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army, which existed from year to year by the annual Mutiny Act; and if there was no intention of giving those foreign officers command in our army longer than the period under which they had been engaged by the sanction of Parliament, he saw no objection to the measure. He had heard that there were many persons who entertained an aversion to foreign troops, and a hostile feeling to those Germans; he wished particularly to state that he had no such feelings. (Hear, hear.) He had heard from many officers of high rank, that some corps had very highly distinguished themselves against the enemy, and he felt neither aversion nor distrust towards them. Nevertheless he adhered to the opinion, that Parliament ought generally to look with a constitutional jealousy to the em ployment of foreign soldiers, especially within this realm.

Sir H. Mildmay said, that he should vote for the motion. He had no objection to this corps as Germans, but he objected merely to the manner in which they were employed.

trusted with commands against the enemy, they should not be equally trusted in this country? Lord Wellington had intrusted the command of the light division, which was one of the finest in the whole army, to Baron Alten. Notwithstanding the partiality he naturally felt for English troops, yet the Germans had so eminently distinguished themselves in the Peninsula, that he was sure, if it was put to the whole army to say, whether they ought not to have permanent rank, there would not be a dissentient voice. When he first read the Order, he certainly did understand it in the sense which the Noble Lord (Lord Folkestone) did, (loud cries of hear, hear), and in that he would approve of it. He. had witnessed the merits of the German. troops in the Peninsula. The 1st regiment of Hussars was the admiration of the whole army; and in the department of QuarterMaster-General, he knew some German Officers, who, he thought, ought to be preferred to British Officers. Besides great clearness and diligence, many of them possessed advantages acquired before the war in the Peninsula.

Lord Milton believed, that in point of fact, German officers had in this country Lord Milton begged to be allowed to commanded districts, and British regi- say in explanation, and in answer to the ments; and he particularly alluded to Ba- Gallant General who could not apprehend ron Linsingen. Now he thought this was why, if it were allowable to intrust comnot a proper employment for Foreign Of-mands to German Officers abroad, it should ficers. He had no objection to their being employed in commands abroad, but he did not like to see them in command in this country, except in their particular corps. In this distinction he conceived himself founded on the true principles of the constitution.

not be considered allowable to intrust to them commands at home, that the very reason was, that in the one case the command was in Portugal, and in the other in England.

Mr. Canning confessed that his mind was inexpressibly relieved by the explanaLord Palmerston said, in explanation, tion which the Noble Secretary at War that with the Officers of the German Le- had given of an order, which, until that gion from its first foundation, their tempo-hour he certainly understood, in common rary rank gave them corresponding command. In the case of Baron Linsingen, the command of the district would have naturally devolved upon him, on the removal of Lord Chatham; but the fact, as he believed, was, that the Baron never had commanded a district, as an older English Officer was immediately appointed to it: he had only commanded at the depot.

Lord Millon repeated his persuasion, that the Baron had for some time actually commanded the Eastern district.

General Stewart could not, as a military man who had seen the services of those corps, remain silent upon the present occasion. He would ask the Noble Lord (Lord Milton) why; when they were in

with the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite, in common with the Public, and, as it now appeared, in common even with one of the gallant leaders of that army with which the German Legion was immediately connected, to import no less than the communication of permanent rank to the Officers of that Legion, in the sense in which that term was usually interpreted in the British army. His mind was inexpressibly relieved by that explanation, because it proved, that in fact, the Law and the Constitution had not been violated. It gave him great satisfaction to learn, that the order in question was not so ineffective as the Noble Lord had described it to be, for whatever might be his sense of the merit of the troops to which it referred, no

guage which only that Gentleman could command, had declared his intention of voting against it. This conduct of the Hon. Gentleman was, however, nothing new: he had been a good deal in the habits of speaking on one side of the question, and giving his vote on the other; nor could he, ever after to night, think himself entitled to calculate upon his support in a division, from the arguments he might use in the course of the debate.

Lord Palmerston, in answer to an inquiry from Lord Folkestone, on what authority he had stated that the Officers of the German Legion understood the order relating to their receiving permanent rank only in a qualified sense, said it was from a letter from General Dekin, who had expressed himself distinctly to that effect.

Lord Folkestone, wishing to know the date of that letter, Lord Palmerston replied, that it was subsequent to the notice of his Lordship's motion.

The motion was then negatived without a division.

OFFICIAL PAPERS. Report of Monsieur the Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr to His Highness the Prince Major-General.

(Continued from page 766.) lumns before the front of the 6th division, commanded by M. General Legrand. He principally directed his attack against a battery which was not completed, on the left bank of the Polota, and which thus became the centre of the division of Legrand. Three or four times he endeavoured to obtain possession of it, and was always repulsed with that loss which is ever experienced when such enterprises cannot succeed. Up to the afternoon the enemy had not dared to attack the front of the right bank of thé Polota, some points of which were tolerably well intrenched and finished; but about four o'clock they debouched from the road of Seibit and Riga, and furiously and in a crowd marched upon the left flank of the town, supported by the column which debouched from the Naval road.I wished to have allowed all that fine ardour to be spent upon two redoubts, constructed and occupied by the Bavarian artillery and troops, and necessary to their defence, commanded by General Vicente; but the success of the 2d division, commanded by General Merle, as well as the 3d regiment of Croates, in opposition to their settled dispositions,

precipitated themselves before the Russians, and fought that 'fury with remarkable bravery, order, and sang froid. We, at least, brought the Russians, who made this attack under the walls of the town, where the carnage we caused them, from the morning, upon all points of their whole army, only terminated with night. The Russians, notwithstanding their superio rity, left the ground heaped with corpses, and did not succeed in any of their attacks.

-On

-Notwithstanding the success obtained on this day, I was uneasy in the evening respecting the success my cavalry might have met with upon the left bank of the Dwina. On this day, I had deprived myself of the greater part of my cavalry, to be easy respecting my rear. In the evening, General Carbineau, whose bri gade of horse, extremely fatigued, had not penetrated beyond the Orschatz, and had met, according to his account, with some cavalry and a few infantry; as he was perfectly satisfied in this respect, having, at his disposition three battalions of Bavarian infantry, I waited the following day with much tranquillity. the 19th, at break of day, we saw the enemy in movement upon the line, occupied in rectifying their position, and forming a half circle round ours. About ten in the morning, an Aid-de-Camp of General Carbineau arrived, and informed me he had before his brigade 5,000 men, and 12 squadrons of cavalry. I lost not a moment in taking a regiment out of each of the three divisions of the 2d corps, taking in preference those which might be most easily withdrawn from before the enemy, who would not then have failed to renew his attacks, and only waited to do it, the appearance of this corps, the arrival of which he impatiently expected. Towards noon, these troops defiled upon the heights behind Polotsk. The enemy clearly perceived the object of this movement; but thought it was a kind of reserve behind Polotsk. I assembled these troops, under the command of General Amey. I joined to them the 7th regiment of cuirasseurs, of Denmir's division, who had not hitherto met the enemy in proceeding up the Dwina. At the same time I ordered, that as soon as it was dusk, the whole of the army should cross to the left of the Dwina. Towards the fall of day, at the moment in which we began to withdraw the artillery from the advanced works, some imprudent persons set fire to General Legrand's barracks, which, in a moment, communicated

-Our loss is not very considerable in comparison with that of the enemy, which is enormous. General Legrand has had a horse killed under him, and received two contusions.

General Guicheew, Aid-deCamp to His Majesty, is among the number of the wounded.I have the honour to inform your Excellency, that a ball which I have received in my left foot, and which hinders me from marching, or mounting on horseback, will oblige me to quit the command of the corps d'armée, for ten or twelve days. I have given it up to General Legrand. I reckon upon remaining at only one march from the corps d'armée, to be ready to resume my functions, hoping to be still useful to the corps d'armée by my counsels, if Gen. Legrand approve them. But I expect in a few days the Duke of Reggio, and the 9th corps under the command of the Duke of Belluno, is in march. Our junction effected, we will briskly push the Russian army.'

through the whole line, and gave the ene-Aubrey, Commander of the Artillery of my certain proof that we were retiring. the 2d corps; Desde, Commander of the Then he began to fire from all his batteries, Engineers; and M. the Adjutant Comand threw into the town a quantity of shells mandant Dalbignac, who have on this day and other incendiary projectiles, to set it acquired new rights on His Majesty's faon fire, in which he in part succeeded, vour. I shall have the honour to address hoping by this to prevent our artillery to your Highness, in a few days from this movements, and blow up our caissons.-- place, a list of the Officers who, by their This cannonade and bombardment were good conduct, have merited preferment. supported by a general attack. We saw each other as if in full day-light, by the light of the burning town; and this attack did not cease until the moment when the last man had repassed to the left bank of the Dwina; but, in the midst of these attacks, and the confusion caused by firing the town, the troops conducted themselves with the most extraordinary bravery, and the retreat was performed in the best order. At midnight all the artillery was retired, and the whole body of the troops had passed over at half-past two o'clock in the morning. I immediately reinforced with two regiments, which were the first that passed the troops, which I had put under the orders of General Amey, and who had succeeded, in the evening, in confining the enemy in the defiles near to Solouk, but were not yet in sight of M. De Wittgenstein's army. With these troops, there was a column of Bavarians, about 6 or 700 men strong. I re-united the whole under the command of M. Merle, to whom I gave orders to march immediately against the front of General Steingel, and to repulse him with vigour, and to throw him past the Orschatz, as I could then support this attack with another part of the army, if it should become necessary. At the moment that these troops put themselves in motion, they fell in with those of the enemy.-The corps of M. de Steingel was broken, and after a great loss in killed, driven to the other side of the Polota, leaving in our hands 12 or 1,500 prisoners, among whom were 18 Officers of different ranks; and among others, a Captain of an English vessel, employed in the Etat-Major of M. Steingel, and who said he had been three weeks in the Russian service. This affair gives great honour to M. Count Wrengel, who directed it, and to General Amey, who seconded him well. I owe the greatest eulogiums to the good conduct of the troops, to the zeal and intelligence of Officers of all ranks, and of the whole army, who have seconded me well; among whom I shall mention Messrs. the Generals Legrand, Merle, Baron, Laurences; my Chief of the General Staff,

(Signed) The Marshal-Gen. St. CYR.

LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY.

Wednesday, Dec. 16.

Foreign-Office, Dec. 16. Dispatches, of which the following are copies, were received last night by Viscount Castlereagh, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, from General Viscount Cathcart, K. T. His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipo tentiary to the Emperor of Russia, dated at St. Petersburgh, 23d and 25th November, 1812.

St. Petersburgh, Nov. 23, 1812. My Lord,-In my dispatch of the 15th instant, I had the honour to detail such operations of Marshal Kutosoff's army as had come to my knowledge up to the 9th of November; since that date no report has been received of the further proceedings of the corps intrusted to General Platoff. The Field-Marshal had calculated to reach Krasnoi on the 14th instant, but although he had approached within a few

wersts of that place, I have not heard that | ed by Colonel Chernichef, Aid-de-Camp

to His Imperial Majesty, who had been detached by Admiral Tchichagoff, with a small corps of light cavalry, to discover and ascertain General Count Wittgenstein's position.-In the course of this expedition, the Colonel had the good fortune to rescue Major-General Baron Winzengerode and his Aid-de-Camp, Captain Narishkin, between Vilna and Minsk; they were proceeding towards the frontier, under an escort of gens-d'armes, and had been march

his head-quarters were established there on the 16th. His last dispatch of the latter date announces his intention of forwarding a Journal of the preceding days, which will contain important relations, but it has not as yet been received. On the 9th of November, Count Orloff Denizoff, being advanced on the roads towards Smolensko and Krasnoi, received intelligence of the march of a French corps from Smolensko, in the direction of Kalouga, composed of fresh troops intended for the different re-ed from Verrea, where they were pregiments of guards; this force was under sented to Buonaparte, with the French the command of General Barragé D'Hil- guards under the charge of Junot. -Colier, having with him General Charpentier loncl Chernichef also took three couriers, and Brigadier-General Augereau, brother one coming from, and the other two going to the Marshal of that name. They were to Paris. From these sources of intellidistributed in the three villages of Yasvin, gence it is ascertained, that Buonaparté Lakoff, and Dolgomust. A disposition of was at Smolensko on the 13th instant.attack was immediately made by three par- Admiral Tchichagoff intended, according tisan corps, commanded by Captain Ses- to his route, to arrive at Minsk on the 17th lavia, Colonel Davidoff, and Captain Phig- instant.-Colonel Chernichef arrived at ner. The result was, that the corps under the palace yesterday, accompanied by the Charpentier was nearly cut to pieces, that prisoners he has released, and bringing Barrage D'Hillier having patiently heard with him the intercepted dispatches. Those a cannonade for several hours in the quar- from Paris contain nothing but military ters of Augereau's division, made good his plans and maps.The expedition of retreat to Smolensko, and that Augereau's Colonel Chernichef was a continued and corps of 3,000 men, after losing nearly extraordinary excrtion, he having marched one-third of their number, laid down their seven hundred wersts in five days, and arms, and capitulated to Captain Phigner, swam across several rivers.—It is stated, who had not 1,500 men, and who appears but no official report has been received, to have conducted this affair with infinite that General Sachen has been left with a address and gallantry. -In this corps detachment to observe Prince Schwartzenwere two squadrons of cavalry, well mount- berg, and that General Eartel has aded. The prisoners amounted to one Ge-vanced to and occupied Mohiloff. neral, sixty Staff and other Officers, and two thousand rank and file. The Officers who capitulated stated the object of their march, by that route, was to open another communication in the direction of Kalouga; Jamich, Nov. 15, 1812. they were not aware of the retreat of the My Lord, I am very happy to inform army.. -Since this affair, three General your Lordship, that Victor has failed in Officers, upwards of twenty pieces of can- fulfilling the orders he received from Buonon, and four thousand prisoners have been naparte, to drive Count Wittgenstein betaken near Smolensko, but the particulars hind the Dwina. He attacked yesterday are not yet reported.- On the 14th in-morning. Count Wittgenstein ordered stant, General Count Wittgenstein was attacked by Marshal Victor, who had orders to drive him to the other side of the Dwina. The enemy was repulsed, with the loss of two to three thousand men, and was pursued the next morning in his retreat towards Senno, when six hundred prisoners were taken. I have the honour to enclose a copy of Major-General Baron Dornberg's report of this affair.- -Nothing material occurred at this post till the 18th, when Count Wittgenstein was join

I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed) CATHCART.

the advanced guard to retire to the Position. This was executed in a masterly manner: they retired in echiquier, under a very heavy fire, as if it was a field day. In the Position the French were received by a well-directed fire from the artillery, by which they must have lost a great number in killed and wounded, I suppose between two and three thousand. The firing only ceased about seven in the evening. The French had made strong de(To be continued.)

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7991

As illustrated in the Prosecution and Punishment of
WILLIAM COBRETT.

[800

In order that my countrymen and that the two sureties in the sum of 1,000 pounds each; world may not be deceived, duped, and cheated that the whole of this sentence has been executed upon this subject, I, WILLIAM COBBETT, upon me, that I have been imprisoned the two of Botley, in Hampshire, put upon record years, have paid the thousand pounds TO THE the following facts; to wit: That, on the 24th KING, and have given the bail, Timothy Brown June, 1809, the following article was pub- and Peter Walker, Esqrs. being my sureties; lished in a London news-paper, called the that the Attorney General was Sir Vicary Gibbs, COURIER: "The Mutiny amongst the LO- the Judge who sat at the trial Lord Ellenborongb, «CAL MILITIA, which broke out at Ely, was the four Judges who sat at passing sentence Ellen«fortunately suppressed on Wednesday by the borough, Grose, Le Blanc, and Bailey; and that "arrival of four squadrons of the GERMAN the jurors were, Thomas Rhodes of Hampstead LEGION CAVALRY from Bury, under the Road, John Davis of Southampton Place, James "command of General Auckland. Five of the Ellis of Tottenham Court Road, John Richards ❝ringleaders were tried by a Court-Martial, and of Bayswater, Thomas Marsham of Baker Street, “ sentenced to receive 500 lashcs each, part of which Robert Heathcote of High Street Marylebone, punishment they received on Wednesday, and John Maud of York Place Marylebone, George "a part was remitted. A stoppage for their knap- Bagster of Church Terrace Pancras, Thomas "sacks was the ground of the complaint that ex- Taylor of Red Lion Square, David Deane of St. "cited this mutinous spirit, which occasioned John Street, William Palmer of Upper Street "the men to surround their officers, and demand Islington, Henry Favre of Pall Mall; that the "what they deemed their arrears. The first Prime Ministers during the time were Spencer "division of the German Legion halted yesterday Perceval, until he was shot by John Bellingham, "at Newmarket on their return to Bury."- and after that Robert B. Jenkinson, Earl of LiThat, on the 1st July, 1809, I published, in the verpool; that the prosecution and sentence took Political Register, an article censuring, in the place in the reign of King George the Third, and strongest terms, these proceedings; that, for so that, he having become insane during my impridoing, the Attorney General prosecuted, as sedi- sonment, the 1,000 pounds was paid to his son, tious libellers, and by Ex-Officio Information, the Prince Regent, in his behalf; that, during my me, and also my printer, my publisher, and one imprisonment, I wrote and published $64 Essays of the principal retailers of the Political Register; and Letters upon political subjects; that, during that I was brought to trial on the 15th June, the same time, I was visited by persons from 197 1810, and was, by a Special Jury, that is to say, cities and towns, many of them as a sort of depa by 12 men out of 48 appointed by the Master of ties from Societies or Clubs; that, at the expira the Crown Office, found guilty; that, on the tion of my imprisonment, on the 9th of July, 1812, 20th of the same month, I was compelled to give a great dinner was given in London for the pat bail for my appearance to receive judgment; pose of receiving mẹ, at which dinner upwards of and that, as I came up from Botley (to which 600 persons were present, and at which Sir place I had returned to my family and my farm Francis Burdett presided; that dinners and other on the evening of the 15th), a Tipstaff went parties were held on the same occasion in many down from London in order to seize me, per- other places in England; that, on my way home, sonally; that, on the 9th of July, 1810, I, toge. I was received at Alton, the first town in Hamp ther with my printer, publisher, and the news-shire, with the ringing of the Church bells; that man, were brought into the Court of King's Bench to receive judgment; that the three former were sentenced to be imprisoned for some months in the King's Bench prison; that I was sentenced to be imprisoned for two years in Newgate, the great receptacle for malefactors, and the front of which is the scene of numerous hangings in the course of every year; that the part of the prison in which I was sentenced to be confined is sometimes inhabited by felons, that felons were actually in it at the time I entered it; that one man was taken out of it to be transported in about 48 hours after I was put into the same yard with him; and that it is the place of confinement for men guilty of unnatural crimes, of whom there are four in it at this time; that, besides this imprisonment, I was sentenced to pay a thousand pounds TO THE KING, and to give security for my good behaviour for seven years, myself in the sum of 3,000 pounds, and

a respectable company met me and gave me a dinner at Winchester; that I was drawn from more than the distance of a mile into Botley by the people; that, upon my arrival in the village, I found all the people assembled to receive me; that I concluded the day by explaining to them the cause of my imprisonment, and by giving them clear notions respecting the flogging of the Local Militia-men at Ely, and respecting the employment of German Troops; and, finally, which is more than a compensation for my losses and all my sufferings, I am in perfect health and strength, and, though I must, for the sake of six children, feel the diminution that has been made in my property (thinking it right in me to decline the offer of a subscription), I have the consolation to see growing up three sons, upon whose hearts, I trust, all these facts will be engraven.

Botley, July 23, 1812.

W. COBBETT.

Pablished by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent-Garden.
LONDON: Printed by J. M'Creery, Black Horse-Court, Fleet-street.

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