Star. — London, England, 1811-02-27 00:00:00

FROM LAST NIGHTS GAZETTE, iN CONTINUATION FROM TUE PRECEDING PAGE. DOWNING-STREET, FEB. 26, ISI I. A Dispatch, of which the following is an Extract, has been this morning received at the Earl of Liverpool's Office, addressed to his Lordship by Lieutenant-General Viscount Wellington, dated Cartaxo, 9th of February: The enemy have continued in the neighbourhood of Badajoz, and have broke ground before the place on the left of the Guadiana, and have thrown some shells into the town. The bad weather, however, has obliged them to draw in the greatest part of their ca valry from the ground between Badajoz and Elvas; and the communication has been re-established. G'eneral Mendizabel sent orders to General Venies to advance, which measure I had before recommen ded to him; and General Mendizabel himself met. the troops at Elvas en the morning of the 6th inst. They marched on and passed the Caya ' • and the in fantry entered Badajoz and the Fort of C'hristoval on the right of the Guadiana, on the afternoon of the 6th. The French cavalry retired, .and passed the Evora, and were pursued s,cme distance by the Spa nish cavalry, and a brigade of, Portuguese cavalry, under Brigadier-Genetal Malden, who took some cat tle, baggage, &c. hut the attack, if any was intended to be made, upon the French troops on the left of the Guadiana, was deferred till the following day.- I liaie received from Genetal Ballasteros a letter, dated the 27th January, from . which it appears that his action of the 25th was very well contested ; that the loss of the enemy, who were much superior in numbers, was 2000 men killed and wounded ; and that the retreat of the Spanish detathment WAS made' in good order. By the last accounts from the frontiers of Beira, it appears that a part of Claparede's division of the 9th corps was Still upon Guarda on the 4th instant, with - an advanced guard upon Belmonte. This was the position he was ordered to take on the .sth of Ja nuary by General Drouet, referred to in my dispatch of the 12th tilt. General Foix arrived at Salamanca from Paris, with letters for Massena, on the 13th January, and 1 imagine that he yesterday reached the headquarters of the army. He had A ith him an escort of between 2 or 30(X) men. Colonel Grant, who commands the ordenanza in Lower Beira, had followed to the neighbourhood of Sobuqal the detachment which escorted the couriers which marched from the Zezere on the 22d of Janu ary, and Lad taken much baggage from them and several prisoners. On ES return, he attacked General Foix's escort, with a fresh detachment of ordenanza, at Enzabarda, at the entrance of the Estrada Nava ; and I enclose his report of the '2d instant on this affair,' and an ex tract of his report of the 4th inst. to Marshal Sir Wm. Leresford, and the Marshal's letter to me. I hear from the enemy's headquarters that they state they lost 500 men in this affair. There has been no movement of any importance in the enemy's army since I addressed your Lordship. Chamuaca, February 7, 1811. PARLMMENIART PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY 26. Mr. Stedman, from the Stamp Office, produced an Account of the Licences for the issue of Promissory Notes by Bankers, from Oc:nher lel°, to the date of the order. Mr. Johnstone, from the Irish Secretary of State's Office, pre sented the 37th Report of the Commissioners of Public Accounts la Ireland. • Mr. Martin, from the Pay Office, presented, agreeably to or der, an Account. up to February, 1810, of all monies received and paid, and of all sums in their hands in bullion. Ali of these Accounts were ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed.. The Irish Treasury Bills Bill, the Matt Duty Bill, and the Tea land a Half, and One and a Half Mil►lons Exchequer Bills Bills, were severally read a second rime, and committed tor to-morrow. Mr. LUSHINGFON brought up the Report of th e Commit tee on Sugar Drawbacks, when the Resolutions were agreed to, and a Bill ordered accordingly. The Report of the Population Bill was agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be read a third time to-morrow. My Loan—l have the honour to transmit to your Lori!ship the Report of Lieutenant Colonel Grant, whom some time since I sent to superintend and com mand the ordenanza on the frontier of Lower Beira and towards Guarda. The force of the enemy, dif ferently stated, appears to have between 2 and MO, ' and was under the orders of General Foix, and appa rently to serve as his escort to enable him to join Mar shal Massena. Lieutenant-Colonel Grant took post at Enxabarda, near the commentement of Estrada Nova, coming from towards Fundao, and under which the enemy was rbliged to pass. The success of Lieutenant-Colonel Grant, and the loss to the ene my, have been much greater than either the number of men that the Lieutenant-Colonel had with him, or than circumstances would have given reason to look for, and will give great animation and encouragement to this nature of warfare in all that part of the coun try. The people engaged have got very considerable booty, as there is no French soldier that has not much of what he has pillaged about him ; and he is always a good prize for his captor.—l have, &c. (Signed) W. C. BERESFOItp, Marshal. Ensabarda, Entrance of the Estrada Nova, Febraary S. Slll,—Be pleased to state to his Excellency the er,mmancier in Chic', that yesterday, the Ist, a column of t, enemy,und•r the command of General Le Foix, rs , sting of tht ce thousand cavalry and infantry from Ciudad Rodrigo, passed for the Estrada Nova to join Ma,setta. They slept on the 31st at Alcaria, near Fundao. On the Ist, with eight; of the nrdenanza from Al.• pedrinha, I took r.ssession of a height near this vill age, by which they mil<t. pass ; a well-directed fire vs• kept up for two hours, and only terminated by the night ; the result was eighteen killed on the road, a bevy considerable number wounded, and ten prisoners; never al of the wounded were found dead this morn ing, irorn the extreme inclemency of the weather; several cats with grain, and a considerable number of bullocks were also taken ; and, having sent parties to annoy their front and rear, I have reason to think they must snEer considerably ere they quit the Estra da Nova : we lost only one man, with a few horses wounded, amongst them my own. I have the ho. nour to be, &c. (Signed) .1. GRANT, Lieut.-Col. Colonel D'Urban, &e. Extract of a Letter front Lieutenant-Colonel GRANT to Colonel D'UnsAN, dated Fundao, February 4, 1811. Hive the goodness to state to his Excellency the Marshal, that the result of the affair of the Ist inst. near Enxabarda, has been more complete than I at first stated, two hundred and seven of the enemy hav ing been found dead on the .I.d, in the space of four leagues, • a number of whom died in consequence of their wounds, and the inclemency of the weather. Eighteen prisoners are also in my power, and tour Englisl.num who had entered the French service, in the Irish Legion, to effect their escape, having been five ye:.n prisoners; one of whom is of the 30th re giment, the others had been sailors. I have also to stare that the Colonel of the 70th regiment (French), alto the Quarter-Master, were found among the dead. The enemy lost the greatest part of their baggage and cattle. I transmit some of their papers and letters. ADMIRALTY OFFICE, FEBRUARY 26. facts he wished to ascertain. He was also told that Copy of a letter from Captain ADDIALtT,Of his Majesty's Hoop ' two of the witnesses on these Courts-Martial, merely the Echo, addressed to Vice-Admiral CAMPBBLL, and trans- for giving evidence for Curtis, on oath, were certainly Kilned 6y the latter to Jon-0t WILSON CRORLIt s Esq. \ forced out of the country. He asked what could au- His Majessy's sloop Echo, Downs, Feb. 23. Lt. aoorise a Commander, after a cruel sentence, to put Sin,—l beg leave to W form you, for the ;nforma such a person in a worse situation than anycondemned tion of the Lords Commissioners of the Adntiralty, of criminal . In 1808 Curtis entered as a substitute into my having, on the 21st inst. at eight a. in. in lat. 49. the OxfordshireMilitia. In 1810 he was made a corpo -49. N. long. 7. 6. W. fallen in with Clio Confiance ral, and alscrActing Clerk to the Paymaster, by whom French schooner, of 16 guns (14. of which she threw astoppage for two pair of shoes, and other regimental overboard in the' chace), and sixty-two men, and after cloathing, had been made, and not accounted for for 8 a chace of eight hours, blowing hard, discovered two , months after the stoppages commenced, and for three ships a-head, which the chace observing, altered her ! months after they had ceased. By the 106th Clause of course, and we immediately s'icceeded in capturing the Mutiny Act, it was declared that if a Paymaster, her. She appears to be a very fine copper-bottomed • &c. should intentionally detain any part of a soldier's vessel, sails remarkably fast, and is well calculated for pay for one month, such Paymaster, &c. should, on his Majesty's service. I have the honour to be, &c. proof thereof, before a Court-Martial called for the (Signed) A. ADDERLEY. purpose, pay a fine of 5100, and if the complaint was brought against him by a soldier, such soldier should, on demanding it, be discharged. On this clause an ' application was made by Curtis to his Colonel against the Pay-master, but instead of receiving the charge, as he was bound to have done, the clause being im perative, he was told that he should be tried for mu tiny. He was afterwards ordered to attend the Co lonel, and a book of orders was presented to him, and he was desired to point out the order to which he re ferred, which he was not able to do, as he knew nothing about the order book. This was on the '2sth. On the 26th he was confined on a charge of being dressed in a brown coat, and also for being found at the distance of a mile from quarters. He was tried by a regimental court-martial, by which he was sen tenced to be reduced to.the ranks. He appealed to a general court-martial, but this right was refused him. He was afterwards brought before a general court-martial on other charges, all arising out of the stoppages objected to, and when so brought up, he claimed a right to have his appeal tried, but this too was refused him. On his second trial he was refused all communication with his witnesses; even the pro fessional person whom he had consulted was denied access to him, till the President of the court-martin gave orders to that effect. Two witnesses who ap peared for him, were told by the Colonel that they themselves should be tried ; they were tried, and on throwing themselves on the mercy of the court' were sentenced to receive 500 lashes each, which was com muted into banishment to a regiment abroad. The Quarter-master stoo..i openly forward and intimida ted all his witnesses, while on the other hand rewards were held out to those who would give evidence as to disrespectful words used by Curtis concerning the Co lonel, &c. He (Mr. Wardle) next proceeded to no tice the charges against Curtis at this General Court Martial. They were that he endeavoured to excite discontent among the men, and that he spoke disre spec:fully of the Colonel and other officers. The ex pressions used, were, first, that he had in his pocket pat which would cashier many of the heads of them. This, however, he had said in a moment of irritation from the injury he had sustained, and while he imagin ed that he was warranted under the clause in the Mu tiny Act to make the charge he did. Again, that if the Colonel did not attend, he could pull his coat off his back. Another soldier said, that Curtis de clared that he did not a give a damn for any of them., In speaking of the offence committed by Corporal Curtis, he could not help adverting to the case' of a highly meritorious Officer, at whose restoration to the' service no man rejoiced more than he did; and yet the offence of that Officer against his superior Officer, was ten thousand times greater than that of Corporal Cur tis; and yet hoaadisproportionate were their respective punishments ? Another circumstance worthy of obser vation was, that much about the same time some Ger mans were taken by a few British sailors when in the act of deserting to the enemy. He asked now, whether these men who had been guilty of a crime unknown to an English soldier, whether they had been flogged ?, He did not believe they dare put a lash on the bsck of a German. These men had not been flogged for such a crime as this; while an English soldier, for ai few hasty words, was sentenced to receive 1000 lashes. As to the extent of Coporal Curtis's sufferings, some, idea might he formedaaf it from his own letter, writ ten a short time after a portion of the punishment had been inflicted. He was brought out-to be flogged on the sth August, and while under the lash, was pass'ng out of one tainting fit into another—in this way they contrived to give him 200 lashes. He was then taken more dead than alive from the triangles, and rather' than undergo the remaining four-fifths of such intole a ' table torture, he gladly volunteered to act in the West' Indies. He had only received the fifth part of his punishment, and yet that much had confined him from the sth of August till the 14th of November, — On the 17th of August, twelve days after the punish-1 ment, Curtis wrote to Mr. Howell, at Brighton, in which he described his sufferings. He regretted that he was unable to bear the whole of his punishment, and that he was in consequence obliged to volunteer to the West Indies ; the 200 lashes he said, were 200 too many for him—that the punishment was more like thrashing than flogging—that his back was then one continued sheet of corrupt matter, perpetually discharging, so that his strength was wasting away through his back; thus did this man represent his excessive sufferings; in this state this man wasi shortly after dragged to prison in the Isle of Wight. Mr. Wardle then concluded by saying, he had stated nothing but facts which he was ready to prove, and then moved. "That a Committee be appointed to en quire into the facts stated to have occurred respecting Robert Curtis, late a corporal in the Oxfordshire • militia." Colonel GORE 'LANGTON in a short, but ani mated speech, avowed his earnest wish to further the strictest scrutiny into his conduct, as Colonel of the Oxford Militia.—(Hear, hear.)—He pronounced it as his solemn conviction, that if the conduct of Corporal' Curtis had been passed over with impunity, it might have led to the most heinous insubordination on the part of many of the men.—(Hear.)—Gracious Goo! was this a time to encourage disaffection on the part I of the men towards their Officers?--A motion of this kind went to sap the future discipline of the army.- 1 (Hear.) The Honourable Gentleman then proceed-; ed to shew, that the grievances complained of by Curtis were, in point of fact, totally groundless--no such regulations existing in the regiment respecting either the shoes or the breeches, as Curtis had sup posed to exist. He had interviews himself with Cor-' poral Curtis, and had explained to him that they were not grievances, and referred to him the book of regu lations to satisfy himself. He denied the circum- stance of the reward offered fcr the convict7ce of Curtis, upon the testimony of the affidavit of those persons by whose evidence he had been convicted. He had been thirty-two years in a military line, arid he never withheld his just tights from the soldier, nor closed his ears against their j•ist complaints._ He had been fifteen years a Member of that House, and never before bad presumed to offer himself to their attention—he had done so now, in consequence of what he thought an attack personally affectitl him—it was the first time he had been obliged so to trespass on them, and he hoped it would be the last. . ___.. Hear, hear.) Mr. MANNERS SUTTON confirmed the state- ment of the last 'speaker, that there were no such re. gulations respecting the shoes and the breeches._ With respect to the breeches, this man had cont. plained of not getting them, and' had gone to the Quarter-Master. An order was accordingly issued for the whole regiment, but this man having got his before from the Quarter-Master, and not regularly through the Pay-Serjeant, a third pair was refused him —besides, this man had been more than a mile from his quarters in coloured clothes. He had seen his Colonel the day before this, so that he could not have pleaded ignorance that his grievances were but ima. gin:try, though certainly it was possible for a person to forget on the 26th having seen those they had seen on the 250, or the subject of the conversation they had. with them. (Hear, hear.) The Honourable Gentlefatn v.. 116 made the motion applied to the Com mander in Chief for leave to put written questions t o . . Curtis, in order to obtain from him exact information as to the circumstances of his case. The answer of the Commander in Chief was, that if there was any wroug in the case, he wished that it should be remedied,— To this the Honourable Gentleman said, that he ap. plied to the Commander in Chief, not as a pri•"ate dividual, but as a Member of that House, and that he did not conceive himself bound to make any statement of circumstances, tailing for redress, but to be armed with the power of a Member of that House to inquire into the particulars of the case. (Hear.) The Ho nourable Gentleman concludes one of his letters to the Commander in Chief with a statement that the object he had in view was the promotion of the good of the service, and that he was led to take the part he took from the strong interest he felt in the prosperity of the army. When Honourable Members of that House chose to make a declaration of their motives, he believed it was net consistent with the practice cf the House to throw out any doubts of their sincerity, but sure he was, that if the Honourable Gentleman's intentions were good, he was most lamentably defici ent in judgment. (Hear.) Can he induce any one to believe that the interests of the service would be promoted by those who openly seek to promote dis satisfaction in the army, and who strew a willingness to listen to all sorts of loose charges against the Com: mander in Chief? If these are the sentiments which the Honourable Gentleman entertains of the good of the service, he did not envy him in the possession of them. (Hear.) He believed that the House fek in general a reluctance to enter into a considera tion of military affairs except in very strong cases; bat the Hon. Gentleman seemed to presume that he was invested with a sort of roving commission to in. quire into the grievances of the armye aad that he was warranted in, threatening the Commander in Chief whenever he thought proper, With respect is the two men, Pellis and Green, who were said to have been forced out of the country on account of having given evidence in this case, the fact was, that these men preferred charges against their Colonel which, on inquiry, were found to be totally destitute of founda tion ; and, as a proper punishment, were sentenced to general service abroad. Another case had been men tinned of a Serjeant who was to receive 20 guineas for the conviction of Curtis. This, on inquiry, was found to be totally destitute of foundation. In short, taking the whole circumstances of the case into con. siderat on, it would be found that from beginning to end, never was there a charge Teefetred SO totally des. titute of foundation as the present. Sir FRANCIS BURDETT said, that if the Ho nourahle and Learned Gentleman was to be at once judge and witness in the cause, and if his mere asset - - ton was to determine the matter, it was very obvious to conceive that House would be enabled to cone to an easy judgment on the subject ; but the Honourable and Learned Gentleman, it was to be recollected, had merely dealt in assertion, and the assertions of one party svete in all fairness to be considered only as equivalent to the assertions of the other. He spoke in high terms of the gallant Colonel who spoke early in the debate. . The charge of the unfortunate man was not against the Colonel, but the Quarter -master. He then wenointo a detail of the means by which re dress is to be obtained when a soldier feels himself aggrieved ; and stated the proceedings in the present case as every way proper in that respect. The (deuce of appearing in coloured clothes was sanctioned, he said, by the ge,oeral peeee4. of the regiment. Tne me thod resorted to at the Court Maro.d, hp cqiel ; of the nature of a trick, the man not being aware of the subject before that Court. With respect to the general system of our military discipline, he thought it had no thing, strictly speaking, to do o ith the pt esent case; he hoped it would soon come before the House. It wasun fair, however, to involve the officers of this regiment in the general defects of the military system. But how could the severity of punishment, tolerated by our mild tary system, be justified by any laws, either human or divine ? What could justify the infliction of a punish ment which human nature was unable to support ? Whatever the nature of the offence, with what justice could he be sentenced to suffer a punishment, one fifth part of which he was utterly unable to bear ? He then adverted to the animadversions which had been made on the conduct of the Honourable Mover, and said, that he was unfairly treated in not being allowed to prove his charges. He could not see the danger predicted to the service from inquiries of this nature. On the contrary, he thought it must be a great consolation to the army to think that there is a tribunal to which the common soldier may look up when suffering under oppression. Lord SOMERSET joined the Hoeourable Baronet in his praise of the Colonel of the Regiment. He stated the particular mode of proceeding at Courts Martial, pointed out by the articles of war, and con tended that the present case was every way regular. With respect to the charge of trick imputed to the Court Martial, he could only say that on the 4th of July the charges were transmitted to Curtis, on the Gth the Court Martial was held, and on the 7th and SLAVE TRADE. Mr. BROUGHAM postponed the motion of which he had given notice, relative to the Slave Trade, from Thursday next to Tuesday se'rmight. SILK MANUFACTURERS. Mr. ROSE moved the second reading of the Silk. Manufact urers Bill. Mr. ABERCROMBY did not object to it only because he un derstood it would, like the BiU as it now stood, be wholly inope rative. After some conversation, in which Mr. Giddy, Mr. Rose, Mr. Curwen, and Mr. G. Johnstone took a part, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, the only object of t'te present Bill was to put women who might be em ployed in this manufacture on the same footing on which the men employed in it now stood. The hill was then read a second time, and committed for to morrow. • ASSESSED TAXES AND PROPERTY TAX. Mr. GREN FELL begged to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Perccval) if, agreeably to what he had stated last Session, he was now prepared to bring in a Bill for consolidating into one the Acts relative to the Assessed Taxes and Property Tax ? If so, he begged to express a hope that such a measure would not be delayed, as usual, till the very end of the Session. M. PERCEVAL could not fix the time for bringing in a Bill on this subject. REV ENUE. Mr. HUSKISSON gave notice of a motion for Friday, on the comparative state of the public Revenue and Expenditure. INDIA. Mr. WALLACE moved for certain copies of paragraphs of a Letter from the Governor of Fort St. George, in the East Indies, t. the Commander in Chief, dated the 2ict of October, 1807. Ordered. POOR LAWS. Mr. CRIPPS rose to fv, kr... w bt-Ins in DIR to ex plain and amend the Act of the 13th and 14th of Charles 11, on the subject of Parochial Settlements. His object was not similar to the Bill introduced in the last Session of Parliament, by which the amount of the renting was proposed to be raised from £lO to £'2o, hu t to bring the right back to the actual stare in which it stood at the period of passing the Act of Charles 11 so that the rent of £lO must be a bona fide payment for one tenement.— He hoped, however, Gentlemen might think differently oa this subject, that he should not be prevented from bringing in his Bill. Mr. D. GIDDY seconded the moron. Mr. LOCKHART approved of the measure proposed. Mr. WHI I'BREAD should not take the sense of the House upon the question, in this stage of the business, though he highly disapproved of what was now proposed. He did not understand what the lionouratle Member meant by bringing back the. right to the state in which it stood immediately after the passing of the Act, the measure which he now proposed being in direct op position to all the decisions of the Courts on this Act. He was OW surprised that any Gentleman should admire the Act on this subject paised in 1795, but he least of all should have expected this front the Hon. Gentleman whose proposition seemed to be ex actly opposite to the enactments of that Act. He (Mr. Whit bread) had not lost sight of this subject, but should again submit it fully to the House at a more propitious period; and should, in the mean time. take the sense of the House on the present propo. sition, on a future day. • Mr. SHAW I.EFEVRE was of opinion, that the present was a subject deserving careful consideration. Leave was then given to bring in the EA DR. MAYNE. Mr. GILES begged to ksk, whether any progress had been made in the prosecution of Dr. Mayne, who had been referred to in a Report of the Commis sioners of Naval Inquiry, relative to the Sick and Hurt Board ? Mr. YORKE said, if tLe Honourable Gentleman would communicate to him the particular nature of the information he desired, he should make the and acquaint the Hon. Gentleman with the result of it. Mr. GILES said, lie only wished to know what was the state of the prosecution against Dr. Mayne.. STATE OF THE NATION. Mr. WHITBREAD gave notice that he should on Monday name some other day on which he should move for a Committee on the Stare of the Nation, to consider of some permanent measure to be adopted in 'die event of a recurrence of the calamity with which the country was at present visited. CORPORAL CURTIS. • Mr. WA RDLE rose to make his promised motion relative to the ReLimental and General Courts Mar- .1 tial, which had sat at Littlehampton and at Brighton, on the 27th June and 10th July, on Robert Curtis, late a Corporal in the Oxfordshire Militia, and to the i treatment he received prior to these Courts Martial, pending their proceedings, and subsequent thereto.— He began by declaring that he had no knowledge whatever of those who presided at those Courts-Mar tial, or cf the Honourable Gentleman who was the Colonel of the OxfOrdshire Militia, but he had nodoubt that they were persons of the highest honour, and that they must have been deceived. For the purpose of furnishing himself with the best information he could. on the si,bject of the present motion, understanding that Curtis was at the Isle of Wight, he went to the coast, intending to cross over thither ; but as it blew hard, and he was obliged to attend his duty in that House, in consequence of the Call of the House, he employed a friend, who applied for, but was refused access to Curtis, by Colonel Taylor. His friend was also informed that he (Mr.Wardle); had he been on the spot, would have. experienced a similar refusal; unless he had put Colonel Taylor in of the