Star.
London, England, 1810-03-27 00:00:00

that point.

document in the Office to inform him, that the Ex-
pedition to the Dardanelles, or to Buerios'Avres, vas
adopted on previous-military information, Ministers
were not to be overwhelmed because they, could
not produce the sanction of formal miU ary opinions.
Did Gentlenien mean to say, that no Ezped• ion
-Rolls ever, ,to he fitted oat -Except recom•

arended,hy a Board of Officers ? die cotild shew the
:limit that such leas not the practice of former Go-
vernments. He would read a passage from a-dispatch
of the late Lord chathani, relating to the Expedition
*--It Rochefort, That Expedition it was well

against -
known wholly failed, and yet so convinced were- the
public of its propriety, that not a murmur wee/ever-
heard against the great Minister who planned it.—
The Officer who Commanded on that occasion; Sir
-John Mordaunt, -went out under an impression that
,lie would not- succeed, and he wished to obtain a
.specific plan of operations. To this Lord Chatham
.replied, that it was for the Commander to judge of
the probability of success tram contingencies that
might arise, and that his Majesty thought it im
:to lay down precise regulations for the conducPtrr a
Commanding Officet, which might toe liable to be
• defeated by unexpected occurrences. It was for the
Covernmcnt to judge of the policy of the plan; it was
for him to look to its execution. Government, for
their own satisfaction and information, might resort to
the opinion of military men; but they were not to be'
, implicitly bound by them. They were to justify their
conduct on the rationale of the question, and not on the
authority of officers. But hewould examine a little into
these opiniens, and the House would see that there was
not one of them which was positively unfavourable to
• _:_

the Ex,

dition

The first was the opinion of the Com.

xpet
stuutder in Chief. In all the conversations that he had
with Button the subject, he had never given a con-
, clusive opinion against the Expedition. In his formal
opinion before the House, it would be seen that he had
• recommended the attack by the Scheldt, in preference
to the march across Handers. He had never delivered
any opinion against it,cxcept contingent, on the amount
of the force the enemy might collect. Colonel Gordon's
opinion• did not apply (be inc,int nothing disrespectful
to that Officer, of whose talents and information he
thought highly) to the plan that he had proposed,
butt one that he struck oust himself. General I-lope
gave it as his opinion, that the army might have ad-,
' vanced early in August to Antwerp ; General Brown-
- rigg hid also stated there was nothing to (-pose them.
But these opinions, even if less favourable, were not to
be conclusive upon thejudginent of-Government. He
wished tosubmit to the Howe the grounds upon which I
be acted, andlto surrender himself to their impartial
' judgment. He was persuaded he would be able to
hbew nbt only that Ministers were inStifiable, but that
t,;(y would Have been highly crim:nal if they had not
sent cut the expedition. The expedition was not
estrus

plisi

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to be jt.dged by the failure in the fiction of the Iconsu purely as h military operation, out open, to . _. one , _.....r. It so
ships at Antwerp ; that was only one feature in it. !to all the assistance of the navy, and under this view concurred to render these failures of great
In answer to all the objections that had been urged it might not seem so impossible as it appeared to the and affliction, ought Ministers to have undertaken an
against the Expedition, on the score of policy and Noble Lord opposite, to take Antwerpby a coup-de- Expedition which promised no benefit, but insured
• 4.1e1..y, he would maintain, in the first place, that it main ; but even by a military plan this operation was innumerable misfortunes ? Walcheren was his great
could not have been sent out sooner, and that no perfectly possible. . His Lordship here went through object. Where was the necessity of sending such '
•tx licre could it have been so advantageously employed. the evidence, to prove the propriety of .this opinion, force to such a place ? But it had been said,
. St Me thought it could have been employed more ad-' in which he -shewed he was supported By Generals proof should be given of the power of the country.
vantageously in the Peninsula, others in the North of) Calvert, Brownrigg, &c. Foil above SOO years, the This was a noble mods of giving the testimony of
Germany. Both parties, however, joined in rem). town of Antwerp, excepting the Citadel, has never mighty power in a people who had reviled us as 4.
e luting its being employed in what they called a selfish been defended. It had not undergone any Apai nation ofshopkeepo rs unpossessed of miliairtatrenfgth
i
: cbject. He was anxious to rescue his Majesty's Mi- since the 16th century, in the titus of the Duke of andactivity. . - - • .6.3, 44. *
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