The Sun.
London, England, 1810-03-05 00:00:00

THE I QUIRY.

TWELFTH DAY7--TyrEsDAv,
-Sir. EvaE CoorE's Evidence. •
Was it your oeinion.t .that at the time you took
the( oturnand in:Walclefren, it I,v:is necessary some
irnraediate determination shoul4 be made as to the
retaning-or evacuating the island of WalcherZi".?—
, It ivas not for me to say what wir. the intention of
his • Maje Sty's Ministers; but I; myself conceived,
that it wbetti be Well done to come to a determina-
tion whether we, were AO keep possession 'of,the
islind, or whether we were to evacuate the island.
Is it your opinion, .that for the of the ser-
vice it was absolutely necessary to, lose no time in
coinh.g to' such detevinidattoli certainly con:.
ceived, as I stated,in my former ansWer;tit would be.
welt done. to come t° a determinationfieis not for
me to judge What was the intention of hit Majesty's
Ministers ; but as far as my opinion went,' it is
better at all times to come to a deciSion. " • - •
the particular situation in which you fOund
yourself when you took the command in Walche-
-reo, was it not in your opinion necessary to come to
some immediate determination, as to the'-propriety
of retaining or evacuating it ?—I really think I have
answered that question ; but I have no hesitation
whatever in saying, I think It wotldhave been well-
done to determine whether the iidiod was to be re-:
tained or not, to be. retained.
. In the particular situation
,in-which you found
yourself when you took the command at Wel-
..
chercn, was it oar, in your opinion, necessary to
come to sonic inimediate determination as to the
propriety of retaining or etiacuatieg it really
can give no other answer; I should have been ex,
trannely glad that an immediate determination had
been come to, for the reason stated in 'a. letter now
b: tore t he Commit tee.
_ Is the Committee to understand 'it was necessary
for the service,' in_ your opinion, that some imme-
diate deterintnation shotild be come to ?-1 reeear,
it would have been well done to come to an imme-
diate determination.
Would it not, in that case, have been particularly
well. done ? —No doubt. •
You have spoken of the necessity. of erecting a
Variety of fortifications on the island of \Valchereu,
• it it was proposed to retain it ; what length of time
do you think it would have taken to coustruCt such
fortifications as would have put that Ward in a
state of defence, so as to enable us to retain it dur-
ing the winter ?—I do not think it possible for me
to answer that question, unless.l knew "what ma-
Aerials, &c. were, wanted ; I do not see that I
could even hazard 'an opinion ; it, no doubt, would
take some time. ,
In your opfnion, would it have taken three
months ?—Most certainly.
Thep the Committee is •to understand, that if,
when towards t he•etid of 06tober it uas deter mined
to evacuate Walcheren, it had been determined
to retain Walcheren, it would have required three
•
months to have put it in such a state that it could
have been retained by no means wish to be,
understood, that 'I limited myself to three months ;
I only _ .said that three mouths would be necessary
- at least.
How Much more than three mouths do you
think is impossible fbr we to say. •
led" you any conversation with the Naval Of-
freers, by whiCh you Here le,d to (urns an opinion
s- to the pr.;ctic.ibility of defending Walcherea in
the winter by a naval ler ce ?,--Adtutrel Otway told
" me that he
.thoeght it
:would be very difficult, be-
cause' the Ships would be obliged, probably, in bad
weather, to go'inib tile basin.
Consistently with that opinion of-J dmirai Ot-
way's, and yOurecibee witions, do you believe;
shat if at the end of October, in the then.state ,olthe
fortifications of the: Wand, it had been determined
to eta tin Walcheree, there was a probability that we
shiaahl"liave .bLeti able to hate dune it ?—Unless all
our ineaes .‘,yem used, it would lenebeiten impossi-
ble'
to'ictain the Maud if attacked.
With the foiee you left in the island when you
leftit;is it, or is it not your opinion that the ene-
- toy Could have attacked it who a reasonable pro.
spera of success ?—lt. they had attacked the island,
aud-sueCeeded in landing, 'certain it is that we had
nor troops slitficient to oppese theM, in consequence
of iheiresickl)• state.
• 'Were not several artificers, together with:, the
material's for .buildiog, sent over fron this coentry•
during a part of the time you c. namanded at Yal-
clit'tm ?—A few artificers arrived, and .I believe
'some bricks ; the quantity I do not know.
Was„it during your command in Walcheree in-
tended to creel barracks to hold the troops ?—Bar-
racks .wete,to be repaired; but I knew of no inten-
tion of building barracks.
Are you able to form any estimate of the pro.
bable expence which would have attended those
those repairs ?—I am not. _
Have you heard since what that estimate was ?
Not to my recollection..
After the fall of Flushing, were. not the fortifica-
tiOns of Flushing repaired at considerable expence,
and put into a much better state than before ?—They
were daily repairing' at a certain expence.
Up to what- time did those repairs go on ?—When
I left the island (October 29) I believe they still
continned ; I cannot answer fot any thing-that pass-
, ed after I quitted the island, . •
Weic any new outworks thrown up during-the-
time you were in the island ?—Batteries were raised
in several pans of the island.,
Were those batteries finished, or throwing up, at
-the time that you left the island, or had they all
been fiiiished below ?—Some were finished, some
Were ercC-th:g.
Wass your opinion ever taken as to the plan by
which it Was proposed to attack Antwerp ?—Not
to my recollection.
Do you recoiled ehe numb,r of sick that the two
hospital ships were capahle-of holding ?—The two
ships to which I allu•led were placed as convalescent
' ships off Barnakins ; Ido not know the number of
• rre,ei that both would contain, but we"did Pitt 'on
board these ships from 52. en to 300 wen- i'the reason
of ceir putting so few convalescents on board those
ships was, to give -the men bitter accommodation.
If we had put on board as many men. as the- ships
could contain, they would not have so comfortable,
and it was subsequently found expedient to diminish
the erieinalaiumeer putt on board.