of
Mr. HUSKIISON presented an Account of the special services, Thiv c)4llse, neweVer, .after. some
War Taxes fur 1808.—Ordered to lie on the table. , observations from Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Bankes„ and
The usual annual Petitions from the County of Mr. Bastard; was withdrawn, it not being usual to
Louth, &c. in Ireland, praying relief for different add any material rider to a Bill en so late a stage.
'charities, was presented. , Liolui. 01 ViAtic.,
Mr. M. FI'FIGIKALD 'wished • to know why the
Mr.' LEACH brought up theileport of the Sae&
annual Accounts were not produced. .
Mr. FOSTER replied, that the annual Accounts Committee appointed to , inspeOt . the Letters pro-
dueed by Mr. Nichells last night, and to report on
were in a state of greater forwardness than they usu- •
~.,,
toirle tome Gummi-pee oi Itiquin, into the con,
ally were, and would be laid before the House in a '', e , c • i it, . t‘i • q The report
- clue, ,e.. tile °tumult. i w ... lit. , ,
few days.
,
Mr. FITZGURALTY thought they ought to have been stateL4, that diedScleet- (20'1'1116'e° "1 inllvatil the
roduced before an relief was asked. letters, and placed those WiliCi4 they considered ne.
p
Upon explanationy ,it was tbund that Mr. Fitzge- eessars, to iitii present charge, in a baidle taarked
" A." -,-At the same tin !t; they bagged,,not,tta be
raid alluded to the Accounts conneaed wits thew

considered as pledged to the opinion, that these let-
ters might be made admissible evidence. On this
subjeft they reserved their opinion, and suhmitted
theitiattei with the letters to the Committee of the
whole House.

Lord FOLCSTONE moved the order of the day,
for the House going into this Committee. After
what had passed last night, he felt it necessary to
offer:a few observations in order to protea himself
from the censure to which he been subjelied.
In prosecuting the subject of therie charges, his Hon.
Friend (as he was proud to call him), had been more
than once, and by more than one person, stigtila.
tined by the name of " the Accuser," and ittstead
of being allowed'to pursue the line of conduct he.
wished, had been forced from that line, and obliged
to confnrna himself to the mode pointed, out by the
professea Friend and adviser of his Royal Highness
the Duke of Yorl:. This he believed was.the only
instance of such a violation of Found Pried* upon
record, where a person 'in the situation cf his Ho-
nourable Friepd, was prevented from pursuing a
line of conduct not sully consistent. with the rules
of every Court Of- lestice, bet consisteta' with
the rules •of that House. This was not the
only grievance ot which his Honourable Friend
had to complain, and he begged it might also
be held in the everlasting remembrance of the Huu.e
and the Country, that he turd been pressed upon
day after day; and allowed'no interval ot relaxation
or of preparation for his latter chroges. It was not
till within thesefew days 'bet he (Lord 14...) lied of-
fered'hitnSelf to assist. in condutting the business,
that he had even-been allowed a moment's respite
from the-Vest labour which rested upon 'his single
HteWished the House ana the Country tie-
vet- to forget that his Honourable Friend had been
prosecuting this inquiry, with the threat of infamy. ••
more than once denounced, hangipgover his head. .
That threat had never been retreated, nor hid any
amends 'ever been made for using it: These where
the general observations which struck him on be-
half' of his Han. Friend, whom be could nat con..
hider in any other light bee as a person who had
been harshly:dealt with,, and experiettbed neither
fairness nor justice. He you{ I now stale what. he
had refused to submit Tait night Some days ago a •
person unknown to his Ho:,. Friend had w 'ited
upon him, and informed him that there were, papers
in the hands of another party, a Solicitor in the bay,
which went strongly against the cont!ua of the
Commander in Chief. That the-person in whose
hands they were was very unwilling to produce
them, • but that he thought it 1 ossible to devise
some clue by which„they could be got at. Upon
this information hilt Honourable Friend, who had,
been told they-came into the hands of the Solicitor
in consequence of a hnuktuPtcy, went into the city,
and first discovering who the bankrupt was, by guy
ingot) various Solicitors, soon after teund him in
whose' custody the papers were.' Upon being ap.
plied to, he acknowledged. 1w had the papers, but
express;d great unwillingness to produce them. On
being asked the
.reasons for thk, he said 'he was
afraid his character would be implicated as" an in-
former, or that his name would be mixed with those
of other witnesses who had been called to the Bar
of the House of Commons, and bad aaed.in a mar
ner not creditable to themselves. He also expressed
his apprehensions, lest by delivering them up he
should give offence to the Chancellor of the Excite.
-quer, to whom he was under some obligetion.--.
Upon this, he (Lord F.) told him there could be
-no grounds for this apprehension, for that he would
consult the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, he
was sure, would'express a desire to have every thing
conneetedwith this bushiess laid before the public: •
Another objeaion was, ,that the surrender of these
papers might injure him in his prolessTonal pursuits ;
but the principaljet of all was, that as the question
had' been taken up as a party one on the Ministerial
side ot the House, he might incur their displeasure
and the displeasure of his friends, by bringing out a
case hostile to the side they had taken. Ot the force
.of this argument he (Lord F.) was thoroughly con.
• vinced, not only from the present instance, but from
many others, in, which, though Gentlemen might
express their disapprobation, he knew it tp have
invincible influence, and to prevail tyn many officers
to withhold information of' moment, from the fear
of offending and incurring the displeasure of those
in power. • The person had also very candidly told
him, that the papers were not.now In his posseision,
as he hod given them to a friend, not to be destroy.
ed, but simply that he might be able. to say that he
had them not. They were easily to be tecovered,
and he at length agreed to wait on the late Solicitor-
General with them, state the case, and ask his ride
vice, not professionally, but as a triend,' whether hi
ought to stew them to him. (Lord F.) or not. He
was then to see. Lord F. at a. quarter ,past three
o'clock, to inform him of ,his 'determination ; but
on 'teaching ,the place of appointment, he found a
i note, saying, that he had not been able to see his
adviser, who was engaged With the Master of the
Rolls -and consequently could not immediately re-
solve what to do, but would let him know his inten-
t itmas,soon as possible. He had now stated ail he
knew.' of this. matter, for the information of the
House, which he, coinciding in opinion withalle
Chancellor of the Exchequer; had thought the hest
course he could follow. it would be necessary
summon the Gentleman he alluded to, for though
he could noesay, from his. own knowledge of the
1 case, that it' was connected with the pending oharge,
'yet he could say front the abstract of the:contents
made out by the Gentleman who had seen these
i;papers, that they were highly important end 'worthy
'of. the most serious attention.: He- did not .theatr
liar that they concerned the. Duke of Yorke butthey
_concerned places under Government it iproPerik dis-
' posed of, and he could ,not believe shah. any:di,-
position to refuse their. prodoCtion *Quid • arise on
that account. This itatemene he trusted had ateaie
fled- his condua, and shewit ehow-little

seryed-the eentore he had met a.-itit last night. rtt ,
iier to preverif the int rpthtetion of any irrelevant, mat-
ter he thou,,ht-the iiesit way would be to tefer these
panels Its rrieloLCOMmittee as was done last night,,
which Would.seParate those that were necessary from
the that were not, and present only the useful. do-
curodnts. to.the .House..... • .
The.Cilikticti.t.oit of the tXCHE4UF.II said, Le
could not remain to hrs place without offering a few
obs rvations the--very-extraordinary.speech they -
had just !leant from the. Noble -Lord. He could
not sit, silent, and -acgOiesce in these strong asperT.
sions'thrown out, potonly upon some 4)I his 11011.
FraNids, hut upon. the whole House of Commons.
Tile Noble Lord had commented in a obvel and

strange Manner-on the House not adopting the line
a cantina which the Hon. Gentleman opPOSite,
ANlr.':Wardle) had wished to pursue in prosecutiug.
charge, and told them that he wished the. House
7t,ind the •couutry to hold- it io'evelkisting
.reniem-
Wheel' It it were to be.. held in remembrance so
• lotig, let it at least be handed down to
.p,,sierity cor7.
redly, and nob
,as mhrepreseffied by the Nohl,
Lerd, lejurious to the charaCler of the. British Hottse
of Commons to its senatorial capacity.. The Learn-
ed Gentleman whom the Noble Lord dehignated as
the ptotessvd frieod. and. adviser of the DOW. Of.
York, .lied indeed•expressed a desire, as iristrtiOed'
by. hisßoyal Highness, to have this inquiry eohd4t-
ed in Al manner as public .and, open .ls it was pus-,
• liochad that been forccdioit the Houourable
Gentleman ho had 'brought forward the charge, as
asserted by the Noble Lard ?• He was sure, that
besides the Noble Lord's, there was no' a dissentient
voice in the House to the „proposition. ne.
Charge of the 1\.lohle• Lord was; not, against those
who might have differed in opinion with :his Hon.
Friend it was not agttinst a majority, who had car-
ried a measure in opoisition to tde way in which lie
'Wished it ;•• but it was gainst the House, fur not
adopting a coo. ,e ot proceedmg so natural, and pro-
pel, that excepting himself, nut on person spoke
against it. lie did not wean to say that no other
course had been proposed, but that na one had or.s.
jected to the present, oil the grounds now staled by
• Ow Noble Lord.. This, h iwever, was not all, 11,e
Hon. Gentleman himself (Mr. Wardle) had acqui-
esced its this course without expressing the slightest
relUctance, and did not even suggest the appoint-
, moot au Committee. T fhe line o condw:t was not
pressed upon him as now represented. Was it then
tair or just to the Houser of Commons to have their
proceedure urged as. one unheard of in, Courts ot
Justice or in Parliament it Was it just to (flit.
,this as
stn iostance of harshness towards the- Hon, Gewle-
man who stood .lorward the accuser of the Loin-
minder, in Chief ? Ur was it just to. bola 'them up
,their senatorial funttions as impeding either the
Hon. Gentlentauss course, 'or the course of justice,
while they had been using every exertion to procure
the fullest,. fairest, 'and- most public investigation ?
If they were, to be'tried by the public it was only
1r shew what they had done, to make it
• that the accuser had been assisted, with ad-
vice, suggestions, and encouragements of every kin'd
unpilridi,:led In any similar instance. After this to
bear the NoJltt Lord Itial3e such assertions as he had
done, excite.! i,is wannest feelings, and he could pot
• help expressing Isis thsapprobiition.of.so unjust a mode
'of. eprechtitig the tads that ..had occurve.l. As a
'proof of the lamb ot his shttementi,, ‘ht• had to re-
to hitt the Noble .1, that in he whole course of this
iriquiry, t ,erc an a single division, •nor a
• propoAdmi hod wade, Is bleb the Pro-
' Ken tot had not ag,:ed hi. This Was a strong main-
fedialioo Oat' noun. tinplopci hid 6, co duty, mid
kne4ttig to thiter tuv N4)ole
'tray; 111:11 a ;lot course to winch ht; was is, ti.ai
6ten,ntlsis,e,i in, he was olio those who would lie
thola.t tc, give up hp; ow•ovor adviiing his hull,
Fritint op,nion, without taking the
• sense of the House upon it. tic waktAor'of.a.d,,po-
- to let slip an oppottuttry of this ttlid, without
cahiuig fur xpression Of inc serr:e ot the Hotm Iq
mark those u Ito disagreed ttttli him squilinent,and
lOnd down a glortous,arid werionnous nlioorny,
al-
w,tys be'renteuinered by too aud by iho
•coon'ry.—As for. what 111,-, Noble Lord hail s;lid,
liespectffig Ihe rapid LOlooor tti whtich theSQ chin es
,had been posited ott, :snail' no blame could ariaeh to
;the scenig that :Ins Hotiourable Yriehd-ti;.4
• chosen his Own time 'to bring them torward when
be Oug;it to have peen prepared to parry them
Every indulgence as to time. and manner had heen'al:..
lowed; the charges had been tiXed eotytlirwitally, do
pendatst upon the possibilhy of finding the witnetises;
and Mr. Wardle would do the House the justice to
say th,t the days were settled accordingto his couve
- nience. This was all that could in justity be done, for
tiththing could be so untoirgs thus to lauoch a person
Upon publiciattention with. many aLLUSatiOtis, and
then ot.any delay itt bringing the tnator to an
issue. 'he Noble Lord had also toisrepresenteil whet'
that, hislion.,Frien& had proceeded with the
threat, that ialamy would, fall on him it; case of fin-
lure. :This was not the case. It had been said that
intatny was due 3031ewhFre, not upon Mr. Wardle,
or she illustrious Person .who wah the subject of this
j: but if It-should. turn out that g uontipiracy
.existedi that those wholartned it should be stigma.
tized.-, And if sucir turn :• out to be the real
;stage-of' the Matter, those who• had lent themselves
too •easily to the, purposes ot: such ,persons, would
nut escape censulie. flu was one- of those who
•, represented 'llia hardships_ and grievance of telling
in the evening, that on :the, following day Bomrthipg,
the:tlattire ot., which was-unknown, bat which was
.• slated tube formidable and .di,graceful, would b... 1
:brought forwardas,d,charg9. . He again stated, that
.•intlus opinion, the Noble-Lord did ,not .return sa-
ti‘factory answer; he did not even
know wheal tlru papery wereAo be found, on which
Isii,charge was intended.to be,brokight, Ilut it was
no stigin4 lament. the hardship imposed by
suelia mute proLteding on the individual accused.
With regard to what the
.noble Lord had stated, re-
speating the person wholtad the papers, if that per-
- son rWished to. withhold'thern front-any gratitude for
a kindness•receivedlroM him, he could only Observe,
. that his retaillettion of the obligation was more acute
than the memory of tlij beam wer. 1t might, 'how
everi have happerOd in the courie of his protession,
that some kindness 'tnigilithave been done to that per.
son, though:nngt forgotteuhy •him. 'L narrating the
crsaintstances Atte:Noble Lord ,hart..thrtittgli mad-
verteavi'forgot to 'mention what he had told him
inprivate ; narnely, that this person hrid said,` that
it he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was tip-