The National Register.
London, England, 1809-03-19 00:00:00

.1

THE N 10NAL REt IsTE It.

themselves in other homes. Thus we proceeded to the
Cosso (a peat street in Saragmsa) where we made our-
selves masters of the buildings of the Public Schools and
Univerety. The enemy endeavoured to oppose miners to
riiners; hilt less used to this sort of operation, their millers
svere every day discovered and suilbeated. This mode of
besiegin retnLred its progress slow, but sure, and less
destructive to the army. While three companies of miners
and et ;'.ht companies of sappers carried on this suliterrane-
ous war, the consequences of which were so dreadful, the
fire en the town was kept up by mortars. Ten days after
the ati.ack bad begun, the surrender of the town was anti-
cipated. The army had possessed itself of one third of the
houses, and fortified itself in them. The Church which
contained the image of Our Lady of Pilar, which by so
many miracles had promised to defend the town, was bat-
tered down by bombs, and no longer habitable. The Duke
of Montebello deemed it necessary to take possession of the
loft hank of the river, in order that his tire might reach
ti:c middle of the town. The General of Division, Gaza'',
made himself master of the bridge by a sudden and itnpe-
tuous attack, *n the morning of the 17th February. A
battery of fifty pieces was played oft' at three o'clock in
the afternoon. A. battalion of the 91h regiment attacked
and took possession of a very large monastery, the walls of
which were of brick, and from three to four feet thick.
General Gazon then repaired with rapidity to the bridge,
over which the insurgents made their retreat to the town ;
he killed a vast number, made 4000 prisoners, amongst
whom were two Generals, twelve Colonels, nineteen
Colonels, and 230 Officers. He took thirty pieces of' artil-
lery. Nearly alt the troops of the line in the town had be-
set this important part, which had been threatened since
the 10:h. At the smite moment the Duke of Abrantes en-
tered thc Cos-so throu:rb several covered ways, and by means
of No small mines, blew up the buildings of the Schools.
ACer these esents, terror was spread throughout the
t4yru. The Junta, in order to procure delay, and obtain
time to abate the terror of the inhabitants, sought a por-
ky ; but their had faith was known, and thi4 artifice was
tiselets. Thirty other houses were possessed by undermin-
ing, or by mines. At length, on the 21st of February, the
whole town was possessed by our troops ; 15,000 infantry
and 2000 cavalry laid down their arms at the gate of Tor-
tilla, and 40 flags and 150 pieces of cannon were delivered
up. The insurgents lost 20,000 men during the siege ;
13,000 were found in the hospitals; 500 died daily. The
Duke of Montebello would allow no capitulation to the
10-,var of Saragossa. He only published the following pro-
vision, :

I Z,Tlie warrison shall at noon, on the 21st, lay down their
L •
arms at the gate of Portilla, where they shall remain pri-
soners of war. Those of the troops of the line who arc
willing to take the oath to King Joseph, may he allowed
to enter into his service. In cage this entrance shall not be
permitted the Minister of War to the King of Spain,
they shall prisoners of war and sent to France. The
worship a G.t shall be reverenced. All the artillery and
ammunition of every kind shall be delivered lip. All the
arms shall be &posited at the doors of the dillerent houses,
aild collected by the respective Alcades].

The mg.ezines of corn, rice, and fruit, which have been
found in town, are very considerable. The Duke of
liontcheila has nominated General Laval Governor of 4a-
raqos4n. A Deput.qion of the Priesthood, and different
inhal)ifants, bus set out for :tiadrid. Palafox is danger-
-4/11.4iv ill. lk wai the object of the contempt of the whole
hostile, army, who accused him or arrogance and meanness.
lie 'as never seen where there was any danger. The
Count de Fneules, Grandee of Spain, who had been arrest-
ed by the ii.surgunts t 0 months ago on his estateF, was
t'oontl in a e‘,:ntreon of eight feet square, and released : no
idea can lo formed of the miseries ha has imdcrione.

MARCH 19.

IMPERIAL. PARLIAMENT.

POUSF. OF LORDS.

Varch 13.

The !loyal Asseot was given by ComtniFsion to Fig-Meer,
Public and Private Bilis. Aran, the former were the Briti-h
:Uhl Irish Militia Transfer Bill! ; the Iri,h Distilleries; the
Spirit Import and Export Regulation Lill; the Flax Seed
Bounty Pill; and to Campbell':, Bassett's, and Cregson's Di-
vorce Bilk.

do busiiies9 of irrportaw.e durinz the remainder of The week.

HOUSE OF OMMONS.

Monda.:,, March 13.

CITATIGnS kGIINST Tur ovicc or YORK.

The SecauTa toe at W.t a should lend his attention more
particularly to Airs. Clarke ; and as to her testimony, he he.
lieved the majority of the Pause would go with hiin in declar-
iug that no reliance whatever could be placed on it.—( Cr.:Ls of
No! /10 ! no! and 11::ar! hear ! )--If the essential
part of her evidence ought not to be credited, they ()tight cer-
tainly to throw it out of their corsideratioo. The only
point in which they could lay blame to his Royal Highness, rya-,
the supposition that she possessed a deerve of iniblenee, and that
the Duke was in the practice of complying with her requests.
In either of these cases, the House must he satisfied that she
ought not to haye had that influence at all. ni first, as to
the case of Brook and Knight, in which lie pointed out a ma-
terial contradiction between the evidence of Mr. Robert K night,
and Mrs. Clarke, with respect to t he slip of paper. The next point
was the consideration of French's Levy. .A;111 here he noticed
a material difference in the evidence of Miss Taylor and Mrs.
Clarke. He then referred to the ease of Major Tony n, end par-
ticularly that part which involved the authenticity of the note.
—Every Gentleman, he observed, had given his opinion upon
this question, but no one in reading it could inform himself
of what it meant. To he sure, it chewed that some intercourse
must have taken place between his Royal Highness and Mrs.
Clarke, but there was not the least reason to suppose from the,
contents of that note, that any corrupt practices were to he im-
puted to his Royal Highness the Duke of York. The next
case was that of Colonel Shaw, but it would be recollected that
this Gentleman owed his promotion to the good offices or Sir if.
Burrard, who had known him and his father from a very early
period. With respect to the case of Major Turner, he was sur-
prised and astonished when he bad heard it argued, that it ktee,
not the bounden duty of the Commander in Chief to stop the
resignation of that officer notil proper inquiry had been made
as to the truth of the charges which were alleged against
The Right Hon. Baronet then noticed the case of Hoyt ler, which,
lie observed, depended entirely upon the I .esteno 13 S, of himself
and Airb. Clarke. It is not likely that a person tt ho bad beer,
proved to he in the habits of such close intimacy with Mrs.
Clarke, should have advanced 10W. In every instance
of corruption the House should be perfectly satisfied that a
successful termination had been put to the alleged acts. Could
the House come to any such conclusion front the evidence they
had head! The Hottse was in possessioa or the evidence—they
had, as it were, got behind the scene of corruption, and they
had reason to believe that it was unknown to his Royal High-
ness the Commander in Chief—(!Lear ! hear ! hear !)
Sir FR A NCI% Br ttnuTT said, a more difficult task than that
which was now imposed on him, in the execution of a pain-
ful duty, he could not recollect. It was extraordinary
to see the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Attorney Ge-
neral, and a whole Phalanx of Crown Lawyers, tv lin, in all
criminal arraignments, usually stood forward in support of the
public cause, in this, step out of thelteaten course, and become
the advocates of the accused; and not merely adopt the part
of defenders, but even, before the case comes under their fair
consideration, making up their minds to a perfect conviction of
the innocence of the party they were about to defend ( Order !
orrice! re-cchoeal front the Ministerialsidc of the llGu.se). The Rt.
Hon. Gentleman, instead of ,Ltionlii:;r. up with the itepartiality
of a judge, (to the contrary bvcatne the A :Iv ()cote for the crimi-
nal, and in the absence of ealidinir kept catching at pitiful tritlet
to support his case, and after all made a most injudicious defence.
The Chancellor of the Lieberettr had said, that .111 the cvideucc