The Statesman. — London, England, 1812-04-16 00:00:00

O. 'Teri Akers commanding reglimint. The;s . would l,e iirouot 1 o the hat of this House and of the pub lic, and held up to the most invidious comparisons. The nutu'ier of corporal famishment* in each regi. mein would appear ; but the grounds and writ s o f tat► case would remain entirely out of OW. Be. sides, he did sonceive that the introduction of m ilitary questions of this still, without a crying ne resisity, was in itself a great public mischief. This was now the ttii,tl discussion which had taken place °obis very, subject iii the course of the present Ses. lie.: ; and was it for, the. benefit of the public serjice unit Lich iatters should he so freqeently agitated ? Sir SAMUEL . ROMILLY explained. Hepoint. outsevtral misrepresescations io the speech of the tig4t honourable the Chancellor of the Escheqtier, • Jell Misrepresentations he was astonished to find ...read h the lion. Gentleman opposite. Ur. MOUGiLka, in a most eloquent and im. Moira speech, which our limits will not allow us to give any Wag like an adequate.account of, sap. ported the motion.- He was astonished at the line, of argument adopted by the Chaucellor of the Ear chequer end the Hot,. Member fur Yorkshire. The House were told ) that if the motives of those who supported the present motion, were not such as to oscite a spirit of mutiny among the soldiery, 'the motion itself was nplete with every danger. It was impossible to allude to the punishments of the army; the bar! mention of flogging was the watch word to discontent; and those who were disposed to avert this . denger %%mild oppose every . motion , which is Irby s ay with the maimermetti of thilortn - y. - Where mita the consistency of the Hon. Member for Yorkshire.? In the samebreith he had de.:!ared himself unwilling to interfere at all with the army, and prououtsced an eulogium on the late : Mr. Windham, whose plans began and ended in ' the amelioration of the army. Ile had pointed out freely the abuses of all kinds which existed in his time I —the enlistment of individuals in drink Or under age into a state of service or slavery for life. But no such motives were ever imputed to Mr. Windham ; it was rescued to the present question to hear argu mepts of such a'nature brought forward. Why, there was not a single Session in which Parliament did not interfere with the army, and in which they did not discuss questions which had a tendency to agitate the passions of On •e of which it was com posed, even more nearly perhaps thati the present. To whom were the army to look up but to Parlia ment? Who paid them ? •Every thing, however, be. longing to the army a as not a proper subject for par- I liamentaty discussion. They could nor, with pro priety, venture to sit in judgment on the Ave of a butte'', or on the cut of a u hisker, or of a coat, because this being a more weilshty business, required :bier heads than could be supposed to - be found In parliament—P laugh), but the rewards which t h ey eight Jo receive, and the period at which they should be discharged, the Commissariat, that Most.delfeitie subject, were matter; that came with propriety before them. The retreat to Corunita, and the Espeation to Walcheren, whete thousands and tens of thousand* i t Our countrymen perished, were subjects upon which the House deliberated; • but never, till this day, did '. those who wisited tat sure them - from maip . , resoit to such a rgateßtS as those of that IVA. Nst even the Planner of the Waleheren Eziedilion, nor his Coadjutor, who caused the Question to be djs. 1, cussed with shut doors, ventured to hold such a lan 7 gunge to the House. If such a ground. for the re-1 fusing of Papers was listener' to, then'there would be' an end of nine subjects out of ten, which were dig. cussed in the House of Commons. In a time of scar city, no man would dare to speak of grain, for fear of a tumult. The Honourable Member for York shire would not have carried his Question of Aboli tioe of the Slave Trade. No man would have dared to describe freely and'eloquontly, as he described, the miseries of the West Indian slues, though the tortures which/hey suffered, he was sorry to say, wets not greater than those suffered by oor Soldiers. Then the dangers of enquiry might have been ntged with greater plausibility, -when a few scattered Whites.. were exposed to all the evils of a Negro insurrection. , The Question was, whether a document which would ; anew whether the powers entrusted to Courts-martial had iiceit temperately or immoderately used was to be produced. The Right Hon. Gentleman says, " Don't enquire; I tell you all is well." But were tity, he would ask, afraid to look into the facts of the ease? Were they to close their eyes to it ? And werethose out "f doors who ventured to enter upon it not to be met by argument but by persecution ? Would any one who witnessed the irritability which the mention of this subject always excited, not be almost led to the con clusion that aH • was net se well as it should be ?-- Now, what would be the consequences of the pro duction of this paper? It would either prove the sittement of tins -Right Bon. Gentleman opposite, which was so favourable to the Commander in Chief, or it would disprove it The Right Hon. Gentle. man's eulogy of the redaction of togging was quite unintelligible. Re first denies the abuse and then he trays—for God's sake do not ask for the paper, as it would be productive of the most dangerous conse quences. Was not this conduct much more danger. ous than openly and manfully at once to enter upon the discussion of the question ? So far it woeldsp. peat from severity of punishment being • dope away, there were Neiman of persons suffering four several limes before they could receive the whole of their Tunishieent, 'aqd that very lately. He had a lc:ter, dated the 16th of February, 1814, from one of our North American settlements, in which complaint was tnaer to a Major-General a Ger rsan OAcer there, who wry properly, as the law :trod, had caused seven hundred lashes to be in timed on a ,an. [Hear, hear!] This was not a solitary instance, it was stated to be tine usual com plement of gorrison punishment. How could this punishment be inflicted all at once ? O t h er comp l a i n t s were made of dividing 500 lashes in such a way as that 250 lashes should be given on the loier part of the back, and 250 on smother part of the body. No man could.doserve such a punishment. A trifling vi. olation of duty undoubtedly merited some punish. merit, but not flogging ' • and in cases of mutiny, or personal vielen c e offere d to an Officer—if the °Seer were knocked down and trodden open, which hall penei in the case alluded to by him, then a severer Panishaseet than 9gggiug ought, to be adopted. - But nothing !ma in. reality so severe a punishment as what degradedman to a brats ) afid what harr"Md LONDON: TUCRSDAY, APRIL - 10, 1812. RIOT AT SHEFFIELD. %. -.... IThe dreadful effects of the war, which have been long felt in these kingdoms, rim no longer be borne 1 with by the people. To the list of places suffering under these calamities, and where the voice of the amople has burst out against the authors of their ! , wrongs, we have now the melancholy task of adding the very populous town of Sheffield, where the riot ers have not confined themselves merely to . the out. rages practised in other towns, but have destroyed the arms belonging to the Militia. This shows at least that they are not disposed to proceed to extre ; .. settles, and that they are uninfluenced by political considerations ; because, if they bad in view to este -- a blish lawless authority, or to give support to a fac tion, they would not. have : destroyed the means by 1 which alone they could accomplish this. SHEFFIELD, April 14. We are this day all In a tumult and uproar. At i IS o'clock, about 40 or 50 poor men (who are em ployed in preparing a piece of land for a new bury ' ing ground) came marching through the corn-market lin wooden clogs, down the shambles, through the butter market, up the otherside the shambles, and 1 into the potatoe market, where, their numbers being_ much increased, they began to throw the potatoes is every direction, breaking the ,windows all round the Market-place, and driving the farmers and - from- the market. They then proceeded to break sysn'the potato. cellars, which/were soot: emptied of :thole contents ; one part or the asa Astetnaklog Digit-street to Mr. Woo:Aleatory weireho u s a , w i k e . g. 'they broke afew squares of 110111101404h1 damage. Tile greater part of thelmeple then . to the Local Militia store-rows. blot it epee, end. . up and cauterized the feelings of all who witnessed the-punishment. To some men flogging might seem marcy, hat he would not indulge them in their wish. Could any thing be more displaced, than t o set apart a class of our. fellow-citizens, and demand from them a callousuess and insensibility which we would not allow in any other class in the British dominions. %Vitae we cherished all the kindly affections in e ver y other branch of the comm u nity,and doomedthem tosttch a rigorous and unfeeling system, had we not reason to apprehend the effects either in after times, or in times nearer our own ? If the soldier ought to be set apart as Little as possible from the citizen, how could they justify a punishment which was confined exclusively to the soldiers, a punishment which de based those who suffered, those who inflicted it, and those by whom it was witnessed. It was hi s fi rm I conviction, that if our soldiery had not been trained and accustomed to the system of flogging, they never would have been seen to lend themselves as they ' did, in a certain reign of terror in a neighbouring Ikingdom, which he hoped yet to'see investigated. I [Hear, hear!] Ile had in his possession a book of punishments in one ship, in 1809, kept by the mas ter of arms ; and in six months there were upwards i of 14,000 lashes inflicted. This was enormous, when the proportion as to severity 'of flogging in the navy I was considered. In one part of the book a person I was entered as having leaped overboard and been r drowned, to avoid three or four dozen of lashes. IMr. WILBERFORCE explained. 'Mr. ROBINSON could conceive nothing a greatet -4:lnsultto the service, than such all usions to flogging , in the navy as had been made by the Hon. and Learned Gentleman (Mr. B.), without giving the , i .House the means of ascertaining their truth. They were little less_ than a flesh on the whole navy,- Pear, hear!]—lle could tell the Hon. and Learned Gentlera.an that there was nothing to . which the Ad-, miralty paid so Much attention, as corporal punish. meats ; that returns of all the punishments inflicted in each ship were sent to them ; and that had such a case occurred, it would have met with their repre , hension. Mr. BROUGHAM professed himself, willing to deliver up the book to the Admiralty. He believed it might he of service to them. Mr. LONG wished to correct an Hon. Baronet (Sir F. BurdetOin an assertion he had made respect ing an order of the Commander in Chief, refusing prosiints to persons labouring under blindness. • Sir F. BURIATT and Mr. LONG mutually ex plained. Mr. BROUGHAM wished to be informed by an Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Robinson) at whet time Re- Auras of Corporal. Punishments were ordered by the Admiralty ? • Mr. ROUIN'ON could not recollect when. _ _ _ Mr. LAMBE, though not prepared to concur with the lion. Baronet (Sir F. Burdett), or his Honoura ble Friend (Mr. Brougham), wished to rote for the motion, 'because the production of the paper was ne cessary to the case of Gentlemen on the other side bf the House. Mr. BENNETT shortly replied, when the Hodge The Noepbers were—Ares 17—!fees ' r•• The House then resolved itself into a Committee upon the Irish Tobacco Duties Bill, when Sir JOHN NEWPORT proposing to divide the House upon a clause, Mr. WELLESLEY POLE said he would [ report progress, and ask leave to sit again, which was aecordiutly done. The other Orders of the Pay were then disposed of, when the House adjured at Eleven o'clock. _.....~. litir-grirAiiimAN. • - 46 • toot from 6 to $OO stand of arms, which they broke in pieces. The military now arrived, and pieserred. the remainder. The • volunteer cavalry Mere called together, and the Local Militia drums beat to arms' under a very strong guard. Many thousands of people are collected, and we areal un der the greatest apprehension. The head-quarters are at the Tontine, with a nuriber of cannon planted before the house. Hitherto Oro lives have been lost, bet we look forward with terror to the consequences, as great numbers are out of employ. The cause is obvious: those ridiculous Orders in Council (as they are called), effecting for BONAPARTZ what he was not able to do himself ; and I have no doubt there is a spirit aroused in this country, that nothing will allay but Goternment acceding to the wishes of the people. ANOTHF.R LETTER. I have only just time to inform you, that a riot of a most alarming nature took place this morning.— Amongst other outrages, the rioters got into the ar mory, and have demolished all the stands of arms belonging to the Local Militia, amounting to more than six hundred. The soldiers are now scouring the streets, and have taken several of the ringleaders into cdstody. The shops are all shut in, and every one appears to view with agony the complicated_ mi. 4ones which surround ut: . / . b ' EXTRACT FROM ANOTHER LETTER. When the Magistrates and Constables got amongst the.mob, they were knocked down. The horse were brought from the barracks, and the cavalry called up. i An express is gone gone off' to fetch the Doncaster rind Rotherham militia and cavalry, and all is now 1 (eight o'clock) dreadful confusion. The mob are threatening to pull the Town.hall down, and the military have levelled the cannon, chargedwith grape I shot, against them, if they attempt to proceed. The Riot Act has been read three times, but all to no I parpose. }XTRACT FROM ANOTHER LETTP.R. The foot are presented acting; pa, the mob went to the military store-room, burst it open, and, after destroying about 700 stand of fire-arms, broke all the windows of the house. It is as dreadful a scene as I ever saw. Two post-chaises of rioters are gone for York Castle, guarded by cavalry and two field. pieces. Artinerymen hare just passed to guard the ammunition. This has an awful aspect. It is now eight o'clock and thousands of people are collected. Letters received in town this morning from Liver pool state, that great apprehensions are entertained there of a rising of the populous, and that the mill- tart' had been called in from a►l qtiarters. .04171.41.45,EA ERlGicrP.. 11FILLIMITTI4 Ann. 4.—=Attires the brig Florezi. from Jaseeice, is 55 days, and brings an account of the capture of a frigate, of 44 guns and 400 men, else SOO troops on board, belonging to CURISTOPRE. She was, when captured,, going against PETION. The following are the particulars :—Captain Sir J. L. Yr*, in his Majesty's frigate Southampton, of 3.2 guns, when on a cruise, fell in with a large frigate s which he hailed to know what nation she fr.:longed to, but getting no satisfactory answer, fired a, shot over her, which was immediately returned, and a sharp action instantly commenced, which lasted for two hours, when the enemy, not having a mast standing, struck her colours; she proved to be, as above stated, commanded by a Frenchman, who was killed in the action. Captain YE° had only twelve men killed and wounded; the Amethyst had 350 men killed and wounded, they were prin cipally blacks. Captain YEo, after landing those that survived the action at St. Domingo, proceeded with his prize, and has arrived safe at Mount Bay.: A corvette brig was in sight at the commencement of the action, but made off. • I Though nothing has transpired to enable us to form an accurate opinion respecting the views of BONA. PARTE ) the immense armies he is collecting together, and the hostile tone which the French Journals have of . late assumed, in reference both to the army and any of that Empire, sufficiently demonstrate that this extraordinary character is about to achieve some "mighty project of the mind" with which he has all along been occupied while confined to comparative retirement at Paris, in th4posom of his family. It was said of PoMrp', that le could raise legions by the stamp of his foot : the same observation applies with eqnal truth to NAPOLEON, who, before the ex piration of little mere than two monthi of the present year, completed the Conscription for 1812. Formerly the Emperor of the FRENCH, was in the practice of announcing to the world, in an official Declaration or Expose, the immediate object hr had in view when he collected his armies together. In the pre. .sent instance, however, be has merely confilted him! i ; off .to a desni-official statement of the amoent of Military and naval strength, and noticed the different stations which he hat allotted to each division, With. out affording us any clue by which we can develope hiaseal purpose. By this document, insetted in smother column of ourjournal, it will be seen that thesrmy des tined to take up a position on the Oder sad the Vis r tole, amounts to 500,000 men--a foreesufticiant of it self to secure to NAP° Leos, the empire of the Conti neat, even were he without troops in any other quarter. I But, beside* these numerous legions, " 50,000 men f or m pimps of reserve for die protection of the coasts of 'France, Italy, the kingdom of Naples, tad the Illyrian Provinces,' Mille " six armies, salonntiet to nearly 300,000 men, are in the Peek'. , Aoe - Arr. Alftik. Due. S • Dublin 4 1 iVateriord 1 S 0 0 - tkin/7erniey • .. . Y " • i Je . PRICE OF STOCKS TiltS DAY AT OM O'CLOCK ',auk 223 ktdia Bonds I 7 pr. - 9 per Cent. Conk 60i Exchequer Bills par 2 pr 9 per Cent. Red. S9f Ditto 4 per Cada. 7% 4 Ownium 41) d 1 per Cent. Navy 90j1 Consols for Acct. 611 Long. Ann. 151) Lottery Tickets .6`21111: THE STATESMAN. ~~. 1.,7/ Ma l " and 50 battalions of foot and 6000 Cavalry are in full march, to replace in Spain the, few rtgt• meets which lately returned from that country. This gives France an efficient force of upwards of nine hundred thousand fighting . men!!! of Whom the least that can be said is, that they hate already shown, by their devotion to the Boman, they are still willing to second him in all his projects. But the most important part of this new declaration is, that which discloses the rapid increase of the marl. , time power of France. " Considerable fleets," it states, " are equipped and armed; several vessels will, in the course of the summer, be completed in Toulon ; several are constructing at Venice ; one has been launched at Genoa ; many - others are upon . the st6cks at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Cher. burgh, Rochefort ; the basin of Flushing will be com pletely finished before the month of dune; thirty vessel:, completely armed, will be able to enter it— an advantage which the old basin dia not possess." A report has been received from the Continent, that a British frigate in the Adriatic, singly and , alone, has captured, after a most gallant action, the Rivoli, a new 80 gun-ship, in her way from Venice to Corfu, with a convoy, which was dispersed, and forced to fly for shelter into different ports. The same system Is adopted in the Prussian ports which was resorted to some time ago in Holland with respect to the sailing qf . fishing 'each. An officer and two men are put on board each, to take care that the vessel pursues no other object. It is reported that the Providence increase, Ban. wrstati, and Richard and Ann, WAan, with three or four other vessels of the fleet which sailed from Malta en the 30th of December, under convoy of i the Leyden man of war, were taken on the 17th of January, off Sardinia, by several privateers. The last letters from Lisbou mention the detection' of a man who was conveying intelligence to MIR. SIONt from the Governor of Badajos; from which place he pretended that he bad escaped. Some sus. pinions, however, arising, it was thought expedient to search him. A letter was found sewed under the cape of his coat; on opening this letter, It was .found to be written by Pnimerox, the -Governor of Badajoz, to MARMON; inform. ing the latter of the state of the forties ; and ladding,that there was not a sufficient quantity of RM.- munition left in it to return the fire of the besieging army for two days rooger. Whether it was the ob. l ject of the Governor to prepare Maawoxx for the intelligence of the speedy surrender of the place, or to urge him to make some effort to relive him, was, of course, relater of conjecture. FRENCH EXPOSE. --se— FROM THE JOURNAL DE ItARIS OF APRIL ICI. " If we take a view of the French Empire, we see that it to-day offers a development of forces, per haps, unexampled. • At the moment when user 500,000 men are marching from Hambergh, the 1 Wesel, Nlayence, Verona, Munich, Dresden; and Berlin, to take a position upon the Oder and the Vistula, 'Whilst fifty thousand men form camps of re serve for the protection of the coasts of France, Italy, the kingdom of Napless and the Illyrian provinces, and that six armies, amounting to nearly three hen. 'tired thousand men, are in the Peninsula, fifty bat. italions are in march from different points, to re. place, in Spain, seven or eight regiments, which ! have been recalled, and some detachments of-the I Imperial Guard, six thousand cavalry, have set out ! ftom the depots to reinforce that same army, and all this is done without effort, without extraordinary means, without bustle. At the same time consider. able fleets are equipped and armed; several vessels will, in the course of the summer, be completed in Toulon • several are constructing at Venice, one has b een launched at Genoa, many others ire upon the stocks at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Cherburgh, Rochefort. The funds to be appropriated to ships, roads, canals, bridges, new basins, and dock-yards, are, as we are as sured, more considerable than these of lasi year ; the construction of a new basin at the mouth of the Loire is talked of; the road from llamburgh to Wesel will, this year, be finished, thus a route of more •hat; 80 leagues, costing more than tea millions, will have been finished in less than two years. The toad from Amsterdam to Antwerp ocsespies three depies of workmen; six of the same are employed upon that which coasts the• Mediterranean, from Nice to Rome ; that from Parma to Spezzia. The ettuseway from Bourdeaux to Bayonne, across Les Lettdos, will be finished this season. Roads, - which wilt cross the Berre in different. directions, are, it is said, in con templation, and the establishing of a direct commi. , Ideation with_ Saragossa, by travelling the Pyrenees, 'at a great number of points. The basin of Flash. big will he completely .finished before the month of - .June ; thirty vessels, completely armed, will be able I to eater it, an advantage which the old basin did sot possess, in which ships could not enter without having their guns taken out. This year, the Elbe has -. been sounded, and understood; that river poliesses similar advantages to those possessed by the Scheidt ; it has fine harbour(, basins, and an arsentri foe building will be established there. The works of the strong fortresses'are pursued with equal actiVity, f T o h r r t e s e forts moris ' have e : po b;e em n mecoonsatnrductLecalscaitiel,liare tare entire. ... I . y completed, and covered by inundations. ,Battsfries defend thopiesage of the Helder, and protect the • squadron. A basin and a maritime establishment have been decreed, and will be commenced this year. Already would three months' open trenches be re. . quired to take the Helder, that key of the &Went* and Holland," • • r • - - 1 . N4V4L INTEL LIG&NCIL ......willww.-i. • . • . %Olt t , 4041 PLYMOUTH, Amt. 14; Caw In *seethe, (rem Rio Jeanine lain tb. i kit asitie Janeiro Ado. De Nem, le the Peadveyset,'lthe a Mal and the ft:4.oln otteelsatmest Row. Faith, sad ilietelli Leaden t and the flamed. of Edinburgh-they wer" 4l 9.oli :.- "wet. The Owen, etieuat, willeati in a day se two 00111W111. Meat %the )ieditenelebet. • . \ i 1 r .' .-- , , t (i.i , -7 , . 'i