The National Register. — London, England, 1811-10-20 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL beantiful Arab horses, and six goats, which produce the fine shawl wool, belong , ing to Sir Harford Jones, h it w.ls found impossible to save. The projected exned.;tion agaiast Batavia, the emp rinm of the Dutch ccenmene in the East, gives a degree of interest to the mere recent ac counts with regard to it. The popuheien ef Ba tavia. includiwr the subarbs, is estimated at 160,000 souls. T'•e torce by which it is defended amounts,. it is said. to 4540 men ; the greater part of who're; however, are native troops. The forts on the side towards the sea are numerous, and of considerable strength ; and, on the land side, besides several well-built baarions, there are wet ditches of consi derable width, by which the city is inclosed. It «mild seem that the advanced season of the year has induced our Government to 'relinquish :he blockade of Flashing. His Maj , 'sty's ships Chris tian the Seventh, Admiral Young, aed Captains Griffith and Nl.Ketizie ; Incons . :ant frigate, Com modore E. W. C. R. Owen ; and Cretan sloop of war, Capt. Payne, arrived in the - lit wns on Wed nesday, lom their station off that port. The first divi,ion of the Flushing squadron, consisting of the Marlborough, St. Domingo, Bellerophon, Valiaut, Defiance, Armada, Egmont, Elephant, Edinburgh, Bellona, Theseos, Norge, and Nymphen, were off the North _Foreland, and expected to arrive in the Downs on Wednesday night. Every arrival from the coast of Africa brings an accession of intelligence respecting the unextin guished existence of the Slave-trade. We are happy, however, to find, that the far greater part of the recent captures appear to have been, Gonna fide, American property, and that there have been but few which lay under the suspicion of teil_g of British origin. The practical effects of Mr. BROUGHAM'S Act are already discernihle in the check which has been g;ven to the employne!nt of British capital in this criminal and illegal traffic. It might not be difficult to induce the American Goeer - nment to livour the adoption of some legislative measure, formed upon the same principle. We are glad however to find, that the measures ]ate?: reso; ted to by our own Government, have been calculated to promote the true intereqs of the settlements on the coast of Africa, as well as to exterminate, as far as the law of nations will admit, the stvarm of illicit dealers in human life and flash, who hover amphibionsly near its shores. We trust that further salutary proceedings will be aaopted, by attending to the suggestions of the intelligent and respectable persons who have at present the direction in the colony of Sierra Leone. Letters from the French coast, of the 12th inst. confirm the previous intelligence received from thence, that the French Government had granted licenses to export raw silk. The Right Hon. Charles Hope, at present Lord Justice Clerk, is to be appointed President of the Court of Session in Scotland, in the room of the late Mr. Blair. The present Chief Baron of the Exchequer in that country will succeed Mr. Hope, it is said, as Justice Clerk ; and Mr. Adam will be appointed Chief Baron. The infantry soldiers serving in Portugal are in future to wear gray cloth pantaloons, with short gaiters of the same colour. Av 6 is:*4‘..,‘ ‘ ,,_ milmpr op•,.Ab 4o 4lll! MISCELLANIES. —esem.---• We are sorry to learn that the Duke of Sussex still continue* in a very precariens state. His Royal Highness took an airing in his carriage on Sundey, for the tir t time since his relapse, and also went to bed on that night for the first time, but was obliged to get up again, and have: recotene to his arm-chair,:in which he sits in an almost upright posture, with his head In- dined' forward, resting on a machine made on purpose to sup• port him. The Prince Resent will set out shoed,' on a tour of Military Inspection thinueh the county of Kent. His Royal Highness will be arended by a numerous Staff, and Will first review the - troops and lines at Chatham; next the garl s ou of Canto bury; and afterwa ds the extensive fortifications at Dover, and the troons In garrison therein, at which place the several regiments cottoned on the Kentish Coast will also be assembled and re • vi..w ed. His Royal I lighnt ss, on his arrival at the latter places, it expected to make Lord hillenborough's seat of Walderdate his head and hospitable quarters. If is in the contemplation of Government to order a new - silver coinage of shillings and sixpences, in addition to the Bank Token. of Is. 6d. and :is. pieces now issuing; in.which case the old species ,•f coin of that description will be called in, and not •allowed to he. legal currency. An instance of desperation not excelled by any on record, lately occurred on the Continent. Two families, named Jovith, who had,• for upwards , f 20 years established themselves upon 'the nearly inaccessible mountain of aligral, situated between Dalmatia and Croatia, from whence they laid all the adjacent country um!• r contribution, were surrounded in their retreat by a body of French troops. Despairing of e ffecting their escape, and learning, in a conference with the French. Officer, that an ignominious death awaited them, they assemleed their wives and children in. two buildings, and condemned them to the flames, with their most valuable effects. • They afterwards threw themselves from the highest point of the mountain, but did not meet the death they courted. Nearly 30e souls perished in the conflagration, and many of the survivors were dreadfully burnt. An old woman in the Infirmary at Salisbury, has not slept since the Cornet first made its appearance ; and t , bat is stilt more extraordi at y, laudanum has no effect upon her. The blacks who were taken in the Portuguese slave ship, and brought to Plymouth, front the coast of Africa, are training for' hi; Maj sty's Navy—they art sent on shore daily to work in the I Deck-yard ; and on Sunday they gave a specimen of their mode of tighten ; two of them having had a dispute, one, a powerfulfe:luw, fe:luw, caught hold of the other, who was of diminutive sta ture, by oee thigh and one arm, and, hurling him over his ' head, threw hint on the ground with all his strength, and theu,"' proceeded to jump on hint. They were separated by the spec• tatocs, or he would no doubt have killed him. Many of *these men ere upwards of six feet high, lan, and well-grown. They are very much alarmed, and run away at the sight of any image, or piece of carved work, such as the figured head of a ship, &c. The striking of a clock likewise terrifies them ; indeed, they seem to behold every oliect around them with awe. Ho/lA.—On Tl,uriday week the neighbourhood of the Linen 't hall, Dublin, was thrown Into confusion by one of those tricks which latterly have been so prevalent, and which on this occasion was played off with singular succsss. Cards of invitations to dinner, to the number of 1.9), were sent out to different Gentle men, acquaintances of Messrs. R. of Linen-hall-street, and amongst the rest tteseven al eublic characters of that city. The au rhors of the hoax not content with merely inviting these. Ge ntlemen, took care that ample provision should be made for their reception--ebetchers, epooltereis, confectioners, grocers, upe hotsterers. etid hardwarruen, were centinually arriving during the forenoon, loaded each with their differ. nt commodities, &c. obstructieg the regular course of _business of the linen-hall ; the confusion and anger of me diseppoleted tradesmen, and the dis satisfaction and involuntary smi.e manifested on 'he comae. - Dances of those invited, contributed in no small degree to the I amusement of the spectators, whom the novelty of the circum- I . stance attracted in crowds ; but what tended most of all tl heighten the scene and render it truly ridiculous, es as the arrival of the engines belonging to the Royal Exchange Assurance Com pany, attended b) several firemen, all dressed in their - new live. ries, and conducted by that Company's active agent, mourned t,u his chesnut poney, who hastened to the spot on intima tion that a dreadful fi.c had broken out in the premises of the above Gentlemen ; the confusion at the momept would have been likely to end in a serious manner, had it not been prevented by the attendance of the Police, front the Division No. 4, witoss activity on all occasions deserves public thanks. We beiiqve that on no other occasion has a more successful hoax been prac tised; and though several tradesmen were losers by the transac tion, yet the tavern keepers in the neighboulhood had by re means reason to repent it. • t" , , • r A ~ I t . —' . ~s 4 .