mated their desire. of entering into a negotiation, upon principles of humanity, for a surrender. If you are influenced by similar considerations, you may signify the same by the bearer, and in the mean time hostilities shall cease. Salute and respect, TATE, chef de brigade. To the officer commanding his Britannic majesty's troops. Fishguard, Feb. 23, 1797. Sir, The superiority of the force under my command, which is hourly increasing, must prevent my treating upon any terms short of your surrendering your whole force prisoners of war. I enter fully into your wish of preventing an unnecessary effusion of blood, which your speedy surrender can alone prevent, and which will entitle you to that consideration it is ever the wish of British troops to shew an enemy whose numbers are inferior. My major will deliver you this letter, and I shall expect your determination by ten o'clock, by your officer, whom I have furnished with an escort that will conduct him to me without molestation. I am, &c. To the officer commanding the French troops. CAWDOR. The city of London has been for some days thrown into a state of unusual alarin, by the stoppage of payment in cash at the bank of England The following particulars will give an idea of this affair. 27. The critical posture of the empire making it necessary to take the king's pleasure on a step of the highest and most important nature, and which nothing but desperate alarm can justify, Mr. Shaw, the messenger, was sent on Saturday to request his majesty to come to town on Sunday morning to assist at a privy council. It is the first time during his reign that his majesty has come to town to do business on Sunday. The council was accordingly held at St. James's; present his majesty, the chancellor of the exchequer, the duke of York, the duke of Portland, lord Grenville, the marquis Cornwallis, earl Spencer, and the earl of Chatham; the deliberation lasted till three o'clock, when a proclamation was directed to be issued. As soon as the plan was agreed upon at the privy council, the ministers were met in Downing-street by the governor and deputy governor of the bank, Mr. Thornton, Mr. Bosanquet, and other gentlemen in the direction. It was communicated to them, and a long and warm conference took place on the occasion. The substance of the measure is a recommendation to the bank of England not to issue any more gold in payment of their notes until the sense of parlia ment shall be taken. On this day (the 27th) the following notice was published by the directors of the bank. Bank of England, Feb. 27, 1797. In consequence of an order of his majesty's privy council, notified to the bank last night, a copy of which is hereunto annexed, The governor, deputy-governor, and directors of the bank of England, think it their duty to inform the proprietors of bank stock, as well as the public at large, that the general concerns of the bank are in the most affluent and prosperous situation, and such as to preclude every doubt as to the security of its notes. The directors mean to continue their usual discounts for the ac com Upon the representation of the chancellor of the exchequer, stating, that from the result of the information which he has received, and of the inquiries which it has been his duty to make respecting the effect of the unusual demands for specie, that have been made upon the metropolis, in consequence of ill-founded, or exagge rated alarms in different parts of the country, it appears that unless some measure is immediately taken, there may be reason to apprehend a want of a sufficient supply of cash to answer the exigencies of the public service. It is the unanimous opinion of the board, that it is indispensably necessary for the public service, that the directors of the bank of England should forbear issuing any cash in payment until the sense of parliament can be taken on that subject, and the proper measures adopted thereupon, for maintaining the means of circulation, and supporting the public and commercial credit of the kingdom at this important conjuncture; and it is ordered, that a copy of this A meeting was held on the same day at the mansion-house, of the merchants, and bankers, &c. to consider of the steps which it may be proper to take to prevent embarrassments to public credit, from the effects of any ill-founded or exaggerated alarms, and to support it with the utmost exertions at the present important conjuncture. The lord mayor in the chair. Resolved unanimously, that we, the undersigned, being highly sensible how necessary the preservation of public credit is at this time, do most radily hereby declare that we will not refuse to receive banknotes in payment of any sum of money to be paid to us, and we will use our utmost endeavours to make all our payments in the same manner. BROOK WATSON. This resolution, which is nearly a copy of that used in the year 1745, when there was a run upon the bank, was signed in a few days by the principal bankers, merchants, and traders; and the following appeared in the London Gazette. At the council chamber, Whitehall, the 28th of Feb. 1797. Present, the notes of the bank of England in all payments as money, and to support, as far as depends on us individually, their circulation. Sydney, Grenville, Onslow and Cranley, Malmesbury, Auckland, St. Helen's, Henry Addington, W. Pitt. C. F. Greville. V. C. James Grenville, Admiralty Office, Feb. 28, 1797. Copy of a letter from commo dore Nelson, to admiral sir John Jervis, commander in chief of his majesty's ships and vessels in the Mediterranean, dated December 20, 1796. Last night at ten o'clock, I saw two Spanish Frigates, and directed captain Cockburne, in the Minerve, to attack the ship which carried a poop-light; the Blanche bore down to attack the other. I have not yet received from captain Preston an account of his action; but as I saw the Blanche this morning to windward with every sail set, I presume she had not suffered much damage. Captain Cockburne brought his ship to close action at twenty minutes before eleven, which continued without intermission till half past one, when La Sabina, of forty guns, twenty-eight eighteen-pounders on her main-deck, two hundred and eighty-six men, captain Don Jacobo Stuart, having lost her mizen-mast, (as she did after the action) main and fore-mast, one hundred and sixty-four men killed and wounded, struck her colours. You are, sir, so thoroughly ac quainted with the merits of captain Cockburne, that it is needless for me to express them; but the discipline of the Minerve does the highest credit to her captain and lieutenants, and I wish fully to express the sense I entertain of their judgment and gallantry: lieutenant Culverhouse, the first lieutenant, is an old officer of very distinguished merit; lieutenants Hardy, Gage, and Noble, deserve every praise which gallantry and zeal justly entitle them to, as do every other of ficer and man in the ship. You will observe, sir, I am sure, with regret, amongst the wounded, lieu tenant James Noble, who quitted the Captain to serve with me, and whose merits and repeated wounds, received received in fighting the enemies of our country, entitle him to every reward which a grateful nation can bestow. The Minerve's opponent being commanded by a gallant of ficer, was well defended, which has caused her list of killed and wounded to be great, as also her masts,sails, and rigging, to be much damaged. I have the honour to be, sir, &c. &c. (Signed) HORATIO NELSON, Killed. Seven. Wounded. Thirty-four. Missing. Four, supposed to be in the prize. Officers wounded. Lieutenant J. Noble, Mr. Merryweather, boatswain. Petty officers killed and wounded. Killed. One midshipman. Wounded. Captain's clerk, and serjeant of the 11th regiment, serving as marines. Damages. All her masts shot through, and furniture much cut. (Signed) HORATIO NELSON. [A second letter from commodore Nelson, gives an account of capt. Cockburne's having, by great address, saved his ship against two Spanish line-of-battle-ships, which were within shot of him. Captain Preston, in the Blanche, silenced the ship he fought; but he could not take possession of her, owing to three more ships heaving in sight, and she therefore escaped.] Downing-street, Feb. 28, 1797. A letter, of which the following is a copy, has been received from Robert Craufurd, esq. by the right honourable lord Grenville, his majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs. Head-quarters of the Austrian army, Manheim, Feb. 7, 1797. My lord, I have the honour to inform your lordship, that in consequence of a capitulation concluded on the 2d instant, between lieutenant-general the prince of Furstenburg, and the French general commanding the works of the Tete-de-pont of Huningen, and of the island called the Shuster Insel, the said works and island have been evacuated by the enemy, and taken possession of by the troops of his imperial majesty. The French had bestowed very considerable labour on this post during the time that their armies were advanced into Germany. The Tete-de-pont itself was supported and outflanked by the extensive horn-work on the Shuster island, as were both by the fire of the fortress of Huningen, as well as of several temporary batteries on the left bank of the Rhine. But a considerable quantity of heavy artillery having been sent to the Upper Brisgaw immediately after the reduction of Kehl, the attack, after its arrival, was carried on with effect; and, by its successful termination, the right bank of the Upper Rhine has been completely cleared of the enemy. I have the honour to be, &c. [The Gazette also contains a letter from rear-admiral Bazeley, stating that sir John Colleton, in the Swift cutter, had taken the Aventurier, French schooner, carrying eleven men, with pistols and cutlasses. Also a letter from captain Macnamara, of the Southampton, stating that he took the Corso, a Spanish brig. Also a letter from captain Hargood, that the squadron off Scarborough had taken the Victorieux, of Dunkirk, mounting 4 guns and 30 men. MARCH. MARCH. The London Gazette Extraordinary. Admiralty Office, March 3, 1797. Robert Calder, Esq. First Captain to Admiral Sir John Jervis, Bart. arrived this morning with Dispatches from him to Mr. Nepean, of which the following are Copies. SIR, Victory, in Lagos Bay, February 16, 1797. The hopes of falling in with the Spanish fleet, expressed in my letter to you of the 13th instant, were confirmed that night, by our distinctly hearing the report of their signal guns, and by intelligence received from cap. tain Foote, of his majesty's ship the Niger, who had, with equal judgment and perseverance, kept company with them for several days on my prescribed rendezvous (which, from the streng south-east winds, I had never been able to reach), and that they were not more than the distance of three or four leagues from us. I anxiously awaited the dawn of day, when, being on the starboard tack, Cape St. Vincent bearing east by north eight leagues, I had the satisfaction of seeing a number of ships extending from south-west to south, the wind then at west and by south. At forty-nine minutes past ten, the weather being extremely hazy, La Bonne Citoyenne made the signal that the ships seen were of the line, twenty-five in number. His majesty's squadron under my command, con * Victory, Prince George, Blenheim, Captain, Goliath, Colossus, Egmont, sisting of the fifteen ships of the line named in margin*, happily formed in the most compact order of sailing, in two lines. By carrying a press of sail, I was fortunate in getting in with the enemy's fleet at half past eleven 'clock, before it had time to connect, and form a regu lar order of battle. Such a moment was not to be lost; and, confident in the skill, valour, and discipline of the officers and men I had the happiness to command, and judging that the honour of his majesty's arms, and the circumstances of the war in these seas, required a con siderable degree of enterprise, I felt myself justified in departing from the regular system, and passing through their fleet, in a line formed with the utmost celerity, Culloden, tacked, and thereby separated one-third from the main Irresistible, body, after a partial cannonade, which prevented their Diadem, rejunction till the evening; and by the very great exertions of the ships which had the good fortune to arrive up with the enemy on the larboard tack, the ships named in the mar ↑ Salvador guns. gint were captured, and the action ceased about del Mundo, 112 five o'clock in the evening. San Josef, 112 I enclose the most correct list I have been able San Nicolas, 80 to obtain of the Spanish fleet opposed to me, San Ysidro, amounting to twenty-seven sail of the line, and an account of the killed and wounded in his majesty's ships, as well as in those taken from the enemy. The moment the latter (almost totally dismasted), and his majesty's ships the Captain and Culloden, are in a state to put to sea, I shall avail myself of the first favourable wind to proceed off Cape St. Vincent, in my way to Lisbon. 74 Captain |