The National Register. — London, England, 1811-02-03 00:00:00

gret.a:l:o - , :Pi Cie first preliminary, a gat( liesistated ; I c•otei <d ; I made them lay reprerached the officers and the governor for their conduct the 'ruing before. The forts, undetermined and surprized, adopt t.; the part of A111)111iihiOil. I ordered the grenadiers to enter, anal at four in the afternoon a garrison of 8000 men defiled, as prisorers. of war, deposited nine colours, of which one was pre s‘.uteti, by King George to the town of Tortosa, and immedi ately took the road to Saragossa, under a strong escort. After 18 days of siege, thirteen of the trenches opened, and five of cannonade, we are thus masters of the fortress of Tortosa, which delivers into the power of the Emperor 177 pieces of ar tillery, SO,OOO balls or binnbs, 1,400,000 cartridges, 9000 muskets, &c. 1 have the honour to transmit to your Highness the diffe rent inventorie4, with a view and plan of the town and of the attack:., the journal of the siege, and the documents furnished by the Chiefs, which make the force of the garrison, including the hospitals, amount to 9000 men, of whom 992 are officers; in that number is a battalion of artillery of the marine, which was two years at Brest ' • apd the officers of which have declared to me, that snatched by the fate of arms from the anarchy which desolates their couqtry, they all form the wish of combat ing the English, whom th4y regard as its true authors. Our loss during the siege amounted to 400 men, and that of the enemy to I`2oo. -Your Highness will not consider it trifling when you learn that the fortress tired t 5,000 rounds of cannot), azd we 15,000. I atn,with respect, &c. COUNT SUCHET. I IcAd•cinarters, Tortosa, Jan. 4, 1811. _ IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS. MONDAT , JAN. 23. Thrir LortLitips met a little after four o'clock ; when the Loaf C:iA L LITt b,.!ing seated on the woolsack, and several Peers in their, places, regulations were made respecting ap peals. .Lord GitosVF.NOa rose, and, adverting to the Regency Bill, th- Report of winch the House was met to receive, lamented th,t he had. by unavoidable means, been prevented from attend the e discussion of that Bill ; but viewing it attentively as he had dune, he felt it a duty incumbent on him to enter his sulemn. protest against the principle of it. lie had indeed so tar agreed with Ministers, as to prefer the mode of proceeding by Bill to that of Address, as being in 11:s opinion more con lorinAle to the spirit and usage -of the Constitution; but in every other material consideration of the subject, he felt the ennduct of Ministers so egregiously wrong, that his duty as a Peer of Parliament irresistahly prompted him to protest against it. Duke of Noltrot.x rose, and preseuted 'a Petition from the .Corporation of Lewes, respecting the apptiintment and pow ers of the Regent, which, being read by the Clerk, was ordered to lie on the table. His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex then rose, and -said .• that previous to the reading of the Report on that importaut subject.; for the discussion of which their Lordships were•assem bled, he felt it an incumbent duty on him to state, in a frank and explicit manner, hi.: sentiments and opinions concerning it. lathe view which he had taken of the proceedings of Ministers, they appeared to him to have acted without precedent, without law, • and without any regard to the fair principles of the Con stittition. • They had talked much about delicacy, but in their conduct had evinced no sort of regard to it. But with every proper regard to delicacy, it should not be forgotten,• that deli oacy was only a subsidiary virtue, kid must always be subordi nate to more essential considerations. Much had been said about precedents, hut the conduct of Ministers W;43 le-is remark able En a faithful adherence to those boasted precedents than for the violation:of all law.. Not only law but truth w.er violated, in the dActrines held forth by Ministers respecting the powers ofihetn'ti Memos. The precedents which had been adduced bore no analogy to the present case ; that , of the 16th of Edward the becoutt, theleid• cf Henry the Eighth, the Act of Philip and Mary,-.atnithateof of Charles the Second, •were by, no me.eis applicable to the. instance isettnestion. He could nor but consider that the treatment ,eyhich. the Prince of Wales had re ceived teas most migrations. - - At'a tithe . of peculiar emergtnry and•peril to the State, he had beetrrequested to supply the defi ciency which had lamentably taken-place in the exercise of the Royal functions, but while he was invested with authority, he waeturteiled of 'the 41km - tinker power. It was a maxim of the Constitution, which he freely, acid cheerfully acknowledged, thzit the King was the serVantodf the public; but concomitant . and.congenial with that maxim was the practice, that individual • obedience was always due to the person exercising the supreme authority. And there was no deference due athe Royal Au- .. - - ,- . * • ° -` upon every principle of equity and rea __ Regent. His'Royal Highness dwelt with much force on the propriety that there would have been in the Houses having proceeded not by Bill,-but by Address to the Prince, and adduced the instance which occurred of that mode,.iu ie ;sign of e ßieliard the Second. The clause mahich went to restrict the Regent in the creation cot Peers, his Royal Highness regarded as a direct infringement on that Noble House, and as tending to destroy that wholesome balance which it preserved in the order of the Constitution. For the power which was wisely lodged with the King, for the creation of Peers, was intended partly, and very materially, to be a check against any possible combination among the Members of' that House ; and if that wholesome power was withdrawn from the Regent, a dangerous and unconstitutional influence must arise from the unnecessarily augmented and uncontrouled power of that House. What, his Royal Highness asked, would be said in the other House of Parliament, if their Lordsh;ps should send down to it a requisition that they were to sign no more Money Bills ?—(Loud and repeated cries of hear !)—Minliters were at once usurping the powers of the Crown, and betraying the rights of Parliament, end the interests of the people.. The cry of " No Popery" had been sounded about, but it came from a quarter the most Papistical of any in the realm. blitisters, while they were perpetually talking of decorum, had sacrilegie ously torn from the Throne that delicate veil with which our ancestors had enshrined ft.—The Priuce of Wales, the eldest sou of our revered Sovereign, was called on to perform the Regal Functions at this moment of calamitous emergency, and a come bination was formed which would shut against the exercise of his power the doors of that House. If the prerogative,of making Peers, or any other prerogative of the Crown, he deemed unne cessary, it ought to be withdrawn ; but, if it be fit and essential• for the Kingly Power, it ought indisput ibly to be extended to the Regent. Was it fair, was it equitable, that, all the heavy and severer duties of the Executive, should be imposed on the Prince, and every thing graceful, heneficient, and honourable should be withheld from him ? The object of Ministers ap peared to be principally to create a sort of Fourth Estate for the purpose of thwarting and crippling the measures of the Regent. —I certainly shall see with regret most of these clauses passed, - and particularly that one which deprives the Regent of dispen sing honours, even for a limitted time, to those who, in their different calk and situations, have a claim to such a distinction ; for merit is likely to arise at all periods, and equally deserves reward.—Besides, the avowed principle on which it is declared, a Regent ought to be appointed, is, that he should chuse his po litical servants. Now, the very restriction of Peerage may prevent the Regent from making that judicious selection, which he may judge most advantageous and beneficial for the welfare of the country.—By thus stating my opinions, I feel I am acting . as a warm friend to my country—as a warm friend to my Sows-0.. reign And Father s —as a warns friend to the Prince of Wales, my Brother—and as a warmer friend to every thing that ought to be held sacred in the Constitution.—l certainly have, as most perSeins e . apfeference fet a particular set of men, • but upon this coliirietion, that the man who governs the country best -and most advanteepeus fel - tire people, is the Nfinister l where I shall think Myself hottncite j support,--Not approving of the measurel; that have beep propesid, I vote against them e coneeivitne that .1 ant votinciejah.t4e laws of my country, on a conviction of every part of the system being erroneous and ' defective. And there-' • fore, I feel a pride and satisfaction in what I am doing, nelthet intimatted not e citing for sinister insinuations, whielelieve been, mischievously propagated, of the existence of a Fourth Estate, or fur a College of Princes.—Thepttrport for which such a new phantom has been conjured updie oaywoonstas it is wicked, sinct it is attempted in so critical a moment as the present, toinfletne the ininds•of the Oeopre, ortiOfeighteo . them wit a m inqt dangers, with a view to crillitilifftircielltectittaityti*VOVettif ail . Crown, and to diAteartsai thilitin4St aittibtfitaf The Sovereign't relatives, wholiave 3e:its allairdent Nrliametit i and :who - ate at the least the natural, if nut lihe-legal giaardians of the Inters gists of their revered Parent, when the vio)ation of . the laws of nature is one of the re vOluti '- ea of this day.e4uch- ere sons who stkrdy tO- contitve IT rtdi repreetnt the constituf nal endeavours of the Royal Peers to .preserve the rights of thif . Crown Whole and entire, de'serre the eietration of the CQUOttli s as having acted with a species ofbaienesiparalleled to thelligli;s`v est degree of human depravity. . Upon the Motion of Lord Livetteooe,..thc Report of the Committee was then read. . .: - . Lord- Gittr4vici, It • here observed, ,that.iss the, present ekes. was the firs in which the Innitigital,. in point of tintee occurred % 1 1 he should Move their Lordships ) , that 7 such limitation of.thsereerl strictions be dated at six months from the time of passing the - Bill before them. He moved that the word August be sub stituted for February. , e-. . • e .... Lord SIDMOu Tit observed ) that they .63 hea authority to 1 adopt this Amendment THE; NATIONAL REGISTER . Fe of the town. They It thority which ought not, ty down their arms; I son, to be ascribed to the . . ..di, I