Star.
London, England, 1823-05-17 00:00:00

BATAVIA, DECEMBER ILI, 1122.

By a communication from the Chief of the Dutch
Commerce in Japan, we are enabled 'Co publish the
following important account, of which that officer
had official information.

The English ship Sarasin, commanded by David
Ker, of 400 tons burden, and having a crew of 33
men, was compelled, for want of water and other ne-
cessaries, to put into Oeraga, a place 20 miles from
the capital City of Jeddo, on the 10th of June, last
year. This vessel, fitted out for the whale fishery,

sailed from London two years and a half ago.. It was
furnished with everything necessary by the Japanese
Government, and continued its voyage ten days after
its arrival at Oeraga.
JANUARY 3, 1823.---The loud reports, resembling
thunder, which we heard here in the night of the 20th
of December and the fine whitish ashes which since
that time have been perceived in several places, have
excited fresh alarms of ravages caused by volcanic
eruptions. V.Ve hasten to acquaint our readers with
the accounts which we have hitherto received.

December .27, about nine in the evening, a shock
of an earthquake was felt in the residency of Kadoc ;
it was in the direction limn east to west, and was re-
peated eighteen times in thirty hours. Some of the
shocks, especially the last but one, in the evening of
the 28th, were very violent, and still more dreadful
on account of the undulating motion. At the same
time a loud subterraneous tumbling was heard in
the mountain of Merapie, and it began to throw out
stones. At half-past one, on the morning of the 29th,
an eruption took place, during which half of the
mountain was surrounded with torrents of lava and
columns of file, while a heavy shower of sand and
small stones covered the neighbouring fields.
At present we have the unhappy certainty that
four villages are burnt, and two buried ; 15 persons
have lost their lives, the inhabitants of the de,troyed
villages having had time to make their escape. Every
thing that could be done for the relief of the sufferers
was done by the Resident, as far as time would allow.
Accounts from Pasocroean say, that• the burning
mountain of Bromo, also, for some time past, made
a loud subterranean noise, and began to throw out a
fine blackish ash, which is perceived at considerable
distances. In the vicinity of the mountain, the air is
quite obscured at intervals.

Frankfort Papers which have reached us -to the
18th inst. also juin in most decidedly contradicting
the reports which originated in the MornirgChronide,
respecting the military preparations of Russia. 6, The
Courier Francais (says the Frankfort Journal of the
9th inst.) has published an article dated Frankfort,
27th April, in which it announces, on what it states
to be god authority, that the Emperor of Russia
will arrive at the baths of Ems in the beginning of
June, and that his Imperial Majesty will occupy the
chateau of M. de Stein. This news, which has been
repeated in the other Paris Journals, as well as in some
of the German Papers, is just as well founded as the
march of the Russian troops, so confidently announced
in the same Journal. Now, there has not only not
been the slightest movement of the Russian army,
but there has not been any recruiting during the last
three years. On the contrary, so many soldiers have
been discharged, that the army has by this means been
reduced nearly one-fourth."

Letters from Warsaw, of a recent date, still further
explain the facts which have given rise to the reports,
so frequently repeated, of the assemblage of a consi-
derable number of Russian troops in Poland. Some
movements have, in fact, taken place, but only in the
Polish army, the regiments in which are organised in
such a manner as to be ready to march on the first
signal; but nothing has occurred to indicate that they
are to march out of the kingdom on any expedition.
The Russian troops in Volhynia and the Ukraine
remain quiet in their• cantonments, which are very
extended. The„report at Wilna is, that these troops
will quickly return into the interior of the empire.
But what particularly excites the public attention is,
the assembling of a considerable corps &armee in the
Government of Witepsk, under the pretext, that the
peasants of this province had tumultuously refused
the payment of a certain quit rent, in consideration
of which they had been exempted from services (cos-
vees) that were formerly exacted from them. This af-
fair is not of so serious a nature as several papers
in the North of Germany have represented it to be,
and a few regiments would have been quite sufficient
to have restored everything to order. It is supposed
then that the assembling of more than 40.000 men in
one point of the Russian empire, is for quite another
purpose than that which has just been assigned to it.

A Hamburgh Mail has also arrived, with Papers to
the 10th inst. It will be seen, from the first of the ex-
tracts which we subjoin, that there is no likelihood
whatever of Russia's having any warlike operations
in contemplation at present.