stroying what could not be carried off. The and that his sole object should be immediate British and Portuguese troops were posted and close pursuit, that he abandoned his along the ridge of the mountain or Sierra, wounded at Coimbra, with little or no proforming the segment of a circle, whose ex-tection, and advanced without taking the treme points embraced every part of the en- precaution to form and establish magazines. emy's position, and whence every move- On his arrival at Torres Vedras, after reconment below could be distinctly observed. On noitring the British line, he found their pothe twenty-sixth of September, the light sition to be impregnable, and here the error troops on both sides were engaged through- he had committed, in making so incautious out the line, and at six o'clock on the fol- an advance, became manifest. These lines, lowing morning, the divisions of Ney and strong by nature, and greatly improved by Regnier made two desperate attacks upon art, extended to a distance of thirty-five lord Wellington's position, one on the right, miles, flanked, on one side by the sea, and the other on the left of the highest point of on the other by the Tagus. The British the Sierra. Ney's division gained the top army was formed into four divisions, each of the ridge, but was driven back with the occupying one of the four passes of the bayonet; and, another, further to the right, mountains. The French force reached the was repulsed before it could reach the top vicinity of Torres Vedras harassed by faof the mountain. On the left, the attack tigue, straitened for provisions, and without was made by three divisions, one only of magazines in their rear; and when the relawhich made any progress towards the sum- tive strength and situation of the two armies mit, and this force, being charged with the was known in England, the destruction of bayonet, was driven down with immense the enemy was regarded as inevitable. Masloss. The Portuguese soldiers established sena, however, kept his position in front of this day their character for courage and dis- Torres Vedras till the fourteenth of Novemcipline: they were worthy, lord Wellington ber, when, being constrained to seek better said, to contend in the same ranks with Brit-quarters for the winter, he marched for Sanish troops, in that good cause which they af- tarem. On the next morning the allied army forded the best hopes of saving. The ene- broke up, and followed the march of the enmy, thus repulsed in his attempts to open a emy, hoping that the time for his destruction passage for his further advance into Portu- had now arrived; but, on examining his po gal, accomplished by a manœuvre what sition, it was not judged advisable to make force had failed to effect. On the evening an attack; lord Wellington therefore conof the twenty-eighth lord Wellington ob- tented himself with fixing his head-quarters served, as he had anticipated, the French at Cartaxo, about ten miles nearer Lisbon, army silently moving round the northern and in these positions the two armies reedge of the Sierra, toward Coimbra, which mained at the close of the year 1810. obliged him to quit Busaco, and retreat to In the summer of this year captain Mends, the left bank of the Mondego. In the after- with a small squadron of light vessels havnoon of the thirtieth the French advanced ing on board five hundred Spanish troops unguard appeared in the front of Coimbra, and der general Porlier, destroyed all the French the next day lord Wellington fell back upon batteries, except Castro, from St. Sebastian Leyria, and from thence to the lines of to St. Andero, on which he found above a Torres Vedras. hundred pieces of heavy cannon: having So perfectly convinced was the French thus laid that great extent of sea-coast bare general that the retreat of lord Wellington of defence, he obtained two good anchorages was for the purpose of embarking at Lisbon, for British vessels.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Parliament convened-Inquiry as to the Walcheren Expedition-Breach of Privilege -Sir Francis Burdett's Motion and Conduct thereon, and his committal to the Tower-Bullion Question, and other Proceedings-Capture of Amboyna, Islands of Bourbon, France, Guadaloupe, and Santa Maura-Marriage of BuonaparteAnnexation of Holland to France-Other Annexations—Burning Decrees of Buonaparte-Attempt on Sicily-War with Russia-Differences with the United States-State of Spanish America-The King's Mental Malady-Regency— Opening of Parliament-Proceedings as to Commercial Distress, and other Affairs -American Disputes—Capture of Java-Naval Actions—Further Measures against British Commerce.

TION.

PARLIAMENT.-WALCHEREN EXPEDI- of the expedition itself, which, being entirely of a naval nature, did not come within PARLIAMENT assembled on the twenty- his province. The presenting of such a third of January, 1810, and the opening document to the sovereign by a military speech, which was read by commission, con- commander, without the intervention of any tained but little specific matter besides late responsible minister, and without the knowdisasters, and the necessity of affording fur- ledge of the accused party, was pronounced ther assistance to Spain and Portugal. Lord a clandestine and unconstitutional attempt Porchester moved for an inquiry into the to poison the royal ear; and a motion was policy and conduct of the late expedition to made by Whitbread for an address to his Walcheren, by a committee: not a select and majesty, praying that copies of all papers secret committee, he said, before whom submitted to him by the earl of Chatham, garbled extracts might be laid by ministers concerning the expedition to the Scheldt, themselves in order to produce a partial de- might be laid before the house, was carried, cision, but a committee of the whole house, in opposition to ministers, by a majority of by which oral evidence might be examined seven. This proceeding was followed by a at the bar. This motion was opposed by min- vote of censure, proposed by Whitbread, isters, but was carried against them by a and amended by Canning, in which lord majority of one hundred and ninety-five to Chatham's conduct was pronounced highly one hundred and eighty-six. On the first of reprehensible; and his lordship, to avoid an February, the day before the investigation address to the king for his removal, resigncommenced, Yorke gave notice that he ed his office of master-general of the ordshould, during the inquiry, enforce the nance. The examination of evidence upon standing order of the house for the exclu- the Walcheren expedition occupied the house sion of strangers. Sheridan deprecated the from the second of February to the twentyidea of proceeding in an investigation, in sixth of March, when lord Porchester moved which the nation was so deeply interested, two series of resolutions, to the effect, that with closed doors, and asked, whether it the expedition was undertaken under circould be endured that the people should be cumstances which afforded no rational hope kept in complete ignorance of what parlia- of adequate success, and at the precise seament was doing at one of the most awful son of the year when the disease which had moments of its existence. A majority of proved so fatal was known to be most premembers, however, one hundred and sixty-valent; that the advisers of that ill-judged six to eighty, decided that the standing or- enterprise were therefore highly reprehender, for the exclusion of strangers, should sible; and that their conduct in delaying remain unaltered. Amongst the papers laid the evacuation of Walcheren called for the before parliament, was a "copy of the earl severest censure.-After four nights' debate, of Chatham's statement of his proceedings," there appeared, for lord Porchester's resoludated the fifteenth of October, 1809, pre- tions, two hundred and twenty-seven, and sented to the king on the fourteenth of Feb- against them, two hundred and seventy-five ruary, 1810. The tenor of the narrative voices. The house next decided upon an was to impute blame to the naval part of the amendment of general Crawford's, purportexpedition, and his lordship represented its ing, that though the house considered with failure to have arisen, either from insuffi- regret the lives which had been lost, it was cient arrangements on the part of the ad- of opinion that his majesty's ministers had miral, Sir Richard Strachan, or from un- proceeded upon good grounds in undertaking avoidable difficulties, inherent in the nature the expedition-which amendment, though

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE.-SIR F. BUR-
DETT'S MOTION.

substantially at variance with the first part strained by actual force, which he was deof the resolutions, was carried by a majority termined to resist. After taking the opinion of forty. The second set of resolutions, of the attorney-general, the serjeant, accomcensuring ministers for delaying the evacu- panied by a number of police officers, and a ation of Walcheren, was negatived by two detachment of troops, forced an entry into hundred and seventy-five against two hun- his house, and conveyed him to the Tower. dred and twenty-four; and a resolution, ap- As the escort which guarded the prisoner proving their conduct for retaining the island was on its return, a numerous mob attacked till the time it was abandoned, was carried them with stones and brickbats, and some by two hundred and fifty-five against two shots were fired, by which two or three lives hundred and thirty-two. were lost, and several wounded; the mob assembled round the house of Sir Francis also committed many outrages in the neighTHE exclusion of strangers from the house borhood. On the tenth, a letter sent by Sir of commons, during this inquiry, excited Francis to the speaker, after the receipt of much public observation; and the conduct his warrant, became a topic of debate, and of Yorke, who moved it, and of Windham, a resolution was unanimously passed, dewho made some unpopular observations on claring it a high and flagrant breach of the the practice of reporting debates in the privileges of the house. newspapers, being canvassed in some in- Sir Francis Burdett commenced actions stances with too much freedom, Yorke, on against the speaker of the house of commons, the nineteenth of February, complained of for issuing the warrant for his arrest and ima breach of privilege, his conduct in that prisonment; against the serjeant-at-arms, for assembly having been made the subject of executing the warrant generally, and for discussion in a speaking club called the breaking open the outer door of his house in British Forum; and, on the twenty-first its execution; and against earl Moira, the John Gale Jones, the manager of the society, governor of the Tower, for illegal imprisonwas summoned to the bar, and committed ment; the object of Sir Francis being to asto Newgate. Though several members ex- certain, whether an appeal lay to a court of pressed their doubts of the policy of his law, against the proceedings of the house of commitment, the power of the house to do commons acting as accuser and judge, and so was denied by Sir Francis Burdett alone, affecting the liberty of the subject-if the who, not having been present at the former punishment could be remitted by a court of debate, moved, on the twelfth of March, for law, the privilege claimed would be restrictthe discharge of Jones, on the ground that ed, if not destroyed; in all which he failed, the house had exceeded its authority, which the plea that the warrant being issued by was negatived by one hundred and fifty- the authority of the house of commons was three against fourteen. The speech deliver- a legal instrument, and that therefore the ed on this occasion, Sir Francis published in arrest and imprisonment were legal, being a periodical paper on the twenty-fourth, with admitted. Thus the attempt to overthrow a letter prefixed, addressed to his constitu- this branch of the privilege of parliament ents, "denying the power of the house of served to confirm it, and gave to the claims commons to imprison the people of Eng- of the house of commons a solemn judicial land." In consequence of this publication, recognition. it was moved by Lethbridge, and decided by

BULLION QUESTION.-SUPPLIES, &c. a majority, that he had been guilty of pub- HORNER, on the first of February, moved lishing a scandalous and libellous paper, re- for a variety of returns respecting the pres flecting upon their just rights and privileges; ent state of the circulating medium, and and a motion for his commitment to the the trade in bullion, on the production of Tower was made by Sir Robert Salisbury, which a committee was appointed for the and carried, after a long and animated de- purpose of inquiry into the high price of bate, by a majority of one hundred and bullion, and its effect on the value of the ninety to one hundred and fifty-two voices. paper currency. The committee were of The division did not take place till seven opinion, that the evils complained of were o'clock on the morning of Friday, the sixth to be attributed to an excessive issue of bank of April, when the speaker signed the war- of England paper; and it was stated in their rant, and delivered it to the serjeant-at-arms. report that "a general rise of all prices, a That officer was informed by Sir Francis rise in the market price of gold, and a fall that he would be ready to receive him on in the foreign exchanges, will be the effect the next morning, which being viewed by of an undue quantity of circulating medium the serjeant as implying that he would go in a country which has adopted a currency peaceably to the Tower, he retired. Sir not exportable to other countries, or conFrancis, however, alleging the illegality vertible at will into a coin that is convertiof the warrant, refused to go unless con-ble." It was added, that no sufficient rem

edy for the present evil, or security for the jesty to persevere in his endeavors to infuture, could be pointed out, except the re- duce foreign nations to co-operate in the peal of the law which suspended the cash abolition of the slave-trade. The latter, payments of the bank, to effect which the with great ability and eloquence, exposed committee was aware that some difficulties the practices of certain persons, even in this must be encountered; but all hazards to the country, who carried on that traffic in a stability of the bank, and all injury to public clandestine manner, as the penalties were credit, might be obviated, by restricting cash pecuniary, and it was a mere commercial payments for two years from the present speculation, what risk might be run for a time, and by intrusting to the bank itself certain profit by an adventure in the slavethe charge of conducting and completing trade: and a resolution for taking into conthe operation. sideration, early in the next session, such On the sixteenth of May the budget was measures as might tend to prevent those brought forward, and the supplies voted for violations of the law, was unanimously the year amounted to fifty-two million one adopted.

CAPTURE OF AMBOYNA AND OTHER
ISLANDS.

hundred and eighty-five thousand pounds, of The twelfth report of the commissioners which the proportion for Ireland was six of military inquiry disclosed a flagrant inmillion one hundred and six thousand pounds. stance of public delinquency. It appeared The ways and means, without the imposi- that Joseph Hunt, a member of the house tion of any new taxes, were estimated at a of commons, and late treasurer of the board surplus of one hundred and forty-one thou- of ordnance, had misapplied certain sums of sand two hundred and two pounds over the public money to a considerable amount; and demand, including, however, a loan of eight on the motion of Calcraft he was expelled million pounds, which was borrowed at the the house. The defaulter had, on the plea favorable rate of four pound four shillings of ill health, emigrated to Lisbon. On the and three pence three farthings per cent. twenty-first of June, parliament was proThe foreign subsidies were four hundred rogued. thousand pounds for Sicily, and nine hundred and eighty thousand pounds for Portugal; and a vote of credit was passed for THE Dutch settlement of Amboyna, with three million pounds. Perceval stated that its dependencies, was carried by a coup de the official value of the imports was nearly main in February, by an expedition under five million pounds more than in the most captain Tucker, who obtained a booty; and prosperous year of peace; that the exports the chief of the spice islands, Banda, with of our manufactures exceeded in amount its dependencies, surrendered unconditionthose of 1802, by eight million pounds; and ally to captain Cole, of the Carolina frigate, that though there was a diminution of nearly who conducted the attack with uncommon four million pounds in the exports of foreign gallantry and skill. The island of Bourbon, goods, yet the average was highly favorable and the Mauritius, or Isle of France, having to the country. He added, that the orders long afforded shelter to a large number of of council had already reduced the receipts French privateers, which had captured East of the customs in France from two million India shipping to an enormous amount, exfive hundred thousand pounds, to five hun- peditions were planned against them. The dred thousand pounds, being a diminution of Isle of Bourbon was first attacked, for which four-fifths of their whole amount. purpose a large force was collected under Petitions from the Catholics were presented lieutenant-colonel Keating and commodore to both houses, and gave rise to protracted Rowley, who were preparing for an assault discussions, but were rejected by considera- on St. Dennis, the principal town, when a ble majorities. Several measures of reform proposal from the governor for a capitulation experienced a similar fate. A bill, intro- was acceded to, and, two days afterwards, duced by Bankes, for rendering perpetual the the whole island submitted. A body of act preventing the grant of offices in rever- troops from India and the Cape of Good sion, was rejected by the lords. Brandt's Hope, amounting to about ten thousand, desmotion for a committee to inquire into the tined for the reduction of the Isle of France, state of the representation, and into the under major-general John Abercrombie, ef means of rendering it complete, was nega- fected a landing on the twenty-ninth of Notived by a great majority. Various altera-vember; admiral Bertie commanded the nations were proposed by Sir Samuel Romilly val force. On the second of December the in the criminal code; and it was unani- troops prepared for attacking the forts; but mously resolved, that the subject of peniten- on the day following, general de Caen, the tiary houses should be taken into considera- French governor, capitulated, on condition tion in the next session. Addresses were that the troops should return to France voted in both houses, on the motion of lord without being considered as prisoners of war; Holland and Brougham, beseeching his ma- by which the Isle of France, an immense VOL. IV. 47

quantity of stores and valuable merchandise, that period, indeed, they had been a dependfive large frigates, some smaller ships of war, ency upon France; but in some things Louis and twenty-eight merchantmen, with two had not shown himself sufficiently obsequicaptured British East-Indiamen, were sur-ous, especially in the restrictions upon comrendered to his majesty's arms. merce. On the first of July he resigned his In the West Indies, the island of Guada- nominal dignity in favor of his two sons, deloupe, the last that remained to the French claring his queen regent; and, in a farewell in that part of the world, surrendered, on address to the legislative body, he stated the the fifth of February, to a combined naval circumstances that had rendered it necessaand military force, under admiral Sir Alex- ry for him to sign a treaty with his brother, ander Cochrane, and lieutenant-general Sir the emperor, whereby he had been deprived George Beckwith; in the Ionian Sea, the of all authority. He advised them to receive island of Santa Maura, the ancient Leucadia, the French with respect and cordiality; he was taken on the sixteenth of April, by an expressed a warm affection for his late subarmament from Zante, under captain Eyre jects; and, indeed, throughout his short of the Magnificent, and brigadier-general reign, he always appeared as the friend of Oswald, after a vigorous resistance; and in the people upon whom he had been arbitrathe Baltic sea, the island of Anholt was de- rily imposed. It does not appear to have fended by captain Maurice and three hun- been the wish, and certainly was not the poldred and eighty men, against a Danish force icy, of Buonaparte to deprive his brother of of nearly three thousand, which landed there the regal state to which he had raised him, on the twenty-third of March; but were re- if he could have made him subservient to pulsed, with the loss of four hundred and his ruling passion of ruining the commerce four taken, besides many killed and wounded. of Great Britain, or obtaining what he callMARRIAGE OF BUONAPARTE-ANNEXA- ed a maritime peace, by the revocation of

TION OF HOLLAND TO FRANCE. the English orders in council. With this THE marriage of Buonaparte to the arch-view he had, towards the close of 1809, sent dutchess Maria Louisa of Austria, to which for Louis to Paris, and, after many conferhis divorce from Josephine, in the close of ences, Louis reported to his ministers that 1809, was the prelude, took place early in there could no longer be any independence this year. On the twenty-seventh of Feb- or national existence for Holland, should the ruary he announced to the senate that he had maritime war be continued; and as it was dispatched his cousin, the prince of Neuf- possible that the cabinet of London, rather chatel (Berthier), to demand for him the than suffer its annexation to the French emhand of the daughter of the emperor Fran- pire, might be induced to make peace with cis, agreeably to a contract that had been France, or to change its measures with remade, and which is supposed to have been a spect to neutral commerce, he directed them secret article in the treaty of peace. The to send to England some discreet man of marriage took place at Vienna on the elev- business, to urge the advantages of the inenth of March, the archduke Charles receiv- dependence of Holland to that country. In ing the hand of his niece, as representative conformity with this message, which could of his old antagonist; and on the thirteenth only be considered as coming from Napoleon the new empress set off on her way to Paris, himself, Mynheer Peter Cæsar Labouchere where the ceremony was repeated on her arrived in London in February, and had sevarrival, with every mark of imperial gran-eral conferences with the marquis Wellesdeur, on the first of April. The train of the ley, who told him, that while the Milan and bride was supported by four queens; and Berlin decrees remained in force, it was not after the marriage was concluded, Buona- to be expected that we should relax our efparte conducted her to St. Cloud, where, forts for self-defence: the orders in council three days afterwards, they received the were not the cause, but the consequence of congratulations of the senate. It was at those decrees; and even were the latter first conceived that the archdutchess was an promised to be recalled, it would not be conunwilling, though resigned, victim to the venient for England to admit, in principle, preservation of her family; but it soon ap- that the British measures of reprisals should peared that she was delighted with her con- be discontinued as soon as the cause that quest over the man who had conquered Eu- provoked them should be removed. The nerope, while Napoleon equally felicitated him- gotiation having thus failed, the annexation self in a connexion which seemed to secure was determined upon; the abdication of the perpetuity of his new dynasty. Louis in favor of his children was consider

Proceeding in his plans of encroachment, ed of no validity, not having been previous Buonaparte seized the seven Dutch prov-ly concerted with the emperor; and the inces, which in 1806 he had formed into a seven provinces were merged in the French kingdom, in favor of his brother Louis. From empire.