The National Register. — London, England, 1813-11-14 00:00:00

wards, arid no complaint whatever was made to him by the Autho rities of St. Sebastian, or by the inhabitants, of any outrages having been committed, yet we were charged with having committed sacri lege in their cluarelies, and plundered them of the plate; but was it to be believed, that the French, who had uniformly, in every town, carried off the plate from the elmrebes, would have made St. Se bastian a solitary exception ; or that w hen they had converted the churches of that town (as was the fact) ieto barracks, stables, and hospitals, they word(' have suffered the ,plate to remain ma the com munion tanks? The charge was utterly false ; equally false was the allegation, that our troops were occupied in plundering the town, •at the moment they might, by following up the enemy, have captured the castle. The fact was, that nor troops did follow up the enemy, with the view of capturing the castle, and suffered mica in the 11141reessfid.attempt ; the 9th regiment, in partienlar, suf fered severely, nod it was actually found necessary to reprove some of Inc Officers for not checking the troops in attempting' that which' was impracticable. The last charge against us was, that of setting fire to the town. This also was utterly false : so far from it, that repeated repreventatice.s having been made to Sir T. Grahrei', ofl the expediency of bombarding the town, for the purpose of hasten ing its surrender, by the consternation twlaieh ‘vould he thus ()cc:a liened, he at length transmitted them to Lord Wedingtoo, and his Lordship sent sixteen mortars, but with expte(s directions, that they should nta he wed so as to set fire to the town, and only four of them were used in the direction of the attack Nina the works during the whole seige. It was not our interest to set tire to the town, but it was Ilia of the enemy ; and the fact was. that abu,st immediately after the entrance of our troops into it, the fivues burst - out in several places at the same time. The only pa; tof the charees to which he, on the part of the troops employed at St. riebnstian pleaded guilty was, that of saving the lives of COO of the enemy. When our soldiers entered the town, smarting under the effects of a most obstinate and protract( d resistance, surrounded by the fire which was consuming the tnwn, and scorched by the if lilletim 690 of the enemy's soldiers, unable to escape, flung down their arms, and threw themselves upon our mercy. Our troops certainly were merciful enoueb to grant them their lives, an act which was saletioned by their Officers, and which was not nor had been since objected to by Sir T. Graham. His Lordship then shortly adverted to the subsequent operations (highly praising the conduct of the Portrguese and Spanish troops), eliding in the establishment of our army in the French territory, which he stated to be necessary for the purpose of perfecting a lilac of defence, and of enabling Lord Wellington to watch the operations of the enemy, whilst he could conceal his own. If this country had iu ore respect contributed more than another to the glorious results* that had at length been achieved, it was in our perseverance in the contest in the Penin sula, under every eiremnstmee, however nufavourable, in the per. tinacity with which we per,isted in maintaining even a corner of it. until circumstances led to more auspicious events, and thereby holding out a clear and !night flame amid the darkness that over. spread the natives of Europe, that soon rose into a pillar of fire to light them on their way to security, independence, and peace. His Loroship concluded, by moving the Thanks of the House to Field- Al ursln.l the Marquess Wellington, for the eminent skill and ability dj-pas ed . in the operations succeeding the battle of Vittoria, ter slim:tang in ti e establishment cif the a llied army on the French ter ritory.—The motion was agreed to near. dis. Earl Rattle ST next moved the Thanks of the Honse to Sir T. Graham, tbr his skill and perseverance in conducting the siege of St. Seoastian. The Duke of NORFOLK observed upon the -novelty of a distinct Motion of Thank , to an Officer under the command of another. Earl RATAURST said, that Sir Thomas Graham had closed a alo riami militar!. career with the affectionate rc2'ard and esteem of the while army ; and he had thou .ht it tight to deviate from the usual cow e, for the p'irpose of distinctly marking the merits of this distiugpished Officer. - The Motion, as orijnally proposed, was azreed to nem. disi. ;ac were also Motions thatilOng the General Officers under the com mand of Lord Wellington ; the (Miens, British, Spanish, and Por tuguese ; and higlOy acknowledging and approving' the services of the noo-conimi,:. ; wed officers and soldiers, British, Spanish, and P 1 N...0010e till Wednesday. We 'iliNclay Thnrwiay, ;Ind Friday, their Larrbhip‘ met, bu of a public uature.—Mjourned till Monday. . - HOUSE OF COMMONS. MONDAY, NOV. 8. The SPEAKER read the Answer to the Address to the Prince Regent, which was nearly in the following term: :— " I thank you for this &Wit' and loyal Address The senti ments which it breathes, and the assnrances of support which it contains, are such as become the Commons of a great empire, ear rving to the Throne At such a moment the expression of their fvpi niowt. The means which you have determined to place at mv dis posal, shall be employed by me in the manner most conducive, un der Pi ovidecce, to the ssiecess of the treat cause in which we are enuarred ; and I tunst, that though the alliance which has been formed 1 , WI the Continental Powers, Europe may look forward to the attainment of a solid and luctourable Peace." On tin. Motion of Mr. BANJOES, leave was given to bring itra Bill to secure purity of Election in the Romig!' of He (stone. Ina Committee of Supply. the CHANCLI.J.OR of the ExcEig. Qllt.lt moved, and it . was resolved, " That a supply be granted to his Majesty." 'the House resolved itself into a Comm;ttee on the Local Tokens' Act, when, on the motion of Mr. VANSITTART, leave was given to bring in a Bill to continue the Aet. A^counts were ordered to la laid before the Hone, of the Net Receipts of the Pefinatient Taxes and of the War '[axes in Great taitain, fir the several quarters of the years ending aith of OctobeN 11112. and s:h of October, 1813. On the motion of Sir C. MONCK a variety of papers relative to the Leather Trade were ordered to be laid before the House. CONTINENTAL TREATIES. Lord CArrt.rnEscit, at the Bar of the House, presented, from his Royal Highness the Prince Regina, Copies of three Conven tions entered into on the part of His Britannic Majesty :—The first with his Prussian Majesty, dated 14th of June, 1813 ; the second, with his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, dated 15th of June. 1813 ; and the third also with his Majesty the Emperor of all the Rnssias, dated the 6th of July, 1813 The Papers were ordered to lie on the table. Lord CsmEnEAcil gave notic', that on Monday next, he woola move to refer them to the Committee of Supply. An humble Address was then ordered to be presented to the Prince Regent, praying that lie would be graciously pleased to order the three Conventions, supplementary to the above, to be laid before the Hone. SINECURE OFFICES' BILL. Mr. BANK Es observed, that the Act of last Session would expire some time in February. It being expedient, therefore, to adipt.a new measure before that period, he should move tit! lei:ye to bring iu a Bill to continue the said Act* for a time to be limited.—Leave granted. Iv e t Pn transacted nothing THE SPEAKERS SPEECH. Mr. H. SUMNER rose to make a motion, the adoption of which could not, in his opinion, be postponed consistently with the dignity of the House, and of t he Right Hon. Gentleman who sat in the Chair. Tae speech made by the Speaker at the Bar of the House of Lords, at the close of the last Session, contented matter liable to animadversion, and those who approved, and others who disap proved of it, 'nest equally feel the impo s sibility of discnssing the subject until an authentic copy of tie speech itself should be on the table. If the Noble Lord bad no other object in the motion of whiel) he had given notice after the reel- se than to make it a ve hicle for remark on the motives which hai induced the House to eject the Catholic Bill, thereby directly involving a re-considera tion of the Catholic Question, it was a matter of indifference, whe ther the subject should 1w discussed at pres► nt. or at the period fixed on by the Noble Lord, who had indeed as'igned as the cause of delay of his motion the absence of the Members of the sister country. For his part, he conceived it was the ditty of the Irish I%lember to be present at the commencement of the Session. Trust ing that the House would grant him the indulgence of making any remarks which the reply of the Noble Lord might render n. cessary, he would now content himself with moving—" That the Speaker be desired to print the Speech made by him to the Prince Regent at the Bar of the House of Lords, on Thursday, the 'ad of July, 1813, on presenting several Money Bills, which then received the Royal Asseet." • As the SPEAKER was reading the Motion, Mr. TIERNEY wished to know whether the Hon. Mover meant that the speech should be printed with the votes, or merely for the informatiou of the House? W