Star.
London, England, 1811-04-15 00:00:00

• . • •
PLOT DISCOVERED AT LISBON. ina to the inittiortal credit of Commissary Avlmr-i
I they were conducted from Valad.s, by water, with all
By the GROWLER gun-brig, which arrived last the comfort and consolatian that w# and situation
*seek from Lisbon, we learn that a dangerous plot could possibly give.
A thottsanal more like these, I could recount. No
hid been discovered, the Object of which was to burn
the British shipping in the Tagus. The followingage—no rank—no asylum—Met respect. In one con.
vent, I found three unfortunate females, 18 NM year s
Cieneral Orders *ere issued in consequence, by A -
miral BERKELEY : old. They Were literally naked, as cris entering the
" The squadron to row guard with one boat fromeach ship world, striving to Conceal themselves tinder some
every night, prepared with fire grapnels, to be in three divisions,
rushes and straw.
vis.—First Division, Barfieur, Casar, and Mars ; Secoud Divi-
sion, Hannibal, Dreadnaught, and Tannant ; Third Division, lm- 0 glorious happy England! how blest to be free of
petueut, Zealous, Audacious, and Abercrombie. The first divi-
this!—Adieu, for the present, &c. &c.
sion to take the guard from sun-set till ten o'clock ; second division
from ten till two in the morning ; and the third division from two
till sun-rise;—to change eery night, and always to keep a-head
of the ships, according to the tide; as intelligence has been re-
ceived of an attempt to be made by the enemy's emissaries, to
burn the ships and transports in the Tagus. Beats or vessels
adrift after sun-set, to be examined most strictly.
(Sighed) '` Gri. CaANTICLO BZIKILLY:'
By a later arrival (the Walsingham packet) we
.have heard that a party of American sailors had lent
themselves to this diabolical plot, and that the Ame.
rican shipping in the Tagus had, in coti§equence, been
ordered to anchm at a greater distance from ours.

The Comet, Captain MUDDLR, arrived at Ports.
mouth from GI I; n Friday, with a convoy.—
They sailed on the 10th ult. The Bulwark, Con-
queror. Topaze, Richmond, Devastation, Wizard,
and Entreprenante, were lying there. The Maryi.
Dick, Wellington, Polly, and Mary, transports ; Os-
prey and Lord Duncan, merchant ships, arrived with
the Comet. The remainder of the convoy ate gone
to the River.

The Monarch, Co'worth, and Willieiri, transports,
arrived at Portsmouth on Saturday, under cr.mvoy Of
Lieutenant W. PEE, from Malta, and Gibraltar.--
They parted from the Montague, 74, Captain Mow.:
BRAY, off the Isle of Wight, which ship is gone on tti
the Downs, with upwards of 60 sail. These mat-
potts have on board some invalids and discharged.
men from the army at Malta and Gibraltar. The
convoy sailed. from Malta bit the .sth of March, in-
charge of l'Aigle ; and from Gibraltar, under the
Montague, on the 19th. 'A transport, with French
prisoners, is missing, hiving parted in a gale..--Pas. .
, sengers by the Montague are, Capts. Nen at, WouPs,
and STUART, R. N. ; Mr. TRACY, late Purser of
the Bulwark ; DT.CAIRD, besides several other officers.
Sir THOMAS Lotns has succeeded Captain Womt in
the command of l'Aigle. Passengers in the trans.'.
I ports are, Captain CALTI/ORP, 10th regiment ; eapt.
SUM, 97th ; Lieut. ROBINSON, 62d; Lietit. Dauay,
Artillery ; Drs. Hut; and LAWS ; ATKIN.
and JOHNSON, R. N. ; Mr. MAC ILRAITH,Atent.
Vic-
tualler ; Mrs. MACKENZIE and family. .

LISBON, MARCH so.
Lord Wellington's head-quarters is at Celorico
his advance towards Almeida. His divisions have
captured above 3000, some arrived, and the rest pro-
ceeding for this place ; and I must say, I never saw
finer men than they are generally. But the rear of a
retreating army are always the best troops. General
Silveira and company have behaved nobly, and prov-
ed of infinite assistance in turning Massena's progress
from Coimbra, His advance under Colonel Wilson,
have been on the alert, and every other body of men.
Silveira has taken some advanced baggage, and sent
in a peat number of prisoners. Under all these points
of success, our hopes mount high, and the ridding of
the French from Portugal is confidently looked up to.
A great portion of transpOrts, and some men 9f war,
are preparing to sail for England under these accumu-
lated successes, as being no longer wanted here.
Our markets have had great supplies, yet we groan
under dearness; and poultry becomes like gold, scarce-
ly procurable.
Our troops in general are healthy, our hospitals
thinly manned, and were the weather less changeable,
we should be more contented. This morning, at five
o'clock, we had a smart shock of an earthquake, but
I have experienced several more severe.
To revert back to the sudden movement of the
French. I had been for weeks in view of Santarem,
and saw at last with pleasure some indications of their
abandoning it. The first was setting tire to one of
the principal convents in the upper town and part of
the lower town ; the volume of smoke was immense
for three days. On the fourth morning, some infor-
mation to depend on reached us, and the bugle of
attack roused us from our pillows. Tue haze of the
morning clearing up, we could easily perceive the
out-sentinels were men of straw, and proved quite
passive. In fact, a better managed retreat was never
executed. Not a vestige of a dollar's worth remained.
Being at the outposts with the 14th Dragoons and
Ist Royals, I entered with them ; and three miserable
deserters, who had hid themselves, were, with one too
ill to move, the only enemy to be found.
Such a scene of horror, misery, and desolation,
scarce ever saluted the eye of man. Smoking ruins,t
the accumulated filth of months, horses and human
bodies putrid to suffocation nearly, caused to many a
vomiting.! The houses unburat, with scarcely a ves-
tige of wood—doors, windows, cielings, roof burnt—
and where the sick had expired there left to decay! The
number left was great. Every church demolished, the
tombs opened for searching after bidden plate:—every
alter-piece universally destroyed, and the effluvia so
offensive as to defy describing I In some gardens the
miserable heads, undecayed, stuck up like scarecrows;
in some wells, a body floating. Down a precipice, to
which we were invited by prospect to look the human
and the animal carcases, mingled in decay, repulsed
our senses, and shudderingly vibrated the soul at the
savage, hsrrible, diabolical acts of a French army. I
must here notice one grand precaution: the hospital
was guarded immediately from entrance ; and 1 be-
lieve
no serious illness proceeded from the abominable
situation in which the FrenCh left it. From this place,
a short rest obtained, we rode on, pressing upon them
by the goodness of our cattle, and the animation of
our men, who were delighted-to chase the runaways.
Greater spirits, better discipline, and more order, never
attended an army than this. The ]'tench, to confuse
our plans, had marched ih three columns from San-
tarem. Two were immediately followed; but no mode
or means were sufficient to bring them to battle. Skir-
mishing was continued, and prisoners continually sent
to the rear, until we coached Pombal, where Massena
seeing himself so closely run, halted ' • and by position
kept us in check, until his baggage Lad advanced fur-
ther in security. We were here all ready for attack,
and waited for the morning ; but the French politely
withdrew in the night, and we complimented them
with our attendance on the following day. Or. the
Ceira river, we had another facing, but atter some
hard fighting our dragoons got to their rear, and they
surrendered, nearly the whole regiment. These I
had to escort, and saw little more of figiiting.
But to see the country, is to weep for the horrors of
war. Such horrid excesses I never saw before.—
Every town, village, or cottage destroyed. The grow.
ing nursery and the wild grove, each havocked for
destruction-sake. The pot that refined the oil broken ;
the wine-press burnt, fcr burning's sake ; the grape-
vines destroyed, as noxious weeds ; the furniture un-
burnt, thrown from the windows, and, with car.
riages, &c. made a bonfire of; the large libraries
strewed over the land in remnants of paper ; the no-
ble convent in ashes, and the poor, unhappy, aged in-'
habitants, unable to flee, hung around as ornament-
ing the walls—ten, twelve in a place. To hear the
semblance of a female, was to be tortured ; to be an
infant, to be a sacrifice. One circumstance, almost
beyond credibility to be committed by human beings
in the heart of Europe, and the nineteenth century t
—A convent of eleven nuns, with two priests, were,
escaping in a boat ; unhappily they were too late ; \
and overtaken near Villa I ranca, the priests wet e
one shot and one drowned. One only of the nuns was 1
young ; —she was instantly violated, as well us the
rest; and the old age of 65, was no defence against
these savages. These very nuns were thus treated \
' successively by numbers, and confined until disease
Wade them loathsome to the hell-hounds themselves.
I When a flag of truce introduced them to us, the sight
was most shocking. Every one tried to comfort their,
_ ,

The ships at Malta, on the 10th tilt. were F.agle,.
Victorious, Alceste (goin:y, to Messina, with money
for the troops) Trident, Weazle, Pau Crocus,
Theodosia, Spartan, Riughty, and four brigs which
had been purchased into the service, to be corm:tan-.
manded by Lieutenants.
The Diadem, Captain /*mutate= ; Leyden, Cap-
tain CHETHAM ; Melpomene, Hon. Capt.W.WAtng-
GRAVE; Latona, Captain SOTHEBY ; and the Brune
(armee en flute), Honourable Captain Dociatas, have
returned to the Tagus, from Sicily. They went for
the purpose of bringing a reinforcement of four rcgi-
menu tar Lord WiLLINGTON; but Sir JOHN S.TUARi
could not think such a reduction of his force consis-
tent with the safety of the island. It was said, like-
wise, that Sir Jonw-had made arrangements with tl
view to attack Corfu witk a part of his force.

The Seahorse, Captain Jo:IN ST!WART, 'MS to sail
from Messina for England at the latter end of this
last month.

The ARGO, arrived at Portsmouth, has brought 16
transports from Lisbon, having 120 army invalids on
board. They sailed on the 18th ult. The DAPHNE,
Captain PIPON, sailed on the 28th ult. They, conse-
quently, bring no news. The ST. FIORENZO and VES-
TAL had sailed for Oporto, to protect the inhabitants,
in the event of its being the intention of the enemy
to fall upon that city. The 2,000 men of the Ger-
man Legion (light brigade), under Baron ALTER, and
IColonelli '
aucErr, arrived in the Tagus on the 20th
ultimo.
A letter from Lisbon, dated the 81st last, says :-
" The. Jasper, Captain HUNLOKE, waits the official
dispatches from Lord- WELLINGTON..--BORKE, this
officer who deserted to the enemy, is taken, and lodged el
in Belem Castle.-The squadron under Rear-Admiral
Sir TuoatasWttaaams leaves the Tagus in a few days
for England, consisting ofthe Hannibal,preadnought,
Caesar, Mars, and Tonntant.. The latter ship will take
dispatches in Portsmouth, the four former go to Ply-
mouth. We shall then have five sail of the line on
this station, viz. Barfleur, Audacious, Abercrombie,
Zealous, and Impetneux. A Court-Martial was held
on the Lieutenant of the Shamrock, and he was ad-
monished for the loss of that vessel."
The battalions of Royal Marines, under Majors
WILLIAMS and ARBUTHNOT, are rendering the most
essential services in the forts on the Tepid,. The 87th
regiment have given up the duty of Belem and Saint
Julian entirely to themi . They have been rendered
every way equal to troops of the line; and are ready
to take the field at a moment's notice. One.huisdred
horn earls of the ships of the line in the Tagus occa. • '
sionally join them in their martial manoeuvres: Lieu.
tenant PAN'I ON has been appointed their Adjutant.--
Thirteeii batteries, of considerable strength, are cosn-
pleting on the South side of the Tagus.
CORN MARKET, MARK-LANE, APRIL 15 -The
f.eAt arrivals if Wheat today make a considerable
supply, and the trade heavy sa4, at a reduction of
about 2s. per quarter-Barley in short supply, and
again dearer-Malt and White Peas dull sale at little
variation-Beans of the two kinds likewise--;the
supplies of Oats are very large,- part of last week's
arrivals, upwards of 22,000 quarters, and second
iwith inferior qualities are /quoted cheaper-Flour
at last week's prices.
GENERAL CURRENCY Al UNDER.
Wheat, an. 754 565. Beans (old), 48*. 545.
Fine dine, 88s. ass. 'lick dins (old), 42*. Os. •
Rye (new), 355. 40s. . Oats, 111 s. 225. 265.
Barley, 30s. 406.0 d. Poland did*, 475. Mb. ed.
Malt,' 645. 725. • ' Potato, ditto, 5005. SO..
White Peas (boilers), 421. 481. Rape Seed, 146, X6O.
Grey ditto, 361. 425.
Foe Flour, 755. to ans.-Seconds. ICI. to 755.
FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE, April 13.
Average Price of Corn in England and Wales trona the Warne
emrn dhienagt the 61t:s„cif
Oats.
Beans.
posse.
s. d. s. d. Is. d. Is.d.ls.d. 1 s. d.
sit o I •sa 10 1 37 2 126 2 143 3 ( 50 0
The average Pvt.: Sugar, computed from the returns made
In the weak Gatlin the 10th -lay M Ain! is 425. 21d. per Mt.
CANTERBURY STOCK MARKET, Amu. s.
Beef, 'Ss. Od. to 14s. ocl. per scone.
Mutton, Ss. Bd. to ee. Od. per atone.
()tree, MARKET, Aram 6.-The second best vital of a
bushel of wheat was Ils. 9d, according to which price, and a due
allowance made to the baker, the anise and price of bread are.
as lollow,vis. the peck loaf household, to weigh 17b. atm 01.104
the half-pest 11d. and, the smaller itt proportion.


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