The National Register.
London, England, 1809-04-30 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

he had a copy of it, which he should now read. It was dated
Madrid, December 2, and signed by the Duke of Castel Franco
and Don Thotnas Monla. It informs our General there were
40,000 soldiers at Madrid; .that the French force was not to be
feared: and ends with calling upon General IsLouie, either to
advance to Madrid, or to make a circuit, and come upon the
enemy's flank. Now it was observable, that on the very day
when Morla wrote this letter, he had an interview with that
French General called the Duke of Istria; on the third the
capitulation of Madrid was settled; and an the sth the French
were in peaceable possession of the place. In this whole trans-
action there was every appearance of a lure on the part of
Mode, to draw on our army absolute destruction; and .if his
design was to decoy the army to certain destruction, he could not
have had a better instrument for seconding his purpose than the
letter of Mr. Frere, which also urged this advance. and of both
which this same Charmilly was the bearer. Linder all these
circumstances, it wi.s something like a signal interposition of
Providence that Sir J. Moore did not advance. The situation
of that gallant officer must have been painful in the extreme.
The sanguine expectations of his employers, and the extrava-
gant hopes if the people of this country, all urged him to ad-
valve; and thou Alt he knew that retreat would be the subject of
the loudest clamour at home, yet he had resolved on a retreat,
warn the arrival of this letter from Morla, united with that of
Mr. Frere, (lilted at Talavera, induced him to make that diver-
slot' piaci was 'followed by the disastrous retreat to Corunna.
He wished to know how Mr. Frere 9 ould he able to justify the
won ierful credu:ity he displayed as to Morla's letters, and .the
ex(raordiaary indecorum pf his letter to Sir J. Moore. The
Boni.. Member thee moved for the production of the letter in
question, and any farther information 'Ministers Might be in
peisession of relative tQ the two letters of Mr. Frere to Sir John
.Moore.
Canning ohsgrved, sin explanation, that the letter itself
Caine from Madrid, but that the messenger who carried it had,
on his way In'Opr camp, an accidental meeting with Mr. Frere
at Talavera, where he Was wits the Supreme Junta. 'lt was
'sot a letter from the Supreme Junta, but froth that part of the
Govermaent which remained at Madrid. •
Mr. Whitbread observed, that two things had come out in
this4iscosion ; the first was, the name of the messenger sent to
sir J Moore, which the Right Hon. Gentleman had on a for-
per occasion refused to give the House; and the second, of much
snore importance was; that the Noble Lord was still one of his
BlajOsty's Ministers—(hear! Hear ! ) though 161 Members of
the House of Cl/111111011S had voted his conduct most unconstitu-
tional. He had !crown even whole 4dministrations which a
smaller minority had compelled to resign. The sturdy oak was
rooted uphy the tempest, but the pliant bulrush beaded to avoid
the blast.

Lord Castlereagh replied, that any seggestion coining from
that Hob. Gentlethan Shook; have very little influence on his
courduet:

General Tarleton said. that as it had been said of Bonaparte,
that be was the'child and champion or Jacobini,m, so the Noble
totd wall the child and champion of oilier. As to this Char-
ntilly, he could give an account of him that would give the
douse some idea of his character. lie knew that he had
lost a large sum of ninney at play, yet he had denied it, and re-
fused to give the satiEfaction required by a man of honour. lie
knest also that he had gone to a gambling house in the evening
without any money in his pocket, and had left it in the mornina
%it h seven and twenty guineas in his pocket. This was the man
w' I'M) Mr. Frere took tinder his protection, and entruetcd him
wits' tipe very message that was to supersede Sir J. Moore in
:i).sl.ood ofthesaiiny.
I:be motion was-then negatived without a division.
NEWSPAPERS.
Mr. Ifoskinon, in a COmMittee of the whole House, moved
for leave tabling in'a Bill to amend an Act of the. 37th year of
his Majesty, relating to Newspapers. ile'Stated; that when the
laSt tax was imposed upon newspapers, it Was deemed desirable
that nu newspttpet should Fell for more than 6d. 'end 12 per cent.
riiscount had hero ullowed.to the proprietors who Should tell
them at that prier. Since that period; however, the expences
of print's" a aewspaper had greatly increased, journeymen's
wages, taper, Tend every material which was * used, hail'rl4en to
inch a degree, that the profits Which Were considered proper in
FM?, WM& 1100 at all adeqttate set prerent. It therefore was his
'intention that'll* discount should be'et,titinued to the Proprie-
tors, but th*t in More they should be44:ll4%ved to eta their pa_
tars for eitpaice halfpenny. The price 'of every pr.:iodic:l

, .

APRIL 20.

publication had been raised _since the Act was pa,sed, and he
thought it fair that the newspaper` should not be kept {fader an
improper re2trictiou.
The Report was rcceived, and leave given to bring in the
Bill.

Friday, April 28.
ORDERS IN COUNCIL.

Mr. Whitbread wished to ask a question of the Right Hon.
Gentleman opposite, the answer to which would (if what he
had heard he true), prove highly gratifying to great numbers,
viz.—" Whether the Orders in Council respecting America were
resci need ?" _ _

The Chancellor of the Exchequer answered, that they were
not actually rescinded, but. they were put in 1 state of modifica-
tion which amounted to nearly the same effect,

COMMITTEC OF SUPPLY.

On the motion of Mr. Huskissen, 215,429/. 19s. 7d. was voted
to make good the deficiency of the sum voted for the Extraor-
dinaries of the Army, for the service of the year, from Dec. 21,
1807, to Dec. 25, 1808.
Mr. liuskisson then stated, that though there had been a defi-
ciency of 200,0001. in the sum voted lust year, on the actual ex-
penditure for the extraordinary service of the army, and there
was a large force now serving abroad, he proposed to move, for
the Extraordinaries of the Army, for the service of the year
1809, the same sum which had been voted last year. viz.
363,090,000 0
To defray the Expence of the Commissary-Ge-
neral's Department, being nearly double the
• sum voted last year, but 200,000,. less than
the actual Expenditure under that head • in
the last year
For the ,Barrack Department, being nearly

1,080,000

the same a, the sum voted last year -
To defray the expeoce of the Office of the Ex-
aminer of Barrack Accounts for the year
1809 - - - -
Secret Service Money for the year 1809 -
Probable tx pence of the Office and Establish-
ment of the Commissary-General
To defray the expence of the Storekeeper-Ge-
neral's Department - - -
To reimburse Win. Mellish, Esq. for the Sup-
plies sent to the Faro islands, in the ship
Northern Stur - - -
To pay the five per Cent. Loyalty Loan An-
nuities - .. - - - 13,215 19
For the Poor of St. Martin's Parish - 1,328 5
To the Rev. T:tilmas B. Clarke - - 278 6 6
The House (liens resumed, and the Report was ordered to be.
, :. •
received on MondayVxt.

379,563

4,260
175,000

22,651

44.000

1,550

9 II

0 ct