Star. — London, England, 1815-08-18 00:00:00

.13L6 B CAPTAIN LAWRENCE AND THE CHESAEAKE. (MOM TILE BOSTON OALBTTL). ▪ Fame is the spur, that the clear spirit doth 16 (That 134 t hfirmity in noble mine...), 61 To scout th-lights, and live laborious days: • • 1/111k the lair Cuerdon when we hope to find, 61 3rd think to hunt nut into sudden blaze, " Comes the . blind Fury with the abhorred she;ri, • " And slits the th:n-spun life, but not the Praise:* The publicatimi of the subsequent report would have been premature, prior to the trial of the Apr leaving officers and men whose conduct it implicates: the reason for suppression ho - longer exists, and its publication is due. to thcmenwn y of the heroes, who, on. that disastrous day,ssd gallantly sacrificed their live, for their.cotmoy. . The members of the court were Commodore Bain bridge, and Captains Hull and Smith, names iden tified with chivalry, and dear to Americans ; and thtir report contains the only authentic account of the engagement with the Shannon. Captain Lawrence's sailing orders were peremp: tory ; and when the enemy hove in sight, the ascot • pea ke's crew were mutinous, on account of the non. payment of their prize-money. The commander could not have disobeyed his orders with impunity ; and mutiny was to be overawed by energy. He passed the day in preparing for action, and in the cascouragement of his men; and before night•fall s , the whole ship *as animated with his heroic soul. The unexampled destruction of the Guerriere was accomplished in less than eighteen minutes, and the vanquished ship had sixty-thcee killed and wounded. One.third more metal is thrown by the Constitution's than by the Chesapeake's broadside : and the Shan von was so cut in her hull by eight minutes broad s:ding, that it was with difficulty she could be kept al. at during the night, and she numbered eighty. eight killed and wounded. It has been truly re marked, 66 that the world never witnessed so destruc tive a fire, from so limited a. broadside, in so short a spare," Law:ence tell ! and the remainder of the tight, it figia it can be called, was as disgraceful as tirst eight minutes were brilliant. The moment after Captain . Lawrence was carried below, Captain .Broke boarded our quarter-deck at the head of twenty men. Nothing but desperation could have prompted or justified the measure. . . Lieutenant Dodd, the senior o ffi cer, had now gained the spat-deck, where trey were, wit'i those vho had come up, front sixty to seventy-five ellen. No attempt was made to %sting more men. hum the gmvdeck, and none on the spar deck to rally the men and charge the b.)artl.ers. This melatt choiy pause continued, as Mr. Budd his testifies], ante minutes.. In the mean time Captain. Broke, without making any attack, had collected nearly one 'toothed men, and proceeded to the attack on the starboard side of the ship. Mr. Budd . GO V/ perceived a British uniform, then he concluded that the men on the quartor-duck were the enemy, kit whose ap proach ow men fled to the forecastle, precipitated themselves through the tore-liatr.liway to die gun deck, and from thence to the birth-deck, without an effort to prevent them. A few only of the enemy were killed t r wounded by invailuntai y and uccidentat blows, and the tire from the turps; aid he continued' his tinresiated havoc till tot a man was left on either deck. Although Lawrence was prostrate, his snail was in arms. From the cock pit he issued his memorable orders--" keep the guns going ;" 66 fight her till she strikes or sink% :" told when he knew the enemy had carried the spar-deck, he sent the emphatic message to the gun-deck : " Don't give up the ship." When he was apprised of the issue, he coolly 'remarked -4" then the officers of the deck hav'nt toed the mark ; the Shannon was whipt when I left." The officer-like conduct of this gallant martyr, on this day, has been impeached by some of the sur. vivors of that dreadful conflict. The inevitable dis advantages under which he fought a superior ship, perfectly prepared—the chivalry with Which he court. ed the conitet—and the brilliancy of it before he fell, shoeht alone rescue his memory from censure.— . Ca na 1 aacTilege, to prophane the sanctuary of the tomb, to shield living slefection from merited dis. grace ! Every witet ss upon the court-martial, under a close cross-examination, not only repelled 'the foul Slander, hut sitatiJedly established his nigh charact.r as a c , mnve•sler. In a very unreserved conversation, Commodore Decatur, with whom Captain Lawrence had served rucl , , was asked—.. whether his intrinsic poetic as rtn otlicis jus•ified the elithusiastic veneration in' which the natton held his memory?" Atter a short pause, he answered—" Yes, Sir, it did ; and the ft Dow died as wilt as he lived; but is is j).-irt si soldier's life to die well. I-le had no talk ; but be inspired ad . :About him with ardour :—he always saw the brst thing to be done—knew the best way to exe cute it—and had no more dodge in him than the enaiti-mast."—Laudaturn eat, laudato via a,. This vent.ration is due to the ashes of the mourned. ;mind. When the ill-starred fortunes of this ship are re called to memory ; when we recollect that her deck was the death-scene of our favourite lino, with vic tory almost in iris grasp, we involuntarily adopt the language of Milton's monody upon his ship-irecked triend— 44 It way that fatal and retlitlious bark, " built in the Eclipse, and Aged whit curses dark, " That sunk so low that sacred Lead of thine r REPORT. " The Court ate tirtankaouslr of opinion that the Chesapeake was gallantly carried into action by her late brave Commander ; mid nu doubt rests with the Court, train ;onipaiibijii of the injury respectively Slummed by the frigates, that the fire of the eltesa peake niucli superior to that of the Shannon.— The Shai:Ooti, bents touch cut in her spa rs an rig , lug anti tecelirjok wail shot in and below her water jme, was reduced altuo;it to a linking condition, alter wily a tear minutes cannonading from the Chesa +hi!e tine CheiapFake *lca comparatively an- And the Court bad pot accidentally facie 00 board 'the and We Shannon's anchor et foul in the after cluster port of the Chesapeake. the nennon Must have very soon sotrendered or sunk. • " It appears to the Court, that as the ships were getting foul, Captain Lawrence ordered the boarders to be called but the bugle man, Wm. Brown, sta. tioned to call the boaiders by sounding a bugle, had deserted his quarters, and when discovered and or dered tb call, was unable from fright to sound his horn; Celt midshipmen went below immediately to p:.ss the word fer the boarders ; but these not being called.'•in the way they had been usually exercised, few came upon the upper deck ; confusion prevailed; a greater part of the men desetted their quarters, and nit below. " It appears also to the Court, that when the Shannon got foul of the Chesapeake, Ca pt. Lawrence, his first Lieutenant, the Sailing Master, and Lieute nant of Marines, were all killed or mortally wound ed, and thereby the upper deck of the Chesapeake was left without any Commanding Officer, and with only one or two young Midshipmen. 6, It also appears to the Court, that previously to the ships getting foul, many of the Chesa; rake's spar deck division had been killed and wounded, and the number stationed on that deck thereby considerably reduced ; that these being left without a commissioned officer, or even a warrant officer, except one or two inexperienced midshipmen, and not being supported by the boarders from the gun-deck. almost univer sally desetted their quartets. And the enemy avail ing himself of the defenceless state of the Chesa peake's upper deck, boarded and obtained possession of the ship with very little opposition. 66 From this view of the engagement and careful examiriation of the evidence, the Court are unani mously of opinion that the capture of the late United States frigate Chesapeake, was occasioned by the fol lowing causes : the almost unexampled early fall of Captain Lawrence, and all the principal Officers ;* the bugleman's desertion of his quarters,and inability to sound his horn ; for the Court,are of opinion if the horn had been sounded when first ordered, the men being then at their quarters, the boarders would have promptly repaired to the spar deck. probably have prevented the enemy from boarding—certainly have repelled them, and might have returned the boarding with success ; and the failure of the boarders on both decks to rally on the spar deck after the enemy had boarded, which might have been done successfully, it is believed, from thecautious manner in which the enemy came on board. 66 The Court cannot, however, perceive in this almost unexampled concurrence of disastrous circum stances, that the national flag has suffered any dis honour from the capture of the United States frigate Chesapeake, by the superior force of the British fri gate Shannon, of 52 carriage guns, and 390 Nor do this Court apprehend that the result of this engagement will in the least discourage our brave seamen from meeting the enemy hereafter on equal terms. . 4, The Court being also charged to inquiri into the conduct of the Officers and men, during and alter the engagement, and thereupon having strictly exa mined and maturely considered the evidence as re corded, do find the folloWing causes of complaiat " Flrst—,Against Lieutenant Cox, that being s attuned in 'command of the wood division on the main trek, he left hi. division during the action, while his men were at teeir quarters, and went upon the upper deck : that when there, anti the enemy boarding, or on the point of bei.,rding, he kit die deck to aMitSt Captain Lawrence below, went down 'Walt him front the sp.ir deik to the birth ; did not retina to his d vision, but went firward n the gun deck; that white there, and the men were retreating below, he commended them to go to then duty with out enforcing his conimands. But as a Court ot Inquiry allows an accused pereon no *ppm wilily of v e:..cailtig his coniite:t, the Members of this Court trust tint th,t, opinion on ti' conduct of Lieutenant Cox, may net be deemed conclusive against him, wnhout teat by & t art-nen tial. " Second—Againq Midshipman !Wrest that he left his quarters during the action, and did not return to them, and now assigns no reason for his conduct satisfactory to this Court. " 'Third—Against Midshipman Fleshmaa ; flat he behaved in an unoffiterlike mimer at iialitas, astiontrg a false name at the office of she Commissary of Prisoners when obtaining his parole, and was paroled by the name of Wm. Brown. " Fourth—Against the crew generally : that they deserted their quarters, and ran below %Per the ships were foul, and the enemy bearded. But it appearing that they behaved well at their quarters before, and Bred osr the enemy with great rapidity apd precision, the Court ascribe their misconduct to the confusion naturally Inc dent to the early loss of their officers, and the ontosion of the call for boardere in the accu•tomed manner. Yet this Court is very far from exculpating those who are thus criminal. It is unable to designate by name all the individuals who thus abandoned their duty, because most of the officers had recently joined the ship, some only a few days preceding the engagement, and of course could not distinguish the men. The Court, there-' fore, respectfully submit to higher authority the expediency of withholding the wages of the crew. The persons whom the Court are able to designate by name, as deserters from their stn. done, are William Brown, bugleman Joseph Wawa, captain of 24. gun ; Peter Frost an d John Joyce, seamen. 44 , The Court further find, the following persons entered the British service at Halifax, viz. Henry Ensign, Peter John. Andrew Simpson, Peter Lang run, Magness Sparring, Joseph Galla, Maarten Aas derson, Francis Paris, John White, boy, 'rhoesee, Arthur, Charles Reynalds, John Pkce, jun.. AO drew Denham, Thomas Jones; Charles Goodman, JosCph Antonio, Christopher Stevens, Charles Bow den, Charles Westerbuty, Joseph Smith, George Williams and George Cordell. " The Court further find and report, that William Wainwright, William Worthington, and James Par ker, the last of whom was born at Salem, Massa chusetts, were claimed by the enemy as British sub jects, and sent on board the enemy'sships of war. 4 , This Court respectfully beg leave to superadd, that, unbiassed by any illiberal feeliegs, towards the enemy. they feel it their duty to state, that the con duct of the enemy, after boarding and carrying the Chesapeake, was a most unwarrantable abuse of power after success. 64 The Court is aware, that in carrying a ship by hoarding, the full extent of the command of an offi cer cannot be readily exercised ; and titan improper violence may nrievoidaiily ensue. Wiwi this happens in the mowent Of coinciinun, a magnanimous con quered foe will not cnmpiairt. But the tact toss been clearly established before this . Court, that the enemy met with little opposition on the tipper deck, and none on the gun deck. Yet alter tilt) had can k'J the ship they tire.: from the gnit•cleck GtiWil the hatch way upon the birth-de:l, and killed and wounded several of . the Chesapeake's crew, who had retreated there, were Ull4lllll J and 'incapable of making Atli oppositio n ; that spine balls were tired even into the cockpit; and what ex:ites the utrno4 'abhorrence, this outrage was dbunnitted in the iirestirce of a Bri tish officer standing at the hatchway. WILLIAM DAP.Bitiliar., Pfebidellie" FLANDERS. MAIL. FRANKFORT. AUGUST •. What has hitherto been published resprceng the peace with France, gives rise to numberless conjec tures, and conversations in every shape. Those who pretend to know that France will preserve its inte grity, say; that the two first lines of all the fortresses from Dunkirk to Strasburg') will he occupied by the allied troops till order and peace are restored in France again: other: affirm that Alsace, Lorraine, and Bur gundy, will very shortly be definitively taken posses sion of by the Allied Posvers: others even pretend that France will lose several -seal ports in the Channel and the Mediterranean. 'Tln Journal published in our neighbourhood ob serves, that all go too far, particularly the.last con jecture ; and that, for the present, the best way is net to conjecture, but to wish and believe that the Allied Sovereigns will secure, in the best manner, their own and their people's intereet—their own re pose and that of Europe ; and now that the right moment is' come, will profit by it to make France in capable of doing future mischief. r perks. ‘v zr:iduki:asl NUREMBERG, AUGUST 3. Letters from Hambiargli inform that the happy success of the war makes the people of Hamburg): Hatter themselves that they shall recover the motley taken from their Bank. People were not surprised at Davoust's acting thus; but did not expcct that General Gerard, who conducted the g.irrisr,n here ! the King's name, would carry off the 1,800,0iK) marks that were still remaining. Ail this money. like all the ready money of the Continent, his found its way to France, which, according to the assurance of all merchants, is now the richest country in Eu rope in the precious metals. This is the moment to claim with effect what has been stolen. The Senate of Hamburg)! has abe idy taken steps to demand the funds of the B ink. It is expected that the Syndic Grits will ge w► this busi neu to Faris. !REM/ PAPERS. ROYAL. ORDINANCE. Lou!, by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre _ _ Having ascertained that the actual force of our ar mies greatly exceeded a peace establishment, and was especially disproportionate to the revenue of the kingdom, that the most just, and at the same time the most favourable peinciple for the formation of a pond army. is to make the discharges in the first place fall upon Officers. who, being no longer in the vigour of age, are less fit for active service. Wishing, at the same time, to mitigate the effect of these discharges, with respect to those on whom they may fall, before they have served the time pre set-bed by the regulations for obtaining the pension on `retiring from service. On the report of our Minister Secretary of State and itt War. we have ordered, and do order what follows : Art. I. The et tiring from service belongs of right anti without any exception whatever; . I'n Lieutenant-Generals, Major G.. n-rats, superior officers of the Vaff and of corp., &e. who shall he on the tat of September next in the Mk year of their service, er in the 55th of their agt ; and also those whom wound• or in. fitini:tes remit r incapable of active service. he General and Gat Officers of Garrisons, who shall he at the same period in the :35th year of their nervier, or 64:h of their age. Other Gibe:rani the Staff, or of corpt, sole inspecors of review., Ste. who shall be in the 115tb year of their servact.„ or 50th of their age. 2. 'll.e following mai on their own request or otherwise, be placed nr, tha retired list, vie.—The Chief inspector." Inspectors, and Sub-in.pectors of Reviews, Comini.sarles, and Officers of Health, who shall, on the Ist of September, be in the 45th year of their service. General and Staff Olken of Garrisons in the SOth year of their service. _ _ Officers of the Staff and of Corps other than superior Officers, Sul) Inspectors of iteviews, Commissar's-li, Officers of Health, Ike. who shall be in the 20t h year of their service. 3. The retired pay, according to the number of years of ser. vice fixed by the'preceding articles, shall be founded on the maximum of seniority. '1 h. time of service required *ail be di minished by live years for Officers ary Aciminkratorseand others, who shall have reached th e age pointed out for their class lo Article I. 4. Those who, after having served ten years, shall he declared incapable awning, shall obtain, whwever he their age, WIC half of the maximum of retired pay, except ths severity of their wounds entitle them to a higher pension ha virtue of our ordi- Itillnee of the 117th of August, 11114. 5. Officers who have herved less than ten years, and whose wounds render them sink to eerie longer, shall receive at t heir homes, as a gratilkatten, one year's pay on the peace &entry. I. Ulcers who have sufered amputation. and are employed in gate or otherwise, excepting in the Hospital of Invalids and its collateral Establishments, shall all be, without excep tion, entitled to retreat, with the Wiest allowance of their re spective tanks. 7. 016111 and Military Administrators shall not be required to prove two years' service id their present ranks to entitle them to the retired allowees of that rank. _ S. Our Minister Secretary of State for the War Department will carry into effect these arrangements, in the interval Ise , ween this date and the Ist September, as far as regards the General and Staff °Seers of the Army and the Garrisons, and nl•e Mili ,tary Admivisiration. All other heads of branches shall carry the execution into effect in their several Departments. . 9. l'he arrangements specified abase shall apply only to Offi cers in actual employment on the•lst July, 181.5; and they shall cease to be available when the army 'hall he re-organiz.•d. •I'he Officers who shall continue to be employed will be entitled to their retirement only on the scale of the established regulations, and according to the couchtions prescribed by them. All new arrangements of retired allowances converted to full pay, or et her atrangemetits chargeable op the finds of the army, shall be re placed on the turner tooting; nor can any maintenance but the retired allowance be granted to Officers ceasing to be employed. These retired allowances cannot, in any instance, exceed the maximum established for their respective ranks. Penstotis gran t: el o o widows and orphan► cannot exceed the limits Axed by our Ordinance of the lith Augury, 1814. il►. I run► this date, no demand of employment In our houce hold troops snail he admisstble after the person s:1:1111avt• s. r twenty years, or shall hare attained the age ..1 lit.l• 11. Neither shall any person who lia. ..tiveti &olive ar or who is above :he age en sixty, be vbgtbts fo► tnt,•!ol lc. it vu the Garrison Staffs. I. No pi rum who has once retired can be allowed to mum In military s.rvice. t:t. Our Minister at War Is charged with the execution of this !km.' c. Giver) at our Castle of , he Thuilleries, this Ist August, In the year of Urace LION aul tat uur re,go the 2f it. (Signed) louts. '1 he Marshal Gouvtou Sr. CYR, Secretary of State for the War Dept tont. PARIS. AUGpSr 14. • Qn Saturday last the Count d..ia presented to his Majcbty a numeious deputatifm t Vendean officers, of the 4. h corps to t.e royal sit my, who were must paciottqly rtetiveLl. Since the conanuincaLions were opened with Al. im p the following iutcrc,ating 4.tvt reached is respecting the situation of the strong places of t h at country : Landau, though blockaded for some weeks, has sot hem attacked in form. The gerris on occupies 2 small space of ground around the fortress. Major. general Gruden comes Inds there. At the moment when the armistice was co scloied, it wis in contem plation to commance the sieve. A traia of artillery, t is said, was on its ..vay from Wats, bat receive.' Infers to halt. It is not knowo whether the garrison made any saliies. es Schlestadt has a nitmernus garrison, and- has made several sallies. Those of the 10th and 13th of July were remarkaole : the enemy's works were de stroyed, and the garrison returs-d to the laurels with some prisoners and baggage ; but all the civ / and military authorities were eager to hois. the white colours the moment they had (official intelligence GI the events at Paris. '• An Austrian corps wrier the command of Ge neral Volkman, who commandel at Kehl, is charged. with the block oie of New Brisack. immediately atm the arrival ot the army of the Ils,ine in the envirms of Su asioirgh, Gener d Rapp sc3t some balrlimis so New arisack, which were in time to enter the forties before the appearance of the enemy. •' On the 20.1: of June the garrison made a slily. in which it retook two v• 11 iges from the enemy. From that moment All ..as tr rogoil for some time : brit the blockading corps wishing to erect some h4t teries near the place, the glrrison made a sally on dot 13th of Juiy, and succeAed in tirstruyivw, them. After that, up to the concluiimi of the armistice, there wile only some cannonade. without any particular result. 4. P4+ slihiwg has d 'ne the enemy much mischief. It is well known that the road from Saverne to Nancy passes through that town. though it may be turned, by passing neverthel•ss under the cannon of the fortress. Several Allied sediments chose to take this route, by marching through this dangerous pis. sage by night. They were observed from the for. tress, and so well directed a fire was opened on them. that the enemy sustained much loss. They then formed a new route across the Vosges, in order to avoid Phalsburg and establish their communicatilas with the fortresses of Lorraine. 46 The forts of Lichtenberg and Petite Pierre have been blockaded only within a certain distance. and have never been attacked. 64 Huningen defends itself, and Befort is included in the convention of Alsace. Letters from Rouen state, that malevolent persons in the capital circulate the most absurd and the most alarming news. At Rcuen, at Lnisviers,, and along the whnie ruad,ktters arc daily received o annousclig that Paris is in insurrection, that cannon have been fired in the streets, and that the city is laid waste with fire and sword. The letter from Rouen is da'ed the 10th; the manoeuvres which it denounces coinci with the factions movements which were attempted to be made at Paris during the last eight or ten days. • BOURDEAUX, AUGUST 9. Ctunt Lynch, Mayor of Bourdeatix, whom the late events, and an honourable proscription, bad cont. palled to quit our city, has post he«-n restored to !is functions. to his fimily, to hi,: friends, and to fellow-cttisetts. He was received with all the hit .ors due to his rank, and the high estimation in w,ncii tie illustrious Mayor of Bout& .ux as held by we English during his residence among those genervas islanders. BAILE, AUGUST .1,, The firing from Hotline uen has he 11 inconsiderable to-day. lo Our afternoon tnc Arc:idiarc: Jon $ ,ci.: a trunlp..ter to Gentral Barberiegre, a Corsican birth, to convey to hint the iretinitive ans..er it 1M tlai town of IS isle, and of the act, to his demaiol for a. contribution. The answer is a formal retsl,4i, e. which tlie Generil, accia ding to the dec.•rat.oo F 4 deserter, said he would renew the caniii,:s4 64:t vend odic rs are decidedly againA it. Th. mondani, Clause), had even enjoined the :trolleris:s not to ohe;. the General, if he shouht give focal such an ordt.r. bombardment of the too , i, aisd presumption .'f General Barbcnev,re, be e prt.v the exasperation of the Saris 4, mme esoecially of :t72 town and canton of Basle. The s will ~e to relieve the posts before the garrison are aniurated with an ardour not easily desciibio!. AUGUST 3.—Last night Huninguen opened a very bt isk bombardment on Little Huninguen, on the bat teries belonging to the Swiss on the tree tows, and upon Netidorff; where a house was burnt. A deser ter informed us yesterday that the French had f 4 men killed or wounded. VIENNA. JULY so, • • The recruiting wnich has been ordered throughout all the hereditary states of the monarelly, with the exception of Hungary, is tarried on with great ac-' tivity. 'chi: recruiting is to be of 100,0(a) men, and will serve to complete the army,• which has suffered considerable losses in the war of Naples, in Alsacs, the Vosges, &c. A French Colonel, leader of a partizrn corpS•iri Lorraine, has been brought to Vienna s he will be % transferred to the Hungarian fortress of Monigat:, where he will be detained as state prisoner. %Ve are informed that this rigorous measure has he , :t adopted against him because iu his papers was f. 51.1 4 an exhortation to his followers to direct their atu tion principally towards the Allied Sovereigns the foreign Generals in Chief who mar he in Frame. and he had promised them a large rscompence. if they could seize any of the Sovereigns or Gael•is . in Chief. The whole of the Lottery will be drawn NE TIILIItSDAY.m.4IIe Offices are crowded 4411 y. inset, in the last Lottery, Sold, in Shires, (2657.: Prize of 430,000, and l'en other CApilals. Sven %loch were Golden Prizes. In the Lit if Or: hinshed in April, las,u Sold all the Thrue X:$0,000. and :en otber CApitals, 4111,!1 Welt Golden Prizes. Bait is row Si litog 110:ets An. .tiliares for the Lottery of mil) .30110 !!) 1.)1 . .1 Ain the 14th of month. wita oct,lartt, to b had gt /tit at ISIAH% Otht:es, C..rit hill, or 9, Charing Cross. We are 11.4ppy to aiii,otrice to the Nledical .sion the publicaLion of A Ad!' Ili .11 •f Piewly-ahered VII 4 ltapi AL: 1103 i T Lu.o . OLLL'-' t ..1. 1 4 , . C. i• w.t.i No rs, And c pious Irish:: •.t .4d 4 L , 414.141 Pnys%el4ll. • Colifi ACM lb tile Ti Ailsl 4tl "i ihe isezurauy ut his wide' that he hasulei" tot the deIVCIAOLI of an error. i r i E 11