H T S T () R Y OF EURO P E. 



45 



enable them to decide whether an 

 inquiry would be necessary. He 

 concluded with moving the pre- 

 vious question. 



Mr. Bathurst said, that he had 

 voted for the address in answer to 

 the king's speech, but not against 

 the inquiry; and he had opposed 

 the amendment proposed, because 

 it not only courted inquiry, but 

 anticipated the result. The House 

 owed it to the country that inquiry 

 of some kind should tai«e place ; 

 and it could not take place in 

 any other way than either in a se- 

 lect committee, or a committee of 

 the whole House. The papers re- 

 maining to be produced mightstate 

 what was thought proper, with 

 Tespect to the number of boats, 

 or the means of debarkation on 

 Cadsand. But admiralty returns 

 would not satisfy him. He must 

 have viva voce evidence on\h\s, and 

 every other important point con- 

 nected with iheexpedition. It was 

 impossible for any papers to shew 

 that a sufficient number of boats 

 had been provided. It was alike 

 impossible for papers toshow what 

 the probability was, that Antwerp, 

 on a coup de main, would be found 

 in a different state from that in 

 which it afterwardsappeared to be. 

 He wished to know what were the 

 probabihties of the success of the 

 expedition; upon what grounds it 

 was expected that the expedition 

 would arrive in a given time at a 

 given point. These were subjects 

 which no papers could explain, 

 and which could be learned only 

 from viva voce examination. 



The chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer besoughtthe House not to be 

 led ustray by any supposition, that, 

 in agreeing to the previous ques- 

 tion, it would decide on the poiot 



of inquiry or no inquiry. The 

 vote of that night would only de- 

 cide whether tlie iiiquiry should 

 be then voted, or not till after the 

 documents should be produced. 

 To shew that ministers were 

 anxious that thequestionsdepend- 

 ing on them migiit be agitated as 

 early as possible, he stated, that 

 while the office clerks were em- 

 ployed in copying some of them, 

 others were actually in the course 

 of being printed. He hoped not 

 only to be able to bring them be- 

 fore the House on Monday, but to 

 put into the hands of each member 

 a printed copy. It was hardly de- 

 cent not to wait twenty-four hours 

 for the promised information : to 

 decide, knowing nothing aboutthe 

 merits of the case : to say we 

 know better than you, though we 

 know nothing at all about the 

 matter ; to tell the sovereign, in 

 effect, though you have promised 

 us satisfactory information, we 

 have anticipated that the informa- 

 tion you have promised cannot 

 be satisfactory. 



Mr. Windham said, that, in his 

 opinion, the vote ought to be car- 

 ried by acclamation. The inform- 

 ation on which to ground opi- 

 nion, at least inquiry, was already 

 before parliaraentand thecountry. 

 It was not that the expedition 

 failed, but that it could not suc- 

 ceed, that the House and thecoun- 

 try had to complain of. It would 

 be a reproach for ever to the cha- 

 racter of parliament, if it suffered 

 its attention to be diverted for one 

 single day from taking steps of in- 

 quiry, by any delusive hope held 

 out from the production of papers. 

 By the way, those papers, had 

 ministers been sincere in their pro- 

 fe??ion.s, should have been deli- 



