The National Register. — London, England, 1809-01-01 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. I 6 at halt past four in the afternoon, and was maintained with great. obstinacy and bravery on both sides till ten at night; and though the conflicting armies were within twenty paces of each other, the enemy, I mention with pride, was repulsed. and obliged to pass the .night upon the snow, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, without making a single etl'ort to extricate themselves. EXTRACT FROM AN OFFICIAL REPORT OF GENERAL KLERC VEER, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE NORTHERN ARMY, IN FINLAND, DATED HEAD-QUARTERS, AT ULEADORGH, NOV. 25: " Though I have been compelled, by the vast superi ority of the enemy's forces to evacuate the Province of Uleaburgh, which independently a this consideration, I must !vote done from the total want of provisioas and pro- ' vendei-; yet *1 derive no small consolation from the reflec tion, that 1 have pitied time, pending the negociatios for au Armistice, and sacceeding in obtaining ten clear days to evacuate the capital of this province. The interval I have employed in cutting and sawing the ice, and fitting out small craft for the conveyance of stores, &c. and have no doubt, from the arrangements that have been made, but the whole of the artillery and ammunition will he saved. The check which the Russians experienced at Wirat, is wholly attributable to the skill and bravery of Col. Reuters kold and General Alderkreutz, the latter of whom encou-, raged his troops by his presence and example ; and . your Majesty will be pleased to allow me to state, that this General,. notwithstanding the very critical situation in which your Majesty's army was placed, displayed his con summate abilities as a neg,ociator of the Armistice, in re jecting, under every disadvantage, the unjust and disho nourable proposition of the enemy, and by extricating our troops from impending destruction." • GIBRALTAR EXTRACT Or A LETTER, DATED DEC. 2. " Admiral Purvis is at present here, with the A tlac and Kent ; but I should suppwe, if there is the least probability of an at tack, our Government will send out large reinforcements. It is to be regretted something is not done with the Spanish Lines the Forts St. Phillip and St. Barbara might he now easily de . stroved, or rendered useless to an enemy fora consilterable length of time t .indeed; it is thought here, by some of our people in power. that the works might be so altered as to act against Spain if conquered by France, and become an outwork of this fortress. 44 The garrison coatlaues abundantly supplied with every this p•Lrt of S'puin proditcrs;• in return they take front Its till, the British manufarturrs they require. Sales, hots ever, I tins derstlnd Ire nw considerable as would have been expected conliden , e will. government, or in the political state of tbt country is the reason." _ JAN. 1.. PROVINCIAL§. An unparalleled instance of cruelty, superstition, and awful visitation, occurred a short period since in the Hundred of Hoo ; a farmer of the name of Fenner lost a considerable quantity of poultry by a distemper with which they were seized; and hav- . ing, some time prior to their mortality, received a present of a duck from a friend, it was supposed, from her laying dun-co loured eggs, that she had been bewitched by an elderly woman in the neighbourhood, and that such was the cause of the losses sustained. In order to prevent a recurrence of similar disasters, and to break the enchantment, it was determined, by an igno rant and superstitious female servant, to burn the ill-fated but innocent victim alive; which horrid resolution she one morning carried into practice, by putting the poor animal in an oven, and burning a faggot of wood over her; which, though it com pletely consumed alt her feathers, did not extinguish the vital 'park : on the following morning she repeated her cruelty, not withstanding which the poor dusk still retained animation : on the third day, being determined to effect her barbarous intention, she had recourse to the following shocking expedient—she set tire to a large faggot in the even, and when it bad completely caught the flame, she put the already tortured body of the poor duck on it, and confined it down; this soon terminated its exist ence. In a short period, from her inhuman conduct, this un fortunate dupe of superstition and ignorance was seized with fits; which appears like an awful dispensation of Providence, tit deprive her of that life which she was unworthy of, as she urvived but a few days after, expiring in the greatest agonies. Ilut.t., DEC. 24.--A heavy fall of snow comMenced on Satur day last, and has continued, with little intermission, every suc ceeding day, accompanied by a strong gale of wind a great part of the time, from the north and north-west. The quantity of snow that has fallen in this neighbourhood is so great, that in many places the road has been rendered impassable for carriages. The mail, and other coaches from York, have not reached this place since Saturday last. The Doncaster coach, by way of Howden, which should have come in on Sunday night, arrived here yesterday. On Sunday, and the following days, the bags, with the mails from York, were brought in between ten and elevca o'clock each• day, on horseback, from York, the mail guard having to ride eighty miles each day, through the snow, with the mails; one of them was so severely fatigued that h ,, lies at Bishop Burton, very dangerously ill. In the neighbour hood of Market Weighton the snow was drifted so much as to he level with the hedges an each side. NEWC A sr E, DEC. 24.—0 n Saturday and Sunday last, a severe storm of snow, attended by a violent gale of wind, came on in this neighbourhoOd. It has, we understand, been very generally felt along the northern and eastern coasts. The roads in many • places near this town were obliged to be cut, particularly tho'e that ran in an easterly direction. In the Last Riding of York shire the fall of snow has been so heavy as entirely to suspend land conveyance. The Telegraph from this town to Hull did not for several days reach its destination. ' Wednesday sennight, during the performance of High Life firlaw Stairs, one of the dressing-rooms of North-Shields Thew,: took fire, and several dresses were consumed before the flames were extinguished. There being an abundance of snow in the streets, the fire was soon got under by carrying buckets-full into the Theatre. An alarming fire broke out, about six o'clock on Wednesday evening last, in the dwelling-house of Mrs. Swale, tanner, of Ipswich, occasioned by culpable inattention to the kitchen chimney, which had been observed on tire during the greater part of the day, but no steps were taken to'suppress the same; and in consequence it communicated to the roof, and ultimately de stroyed the whole house, notwithstanding the most active exer tions of the military and neighbouring inhabitants, through whose means the bark-houses and adjacent buildings were preserved from the ravages of the flames, which appeared more dreadful than ans - conflagration ever recollec:e ! in that town. Saturday the lith ult. a great many sheep in Burgh in the Marsh, Lincolnshire, and other places, were by the inclemency of the weather driien into drains and drowned. The post-boy who rode the mail from Market-Raisin to Castor, was the same day starved to death on the road. Thursday se'nnight, in the evening, as Mr. C. Chapman, of Newmarket, was returning frOm a friend's house, • near Dog kennel-lane, he heard a c 6, of " lost," apparently from the Heath : he immediately scent home for assistance, and proceeded in search of the persons from whom the voices came, when,. by his timely interference, he probably saved the lives of five per sons, who had lost their Way in going front Newmarkett to Saxon-street. It appears they had been making merry at the SICILY. • 7rC 1?-i" Extract if. Letter from a Regpectabte House, dated Messina' 3th Oct. to a Mercantile HOusi in the City. " We are here in a continual state of alarm for the safety of this island. We have learnt that there are several ships in Toulon, and other ports of France, with a large number of troops on hoard, only. waiting an opportunity of getting out, destined to make an attack on different part, of tlik island at the same time, in which General Murat is to co-operate, by sending a large body of troops from the Neapolitan territory. " We can perceive great activity on the opposite side ; a number of troops in constant motion on the shore, also a vast number of sailors quite on the alert in the Bay of , preparing. their vessels and small craft, as if destin cd ,or some immediate undertaking." t r N '1 II