one side of the House were more acute than they were on the other. Put it was one thing to regret the loss of lives, and another to maintain the accusation that that loss was owing to any misconduct of ministers. Gentlemen had contended that Flushing ought to have been given up, when it was found that Antwerp could not be taken. Now he begged to contend most confidently, that, so far from its being his duty to recommend the evacuation of Flushing when the ulterior object failed, that that very circumstance made it of infinitely greater importance to retain it. If we had taken Antwerp and the enemy's fleet, he should have thought our security had been effected; but having left such great naval means in the hands of the enemy, the possession of Walcheren became doubly valuable. He entreated the House to bear, always in memory, that in undertaking this Expedition, government had two objects in view, viz. our own safety and the assistance of our ally; and that as long as the war continued, our possession of Walcheren would have been perfectly secure. The question he was now arguing was not whether it was wise to send an Expedition to the Scheldt, but whether Walcheren being in our posses sion, an island which had been the object of pursuit to so many governments, ministers would have been justified in giving it up without taking every means of ascertaining whether it was possible to retain it or not? Nothing, indeed, but an absolute conviction in his mind that it was impossible to keep Walcheren without a greater expence of men and money than seemed to be within the means of this country, would have induced him to give it up. Men were certainly always bad judges in their own cause, but he felt no difficulty in stating, that if ministers had, upon the first knowledge of the failure of the Expedition, given up Walcheren, they would have been the objects of accusation by the gentlemen opposite, for having adopted that very conduct which they were now blamed for not having pursued.

He entreated the House to consider what was the situation of ministers when they were in possession of a position of such immense importance to the enemy, both in a naval and commercial point of view. He knew there were gentlemen who affected to treat commercial objects with contempt, but his Majesty's ministers could not have been justified in acting upon such a feeling. They knew the

commercial importance of Antwerp; they knew that in 1806 the customs of that city were one third more than those of all the other ports of France put together; they knew also, that by retaining Walcheren, the enemy would not only be deprived of that revenue, but of all trade from which it proceeded. It was there. fore a question of importance, whether they should give up the key of that commercial town. This he admitted was a small object compared with Antwerp, as a naval station; but certainly it was one which ministers would not have been justified in leaving out of their consideration. It had been stated by his right hon. friend (Mr. Canning,) that the last advice of lord Grey, when he was going out of office to his successors, was, to at tend to the growing strength of the enemy in that quarter. The same subject occupied Mr. Pitt's attention in his first and in his second administration, and also the attention of that of lord Sidmouth; and the plan was abandoned, not because the place was not healthy, but because a sufficient disposable force could not be spared for the purpose of attacking it. If the plan of attacking Walcheren had been given up by their different administrations, because theisl and was unhealthy, they would not have recurred, as they did from time to time, to the same project, because that objection would have always applied. His Majesty's ministers had therefore the authority of all these preceding governments in their favour, with regard to the importance of obtaining this object, and it certainly could not be sup posed that Mr. Pitt, lord Sidmouth, or lord Grenville meant to have taken Walcheren and to have given it up immediately; they must have meant to retain it.

In addition to these high and concur rent authorities, he might have quoted those of lord Nelson, lord St. Vincent, and indeed, of almost every naval officer. It would not be forgotten that the House had before them the letter of sir R. Strachan, pointing out the importance of Walchecheren, and pressing Ministers, in the strongest manner, not to give it up, until he had an opportunity of conversing with them upon he subject. In what a situation would ministers have stood, if, after this letter from sir R. Strachan, they had at once, without examination, without consultation, abandoned the island. If such had been their conduct, how loud

men opposite for abandoning at such period a conquest before so dearly bought, and then so critically important? Was it a rash supposition to imagine at that time the breaking out of hostilities between Austria and France? Was there nothing in the wavering and uneasy alternations that preceded the treaty of Vienna, to countenance the belief that the contending powers might again rush to arms, and another battle be fought for the political existence of the continent? And if there were grounds for an expectation so anxious, would Walcheren have been nothing in our hands against the common enemy? Or would it not have been a most desirable, a most important means of annoyance? But there was yet another ground upon which, conjointly with the preceding, he thought the retention of that island defensible. On the 10th of October, for the reasons he had stated, it would have been wrong to have given it up, comparing fairly the good and evil arising out of the act of retention. The good effects he had observed upon-the bad was in one word, sickness-an evil lessening every day. Look to the report of doctor Blane-the distemper uniformly abates in October, and terminates in November. Here then the risks of the evil were momentarily decreasing, while the advantages reasonably to be calculated upon, rose with the crisis itself. At such a crisis, Walcheren ought to have been kept at any hazard, but at that very crisis the hazard proportionably decreased. And yet the gentlemen opposite would have it, that it ought to have been abandoned before the issue of that crisis which might have made it formidable was ascertained. As to the conquest itself, as he had already stated, he had not been without his apprehensions of its risks. But were was the military operation without its hazards? Gentlemen opposite would have an expedition subject to no chances, and secure of intermediate as well as ultimate success. Their theory, he must say, was more perfect than their practice. But still it was insisted upon that Walcheren was unhealthy during part of the year-why St. Lucia was unhealthy-St. Domingo was unhealthy. We retained them; and yet, though beyond comparison more unhealthy, they were beneath comparison with the acknowledged importance of Walcheren. He would detain the House no longer, wearied as was their attention, and exhausted as was the sub

ject. He had reluctantly endeavoured as it were, to drag them along with him through a length of detail that lent him no aid and to which his very humble efforts could impart no interest. He thanked the House for the candour of their attention, and he should sit down with simply stating, that it was his anxious and earnest wish as well as that of his colleagues to retain Walcheren, if that retention could have been practicable; and that their greatest regret was, that it was not possible to retain a conquest, which if retained would have proved invaluable.

The House now became exceedingly anxious for the question, when

The

Mr. R. Dundas rose, and after some time obtained a hearing. He assured the House, that at that late hour in the morning (four o'clock) he would not detain them long, but allusions of a personal nature having been made, he conceived it his duty to reply to them. His Majesty's ministers had been charged with intrigues and cabals, and with having sacrificed by them the lives of many brave men. hon. gent. who had used that language would not be surprised if he (Mr. D.) should call for something more conclusive than his mere assertion for the truth of it. If my lords Grey and Grenville, and "all the talents" had been in power, the island of Walcheren would not have been evacuated one hour sooner than it was. With respect to the topics which had been urged by the hon. baronet (sir F. Burdett) respecting the answer of the King to the citizens of London, when they presented their address for an inquiry into the failure at Walcheren, his Majesty had stated that there was no necessity to institute any military inquiry. The noble lord (Porchester) had very candidly confessed that no blame was imputable to the military or naval commanders of the Expedition, yet his Resolutions included them in censure. He would ask the gentlemen opposite, whether, when the clamour had been raised against these commanders throughout the country, and when the noble lord did not in his speech attach blame to them, an apology from those gentlemen for having raised the clamour was not necessary, and whether an expression of retraction should not have been expressed in the Resolutions? Did the House think that the interests of the country would be benefited by ministers yielding to the factious clamours of any set of men merely for a momentary gra