Star.
London, England, 1811-02-27 00:00:00

FROM LAST NIGHTS GAZETTE,

iN CONTINUATION FROM TUE PRECEDING PAGE.

DOWNING-STREET, FEB. 26, ISI I.
A Dispatch, of which the following is an Extract, has been this
morning received at the Earl of Liverpool's Office, addressed to
his Lordship by Lieutenant-General Viscount Wellington, dated

Cartaxo, 9th of February:
The enemy have continued in the neighbourhood
of Badajoz, and have broke ground before the place
on the left of the Guadiana, and have thrown some
shells into the town. The bad weather, however, has
obliged them to draw in the greatest part of their ca-
valry from the ground between Badajoz and Elvas;
and the communication has been re-established.
G'eneral Mendizabel sent orders to General Venies
to advance, which measure I had before recommen-
ded to him; and General Mendizabel himself met.
the troops at Elvas en the morning of the 6th inst.
They marched on and passed the Caya ' • and the in-
fantry entered Badajoz and the Fort of C'hristoval on
the right of the Guadiana, on the afternoon of the
6th. The French cavalry retired,
.and passed the
Evora, and were pursued s,cme distance by the Spa-
nish cavalry, and a brigade of, Portuguese cavalry,
under Brigadier-Genetal Malden, who took some cat-
tle, baggage, &c. hut the attack, if any was intended
to be made, upon the French troops on the left of the
Guadiana, was deferred till the following day.-
I liaie received from Genetal Ballasteros a letter,
dated the 27th January, from. which it appears that
his action of the 25th was very well contested ; that
the loss of the enemy, who were much superior in
numbers, was 2000 men killed and wounded ; and
that the retreat of the Spanish detathment WAS made'
in good order.
By the last accounts from the frontiers of Beira, it
appears that a part of Claparede's division of the
9th corps was Still upon Guarda on the 4th instant,
with-an advanced guard upon Belmonte. This was
the position he was ordered to take on the .sth of Ja-
nuary by General Drouet, referred to in my dispatch
of the 12th tilt.

General Foix arrived at Salamanca from Paris,
with letters for Massena, on the 13th January, and 1

imagine that he yesterday reached the headquarters
of the army. He had A ith him an escort of between
2 or 30(X) men.

Colonel Grant, who commands the ordenanza in
Lower Beira, had followed to the neighbourhood of
Sobuqal the detachment which escorted the couriers
which marched from the Zezere on the 22d of Janu-
ary, and Lad taken much baggage from them and
several prisoners.
On ES return, he attacked General Foix's escort,
with a fresh detachment of ordenanza, at Enzabarda,
at the entrance of the Estrada Nava ; and I enclose
his report of the '2d instant on this affair,' and an ex-
tract of his report of the 4th inst. to Marshal Sir Wm.
Leresford, and the Marshal's letter to me.

I hear from the enemy's headquarters that they
state they lost 500 men in this affair.

There has been no movement of any importance in
the enemy's army since I addressed your Lordship.
Chamuaca, February 7, 1811.

PARLMMENIART PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY 26.

Mr. Stedman, from the Stamp Office, produced an Account of
the Licences for the issue of Promissory Notes by Bankers, from
Oc:nher lel°, to the date of the order.
Mr. Johnstone, from the Irish Secretary of State's Office, pre-
sented the 37th Report of the Commissioners of Public Accounts
la Ireland. •

Mr. Martin, from the Pay Office, presented, agreeably to or-
der, an Account. up to February, 1810, of all monies received and
paid, and of all sums in their hands in bullion.
Ali of these Accounts were ordered to lie on the table, and to
be printed..
The Irish Treasury Bills Bill, the Matt Duty Bill, and the Tea
land a Half, and One and a Half Mil►lons Exchequer Bills Bills,
were severally read a second rime, and committed tor to-morrow.
Mr. LUSHINGFON brought up the Report of th e Commit-
tee on Sugar Drawbacks, when the Resolutions were agreed to,
and a Bill ordered accordingly.
The Report of the Population Bill was agreed to, and the Bill
ordered to be read a third time to-morrow.

My Loan—l have the honour to transmit to your
Lori!ship the Report of Lieutenant Colonel Grant,
whom some time since I sent to superintend and com-
mand the ordenanza on the frontier of Lower Beira
and towards Guarda. The force of the enemy, dif-
ferently stated, appears to have between 2 and MO, '
and was under the orders of General Foix, and appa-
rently to serve as his escort to enable him to join Mar-
shal Massena. Lieutenant-Colonel Grant took post
at Enxabarda, near the commentement of Estrada
Nova, coming from towards Fundao, and under
which the enemy was rbliged to pass. The success
of Lieutenant-Colonel Grant, and the loss to the ene-
my, have been much greater than either the number
of men that the Lieutenant-Colonel had with him, or
than circumstances would have given reason to look
for, and will give great animation and encouragement
to this nature of warfare in all that part of the coun-
try. The people engaged have got very considerable
booty, as there is no French soldier that has not much
of what he has pillaged about him ; and he is always
a good prize for his captor.—l have, &c.
(Signed) W. C. BERESFOItp, Marshal.
Ensabarda, Entrance of the Estrada Nova, Febraary S.

Slll,—Be pleased to state to his Excellency the
er,mmancier in Chic', that yesterday, the Ist, a column
of t, enemy,und•r the command of General Le Foix,
rs,sting of tht ce thousand cavalry and infantry from
Ciudad Rodrigo, passed for the Estrada Nova to join
Ma,setta. They slept on the 31st at Alcaria, near
Fundao.

On the Ist, with eight; of the nrdenanza from Al.•
pedrinha, I took r.ssession of a height near this vill age,
by which they mil<t. pass ; a well-directed fire vs•
kept up for two hours, and only terminated by the
night ; the result was eighteen killed on the road, a
bevy considerable number wounded, and ten prisoners;
never al of the wounded were found dead this morn-
ing, irorn the extreme inclemency of the weather;
several cats with grain, and a considerable number of
bullocks were also taken ; and, having sent parties to
annoy their front and rear, I have reason to think
they must snEer considerably ere they quit the Estra-
da Nova : we lost only one man, with a few horses
wounded, amongst them my own. I have the ho.
nour to be, &c. (Signed) .1. GRANT, Lieut.-Col.
Colonel D'Urban, &e.

Extract of a Letter front Lieutenant-Colonel GRANT to Colonel
D'UnsAN, dated Fundao, February 4, 1811.

Hive the goodness to state to his Excellency the
Marshal, that the result of the affair of the Ist inst.
near Enxabarda, has been more complete than I at
first stated, two hundred and seven of the enemy hav-
ing been found dead on the .I.d, in the space of four
leagues, • a number of whom died in consequence of
their wounds, and the inclemency of the weather.
Eighteen prisoners are also in my power, and tour
Englisl.num who had entered the French service, in
the Irish Legion, to effect their escape, having been
five ye:.n prisoners; one of whom is of the 30th re-
giment, the others had been sailors. I have also to
stare that the Colonel of the 70th regiment (French),
alto the Quarter-Master, were found among the dead.
The enemy lost the greatest part of their baggage
and cattle. I transmit some of their papers and letters.

ADMIRALTY OFFICE, FEBRUARY 26. facts he wished to ascertain. He was also told that
Copy of a letter from Captain ADDIALtT,Of his Majesty's Hoop ' two of the witnesses on these Courts-Martial, merely
the Echo, addressed to Vice-Admiral CAMPBBLL, and trans- for giving evidence for Curtis, on oath, were certainly
Kilned 6y the latter to Jon-0t WILSON CRORLIts Esq.
\ forced out of the country. He asked what could au-
His Majessy's sloop Echo, Downs, Feb. 23. Lt.
aoorise a Commander, after a cruel sentence, to put
Sin,—l beg leave to W
form you, for the ;nforma-
such a person in a worse situation than anycondemned
tion of the Lords Commissioners of the Adntiralty, of
criminal . In 1808 Curtis entered as a substitute into
my having, on the 21st inst. at eight a. in. in lat. 49.
the OxfordshireMilitia. In 1810 he was made a corpo-
-49. N. long. 7. 6. W. fallen in with Clio Confiance
ral, and alscrActing Clerk to the Paymaster, by whom
French schooner, of 16 guns (14. of which she threw
astoppage for two pair of shoes, and other regimental
overboard in the' chace), and sixty-two men, and after
cloathing, had been made, and not accounted for for 8
a chace of eight hours, blowing hard, discovered two
, months after the stoppages commenced, and for three
ships a-head, which the chace observing, altered her
! months after they had ceased. By the 106th Clause of
course, and we immediately s'icceeded in capturing
the Mutiny Act, it was declared that if a Paymaster,
her. She appears to be a very fine copper-bottomed •
&c. should intentionally detain any part of a soldier's
vessel, sails remarkably fast, and is well calculated for
pay for one month, such Paymaster, &c. should, on
his Majesty's service. I have the honour to be, &c.
proof thereof, before a Court-Martial called for the
(Signed) A. ADDERLEY.
purpose, pay a fine of 5100, and if the complaint was
brought against him by a soldier, such soldier should,
on demanding it, be discharged. On this clause an
' application was made by Curtis to his Colonel against
the Pay-master, but instead of receiving the charge,
as he was bound to have done, the clause being im-
perative, he was told that he should be tried for mu-
tiny. He was afterwards ordered to attend the Co-
lonel, and a book of orders was presented to him, and
he was desired to point out the order to which he re-
ferred, which he was not able to do, as he knew
nothing about the order book. This was on the '2sth.
On the 26th he was confined on a charge of being
dressed in a brown coat, and also for being found at
the distance of a mile from quarters. He was tried
by a regimental court-martial, by which he was sen-
tenced to be reduced to.the ranks. He appealed to
a general court-martial, but this right was refused
him. He was afterwards brought before a general
court-martial on other charges, all arising out of the
stoppages objected to, and when so brought up, he
claimed a right to have his appeal tried, but this too
was refused him. On his second trial he was refused
all communication with his witnesses; even the pro-
fessional person whom he had consulted was denied
access to him, till the President of the court-martin
gave orders to that effect. Two witnesses who ap-
peared for him, were told by the Colonel that they
themselves should be tried ; they were tried, and on
throwing themselves on the mercy of the court' were
sentenced to receive 500 lashes each, which was com-
muted into banishment to a regiment abroad. The
Quarter-master stoo..i openly forward and intimida-
ted all his witnesses, while on the other hand rewards
were held out to those who would give evidence as to
disrespectful words used by Curtis concerning the Co-
lonel, &c. He (Mr. Wardle) next proceeded to no-
tice the charges against Curtis at this General Court
Martial. They were that he endeavoured to excite
discontent among the men, and that he spoke disre-
spec:fully of the Colonel and other officers. The ex-
pressions used, were, first, that he had in his pocket
pat which would cashier many of the heads of them.
This, however, he had said in a moment of irritation
from the injury he had sustained, and while he imagin-
ed that he was warranted under the clause in the Mu-
tiny Act to make the charge he did. Again, that if
the Colonel did not attend, he could pull his coat
off his back. Another soldier said, that Curtis de-
clared that he did notagive a damn for any of them.,
In speaking of the offence committed by Corporal
Curtis, he could not help adverting to the case' of a
highly meritorious Officer, at whose restoration to the'
service no man rejoiced more than he did; and yet the
offence of that Officer against his superior Officer, was
ten thousand times greater than that of Corporal Cur-
tis; and yet hoaadisproportionate were their respective
punishments ? Another circumstance worthy of obser-
vation was, that much about the same time some Ger-
mans were taken by a few British sailors when in the
act of deserting to the enemy. He asked now, whether
these men who had been guilty of a crime unknown
to an English soldier, whether they had been flogged ?,
He did not believe they dare put a lash on the bsck
of a German. These men had not been flogged for
such a crime as this; while an English soldier, for ai
few hasty words, was sentenced to receive 1000 lashes.
As to the extent of Coporal Curtis's sufferings, some,
idea might he formedaaf it from his own letter, writ-
ten a short time after a portion of the punishment had
been inflicted. He was brought out-to be flogged on
the sth August, and while under the lash, was pass'ng
out of one tainting fit into another—in this way they
contrived to give him 200 lashes. He was then taken
more dead than alive from the triangles, and rather'
than undergo the remaining four-fifths of such intolea'
table torture, he gladly volunteered to act in the West'
Indies. He had only received the fifth part of his
punishment, and yet that much had confined him
from the sth of August till the 14th of November,—
On the 17th of August, twelve days after the punish-1
ment, Curtis wrote to Mr. Howell, at Brighton, in
which he described his sufferings. He regretted that
he was unable to bear the whole of his punishment,
and that he was in consequence obliged to volunteer
to the West Indies ; the 200 lashes he said, were 200
too many for him—that the punishment was more
like thrashing than flogging—that his back was then
one continued sheet of corrupt matter, perpetually
discharging, so that his strength was wasting
away through his back; thus did this man represent
his excessive sufferings; in this state this man wasi
shortly after dragged to prison in the Isle of Wight.
Mr. Wardle then concluded by saying, he had stated
nothing but facts which he was ready to prove, and
then moved. "That a Committee be appointed to en-
quire into the facts stated to have occurred respecting
Robert Curtis, late a corporal in the Oxfordshire

•
militia."
Colonel GORE 'LANGTON in a short, but ani-
mated speech, avowed his earnest wish to further the
strictest scrutiny into his conduct, as Colonel of the
Oxford Militia.—(Hear, hear.)—He pronounced it as
his solemn conviction, that if the conduct of Corporal'
Curtis had been passed over with impunity, it might
have led to the most heinous insubordination on the
part of many of the men.—(Hear.)—Gracious Goo!
was this a time to encourage disaffection on the part I
of the men towards their Officers?--A motion of this
kind went to sap the future discipline of the army.-1
(Hear.) The Honourable Gentleman then proceed-;
ed to shew, that the grievances complained of by
Curtis were, in point of fact, totally groundless--no
such regulations existing in the regiment respecting
either the shoes or the breeches, as Curtis had sup-
posed to exist. He had interviews himself with Cor-'
poral Curtis, and had explained to him that they were
not grievances, and referred to him the book of regu-
lations to satisfy himself. He denied the circum-

stance of the reward offered fcr the convict7ce of
Curtis, upon the testimony of the affidavit of those
persons by whose evidence he had been convicted.
He had been thirty-two years in a military line, arid
he never withheld his just tights from the soldier,
nor closed his ears against their j•ist complaints._
He had been fifteen years a Member of that House,
and never before bad presumed to offer himself to
their attention—he had done so now, in consequence
of what he thought an attack personally affectitl
him—it was the first time he had been obliged so to
trespass on them, and he hoped it would be the last.

. ___..
Hear, hear.)
Mr. MANNERS SUTTON confirmed the state-

ment of the last 'speaker, that there were no such re.

gulations respecting the shoes and the breeches._
With respect to the breeches, this man had cont.
plained of not getting them, and' had gone to the
Quarter-Master. An order was accordingly issued
for the whole regiment, but this man having got his
before from the Quarter-Master, and not regularly
through the Pay-Serjeant, a third pair was refused him
—besides, this man had been more than a mile from
his quarters in coloured clothes. He had seen his
Colonel the day before this, so that he could not have

pleaded ignorance that his grievances were but ima.
gin:try, though certainly it was possible for a person
to forget on the 26th having seen those they had seen
on the 250, or the subject of the conversation they
had. with them. (Hear, hear.) The Honourable
Gentlefatn v.. 116 made the motion applied to the Com-
mander in Chief for leave to put written questions to
. .

Curtis, in order to obtain from him exact information
as to the circumstances of his case. The answer of the

Commander in Chief was, that if there was any wroug
in the case, he wished that it should be remedied,—

To this the Honourable Gentleman said, that he ap.
plied to the Commander in Chief, not as a pri•"ate
dividual, but as a Member of that House, and that he
did not conceive himself bound to make any statement
of circumstances, tailing for redress, but to be armed
with the power of a Member of that House to inquire
into the particulars of the case. (Hear.) The Ho-
nourable Gentleman concludes one of his letters to
the Commander in Chief with a statement that the

object he had in view was the promotion of the good
of the service, and that he was led to take the part he
took from the strong interest he felt in the prosperity
of the army. When Honourable Members of that
House chose to make a declaration of their motives,
he believed it was net consistent with the practice cf
the House to throw out any doubts of their sincerity,
but sure he was, that if the Honourable Gentleman's
intentions were good, he was most lamentably defici-
ent in judgment. (Hear.) Can he induce any one
to believe that the interests of the service would be
promoted by those who openly seek to promote dis-
satisfaction in the army, and who strew a willingness
to listen to all sorts of loose charges against the Com:
mander in Chief? If these are the sentiments which
the Honourable Gentleman entertains of the good
of the service, he did not envy him in the possession
of them. (Hear.) He believed that the House
fek in general a reluctance to enter into a considera-
tion of military affairs except in very strong cases;
bat the Hon. Gentleman seemed to presume that he
was invested with a sort of roving commission to in.
quire into the grievances of the armye aad that he
was warranted in, threatening the Commander in
Chief whenever he thought proper, With respect is
the two men, Pellis and Green, who were said to have
been forced out of the country on account of having
given evidence in this case, the fact was, that these
men preferred charges against their Colonel which, on
inquiry, were found to be totally destitute of founda-
tion ; and, as a proper punishment, were sentenced to
general service abroad. Another case had been men-
tinned of a Serjeant who was to receive 20 guineas
for the conviction of Curtis. This, on inquiry, was
found to be totally destitute of foundation. In short,
taking the whole circumstances of the case into con.
siderat on, it would be found that from beginning to
end, never was there a charge Teefetred SO totally des.
titute of foundation as the present.
Sir FRANCIS BURDETT said, that if the Ho-
nourahle and Learned Gentleman was to be at once
judge and witness in the cause, and if his mere asset--
ton was to determine the matter, it was very obvious
to conceive that House would be enabled to cone to
an easy judgment on the subject ; but the Honourable
and Learned Gentleman, it was to be recollected, had
merely dealt in assertion, and the assertions of one
party svete in all fairness to be considered only as
equivalent to the assertions of the other. He spoke
in high terms of the gallant Colonel who spoke early
in the debate. . The charge of the unfortunate man
was not against the Colonel, but the Quarter-master.
He then wenointo a detail of the means by which re-
dress is to be obtained when a soldier feels himself
aggrieved ; and stated the proceedings in the present
case as every way proper in that respect. The (deuce
of appearing in coloured clothes was sanctioned, he
said, by the ge,oeral peeee4. of the regiment. Tne me-
thod resorted to at the Court Maro.d, hp cqiel;
of the nature of a trick, the man not being aware of the
subject before that Court. With respect to the general
system of our military discipline, he thought it had no-
thing, strictly speaking, to do o ith the pt esent case; he
hoped it would soon come before the House. It wasun-
fair, however, to involve the officers of this regiment
in the general defects of the military system. But how
could the severity of punishment, tolerated by our mild
tary system, be justified by any laws, either human or
divine ? What could justify the infliction of a punish-
ment which human nature was unable to support ?
Whatever the nature of the offence, with what justice
could he be sentenced to suffer a punishment, one
fifth part of which he was utterly unable to bear ?
He then adverted to the animadversions which had
been made on the conduct of the Honourable Mover,
and said, that he was unfairly treated in not being
allowed to prove his charges. He could not see the
danger predicted to the service from inquiries of this
nature. On the contrary, he thought it must be a
great consolation to the army to think that there is a
tribunal to which the common soldier may look up
when suffering under oppression.
Lord SOMERSET joined the Hoeourable Baronet
in his praise of the Colonel of the Regiment. He
stated the particular mode of proceeding at Courts
Martial, pointed out by the articles of war, and con-
tended that the present case was every way regular.
With respect to the charge of trick imputed to the
Court Martial, he could only say that on the 4th of
July the charges were transmitted to Curtis, on the
Gth the Court Martial was held, and on the 7th and