The Sun.
London, England, 1809-08-23 00:00:00

THE DREADNO'VGET.

, . .
The following account of the affair in ‘Y.Thich\the_
:boat!: of the Ereadizonla were engaged in Basque
Roads, differing from the former statement which
appeared) we have thought it right to give it pdb-
licity
" While the fleet
,lay in 'Basque ROads, it had
been cOnstantly the ,habit to make one ship send'
boats at night-to row gitard 'towards the motitio of ,the
Chararite, the entrance of which:was prote6ted by a
small island (Isle IYAix) very well fortified.
" The enemy sent one of their brigs of war-down
lo remain under the prote&ion of :the Isle, d'Aix
ing the. day, and at night she generally went. at some
distance up the river, catch any of 'onr buts whO
might'be bold enough to go too close to the shore in
chase of the ncoasting vessels from Rochelle towards
Rochefort, which Were annoyed by our men of war.
13n the 'sight Of the g sth and 2Gth, Lieutenants
l'orrnan and Owen were ordered to row guard in

_ . . ~..
two boats, under the orders of Lieut. Format). It.
Va'sit 'first thought t.v.tt "the brig had not gone up
the tiver that night ; fortunately, htm'ever, Lieu':.
Vortnan 'Thought it best to redonnoitre her hetOre they

made ate aitaac, otherwise nou'e of them could bat:e

escaped as the tide was. At about half-past two,
'having waited go long for the turn of tide, the
boats approached the brig, when, from the situation
'of the brig, Lieutenant Furman despaired of succes,,
and;proposed retiring ; but Lieutenant 'oWen•wa3so
fully confident of success, that be wished' to make.
the attack alone : and .on this the attack 'was
:Lieut. Forman Pulled down alongside the brig t`o get
on board. The enemy, in Addition to the usuilinode of
defence, which is .a very strong net-work Sti&efled"
tight along, considerably higher that the bulwark of
the vessel, through which they were obliged to tut,
had strong sharp pikes, standing out, horizontally
from her sides V..JOllt six or seven feet, rather lower
Iltm the upper cdge of a boat. On the: end 0-f',Ont:
these Lieut. Owen ran his boar; and there she Stuck,
a mark for the Frenchnien, who popped at them
like so many fowls tied to'a stake. Lieut. Forman's
boat had been the-fir,t alongside,, and -irad avoided,
The pikes and while he WFIS occupyibg,
trYing to cut through the net, be heard Liettt..-Aven
ery for quarter. The people of Lieut. Fornian.looat,
'eeittg the state they'were in, and being Many of
them wounded, one mortally, pushed off, and: had
tot the Lieutenant himself been able' to swir*, he
• must have ,remained in the brig a prisoner; however,
he swam to his boat, and received a wbUridjust as
he was going to get -into. her. He brought on
board the 'Dreadnought • seven, besides himielf,
wounded, one since dead; and left behind Lieut.
Owen, and his boat and people, whom it-was im-
possible to bring off. One of them, ii has since
been heard, was killed, and Your wounded. The
zatemy had one kilted, and'two" or- three wounded,
by their own account."

'Joseph Buonaparte published last month in Mad-
' - rid, the follOWing Decree which is carious; as an.
instance of the consistency with which the French
This
in the execution of their monstrous
tyranny.
-uttis Decree can, in fa I, answer nu other purpose,
than to furnish an easy pretext for the most un-
ouunded exaaions ; and will doubtless be under-
stood throughout Spain, as a foretaste of rniid and ,
Just government under the new dynasty :„,.;
"All the inhabitants of the towns and Vilras, Ors of
Spain, who have sons among the insurgerii. are
Found ouns, to supply as many men to the army of his
Alaje3ty as they have sons in the hostile army ; or
Pay into the Royal Treasury a sum of money in prO-
Purtion to the property of each. The contributions
are to be thus classed :
" Those who have a revenue of 3000 ducats,
shall pay 12,000 reals for cach person, they ought'to
furnish ; those who possess xOOO ducats, 6000 reals ;
;Ad those whose income does nut exceed 1000
ducats, atioo reals.
" Those whose income is less than 1000 clucks
shall be arrested and carried into France, unfit their
oris shall surrender themselves up to their 'legal au-
thority. Elder brothers and guardians are corn-
priked in the provisions.of this decree, which is not
applicable to younger brotheys.".