Star. — London, England, 1809-02-03 00:00:00

PARLIAMEATART PROCEEDINGS. • HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEB. 2. The SPEAKER read a letter from Admiral Da Conrcy, ex pressing his acknowledgment for the Thanks of the House for his conduct in the embarking, /ice. of the Army at Corunna. Mr. MITFORD, from the Custom-house, produced Accounts of the Bounties on Fisle for supplying. the London Market ;of the number of Ships employed in the Greenland Whale Fishery, and an Abstract of the Accounts of the Northern Light Rouses, for the last year. Mr. HUSKISSON brouglst up the Grain Prohibition Distills- . tion Bill, which was read a first time ; to be read a. second time on Monday, and to be printed. Mr. HUSKISSON presented an Account of the Amount of Exchequer Bills, outstanding and unproVided for;:-Referred to a Committee of Supply. Mr. HUSKISSON gave notice that he should to-morrow, in a Committee of Supply, move a 'Vote for th::. Seamen. of she present year. Sir A. WELLESLEY gave notice' that he should on Monday ll move for an Increase of the Ordnance in Ireland.' ' Mr. CANNING produced the appointment, of Mr. Jeffreys to the Office of Consul General of Portugal. ISLAND OF CEYLON. Mr. MARTIN moved that the Papers relative to the issues of Money to certain persons, on account Of the Island of Ceylon, troduced yesterday, be printed. Mr. PERCEVAL wished that the Hon. Gentleman would first look into the Accounts, before he added te the expence of printing Papers of the kind, which already amounted to upwards of sixty thousand pounds a-year. After some conversation, Mr. Martin agreed to look into the Accounts. CHIES SECRETARY FOR IRELAND. Mr. WHITBREAD referred to a question he had put on a former day, as to the fact of gallant Officers in that House hold ing important Civil and Military Commands at the sane time. As to one of them he had then received an answer. He wished to know from the Hon. Baronet opposite. (Sir A. Wellesley) on what footing be held his incompatible Civil and Military Com mands at the same moment ? Sir A. WELLESLEY explained that he had expected that when he accepted of the military command in Portugal, he should lose his Office in Ireland, and that when he left this country ano ther would be appointed to succeed him as Secretary for Ireland. From July to October he did receive his salary from Ireland, but during the greater part of that time be derived no emolument from his military command. The great expence attending a mi litary command of the kind, and his not being in a situation to de fray such expence out of his private fortune, were his reasons for accepting of the emoluments of his Civil Office during that period.. Mr. WHITBREAD said he should be sorry to trouble the House with any motion on this subject, but from what had fallen from the Hon. Baronet it was impoisihle to psas by the matter without observation. Mr. CANNING said, there was nothing before the House on which to ground any observation of the kind. Mr. WHITBREAD thought it his duty to see that soimpor tant an office as that of Chief Secretary for Ireland, was rendered an effective office. DUKE OF YORK. Mr. WARDLE rose to express a hope that he might be allowed to-morrow to give farther evidence'' on the subject on which he had been examined last night. He had then stated, that he saw Mrs. Clarke on the afternoon of Tuesday last, but he now recol lected that he had seen her on the morning of that day, for a few minutes, as well as in the evening. The CHANCELLOR: of the EXCHEQUER said, he saw no objection to the Hon.. 'Member's making an explanation to that effect in his , place. Mr. WARDLE then moved, that a ptoper person from the Office of the Commander in Chief do attend on the House to-morrow, with the books contain ing applications from Subalterns who wished to pur chase into the Army, during the period within which Captain Maling acquired his three Commissions ; also with the book containing an Account of the services of Subalterns during that teriod. • The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, from his extreme ignornce on the subject, could nct say any thing as to the propriety of acceding to, or opposing the motion of the Hon. Member. After some conversation between him,* Sir A.WEn- LgsLEv, and Mr. WArtmr, it was agreed that Mr. Wardle should renew the motion to-rporrow, and, if time should be required for the production of the in formation demanded, that the matter should stand over till a future day. INCREASE (IE TIII? ARMY. Lord CASTLEREAGH having moved the • cond reading of the Militia Enlistment Bill, Mr. ELLIOT objected to the whole of the system, as being ill calculated to increase the disposable force of the country ; destructive of the internal defence, of which the Militia formed the essential part, and, at the same time, burdensome and expensive in the extreme. His principal objection, however, went to its destructive tendency on the system of his Right Honourable Friend (Mr. Windham), the beneficial effects of which, though never allowed its full scope of success, had been fully proved. To it was solely to be attributed the success of a similar plan to the pre sent in the year 1807. Under the act then passed 7,595 had transferred their services from the Militia to the Line, of whom 19,948 were for limited ser vice, while the Act of 1805, when his Right Honour-- hie Friend's system was not in existence, might he said, though founded on the same principle of tranger of service, to have Within the last 17 memths too, notwithstanding all the impediments thrown in the way of his Right Honourable Friend's plan, out of 19,072 men, who had enlisted into the Line, 14,381 of them were for limited service. Colonel WOOD derended the measuce - ty a speech of long detail. He was surprised that the Honoura ble Gentleman had taken upon himself to assert that the transference of the militia into the line, inspired the discipline either of the army, or the militia. There was a fact on record, which repelled the charge as far as it applied to the army, the late brilliant victories of that army, two thirds of which had been drafted from the militia. With respect to the assertion as far as it applied to the militia, he would most decidedly maintain, that the discipline of the militia was upheld and advanced by this adopted system. The grand inducement to the officers of militia, to train and dis cipline their men, was the expectation, that both offi cers and men would shortly be drafted into the line. The officer was induced to exert himself under this hope, and the advancement of the men in skill and discipline necessarily followed. The Honourable Centlernan had equally deceived himself as to the bounty. In the regiment which he (Colon el W o od ) had the honour to command, he had received, within the last month - or two, twenty men, who bad not cost him at The rate of tea pounds per mats. 'As to the com p ar ison' instituted by the Right Honourable Gert *man between limited and unlimited service, he He niratien a fact with in his own knowledge.— Hebad lateiy questioned a recruiting xrjeatir from rtuingham upon this 'subject, how many, men hp Iti bad raised, aad ia what nr,e . T . serjew* ; had informed him that he had enlisted 38, of whom 36w ere for unlimited service: Sir THOMAS TURTON said, he should consi- , der this measure in three ways. First, whether a large disposable force was necessary; 2dly, whether, if it was,, the force now 'maintained, was not large enough ; and, idly, whether this was the best mode of raising it ? He wished to . know; in the first place, what was tour ()tee( iti,raiiing a large -disposable force ? Was it to send'another Quixotic expedition to Spain ? Was it to fight another battle of Vimiera, to be followed by aConvention of Cintra? Was it to send an army into the heart of Spain, 'to be there exposed to the greatesteharsiships arid losses ? But if an expe dition any where was necessary, had we not already 220,000 soldiers of the-line, and could not 60,000 of these be at any time spared out of the country ? This could surely be done without exposing the country to the danger of invasion. In the present state of the n a tion, an invasion of this country Was impracticable, without a navy at the disposal of the . enemy greater , than ours. The enemy must have a covering fleet, or they could not invade. us. The Romans never were able to invade an& conquer Sicily, till they had de-' stroyed the navy of .Carthage. 'Therefore, he con tended, that our army was now large enough for every purpose of offensive or defensive warfare. If, how ever, the army was to be increased, this was not the best mode of doing it. On a constitutional principle,', he could never consent to have the constituniefai de- . 1 fensive force of theitingdom invaded, as it had 'been for some years oin a way by which Colonels of the Militia had been converted into Drill Serjeants, to fill up the ranks of the army. He should for these rea sons oppose the present Bill. Colonel BASTARD opposed the Bill, and declared that the Militia Officers were not reconciled to it. In his opinion, the characters of these Officers were die graded by their being made Drill Serjeants ; and this practice had the effect of producing disorganization, dissipation, and drunkenness in Militia Regiments. It would be better at once to destroy the Militia, than to j expose it. to such evils. The bounties and the praises given to those militiamen who had gone into the line, I were only a premium given to rest l e ssness and dislike I to their Officers, and of course, would have the effect of doing away all the - benefits which must ever arise from the attachment of men towards their corps. It' was such an attachment which made .the Theban band invincible. Now there was nothing to be found in cur constitutional defensive bodies, but restlessness and dissatisfaction. Lord EUSTON thought the Bill was attended with many defects, but still he would support it. ' The SECRETARY, at WAR thought the pre sent exigencies called loudly for an augmentation of the army. Mr. CALCRAFT wished to know why the esti mates of the year had fallen from '240,000 men to 210,000 men, particularly when -it had been insisted that our losses' in, Spain lad not exceeded 4 or 5000 men. The ceentry had. been told at the close of the last Session, that its military means were never sp high ; if se, what was the necessity of resorting to the present bill? or if the national force was diminished, Parliament ought to know how it had been lessened. This was no longer an expedient, it was become a system. It would be better, if this proceeded, to take the Militia, as they were, at once into the army, and make the Local Militia the Militia of the country. He expressed , his confidence in the Local Militia ; and he believed this to be an improvement on . the Volunteer System, which certainly had suffered much less from the manly attacks, as they had been called, of a Right 1-lonourable Friend of his (Mr. Windham) than. froth the cold caresses of the Noble Lord. He condemned this system of proceeding, as turning the Militia merely into a recruiting service for the army; and as bringing great, unnecessary, and vexatious burthens upon the country. These constantly recur ring expedients might certainly be carried by Mini sters, but at the same time it was useful to discuss them ; for discussion and publicity were a relief to the country under the burthens to which they were ex- j poeed. Colonel FRANKLAND thought it was as neces sary to attend to the manner in which the military means of the Country were employed, as to the nu merical amount of our force. H e allowed, however, that the great point was the consistency of the House. It was true, Parliament was pledged to increase the military means of the Country ; but the question was whether the Regular Army might not, by this mea sure, be increased at the expence of our borne defence ? It was necessary for the House to take care that it should not be committed to the discretion, or rather the indiscretion, of any man. After the experience we had had, who could say that an unbalanced army was the best means of defence ? The Honourable Gentleman then placed in a strong 'joint of view the injury to the Militia service by this mode of proceed ing. It had a tendency to produce disorganization and disgust in the home service, and to preserve all this when created. He adverted to the permanent, admi rable, and deeply founded system of his Right Ho. nourable Friend (Mr. Windham), and observed, that it was impossible to discuss such measures as this, without taking that system into view. All circum stances that bore upon the question were to be consi dered, and upon the whole, he thought that this sys tem of expedients was the most insufficient and bur thensonie that could be resorted to. Mr. LOCKHART said, that the events which had taken place might convince us, that we ought not to trust to a mere defensive force, of whatever descrip tion ; whether armed peasantry, local militia, or even militia. .All systems were liable to objection ; but the question was, whether this was nbt the best that could be adopted at present ? He never understood, that the plan of the Right Honourable Gentleman (Windham) had been abandoned ; but, at the same time, it was not sufficient for procuring an immediate supply, which was what was now wanted. Lord CASTLEREAGH allowed that it was in cumbent on him to lay an adequate ground for a mea sure which certainly pressed heavily upon the country. But it surely was not necessary for him to enter upon a detail of the reasons for y large military force at present. The executive Government ought to raise a sufficient force, if possible, both for foreign exertions and home defence. As long as the people of Spain, were true to themselvei, we were bound by duty ansi i interest to euppciet them. We had pledged our selves to do so. He could not believe the struggle to be at an end; but if it.were at an end, spmething might grow out of that circrlnstartce which might afford a field for British exertion. Great interests might 'be at a stake at a distance, as well as at homes and it was proper to be prepared. But there were considerations in support of such a measure as this, drawn from the present state of the military force of the country, although he denied that the militaryforce o f the country was diminished. A deduction for the losses in Spain must be made, and he stated that a very considerable proportion of the battalions of the army (aboat i rk) were below six hundred rank and file, and the addition by this measure would only raise these to 900 rank and file. In the army that went to Portugal, the first battalions had been filled np from the second, which rendered it a very effi cient army, 29,000 being comprised M thirty-two bat, talions ; and this measure was intended to fill up the deficiency, and also to supply the casualties in Spain,. '—His Lordship then observed, that even while the country were labouring under these measures, and! under the burthens of •unlimited service, still there was something so stubborn in the nature of the re truting service, that the ;lumbers were constantly about 1200 men a month under all circumstances.—. ' He contended that it was necessary to allow men to enter for unlimited service- if they pleased, as this, at all events, would leave a permanent feature in our force. He called on the House to make the exertion I required, as it was their first duty to their country, It was impossible that at present there c :uld be any! danger to the liberties of the country, not only brstte checks established, but by the feelings of the regulast 'army itself, which felt as strongly as any oda.* de sc ri ption of men the value of the Constitution. The , dangers to our liberties from a regular army *ere i past, or, if not, the checks at present' establi.s44 were surely sufficient. • I Lord TEMPLE said,' that the Noble Lord heel nnw shewn us the nature and spirit of the measure, for jthe transfer was not now made on an emergency, but lin contemplation of an emergency. So that 'this was now to become a regular system from year to year. This, he said, was a very bad mode of increasing the regular army, and as a regular system, lie had the strongest objection to it. His Lordship also de-' .fended the plan of his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Windham), and stated, that when the Noble Lord I laid his cold fingers upon it, it was producing at the rate of 24,000 a year, instead of the 13,000 produced by the Noble Lord; and out of the 27,000 that vo ' lonteered from the Militia, 20,000 were for limited service at a lower bounty. The Bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Monday next. = - • Lord TEMPLE gave notice that on Monday , he ~ would move for returns of the difference of the num bers of the troops between their embarkation for I Spain and Portugal, and their return ; and also for an account of the money, clothing, tcc. actually re-! ceived by the Spaniards. Lord CASTLE REAGH had no objection to ei ther notice, but it might be impossible to comply ac curately with the last. Mr. TAYLOR gave notice that, if no other person did it, he would, on Monday, move for the instruc tions to Sir J. Moore, and other papers relative to the expedition. Lord CASTLEREAGH declared his willingness to produce them.—Adjourned. THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. • • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY S. • •I PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT on O'CLOCK. Consols, for money, 66;1 --for Feb. 67g—Reduced 67g. Ornniam g pre. The public will hear with pleasure, that all the transports from Vigo, about 50 in nnmber, and which had been very much dispersed by the tempestuous weather, have arrived at different British ports. The A LIMED, the arrival of which at Portsmouth we an nounced yesterday, had Generals CRAUFORD, ALTEN, I FEiwvsoN, and DIOTT, on board. The Manchester packet, with mails from Halifax and New York, has arrived at Falmouth. She left the former place on the 25th November, at which time there were lying there the SWIFTSURE, of 74 guns, Admiral Sir J. B. WARREN ; the 13}1LLONA and ME- Ev.lEl:s, with a fleet of transports. The Manchester left New York on the 7th ult. and has brought over 21 passengtrs. - The Embargo still continued. By letters from Lisbon te. the 24th lilt. it appears, that though many rumours prevailed of the French having entered Portugal, no certain accounts of that f►ct had reached the capital. The alarm, however, was very great, though the reports could not be traced to an authentic source, and the British resi dents, as well as a great number of the natives, had resolved to quit the place. Some of them were ac tually on board the Charlotte packet on the 21st ult. : she has not yet arrived. The writer of one of the letters expresses his apprehensions concerning the fate I of Oporto but he had recently left that port, and therefore it appars probable, that the French were not in possession of it on the 12th, as stated in some papers. At a later date, however, they may have taken possession of that city, and little doubt can be entertained that before this time the French are once more masters of Portugal. Since writing the above, the following letter has reached us : " FALMOUTH, JANUARY 31. ig Arrived this day the brig letter of marque Fer dinand VII. of 12 guns, Captain REIM', from Lis bon, after a passage of seven days ; she has brougkt thirty passengers : she has also dispatches fmm Admilal BsiKEtay which are forwarded to Govern ment. By her we'are sorry to hear that all the British are preparing to leave Portugal, as also the principal 'ortuguese Merchants. The 16th Dragoons which went out some time since are embarked, -and hourly evicted to receive order, to proceed to Gibraltar " Letters from Oporto, state that much confusion prevailed there in consequence of tha reported ap. proach of the French. Admiral BERICYLM7 has taken possession of all the Danish vessels in the Tagus, a n d was preparing them for the conveyance of British and other property from Ponngal, pr, the approach of the French." In the South of Spain, the Patriots still thew seine. i: thing like a deteivination to continue the contest ; r .bltt the French have succeeded in relieving Barcelona, The latest accounts are given in pae following letter'. GIBRALTAR, JAVYARY It. u Within these few' dap we have received ii•Crl 3 Ta;•- ragona the very unfavourable news of the Sin:l7l4i army being obliged to retreat to that place, and t. a: the Freisch had sent a reiuforcement into Barcelona' which is confirmed to us under the date of the 2St.' ult. Flowever, there are letters in town down to the 28th u l t . srat i pg , t h a t the . apanish army had collected a gain, and expected to make an able stand, „should the Fre;ich attack' them ; -and with the additions; arms and stores gone up, weiret hap they rill pee rtit. Oithitugress letne dine." • The berds of the Admiralty have been Pleated ti *PPCintc.a.Ptiik kIANCOCKs late of tlie - LAInNLA frigate, w Oat tine ship OILRISTIAti 11, of 90 guns, now Att'athd to the Cbannel Fleet. • YAfeitay'a CalisifeA Council, at which the grate! part of the Merebets ISsisteil, was held at the Foreign Offife. BRAHMA'S matchless Opera Of - tlliepaPnef will be performed to-morrow evening with afttactions likely to inciests;sts celebrity.. The comp** is; 9f cou:.se, still the hero of the: _piece ; but the parr of Loreeee: will be pe!forinedby Me: SEN T, theNiung Cai.didati • for theatrical fanie, who lately made ,such kefitkoorahle debut in Sir George Airy. , His rehUirsal. of .Lore;;;,-(r. io said-to have given a most proasiising display 0 114 vocal powers. . • Front, the papers laid on the table of the House of Commons, it appears, that in the 1.7 months, begin nieg with August, 1807; and endingyith December, 1808, there have been 19,072 recruits raised lop the Regular Army, of which 14,681 enlisted fonimited, and 4,691 for unlimited service—that. the effective fOrte, iiiiank and file, of the British Regular Ic.rmy,; according to the returns made to the Adjutant-Ge neral's .ofLce up to the 26th of January, 1809. amouitted to 210,614, of which there were 2 . 7_ ? 35ii. Cavalry : and that the effective force of IteMilatia in England, Scotland, and Ireland, amounted td . 81,577 rank and file. The Isiocem brig of war is arrived from the Dar , ' dangles with dispatches from Mr. ADAIR, who re. mained in good health at Constantinople suhsequele to the late revolutions. She Wig's alto accounts from Malta to the 16th Deceit:l4r. The.. gem% 10; Nines, and PRRYOIANTE, had arrived there withtpaxt of their convoy from England. Off 'Sardinia the fleet was dispersed in a gale. The HYDRA received great damage, and there was otherwise much mis chief done. The brig Eirm, *Leon for London, hOr on shore on returning into port ; she knocked off er anchor, and was obliged to discharge. The brig Hope, ORCHARD, from Liverpeol, put iato Syracuse, having shifted her cargo in consequence of being leaky. The Nocton packet MS at Malta wind-bound. In addition to the Gazette account respectir.g Lord COCHRANE, we have received the following particu lars of the proceedings of the IMPRRIEUSE frigate, in a letter dated Gibraltar, Sept. 25: " Lieutenant MAPLtTON, first Lieutenant of the lmperiew, with Lieutenant HONE, and the Seamen and Marines of that Ship, have, on We coast of Frances between Port Vandre and Marseilles, destroyed • three batteries of six guns each, the Tower of Montpelier, six telegraphs, and upwards of twenty barracks of the Dimemes loptriale. They have destroyed also a number of small vessels in the creeks along the coast. Two thousand troops have left the fortress of Figueras for Rousillon, to prevent their descents in that province." Lettes from St. Thomas's, of the 29th of Decem• ber, state, that at St: Domingo the French garrison was in possession of about four months provision, and was determined to maintain its post to the last ex tremity against the Spaniards. The successor of Ge• neral FaRRAND, it is added, had declared that in the event of his being compelled to yield, he would surren der to the English. The waters have made the most destructive ra vages at Bath. One whole street was undermined by the waters of the Avon, and suddenly fell, crush ing the greatest part of the inhabitants. The roofs of some houses were seen floating down the river. In some streets of the lower Town the ground-floors were under water ; the inhabitants lived upstairs, and their provisions were conveyed by the upper windows. In the midst of the most afflicting sights, a cradle was seen floating down the stream : a child .was seen moving in it. Several efforts were made to save the child, but to no purpose, till a providential turn of the eddy brought die cradle so near as to be hooked from the bank.—A billiard-table was forced from its situa• Lion, and carried down the stream. This relaxed for awhile the muscles of sorrow and anxiety. The following remarkable circumstance our readers may depend on as a fact :—A poor Irishwoman, who resided in Shoe-lane, was brought to bed last Friday, and on the same evening dreamt that she should die on the Monday night following. The dream she re lated to her husband and others, and stated her firm reliance on its verity; and wished to have a priest to attend to take her confession, and grant her absohe tion previous to the event happening. This porten tous dream was little attended to by her husband or her neighbours ; but on Monday, during the hurri. cane, the husband thought he heard the roof of the house giving way, and mentioned his fears to his wife. She, however, was unable to help herself, and, dread• ful to relate, the roof shortly afterwards falling in, buried in the ruins the unfortunate wottlan and h child 1 The husband with the utmost difficulty pre. served his life, and though buried in the rubbish, mi. raculously extricated himself from his periloo tuation. , • r•. • • No has Letell gratuax-,pine•fl.,to afro:vt BeitteitarAlitatiif - trie On, C•tuktili‘ gvtitit(ity to be *vett& of Fort charlii in tit blind of limaics.. 4 • • . . - PP . OrP' _ 711/I ~.+~ 'Orb i st ; age ricir )ad fi ad 6 1 I'3ol V , or up C "I YI ' th