The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1809-10-02 00:00:00

I

1,1)1S.1 )N,
MONDAY. OcTsyka,,.2.:

THE BRITISH PRESS

7%e Tremor, Joarnsis butt. tveCk assured the
public. that Government had received an account
. audio cooclusiou of peace 'worm] Sweden "and
Rusaia.—:The mine Pain r:< now a4sure int, that the
occoutit is false. So much for the Government in.
formation tu The Treasury Journals.

We announced, on Saturday, the arrival of un offi-
cer. with an account to the Duke of BRUNSWICK
or the renewal of hostilities between France and
A ti. trim. It wiv, reported. last night, that Govern-
ment had received, io the course of the day, u sisailar
account.

There were seeml arrivals from Lisbon. last
week, at Portsmouth, hot they did not bring
tiny news. Lord Wat.t.tva-ron's army was hutted
—the llead-quarters at Bodajus. eonvs-
les rent sick are at Elvais--the worst eases are rent
to Lisbon ; the light cavalry is at Vino Viciosa
and the weighbeerhood. l'he army is in bad
health—nhont 7000 are sick, wounded, Re. The
light cavalry is almost dismounted ; a remount of
burets, fur the lath and Kith, arrived from Eng-
lan, under Mojor A MAIM. That tine regiment,
the ht, sr Royal Dragoons, commanded by Gen.
SLADE, landed, and marched into Uric's (ten day,.
(into Cork), 700 strung, in high order. There
were hut few transports in the Tagus—the Bar-
**, (Admiral IlsamELEy's gaz-tthip) cud Semira-
mis. were the otrly men of war there.

Lord GRENVIL“ left town on Saturday morn-
in.; for Dr:vinare. Ills Lordship sass several of his
political friend* iefore his departure. To others,
who reside at a distance, he sent letters. Among
the litter etirrp, Earl (hey, who remains is North-
avid NIT. l'ousosur and Sir Jous
Isieweouv, who are both in Ireland. They will,
undouoteAlly. in txmouon with the applaud
• his Girdsbip'sdigoilieil refusal of the insidioas pro-
posal of Mr, PERU:VAL, for a coalition, equally
0.101,11 i sod absurd. •fhe Pr.accvau and HAWKEll-
hustesi.judging of the world' by themselves, stud pre-
otsioing chit pin:wide and patriotism +retold readily
yield to place mud power. cannot conctiil their rage
sad disaiiiionittirent. They soy now. that they did•not
want the assistance of the Gutirs GIIIENIII.I.IES,
that they will rise like giants refreshed. that thy
will meet the Pstliament, justify all their rainniis
tueasures, sad do not fear the consequences. In
truth, they appear quite desperate ; and, as drown-
ing men will catch at straws, we are now told, that
they have seat for the Duke of Ititumuso, the

Earl of Cuteueseee, owl the Marquis Wer.t.t.o-

LIT, to keep their heads above water. Waste-
ful, and impolitic measures, have
%brought them to this, deplorable state. The
history of Marquis WrLLESLEY't exploits in lodic
his childish pomp, and restless vanity, prove; that,
of all into living, he is not the physicist) win can
btu! the wounds that the folly and incapacity of
Ministers have inflicted upon the country. For a
caulking with the presild Ministry., if they may be
aoeall d, he is the identical man to timalganitite
with then' ; and why trot also avail themselves of
the Jashitig talents of the Viscount LIN GTUN ?
—What un admirable Junta !

%Vv do not recollect, in the modern iii, ets of
Europe, any ni timely or disorder, since the memo-
rable plague at %tamelles, in 17tn,
" When nature indicted, end each gate was death," •
ihete the havoc was more nniversn!, and the effect
more rapid. than his leeen the destruction among
our troops and Offiters on the Isle of Walcheren.—
Not that death is, perhaps, in the present instanre,
as inevitable a consequence of the distemper, nr as
hate as may have been experienced at Phila-
delphia, during the reign of the ) entre fever, or in
some of the South American and %Vest Indian set-
at parlitular periods. pot, if less app.4-
rriatly malignant, it is not less essentiAlly ride-
tnitons. We have beard the moat accurate and
itlrretnig details of this scritirge. front (Pikers pf
ompiestionable verieity, recently returned from
IValenerrti ; who have s anew,' its daily ravego s,
end who exhibit, in their extenuated' bodies, or
emaciated countenances. the melancholy effects of
the disci's,- that they describe. The accounts which
they giro, excite void CRIVCOIII and astonishment.
So sudden and so violent are the manifestations of
the tconplaint. that, nut of a regiment drawn op on
the parade, mare than fifty have been seizcd at it
time. while ander arms; twiny %%lions drognietl,
or sank. as if brought down by a shot. The
stoutest, hardiest, sod most robust individuals, have
ormilest felt. and seem first to succumb, under its
premise*. The soldiers themselves ire generally
impresser/ with a belief that the water of the island
ism been reistroed ; but its putridity, and intermix-
levee. in consequence of cutting the dykes, with the
all water, well sufficiently account for its delete-
rious and fatal effects. It is an ascertained filet,

that out t.f 15,000 men, who were, left there in the
uittl,lle of August. more thus 80u0 are either clew!,
or in 11;eir beds. and wholly. inespahle of duty.-.
4wrr•il toonths will he requisite to resto►e the
strri44th of those who survive. Even the few who
►ave«itherto escape 4, remain is despeadeacyi

expecting to become victims in tars. ltothi: the
actual state of %Vateheren. while the neighbouring
islands, and in particular South Bertland, arc (lady
•becoutthic repositories of Vreueh and Uutclt troops,
stomuiiition, cud every thing requisite for au ot-
tack. •

Those who are advocates for retaining this con-
quest, Overt, that the evil will suspend, or wholly
cease; with the advance Of.‘he season, and the ap-
proaches orwiliter. But, another inconvenience is
theft to be dreaded—the want of fuel. Through-
out all the Dutch Provinces, this want is flt ; and
there is no country of Europe, where the economy
of firing is carried to so great an extent as in Holland.
Only small boxes, containing li4lited charcoalesre
commonly used far warming the feet ; and few of
the houses, either in Middleburg, or in Flushing,
have any fire.places. We may, however, vu. ply
them with coals from Newcastle; and it has been
proposed to Government, to furnish water likewise
from this country, for the soldiery ; as Lord NORTH
sent out hay, strew, and oats, to Americo, in 1777
and 177vt. If that Minister did not lisitate, it is
said, to send these articles across the Atlantic, why
should we be reluctant to employ vessels in carry-
inq over water, so inconsiderable a dirammuee as from
our exists to those of Zealand ? Ilut, setting aside
the expense, it is much doubted, whether it tristitit)
mid•quate to the consumption can, by any
he regularly furnished from heave, in winter;
mid it in ty be much more questioned. whether any
orders, or punishments, however severe, can re-
strain the soldiery from drinking the water of time
i•laud. 11'e know by experience, that ntither pe-
nalties, nor the certainty of consequent disease,
and perhaps death, can deter troops from gra-
tifying their appetites, and no vigilance, on the
part of their officers, can altogether prevent it.

That Ministers never would have ordered, or et-
tempted the reduction of Walcheren, if they hod
believed the testimonies laid before them. of the
dreadful insalubrity si the island, we must suppose ;
for that they knew) it, as far as the concurring in-
formation of all the military and navel officers who
were consulte I, could impress the cosiest:non Oil
their tandem* 'dings, the► will not veutuie to deny.
But was Lord trueness iustructisl to consider Wel-
therm and Flushing, aispriwary objects of attack,
■nd of arquisiviou ? It would seem an, both II his
language, if we are rightly informed, amid by his
conduct. Lk has, we believe, once his return to
Ei.glau 1, and while at Ld►, where he lauded, ex-
pressed his surprise at the diwatisfaction manifested
in the newspapers, relative to his not having accom-
plished the great stud important objects of his eaperli-
tton, namely, the destruction of the enemy's fleetest
the Scheldt. G.uld he, or would he, have PO SpOkeil,
if Lord CAlTl.6tEiutt's orders were to regard every
thing as seco:nla .y and subordinate to tiles sittempr'
upon Aubrey ? Surely he would not. But that
he, in point of fact, did not look to ascending the
Scheldt, and cutting out or hurrying the adopt them
stationed, as the lending antlfradaareatal iuteutinn
of the urimutent which he commanded, we must
presume; since, if the skips of the line, which bat-
tered Flushing, had be en carried through the chan-
nel between Walche►rn and Cahoot], in the first
days of August, as they were later in the month,
au attack on Lilo, and nu the fleet of BON APAKTK•
might hare preceded the siege of Flushing. Every
,ling turned on this point. Even while we were
besieging Flushing, ho less than seventeen thonsand
of our troops remained wholly unoccupied, on
South Be velsisil, as dial all the ships of the haw,
down to the I ith of August. After the surrender
of Walchereu and of Flashing, we are assured,
that the Noble Commander-in-Chief never mice set
foot upon the island of South of Beveland, though
so large a part of his force remained there, down to
the e.id of last •uontla. Whe.i these things are con-
sidereal, how VIM an in, into the failure of tlOs
ill-fated, and most unfortunate evpedition, be re-
(USIA or ovoidal ? If Al ticri:Litcat. and Dot-
KV sir Lic, were considered its just objects of national
iLsupprobation or condeistiatioti, can Lord Cu %S-
-HAH lie less so? We Cannot doubt, that, as soon as
Parliament meets, whoever are Thuisters, the first
dem.ol of th.• Representatives of the People sill
be, to ineertait, on Whom the blame reins, or not
IlltulOptbg to attack the mienty's facet, and either
capturing or bunting it.

The /Gas, 74, Clip% l tTme Ar, Oat on Saturriay
attuning ordered to sail immediately from Ports-
mouth, tor Ciidiz, and from thence to join Lord
CoI.I.INOW9OD all TOlll,oll.—The 'laic* frigate,
C.ipt. J. A. GORDON, it nwpoiuted to lake the
filediterraneAn convoy t and the Fylle, Him. Capt.
Hon:try, the couvoy fi r Portugal ; whici, 1, !ill re-
main itiml-bound.—Mr. FS 111:. A X, Master Attend.
alit at fhillfaN, is gotug out in tit.- Maim.
The KiNt; has been pleased t• appoint 1.0111,
CASAMAJOR, Esq. to be Hi* MAJESTY'S StUrlOry
Of I..eptti.ut at Lisbon.
. .

Th"e brigantine Easy, of Sunderland. T. Pi'e.
son, master, on her passage from Sunderland, with
a cargo of coal for Po: trinouth, was captured on
the With fait, by a log-soil privateer of 16 guns,
from Calais, called La Perseacra.see,, thy North
Foreland then bearing W. by N. at about tour
leegnes &waiter. The master and crew were taken
board the privateer, Except the mate and a
prixe.master, and friarnthers, put on board the brig
to conduct her to France ; but us the prize. muster
and Men were Faissiaoe and panes, they, with the
opinion of the mate, preferred a British port to ime
in France, and took the vessel into Harwich. The
privateer that made the capture sailed from Caleie
the same afternoon with tafteea vase% oue of *bads
molested :Ai guns. • •

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