44 



ANNOAL REGISTER, 1810. 



ally sent out to Walcheren, even 

 after the order for its evacuation 

 had reached the island.* He had 

 also heard of the sick and wound- 

 ed soldiers being most severely 

 distressed for want of bedding, 

 clothing, and even necessary pro- 

 visions and medicines. All these 

 things might not be true, but yet 

 they rested on the statement of 

 such authorities as to form an 

 additional argument for inquiry. 

 Indeed the arguments for inquiry 

 were so numerous and irresistible, 

 that unless the House acceded to 

 them, they could not hope to have 

 credit with the country for acting 

 under the influence of reason or 

 argument. Lord Porchester con- 

 cluded with moving, •• That a 

 committee be appointed to inquire 

 into the policy and the conduct 

 of the late expedition to the 

 Scheldt." 



Mr. Windham Quin, in second- 

 ing the motion, reviewed the con- 

 duct of the expedition, whicli ap- 

 peared to him to be remarkable 

 only for ignorance, imbecilitj' and 

 mismanagement. He was parti- 

 cularly struck on a perusal of the 

 papers on the table, with the defi- 

 ciency of means to carry into effect 

 the attack upon Cadsand, there 

 having been provided no more 

 boats than would be sufiBcient to 

 land 600 troops, at a time when 

 2,000 troops were drawn up on the 

 beach. It appeared that there 

 had been transports provided by 

 the wise planners of the expedi- 

 tion, without boats, and soldiers 

 sent without provisions. The con- 

 sequence was, that though batte- 

 ries had been opened on the 5th 

 of August, the enemy had been 



able, without molestation, to throw 

 a body of three or ^lOOO men into 

 Flushing, across the Scheldt, be- 

 fore the communication with Cad- 

 sand was cut off. 



Mr. Croker, with regard to the 

 delay of the expedition, observed, 

 that his majesty had not incited 

 Austria to hostilities — that he was 

 even unwilling that Austria should 

 precipitate herself into a war with 

 France, and cautioned her against 

 taking such a step, without ra- 

 tional grounds of hope for a suc- 

 cessful issue. It would, therefore, 

 have been imprudent and impolitic 

 to have wasted our resources in 

 preparations for supporting Aus- 

 tria, in the case of an event which 

 it was hoped would not take place. 

 Lord Porchester had complained 

 of many circumstances besides 

 delay, connected with the expe- 

 dition. Might not those circum- 

 stances be satisfactorily explained 

 by the papers which were yet to 

 be produced ? Mr. Quin had com- 

 plained of a want of boats to land 

 a sufficient force on Cadsand. Mr. 

 Croker had no hesitation in con- 

 tradicting the honourable gentle- 

 man on that point. The state- 

 ment of the honourable gentleman 

 was unfounded in fact : and that 

 single circumstance was sufficient 

 to prove the propriety of waiting 

 till all the documents should 

 be produced. He had means 

 of knowing more on the subject 

 of the expedition than the hon- 

 ourable gentleman. Mr. Croker 

 wished the House distinctly to un- 

 derstand that he did not oppose in- 

 quiry, but only wished to defer it 

 till they should be in possession of 

 those papers which alone could 



* Vol. LI. [1809] Hist. Eur. p. 2-2S. 



