Mr. Knight, who after the exchange got acquainted with Mrs. Clarke, says, that she desired him, to keep the matter a secret, and that she expressly gave as a reason for this, her fear of the consequences, if it should reach the Duke of York’s ears. This statement Mrs. Clarke positively denies. Which are we to believe? Mrs. Clarke, who took the bribe, or Mr. Knight who gave the bribe, and who first tendered the bribe? Character, here, is quite out of the question. People may say what they will about Mr. Knight’s having been a member of the honourable House. So have many others that I could name. We here see Mr. Robert Knight as a briber; and, the parties being, in this respect, upon a level, we must decide between their opposite assertions upon the internal probabilities of the case.
Mr. Knight was asked, what part of the transaction Mrs. Clarke wished to have kept a secret; and whether it was solely the money part of it; he answered that the whole transaction might be concealed from the Duke. This question was put so often, and the reports in all the newspapers so exactly correspond with respect to the answer, that there is very little probability of its being incorrect.
Now, then, let it be remarked, that Mr. Knight went to thank Mrs. Clarke for the use of her influence in the case of his brother’s exchange, having before paid her 200l. for that influence; and, was it probable, that Mrs. Clarke should express to Mr. Knight a wish, calculated to make him believe, that she had not at all interfered in the matter with the Duke of York? Nay, Mr. Knight himself says, that he looked upon the thing as having been done by her influence, and further, that she took credit to herself for it; but, how could she, if she pretended that she had induced the Duke to do it; how could she, at that same time, have the folly to express a wish, that her having had any hand in the business might be kept from the knowledge of the Duke; kept from the knowledge of that very person, who, if her claim to Mr. Knight’s 200l. was not fradulent as well as corrupt, must have known that she was the cause of the exchange? Will any one believe that Mrs. Clarke would say, “It was I who prevailed upon the Duke to permit of your brother’s exchange; but for God’s sake, don’t let the Duke know of it.” Why, there is a manifest absurdity in the supposition. It is a thing too preposterous to be believed. That she might, indeed, desire Knight not to blab; not to talk of the transaction for it to reach the Duke’s ears through third parties; this is likely enough, and this she herself admits may have been the case; but to suppose, that she expressed a fear of the Duke’s knowing of her having been the instrument in the business: to suppose, that she expressed such a fear to the very man with whom she was taking credit to herself for having obtained the grant from the Duke, is an absurdity too gross to be for one moment entertained by any man in his senses.
As to the evidence of Ludovick about the getting the note changed, I before made these observations:—If what Ludovick Armor says be true; namely, that no other servant of the Duke ever went to Mrs. Clarke’s, and that he never took a note to change from that house, what Mrs. Clarke says about sending the note to change must be false. That is quite clear. But, bare justice to the fair annuitant compels us to observe, that this falsehood, if we set it down for one, must have been a mere freak of fancy; for, it would, I think, be impossible to assign, or conceive, any reason for her stating it. Of itself there was nothing in it, either good or bad. To have said, that she merely showed the Duke the money would have answered full as well for all the purposes of accusation and of crimination. It is quite impossible to guess at any end she could have in view by telling such a falsehood, except that of bringing forth Ludovick Armor: or of affording a chance of being exposed as a false witness. If, therefore, she be a false witness, a fabricator of false accusations, we must, I think, allow her to be as awkward an one as ever appeared at any bar in the world.
These observations occurred to me before I had seen the examinations of Pierson and Mrs. Favourite; but, they have now put the matter beyond all doubt, that Ludovick’s memory, though refreshed by questions, before he came to the house, put to him by the Duke, by Mr. Adam (one of the judges in this case), by Mr. Lowten and by Mr. Wilkinson, did, upon this occasion, fail him.
Colonel Gordon’s evidence has in it nothing positive. It speaks, indeed, to the general regularity of conducting business in the office of the Commander-in-Chief; the Colonel firmly believes, that he made his report, as usual, to the Duke as to the fitness of the exchange, though he kept no minutes of the inquiry, upon which the report was founded; and he has not the smallest doubt, that the Duke acted solely upon that report, unbiassed by any other influence whatever. For the Colonel’s opinions we may have a very great respect, especially as he appears to have had so much to do with the illustrious personage, whose conduct was the subject of inquiry; but, with all due deference to the Colonel, opinions are not facts; nor will they, in the mind of any impartial man, weigh one grain against positive and corroborated testimony.
In his speech, stating the charges, Mr. Wardle, at the first opening of the business, stated the exchange of Knight and Brooke to have been concluded on the 25th of July. It now appears, that it was not gazetted till the 30th; and, observe, it has been attempted to be shown, that the thing was done without the aid of Mrs. Clarke, because Colonel Gordon has produced a document to show, that the Duke gave his sanction to the exchange on the 23rd of July, just as if Mr. Wardle had ever pretended to name the day when the application was made to Mrs. Clarke! He merely misstated the date of the Gazette, a misstatement which could not possibly be intentional, because there was the Gazette to refer to. But, what is this document? What is this written proof, that the Duke gave his sanction to the exchange on the 23rd of July? Why, it is a document, in which the material part, the only words that are material, are found written in PENCIL! The exchange was not gazetted, it appears, till seven days after it was approved of by the Duke, though there must have been one gazetting-day between; not till seven days after the Duke is, in pencil, stated to have approved of it. In pencil, reader, you will please to bear in mind; always keep in mind, that it was in pencil. I wonder what judges and juries would say of documents, of written evidence, partly in pencil?
Colonel Gordon states, however, positively, that the Duke of York went to Weymouth on the 31st of July; which is important, because the Gazette in which the exchange of Knight and Brooke appeared, was published on the 30th of July, and Mrs. Clarke says, that she received the 200l. before the Duke went to Weymouth. This brings the whole of the operations subsequent to the Gazette into a crowded space. She sent the Gazette to Dr. Thynne; Dr. Thynne sent it to Mr. Knight; Mr. Knight sent her the money; she showed the money to the Duke; and all this must, if true, have taken place, between some time in the day of the 30th, and some time in the night of the 31st, or in the morning of the 1st of August; that is to say, if Colonel Gordon be correct as to the day of the Duke’s setting off for Weymouth. Yet is there nothing, that I can perceive, at all incredible in this rapidity. If Mr. Knight got the Gazette on the 30th, he would not, after the pressing note from Mrs. Clarke to Dr. Thynne, fail to send her the money the next day; on that day the Duke, before his departure, would naturally go, as the witnesses stated he did go, to Mrs. Clarke’s; she would, if ever, then show him the money; and, of course, if she got the note, or notes, or one of them, changed through him, that was the very time when she would get it done. All the servants agree, that the Duke was there on the day, and in a part, at least, of the night previous to his departure for Weymouth, and Mrs. Favourite, perfectly corroborated by Pierson, says that she gave Ludovick a note to get changed; and she further says, that she took up the change and delivered it to the Duke and Mrs. Clarke in bed.
Now, reader, dismiss from your mind all prejudice; all bias; and ask yourself, whether it be possible for such a story as this is all through; so many concurrent circumstances, flowing from so many quarters, to unite by mere accident; or by any thing short of the power of one great and prevailing truth. Ask yourself, whether the evidence of Mr. Adam to character, and the evidence of Ludovick and Colonel Gordon to fact, is sufficient to weigh against all that has been laid before you in support of this charge.
Case of Captain Maling.—Mr. Wardle, when he brought forward his charges, stated, that there was a man, in the office of Greenwood, the Agent, who had risen to the rank of Captain in the army without having ever done one day’s military duty, and without having even joined any regiment. Upon the examination taking place, in the House, it appeared, that Mr. Wardle had made a mistake; not, however, as to the nature of the case, or the name of the person: but as to the