The Sun.
London, England, 1810-03-30 00:00:00

THURSDAY, MARCH 29.

Sit-J. SINCLAIR brought in a Bill for laying Cer-
tain duties on lands bordering on highways, aid for
the regulation of the height of fences, &c. ; read
a first titne, and ordered to be read a seconl time on
Monday,

622. rat I,,Trus posTponed hi;.. motion whicq
for to-morrow, respe wing the exeMption of
:;ire;.; io the army and Navy from the Income-

Tuesday.

_ .
'A Person' trum the Exchequer presented an .ac-
cc..s.,it of all sums of money i.,seed from that Office,
e•.:-;,elint to Addregse3 of the House.of Commons.—
' Ordered to he on the table.
AVHattToN mated -tliat the House should
co,istrijr .tion the Me.ss4ge of the Lords for
the attend .iire of the Lon) Ativocite of 59AI:ilia be-'
,re'a Coinmi!tee of ihe Peers, 6t, the Corti Distil-
late +t P %,11. Ginn Bill.—The House gave us pertnis-
Oon for his attendance a‘.coiding!y7 • . •
• A Message tram the Lords annenneed their Loyd-,
Ape a,sent, to the
•Sugar Bounty Lill, and several'
ivate Bins. .
Irish Sugar Drawback Bill 195 read a.third.
time and pusse.i.
Sir F. Ile4owr.T. gave notice that he would on
T etas, te.,“ bring forward 14 rezpoing
Captain Lake. . . • • •
A,oeernan cort,rio gave notice -of a motion
on Vonoay, respecting the address of thp City of
• London.
The House then- went into_ a Committee on the
MACAc:ts, After
,nano ohservations from Mr.
Alderman Comak,. Mr. •Fp,,Tutt pfepesed.*veral
regAerions, wiper' wtre.agreed the, House re-
sumed, and the, report orqerp,L to be teceived
to, tuoi row. - - • ,
On the motion of Sir S. RoviLLY, she Com-
mittee on toe Critaninal Laws Bill was po,tp
ed. to. Wednesday.—Th., Corlio4i•ree on .the, Expir-
ing Laws Bill, .was hliewise postponed to tins day
• sq'llPighi. I
, • Lord CASTLEREAGH moved, that a Letter from
Sir W. Erskine to the duarter.Master-General, in-
closing the Report of the Witi August 1.009, shall
be, laid before the House., The Nole Lord brought
forward this, motion, ,on the graunds..of illustrating-
certain p ,ints Avhicit .appeared in the e‘idence
of the Quarter,Master-Getieral„ at the. Bar .of the
Hottve, relative to .ote .11mmber, of the enen3yisa!
troops stationed on the Scheldt; •and in Antwerp.
General T4tLys..ToN 'did not Abject to the motion.
Mr. CALcRAWT expressed in strong terms his sur- 1
Priseat Quarter Master General's giving-in ati
account which stated the arnowit of troops to be
354000 men, toduciapg al 9,fice,s and seamen, when
it .was tbrs opinion of 'the
.I.,,*ut-nzi.rit-General that
exclusive of die artitiLexs, the reply troops amount?'
echo I)44llnutnnrr • - .
Qeuers cRAM/FORQ vindicated .the charaaer of
his
..49n. Friend trom the imputation Which had
been tornwn on it by thg.HoP.,Gentlemao.• When
the statement of thirty -L ve • th-.!usawl, ,rnsn was given
in,, it ;' "ay titricocciputii-eit by vtlY Okejvation,• mid
ineitoecukke.eorgie,g9ecies.whicli !tvery
army ; 14e. Pc,C94tit ha oye ,the,,Ogst.possil2l,
but ce4-,taiiiity,,rAt.thtt
e,,Jtetudeit...wikli a warni.pa,.,egyric nzi thi.•?gitliaiit
6enetal, ,tie stated beld
,i!+ high esteem
by floe: R.,,Abercrombie, and.to .whow
coudpct the -,safety of the aktnir in ,iis retreaLtront
Hollpitd,lx!as.owing ; he. would .1101 633/Q14040A
hitILSCIf ).4:9; Or,Ole charAeter; of -a itrlni ,he did :
npt,Atand.forward tudelettd Ws character .from any .
insinuatiu.n.
Mr. CA!..ejosT,said, the 1-ron.. Member had put
a .cilgstrur.tioii
,on what he had a leged, which tie
diJ not
,inteng : he acknowledged the worth of
Gen. Brownrigg, yet he.had a righ..to comment on
his • testimony -as
,well as that ,of any,other officer
whose evidence speared hefore the ,House. The
Journal of thpHon. General hp had heard spoken.of
with. time greatest xespeCt and credit ; but. General
'Br() nrigg :had,. in a detailed. p ip.,r,:st4ted the
amount of the troops io be 30,000, exclusive of
artificers and seamen ; and had at the Bar of that.
House made a reduction of 5000 men from his
original account.
,General ORAWFORD explained.
Lord CASTLEUEAGH, in his own jultifieation,
would read several extracts from Sir Wm. Ers-
kine's evidence at hi- Bar, which proved it 'was his
individual opinion, that in I be.statement .5900 men-
. were plainly declu-led fur artifices s and seamen.-,--
The , Papers were then ordered to be laid hefure the
House.
ADIOURNED DEBATE ON THE EXPEDITION
-TO. THE SCHELDT. .

General TA RL ETON commenced. by observing, he
felt some consolation, in,not-havin4 interrupted, the
dreanas • cf the. Hun.: General. who:spoke !last night,
but latiernly. follow.od • him through his
iinagi-
nary Lampaigns zoad..ali!.his. horrors •of storm and
battery. _The iion. -peutiew4l3,,goe an ~elaborate
description ~.of the operatio.us ,of 140,0.00. Meg/ be-.
tweets the grits' iincljheVe,ser ; and informed the
House the, co.' tept -sniAsiAtrid between -Austria • and •
Frame, the melancholy and.disastrooseventot which
was for. to‘d...,by 'many tare. ';.1140.• theai , passed . to.
Span), and took v low ot, Cadiz,and
there -no flattering 'prospect prysents. itself. The
next point concerned a . project whick,he Chad the
honour of sathruitting the-House-on. the4irstday
of, the Session, hich,-, if . adopted . by, Ministers,.
wool(' .have.. leen ~produaive of the most happy'
consequences ; . be. allnded ,•,to,hisadvice of sending.
GOO men •eitlirr from this Rountry, or from the..
troops,in.Spain,, to. Sicily; tt4ur, in ,this the Hon.
Gentleman ,would not agree. The Scheldt, nothing.
but the..Scheldt, was the (4i:tied a his Majesty's
Knitters, The cireadigjf itoasion.was*, the excuse
.The Ge;uileinan observed there .were.
three. Punic wars„.iind cautioned the House. to be-
ware ot , a fouvti„and therefore, it should • be-carel ul
not to tivish.thd...resowces of • the country iry
and impra4.t,cable •projeCts, 'such as Ah..silate,expedi-
tion was. ,The, Hon.: General- said. that the opera-
Cogs in the,Scheidt .we.re for the 14urpOse of mak-
ing a diversiint-in • favour of Austria ; he, denied
that, it Ave's: so, .for.he was convinced his Majes-
ity:s Ministers. were , well acquainted :with the pos-
ture's:A. affairs; , they . kiiew tlit the armistice be-
tweet) France and. Austria .was signed ; and there
fure,:from ,the conviction of :Napoleon's never con-
eluding a negocialion. without tile destruction of a
• igioni•they.tnust have known that Austria was
ready subdued. The Hon. Member sp:,ke at length
with regard to 1::.e opinion of Officers of scientific.
knowledge, on the F)l4gticabiiity of tuts measure';
they were inattltiousindoing without
persouarinspecion ; in the can non occurienccs.
ot i)fe, 'in a duel, it is oust:lfni:lu to commit, to a
0e hk.t riaatig! Mein of the iif air, to wiloe
(Lull every thing is confided, but the neglect e%inced.

in the present instance is unparalleled in military an,
The rlon. Geetletnan hid commented rather
too severely on the evidence of Sir Wni.
when tit the Bar o'r the House ; he thought the setil
of his illeStrious- father was transmitted to hieson, so
admirable and so .correct were his ideas -of the
lot taess and the country: The-year • t 740 had been
aeserted to. when Lillo Was taken in five.daye e the
Hon. General eid not recoiled it was invested then
by e reetilrie ermy, and every possibility of reiefoice-
ment's Pire.6u:ted. Antwerp he had mentioned too,
forgettine ai that time the Pienclt were masters of
the country, and in possessionot Bergen-op-Zoom e
tektite iu the present instance - eycry day. 'added
eerength and force to the garrison. When ihe 1-'on.
deneral had concluded histooideration of theplaces,
he proceeded to a detail_ of the operations. Ac-
cording to the stalemenr, .22,000 men proceeded to
Antwerp;, but with resPed
. te,e did not on-
derstand what Was -Meant' hi sAyleg part of the
town 'Was in our possession e but this OpeiatiOri
he considered a visionary vent; viei 'scheme, -
undereakere-WiiliouCa•possibility of being practicable.
Theai my arrived at Walcheren op i L'e 29th Atli ;-
iiiiVas debarked; btirby an stinaecountablPdel.iy; the
first parallel was/ net opened till_ the 7th of Aug-USt..
Every ihing was driven into 'FluShing, hiCh -this
greatarmy of 40,000 men did not possess tor nine-
teen days. Would Gentlemen compare vs hat had
been done with 'what was intended, and tvil 'it not
bethought that the mbee of opera ion most
Slow and e!tiniberiug; at a time when every Illove-
ment..was imporiatit. The gartiiun.Of 'Flushing
-consisted of 5000 them If 6000: had been' laUded
end marched &redly in a 'colUMn -there, she sup-
plies could have .beenctit otr, and the inundation
preVented besids; the enemy might have been in-
duced to hazard a contest'in the heir], and en op-
portunity- night be giVen 'of taking the town by
a -couil-de-Main. *The HOnourable General obserie7
•ed,- that Gentlemen had laid much stress Upon -
the •-hopes of success which 'were expeded in
consequence 'ot the proposed plan for bembard-
ing• the fortress of Antwerp. With that military
knowledge which he possessed, he was fully justified
in hazarding the OPiliien'that the ropes 'of success'
could neverbave been realited.• He had teen in the
American War failures in besieging places which
completely bore him out: An the 'attack upon'yrk •
Town, in Which three thousend five hundred-then tr
were engaged-, and in whiCh it w'ae'confiderilly ek-
peeled success Would attend theiretforts, the coil.;
trail was the result, for: the town- did not fall in
consequence of • the- attack, but solely-from the gar-
rison being in want of provisioni. Again it had been
said that tee g'irrison of CoPenhagen would have
surrendered on being bombarded: • Copenhagen, •
however, as' bad been "proved; was fully invested
before it-tell into the hands of the 'English: With
respect to the investment Of. Antwerp, that was a
proceeding which could not be".aceonsplistead, as the
Avirtiie of the evidence had shewn. The Noble.
Lord,-in the course ot hiS•speechon a formernight,
'had stated, that the expences of the •expedition did
not amount to more than 800,0001. However much
the .Notelel.,Ord might value finuselt upon the eco-
netny of his plate his'slatement atleast was not cor-
reef. -It was in fact perfectly ridiculous, Let Gen-
tlemen but only look at the single eqetice of trans-
ptirts for the conveyance Of troops, end then in ad-
tit ion look at tie ordeance department, to be con-
vincedthat the statement could not 6e Correa.
deed the Secretary for Ireland (Mr. We Pole) had
given pretty goad-proof of what the expence of ord.
native: stores would bp k
. The gallant Gen, then took
review of the expences at tending several other depart-.
meats in the expedition from which he contended
that the aggregieteexpence must have exceeded the
return laid on the table. With this entailed expeirce
Upon' the country, and .the loss of upwards of 7000
br.we soldiers, whO had cost the country, at a tito7
derate.compotation, litti6 short of forty pounds per
man, would it be endured. that -the Ministers. who
had thus unadvisedly and 1-eedlestly .conduded
themselves, .should go unpunished ? sFrom keno-.
derate calCulation, he conceived that instead.. of
800,0001. as stated. by. the. Noble Loid, the expence
would fall not much short of 3;090,0001. which'
sum the ceetttry must. pay for an unsuccesQful at-
tempt to obtain possession of the fleet in the Scheldt.
The Hon. General having commented at some
length on the items, and sheven the material differ-
ence in the estimates as compared with the adual
expenditure, contended, that the' calamity which
had been generally felt and deploaed, could only
'have arisen- in-consequencepf the inefficient counsel
of Ins• Majesty's present-and late servants, and with
this Opinion be should find himself compelled 'to
.vote against the amendment proposed -by the 'Hon'
?General on a former night.
Mr. Rosa was not prepared to follow- the Gallant
General through his speech, because he -was not
,qualified fully to discuss military matters, The
•Hon. 'General had, however, chosen to censure the
!Commanders in the Expedition, both by sea and
land-L-that the Right Hon. Gentleman Conceived.
. was-a fruitless course to pursue, for the resolution
was.already in the hands of the Speaker which con-
veyed an approval of their conduct. Indeed, there
seemed to be no difference of
,opinion on that head.
-.The-Honourable Gentleman had -not vestal satisfied
with "passing his censure upon the Military Com-
menders, but had found fault with Ministere for
:the general , policy- of the Expedition. He. had
contended that the _force which had- been sent to
:the Scheldt should have been directed 'to make an
effort in:support-of the common cause in the North
of •Germany.• On 'military :grounds. he could not
answer the Honourable General, but thiS be did
know, that the 'Expedition to the Scheldt had t his
practical benefit, that it set-tied to divert the at-.
.teution of a Most .powerful part of the etiemyte
force, and to draw them off 'from the Banks of
the Danube. This had bLeti. of high service to Aus-
tria during the armistice. The Right Hon.Gentlernan
. was prepared to contend that if Flushing had been.
the only object it was the duty of Ministers to en-
,eleavour toeobtain it. In order to ~hew that he
did not depend merely on his own opinion he should
state. the authority of a great Officer—an Officer
whose loss. the country will long deelore—lie meant
the gallant .Nelson. When Lord Nelson was .ap-
pointed .to go to: .tbulogne, he had -directed his
(Mr. Rose's). attentioneto thdimportanee of- having
Flushiug in our poSsession. The 'opinion of that
gallant Officer rtes, that the fortress Might lia;,e
been taken in flier or five days, with• a force 'of
five thotisaud 'men, and- the' ;assistance of a• few

113iS.

shipa ; Le ,had expre;sed a wish to be employed on
that service-if Lis Majesty's. Ministers thought pro•
per.- Titus it appeared-to.him (Mr. R.) that the re-
tention of Flushiug was- a
,point Of very high irn--
4)orrance. Such:had been -.Lord Nelson's opinion.
,Captain Owen, a very able and intelligent. Of--
fieer; was of a' similar, opinicn ;` he considefed the
!Occupation of it as highly important, especially in'
regard to the invasion of this country. Whar waS'
the opinion of another gallant officer; Sir Richard
,Strichari:? also had stated that twenty ships
of the line might lie at all times and in all weathers
secure 'and ready for sea in the basie of F1f.i41...
• ing. The Right flon'oneable Gentleman contended
Mei-eft:ire,. that the retention of Flushing was of more
importance than the destruction :of the fleet ; for
Gentlemen Must be-aware, that the mere destruction
of -the Shipping in the:'fiver eebuld net' deitroy -the
forest, and that consequently- unless we had. the
place; the damage might be repaired. If Ave were
in possession of the river; and of the tot'n,. which
was deperninated " the key-stone of the, s.ll,le4rlt,'!
aed if the navigation of the river could have been ob-
streeted by sinking vessels or by any other means,
he Should have thought theeXpeclit ion Well employed,
It had bee.tl the (pinion of Sir Richard Strachanahat
such 3 plan was praaieab'.q. NNT-iS it then he would:
ask, surpi CI:At MiniSters should have entertained
a similar opipioe lt.had been urged, as a ground
Of censure that the expedition 'was the largest' ever
fitted out by tbil-rEotiiiiryri-bitt he -vas Prepared to
contend, that in amount and magnitude, it was not
equal to many that had .left the shores, if it was taken
into consideration, that the state of the paval force
was greater then on former oceasions when expedi;
Cols Were sent out. The Right Honeurable Gen-
tletran then took a review of the various expedi-
tions'for the last eighty years, several-of which had
been more powerful, -and had performed less than •
the one no* under discußsion: He. alluded parti-
cularly to that of 7 757, whiCh retained to port aft
ter having,effeaed no more than the- destruc-
tion of the bason at Cherbourg, and brought Away a
few brass guns. What had been-effected, he might
ask of 'the Gentlemen opposite, in the Dardanellei
expedition'? HaVing made several obserVatiOns, and
contrasted the resalts of those `expeditions -With ihe
present; he .concluded with Opposieg the Neu„
le
Lord's Resolutions. •
Lord FRANCIS OSBORNE considered that. the ques-
titan fOr the decision of the Elouse was not whe-
ther Ministers were to; blame, or whether the
Commanders of the Expedition were to blatne for -
the failure which hadensued, but whether the coup,
try had.suffered in consequence. 'That the country
had suffered was very ,evident, it thereforebecame
the duty of Parliament to *censure the persons who
had been instrumental` in producing those sufferings.
The Noble Lord, adverting to the operations hi
Holland t eno, thought that the lesson which
had been experienced in the protracted operations
there, should :have operated as. a beacon to guide
Ministers, and have induced wisdom.. It -had been
admitted by Ministers, that at bcst,success vas pri:,
carious. Whit, therefore, could induce them .to
send so large an expedition upon such, a seriee, lie
was at a loss to guess, unless awes the practice of
folly, and the result of incapacity. Tice Noble
Lord was of opinion, that all the blame which at-
tached' was imputable to Mipisters. Much cause
for complaint and for serious regret occurred, in
consequence of the loss of so many of t;ir brave'
appeared that when the expediti I sailed,
the season of unhealthiness had arrived at Flushing,
audit- was al,o'rnanifest, from the evidence, of the
Surgeon-General to the forces, that lie had not
been -ccinsulted-as to the nature of the fever which
affected our army, until after the sailing of the ex-
pedition. Upon a full attention to the evidence, be
was obliged, to vote for the original resolutions.
- Lord GEORGE GRENVILLE a rso. supported. the.. R-
esolutions. The Noble Lord made a comparison be-
tween the -Rochefort Expedition in 1.758 and the
Expedition to the Scheldt. He read an acCount,Of
the former Expedition, published in 1759,- and
contrasted it with the account which the Noble
Lord (Eastlereagh) had given of the Scheldt Expe
dition in his Speech on a forreer night. , •
Mr. W.,FITZGE.sALD rejoiced- that it was agreed
on all hands that no inaPutation rested on the. Naval
and Military Commanders of the Expedition,' and
that their conduct might be Set out of the considera-
tion of the subject which' must be dis,cnssed solely
with a reference to his Majesty's Government. He
contended ghat had _ been distinelly proved by the
evidence of the Quarter-Master-General and -the'
Adjetant-General, that our m litary -means would
not allow the formation of any prior expeditioti.
With respect to,the risk, the knowledge of that risk
accompanied not ooly' the progress, but even the
contemplation of the plan. Government, however,
satisfied of the advantages which the c ~edition
Was intended to produce, by the 'deatruetion of' the
-accumulated naval means of the enemy, hazarded'
their own responsibility, ; and the minor consi--
•deration of the tenure of: their official situations.
The Gentlemen opposite at one time contended, that
the force at Antwerp was so great, that it was im-
possible successfully to attack it ; and at anothertirtie
that the expedition had not created any diversion by
'the recal,of troops from the Danube, for that the
gerrison of Antwerp was in an efficient state. One
or other of these assertions must be true. The fact
was, that the Dutch army had been recalled from
Stralsund solely for the defence of Holland. The
Noble Lord-by whom the debate had been opened
had assumed WS much, when he said that the
opinion of every military man who had been
consulted on. the subject ought to have de-
terred Government from the attempt. To re-
fute this he entered into an exatninat,on of
the military opinions in evidence, and contended
that that of General Brownrigg particularly, wlibse
sentimews(without making an invidiouS comparison)
were as worthy of attention as those
.Of any Officer
whatever, thoughtfavottrably of it ; having dedared,"
that even on the 2.51 h, had it not been for the sick-
ness of the army, he' should have -recommended
their advance in the confidence, that they would
Late done (larch to _meet time hopes of the: country.
There was another question al,O which mingled it-
self with . the consideration' of the- possible;. sur-
render -,of, Antwerp to a bombardment, . and
that was the probability that that town might
be indisposed towards ' the present dynasty of
France. .41 As to the nteution of Walcheren, he
assured.• the Hon. Gentlemen opposite that they
did not monopolize 11‘e feelings of sorrow for• the

fi

nether the import
Viitteallteesiii
itoretal ‘‘i;:aizis(., liiill(l)2vd..elteltre:e:be
ti.itelt)h feat by distfa'-:e. •
fiaselelvedee_ rhaoilsfsivitule:cieeta'sbstiii,easlaad2LitLiilesllir6;rittiloa tiltlcsh)°:'4;:l.c,kilcilltd:lV:
iii)riaevcdeigridill"ntbily.
stances of Europe-a-in the balanced state of the vat':"between France and 'Austria, to relinquish such a
possession. Walelleren was e‘aeuited in OctobeCi,
how much sooner would the nape Gentlemen
hirardpoiatit,eevhaeative,aeh(aidwiltweniaLcuoar.iited.c:h;itlbNa.m.oulludrtletdeyi
tillve
e.
tendon, and when Sir Richard Strachan varote home!
conjuring Ministers pot to take any hasty step on !
subsie,'4 of suchimportaece both in a naval acid in t.
militaky point of view ? before it was evaceated,t,
thews ei 14ciemur;labaesnatheonmeuastistoofretriudeenrnci et art: ail ilV;11 iol;biii:Cf:
Orders were - giver, to that effect as soon irs tut, ,•
;Treaty bet'Ween France, 2114 Austria -ayes kii°Nca;:
and as soon as those orders bed been carried allaa
execution the. evacuation was effeed. If all the I.
arguments which he had Used were well grounded
i
if there was no doubt of the "poliy of the. ExPeua
tion—if no Expedition could hate beeh under .
taken at an earlier period—if no other Expediti°a
could haiVe been undertaken with so fair a pro`
spelt of secce,s, or' intfeed 'with sin h combine
hopes of ad vantage--ifrho naval ancint jittery execu-
tion of the enterprize were free front blame—it a 0
dishonour had t irni,lied his. M jesiy'S arms, then "eae
tliiightlhe..Hinise bound to ceucor in the amenollt .
merit of the Hon. Gentlemao, to which.he.onaffee•
edly declared, that he agreed with eraateezaansfacm
tinthan on any former occasion of a similar Hatoe
Mr. GRATTA'S;adverting to a part of the. observe;
H
tionS that had fallen from a Right on. Gentleo'l
opposite, said, that -he would not with him enter 1010
, 4
a comparison of the conduct of the present war Will
'
the conduct of that under the direction of the gr,ekr
, -
Lord Ch itham. He would not ebe2li're....a acll9--;
of defeats with elirieiOriiqiiiies. In rePIY
what had been urged respecting the retentieri eL
Walcheren, he would adduce -the-. best •opinion
t.
Sir Richard Strachan, which was decidedly egaili..,
the retention. To-have reamed Walcheren it a:ou"
have b, en. neaessary to leive sent immediaelY3
large force to streply tee place of these troops wl'i, "
So- E. Coote requested might heimmediately wiLll°.'
drawn ; -and-afterwards to li:iVelincuffed a gli-.,at arid
nual loss.. Besidea;iltere was one argument a-Pills
the retention of ,Flushig, which was urninsaeatblea
It Was impossible to retain it. By a strange cebill's
sion of ideas, Government, because they thougla it
necessary to send an'armatnent to Wa-lciteren; e heti
Austria was at war, to create a divelsoii, thought it
net essarf to keep that armament there waei. Artwil
awes at peace, and when no rational object was in viev•
Ministers, howevt r, had been passessedof a dispose'
able force, and they thought it necessary to d°
something with it; but whether to take care of it,
or to expose it to destruction, seemed tole va'naento
them a [name of indifference. What was the opinioll
of the General Officers on the objeet- of the exeedi;,
tion ? They declaimed ;against it. The firit id,rl ei .•
Government was to send an army by Ostend. -Thel
afterwards mitigated the severity et the r idea, an
determined to proceed by a joint naVal and military
force. And -here -it was curious to observe, 1136 .
Noble ViscOunt who had said so much ag3:":
the expediency
,of listening, to military op'eriors, • '
had in this instance listened •tO them with gre"c 1
deference; for had he not clone-. so, the- al°l
would have been sent -by Ostend; that is, accord'
hag to the declared sentiments-of all the Officers,
they would have been sent to incur, not ri,k mere"
ly, but utter desttuaion.' That plan -having
cep
abandoned, what was the opinion of the Officers 0°
the conjoint_Expedition.?• That it was less imprac'
ticalale than the - other, but that it was attenda°
with a hazard which repdered it nearly desPe'
rate. Sir John 'Hope had declared,. -that as sOOl,l
as -he saw the situation of things, he was persbade.ue
that the attempt was impracticable. Lord Russlyn vv2s
of opinion that the 'Expedition could not at any till!
have succeeded. Lord Chatham entertained ,-100b'
on 11. e subject, although those doubts had been borno
down by the orders of the Admiralty. Sir n• '
Se:schen had expressed v to Lord Mulerave his.coll-
- that the Expedition would fail. The 'HO'
Gentleman here entered into a minute examinatii'hi
of the Report of the. Select Committee, which
i
.contained the information on which, Government 113'-'.
been induced to proceed, which information cliifil ,
went to prove- the delencelesa state of Antwerp o,_ll
its
_neighbourhood ; endecontended, that it was Or. •
no means entitled to credit.—Of thefalsehood.of tP'..s
in:bamation indeed a sufficient proof lied- baen °fr
forded on the day after the sailing of the Expedition'
for 90 the arrival' of the Marquis of Huntly at,C3Cl'
sand, he found it impracticable. to etlect a landing,l' l,
consequence,of the superior force of the enemy, al`
though in the secret inforniation it was stated that the
place was without troops: As little Credit was found to
be due to-the representations of the dilapidated sta'f,
of the fortifications of Antwerp. After,having ii ,ve'' .
at considerable length on this part of the subjecr,
~.
the Right Non-Gentleman proceeded to state:lll'4:- ,
the predictions of all the Officers had been verifier.t, •- ~
Ministers had sent out an expedition of one hundred
thousand men, of .the result of whiCli the General '!..
„fled great doubts; of which the Admiral , had 0°
.. hopes of success; without a plait of Aniwerp-or ot.
_Lido, and without any system of co-operation, to i.
_place where the troops, in addition .tu 'other evils,
were visited by that most dreadful of all evils, con- ;1
tagious diseese. In- vain would: Ministers refer to -
,
former exploits of our brave soldiers, -and de-
clare that from -their spirit they had expeEted every '',
thing: On .those_ occasions they had to content,'
only against the enemy ;- in the present instance they •
had to contend with a plague.' : Rl:vas no excuse fur:
Ministers to say that'they relied on the spirit of the
.army, when they exposed that army to an evil ovef '
. which no spirit could triumph. . Long after any lie
cessity for retaining Walcheren had existed (-it any
necessity, bad ever-existed), Government had persvea
vered in its retention. There appeared to be a cor- :-
respondent ignorance between the two Cabinets o
Vienna and 'St. James's. The latter did not know'`'
that the former had made a peace with France ; owl
die former did riot know that the troopaeftLe lapel •
were in the hospitals of Wale:fere!). In the whole.
Of the transaettorr, Government had.t.: et n guilty 01,
conduct so 'reprehensible, that rt could be exceede°,
only by -the conduct of that Pertiament who Wool t.
f
excuse them. • • .. •

Mr. CANNING observed, his Hon. Friend h:id Cna"
eluded expre.ss4, his oicion, that the calacmt►rs

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