The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-03-28 00:00:00


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there *as not one, and as to the number of pilots,
there was but one fur the whole fleet. He now
came to that period in the Expedition .when the
army was assembled at Baths; and first, he would.
beg the attention of the house while he read to
them, at greater length. than Ile wished, the paper
adtlressed by General Brownrigg to the General
OlVers at Batkz. It began by stating,' that=
't" The armament hating arrived at the point from wheat*
farther arrangements are to be made for tarrying into erect
the ulterior object of the Expedition; and various totpartant
consikl..ratimis combining to call for an immediate determina-
tion—how far that object can be obtained with the means in
our poire!t it becomes necessary to detail these means, and to
advert to circumstances which have ensued from the com-
mencement of the undertaking. •
" And first, it may he premised, that according to the orb•
gi al plan of operations, it was intended that a division o( the
army should he landed on Cadsand, and by that means stripe
to our fleet an entrance into the West Scheldt, and prevent.
succrurs being thrown into Flushing; thus effectually blnelt
ailing the fortres9 by sra, while the army which disembarked
on tire North side of Walcheren, completed Cie investment on
the butd side. The landing on Cadsand became impractica-
ble trim the tempestuous state of the weather, the forte of
ihe,eirroly, and from a deficiency in means to debark at once
a body of troops capable of contending with the numbers
there was every reason to suppose would be prepared to dis-
pute a landing."
• „)lere. then appeared the force of the enemy,
and our comparative inefficiency to contend
uitli . their increasing numbers. The-state or
Cadsand was here given, and it would be here re-
collected; that General Brownrigg, in his evi-
dence, completely acquitted Lord Huntley of not
having acted right, and distinctly stated, that in
similar circumstances he himself wouhl have acted
in the same way. Where then lay the fault, hut
with the planners ? He then goes on to say
that—

" These circumstances, which it was not possible to con-
tralti, gave the enemy the opportunity of largely augmenting
his garrison of Flushing, which, together with the nature of
the ground on which the attack was in,he carded on. rendere4
still more difficult from the extensive powers of inundating in
the enemy's hands, protracted the reduction of the place to
fifteen days from the period of our Appearing before it,
notwithstanding the unremitting exeittioas of the navy and
troops engaged in the operation. With these uneontrnulable
obstacles to contend with, the prospect soon vanished of being
obi.. by a rapid and simultaneous effort, to tarry the object
of tisc Expedition to its ultimate extent, and which Could
alone lesure the complete success of the enterprise.
enemy having for some days enjoyed an uninterrupted com-
munication with Cadsund, and having by this more
than dou!sled his force, led to the necessity Of adding to the
besieging corps a large porthole of the force destined to pro.
reed by the West Scheldt to the more distant pellagra at.
tack ; and rendered that forte assimilable for that object,
until e.e became pg;wessed of Flushing.
" Havik thus stated thetactual clicumstanees under which
the armament has at •.ved in its. present siradtioas ne Must
sowsit consider what we have yet to accumplisifood the force
likely to be opposed tons.

" The acength of the enemy, by cocoon*" ittelligeoce,
appear, to be nearly as fallow. :
" In Bergen-op-Zoom - - 6,030
4. Breda - - *- - 2,000
" t'antoned between ,> en-op-Zoom and Ant._

werp . . .
" rntfrirp ." .
" On the left Bankof the Scheldt
" At Tlgnien

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stkramAk

his plies hail been *lmbed; or discomfited ?
And it the Noble Lord felt that such was the fact,
why did he not move a ceniure upon those men
who had refused inquiry into the causes of the
failure of that Expedition,? But with respect to
Austria—Austria required no such exertion upon
our parts, neither as to number nor as to place.
He could not help adverting here to the meaner of
expression, to the general tone in which the No.
ble Lord had last night conducted his defence..
The Noble Lord seemed as if he had performed
some great service to the country, and wu in
other parts so gay, airy, and lightsome, as if he
was enjoying some, pleasant entertainment; and
that too while he was answering to the Repre.
sentatives of his insulted and injured country
for the many thousands of his countrymen
whom his wild fantastic experiments at expedi.
tions had buried in a foreign grave. Men,
no doubt, differed very much ; but he did not think
that any other man, so circumstanced, could
have spoken upon the subject without real
agony, of mind. But the Noble Lord could be
calm, could be even gay, and at his ease, though
he had done this in Opposition to the spirit of all
the opinions he had consulted. Sir Home Pop.
ham in vain pressed for dispatch, and threatened
the Noble Lord of the Admiralty with the dread.
ful cousoquences of delay, in having to contend
with.the most serious-of obstacles—the elements;
bos4he 11jsallic Lord knew better. "Go on, Sir
Home—only go, and I dare say de emir
well." (A laugh.) Another ground, u stated
by the Noble Lord, was that of raising the cha.
racier of the army—to raise higher the military
character. Did the Noble Lord find that charac.
ter so fallen and degraded, that it became exped.
ent to throw away,the lives of a great army in or.
der to restore it? This was indeed a compliment
to our militiry Means ! but if that expedition had
found their character high, had it by its own virtue
worked that character higher ? Where bad we
met the en,lny upon equal terms and not been
conquerors ? But were we a berd of the veriest
cowards, common humanity should have prevent.
ed him from such a cruel experiment. Nelson,
and the fights of Aboukir and Copenhagen had
been introduced. Why, what similarity was there
between that Hero and the Commander in Chief
of the late gapedition, whom the Noble Lord se.]
lected for celerity, sagacity, and dispatch. The
Noble Lord thought he Was upon a rock ; he
called for acquittal from the justice of the House.
He( M r.P.) called also upon the justice of the House.
lie asked them if they would say that the Noble
Lord was not responsible for its failure ? But the
Noble Lord had indeed reason to calculate libe.
rally upon the lenity of the House. They had
often pardoned his offences, only to repeat the exer.
cisc of their forgiveness. He was
ho was right—if right, why thr
amongst-hie colleagues, in which ,
ciates took a part. Why did they
was inconivetetit to the situation
Why did tl4ey agree that he should
the tennity ion of the. Expeditior
plea to be turned out,

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