Sir, did our duty to the best of our power, and have now been greatly rewarded. The most happy events have returned us to our country; and that we may act the part of good citizens, as you have been pleased to say that we have done that of good soldiers, is our next duty.

If future events call us again to the field, a circumstance that may Heaven long avert, our greatest good fortune will be, to serve under the auspices of so generous a House of Commons as that which I now address; and more especially to have the generous sentiments of that House, communicated through so liberal a channel as has been the case this day.

Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton then

said,

Mr. Speaker,

I am very grateful to the House

for the honor which has been conferred

upon me by their vote of thanks for my services in the battle of Orthes.

I feel proud to have been thought deserving of this high and distinguished reward, and I beg, Sir, that you will accept my best thanks for the obliging terms in which have conveyed the vote of the House.

you

Major-General William Henry Pringle then said,

Mr. Speaker,

I must again repeat the high

sense I feel of the honour I have received; and must esteem this as the proudest day of

my life, in which my conduct has twice met the approbation of this House.

Martis 26 die Julii, 1814.

Major-General Fane,

It has been your good fortune to bear a conspicuous part in the earliest and latest actions of the Peninsular war; and having now closed your services upon the continent by re-conducting the whole British cavalry through France, you have this day to re

ceive our thanks for your exertions in the great and decisive Battle of Orthes.

In that battle, the enemy, formidably collected and strongly posted on ground of its own choice, nevertheless when assailed on all sides by the valour of the allies, were compelled to seek for safety in retreat, but the conqueror had resolved that their defeat should be also their destruction; and the gallant commander, whose name has since been ennobled by his Sovereign for his exploits at Almarez, pressing hard upon the enemy's retiring march, the British cavalry under your command bore down upon his broken battalions and completed the victory.

Distinguished long since by deeds atchieved in Portugal and Spain, you have now obtained fresh trophies won by your sword in France. Three times already you have claimed and received our thanks; we have thanked you for your gallantry on the days of Roleia and Vimiera, in the glorious stand at Corunna, and in the hard-fought

battle of Talavera: and I do now also, in the name and by the command of the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, deliver to you their unanimous thanks for your able and distinguished conduct throughout those operations, which concluded with the entire defeat of the enemy at Orthes, and the occupation of Bourdeaux by the allied forces.

Upon which Major-General Fane said,

Mr. Speaker,

I am most sensible of my good fortune in having been, for the third time, deemed worthy of the Thanks of Parlia

ment.

Although I am quite unequal to express in proper terms, the high sense I entertain of the honour conferred upon me, yet I trust that the House will believe that I feel them as I ought.

Martis 26 die Julii, 1814.

Major-General Lord Edward Somerset,

Your name also stands recorded

amongst those distinguished officers whose gallantry was conspicuous in the last great action which called forth the strength and valour of the British cavalry.

In defiance of the early scoffs of an insulting enemy, this nation has during the late continental war re-established its military character, and vindicated its ancient renown. The nobility of England sent forth its sons to the tented field, and there, trained up under the great commanders who have obtained and dignified the honours of the peerage, they have acted throughout upon the just persuasion that, in this free country, the willing tribute of respect paid to high rank and birth can only be secured by a continued display of the same great qualities which ennobled the founders of their race.