ward the Royal Commission until the evi- | dividual Minister who does any particular dence of all the physicians had been given act. For any act, then, which was dithat his Majesty was completely compe-rectly within the province of the Lord tent to exercise his Royal Authority. If Chancellor, the Lord Chancellor alone what he had then done was supported by was responsible; and it was upon this the opinions of all the physicians, it did ground that he had singled him out from not follow that he was now guilty of any the rest of his colleagues upon a question inconsistency in saying that whatever the of affixing the Great Seal. If ever the report of physicians might be, he would time should come when it might be not consent to dethrone his Majesty upon thought necessary to call the serious at their report merely, if in his judgment tention of the House to the conduct of the and conscience he believed that the King Noble and Learned Lord, the House must was adequate to the discharge of his determine simply on the propriety of his Royal functions. He must be permitted conduct, and not upon the purity of his to state, that the great man who was then intentions, or the coincidence of other at the head of the administration (Mr. people with his opinions. As to the statePitt) had afterwards expressed some sur- ment of the Noble and Learned Lord prise, when he found that it had been his about his never visiting his Majesty in the fixed resolution never to see his Majesty, presence of persons under whose control at any time, when he could be considered be might be supposed to be, he would under the control of others, or before any reply, that it appeared from the evidence, persons who might be considered as exer- that from the 12th of February to the 23rd cising any control over him (Hear, hear!), of April, and even so late as the 10th His interviews with his Majesty at that of June in that year, his Majesty had time were always in the absence of such been attended by Dr. Simmons and persons, and it was his firm conviction, his servant, who did exercise a control that he was warranted in the course that over the mind of his Majesty. He did not was then adopted. When he came down mean to say that this control was conto that House, on the 9th of March, 1804, stantly exerted, or that those persons were a Noble Earl called upon him to consider present when the Sovereign was visited by seriously the consequences of the proceed the noble and learned lord, but there was ings going to be adopted. He then re- a knowledge in the King's mind that those plied, that he was perfectly convinced of persons were in attendance, and could be their propriety; and, however strange it brought forward to control him whenever might appear, he could take upon himself it might be judged necessary. If such to say, that his Majesty on that very day, were the circumstances of a former case, the 9th of March, 1804, knew and under- he would now call upon the Peers of Engstood the duty that he (the Lord Chan- land to say whether the Royal authority cellor) had to exercise, better than he did should be so usurped on the present or himself (Hear, hear!). Under such cir- any future occasion. The noble and cumstances, it was impossible for him to learned Lord seemed well aware of the have pursued any course which would efficiency of appealing to the shade of have the effect of dethroning his Majesty. Mr. Pitt; but the circumstances of the EARL GREY, in explanation, said, that present times were totally different from he had felt it his duty to state his reasons those of 1788. Whatever might be his for thinking the provisions in the clause original opinions of the principle of the for the resumption of the Royal authority present Bill, his wish was now to render it did not afford to the country a sufficient as unobjectionable as it was possible to do. assurance of the restoration of his Majesty's health, and capability of discharging his Royal functions. It became his bounden duty when he felt that the assurance was not sufficient, to state to the House why he thought so. If he had distinctly charged the Noble and Learned Lord (the Lord Chancellor) with the transactions of 1804, if he had selected him from among his colleagues, the reason was that the Constitution of this country always selects for responsibility the in THE LORD CHancellor said, that if the noble lord (lord Grey) thought that he was responsible in a peculiar degree for what had taken place in 1804, he certainly was right to say that such was his opi nion. But if any noble lord would say directly and expressly that he was responsible in a peculiar degree, he would, in as strong language as could be used in a company of Gentlemen, assert that it was not true that he was responsible more than the other Members of the Admini stration, This was opposed by Lord BUCKINGHAMSHIRE and Lord WESTMORELAND, and on a division the numbers were, Non-Contents. 139 85 Proxies included. Thus stands the matter at present. Think of it well, reader, for this is the most material point of all. There is nothing belonging to the whole subject a thousandth part so important as this. We now get a sight of what was going on in 1801 and 1804. -I beseech the reader to think well of it. WM. COBBETT. State Prison, Newgate, Tuesday, - LORD KING next rose, and after charg-continually sent on board the Bellone. ing the Lord Chancellor with having come -At half past ten I received a grape shot down to that House, and affixed the Great in the head, and was knocked off the deck Seal to 15 Acts in his Majesty's name, in into the waste. I was taken up in a state the month of March, 1804, when it ap- of stupefaction. Captain Bouvet of the peared upon the solemn testimony of Dr. Minerve, was apprized of what had taken Heberden, that his Majesty was insane, place, and instantly went on board the moved to expunge from the list of the Bellone. At two o'clock an aid-de-camp Queen's Council, the name of John Lord brought intelligence that a man, who Eldon. had escaped from the Nereide, stated that she had struck on the preceding evening. We waited for day-light to renew the engagement. When the sun rose an Nereide; the Magicienne had her broadEnglish jack was still flying on board the side towards us; the Syrius was a-head and a-ground, and the Iphigenia was on the other side of the Nereide, only able to take a very small share in the action. A few shots were fired at the Nereide; and soon after her flag was pulled down. It was necessary to wait until the Magicienne had surrendered to take possession of her. The boats would otherwise have been too much exposed to a cross fire.-The cannonade lasted until two o'clock, but on our side only. The Magicienne, from time to time, fired a few random shot, the last efforts, it would seem, of despair. Her boats had frequent communication with the other frigates, from which it was clear that the enemy intended to abandon her.-Lieutenant Roussin was sent to take possession of the Nereide; he found her in a situation which it is impossible to describe. She had 100 killed or wounded on her deck; Captain Willoughby was the number of the latter.-In the evening the Magicienne was perceived to be on fire. We passed the night in observing the movements of the enemy, in taking precautions against being set on fire, in clearing the Nereide, and in getting rid of her dead.--On the 25th, in the morning, our fire was directed against the Sirius; she returned it with her bow guns, but her position rendered the contest too unequal to be supported long, they soon began to quit her, as they had the Magicienne the evening before, and she was perceived to be on fire in several places. At eleven o'clock the magazine blew up, and destroyed what there was of the Sirius.-On the 26th the Iphigenia was towed under the Isle of la Passe. The squadron was employed in getting afloat; and in repairing its damages. The Bellone prepared to have herself towed in pursuit of the Iphigenia; blockaded by the winds and our vessels, she remained at our mercy.-On the OFFICIAL PAPERS. (Concluded from p. 224.) At half-past five the engagement began. In a short time the cables of the Minerve and Ceylon were cut by the shot. These two vessels drifted and went on shore with their broadsides towards me. Their fire was consequently useless. The Bellone was the only vessel that presented her broadside to the enemy. This unexpected occurrence gave him reason to expect the most signal advantage. The three frigates had their broadsides towards us. One of them only had got aground forward, and could not bring all her guns to bear upon us. In this situation the engagement continued with indescribable ardour. The superiority of our fire was soon perceived. At eight o'clock the Nereide was silenced. Shortly after, the fire of the other frigates sensibly diminished, and announced, that they were under some disadvantage. Our fire, on the contrary, became more vigorous, and was nourished by the assistance in men, cordage, and ammunision, which the Captain of the Minerve 27th, the French squadron which came out of Port Napoleon appeared.-On the 28th, at day-break, an officer went on board the Iphigenia, with a summons to her and the fort to surrender. A negotiation was also opened between the Captain and the Commander of the French squadron. At eleven o'clock the French flag was hoisted on board the fort and the frigate. Captain Bouvet was sent to take possession of the latter, and the garrison was sent to the fort. All the prisoners were sent to Port Imperial.-These, General, are the particulars of the complete victory obtained under your eyes by the squadron I have the honour to command. Our loss consisted of 37 killed and 112 wounded, but most of them not dangerously. I have the honour, &c. G. V. DUPERRE. SPAIN AND FRANCE.—General Count Suchet's Report to the Prince of Neufchutel and Wagram, relating to the Siege and Capture of TORTOSA.-Dated at Tortosa, 4th : January 1811. On the 19th November, General Habert took the position of Falset from O'Donnell's troops, and made 300 of them prisoners. On the 26th of the same month, General Musnier defeated the Valencians at Vinaros, and took 2,500 prisoners.—So soon as the army of Catalonia, on its return from Barcelona, had approached the Ebro to co-operate in the support of the 3d corps, I marched towards Xerta, where my columns were formed on the 14th December in the evening. I ordered 12 battalions to pass on the 15th to the left bank. While one party carried the position of the Colde-l'Alba, the other extended itself in a half-circle, touching the Ebro both above and below the town. The whole of the ene my were driven into it on that evening, and the place was completely invested. From that day nothing could enter or come out of it. The artillery immediately estawhich is 360 yards wide in this place, blished a flying bridge over the river, for the purpose of opening a communica tion between the two banks. The engineer officers reconnoitered the approaches to the garrison; I fixed the camps, and made the necessary preparations to push with vigour and rapidity, the operations of a siege which had been so long delayed. -On the 18th, I ordered the Commander of the Engineers and the head of my Staff, so to arrange the whole line of our advanced posts, as to drive in the enemy's parties, and even their centinels, which was admirably executed. The 117th on the right, and Harispe's division on the left, had already occupied the reverse of the heights, before forts Tenezas and Orleans, and within SO and 100 toises of them. Under cover of these dispositions, on the 19th, in the evening, the trenches were begun on the height of Orleans; but the soil was so very hard, that it could not be raised without the assistance of explosion. Monseigneur.-In obedience to the orders of his Majesty, the 3d Corps of the army of Spain proceeded towards Tortosa, after the sieges of Lerida and Mequinenza. The first division blockaded the téte-depont on the right bank; the second advanced to the frontiers of Valencia, having detached a corps towards Terruel to keep Villa Campa in check, and to cover Saragossa; the third division was posted on the Lower Ebro, to secure our supplies, the conveyance of our artillery, and to observe the enemy's army in Catalonia.-General Roguiat, of the Engineers, opened a road passable by carriages from Caspe and Mequinenza, through thirty leagues of mountainous country, practicable before only to mules and foot passengers.-Gen. Valée, of the Artillery, after waiting a long-On the night of the 21st, under cover time for the rise of the Ebro, succeeded, with infinite labour, in collecting, by land and water, his besieging artillery at Xerta. In order that no delay might occur when it was necessary for us to act, the troops employed in the blockade incessantly laboured at the works preliminary to the siege. Your Highness is acquainted from my former reports with what vigour they repulsed the sorties from the garrison in July and August.-On the 31st October, and 12th November, General Chlopicky defeated Villa Campa, in Arragon, taking six guns and a company of light artillery. of a violent storm, and excessive darkness, 2,000 workmen opened the first parallel in front of the bastions of St. Peter and St. John. The left, at the distance of SO toises, extended from the left bank of the river to the foot of the height of Orleans, to the length of 250 toises. At the same time, a trench was opened on the right bank, within 90 toises of the téte-de-pont, for the purpose of erecting batteries intended to flank the principal attack.-On the 228, Frere's division of the army of Catalonia joined the besieging army. I posted it a league below the town on the Ebro, to ob serve the Tarragona and sea roads, detach- | were wounded. On the 29th, at daybreak, forty-five guns, in ten batteries upon both sides of the river, opened a fire, which in two hours acquired a decided superiority, and soon silenced all that of the front attacked.-The bridge was cut on the same day, and on the next morning was entirely broken; in consequence of which the enemy was under the neces pont, of which we took possession. On the 30th the castle was the only part of the garrison from which a fire was kept up, and on the 31st our fire became slack, as it was not answered. The parapets were levelled, the embrazures not in a state to receive guns, and two breaches were commenced near fort Orleans. In the mean career, completed the descent and passage of the ditch, and began to mine the scarp of the body of the place.-It was in this state of things, that on the morning of the 1st January a white flag was displayed from the castle, and immediately upon this signal, hostilities having every where ceased, the ramparts were covered with a crowd of soldiers and of inhabitants. Two officers with a flag of truce made their ap ing a battalion to watch the Col-d'Alba. It was impossible to display greater talents, courage, and activity, than was shewn by the Engineers, both officers and men, during the prosecution of the works. Henry, chief of battalion, who commanded the attack in the centre, carried it on with remarkable activity. On the night of the 17th, even before the bat-sity of evacuating in the night the téte-deteries were established, the covered way was crowned; an unexampled instance, I believe, in the history of sieges. Five of ficers of Engineers were killed and two wounded, either in the works, or in the sorties which the enemy frequently made to interrupt them.-They came on the night of the 17th, 23d, 24th, and 26th, to attack our camps, and works, in co-time General Roguiat pursued his brilliant lumns of 3 or 400 men. The grenadiers and troops that guarded the trenches repulsed them with the bayonet with great loss. On the 28th, in the evening, after a vigorous discharge from all the batteries of the garrison, about 2,000 men rushed upon all out points of attack, penetrated them for a moment on the left, and burned some gabions of the lodgement on the covered way, while they out-flanked in force the right on the height of Orleans.-But Gene-pearance, and were conducted to me: ral Habert, quitting his camp with General Bronikowsky and the companies of the elite of the 116th and 5th light, drove them within the walls; and General Abbé, who commanded in the trenches, with Colonel La Fosse, of the 44th, advanced against them over the trenches with crossed bayonets, overwhelmed and killed a great number of them, and took several prisoners. The ardour of the infantry could only be exceeded by the perseverance with which they worked.-The artillery, on their part, had surmounted excessive and continually increasing difficulties in conveying the besieging artillery to thejected every thing different from what was left bank. The navigation of the river changed every day, and was extremely difficult. The erection of the batteries was briskly opposed by a tremendous fire from the garrison, which crushed every thing, particularly on the right bank. The battery, No. 1, within 50 toises of Fort Orleans, was erected in open day, and completely exposed, under cover of a vigorous and continual fire of musketry aimed at the enemy's embrasures.-General Valée, the officers and men, displayed an indefatigable zeal. The soldiers of the train acted as cannoniers; a Captain of the artillery, and a Lieutenant of the train, they communicated a letter from the Governor, who had authorised them to make proposals to me. The Adjutant Com mandant, St. Cyr Nugués, the Chief of my staff, carried my answer to the town with the basis of a capitulation. He found in the Governor a weak man, surrounded by. two or three Chiefs, who divided the authority between them, and who demanded that they should be sent to Tarragona upon their immediate surrender, or offered to surrender conditionally in 15 days if not relieved before the expiration of that time: following up my instructions, he re contained in my answer, and desired them no longer to display the white flag if it was not merely and simply to capitulate. Upon his return the soldiers received the. news with joy, and with loud cries demanded the assault; I promised it to them on the following day. The fire of bombs and howitzers recommenced in the night on the town and castle; the miners.continued their labours. On the morning of the 2d a new battery in breach, raised with extraordinary rapidity in the covered-way against the counterscarp of the ditch, was battering at the distance of 15 toises; the breach was hourly enlarged. AND FRANCE.-Report of M. RoGUIAT, commanding the Engineers at the Siege of Tortosa.-4th Jan. 1811.-To the Prince of Wagram. Three white flags were displayed at once; | SPAIN I ordered the firing to be every where redoubled. At 2 o'clock every thing was ready for the assault; I ordered a brigade of General Harispe to be under arms in the great line of the trenches, and formed in column the select companies of the guards of the trenches, to mount the breach.-Flags of truce made their appearance a-new, but I forbad any one to be received, except for the purpose of delivering to our grenadiers, as the first preliminary, a gate of the town. They hesitated; I advanced, followed by some Generals and other Officers, and I ordered the draw-bridges to be let down. The soldiers obeyed me; I entered; I made them lay down their arms; I reproached the Officers and the Governor for their conduct the evening before. The forts, undetermined and surprised, adopted the part of submission. I ordered the grenadiers to enter, and at four in the afternoon a garrison of 8,000 men defiled as prisoners of war, deposited nine colours, of which one was presented by King George to the town of Tortosa, and immediately took the road to Saragossa, under a strong escort. After 18 days of siege, 13 of trenches opened, and five of cannonade, we are thus masters of the fortress of Tor tosa, which delivers into the power of the Emperor 177 pieces of artillery, 30,000 balls or bombs, 1,400,000 cartridges, 9,000 muskets, &c. I have the honour to transmit to your Highness the different inventories, with a view and plan of the town and of the attacks, the journal of the siege, and the documents furnished by the Chiefs, which make the force of the garrison, including the hospitals, amount to 9,000 men, of whom 392 are officers; in that number is a battalion of artillery of the marine, which was two years at Brest; and the officers of which have declared to me, that snatched by the fate of arms from the anarchy which desolates their country, they all form the wish of combating the English, whom they regard as its true authors.-Our loss during the siege amounted to 400 men, and that of the enemy to 1,200. Your Highness will consider it trifling when you learn that the fortress fired 25,000 rounds of cannon, and we 15,000.-I cannot close this relation, Monsiegneur, without repeating to your Highness how much I have had reason to be satisfied with the distinguished conduct of the Generals of engineers and artillery, Roguiat and Valée. I have the honour to transmit to your Highness the Journal of the Siege of Tortosa. Your Highness will see from it, that, in 13 days after opening the trenches we have reduced a very strong fortress, defended by a garrison of 9,000 men, and 177 pieces of cannon. The enemy defended himself to the last extremity; the covered way was crowned without the aid of artillery on the 7th night of the trenches being opened; the ditch was passed and the miners set to work on the 12th night; circumstances never before exemplified in any siege.-The engineers have served with enthusiasm. I have had five killed, and a greater number wounded, all excellent officers. The General in Chief, Count Suchet, solicits rewards for the officers and corps of engineers. I have to beg your Highness to give them your favourable attention, in order that his Majesty may deign to grant those rewards, which they have merited at the expence of their blood, and by their zeal for the Emperor. SPAIN AND FRANCE.-State of the French Armies in Spain; and Account of their proceedings.-Paris, 19 Jan. 1811. I. SIEGE OF CADIZ.-The Duke of Belluno, desirous of having the whole of his flotilla united in the canal of the Trocadero, where, would only be between 5 and 600 toises from the isthmus which joins Cadiz to the continent, had already caused the flotilla to be conveyed from San Lucar as far as Rota and Port St. Mary's. Several glerious actions had been sustained by this flotilla, but the most difficult remained to be undertaken. It was necessary to pass within 300 toises of the fort of Puntales, which is upon the isthmus of Cadiz, and surrounded by a numerous groupe of floating batteries and the enemy's gunboats. It was, therefore, to be feared that the French flotilla would suffer considerably in attempting to double Point Matagorda. The Duke of Belluno, therefore, resolved to convey it by land from the river San Pedro to the Trocadero. The flotilla was dragged across this space of 500 toises upon rollers, to the great satisfaction of the army. By the 11th of |