HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



41 



CHAP. III. 



■House of Commons.— Motion by Lord Porchester, for an Inquiry into 

 the late disastrous Expedition to the Scheldt.— Long Debates. — Lord 

 Porchester s Motion carried by a small Majority. — A Committee of the 

 whole House appointed to inquire into the Causes of the Failure of the 

 Expeditio7i to the Scheldt.— Motion for Papers relative to that Subject^ 

 agreed to. — Appointment of a Secret Committee, for the Inspection 

 and Selection of Information <f a Nature improper to be made 

 public. 



FROM discussions concerning 

 proper objects of honours and 

 rewards, the House of Commons 

 passed to others of a contrary na- 

 ture : parties strongly suspected, 

 And even loudly accused of con- 

 .duct deserving censure andpunish- 

 ment. 



In the House of Commons, Jan. 

 i26, lord Porchester called the 

 •attention of the House to the ex- 

 pedition to the Scheldt. When, 

 at the close of a former night's 

 debate, he gave notice of the mo- 

 tion which he should that night 

 •have the honour of submitting to 

 the House, it was his intention, he 

 said, to propose the appointment 

 of a committee to inquire into the 

 conduct of the whole campaign. 

 On reflection, however, he was 

 persuaded it would be much more 

 conducive to the end he had in 

 view, namely, to prove the inca- 

 pacity and total want of system, 

 that pervaded all the military mea- 

 sures of his majesty's ministers, 

 to separate the difiFerent branches 

 of the campaign, and institute a 

 distinct inquiry into each ; after 

 •which particular investigation, the 

 several results might be more 

 clearly summed up, and a general 

 conclusion drawn, with greater ac- 

 curacy, justice, and truth. He 



should, therefore, in what he had 

 to address to the House, and the 

 motion with which he meant to 

 conclude, confine himself to the 

 sole disastrous expedition to the 

 Scheldt. The objections likely to 

 be made to his motion, would, he 

 supposed, relate to the time and 

 the form in which it should be 

 submitted. His object was, that 

 the inquiry should be conducted 

 by acommittee of the whole House. 

 He could not consent to delegate 

 the right of inquiry, on this occa- 

 sion, to any select or secret com- 

 mittee, by whom the course of in- 

 vestigation might be misdirected, 

 or its bounds limited : before 

 whom, possibly, garbled extracts, 

 called documents, might be laid 

 by ministers themselves, in order 

 to produce a partial discussion. 

 He would not expose the case to 

 such a risk. It was in a committee 

 of the whole House alone, that 

 they could have a fair case, be- 

 cause, if necessary, they could 

 examine oral evidence at the bar. 

 As to the objection respecting 

 time, that his motion ought not to 

 be entertained until the papers 

 promised by ministers should be 

 laid before the House, it was a de- 

 lusive and shallow subterfuge, as 

 his view was simply to establish 



