The National Register. — London, England, 1812-04-12 00:00:00

232 tivrtar batteries, kcc. The sliel:s of the enemy are filled with lead, and then bored; they seldom hurst,and when they do, the explosion is in oonsiderab:e. From the movements observed in the enemy's lines, and the nun.ber of troo;:s they have detached from them, as wal as from the plans we know were in agitation, we have strong hopes that they will soon give up the bombardment and the siege. PORTUGAL. A large fleet of sixty sail of transports, under convoy of the Leyden man of war, arrived on Wednesday at Portsmouth from Portugal. They sailed from the Tagus on the 25th ult. but have brought no news from the army of a more recent date than Lord WELLINGTON'S disl .atcheF, nor any letters from Lisbon later than the 22d. We are still ) Iherefore, to remain in a state of suspense as to the fate of Dadajoz, confident in the skill and intrepidity of the gallant General and his brave army but tearful of giving way to antic;pations too sanguine, Wen we call to mind the strergth of the fortress, and the. importance which the French must attach to its defence. L'ORIENi s SQUADRON. The destination of the French squadron has at length been ,ascertained. After cruizing for twenty days in a latitude where it was likely it might fall in w►th our out ward-bound East or West India fleet, it has safely re paired to Brest with a few unimportant prizes. This in foi m ition has dispelled the anxiety which the pi e3ence of an enemy's fleet in Our seas excited. It was contained in the following paragraph extracted from the Monitenr. BR EST, M A RCH O.—Vice-Admiral ALLEMAND, who, on the 9t h inst. left L'Orient with four sail of the line and two corvettes, after taking several prizes, anchored in our roads on the 29th. SCAR ITY OF GRAIN. Mr. CURWEN introduced on Friday, in the House of Commons, the important subject of the present scarcity cf grain. He stated that twenty weeks must elapse be fore any supply of new grain could be expected, and proposed, in order to effect a saving of 600,000 q‘nirters, the renewal of the 41st Geo. 111. c. 16. by % ,- hich it was provided, that flour should be made only of one quality, instead of three qualities. Taking the Winchester htulicl at sixty pounds, the leis of grinding three qualities of w,,s 11 , 4 less than nine pounds a bushel. Ile lip• prehended, that by taking out a L'ss quant.ity ($ bran,. a flour perfectly wholesome and nutritive - would be oh tained, and a saving of five pounds effected in every Winchester bushel. There was another consideration, too, namely, that flour of this kind would not be applied to any luxurious preparations, but would be exclusively confined to the making of bread ; a circumstance which right justify the anticipation of saving another week on ;he whole consumption. The American American Congress. have voted a loan of 11 mil lion of dollars, most of which has been raised at 8 per . cent. ; the interest on which is to be paid by. an addi.ion of 1001. per cent. on all goods and merchandise inirrted, but not to commence until hostilities actually take place. A Bill has been intoduced into the American Ccitgres , ;, the provisions of which declare, that if any foreigner shall be guilty of impressing any American citizen on board of a foreign ship or vessel, he shall, if arrested, be tried and convicted asapirate, and suffer death ; and the Ameri can so impressed, on his return to his country, shall be entitled to 30 dollars per month during the time of his detention, and may recover it by a suit of foreign attach ment against the debtor of any British creditoi ; and what he shall recover, and the costs, shall be so much had w h at of the debt. MISCLLLA /ES. APRIL 12 His Royal Highness the Prince Regent has patronised, in the spirit of benevolence, a most laudable Institution, about to be instituted, under the name of " The Irish Charitable Society." Monday, there was another meeting of Irish Noblemen and Gentle men, at the Thatched House Tavern, to receive the R e p ort of the Com mittee to whom the Petitions in favour of the Catholic claims were in trusted. The Petitions were handed in, which were signed by a num ber of persons connected with Ireland by With and property. The Pe tition to the Lords was to be presented by the Marquis of Lansdowne, and that to the Commons by Mr. Ponsonny. Astell, Charles Grant, John Jackson, Campbell Majoribanks, George Smith, and 3weny Toone, Escjrs. were on Wednesday elected Directors of the East India Company, in the room of six others, who were out by rotation. Major Mellish, we are concerned to state, has suffered by his unfor tunate return to the turf, having lost 5000 guineas on a bare. contt-sted race at the late Newmarket Meeting for the Oatland Stakes, when the Duke of Rutland's Sorcery beat his Beverley, after one dead heat, only by half a neck! ROMAN RELlCS.—Friday last, as the servants of Mr. Beard, of Rot tingdean, Sussex, were ploughing a waste piece of land, near that place, for a potatoe plantation, they turned up, in a large barrow, dine tuns, of different dimensions, and of great antiquity, which contained calcined bones and ashes. The remains of an extensive Roman bath was, a few (lays a o, discovered by some plotrghmen, ia a field in the nariAt of Duncton, about two miles from that which was last year discovered, in a field at Bignor. RATS AND MICE.—A plant which grows in abundance in every field, the dog's tongue, the eynoglosome eirinale of Linrazus, has he e‘i found to possess a very valuable quality. If gathered at the period when the sap is in its full vigour, bruised with a hammer, and laid in a house, barn, granary, or Lay place-frequented by rats and mite, t :lose destruc tive vermin shift their quarters. The success of this method is equally sptedy and infallible. Monday last, a dreadful pitched battle Was fought at Cope Wood, nea. St. Ann's Hill, between John Fogard, a farmer, and W'm Bart ington, a navigator, for five pounds of their own money, ui consequence of a public house quarrel. The combatants knocked each, other about by tremendous blows one hour and 25 minutes, with alternate a:ivan tages, but at length Fogatd hit his adversary a strong chance hit behind the ear, and he fell senseless, and never rose again. He was conveyed to the Chequers public house, about a mile distant, where he languished about three hotirs and died. A Coroner's Inquest has brought in a ver dict of Manslaughter against J. Pogard, the deceased having in a great measure provoked the combat. • CATHOLIC MARRIAGES.—At the Middlesex Sessions, on Wednesday, Archibald Ritchie was indicted for assaulting Maty, - the /tuft of James Reddy. On the cross-examination of the prosecuerix, she said site was married in a Catholic Chapel at Radcliffe-highway, by a Catholic it:4, without banns or license; upwi Which the Court declared that such marriage was contrary to the Marriage Act, and illegal: the indictment, therefore, could not be maintained, and the delen .‘ant was acquitted. Pr 0t.1.3 rain-.4llsm.—Tuesday im,rning, Mr. Agar, the celebrated pe destrian, undertook to zo by a c ircuitous route from his residence at Kensington to Blackw,:l: r, in Hampshire, and return, making altoge ther a distance of 59 mileta the•space a eight hours and a hail, for a stake of voo guineas. He started at daylight, dressed closely in flannel, with light but thick shoes, and with his legs bare: hi arrived at Ash ford C'.nnnon (17 miles) in two hours and ten minutes, and refreshed at F.n:;letleld Green, 21 miles, in five minutes less than three hours from starting. He continued steadily at work until he did the haif of his j ,urney, in four hours and four minutes. A fter being well rubbed, ' Mr. Agar pursued his Herculean undertaking, and did his seven miles lan hour tolerably true, although he was much distressed in the last two hours, but he won the mach in t hree minutes within time. DISSENTERS.—it IS said, that NI r: Vent. Smith convened a meeting, a few days ago, of the principal Dis,enters, to ascertain whether the Ca rholic Question had their support, or not. It is reportia: they stated to hint, that they had no desire for more political poe. - er: that they contented to have the laws relative to - I olerz&on properiy executedvpre ; but they conceive them to have been departed from lately in two or three judicial cases. That, in short, they had lived happily under the pre sent Protestant form of Constitution, and that they did not wish for such a change in it, as they conceived would be produced by connecting (':idiotic principles with Protestant. It is also reported, that one of the Candidates for Bristol lately requested the support of the Dissenters, wh desired first to know hisopinion relative to the Catholic Question. He o teplied, that he was to it, and then promised him their sup port. The King of PRUSSIA has issued a Decree for eq ping vessels to prevent the carryi n g on of commerce con trary to the Continental system —There appears from the tenor of thew papers to be a general scarcity through uut France. THE NATIONAL REGISTER.