The Sun.
London, England, 1807-01-17 00:00:00

with two Neutral Vessels from the French Coast of
Normandy, the Captains of which declared that a
strong report was current in Frante that the French
Army had been defeated by the Russians. The
Cracker is said afterwards to have fallen in with a Fish-
ing Vessel belonging to Havre, the people on board of
which said, that it was generally reported that the
French bad been defeated, and that no Paper had
been published. for some days. It is by no means
iniprObable that seine of the reports which have
been circulated at Hauiburgh, Altona, of
the defeat of the French Army, might reach the
Coast of Normandy ; but it is extremely impro-
bable that the Paper's should not have been published
even if the. Russians had obtained the-most decisive
yi&ory, because it is well ,known that the French
Papers dare not insert an article without the
per Mission of the -Government. The French Papers'
might easily observe the same silence about a defeat
in Poland that they.have hitherto dene respeding
the defeat at Trafalgar. We are, therefore, not in-
clined to give much credit to these reports. The ac-
eoun4,of the defeat ofthe Russians do not stand
upon much better authority. Letters ate said

to have been received from Holland which mention

the total defeat of General BENN INGSEN'S division ;
but upon investigation it appears that Papers more
recent in date by two days than the Letters al-
luded to, have been received, 3.vkich do not men-
tion a word upon the subject, It was added, in
confirmation of the report, that there has been con-
siderable rejoicings on the French Coast ; but our
Letters from the Coast do not mention any such
circumstance, and we can positively assert that no,
such intelligence has been received by Government.
There is also a report, from Flushing, of the.
French having been defeated with the loss of 50,000
men, and all their cannon ; but we can state
positively that at the time this Paper, was put to
Press, Government had received no intelligence from
the Continent.

YESTERDAY Sir JOrIN NEWPORT, in moving the
second reading of the Bill for Abolishing certain Of-
fices in the Customs of Ireland, and regulating
others, declared that the recommendations of the
Commissioners of Inquiry, so far as depended upon
the Government of Ireland, were either carried
into execution, or were in a train of being so.—
The principal, regulations recommended by the
Commissioners were contained in the Bill then be•
fore ^the House. One or two others would be sub-
mitted to Parliament in the course of the present
Session. The exertions of the worthy Baronet, and
the other Members of the Irish Government, for
the Correaion of Abuses, have been incessant, and
entitle them to the gratitude of their Country,

. THE Press still teems with yiudications of.the
Patriotic Fund, and reflexions on Lord Howlett.
It can, therefore, scarcely be deemed useless to re-.
peat what has been so frequently urged, that Lord
- HowicsCs Speech did not first announce the recall
of Sir HOME POPHAM, bqt that Mr. CANNING
.brought the fadt into discussion, and that Lord
-.Howlex then explained the motive's of his condu&.
The only argument which has been used by the
zeal of indiscreet advocates in defence of-theprema-
ture proceeding of the Patriotic Fund, is founded on'
the supposed ignorance of the Committee respeaing'
any imputation against Sir H.,PonnAm. But 'this
'ground is clearly untenable, as the existence of some
Charge against that Officer was a subje& of notoriety
before the Vote of the Committee. His recall, and
the cause, were currently reported and were topics
of general discourse, and a Newspaper, of the 16th
and. i 6th September did not scruple to advert to the
subjeet.

The 25th of February is appointed for the Fast in
England, and the 26th in Scotland.
• Yesterday the Princesses ELIZABETH, MARY, and
AIIELIA, honoured Lady C. FINCH with a visit.
Yesterday a Court of Dire6,toiiwas held at the
Fast India House, when the following Captains were.
sworn into the command of their respeaive ships :
viz. Capt. JAMES MARTINI, Woodford; Capt. ALEX-
ANDER ROBERTSON, Surat Castle, for China dire&.
The Court adjourned, at seven o'clock, till Tuesday
next.

The Scotch Papers which we received this morn-
ing do not contain any accounts-respe&ng the Crew
of the French Privateer which landed on one of the
Orkneys.

The illness of Mr. GOOLD, the Proprietor of the
Opera, has advanced with such rapidity, that it was
last night supposed that he could hardly survive till
this morning.

The Tempest had a crowded House at Covent-
Garden Theatre last night. Admirably as Ic...camg
performs the part of Prospero, he has for smite time
past incurred the disapprobation of a few " Ground-
lbws," because he committed the fault of being ac-
curate to the text in pronouncing aches as a dissyl,
cable. Last night, however, this warfare ended.

Great complaints have been made of the bad con-
dition of, the pavement at the West End of the
town, but they are equally applicable to most parts
of the Metropolis, which has not been in so bad
a condition in that respea for a very long period.