was sent against Mina, which he repulsed with the greatest gallantry, and, following up his advantage, the whole of it " with the exception of three men," was killed, wounded, or taken. Four hundred of the prisoners were received on board a British frigate. In the same province the garrison of Calatuyud, consisting of 800 men, has been reduced by El Empecinado and Gen. Duran; and a great quantity of grain, with many valuable necessaries, captured. Various other affairs have taken place both in this province and in Catalonia, evincing the determination of the Spaniards to rid themselves if possible of the French yoke. It from a dispatch of Lord Welappears, Jington, that a French force had been attacked in the neighbourhood of Mirauda, by a body of Spaniards under Don Julian Sanchez, and had suffered considerably, being stripped of the booty which he had been collecting in that district. Lord Welling ton's head quarters continued at Frenada. A part of his army had made a forward movement to prevent the approach of supplies to Ciudad Rodrigo, and having effected this object, retired again across the Agueda. The French bave entered the Asturias, and repossessed themselves of Gijon. The government of the Brazils appears to be taking a decisive part in the civil war which prevails in the Rio Plata. An army consisting of 8,000 men, has advanced into the Spanish territory, with the apparent intention of taking part with the Montevidean force, against the junta of Buenos Ayres. We cannot but lament that this armed interference in the contentions of the Spanish colonies, should wear the appearance at least of having the sanction of the British govern ment. UNITED STATES. Congress met on the 5th of November. The message of the President, delivered on that occasion, has not thrown auch new light on the relations of the American government with the belligerents, or on the line of policy to which it may ultimately adhere. The President complains that Great Britain, instead of being induced by the repeated confirmations of the extinction of the French decrees, to repeal her orders in council, had only carried them into more rigorous execution; that she denied that any such extinction had taken place; required that. previously to the repeal of her orders, commerce should be restored to the footing on which it stood prior to the issuing of the French decrees; and intimated, that a con tinuance of the American non-importation act, would lead to measures of retaliation; that she had continued to withhold redress for other wrongs, and to insult and vex the American coasts and mouths of harbours. The affair of the Little Belt is then rese sented as an act of pure aggression on the part of Captain Bingham; and an allusion is made, in a tone of dissatisiaction, to s p test on the part of Great Britain, against the occupation of the Floridas-The complains against France are, that both before and since the revocation of her Berlin and Milan decrees, she has paid no attention to the reasonable claims of America for the redres of any of her other wrongs, and particularly, has refused to restore the great amount of property, belonging to American citizens, seized and condemned under other unjust edicts; and also, that she has subjected the American trade with France to rigorous and unexpected restrictions, which, if not removed, must be met by corresponding restrictions on the part of America. The message then pr ceeds to state that works of detence on the sea-coast have been prosecuted with vigour; that some gum-boats have been ordered into use; that a frigate has been added to the ships before in commission as a cruising guard; and that the best disposition had been made of the land forces. A part of these forces had been sent to repress se Indian tribes on the Wabash, who, under the direction of a fanatic leader, threatened the American frontier. however, of hostile inflexibility on the part of Great Britain, in trampling on rights which no independent nation can relinguish, congress will feel the duty of putting the United States into an armour and an antitude demanded by the crisis." It is pro posed, therefore, to raise an additional miltary force, to institute military seminaries, to enlarge the stock of arms and amenition, and of materials for ship-building-The state of Spanish America is next adverted to, but in very ambiguous terms: the United States, it is said, are bound" to take a deep interest in her destinies."-Congress is then called to adopt fresh measures against smuggling, against the system of licences from foreign governments, and against that of trading under false colours or papers of any sort (we sincerely wish our own government would adopt this last measure); and to give "With the evidence, norragement to the rising manufactures of the United States, and also to its shipping, by proper regulations and discriminating du ties. The receipts of the year have exceeded thirteen millions and a half of dol 1 jars, and have been adequate to the current expenses, besides paying off part of the principal of the public debt. The president, however, anticipates a decrease of revenue, and he recommends it to congress to consider the best means of supplying the deficiency. Such, in substance, is the President's mesgage; of which it is certainly not too much to say, that we have seen no modern statepaper so remarkably deficient in all the requisites of good writing. It is ungrammatical, and most clumsy and cumbrous in its construction; and in some places hardly intelligible. The main question, however, with respect to it, is, what does it portend as to the relations of peace or war with this country. Its temper is certainly not very friendly; but yet we do not think that it indicates any very determined purpose of hostility, The amicable adjustment of the affair of the Chesapeake, which has so long lung suspended on some trifling point of etiquette, augurs favourably for the maintenance of peace. Great Britain agrees to restore the seamen taken out of the Chesapeake, and to make a suitable provision for the suf ferers in that unfortunate affair; disavow. ing, at the same time, the conduct of Admiral Berkeley on that occasion. On the great question of the Orders in Council, there seems to be no approximation to an agreement between the two governments. We insist on our right of prohibiting all intercourse with France, in the new circumstances in which France has placed us; and America insists on their right to a free access to all ports and places not actually blockaded. On the subject of the Floridas, America professes to have interfered only to prevent the occupancy of them by any other nation; and to be ready to arrange, by amicable discussion, the future fates of these provinces, as soon as Spain shall be in a condition effectually to nego ciate. In the affair of the Little Belt, it is not easy to say what further can be done. All the American officers and seamen swear that the first shot came from the Little Belt. All the English officers and seamen maintain, with equal pertinacity, that the first shot was fired by the President. The circumstantial evidence is certainly in our favour amid this war of oaths. JAVA. The reduction of Batavia, the capital of GREAT DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. this island, preceded and followed by a succession of exploits, on the part hoth of our army and navy, hardly paralleled in brilliauicy by any which adorn our annals, has been officially announced to the public. Several strong places had been carried by assault by mere handfuls of men, landed from ships of war. The main descent of our army was effected in the neighbourhood of Batavia; and on its beginning to advance, that city was evacuated by the enemy's troops, and was soon after occupied by ours without any opposition. Large store-houses had been set on fire by the enemy, previous to their retreat; but many valuable granaries and other stores were preserved from the conflagration. General Jansen, the governor of the colony, had concentrated a large and well-disciplined force, considerably outnumbering the whole of our armament, at Cornelis, a place which seems to have been rendered peculiarly strong both by nature and art. The entrenchments were, however, attacked in different places by our troops, and carried with astonishing gallantry at the point of the bayonet; and so impetuous was the attack, and, at the same time so skilfully directed, that the whole of the enemy's army, of upwards of 10,000 men, was either destroyed or taken. The description of the carnage is dreadful. "About one thousand have been buried in the works; multitudes were cut down in the retreat; the rivers are choked up with dead; and the huts and woods were filled with the wounded, who have since expired. We have taken near 5000 prisoners, among whom are three general officers, thirty-four field offi cers, seventy captains, and 150 subalterns. General Jansen made his escape with difficulty, and has since fled, as is supposed, to the eastern extremity of the island, with a view to get on board a French frigate, which lay there. By this unprecedented conduct on the part of that officer, in abandoning his post without even an attempt to negociate terms for the population committed to bis charge, we are left to our own entire discretion with respect to the government of the colony. We have that confidence in British generosity, not to say justice, that we trust it will not fare the worse for being left in this state of destitution. Our loss, throughout the whole of our operations, amounted to about 140 killed, and about 700 wounded. BRITAIN. red no improvement during the past month; but, on the contrary, if we may judge from The King's health appears to have experien unvarying rumour, to have declined. We are sorry to perceive that the question respecting the right of delegates from the great body of the Catholics to assemble, is still agitated in Ireland. Surely if the Catholics were really anxious to manifest their love of peace and order, they would postpone their meetings at least during the short interval which has now to elapse before the meeting of Parliament. A meeting of their delegates has recently been dissolved in Dublin by the magistrates, and Lords Fingal and Netterville removed by constraint. A circumstance has occurred in the course of the month which has excited a considerable degree of interest. Mr. Walsh, M.P. for Wootton Bassett, having been entrusted by Sir Thomas Plomer, the solicitorgeneral, with the sale of a large quantity of stock, applied to his own purposes about 15,000% of the proceeds, 10,000l. of which he vested in American securities, and then proceeded to Falmouth, with a view of going to America in the packet. The wind proved adverse, and he was arrested there, and brought to town, where, after undergoing various examinations, he lìas been fully committed to take his trial for stealing a sum of money, the property of Sir Thomas Plomer. A still deeper interest, however, has been excited in the public mind, by the unprece dented atrocities which have been perpetrated in the metropolis. On the night of Saturday, the 7th inst, about 12 o'clock, Mr. Marr, a respectable tradesman in Ratcliffe Highway, sent out his female servant for some oysters. On her return she was unable to obtain admission. A neighbour, whom she alarmed, entering the back way, beheld the dreadful spectacle of the whole family, consisting of Mr. Marr, his wife, a shop-boy, and an infant of four months old, weltering in their blood, and mangled in a manner almost too shocking for description. On the night of the 19th inst. before the horror occasion= ed by this murder had subsided, and while the utmost exertions were making by the police to discover its perpetrators, another murder, under circumstances almost similar, was committed in New Gravel Lane, Wapping. Mr. Williamson, of the King's Head public-house, his wife, and servant, were all savagely butchered a little before midnight,, as they were about to retire to rest. The alarm was given in this case sooner than in the other, by means of a lodger who overheard the work of death, but who appears to have been too much under the influence of terror to interfere to prevent it. The un ceasing vigilance of the police appears at length to have traced both these murders to the same hand. One Williatus, an Irishman, was circumstantially, but at the same time so clearly, proved to have been implcated in them, as to leave little doubt of his guilt on the mind of any one. Whatever doubt may have remained, he himself bat removed by an act of suicide. His accom plices have not yet been distinctly ascer tained, though several individuals are in cus tody on suspicion. If we had room to detail all the minute circumstances which have led to the discovery of the murderer in this case, it would serve to illustrate the views which pious men have taken of a particular providence. It will serve no less obvicusly, however, to illustrate the dreadful capabi lities of evil which exist in the heart of man. A man in search of some money wherewith he may, without labour, contribute to his sensual gratifications, scruples not to take the life of four of his fellow-creatures, oce of them an infant in the cradle. Missing his purpose in this instance, without one feeling of remorse for his crime, while every tongue around him is dwelling on its atrecity, and such active exertions are making on all sides for his discovery, he ventures, almost within hearing of the scene of the first murder, to murder in cold blood, for the same object, three more of his fellow-creatures. In both cases he appears to have in dulged a thirst of blood which was most extraordinary; and in the first especially to have been inost wantonly prodigal of crime. Besides these dreadful murders, so many acts of housebreaking and robbery have lately been committed in London and its vicinity, as to have led to the agitation of some new measures of police. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. The French privateers have been exceed. ingly active of late, and have taken several vessels. Our cruizers have not been idle, and have succeeded in making many cap'tures. In the Mediterranean several cou voys have been taken. At Java, a flotilla belonging to the enemy was captured. We are truly concerned to have to add to this account the total loss of the Saldanha frigate, off Loughswilly, in Ireland. Every in dividual on board perished. The ships in the Baltic have suffered severely from the weather. For "Answers to Correspondents," see the 2d page of the Blue Cover. In the speech of Mr. Steinkopff, on the formation of the Cambridge Auxiliary Bible Society, as incorrectly reported in the Cambridge newspaper, and thence copied into the Appendix of the Christian Observer for 1811 (p. 807), he was nade to say, that "such was the want of Bibles throughout all Germany, with the exception of Saxony alone, that he scarce knew a part of Europe which called more for the notice it had received." What he actually said was this: " that though there are provinces, districts, towns, and villages in Germany (among which Saxony stands prominent) where the Bible is cheap and plentiful, still there are others in that extensive empire in which it is greatly wanted, chiefly among the Protestants in Austria and Alsace, many of whom have applied in a most pressing manner for a supply." It is the more necessary to note this correction, as Dr. Marsh, in a pamphlet which he has recently published against the British and Foreign Bible Society, has thought proper to insinuate (p. 67), that this correction was introduced purposely to meet his objections. The facts of the case, however, are, that the speech first appeared in the Cambridge paper of the 20th December; that soon after its appearance, it was stated to a member of the committee of the Cambridge Auxiliary Bible Society, that Mr. Steinkopff complained of having been greatly misrepresented as to Germany; that Mr. Steinkopff was therefore requested to send a more correct report; that on the 6th of January he sent to Cambridge that report which is printed in the authentic account of the Society's proceedings published by Professor Farish, with a declaration that it was the exact statement made in the Town-hall; and that this date was three weeks before the 67th page of Dr. Marsh's pamphlet was printed. The Readers of the Christian Observer are requested to attach the above Memorandum to the Volume for 181 1 |