for keeping down 'the rate of commission. This principle was urged in the report of the committee on public offices upon the bank, with a reference to the allowance made for the management of the public debt, and has been since acted upon; and it no less evidently applies to the present case.

But the grounds on which the commissioners have preferred their claim to a commission of five per cent. on the gross proceeds in their more recent statements, have chiefly been, a precedent for that allow ance, supposed to have been af forded in the case of a similar commission issued in the war of 1756, and the general practice of prize agents.

The commissioners state themselves to have derived their intelligence on the former of these points from a conversation with the late Mr. Aufrere, one of the commissioners in 1756, but their information is very imperfect and incorrect and the commissioner who gave evidence before your committee, professed not to know whether the commission was charged on the gross or on the net amount of the proceeds of the sales. It appears by some authentic documents on this subject, of which copies are annexed, that a commission of two and a half per-cent. on the net proceeds having been granted, out of which various undefined expences were to be defrayed, the commissioners represented these expences (which, according to their construction of the term, included brokerage and various other charges besides those of their establishment) to amount to more than their commission; and that a commission of two and a half per-cent, on the net

proceeds of sales, independently of all expences, was consequently substituted. A copy of the entry in the account presented to the treasury by the Auditor, after the termination of the transactions under this commission, is inserted in the appendix, by which it appears that the total sum paid for commission was £.14,768. 38.

It was divided among 14 commissioners.

The rate of commission charged by prize agents has been fixed by long usage at five per-cent.; and has lately been applied by the law to the net proceeds of sale, having before been charged on the gross proceeds. It appears by the evidence, that the excess of the commission of prize agents above that of merchants is justified chiefly by the peculiar trouble imposed on the prize agent in the distribution of the proceeds of his sales among the crews of the capturing vessels, a trouble from which the commissioners for the sale of Dutch property were exempt. If also the capital employed by the prize agent, and the responsibility and risk to which he is subject, are taken into consideration, little disparity between the two charges will be found.

Your committee will now present an estimate of the remuneration, to which the commissioners would be entitled according to each of the three principles which have been mentioned.-First, if the commission usual among merchants of two and a half per cent. on the gross proceeds of sales should be granted, about 50,000l. would be the amount of the allowance, out of which the expences of the establishment (in all about 17,000l,) would be to be

defrayed,

defrayed, leaving about 33,000l. clear profit to be divided among the commissioners.

Secondly. If the principle adopted in 1756, of two and a half per cent, on the net proceeds, (which may amount to about 1,300,000l. or 1,400,000l.) should be resorted to, a sum of about 32,500 to 35,000l. would be receivable, which, the expences of the establishment being →paid, would leave about 15,500l. to 18,000l. to be divided among the commissioners.

Thirdly. If the commission should be calculated at the rate which was usual among prize agents at the time when the commissioners begau to act, namely, five per cent. on the gross proceeds of sales, the sum would be about 99,000l. subject to a similar deduction, leaving a clear profit of about 82,000l.

Your committee can by no means agree to decide the question according to this principle. The commission received by prize agents at the time when the commissioners were appointed, has lately been determined to be a more than adequate remuneration for the whole of their trouble. It should also be recollected, that the commissioners not only have been exempt from the labour of distributing the proceeds of their sales among the individual sailors concerned in the captures, and from much other trouble and responsibility, as well as from the advances to which prize agents are subject, but are also enabled, by the magnitude of the sum on which their commission is charged, to transact the public business at a much lower rate than is fairly due to individuals receiving ordinary consignments.

On the whole, your committee

recommend that a commission of five per cent. on the net proceeds of sales should be allowed to the commissioners, they paying the charges of their establishment.

This allowance will probably amount to not less than about 50,000l. or 10,000l. to each commissioner, and will be more by about 17,000l. than would be due to them, according to the usual practice of merchants, and more by at least about 32,000l. than they could claim according to the precedent of 1756, to which they have appealed.

The excess of this remuneration above that enjoyed by merchants, as well as above that granted in 1756, may be justified on the ground partly of the more than or dinary trouble imposed on the present commissioners, and partly by the length of time during which their commission has necessarily subsisted, and perhaps partly also by the circumstance of your committee, in consequence of the amission not only of the commissioners, but also of the government, having to recommend a retrospective arrangement. The sum which the commissioners will have to refund, in case of the adoption of this sug gestion, will be not less than between 60 and 70,00l. They will also fail to receive nearly 20,000l. which they appear to have expected to appropriate to their own use, for further interest and commission.

Your committee cannot allow any weight to the observation, that two of the commissioners having, after a term, quitted their professions with a view to the fulfilment of their trust, some reference should be made to this circum

stance

stance in estimating the amount of the remuneration. No notice of the intended sacrifice was given; and it is obvious, that by proportioning the general compensation receivable by the body to the special claims of two individuals, a more than adequate reward would be granted to the majority.

If it should be thought fit to adopt the suggestion of your committee, the commissioners ought to be credited in account for the proposed commission, and to be debited for all sums applied to their own use, since they have been taken with out due authority, the same general principles being observed by the auditors in the settlement of the concerns of these commissioners which are usual in similar cases.

Your committee further suggest, that the commissioners should be directed to use their utmost diligence to make up and transmit their accounts to the lords of his majesty's privy council, with a view to their being submitted to the board of treasury, and by them referred to the auditors.

Your committee have not pursued their examination of all the topics to which their attention has been called, as will be seen by the evidence, partly because such investigation might detain them too long from their inquiries into other subjects, and partly on the ground of their not wishing to be considered as exempting the government from the duty of applying their attention to the transactions of the commissioners, or the auditors from the diligent and exact performance of the functions of their important office. The magnitude of the charges on the vessels and cargoes sold,

which manifest itself in the difference between the gross and the net proceeds, and in the excess of the charges above the whole proceeds in the case of many vessels, appear to demand attention.

Your committee have had it cliiefly in their view to examine and animadvert upon those points which derive importance either from the magnitude of the saving in question, or from their involving some gene-, ral principles, on which it might be material to insist.

On a review of the whole of the subject which has been before them, they beg leave generally to remark, that to commit pecuniary trusts of extraordinary magnitude to persons, however respectable as individuals, and however qualified for their employment by the habits of their former lives, without settling, during a long course of years, the mode or amount of their remuneration,-without providing any ma terial check on their proceedings,and without reminding them of their responsibility by calling for any regular or periodical account, is a neg. lect which may be expected often to lead to equally prejudicial consequences, and is a deviation from the acknowledged duty, and also, as your committee trust, from the ordinary practice of government.

London Gazette Extraordinary,

Downing-street, May 24.

A dispatch of which the following is a copy, was received this evening from Lieutenant-gen. the Right Hon. Sir Arthur Wellesley, by Viscount Castlereagh, one of his

Majesty's

state.

Oporto, May 12, 1809.
My Lord,

I had the honour to apprize your lordship, on the 7th inst., that I intended that the army should march on the 9th from Coimbra to dispossess the en my of Oporto."

The advanced guard and the cavalry had marched on the 7th, and the whole had halted on the 8th to afford time for Marshal Beresford with his corps to arrive upon the Upper Douro.

The infantry of the army was formed into three divisions for this expedition, of which two, the advanced guard, consisting of the Hanoverian legion, and BrigadierGeneral R. Stewart's brigade, with a brigade of six-pounders, and a brigade of three pounders, under Lieutenant-general Paget, and the cavalry under Lieutenant-general Payne, and the brigade of guards; Brigadier-gen. Campbell's and Brigadier-general brigades of infantry, with a brigade of sixpounders, under Lieutenant-general Sherbrooke, moved by the high road from Coimbra to Oporto, and one composed of Major-general Hill's and Brigadier-gen. Cameron's brigades of infantry, and a brigade of six-pounders, under the command of Major-general Hill, by the road from Coimbra to Aviero.

On the 10th in the morning, before daylight, the cavalry and advanced guard crossed the Vouga with the intention to surprize and cut off four regiments of French cavalry, and a battalion of infantry and artillery, cantoned in Albergaria Nova and the neighbouring villages, about eight miles from that river, in the last of which

the British cavalry was evident throughout the day; we took some prisoners and their cannon from them; and the advanced guard took up the position of Oliviera.

On the same day Major-general Hill, who had embarked at Aveiro on the evening of the 9th, arrived at Ovar, in the rear of the enemy's right; and he head of LieutenantGeneral Sherbrooke's division passed the Vouga on the same evening.

On the 11th, the advanced guard and cavalry continued to move on the high road towards Oporto, with Major-general Hill's division in a parallel road, which leads to Oporto from Ovar.

On the arrival of the advanced guard at Vendas Novas, between Sonto Redondo and Grijon, they fell in with the outposts of the enemy's advanced guard, consisting of about four thousand infantry, and some squadrons of cavalry, strongly posted on the heights above Grijon, their front being covered by woods and broken ground. The enemy's left flank was turned by a movement well executed by Majorgeneral Murray, with Brigadiergeneral Langworth's brigade of the Hanoverian legion; while the 16th Portuguese regiment of Brigadiergeneral Richard Stewart's brigade attacked their right, and the riflemen of the 95tb, and the flank companies of the 29th, 43d, and 52d of the same brigade under Major Way, attacked the infantry in the woods and villag in their centre.

of Major Blake, in pursuit of the enemy, and destroyed many and took many prisoners.

On the night of the 11th the enemy crossed the Douro, and destroyed the bridge over that river.

It was important, with a view to the operations of Marshal Beresford, that I should cross the Douro immediately; and I had sent Majorgeneral Murray in the morning with a battalion of the Hanoverian legion, a squadron of cavalry, and two six-pounders, to endeavour to collect boats, and, if possible, to cross the river at Ovintas, about four miles above Oporto; and I had as many boats as could be collected brought to the ferry, immediately above the towns of Oporto and Villa Nova.

The ground on the right bank of the river at this ferry is protected and commanded by the fire of cannon, placed on the height of the Sierra Convent at Villa Nova, and there appeared to be a good position for our troops on the opposite side of the river, till they should be collected in sufficient numbers.

The enemy took no notice of our collection of boats, or of the embarkation of the troops, till after the first battalion (the Buffs) were landed, and had taken up their position under the command of Lieut.general Paget on the opposite side of the river.

They then commenced an attack upon them, with a large body of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, under the command of Marshal Soult, which that corps most gallantly sustained, till supported, successively by the 48th and 66th regiments, belonging to Major-general Hill's brigade, and a Portuguese batta

lion, and afterwards by the first battalion of detachments belonging to Brigadier-gen. Richard Stewart's brigade.

Lieut-gen. Paget was unfortunately wounded soon after the attack commenced, when the command of these gallant troops devolved upon Major-general Hill.

Although the French made repeated attacks upon them, they made no impression, and at Jast Major-general Murray having appeared on the enemy's left flank on his march from Ovintas, where he had crossed, and Lieutenant-general Sherbrooke, who by this time had availed himself of the enemy's weakness in the town of Oporto, and had crossed the Douro at the ferry, between the towns of Villa Nova and Oporto, having appeared upon the right with the brigade of guards, and the 29th regiment, the whole retired in the utmost confusion towards Amaranthe, leaving behind them five pieces of cannon, eight ammunition tumbrils, and many prisoners.

The enemy's loss in killed and wounded in this action has been very large, and they have left behind them in Oporto 700 sick aud wounded.

Brigadier-general the Honourable Charles Stewart then directed a charge by a squadron of the 14th dragoons, under the command of Major Hervey, who made a successful attack on the enemy's rear guard.

In the different actions with the enemy, of which I have above given your lordship an account, we have lost some, and the immediate services of other valuable officers and soldiers.

In Lieutenant-gen, Paget, among

the