The National Register.
London, England, 1811-02-03 00:00:00

gret.a:l:o-, :Pi Cie first preliminary, a gat(
liesistated ; I c•otei <d ; I made them lay
reprerached the officers and the governor for their conduct the
'ruing before. The forts, undetermined and surprized, adopt-
t.; the part of A111)111iihiOil. I ordered the grenadiers to enter,
anal at four in the afternoon a garrison of 8000 men defiled, as
prisorers. of war, deposited nine colours, of which one was pre-
s‘.uteti, by King George to the town of Tortosa, and immedi-
ately took the road to Saragossa, under a strong escort.
After 18 days of siege, thirteen of the trenches opened, and
five of cannonade, we are thus masters of the fortress of Tortosa,
which delivers into the power of the Emperor 177 pieces of ar-
tillery, SO,OOO balls or binnbs, 1,400,000 cartridges, 9000 muskets,
&c. 1 have the honour to transmit to your Highness the diffe-
rent inventorie4, with a view and plan of the town and of the
attack:., the journal of the siege, and the documents furnished by
the Chiefs, which make the force of the garrison, including the
hospitals, amount to 9000 men, of whom 992 are officers; in
that number is a battalion of artillery of the marine, which was
two years at Brest ' • apd the officers of which have declared
to me, that snatched by the fate of arms from the anarchy
which desolates their couqtry, they all form the wish of combat-
ing the English, whom th4y regard as its true authors.
Our loss during the siege amounted to 400 men, and that of
the enemy to I`2oo. -Your Highness will not consider it trifling
when you learn that the fortress tired t 5,000 rounds of cannot),
azd we 15,000. I atn,with respect, &c.
COUNT SUCHET.

I IcAd•cinarters, Tortosa, Jan. 4, 1811.

_

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

MONDAT , JAN. 23.

Thrir LortLitips met a little after four o'clock ; when the
Loaf C:iA L LITt b,.!ing seated on the woolsack, and several
Peers in their, places, regulations were made respecting ap-
peals.
.Lord GitosVF.NOa rose, and, adverting to the Regency Bill,
th- Report of winch the House was met to receive, lamented
th,t he had. by unavoidable means, been prevented from attend-
the e discussion of that Bill ; but viewing it attentively as
he had dune, he felt it a duty incumbent on him to enter his
sulemn. protest against the principle of it. lie had indeed so
tar agreed with Ministers, as to prefer the mode of proceeding
by Bill to that of Address, as being in 11:s opinion more con-
lorinAle to the spirit and usage -of the Constitution; but in every
other material consideration of the subject, he felt the ennduct
of Ministers so egregiously wrong, that his duty as a Peer of
Parliament irresistahly prompted him to protest against it.
Duke of Noltrot.x rose, and preseuted 'a Petition from
the .Corporation of Lewes, respecting the apptiintment and pow-
ers of the Regent, which, being read by the Clerk, was ordered
to lie on the table.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex then rose, and -said .•
that previous to the reading of the Report on that importaut
subject.; for the discussion of which their Lordships were•assem-
bled, he felt it an incumbent duty on him to state, in a frank
and explicit manner, hi.: sentiments and opinions concerning it.
lathe view which he had taken of the proceedings of Ministers,
they appeared to him to have acted without precedent, without
law, • and without any regard to the fair principles of the Con-
stittition. • They had talked much about delicacy, but in their
conduct had evinced no sort of regard to it. But with every
proper regard to delicacy, it should not be forgotten,• that deli-
oacy was only a subsidiary virtue, kid must always be subordi-
nate to more essential considerations. Much had been said
about precedents, hut the conduct of Ministers W;43 le-is remark-
able En a faithful adherence to those boasted precedents than
for the violation:of all law.. Not only law but truth w.er violated,
in the dActrines held forth by Ministers respecting the powers
ofihetn'ti Memos. The precedents which had been adduced
bore no analogy to the present case ; that, of the 16th of Edward
the becoutt, theleid• cf Henry the Eighth, the Act of Philip and
Mary,-.atnithateof of Charles the Second, •were by, no
me.eis applicable to the. instance isettnestion. He could nor but
consider that the treatment
,eyhich. the Prince of Wales had re-
ceived teas most migrations.-- At'a tithe. of peculiar emergtnry
and•peril to the State, he had beetrrequested to supply the defi-
ciency which had lamentably taken-place in the exercise of the
Royal functions, but while he was invested with authority, he
waeturteiled of 'the 41km-tinker power. It was a maxim of the
Constitution, which he freely, acid cheerfully acknowledged,
thzit the King was the serVantodf the public; but concomitant .
and.congenial with that maxim was the practice, that individual •
obedience was always due to the person exercising the supreme
authority. And there was no deference due athe Royal Au-

.. - - ,- . * • ° -`

upon every principle of equity and rea-
__ Regent. His'Royal Highness dwelt
with much force on the propriety that there would have been
in the Houses having proceeded not by Bill,-but by Address to
the Prince, and adduced the instance which occurred of that
mode,.iu ie ;sign ofeßieliard the Second. The clause mahich
went to restrict the Regent in the creation cot Peers, his Royal
Highness regarded as a direct infringement on that Noble
House, and as tending to destroy that wholesome balance which
it preserved in the order of the Constitution. For the power
which was wisely lodged with the King, for the creation of
Peers, was intended partly, and very materially, to be a check
against any possible combination among the Members of' that
House ; and if that wholesome power was withdrawn from the
Regent, a dangerous and unconstitutional influence must arise
from the unnecessarily augmented and uncontrouled power of
that House. What, his Royal Highness asked, would be said in
the other House of Parliament, if their Lordsh;ps should send
down to it a requisition that they were to sign no more Money
Bills ?—(Loud and repeated cries of hear !)—Minliters were at
once usurping the powers of the Crown, and betraying the
rights of Parliament, end the interests of the people.. The cry
of " No Popery" had been sounded about, but it came from
a quarter the most Papistical of any in the realm. blitisters,
while they were perpetually talking of decorum, had sacrilegie
ously torn from the Throne that delicate veil with which our
ancestors had enshrined ft.—The Priuce of Wales, the eldest sou
of our revered Sovereign, was called on to perform the Regal
Functions at this moment of calamitous emergency, and a come
bination was formed which would shut against the exercise of
his power the doors of that House. If the prerogative,of making
Peers, or any other prerogative of the Crown, he deemed unne-
cessary, it ought to be withdrawn ; but, if it be fit and essential•
for the Kingly Power, it ought indisput ibly to be extended to
the Regent. Was it fair, was it equitable, that, all the heavy
and severer duties of the Executive, should be imposed on the
Prince, and every thing graceful, heneficient, and honourable
should be withheld from him ? The object of Ministers ap-
peared to be principally to create a sort of Fourth Estate for the
purpose of thwarting and crippling the measures of the Regent.
—I certainly shall see with regret most of these clauses passed,-
and particularly that one which deprives the Regent of dispen-
sing honours, even for a limitted time, to those who, in their
different calk and situations, have a claim to such a distinction ;
for merit is likely to arise at all periods, and equally deserves
reward.—Besides, the avowed principle on which it is declared,
a Regent ought to be appointed, is, that he should chuse his po-
litical servants. Now, the very restriction of Peerage may
prevent the Regent from making that judicious selection, which
he may judge most advantageous and beneficial for the welfare
of the country.—By thus stating my opinions, I feel I am acting.
as a warm friend to my country—as a warm friend to my Sows-0..
reign And Fathers—as a warns friend to the Prince of Wales, my
Brother—and as a warmer friend to every thing that ought to
be held sacred in the Constitution.—l certainly have, as most
perSeinse.apfeference fet a particular set of men, • but upon this
coliirietion, that the man who governs the country best -and
most advanteepeus fel- tire people, is the Nfinisterl where I shall
think Myself hottncite jsupport,--Not approving of the measurel;
that have beep propesid, I vote against themeconeeivitne that .1
ant votinciejah.t4e laws of my country, on a conviction of every
part of the system being erroneous and 'defective. And there-' •
fore, I feel a pride and satisfaction in what I am doing, nelthet
intimatted noteciting for sinister insinuations, whielelieve been,
mischievously propagated, of the existence of a Fourth Estate,
or fur a College of Princes.—Thepttrport for which such a new
phantom has been conjured updie oaywoonstas it is wicked, sinct
it is attempted in so critical a moment as the present, toinfletne
the ininds•of the Oeopre, ortiOfeighteo .them wit a m inqt
dangers, with a view to crillitilifftircielltectittaityti*VOVettif ail .
Crown, and to diAteartsai thilitin4St aittibtfitaf The Sovereign't
relatives, wholiave 3e:its allairdent Nrliametit i and :who-ate
at the least the natural, if nut lihe-legal giaardians of the Inters
gists of their revered Parent, when the vio)ation of . the laws of
nature is one of the re vOluti '- ea of this day.e4uch- ere
sons who stkrdy tO- contitve IT rtdi repreetnt the constituf nal
endeavours of the Royal Peers to
.preserve the rights of thif.
Crown Whole and entire, de'serre the eietration of the CQUOttli s
as having acted with a species ofbaienesiparalleled to thelligli;s`v
est degree of human depravity. .
Upon the Motion of Lord Livetteooe,..thc Report of the
Committee was then read. . .: - .
Lord- Gittr4vici, It • here observed, ,that.iss the, present ekes.
was the firs in which the Innitigital,. in point of tintee occurred %11
he should Move their Lordships), that 7 such limitation of.thsereerl
strictions be dated at six months from the time of passing the -
Bill before them. He moved that the word August be sub-
stituted for February. , e-. . • e
....
Lord SIDMOu Tit observed) that they .63 hea authority to
1 adopt this Amendment

THE; NATIONAL REGISTER.
Fe of the town. They It thority which ought not,
ty down their arms; I son, to be ascribed to the
. .