Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

number of 20,000 men, became prisoners of war. The following is an extraes from the report of the Marshal Suchet, announcing that important event :

"On the 5th, I commenced the bombardment, and on the 6th, offered a capitulation, which being refused, I redoubled our fire, and in three days and three nights 2700 bombs were thrown into the city, causing explosions and several vast fires. The artillery, by a praiseworthy emulation, succeeded in erecting two batteries, mounted with ten 24-pounders each, ready to make a breach in the interior defences.The engineers, with their usual activity, had effected a lodgement in the last houses of the suburbs, and placed mines under two of the principal gates of the town, when General Blake, fearing the terrible and near approaches of an assault, capitated; which places in the power of the Emperor, the city of Valencia, 374 pieces of artillery, 180,000 lbs. of powder 3,000,000 of cartridges, 16,131 prisoners of the line, according to the accompanying statement delivered by the General in Chief of the Spanish Staff, and 190 sick in the hospitals of Valencia and Valdegoras, 1800 cavalry and artillery horses, 21-stands of colours, 893 Officers, 22 Generals or Brigadiers, among which are Zayas and Lardizabel, commanding the expeditionary division; Miranda, Marco del Ponte, Commander of the Valencia army; Sea Commander of the cavalry; the Marquis of Rocca, &c. &c.; four Lieutenant-Generals, six Field Marshals, and a great number of Colonels; the General in Chief O'Donnel, and Captain General Blake.

"On this occasion the insurgents have experienced an irreparable loss; they lost 50 good artillery officers, formed in the school of Segovia; 383 miners and sap pers; and 1400 old artillerymen, among which are four fine companies of horse artillery."

In consideration of the above, and other important services, the French Emperor has

created Count Suchet Duke of Albufera.

The French force which had been for some months before Tariffa, having made what they deemed a practicable breach in the walls, advanced to the assault on the 31st January; but met with such a warm and gallant reception from the garrison under Colonel Skerrit, that they retired, after being exposed, for half an hour, to a most destructive fire, leaving behind them about 300 men killed and wounded. Having failed in this attempt to take the place,

and being harassed for want, of supplies, they soon after raised the siege, abandening all their intrenchments and cannor.",

Information has been received from Cadiz, that the Cortes have appointed a new Regency which is to consist of the fullowing members :—

For Spain. The Duc del Infantado, General H. O'Donnel, Adiniral Villavicenzio. Rivas,

For the ColoniesMonsquera.

Don Vicente de Durango, Secretary of the Embassy, will perform the duties of Ambassador to the British Court till the appointment of a successor to the Duc del Infantado.-The new arrangement. having been made under the recommende tion of Mr Wellesley, there is reason to conclude that it will remove all grounds of difference between the allied govern ments.

UNITED STATES.

From the proceedings of Congress, reported in the American papers, it appears that a bill for allowing the arming of mei chant vessels has been rejected; and another for raising an additional force of 25,000 men, which had passed the House of Representatives, with several amendments, had been receded from in the other House; and it is intimated in some of the American papers, that the bill would probably be thrown out by a disagreement between the two Houses. In the mean time, a bill has been brought in for permitting the importation of all British goods, purchased or contracted for in Great Britain or her colonies, previous to the 2d February 1811. The effect of this bill, if passed into a law, must be felt as a great relict to the oppressed trade of the two countries; as there is no doubt that great quantities of British goods would be poured into the American market under colour of

this law.

SOUTH AMERICA.

By accounts from the river Plate, dated the 5th November, we learn that a treaty has been concluded between the governments of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, which acknowledges the authority of Ferdinand VII., and the mother country, and which places the commercial intercourse between the two territories on the same footing as before the disturbances took place.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The losses by shipwreck, in men and vessels, within the last three months, it is ealculated, exceed the aggregate loss sustained by our navy, in all the battles fought, and victories won, during the last twenty years. To the melancholy catalogue already on record, we have to add his Majesty's frigates Laurel and Manilla. The Laurel was lost, on the 31st January, through the ignorance of the pilots, on a sunken rock, in Quiberon Bay. The crew were saved; but 70 seamen, besides two Lieutenants and the Surgeon, purchased their lives at the expence of their liberty, having been made prisoners by the enemy; who, to their everlasting reproach, conti. nued, for some time, regardless of her defenceless state, to fire upon the Laurel; and, when the boats with the 70 men made the shore, the commander of a fort on the coast would not permit them to return to the rescue of their companions. But, to them, fortunately, was reserved a better fate; for, the Rota frigate being in company, her commander, gallantly risk. ing his own safety and that of his sailors, anchored his vessel among the rocks, and, after great exertion, succeeded in bringing off the remaining part of the Laurel's

crew.

The Manilla was driven on the Haack sands, during a violent storm, on the 28th January; and it appears that the Dutch sailors and pilots displayed the greatest humanity and courage in behalf of the crew, and, after two days indefatigable exertion, succeeded in bringing them safe on shore, with the exception of six men, who were unfortunately drowned, and another who, after he had been got from the wreck, died through excessive cold and fatigue.

LIST OF ENEMY'S VESSELS CAPTURED OR
DESTROYED.

Nov. 1. His Majesty's ships Thames and Imperieuse, having on board a detach ment of 250 soldiers, made an attack on an enemy's convoy, in a port near Naples; and, though protected by a battery of 10 guns and 800 men, a detachment of 450 men, including marines and seamen, storm ed the battery, drove out the enemy with great loss, spiked the guns, and, after a

severe contest, took possession of 40 sail of vessels, valuably laden, which they brought away in triumph.

Nov. 5.-L'Invincible French privateer, of two guns and 33 men, off Malaga, by the Sparrowhawk sloop of war.

Nov. 15. The Edward French privateer of 14 guns and 123 men, off Cape Mola, by the Apollo frigate.

Jan. 17. The Confiance French priva teer, of 14 guns and 68 men, by the Dasher sloop of war.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. POPULATION. The following is a summary of the comparative statement of the population of Great Britain in the years 1801 and 1811, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, Jan. 17. 1812 :POPULATION OF 1801,

In England, Wales, and Scotland, including the Army, Navy, &c. Males, 5,450,292; Females, 5,492,354. Total, 10,942,646.

POPULATION OF 1811.

[blocks in formation]

On the 27th January, the trial of Thomas Kirwan, one of the Catholic Delegates, came on in the Court of King's Bench, Dublin. The trial lasted four days, at the end of which, the Jury returned a verdict of "Guilty ;" and, on a subsequent day, Mr Kirwan was sentenced to pay a fine of one merk, and then be discharged. The Attorney General gave no tice, that, as the question of law had thus been settled, it was his intention to forego all further proceedings in regard to the other Delegates under prosecution.

SCOTTISH

Scottish Chronicle.

3

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY.

1

in the chimney of the room where he was. Sir Thomas, and William Rae, Esq. she

N the 13th of January, came on the riff-depute of the shire of Edinburgh, i

Otrial of Alexander Cain, alias O'Kane,

accused of having, on the evening of the 11th of October, (the day on which Anderson and Menzies, two thieves, wére executed at Stirling, by sentence of the Circuit-court of Justiciary,) with one or more persons, attacked in the town of Stirling, Archibald Stewart, cattle-dealer in Dalspidle, who had just arrived from Falkirk Tryst, where he had received a sum of money, and of having struck and wounded him severely on the head, and other parts of the body, to the effusion of his blood, and loss of his senses for the time, and of robbing him of one thousand and ten pounds sterling, chiefly in notes of the Falkirk banking company.

dentified the declarations emitted by the prisoner, some of which he refused to sign unless they were written over again and altered..

Archibald Stewart, cattle-dealer, swore, that being upon the streets of Stirling, upon the evening of the 11th of October, he saw three or four men coming up, one of whom was a big man; that he was immediately knocked down, and robbed of the money libelled upon, and that he was much cut and bruised by a blow on the head, which bled very much, and rendered him senseless; when the money was taken from him, he heard them say, "lay to him." He acknowledged that he was drinking drams on his way to Stirling, and After the jury were sworn in, the coun- after he arrived there, but was not intoxica sel for the prisoner. stated an objection, ted, and knew v wvery well what he was about. that the notes of the Falkirk banking. This witness, not company, charged in the indictment, aslish language well, taken from the prisoner, were not lodged lic by a gentleman, who in due time in the hands of the clerk of terpret faithfully the answers he made. justiciary, to be shewn to the prisoner's Some witnesses proved Stewart's getting counsel. The court repelled the objection. the Falkirk, notes libelled, at Falkirk The witnesses were then examined for the market, on the 11th crown.

Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, Bart. sheriffdepute of the shire of Dumfries, swore, that the notes of the Falkirk Banking company, exhibited, were taken from the person of the prisoner, in a small public house, in the town of Dumfries; some of them were concealed near the waistband of his breeches; and also, two twenty pound notes which he endeavoured to conceal in his hand, while they were searching him, and several others were concealed

1. wasanding the Eng- minor to in

in Gae

Other witnesses swore, that the prisoner was at Falkirk Tryst, on the 9th and 10th of October, when he was considered as a very suspicious character, and that he was at Stirling on the 11th, when the robbery was committed, and was seen passing the house, near to which Stewart was knocked down and robbed, about the time of the. robbery. He was traced to Edinburgh, and from thence to Dumfries, and he had changed twenty pound notes of the Falkirk bank at several public-houses on the road.

He

He was apprehended at Dumfries, and the Falkirk notes found in his possession, as above mentioned by Sir T. Kirkpatrick.

The several declarations of the prisoner were then read, which were very com tradictory.

The Lord Advocate addressed the jury, for the Crown, at considerable length, in a very able speech, as did J. H. Mackenzie, Esq. for the prisoner.

The Lord Justice Clerk summed up the evidence with his usual candour and ability, and the jury were ordered to return their verdict next day at one o'clock. The court accordingly met next day, when the jury returned their verdict, all in one voice, finding the pannel guilty; and, after a suitable address from the Lord Jus tice-Clerk, he was sentenced to be executed at Stirling, on Friday, the 21st February.

The sentence was put in execution on that day, and the unhappy sufferer's behaviour was penitent, and resigned to his fate.

Counsel for the crown, the Lord Advocate, and H. H. Drummond, Esq.; agent, Hugh Wardener, Esq. W. S.For the prisoner J. H. M'Kenzie, and James Walker, Esqs.; agent, Mr Andrew Clason, W. S.

[The trial of John Lindsay Crawford and James Bradley for forging deeds, will be found in a preceeding part of this Number.]

COURT OF SESSION-FIRST DIVISIÓN.

City Chamberlain.

The important question relative to the appointment of the Chamberlain of the city of Edinburgh, ad vitam aut culpam, has been ultimately decided in favour of the pursuers, composing the minority of the Town Council at the time the election took place.

After full pleadings before Lord Woodhouselee, memorials were ordered upon the merits of the case; upon considering which, his Lordship decided against the pursuers, by finding that the election had not been impeached by them upon any sufficient grounds, and therefore sustained the defences, and dismissed the process, with expences.

Against this interlocutor the pursuers reclaimed to the Inner House, and the cause came to be advised upon by a petition for the pursuers, and answers for the Town Council, and Mr Henderson, the Chamberlain. In these pleadings, the parties insisted for and against the legality

and expediency of the appointment; they investigated the powers of the Magistrates of burghs, as trustees or curators for the community, appealed to the usage in the former appointments since the institution of the office, and the analogous usage which prevails respecting other burgh officers; and, as specially applicable to the case, the pursuers referred to the universal practice in the appointment of factors for public bodies and private individuals, and to the annual election of Chamberlains of the cities of London and Glasgow.

Upon advising these papers, the Court, on the 24th January, by a majority of three to two, altered the interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary, and reduced and set aside the election of Mr Henderson, ad vitam aut culpam, but found the pursuers not entitled to their expences.

The matter we understand, is now finally set at rest; for, at a subsequent meeting of the Town Council, a let ter from Mr Henderson being produced, acquiescing in the decision, the appoint, ment ad vitam aut culpam was declared void, and the office vacant; after which, on a motion made by Mr Turnbull, and seconded by Mr Tenant (both pursuers of the reduction), Mr Henderson was unanimously elected Chamberlain of the city of Edinburgh, during the pleasure of the Council.

COURT OF TEINDS.

The following case lately occurred in the Court of Session, relative to the powers of Presbyteries in regard to Ministers manses.

In 1809, the Minister of Garvock appli ed to the Presbytery of Fordoun to visit his manse for the purpose of inspecting the samé, as he conceived it to be in a state of considerable disrepair. The Presbytery having appointed a day for the visitation, and also required the Minister to summon tradesmen for the purpose of inspecting the manse, and reporting on oath what was ne cessary to be done, the Minister gave the usual notice of the meeting of Presbytery from the pulpit, and by communicating the same to the heritors by letter. Presbytery accordingly met at Garvock on the day appointed, when they were attended by tradesmen summoned by the MinisThe principal heritors also attended the meeting of Presbytery, and brought with them two tradesmen. An inspection was made by the whole of the tradesmen present, and a joint report was given in by them, concurring in opinion that the manse

ter.

The

was

was to a certain extent in an insufficient state; whereupon the Presbytery, after putting a variety of additional questions to the tradesmen, proceeded forthwith "to condemn the manse," and appointed a "new, one to be built next season in its place.". At a subsequent meeting of Presbytery a plan and estimate of a new manse was presented by the Minister and approved of by the Presbytery, who decerned against the Heritors of Garvock, for the sum of L. 705 6s. 11d. Sterling, being the amount of the estimate exclusive of carriages.

In the mean time the Heritors who did not think that there were just grounds for condemning the manse, had a new inspection made by other tradesmen, who reported it as their opinion, that the present manse might be made comfortable and sufficient for less than one hundred pounds; and at a meeting of Heritors it was resolv ed that the manse should be forthwith repaired, and put in a sufficient state. The Heritors laid before the Presbytery the report which they had received from these tradesmen, and also their own minutes resolving to repair the manse, but they were disregarded by the Presbytery, who, on 15th Jan. 1810, adhered to their former

sentence.

[ocr errors]

The Heritors applied to the Court of Session for relief by bill of suspension; and the bill having been passed, the question came before the late Lord Newton, as Ordinary, before whom it was maintained, on the part of the Minister, that as the meeting of Presbytery had been regularly called, and the Heritors duly summoned, and the sentence of condemnation having proceeded on a regular inspection by tradesmen mutually appointed on the part of the Heritors and Minister, therefore, that there were fo grounds for the complaint of the Heritors, who ought not now to be heard.

On the other hand it was contended for the Heritors, that the sentence of condem nation proceeded on insufficient grounds, and that as the Heritors had offered to make the old manse comfortable and sufficient, it was all they were bound to do.

The Lord Ordinary remitted to Messrs. Alex. Laing, of Edinburgh, and Samuel Bell, of Dundee, architects, to inspect the manse, and report their opinion. These gentlemen accordingly reported, that the present manse was perfectly capable of being repaired, and that, by certain operations, which they described, it might be made comfortable and sufficient, at an exFebruary 1812.

pence of from L. 60 to L. 70; and the Lord Ordinary approved of the report, and appointed the repairs therein mentioned, to be executed at the sight of certain tradesmen, who were required to report to the Lord Ordinary. The report of these tradesmen, from which it appeared, that the repairs were executed at a sum under L. 60, was lately given in, and the cause having been remitted to Lord Gillies, in place Lord Newton, his Lordship on the 21st Dec. approved of the report, and suspended the

[ocr errors]

letters.

Counsel for the Heritors, F. Jeffrey, Esq. Agent, James Scott, Esq. Writer to the Signet. Counsel for the Minister, James Wedderburn, Esq. Agent, Walter Cook, Esq. Writer to the Signet.

THEATRE January 22, 1812.

Last night was tried the experiment of the new Tragedy of Helga, and the eager anxiety of the public to decide on its fate, crowded the house, at an early hour, in every part. The incidents of this piece are short and simple. Edgar, one of the most renowned minstrels of Iceland, falls in love, with Helga, whose hand he is pros mised, on his return from a visit to the courts of Europe, at the expiry of three years.

At the court of Sweden he meets with Haco, another minstrel of the highest rank, with whom he vows eternal friendship.

In a contest between them before the king, the palm of victory is awarded to Edgar, the theme of whose song were the virtues and beauty of his absent mistress, whose name he concealed.

Haco, stung with jealousy and disappointment, immediately resolves on revenge, and secretly departs from the Swedish court for Iceland. His arrival there forms the opening of the piece.

He there discovers the object of Edgar's admiration, and having procured by the influence of his wealth and family, the consent of Helga's father to the proposed match, he pays his addresses to the lady; who, to avoid force, seems to comply with 'his wishes, fixing a day for her marriage with Haco. Just as the ceremony is about to be performed, Edgar appears, and claiming his betrothed bride, he is challenged to single combat by Haco, who being mortally wounded, begs from his ad'versary a cup of water; which, while he is presenting to him, he collects his expiring strength for a last effort, and stabs Edgar to the heart. Helga, overwhelmed by

these

« ZurückWeiter »