The National Register. — London, England, 1809-05-14 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. MATIt. of Spain, this, be would contend, was the very part fixed upon by all military men, both in and out of Spain. The Noble Lord thin entered into a view of the circumstances which called upon thlteenntry to afford its utmost aid to the cause of Spain. These were. not only the support of the independence of that country, but to afford an opportunity to other Powers to shake off if pos sible, the domination of France, for it was obvious to Ministers that Austria, at the very period when the spirit of patriotism broke forth in Spain, wa3 determined to avail herself of that opportunity to recruit her force. In the prosecution of these great objects, he would contend that out army could not have arrived sooner in Spain than tt did, ander the Whole combina tion of circumstances which took place. in fact, it began its march from Portugal only three days after the arrangements were mad pith the Central .luuta of Spain, for which it was abso lutAy necessary to ‘s ait before our army could proceed. On the I•ith of October his Limb - hip sent orders to a number of other regiments to follow sir John Moore, and it was not unnatural tiksuppose that thr., had joined him in December, although 1111• foreseen circumstances had prevented their joining his army after they had turtle some irogress. Those who knew Sir John Moore,. when he was alive, will not very readily believe, that on military matters, he, as Commander in Chief, would he intheneed or directed by any diplomatic character. We even h:of the gallant General's own authority, that he undertook the movement entirely upon his •wn authority. lle had deter iniaed to advance, he says, in his letter of the 9th, from a coin bine,' view of the advantages and disadvantages which would result from it to this country and to Spain. Sir John Moore had also of his own accord determined to retreat upon Valladolid; and the measure appeared, under all circumstances, a wise one. With respect to the numbers of men which we were stated to have lost, they did not exceed 1000 in all, out of which only between 'land 5000 were lost in Spain. It ought to be also re nollected, that from so large an army at least 5000 men would have died hy the ordinary casualties incident to an army. The real loss of men sustained by the country was not so great there fore as had been stated, and if it wereeompared with the mili tary glory derived from it by the country, it most appear very small iudeed. Ile was confident such would have even been the *pinion o f that gallant .officer, whose loss we all deplored. We preserved our national character inviolate, whatever our former views were towards Spain, we abandoned them, and we not on ly endeavoured to preserve Spain from beingsubjected tea France, 'but we endeavoured to preserve the independence and ii.tegrity 0:" all her dominions.. He concluded with giving his negative to :the Resolutions. The question heinz loudly c•:lled for. the House divided—For the ♦notion 1111 Againit it !MO I Majority 119,—Adjourued. • Wednesday, May 10. Mr. Wardle, pursuant to notice, moved for certain Papers .from the War-Office. relative to Army Accounts. His motive, he said, for the production of these papers, was to shew the very faulty system on which business was conducted at the War - Office, .and the necessity of a reform in that department. In . the sear 1797 the number of clerks in the War-Office was in• creased; but since that period, public business, instead of being expedited, had fallen into further arrears. The salaries of the cler:.s of Eh?. War-Office amounted to 52,0001. a-year hot he ould engage to find a person who would undertake the whole management of that &lire, and conduct all its concern* much more to the advantage of the public than they were at present ( onilticterl, for a slim not exceeding 30,0001. a-year. 'I 'notion was ag:eed co.—Adjourned. Thursday, May 11. MR. PERCEVAL AND LORD CASTLEREAGH* 74,1 atldoe Ls desired t hat the Resolution of the House, made in tae :;e•,,ion of 1 i ;9, should be then read. The substance of st w::s, " Tiro it is highly criminal in any Minister of the Crown to i,:il.tence, or attempt to influence, the return of any Member to Vie !louse of Commons ; and that when anv proof of such im proper interference having taken place shall appear, it shall he punished by the ilottw, as an attempt to destroy the indepen dence Parliament, and to subvert our free and happy Consti tution." The late re,olittion of the house respecting the conduct of C:.tleccaol in his offers to place a writership to India, at tit'. di2poial of Lord Clancartv, for a seat ia Parliament, was ai 4 11 read._ Air. Ma:locki then said, that before he should state the par ticillars of the charge which he meant to make against two ol his Majesty's Ministers, he felt it a duty which he owed to the House, distinctly to state, that he had no personal animosity or dislike to either of them. He did not even wish to use any stronger language against the Right lion. Gentleman, or the Noble Lord, on the present occasion, than they had then used. He was no party man himself, hut he attached himself to any party as long as their acts were directed for the good of the country. The influence possessed by the Trea‘ory spread itself into so many ramifications, that he should not then enter into them at length. lie should confine himself entirely to that part of it, whereby the money taken from the pockets of the people was employed to influeure a certain portion of them in returning their Members, and after wards receiving a sum of money from the Members returned, to replace that which was so improperly given away. The lien. Gentleman then stated, that, in the Borough of Hastings, the father and son were alternately appointed Mayor, and they , held situations under Government which brought them in the sum of 9,9751. every Parliament, and their influence wa' aloays suffi cient to determine the election. 'flee freemen of RN*, had places in the Customs or Excise, which brought theta in collecti ve ly the sum of 2,3681. a year, which, when multiplied by bevel', the %umber of years a Member can sit, would amount to no tess sum than 16,576/. By similar means the Treasary possessed absolute controul over the Electors of Queentairongh. He said that he mentioned these places merely to excite the attention of the House, and to evince the necessity of instituting an e.ateiry into the subject, but he did not tre.an to oiler them as the solijeet of his charge. The transaction which implicated the Noble laird and the Right Hon. Gentleman was, that Mr. Quint in Dick paid a sum of money to Mr. H. Wellesley, Secretary to the Treasury, for a seat in that House, as the Representative of the Borough of Cashel, which he was to procure through the interest of the Noble Lord, and that the Right Hon. Gentleman was privy to that fact. That after Mr. Dick had been some ti ow in Parlia ment, he took an opportunity of waiting upon the Noble Lord, and told hint how he meant to vote upon the proceedings against the Duke of York. That Lord Castlereagh then consulted with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, ami afterwards suggested to Mr. Dick the propriety of vocatit!g his seat, rather than give the vote which he proposed. After he had stated these circum stances, he did not wish to make any comment upon them at nresent ; he thought it sufficient to recal the recollection of the lloese to the language of the Hampshire Petition, m hich had been so consonrott to the feelings and sentiments of the Right lion. 'Aletnbers lk hen they were in opposition. "If such uncon stitutional interference is permitted to exist, our liberties are lost; and 'having stated the case, and pointed out its dangerous tendency, we throw ourselves upon the justice of the House." The Ci)ancellor of the Exchequer stated, that lie should al ways be willing to comply with the de-ire of the House. and that he had made every endeavour to ascertain the line of con- duct which he ought - to pursue when the subject should he brought before the House; but with the utmost submission and deference to the Chair, tie thought the ordinary practice of the House was to call for a defence after a charge had been made, and after that defence should have been made, that the party making it should withdraw. He could not consider the pre sent charge as particularly directed against himself and his No ble Friend for any supposed offence by them committed; but to chew the necessity of a Parliamentary Reform. The Hon. Geo tietuan had hiveu notice, early in the Sessions, of an intention to bring that question before the House ofComtnons, but be had since abandoned it, and had singled them out as objects of crimination, in order to effectuate the accomplishment of hie purposes—( Hear ! Hear !) He therefore felt it a daty which he owed to himself and to the House, to state, that as the charge was of a different nature from any which had before oc cupied the attention of Parliament, they ought to establish a i:recedent to go upon at present, and to guide them Inn similar proceedings in future. He knew that there at present existed a spirit in the country which tended to reform ail pub lic melt, and that evidence was collected against them, from any quarter, and by any means, and which was afterward, converted into accusation. He trusted neither that one side of the House nor another would countenance the charge-is ite present shape, hut if they should desire it, he was perfectly ready and willing to give them every information; at present he should therefore make his bow and retire. Lord Castlereagh said, it was impossible for him to express any other sentiments than those uttered by his Right Hon. Friend, who had fully anticipated any observations he might wish to have made. He entertained a conscious feeling of his own innocence; but those feelings in t:e present state of the 51T I