The National Register. — London, England, 1811-06-09 00:00:00

Proceeding, summoned the Bench of Magistrates, to take the matter into. consideration. Colonel ilehnsoin the then Com manding Officer at head-quarters, was sent for from his house, four miles from Sydney, to be present at this meeting ; but, in consequence of a fall he received from his chaise, he sent word to the Governor that he .could not astend. The Magistrates, after mature deliberation, came to a determination, at the sug gestion of the Governor, to summon the six officers to appear the next mortfrig at Government-Howie, to ,answer for their conduct; awl it was resolved to accuse them with treasonable practices, and according to the answers they should give on their examination, either to.oommit them to prison, or dispose of them othermitie according tis the nature, of circumstances. In the evening of this say (the Atli of January) whilst the Governor was sitting over his wine, with one of the Magistrates, he receives' lam-maim that the .whole of the 102 d xegiment, with Colonel Johnson at their heid, were marching up to Go vernment House, with band playing and colours flying. The Governor apprehending some. serious attack upon his person, retired ue stairs to the room where his paper s were, in order to secure the most important, and to itbopt such means of escape as presented themselves The soldiers, in the mean time, surrounded the houee. and .a party entered in ..search of the Governor. Aft, r a fruitless pursuit of about an hour and a bait', they at length found his Excellency concealed under a servant's bed in a, small room, at the top of the house. They immediately put him in arrest, and brought him down stairs. to Colonel Johrison. The Colonel expressed his 'sorrow at being obliged to take such a step, but declared that he did it in pursuance .of the wishes of the whole Colony, who were discontented at the Administration of his Excellency. and had presented him a requisition to that efftxt. The Governor was then ordered to remain in close confinement, in GOveinment House, with a guard of six" soldiers over his person ; in which situation he was kept a whole year. At the end Of whiCh period he got possession of hi: oastn ship, the Porpoise, in which he remained cruising in the South Seas, until the..ar , ival of Goveitior M'Quarry from England, who had orders to re instate him in his authority for 2,4 hours, and to declar, the acts of the usurping Government nuli and void. As soon as the Governor was put in arrest, all the Civil Officers in the Pea. blishment of.tbe Colony, Were removed from their situations, and Colonel Johnson appointed others in their stead, tun it his l'vlajesty"s pleasure should be known. In fact, a revolution in the existini , , Govern/mot was completely effected. On the part of Col. Johnson; the fact of his having put the Governor in arrest was avowed, but alledged to he justified upon the ground of absolute necessity, in order to save his Majesty's Colony of New South Wales from actual destruction. To support this justification a great number of - witnesses were celled, consisting chiefly of the officers of the 102 d regiment, some of the Civil Establishment and a few of the most re spectable Settlers of the Colony. The object of their testimony was to thew that Governor Bligh, by a series of oppressive Measures, had reduced the Colony to a state of discorrctit and disaffection, approaching to absolute insurrection. That by depriving people of their houses, lands, arid other property, without any pretence whatever; that by interfering with the proceedings of the Coprts of Justice ; that by ordering persons who bad been acquitted of offences alledged against them before the Criminal-Court, to be tried again and convicted by a Bench of Magistrates upon the very same charge, arid that by em ploying the most abandoned and disgraceful characters to be his Clounsellorg and confidential inmates, he had spread consterna tion and dismay amongst the inhabitants : that by his coarse and ungentlemanly language towards almost every individual, high and low, with whom he had any communication, he had rLndered himself the object of execration and unpopularity.— That to the inflitarfih particular, many of whose lioUses he was allediTil to have threatened to pull down, he had made himself partieui •rly obnoxious, by his to7rse and low abuses of them. AU the witnesses den•td the Governor's allegations respecting the barter of sirits, and they declared that his restrictions in that res: - ect formed no part of that discontent which prevailed through the Colony. In this state of things, when the report reached the people that the Governor had determined to put the siv officers of the Criminal Court under arrest, upon a charge of treason, they burst forth in a phrenzy of discontent and dissatisfaction, considering, as they did, the Criminal Court to be the only barrier left between them and the arhitary conduct of the Governor. Colonel Johnson, who was inforrned of-Governor Bligh's sletermilAtion iu respect of the Criminal Court, came to . Sydney about five in the afternoon, although his arm was in a sling, and he was otherwise disabled in body. The moment he arrived at the Barracks, the people assembled !mod him in crowds, demanding that ie would immediately - put the Governor under or - eat, and declaring that if he did not, aninsurrection sotasi break out in the Colony, and that every of blood.spilt eras the occasion would lie at his door. to-Shis effect was drawn up by Mr. M'Arthur) THE NAtIONAL FIST: 0 .-..-:. . and signed by several of the most respectable Settlers and Officers, and then presented to Colonel Johnson. Witm himself, with extreme concern, the impending danger tha peared to surround him, and firmly believing that an i rection would break our, and that many innocent lives w be deatroyed on the occasion, and that possibly the Governor's life would also be sacrificed, he -letermined, from motives of heal for the public welfare, and a sense of what he conceived to e his duty, to aiopt the measures so strongly urged by the inhabitants; and accordingly he put his Excellency under ,arrest. After an able reply on the part of Governor Bligh, the whole of the proceedings were closed. The verdict of the Court can not, of course, be known until it receives the sanction of the •Prince Regent. -- - . a.p. BATTLE OF ALBUERA. The following additionalparticulars of this sanguinary action, which are derived from a sharer in its glory will be read with Considerable interest : "After the dispatches were written, it was ascertained that the force of the enemy did not amount to less than 30,000 men, and they left on the field of ha tle nearer 2,500 dead than what •ts stated. Upwards of 700 wounded were left by the enemy, sand he is so pressed by our cavalry, that he was obliged to aban don many more to their fate. Marshal Soult boasted, in General 'Orders to his army on leaving Seville, that he was going to nicet and defeat the British, and likewise repeated the eime verbally to his troops. A copy of this Order was found on General • Werle, who was killed, and the latter was affirmed by deserters and prisoners. " Ihe British in the battle scarcely amounted to eight thou.. .sand—the Portuguese to seven thousand—the Spaniards from .ten to eleven thousand—making in the whole about twenty-six . thousand men. The French had a great, superiority in cavalry aid artillery. When the French drove the Spaniards, at the commencement of the action, from the height on the right, there was a shout of triumph, which was heard from one end of the line to the other. The Sponiards, although driven from the height, rallied at the bottom of the hill, turned upon the enemy, and most gallantly checked their career. No action in which the Spaniards have been engaged proves more Oars the battle of Aihuera how greatly it is to be lamented that they are pot taught to manoeuvre by officers of more experience in war than their own. To a man they evinced the most signal courage. but, owing to their want of improvement in discipline e lt is diffi- , cult and hazardous, lest they should be thrown into confusion, to move them from the position which they have at first °cep.. pied. "The immense loss sustained by the French chiefly took place when the Allies regained the height from which the Spa niards had previously been driven.—ln forcing he enemy into the low grounds towards the rivulet, the carnage caused by our musketry and Shrapnel shells was immense—whole ranks of the enemy were mowed down, and had we possessed any thing like an equality in cavalry, the greater part of the French army must have been taken or destroyed. " It is due to the enemy to state, that in the attack, during the . whole battle, and in the retreat, they manifested great skill and . sienal courage. When they were at last aware that the battle was irretrievably lost, they protected their infantry by their ca. , valry and artillery, and having recovered from the confusion into which they were thrown when flying from the height, they .retreated in good order, and formed upon the opposite side of .the rivulet. " From 2to 800 of the British, reported to be missing, had rejoined our army before the dispatches were sent off. .It was expected.that many more of the missing would escape from the enemy. " The reinforcements which Soult was expecting from ohlassena, consisted of seven battalions, which cannot be esti mated at more than $)00 or :3500 men at the utmost. Those . battalions from part of the 9th corps (which had been broken up,) and they originally belonged to the army of the South.--e It was certain that Massena had been recalled to Paris. " The reinforcements brought by Lord Wellington amounted to front Sto 9000 men." In the late battle at Albuera, a Captain of the 57th regiment was so severely wounded, that he ought to have quitted the field; but instead of allowing himself to be removed, he directed his men to lay him on the ground at the head of his company, where he continued to give his orders, and was observed to urge, that in firing at the enemy, the musquets might: be levelled low. Philipon, the Governor of Bacljoz, had been so certain of our being defeated, that he had prepared a house for Soult, aad -in honour of that General's approach with the army which WAS •