French army under Marshal Suchet invested Peniscola, a strong fortress, 13 leagues from Tortosa, which appears, from the following letters, to have been treacherously surrendered by its Governor. Alicant is the next strong place in the line of Suchet's progress; and the French papers say, that he is preparing to besiege it in form.

Letter from the Marshal commanding the army of Arragon, to Don Pedro Garcia Navarro, Brigadier, Command, ing the Fort of Peniscola.

"Valencia, Feb. 2. "I reply to the proposition for a capitulation, which you have made to General Count Severoli, and I am resolved to accept the principal basis, because I see, with pleasure, that you and the Military Junta entertain the sentiments of all good Spaniards.

"I also promise to treat you in such a manner as to prove to you the esteem which I have for those military Spaniards who are really the enemies of the English Minister.

"I authorise the General of Division, Count Severoli, to receive you, and to allow you, as well as your officers, to go to Valencia, Tortosa, or any other place you may desire.

"I am perfectly well acquainted with your present situation, as a part of your letters addressed to General Mahi have fallen nto my hands."

Reply of the Brigadier Don Pedro Garcio Navarro to the Marshal of the Empire, commanding in chief the army of Arragon. "Peniscola, Feb. 3. "The letter dated the 2d, which you have addressed to me, has afforded me much pleasure, and I only wish for opportunities to prove thesincerity of the principles I have manifested. I have followed. with zeal, may say with fury, the party which I thought just, but now that I perceive the necessity for us all uniting ourselves to our King, to render our country less unhappy, I offer you to serve him with the same enthusiasm.

"Your Excellency may be sure of me ; the surrender of a strong place which has provisions, and all that is necessary for a long defence, can only be the effect of a full conviction, and serves as a pledge for my promises. I salute you with the utmost respect."

The French troops before Cadiz make ǹo progress in the siege; occasionally they throw in a few shells, but do no damage. Accounts from that place of the 25th March, state, that Marshal Soult had taken his departure for Seville, whether he had

followed by a French division.
e new Spanish constitution, it appears,

was completed on the 19th March, and its establishment was celebrated by the acclammations of the people.

The guerilla warfare continues throughout Spain with unabated spirit; and proves sufficiently harassing to the French, in intercepting couriers and supplies. To this system, however, we can hardly look for any decisive results.

NORTH OF EUROPE.

The subject of the intelligence from the Continent, for some time past, has been the immediate prospect of a sanguinary contest between Russia and France. Bonaparte, we are informed, is pouring an immense force towards the Polish frontier. A large army, composed of French, Bavarian, Wirtemberg, and Saxon troops, is already on its march to the Vistula. The armies of Austria, Prussia, and the troops of the Conederation of the Rhine, will, it is said, as, sist in the conflict against Russia; the former are to make the attack on the side of Gallicia.

Russia, on the other hand, has assembled an army on the frontiers of Poland, amounting, according to some accounts, to 280,000 men; of which the Emperor takes the command in person, having under him Generals Barclay de Tolley, and Benningsen.Alexander, while such formidable hostility is arraying against him, is still engaged in a useless contest with the Turks, who, it is said, have refused to treat for peace.

Sweden, as far as can be judged from appearances, seems to favour Russia; and, it is said, will, in the ensuing contest take an active part against France.

AMERICA.

There is yet no intelligence from this quarter to induce a hope that the matters of difference between Britain and the United States are in any forward state of amicable adjustment; and we are sorry to find, that the measure from which, in the meantime, considerable relief to the trade of the two countries was expected, has not passed into a law. The bill which had been brought into Congress for admitting into America, all goods contracted for in Britain, prior to February 1811, after various discussions, was finally rejected. A bill for appropriating 480,000 dollars for the repair of ships of war, and 200,000 annually for three years, for the purchase of shiptimber has been passed; but the bill for raising 50,000 volunteers did not pass, until the number was reduced to 25,000. A proposal to raise 20,000 men for attacking Canada, was negatived by a majority of 58

to 49.

NAVAL

astern, prevented my getting closer until near four o'clock, when part of our broadside being fired at him, he returned his, and struck his colours. You will judge my astonishment at her proving to be La Persanne, of 360 tons, 29 9-pounders, and a compliment of 125 men and 65 troops, having on board 120 iron, and a few brass ordnance; she was commanded by Mons. Joseph Endie Satie, Captain de Frigate, whose masterly manœuvres and persevers ing resistance for near four hours, reflect great credit on him. Our masts, yards, sails, and rigging, bear ample testimony to his galling fire.

We have only one man wounded; the enemy two killed and four wounded. The coolness and steady attention to my orders on the part of my First Lieutenant, Mr J. W. Crabb, Lieutenant M'Dougall, Lieutenant W. Hotham, Mr Gibson, lately promoted for his gallantry on board the Active, and the whole of the other officers and ship's company, could only be equalled by their extreme disappointment at dis covering, at the enemy's surrender, we had been opposed to a vessel of inferior force.

E. H. CHAMBERLAYNE.
M. Maxwell, Esq. Captain of his
Majesty's ship Alceste.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

RIOTS IN ENGLAND.

We regret to observe that in Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield, Carlisle, and many others of the principal manufacturing towns in England, serious disturbances have taken place among the populace, occasioned by the double cause of a want of work and a dearness of provisions. The rioters have in some of these places committed great excesses. In the neighbourhood of Macclesfield some large factories have been burned, and in Sheffield the mob seized on the magazine of the place, and took out and destroyed all the arms and ammunition which it contained. Order has only been restored by the presence and activity of large bodies of troops; but from the account we daily receive, it appears the disposition to riot has not entirely subsided.

For the principal cause of these commotions, namely the dearth of provisions, we are afraid there is no remedy, since it

is now generally admitted, that all at tempts to interfere with the free course of the market, would only aggravate the mischief. We know, indeed, that all those who deal in grain, or are any way concerned in bringing it from the farmer to the consumer, have generally, in a time of dearth, been marked out as the objects of popular hatred; and this feeling has its origin in the notion, that those persons, by buying up the grain, occasion dearth.-Among this class of reasoners, of course, every expedient to force down the price of corn by the terrors of law-to prevent its free transportation from one place to another--and generally every plan which lays restraints on the trade by preventing corn from being "freely bought and sold is extremely popular, though nothing is more certain, than that to throw obstacles in the way of the sale, is the sure way to stint the supply of the market, and to keep the price higher than it would otherwise be; and, on the other hand, to give to the farmer or corn merchant the most entire liberty to come to the market, and to go from it exactly as they find it convenient, is the best method of ensuring a regular supply. It may also be remarked, that not one of those regulations for keeping down the price of grain ever produced the slightest effect; on the contrary, during that barbarous era when the statutes against forestalling and regrating were so much in vogue, and when they were carried into effect with great rigour, the country was often afflicted with the most dreadful famines, and one county was frequently distressed for want, while the neighbouring counties were in comparative abund

ance.

But such was the difficulty thrown in the way of trading in grain, or of transporting it from one place to another, that relief, though so near at hand, was often procured with the utmost difficulty. The truth is, that the price is fixed by the state of the supply, and depends not at all on the interest of the grain dealers; for, if it were their interest that it should be high, and if they had the power of regulating it, why should it ever fall? and yet we see it rising and falling, from causes beyond the power of human reguIations to controul: from which we may be clearly convinced of the folly and presumption of meddling with what seems to be the work of a higher hand.

SCOTTISH

THE Scotland, meets at Edinburgh on HE General Assembly of the Church

the 21st of May next.

The Lord Provost, and James Denholm, Esq. have been chosen by the city of Edinburgh, their representatives to that Assembly. And on the 25th March, the Presbytery elected the following gentlemen to represent them, viz. Drs Simpson, Anderson, Buchanan, and Duncan; Mr D. Dickson, jun. and Sir H. W. Moncrieff, minister. The Lord President, A. Wauchope, of Niddry, Esq. and Bailie Waugh, elders.

At a meeting of the Presbytery of Edinburgh on the 25th of March, intimation was made to them, as superintendants of all schools within their bounds, that the ministers and elders of Edinburgh have re solved to establish, in each part of the city, an institution, which may afford to the children of the poor, an opportunity of attending divine service, and receiving religious education on the Lord's day.

The following are the proposals which have been printed and circulated for carrying the above institution into effect :-

1. That in each of the parishes of the city, the poor children of both sexes, whose parents shall consent to the measure, shall be assembled at nine o'clock in the morning of every Lord's day, in some convenient apartment, and under the care of a master, for the purpose of reading the Scriptures, and committing to memory the Shorter Catechsim of the Church, with such other means of religious instruction as may from time to time be recommended.

April 1812.

2. That at the hour of divine service both in the morning and the afternoon, the children shall be conducted by their master to the parish church, if accommodation can there be found for them; and that, if the necessary accommodation cannot be afforded in any particular church, an endeas vour shall be made to find accommodation for the children of two parishes in one of the adjoining churches.

. 3. That in the evening of every Lord's day, the exercises of the morning shall be renewed for such a number of hours as may hereafter be agreed upon.

4. That application shall be made to the Town Council for their countenance in this matter, and for the use of such seats as are not let in each of the churches of the city, for the accomodation of the children of the respective parishes, and those of any ad joining parish who cannot be otherwise accommodated.

5. That, for defraying the expence of those parochial institutions, an annual contribution shall be solicited from the wealthy inhabitants of this city, and shall be collected in the same manner as it is now for the

Infirmary, Dispensary, &c.

6. That the election of the master to whose charge the children of each parish shall be committed, and the immediate care and direction of the parochial institution, shall be vested in the kirk-session of the parish, with power to avail themselves of the assistance of any respectable individuals of their own parish or congregation.

7. That there shall also be a small Committec, consisting of an equal number of ministers

ministers and elders, (to be elected in the manner that may hereafter be agreed upon), who shall have the management of the general fund for supplying each of the parochial institutions, according to its necessities; and that this Committee shall have a superintendence of the whole establishment now proposed within the city, for the purpose of maintaining as much uniformity of system in reference to the whole, as may prevent any complaints that would otherwise arise from more or less liberality and indulgence being extended to the children of one parish than to those of another,

On the 26th of March, came on the

election of a Member of Parliament for the city of Edinburgh, in room of Sir Patrick Murray, resigned, when the Right Hon. William Dundas, was unanimously chosen. The new member afterwards gave an · elegant entertainment in George Street Assembly Rooms, to the Magistrates, and a number of noblemen and gentlemen.

MONTROSE, March 27.-Monday week, a poor woman, considerably advanced in years, travelling from Fettercairn to Birse, unfortunately lost her way on the Cairn o'Mount, and stuck amongst the snow. Notwithstanding the dreadful prospect be. fore her, she remained, it would appear, for some time, perfectly collected. After giving her horse his liberty, she tied a bundle of yarn to the head of her staff, and erected it as a mark, hoping that it might attract the notice of some person passing that way. The following day, late in the afternoon, after having been more than 24 hours in the very perilous situation just. mentioned, exposed to hunger and the freezing storm, one of General Burnet's servants, in his journey across the Cairn, observing the signal, and being induced to go off the road to examine it, found the poor creature, almost exhausted. He humanely conveyed her to the nearest cottage, when, by kind treatment, she was completely restored. The horse, all alone, trudged safely to Brechin.

APPOINTMENTS. [From the London Gazette. WHITEHALL, March 17.-The-Prince Regent has been pleased to appoint the Earl of Ormond to be one of the Lords of his Majesty's Bedchamber.

This day Viscount Jocelyn, and the Right Hon. Robert Liston, were

sworn

Members of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council.

The Right Hon. Viscount Melville, Vice-Admiral William Domett, Rear-Admiral Sir Joseph Sidney Yorke, Hon. Frederick John Robinson, Lord Walpole, Right Hon. William Dundas, and RearAdmiral George Johnstone Hope, appointed Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty,

CARLETON HOUSE, March 26.-At a Chap ter of the Order of the Garter, his Grace Charles Duke of Richmond, and his Grace James Duke of Montrose (late Knight of the most ancient Order of the Thistle, the ensigns of which he had, previously to the Chapter, surrendered to the Prince Regent) were duly elected Knights of that Order.

WHITEHALL, April 4.-The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Buckinghamshire, the Earl of Liverpool, Viscount Castlereagh, Rt. Hon.Richard Ryder, Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, Lord Lovaine, Lord Teignmouth, Right Hon. Thomas Wallace, Viscount Lowther, and Right Hon. John Sullivan, to be Commis→ sioners for the affairs of India.

Right Hon. Francis Lord Napier, to be his Majesty's High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Steward of the Forest of Sherwood, and Henry Duke of Newcastle, to be Park of Folewood, Nottinghamshire.

CARLETON HOUSE, April 4.-The Honourable Major-General Lumley, to be one of the Grooms of his Majesty's Bedchamber.

DEPUTY