The National Register.
London, England, 1809-01-01 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

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6

at halt past four in the afternoon, and was maintained with
great. obstinacy and bravery on both sides till ten at night;
and though the conflicting armies were within twenty
paces of each other, the enemy, I mention with pride,
was repulsed. and obliged to pass the .night upon the
snow, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, without
making a single etl'ort to extricate themselves.
EXTRACT FROM AN OFFICIAL REPORT OF GENERAL KLERC-
VEER, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE NORTHERN ARMY,
IN FINLAND, DATED HEAD-QUARTERS, AT ULEADORGH,
NOV. 25:

" Though I have been compelled, by the vast superi-
ority of the enemy's forces to evacuate the Province of
Uleaburgh, which independently a this consideration, I
must !vote done from the total want of provisioas and pro- '
vendei-; yet *1 derive no small consolation from the reflec-
tion, that 1 have pitied time, pending the negociatios
for au Armistice, and sacceeding in obtaining ten clear
days to evacuate the capital of this province. The interval
I have employed in cutting and sawing the ice, and fitting
out small craft for the conveyance of stores, &c. and have
no doubt, from the arrangements that have been made,
but the whole of the artillery and ammunition will he saved.
The check which the Russians experienced at Wirat, is
wholly attributable to the skill and bravery of Col. Reuters-
kold and General Alderkreutz, the latter of whom encou-,
raged his troops by his presence and example ; and. your
Majesty will be pleased to allow me to state, that this
General,. notwithstanding the very critical situation in
which your Majesty's army was placed, displayed his con-
summate abilities as a neg,ociator of the Armistice, in re-
jecting, under every disadvantage, the unjust and disho
nourable proposition of the enemy, and by extricating our
troops from impending destruction."

•

GIBRALTAR

EXTRACT Or A LETTER, DATED DEC. 2.

" Admiral Purvis is at present here, with the A tlac and Kent ;
but I should suppwe, if there is the least probability of an at-
tack, our Government will send out large reinforcements. It is
to be regretted something is not done with the Spanish Lines
the Forts St. Phillip and St. Barbara might he now easily de-
. stroved, or rendered useless to an enemy fora consilterable length
of time t .indeed; it is thought here, by some of our people in
power. that the works might be so altered as to act against
Spain if conquered by France, and become an outwork of this
fortress.
44 The garrison coatlaues abundantly supplied with every
this p•Lrt of S'puin proditcrs;• in return they take front Its till,
the British manufarturrs they require. Sales, hots ever, I tins
derstlnd Ire nw considerable as would have been expected
conliden,e will. government, or in the political state of tbt
country is the reason." _

JAN. 1..

PROVINCIAL§.

An unparalleled instance of cruelty, superstition, and awful
visitation, occurred a short period since in the Hundred of Hoo ;
a farmer of the name of Fenner lost a considerable quantity of
poultry by a distemper with which they were seized; and hav- .
ing, some time prior to their mortality, received a present of a
duck from a friend, it was supposed, from her laying dun-co-
loured eggs, that she had been bewitched by an elderly woman
in the neighbourhood, and that such was the cause of the losses
sustained. In order to prevent a recurrence of similar disasters,
and to break the enchantment, it was determined, by an igno-
rant and superstitious female servant, to burn the ill-fated but
innocent victim alive; which horrid resolution she one morning
carried into practice, by putting the poor animal in an oven,
and burning a faggot of wood over her; which, though it com-
pletely consumed alt her feathers, did not extinguish the vital
'park : on the following morning she repeated her cruelty, not-
withstanding which the poor dusk still retained animation : on
the third day, being determined to effect her barbarous intention,
she had recourse to the following shocking expedient—she set
tire to a large faggot in the even, and when it bad completely
caught the flame, she put the already tortured body of the poor
duck on it, and confined it down; this soon terminated its exist-
ence. In a short period, from her inhuman conduct, this un-
fortunate dupe of superstition and ignorance was seized with
fits; which appears like an awful dispensation of Providence,
tit deprive her of that life which she was unworthy of, as she
urvived but a few days after, expiring in the greatest agonies.
Ilut.t., DEC. 24.--A heavy fall of snow comMenced on Satur-
day last, and has continued, with little intermission, every suc-
ceeding day, accompanied by a strong gale of wind a great part
of the time, from the north and north-west. The quantity of
snow that has fallen in this neighbourhood is so great, that in
many places the road has been rendered impassable for carriages.
The mail, and other coaches from York, have not reached this
place since Saturday last. The Doncaster coach, by way of
Howden, which should have come in on Sunday night, arrived
here yesterday. On Sunday, and the following days, the bags,
with the mails from York, were brought in between ten and
elevca o'clock each• day, on horseback, from York, the mail
guard having to ride eighty miles each day, through the snow,
with the mails; one of them was so severely fatigued that h,,
lies at Bishop Burton, very dangerously ill. In the neighbour-
hood of Market Weighton the snow was drifted so much as to
he level with the hedges an each side.
NEWC A sr E, DEC. 24.—0 n Saturday and Sunday last, a severe
storm of snow, attended by a violent gale of wind, came on in
this neighbourhoOd. It has, we understand, been very generally
felt along the northern and eastern coasts. The roads in many
•
places near this town were obliged to be cut, particularly tho'e
that ran in an easterly direction. In the Last Riding of York-
shire the fall of snow has been so heavy as entirely to suspend
land conveyance. The Telegraph from this town to Hull did
not for several days reach its destination.
' Wednesday sennight, during the performance of High Life
firlaw Stairs, one of the dressing-rooms of North-Shields
Thew,: took fire, and several dresses were consumed before the
flames were extinguished. There being an abundance of snow in
the streets, the fire was soon got under by carrying buckets-full
into the Theatre.
An alarming fire broke out, about six o'clock on Wednesday
evening last, in the dwelling-house of Mrs. Swale, tanner, of
Ipswich, occasioned by culpable inattention to the kitchen
chimney, which had been observed on tire during the greater part
of the day, but no steps were taken to'suppress the same; and
in consequence it communicated to the roof, and ultimately de-
stroyed the whole house, notwithstanding the most active exer-
tions of the military and neighbouring inhabitants, through
whose means the bark-houses and adjacent buildings were
preserved from the ravages of the flames, which appeared more
dreadful than ans- conflagration ever recollec:e ! in that town.
Saturday the lith ult. a great many sheep in Burgh in the
Marsh, Lincolnshire, and other places, were by the inclemency
of the weather driien into drains and drowned. The post-boy
who rode the mail from Market-Raisin to Castor, was the same
day starved to death on the road.
Thursday se'nnight, in the evening, as Mr. C. Chapman, of
Newmarket, was returning frOm a friend's house, • near Dog-
kennel-lane, he heard a c 6, of " lost," apparently from the
Heath : he immediately scent home for assistance, and proceeded
in search of the persons from whom the voices came, when,. by
his timely interference, he probably saved the lives of five per-
sons, who had lost their Way in going front Newmarkett to
Saxon-street. It appears they had been making merry at the