The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-06-15

mately been sanctioned by that very opinion
| n othnS, SIR, can be more deroEatory from
the Character ola statesman. than a perpe
! tual laundering after popularity to y desir,
| OF this sort, On the part 1T his macs.y's mi
| nisters, do attrb..te this most calamitou.
expedition. aud all the disgrace and ruin
| which have attended it; and ! DO say, sir
| that II the persons entrusted with the Iii.
rectlon OF the energies ct the Kingdom con
tinue 10 be actuated by this sentiment, it is
not difficult to foresee, that the utter destruc
ton OF the country must be the inevitable
consequence. To demonstrate the folly and
lBpracticability of the plan (t plan t may
Dc caiied) OF this monstHous expedition. it will
not be necessary TO go into very minute
detail OF the mass of evidence which has
| been laid upon the table. shall content
| myself with selecting few of the more pro
minent points. In making this selection !
shall have little difficulty the whole con
duct OF the expedition is So pregnant with
ignorance and folly, and presents such a
| choiee. OF blunders, that, had it beea divided
among ten administrations. it would have
been sufficient to have condemned them all.
The noble lord (Castlereagh) however. in
defending the Copduct of himself and his
colleagues upon this melancholy occasion.
has expressed himself with degree of cal
! lous Indifference, intermixed wih pieasan-
try, i'll adapted to his situation for my own
part, Icould not listen, without horror and
indignation, TO the arguments, so full of no.
thingness and delivered with such fiippancy,
by which that noble lord attempted to defend
himself for having wantonly consigned chou
sands OF his countrymen TO an inglorious
grave. The right hon. gentleman, (Mr.
Canning) has certainly conducted himself
witn great propriety; some part, at least,
OF his usual presumption seems to have for
saken him; and 1T uUquestionabiy does now
become his majesty's ministers 10 be humble
their wings have been dalnped by the
| f0Ss OF Walchcren-they are like wasps lii
| rainy weather--we may examine them
without fear OF their stiugs. In discussing
the conduct OF this miserable expedition, this
concentration OF plumbers, this long lane OF
mischefs, which has no turn except to de-
struction the first thing to be observed is,
that according to all their evidence, the
| planners OF the expedition could have no
| hope OF success, unless all the chances turn
ed out IN their favor, unless all their cards
turned to be trunips The wind must blow
from certain point, and it must blow with
a certain degree OF force ifthe wind chang
! ed. the expedition could not arrive at its des
tined point, and if the wind blew fresh, il
would produce surf, and prevent the land
4No", COilSluSiihs, tIC p'ONClOldi Ct3-
tainty ut the wind, the expectation that all
these things would happen, must be admit
ted to have been extremely rational but
surprising that his majesty's ministers could
have had sufficient influence to induce the
wind to blow exactly As they wished it, stit to
insure TO any thing like a prospect of success
| to the expedition, this mighty armament
must, in all its subsequent operations, have
moved with all the regularity and precision
OF piece of machinery one operation must
be performed in three days, another in four,
the artillery must move thrC ugh the sand
without friction, and there must be =. no en-
envy to fight withal. "--Whae pity it is
that our sober ministers have not been in The
habit of frequenting the gaming table ; had
they known how TO calculate the odds, they
would never have sent out this expedition
But, sir, the truth is, that this gallant army
this last hope OF England, was committed tc
imnent hazard and ultimate destruction
without any thing like a plan for the gui,
dance OF its operations. The noble lord
seems TO have thought it quite sufficient tc
send out an expedition aud leave the rest &c
chance. My lord Chatham was sent cut t.
try experiments. / remember a story OF a
man, who, being asked if he could play on
the fiddle, said, he could not tell, but he
would try" Such was precisely the situa
ton of my lord Holland-(a i0Nd laugh. J
must beg his lordship's pardon for ha vine
substituted his name for that OF my lord
Chatham but his lordship is always near M,
heart, & his name has involuntarily slipped
| from my tongue. What did the military o
pinions amount to Precisely nothing, and
how could it be otherwise, seeing that the
officers had no data whcrcon TO fou1d their
opinions Ministers indeed tell us that they
| had information from their spies, that there
were so many men at Antwerp-----so many
at Lilo, and so many at Bergen op Z5om
but it must be recollected, that it is the in
terest of spies to smooth the difficulties thai
| lie in the way of their employers and, in
| dependent Of this consideration, how is il pcs
siple for spies to form an estimate of the q
mount of the small detachmeuts which are
scattered ali over the country! il must also
be recollected, that great part Of the pop
ulatlon of the country consists Of men who
have been accustomed to the use OF arms
aye, sir, and who have seen FIRE too. The
very sweepings Of such q country would have
been sufficient for the defence Of Antwerp.
But wee ministers, sir, So very igboVant as
not to know that there are between 20 and
so fortified towns. within n few DAYS march
of Antwerp, and that each Of those towns
has its garrison Nay, sir, it is now known,
that troops we're sent even from Paris To
Antwerp, before our devoted army reached
the point where its difficulties were to com .
mence. Did ministers think that the troops
of the enemy were immoveable The insane
calculations of these incapabes remind me
e