day. I then discovered that it was not the same infantry, for they several times attacked me, and notwithstanding their great superiority of number, could make no impression.

At ten, P. M. a Colonel, with a flag of truce, was sent to propose I should surrender; to this impertinence I replied, by making the officer prisoner, and carrying him to the other side of the Dnieper, to which I made my troops repass, and the next day conducted him to the head-quarters of his Majesty, at Orcha ;-when I arrived there with my corps, I scarcely wanted 500 men, who were killed in the battle of the preceding day.

All the Russian reports are romances. There is nothing true in what they say, excepting the loss of my artillery; and your Highness knows that it was not in human power to bring it away in the midst of frosts, and over the ice, all my horses having fallen under the fatal mortality occasioned by the rigour of the cold. During the whole course of the campaign the Russians have not taken, either from me or my comrades, a single piece of cannon in the face of their enemy; although it is true, that when our draft horses fell dead with the cold, we were obliged to break our artillery, and leave it behind us. To hear these reports from St Petersburgh, it must appear that we were all cowards, who could not chuse but to fly before the terrible Russian legions! It is true that, according to their statement, we likewise fled at the battle of Moskwa, and that they pushed us to the distance of 16 wrests from the field of battle; consequently it must have been in our flight that we occupied Moscow.

The spring will do us justice for all these vainglorious boastings. The Russians will every where find the men of Austerlitz, of Eylan, of Friedland, of Witespk, of Smolensko, of the Moskwa, and of the Berezina.

The Marshal Duke of ELCHINGEN.

DEFECTION OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.

The successes of the Russians have been attended with the important consequence of the desertion from the French of the whole of the Prussian army, (nearly 30,000,) with its commanders, Gen. D'York and Massenbach. The 10th corps, which included the Prussian contingent, was employed in the blockade of Riga, under Marshal Macdonald, when the disasters which overtook the French Grand Army, and the advance of the victorious Russians under Count Wittgenstein, obliged it to retreat. Macdonald, with about six thousand French, which had, to verawe the others, been attached to the

corps, and one division of the Prussians under General Massenbach, reached Tilsit, leaving the main body of the Prussians.General D'York, pressed by the Russians, and not bearing, it would appear, much affection to the French service, entered into a Convention with Count Wittgenstein, by which he was permitted to occupy Eastern Prussia, and form a neutral corps. The troops under General Massenbach was also included in the convention, and that officer, it seems, readily obeyed the order of D'York, and withdrew from Macdonald. It was provided by the Convention, in case of the treaty not being ratified, that the Prussians should not serve against Russia for two months. The King of Prussia, on learning the circumstance, immediately refused his assent, and denounced D'York as a traitor; ordering him to be tried as such, whenever he could be taken; and delegating, in the mean time, the command of the contingent to General Kleist, with orders to do all in his power to bring the troops back to their duty.

FRANCE.

Notwithstanding the disastrous conclusion of Bonaparte's late campaign in Russia, it appears to be his determination to make another, and, if possible, a more powerful effort in that quarter; and for this purpose, ever since his return to Paris, he has been actively employed in raising new armies, and in succouring and refitting the remains of the one with which he made his escape from Russia. To supply the extraordinary loss of the Grand Army in cavalry, the municipality of Paris have made a voluntary offer of a corps of 500 horsemen fully equipped, to be ready to take part in the ensuing campaign; and the principal cities and towns, throughout the French empire, following the example of the metropolis, are raising cavalry corps, in different proportions, according to their means. We are told by the French papers, that by these means an army of 50,000 horse will, in a short time, be ready to take the field. The allies of France, according to the same accounts, are also exerting themselves to make good their various contingents.

Napoleon, in the mean time, to provide for whatever may befal himself in the ensuing struggle, and to insure the stability of the present Government, has obtained a decree of the Senate for establishing the Empress in the Regency during the minority of the King of Rome. The decree contains a variety of regulations, providing against the most remote contingencies, and estab lishing general rules for perpetuating, in

all

all cases, the powers of the state. The Empress and the King of Rome are to be formally crowned, to give all due solemnity to the proceeding.

Bonaparte has lately had several interviews with the Pope, and has effected a settlement of all differences subsisting between them. The principal stipulations are stated to be, the restoration to the Pope, by Napoleon, of the states of the church, with full temporal power therein, and the agreement by the former to give his sanction to the last marriage of Bonaparte, and thus formally to legitimate the King of Rome, as a testimony of which the Pontiff will assist at the coronation. After this ceremony is over, the Emperor will immediately take the field again in person, against the Russians.

SPAIN.

The Marquis of Wellington returned to the head-quarters of his army, from Cadiz, on the 25th January, and it was expected the campaign would shortly commence.His army, according to the last accounts, had entirely recovered from its fatigues; and, with the reinforcements which it has received from Britain, was again in a state to take the field against the enemy. The arrears of pay due to the troops had been cleared up to the 24th of August; and be ing made in guineas, was extremely benefi cial; each guinea being current at 25s.

According to the latest advices from Cadiz, the Regency have conformed to a principal request of the Marquis of Wellington's, to furnish him with an army for the next campaign, consisting of 50,000 men, to which he is to have the appointment of the officers. A corps of reserve is to be maintained in Andalusia, and another in Galicia, from which the army of 50,000 men is always to be made effective.

The Cortes, fully concurring with the Regency, passed a Decree on the 6th January, investing his Lordship with extraordinary powers as Generalissimo of the Land Forces.

It appears that a part of the Spanish Staff will be in constant attendance on the Marquis, and that they will receive the Reports from the native Generals, submit them to the British Commander, and transmit in return the orders which they may receive.

The Inquisition has been abolished in Spain, by the Cortes.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

LETTER OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES TO THE PRINCE REGENT.

About the middle of January last, the

Princess of Wales addressed a sealed letter to the Prince Regent. It was transmitted by Lady Charlotte Campbell to the Lord Chancellor and the Earl of Liverpool, (together with an unsealed copy of its contents for their perusal.) by command of her Royal Highness, and desiring that it might be laid before the Prince Regent.— This letter was sent back the next day by the Earl of Liverpool to Lady Charlotte Campbell, with an intimation, that, as all correspondence had ceased for some years, it was his Royal Highness's deterinination not to renew it. The letter addressed to the Prince was therefore returned with the seal unbroken. It was returned by the Princess, with an intimation, that it contained matter of importance to the State; but the letter was again sent back unopened, but upon being returned a third time it was opened and read to the Prince Regent ; and the Prince was informed of this circumstance by Lord Liverpool, with an intimation at the same time, that the Prince had not been pleased to express any opinion thereupon. The letter was published in the London newspapers of the 10th instant, as follows:

"SIR, It is with great reluctance that I presume to obtrude myself upon your Royal Highness, and to solicit your attention to matters which may at first appear rather of a personal than a public nature. If I could think them so-if they related merely to myself I should abstain from a proceeding which might give uneasiness, or interrupt the more weighty occupations of your Royal Highness's time; I should continue, in silence and retirement, to lead the life which has been prescribed to me; and console myself for the loss of that society, and those domestic comforts, to which I have so long been a stranger, by the reflection, that it has been deemed proper I should be afflicted, without any fault of my own-and that your Royal Highness knows it.

"But, Sir, there are considerations of a higher nature than any regard to my own happiness, which render this address a duty both to myself and my daughter-may I venture to say, a duty also to my husband, and the people committed to his care? There is a point beyond which a guiltless woman cannot with safety carry her forbear

ance.

"If her honour is invaded, the defence of her reputation is no longer a matter of choice; and it signifies not whether the attack be made openly, manfully, and directly, -or by secret insinuation, and by holding such conduct towards her as countenances all the suspicions that malice can suggest. If these ought to be the feelings of every woman in England, who is conscious that

she

she deserves no reproach, your Royal Highness has too sound a judgment, and too nice a'sense of honour, not to perceive, how much more justly they belong to the mother of your daughter-the mother of her who is destined, I trust, at a very distant period, to reign over the British empire.

"It may be known to your Royal Highness, that, during the continuance of the restrictions upon your Royal Authority, I parposely refrained from making any representations which might then augment the painful difficulties of your exalted station. At the expiration of the restrictions, I still was inclined to delay taking this step, in the hope that I might owe the redress I sought to your gracious and unsolicited condescension. I have waited, in the fond indulgence of this expectation, until, to my inexpressible mortification, I find that my unwillingness to complain has only produced fresh grounds of complaint; and I am at length compelled, either to abandon all regard for the two dearest objects which I possess on earth, mine own honour and my beloved child, or to throw myself at the feet of your Royal Highness, the natural protector of both.

"I presume, Sir, to represent to your Royal Highness, that the separation, which every succeeding month is making wider, of the mother and the daughter, is equally injurious to my character and to her education. I say nothing of the deep wounds which so cruel an arrangement inflicts upon my feelings, altho' I would fain hope that few persons will be found of a disposition to think lightly of these. To see myself cut off from one of the very few domestic enjoyments left me-certainly the only one upon which I set any value, the society of my child-involves me in such misery, as I well know your Royal Highness could never inflict upon me if you were aware of its bitterness. Our intercourse has been gradually diminished. A single interview weekly seemed sufficiently hard allowance for a mother's affections. That, however, was reduced to our meeting once a fortnight; and I now learn, that even this most rigorous interdiction is to be still more rigidly enforced.

"But while I do not venture to intrude my feelings as a mother upon your Royal Highness's notice, I must be allowed to say, that in the eyes of an observing and jealous world, this separation of a daughter from her mother will only admit of one construction; a construction fatal to the mother's reputation. Your Royal Highness will also pardon me for adding, that there is no less inconsistency than injustice in this treatment. He who dares advise your Royal

Highness to overlook the evidence of my innocence, and disregard the sentence of complete acquittal which it produced-or is wicked or false enough still to whisper suspicions in your ear, betrays his duty to you, Sir, to your daughter, and to your people, if he counsels you to permit a day to pass without a further investigation of my conduct. I know that no such calumniator will venture to recommend a measure which must speedily end in his utter confusion. Then let me implore you to reflect on the situation in which I am placed; without the shadow of a charge against me-without even an accuser-after an inquiry that led to my ample vindication→→→→ yet treated as if I were still more culpable than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me, and held up to the world as a mother who may not enjoy the society of her only child.

"The feelings, Sir, which are natural to my unexampled situation, might justify me in the gracious judgment of your Royal Highness, had I no other motives for addressing you but such as relate to myself. But I would not disguise from your Royal Highness what I cannot for a moment conceal from myself, that the serious, and it soon may be, the irreparable injury which my daughter sustains from the plan at present pursued, has done more in overcoming my reluctance to intrude upon your Royal Highness, than any sufferings of my own could accomplish ;-and if, for her sake, I presume to call away your Royal Highness's attention from the other cares of your exalted station, I feel confident I am not claiming it for a matter of inferior importance, either to yourself or your people.

"The powers with which the Constitution of these realms vests your Royal High ness in the regulation of the Royal Family, I know, because I am so advised, are ample and unquestionable. My appeal, Sir, is made to your excellent sense and liberality of mind in the exercise of those powers; and I willingly hope that your own paternal feelings will lead you to excuse the anxiety of mine for impelling me to represent the unhappy consequences which the present system must entail upon our beloved child.

"Is it possible, Sir, that any one can have attempted to persuade your Royal Highness, that her character will not be injured by the perpetual violence offered to her strongest affections-the studied care taken to estrange her from my society, and even to interrupt all communication between us? That her love for me, with whom, by his Majesty's wise and gracious arrange ments, she passsed the years of her infancy and childhood, never can be extinguished,

I well know, and the knowledge of it forms the greatest blessing of my existence. But let me implore your Royal Highness to reflect how inevitably all attempts to abate this attachment, by forcibly separating us, if they succeed, must injure my child's principles-if they fail, must destroy her happiness.

"The plan of excluding my daughter from all intercourse with the world, appears to my humble judgment peculiarly unfortunate. She who is destined to be the Sovereign of this great country, enjoys none of those advantages of society which are deemed necessary for imparting a knowledge of mankind to persons who have infinitely less occasion to learn that important lesson; and it may so happen, by a chance which I trust is very remote, that she should be called upon to exercise the powers of the Crown, with an experience of the world more confined than that of the most private individual.

"To the extraordinary talents with which she is blessed, and which accompany a disposition as singularly amiable, frank, and decided, I willingly trust much; but beyond a certain point the greatest natural endowments cannot struggle against the disadvantages of circumstances and situation. It is my earnest prayer, for her own sake as well as her country's, that your Royal Highness may be induced to pause before this point be reached.

"Those who have advised you, Sir, to delay so long the period of my daughter's commencing her intercourse with the world, and for that purpose to make Windsor her residence, appear not to have regarded the interruptions to her education which this arrangement occasions; both by the impossibility of obtaining the attendance of proper teachers, and the time unavoidably consumed in the frequent journies to town, which she must make, unless she is to be secluded from all intercourse, even with your Royal Highness, and the rest of the Royal Family.

"To the same unfortunate counsels I ascribe a circumstance in every way so distressing both to my parental and religious feelings, that my daughter has never yet enjoyed the benefit of confirmation, although above a year older than the age at which all the other branches of the Royal Family have partaken of that solemnity. May I earnestly conjure you, Sir, to hear my intreaties upon this serious matter, even if you should listen to other advisers on things of less near concernment to the welfare of our child?

"The pain with which I have at length formed the resolution of addressing myself

to your Royal Highness, is such as I should in vain attempt to express. If I could adequately describe it, you might be enabled, Sir, to estimate the strength of the motives which have made me submit to it. They are the most powerful feelings of affection, and the deepest impression of duty towards your Royal Highness, my beloved child, and the country, which I devoutly hope she may be preserved to govern, and to shew, by a new example, the liberal affection of a free and generous people, to a virtuous and constitutional monarch.

"I am, Sir, with profound respect, and attachment which nothing can alter,

Your Royal Highness's most devoted,
And most affectionate

Consort, Cousin, and Subject, CAROLINE LOUISA." "Montague House, 14th January 1813."

Lord

In order to render some passages of the above more clear, it may be necessary to observe, that, during the administration of Mr Fox, in 1806, in consequence of some scandalous rumours, a Commission was appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the conduct of the Princess of Wales. The Commissioners were, Lord Erskine, then Lord Chancellor, Lord Grenville, Spencer, and Lord Ellenborough who gave a complete acquittal as to the main charge brought against her; but rumour says, that the Noble Commissioners stated, that other strong circumstances had been sworn to, which gave occasion to unfavourable impu tations, which were deserving of the consi deration of his Majesty. After a long defence, prepared, as it is said, by Mr Perce val, Lord Eldon, and Sir Thomas 'Plomer, the above report was confirmed by his Majesty's then confidential servants, and upon this body of evidence, Mr Perceval wrote a book which was prepared for publication, but afterwards, for some reason or other, withdrawn from the press. A change of ministers took place on the 25th of March1807, which brought the legal advisers of her Royal Highness into power. They revised the proceedings, and on the 21st of April, by a minute of Cabinet, declared not only that the two main charges were completely disproved, but that, in their opinion, all the other particulars of conduct brought in accusation against the illustrious personage, were either satisfactorily contradicted, or rested upon evidence of such a nature, and under such circumstances, as rendered it, in the judgment of his Majesty's confidential servants, undeserving of credit.➡

SCOT

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY.

ON the 25th of January came on before

this Court the trial of Thomas Sommerville, innkeeper at Carstairs, accused, at the instance of private prosecutors, of perjury. After hearing Counsel on the relevancy, the Court ordered memorials to be given in.

Wednesday, Jan. 27. 1813.

Meek, Procurator Fiscal of Lanarkshire, v. Watson & Ramsay, Manufacturers, Glasgou.

In the beginning of February 1812, information was lodged with Mr Thomas Meek, writer in Glasgow, Procurator Fiscal of the Justice of Peace Court, Lanarkshire, that Messrs Watson and Ramsay, manufacturers in Glasgow, had, for a considerable time, been in the systematic practice of defrauding the operative weavers, whom they employed, by giving them out webs, accompanied by tickets, denoting them to be several ells shorter than they really were, and paying the weavers for their work, according to such defective measurement. The case was brought before the Justices of Peace, who allowed a proof, and afterwards they pronounced sentence, finding them liable in £.100 as a fine, besides expences. From this sentence the defenders appealed, first to the Quarter Sessions, who confirmed the sentence of the Justices, and then to the Court of Justiciary, who ordered memorials to be given in by the parties. This day the Judges delivered their opinions, in substance as follows:

Lord Armadale. It is of infinite importance that a rule of trade should be settled, particularly in Glasgow, where this branch of manufacture is carried on to so considerable an extent. The defendants have evidently and acknowledgedly deviated from the usual practice of the manufacturers, but it does not appear that they did so intentionally, or with any fraudulent design. The alleged fraud was of such a nature as could be easily discovered; and, besides, of so small an extent, that it is by no means probable, that gentlemen in their extensive line of business would have committed the fraud for so small a profit. After adverting to the circumstances of the case, his Lordship

added, that he thought a fine should be imposed, to mark the opinion of the Court respecting the irregularity of the defenders' proceedings, and full expences to the Procurator Fiscal of Lanarkshire, as he thought he had acted with propricty; but he did not think the fine should be such as to imply any charge of fraud against the party accused.

Lord Meadowbank, after some preliminary observations, remarked that the Court sat, not as Judges but as a Jury, and as a Jury they were bound to decide on the facts. These facts, as they came before them, were not judicially made out; there was no legal evidence as to the fraud. The defendants were guilty of gross, rash irregularity, and the Court ought to express its opinion of this. He would, therefore, concur in imposing a fine to express his opinion, but could not, on the evidence before him, convict the parties of fraud.

Lord Hermand saw no reason to believe that the error had been committed by mistake; there was an appearance of systematical fraud. The defenders did not even deny the fraud; all they prayed for was a mitigation of the fine, and thus they virtually gave up the plea of ignorance. He ́therefore thought the pursuer entitled to his expences, and the defenders justly liable to

a fine.

Lord Gillies agreed generally, with Lord Meadowbank, and thought the defenders, tho' they had acted irregularly, had not act ed fraudulently.

The Lord Justice Clerk agreed with Lords Meadowbank and Gillies, and concluded by proposing a fine of £.10 for the irregularity in the defenders proceedings, and to mark the disapprobation of the Court at such ir. regularity. He agreed, however, in thinking there was no fraud intended, but at the same time he thought the Procurator Fiscal should be indemnified for his expences, as he had done only what was his duty, in bringing the present action.

The following sentence was then pronounced:

Jun. 27. The Lord Justice Clerk, and Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, having considered the mutual memorials for the parties, given in, in obedience to the order of the Court, of date the 16th day of Nov.

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