The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-05-03 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 3, 1324.

Last night we received the following letter from Bay-
onne ; it contains no intelligence of interest from
Madrid :

BATON RE. APRIL 24.
The letters from Madrid are of the 19th. The absence of the
Court, and still more the dismissal of tieneral llourmont, have
caused a stagnation in politica. It will become lively again when
the King returns to the capital, and especially on the arrival of the
new French Cuminisnder-in.Chiel, who is expected to be furnished
with very exiinsive powers.
There is nothing new at Madrid, and the procession of the
Passion, on account of which the Ordonnanec of the police was
issuid, which we mentioned in our last, hes passed over without
any disturbance. The Spaniards only remarked dint-she French
is general were not sufficiently 'pious. The timette gives the
mainmast perticulers of the actions of she King at Tuhedo, during
the Passion week.

General llourmont, who is expected here to-day, left Madrid
no the 19th, in the evening : the tnsips paid him all honours.
Ile is loaded with favours by the King of Spain, who, it is said,
has made him a Grandee of the first class, giving him shit can-
oiandancy of Pon Antonio, his uncle, and made him a present'
of 1,000 quadruples.
The Government not being able to enforce the execution of the
regulations tor the organization of the Royalist volunteer*, has
renounced the plan. sever has the sovereignty of the people been
more strongly manifested than on this occasion, and never did the
Spanish Government appear so week.
The regulation fur the general police, which is said to be the
work of the French. has nut yet been carried into effect.
The King will remain at Aranjurz till the end of June, and then
go to Safxdon.
31. Ouvrard is still at Madrid, where he lives in the most osten-
tatious style. lle is very dilatory in the settling of his accounts,
and pays nobody, not even his own clerks, who are discharged if
they are so unturtunare as to complain, which is very pardonable
in most of them, who are in a state bordering on indigence. Onward
says that 2I millions are owing to him.
We hear from Pagipelueui that part of the garrison is gone to-
wards Tolosa, to proten the returning prisoners. On their arrival
they are sent to their own homes. Fairs are still entertained fur
theft safrty.
. . . .

The tam of the parish of Banda, three leagues from this place,
hail refused to allow the Mayor of the commune to stand graltather,
beeauie he had not his bell Ide comfershm. It is said the Mayor
will be discharged; he voted besitha fur M. liastereeh, the liberal
Deputy.

Brussels Payers to a late date arrived yesterday. The
Sessions of the States General open on the Gth instant;
and some important measures are expected to be discussed.
Private letters from Curfu affirm, that a corps of Soo° in-
surgents, after having made themselves masters of Arta,
has advanced so far as Prever.a, which it invests closely.
Two Algerinc vessels, being closely pursued by the English,
have taken refuge at Prevesa, and have increased the con-
sternatica prevailing there, because the English blockade
the port.

NorLts, Aram 16.
We have seonenti fres Palma° of the 25th March. whidt soy—
We cootioue to feel the meioneholy seem of the earthquake, that

•
happened here l.st year. Yesteri.jay a house *MI down in the
square of Tommie ; of 13. persons who were in it seven perished
uiu4cr the ruins. The wish of the osewsins who murdered the
Prince of Ad, during the aharchy of 11Cl0, are terminated. Four
have been sent •need to death, and several others to imprisonment-
Those who were condemned capitally were executed this morning,
and .newcd much Christian resigr.e.hon.
Ritussitt.s, A rale. 30.
The two stiletto for calumny, arising from certain articles in the
Anti de la Mai el dr ild POMO, and the Cowrie, des Pays bas, were
elecided.on the 231 h. M. Ilvpolite Vanderstraeten, who states
himself to be sole Editor of the first, is condemned to six months
imprisonment, a fire of 260 (trim., and the suspension for five
yeses of the civil rights mcntit.r.ed in article 42, of the second
code. M. ('.oche 311nnMens, publisher of the Cowrie,, is con-
demned to pay a fine of NO forms, and M. Desenparts, author of
one of the alleles complained of. to a fine of 400 florins, and an
interdiction of his civil rights. ill. lebroqui, formerly joint editor
of the Courier, was aeounted.
The Sessions of the'States General will be opened on the 6th
Slay, at the Rogue. The members of the Southern Provinces are
preparing to set out for that town. Projects of law of very great
importance will be laid before them.
Irscroswitic, Aware 20.
The troubles in the canton of Appen;lile have been quieted at
, present by a kind of capitulation. The committee appointed to
examihe the complaints mark in the name of the people by some
unauthorised indtvultials made its report on the 12th to the Great
Council. M. Ilischopbe;ger, the lendaman, as reporter, plainly
proved that none of the complaints were well Imoded, that the
laws passed since 1815 were enacted by the timers' Assembly, ac-
cord ing to the &within ion of the canton, on the proposal of the Great
Council. and that consequently there could be no reason to alter them
now on the absurd and incompetent demands of someprivate penono.
The Committee proposed a proclamation to enlighten the people
and acquaint them with the legal and frank conduct of the Govern-
ment, in opposition to the intrigues of some ill-disposedpersons.
The Report being now read, the leaden of the opposition were
admitted ; they again violently declaimed against the innovations
in the goyeritinent, pointing out as such some imposts and laws re-
' !afire to the provinces. The Council listened in silence to their
complaints, and desired them to withdraw, after which it opened a
di•cdssion on the several laws of which they had complained with
the utmost vehemence. The Council confirmed all those relative
to the clergy, who are thought to have had sonic share in the dis-
turbances that have taken place, and abolished several others,
especially the tax on property, descending by inheritance in the col-
lateral line. It is *opposed that these measures will suffice for the
present ; but it is also presumed that the leaders of the opposition
will be emboldened by their metes", and that there will be coo-
, ,idcrable changes in the Magistroey —Brussels Papers, May I.

We are afraid that the disastrous intelligence announced
on Saturday, and brought front Barbadoes, detailing the
defeat and massacre of the force under Sir Charles *earthy,
at Sciondee, on the Gold Coast, on the 21st of last January,
is but too well founded ; and that this excellent officer,
with his unfortunate companions in arms, and several of
the oldest and most respectable merchants at Cape Coast,
who accompanied him, have either fallen in the contest
with these ferocious savages, or survived to experience a
fate still more appalling. Notwithstanding the solemn
treaty entered into by Mr. Bowdich in September, 1817,
at Coornassie, the capital of the Ashantee territory, with
" Sai 'l'ootoo Quamitta," the Barbarian Monarch, signed by
him, and by " Boitinnee (loam'," Chief of the neigh-
bouring country of Dwabin and its dependencies, and at-
tested by four of the principal Caboceers, or Captains, of
the Ashantee warriors, deputed from the General Assembly
to swear with the King—which treats will be found in our
columns—guaranteeing perpetual peace and harmony be-
tween the British subjects in that country, and the subjects
of the Kings of Ashantee and Dwabin, and also promis-
ing peace between the Ashantees and the barbarians of
Dwabin, and all nations of Africa, residing under the
protection of the Company's forts and settlements on the
Gold Coast, declaring that neither party had then any
claim on the other, the Ashantee Monarch agreeing by
this compact to permit a British officer to reside constantly
at his capital, for the purpose of instituting and preserving
a regular cotnmunication with the Governor-in-Chief, at
Cape Coast Castle ; and both Kings stipulating to commit
their children to the care of the Governor-in-Chief, for edu-
cation at Cape Coast Castle, in full confidence of the good in-
ISentionsof the British tiovernment, and the benefits to be
derived from it ;—in despite of this treaty of only a few years
beck, it appears that the Ashantees, with a perfidy characte-
ristic of barbarians, had latterly made frequent incursions.
for the purpose of plundering and desolating the Cape Coast
territory, and in one of these expeditions had seized a Bri-
tish sergeant, whom they murdered and mutilated in the
roost shocking manner. Tired of fruitless representations,
Sir Charles Al`Carthy, the Governor of Sierra Leone, to
avenge this latter outrage, had come down to Cape Coast
Castle in January, and prepared the expedition which ter-
minated so disastrously. This lamented officer divided his
force into three bodies, of one of which he took the per-
sonal command, and was accompanied ley several of the
merchants from Cape Coast, as volunteers. But unfortu-
nately, before the divisions could form a junction, Sir
Charles, with his body, was intercepted by 10,000 of the
Asbantees, whom he fought as long as his ammunition
lasted; but his small force was at length overpowered by
the overwhelming force of the Aahantees, and this gal-
lant officer, with the officers and merchants who accom-
panied him, were either butchered in the contest or fell
as prisoners into the bands of these savages. Though
fourteen days had elapsed since the departure from
Cape Coast of the expedition, no intelligence from Sir
Charles *Canby, or the merchants with him, had reached
that place, when the Elisabeth, who brought the news of
the fatal encounter to Barbadoes, left it. The Ashantees,
Iwho intercepted our small force near Sicondee, arc said to
have been 13,000 strong. The battle, according to this
account, lasted for four hours, from two to six in the after-
noon of the 21st of January. Sir Charles ArCarthy is said
to have been wounded ha two pl ace:. Of fourteen British
officers also with him, only one, Lieutenant Etskine,
escaped to communicate the disastrous result. The names 'I
of Mr. Robertson, Houlle, and Jones, tnerehente front
Cape Coast, are men Toned as killed in the engagement,
with Mr. 'Failley, the Staff Surgeon. Captain L'Estrange
is said to have died of fatigue, and Major Iticketts to have
been severely wounded. An attack was expected at Cape
Coast, and every preparation made for defence. The
whole country in the neighbourhood had been over-
, run and desolated by tilt barbarians. and the mast in..
human atrocities perpetrated. Sir (harks *earthy, if
he has fallen, will be much regretted. He was a native
of the South of Ireland, and had been in the army
from his youth. While Governor of Sierra Leone, he
had exerted himself most strenuously for the sup-
pression of the slave trade and the improvement of that
colony. It was in 1807 that an Ashantee army teas seen
en the coast for the first time, and, after utterly defeating
the Fantet•s, they got ponession of the Dutch fort of Cor-
mantine, and subsequently attacked the British fortress of
Annatnabue, in great force, from which they were repulse.:,
though the garrison consisted only of about thirty persons,
including the Governor, Mr. White, Messrs. Meredith,
Swanzy, Smith, and Baines, with about fur mulattoes
and 20 individuals beside, consisting of soldiers, artificers,
and servants. Near ten thousand of the Fantees were
massacred by the Ashantee force in this expedition.
In 1811 they again invaded this unfortunate terri-
tory, and subsequently in 1818, just previous to Mr.
Bowdich's mission. 'l'lle Aahantees then blockaded
Cape Coast Castle, and the Government having
averted imminent danger by advancing a large sum in
gold, on account of the Fatness, earnestly requested the
African Committee to autfrotiAe and enable them to
venture au embassy to deprecate those repeated calamities,
to conciliate the monarch of Ashantee, and procure, if pos-
sible, an extension of commerce. The result was, the
mission of Mr. James and Mr. Bowtlich, which closed in
the treaty since violated by these barbarians, front whom
it will now be almost impossible to obtain any teasmiable
tern's. We still entertain the hope that Sir Charles
Al'earthy, and some of the officers and merchants who ac-
companied him, may have survived the butchery of the un-
fintunate contest, and be yet rescued from tit; hands of
these savages. The settlement of Cape Coast Castle is
scarcely worth the melancholy loss its preservatien has cost
on tbia unfortunate occasion.

THE FIRE eßts.

VIEWS OY TIIE RHINE, IN DELOW3L AND
HOLLAND,
71011 DIAITINGS, BY CAPTAIN , OF THE GIENA-

DIEM. OVALILDI, •F. Nil, Gs.

Captain Batty deserves the hest thanks of all the lovers
of the " sublime and beautiful," for those excellent deli-
neations of European se'..iivry, of which the present work
is a continuation. lle has here enabled us to trace, in
solitude the romai:iic landscapes of the Rhine, and to
enjoy all those associations to which the mind owes, at
all times, many of its purest and most delight ul enjoy-
ments. _ .

The distinguishing features of the scenery of the Rhine,
Belgium, and Holland, are of the pensive and romantic
cast, but they present tnany grand and impressiv:, contrasts.
The present publication commences with a view of the
bold and massy rock on which the old foams of En HE N-
BSETSTEI N was built, and the engraver has given it with
the happiezt effect. The picturesque character of the
scene is favourable to that variation of light anel shadow
of which the artist has availed himself with such admi-
rable effect. Tue light on the left of the lt:vtr is very
judiciously thrown in, and forms an excellent relief to the
dark, elevated fore-ground on the same side. The style
of engraving is highly finished, and is exactly calculated
to imitate that sweetness of touch and tone which marks
the original drawings by Capt. Batty. The second view is of
St. ill:chaers, Ghent,situated on the confluence of the rivers
Schelde and !.eye: owing perhaps to the softness of the en-
graving, the Cathedral is hardly touched with sufficient dis-
tinctness; the spirited and brilliant tints on the fore-ground
tend to heighten the contrast. We are led to remark this
from the interest which we feel in this admirable structure,
which has never vet received the homage to which it is justly
entitles! ; and which, owing to the supefor, but not ju.vily
superior reputation, of the cathedral of Antwerp, has not
hitherto been visited as it ought by English traveller s, and
has consequently been defrauded of that attention which
the richness and beauty of its decorations would so amply
repay. The GATE or GHENT, at Bruges, is represented
with great fidelity; the bridge, the tnill, the boat and
fisherman on the Isle, are pleasing features, which combine
to produce a very agreeable scene. The next engraving,
" BACHASACH7 is a lovely piece of scenery, of which
the reality cannot but produce an imposing eftct on the
eye, from the diversified beauties which it presents on all
sides. The artist has shewn himself eminently qualified
to do it justice. The CAI'IIE:URAL Or MAVE see, though
the last of this first number, :a by no means the least in
merit ; it is represented with a vigour and exactness that
places us upon the spot. The whole of these engravings
are executed in a manner so superior as to recommend this
work not less strongly to every traveller than to every patron
of the fine arts.