The National Register.
London, England, 1811-05-19 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

• Yesterday we were assured, by an• authority on
which we have been accustomed to rely, that a pri-
vate letter from Lord WELLING TON has been receiv-
ed, dated May 1, in which his Lordship states,. that
MASSENA had received instructions to defend Almeida
as long as he possibly could with safety to himself
and those under his command. ' In consequence. of
that intelligence having reached 1403 d WELLINGTON,
his Lordship considered it possible that t)ae garrison
might hold out for another fourligikv,;„ ho .also

thought is very psobable that a general enLagemal
might take place Nfithin three days.
MASSENA'S army had been reinforced, and in the
latter erd of April it consisted of about 32,000
men including 8000 cavolry.

ATTEMPTED SEIZURE OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
The following information has been brought by
the vessel which brought the Paris papers received
yesterday :

That a detachment of select persons (or emissaries as they are
called) had been employed by IioNAPAR rE to entrap and carry
- off the wing of PRusSIA. These men, having arrived near
erlin, are said to have dispatched a messenger to his MA) r.STY,
intimating that an Ambassador from BONAPARTE was in the
vicinity, and requested an immediate intervievr. The KING,
previous to receiving such summons, had heard of their ap-
proach ; and either being informed, or suspecting the object of
their m!ssion, declined the interview proposed; and has been
since s.:id to have put his person under the protection of the
rnperor of Rti
Of the other information brou3ht by this vessel, we shall only
jive a brief summary. It states, that i..forced loan, to a ,
consi-
derable amount, was now in agitation in France, from the levy-
ing of which the most serious discos tents were apprehended :
that an eminent banking--house having lately failed for an im-
mense sum, and applying to the Emperor for relief, on a state-
ment of the assistance they had afforded him for the prosecution
of the war, was treated with the most opprobi,nis language.
Five French frigates are stated, on the same authority, to have
sailed for Batavia, with a new Governor, and some specie. - It
was likewise supposed, that from 40 to 50 frigates would put to
aea this winter.

General RuFrIN, who was taken prisoner at the
battle of Barrosa, is said to have died on board his
I'vlajesty'.s ship Gorton.
Yesterday morning the French Eagles taken in
the battle of Barrosa, were deposited in Whitehall
Chapel. The concourse of spectators was very
great. The Bands of the Guards played " God
save the King," ".4ule Brittania," and other na-
tional tunes.
The alizuments in the case of Sir PRANcis BUR-
DETT v. the SPEAKER of the House of COMNIONS,
was closed on Friday, and the Court immediately
gave judym2 nt against the plaintiff upon all the
pints. The Court consisted of the L, rd CHIEF
lesTicr, Justices GatesE and BAILEY ; Mr. Justice
LE BLANC being absent in consequence_of indispo-
sition; and they were unanimously of opinion, that
the House of Commons had a right to ar rtst fir
breach of their privileges—that the SPEAKER was
:trthorized to issue a writ for that purpose—and
that the writ in the rreseut case was duly executed.
A Mail from Anholt arrived on Tuesday, but its
contents are unimportant. An Embassy was to be
sent from Stockholm, in the latter end of last
month, to Paris, with the insignia of the order of
the Seraphim, 1,1- the infant son of BuoNAPAnTE,
nick-named 4, King of Rome."
A Gentleman arrived from Holland states, that
BUONAPA rurr has issued a new decree, prohibiting
men from marrying wider the age of 30 ; and those
vho wish to marry at that period, must bring four-
teen wi..nesses to testify their age. This is done in
consequence of the new conscription.

3

French Papers to the 6th instant, arrived to Fri-
day night. The Official Journal of the sth, con-
tains an extrawdinarg account of the military ope-
rations in the Peninsula, uplo the 4th ult. Their
contents are given in another part of out publicatibn.
Every communion from the French coast am-
nounces some great commercial embarrassments or
important failure. A letter of the 9th instant, was
on Wednesday received from Paris, which states,
that several bankruptcies had taken place since the
beginning of the month, in the list of which was the -
firin of Gros, D'Avilliers, and Co. one of the most
re.pectable in that city. This particular failure
was expected to involve sever al more houses, a
dozen at least, in a similar calamity, as Gros ansl
Co. were most extensively connected. The Impe-
rial Banker of St. Petersburgh, BARON Rom., and
the House of El ASSELGREEN and Co. at Amster-
dam, have also failed. It was rumoured at Paris, -
that a decree would soon appear, subjecting to ca-
pital punishment any one who shiuld be found
guilty of drawing or negociating a Bill of Exchange -
upon England.