54 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



ciously pleased to order, that there 

 be laid before the House, copies of 

 all reports, memoranda, narratives, 

 or papers, submitted at any time 

 to his majesty, by the earl of 

 Chatham, relative to the late ex- 

 pedition.'' 



Mr. Secretary Ryder admitted 

 the right of the House of Com- 

 mons to address his majesty ; but 

 he was persuaded, that the present 

 motion was wholl)' without ex- 

 ample. For even supposing that 

 such a paper as that described did 

 actually exist, as it had neverbeen 

 communicated to his majesty's mi- 

 nisters, he did not know in what 

 office to search for it, nor could he 

 understand what reply they could 

 possibly advise his majesty to make 

 to an address from the House of 

 Commons, under such circum- 

 stances. — Mr.Ponsonby, ad verting 

 to the declaration of Mr. Ryder, 

 that he did not know where to 

 look for such a paper, said, he 

 would ask the right honourable 

 gentleman where he looked for the 

 last ? And as to Mr. Ryder not 

 understanding what answer minis- 

 ters could advise his majesty to 

 return to such an address, did 

 he suppose that his majesty would 

 hesitate to deliver any papers he 

 might have in his possession, of the 

 nature required, for the purpose of 

 submitting them to the House of 

 Commons ? Would he say, that 

 his majesty was dijsposed to wink 

 at the calumniation of a brave 

 officer like sir Richard Strachan ? 

 6uch a supposition was as oppo- 

 site to the integrity, to the virtue, 

 4nd honour of his majesty, as it 

 was conformable to the dark spirit 

 of low intrigue waich influenced 

 the councils of his present minis- 

 ters. He hoped that the House 



would mark its reprobation of a 

 practice so unconstitutional and 

 so base, by voting the address. 



The Chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer said, that Mr. Whitbread's 

 argumentin support of his motion, 

 proceeded on assumptions not true 

 in fact: 1st. that some communi- 

 cation had been made to the king 

 by lord C. before he had given 

 in the narrative before the House; 

 2nd. that in this previous commu- 

 nication he had calumniated his 

 brother officers. And on these 

 two assumptions the honourable 

 gentleman had stated, that the per- 

 son of the sovereign had been 

 dragged into discussion, in order 

 to delend his servants : when all 

 that his right honourable friend 

 had said, was, that if the House 

 were to ask his majesty for papers, 

 the nature of which they could 

 not describe, and even the exist- 

 ence of which they could not as- 

 certain, they might, with just as 

 much propriety, demand the pro- 

 duction of any other documents 

 whatever. 



When the honourable general 

 who moved for the production of 

 the narrative on the table commu- 

 nicated to him, on the 15th inst. 

 his intention of making such a mo- 

 tion, he was apprized of the exist- 

 ence of the document. He knew 

 that it was an official paper, and 

 to be found in one of the offices of 

 his majesty's confidential servants. 

 Ithad beenabsolutely denied, that 

 the other paper now sought, had 

 any existence in any of the de- 

 partments of the state. The ques- 

 tion now was, whether the House 

 would vote for an address to the 

 crown, to produce a paper, merely 

 for the purpose of ascertaining 

 whether such a paper was in exist-. 



