Star.
London, England, 1809-08-02 00:00:00

Mr. S-..oicrs re-examined.

Q. (By Lord Gnu nt Ea.) At what time did the enemy's two
ships of the line, which remained at anchor on the 12th of Apr..
in the morning, cut or slip their cables and run towards the Cha-
rente ?—A. The Cassard, th:aring a Commodore's broad pendant,
slipped! or cut, and made nil fur the Charente at 10 min, par
one P.M.; the Foudrnyant, bearing a Rear Admiral's flag, made
sail for the Charente at 20 min. past one, 1 noted the time by
my watch, and am positive as to the facts, because I made a me-
morandum at the time.

Q. Do you remember at what time tha three enemy's s!iip
that were oA.
n To theshore
best of m
upon thePy al:is
:is, and
recollection,dwa braupoedotfro, gut front
thence
n*:
u,dock.
or little after.
Q. (By the COURT.) Did they remove from them.: More the
ships that were at anchor ran towards the Charente ?—A. lhey
did.

Q. You was on board some of the British ships at their anchor.
age—Were any of the enemy's ships at too great a 4sta:ice to b.
destroyed by'them ?—A. I was on hard the Imperieuse durint
part of the time of the action ; all the enemy'► ships were st ton
great a distance to be destroyed by our ships, except those thr,
were destroyed—the. Calcutta, Aquilon, a.,d Varsovie. It wa,
rather doubtful to me, whether the Revenge's shot could uot
have been kited with effect on the Tonnere ; the Revenp
the nearest ship to the enemy.
Q. Was there any other. situation in the Road of Aix, is which
the British squadron could be placed, from which they could
have destroyed the other ships?—A. No: there was not.

Captain BERESFORD, of the Theseus, sworn and examined
Q. (By Lord GAMBIEK). Were you sent into Aix Roacls with
the Theseus, in the afternoon of the 1 t:th of April ?—A.
nal was made about five o'clock, to proceed into Aix Roaii>, a..!
assist ships in distress, on which we instantly made bail.
Q. Had I sent in line of battle ships to Aix Roads, early in the
morning of the 12th of April, were any ships of the enemy in a
position to rake and injure our ships as they advanced?—A. Two
of the enemy's ships were afloat ; ore bears a flag, and the other
a broad pendant ; which, in my opinion, would hate entirely crip-
pled any ships sent in to act. Indeed, if two of our ships bad been
placed as they were, I think we could have defied an enemy's 4.
proach, for the approach must have been going end on.
Q. If any of our ships, advancing under such circumstance,
had become crippled, either by the ships of the enemy raking them,
or the fire of their batteries, could they have returned, or what
would have been the consequence ?—A. Under the circumstances
of the wind and tide, I do not think they could have returned;
land if they could, it must have been by the greatest good for-
tune : the consequences would have been in my mind very se-
rious, if they could not have returned.
Q. Could two or three line of battle ships, on the morning of
the 12th of April, when two of the Enemy's ships lay afloat at
their anchorage, have advanced to attack them, by putting their
helms alee, their fore or main-top sails being to the mast, having
thus brought their heads to N. E. would they, by these meant,
been enabled to bring their gnus to bear with effect upom the
enemy's ships, and be themselves out of reach of shut from the
Isle of Aix ?—A. Certainly not.
Q Could any line of battle ships have run to leeward of the
two ships of the enemy that lay at their anchorage on the mem-
ing of the 12th April; have space enough to have anchored, and by
these means to have attacked those ships ?—A. I should not like
to have risked it myself, and it appeared to me that there r.s;
scarcely room for a friend to have passed' berweet thttst Mitt It?'
shoal, letting alone an enemy. I should have thought the atter t
most hazardous. The tide was running strongiiostd,AOCUluoy,44
right in.
Q. Did you ever understand by whose orders the Calcutta was
set on fire ?—A. The only thing I know with respect to that, was
by a conversation with Lord Cuchrane, in the presence of Capt.
/high and others. He said it was a thousand pities the Calcutta
could not be brought off. He sent a younker on board to use his
own discretion, and he set fire to her.

Q. Do you think she might have been brought off?—A. I was
not on the spot when she was set on fire, but Lord Cochrane
said she might have been brought off easy.
Q. Did you go on board.the Imperieuse on the afternoon of the
12th April: what was her position ; and what passed between
Lord Cochrane and you ?—.A. She was on shore. I told him I'
had just come from the Caesar, which was also on shore, in a cri-
tical situation, within the range of shot and shell; that, in my
opinion, ships of the line bad no business there; tkat Lord Gam-
bier seemed to me to be most anxious to act with his fleet; then
if he had sent them in there, few if any would have retafned,
and that it would have been madness to have done it. His Lord-
ship said that three sail of the line might have been lon, which in.
his opinion did nut signify. My reply was, that even one sail of
the line would in my opinion have disgraced the enterprize. This
passed in the presence of Captains Bligh,'W'ooldridge, Maitland,
and others, and Colonel Cochrane.
Q. Under the circumstances of the wind, the tide and flood
making, did it appear to you that on the morning of the ic:h
April, or at any time when the enemy's ships were on shore, and
the signal had been made that they could be destroyed, was there
on my part any neglect or unnecessary delay in taking ekoctnal
measures to destroy them ?—A. None whatever; and it was my
opinion, en board the Caledonia, as well as theropinion of many
more, that the time of tide for sending ships in was a time that
would ensure their coming out in case of accidents.
Q. Do you remember the signal of the Imperitsuse on the morn-
ing of the 12th*of April, that the enemy's ships were ou shore,
and that half the British fleet could destroy them ?—A. I. did not
see it made, but it was of reported to me at the time.
Q. What impression did it make upon you as to its propriety?
—A. I thought the signal a very impro.:er one, because it was ire-
possible for the fleet to :men then acted against them.
Q. (By the Court.)—From the first attack upon the enemy, to
the final cessation of hostilities againt them, was every thing done
that could be done to effect their destruction ?—A. I think every
thing was, and much more titan I ever expected to be done.
Q. Are you clear in your recollection that the report made to
you of the signal was that half the fleet would be sufficient to des-
troy the enemy ?—A. Certain of it : but previous to that I think
that the report was, that the fleet coup destroy the enemy.
Q. When an Admiral is informed by signal that a specific force
is sufficient to execute any service, is it generally understood that
the force pointed out is the greatest that can be employed, or the
smallest that will be required ?—A. it requires the force pointed
out.

Q. Then if you had been Commander in Chief, and that sig-
nal had been made to you, N% hat would you have considered as the
smallest force you could. have sent in ?--A. I should have sent in
more than half to ensure success.

Q. Do you think that or. the morning of the 12th of April it
would have been prudent or proper to have sent in more than la
the fleet to the Aix Road to destroy the energy?—A. I think it
would have been very improper ; and, as I said before, I did not
thi::k ships of the line had any right there.
Captain KERR, of the Revenge, deposed to the same effect as
the last witness. He said it was his firm belief that had any of the
line of battle ships gone in sooner than they did, they would have
been crippled, by which means the French ships would have dis-
covered the strength of their position, and of course remainei
instead of going up the river, and have prevented the four ships
that were afterwards destroyed from being so.
On being asked whether he observe,: the state of the fortifica-
tions on the Isle of Aix, he answered in the negative, the situation
of the Revenge being so critical that he was otherwise taken up.
Q. Mr. RAVEN, Master of the Czsar, deposed to the circum-
stances which had happened when he had been in Basque Roads
two years before, when Sir R. Strachan pursued the enemy's fleet
thither. The rise and fall of the ride was generally 18 feet at
spring tide. The enemy's ships frequently seemed to take tae
ground at low water. It appeared that the anchorage was very
confined.
Captain DoucLas, of the Bellona, and Captain Goo) R EY, of
the Etna, ckpostel to the sameefiect as the former witnesses.
Lieutenant HA wits s, Signal Officer of the Caledonia, on being

LONDON.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2.

PR!CE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK
Ccsio.:,:noncy, 67i GB—for A Itgust, 6811-omn. 1 1 pre.
Exchequer Bills is. 12s. prem.
PRICE OF STOCKS YESTERDAY.
t ank Stock 2601.14 261.1 Long Ann. la,: 13.16
3 per Cent. Red. 6811 Omnium 1 ptem.
3pr Cerr. Cons. 671 631 68 State lottery Tickets ,21.118.
r Cent.s4i City ditto, Xs. los.
5 per Cent. Navy 981 99 Cams. for opg. 681

Dutch Papers to the 25th ult. have arrived. tin-
der the datt,of Paris, some accounts are given in
them respecting the military operations in Spain.—
tney state, that oh the 3d ult. General PINoT attack-
ed the myth of St. Fan de Quiz()lei and took it,
though the Spaniards defended themselves obsti-
nately on the heights. On the following day, the
same General advanced against Palamos, which
was taken, though defended by ten gun-boats and
two brigs, which played upon the French ; but these
being forced off, the Spaniards were, for the greater
part, driven into the sea ; few prisoners were made.
In Palamos, the French found about 1000 muskets
and six cannon. St. Felin and Palamos are two little
harbours, and are represented as useful,being asylums
for French vessels, and assisting in maintaining a
communication with Barcelona along the coast.
These papers contain a circular mandate, addressed
BC!;APAIITE, on the 13th ult. to the Bishops, com-
Trandlng them to offer up thanksgivings for the vie-
Nries cf Enzersdorf and Wagram. In this instrument

A Letter from Vigo, clgteti the 22a Sine, IW9,
presents some particulars, *hick, though not veiyre-
cent, deserve a perusal.--=The Marquis Da ROMANA,
with his army, was at Orense on the 14th of last
zneuth.—The French, after their defeat At Puente de
St. Pays, returned to St. Jago, and afterwards took
the road towards Lugo, whither it was Intended that
diviion of the Spanish army should pursue them—;
The Marquis ROMANA was joined by 12,000 Portu-
guese in Orense, and was marching against the divi-
sion of SOULT'S army, which had occupied the valley
of Mountfort, with sanguine hopes of encountering it.
The French left Gijon on the 25th ult. after being
in it five days, in which they committed the great6t
excesses and cruelties. They marched to join the
main body in Oviedo, which was threatened by the
Spanish division of General BALLESTEROS, who had
defeated a division near that place, and had inter-
cepted a great quantity of Church-plate and other
plunder which they were dispatching into Biscay.
The same letter states that the people manifest the
greatest patriotism, a determination to resist the ty-
ranny of France, and a strong desire to cultivate an
intercourse with the English.