my, on the 12th; but, on the 11th, the enemy attacked him, with Sebastiani's corps and two divisions of Victor's, in the neighbourhood of Almoracid. The action appears to have lasted some hours; but the French having at last gained an advantage on General Venegas's left, he was obliged to retire, and was about to resume his position in the Sierra Morena.

On the 9th, 10th, and 11th, large detachments of the French troops, which had come from Placentia, returned to that quarter, and, on the 12th, they attacked and defeated Sir Róbert Wilson, in the Puerto de Banos, on their return to Salamanca.

It appears now, that the French force, in this part of Spain, is distributed as follows:-Marshal Victor's corps is divided between Talavera, and La Mancha; Sebastiani's is in La Mancha; Marshal Mortier's at Oropesa, Arcobispo, and Navalmoral; Marshal Soult's at Placentia ; and Marshal Ney's at Sa. lamanca.

Distress, for want of provisions, and its effects, have at last obliged me to move towards the frontiers of Portugal, in order to refresh my troops. In my former dispatches I have informed your Lordship of our distress for the want of provisions, and the means of trans port. Those wants which were the first cause of the loss of many advantages, after the 22d of July, which were made known to the Government, and were actually known to them on the 20th of last month, still exist in an aggravated degree, and, under these circumstances, I determined to break up, on the 20th, from Jaraicejo, where I had my headquarters since the 11th, with the advanced posts on the Tagus, near the bridge of Almarez, and to fall back upon the frontier of Portugal, where I hope I shall be supplied with every thing I

supplied in proportion to their wants The British army in Spain, including the late reinforcement under Generals C. Crawford and Lightburne, does not exceed 20,000 men; it may however be hereafter increased to about 25,000, including convalescents and detachments that may eventually join it. Marshal Beresford has advanced his head-quarters to Castel-Branco, in order to co-operate with Lord Wellington. General Cuesta's army is said to have been reduced to 20,000 men. It originally amounted to between 37 and 38,000 men. He lost about 1000 in battle; the rest fled from their ranks, and numbers have been decimated and shot for cowardice, officers as well as men.

The loss sustained by Venegas, on the 11th of August, at Almoracid, is said to have been very great. The enemy boasts of possessing 4000 prisoners, 35 pieces of artillery, 100 powder waggons, and 200 other waggons. Joseph Bonaparte had returned to Madrid, and celebrated Te Deum; and the accounts terminate with the confident, but, we still trust, false assertion, that “ the fate of Spain has been decided during the 22 days in which the king was absent."

It is painful to think on the situation of our troops in Spain. It now appears that the opinion of that gallant officer, Sir John Moore, was founded in a perfect knowledge of the Spanish charac ter; and those who rejected it with contempt, must now, from fatal experience, acquiesce in its justice. There was at first something so pleasing in the Spanish cause, something so congenial to the minds of Britons, that it could not be relinquished but with reluctance. The characteristic distinctions, however, of the Spaniards of former times belong not to those of the present day; the high sense of honour, the Castilian pride, have evaporated; they indeed “word it well;" but, called upon to act, they are deficient in spirit and perseverance.

Enough, and more than enough, has been done by this country to rescue the peninsula from the controul of France; if its inhabitants do not cordially co operate, they must, doubtless, submit. It will soon be seen, from the conduct which Spain will adopt respecting the fleets at Cadiz and Ferrol, whether the attachment she professes to this coun

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CIRCUIT INTELLIGENGE. Jedburgh, Sept. 1.-LORD ARMADALE., HARLES Stewart Mercer, weaver in Traquair, accused of committing a rape on the person of Isobel Nicol, a young girl of ten years and six months old, or of an assault with intent to commita rape upon her. He was unanimously found guilty, and received sentence of death, to take place at Jedburgh, on Tuesday the 10th of October next.

Andrew Watherston, formerly a herd, and lately a sawer, from Berwickshire, accused of stealing two sheep, belong. ing to John Logan, Esq. of New Edrom, and seven sheep from John Fulton, tenant of Bessborough Mains, and one sheep from Richard Allan, Mr Fulton's herd. He was also unanimously found guilty, but recommended to mercy, in consideration of the weak and silly state of his mind. His Lordship, however, also pronounced upon him the sentence of death, to take place at the same time with Mercer, observing, that he had not the power of dispensing with the high punishment which the law affixes to such an atrocious crime, that power being vested in his Majesty.

John Smith, late cattle-driver, from Peebles-shire, accused of stealing a variety of articles of wearing apparel, belonging to Mary Borthwick, in Yarrow; and also of stealing two webs, the property of James Bryden, shepherd at Cardrona; PeterCairns, tenant in Brown's Bank, in the county of Lanark; and Adam Cairns, residing in Milton, in the county of Peebles, both accused of stealing eleven sheep from the farms of Hopehead and Alterston, the property of Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope, Bart. Smith was likewise found guilty, and was sentenced to be transported beyond seas for seven years; and Peter and Adam Cairns, after a trial of considerable length, were acquitted, and dismissed from the bar, the jury having found the libel not proven.

Dumfries, Sept. 6.-Lord ARMAdale.

Joan Parkington, accused of child murdar. As this is the first case which has

occurred under the new statute on this head, passed in March last, a short account of the case will serve to explain the new law. The trial proceeded in the regular way, by jury, the usual method of receiving a petition for banishment being held inconsistent with the new act. The indictment was laid on the common law, viz. that the prisoner had actually murdered her child, and likewise, by way of alternative on the statute, that she had been guilty of consealing her pregnancy, during its whole continuance, and had not called for or made use of assistance at the time of her delivery, and that her child was found dead. (The act holds it the same thing when the child, as often happens, is missing.) The act 1690, cap. 23. founded, upon these suspicious circumstances, the presumption of murder, even although no marks of violence appeared on the body of the child when it happened to be found, and on this presumption punished with death. This being found too rigorous for the mere presumption of murder, was softened down into the practice of allowing banishment. At the same time, a proof of actual murder was, and always will be punished capitally. The statute of March last has repealed the statute 1690, and enacted, that the concealment of pregnancy, and failing to call aid in the birth, when the child shall be found dead or missing, shall themselves constitute a crime, and be punished with imprisonment, for a time not exceeding two years,

The Advocate Depute consented to pass from the charge of murder at com. mon law, and to restrict his charge to the criminal acts enumerated in the statute. To these last the prisoner pleaded guilty; and the jury having found her guilty, in terms of her own confession, the Judge, in consideration of the imprisonment already suffered, and of there being no reason to suspect more against the prisoner than the culpable acts in the new statute, and also the present being the first instance under the new law, in virtue of the implied power bestowed by the statute to miti

gate

gate the statutory punishment of two years, sentenced the prisoner to be confined in the jail of Dumfries for the pe

riod of three months.

Inverness, Sept. 15.-LORD HERMAND.

Jas. Fraser, officer of Excise, was indicted for murder, or culpable homicide, by having been the cause of the death of one of four persons that were attempting a rescue of a quantity of smuggled salt, of which he had previously made a seizure. The jury found the pannel Not Guilty, and he was dismissed from the bar. Donald M Kay, cattle dealer in Badinloch, was indicted for the forgery of a bill of 233). Sterling; but, after a trial of considerable length, the Jury, all in one voice, found the pannel Not Guilty, whereupon he was assoilzied, and dismissed from the bar. Donald M.Killican, out-pensioner of Chelsea Hospital, was indicted for the crime of hamesucken, and committing a violent assault and battery in the house of his brother-in-law. But it was represented to the Court, that he was in very peculiar circumstances, and believed to be in such a state of derange ment of mind as not to be an object of trial, his case was therefore certified to the High Court of Justiciary. Marion, or Martha M'Lean, lately residing in Torran, was indicted for a considerable theft. She was found guilty, upon her own confession, and sentenced to be transported for seven years. William M'Intosh, a travelling chapman, was indicted for committing a violent assault upon a person residing at Fort William, in the night time, and wound. ing him by seven severe stabs with a Highlander's knife, commonly called a Black Cork, whereby he lost such a quantity of blood that he was considered for some time to be deprived of life, and is still confined to bed, in consequence of these wounds, having been found guilty, was sentenced to be transported beyond seas for life.

There was another case of assault that ought to have come before the Court; but, on account of particular circumstances, the diet was deserted pro loco et tempore.

MARRIAGES,

Aug. 8. At Glasgow, Mr Charles Phin merchant, Edinburgh, to Jean, daughter of the late Mr Alex. Storie, candlemaker.

11. At Edinburgh, Mr William Ramsay, merchant in Glasgow, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late Mr Andrew Crombie, dyer.

14. At Levenholm, Dr Steel, Kilmarnock, to Miss Black, only daughter of the deceased Mr James Black, manufacturer in Paisley.

14. At Edinburgh, Mr Alex. M'Brair, merchant in Glasgow, to Janet, daughter of the deceased Robert Pratt, Esq. Kirkcaldy.

15. At ditto, Capt. Arthur Farquhar, ofthe royal navy, to Jane, second daughter of the late James Murray, Esq. of Campvere.

17. At Myreside, near Edinburgh, Mr And. Gibson, Dean Park, to Susan, daughter of the late Alex. Scott, Esq.

19. At Edinburgh, Mr John Gordon of Gibraltar, to Miss Reid of Aberdeen 21. At Glasgow, Mr William Smith to Miss Agnes Pollock.

21. At ditto, Captain Dugald MacDougall, Stirlingshire local militia, to Miss Campbell, youngest daughter of Captain Campbell of the 28th militia,

21. At Crossmill, William Glen, Esq. of Bargarran, to Janet, daughter of Robert Corse, Esq. Crossmill.

21. At Glasgow, James Croil, Esq. merchant, to Jane, eldest daughter of the late William Richardson, Esq. mer

chant.

21. At Glasgow, Mr Robert Haswell, merchant, to Elliot, daughter of Henry Hardie, Esq. Virginia Street.

22. At Sorn Castle, Nicol Brown, Esq. of Waterhaughs, to Christian, daughter of the late James Somervell, Esq. of Hamilton Farm.

22. At London, Lord Boringdon, to the Hon. Miss Talbot, sister to Sir Charles Talbot.

23. At Edinburgh, the Rev. George Brown of North Berwick, to Hannah, youngest daughter of Timothy Westwood, Esq. Leeds.

24. At ditto, by the Right Rev. Bishop Sandford, Sir Thomas Livingstone of Westquarter, Bart. to Miss Stirling, only daughter of the late Sir James Stirling, Bart.

24. At Carlisle, Michael Rowand, Esq. banker in Glasgow, to Margaret, daughter of the late Alexander Wilson, Esq. Carlisle.

25. At Glasgow, James Smith, Esq. younger of Jordanhill, to Mary, daughter of Alexander Wilson, Esq.

Aut

Aug. 25. In Wales, Mr And. Gairdner, manufacturer, Edinburgh, to Mrs Leti tia Meredith, widow of Thomas Mere. dith, Esq. of Calcutta.

28. At Edinburgh, Mr Thomas Junor, writer, to Katharine, daughter of Mr Elphingston Balfour, bookseller.

29. At ditto, the Rev. Mr James Thomson, Borrowstounness, to Janet, daughter of Mr John Dunlop, wright in Stewarton.

31. At Dalkeith, Mr John Moffat, janner, Musselburgh, to Margaret, only daughter of William Rutherfoord, Esq. of Esk Bank.

At Catterick, James Kirkstopp, Esq. of the Spittal, Northumberland, to Eliza, youngest daughter of the late Sir Alexander Livingstone, Bart. of West Quarter.

Sept. 1. At Dunbar, James Hay, Esq. Captain of the Hon. East India Company's ship Sir Stephen Lushington, to Miss Delisle, daughter of the deceased Philip Delisle, Esq. of Calcutta.

4. At Edinburgh, Mr Wright of Antigua Street, to Miss Balfour, daughter of the late Charles Balfour, Esq. of Jamaica.

5. At Gourock, Dr Jeffray, Professor of Anatomy and Botany in the University of Glasgow, to Margaret, daughter of James Lockhart, Esq. merchant, Glasgow.

5. At Ayton, the Rev. Robert Maclaurin of Coldinghame, to Catherine, only daughter of James Cockburn, Esq.

merchant in Berwick.

5. At Edinburgh, Major James Mouat of the Bengal Engineers, to Wilhelmina, fourth daughter of Captain Mouat, Royal Navy.

6. At Lewisham, Major General the Hon. John Brodrick, to Anne, daugh ter of Robert Graham, Esq. of Fintray.

BIRTHS.

Aug. 12. Mrs Brown, wife of Mr Joseph Brown of Bughtrig, of two daughters and a son, all of whom are doing well.

14. At Edinburgh, in George Street, Mrs Lockhart, a daughter,

14. At Gilmerton, in East Lothian, the Lady of Sir Alex. Kinloch, Bart. a daugh

ter.

16. Mrs Urquhart of Craigston, a daughter.

17. At Crailing, Mrs Paton of Crailing, a daughter.

17. At Heavitree, near Exeter, the Lady Lieut. Col. A. Spens, a son,

19. At Exmouth, the Right Hon. Lady Elizabeth Talbot, a son.

19. At Dunbar barracks, Mrs Lieutenant Blair, Edinburgh militia, a daughter.

25. At Edinburgh, Mrs Beil, wife of Mr Carlyle Bell, writer, a daughter.

26. At ditto, Mrs Moffat, wife of Mr William Moffat, solicitor, a son, being her 13th child.

Sept. 1. At ditto, Mrs Lawson of Cairnmuir, a daughter.

2. At London, the Lady of the Hon. Peter Robert Drummond Burrel, a daughter, 4. At Cowie, Mrs Innes, a daughter.

4. At London, the Lady of Colin Robert. son, Esq. a son.

Menzies, Esq. a daughter. 4. At Castle Menzies, the Lady of Neil

5. At Edinburgh, Mrs Smith, wife of Mr Alexander Smith, banker, a daughter.

8. At Kelty House, Forfarshire, the Lady of the Hon. Major Ramsay, a son. 8. At Gunsgreen, Mrs Robertson of Prenderguest, a son.

9. Mrs Fraser of Farraline, a daughter. 10. At Aberdour House, Mrs Gordon of Aberdour, a daughter.

11. At Plantation, the Lady of Lieut.Col. Paterson, of the 21st foot, a daughter. 15. At Bath, Mrs Grant of Congalton,

a son.

19. At Edinburgh, the Lady of BrigadierGen. John Hope, a daughter.

20. At Darnhall, the Hon. Mrs Oliphant Murray, a daughter.

21. At Edinburgh, Mrs Murray, wife of James Wolfe Murray, Esq. a daughter.

DEATHS.

dies, Lieut. Col. Alexander Macleod, of Jan. 8. 1808. At Chittledroog, East Inthe 15th regiment of native infantry. His death is supposed to be in consequence of the severe wounds he received in the memorable battle of Assaye. He was highly valued as a distinguished officer, and is deeply lamented by his numerous friends and acqaintances. As a mark of their respect, the officers of his corps have erected a tomb to perpetuate his memory.

May. 21. 1809. At Jamaica, David Ewart, Esq. son of the late Simon Ewart, Esq. of Brampton.

June 8. At his house near Rattray, Perthshire, P. Mitchell of Kirklands, Esq.

28. At Cadiz, Mr Alexander Ettles, a. ged 22, of the house of Gordon, Shaw, and Co. son of the late Mr John Ettles of Inverness.

30. At Philadelphia, in her 109th year, Susannah Warden, formerly wife of Virgil Warden, one of the house servants in the great William Penn's house at Pennsburg Manor, in March 1701; she has of late been supported by the Penn family.

July