fire on the pirates till not a vestige of them remained to be seen. The whole of those barbarous wretches, to the number of four hundred, were either killed with balls, or drowned.

After the reduction of the Isle of France, three frigates were dispatched on an expedition against Tametava, on the coast of Madagascar, and to go from thence to root out the French from the Isle of Almerante, and some other little nestling places of theirs.

But the great object of the expedition was, to destroy the batteries of Tametava, under cover of which the French vessels were wont to be victualled and repaired, when they could not reach the Isle of France; and to trade with these isles, where they procured salt fish, cocoa nuts, and tortoise shells. On the 10th of January, 1811, there did not remain to France any territory in either of the Indies, or ship in the Indian

ocean.

The Dutch settlement of Amboyna, with its dependant isles, was surrendered on the 17th of February, to a detachment of an European regiment, with artillery, from Madras, together with 300 seamen from British ships of war. On the night of the 8th of August, a handful of British seamen, not more than 180, led by Captain Cole, of the Caroline frigate, took Banda, the principal of the Dutch spice islands. The guns of fort Belgia, at Banda Neira, near which the scaling ladders were placed, fortunately burnt priming, owing to the heavy rains. The Dutch garrison were panic struck, and fled in all directions, leaving VOL. LIL

the Colonel Commandant and tea men killed. A flag of truce was dispatched to the governor, offer, ing protection of private property, on the surrender of the island; which was refused. However, one shot from fort Belgia, and a threat to storm the town and fort Nassau, both of which lay immediately under its guns, produced an immediate and unconditional surrender; and 700 regular troops and 300 militia, grounded their arms. Banda Neira, and its dependencies, exported 900,000l. worth of spices annually to Batavia. The conquerors found about 400,000l. worth of spices at the time of the capture.

But the highest degree of bravery and enterprize could not protect the whole of our numerous ships of war from accident and disaster. A part of the squadron, stationed at the Cape of Good Hope, fell, August the 23d, into the hands of the enemy. Four English frigates, the Sirius, the Magicienne, the Nereide, and the Iphigenia, determined to attack the harbour of Sud-Est, opposite. to the Isle of Passe, into which three French frigates had taken two of our Indiamen, and in which the French ships of war were stationed. Unfortunately the Sirius and Magicienne ran aground on shoals, with which the pilots were unacquainted; and the crews, after burning them, returned in the Iphiginia, which they took in tow to the Isle of Passe. The Nereide, having proceeded nearer to the inner harbour, was also stranded and shattered almost to pieces; yet the captain, Willoughby, though exposed-not only to the the

T

fire of the three frigates, but also to that of the batteries on shore, did not surrender before every man on board was either killed or wounded. The Iphigenia, closely blockaded in the Isle of Passe, was afterwards taken, together with the isle, by the French frigates. General Decaen, governor of the Isle of France, gave a pompous account of these conquests; and also of the previous actions, not only with the Nereide, but, as the governor says, with the Sirius and Magicienne, with whom there was no action, the whole fire of the three French frigates being directed, as truly stated by Captain Pym, of the Sirius, in his letter to Commodore Rowley, against the Nereide. The circumstance of our ships being stranded on unknown shoals was altogether concealed in the French Journals; in which the capture of the frigates, and the isle of Passe, was blazoned as a great, and glorious atchievement It is unnecessary to observe, that neither was any notice taken in the French papers of the retreat of a French squadron, on the 20th of July, from the presence of a small British force, under the orders of Captain Blackwood, cruizing off Toulon. Though we cannot, in this summary narrative, relate all the distinguished acts of skill and bravery performed by our navy, which would require a volume, we cannot refrain from noticing that of Captain Blackwood. His squadron consisted of three 74 gun ships, with a frigate and corvette. These two last vessels being in danger of being cut off by a French squadron, of six ships of the line, of which one was

a three-decker, and four frigates, Captain Blackwood, with his three ships, drawn up in a line, børe down on the French fleet, and poured a broadside into the foremost ship. The French, intimidated by this audacious attack, which they supposed to be a certain proof of the near vicinity of the fleet under Admiral Cotton, sheered off for the harbour of Toulon. The courage of British seamen, and the excellence of the naval tactics of British naval officers, though both have been so often, were never more gloriously illustrated. It may be mentioned among the naval and colonial affairs of Britain, that the English, in the course of this year, fortified and established a commercial depôt at the small Danish island of Anholt, situated in the Categat, in the same manner as had been done in 1809, at Heligoland, an isle in the Baltic, very convenient for the smuggling of goods into the Danish territory, and also into Germany, by the Elbe and the Weser.

The burning decrees of Buonaparte, and an exclusion from the American market, occasioned much stagnation of trade in many of the manufacturing and some trading towns in England; but new avenues were opened, and our commerce still flourished, all things considered, wonderfully.

It is lamentable to see refined nations, instead of co-operating for their own, together with the convenience and comfort of society, using all possible means for oppressing each others' industry: Duties, prohibitions, conflagrations, and even punishments, usually inflicted only on criminals. There is something in this procedure, which, after all the calculations of a crafty, narrow policy, appears to be odious, immoral, and inhuman. The Ruler of France was so sensible of this, that his demiofficial newspaper, the Moniteur, was employed to weaken the impression naturally made by such barbarous attacks on human industry and genius, by shewing that they were common, on the part of England. And certainly the Moniteur made it clearly out that, in matters of finance and revenue in France, there was no regulation so severe as to be without multiplied examples in the revenue laws of England. Divers English laws for the burning of French manufactures, and smuggled tobacco and tea, are cited; and one passed in the nineteen year of the reign of George the Second, making the importation of any article prohibited felony; whether the importation should be clandestine or open.

The British parliament, which lay under prorogation, assembled on the 1st of November; on which day a proclamation was issued, by the King in council, stating it to be his Majesty's pleasure that it should be further prorogued. This proclamation, which was not of itself sufficient for the prorogation of parliament, was to be followed, of course, by the usual commis

sion, signed by the King, and read in the House of Lords, by commissioners appointed for that purpose. But the royal sign manual was not to be obtained. The parental and tender heart of the King was wrung with inexpressible grief and anguish, at the protracted sufferings which terminated November the 2d, in the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, the Princess Amelia. His whole soul was absorbed in the sufferings and fate of his amiable daughter, who had always returned his parental affection with exquisite sensibility and duty. He could not think or speak of any thing else. The powers of his understanding were impaired; and the mental malady, under which he had laboured in 1788, returned. Committees were appointed by both houses of parliament for the examination of physicians, who were examined accordingly, on the state of His Majesty's health. In this, and in other necessary points, they were guided in their proceedings by the precedent of 1788. On the 20th of December, the House of Commons passed a bill, appointing his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Regent of the kingdom, under certain limitations, during the indisposition of His Majesty. On the 28th, the Lords acceded to this resolution of the Commons.

CHRONICLE.

JANUARY.

BOUT eleven o'clock, on

Ist. A Monday night,

a tremendous fire happened at the wharf of Messrs. Pocock and Buckley, Whitefriars Dock. It commenced at the dwelling house of Mr. Pocock, coal-merchant, at the bottom of the wharf, and about twelve o'clock the flames illuminated the horizon many miles round London. Several piles of deals which stood near the house caught the flames with astonishing rapidity; and the spectacle was awful, grand, and terrific. In Fleet-street and the Strand the light was almost as vivid as in the day-time. The timberyard being close to the Thames, the light was thrown along the river, and presented a full view of the houses along the opposite bank. The drums beat, and the bugle sounded to summon the volunteers, who attended with alacrity to render assistance. The streets were crowded with people; the bridges were covered with spectators, and the coal-craft on the river also displayed a multitude. The wind being south, it was generally expected that the houses at the entrance of the yard would have been consumVOL. LII.

ed, and the efforts of the firemen were chiefly directed to prevent the fronts of the buildings exposed to the heat from taking fire. Providentially the wind shifted, and blew the flames another way, and all the houses escaped, with the exception of Mr. Pocock's house and a stable. During the confusion it was difficult to remove many valuable horses. There were nineteen in the stable, and nine of them were burnt. The carcases of these animals remained half-burnt on the ruins. About six o'clock the fire was greatly reduced; and hours after the deals, coals and timber, which had produced the blaze of light, were burnt level with the ground, some apprehensions were entertained for the Grand Junction Canal store-house; and even in the Inner Temple several engines were brought down to the bottom of King's Bench Walk, under an idea that the fire might possibly extend to that quarter. Since the burning of Drury-lane theatre (see Annual Reg. for 1809, p. 317) no fire in the metropolis has assumed such a terrific appearance. Nearly 30,0001. of timber, 7000l. of which had only been landed a few days before, and was not insured, was burnt. Two