I say not this with any wish to disparage the evidence of Colonels Gordon and Loraine, or of any other of the military officers; but, I say it, with a view to show to the public, that their evidence is not all to be taken for Gospel, merely on account of the rank they hold. Mr. French is a Colonel, and Mr. Clavering is a General.
Let it be remembered, too, in answer to what has been said about taking the Duke and his friends by surprise, that Mrs. Clarke’s letters to Mr. Adam have been in his possession from June last. They were there apprized of her intended exposure. So that they have had six times as much time as Mr. Wardle, who became acquainted with the facts but a month before he brought forward his charges.
Having thus cleared all the cases together of these unfair impressions scattered about amongst them, we will now return to that immediately under consideration.
The reader has had a view of the magnitude of the establishments in Gloucester-place and at Weybridge; he is pretty well able to judge of their annual expenses; he has Mrs. Clarke’s evidence that she never got from the pocket of the Duke, more than 1,200l., or, at most, more than 1,500l., a year wherewith to defray those expenses, when 1,000l. a year was scarcely enough to pay wages and purchase liveries; he has her evidence, that the Duke, when she complained of her pecuniary embarrassments, told her she had greater INTEREST than the Queen, and that she ought to use it; and, he has, in the Duke’s own handwriting, the proof, that she did interfere in promotions, and that he spoke to her of such things, as of things of course, witness the cases of General Clavering and Dr. O’Meara. Opposed to all this there is not one particle of evidence good or bad, unless the Duke’s bare word; unless the bare word of the accused, be admitted as evidence. If, however, the reader thinks that bare word sufficient to knock down such a body of evidence, he will, of course, have his doubts about the Duke’s knowing that his concubine’s establishments were partly supported by bribes given for commissions and the like; but, if the reader should be of a contrary opinion, his conclusion, without going into any of the particular cases of corruption, must be, that the Duke must have been all along fully aware, that the establishments were for the far greater part, supported by those corrupt and wicked means, and of course, that the expenses attending his profligate pleasures were, in that same degree, ultimately defrayed out of taxes raised from the fortunes and labour of the people.
Case of Knight and Brooke.—It is alleged, that, in July 1805, Col. or Lt.-Col. (no matter which) Knight wished to make an exchange of commissions with a Major, or a Lieut.-Col. Brooke; that the application of these two gentlemen had been, for some time, before the Duke of York; that it was not followed by the grant of the Duke to exchange; till, at last, Mr. Robert Knight, brother of Col. Knight, at the suggestion of Dr. Thynne (the medical attendant of Mrs. Clarke), offered to Mrs. Clarke, through Doctor Thynne, the sum of 200l. if she would get the exchange accomplished; that Mrs. Clarke undertook the job; that she told the Duke of York that she was to be paid for it; that the exchange, in a few days afterwards was ordered to take place and was actually gazetted; that, upon this, the fulfilment of the contract on her part, Mr. Knight paid her the 200l., and that she not only told the Duke that the money had been paid her, but actually showed him the note or notes.
Dr. Andrew Thynne stated, that at the request of Mr. Knight he made the overture to Mrs. Clarke; that he was authorized to offer her 200l. if she would cause the exchange to be expedited; that he expected her to be able to get the thing done through her influence with a certain great person; that this great person was the Commander-in-Chief; that, when the exchange was effected, Mrs. Clarke sent to the witness, the Gazette; in which it was recorded, accompanied with a note from herself, saying, that, as she was going to the country, 200l. would be very convenient to her; that, when he made the offer to Mrs. Clarke, he gave her the names of the parties upon a slip of paper; that Mrs. Clarke talked about the necessity of secrecy, but the witness cannot tell from whom she was desirous to keep the thing a secret; that he never saw the Duke of York at Mrs. Clarke’s; that he, the witness, understood, from Mr. Knight, that the exchange would be carried through in the regular manner, but Mr. Knight wished, in consequence of the bad health of his brother, that the business should be expedited, and for that purpose application was made to Mrs. Clarke.
Mr. Robert Knight corroborated Dr. Thynne as to the motive of the application to Mrs. Clarke; he said further, that, when the exchange was effected, he sent Mrs. Clarke the 200l.; that his brother had before received, from the office of the Duke of York, a notification in the usual way, that, when a proper successor presented, there would be no objection to the exchange; that he does not know of any positive promise made to his brother by the Duke, previous to the application to Mrs. Clarke. Upon being asked: “Why was the application made to Mrs. Clarke?” he answered, “There was a delay in the business; but the cause of it I do not know. I mentioned the circumstance to Mr. Thynne, who was then attending my family. He advised me to apply to a good friend of his, Mrs. Clarke.” He then repeated what he has said before about the offer of money.
Upon further questioning, he says, that Mrs. Clarke desired him to keep the whole transaction a secret, lest it should come to the ears of the Duke of York; and that, recently, she has told him, that the Duke having used her extremely ill, leaving her in debt about 2000l., she would, if she could bring him to no terms, expose him, whereupon the witness said, he hoped she would not expose him and his brother by mentioning their names, to which she answered, that God knew that was not her intention.
Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke states, that in, or about, July 1805, Dr. Thynne applied to her to obtain leave for an exchange between Knight and Brooke; that he made her an offer of a pecuniary compliment; that she thinks the sum mentioned was a couple of hundred of pounds; that Dr. Thynne told her, at the time, that Mr. Knight had long been endeavouring to get this leave, but had not yet succeeded; that, on the same day, in which the proposition was made to her, she mentioned it to the Duke of York, and gave him, while at dinner, the slip of paper which she had received from Dr. Thynne, containing the names of the parties; that the Duke asked her whether she knew the parties; that she answered that she did not know them at all, and that certainly they would make some sort of compliment, but that she is not certain that she mentioned the exact amount of the compliment; that, when the exchange appeared in the Gazette, she sent the Gazette to Dr. Thynne, together with a note from herself; that, in a day or two after that, she received the 200l., which came to her in a note, with Dr. Thynne’s compliments; that she thinks the compliments were written in the note; that she made this circumstance of the receipt of the money known to the Duke of York; that she did this on the day on which she received the money; that the Duke must have known the amount of the note, because she showed it him, and she thinks that she got one of his servants to get it exchanged for her, through his Royal Highness.
Upon her cross-examination, she says, that she thinks she can say positively that the note, with the money in it, came from Dr. Thynne, because she told her maid to go down and give the man who brought it a guinea; that the Duke got the note changed for her, because she could not get it done herself; that she did not know anything of the servant’s name who was sent to get the note changed.
Being asked, whether she desired Mr. Knight to keep the matter secret, she says, she should think that she did certainly, but does not recollect, but it is very likely she did. Being asked, whether she ever expressed a wish that it should be kept a secret from the Duke; she says, “O no, never;” and that she is quite positive that she never said any thing like it. Being asked, what the Duke said, when she first opened the business to him and told him she was to receive a compliment; she says: “He told me that he knew the business very well, that they had been trying at it some time, and that he thought one of them was rather a bad subject; but he would do it.” Being asked what time of the year the transaction took place, she says: “The Duke was going down to Weymouth on the night that I changed the note, which was the reason that I got the note changed; my servants could not get it changed, and his servant got it changed for me. Lord Chesterfield’s family was going down, and he was going to be godfather to Lord Chesterfield’s child: it was the end of July or the beginning of August.”
Colonel Gordon, who is the public military Secretary of the Duke of York, says, in substance, this: that it is his duty to make to the Duke a report upon all applications for promotions, or exchanges; that he