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of the British troops, to whom she made donations. The revolution appears to have been entirely favourable to the English interests.

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A splendid acquisition was made to the British dominion in that part of the world, by the conquest of the capital of the Dutch East-India settlements, Batavia, with the island of Java in which it is situated. Lord Minto, who planned this expedition, had collected a body of troops for the purpose at Madras, in the month of March, of which the chief command was vested in Sir Sam. Auchmuty; and Lord Minto himself resolved to accompany the armament. August 5th a landing was effected without opposition twelve miles from Batavia. The chief force of the Dutch, under the command of General Janssens, was posted at Cornelis, some distance up the country; on which account it was resolved first to explore the road to Batavia. A fire being perceived in the city, a detachment was sent to take possession of the suburbs, to which the burghers surrendered the city, after the conflagration had destroyed many public storehouses. The army then proceeding against the enemy, Colonel Gillespie, on the 10th, carried with the bayonet a strong position in advance of the works at Cornelis. The main body of the enemy occupied these works, in which they were entrenched, and defended by redoubts, and a numerous artillery. For some days a cannonade was directed against the works, by which several batteries were silenced; and on the 26th a general assault was ordered. The gallantry with which it was conducted was irresistible; the lines were forced, the fort taken, and the whole defending army of 10,000 men was killed, taken, or dispersed. General Janssens fled with a few cavalry to the distance of thirty miles, where he employed himself in collecting all the remaining force for the defence of the rest of the island. Sir S. Auchmuty, however, pushed his success with vigour, and marching to Samarang, whither General Janssens had retired, he took possession of it without opposition. After another attempt at resistance had

been defeated, an armistice took place, which concluded with the surrender of the European troops, and the delivery of the whole island of Java to the British arms. The small island of Madura also submitted, and thus not a vestige was left of the eastern dominion of the Gallo-Batavian empire.

Although the British navy could no longer meet with an adequate antagonist on the ocean, various occasions were found of signalizing its characteristic spirit of enterprize.

An English squadron of four frigates, of which Captain Hoste was the commodore, descried on March 18th a French force of five frigates and six smaller vessels, with 500 troops on board, off the north point of the island of Lissa on the coast of Dalmatia, which they had been sent to fortify and garrison. The French commodore, confiding in his superiority, bore down in two divisions to attack the English, who formed in a close line to receive him. The action commenced by an attempt of the French commander to practise the manœuvre of breaking the line; but in this he failed, and endeavouring afterwards to round the English van, he was so roughly treated, that his ship became unmanageable, and ran on the rocks. The action was still maintained with great fury, till two of the French frigates struck. Two more crowded sail for the port of Lessina, and the small vessels dispersed in all directions. The result of this action, which ranks among the most brilliant achievements of the British navy, was the burning of the ship of the brave French commodore, who was killed in the engagement, and the capture of two others. A fourth, which had struck her colours, took an opportunity of stealing away, and was in vain reclaimed as lawful prize by Captain Hoste. The loss of the English amounted to 200 in killed and wounded.

The Indian sea off Madagascar was the scene of a severe conflict in the month of May, between an English and a French squadron. Three French frigates with troops on board having appeared off Mauritius, and borne away on discovering that the island had been

captured, Captain Schomberg of the Astræa frigate, conjecturing that they would make for Tamatava, followed them thither, accompanied by two other frigates and a sloop. On the 20th of May the enemy was discovered near Foul Point, Madagascar, when a partial engagement ensued, in which the English ship Galatea suffered so much in her masts, that she could not be brought again into action. On the next day the engagement was renewed, and the French commodore's ship of 44 guns and 470 men, of whom 200 were picked troops, struck after being reduced to a wreck. Another frigate struck, but, according to the French custom, made its escape. The English squadron then proceeded to Tamatava which had been repossessed by the French, and obliged the fort and the vessels in the harbour to surrender. Among these was a frigate of 44 guns which had been in the late action.

The other successful actions were chiefly the capture or destruction of flotillas, convoys, and small armed vessels, which answered the purpose of keeping the enemy in alarm in various quarters, and disconcerting his operations.

The close of the year was remarkable for violent storms, occasioning great losses at sea, of which the British navy partook in full proportion. On December 4th, the Saldanha frigate, the Honourable Captain Pakenham, was lost off Lough Swilley on the northern coast of Ireland, and every soul perished. A dreadful gale in the German Ocean on December 24th, was much more extensively fatal. The Hero of 74 guns, Captain Newman, coming with a convoy from Wingo sound, ran on the Haak sand off the Texel, and every attempt to save the crew being ineffectual, they were all lost when the ship went to pieces. Several vessels of the convoy shared her fate. On the same disastrous day, the St. George of 98 guns, Admiral Reynolds, and the Defence of 74 guns, Captain Atkins, sailing homeward from the Baltic, where the St. George had already lost all her masts, were stranded on the western coast of North Jutland. The consequence was, that both

were entirely lost, and only six men were saved from one ship, and eleven from the other.

Among the domestic circumstances of the year, it may be interesting to take notice of the second enumeration of the people in Great Britain, and its general result. The total of the population returned in 1801, was 10,942,646; that of 1811, was 12,552,144: exhibiting an increase of 1,611,882, of which almost every town and district numbered had a share. If such an increase appears scarcely credible during ten years chiefly spent in war, the excess may partly be attributed to greater attention in making the returns, which probably was the real case; yet various circumstances lead to the opinion, that the country had actually received a considerable addition of people during that period.

The interior tranquillity of England was little disturbed during the greatest part of this year, but towards the close of it, serious tumults broke out in the district of the hosiery manufactory, particularly in Nottinghamshire. They were occasioned by the discharge of many workmen, partly owing to decrease of demand for the articles manufactured, and partly to the invention of a wide frame for weaving stockings, by which a considerable saving of labour was effected. Against these frames the first attacks of the rioters was directed, which commenced on November 10th, near Nottingham, and were continued with augmented daring, attended with outrages of other kinds. The riotous spirit extended to the manufacturing districts of Derbyshire and Leicestershire, though the county of Nottingham was still the centre of the mischief. Numbers of frames were destroyed during the month of December; but it was not till the next year that the evil spread so far as to become an object of serious attention to the government.

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A. D. 1812.

YEAR OF GEORGE III. 52 & 53.
PARLIAMENT 5, 6, & 1.

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Assas

Royal Speech. Bills relative to the King's Household, and the Prince Regent's Establishment. Provision for the Princesses. Motions respecting Irish Catholics. Bill for prohibiting the granting of Offices in Reversion, renewed. Bills to render Frame-breaking capital, and to quell Disturbances. - Gold-coin Bill amended. Discussions respecting Colonel McMahon. Debates on the Barrack Estimates. Ministerial Negotiations, and their Results. sination of Mr. Perceval. Motion of Mr. Wortley for an efficient Administration. Consequent Negotiations. · Their Failure and Confirmation of the former Ministry. Debate on, and Revocation of, the Orders in Council. Budget. Alarming Riots among the Manufacturers, and Bill for their Suppression. Motions for Relief of the Roman Catholics. Bill in favour of Dissenting Worship.Spanish Campaign. - French repulsed at Tariffa. - Valencia taken by them. Lord Wellington reduces Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos, and advances against Marshal Marmont.- Battle of Salamanca. Its results: Madrid evacuated, and the Blockade of Cadiz raised. Failure of Lord Wellington at Burgos, and his Retreat to the Frontiers of Portugal. Spanish Cortes. Ballasteros. ture for Peace by Napoleon. Naval Transactions. - Napoleon's grand Design against Russia. French occupy Swedish Pomerania. -Advance of the French Armies. Ineffectual Negotiations. --Battles of Smolensko and Moskwa.

Russians retire.

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Napoleon - Its Conflagration. -Disastrous Retreat of the Conspiracy at Paris. Napoleon's Return.

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enters Moscow. French. between Russia and the Porte, and Sweden. Sicilian Constitution. Affairs of the United States of America. Declaration of War against Great Britain. Their Attempts upon Canada foiled. Naval Successes. Events in South America. East Indies and Persia. Domestic Occurrences. -Suppression of Riots. Parliament dissolved and a new one assembled. Prince Regent's Speech,

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THE parliamentary session was opened on January 7th, with the speech of the Prince Regent delivered

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