The Sun. — London, England, 1812-02-11 00:00:00

motion, of which he had given notice for the ,pur poscobf inJocing the House to take into its conside ation the eminent services of Lord Wellington, and . t,he bra,e army under his command, it ould be unnecessary for tom to offer many observations. The House must be aware of the imp° , tatice of the oh jea attatne of the merits of Lord Welk:Igloo .--u9th were well deserving the.matked approba tion of Parliament —With respect to the pinion ~if'`iny 'did prevail), of the propriety of conferring the thanks of Part arnent upon so many occasions, ...he thou g ht he House, whatever they might think in a doubtful ca:e, 'would in the present instance conceive that the achievement in the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo, was of ,snch a nature, both in its operation and' ultimate success, as not only to re flect the Areatest honour on the skill,"the adroitness, the abilic,, and the. gallantry of the Commander in Chief, but also o;. the bravery, the zeal, and the proiiip , itude displayed by those under his"ponainand. The gallintry 'which had so often been disclosed in the-Pei,insula, had received additional luStre by, slits brilliant and distinguished exploit ; it had raised the character of the British arms to a height which' C owned them with the most transcendant glory. Tt was a servii.e which deserv.cd the particular no tice of . the House, so far as it i'espe6ted the/opera lions And the . irCurnstances resulting therefrom. The HOLlit , were intormed of the nature of the transac.tiot wh; , •h led to the tall of the place. On the ath Janu.,f,y, Lord .Wellington having broken ground b,:t - nre the c;ty, was enabled thereby coin pletely to invest the place, and on the saute days baying au:red considerably to his strength by re doubts, and by a chain of batteries, fortified by palisadoes, which rendered the approaches more difficult, seized the Convent of Sr. Francisco.' The • attack, which was made in the most gallant and de termined manner, was successful. He was second ed by Lieut. Cuiorrel Colborne, who, on that oc ca-ion, most ably assisted in the seige. In this manner the operations were carried on, till the' nighia of the 13th and 14th,-when the Convent of Santa Cluz was taken by Lient.'General Graham. The seizure of these, which communicate d with the body o! the place, was of the greatest important e.. On the night of the 14th, the Covent of St. Fran cisco was taken by Major General Colville. Flom the 15th to the igth the -works carry 'lig (in w re considerably' advanced, two. breaches were made which had been thought iniplaeticable. As the army had not made such advances as were then thought neL essary to j ustify the assault, it was not commenced. On the evening of the 18th, it was however determined to attempt to take the place by a-saurt. Acordingly the attack was madd in five separa•e colum. s. The two light" columns weir condoctee by Lieut. Cot. O'Toole, of the 21 Put titgue-e e, , cadores,.and by M.ijur Ridge, of the sth British regiment, to protect the brigade under Major General MaAinnon, which formed the third - column, the Whole being ynder the command of Lieu. Genet,' Mon and Brigadier gerieral•Pack. Theattacks thus commenc-d, they followed the at tack of Brigadier G rieral Pack, with the filth co luMn, which sv is intended merely as a false one, tomeletely succe ded, for Brigadier Pack had convert ed fits false attack into a red one, and shortly after the sterna had cummenctd, are 'enemy surrendered. The service had to lament the loss of Major-Gene ral 5-1,10 it) nun, who, unfortunately for the coun try, perished sty the explosion of a magazine. The House would ba%e no hesitation in conceiving that the loss of 'so valuable" an Officer would be severely felt, and after the Vote of Thanks :..ad passed, it was his intention to move an'Address to his Majesty, praying that ,he would be graciously pleased to di 'reel that a Monument be ereated to the memory of that gallant Officer. He w . as an Officer of the most esti.eable qualeies, both in public and prisate, whose virtues and abilities were th'e themes of admiration and applause. In effecting this important service, Major-General Craufurd was severely wounded, and it would be long before the counity would derive the benefit of his assistance. Major-General Van deleur was also wounded. Indeed, to persons of common observation, the traesattions which led to this brilliant result would appear very singular,when the opportunity was of of comparing them with others of a similar nature, even to military persons they would be exhibited in the same light. It did happen that the history of the war furnished an instance of a siege concluded against the same place by the enemy to Great Britain ; the House therefore would be enabled to enter into . that com parison, and when he had noiiced the proceedings of the enemy on that occasion, be in a situation more fully to appreciate the value of the services of Lord Wellington and his brave army. Lord Wel iingtorr invested Ciudad Rodrigo, the place having received very considerable accessions of strength, both in point of force and of works. He set himsdt About the and in iwel‘e days had completed the works necessary to carry it on—ma le the at tack, and look it by storm. Now mark the contrast. Ito the preceding year, the French army appeared before the place, more numerous in point'ol force than my Lord Wellington's army. Their army consisted of tried soldiers, and of the most skilful engineers. General Massena set about taking it on the 15th June, on which day be broke ground, and continued his approaches and batteries until the 14th July, on which day he took it, making a period of thirty days consutned in the attack, whereas, in the Ifhort space of 1 1 days, the British Com tnander com pelled a more numerous • garrison to surrender.— These fads simply-detailed would speak more for cibly to the merits of the service than any panegy rics which he could utter. The House would there fore duly estimate the merits of the whole army. The bare narration of -the transaction would convince them that this was one of those cases which it was proper to distinguish by the Thanks of Parliament, and therefore lie should move, That the Thanks of the House be given to General Lord Viscount Wellington, K.B. for the akin, decision, indefati gable exertions, and consummate judgment, manifested by, him in the siege and capture of CnnLd Rodrigo, by which that iii.port.tht fortress was %%rested /loin the enemy in the short space of eleven days." On the question being put, General TARLETON rose to express the satisfac tion which he telt upon the occasion. He had ne ver given d vote more cheerfully ; 'it-came from the bottom of his heart. The hrilliancy of the affair, which the House was called upon to recognize and ri own .4 it& its thanks, had never been exceeded.— the oldest General Officer in the House, he be allowed to oder his tribue of applause to exploits such as thoce which peculiarly marked the character of the country. He scarcely knew which to admire most, the skill and intrepidity of - the Ge neral i aThd •Otticers, or rlipbrwiery'and discipline 'of the troops; all were alike entitled to the gratitude of the House. He would defy any nation to pro dike troops so steady in point Of discipline ; so prompt in obedience cf order, and so distinguished in the Lard Weliington had truly stated the, distinguished manner in which •the troops were led on. In all operations of •t he kind, which were for lorn hopes, volunteers were demanded. On this . occasion, 350 was the nUmber.wanted. 'ln lesS than a quarter of an hour, st:lenterprizing Weie‘the men, that out of 'two regimenb, simile were not less than 700 volunteered. It would need not his' panegyric, for the exploit would stand in the pages of history as one of the most which the world ever saw recorded. The combined eh,quence of the House could not point ont an exploit more gallant J. it was one which had b , iund round the brows of our brave countrymen a chaplet which would be immorta lized by farce, wh en hi s t or y told to posterity the operations bet•ore Ciudad Rodrigo. ,Mr. C. ADAMS 'cordially agreed with the mo tion. He'hoped some additional honour would be conferred on L ,rd Wellington. He trusted the Right Honourable Mover would give the House sonic hint that such honour was intended to beton ferred. Sir H. MONTGOMERY wished to take the op portunity to co: red some misrepresentation which had been made of him, when thanks were voted to Lord Minto, but was called to order.; his observa tions being irrelevant to the present subjeCi. Mr. BUTLER also cordially concurred in the Vote of Thanks. He regretted, however, that the Thanks of the House had not been voted to Lieutenant-. General Hill, 'and the Officers serving under his coimmind. " Mr. AaßuTtitior observed, Kat the name of one Office' engaged in this biilliant affair had nut been mentioned, on account of his tank being inferior to that rank which came under the particular notice of Parliament. He meant Major . Napier, who had not only been wounded on this, but formerucca sions, when distinguishing himself in theservice of his country. It was his pride to have served under - Sir 'J. Moore. That gallant Officer (Major Napier) had three brothers equally meritorious in the service of their country. -General LoFTUS would not detain the [louse from coming to what he was sure must be an unanimous vote ; - tor the House must see the great advantages which would result to the nation, in its military ca pacity, by the expluits'as-sct lorth in Lord Welling ton's detail of the . siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. Whe ther in the open field, or in a regular siege, , the British arms were now brow fit tai that perfection, -that system of discipline tha would eaable them to • cope with, if not to.preceed, every. other military nation on earth. To Lord WeJlington much of this was due. All his arrangements were so admiratle, every departMent of his arm, so judiciously, so well filled—there was so much confidence reposed in hint b} that army; that whether he acted upon the de fensive, or whether he led his troops to the attack, the same security, the same confidence in the re sults, rested in the soldier's mind. He considered the event of the siege as a national honour, by the Vote of this House, conveying the general voice of the nation to my Lord Wellington's army, and that it must make a lasting impression upon mankind, and would be an incitement, an inducement to young Officers to imitate so bright an example. The motion was then agreed to neat. con. The Right Hon. Gentleman then moved—• " Thanks to Lieutenant. General Thomas Graham, Se. cond in Command ; Lieutenant-General homas Pition ; Major.General,the ,lonotirable C. Colville ; IVlajor-Gene. rat Vandeleur; Major-General -Cranfurd ; Brigadier-Ge neral ; for the gallantry displayed by them, which led to the ori-pis termination on the evening unite 19th Janu. ary last: &c A tie to Ine Offices of the British Allied Forces, who so nobly .ei on the siege, &c. •• At w, to the Officers of the Royal Corps of Engineers, and of the Artillery, for their activity and indefatigable zeal" &c. These motions were agreed to. The Right Hon. Gentleman then moved a Reso lution acknowledging the services et the Non-coin missioned Officers and Soldiers.—Agreed to. He then moved another- Resolution approving of the good condu6t of the other General Officers of the British and Allied Forces, &c.—Agreed to. He then moved, '• That an humble Address be presented to the Prince Regent, praying, that lie would outer a monument to be erected to the memory of Major. General Henry Mackinnon, in the Cathedral of St. Paul's, who fell gloriously in the siege.of Ciudad' Rodrigo, assuring his Royal klig`liness this /louse would make good the same." The . Address .was agreed to. LORD RODNEY. An Hon. Member wished to know why the mo nument voted 18 years since to . Admiral Lord Rod ney hid not been erected, and whether it was in contemplation to do so ? Mr. LONG, in reply to the question, observed, that another Hon. Member bad last year put a similar question. lie had' to state in answer,' that d►ree ti:-ns had been given to carry the orders of the [louse into effect. The monument was in gristat forwardne,s, and, he believed, would be ,hortly executed. With respect to the blame, he_ did . not know where it rested ; certainlrnot with the pre sent Government. ' The Hoff. Member did not mean to impute blame any whrre. THE CIVIL LISI% Mr. .EDEN rose to move for the appointment of a Seletil Committee to inquire into the expenses of the Civil List Revenue, and to report their opinions as to the future regulations. of the expenses. The . Hon. Gentleman adverted to the increase of the expenses of that List, from the vstimated expenses of 1804, contending that it was the duty of Parlia ment to,see that no improvident use was made of a fund so liberally provided for the support of the Royal Household. He admitted. that there:might cases occur in which augmentation must naturally -- arise in the expenses. He had no - % ish to abridge the splendour of the Thron e , but he could not a vo id observing, that in 1803, when Mr. Addington was in power, in consequence of three successive re ports of. Committees then appointed, the revenue was augmented 60,0001. and a number of charges, to the amount' of about 138,0001. usually paid from the Civil List, were taken away, so that in lad the whole augmentation was about 200,0001. In the 1311 of this year, 134,0001. was granted in addition, without any previous inquiry. It therefore belrOV . - ed. the House, in his opinion, to institute an en quiry, so' as to satisfy the public- that at least their money was properlyapplied, anciln order to do this, some documents were necessary to, furnish a clue to that excess of which he complained. ToUome at the items in the Papers otrthe subje& already before the Horse, he would divide the List in nine classes. The first class would contain the salaries of the Royal Household, which salaries were not subject to it crease or diminution. The second class com posed the salaries of the Chancellor, the Judges, and the Speaker. The third related to the Foreign Ministers resident abroad ; the estimate of this part of the expences was 112,0001. in former years e , He was aware that this branch of the expellees must necessarily vary as it regarded our foreign relations either in time of war or of peace. In the fourth class, which was applicable to the Lord Chamberlain's and Lord Steward's departments, there was a greater.ex cess. The expellee of this department was stated by the Committee of 1804, about 172,0001.; in the last year. it had risen to 296,0601. consisting prin cipally of tradesmen's and artificers Bills.— Among some of - the items would be found charges for the repairs of 'Windsor Palace, in the four years, a snm Of 55,0001. for furniture for the same place, 78,0001. making a total sum for repairing and fur nishing Windsor Castle of about 133,0001. Ii might be said that this - was the Royal' residence, and consequently some additional splendour was ne cessary ; he did not mean to deny it, but what Would be said to another item respecting the Palace at Kensington ? there was a charge of 25,0001. • fur repairing and altering the Duke of Kent's apartments, aid 16,0001. for the sank purpose in the Princess of Wales's, making a total of 44,0001. There-was also a charge on the seven years of 51,0001. for furniture, which, added to the former sum, would make a total of 95,0001. for repairing, altering, and adorning two sets of 'apartments. He thought, therefore, some coneroul ought to be exercised by Parliament in the application .of the money. The estimate for the Lord Steward's department was 75,0001. The next year the actual expenditure was 125,0001. being seventy per cent. beyond the original estimate. The Hon. Gentleman noticed some other items of excess, such as a charge 10,0001. for candles, and proceeded to the ninth class, which claims particular at t tention, as being more open to abuse. In this class there is a sum for secret ser vice, of tO,OOOl. and it is extraordinary that every year the sum was the same, never varying, so that it appeared like an annuity. This required investi gation,' As to the special sets/ice money,_ the sum set apart in 1805, amounted' 12,5071. in 1808, it had amounted to 3 1 ,0001 ; in I 8 10, it was 32,0001.; but last year it was reduced-to 19,0001. He certain ly was unwilling to examine too minutely into these charges, mixecras they seemed to be; but there were certain charges for equipage money for fe.: reign missions, which it wouldsbe necessary for the Committee to inquire into, and why such charges should exist. Among the charges to which he ob jeacd, was one of 26,0001. for building a palace at Constantinople. Why the necessity arose for build ing a palace there, ought to be explained. The Hon, Gentleman, after noticing some other minor charges, concluded with moving for the appointment of a Se led Committee, to inquire into the expences of the Civil List Revenue, &c. Mr. ARBUTHNOT said the Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down had so particularly called up on him, that lie hoped the Honse would excuse him if he rose thus early in the debate. He should not follova'sah e e Honourable Gentlernart through the whole of his statement, but he begged to mention one obviotisr reason why it appeared to him impossible that the House should grant the Committee moved for by the Hon. Gerelenian, at least as far as it re lated to Foreign Ministers. He was sure the House Was tiqt aware of the detriment which ,freqUently ensued from" The publicity given to the dispatches of Ministers sent by this counkry to Foreign Courts.— in order to shew the injurious consequences which soieetimes follow from the publication in this coun try of the dispatches of Fereign Ministers, he begged leave to state a circumstance that occurred to him in one of the missions in which he had had the honour of being employed. It would be obvious to the House that he could not with propriety men ti on t h e place, or the nam es of the persons to whom he was alluding ; but the fad he meant to state was, that it happened to him, on the occasion to which he was tetetring„to be dieterms of intimacy with the Mi nister of an allied power,who had received an import ant communicat ion which it was of great consequence to him (Mr. Arbuthnot) to knowe because it often happens that Ministers of Foreign Courts receive more regular correspondence than the British Ministers do. It was only through his means th.tt he (Mr. Arbuth not) could obtain intelligence of the . relations sub ing between the Court of that Minister and his The Minister to whom he had alluded did communicate to him the dispatches which he receiv ed, and from the perusal of those dispatches he so , that it was necessary for him to support . the repre sentations of that . Minister, and lie had no other grounds to guide his conduct, not having received any dispatches from his own country. It happened that at that time English papers were received at the place to which lie was alludii g, which contained some public diTatches Writsich had been printed by order of that Hoiase, and u hid), if lie might be permitted to say so, had better have I:een kept secret. The moment these papers were received, the Minister With whom he was in confidence refused any longer to make those communications to him, for his own safety. If that Minister had acted upon that reso lutiien, it would have been impossible forhiM (Mr. Arbuthnot) to know how to guide himself in the: absence of dispatches from his awn Court. It ap-. peared from circumstances, that the Court to which that Minister belonged was not so intimate with the British Court as he had supposed, but they were only appearances: When the Foreign Minister told him that he could no longer coffin - lonic:ate his dispatches,- he (Mr. ArbuthniA) implored him not to disconti nue his communicationa.,..otherwise he could not support his representations. With this request that Minister at length complied, but it was upon conch • tion that he would promise, upon his honour, than those communications should not be transmitted to England in his public dispatches. He gave the pro mise required, out at the same time he asked that Mt/niter's permissien to_ communicate them in pri va:e letters, to which, after much entreaty, he cdo sewed. This circumstance reminded bim of an ob• servation wade once by a Noble Lord in that House, OW 1. that he could ant tinderstana what vas meant by private letters from Foreign Ministets. - He begged to assure the House, that if it were not for private communication, no Foreign Minister would -be able to discharge duties of his mission. An Honourable Friend of his opposite to him had, upon his menti: oiling this eircuthstanee; related• to him one of a much more curious and Important nature. He need not state the pat Oculars it was suffic.ent to say; that the-salvation of-Europe at - that time -depended upcm his Honourable Friend having a free 'commu=. nicat ion with those to whom he Was - direEted to un fold h imselfcontiden ; but Stet' was the jealousy enter tallied by Foreign-Ministersin consequence of the publicity given. to dispatches in this country, that it was considered dangerous tO communicate wads the Ministers of this Court. With regard to .his own pecuniary accounts, he was so circumstanced that he had no excuse to make for not giving a full • detail of them.; there was no explanation which .he was not ready and Willin& to give. [Here there w A ''general cry of Hear, hear l] But he wished to stand al it were in the gap between- the House-and other Mi , nisters who had been employed in 'oreign missions, and who were differently circumstanced from hint self. He bad, however, se, n in private par ers names of persons mentioned, which, if they w rre made public, would bring dtstivaioo upcin individuals. It had been urged -in that House, that it it was necessary - that these secret expences • were . incurred, they ought to be defrayed out of the Se!. cret Service Money, riot out of the C:vil List, but • that could not always be the case, for reasons - -which it was not necessary to detail.- He brAggeil• also' to state, that it was merely the publicity given to diplo matic papers that did the w hole of the itijory. It was not to ,be expetied that persons on the Conti nent unacquainted with our usages could be aware of the - extent to which we made our dispatches public, but when they knew that they were soure-, times pnblished, how co u ld they know that th,--if na:nes and their communication vvould be' tuad public. He trusted that, before he sat down, he should be able to satisfy the House that• there were such checks upon the expenditure of Foreign Mi nisters, as would render the appointment of !ha proposed Committee unnecessary, as far at least as the accounts of those Ministers were concerned.-- He should now_ . proceed to give they ekplanati.a: Which he had promised: The sum charged 3,,i)ainsE his name was not, as had been staled, 46,0001. OE 47,8971. - He should class tyre heads of-expe - nce iii a differetg form from that in,Which they were laid before ude House; the sums, however, would be the same, but be thought that the mode he should pursue would make it more intelligible., He slibuld. class these, expences under the_ it aLninEi heads.-- ' First, thost relating to the British,Palace ereaed al Constantinople. • Secondly, the extraordinary dis buisements of the mis3ion; and' thirdly, the cornr pensation he had received for his own losSes. The Honourable Gentleman desired to ltnow why it wa; necessary to erect a Palace at Constantinople. Ho would give him, he hoped, a t,:nislattory ano,ver. He was afraid he should trespass too long upon the time of the House in gi' ing th, se details, but he trusted he should be pardoned. I , was neec scary to state that such was the-nature of Pera, the suburb of:Constantinople, in which Foreign Ministers re sided, both with regard to lion4es ,ind streets. that was impossible to find a h ,, use there fit for a rift- nister, or even a private .Gerokl.rcut „ 11,e ilk' 01 this faa his Hon. Friend who succeeded him, he was sore, was convinced, and would cm , tirm his statement. Not only the - lA - ger- nations of Europe, but even all the smaller ones that sent Embassies to Constantinople, had Palaces annexed to their mis sions. In former times, when there was not the, same political importance attached to the Briti.,l; mission to Constantinople that there has recently been, the British Minister had a Palace. This Pi" lace was so old and out of repair, that it ought to have been pulled down a century ago, when Mr. Wortley was there, being entirely composed of wood, it was found impossible to repair it. When Lord Elgin was at the Porto, there being no French Ambas•- sador there, his Lordship occupied the French Palace. But the Porte being desirous of manifesting its respeti for this country, gave a piece of groand, and under took to build a Palace for the British Minister, Lora Elgin thought it necessary to send for architects frora other countries to superintend the eredion of the Palace, a; other Ministers had done, and not build it according to the Turkish manner. '1 Porte, as he had already stated, were very generoo in giving a large snm of money for the erection ()LILO Palace. The ground- alloted wag also very extensive , as the Porte insisted that the British Palace sirouli be as superior to others, as our Court was then, its their estimation, superior to that of the other 113— tioos of Europe. When Lord Elgin -left Cortsuity tinople, the Palace was not finished,;, the outside walls and some of the cross, walls were, hoverer, eredcd. His Lordship was succeeded at Constg" - tinople by Mr. Drummond, who disliked the re s i • deuce in that country so much, that he wrote home to be recalled, and therefore did not take upon hitr" self the responsibility of finishing the Palace however had it covered over, leaving..it..to...N4 4l Ambassadors to cornphle it. It was in this sibt e when he arrived. He was then informed by M r ' Stratton, the Charge D'Affaires, of the stare of the Palate, and that it was nea essary to complete it, n 5 4 there was not a resict-nce even fit fora Charge D'Affaires to live in. Under th, se circumstances , he wrote to Lord Harrowby• for diredions. Lordship sent him - discretionary orders, as from 1 116 , distance he could n o t giv,e precise ones ;• but desire d him to apprize his Court before large expencti were incurred.' AS he found that a large soul would be necessary, he wrote home to Lord Mulgrave, who had succeeded Lord Harrowby, and sratoi that, in order to save the public money, he ih" tended to sell a part of the ground, thout:h it would be injuri o u s ' t o th e v i ew of the Pa's lace. He d:d actually agree to sell a part of rite ground for 30001. His 'Lordship desired him to complete the building. He was, however, at tha t . time; informed of a circumstance of which he vva' not before aware, viz. that as the ground had been, purchased by the Porte far a British Palace, it would probably give ciffence if any part of it were sold. Under theSe circumstances he, applied to the persons to whom he had agreed t'o sell tee ground,. to restore it to him, which of course in creased the expence. Under these circumstances he .proceeded with the building, which ceriat-4 was upon a very extensive scale ; but he was not. leskouslble . for its size, as it had been began and I I