HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



141 



Noes, SS-i. The house then di- 

 vided on the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer's motion : For it, 278 ; 

 Against it, 196. 



March 20. The Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer stated a fact 

 which he hoped might induce his 

 right honourable friend Mr. Bath- 

 urst to forego the motion which 

 he had promised to bring forward 

 that evening ; his royal highness 

 the Duke of York on Saturday 

 morning, of his own accord had. 

 waited on his majesty, and ten- 

 dered to him his resignation of 

 the chief command of the army, 

 which his majesty had been gra- 

 ciously pleased to accept. The 

 communication made by his 

 royal highness to his majesty 

 upon tendering his resignation, 

 was read to the house by Mr. 

 Perceval at full : of this commu- 

 nication it is sufficient for our 

 purpose to extract the first sen- 

 tence. 



" The House of Commons hav- 

 ing, after a long and full investiga- 

 tion of the merits of certain allega- 

 tions against him, passed a resolu- 

 tion of his innocence, he might now 

 approach his majesty, and venture 

 to tender to him his resignation 

 of the chief command of his ma- 

 jesty's army, as he could no 

 longer be suspected of acting from 

 any apprehension of the result, 

 nor be accused of having shrunk 

 from the extent of an inquiry from 

 which, painful as it had been, he 

 trusted he should appear, even to 

 those who had been disposed to 

 condemn his conduct, to have 

 met with the patience and firm- 

 ness which could arise only from 



a conscious feeling of innocence.'' 

 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 having made this communication 

 to the house, without any com- 

 ment of his own, left it to his 

 right honourable friend to deter- 

 mine, after having heard it, whe- 

 ther he would think it necessary 

 to proceed with his motion. Mr. 

 Bathurst assured the house that 

 he did not harbour even a lurk- 

 ing suspicion of any criminality 

 which could prevent his royal 

 highness the Duke of York from 

 going forth into the world with 

 clean hands, and free from the 

 charge of any foul imputation. 

 But the principle on which his 

 intention to propose a resolution 

 had been founded was not at all 

 altered, though he allowed that 

 the ground on which he intended 

 to have acted, had been in some 

 degree narrowed, in consequence 

 of what had transpired on the pre- 

 sent occasion. A great cause was 

 at issue, the cause of justice be- 

 tween two parties of important 

 consequence, the public on one 

 side, and the commander-in-chief 

 on the other, and that house 

 ought to decide. He did not, in 

 the mean time, believe that a 

 more judicious decision could be 

 come to, than what should be at 

 once an admonition and an ex- 

 ample. He then submitted to the 

 house the resolution which has 

 been above stated.* 



Lord Althorpe, as an amend- 

 ment to this, moved the following 

 resolution : — " That his royal high- 

 ness the Duke of York, having re- 

 signed the command of the army, 

 this house does not noiv think it 



necessary 



• Page 136. 



