The National Register. — London, England, 1809-05-28 00:00:00

TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. 346 the iutti , er bank—the bridge was of course destroyed the Engi sit Army, therefore, was ou the side of Coimbra, the FreaLb on that of Oporto. On the following day, Sir A. WELLFSLEY passed the River, an.l another battle took place. The French main tamed the conflict with much bravery, and kept their grinit,d, till General having crossed the river from Coimbra, appeared on their right flank, whilst General SHERBROOi%F., having passed it at Oporto, shewod himself on their left: these motions determined the action—the French fled in confusion, and left the English in possession of the field and town. General :.TEWAKT now completed the victory by an ir resistible charge on the enemy's rear by the British horse. The result was, that dispersion was added to defeat. The immediate fruits of the victory will be seen in the G , ,zetie. We have lost some Officers and many men, and General PA,Ii-;T has lost an arm. This victory is rendered inure important from what must necessarily be its consequences, than from what has for the present occurred. The i:ecessary consequence must be— that SoULT and his Army will shortly VISIT ENGLAND. Subsequent Accounts lave been received of .the relative state of Marshal Sots 4 - r and Sir .Auuxua WLI.LESLcv. By an arrival at Falmouth, from Portugal, advices have beer received from Oporto of so late a date as the 19th inst. The retreating enemy, as we have already state!, had spiked their artillery, and destroyed every thing that could retard their flight. Sir 4. WyLLtsLity (who left Oporto on the 13th, and had reached Braga on the 16th) was however so close upon the rear of the fugitives, who were directing their flight towards Gallic:a, while General BERESFORII, with the Portuguese army, was hastening to cut them off from the route of Chavcs, that there is every reason to hope the remains of the defeated enemy have ere, this been either taken prisoners or entirely destroyed. The loss of Marshal SOULT in the battle of the 12th was immeim. His army consisted 0125,000 men, and the fugitive remains are said to consist of not more than 6000. The Nautilus and Niotie frigates are arrived at Falmouth and Plymouth. The former left Oporto on tlr ISth, the latter sailed from Lisbon on the 19th. The Lisbon accounts state, that Gen. HILL had fallen in with a detachment of Soy LT'S artuy,sooo .pti-ong, which he defeated, having killed 500, and taken 1000 prisoners ; hut th:s, in all probability, relates to the action of the 12th on the Douro. Sir A. Wi!.;I4I.ET was very close upon Marshal SOU LT, and no doubt was eater. tained of his completely succeeding in the object of his pur suit. So little apprehensive was SOULT that our brave troops would attempt to cross the Douro in his frog! ) that he ordered his diaucr, intending to remain in his position. It will be seen in another part of our Paper, that in the beginning of the week Government received dispatches from Mr. Eftslc s in America, the substance of which was that he had concluded an amicable arrangement of all existing diffe rences with the A inerican Governmient, and that in conse quence the English Orders of Council were to be with drawn on the loth of June, and the American Embargo on the same day. To the surprise of every one, and to the bitter disappointment of the mercantile world, govern mrnt have refused to ratify this act of Mr. EaserNE, and every thing lids hs consequence been thrown into greater ( I'; . 4,Her than ever. Mr. EftsiCiftZ is stated to have ex- f- ,`,IC I ~ . k coinfoiveion. Having considered this question MAY 28, in full detail in another part of our Paper ; vice shall say nothing farther here. There have been since severa' Meetings of tile Merchants concerned in the American Trade, and in consequence of their earliest reinonstrwices„ the Gazette of last night contains an Order of Iguncil, which after stating the present relations between England and America, and disavowing Mr. ErskinesAct„ provides, that all vessels which may have left America wider the faith of that agreement, between the 19th of April last, and the 20th of July ensuing, shall not be molested or in terrupted by the British cruizers, but in every respect shall be considered as having sailed with a British licence. A very animated debate took place on Friday night in the House of Commons, on the committal of the Bill introduced by Mr. CIIIIINVEN, for the punishment of bribery and cor ruption, and for imposing an oath on the Members as welt as the Electors. The motion fur the committal was very warmly contested, and in the course of the speeches some very extraordinary confessions were made. It appears by these avowals, that in the words of fluaxl. TOOK E, " Seats are usually bought and sold like stall; in Smithfield ;" that the Treasury possesses a certain number of boroughs, which it considers as itsexclusive property, and in every Parliaf meat, puts up a kind of private auction amongst its im mediate dependents. It does not appear w hat becomes of the money which the Treasury thus receives for the Sale of its boroughs, whether it is distributed ainoir c; st the Electors, or whether it is employed in the general purpose of pro curing returns of favourite Members in other places, less immediately under Government-in thience. If employed in the first purpose, it is used in direct corruption.—lf in the latter, the corruption is less direct, but not less mischievous. —Mr. IVIN IMAM'S argument is rather of a curious nature. — It is in substance,—that the bribing of voters is a maturn prohibitum, and therefore that it cannot be defended ; but that it does not thence follow, that the paying for seats is corrupt. That morality has nothing to do with the matter. That the one is wrong because prohibited by law, but that the other not being so prohibited, is not necessarily wrong, Now, surely th:s kind of argument is hut the merest sophistry, and such, as in grave affairs, should never be introduced into debate. Mr. WINDHAM need not be informed that there arc two kinds of defaults, —the maiuln prohibit= and the malum in se. The paying for seats not being prohibited, is clearly not a malum pro : !libitum, except in so far'as where the law prohibits the end, it must be presumed to prohibit the means. The purchase of seats, however, even in this point of view, is Certainly contrary both to the letter and spirit of the constitution, and, therefore, contrary to the common 14w, which inu.c.t always be interpreted as supporting the CenstitutiOn. In the other point of view, no one, we thigh, will venture to deny, that the purchase of seats, the temptation of elec. tors, is a malting prohibitum, a direct . and absolute partici pation in the crime of corruption. If in all other cases the receiver is as bad as the thief, why should not the pure chaser stand, al Mast in some degree of participation with the seller. As to Morals having nothing to with lithe question, it is so far true, that the House of COMMOUS are not to consider the mere morality of an act, but when the act has practical effects, and a palpable public mischief, it ceases to be a mere moral question. The Foreign Papers which arrived yesterday, have brought the following Article : H•unvuon, MAT 19. A formal Declaration of War, by the Russian Court against Austria, has just been published. The Court of Vienna is gone to Offen. This is a further proof of the servility of the Emperor ALEXANDER• His Majesty has been pleased to recommend the Bishop of Bangor, to be elected Bishop of the See of London, vote by the death of Dr. Beilby Portals. I Will