The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-07-11 00:00:00

SPAM:MAN.

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TUE

itliZnglfr ar THE LATE SESSION
PillaillifENT‘ • . ' •
•
. •
• cta!‘issiwidfrottlatsr Pegg% Dily ,
les[vitag.l , :
Were the *ritolo.jot2 that oceupier, in this Pa,
riot), the attention of the • Hotta° 'of Commons,
islapkireil to es:stain the atanthined Week,
;and ill egritf of: the tmpire,s submitted tom in-
::di,vid? 1 of ordissry abilities Ind tliieielion whose •
views -Were ttot wsrped. by prejudice or • party,
waut4 fiud,.• appreliendl but little difficulty
ileaditig a question', which gave birth to- suck an
incongruous -multiplicity of arguments, diitinc.'
tions;'exceptions, &c. and to such an imMeasiiii.
.ble length of windy declamation. The. wealth
and resources of the greatest isaral PowerAn the
world were placed at the absolute disposal of its
Ministers, who concentrated the whole energy of
both in an armament the most fOrmidable that had
ever sailed upon any expedition. The object it
was sent to attain was comparatively trifling; and
yet it completely failed, and the navy returned
covered with disgrace, and the army with ruin,
although neither Might have been said to have he.
held the face of an enemy. That such could have
bet the result, without error in the plan or melt.
lion, was scarcely possible; and, at all events,
nothing but inquiry could ascertain the fact.—..
It formed, therefore, 'strong presumptive evidence
of guilt in the party who strove to stifle inquiry
at its birth, and who, when that could not be
effected, used every endeavour to impede it in its
progress. This was precisely the conduct o! Mi.
nisters, who 'rendered thomselves liable to the
same suspicion that is party does in forensic litiga.
tion, who voluntarily suppresses, or withholds
evidence, which it is in his power to produce.—
Every attempt to give the point at issue between
the People and the Government an *air of intri.
airy and difficulty, which required superior in.,
telligence to decide it, was as completely nosuc.
eessful, as the measure about which the investiga.,
(ion was instituted ; and the exclusion of strangers
from the House during the deliberation which
every tiee knew not to be the mere act of an indi.
vidual, but one of the little subterfuges of office,
brought conviction of the guilt of Ministers home
to the bosom of the very few, who had not al.
ready made up their minds upon the subject.
Many sage observations were made upon the
gross impropriety of condemning without a trial,
and that by the very party who were at the time
throwing every obstacle they could devise in the
way of trial. Audi alteram partem, said they to
the people, but allow es to tell you nothing at all
about the matter. Well, thenl trial has taken'
place, the minutes of the evidence hare lsettpu. b.
lisped, and upon an accurate revisal of she thole,
no man out of doors" will have the hirdlhoOd.
to fly, or tho'ittipiday-lilgaiii47lWifl-iien-
pie of the United Empire have the a urslte‘t calve
to alter their previous opinion it 'he subject.
Every additional ray of light, .iisaa d during
the prosecution of the Inquiry, e4ve new proof
of the solidity of the reasons *hick induced sthe
framers of the expediti,,ti rq
,oiginse. it. Igno..
:Artie and presumption seem to, hive accompanied'
each other hand in hand througn every stage of
the enterprize, mail they conducted it to that
fatal catastrophe, filch has indicted etyma' dis.
grace upon the countr .
The policy and conduct of the expedition were
the two points which tact Committee of the whole
House was appointed to investigate. The one re.
(erred exclusively, to the Ministers; the other
chiefly to the naval aqd military officeri engaged
in it. The first was a matter of argument—the
latter of fact. The framers of the expedition had,
therefore, more room to expatiate in, than those
who were employed in the actual conduct of the
enterprize, and they. profited by this sditantsge to
the fullest extant. They talked of the situation
of Great with respect to her allies ; but
it should have beim remerqbered that et the period
they alludedto, the time of the 'Jailing of the ar.
mament, we had no ;Ilia but the insurgents iu the
Peninsula, and the question reduced itself to this
plain query, when official intelligence of the ar.
mistice on the Danube was received, and when,
consequently, Austria could derive no benefit
from any diversion in her favour, 'why was the
coast of Zealand preferred 'to Spain itself, for the
purpose of relieving those mote usefol and merito-
rious allies ? We repeat it—Great-Hi-UAW at this
period had no allies but the Spaniards soil Perla.
geese ; and it would be difficult to prose that the
best mode of relieving them was by sending the
almost concentrated force of England, nut to the
Peninsula, where their triumph must have been
'aerial% bait to perish in the pestilential marshes of
Walcheren. • •
• There ip another thiogovilielt if4rlginiStrY (for
it ii,ricii,culous to make any one of the body, rim
his peculiar office, solely responsible) _ will find it
very difficult to account fort consistently with a
proper regard for their duty to the public ; We
mean the appointment of the Commander in Chief
of this expedition. We make no• d.oubt of the
private virtues and amialki qualities of Lord Chat.
ham' but great talents 'were the essential re vi.
to the station he was about to fill for the Ant

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,time, and these. are unfortunately not hereditary;
There are or,rtsiolytvett„ with 4 sort of in-
tuitive glance, can discover tile abilities'44otiar!i,
and scarcely require the suppleMentai ;id qt o.lie-
rience to guide them. kiov4pZitra is pickio i;alN
frequently acted from this secret impulse, and to.
hate chosen men for high command, and most im.
pOriint trusts, who were or not at all,
knowo.io the political Of military world. But

.I(ithout cleaning aoy disrespect to Lord Viscount
C*vrt.EnsAout we shay► be permitted to. doubt
Tihether lie is possessed of that happy discerntioint,,

that intellectual acumen, which, from.* sect ot
sxmpatliy or congeniality of niind, can discover
latent talent, and know exactly the sphere. that is •
calculated to exhibit it in all its native lustre.' Yet
it must bo from some secret admonithin Of 'oi.
kind, that the Noble Lord Fos latticed • to.placa
tha•Eari of Chatham at.the heaths!' the expedition,

an officer against whom there was presumptive evi.
deuce of Insufficiency; Whether a long course of
experience is indispensably necessary to form the
character of a consummate General, we shall not
take upon ourselves to determine ; • the man w Ito
at thirty is not fit for supreme command, MON-
..
TESQUIEV thinks, will never become.so ; and Ct.
cents assures us that lucor.t.us, having arrived in
his province, totally unacquainted with the bus's.
ness of war, in a very short time, legend. and
percunclando) rty readlng and inquiring, had ..nb;
taind an intimate knowledge Of the profession at
arms. This, however, is the opinion rnd the
account of mere Gownsmen ; but whether the one,
is founded in reason, and the other in truth, we
belieie that havinrattairted the age of maturity.
was the only essential quality of a General that the
Commander in Chief of the ExpeditiOn to Walehe.
ren was certainly known to possess ; and had he.
even been ever No probe *tie percunctando of
Loctr.r.ns, it would lie difficult to know whom he.
could have found to satisfy his latidable curiosity.
As far as we can trust the minutes of•the evidence,
published by order of the lipase, the most deplor.
able ignorance prevailed., in every quarter, of -dve,
ry thing connected w.ith the expedition. ...Whene..
ver an appeal Was made to the knowledge and ex.
perience of the party under examination, the ref
ply was for the most part in the negative ;
although we cannot ascertain what imPression
avowal made upon the lion. Wuse (the fintiOnr.
able House having taken care that there should be
no prying eyes to.tabserve their emotions), we will
venters to say that it occasioned no little astonish.
Mtlt; among the, Oninitiated " out of doors," to
hear that the Ceinmander in Cbief•of his Htitannie
Majesty's Forces, " to whom sour armies _are cit.!
trusted, and upon ihoin such a weight of siffiiiti
depends," had never seen a plan or the foytifica.
ttuus of IttllVlCrp!

We know, by the observations which have fallen
from the French Press upon this exquisite mor-
ceau of evidence, that it eaeitel a good deal of
.jocularity.upon the Continent, and that the enemy
laughed heartily at a Commander in Chief confess,
ing his total ignorance of what the Veriest Tyro
in the military school would have blushed to be un.
acquainted with. " What!" says a pert French.
man, " the English Commander in Chief never to
have seen a plan of the fortifications bf a city,
which his countrymen were going to set about
taking by a eon's de main ! Why thia is most ea.
celleat—and this a naval fortress too I ah--they
settle these matters much better in France, and if
Monsieur r.E CIIEVALIea DUNDAS could get a peep
into the bureau of our Topographical Board, he
would really be astonished at the beautiful and ac.
curate plans he would find there of all the har.
bows, ports, and fo,,rtressea along tile coast of
England."
Although the exclusion of Strangers, that is, of
their Constituents, from the gallery of the /louse
of Commons, during this must important inquiry
and discussion, succeeded in a. great measure in pre.
venting them from obtaining a strict knowledge
of the conduct of their representatives, yet' enough
has transpired to qualify the eversion of all those,
who, from principle, were hostile to parliamen-
tary Reform. But it will be said that the REPORT.
sae arc the strangers to whom.the Standing Qrder
applies, and that it is an abase of terms to eon-
found the people of the empire with them. It is no
abuse of terms. The Reporters are the ,agents of
the Press, and the Press to the'medium throi;sh-
.which the great body of the . People obtain
any acquaintance with public affairs, and whic.ii
becomes the organ of their sentiments in its,
turn. Let the Press bo once, annihilated, or,
what is worse, degraded, and the People will
sink into a sort of indifference, of apathy,
trona which the transition to the most abject
state of slavery is easy and natural. 14 Give
to the MitliSter," said Me. SlRrapall) dpoo a
late occasibn, " the command of the army end
the treasury, gave him a venal .blouse of COM-
eloas, and a pliant House of Pests--,giVC him;
in short, every thing necessary to erect a sys-
tem a absolute power, and give pc only a free
and independent Press, and with •tltst mighty,
eugiee I will batter' down the fabric of despo-
tisms and erect upon its ruins the edifice of the

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