The National Register.
London, England, 1811-03-31 00:00:00

- TI-IF, NATIONAL

ments will the intelligence be received by the Army in general—
by all good Patriots—and by the nation at large, when they
le;:rn that this fbrt'ress was delivered into the hands of the French
by its traitorous Governor, the Conde de Alacha!
A proceeding so vile and crimiml, which justly excites in
your bosoms feelings of the utmost' indignation, must of neces-
sity call lotafly for my immediate attention, as Commander of
the Army of the Province. I have accordingly ordered a sum-
mary investigation into the circuriastanses of this infamous af-
fair, in order that sig.nal justice might be done. In consequence,
a Council of War, composed of General Officers to whom the
caseveas referred, havo y4terday adjii'dged Oat the said Conde
de dacha 4;111 suffer deitYby means of decapitation, and that
the sentence shall be executed at three o'clock in the afternoon
to-morrow.

" CA FA LANs—The scaffold or the gibbet shalt be the just fate
a Traitors of whatever' dais they may be ! The country is in
danger ; and, with a view to its salvation, it is necessary to exe•
cute the law with equal rigour and justice, without respect to
persons ; especially to infamous men such as the Cordes, who
basely surrender even a foot of the ground of this Principality,
to our inveterate enemies. Such men shall experience no cle-
mency from fne.—go true Sp;niard will endeavour to obtain it.
To our Country we owe this justice. Its salvation is at stake—
and while I command in this Province, justice shall be rigor-
dusly inflicted.
(Signed) "EL MARQUIS DE CAMPO VERDE.
" Dated 'Tarragona, 25th Jan. 1811."
The sentence is then specified in form, setting forth the names
of those Officers who assisted at the Council of War; and or-
dering that the said Governor of Tortosa, the Conde de Alacha,
for his infamous surrender of that fortress, shall suffer death by
decapitation, under the 45th Article of War, sect. 10, in the
most public place of Tarragona.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.,

HOUSE OF LORDS.

MONDAY, MARCH 25!
The London Flour Company's. Annual•ACcounts were pre-
sented, and ordered to lle on the table.

TUESDAY, MARCH 25.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE.
Lord STANHOPE having moved the Order of the Day for the
second reading of his Bill respecting liberty of conscience,
Earl Live& punt rose, and objected to the -Bill • as being
unnecessary, and resting on no solid fttundation. The Noble
Earl, indeed, bad alluded to a transaction which lately occurred
in Ireland; but which, by the direct admission of the Noble
Earl himself, was proniptty and elfectnally discountenanced by
the Government in Ireland. The Noble Earl had further ad-
duced a case from Sicily, in which it was represented that great
Inconvenience and hardship had arisen to the Irish Catholic
ssldiers, from the dismissal of two Irish Catholic Priests, while
no spiritual Minister-was left to commune with them in a lan-
guage which they understood. The fact was, and hirLordship
spoke advisedly, that there were in the Army Sicily a suffi-
cient number of Catholic Priests perfectly qualified to administer
to the Catholic soldiers in the English language. His Lordship
concluded by moving, that the second reading of the Bill be de-
ferred to that day six months. •
Lord STAN HOPE observed, that the Noble Secretary had
comiskenced his speeds by embarrassing the Woolsack with a
second motion before the first was disposed of, and that be had
/lot advanced a single argument in favour of that second motion.
He would not descend from the height of the ground Jn which
he stood with his own modem, to contend with the sophistry and
evasions of a Secretary. He made his stand on the broad and
steady basis of law, against the caprices and injustice of official
authority, and he could not help complaining of the want of
candour shown by the Noble Secretary on the present question.
.When ha (Lord Stanhope) had formerly urged his present
object in the shape of a clause, that Noble Secretary asked why
.a specific Bill was not prepared ; and then when the Bill was so
prepared he was told it was unnecessary, and why? Because the
Lori Lieutenant of Ireland had issued orders to prevent the
practices of what his Bill was intended to put down by /slits He
wished to have every subject of the realm, whether a soldier or
a citizen, dependent not on the caprice of any individual, but
on the firm, known, and established law of the land. Thoss
sentiments whic.h he had often urged before their Lordships
were on record, upon the Stave Trade• and other occasions,
where he had differed with that Noble Secretary; and he was
utterly unable to diseosfer, upon what foundation the assumed
pre-eminence of that Noble Secretary could support itself. Was
it his retitled humanity ? He would leave the que.stiOu of the

'Slave Trade to answer that. Was it his extraordinary skill in
financial arrangements? The present state of ps;blic credit would
reply to that. Was it the spirit and vigour of his military en-
terprise's ? His famous march to Paris would best answer that.
In admitting, as the Noble Secretary did, the principle of the
Bill *while' he yet opposed the Bill itself, he scanted desirous to
keep himself in reserve for some future occasion. He appeared
to remember the maxim of Hudihras :
" The man who fights and runs away
" bias 'live to fight another day—
" But he that's in the battle slain
" Will never rise to fight again."
Soldiers bad four duties to regard—a duty to their Country, a
duty to their King, a duty to their Officers—but paramount to
.to ar y or
,ta all ,of those, they had a duty
.to perform to the
Almightf. That duty cohld•never be observed Without liberty
of conscience, and liberty of conscience was never to be asked as
a boon ; it was a sacred right, which no human power, without
manifest injustice, could invade. He had long been contend-
ing against that Hydra injustice: One head of the Hydra
had been cut off on the oceasidn of the Act against EX post facto
Laws. Arthtlier in the Bill. for t orrectien of abuses its Jails, anti
the bettering of the condition of unfortunate Debtors. He con-
gratulated himself that his efforts had not been unavailing; fur
whatever might still be the opinion, or the sentiments of the
Noble 'Secretary of State, he would defy him then to touch the
the hair of any •rnati's head, on the score of his religion. His
Lordship repeated 'his former statement as to the increase of
Dissenters during the present reign ; and among the in,rances
of perseCution and tyranny which arose from the caprice of
power, without the clear and known establishment of •law.
F named some aft's which had taken place in Trinidad, where,
under the pretext of military law, persons had their. ears cut
off, had been flogged and banished, and condemned to work
in shackles, and even sometimes to be sold for the 'benefit of
the colony. •
Lord lt ens:spate observed, that martial law was not so
much a known and defined law as incidental art necessary sus-
pension of law. He perfectly agreed with his Noble Friend
(Lord Liverpool) in thinking thepresent 1:i:1 superfluous; and
could not help remarking in the Noble Earl. who moved it, a
dispositionAo decry all persons of the Established Church. By
the act of the Ist of William and Mary, Roman Catholics were
prevented from entering into the army ; that restrictions for
wise reasons, was afterwards removed, and afterathe subsequ,.nt
regulations *Web had taken place on the subject, he could per-
ceive no use in the Nol;le Earl's motion, especially as •be was
firmly persuaded that the Roman Catholic soldiers themselves
are not the complainants. •.
Lord HOLLAND complained of the imputation of un-
worthy motives ascribed by the Noble and Learned Lord to his
Noble Friend (Lord Stanhope), and thought he was not fairly
dealt hy, since, while the principle of his was acknowledged to
be just and equitable, it was yet resisted with no other argu-
ment than that the principle had recently hen wisely and pro-
perly acted upon. If the principle was wise and politic: why pot
make it law? As the case stood at present the Recruiting Ser-
vice would be material./ injured by the scruples of the Catholics.
Lord 'I.;ARLIaLLa acknowledge-d,. in ardent terms, the wis-
dom, justice, and humanity of. Lord Harrington's orders re-
specting the Catholic soldiers, bat could not help agreeing in the
expediency and policy of his isloble Friend's (Lord Stanhope)
motion, and-he earnestly deprecated the c.;nsequence which the
creation of it might occasion abroad.
Lord STANHOPE could not avoid taking notice of the ex.
traordinary and, if it were intended, scandalous thisrcpresenta-
don which their Lordships had heard horn the Noble and
Learned Lerd of his expression,. lie had never either 111
that House, or elsewhere, breathed an imputation against the
honesty of the persons attached to the established Church;
though there, as in all other places, and at all times, he had
contended for the justice, wisdom, and policy of the ut-
most freedom in the use and exereise of religious opinions.
—Would the Noble and Learned Lord (Pedesdale) tell-him
that there was not a clause its the Bill for compelling both Ca-
tholics and Dissenters ' rch
then, was his law ; an,
.order issued by the
soldiers to worship agreeabl.
maintain that this order
Besides, he would not
greatly as lie respected .
would he trust those right
In the present case, he fell
butchet, between two
having then given it to t
theft : for one measure •
other, he was told, for
thrown back like a shwa._
Learned Lord (Redesdale) how little he knew of Acts of Par-

to go to the estahlisheci church ? There,
id there, top, was their lawyer! As to the
Earl of Harrington, permitting Catholic
reeably to their own consciences, he would
er was not aiacienc authority tor them.
t trust the right:s.(4 the people to any mats,
d the character. Of Lord l-farrington ; nor
rights even to any body of inen whatsoever.
e felt as though he was placed, like the
o thieves ; one crwhrmt stole his meat, yet,
o the other, could not be charged with the
•e would not do for aiWCatholics, nor the
the Dissenters. Why, however, was bathos
;huttleceek? He could show the Noble nut