Star. — London, England, 1809-08-04 00:00:00

• COURT-iII.MTI 6iv LORD .GAJ 131 R. EIGHTH DA t-POkTSMOUTH, AUG. S. Captain, KEnn further examined. fie fitltc(l, tha 1. on the morning of the 13th, as his ,hip was coming out of Isle d'Ais, she was struck by the batteries nt Isle d'Aix, and some shells from dieron went ov tr her. One shot struck her below t h e m ains. Q. What d; image did you sustain on the 13th ? A, The bows grit severely wounded, a great part of the ru nning-r;l:ging and sails cut to pieces, five beams o f t i v cyanic fadeck cut through, the beam entirely car ried away, a number of shot in different parts of the ,1e.,, three Men killed, and five wounded. Q. Caa you say, whether you sustained that da rnau foam the batteries on shore, or from the ene „lA, :iip 2—A. The damages in the hull, and the kwed and wounded, from the bat t eries of Isle d'Aix; rrt of the running rigging from the Aquilon and Varewie. Cafe. Maecoast tailed, and further examined. Q . y,RI have stated that had ships been sent in to attack ate enemy before the two shipa that were at e nclaz anmoored, that they would be subject to the lire of these two ships, and also that after .the three- deckor righted about noon, she could have annoyed iJe slaps seat in. Are you then of opinion, that it wouL have been proper to have sent any ship in while the two ships at anchor and the three-cleckec continti. ed in those situations, considering also that the ships sent in would be likewise subject to the fire of the F i r: eies of the Isle d'Aix, and considering the state sa d direction of the wind at that time ?—A. I think that ships on no account could, with propriety, have been sent in to attack the enemy till at least half flood (abort noon), and that sending them afterwards, whilst the enemy remained on the defensive, would have been attended with very considerable risk, be cause had they been disabled, the wind as it was, they coahl not have come nut, but moist have gone to the mouth of the passage for anchorage, watch was ili understood, but where I had been led to be lieve th e rk . was anchorage for a few large ships: Q. Yee here stared it to be your opinion that half focd w.i, about noon, and that the enemy's ships got etf at about two o'clock P. M. and you have in your answer to the preceding question stated, that any slaps sent in previous to the removal of the French ~',r,, . : svnuid be liable to considerable annoyance from them as well as the Isle d'Aix—would you then have sent ships ire before these ships were got off?—A. Had I thnught there was no other chance of destroy ing these ships but by such an attack, I certainly think it ought to have been made, but it was under stood that they must all again ground at the mouth of the Charante. where it was the received opinion that they could he attacked by bombs, gun-brigs, and fire-ships, wallow: risque, and had we had a reserve of fire-ships on that morning, I think some of them would have beea destroyed on the flood time. lucre were fire-ships prepared with tide with all expedition, but they were too late. Q. At what time would you (previous to two o'clock), had you commanded the British fleet, have sent ships in to attack the enemy's ships on shore ? .A. The moment that the two ships quitted their de fensive nosition the risk was then small, and I would iretantly have sent them in, between the hours of one and avo ; nearly about that time the bombs and brigs were seat in. The Imperieuse and Beagle soon after followed them, and in about 20 minutes other ships signals (all the frigates) were made, the Valiant and Isteenge he reason these ships did net join the Im :,:erau.,.. :is soon as expected, was hoc • use the wind I,:leJ, and the tide was not in their favour. 2 . . A: we bomb and brigs went in to attack the relay seen after the time that you think was proper 1:: the tae_aiion, when the Imperieuse followed, and t:-r to .;'-olt twenty minutes after, or less, the Re a.nea Valiant, and othee vessels were sent in on the :me s.:rrice, NY:tat portion of time was there, in your jainYer.t, which might be termed a delay OIL the' pre et . !he Commantler in Chief?—A. Certainly not taae t:1 ... half or three quarters of an hour ; from fr., ton . the ships quitted their defensive position,' 111.! 'hips were sent in by the signal was all that Cu', irsil)iy be termed delay, on the whole less than an hour. Bur.K:IILL examined ly iic Curt. Q. \Vie 7,,u in Basque Roads ou tho. 11th of April, aud wilc:n did you quit it ?—A. I wits there, vitted it about the 26;11. Q rrom the first attack on Or? ships of the ene *l, to :he c,n-Jii,- ; ;,•1-,ment, was every thing done that' could be dupe ;:h,:et the destruction of the enemy's ships?--A. I t'HI: there was. Trom the tn.e the Commander in Chief's I:rriv.t! in 13 que ki.ads, to the time of your quivin;; c,!I you ante any instance of neglect, misconduct, or inattention to tine 'media service, in the proceed-I, nY,s of Ile Commander in Chief ?—A. I know of tone. Captain BALL, or the Gibraltar, sworn and examined by the Court, answered to the same effect as the above witness. (.'aptain NEWMAN, of the Hero, szTra and examined by the Court, also an red to the same purport; both bearing testithony ;!if'good condut of the Commander in Chief. %ptaiu EitoUralTON, of the dn,rlia, morn. lir stated as toIlows—" I w.ts on board the Ame-1 Li when she was ordered to bombard the enemy on Buovart hNal, and being within gun-shot , of the I Aix, 1 observed the fortifications ; they appear me in a very different state from what they •'•••-•.; I'vo cr three years before, when I w.as there t,:n R. Keaw. I thought they were repairing from the quantity of rubbish that was I counted on a semicircular battery, '-•'h commanded the Roads where al.:. enemy lay, r.r 2() guns. There - was a smailer battery a • .4. %.1, I don't knc.e the•exact uumbtr of guns,, •,r ; what I had before taken for a block-• :••••, , ,ied to have no guns whatever ; it appeared 1 ' a Lirrark, and tican what I observed, these bat.; •nt, were not se strong as had been suppc.;scd, and rt;),•rteil my opinion to Lord Gambier. (By Lord (".., , .Nimita.) Did you, or could you, % . r.iin the number of grins or mortars on the .: • - ••• the fort ?—A. Nu, certainly not, except as far 4- ;trc YAllicArcuiar battery went. Q (13y the CouaT.) The general questions put to • fat - nits witues3es, respecting every thing being dotie to destroy the'enetny - edas then Pit, Isien tie' , Witness replied—A. I think it would have been more advantageous if the line of battle ships, frigates, and,) smaller vesseli had gone in at half flood, between II and 12 o'clock. Q. Were there two of the enemy's line of battle ships remaining at anchor in Aix Roads ?—A. Yes ; the Rear Admiral and Commodore's ships. Q. Did you take notice of the position of the French three.decket when she was on shore ?—A. Yes, I did. Q. At what time did the .twd ships that remained at anchor remove to the enhance bf the Charante ? A. I can't speak positively ' • but it was soon after noon. Soon af t e r th e F renc h Admiral and two others got off arid followed them. Q. As the t*o ships that remained at anchor did not leave theii situations until after it was nom), and the Ocean continued in her position until about the same time, if the British ships had been ordered in at 11 or 12 o'clock, which you then thought was the best time, would not the ships so sent in have been exposed to the fire of the two ships that remain ed at anchor, the Ocean, and the batteriestf Aix at the same time I—A. Certainly ; but I conceived they were partly panic struck, itnd on the appearance of a force coming in, might have been induced to cut their cables, ancl try to make their escape up the River. Q. In the event of their proving not to have been so panic struck, and had 'defended theirstives, aided by the batteries on shore, are you of opinion that the British ships must have suffered greatly on the occa sion ?—A. I think they woug have suffered ; but a ship or two might have been placed, in my opinion ) against the Southern batteries of the Isle d'Ait, so as to have silenced them. I mentioned it to Sir Harry Neale, when all the Captains were on board the Ca ledonia, when speaking of the confusion of the ships at the time. Q. How near can ships of the line approach the ! batteries of the Isle d'Aix on that part where you would have recommended an attack ?—A. Judging by the chart, I should suppose very closely—about two cables length. Q. If ships had been so brought up against the batteries of the Isle of Aix, and it should have hap pened that they had met with such damage as to rest. der it necessary to withdraw them, and such a case naturally implies damages in mast and rigging, which, considering the strength of the wind at the time, where could their ships have retired to ?—A. I think as the wind was N. W. and N. they might have found safe anchorage and protection in what is called in the French chart Grand Trousse, where there were SO or 44) feet water, out of range of shot or shell. Q. Do you think that ships having, been subjected to the fire of the batteries, at the distance of two or three cable's length, and finding a necessity for re turning fom these batteries, could possibly be in a condition with a strong N. wind and lee tide, to fetch the anchorage you have described from the Isle of Aix, without driving off the Palais shoal ?—A. It would depend upon circumstances. I conceived the possibility of the -batteries being silenced. It would be slack water about two o'cloct and the wind then. moderate ; they might, I think, fetch the anchorage. Q. Are we then to understand that you would have recommended the measure of sending the ships against the batteries of Aix, upon, the presumption that the batteries would be silenced, without advert ing to what might befal the ships in case of. failure against the batteries ?—A. I did not give it that consi deration at the time, I qnly speak of my own opinion, that I conceived that it was practicable to recover that anchorage if disabled, and heard Lord Gambier the sante morning state, it had been his intention to have gone against the battery I now speak of, with the Caleslonsst and other ships,. but as the enemy were on them,, he did not think it necessary to run any un necessary risk, when the object of their destruction seemed to be already obtained. Q. Did you on the 12th April know of the safe an chorage you have now described for line of battle ships out of range of shot and shell ?—A. Only by the Fr eisch charts, and which, having been long ac cestonied to use, 1 thought correct. My conjecture of this being n proper anchorage for ships, arose from conversation with my brother officers, that should Lord Gambier think of attacking the enemy in the i situ uion in which they were when we first came into Basque Roads, and in case of being materially da- ' malted, if the eluirts are to be believed, there was waver enough in that position. • Q. Do you know that from the anchorage in Aix Road, to that you have just now described, there is • any shoaler water between the Buoyart and the Palais shoal ?—A. No, I do not, I sounded as I came in, but did not find any bar. Q. You have spoken of conversations you had rela tive to attacking the enemy's ships at their anchorage near Air Had you commanded the British squa dron, the enemy's ships being moored into close and compact lines, supported by the batteries, and with out any oche!' knowledge of the soundings in the vici nity of that anchorage than was possessed by the fleet previous to the attack on them with fire-ships, wouler you have gone in to attack him in that position ? A. Most certainly not, I only mentioned my know ledge of the anchorage, in case there was a possibi lity of such an event taking place. • Q. After the two ships that remained at anchor had got into the entrance of the Charante, and the Ocean and other French ships which got of the Pa lais had obtained the same situation, do you know of any practicable attempt for destroying them was omitted to be done ?—A. I was not in shore, there fore cannot attempt to say. The Commander in Chief appeared to have sent every assistance they possibly could require for that service. Q. How many ships of the line do you think would be sufficient to silence the batteries of Isle d'Aix ? A. I think two would have been quite sufficient. Q. How many to attack, the ships ?—A. I should 1 think five or six ships of the line, of the smallest draught of water. Q. If two had been sent against the batteries, and five against - the ships, must it not, according to the common circumstances uf an attack, that many of those ships would have been crippled, and many men killed and wounded ?—A. I think by the batteries there would, but I should conjecture that the French squadron would make little resistance. Q. As an attack not proper in itself should no t b e made upon the mere conjecture that the resistance would be weak, what would probably happen to - the ships if the itieniy had reiisted,?—:A. It is itlipoOlhle . to foresee what might have happened ; but from the situation the Fretieh 'Were ht not having tteolded their fright of the night before: t think the loss would have been -Very little, •as few of their ships Were in position to fighi: thE;r guns. Q. Do you know that the five or six shipi you would have sent to attack the enemy's ships, would or would net have been opposed by other batteries than those he proposed to silence ?—A. From the view ,I had of the island and its batteries when in shore, I' should think they would not. I now speak from subiequent knowledge. Captain KM again called and t'xaminett Q- You have stated the injury your ship received in passing out of the roads of Isle d'Ai x ; can you state what would be the fate of the Revenge, or any other 74. gun ship, had they anchored two or three cables' length, for the purpose of silencing the bat teries I should certainly have expected, from the heavy firing kept up both in going in and coming out, that ships anchored there must have been com pletely dismasted, and suffered a severe loss of men. Q. What Would have been the probable fate of those ships, with the wind blowing from the north, as it did ?—A. If dismasted, in all probability they must have been last. Q.. (By the COuhT.) If ships so sent in to at: tack the batteries of Aix did not, from the strength of the enemy's works, and the resolution of those who defended them, succeed in silencing the batteries, and found it indispensibly Necessary to retire from before them, could they in a crippled state, with the wind blowing fresh at-N.N.W. have got to the anchorage latterly taken up by the Imperieuse,•Pallas, and /Ogle, have gone to that anchorage under these circumstan ces ?—A. If a vessel lo situated had lost her foretnak she certainly could not have got before the wind, and without that and having good way, so as to be per fectly Cinder command, she must have drifted to the S. and E. which would have taken her up the Cha rante; or 'on the Palais. Q. - Was the battery on the S. low enough to admit of its being destroyed by the guns of ships ? 7 -.-A. On the S. side I think not, from the S.W. the guns might have - borne on them. There was one chain of bat teries, extending from the W. to the S. side of the Island. The COURT, here intimated to Lord asmfittut that they should hot examine any further evidence, but if his Lordship had any thing to add, he was at liberty so to do. Lord GAMBIFR wished the indulgence of the Court for a quarter of an hour, to consider whether he should call more evidence, and then requested that a• paper he had presented yesterday should be pet mitted to be entered on the toinntes of their proceedin7s, which was acquiesced in, and was nearly as follows : " Mr. PRESIDENT—Arrived at the termination of my defence, it remains for me to express my acknowledgments to this Hon, Court, for the patient attention with which it has honoured me. The space of time cornprehendel in the charge, and more parti• cularly the riidence of the principal (I might say the only) witnets on the part of the prosecution, have led mu into detail more dif fuse and extensive than I could have apprehended. " When Lfirst entered this Court, it was with a mind perfectly at rest as to the issue of my trial, confident of having eaertc-d my self to the utmost for the honour and adv.ntage of my Kingand Country. The result of these proceedings has confirmed me In this state of mind, " I now retire, committing to your protection my professional reputation and my honour, with full persuasion that I shall re ceive at your hinds ample retribution for the aspersions on my. character which has led to this inquiry." The COURT then acquainted Lord GAMBIER, that as they should not come to any decision this day, his Lordship might take until to-morrow to consider whether he should. offer any further evidence. ,His Lordship made his acknowledgments for the indul gence, and the Court adjourned until ten o'clock to-morrow—(this day). A singular occurrence took place at the Carrick fergus Assizes. Alexander M'Coy, who was charged with a rape on Catharine M'Gawly, gave notice of his intention to surrender himself to the gaoler, and abide his trial at the present Assizes. Accordingly he was returned the calendar. On the prisoner being arraigned, he pleaded as Alexander M'Coy ; but when about to be given in charge to the Jury, the Counsel for the Crown mentioned to the Court, that he understood Alexander M'Coy was not in custody, but that his brother Daniel had personated him. This appearing to be the fact, Daniel was ordered to re main in custody, and to be prosecuted for the intended imposition, UNION-HALL—A curious examination took place on Wednesday during the examination of a woman on a charge of bigamy. While the first husband, named Facia was giving evidence in order to substantiate the charge against her, a lady, who was in the Of fi ce, rather ma y a propos for the -witness, came forward and addressed the Magistrates, as having a claim to his hand print to his having entered into the holy state of matrimony with the prisoner. ender these cir cumstances the Magistrates thought proper to com mit both the witness and the prisoner for trial: The witness indeed demurred; but the Magistrate observed, that, having prima facie evidence in the case, he was deterrair.ed to adhere to his resolution of committing Yesterday a gentleman of the name of . Bowton was held to bail, to take his trial for violently striking Mr. Dodd, jun. the engineer, in the head, so as to cause a compression on die brain, in a dispute upon the sub ject of the Froieeted Vauxhall Bridge.—lt was at first objected to admit him to bail, the life of Mr. Dodd, being cons . dered in danger ; but the evidence of some eminent professional gentlemen not establishing this fact, bail Was ordered to be taken. Bow-STREET.--Yesterday J. Nifitot was charged with hawking and selling six sacks of coals, under a ; licence made out in the name of J. Lankshear ; which fact being proved, the licence was ordered to be im pounded. . HATTON-GARDEX.—Yesterciav Mars Preston, who stands fully committed for robbing a lodging-house at Hampstead, in which she pretended to - hire apart ments for Ladies Somers and Campbell, was charged by Mr. Delacourt, of the sign of the Earl of Chatham, at Woolwich, with practising a similar deception on him, and robbing his house of sheets and wearing sip ' payeL —She was remanded, in expectation of more • charges of a similar nature. Satdrday, J. Hill, a carter, while contending with another carman who should first unload their goods in the Borough Market, was run over by one of the carts, and had his legs broken, • fy tit 2 :EDiroit 0747111 St* - • ON THt PROPHECIES.-NO. ZYYItt. . • INTRODUCTIoN To Tan WOE TRUMPETS. lad I beheld, and heard are eagle tng ihrovgh the mid.heaven, saying with a load voice, a, woe, won to the dweller: on the earth, from' the other voice: of the trtaroet of Me. three assgeh who are get le. soma " (Rev. viii. 13.) We hale seen, by the trumpets of the foe!. fbrmer angels, evils brought upon the church and upon the - - empire of DANIEL'S fourth kingdom, than which ima gination can scarcely canceive any thing more dread ful. 't'hese, however, terrible as they were, are consi- . dered as light and trivial, compared to those that follow. They are therefore detailed in the prophecy without any particular intimation of their peculiar severity ; but those about to be proclaimed are intro duced with a wattling awfully solemn ,' whether' we consider the heaven here mentioned as referring to the. rule and government of the church, or to that system of dominion which was to take place in Europe after the imperial sun was eclipsed. WoE, WOE, WOE to the inhaZitant: of the earth P' That the church is called upon to attend to this warning cannot ,be doubted ; for the Whole prophecy was given to chew unteenetst's servant: things that were :hardy to come to pass (Rev. i. 1.) But the h.eavew-politie appears to be here particularly intended ; for the fourth trumpet had proclaimed the extinction of the light of the third part of this heaven, and then follows this Eagle in the mid-heaven, ?Aar:it/pa sr,y.z:i, (not- Mr midst of heave", as in the common version) denouncing three-fold woe to the inhabiter: bf the earth, i. e. to those dwelling under the politica/ • heaven. This phrase, d mid-heaven," does not mean the air, the Middle region between heaven and earth, but the meridian, that part of the heaven in which the sun has his highest exaltation - in his [apparent] dint. nal revolution, and in - the astronomy-of the ancients always meant, that point or degree of the Zodiac which coincided with the meridian, whether the sun was then in that point or bot. The mid-heaven was also.called the cusp of the tenth astronomical house— for the whole Zodiac was considered as divided auto twelve planetary houses—and this tenth house, being the highest, was allotted to the sun, a; Mr King among the planets. Hence this was called the regal house, the house cr rule and dominion, and in astrology denoted the ruling power. In the common Greek text we read titylAa, Angr4 in place of sikroii, Eagle. The latter is the reading • of the Velgate, Syriac and Jr!Ethiopic versions, the Complutensian edition, _several of the Fathers and good MSS. and by every rule of fair criticism has the best right to be admtted as the genuine text. One of the readings is a corruption. It is difficult to conceive how a transcriber could substitute Eagle for the former word having occurred only once before in the whole beef, and that so far back as chapter iv. vet. 7, so that the recollection of the word cannot be suppOsed to have been floating even faintly in his mind when transcribing the Sth chapter. It is otherwise with the word angel. No mstake could be more natural when •writing about Heaven, than to substitute for eagle a word of such frequent recurrence as angel.* It is also deserving of notice, that Jam; does not say siniply as Eagle, but ivos eiersO, est. Eagle.— An Engle in symbolical language is sovereignty, and was peculiarly the symbol 9f the Roman sovereignty. But the Prophet had given a statement, in the verse immediately preceding, which, without such an. inti mation as is here given, might have been understood to amount to a declaration that the eagle was dead. The Eagle, however, or the Beast, as this Empire is also called, recovered from the wonnd inflicted en him by the sword of the barbarians.. The Hierarchy still remained as a nucleus and centre around which the discordant and heterogeneous materials of which this empire was now composeti, were to arrange them selves, and by which such a cohesion of them was to be fontied as can subsist among pieces of iron joined together by such cement as clay (Dan. ii. 40-43). The Eagle had yet an existence in prospect : the reign of one head, its eighth, was to follow all the calamities that had been before described ; and the appearance of this one form of the Eagle in Me mid heaven—that if, in the possession of the sovereign power —his own annunciation of his existence, his assump tion of dominion as a ruler, is in the text declared to be equivalent to a denunciation of the most dread ful miseries to mankind. But besides this, something farther seems to be in timated by the peculiar expression, ONE mgt." It was not a plurality of empires, or any potentate, whom commentators, to suit their own hypoth!sis, might choose to upbraid with the title, but own par ticular predicted em re, that was to be the distingo .b -ed and prominent adversary of the Messimes king dom, and, as such, the procuring cause of the judi. cial inflictions denounced in this prophecy. This de. serves particular notice ; for we are by this limita tion to ON E, prevented from looking . for this adver sary, the Antichrist, in any other empire than that of the Eagle; and had commentators paid proper atten tion to this limitation, they would have suppressed many of their ISICUbMions, which are worse than ir relevant. Another dominion was to succeed that of the Em. peror's, and like the later part of them, to call itself Christian—a power which was to profess to Itilateits - -, conduct by the precepts of the gospel. very power, though thus warned, was to be the cause of all the evils that were to follow ; for though the chief in struments wcre to be another set of men, of whom we shall soon have occasion to take notice, these had no power of their own, nor ought they ever to have pos sessed it, in civil matters.; but. they received power from the ten kings, and bad their rise as a called by Paul the man of sin—the son of perdition (2 Thess. ii. 3.), at the same time sv , tlt the ten (r,ev. evil. 12, 13). They had, as we have aisendy seen, been gradually strengthening thenteelve z an d adding to their own importincemenfronathe Apostolic age, but it *as only on the seduction of the imperial power, which was the.fel or Madrona to , the complete r revelation of the mystery of iniquity which was al% ready at work in the days of the Apostles, that the nun of riesscendedilis throw; sates:tied machiaationt, with all tr, astil rive mod wader:. The na ture of delmions, and judgments which fol lowed, fatty the subjects or the. three following trum peu. But, at it will much facilitate our future pro ° Some :lad apirov isc brio. See.Orierbastes Testa.wris . vol.tio. :* • ~~ , *.%