TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. TB. 2. orient, yet the House could not decide on it at present. Many Mem- " berg, as the Hon. Member was well aware, sat without any qualification of property ; and at present there was no law which said that a man, by mere misfortunes in trade becoming a bankrupt, should forfeit his seat. If his bankruptcy should prove to be attended with fraud, that would be ground for a motion in the House for his being expelled. A man might in fact become a bankrupt, and yet pay 20s. in the pound, and have a surplus exceeding the required qualification. Under these cir cumstances, if the House acceded to the motion of the Honouratfle Member, it would be to appoint a Committee to enquire into the law. This would be sufficient to induce him to oppose the motion. Whether. the Honourable Member should think fit to bring in a Bill on the sub ject, would 1* another question. Mr. A. BARING opposed the motion. He thought the time improper for bringing it forward. Sir C. PRICE supported the motion. Sir F. BURDETT thought the law must mean, that Members were to possess a certain qualification which would render them independent, or it could mean nothing, and it was absurd; if such persons were to sit, persons in notoriously bankrupt situations, they had better have written up over thedoor of the house—" Broken and Bankrupt fortunes mended here.''—Could it be contended that the meaning of the Act was, that a person might borrow his qualification for the purpose of taking his seat, and afterwards return it, and continue to sit without it; if such were the 'mailing of the law, he could only say, it was fooling with the Public; and, therefore, though he (Ltd not consider the motion of so much importance to the independence ot the House, he should support the motio . Mr. BRAND thought Members should be obliged to produce their qualifications whenever they were called upon. Sir J. N few poor wished the Irish Law to be introduced here; by which, any Member becoming a bankrupt; and having been Gazetted six months without paying 20s. in the pound, the Speaker might issue his writ for the election of another Member. After a . few words from Mr. LOCKHART, the motion was put, and negatived without a division. Sir F. BURDETT said, after having seen that in the opinion 'of the • House the qualification for a Member of that House was of little impor tance, he had little hope of convincing Gentlemen that it was necessary to inquire into the character and qualification of Police Magistrates.— In the reign of George 11. it had been provided that Magistrates should have a qualification ot 1001. a year • that was as much as 5 001 would be now. What, however, he want ed now to know was, whether Mi nisters had at all attended to the law, and for that purpose be should . move, " That the order , obtained by him on a former night, parts of which had been rescinded, should be restored to its original form." The Hon. Baronet then adverted to the conduct of the Magistrates, in having had so many persons taken up, and kept in confinement, on suspicion of the late murders ; and particularly alluded to the case of Alblass, who, he said, was .kept in chains with inquistorial power, in order to induce hiM to criminate himself. These, and other circum stances, induced him to move for an inquiry into the qualifications of the Police Magistrates. Mr. RY D ER repeated the arguments which he used on a former night, and defended the conduct of Mr. Graham, who, he said, instead of the insinuations thrown out against him, deserved the public thanks. He wished, instead of general insinuation, the Hon. Baronet would for once come forward like a man with a distinct accusation. Mr. TIERNI.Y thought the House had a right to call for the qualifi cation of Magistrates. Refusing to accede raised suspicions that the law had been broken. Mr. PERCEVAL thought there never was a motion presented to the House which had less foundation.—There were no grounds for suspect ing the law had been broken; and if . it had, the Magistrates were the last persons whom the law would call on to make a statement of it, and thus force them to criminate thenteelves. He 'defended the conduct of the Police Magistrates, and observed, they had done no more than their diity in apprehinding those persons to whom suspicion attached. Mr. WHITBREAD supported the motion. The A rTORNEY GENERAL opposed the motion. Sir J. NEWPORT supported the motion. • Sir F. BURDETT replied; and The House divided—For the Motion 7—Against it 57—Majority 50. Adjourned. , CITY. On Thursslay,a .Court of COmmori Council was held at Guildhall, when Mr. Alderman Wood broughl'up the Report of the Militia Com mittee, recommendi ng the disbanding of the two regiments of City Militia, and in their room the substitution of a species of force similar to the Local Militia, to be trailied fourteen or twenty-eight days in the year.—The Report was strenuously opposed, and a long debate ensued, at the termination of which a division took place on the following Amendment moved by Mr. Jacks—“ That in a war oflhe magnitude and vital importance in which the Briti,la Empire is engaged, it Will be highly iniproper for the city of I;Ondon to disband :its portion pi the defence of the kingdom, or to reduce their . aorvites ,to*.the peace` esta n blishment.":—On the umbeis ben - iv -t aken, there appeared for the metl:iient, 85; for agreeing with the kepOrt; td; tnajOrity for On! tliluing the Militia on its present establishment, 34. LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAOILDINf)BY. TUESDAY, JAN. 28, 1812• DOWNING-STREET, JAN. 28, 1812: Captain O'DonOghue, acting aide-de-camp to Colonel Skerrett, has ar• rived this morning at Lord Liverpool's Office wi.h dispatches from Major-General Cooke. Two lett ers from Ma j or-General Cooke, encloses the following:— Tare:, Jan. 1, 1812. Silt—ln my last I had the honour to state that the enemy commenced to batter in breach on the f..)9th of December, since which period, until yesterday, he kept up a heavy fire of cannon on the breach, and of shells on the town, causeway, and island. At eight o'clock on the morning of the 31st December, a strong column was seen r a p idl y advancin g to the breach; our mus ketry' several times checked the enemy; and. the firm front and intrepid behaviour of the troops, in less than an hour, gained a complete victory. The most bold of the enemy fell near the foot of the breach, and the mass of the column made a precipitatetre treat. The situation of the enemy's wounded, with which the ground was covered between his battery and our fire, where they must inevitably have perished, induced me, from motives of compassion, to hoist a flag of truce to carry them off. Some were brought into the place of th• breach, but from the extreme difficulty attending this, I allowed the enemy to carry the remainder away. Gen. Leval, the French Com mander in Chief, expressed his acknowledgement for the conduct of the British and Spanish nations on this occasion in the most feeling and grateful terms. —We have made prisoners 10 officers, and 20 or 30 sol diers;--the enemy's loss has been very severe. The column that at tacked the breach was 2000 men, composed of all the grenadiers and voltigeurs of the army. The enemy invested this town on the 20th Dec. since which period, 1000 British and 700 or 800 Spanish troop s with only the defence of a wall, which appears to have been built as a defence against archery, and before the use of gun-powder, have re sisted an al my of 1 0 , 000 men , wit h a re g ular battering train of artillery, and have at last defeated and repulsed them. The wall of the town has the additional disadvantage of being com manded within half musket shut, and flanked or taken in reverse in al most every part. The conduct of all the troops has been admirable, and that of Lieut.- Colonel Gough, and the 2d battalion of the 87th regiment, exceeds all praise. Equal credit is due to the indefatigable exertions of Captaiu Smith's royal engineers, to whom much of our success is due. I have on all occasions received the greatest assistance from the military cxpe. rience and. the great exertions of Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Proby, se cond in command. We have to regret the loss of two officers killed, Lieutenant Longley, royal engineers, and Lieutenant Hall, 4 1 1th regiment. I have ? _&c. (Signed) J . B. SKERRSTT, Colonvl. .Return of Killed, Wounded. aud Missing in the . Action at Tarps, on the 31st December, 1811. Total-2 Officers, 7 rank and file, killed; 3 Officers, 44 rank and file, wounded. Nantes of Officers killed and wounded., Royal Engineers—Lieutenant Longley, killed.---2d Batt. 47th • Reg Lieutenant Hall, killed; Lieutenant Hill, slightly ~ v ou nde d - 2d 'Batt 87th Reg. ..Lieutenant M. Carroll, and Ensign Waller, slightly wounded Tarifa, January 5, 1812. SIR—In my letter of the Ist instant, I had the honour to relate the particulars of our proceedings here, and of our victory at the breath. Since that period,, the enemy has kept up a partial fire, and the breach was yesterday completely open fora space of twenty-five or thirty yards. From, the movements of the enemy last night, I was induced to suppose he intended another assault, and the gatrtson waited in eager expectation to give him another proof of British valour. To our asto nishment, this morning at day light the coltimns of the enemy were al ready at a distance, having taken advantage of a dark and stormy night to nialce a precipitate retreat, leaving in our possessicn all his artillery, ammunition, stores, &c. &c. I immediately ordered Major Broad, with a part of the 47th regi 'tient, to follow the enemy ; he, took possession of his artillcry, waggons, and a quantity of stores, time enough to save them front the flames, the enemy.having set.fire to them. We have made some prisonr•rs. From the number of dead found on the ground the enemy occupied, his loss on the whole must have been very great. Marshal Victor was present in the French camp to give orders fur the retreat. • ,We..h.avE thus seen the greatest effort the French are capable of mak ing frustrated by eighteen 'hundred British and Spanish troops, with only the defence of a paltry wall; and an army of ten thousand men eommandeel by a Marshal of France, retreating front them silentli is the night. after having been. repu'sed and dew ated, leavin g behinc' ill their artillery and . suites, .collecte d at a g reat expense an d by im mense exertions. I enclose a return of artillery and stores taken from the enemy. The unremitting vigilance and exertion, the z and intrepidit y ev,ry individual of this garrison, is above rube. /l a - I I 71