The Sun.
London, England, 1823-09-12 00:00:00

WEST INDIA DOCKS.

The Select Committee appointed to consider
of the means of maintaining and improving the
Foreign Trade of the Country, and to report their
opinion and observations thereupon to the house,
and to whom the several Petitions, which were
presented to the House in the last Sestion of
Parliament, on the subject of the extension of
the excluSive privileges of the West India Dock
Company, were referred, have ,agreed to the,
following Report :
Your Committee having taken into consideration the peti-
tions referred to them, and continued their investigation the
close of the last Session, have thought it their duty on their re-
appointment to apply themselves immediately to the further
prosecution of the inquiry which had been interrupted by the
.prorogation. In the course of their proceedings they have
called, for various documents which were calculat,ed to throw
light upon. the subject of their investigation, and have exa-
mined a great variety of witnesses, as well in support of the
allegations contained in the Petition of the Wesi India Dock
Company, as of those in the other. Petition S-that, have been re-
ferred to them ; the respective Prayers of whi4ll involved the
expediency of further continuing the exclt.!sive privileges
granted to the West India Dock Company by the 39th (leorge
Under this Att the Dock in questio4 was construct-
ed-A. and the Subscribers were eonstituttd a Joint Stock
Couqatiy, by . the name of " The West India Dock Com-
pany.." Certain conditions were at the name time imposed
upon them, in respect to the amount of the sum to be
raised its a Capital or Joint Stock ; the period wi.hin which
wcirks sere to be completed ; the amount or the Dividend to
wilich tbey were to be entitled, and the application. of the sur.
plussltecoipts, if any. should exist. In addition to these, was
a clause °lmpelling all \Vest India ships to land their cargoes
in this Dock for. the term of twenty-orre years: and the privi.
lege of wa.r.:ltousiog all West India produce brought to this

The advantage to the Public of open competition where.
ever applicable, will not as a general principle be questioned.
It is not, however, to be adopted without limitation, or
to be presumed that various cases may not present them-
selves, in which a departure from that principle may not be
of such importance to the public interests, as to be fully
warranted by every consideration of ' prudence and expe-
diency. 'rlds was the case in the original -establishment of
the Docks, when it was necessary to hold Out liberal com-
pensation to those who invested their capital .irf a *cu. lation
which, whatever advantages it might evtlititall y promise to
the Adventurers and the Public, was, in its; commencement,
of.doubtful success. It appears, however, t your Commit-
tee, that admitting the existence of cases to t vhich this excep-
tion applies, it belongs to the parties solicitivg exclusive psi.
an especial cis ice: exists in the
vileges, to shew that so strong
particular instance, as to offer advantages sutfi cient to prepon-
derate against the generally recognized benetii principle of
competition.
In the present case, all the claims that arise ft out the hazard
of doubtful experiment, which originally reem •nmenited the
grant of exclusive privileges, have long vanishe d. The suc-
cess of' the experiment is decisively ascertained —the invest-
ment of capital ha; been fully compeilsated —ant the :Oven-
tees of Docks are universally acknowladged. To sustain the
Clam,
i therefore, it must have been shet,rn, that the re is some-
thing n the nature of the trade received into the % 'est India
Docks, that indispensably requires a particular sys. tem of se-
parate accommodation, protection, and managetnen t, or that
the advantage derived to the Public from the Dock vstem it
inseparably dependent upon a continuance of exclusi;. ve privi-
lege* to each of the various establishments.
-In confining their Report and opinion chiefly to these points,
your Committee feel that they shall best consult the ins mtions
of the House, in the reference made to them ; and they i :re the
more inclined to this course, because, if the House shouh I con-
cur with them in their view on these questions, and ados the
conclusion to which they have come, the various subord irate
points will be, as it appears to your Committee, sulEci mtly
provided for in the practical measures that must obviousl y re-
sult from it.
Much evidence has been adduced to show the 'perfectits t of
the system, and the value of the regulations introduced • and
practised in the %permanent of'the 'West India Docks ; and
the effect produced by them in affording security to the col.
lection of the revenue, protection to the property of the
merchant, and facility in the conduct of his business. \I ith
some alight exceptions in the latter point, your Connie tee
are disposed to give a ready concurrence to all the clal ms
preferred by flie Directors of' the Dock Company on this he ad.
Both from tl evidence they have received, and from their p er-
sonal observation, they can venture to state, that no Establi sit-
ment of tbi4 kind can, in their opinion, surpass, in these par
ti
i cu-
lars, the establishment of the West India Docks ; but it is • not
the positive excellence alone which it is their duty to consl tier
—it is ties comparative, or rather exclusive, excellence bele lig- '
ing to tis6in that must be regarded, and by which the grow ads
of their decision are to be furnished. And here, your II
im-
mittee .cannot but observe, that whatever degree of' perfect ion,
in respell to dispatch and regularity, May distinguish the V Vest
India Dock, great facility towards these objets is incident to
the w arehousing in that Dock being confined to the cargos s of
peculiar ships, and the articles of merchandise to a compara-
tive:or confined number ; and to this circumstance of strict I iini-
tat'ion, in respect to goods and ships, it must be ascribed, if'
evAtctly the saute degree of perfection in the conduct of buti-
n,ess, and in the classification of merchandise, is not tv,
',mind, nor is, indeed, atttainable in a Dock of more extensive
use, and more general resort.
Admitting the advantages arising from this circumstance,
your Committee has directed its attention to ascertain. how ear
the very strict measures of precaution adopted the West
India Dock are necessary to the chief practical purposes of the
Dock Establishment, and whether the effect of the system of ex-
clusion and separation, which is said alone to admit of these
precautions, so much exceeds in value to the public interests,
the more open system prevailing in other Docks, as to call for
its preservation, if involving the continuance of a general
system of' exclusive protection, as it appears to your Com-
mittee must be: the consequence of maintaining it in this
instance. In proceeding to offer an opinion to the con-
trary, your Committee are fully prepared to believe that
the Directors of the West India Dock Company, in contieti-
ing against alteration, are actuated by no feeling of pecu-
niary interest,—that their interests, in fact, as Pl; or
Merchants, ire infinitely superior to any they can haveanter as Dock
Directors;
and that they are influenced only by-their impres-
sion of the utility and advantage of this Establishment, us affect-
ing the public through the peculiar branch of commerce to
which it is appropriated ; increased, perhaps, not unnaturally,
by a solicitude for the preservation of that, which they have,
with great care and attention, fostered and brought nearly to
perfection.
If, indeed, your Cotnrnittee could take the same view as
that entertained ,by the Dock Directors, of, the particular re-
gulations established in the Xi
•iest hulks Duel, and consider the
security arising from them, as the effect of their exclusive
privileges, -or could they believe that there was any thing SO
peculiar in the West India Trade that, without the extreme
perfection of their institution, the public purposes far which
the Dock was intended could not be accomplished, they ahould
not hesitate in the recommendation they should offer to the
House ; but believing that the perf'ection (however admi-
rable) is carried, in some particulars, beyond what is ne-
cessary to the purposes either of security or est:minutiae-
tion, and that there is no peculiarity in the nature of the
trade in question which sa distinguishes it from -other trades
as to counterbalance their conviction that the public intetests
are best secured in all matters connected with trade, by

There are two things, however, on which much stress has
been laid on the park ut the Dock Company, and to which your
Committee therefore deem it tight to advert. One, the elassi.
liCation of the several articles of merchandise, as facilitating'
the operation of the ►merchant, anti the duties of the Revenue
Officer. The.other,' the removal of the crews from the ships,
(inapplicable to DockS of general resort), as the best security
against depredation, and as conducing also to dispatch it un-
loading the cargom
With respect to the first, although the sante perfection of
classification is incompatible with the admission of the articles
of g►eneral trade, which is easily effected with respect to those
of a single brach of it ; it is to be collected, from the testi-
monies of those who have been examined, that it is eflbcted in
the London Docks, sufficiently for those purposes for which it
is alone Important, and is therefore applicable to any establish-
ment of a similar nature. _

With respect to the second, both of the particular merits at-
tributed to it, are, from the evidence, subjects of question.._
Whether the discharge of ii ship is performed with greater
promptitude' and facility by hired laboorers under the inspee-
non of the officers of the Duck Company, or by the seamen
under the inspection of their own officers, your Committee en-
tertain considerable doubt; While, as far as it appears, there is
no reason to believe that the continuance of the crews on board
leads to habitual depredation. An objection, indeed has been
,
stated to the removal of the younger part of the crews front their
ships ; but in order to provide against the danger that might be
justly apprehended to the morals and good conduct of the up.
prentices in consequence of such removal from them without
employment, and freed from controul and discipline, a vessel
has been provided by the Admiralty, which the Directors of
the West India Dock Company halm P,rePered for the accom-
modation of 400 boys, who are received upon application,
and and
during the time they remain, have the advantages of care
education. The largest number of boys that at any
one time
have taken the benefit of this establishment, your Committee
are informed, has not exceeded above half the number it is ca-
pable of admitting.
'our Committee, in recommending the adoption of an open
system of competition in preference to one founded on exclu-
sive privileges, cannot Dinh a reference to the testimonies
objection
the West India
borne by Gentlemen deeply interested in the qtiestion, to the
advantages of the West India Docks, which accord with
the
strong teeling expressed by the Dock Directors, and are desir-
particular branch Of trade they
toonstinole
vtotionbinenuannteetersoftootaslinauschnit)erngengregMocitotinovnevyt ittonywhich
such
moderation of
ilTorPukrtuDlireeeett ast,tamehaeydb' e4sfse‘utitlel4elllPis4ctrieble"w7tfh the interests of
attended to nu the •part of the Deck
the Company, and useful to the
ilremil,eisithwrtpuetr.rtecteolveinverg'y paint the! r,elittes. to
charges mitt the accomtnadation et ttte Nterchant, the best.
security for these being
Companies, will be the interest of those who may be ind„
„,d
to lodge their
goods lu the Parke; DOT are we ei)
prehensive
that this can be curried to tot improper length, or became,us has been thrown out, a competition of indulgences danger.
ous to the Revenue. Against this, the known respectability
of those to whom the management of each establishment is in-
trusted, and the consideration, that the interetes of the Docks°
are bound up with the interest of the Public is a sufficient
protection--whatever can affect the Revenue must equ3ny

Your Committee,, however, must observe, that this calcula-
tion appears to be formed by inclnding the payment of all those
buildings which have beenerected, and paid for out of the rates,
which, although subsequently sanctioned by Parliament, are in
this view to be considered as surplus, and so considered, do not
appear to your Conimittee to bear out the expression that the
rates, although not unreasonable in themselves, have been as
moderate as they rnight have been had the Dock Company
availed itself of the means the accession of trade above alluded
to afforded them of relieving the trade by reduction.
The manner of the accumulation, however, in the apiniOn of
your Committee, does not all affect the right of the Poblic,
under the law, to din full benefit of it.
The Act of Mg' Which directs the appropriation of the
Funds in the hands,iorthe Company, enacts, That the afore-
said stun of Five hundred thousand Pounds, subseribesi or in,
tended to be subscribed or contributed by the said West India
Dock Company for their Capital or Joint Stock, and all other
Monies which shall be hereafter subscribed by them Cur in-
creasing their capital as aforesaid, together with the several
sums of Money to be produced and received by and from,
anti raised and borrowed piton credit of, the Rates and Du-
ties granted or made payable to the said Company by this
Act, shall form and become one aggregate consolidated
Fund: and all the Monies which shall be subscribed, col-
lected, received, levied, raised and borrowed by the said Corn.
pony, or by the said Directors, by virtue or in pursuance of this
Act? shall be applied and disposed of, in the first place, in
paying the remaining equal half part or share of the Charges
and }lxpences incident to and incurred in obtaining and pass-
ing this Act, and afterwards in paying and discharging the
consideration or purchase-money and the other costs and
charges incident to the purchasing and obtaining convey-
ances of the messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments,
which by virtue or in pursuance of this Act shall be pur-
chased for the use of, and conveyed or vested in trust for,
the said NVest India Dock Company as aforesaid; and in the
next place in paying the interest of the monies which shalt be
borrowed by the said Company upon the credit of the last-
mentioned Rates and Duties, if any shall be so borrowed, and
the interest or dividends upon the principal monies, -which for.
the time being shall be so subscribed by the members of the
said Company, and actually paid as aforesaid, or Upon their
Capital or Joint Stock, and in paying such yearly or other sums
of money as are herein before directed to he paid by the said
West India Dock Company, as and for compensations for
losses and deficiencies of tithes, taxes, sewer rates, and other
rates and assessments; and subject thereto, then in defraying
the necessary charges and expencea of making, completing,
maintaining and supporting, and attending, muhaging and
regulating the said docks, bacons, cuts, quays, wharfs, ware-
houses, and other works, which are to be made anti done by
the said Directors in pursuance of this Act; and of any such
extensions and improvements of the same respectively, as the
said Directors may, from time to time, think necessary ; and
that the residue or surplus of such monies shall front time to
time be employed in or towards the repayment of the principal
monies, which shall be borrowed by the said Company upon
the credit of the said rates anti duties hereby granted to them,
until all the same principal monies shall be repaid, and in et
towards executing such of the other purposes of this Act, as
are to be executed by the said Directors, or by and at the charges
of the 'West India Dock Company ; and when by the means
last mentioned or otherwise, the principal monies so to be
borrowed by the said Company shall be all repaid as aforesaid,
then and in such case, the rates and duties by this Act granted
to the said Company, shall be lowered in the manner herein
before directed, as far as the name can, under the then exist-.
in g circumstances, be done with prudence and safety."
No exception is tootle in respect to the manner in 'which
any residue or surplus tehall have arisen. A surplus (from
whatever source (kneed) is alone contemplated, and its appli-
cation peremptorily prescribed, after the demands upon the
CoMpany are satisfied, The demands on the Company, which
were an obstruction to their acting on this clause,as it appears,
have been at length dischargeti (and why they were not chi-
charged at as early a period as the state of their affairs per.
mitted, has not been satisfactorily explained).; they are,
therefore, in the condition contemplated by the Act, and may
be called upon to relieve the Trade by a reduction of rates.
In the justice of this call your Committee are happy to
observe the Dock Company readily acquiesce; they have in-
deed already reduced their rates considerably ; first, in the
year 1817, and still further in the list year ; anti it has been
signified to your Committee that they are prepared to carry
the additional reduction of Rates prescribed by the law into
effect, in such manner as may appear most con4ciye to the
public interests, and most in conformity to' the in-minted in-
tentions of the Legislature in framing the provisiona of the
Act relative to any surplus that might accrue to them. 'With
a view to this, they have themselves submitted to your Crun-
mittee a proposition for such a reduction of. the rates as should
bring the sum of 393,910/., now in their hands, to the sum.~at.
MAW (deemed necessary as a reserve to meet enntingen•
cies), after the completion of certain
course of rather lets than three years, bong the period at which
the exclusiie privilege of the London- Dock Company will
expire, . specified repairs, M the
The detailed proposition submitted by the West India Dock
Directors will be found` in the Appendix to this Report. It is
one which your Committee, after much ,consideration; hag re:.
solved to rectunnend to the approbation of the House, as, un..
tier all circumstances, appearing to them best calculated to
meet the public interest, to remedy the error into which the
Dock Company hail fallen in the accumulation of such a suf..

plus, ant to provide against the inconveisiepees ant. other ape
plication itught occasion.
The Act of Parliament has It dearly in contemplation' ;Rid
no large 'surplus should be accumulated, by , the provieioSi ldipet
any which should be found to exist, After 40111 c apecitic isp'pko,,
priations of the monies, received by the Dock Companyesholitf
lead to a reduction of the rates. The rcoloctiOn of rates; 'WA
the Act been literally executed, would have been for the cal
elusive benefit of the importets of West India produce. Tt,,,,
Proyosition, therefore, although not perhaps conveying the be•
neht to the same individuals, is so far in amfonnity in the sp; 4
sit and intention of the law, as that the Wiest IniliaTrade .will
receive the benefit of it, unless voluntarily relinquished.." That
the reduction of the surplus should take place within the lie
rafted period assigned, and by a large diminution of the' rates,
your Committee feel
,to be rendered necessary by the eitea.
don in which the other Decks will be placed on the ezpiratiete
of t'seir respective Charter.. In their resolution not to re-
coniMend to the House a continuance of the exclusive 'pri-
vileges to the %Vest India Dock Cempany, your
,Cotoreite
tee had in view the estahlishment of a general competition
among the Dock Establishments, at that period. In. such a.
competition the power of applying of such a lerce sure:
to the reduction of rates below the amount for which the
business of the Dock could be profitably conducted, ifiwir
have a most injurious operation ; and would, in fact,. elm ~
hit the Dock Company which posseeeed it, to cast the l*tanc
of competition in its own favour. While the exclusive
.priii.
leges ot those Docks are in operation, while competition is'yet.'
fettered by legal restraint, such a power is of comparatively,
little moment, and can have no. ultimate influence on the corn .
petition which it appears to your Committee so desirable to'
establish. Another reason has also had its effect on your Cott 4
rnittee in inducing them to approve the proposed arrangement.
It appears to possess an advantage in tending to obviate are
inconvenience resulting from the adoption of the recommende.
tion offered by theniivhich they could not but feel. It is true,
that if the continuance of the exclusive privilege, was withhold;
there could he, in point of justice, no claim on the part, of the
West India Dock Proprietors. The pledge of the Public has
been redeemed, and the Company have received all they can .
tracted for, in the maintenance of their exclusive privilege.
during the terns specified, But it will not escape the observe-.
tion of the llotiseethat they must be exposed to considerable
inconvenience if they should be compelled to meet a -corn-
petition wsth those who, for a limited period, are in possession
of exclusive privileges ; which privileges secure to the Docks
possessing them the whole of particular trades, a propoitiol of
which might come to the West India Dock, while they will? ate
the same time have a chance of receiving a part of that, of eviiie4
those Docks have by law, now 'the exclusive possession. To
avoid this evident disadvantage, your Committee considered
how far it might be expedient either to continuo the exclusive
Wert to the est India. Docks to the period of the expira-
tion of that of the London Dock Company, unless that Company
should be disposed to relinquish, during the remainder of their
term, the exclusive privileges now possessed by them. You;
Committee have found that such relinquishment is not practi-
cable, either on their part, or on that of any other Company
similarly circumstanced. It appears to them, however, that
under the proposed application of the sarplus fund,, any
extension of the operation of the compulsory clauses in the Act
of the 39 Geo. ill. is not necessary, as that application must so
operate upon the rates in respect to West India produce, during .
the terns of the exclusive privileges poseeesed by the London ,
Dock Company, as to leave a Docks
proportion of the. West
India Trade to the West India nearly as etfeettially at
could be done by a continuance of the clauses referred to, and
fully to counterbalance the advantages derived to the. London
Dock from receiving and' warehousing the several articles neve
strictly by law appropriated to it.
Although the tendency of this arrangement is, in fact, par.
tially to continue the system of exclusive privileges among the
119elte for two or three years to come, your Committee, under
the conviction of' the advantages that would be derived from an '
open competition, are anxious that die operation of this system .
should be us limited as consistent with existing laws it eau b,
rendered. On reference to the laws under which the tithe..
Docks are established, it appears that die exclusive privileg ,
of the London Dock Company, granted by the 30 and 40
Gs et. iii, ins confined to the warehousing of the ardciea of tie;
wine, tobacco, and foreign spirits; and that, with certain ca'-
ceptions, all other articles are confined to it by orders or war •
' volts of the Treasury, issued in the exercise of the authority
conveyed by the 43 Geo. 111.
That to the East India Docks is confined, by the 43 and 4,;
of Geo. 111., to the landing of gouts anti mercbandize, time pro-
duce of the East Indies or China, Which shall arrive in the.
river Thames ; but by the /i 4 Geo. 111.. c. liti, all. goods flit. ,
ported auto countries within the limits of the Company's Cher.
ter, by any person trading under the 53 George 111., may be
lodged in warehouses belonging to the East India Company,
or in any other warehouses approved by the CommisSioners of
the Customs : nothing in the Acts referred tocompels the ware.
housing within the East India Ducks; the restriction is cite-
fined to landing only. The warehousing depending on the ap-
probation of the Commissioners of the Customs, who appear to
have exercised the discretion vested in them; by limiting their
approval to the warehouses of the East India Compliny, which,
nut being situated within the Dock, One no greater security
titan others that might have been selected, 'or stem to afford a arty
reason for such a preference.
It is, therefore, the opinion of your Committee, that great
advantage would arise to the Public, and the benefit of a free
competition amonst Docks in the port of London be in a
great degree established, if the Treasury should consent to
recall the various orders and warrants, ittsocil under the audio'.
rity vested in them by uny Acts of Parliament, confining the
landing or bonding of particular articles to particular doeks or
places, and allow them to be landed and bonded wherever a
sufficient security could be aflinded to the Revenue, and to the
property of the merchant; and that orders should be given to
the (2ornmissioners of Custons to inspect other warehouses,' for
the purpose of ascertaining if, with adequate security to the
Revenue, the privilege of warehousing East India gocids May
be extended to them t and, if such be the reitult of the exami-
nation, that it should be so extended.

•
By this meow, thy object of setting free many ankles of
' trade, and establishing conipetition, may he in a great degree
obtained at an early period, and provision effectually be niticla
for its complete and undisturbed operation in the ;year nin.
when all the Acts conyeying exclusive privileges will have
expired.
Your Committee have abstained from entering into ninny •
detail* to which a more minute consideration of rho teitni,nco
attached to their Report might have led, and which they shoal t
have thought it a duty to enter into, had such a case been wade
out in behalf of the West hidia Dock Company in respect to
security to the Revenue,. or protection to the .Merchant, at
might have raised a considerable doubt in their minds as to the
recommendation they should offer touching a renewal of the
compulsory clause of the 39 George 111. The expiration of
this opens the way to free .;oropetition' areal* the Docks ; and
they feel Assured that, by free competition, the eccommoilidieri
of the commerce, in every particular, will be best provided for.
In delivering an opinion in favour:of this competition, there'''.
twain none of the fears that have been 'suggested of combina-
tion among the Docks, oppressive to trade, and hostile: to:the
public interests; if they did not entertain the confidence, already
expressed in the situations and characters of those to whom the
direction of the respective establishment* is committed, they
cannot believe in the accomplishment of art y such combinaticn
that would be effectual ; they feel that Parliament will-21w",vs
have the ready means of defeating an attempt so '"'
the public interest, and, in case of necessity, wilt hOt be-Cick.
ward to employ them.
They have also less reluctance in offering the ople,c
tallied in this Report, betause, although. tht AYsten'
West India Docks, applicable now exclusive:, to 04' "de
ceived into them, must, if it should be adoptial, unde;go
alteratkm, yet there is retuon to heikve the interests of I.
Proprietors will not incur any hazard alitl hem the ebteracto
regulations, situation, and other advantages possst snit b, tt
Di cks, they are at all times sore of tornmanding tha ow I,i
tiun of the commerce of the country to which they are
entitled.

Consistently with the opinions erttc,u,intd yomx (741,01,.
tee, of the important iltlriint4gcs tit,tivea hY the eiornnic rt.%
the country, (tom the establistimeta of docks, and the etk.
ragement they are tietoreus of tvint to their corAtruct ,
wherever the titans ft 4 it can be 1""", thtY POMO cond. • r
this Report without bearing testimony to tbe
in the ortgioid design of this, the first esiablishinenr
completed,. 'and' the public spirit stud perseeetah;ce !:.
is was carried into exec-v.44in; and ia cluixtg this. Aty
debt of jui4ce trlc Ivion the t,mnes ()tette tljli
and the latti.Mn iFlulligati, Who, by devotirig their time
talents to its accomplishment, have rendered Mil thaStinr,
service to the trade of the Idetropolia.-
3ti Jura, 1823,

PARIS PAPERS.

(From: tke. Moniteur of Tutsdev,,Sept.
(OFFICIAb PART,)
ARMY OF THE PYRENEES.

REPORT OF MARSHAL .LAURISTON TO HIS EXCEL

LENCYTIa MIRISTEK OF WAR.
ORCOYcw, SEPT: 4.

_ .
"N, LE MARtellAt—Tire engineers not hay-
'ug, keen yet able to make the •necessary recon.
nolounces• about the'fortress, it was necessary, in
miler to give them the power of doing so, to drive
the encrpy from all the outposts whidh be occu-
at well on the side of the suburb of 111stle•
'lgiays.npposite Burlada, as on that of the suburb:
tsfitecheappeas; these two suburbs, -which ere
-below the stiowe within .one-thistl of the range of
grape-Owl,' etels.sittich are situated -against es-
-064resnents of -thirty or forty 'feet, were justly
cousidered by the 'enemy important,,
because they afforded the means .of preventing
any approartves, and consequently all ,recouttois-
sauces 'against the citadel.
" According to the desire of the General cons-
mandieg ..the • Engineers, I resolved to make this
attack on the suburb of Rocheappea, which at
'first, I intended not to undertake till the night of;
:the upenitig of the trenches.
" Yesterday, the 3d of September, the 7th
Division, provisionally commanded by Genetal
and composed of the BC light itegi-
ment, and the fith, 9th, and 174thof She Line, was
edrawu out in front of the suburbs of Rocheappea
and •La Madeleine. It was charged with this attack,.
which Wns supported .by the fire and the attacks;
'of the '2oth Light Regiment, of the.33cl and 40th
• of the division Pecheux, and by part of the Spa-
nish troops, as well as by some batteries. The
attack began at haifspast five, and at half-past
seven the two suburbs were occupied by our
troops, who carried by storm houses that were,
fortified and entrenched, with a courage truly
extraordinary. They had 'to mount, exposed to
the enemy's fire, up to those houses; andus this
side of the town .is very steep with a plain in
front, I could not have this attack supported,
except by some batteries of mortars and howitzers
placed at a distance of four or five hundred toises.
Two houses, the convent of St. Peter on one
side, and the White House on the road to Tolosa,
being fortified and entrenched, the enemy at-
tempted to defend them obstinately ; but some
breaches which were made by two pieces, one
eight-pounder and a sixteen-pounder, forced him
to evacuate them promptly. I could not hope so
speedy a result from an attack which was ren-
dered very difficult by the situation of the bate
teries of the citadel on the side of Rocheappea.
Our troops we obliged to cut down the doors
of all these houses with hatchets, so strongly
were they barricadoed. They entrenched
the=elves within them. The fire of the mus-
esetrp continued till half-past nine. The
enerny kept up a Continual fire of grape upon our
troops, and threw many bombs and shells against
cur columns; the 'division of Pecheux on its side
carried the redotibt of the prison, which was
taken possession 'dr by Gen. Fermg, with the
40:ii regiment and the grenadier coropmtnies of
the regiment of the Infant Don Carlos. This
redoubt was formerly a horn-work, it is at, pre!
seat only a lunette, two hundred toises from the
fortress. General Pecheux has driven the
evenly from all his out-posts, so that the
engirieer3 can make their reconnoissances quite
,at their ease. Measures have been immediately
taken to entrench several posts, that the enemy
might not be aisle to send out any soldier in the
night, or disturb onr engineer caters. The
object of attack has been completely attained
and with a trifling loss, though our troops were',.
the assailants, and continually exposed to an
enemy, protected by the fire of the musketry of
the' town, and by his batteries loaded with grape.
But nothing is impossible to such troops. The
attnek of the two suburbs was conducted with
extraordinary, Vigour by 'Viscount Jamie,
ionelly commanding the division.
" It was General Quinsonas who attacked and
• ss
carried time suburb of La Madeleine. _General
Damremont, with a battalion of the2oth regiment,
supported by au attack in flank that which was.
directed against the White House, by the 3d
Light Regiment of time 7th division, led by Gen.
ele Tressan and its Colonel M. de St. Gillen,'
who was wounded .there.
" The Division of .Pecheux, exposed to time
fire of the place in its continual attacks% skil-
fully took advantage of all the varieties of the
ground, The Count d'Espagtme also manmuvred
with much valour and activity. I shall have the
Luaus tosmend your Excellency the details when
I receive the reports, and shall .make known to
you the officersand soldiers who have particu-
larly distinguished themselves. All, however,
Generals, Officers, and soldiers, behaved with
remarkable bravery. I flare contented myself
,siith informing your Excellercy of this attack,
which is very important ; it is a necessary pre.
lisninary to the operations of the sieges-46c.
reptilec.

" Marshal LAURISTON."

PAPAS, SEPT. 9.—Frorn L'Orient, under date
of the sth, we have the following :—" The
King's corvette, the Tarn, commanded by M.
Silhouette, arrived the day before yesterday.—
'this vessel sailed on the st7th ult. from Corunna
with 65 Spanish prisoners of war, who had form-
ed port of the garrison of that place. Among
them were Colonels Iriazte, of tie infantry regi-
ment lie Espana ; Lopez Compillo, of the Bilboa
militia ; Jauregey, of the Vittoria volunteers ;
Lieutenant-Colonel Gambia ; Chief of Battalion
Zugaramurdi ; Chief of the Staff Van Malen ;
and 30 other officers. On the 87th, the Tarn
fell-in with the brig Marsouin, commanded by
Danycan, on her way to Corunna."—(Journal
des Debats.)
A letter from Perpignan, dated Aug. 30, says,
—" dccounts from Cadiz, said to have arrived
along the coast by seas state that on the 140,
e
tile,
e, Cortes decreed. the fitting out of ships of
the lines the Guerrero.. and another, 4 frigates,
9.0 brigantioes or gal liats,and.as many gun-boats."
journal de Toulouse.)
The recall of Lieut.-General Guilleminot was
reported, yest' Merday,adr and continues to be repeated
to•day. he' letters which reached us'