The National Register.
London, England, 1813-07-11 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

under the Marquis of Weliingten. The Army of the: North, the Army
of the South, and the Army cf Portugal, had been concentraO.d in one
point, and over all this concentrated force had the victory been
gained. If the loss of the enemy had not been !) great as we had
a right to expect from the magnitude of the victory, the dispropor-
tion could be easily accounted for, by the nature of the ground,
which was brolo n, rugged, and consequently unfit for the movements
and pursuit of cur cavalry. Had the cavalry been enabled to act, he
felt himself justified in saying, that not a man of the enemy's army
would have been suffered to escape. The loss of the enemy might,
from the commun;catiotts of various kinds which had been received,
be moderately estimated at 12,000 men, or double that of the Allies.
Here it would he ii.justice not to couple this great and signal victory
with the atchievcioents that preceded it, and which marked the cha-
racter of the General that cooducted it. His operations, before th;s
time, when last year he retired into Portugal, it was only fur the pur
pose of enabling him ro pursue his operations at a future pe:i,ci v ith
increased success. He had employed the winter in giving to the
armies of Spain that militaty character which before had been gi-
ven to the armies of Portugal. Therefore we were not contending
against the enemy alone, but with all the military means of the. Pe-
uinsuld. Lord Wellington had, in tine month, put forth that force in
a way, and with a power of genius peculiar to himself. His great
mind penetrated into the means of the enetu ; and, by the power of
scizoce, he accomplished those things ohich others would have done
with a great waste of human blood. By the celerity of his movements
be defeated all the plans of the enemy ; and, if ever there was an in-
stance of the greatest military talents, they were those which preceded
the victory of Vittoria. It was a glorious consideration for the coun-
try to contrast the position in which he now stood, compared to what
he was in wlo n he first went,' under numberless disadvantages, to Por-
tugal. In ali his defence of that colintry, his great mind never gave way.
Instead of defeeding the lines of Torres Vedras, he now stood in the
character of the aggressor. He Was not now on the coast, with the
enemy threatening to drive him to his ships--but was driving the
enemy before him to his own country. In detailing this victory he was
detailing a triumph which lie felt. It was in a contest of this stupen-
dous nature, in which the interest not only of England, but of other
countries was involved, the British Parliament had made every sacri-
fice which they conceived essential to the salvation of the world, and
of which they now fait the advantage. It would be presumptuous to
say what would be the event of this war ; but the British character and
fame was placed on a pinnacle from which it could not be shaken. In
looking at thin victory, all must feel gratified as a nation; and he
trusted that all would feel, that if we succeeded. we were only con-
tending for a peace that must rest on a secure and honourable feunda-
tion. The Noble Lord concluded with moving the Thanks of the
House to Field-Marshal the Marquis of Wellington, in the usual
form.

Mr. FREEMANTLE seconded the motion in a short speech, in which
be Cork occasion to state, that with respect to the extent of the loss
suffered by the enemy, he had opportunities for the last three deys to
hear several very interesting circumstances ; and he was assured, that
the enemy's loss was more than double that of the Allied Army.
Mr. CANNING felt that •no man had more frequently placed his
friends in a difficulty than Lord Wellitiron—a difficulty in %dint man-
ner most appropriately to do justice to his great and transeendant me-
rit. it was now five years since the Peninsula presented to that
Home a prospect, the consummation of which every one looked for.
And this was one of the instances in which generosity and
,justice
were connected with eational safety. This was not only a day of
glory, such as would he recorded in the page of history, but it would
be a day of national triumph. The House and the country had to
congratulate themselves, that, in a contest, which sometimes excited
hopes, and sometimes gave way to despondency, there never was a
feeling in that House that any difficulty should be avoided. There
never had been manifestation of any fueling to shrink from those diffi-
culties. The revolution which had broke out in Spain five years ago,
seemed a sort of contrast to that horrid revolution which had, some
years before, walked the atrocious career of France. This was a revo-
lution whch brought with it a species of security, of liberty, and of
conservation to Sovereigns. And thi- was hot all—the same spirit ex-
cited a spirit of magnanimous effort in the North, to which man now
looked torward with renovated hope and anitnatiost. The mighty de-
luge that overwhelmed ancient kingdoms was subsiding, and their
spires and turrets were now beginnino to show themselves amidst the
retiring &A. An Hon. Gentleman had intimated, that some peculiar
• mark of favour should be given to Lord Wellington. He thought the
Thanks of the }loose the highest reward that could be given, and he
would not disturb the present unanimity by another proposition.—The
motion was then agreed to nem. con
Mr. W. Ssarrn moved, that the minute, of a Court-martial held
on Lieutenant-Colonel Orde be laid .bef9re the House. Th

JULY 11.

Hon. Gentleman stated, that Orde having been found euilty of great
acts of cruelty to his men, as well as fraud upon the Quarter-master,
had been sentenced to be cashiered; but notwithstintling the heinous-
ness of the case, he had been reinstated in his rank; and' in the ct,rt
stand of the same men over whom he tyrannized. It appeared by slit
orderly book, that in the spare of only three years and a half there'
were inflicted on 400 men upwards of 150,900.1asheS! a greater ntint
ber than in all tl.e other regiments put together. He thought such a
case required the it tnferenee of the House.
Mr. MANN as SUTTON said, Orde had been tried for offences corn.
milted beyond that period which the law toek cognizance of ; the men
were in dreadful in uhordination, and the sentence was thertlore con-
sidered too severe.—The motion was then withdrawn.
The Indic Bill passed through a Counnittee.—Mj named at four
o'clock.

TTIURSI)AY. JULY 8.
THE PAY OF SE %MEN.

Sir FR ANCTS BURInTT lost' to submit the 1110t1011 of which he
had given notice, relative to the pay of deceased seamen. it had
been, lie said, frequently complained of that there was considerable
difficulty in coming to a knowledge of the pay and rize- money due
to seamen who had died in the service. He conceived it to be but
justice to the navy to render such information as easily attainab!e
as possible, as the inconveniences and hardships to the relatives of
decea:ed seamen, arising from the obstructions of the present sys-
tear were highly injurious. He did not conceive that the plan of
giving free communications upon the subject would at all be at.
tended with a greater number of .impositions. On the contrary,
if the Clerks of the Pay Office were directed to follow such a rege.
lation, it was probable that the frauds would be less frequent, for at
present as the suspicion was less active, there were more opportu•
nines to eminive with the pretended relations of those who had been
entitled to pay and prize-money, to defraud Government. He
moved ' that. at the period of every six months a list of the un-
claimed wages and prize-money due to the relations of deceased
sermen, &e. &c. be published in the Gaziette.
Mr. CHOKER expressed his astonishment that the Honourable
Baronet did not feel satisfied at the answer that had already been
given to such observations. He confessed that he was convinced
there was no other-man in the. House who would rise to make such
a motion. He did not expect that Lord Cochrane would be tapas
Ide of it ; indeed he expected to hear from his Lordship something
like regret and repentance for what lie had said upon the form r
night upon this subject. of which his Lordship and the Honourable
Baronet seemed to be equally ignorant. He denied that any inthr.
million was withheld from the relatives of deceased seamen. The
subalterns of the Offices were certainly prevented from !ruling
communication\upon the subject of prize-money, without consult.
ing the Clerk at the head of snch Offices, and this negotiation had
taeen place in order to prevent imposition, but the moment it was
proved that the persons making application were those •entitled to
the dues, they were instantly paid. He conceived it unnecessary
to say any thing further in answer to what. had fallen so unfintu-
nately from the Honourable Baronet. Bet in order to bring the
mind of Lord Cochrane to some principle of consistency, and to
induce him to recal the declarations he had made the other night,
he would let him know a little of what had come to his knowledge
this day. Mr. Croker then read various documents which contra-
dicted the statements of the Noble Lord, relative to the.sum of
money necessary to be advanced to procure -a discharge from liar-
beer duty. He also proved that those individuals whom Lord Coch-
rane mentioned as suffering under this severity had never been em-
ployed in harbour duty. 44 In ilia," said Mr. Croker, " I never
heard a statement in which there was so undeviating a repugnance
to any thing like fact." After having again spoken in terms of
high panegyric of the character of all the recent engagements at
sea, and ag,ain contradicted Lord Cochrane as to the system of
mind which marked our seamen ; ho alluded with great dexterity
to the late engagement with the Chesapeake. Here. said he, was
a further proof of the terrible error of the Noble Lord, or IN re
was a new exhibition of the broken down and cowed spirit of our.
seamen. The Shannon and the Chesapeake met together for the
purpose of giving a practical efiect to the opinions of the Noble
Lord..,--The gallant Captain Broke, who had often distinguishedhimseltby acts of heroism, fell not upon the deck of hill' own shir,
but upon the deck a the Chesapeake. The engagement had cull.
menced with that bold and bloody assurance on both sides' whirl*
promised victory to that oil which the greater number fought.
Nothing could equal the tremendous broadside of the Shannon,
but her unbroken and unrivalled resolution, decision, and .prompti.
We. In fifteen a wows the twits ended. 'llw 'shrouds 4.•