The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-04-21 00:00:00

OPERATIONS or Ims FRENCH ARMY ix SPAIN.

Letters received direct front Bayonet, dated April 12,
contain the following intelligence :
The accounts from St. Sebsstian are very interesting;
without referring to the official hulletin or order of the
day, we may mentionthat on the !Moot' this month three
battalions, making part of the 3,6oowsen composing the
garrison of the fortress, advancing to reconnoitre to a
considerable distance from the place, rnet wlth the Freoch,
with whom they exchanged il few musket shots; hot bod-
ing themselves very inferior in number, they fell back
to the town, when a flag of once soon appeared. The
Commandent replied, thst be would not let the officer
with the flag of truce enter till he had caused the troops
to retire to the distance determined by the laws of war :
this was done; then the flag of truce summoned him, in
the name of his Royal Highness the Duke of A ngonicuie.
to surrender the plate for Ferdinand VII. The governor
replies', that he would not deliver up the place without a ,
formal order from his Sovereign. The flag of truce
withdrew, and a fire was commenced upon the French
troops, consisting of the 22d, 30th, and 31st regiments of
the line, under the command of General Hawke. The
bulletin states, that we 104 only 20 men, but we know,
however disagreeable the avowal may he to ns, from
notch more certain accounts, that we bad 60 killed atid
;kJ wounded or taken prisoners. This victory. though
slight, shows how the Spaniards may defend themselves,
and must inflame their courage. The news wasimme•
diately announced at Ililbot and Sr. Andero, by an aviso
that was sent to those places. A French brig was taken
in the port where it had put in. After taking out the
cargo, consisting of flour and wine, which they paid for,
they put on board the French prisoners, and it is said,
even most of the French refugee officers who may be
more useful elsetelmte. The town has been abandoned
by the whole population. with the exception of some in-
dividuals and the Aleide' M. Brunet, a Frenchman, a
man of great firmness and very active. We expecrevery
moment the men wounded in this affair.
Provisions are very scarce iu Spain; so that now the
soldiers who pass through are obliged to take provisions
for nine days, which is 3 dreadful fatigue for the men.
The horses have nothing. We learn from St. Jean Pied-
sle-Port, that the subdivision Couchy, of the 3d corps,
has passed the Pyrenees, and that the remainder will pass
here with the artillery.
The three provinces in Navarre have informed M. de
•blartignac that they will assist the French on condition
tliat the King of France will guarantee the restoration of
their ancient privileges.

The Yorkshire Petition, for Parliamentary Reform, I
• ion been transmittof to London, and will on Monday he
pot into the hands of Lord Milton, for presentation in
the eonrse of the week. The exact number of signatures
•is 17,050, and the admeasureneent of the petition is fltiO
feet. As we hsve already explained, every individual
subscriber has affixed to the petition not merely his name,
bat also the place of his residence, and the site of his
freehold; and there never was, from the first institution
of Parliament to the present hour, a petition laid upon
the table of that honse, combining more legitimate claims
to attention than this document, which contains the de-
• liberate opinion, spontaneously expressed, of a majority
of the most enlightened, independent, and trnly respite.
• able elates of men in the largest division of the kingdom.

--{Geed: Mercury.)
The above petition, a York paper of Saturday stye
was to be forwarded that morning to London, anti it is
expected to be presented by Lord Milton on Thursday
next, immediately prior to Lord John Russell's motion
for a Reform.
lurt
The petition presented by General en Saturday
in the House of Commons, from the freeholders of the
county of Donegal), lately convened by requisition and
signed by the High Sheriff. was sot is favour of the Bill
for the commutation of tithes, as stated erroneously in
oar report of the debates, Gut praying that it might not
pass into a law ; and to which prayer Lord Jlonotcharles
objected.

t

Ott Saturday Sir William Confrere exhibited to Lord
• Melville and other distinguished persons, at Gillingham,
near Chatham, the effects of some new-invented rockets,
-called anchor rockets. A small anchor is affixed to the
head of one of the largest species of rockets, so that it
- can be thrown across a river, or to a considerable dis-
tance, with a rope attached to it, and the ancher fixes it-
self firmly in the gcouod. The experiments succeeded
perfectly.
k' The Rev. Dr. Malthy, Prebendary of Lincoln, was, on
',Friday last, nnanimously elected Preacher to the Hon.
"Society of Lincoln's lon, in the room of the Rev. Dr.
•gseber, preferred to the Bishopric of Calcutta.
' in conseqnence of the great sickness and mortality
' *Lich recently prevailed among the prisoners in the Pe-
nitentiary, at 'Milbank, and its being reported by a CO-
toner's Jury that some alterative regimen in the pri-
soners' diet was required, in their opinion, Mr. Bennet,
Is the !louse of Commons, asked the ques•ion of Mr.
Peel, If any thing bad been done towards attending to
'the recommendation of the Coroner's Jury. Mr. Peel
answered, that a Committee of Medical Gentlemen had
bred directed to report their opinion upon the subject.
'The result of this opinion was, a recommendation that
• 'each prisoner should be allowed three oranges per diem,
and 4 qnarter of a pound of meat, in addition to their
former allowance, which was soup gruel, and bread only.
Dne orange was directed to he taken the first thing in
the mormtig, anti the remainder during the day. The
Steward, in pursuance of this regulation, went to Bil-
lingsgate mini purchased 2114100 oranges. The beneficial
• romps eXpetitet to the health of the prisoners by this
addition of animal food and oranges, remains to be de-
termined. We Understand this additional allowance
prescribed by the faculty, being expected to become ge-
neral in other persons throughout the country, has ex-
• cited no small satisfaction among the orange merchants,
who are, in consequence, looking (email to becoming
Government contractors.
Ax AFFLUENT HENGICANT.—On Fidday evening, an
elderly stranger solicited alms from some gentlemen near
"the Cathedral, and, on being refused, became insolent. Mr.
George Wright, high constable, to whom the circumstance
was mentioned shortly afterwards, pursued and overtook
him in a few minutes. Perceiving a bulk at his breast, Mr.
Wright searched him, and found en the po ion of this
impostor, whose appearance denoted nothing but poverty.
an old stocking, eontsing no less than 401. 18s. lid. all in
:silver, except Ws. in notes. Such a circumstance having ea•
aurally awakened suspicions, he wee detained until next iIaS
when, on being examined before Sir Simon Newport, Depu-
ty Mayor, he represented himself as having been occasion.
ally *aimed in the capacity of a teacher in different parts
of the country, at other times as an itinerant pedlar. or
dealer in rags, is. lie sebscribed his name, Charles Calla-
ghan, in a legible hand, to his examinations. Several gen-
tlemen who were in the Mayor's office recognised him as a
wandering mendicant in this City and shout the surround-
ing country for some time past ; and it further appeared
thatlie has a wife, who is now pursuing the same avocation
is the barony of Gaultier, and a daughter in the Fever Hos-
pital. The Mayor has properly detained the money until
icquiries are made from certain gentlemen in the country to
whom he said be was known, and has committed the men
himself as a vagrant to the House of Correction.—( Water/
Wealth.)
SUSIBURGH HEAD LIGHTHOUSS IN SHETLAND.—SUCii
has been the the tempestuous state of the weather at this
classic headland, that the quantity of rain, which fell
during the month of February, could not be correctly as-
eertained on account of the sprays of the sea netting
into the gauge, though elevated lino less than 3011
feet above high water mark.