HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



117 



CHAP. VII. 



• 



Inquiry by the House of Commons into the Conduct of the Commander- 

 in Chief, his Royal Highness the Duke of York. — The Inquiry into the 

 Conduct of the Duke not confined to his official Acts. — I'he Lord Chan- 

 cellor and the Duke of Portland vindicated against fdse Insinuations by 

 Mrs. Clarke. — Many corrujjt Practices unveiled — Of the Reverend 

 Mr. Basely, Chaplain to the Bishop of London—Of the Reverend Dr. 

 O'Meara — and, in favour, though alleged to be ivithout the Knoiv- 

 ledge, of the Reverend Mr. G. H. Glasse, Rector of Hantvell. — Cha- 

 racter and Behaviour of Mrs. Clarke on her Examination before the 

 House of Commons. — Deep Interest of the tvhole Nation in the Liquiry 

 into the Conduct of the Duke of York. — Refections. 



AMIDST the great events that 

 had happened, not only on 

 the theatre of Europe, but Ame- 

 rica, and the weighty deliberations 

 to which these, as occasioning vast 

 military preparations, gave birth, 

 in the councils of Great Britain, 

 an incident of a very extraordinary 

 nature occurred, which, for a time, 

 threw into the shade the last vic- 

 tory, though preceded by disasters, 

 gained by the English army over 

 the French, and the future pro- 

 jects of Buonaparte, Insinuations 

 against the conduct of his royal 

 highness the duke of York, had 

 for a considerable time back, ap- 

 peared in divers publications of 

 the press. It was privately circu- 

 lated too in whispers, that the 

 duke of York would not long be 

 commander-in-chief, and a defi- 

 nite period too was specified by 

 some of the whisperers, beyond 

 which they predicted that the duke 

 would not be found in the occu- 

 pation of that important post. — 

 When it was afterwards recollect- 

 ed, with whom those who seemed 

 lo have most pleasure in circulat- 

 ing such reports, were intimately 

 acquainted, and with whom they 

 lived in a degree of confidence, 

 conjectures were made that the 



accusations of the duke, in as far as 

 they had been made in newspapers 

 and whispers originated in a de- 

 sire of change, rather than a pure 

 zeal for the public welfare. For 

 grounds of accusation were not 

 obtruded on public attention by 

 any flagrant delinquency on the 

 part of hii royal highness in the 

 discharge of his public dut)'. On 

 the contrary, the happy effects of 

 the discipline he had introduced, 

 and the arrangements and organi- 

 zation to which he had submitted 

 the army, were universally ac- 

 knowledged. Early in 1S09, an 

 attack was madfl on the royal com- 

 mander in chief, in a more honour- 

 able and fair way, because in a 

 direct and public form. 



House of Commons, Jan. 27.— 

 Colonel (of militia) Gtvyilym 

 Lloyd Wardle, after the strongest 

 declaration of the purity and pa- 

 triotism of his motives, stated that 

 the conviction of his mind was, 

 and for some time had been, that 

 unless the system of corruption 

 that had so long prevailed in the 

 military department should be 

 done away, this country might fall 

 an easy prey to the enemy. The 

 first point in the case he had to 

 state, related to the half-pay fund, 



which 



