or in mine; and that no decision whatever had yet been taken upon this representation.

With respect to this communication, it does not appear that the restriction upon your lordship was absolute and indefinite.-But I knew nothing of its existence.

Subsequently to the 8th of June, the communication to be made to Lord Castlereagh was, that an arrangement was in contemplation for a new distribution of the business of the war department. ・・・

With respect to this communication, not only was the restriction upon your lordship not indefinitely continued; but your lordship actually received on the 28th of June an injunction to make this communication to Lord Castlereagh at a period distinctly specified, viz. the sailing of the expedition. And this injunction was only superseded by a voluntary act of your lordship's your tender of your own resignation on the 12th of July as the basis of another arrangement,

During the whole of the period, from the 28th of April to the 12th of July, the concealment practised towards Lord Castlereagh was either without my knowledge and contrary to my belief, or it was against my earnest remonstrances.

It was without my knowledge and contrary to my belief, up to the week in which parliament rose; and from that time forth it was against my earnest remonstrances.

which took place from the 13th to the 20th of that month, respecting the proposal for postponing the new arrangement to be founded on your lordship's resignation, and for leaving to your lordship's discretion the time of disclosure to Lord Castlereagh, that I learnt that the silence which you had hitherto observed towards him, had been imposed upon your lordship by the injunction of the Duke of Portland. I did not till then know with whom the concealment hitherto practised had originated; I frankly own that I thought it had originated with your lordship; I was anxious above all things that it should not be ever suspected that it had originated with me; or that I had been a consenting party to it, or even (till a late period) conscious of its existence.

In my correspondence with the Duke of Portland at this period, therefore, at the same time that I resisted the new delay then proposed, I disclaimed any concurrence in the concealment which had been hitherto practised-and requested "that it might be remembered hereafter, whenever that concealment should be alleged against me, as an act of injustice to Lord Castlereagh, that it did not originate in my suggestion, that so far from desiring it, I had conceived (however erroneously) your lordship to be the sure channel of communication to Lord Castlereagh; and that up to a very late period I had believed such communication to have been actually made."

It was not till the month of July, in the course of the discussions

had

had any time believed the communication to have been actually made; but assuring me "that he should be at all times ready to avow that the concealment had originated with himself, (the Duke of Portland); that he had enjoined it to all those with whom he had communicated, from motives which he was at all times ready to justify; and that he was desirous of taking whatever blame might have been, or might at any time be, incurred by it, upon himself."

This, as I have said, was my first knowledge of any restriction whatever upon your lordship's communication to Lord Castlereagh.

If I am asked why I believed your lordship to have actually made the communication, I answer, because it was natural that you should make it; because the expectation of your making it was the motive which induced me to desire (and I did desire) that the communication should be made to your lordship;because the manner in which you first received that communication (as reported to me by the Duke of Portland) tended to confirm the belief that your lordship was the fit channel of communication to Lord Castlereagh ;-and because I knew not of the existence of any impedi. ment to your pursuing what appeared to me (and does still appear to me) the natural and obvious course to be pursued upon such an occasion.

If it be objected, that I ought not to have been contented with presuming the disclosure to have been made, but ought to have diligently ascertained that it was so; —first, I answer-that no person naturally sets about ascertaining that of which he entertains no

doubt and, secondly, I answerthat the moment that my suspicion of the fact was excited, I did set about ascertaining the truth; and that upon ascertaining it, I did remonstrate in the strongest manner against the concealment ;-aud en-. forced that remonstrance by the tender of my own resignation.

It was on the 26th or 27th of June (five or six days after parliameut rose) that I discovered my suspicion to be founded.-On the 27th I remonstrated.—On the 28th I tendered my resignation.-Aud in the course of the same day, your lordship (as I have already stated) received an injunction to make the communication as soon as the expedition should have şailed.

The second of the two periods to which your lordship's Statement refers, begins from the 12th of July, the day of the tender of your lordship's resignation.

It does not appear, nor does your lordship's Statement aver, that at any time during the second period, the restriction which had been originally imposed upon your lordship was renewed; or that any other existed, except that which your lordship had imposed upon yourself, and which was therefore no longer binding upon your lord ship than while you might your self be willing that it should bind you,

Of the extent to which this self, imposed restriction appears to have gone, I had not any suspicion. I knew indeed that your lordship had stipulated to keep the time of the disclosure to Lord Castlereagh in your own hands; but subsequently to my being made acquainted with that stipulation, I had received the

assurances,

assurances, which I have already described, on behalf of "Lord Castlereagh's friends; and had reupon those assurances.

lied

It was not till the 6th of September that I learnt that those assurances had not been carried into effect. It was not till the 19th of September that I learnt that your Lordship had been no party to them. Then indeed I learnt that your lordship had not only "not engaged" to make the communication previously to the "issue of the expedition being known here"-but that in July you had "stated to one of our colleagues," (not the Duke of Portland)" who was urging an earlier communication,” that the "time of communication, so far as you were concerned, was for you to decide; but that no one had a right to say you did not perform that part in the transaction in which you were concerned, if you did not open your lips to Lord Castlereagh before the issue of the expedition was known here."

This information I received from your lordship, in a letter dated the 19th of September. It was then perfectly new to me.

I leave your lordship to judge what must have been my surprise, when, after receiving from your lordship, on the evening of the 19th of September, this frank avowal of the real origin of the concealment maintained, during this latter and most important period, towards Lord Castlereagh, I received on the following morning Lord Castlereagh's letter of the same date, making me responsible for that concealment.

I have not to trouble your lordship with any farther observations.

I have confined myself to matters growing out of Lord Castlereagh's letter, and out of your lordship's statement: on those alone have I any right to claim your lordship's

attention.

To this address to your lordship I have been compelled to resort, however reluctantly, to vindicate my private honour. As to any charges against my public conduct

this is not the mode to reply to them. If any such shall be brought against me, at the proper time and in the proper place I shall be prepared to meet and to repel them. I have the honour to be, &c.

GEORGE CANNING.

Letter from Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood, Commander in Chief in the Mediterranean, addressed to Mr. W. W. Pole, dated on board the Ville de Paris, off St. Sebastian, the 30th of October, 1809.

Sir,-My letter of the 4th Aug, informed their lordships of the proposal I had had made to Lieut.-gen. Sir John Stuart, that the islands of Zante, Cephalonia, &c. should be seized on before the French could turn their regard from the defence of Naples, to strengthen other points, and in which letter I enclos ed to you a copy of the instructions I had sent to Rear-Admiral Martin, to be delivered to Captain Spranger, of the Warrior, whom I had selected to command the naval part of the expedition. The change. which at that time had taken place in the state of the armies in the North, required the Lieutenantgeneral's consideration, whether an

adequate

4

adequate force might be spared from the army, and delayed their departure from Sicily, until the 23d September, when the Warrior sailed from Messina, with the Philomel sloop and transports, carrying about 1600 troops, under the conmand of Brigadier-general Oswald. The Spartan, at the same time, sailed from Malta, with Mr. Faresti and Count Cladau, a Cephalonian gentleman, who had for some time taken refuge at Malta, and whose local knowledge and influence in the country, I hoped would be advantageous to the service. Orders were also sent to Captain Eyre, of : the Magnificent, to join them with the Corfu squadron.

I have now great satisfaction in informing you, sir, of the complete success of this expedition, and that the French garrison in the islands of Zante, Cephalonia, Ithaca, and Cerigo have, after a very faint resistance, surrendered to his Majesty's arms, the people liberated from the oppression of the French, and government of the Sept'Insular republic declared to be restored.

(Signed) COLLINGWOOD.

Warrior, Bay of Zante, Oct. 3, 1809.

Sir, I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of the commander in chief, that, in pursuance of his lordship's orders, I sailed from Messina on the 23d ult. in company with the sloop Philomel, two large gun-boats, and the transports, with troops under the command of Brigadier-general Oswald, and proceeded off Cephalonia, where we arrived on the 28th, and continued in sight of the island until the 1st of October, during which days we were joined, as had

been previously arranged, by the Spartan from Malta, and the Magnificent, Belle Poole, and Kingfisher, from Corfu, and anchored that night in the Bay of Zante, just without reach of the nearest battery.

At day light on the following morning, the troops assembled alongside the Warrior, and under cover of the Spartan, Belle Poole, and gun-boats, who soon silenced the batteries, landed a division of the army in the most perfect order, about three miles from the town, and whilst General Oswald was advancing, Captain Brentou and Brisbane, and the gun-boats, conducted by Mr. Cole, my first lieutenant, were actively employed in keeping the enemy, who had re-manned their batteries, in check, and covering the second disembarkation, when the whole army moved forward, and closely invested the castle, to which the French had retired from every direction.

A proclamation was in the mean time distributed to the inhabitants, explanatory of our views, and find. ing, as was expected, that they rejoiced in the expulsion of these common disturbers of mankind, I forbore attacking with the ships a strong battery on the Mole Head, which could not be taken without destroying a great part of the town; and have the satisfaction of adding, that in the course of the day, the enemy, though advantageously situated in a most important and commanding position, thought proper to capitulate on the terms which I have the honour to inclose.

(Signed) J. W. SPRANGER. Rear Admiral Martin, &c.

Here follow the articles of capi

tulation

tulation agreed upon for the surrender of Zante; as also of Ceplialonia, Cerigo, &c. with the return of ordnance, &c.

The gazette contains also an inclosure from Lord' Collingwood, giving an account of a very spirited attack made by the boats of the Excellent, Acorn, and Bustard, covered by the sloops, on a convoy of the enemy, in which six gun-boats and ten trabaccolas were captured, by Captains West and Clephane.--Two marines were killed in the action; and one seaman has since died of his wounds.

The following are the resolutions

voted at the common-hall. Resolved unanimously, That the enormous waste of treasure, and unprofitable loss of lives, in the late military enterprises in which his majesty's forces have been unfortunately employed, have excited mingled feelings of compassion, disappointment, indignation, and alarm, among all classes of his majesty's subjects.

Resolved, That the whole military strength and resources of this kingdom have been drawn forth to an extent unparalleled in its history, and have been most improvidently applied, and fatally consumed, in unconnected and abortive enterprises, attended with no permanent advantage to Great Britain, without effectual relief to her allies, and distinguished only by the unprofitable valour displayed, and imineuse sacrifice of blood and

the imbecility and distraction' in the cabinet, where it appears his majesty's confidential servants have been engaged in the most despicable intrigues and cabals, endeavouring to deceive and supplant each other, to the great neglect of their public duty, and scandal of the govern ment.

Resolved unanimously, That we are of opinion, that in the present arduous struggle, in which we are engaged, the safety of the British empire can alone be preserved by wise and honest councils to direct the public force; and that such councils can alone be upheld by the energies of a free and united people.

Resolved unanimously, That such calamitous events imperiously call for a rigid and impartial inquiry; and that an humble address be presented to his majesty, praying his majesty to instituté such inquiry.