Lords Sitting of 8 November 1813

Preamble
The Lord Chancellor, from the woolsack, read the Answer of his royal highness the Prince Regent to the Address of their lordships, presented by the whole House on Saturday; declaring his Royal Highness's satisfaction at the sentiments therein contained, and expressing his hope, under Divine Providence, in conjunction with his illustrious allies, and the support of parliament, of bringing the arduous contest in which they were engaged to a safe and honourable termination.
His Royal Highness's most gracious Answer was ordered to be inserted on the Journals. Their lordships then adjourned, during pleasure.

TREATIES OF ALLIANCE.
About five o'clock the House resumed.
The Earl of Liverpool laid on the table, by command of the Prince Regent, certain Conventions concluded between this country and our allies. There were two supplementary conventions concluded with the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia (for the fulfilment of objects referred to in the former treaties), of which the ratifications had not yet been exchanged; but, for the convenience of the House with reference to the details, he would move an humble Address to the Prince Regent, praying his Royal Highness to order the substance of those two conventions to be laid before the House.
The motion was agreed to.

VICTORIES OF THE PYRENEES—CAPTURE OF Sr. SEBASTIAN, &C.
Earl Bathurstobserved, that when he last had the honour of addressing the House, it was on the glorious victory gained by the marquis of Wellington at Vittoria; and the consequences be then anticipated from the splendid result of that action had happily been verified. Buonaparté no sooner heard of our army having passed the Ebro, than he appointed Soult, with extraordinary powers as Lieutenant d'Empereur, and that marshal, having been reinforced by the division under Clausel, and other troops, advanced on the 25th of July, for the purpose of driving us from our positions. His lordship then proceeded shortly to detail the operations up to the 30th, when the French were completely repulsed, and from the effects of which they were unable to recover. Soult had the most sanguine expectations not only of relieving Pamplona and St. Sebastian, but also of driving our army across the Ebro; but the defeat he then experienced not only completely frustrated all his projects, but the French army was more completely disorganised than even by the battle of Vittoria. His lordship then adverted to the capture of St. Sebastian, and took the opportunity of noticing a foul calumny upon our troops that had been published in the Spanish papers, charging them with committing the grossest outrages upon the inhabitants of the town. This calumny, which was to be attributed to French partizans in Spain, who circulated these libels upon the specious pretence of a jealousy of foreign interference, was wholly false. That some excesses might be committed in a town taken by storm, after a most obstinate defence, might readily be imagined; but no one could for a moment believe, that the deliberate cruelties in this publication stated to have been practised, had been committed by our troops. Sir Thomas Graham was on the spot at the time, and in the neighbourhood for nearly a month afterwards; and no complaint whatever was made to him by the authorities of St. Sebastian, or by the inhabitants, of any outrages having been committed. We were charged with having committed sacrilege in their churches, and plundered them of the plate; but was it to be believed, that the French, who had uniformly, in every town, carried off the plate from the churches, Would have made St. Sebastian a solitary exception; or that, when they
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had converted the churches of that town (as was the fact) into barracks, stables, and hospitals, they would have suffered the plate to remain on the communion tables? The charge was utterly false:—equally false was the allegation, that our troops were occupied in plundering the town, at the moment they might, by following up the enemy, have captured the castle. The fact was, that our troops did follow up the enemy, with the view of capturing the castle, and suffered much in the unsuccessful attempt; the 9th regiment, in particular, suffered severely; and it was actually found necessary to reprove some of the officers, for not checking the troops in attempting that which was impracticable. The last charge against us was, that of setting fire to the town. This also was utterly false; so far from it, that repeated representations having been made to sir Thomas Graham, of the expediency of bombarding the town, for the purpose of hastening its surrender, by the consternation which would be thus occasioned; he at length transmitted them to lord Wellington, and his lordship sent sixteen mortars; but with express directions, that they should not be used so as to set fire to the town, and only four of them were used in the direction of the attack upon the works during the whole siege. It was not our interest to set fire to the town, but it was that of the enemy; and the fact was, that almost immediately after the entrance of our troops into it, the flames burst out in several places at the same time. The only part of the charges to which he, on the part of the troops employed at St. Sebastian, pleaded guilty, was, that of saving the lives of 600 of the enemy. When our soldiers entered the town, smarting under the effects of a most obstinate and protracted resistance, surrounded by the fire which was consuming the town, and scorched by the flames, 600 of the enemy's soldiers, unable to escape, flung down their arms, and threw themselves upon our mercy. Our troops certainly were merciful enough to grant them their lives; an act which was sanctioned by their officers, and which was not, nor had been since, objected to by sir Thomas Graham. This therefore was the only part of these charges to which truth was attached. His lordship then shortly adverted to the subsequent operations (highly praising the conduct of the Portuguese and Spanish troops), ending in the establishment of our army in

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the French territory, which he stated to be necessary, for the purpose of perfecting a line of defence, and of enabling lord Wellington to watch the operations of the enemy, while he could conceal his own. From this situation the Spaniards could look down upon Bayonne, where their sovereign had been treacherously made prisoner, and the crown given to foreigner; and from whence the French army marched to complete, as they imagined, the conquest of Spain, commenced in treachery and fraud. What a difference might now be contemplated in the return of the wreck of that army, beaten and discomfited, to the same city. In thus reviewing our successes in the peninsula, he could not but recal to their lordships' recollection the share that Britain had had in bringing about the glorious events which had occurred in Europe, and which had at length opened a prospect of its attaining that independence, which has been so long and anxiously looked for. If this country had in one respect contributed more than another to the glorious results that had at length been achieved, it was not so much in the extent of our exertions (for these had been equalled by others, and by one country exceeded); it was not so much in the skill of our officers and the gallantry of oar troops (for, after the splendid victories that had been recently obtained, we could only say, that the exploits of our own great Captain had not been surpassed); it was not in the extent of our privations (for in this respect, God be thanked! we had been saved from this sad pre-eminence); but it was in our perseverance in the contest in the peninsula under every circumstance; however unfavourable; in the pertinacity with which we persisted in maintaining even a corner of it, until circumstances led to more auspicious events; and thereby holding out a clear and bright flame amid the darkness that overspread the natives of Europe, which soon rose into a pillar of fire to light them on their way to security, independence, and peace. His lordship concluded by moving, that the "Thanks of this House be given to Field Marshal the Marquis of Wellington, K. G. for the consummate ability, and the admirable skill and valour, displayed by him in the operations by which the enemy were compelled to abandon the western provinces of Spain, and the allied army enabled to establish itself on the frontier of France."
The Earl of Darraeysaid, that he did not rise with the vain hope of adding any thing to the eloquent address which had been delivered by the noble lord who preceded him; but he was anxious to bear his testimony to the illustrious merits of the gallant commander who led the combined forces in the peninsula. He was desirous, in a few words, of adverting to the wise as well as gallant defence of Portugal by that great general, which had been productive of such manificent effects. His noble forbearance; prudence, and perseverance, as well as consummate military talent in the field, had been in a great measure the cause of the splendid result which followed. He was perhaps the only man who could have brought the contest to such an issue; and to his example in the peninsula, those splendid sueeesses which had since crowned the arms of the allies in the north might be traced. In this great triumph of lord Wellington, the speech which had been so recently delivered from the throne, and which had been received with such universal concurrence and applause, he thought, was liable to one objection. It would have become the government of the country to have recommended, in the speech from the throne, a further provison for the marquis of Wellington, in stead of the palsy allowance which had been given last year, and which was to tally inadequate to the maintenance of the station which the gallant individual in question must now hold in the country. His lordship also complained of a want of due attention to the erecting of monuments to commemorate the illustrious actions of such men as lord Wellington, and others who had eminently distinguished themselves in the service of their country. If one half the money which had been lavished in useless public works, had been applied to this great national object, it would have formed an ample fund for that purpose. He trosted, that the matters to which he had adverted, deserved, and would meet with serious consideration from those who held the most prominent situations in the government. He expressed his most cordial concurrence in the motion.
Lord Bathurstnext moved the thanks of the House to general Graham, for the skill and gallantry which he displayed in, and subsequent to, the battle of Victoria; and particularly for the ability and skill which he had manifested in the siege and

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capture of St. Sebastian's. He had been induced to propose a separate motion of thanks to sir T. Graham, on account of the peculiar circumstances under which he had retired, carrying with him the admiration and affection of all those who knew him, or had seen or heard of his conduct as a general, after having in such a distinguished situation led the armies of his country with such splendid ability, gallantry, and success.
The thanks of the House were then moved to sir Rowland Hill, and the other officers, non-commissioned officers, and troops, British, Spanish, and Portuguese: all these were agreed to, nem. diss.