their retreat-one brigade only was in time to charge. All the cannon, colours, almost all the officers of the enemy's army who fought at Wertingen, were taken: a great number were killed. Two Lieut. Colonels, six Majors, sixty officers, 4000 soldiers, have fallen into our hands. The remainder were dispersed; and what escaped owed their safety to a morass, which stopped a column that was turning the enemy. The chief of a squadron, Excelmans, aid-decamp of Prince Murat, had two horses killed under him. It was he who carried the colours to the Emperor, who said to him-I know no man can be braver than you; I make you an Officer of the Legion of Honour.-Marshal Ney on his side, with the divisions Walher, Dupont, and Loison, the division of dragoons of General Baraguay d'Hilliers, and the division of Gazan, ascended the Danube, and attacked the enemy in their position at Grumberg-It is nów five o'clock, and we hear the firing of cannon. It rains heavily; but this does not retard the forced marches of the Grand Army. The Emperor sets the example on horseback night and day, he is continually in the midst of the troops, and in every point where his presence is necessary. He yesterday rode fourteen leagues. He slept in a small village, without servants, and without any kind of baggage. The Bishop of Augsburgh had, however, illuminated his palace, and waited his Majesty during a part of the night. Prince Murat, with the division of Klein and Beaumont, and the division of carabineers and cuirassiers, under General Nansouty, hastened with all speed to the village of Zusmershausen, in order to intercept the road from Ulm to Augsburgh.-Marshal Lannes, with the grenadier division of Oudinot, and the division of Suchet, took post the same day in the village of Zusmershausen. The Emperor passed in review the dragoons of Zusmershausen; he ordered to be brought before him a dragoon, named Marente, of the 4th regiment, one of the gallant soldiers who, in the passage of the Lech, had saved his Captain, who but a few days before had cashiered him from his rank. His Majesty bestowed upon him the Eagle of the Legion of Honour. The soldier then observed, "I have only done my duty; my Captain degraded me on account of some "violation of discipline, but he knows that "I have always proved a good soldier."The Emperor next expressed his satisfaction to the dragoons, of the conduct they had displayed at the battle of Wertingen. He ordered each regiment to present a dragoon, on whom he also bestowed the Eagle of the Legion of Honour.His Majesty expressed his satisfaction to the grenadiers of General Oudinot's division, than which a finer or more enthusiastic corps cannot possibly exist.-Until we are enabled to give, a detailed account of the battle of Wertingen, it may be proper to say something of it in the present bulletin. Col. Arrighi, at the head of his regiment of dragoons, charged the regiment of cuirassiers of Duke Albert. The action was very sharp. Col. Arrighi had his horse killed under him, and his regiment burned with eagerness to rescue him. Col. Beaumont, of the 10th hussars, fired with a true French spirit, seized upon a Captain of cuirassiets, in the midst of the hostile ranks, whom he himself made a prisoner, after having cut down a dragoon.-Colonel Maupetit, at the head of the 9th dragoons, charged in the village of Wertingen; being mortally wounded, his last words were"Let the Emperor be informed, that the "9th dragoons have shewn themselves wor"thy of their reputation; and that they charged and conquered, exclaiming, Long live the, Emperor." -That column of grenadiers, the flower of the enemy's army, having formed in a square of four battalions, was penetrated and cut down.The 12th battalion of dragoons charged in the wood. Ondinot's division were indig-cattle in Ireland. Although the price was nant at the distance which still prevented them from attacking the enemy; but at the very sight of them, the Austrians hastened DOMESTIC OFFICIAL PAPERS. JAMAICA COMPLAINTS.-Representation of the House of Assembly of Jamaica to the Lieutenant Governor relative to the Intercourse with America, dated July 18, 1805. Sheweth ;-That, after the applications, made to your honour by the House, and by the inhabitants at large, assembled in their respective parishes, nothing but a sense of duty the most imperious, and our confidence in your honour's wishes to relieve the dis tresses of the country, could have induced the House again to call your honour's atten-tion to the interdiction of a supply of salted provisions from the United States of America.It is matter of public notoriety that, the herring fishery on the coasts of the Uni ted Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland failed for the last two seasons, and that the internal troubles had occasioned a scarcity of exorbitant, in tnost, cases one-third of the quantity of fish for which orders were sent from this island could not be procured in S many instances no part of it. A great pro- tion has been paid to the law which requiers giving the food we are prevented from procuring. The poorer free inhabitants are no less injured and oppressed by the regulations complained of. Already fresh beef and other animal food have advanced onethird in price. To the opulent this may be of little consequence; but the poor man, supporting himself and a family by daily labour, is obliged to abridge a meal which before was not abundant.- -The cost of fresh beef for the navy and army has augmented in the same proportion. Amongst the millions by which the statesmen of the mothercountry reckon her expenditure, this may be little regarded; but in our unfortunate simi-tuation, with a revenue unequal to the claims upon it, such an addition to the expense of subsisting the troops is a serious evil. Within a very short period the cost of the ration allowed has been tripled; and it cannot be denied that a perseverance in the measures lately adopted, must accelerate the period when this burthen will become insupportable.—It would be easy to enlarge on the evils which we have thought it sufficient to hint at the proof of the facts is ready; the consequences cannot be doubted; and we trust that your honour will apply the remedy before it is too late, by issuing a proclamation giving permission to carry on the intercourse as conducted previous to the 21st May last.-In similar situations the mother-country opens her ports to all the world, and invites subsistence on any terms. She has even respected an enemy under the pressure of famine, and permitted food to enter the ports of Spain during the present war.- -We only request to be furnished with what she cannot give. Our commerce we submit to her regulations; but, in framing them, we must be permitted to nope that the comfortable subsistence of all the lower orders of the community, and the lives of our slaves, will not be sacrificed on the interested misrepresentations and for the advantage of selfish individuals, who look only to the profits of their speculations, without regard to their effect on the general interest." -Salted provisions are the chief corrective of the vegetable diet of the negroes, and a want of them inevitably brings on dysentery and disorders of that class, which, whenever prevalent, never fail to carry off great numbers.By being deprived of what they know to be absolutely necessary, and have been accustomed to consider their right, discontents are excited, and there have already been instances of gangs of negroes leaving the plantations, to complain to the civil magistrate of the usual allowance being withheld. Unable to comprehend a politi- Reply of the Lieutenant-Governor.* cal necessity, so fatal in its consequences, ME. SPEAKER, and GENTLEMEN OF THE they attribute the deprivation to the avarice ASSEMBLY,In consequence of the mea.. and unkinduess of their owners; and those sures which were taken during the late mar habits of respect and affection, of such im- tial law for the security of Jamaica, all neuportance in the government of the slave, tral vessels have been, by my direction, ad-" and to the happiness of his master, are rude- mitted to an entry at the several Customly torn asunder by the very men who accuse houses in the island, although they may hate the inhabitants of not cultivating them with contained salted provisions prohibited by my due care, and have instructed your honour proclamation of the 20th May last. The ar to institute uies, whether strict atten-rival of the Cork fleet, which is daily ex pected, will I trust tend essentially to quiet the apprehensions you entertain of a scarcity of those articles, so necessary for the support of the poorer classes of the inhabitants of the island, as well as to correct the vegetable diet of the negroes. Speech of the Lieutenant-Governor on proroguing the Assembly. GENTLEMEN OF THE COUNCIL, MR. SPEAKER, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE ASSEMBLY,The business for which you were called together having terminated, I grant you a recess. Mr. Speaker, and· gentlemen of the assembly, I thank you for the arrangement you have made for the payment of such part of the expenses of the late martial law as called for your immediate attention, and I have no doubt that you will provide for the remainder, at your next meeting, with your usual liberality.Gentlemen of the council, Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the assembly, I do now prorogue this general assembly to Tuesday the 13th of August next, and it is hereby prorogued accordingly. CATHOLIC CLAIMS. LETTER III. [The following letter was sent for publication previous to the discussion of the Catholic Question in Parliament. Want of room then prevented its appearing. It is now published at the request of, and in consequence of a promise to the author; and, an additional motive is, that this letter will naturally lead to other topics, which this able writer intends immediately to discuss. The 1st and 2d letters will be found in Vol. VI. p. 900, and Vol. VII. p. 33.] SIR,- -The Catholic Petition has at length been presented to both Houses of Parliament, and a discussion of the utmost importance to the vital interests of the empire, may soon be expected to take place. Its reception in the House of Commons was unattended with any remarkable occurrence; but, it is observable, that in the House of Peers, some attempts were made to prejudge the question, and to excite in the minds of that august assembly, and the public, an impression unfavourable to the object of the petitioners. The noble lord, who brought, the instrument forward, abstained with the utmost forbearance from all discussion of the subject at that time, and prudently reserved the display of his great talents, extensive information, and dignified eloquence for the important day, when his uncommon powers will doubtless appear in their full lustre. As to argument was offered in favour of the pe tition, and insinuations were thrown out, evidently to raise a prejudice against it in the House and the country, it is a matter of curious speculation, to consider what would have been the language of a sensible and well-informed Catholic Peer, had he been permitted to deliver his sentiments on that occasion. Let us suppose, however improbable the supposition, that he had been suffered to investigate the business at full length, and that undismayed by the novelty of the enterprise, and exhibiting a dignity of manner not unworthy of his rank, he had in a manly and energetic style, delivered his sentiments to a full house without disguise. We may conceive him to have spoken to the following effect:-My lords; unaccustomed to pursue the career of ambition, formed by habit and disposition to a life of retirement and solitude, and debarred solely by conscientious difficulties from taking my seat in this house, I should not have availed myself of the present indulgence of your lordships, had not some observations been prematurely made by a noble baron on the other side. In consequence of the insinuations, which have fallen from that noble lord, apparently without reflection, and undoubtedly without a knowledge of the question, I feel it an imperious duty, I owe it to myself, to the religion which I profess, to my King and country, and to the high character which my Catholic ancestors always maintained, to state, at some length, the grounds of the petition on your lordships' table, and to shew that an unqualified compliance with the modest and respectful supplication of the petitioners, would be unattended with the smallest danger either to church or state. It is probably unnecessary to appeal to the candour and liberality of your lordships, and to request a patient attention to this address, and a full, calm, and unbiassed consideration of this important subject. (A loud cry of hear, hear, from every quarter of the House.) Animated, my lords, with this mark of your attention, I beg leave without farther preamble, to enter into the merits of the question, and to direct the consideration of your lordships to the plain, obvious, and avowed object of the petitioners. It is not for the purpose of diffusing discontent through the empire, of embarrassing his Majesty's government, and of adding to the, disorder of these calamitous times, that your petitioners have made this manly, but respectful appeal to the justice and liberality of Parliament. The good and loyal behaviour of the Catholic body at large, and the character and respectability of the noblemen and gentlemen who have signed events, not to know that reasons of justice and policy may exist, which render it necessary to deprive individuals of their "liber"ties and free customs," and even to extend civil disabilities to whole descriptions of sub should prove hostile to the good of the com principle equally clear and incontestible, that such prescriptions of whole bodies of men are of a very odious complexion, and should never be suffered to exist a day longer, than they are made necessary by the circumstances the instrument, utterly destroy such an imputation. No, my lords! they are men of inoffensive conduct, and tried merit, who appear before you in the attitude of supplication; their object is evidently to obtain the civil rights of the British constitution.jects, if their principles or their conduct What can be more just, more honourable to their feelings, than to express a rational de-munity. But, my lords, there is another sire of participating in the blessings common to their fellow subjects, and of enjoying a full and complete toleration, under that form of government, which makes this country the admiration of the world? What greater proof can be adduced of their judg-of the case. They are of their own nature ment, than the rational and decided predilection, with which they declare, they contemplate the admirable principles of the British constitution?It is not necessary to spend much time in proving to your lordships, that the civil advantages of our invaluable constitution, belong to all British subjects, by the fundamental laws of the land; and by consequence that they are to be extended to the natives of Ireland. These advantages are called in the great charter, "liberties and free customs," of which the subjects of this kingdom are not to be despoiled without the consent of their peers. (Chap 29) they are frequently denominated the Birthright of Englishmen, and the Bill of Rights or Declaration presented to the Prince and Princess of Orange, Feb. 13, 1688, and afterwards enacted in Parliament, concludes with these remarkable words: "And they do claim, demand, and insist "upon all and singular the premises, as "their, undecited rights and liberties." And the Act of Parliament itself (1 W. and M. s. 2. c. 2) recognises "all and singular "the rights and liberties asserted and "claimed in the said declaration, to be the "true, ancient, and indubitable rights of "the people of this kingdom." (Blackstone's Rights of Persons, Vol. 1. c. 1.) Such, my lords, is the strong and decisive language by which the noble advantages of our-constitution, are secured to every Briton without distinction; and on this ground, your petitioners call upon your lordships to remove the restraints, under which they still are doomed to labour, without any just cause; and to reinstate them in the privileges enjoyed by their fellow subjects. but temporary regulations; in the free government of Britain, where civil servitude is unknown to the spirit of our laws, such proscriptive penalties should cease, when the occasion that gave them birth is removed. On this ground, my lords, I beg leave to put it to the candour of your lordships, whether there can be found in the principles and the conduct of the Catholics of the present poriod, any substantial reason for the conti nuance of those restrictions which were made against their ancestors? Is any one of your lordships prepared to say, either that the principles of the Catholics are not fairly stated in the modest petition on your table, or that in the principles thus represented, there is any thing hostile to the community at large? (No! No! No! from every quarter of the House.)-Much less can it be asserted, my lords, that their conduct has been at variance with their professions of allegiance. The most unequivocal testimonies in their favour for a long series of years, are to be found in the public and deliberate acts of the late legislature of Ireland, and in the repeated declarations of his Majesty's representatives in that country. The rebellion of 1798, and the subsequent disturbances of 1803, have not belied their general character. For, though Catholics were found to be deeply engaged in those infernal attempts, that circumstance was naturally to be expected, because the mass of the people of Ireland consists of the members of the Catholic communion. But, my lords, let it not be for gotten that the leaders were not Catholics; but that the Catholic nobility and gentry, the bishops, and even the parochial clergy to the number of 2000, all, with the exception My lords, it is surely needless to say more, of about 20, preserved their loyalty unin order to illustrate a point, which none of shaken, and contributed by their meritorious your lordships can be disposed to controvert, efforts to the preservation of their country. that the blessings of the constitution are the (See Plowden's History, Rev. Vol. 2. pasbirthright of every Briton; and, consequent sim:) As long as honour and patriotism are ly, that they are to be diffused among the in-held in any estimation in Britain, it will frabitants of Ireland, I am, however, too well acquainted with the train of human ever stand recorded to the credit of your petitioners, that many among them exposed their property and their lives, on that melancholy occasion, in defence of their King and country; that they braved every hardship in contributing to suppress an unnatural rebellion; and that they sacrificed every thing dear and precious in life, to a high and refined sense of honour and loyalty. (loud applauses.) My lords, suffer me here to pause, and ask your lordships, on what grounds you can consent to a more lengthened suspension of the liberties of your fellow subjects, whose principles are so pure, and whose loyalty is so eminently conspicuous? I here solemnly intreat your lordships, to bestow on this affair the most attentive and unbiassed consideration, and to put it to your own minds, how the present situation of affairs can be justified on any grounds of equity, honour, and policy? If the "liberties and free customs" of Britons are their birthright, if they cannot be deprived of them but for very substantial reasons, if when these reasons cease to exist, a restoration of the privileges of the constitution, is a natural and obvious consequence, what shadow of excuse can be produced, for the continuance of the restraints in question, when not only the causes of these disabilities have long ago ceased to, operate, but the sufferers are distinguished by a loyal and meritorious conduct?--The noble lord has said, that if the petition should be complied with, we should see a Protestant church without a Protestant congregation; and a Protestant King with a Popish legislature. My lords, from the tone of the noble baron, I should have imagined that the affair was Jikely to produce the most wonderful consequences, that we were about to witness a spectacle, which had never been exhibited to mankind before, that mountains were to be levelled, and that rivers were to flow back to their source. (a laugh) But after this display of the effects resulting from a compliance with the prayer of the petitioners, what will be the amount of the real consequence of the measure? Why, my lords, we shall continue to witness in Ireland, what we see already, a Protestant church richly endowed, but with a slender proportion of adherents, as four-fifths of the inhabitants are Catholics, and nearly half of the remainder are Presbyterians. We shall behold four millions of Catholics, more closely united than they are at present to a Protestant government. But the wonder is not to stop here. A Catholic legislature is to make its appearance under the government of a Profestant King, and a complete reformation is to take place in church and state. To effect this grand object, there are at present five Catholic peers in Ireland, one of whom might possibly be chosen in the course of a dozen years, to take his seat in the Imperial Parliament. As one eighth of the landed property of Ireland belongs to Catholics, they might, in the same period, return about a dozen members to the House of Commons, out of the hundred who represent the whole country. Then the grand catastrophe is to commence. These twelve sturdy apostles of innovation, with a peer at their head, are to go out a colonelling, to rout the whole legislature, to take the cabinet by storm, to give up the country to the pope, and to raise the altar upon the ruins of the communion table. (Loud applauses accompanied with much laughter.)This, my lords, to trifle no longer, is the real representation of the imaginary alarm raised by the noble lord. It affords a striking proof, how easily the greatest men are led into error, by an imperfect and partial view of the subject on which they deliver their sentiments. But the noble lord proceeds to an objection of a more serious nature. He observes that the test act must necessarily be repealed, and the complaints of the dissenters be redressed; and that thus the bulwark of the church will be thrown down, and the utmost danger ensue to the establishment. May I be permitted, my lords, without the least disrespect to the personal character of the noble baron, to express my unfeigned astonishment, that on a subject which might be presumed to be familiar to him, he should have shown such a notorious deficiency of information. That the repeal of the test act is a leading object of the petition is undoubtedly true, but that concessions would thus be made to the dissenters, to the danger of the church establishment, can be asserted by those only, who are either deceived themselves, or wil ling to lead others into error. I need not inform your lordships, that the test act bears the date of the 25 Car. 2, and that it was originally framed, not from any danger apprehended from the speculative doctrines of the Catholic religion, but from the connexion of the court at that period with Catholic powers, and the dreaded succession of the Duke of York, afterwards James the Second. The title of the act clearly manifests the purpose for which it was framed, for it is called an Act for preventing dangers which may happen to Popish Recusants. Eckard, an bistorian not partial to Catholics, acknowledges that the law was principally, if not solely, directed against them. (Hist, of England, Vol. 3, fol. edit. p. 893.) It must be owned that the letter equally affects the rigid dissenters. But the provisions of the |