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own situation and interests. his majesty therefore laments that Sweden should have found it necessary to purchase peace by considerable sacrifices, his majesty cannot complain that she has concluded it without his majesty's participation. It is his majesty's earnest wish that no event may occur to occasion the interruption of those relations of amity which it is the desire of his majesty, and the interest of both countries to preserve.-We have it further in command to communicate to you, that the efforts of his majesty for the protection of Portugal have been powerfully aided by the confidence which the prince-regent has reposed in his majesty, and by the co-operation of the local government, and of the people of that country. The expulsion of the French from Portugal, by his majesty's forces under Lieutenant-General Lord Viscount Wellington, and the glorious victory obtained by him at Talavera, contributed to check the progress of the French arms in the peninsula during the late campaign.---His majesty directs us to state that the Spanish government, in the name and by the authority of King Ferdinand the Seventh, has determined to assemble the general and extraordinary Cortes of the nation: his majesty trusts that this measure will give fresh animation and vigour to the councils and the arms of Spain, and successfully direct the energies and spirit of the Spanish people to the maintenance of their legitimate monarchy, and to the ultimate deliverance of their country. The most important considerations of policy and good faith require, that as long as this great cause can be maintained with

a prospect of success, it should be supported, according to the nature and circumstances of the contest, by the strenuous and continued assistance of the power and resources of his majesty's dominions; and his majesty relies on the aid of his parliament in his anxious endea➡ vours to frustrate the attempts of France against the independence of Spain and Portugal, and against the happiness and freedom of those loyal and resolute nations.--- His majesty commands us to acquaint you, that the intercourse between his majesty's minister in America and the government of the United States has been suddenly and unexpectedly interrupted. His majesty sincerely regrets this event: he bas however received the strongest assurances from the American minister resident at this court, that the United States are desirous of maintaining friendly relation between the two countries. This desire will be met by a corresponding disposition on the part of his majesty.

Gentlemen of the House of Commons,---His majesty has directed us to inform you, that he has ordered the estimates for the current year to be laid before you his majesty has directed them to be formed with all the attention to economy which the support of his allies and the security of his dominions will permit. And his majesty relies upon your zeal and loyalty to afford him such supplies as may be necessary for those essential objects.--He commands us to express how deeply he regrets the pressure upon his subjects, which the protracted continuance of the war renders inevitable.

My Lords and Gentlemen,--

We

We are commanded by his majesty to express his hopes that you will resume the consideration of the state of the inferior clergy, and adopt such further measures upon this interesting subject as may appear to you to be proper.---We have it further in command to state to you that the accounts which will be laid before you of the trade and revenue of the country will be found highly satisfactory.---Whatever temporary and partial inconvenience may have resulted from the measures which were directed by France against those great sources of our prosperity and strength, those measures have wholly failed of producing any permanent or general effect.--The inveterate hostility of our enemy continues to be directed against this country with unabated animosity and violence. To guard the security of his majesty's dominions, and to defeat the designs which are meditated against us and our allies, will require the utmost efforts of vigilance, fortitude, and perseverance. In every difficulty and danger, his majesty confidently trusts that he shall derive the most effectual support, under the continued blessing of Divine Providence, from the wisdom of his parliament, the valour of his forces, and the spirit and determination of his people.

His Majesty's Speech at the con

clusion of the Session.

My Lords and Gentlemen,---His majesty has commanded us to acquaint you, that, as the public business is now concluded, he thinks it proper to put an end to the present session of parliament.

We are commanded by his majesty to express the satisfaction he derived from the reduction of the island of Guadaloupe by his majesty's arms; an event which for the first time in the history of the wars of Great Britain, has wrested from France all her possessions in that quarter of the world; and which, together with the subsequent capture of the only colonies in the West Indies which remained in the possession of the Dutch, has deprived his majesty's enemies of every port in those seas from which the interests of his majesty, or the commerce of his subjects, can be molested.

Gentlemen of the House of Commons,-His majesty has commanded us to thank you for the liberal and ample supplies which you have granted for the services of the present year.

His majesty deeply regrets the necessary extent of the demands which those services have created; but we are commanded to express to you the consolation which he has derived from observing that the resources of the country, manifesting themselves by every mark of prosperity, by a revenue increasing in almost all its branches, and by a commerce extending itself in new channels, and with an increased vigour in proportion as the enemy has in vain attempted to destroy it, have enabled you to provide for the expenses of the year without imposing the burden of any new taxation on Great Britain; and that, while the taxes which have been necessarily resorted to for Ireland, have been imposed upon articles which will not interfere with the growing prosperity of that country, you have found it consistent with a

due

due regard to its finances to diminish some of those burdens, and relax some of those régulations of revenne, which had been felt the most inconvenient in that part of the united kingdom.

His majesty further commands us to return you his thanks for the provision which you have enabled him to make for the establishment of his Serene Highness the Duke of Brunswick.

My Lords and Gentlemen, His majesty has directed us to acquaint you, that Portugal, rescued from the oppression of the enemy, by the powerful assistance of his majesty's arms, has exerted herself with vigour and energy in making every preparation for repelling, with the continued aid of his majesty's forces, any renewed attack on the part of the enemy; and that in Spain, notwithstanding the reverses which have been experienced, the spirit of resistance against France still continues unsubdued and unabated: and his majesly cominands us to assure you of his firm and unaltered conviction, that not only the honour of his throne, but the best interests of his dominious, require his most strenuous and persevering assistance to the glorious efforts of those loyal nations.

His majesty has commanded us to recommend to you, upon your return to your respective counties, to use your best exertions to promote that spirit of order and obedience to the laws, and that general concord amongst all classes of his majesty's subjects, which can alone give full effect to his majesty's paternal care for the welfare and happiness of his people. His majesty has the fullest reliance upon VOL. LI

the affections of his subjects, whose loyalty and attachment have hitherto supported him through that long and eventful period during which it has pleased Divine Providence to commit the interests of these dominions to his charge. His majesty feels that the preservation of domestic peace and tranquillity, under the protection of the law, and obedience to its authority, is amongst the most important duties he owes to his people.

His majesty commands us to assure you, that he will not be wanting in the discharge of that duty; and his majesty will always rely with confidence on the continued support of his loyal subjects, to enable him to resist with success the designs of foreign enemies, and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of the British constitution.

II. Earl of Chatham's Memorial

and Sir Richard Strachan's Reply on the Expedition to the Scheldt. (Extracts.)

1. Earl of Chatham's Memorial: dated October 15, 1809. Presented to his Majesty, February 14, 1810.

In submitting to your majesty a statement of my proceedings in the execution of the service your majesty was graciously pleased to contide to me, and of the events which occurred in the course of it, it is not my intention to trouble your majesty with any further details of the earlier parts of our operations, but to bring under your majesty's view the consideration of the two following points, as most immediFf

ately

ately applying to the conduct and final result of the expedition to the Scheldt. 1st. The ground upon which, after the army was at length assembled near Batz, a landing in prosecution of the ulterior objects of the expedition was not deemed advisable: 2dly. Why that army was not sooner there assembled, in readiness to commence further operations.---With respect to the former position, I am inclined to think that it is so clear and evident, that no further operations could at that time, and in the then sickly state of the army, have been undertaken with any prospect of success; that it would be unnecessarily trespassing on your majesty to enter into much more detail on this point than has been already brought before your majesty, in my dispatch of the 29th of August; and the chief object of this paper will be directed to show to your majesty, that the second point, namely, Why the army was not brought up sooner to the destination from whence its ulterior objects were to commence, is purely a naval consideration, and that the delay did in no shape rest with me, or depend upon any arrangements in which the army was concerned; every facility, on the contrary, having been afforded by their movements to the speedy progress of the armament.---In the first place, it is to be remarked, that the occupation of Walcheren, which by some persons it had been thought possible to leave behind us, and the reduction of Flushing, which it had once been proposed only to mask, were deemed indispensable to the security of the fleet, in case of disaster; and accordingly a considerable separate force was allotted to this service; and, in this view,

it was besides distinctly agreed upon, that a vigorous attack by the navy upon the sea front should be made at the same time that the troops, after effecting their landing, advanced to invest Flushing: it being hoped that by a powerful co-operation from the sea, at the moment the troops presented themselves before the place, the labour and delay of a regular siege might have been avoided, and a considerable proportion of the forcé allotted to this service set at liberty to follow the army up the Scheldt. How far this expectation was fulfilled, or whether the assurance given that the whole of the armament (the part to be landed at Walcheren excepted) should be at once transported up the Scheldt, in prosecution of the ultimate objects of the expedition, was carried into effect, or was wholly disappointed, the information already before your majesty will have in a great measure shown, and which it will be my duty to bring more particularly to your majesty's view, when I detail the subsequent course of our proceedings.---From what cause this failure ensued, whether it arose from insufficient arrangements on the part of the admiral, or was the unavoidable result of difficulties inherent in the nature of the expedition itself, it is not for me, considering it entirely as a naval question, to presume to offer any opinion upon to your majesty.

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Before, however, I pursue further the details of the proceedings of the army, governed as they necessarily were (until a footing should be gained on the continent) by the movements of the navy, I must for a moment refer to two separate operations; the one under Lieutenant

Lieutenant-General Lord Huntley and Commodore Owen, and the other under Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope and Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Keats; but both directed to assist and ensure a rapid progress up the Scheldt, had the admiral found it practicable in other respects. With respect to the former, which was destined to destroy the Cadsand batteries, and particularly that of Breskens, had it been carried at once into effect, and that the admiral could have availed himself of it, to take the ships up the West Scheldt by the Weeling passage, it would have been of the utmost advantage: but it was certainly rather fortunate it did not take place at a later period, as after all the transports, storeships, &c. were ordered into the Veere Gat, and the plan of running at once up the West Scheldt by the Weeling channel seemed abandoned, the object of destroying the Cadsand batteries ceased, and a landing there would only have been an unnecessary risk, and the very inconvenient separation of our force, and, of course, occasion great delay in collecting it for ulterior operations. It must not, however, be forgotten, that the difficulties here turned out to be much greater than had been at all foreseen before we sailed.---When it was found that Lord Huntley's division could neither land nor proceed by the Weel ing passage up the Scheldt, as I had intended they should, it was determined to withdraw them; but from the boisterous state of the weather, it was some days before this could be effected. As soon as it was accomplished, they were passed over to South Beveland.--With respect to Sir John Hope's

operation, it was more prosperous. It was conceived that, by landing on the north side of South Beveland, the island might be possessed, and all the batteries taken in reverse, and thereby the position of the French fleet, if they ventured to remain near Flushing, would be, as if it were, turned, and their retreat rendered more difficult, while the attack on them by our shipe would have been much facilitated; and for this object, the division of Sir Jolm Hope rather preceded in sailing from the Downs, the rest of the fleet. This division was lauded near Ter-Goes, from whence they swept all the batteries in the island that could impede the progress of our ships up the West Scheldt, and possessed themselves, on the 2d of Angust, of the important post of Batz, to which it had been promised the army should at once have been brought up.-Sir John Hope remained in possession of this post, though not without being twice attacked by the enemy's flotilla, for nine days before any of the gunboats under Captain Sir Home Popham were moved up the Scheldt to his support.---Your majesty will be pleased to recollect, that the troops which sailed from Portsmouth, under Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote, were destined for the service of Walcheren, and had been considered as sufficient for that object, according to the intelligence received, and the supposed strength of the enemy; though at the same time certainly relying for the first efforts against Flushing on the promised co-operation of the navy, and on their establishing, as was held out in the first instance, a naval blockade, except on the side of Veer and Rammekins. UnforFf2 tunately,

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