and Gross-Aspern, and thrice he filled wounded; he is one of the first generals them with his dead. The fusiliers of the of France. Gen. Durosnel, aid-de-camp guards, commanded by general Monton, to the Emperor, was also killed by a acquired great glory; they defeated the cannon-ball, while he was carrying an reserve, formed of all the grenadiers of order.-The soldiers displayed all that the Austrian army, and the only fresh coolness and intrepidity which is peculiar troops which remained to the enemy. Gen. to the French only.-The water of the Dato the sword 700 Hungarians, nube still increasing, the bridges of the succeeded in entrenching them- Danube could not be restored during the the church-yard of Esling. The night; the Emperor, therefore, ordered the trailleurs under the command of gen. army, on the 23d, to pass from the left Curial, performed their first service this bank across the little arm, and take a posiday, and proved that they possessed cou- tion in the island of In-der-Lobau, prorage. Gen. Dorsenne, col. commandant tecting the tetes du ponte.-The works for of the old guards, posted his troops in replacing the bridge are continued with asthe third line, forming a brazen wall, siduity, and nothing will be undertaken which was alone capable of withstanding until they are secure, not only against the all the efforts of the Austrian army. The accidents of the water, but against any enemy discharged 40,000 cannon shot thing that may be attempted against them. against us, while we, deprived of our reserve The rise of the river, and the rapidity parks, were under the necessity of sparing of the stream, must require much labour our ammunition, lest some other unforeseen and great caution.-On the 23d, when the events should occur.-In the evening, the army was informed that the Emperor had enemy returned to his old position, which ordered it to retreat to the great island, he had left previous to the commencement nothing could exceed the astonishment of of the attack, and we remained masters the brave troops; victorious on both days, of the field. His loss is very great: it they had supposed that the remainder of being estimated by the most experienced the army had joined them; but when they officers that he left more than 12,000 dead were told that the high water had carried on the field. According to the reports away the bridges, and that its continued of the prisoners the enemy have had increase rendered the renewal of their 23 generals and 60 superior officers killed ammunition and provisions impracticable, or wounded. Lieut. field marshal Weber and that any movement in advance would and 1,500 men, and four standards, have be absurd, it was with great difficulty they fallen into our hands. Our loss has also could be persuaded of the truth of the been considerable. We have 1,100 killed statement. That bridges constructed of and 3,000 wounded. The duke of Monte- the largest boats of the Danube, secured bello was wounded by a cannon ball in by double anchors and cables, should be the thigh, at six o'clock in the evening of carried away, was a great and entirely the 22d; but an amputation has taken unforeseen disaster; but it was extremely place, and his life is out of danger. At fortunate that the Emperor was not two first it was thought that he was killed, and hours later of being informed of it. The being carried on a hand-barrow to where army in pursuing the enemy would have the Emperor was, his adieu was most affect- exhausted its ammunition, which it would ing. In the midst of all the anxieties of the have been impossible to replace. On the day the Emperor gave himself up to the ex- 23d a great quantity of ammunition was pression of that tender friendship which sent to the camp at In-der-Lobau.-The during so many years he has cherished for battle of Esling, of which a circumstantial this brave companion in arms. Some tears report shall be made, pointing out the rolled from his eyes, and turning to those brave men who distinguished themselves who surrounded him, he said, " My heart therein, will, in the eyes of posterity, be required such a painful stroke as this, to a new memorial of the glory and inflexible make me occupy myself, on this day, with firmness of the French army.-The marany other care than that of my army.' "shals the dukes of Montebello and Rivoli The duke of Montebello was insensible, on that day displayed all the powers of but recovered himself in the presence of their military character. The Emperor the Emperor: he embraced him and said, has given the command of the 2d corps "Within an hour you will have lost him to gen. count Oudinot, a general tried in a who dies with the glory and the consola- hundred battles, in which he has always tion of being your best friend."-The evinced the possession of equal courage as general of division, St. Hillaire, is also skill. Eleventh Bulletin, dated Ebersdorf, May 2 offer pledges of their fidelity, and to sup- The duke of Dantzic is master of the Tyrol, and entered Inspruck on the 19th, the whole territory having submitted.On the 11th the duke of Dantzic took the strong position of the Strub-pass, with seven cannon and 600 men.-On the 13th, after defeating Chasteller in the position of Voergel, putting him to flight, and taking all his artillery, he pursued him near to Rullenberg, where the wretched fugitive On the 23rd and 24th the army was was indebted for his safety only to the employed to restore the bridges, which speed of his horse.-General De Roy at were ready the 25th, early in the morning, the same time raised the blockade of the and the wounded, caissons, &c. were refortress of Kufstein, forming his junction moved to the right banks of the Danube.— with the troops commanded by the duke The Danube being likely to rise until the of Dantzic, who greatly praises the con- 15th of June, it is intended to mark the duct of general Palm and several other heights of the river by poles driven into officers (named in the Bulletin).--Chastel- the ground, to which the large iron chain ler entered the Tyrol with a handful of is to be fastened which the Turks had brave men, and preached up insurrection, destined for the same purpose, but the plunder, and murder. He saw several Austrians took it from them, and it was thousand Bavarians and a hundred French found in the arsenal of Vienna. This soldiers put to death before his eyes. He measure, and the works which are coneven encouraged the murders by his own structed on the left bank of the Danube, applause, and provoked all the cruelty of will enable us to manoeuvre on both sides these mountain boors. Among the murdered of that river. Our light troops have taken French were about sixty Belgians, all coun- post near Presburgh, on the lake of Neutrymen of Chasteller. That wretch, loaded siedel. Gen. Lauriston is in Styria, at with the favours of the Emperor, to whom Simeringsberg and Bruck. The duke of he owed the restoration of his property, Dantzic is hastening, by forced marches, amounting to several millions, is insus- at the head of the Bavarian troops, to join ceptible to the feelings of gratitude, as the army of Vienna ; the horse-chasseurs well as to the affection which even barba- of the imperial guard arrived here yesterrians entertain for their countrymen.- day; the dragoons were expected in the The Tyrolese detest the man whose trea- course of the day; and within a few days cherous conduct instigated them to rebel- the horse-grenadiers, and 60 pieces of ordlion, and who thereby brought upon them nance attached to the guards, will reach all its consequent evils. The rage against this place.-By the Capitulation of Vienna, Chasteller is so great, that when after what seven marshal-lieutenants, nine major-gehappened at Voergel he took refuge at nerals, 10 colonels, 20 majors and lieuteHall, they attacked him with cudgels, nant-colonels, 100 captains, 150 lieutenants, and gave him such a drubbing that he 200 second lieutenants, and 3,000 nonkept his bed for two days, and durst not commissioned officers and soldiers were venture to make his appearance, except to made prisoners of war, exclusively of those request a capitulation: he was told, how-who were in the hospital, and whose numever, that no capitulation would be granted bers amount to some thousands. to a highway robber, upon which he fled towards the mountains of Carinthia.-The valley of Zillerthal was the first which submitted, laid down arms, and gave hostages. The remainder of the territory has followed this example. All the chiefs have ordered the boors to return to their homes, and they are leaving the mountains and returning to their villages. town of Inspruck and all the villages have The BATTLE OF URFAR.-On the 17th inst. at two in the afternoon, three Austrian columns, under the command of generals Grainville, Bucalwitz, and Somma Riva, and supported by a reseve under gen. Jellachich, attacked gen. Vandamme at the village of Urfar, in the front of the bridge-head at Lintz. (To be continued.) LONDON :-Printed by T. C. HANSARD, Peterborough - Court, Fleet - Street; Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden :-Sold also by J. BUDD, Pall-Mall. VOL. XV. No. 25.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1809. FPrice 1s. "THE defect of Representation is the national Disease; and, unless you apply a Remedy directly "to that Disease, you must inevitably take the Consequences, with which it is pregnant.. -Without a "Parliamentary Reform the Nation will be plunged into new wars; without a Parliamentary Reform es you cannot be safe against bad Ministers, nor can even good Ministers be of use to you. man can, according to the present system, continue Minister."- -MR. PITT'S SPEECH, in the House of Commous, 1762. 961] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. No honest -[962 of this monopoly into the hands of the Treasury; and, why did they so? Because, WHEN the reader has perused the motto, they themselves had not the possession of the and observed the date, it will, doubtless, Treasury. This was a very sufficient reaoccur to him, that this same man, without son for them to oppose the monopoly ; a Reform in Parliament, became minister, especially as they must have perceived, and continued to be minister for nearly twenty that the monopoly, if turned to good acyears. The truth is, that, if there had count by the present set, would deprivs been that Reform of Parliament, which he them of all chance of getting into the enprofessed to wish for, and which profes-joyment of place and profit again for the sion, together with others of a similar ten- remainder of many of their lives, if the dency, gained him that popularity of system continued so long. This was their which he made so mischievous an use; if reason for opposing the bill, as new-mo-t that Reform of Parliament had taken delled by the Tinman's Prosecutor.place, he would very soon have ceased During the last debate upon this bill, SIR to be minister, or he would never have FRANCIS BURDETT gave notice of his inthought of those measures, by which, intention to move a Resolution upon the subone shape or another, the half of everyject of real Reform; and, at the same man's estate has been taken from him, while the number of paupers has been doubled.—What we have recently seen; what has now been placed before us in so many shapes; what we have now seen so clearly proved; this must remove from. every mind, any doubt that might exist, respecting the soundness, or unsoundness, of Mr. Pitt's doctrine, that no honest man "can, according to the present system, "continue minister.”- -Mr. Curwen's Bill, of which I have spoken in the two last Numbers, has passed: it is become a law, and it contains only three lines and a half of the bill, as originally proposed by Mr. Curwen. It was clearly shown, I think, in my Number of the 10th of June, that this bill, even in its best state; even as proposed by Mr. Curwen, would only throw the monopoly of seats into the hands of the Treasury. We need not wonder, therefore, that good Mr. Curwen had the gratification of seeing Mr. Perceval and Lord Castlereagh amongst his most zealous supporters. If the worthy Mr. Reding had been in the House, I dare say that Mr. Curwen would have been honoured with his support too. But, the Opposition; I mean the regular Opposition, voted against the bill. They voted against the throwing time, to state distinctly what was the sort of Reform that he wished for. The SPEECH, which he made upon the occasion of this Resolution, I am now about to insert, as made out from the notes of a very able short-hand writer; so that the public may look upon it as containing a perfectly correct statement of all that was said by Sir Francis Burdett upon this occasion. -Here, then, we have his Plan of Reform. We have an exposition of the principles upon which that Plan is founded d; and we have arguments undeniable as to its beneficial effects.Any further than in observing, that this Plan, as to all its material parts, is precisely that which I wish for, and which every man not interested, either directly or indirectly, in public robbery, will, upon taking time to consider, heartily wish for; any further than this I shall not, at present, take up the time of the reader with any thing upon the nature or tendency of the Plan; but, there are some circumstances attending the bringing it forward, which it is proper to notice, and which will not fail to have due weight upon the mind of the public. -It was on Monday, the 12th instant, that, in speaking upon Mr. Curwen's bill, Sir Francis Burdett gave notice of his intended motion, ་་ " "no. "what, after all, was the remedy ?— A "measure in its origin far from being ef"fectual, but, under its present modifica"tions, only what he must repeat, an in"demnity for past offences and a security for "future corruptions."- -After this he gave the notice before-mentioned, observing, that it would be scandalous, to the last degree, for the house to separate without which notice he introduced thus: He Neither direct accusation, neither said that the honourable Mover, who acknowledged frequency and admitted originally introduced the Bill, could, in" extensiveness, had produced any effect, its present state, scarcely acknowledge "until the evil itself, and the source from it as his measure. His, indeed, must "whence it emanated, became too evident "be a mobility of political feeling, if, so "to be longer concealed from the people metamorphosed, he could recognise it" or protected by those interested. And "as his own, melted down as it had been "so completely, in the crucible of the "Chancellor of the Exchequer. By whom was it supported? What influence, un"der those changes, which some would affect to call improvements, now recom"mended it to the sanction of the House? Strange to tell, this measure of Reform, "this remedy for existing evils, this, which "in its operation was to have the power-giving some pledge to the country, that "ful effect of preventing their recurrence, "was now recommended, fostered, and im"proved by the very persons who either had "committed, were accused of committing, or by their votes in that House, had sanc"tioned the very criminal transactions and "offences against the principles of the Consti"tution and the independence of Parliament, "which this very Bill, so supported, now "went to remedy and redress. Could the "House forget what was the nature of the "plea, when such transactions were offer"ed to be proved at its bar?-when the "very author of this Bill, for so changed, so perverted was it from its original import, "that he could not call it any longer the "measure of the honourable gentieman be"hind him (Mr. Curwen), had himself "been accused of conniving at such an offence "--when his noble colleague (lord Castlereagh) near him had from his own lips "been self-convicted-when indeed, from "every side of the house justification and "not corrective, was the tenor of individual "sentiment and of general discussion. "And in what did that justification con"sist? It was only to be found in the ex"tensiveness of this great constitutional offence. "Now, it did happen, that in our Courts "of criminal jurisprudence, where the ignorant and the poor and the wretched had "to answer for their misdeeds, that those "very crown lawyers who here defended that crime upon its extensiveness and "its frequency, converted that very frequency and extensiveness, in the former "case, into an aggravation of the crime, and into an additional argument for the propriety of conviction and the necessity of a "severe punishment. Had the house, when "such offences were directly charged "against individuals, heard any such con"stitutional doctrine from those whose si"tuations bound them to deliver it? No, 66 they would seriously take the question of Reform into their consideration as soon as they met again. His notice was for the Wednesday, and, it so happened, that, though there was much business to press forward, there were not members enough present to make what is called a House, so that the motion could not be made. If the notice had been renewed, the like might have happened again; and thus, when the last day of the session came, the motion and the speech might have been prevented by a rap at the door by the Black Rod. This the mover prevented by taking care to attend every day, and the first moment he caught the House formed for business, rising and making his speech and motion.-When men are conscious of their own inferiority of talents, or of the badness of their cause, they naturally keep aloof: they decline, they shun, they flee from discussion. When this Speech of Sir Francis Burdett come to be made, and when the public saw what Mr. Perceval had to say in answer, the cause of there being no House to hear the motion was evident enough. It was impossible to let the thing go off; it was impossible to negative such a motion without saying something; very little could be said, and, therefore, it was best not to make a House, and, if possible, not to let the people hear what Sir Francis Burdett had to propose as a Plan for Parliamentary Reform.-This, however, has not succeeded. We have now the principal parts of that Plan before us; and, if we approve of it, the way for us to shew that approbation, is, by petitioning the King to recommend the measure to the parliament.-In my next, it is my intention to consider this plan of the Honourable Baronet in detail, and to see how it would act, if put into movement. The principles upon which the Plan is founded are admirably displayed in the Speech, and they cannot be too attentively considered; but, it will be useful for us to see how the plan itself will operate; how it will work; how it will be carried into execution. Having made these introductory observations, I shall now insert the Speech, subjoining to it an account of the numbers upon the division, and a list of the minority. This appears to me to be the first great direct step towards the demolition of that system of corruption, which has so long been gnawing at the heart of the country, and which, thanks chiefly to Mr. Wardle, has been of late, so well exposed; and, I trust, that, at no great distance of time, we shall have to trace a Reform from this first step to the completion. I rise to offer to the attention of the house a Plan of Reform, not for its immediate adoption, but for its future consideration; to state my opinion to the house, and the public, upon this subject, and to propose to the house to come to a Resolution (according to frequent custom at the close of a session), the object of which is, to hold out an assurance to the country, that the house will, at an early period in the next session, take into its consideration the necessity of a Reform in the State of the Representation. This course I am urged, amongst other reasons, to adopt, in order to get rid of the misrepresentation (unintentional I am willing to believe) which has been so long, and so actively propagated, with regard to my views and opinions on this momentous point: the mischievous tendency of which misrepresentations, as affecting myself personally, would alone have very little influence upon my mind; but it has much, combined with the public interest. As involved in this most essential question, I therefore feel it a duty to myself and the public to relieve this subject from all misrepresentation, ambiguity, and misconception and in now proposing for discussion, but not for immediate adoption, the outline of a specific Plan, I am answering those repeated calls which have been made upon me in this house, to state to this house, and to the public, definitely and precisely, what my views are upon the subject (perpetually agitated) of Parliamentary Reform, that henceforward it may be fully and clearly understood, how far I do really mean to go, and at what point I mean to stop. This is a subject which has long engaged my most anxious attention; and though I very early stated my opinion respecting it, that opinion was not thoughtlessly formed, or rashly hazarded; but after the most diligent inquiry, and minute investigation. If I did not then offer it to the public attention without due reflection, still less did it originate in those views and mischievous motives, to which it has been falsely ascribed-a desire to excite discontent, and to agitate the public mind by exaggerated statements of undefined grievances, beyond the reach of practical constitutional redress. ready to admit, if such were the case, that my conduct would be as culpable as those who most misrepresent it, would wish it to be considered; and I am willing to confess, that to excite discontent in the public mind by fixing its eye upon necessary and unavoidable evils, beyond the power of remedy, would be as exceptionble and dishonest a proceeding, as to mislead them from their true remedy, and obstinately to withhold that easy redress which the Constitution so clearly points out, and so amply affords. I am In this case, I shall cautiously abstain from any exaggeration of public grievance, or any expression calculated to excite in any gentleman, or set of gentlemen, the slightest irritation, or asperity of feeling; it being my wish, that the question should stand on its own merits, that it should be coolly and candidly considered, and that it should be the subject, not of angry contention, but of fair discussion. At the same time, there are some doctrines and opinions which have been recently promulgated in this house, of so misleading and mischievous a tendency, that I cannot allow myself to pass them over altogether without some animadversion. The course I have prescribed for myself is to state the Evils arising out of the defective state of the Representation, and then to point out the Remedy, which is simple, and perfectly practicable, not only consistent with the habits and interests of the people, and in unison with the laws and constitution of the country, but is (as I think I can shew) the Constitution itself: |