The Sun. — London, England, 1812-05-12 00:00:00

JAI P.L1:1_11, P.,III!LIAIIIEN2, HOUSE OF PEERS. MONDAY, MAY I. ASSASSINATION OF THE'PREMIER. In consecietnce of an event or superlative and ital importance, involving- a circumstance of the most malign and demoniacal atrocity upon record, we decline stating some judicial and routine busi ness which was transacted in the early part of the evening. , About a quarter af'er four o'clock a sort of con fused alarm reached the Hollse generally, that some person bad just bf - en shot in the lobby of :be House of Commons ; and . in consequeace several Peers, and many of the strangers below the bar, repaired thiilae-r, when, alas! the circumstance Charaelerised in our present head was soon ascertained to-have taken place. Of course, as might naturally be ex peaed, the feel , ngs of grief, horror, and indigna tion, which pervaded every individual of this illus ttious assembly, precluded the immediate trans action of any of the business which stood for the evening. At length, as soon as these strong sensa tions would permit. The LORD 'CHANCELLOR, -quitted the Woolsack and; under strong impressions of grief and agitation, addressed the House neatly as follows I am conscious, my Lords, that in what I am about to propose, I am trespassing upon your Lord ships' orders; but there are occasions, my Lords, in whch I trust it may be deemed no offence to be d:sorderly. I have, ere many moments, received certain information of a most melancholy and atro cious circumstance which has taken place in the lobby of the other House of Parliament. I hope, under such circumstances, your Lordships will al low me to request that all the Officers belonging to this House shall take care that no person shall quit the inside of these walls, or that no one, under any pretence, be suffered to quit this House of Parlia ment until a thorough examination shall take place, with a,view, as far as possible, to the pre vention of the immediate commission, of further mischief." The proposal seeming to meet the entire sense of all the Peera present, the doors of the House, and of the avenues immediately leading to it, were accordingly closed, and secured by the prover officers. After a short interval, his Royal Highness' the Duke of CUMBERLAND rose and said—" My Lords, it is with the most heartfelt concern thatl regard the occasion which induces me thus to address you; but having seen my Right Hon. Friend, Mr. Pea- CEVAL, rwounded and dead! I feel it my duty to state the fact to the House, leaving it to the judg ment of your Lordships to decide what is most pro per to be done on such an occasion." Lord ELLENBOROUGH..--" Will his Royal High- Less have the goodness to inform the House where it was he saw that u hich he has stated The Duke of CUMBERLAND.—" I saw Mr. PER'. CEVAL in the Speaker's Chamber, and in the long gallery near it : he was sitting in a chair, attended by a Surgeon 'and other persons." Lord HOLLAND and Lord ELLENBOROUGH seem ed of opinion thlt some regular evidence should be adduced at the Bar, of the fad. The Earl of LIVERPOOL was rather of a contrary sentiment. He thought it would be 'more proper to let the fa&, as coming to their Lordships know ledge;stand upon the word of a Peer, titan to prove it by external evidence at the Bar. Lord Eut.ErrsoaouGH expressed his decided opi• nion that an examination at the Bar, as to the faa, wouli be the most proper and regular course. The faa would be thea before the House in evidence. A,cordingly, Mr. RictrAßD TAYLOR, Senior Door-kee i .er of the House of Commons, was shortly after introduced to the bar ; and to 4 the in terrogatories put by the LORD CHANCELLOR, stated as follows : I am an Officer attending the House of Com mons--I was at the door at the time—l saw the pistol---I saw it fired, and I saw Mr. PERCEVAL fall in the lobby—l heard the pistol go off, and saw Mr. PEIICEVAL fall immediately after." Their Lordships being of opinion this was a suf ficient verification of the faa, the witness was de , sired to retire from the bar. And The Earl of RADNOR, after a very few words, moved an Address to his Royal Highness the PRINCE REGENT, on the melancholy and affiiaing occasion, the purport of which, (as we could col lea) was to express the feeling of regret and ab horrence entertained by the House at the melan choly circumstance attending the death of the Right Honourable SPENCER PERCEVAL, one of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. Re questing that information might be laid before the House recpeaing the same ; and praying that mea sures may be taken by his Royal Highness for'bring- ing the otreuder or offenders to condign and ex emplary punishment. Eirl Gan: most heartily concurred in the motion. Tile Address being unanimously voted, it Was ordered to be presented forthwith, by a Committee of Lords specially appointed. The Earl of LiveaPoot, then proposed the names of several Peels, as constituting the Deputation, among whom were the Eirls of WINCHELSEA, BATHURST, FITZWILLLAM and GREY, Lords H 01... LAND and WALSI'NGHAM. The House then adjourned until five o'cock to morrow. HOUSE OF,COMMONS. MONDAY, MAY 11. ORDERS IN COUNCIL.. The : House proceeded to go jute, the examina tion,of Witnesses in the Committee on the Orders in Conned. The first."'witness called to the Bar,was Robert Hamilton, a potter of Staffordshire; but his exami nation had not proceeded for more than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, when it was suddenly inter rupted by one of the Messengers, who rushed into the-House, and announced a catastrophe which the public will bear with the utmost horror— THE ASSASSINATION OF MR. PERCEVAL. The Committee was of course thrown into the greatest confusion, but the question for the Chair man's leaving the chair being put arid carried, the House was instantly resumed. The assassin, George Bellingham, was immedi ately brought up to the table, in the custody of Mr. Wright and Mr. Skelton, two of the Messengers; he was, however, remanded to the bar. It was impossible for some minutes to obtain any thing like silence or calmness. Strangers, and per sons of all descriptions were mingled with Members at the bar, and even in the body of the House.— Comparative order was at length restored. The SPEAKER then direCied that the assassin should be conveyed to the prison-toom ; and, to prevent confusion,, that he should be taken thither, tot through the lobby, but by the private passages of the House. He ordered the various doors to be locked, and tiuggesktd, that some of the Members should precede and others follow the prisoner, in order to assist the Serjeant at Arms, and the Mes sengers, it preventing any interruption or attempt at rescue. Mr. WHITS It BAD, in a tone of extreme agitation, observed, that this was a duty which every man in the House'must be most anxious to execute. He recommended the Speaker, therefore, to name a few . individual Members for the purpose. The SPEAKER instantly named Mr. Whitbread, Mr. C. Long, and Mr. W. Bootle, to precede the prisoner ; and Lord Folkestone, Lord Ossnlstone, Mr., P. Moore, and several other Members to follow him. He then ordered that a Magistrate should be sent for to take the examination ; and having inti mated that those Honourable Members who were Magistrat6s ought to remain to assist in the exa minations, an adjournment of the House instantly took place. MAILS. ARR tvsn—l Cadiz, t Malta, i Guernsey, -4 ferscy, t fo rmica, r Dublin, z Waterford. Dug --t Cadiz, t Lisbon, I Malta. PRICE OF ST OCKS. THIS DAY Az' TWCI.Vio'CLOCK. Consols. . 606 Gt 6; I Red. Ann. - 591 601 a THE SUN. . SOLLM QUIS DICIRI ?ALSUM AUDLAT L 0 - N D .9 N, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 181-2. The fallowing Official Statement, having only appeared in a part of our impression yeiterday, we think it necessary to insert it again. BULLETIN. WAR DEPARTMENT. Downing-strect, May 11, 0112. A Dispatch has been receive() from ihe Eirl of WELLINGTON, dated Alfayaces,24lh April. His Lordship's army having continued its march in the direction of the above - place, the enemy ra tired before biin, and their rear-guard crossed tire Agueda on the 23d, retreating upon Tormes. A body of Portuguese Militia having- been c&- leraed at Guarda previously to Lord WELLINGTON'S movement to the Northward, MARMONT had marched against them on the 14th April with a considerable force, which obliged the Militia to ris`- treat ; and their rear-guard having fallen into con'. fusion, about 130 of them were made prisoners. Upon the isih, the enemy moved towards Bri.- gadier-General WiLsoN's corps at Lagrosa, and drove in his out-posts, but on that night began their retreat, and Gen. WiLsori, re-occupied Guarda upon the 17th April. While MARMONT collected his forces for this temporary incursion into Portugal, Gen. ABADIA had moved a Spanish corps into Leon, and had ob tained some partial successes. Don JULIAN SAN.- CHEZ, bad likewise been very successful in Castile against the enemy's convoys and communications. It appears that General BALLASTEROS did not en- - ter Seville during SOULT'S absence from that city. General DEOUET is at Puente Origuna in ;Cor dova, and Marshal SOULT at Seville. ASSASANALLON OF MR. 'cVe never felt a heavier weight of sorrow than are sualt at this moment, under the melancholy necessity of announcing to our readers the 'dreadful event •of the Murder of Mr. PERCEVAL, one of the most upright and able men that ever assi,ted in direeting 'the "Councils of this great trnp:re. The loss to the Nation 'would have been severe in jtself, if he bad 'fallen according 'to the Ordinary course of human life, but r:: it'be - rendered muci) more poig nant under the circumstances which deprived the country of a Characier so eminent in virtue and ability. We forbear at present 'to say all we think of the high merirssof Mr. PERtEVAL, because we are persuaded that all the wiser part of the Con - mu - - pity hold him in the highest estimation, and be cause we are persuaded, also, that the more his measures and principles are nnderstOod, the.more will his charaCter be admired and his memory re vered. Nut only Great Britain, but all Eu'rope., must suffer under This heavy and uneYpeaed cala mity, since the wisdom of his counsels, and the vi gour with which he supported them, promised, in due time, to rouse mankind from the yoke of op pressive usurpation, and to restore the blessiogs of commerce and the relations of social intercourse to the contending nations of the earth. We shall now proceed to the melancholy task of submitting to our Readers all the circumstances attending a transaaion which will be a stain upon our annals, though, we trust, from the general ohara6ter of our countrymen, that they will re volt with horror from a deed so atrocious and af, A few minutes after five o'clock yesterday after noon, Mr. PERCEVAL proceeded on foot and alone from his residence in Downing-street to the House of Commons. On entering the lobby, a man, who had been some time there, held a pistol over him on his left side," fired, and shot him through the left breast, near his heart. Mr. PERCEVAL walked for wards for three or four yards, as if nothing had hap pened, and had reached the midway between the door of the lobby and the immediate door of the House, when he staggered,• and sank on his.knees, exclaiming in a faint voice, " I am murdered, — murdered !" Lord FRANCIS OSBORNE, and Mr. RtDLEY COLBOUREE, who were passing front the House at the time, and Mr. PE . AN CIS PHILLIPS, a a Gentleman from, the neighbourhood of Man chester, who happened to be in the lobby, in stantly rushed forward, raised, and support ,ed him. - Mr. PERCEVAL groaned twice very deeply, and was carried into the Speaket's Se cretary roorn (the door heading to whiCh is be tween the fire place in the lobby, and the Vote Office), where he bled profusely, both from the wound and from his mouth, and in about five minutes, without uttering a single word, expired in the arms of Mr. PIIILLIES. The lobby was very thin, not above twenty person ' s being in it.— The assassin, as soon as he had perpetrated this dia bolical ael, made no attempt whatever to escape, but retreated to a bench near the fire-place in the lobby. A Gentleman, of the name of JERDAN, who had followed Mr. PERCEVAL into the lobby, immediate ly seized him, and never quitted his grasp until he was taken into the House of Commons. While held securely on the bench, Mr. BURGESS, the Soli citor, of Curion-street, Mayfair (who was also in the lobby), wrenched the pistol which he had just discharged, and which was yet warm, from the right hand of the assassin. Soon after this General Gas- COIGNE entered the lobby-trona above stairs, and on seeing the assassin, and hearing 'what a dreadful occurrence had taken place, was sit ith difficulty prevented from• shooting hires. The Ge neral, and ,a Mr. VINCENT DOWLING, who had entered the lobby with him, proceeded to search the villain. Mr. DOWLING took from his breeches pocket an opera glass; and a loaded pistol. Gene ral GASCOIGNE drew from another poAtt a bundle of papers which he . handed to Mr. HIJNIE, Mem ber for Wicklow. Mr. BURGESS (whom we before .!2 mentioned) also took from him a guinea in gold, a one pound note, a five and sixpenny token, two eighteen penny tokens, some keys, and a penknife. By this 'time the lobby had become a scene of the utmost confusion. The alarm had been circulated through every adjoining part. Members came rushing in from the House ; Peers from the House of Lords, strangers from the Gallery, and witnesses from the Committee Rooms; and loud expressions of horror, grief, and indignation resounded from every side.—Two of the mes sengers proceeded to drag the assassin into the House, the occurrences in which our readers will find in their properplace. In the mean while all those persons in the lobby, who knew any thing of the transaaion, were, requested not to withdraw. When the prisoner was condOled to the prison room (which is at the top of the House of Com mons), he was guarded by the Serjeant at Arms, end several of the Messengers, preceded and followed by Mr. A'derman COIII3B, Mr. M. A. TAYLOR, Mr. r WHITBREAD; Mr. TigllNgt, Mr. Rosa, Lord CASTLEREAGH, Gen. GASC OI G NE , M r . H UMS , gr . A. COLBOURNE, Lord F. °sacraria, Mr. C. Loco, Lord FOLKESTONE, Mr. P. MOORE, Lord Si' Mr. WILBERFORCE, Mr. \V.WYNNE, Mr. Moitat4, Sir J. C. HIPPISLEY, Mr. WHARTON, and a Ol t tinny other Members of the House of Commons On special application, Earl GREY was permitted to be present. The depositions were taken Alderman CC/tang and Mr. M. A. TAYLOR. EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES. The first wi , ness examined was Mr. BueGes s r : of Curzon-stect, May-fair, the tenor of whose de'. position was as follows :—He ivas, in the lobby 0 1 the House of Commons a few minutes after 6v 4 o'clock waiting to have an interview w itii one 4)t the Members. He heard the report of a pistol, W g ' Mr. PencrtvAL walk for Aard towards tie HO- 156 door, and, abOut the centre of the stagge r and fall. He observed the prisoner, at the moment, with a pistol in his hand, move to'A' 3l ' l3 the bench near the fire, whither he followed and took tire pistol from his hand, or from cinde r his hand, on - the bench. Ttre barrel was w arn) 06 if just discharged. He asked the Prisoner : wh at could have induced him to commit so vile an net; ai'd he said he was an u n f ortuna ; e man, and I)3j S 11,ht redress froM Goveinment of hi 3 grieva oes in. vain, or wyrds to that effect He confessed th_a t he was the man guilty of the deed. tVitress th e° put his hapd into the waistcoat pocket of t!o rfi' soner, from which he took a guinea in gold, a pout, i [tole; a Bank tok , .n of ss. C.I. two of i; 61. a slo' i pen-knife, and a bunch of keys. He 81.0 observ e another person take fr o m th e p erson o f t he pris"" er a pistol similar to th a t w hi c h h e h a d l i i rt i ie lt fah en t : . from his hand, together w ith so i n e . p apers; were taken from him by G enera l 'GAscorosE.; e The deposition hating bee n re ad t o t h e prif° l)" ,, he was cautioned by Mr. Taylo r no t t o say an}' tb o6 . to et - in - finite himself, and asked, if he Md any cl 6 tions to put to the witness ? He sa id, " er b "i Mr. Burgess was less agitated th an I w as, hu t think he took the pis!ol fwm my hand, sod /I('t from the bench und e r me." Air. ST-EFAEN here entered the room and file' tionecl to the Chairman a ci!cuinstance,wl'relt lie considered to be very important. He had been / t formed by Mr. Spottiswood, a gentleman B rea respedability, that he - (Mr. Spottiswood) saw' tw.d tall men running through Westminster-10 ' 4t 0 ,, time which must have been immediately COn tIJ 6 quest upon the shot-being fired, a n d w ho, 6'03 1 rapidity of their course, he conjectured et the Ott' • merit were escaping from bail, or from som e ' 14' on or other res!r4t. No proceeding took place this information. . General GASCOIGN"2 was the next with es' s-eo' ° mined. He deposed, that, shortly t itter five D%l a c bO r as he was writing in the smoking roo m, be . A a J tYI the report of firearms—he I , tatted up, an d t r • ( t i e " That is a pistol ; what can it mean ?", rushed down st.4lrs to the lobby, and was I° . e the way, that Mr. PERCEV A L was shot: -° terl"P el/ the lobby, he found the prisoner on the bye cured, as we have already d e s c ribed. g e assisted-in securing him, and searching his P`'''' ) ;l ll. from which he took a bundle of papers tie d to red tape, ,which the Prisoner seemed! tiowil iji part with, and which lie held ab A ve hi' : or e to prevent him from recove r i n g. The preys„ldt, was extreme . at this time ; a n d, apPr" - v o e , from an apparent s t rugg l e - w hi c h was r that a rescue was •atternpted,, or might te Ott; , tempted, he delivered up th e p a p ers to Mr. la g and held the prisoner wi t h addi t i on al farce, aodn' ter lost sight of I:im till that moment be w. 0 1,4) under examination. He thou g ht it neces sary' to observe, that he recognized the person oft lie soner time moment he sAw him, but did not recoiled his name, which he now knew to b e ingham; lie was also aware,,that he was fot" e merchant at Liverpool. , 'cl# Mr. Hume, Member for' the County of low, the Gentleman allndcil to by Geoe" f.l os= coigne, deposed, th a t h e rus hed from the s a '' e time lobby, on the alarm being , given , crowd -culletted about. the prisoner, and s aw v Ge itt tr ral GASCOIGNE take the papers, which he t 1,02 duced, from his person. I-le also saw another 1) br ,:„. 4 • son draw a pistol from the prisoner's :nar k• pocket. Th e s e pap e rs Mr. HUME then separately, with hi, initials, and having . them in a sheet of pap e r, which he sealed tr T ogo C O Lord CA $ own seal, and delivered it over REAGH. A Messenger was now dispatched to the loded pf the prison e r, No. g, New IVlillman-street, 13eld ford • row, to secure whatever papers o r P rat ' S e might there be found. A TVlessenger Was 1 ° 4°45 dispatched to pr o cure a pair of hand-cubs, acrd 11 ), attendance of the Police Officers. fo ci The prisoner, on being asked. whe ther he i any thing to say upon the last depositi ons, 't°teict' that when General GASCOIGNE seized him, be tje Wm with so much violence, that be was •apprel'ej