The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-10-07 00:00:00

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Ova Ow LONDON GAZETTE, Oci. O.
—oolllo,—.
Downing-Wed, Od. 6.

A Dispatch, of which the following is a cbpy, has
been received at F.arl Bathurst's Office, addressed to
Ms Lordship by Lieutenant-General Lord William
Beefiest.
Palmas, Asir.3l.
Kt Loan,—l (la myself the honour to enclose a
copy of a letter addressed to me by Captain and Bri-
gadier Hall, the officer in charge of the army
flo-
giving an account of a descent which he con•
ducted on the enemy's coast, for the purpose of de-
stroying various articles, the contribution of Lower
Calabria, which were collected at Pietm Nero, in
order tq.be forwarded to Naples. The affair was
well eel:ducted, and has been attended with com-
plete success. I have the honour to be, &c.
To Earl Bathurst, dc. W. C. BENTINCK.

ltltniaa, July 23.
MT LORD,--I have the honour to inform your
Lordship that several large armed vessels having as-
'stabled at Pietra Nero, for the purpose of carry ing
to Naples the contributions of Lower Calabria, in
oil, silks, &c. I conceived it an object to attempt
their destruction. For this purpose I selected three
hundred seamen, and trained them to the manage-
ment of small arms ; and having received information
of the enemy's being ready to depart, I left Messina
with a light division of the flotilla, and landed near
Pietra Nero : but the enemy having heard of our in-
tention were so completely prepared, that I found it
necessary, after sonfe skirmishing, to re-embark.—
The division of gnn -boats of Captain Natoli appear-
ing at this moment, I called them to pier assistance,
and again attacked the enemy, who had now assem-
bled a very considerable force, consisting of the 3d
Neapolitan regiment of the line, commanded by Col.
Patris, a troop of cavalry and Polish lancers, the le-
gionaries of Pahoi, and all then armed peasantry of
the vicinity ; independent of tile crew* of the armed
vessels, each of which .had two heavy guns in her
bow,-which that), fired, hoisting French celoure on
our approach. Two batteries of three thirty-six
pounders commanded the beach within a few yards.
The quick and welt-directed ire of the gun-boats
soon silenced the tre of the batteries, and under the
cover of grape and musketry, I put on shore the
small arm men, and about thirty of the foreign corps
of marine artillery, who advanced in an admirable
style against the enemy's line, and beat them up the
bill, destroying a number, and making others prison-
ers ; at this time another division of seamen disem-
barked, and in a few minutes eleven large vessels,
laden with silks, &c. were in flames, or blown up;
and the guns in both batteries spiked and disabled.
From thrOjiterent reports of the prisoners, there
could not be less than twelve hundred men assembled
at Pietra Nero, to protect their vessels, and the
French General Mailhe, having had Intimation of
our intention, had himself, on the day previous to
the attack, visited the defences of Pietra Nero)
made the °Dicer commanding there acquainted with
our object, and was himself on the spot during the
attack. Yout: Lordship will therefore be able to
form a judgment of the ardour and gallantry of our
men, so very inferior in numbers, and having to
act against a regularly organized body, no men
could behave fetter than the saernon st the flotilla
and the marine artillery on this occasion. Of the
former, I regret to say that three have been killed
and seven wounded ; of the latter two killed and
seven wounded.

Four officers and 36 privates have been made pri-
'loners belonging to the enemy's artillery and 3d regi-
raent ; three ethe. s deserted to us from the enemy's
ranki, and joined our men in the pursuit.
Lieutenant-Colonel Lucchesi and Captain Nato-
li were very active, and Colonel Robinson played
off Congreve's rockets to good effect among the ca-
valry. No damage has been received by the boats of
the flotilla.

I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed) ROBERT HALL.
Captain sod Brigadier.
Toth' Right Rae. Lard Win. Rentinek,
Captain-Gen. Cos.-in-Chief.

Two letters from Captain Sir Peter Parker, of his
Majesty's Menelaus, one giving an accoaot of the
boats of that ship having, on the 2d of September
under the direction of Lieutenant Malawariag,
brought out from the river Mignore, near Witte
Vecchia, the St. Esprit, French letter of marque)
piercvd for 12 guns, but only two mounted.
The other stating, that on the 4th, two of the boats
'ender M r. James Saunderson, master's mate, brought
out from the entrance of the Orbitello Lake, La
Fidelle, a government transport, loading with ship
timber.

A letter from Captain Shaw, of his Majesty's
sloop Philomel, giving aa amount of his liaitiog, is
the 24th of Augu.t, ran is shore a French polacre
privateer, near Valearia, where she was burnt by
the crew, on abandoning her.

Returns received from GOAN Bathurst, of the
Fame, and Captain Hamilton of the Termigant, of
seven towers or batteries destroyed on the coast of
Valencia, between the 14th and 211th of August,
mounting together 21 pieces of onleance.
- - -

And a report from Captain Hamilton, of Ms
having, on the 10th, captured two French privateers,'
one of four and the other of three guns.
Rear-Admiral Langhorne has transmitted to Sohn
Wilson Croker, F.aq. a letter from Captain Sir Peter"
Parker, of his Majesty's ship the Menelaus, ad-
dressed to Ceptaiii Sir Robert Lanrie, of the Ajasy-
giving an account of an attack made by him on a
small convoy of the enemy, in the pert of St. Ste-
fano, in the bay of Orbitello, on the 10th of August,
last. A four goo battery, which oommandtd the,
right of the harbour, was gallantly stotreed and
taken possession of by the marines, and two vessels
in the port were carried by the boats, one of them, a
brig of 200 tons, laden with timbers and beams for a
line of battle ship, was brought out ; the other, a
bombard, laden with naval stores, got aground and
was scuttled. Captain Sir Peter Parker highly com-
mands the conduct of all the officers and Men em-
ployed upon this occasion. The loss sustained by
them, was one midshipman (Mr. George Thomas
Munro) and one mama kill.!, and iv* asst
,wasaded.

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