The Sun.
London, England, 1813-11-27 00:00:00

OFFICE 'OF OIIDA4:INCE, October 27, 1813.

THE PRlNcil'ilL .OFFICERS'of His MA-
JASTY'S ORDNANCE ,do hereby give 'Notice,
• Thai Proposals trill be myriad at their Office, in
Mall, on or btfore Monday, the 2914 (lay of Nomhber, from
such Per.vincv 11S ?nay be willing to undertahe the supply of
thefollowing darticlesAr service,V the RoyalPounler Jlilrs
at`liaili?w,dlll,r, in the Kingdom of lrr.land, v;r. '

f Quebec WhiteOali, 1_20,000 o'w:es of 1000
''''esZ.Siu3le, 5 ft. 6 ioches,f tattle-010,mnd.
The Stares rust he fully 'seasoned , and if the deliveries
shoigni be mode of durable instead of single Staves, ,Six
dr,d anal lyty of the flinner to a rhousand single Pirct s will
berquired, and which, must be deilvered at -the Ordnance
Stores, in Cork, in the following Proportions,

5,000 on o'r before the Ist anuary;
1%1-411i' 1814.
. • Nlrp..
5,000 lit Dv c.

Further Particulars, together with the Terms and Condi-
tions of the Contract, may be known at Me Secretary's Oilier,
aforesaid, any day between the hours of Ten
Rrul Four °Woe/4 when the Proposals must be delivered, seal-
ed uji and indorsed, " Proposals •for Quebec Staves," .
&ut no
Proposal citn be admitted after the said 9901, November, at
ra;elve o'ClOcl: at Noon of the same .Day, neither will any
i'earkr be noticed, .unless the Polity making it, or an Agent
on his behalf, shall attend.
By Order of the Board,,
11. 11. CRlfor, Sr(retory.

•
XTOBLEMEN; Gentlemen, ',Ste. arc respect-
fully incorllted • they may,lie suppliel with MONEY to
any atniu.nt,Ati taws equal to N:lortgae, secured on Peer-
copyliold, Leasehold Land • or J-10;!,es, Money in the
Funds, Settlement §, Widows' ,lonitures, clergy-
men's Living:4, or any other Property,.
l'ergiti r resetability may he •tupplied on their Pso
ernal
sectifit only. tientletuint will find every libenil accunnttala.
lion, ~.Iz;iont delay•
t, eat Twelve till Two; or Lett
'fpoit-paid)
ad:11 idre• seri Me,srs. Wills • aud• Cut .ouin...itet.t..t.
11010.4,stinure. • •
•

AJADRID nAzETTEs.

The' Supnlement. to 'the Madrid Gazette, of
November .1, contains the following oilicial'nr7
•ticle,:— . k •

" Isle tle Icon, Oct. 20.

" When the Regency of the Kingdom was in-
formed of tbe'reports- circulated "'dative to the
disorders cduitnitted in the fortress of St. -Sebas-
.tiani. by the English and:Portuguese, tiolops, af-
ter:the assault given on the.3lst of August last,
they Made an eartrest representstioo to the Mike
of Ciudad Rodrigo—, by the means of the Mink-
ter at War, retinesting dint he would inform him-
self of every partiettlar. This node of proceed-.
in;; by the Regency does credit to their frankness
and the cOnfidenre which they have in-
frioni-Chief has g:lined victories so, illustrious
and signal, for his known prudence, his love fOr
strict discipline, and nis affection for the Spanish
people, %will not. permit uS to doubt that he has
snot taken the most eiieetual means to punish the
authors of the mischiefs and atrocities, which are
alleged to have been committed.
" The Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo considering
himself in.this affair not so much a•General of his
Catholic Majesty as a .subject of Great. Britain,
since they were the troops of that country which'
entered St. Sebastian, replied to the. Minister at
War, requesting that' he might communicate re-
lative to those events with the Ambassador of his
Britannic Majesty, to whom he accordingly trans-:
!flitted an answer in the moat satisfactory terms,
to the.. complaints against the „conduct of the Bri-
tish and Portuguese troops, having received the
periodical papers which contained similar charges
against the army.
tre,s„ys then that be could wish to. be able
to adopt other`nteans to vindicate the officers im-
plicated, bat as he,
has them not, he must. make
use of those in his power. Ile begins then by the
is imputed to Lient.-General
selitra
rge, in
Otilcul it
tlmtliat he 4:tended to bum the
city. Tbe charge is reduced to this,ithat the city
of St. Sebastian was ;11 treated on account of its
anterior and exclusiVe commerce with, the French
nation, to rite fliSnivantage of Great Briiiiin.; a.
charge which cannot be made again ,:t thC:iiobliers
who cannot be snpposed to have tiny idea, or at.
least to have reflected Much on what happened be-
fore the attack of the place, and therefore that in-
famous imputation must fall exclusively on the,
.principal olficerS, who from motives, not of Com-
mercial policy, hut of commercial vengeincc, arc
supposed to have so far forgottentheieduty as to
have given orders for, or ii".rntitted the sacking,
of tlu unfortunate city ; thus risking the loss of
all they had acquired by their fatigue and gallantry.
It is not. necessary, therefore, to say that tlis
charge is evidently false.

" He proceeds, with just indignation, to vindi-
cate the Oeneral and Utheers of the army against
the accusation which attributes to them the de-
sign of plundering and burning the City. Every
thing possible,' says he, was done to preserve,
the City, though many.presscd ate to bombard it,
as the must certain means of forcing the enemy to
abandon .44.1 constantiv tetnsed, for the same.
reasons 1 did so at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoi;
,and if I had entertained the infamous design of de-
stroying St. Sebastian from mercantile: vengeance,
Or any other similar, motive,, I certainly could not
have taken a more effectual method than to hare
permitted it to he bombarded.: is not certain
that the City was set fire t0:41046er the English
or Portuguese troops, .brit to have done so was a
part Oche defence of the enemy: They set it on fire.
on the 22d of July, before the first attack for the
assault, and it is certain the fire was so violent On
the Vitt, that it was necessary to suspend the
ai-
stiitlt intended for that day, amt that it afterwards
;failed. 11Vas .the siege of St. Selnt'stian, on Ang.
30, and 1 assert that the city was their on fire, luid.

it was certain that ourbatteries, by express' orders,
bad throsva.no bombs into, the place, which.
I.saw.burning on the morning of the. 31st before
.the assault.' It is likewise known that the cue-
Any had prepared for a serious resistance, not
.only
on the raMpat ES, but in the streets_ of the city,
tilling them in various places Stith, combustibles
ready to be set fire to and explode. It is also
known that the lighting in the streets between
the besiegers and the enemy WUS terrible, and
that the combustibles collected 'in them being set
fire to, killed a great number on both Sides when.
they exploded, and set many buildings in fiamei.
Ile adds,- that the fire, was the greatest misfor-
tune that could happen to-ther;ssallants, and that
they did every thing in their power to extinguish
it, and that from the difficulty and danger of
the commutripation through the fine, whir tilt",
adVanced 'posts •in the city, it was4ound ne-
cessary to call them all in. Nirth respect to
the sacking of• the city by the soldiere, he says,
" tam the first to confess if, • beceese I know
that it is true, and 1 must add that it has fallen
to my lot to take many cities by assault,. and
never saw nor heard of any taken 'h that 'Hair-
net.' by any troops wherever, without being eelte t
it is one Of the pernicionS consequence s which
ttt-
tend, the necessity of an assault, a necessity
every officer laments, not only frourthe mischiefs
which it tccasiotts to the unfortunate inhabitants,
but from the relaxation -Of diSeipline, and the risk.
which is run of losing all the advantages of rid- •
tory in the very moment in which it is gained.'",
hie, then complains that it is hard he bis.
officers should be treated in the manner they blew.
been by the author of tir Pr groundless libel, only
because an unavoidable evil had hapPened in the
discharge of a great service, And the acquisition
of a great advantage since; notwithstanding; tie is
convinced tha: it was impossible to -hinder the
sacking of a city in, such circumstances, be can
prove that the utmost' care was taken to pre-
vent it, had it been possible. The most positive
orders were given to thfit effect, and had it not
been for the lire, which certainly increased the
confn:ion and the number of oTheees who, in the
assault of the breach, were killed or wounded,
amounting to 170 out of 250, it could; in a great
measure, thOugh .not entirely, have been• prevent-
.ed. One of the grbtruds cf the complaint, which
is, that cent,inels 'very placed
.itt ah the Ironies,
shews the wish of the (raker; to maintein Order.
sear these centinels must have been }heed there
b: order of the oilicers; and Unless it is su;,-
poscd that the ofticers intended that the City ,
should
.be• sacked and burnt, end plae,ed the cot-
tinelS there for that pmpose, the propriety of plea-,
ing them mirst neeessarllv be admitted. Unfo'r-
tunateiy, it happened that the troops►:.grit fits
mule the assault, on the City coall not be relieved,
till the 211, instead of its hei;rg done iromediayly
that they had obtained possession of the place.:.
it
is to be observed, that the widows of the com-
plaints forgot that on the 31'st August, when tha
assault WAS made, the whole left oldie enemy was
attacked; and tbey.wonl(l have received no thasikS
fOr having successfully performed their duty on
this oecirsion, if they risked the blockade, of Pam-
plona, and tire losS,of the battle of the ; as.
would have. been requisite, had troops been kept
in readiness to relieve those that,assailed St, Se-
bastian, in order that its inhabitants might have
Suffered from their disorder.

•
. . ,
" With respect to the Lojuries clone, to the in-.
habitants by (he . soldiers with their fire- arms and
bayonets, in return for the plaudits anti. vivas,it
appears very extraordinary that it should not oc-
,cur to these complainants that these injuries, if
they were real, !lapelled rather front accident dur-
ing the contest. in thC. streets; than deliberately.
As to the charge of lenity to the enemy's girrisott,
he admits •that it is well founded, but ObSerVes2
that notwithstanding the French,Deeree reSpeming
all the troops of the enemy foundln a tOwn taken
,by assault., it would be thaicult to prevent British'
officers and soldiers from treating. with lenity an,.
enemy whO had surrendered. His Excellency adds-,
be could have wished that a person so respeetabie.
and of.so high a character' as Sir Thomas Praham,
should not. have been charged with not having
applied for aslistance to extinguish the flames,
till.the city %vas entirely consumed, giving occa-
srmi to infer that he desired its denruction.—
Every was certainly 'dope by the British
to extinguish the fire, am' the Duke of •Citidad
ItOdrigo himself applied for every assistance, not
only to extinguish the flames, but to .bury she
dead around the city and. on. the ramparts, which
had not, been (lons before, because the necessity
of it had not been so well known.
"1, says he, certainly lament the evils suf-
fered by theinhabitants of, this unfortunate city,
who with reason complain of their fate,
,and de-
serve to be assisted by. the Government,'' .11a
concludes by saying, that many' of the Offending
soldiers 'had been punished,' but he cannot say 'at
present how many... •.

" 10 a postscript he adds', g‘th,tt he had rcit• nt.
'-ten to ~ay that in the relation of the French Go•
vernnteut of the assault of St. Sebastian, Gen. Rey
states, that when the assault on the city began, it
was on. tire in she dlifevent places-1; therefore, be-
lieve that as it is I{IIOWII that many Ittinses took
fire by the ditteient explosions, and.dttring the
contest in the city, it will he aihnitteil that it Wi.l4‘
not set on fire by stlie British soldiers.'
" The Tleg-mcyof the Kingdom hastens to pub-
lish this,explanation of the Duke of eind:td
Ito-
ctri to r:n!ove the unfaeourablu impressions
which may have been.nmde by the,false or'exag.
gentled relations published by the indi,creet.ieat,
the.ignorance, or the malignity if periodical
tvri-
tcrs, who unjustly endeavour to ;k grade the no;
ble and generous conduct of the cktingtushed.
Chiefs of the Allied Artuy.''