Star.
London, England, 1812-01-06 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

It will he 7ati,factory to the Public to be informed.
that the Commissioners of Military Inquiry continue
their labours in the end:avouting to discover and
preventing the abuses, &c. in the Public Depart.
ments named in their Commission, und have midi
for, and intend presenting at the meeting of Palk...
went. their 16th and 17th Report, which finid.e.
their inquiry into the Ordnance Departments.
His Majesty's sh7p Rou.A,-having the Dawson.
Peace, Nato's, and Royal Briton transports under
convoy, sailed from Deal on Sund.ty, with the f
Regiment of Foot on board, for Cork.

EXTRACT OF A LET FIR PROM LISBON, DATED DEC. 13 :

" last meek I made a visit to the lines, fortified -by Lotd
Writ.ttworom, which will be celebrated fur ages, in having with.
stood the concentrated force of the French &miles, and saved
Portugal. Unless you have had an idea of the nature of this
barrier, from the frequent mention of it, you may not fully cent •
prebend my Wel description. The lines may be said to deteod I
triangular portion of the kingdom of Portugal ; possessing pecu-
liar importance, by containing thy capital, the port and the grand
depots. Without large importations of provisions, this country,
in the best times, could not have subsisted. Now, with an ins.*
poverlshed peasantry soda neglected soil, the French, even if in
possession of the interior provinces, may be considered to have
gained nothing. Starvation is Inevitab'e. The preservation a
Lisbon is, of course, of the first inip.ortance; and to effect this,
Madre has so wenlertally provided. that a comparatively salad
',hare remains to be performed by art. "1 his, how. ver. ceasing ta
speak in re:4os terms, is a Work of %yowler; A amount. Front
Alhautlra, a little tuwn (to the : urth bank of the Tagus, tehuat
'45 miles from Lisbon, to Matra, oil the ‘..1.14t trus,iug th.
Westeru Aceaa, ruin a chain of mountaitrt o! perhay.s to miles
so entire-, that that a pa.:-.able valley rarely intervenes. The part
es hich I have seen has the outward ridge so ab: t.pc, that after
marching up a rugged and harassirg ascen!, an army would find,
that even then to gain the height, they w Jetta need scaliog ladders
as much as if a regularly built wall was t..) be surnsoanted. The
few directions in which a bsely of mra Loaltl apptuat:h, are so
commanded by artillery, that au effectual e;aujleter would be
carried on dining the time occupied in the n expe.-ditieus
march. Ditches, pallisades, and other wurits :em! greatly to the
inaccessibility of the place.

" Among the means employed is a perftct Une f ornted of the
trunks and branches of trees, laid on the ground, with their
sprout, outwards: a species of obstacle which would be found of
immense trouble to pass; impossible, in fact, to either infantry
or cavalry. Supposing, however, all these d.faculties overcome,
the end i 3 not yet attained. There being a succession of teights
in the rear, the passes are all guarded, and there, are large forts
upon the sununiu, which being indricently provided ter
ranee, would require a regular siege to reduce. An extensive
valley In front, formed the separation be wens our's and Mas.
semis army this time last year. The French were encamped
upon a corresponding, though more gentle elevation on the other
side; where every movement and °vexation were seen by glasses
from our posts. I have been told by Officers who were on the
spot, that the sight was of the most pleasing description; and par.
ticularly at night, when the fires for cooking, Sce. formed a track
of Same winding along the inequality of the ground for many
miles. In the towns I saw, the marks of French possesion still
renuin. Shutters, doom, picture-frames, even floors and cielinp
were destroyed to serve as rue'.
" The re.a.,antry Bed,' as you have heard, and lost their all;
and afterwards, upon the retreat of the enemy, when they
were enabled to return to the r homes, they found themselves
destitute of every thing ; equally unable to obtain supplies, from
the want of money, and the Impossibility of finding any thing
to purchase. The scarcity soon introduced sickness; and it has
been computed, that, In many places, half the number of those
who returned, fell victims to the conjoined efforts of nakedness,
famine, and disease. The munificence of the English nation, has,
I fear, gone but a little way towards the benevolent ends that it
bad in view. There is great judgment necessary to the planning
the mode of relief. This, perhaps, is not wanting; but the ins.
partiality and integrity requisite in the distribution, I fear, will be
in vain expected."

NErARIOUS PRACTICES AT THE A DMIRA It was
Mr. YORKE,' the First Lord of the Admiralty, who
made The discovery of 'the forgeries and frauds con-
nected with the Navy Office, Greenwich Hospital,
&c. In consequence of a clerk bting unwell and not
able to attend, his duty was performed by another
person, who refused to pursue the mar-practice:, which
had been carrying on for a considerable time. On
some official papers being laid before Mr. YORKII, he
was struck with the appearance of fraud. A Board
was immediately assembled, and a, very strict in.
vestigation took place, which was attended by the
Magistrates of Bow-street, Mr. GRAHAM and Mr.
NARES ; and the officers Lavender and Vickery were
employed :o apprehend suspected persons. Satur-
day morning Lavender and Vickery took a Me,.
senger and two others, in official situations, into cus-
tody, and conveyed them to the Public-office, Bow.
street, where Mr. CROKER, the Secretary to the Ad-
miralty, Mr. BICKNELL, the Solicitor to the Admi.
rally, and Mr. Driat, the Secretsry to Greenwich
hospital, attended, and a very long private investiga.
tion and examination took place before Mr. Bumf&
It appeared that frauds to the amount of several thou-
sand pounds have been eprnmitted for these thirteen
years. The investigation was considered of so much
importance to the public, that Mr. CROKER, who was
engaged to attend a Board, remained at the Office
during the whole -of the examination, which lasted
upwards of four hours. The criminality of the mes-
senger greatly astonished the Secretary, as he was a
man he lutd much confidence in ; but from the loves.
tigation on Saturday, he turned out to be the princi-
pal confederate of the clerk alluded to, is causing
men's names to be put on the books for a greater num-
ber of years service that they had performed. Thus
those persons obtained higher pensions than tl were
justly entitled tn. Other deceptions of a similar na-
ture were carried on, for which the clerk and the Ines-
senger received the sum of elf for each man for
whose interest the fraud was practised. The part the
messenger took was the most audacious. It Was his
duty to read over the long lists of names, and in the
course of about one hundred, he would omit reading
ten or twelve names, in order that those he and the
clerk bad agrted with for e2O, might be brought for.
card on a different list, to them to larger
peasioris, and other Frit iieges. Mr. Blame committed
tat m all three lior a fiat tarts saaxiitatiou. •

•i

-:, •
71ffe'LiffB MURDARS.
ltertLE.ED ~: UHL ,TAR.
Sul—Every oody n.eri.on a s;, ong suspi-
cion alit ‘Vi.lianis was Ally murder ; but as no
man is so in Law, until lound by Jury, it may ad-
o' uhether ;t wete just!tiable to expose 11;s
body eipo-ize to the houses I .t.ly inhabited by Mr.
Marr's a;.l Mr. WiLi f H d t.e beep
already tried, an.' titukr sei time, at the otriod ht
suicak, the example night have been atLeial-.d ith
ben.4icial .effect-•, it being impossible to excite tuo
much in aror nt so nielincholy a catastrophe !
I hive 'inning to ad.', as to the burial, in other
resper-s, heiag regulated according to the verdict of
the Niqa,:st ; but I contend that, it those who have
the disposal of the rewards advertised, do not pres.-nt
a consid:rable share to the persons, by whose means
was implicated, it will be a decisive infe-
rence that it was inconsistent to parade the corpse
as has been done. I am, Sir, w.th great respect,
Your ohedtent servant, w. c.
!auuary 1, 111112.

SIIADWELL OFFICE.— In consequence of some ob-
servations which I.:11 from ibirs. Vermilloe, the land.
lady of the Pe ir Tree public house, where Williams
had lodged, touching lier suspicions of Cornelius
Hatt, a joiner, who had sonic acquaintance with
Williams, that man WAS taken into, u and y by oneof the
Whitechap..l officers, who heard Mrs. Vermillne say,
" that if Flare had been examined by the Magistrates
as closely as she had, something more would have •
come out." Hart way taken before the Whitechapel
Magistrates, but remanded to the Magistrates of this
Oifice. [however, he gave the same account of him-
self that he had on five other occasions, when brought
up bel.re the Ma‘istrate, ; and his story having been
confirmed by the enquiries of the officers, he was
d:scharged.
John Harrison, the sailor, was again examined, re-
lative to a knife, seen in William possession shortly
before :he murders, of which the witness bad not
spoken in his formtn. examination. He said, that one
day he asked Williams to return a pncket handker-
alliet which he had of his, and that Williams told
Eirn to go to his pockets and get it himself. Upon
riving his hand into Wiiliams's pocket he pulled out
a raw. French knife, frith an ivory handle and narrow
blade, about six inches in length. He asked him
where he got the knife ? and Williams replied, that
lie had bought it a day or two before. This circum-
stance ,ccurred about three weeks ago. That knife
has nev..•r been since seen ; and it is supposed, that
11V illiams iisd it in murdering Mr. Williamson and
family. rflic witne:s, after Williams was taken into
custody, ix-eat in search Of this knife, in hopes of fin-
dUlg it. lie ~.N.arnined his chest, and every part of
the i'ear-tree pubiic lion:e, but without sneers:. .
At the Coroncr's Inquest on the bodies of the un-
fortunate p-rions murdered in New Utzvel.lane, it
was suggissied by the surgeon, that the throats of
Mr. and Mrs. Williamson, and vie servant maid
must ye been cut with a razor, om the inciz-.d
appear n.-e of thrl. womids. L is now, however,
pretty clear, to.it these sanguinary Beds were perpe-
trated with the knife in queston, especially, what' it
is known, that Williams never had a razor of his own,
and always applied to the barber to be shaved ; and,
moreover, that no razor had been missing from the
house where he lodged. •
This important piece of information respecting the
Icaife, never occurred to the witness during his nu-
merous examinations, as necessary to be communica-
ted to the Magistrates.
The privy belonging to the Pear Tree public house
where he lodged, has been searched and examined,
and in it have been found buried a pair of blue striped
trousers, much staineit_wi.h blood from top to bot-
tom ; they are spoken to very confidently by Wil.
hiatus's fellow-ledgers at the Pear 'free, as having
been seen frequently lying about the house. A pot-
ket•book has also been found in the same place, con-
taining several instruments and a pair of scissars,
Which no doubt will be proved to have belonged
either to Mrs. Williamson or Mrs. Mare. The trow-
sers and the pocket-book were discovered thrust down
near (our feet under the surface of the soil, by a
'birch-broom, which was also found in a perpendica..
hi position upon the trousers, but completely co-
vered by the soil. The contents of the pocket-book
are quite fresh, and do not appear to have been dis-
turbed.