The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-05-30 00:00:00

INDIA

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Ry the late accounts from India, we learn that
the incytrasing sect of the Wahabees in Arabia, ur..
der their bold and aspirin leader, have plundered
the so much venerated sines of Mecca and Me-
dina, and carried off the immense treasures which
they were supposed montain. It is said, that dur-
ing this outrage, they showed some respell t,, the
tomb of Mahomet, whom they allowAi to have beet
a good 'max though a /die prophet.
The following particulars of the progress of this
sett will be found very intovesting

WAH 4 BEM
'rate career of this Aspiring sectary has been
err ads audaci ills and successful. Ti.e destretiort
of the magnificent sepulchre of. Hnn ,sein the Mart' r
occurred in April 1802. In traciog the subsequn t
progress of the kVahabees, we find that in February
following, their forces, under the command of aus
eldest son of •Abdul Ariz, the Wahabee Sheikh ct
Nagged, after several obstinate conflicts with those
of the Zeriffe of Mecca, in which the former expe-
rienced considerable losses, invested Tail. The Ze-
rife, finding himself closely pressed, and that Es
mansions at Tail were a prey to the flames, retreat-
ed to Mecca, intrusting to his bro'leer Abdul Moine
the defence of the former place. Faithless, however,
to his trust, Abdul Moien- immediately deserted to
the Wahabees, and decided their success against
Tail. Exasperated' by the resistance they :sad met
with, they ransacked this beautiful city, and, putting
its inhabitants to the sword, without respell to age
or sex, reduced it to a heap of ruins; having re-
course even to manual labour to demolish what
even flames could not consume. Not satisfied with
this work destrudion, they next wreaked their
vengeance on the celebrated gardens in the vicinity,
and, destroying every tree and shrub, amweeted
this once fertile region into an absolute desart.
Their booty here is reported to have been ins.
mcnse ; a considerable portion of the Zerifies trea-
sure falling into their hands.
On the 28th of the same month, their army, ac.
companied by Abdul Moien, having advanced
within a few miles of Mecca, the Zeriffe, in the
course of the night, leaving his house in dame.,
fled to /Odd* ; when on the following owning they
entered the sacred city without opposition. Their
approach to Mecca was so unexpeCted and sudden,
that they intercepted a great number of Pilgrims
who had not time to escape, all of whom sere pro-
hited from leaving the place.
The first °Neu that now occupied the Walsabees,
was to extinguish the tire in the Zeriffe's house.,
which they soon accomplished.
They next rewarded the treachery of Abdul
Moien, placing the keys of the Cuba and the Save.
reign Power in his handl. Having promised the
inhabitants protedion in their persons and pope .
ty, in case of non-resistance, they proved them 41ves
faithful to their pledge ; except in a few inst ince% ;
they, however, sheaved no mercy on the tombs of the
descendants of the prophets and other saints; all hands
being compelled to assist intheirdestrudion ; in a short
space of time, upwards of thirty of them, the proud
ornament: of Mecca, became levelled to the groun3;
and so ardent was the zeal of the depredators, that
many of them were buried in the ruins. Several
pla:es within the railing surrounding the Cash'. Wet
win the same fate; such as the places of the liana-
ties, the shefies, the Hmilralies, and the Malakies.

T:ie Tani of Ismael was also stripped of its cover
of g Iden cloth, which was thrown on the top of the
Caaba. Every one was forced to deliver up his
beads, and to burn his Hooka, but the metal of the
latter was returned ; coffee was prohibited, and all
the coffee houses pulled down.
Having satiated their vengeance, and arranged
matters at Mecca, and leaving the Zeriffe's brother ‘
to rule the city, the Wahabees, on the 13th May,
advaaced to Judda with about soon men, ap whiCh
they made a desperate attacks the Zerifiesliovrever,
having prepared for their receptions by l!aiding•
cannon from the ships in the roads, and burning tlie
suburbs, th it it might not afford them cover, they
were here repulsed ; not di,couraged by one ad-
verse event, :heir attack was persevered in, and fre-
quently renemed without success. They, however,
reduced Juida to the greatest distress, from beteg
in a great measure in command of all their se: plies,
and particularly the most essential one, vet,, ILe ,
Zeriffe, and principal people of Judda, despair ing
completely repelling the headers, had, as the last
alternat.ve, recovrie to negotiation, and succeeded
in purchasing a t: die for the su:oe of ene Lac and
thirt, thousand dollars!!! when the Wahabees
returned to Mecca.
In Yernen, their success has not been sa rapid,
which is attributed to the impolitic condua of the
Zetiffe of Abl..‘rish, who had not.heen train,
of Loheia, bef'ore, in violation of his prs.mise trs
respea the pr.Terty of those who surrerdeved wit!.
out resistance, he imprisoned all the Banyan bud •
klahornmedan merchants of the place, beeping
them on dates and water, till from the former he
etaaed the sum of seven tkessartd, and from the
lazterfee thousand dollars. Whilst the other inha-
bitants were robbed of every thing they possessed,
even to the doors and windows of their boasts,
which were carried to Abu.Arish.
From the surrender of /Artie, about the end of
Felsruary, the forces of the ZeriEre t,f Alri-Arish
were employed in ail. ;tog and reducing the cour iv
-
try between that place and Hodieda ti.l the 2:st
April, when fifteen h..intlred of them app- sired be. I
ft,re hie !atter town, taking posses.ion of the wells
which it is nipp!ied with the only water fi: for
chinking ; during the night, patties skirmirh
about the town, and 'is the red, the.whole attacked
it, but wei-e repultcd ; they then retired to wow
distance, and &Is :shed parries of hte,c to pillage •
the country rosin ' Beetal-Fakeh and Zilvid bc-fla
of w;ach towns hbvr., since that time, Is.en in little
bet:or that a stare wt s.•ge.
Cra ca Air. :a* )
-AA

CONT F.NTAt COALITION.

•

to our diplomat'c circles, there exists but one opi-
nion a, to the probability of a third coalition against
revolutionary France ; but many doubt the possibi-
lity of its success. All the former causes that con-
curred in accelerating the ruin of Europe, may be
justly reduced to a single fundamental one—" the
disunion of the opposing, and the union of the as-
sailing force." Were it th-ice as e%tensive, tich, and
posseaful, withoi:t being closely liii!..ed, still would
the Continent yield to an aggressor, superior in
means of every kin.1..0 each of the parts, which form
the Enropean Republic, takca separately. It was
upon tliis principle that the i'‘'. icedonians made
themselves masters of Greece, tb' ( :au's, and Asia
'finor; that England founded :10 empire in I. lin-
dostan ; and that the Barbarians iiivad..l the West-
er:: Erni ire, without rousing Constantinople more
than Europe was roused, at the arrivul of MA :10:41; T
TI. upon the Bosphorus. The same weakness or
wickedness must always produce the same events.
During the former coalition, bad .only Germany
and England together been direilled by one impulse,
by the same Government, with one army, one po-
licy, and a common purse, we shoold tusw hear no
more of the Freacts R...Tublir, than of its tyrant
BOMAPARIL. What is strange, is, that ir..-.derr,
France hes attainer: 01.: unity of s7rcngth, Li -;.stem,
and of end, by t! e very causes whie sever it, by the
viols ore and the confusiop of all public sentiments.
After raising the private passions, the revolution roused
the national ones, then opposed them one to the other
oa finding their repugnance, atd concluded by bend-
ing them to its yoke, to train them like slams to the
execution of its will Its Government, concentrated
in proportion as its ex-erior power extenderl, attaches
both is adversaries and its instruments to its de-
signs; its adversaries, by 'the terror and experience
of its enormities ; its instruments, by the dread of
the return of rrder and of public vengeance. Every
crime it causes to be committed ensures to it the
agents; every insurrection, every rebellion, every
revolution it effe--tc. secures to it all their accomplices.
Such are its s":elds against repentance and hatred,
rich its pledges ag rinst the treachery of villains.
such the band with which it binds and unites in its
interests those hordes of furies plunged in crimes,
which they sweep in their train in France. Holland,
Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Ireland. Bos a-
e %RI'S and his predecessors have reduced men to
two conditions, the oppressor and the oppressed.
To present them the alternative of doing cre of suf-
fering evil, is to dies... the choice: secure is the
number of recruits, whiets fear, immorality, and
self-interest, will provide. He who at first is made
the servant of the Revolution by compulsion be-
comes its defender from necessity, the first crime he
commits in its service. In this sr annr is com-
posed and supported that association, united by a
common responsibility, by an uniform wish (or
rapid wealth and dominion. and who r safe:7, bring
inseparable Irons that of the Government, :.cures
the implicit o'Dedience of its member:. whenever
called upon to seize a prey, or to ward i IT a clanger.
The remedy against a conspiracy of this kind, when
formed arming private men, is the officers of jus-
tice and the gallows ; but when it has usurped an
Imperial supremacy of fifty millions of men, enslaved
by its arms or by its editas, by its threats nr by its
intrigues, it requires all the political, moral, and
military power of human and civilised society to
resist it. It is easily accounted for why, during the
last war, each state suffered itself to be drawn into
the public defence, rather than fly eagerly to it ; and
why two partial and unsystematical confederations
were dispersed, without appearing to suspedt the
frightful consequences of their dispersion. But now,
wheal the most ignorant of politicians, as well as
Roe A? ARTS and CAL LE VIRAND, must be convinced,
that the continuance of the present political anarchy
upon the Continent will, unavoidably, in some few
years, organise its bondage for ages, or that it will
fall to shatters by resistance without support, should
the division among the Continental states not cease
to assume that charaCter of obstinacy and selfishness
which it has exhibited ever since Pru,sia, in April,
1795, signed an impolitic peace with the French
rebels ; now we say that it is to be hoped their own
danger will teach them their true interest, of uniting
all their forces, all their means of resistance with
Great Britain, against an outrageous revolutionary
Republic, that threatens to destroy them all, and
from which Great Britain alone has hitherto pre-
served them. Unfortunately we have reason to
douist that the generality of men, and of Govern.
anents, of the present day, ate snsceptible of that in-
tense refine.nent which blend, interest by an equal
and impassioned feeling, which unites Lcveral na-
tions into one, by a ,nmiti.,n participation of jealous
opinions, and which, stifling jealousies, annihilates
le
all difference; of climates, customs, laws, lan-
guages, and even of interees. The principle of
great emotions in the human heart has been weak-
tied by knowledge, reas.uning, ccromerce, and

manners : in polities, as in private affairs, every
thing has been narrowed, every thing concentrated
by selfsinterest. The,Se who confound enthusiasm
with the spit it of plunder and of power, have often
proposed to combat the Jacobins with their own
weapons, and to oppose them by similar crimes
and passtors. To create villains in order to de-
stroy ocher villains ; and to begin, by the disolu-
tion of civil society, the work of defending it,
is an invention to which no lawful Govern-
ment will tc tempted to have recourse. Means
of that kind ale well adapted to spread devasta-
tion over the world, but not at all to save it.
Frean want of enthusiasm of opinion, become al-
most unknown among modern Europeans ; from
want of patriotic zeal, confined to England, on
which liberty banows public spirit, it should seem
that the calamities :-.nd the dangers of the present
era ought to have power to coalesce all the passions
which tend to the preservation both of public and
private interest ; but the disunion of Governments
has produced that of nations, and neutralised
their sentiments. What should have appalled
with horror has been only regarded with vexation;
all fervour has been repressed and is extinguish-
ed ; uncertainty. and dissention have prevaileds
which have left doubts on the minds of men as to
there being any danger, or as to the certainty of
overcoming it; and crosbed the principle of all
energetic resiqauce, namely, the 'conviftion of an.
approachi,ig evil, joined to the hope of averting it
by an effort .fcenvage. Division it the grand ally,
the best army in the service of the French republic. It
has resisted ex tn.ple, reason, counsel, aid ; it resists
yet all the sins of Dona ',tar e, his treachery, his
audacious .asotence, his outrageous ambition, his
atrocious crueltisis, and his endless invasions. If we
survey'the courts of the continent, the councils, the
various insists of society, their direaors of cabinets,
and their leaders of armies, we still meet the same
spirit of enntroversy, of division, and of discord. In
prosperity, they have dispute¢ upon the means of
preserving it; now, in adversity, they dispute upon
the means of escaping from it. They take different
parties, accuse each other, and form a distinct spe-
cies. Mankind might be called a club or 'ca. the
elea of which should be distinguished by a peculiar
mark. Here peace is the cry, thereerar is invoked ;
and the debates are less upon the nature and effeas
of one and the other. Every individnal has his spe-
cific, and reprobates that which is proposed by iris
neighbour as a poison. If agreed upon the prin-
ciple, they differ upon the objeft, and still nose
upon the employment of the resources ; recrimina-
tion, eensuse, and complaint, are inexhaustible. It
is at the foot of this Tower of Babel that the revo-
lution advances its standard, and organises its
tyranny. To the other scourges with which it has
indulged the world, we must add the spirit of dis-
pute, which renders every thing uncertain, and
nourishes the anarchy of opinion. Its rarane-. in-
crease, in proportion as dangers approach, and as
governments waver in irresolution. A stale of war
has these advantages that it settles the undecided,
rallies the wishes of men, silences the cowardly and
the doubtful, restrains suspicious persons, encou-
rages goof citizens, and regulates the conduCt of
affair. A peace, not disturbed by intriguers, or by
the conspiracies of a revolutionary power, would
partly have the same consequences ; but to waver
between lieace and war, and never to resolve but
when lot ced, is to divulge too openly the secret of
weakness, and to place the public in a situation to
anticipate a defeat. In the present crisis, how should
nations or individuals be united, when their govern-
ments are not so ? How are they to suppose the
revolution to be so pernicious, when they see Mo-
narchy court the alliances of its ferocious ruler ?
This is the principal cause why upon the Continent
all public opinion, all national spit it, all unity of
mind, all aftive will, have vanished. We sincerely
hope that the league about to be formed will not be
a timid one, and that self-preservation will banish
self-interest. It is trite, the Continental Sovereigns
arc yet wavering instead of arming, negotiating in-
stead of combating; but this constant wavering de-
monstrates at the same time that they are convinced
of the dangers that hang over them ; that they are
anxious about the choice of measures of safety ; and
that they have not agreed upon the basis and the
precise obje& of a general union. This then is.
perhaps, the most critical moment of our lives.—
Our destinies are in the balance; and it is only from
our experience of evils that we can hope it will turn
in our favour.—The common danger has always
bes•n great, but we never had so clear a view of it.
.1t least we did not took it so fully in the face. The
continental states seemed to think that they had
only to shut their eyes ; and if they did not see
it, they flattered themselves it would not see them.
Happen what may, England has proved that her
power, her independence, and her glory, are able
to surmount her enemies and the deletion of Eu-
rope. Her piers stand unhurt against the waves
of the deluge; and, if ever it break through them, it
will be on tug :o the want of union in their defentr.

ERRATUM.-4U an Advertisement in the Thin' Column o!
owl:runt Ycstertlgy 'linear:lu( "An liktruduction to a
General lllstory, &c.^—it should have been "An introduc-
tion to, and a General I li.tury of Ireland, kc."

'll I-1 14.: Et 11 ITISII P Jt.ESS.

LONDON,
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30.

The'reports which prevailed, a shott time ago,
of an intention to separate the offices of LORD
CHANCELLOR, and Keeper of the Great Seal, were
revived yesterday, with considerable confidence, and
Mr. ADDINGTON, it was said, is to have the cus-
tody of the Seal; as also the appointment of Speaker
of the House of Lords. If this be intended, we
apprehend an AB of Parliament will be absolutely
necessary. By an old Statute, passed in the reign of
HE Nu Y 111, and which has never been repealed,
it is expressly declared, that if, on any occasion,
the KING shall take away the Seal from the
CM A %fel. Loa, that any aft sealed with it, until it be
returned to the custody of the CHANCELLOR, shall
be absolutely null and void ; and that those offices
shall always be vested in one. In the r/th year of
Queen Ettr.auLro, when Sir NICHOLAS BACON
was appointed Lord Keeper, another ael was pass-
ed, by which also these offices were united—and
which, as well as the at of Hunts, 111. it µ•ill be
necessary to repeal, before such an arrangement can
, be carried into execution.

We believe the motion for the Abolition of the
Slave Trade is fixed for this clay. Should it come
on, we understand it will be carried, as the West-
India Merchants, who have hitherto so strenuously
opposed it, have changed their opinion upon that
subjea, in consequence of the recent change in St.
Domingo, and the probable effat of the success of
the Negroes in that Island.

Oa Monday morni.ng, His MAJESTY accompanied
by the Dukes of YORK, CRAINEALAND, K*NT,
and CAMIRIDDE, took an airing on horseback,
in Windsor Green Park. Her MAJESTY and
the Paiscessts took an airing in two coaches and
four to Cumberland Lodge, where they were met
bs His MAJESTY and the Royal Dukes. The Royal
Party remained there a considerable time, and par-
took of some refreshment, and after wards returned
to the gt• Ex's Lodge to dinner. In the evening
the Roy: Family walked to Frngmore.
Yesterday, about half past two o'clock, Her IVI.
jni v and the PiiiticassEs arrived at the Queen's
House firms Windsor. His M.sirsa r and the
Duke of CsmusIDGIL arrived about four. His
MAJESTY, previous to his leaving Windsor, took an,
airing on horsebacks.
BREAD.--Yesterday the LORD MAYOR ordered
the price of Bread to continue at Bid. the quartern
loaf Wheaten, and 7d. Household.

Capt. Bt a 7, of the (it st, is appointed Aid-de.
Camp to Lieutenant General Sir H. D4LRYMPI C.
The Wall's-lily Riflemen, 'under the command
of Capt. BADLS:, are placed on permanent pay, and
arc now taking their share of the public duty cf the
garrison of Tynmouth, for which purpose they are
attached to the Hon. Brigadier General GRAY'S
brigade.
l'he Fisworth Legion. under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel W ans. are placed on permanent
pay and duty in the town of Chester-le-Street, and
are attached to Major General Lc' Krotes brigade.
The formation of flank hr;gades has already taken
place in some of the Northern Districts. Major
Dor i.e, of the Gist, has been appointed to the cum.
mand of a light battalion in the neighbourhood of
W hitbourne.

Twelve sail of copper-hottomed transports. under
the command of Captain W Arson, have sailed from
Portsmouth for the River, to be fitted and armed
for immediate offensive service.

The Lieutenants who were appointed by the late
Admiralty Board to command the Revenue Cutters,
have been rem?ved by the new Board, and the Mas-
ters of these vessels restored to their command.

Two frigates, and as many sloops, are ordered to
be built immediately in each of the King's yards,
and every private yard also capable of laying them
down.

Government have not only taken up a number of
vessels calculated to ad as gan boats, but they have
bought a number of larger vessels, particularly a
number of country-built Iniliamen. Various opi-
nions are entertained as to the objeft Government
have in v:rw. Some say, that it is only a prosecu-
tion of Mr. l'er is idras respeding adding to the
number of smai:.•r vessels in the narrow seas. Others
believe that AO CVellitiOSl I i to be fitted out against
the Cve.
Lord Mer.v it,t.v has given clireißions for four of
the frigates which have been stationed as block ships
at the entrance of the River 'I hames, to proceed t-
Woolwich to be fitted for aCtual service in-:media:di,
with their full complement of men and gnus.
In the conference held at Soissons, in the year
1593, between the Duke of Al ...exact, chief of the
lips, (league) against Horiav IV. and the Duke of
Friuli, Minister of Spain—the latter having pro-
posed the abolition of the Salique Law, to have the
Infanta of SPAIN declared Queen of Fa ANC E., the
Duke of MAYtNCE answered to the proposal, a that
the yoke of a foreign domination was a very hard
bit for a French stomach, and wanted a good deal
of seasoning to make it digestible."—See the I lis-
tory of F ranee, by Daniel, vol. VI. quarto edition,
p. 484. The lapse of two centuries must have
produced a remarkable change in the French sto-
machs, if they find now more palatable and fit for
their digestion, the most tyrannical domino:ion
which ever existed, vested in the bands of a man,
who is not only a foreigner, but ■ Corsican—unt
only a Corsican, but the offspring of a petty Attor-
ney of Ajaccio ; and, besides, the son, the brother,
and the husband, of as many acknowledgxd prosti-
tutes. Where would be found a worthier head for
an Imperial Crown, a more illustrious beginner of a
new dynasty, to succeed tLe Bova Dos family?