tO 2 
LON 
endeavoured to derive a'jaecuniary accommodation to him¬ 
felf, independent of Mrs. Clarke’s advantages. 
The la It cafe with which colonel VVardle would at pre- 
fent trouble the houfe, was that of captain Maling. This 
gentleman was appointed to an enligncy in the 87th regi¬ 
ment on the 28th of November, 1805; to a lieutenancy 
n the fame regiment on the 26th of November, 1806 ; and 
to a captaincy in the royal African corps, under the com¬ 
mand of the duke of York’s own fecretary, colonel Gor¬ 
don, on the 15th of September, 1808. This gentleman’s 
promotion was effected through the influence of the fa¬ 
vourite agent, Mr. Greenwood, in whofe office Mr. Maling 
v.as a clerk, remaining at his defk while advanced in the 
army by fuch an extravagant courfe. Mr. Maling had 
alfo, while fo promoted, home appointment of a pay-maf- 
ter in Ireland ; a courfe which interfered with the inter- 
efts, which fuperfeded the rights, of many meritorious offi¬ 
cers who had long ferved in the army, who had fought and 
bled for their country. Was it tolerable, that fuch an accu¬ 
mulation of favours fhould be conferred on any individual, 
without any claim of profefiional merit, and merely through 
the operation of undue influence, while fo many hundreds 
of truly-deferving men were overlooked and flighted ? 
Was it poflible that our arms could profper—that its fpirit 
could fucceed, or its character be advanced, while fuch 
injuftice was tolerated ? 
There were a few other points, though of very trifling 
importance, that were brought forward in accufation of 
the duke of York, not on the prefent occafion, but after¬ 
wards 5 and this, for the fake of order, that the alleged 
amount of the duke’s offending may be feen at once, 
feems the proper place for ftating them.—Mrs. Clarke had 
Hated, that Samuel Carter was her footboy, and went be¬ 
hind her carriage. He went into the army direil from her 
fervice. In this ftaternent Are was corroborated by feveral 
witneffes. Another additional cafe: Mr. Dewier had 
Hated, that Mrs. Clarke had firft fuggefted to him, that Ihe 
could procure him a fituation in the commiflary-depart- 
ment. Mr. Dowler, who obtained the appointment, had 
sieve: - taken any ftep to expedite the bufinefs, nor applied 
to any other channel than that of Mrs. Clarke, to whom 
he had paid 1000I. for her influence, and Ihe told him 
the duke knew of his doing fo. Colonel Wardle then 
mentioned the exiftence of a public office in the city for 
the fale of commiflions; and concluded with moving for 
the appointment of a committee “ to inveftigale the con¬ 
duct of his royal highnefs the duke of York, commander- 
in-chief, with regard to promotions, exchanges, and ap<- 
pointments to commiflions in the army, and in railing levies 
for the army.”—Sir Francis Burdett leconded the motion. 
The Secretary at War rofe, but not, he faid, to oppofe 
the motion. He felt, as he faid, great fatisfaNion that an 
opportunity was afforded of inftituting an effectual inquiry 
into the grounds of the various calumnies and mifrepre- 
fentations, which had of late been fo induftrioufly circu¬ 
lated againft that illuftrious perfonage. The facts which the 
honourable gentleman had brought forward were of a very 
ferious nature, and well deferved the attention of the 
houfe. Charges clearly and diltinflly ftated, his royal 
highnefs was ready and even defirous to meet. With re¬ 
gard to the private tranfa&ions Hated by colonel Wardle, 
he would fay nothing, having never heard of them before. 
But he could contradict thofe that were ftated to have 
occurred at the Florfe Guards. It had been univerfally 
allowed, that, to make courage available in the day of bat¬ 
tle, difeipline was neceflary ; and it was well known how 
much the commander-in-chief had attended to that ob¬ 
ject. Extreme order and regularity had alfo been intro¬ 
duced into the office of the commander-in-chief, which.the 
inquiry would prove. 
Sir Arthur Wellefley fpoke nearly to the lam? purpofe, 
and ended by an encomium upon the difeipline and ex¬ 
ample afforded by the illuftrious perfon at the head of the 
army. 
Mr. Yorke laid, that he liai} never liftened to a charge 
DON. 
more ferious; and that he had heard it with the greateft 
poflible concern, both on account of the commander-in- 
chief, and the honourable gentleman who had brought it 
forward, thus taking upon himfelf fo heavy a refponfibi- 
lity. But he was glad that the houfe could at laft reach, 
in a tangibleftiape, lome of thole libels againft the duke of 
York, which had for fome time pad; been more affiduoufly 
and pertinacioufly circulated than ever libels had been at 
any former period in this country, fo prolific in libels. 
He hoped the houfe would do its duty to itfelf, to the 
country, and to the royal houfe of Brunfwick ; and that, 
if there was no ground for thefe accufations, juftice might 
be done to the commander-in-chief. Mr. Yorke, for his 
own part, believed, that a confpiracy of the molt atro¬ 
cious and diabolical kind exifted againft his royal high¬ 
nefs, founded on the jacobinical fpirit which appeared at 
the commencement of the French revolution, though it ' 
did not Ihow itfelf now in exactly the fame form. It ap¬ 
peared to be the delign of the confpirators, by means of 
the prefs, the liberty of which was fo valuable, and the 
licentioufnefs fo pernicious, to write down the military 
fyftem through the commander-in-chief; the army through 
its generals ; and other eftablilhments through the per- 
fons molt confpicuous in each. Let blame fall where it 
ought. Blit the houfe ought to confider the illuftrious 
perfon againft whom the charge was directed : they ought 
to coniider his high ftation, and the eminent fervice 
he had rendered to the country, in the itate to which 
he had brought the army. What was the Itate of the 
army when he became commander-in-chief? it fcarcely 
deferved the name of an army ; and it was now found by 
experience to be, in proportion to its numbers, the belt 
army in the world. He had faid, that he believed a con¬ 
fpiracy to exift. If the houfe could go along with him, 
and fuppofe that this was actually the cafe, he threw out 
for their conlideration, whether a parliamentary commif- 
iion, with power to examine on oath, was not preferable 
to a committee. 
Sir F. Burdett, in a moderate addrefs to the houfe, lin- 
cerely hoped that the faffs alleged originated in error ; 
but, as the charge was public, his firm opinion was, that 
the inquiry lhould be public, and that the inveftigation 
could no-where be conducted more properly, more effec¬ 
tually, and more conftitutionally, than in a committee of 
the whole houfe.—Mr. Wilberforce thought that an in¬ 
veftigation at the bar could not be conducted with impar¬ 
tiality, in confequence of the interference of party-fpirir; 
and conceived that juftice could be molt fatisfadorily ob¬ 
tained by an inquiry, private in its progrefs, but public 
in its refult. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer coincided with the 
unanimous fentiment of the houfe, that, to the moll fo- 
lemn and ferious accufation brought forward that night, 
the moft folemn and ferious inquiry ought to be accorded. 
He could Itate, on the authority of the duke of York 
himfelf, given him at the only opportunity he had of con- 
fulting with him on the fubject, that the moft ready courfe 
of profecuting the inquiry would be the molt agreeable 
to him, and that he deprecated nothing fo much as a courfe 
that would impede the final refult. That illuftrious per¬ 
fonage wifhed, like any other i'ubjefi, to be put publicly 
on his trial, and to lfand acquitted or convifted upon the 
cafe that might be made out; at the fame time that he 
had a thorough conviction that he lhould exculpate him¬ 
felf from all charge. He would flake his reputation upon 
it, that it was impofible that, after the refult of the inquiry, 
any fufpicion could be entertained of his royal highnefs. Mr, 
Wardle had ftated a circumftance, which particularly in¬ 
volved the character of his majefty’s government; that 
two members of the cabinet were concerned in an agency 
for the difpofal of government-patronage. This was a 
topic on which he mult require the fulleft information. 
It was for theopiion of Mr. W. to determine whether he 
would afford it in that houfe, or by a private coramuni- 
catipn to fome of the refponlible fervants of the crown. 
But 
