dent. The sentence of the Duke D'Enghien took place in the night between the 21st and the 22d. He was shot in the Bois de Vincennes about 2 o'clock in the morning. The prince was brought from Ettenheim on the evening of the 20th, in a coach and six, under an escort of 50 gens d'armes, and carried to the temple, but not imprisoned there, his conductors finding an order to convey him to the castle of Vincennes. What is termed a military commission was immediately assembled. The prince was so extremely fatigued with his journey, that he could scarcely refrain from sleep even in this critical moment. He desired to speak with the first consul, but this could not be permitted. He then collected himself, and met death with firmness. It is said that he would not suffer his eyes to be bound. Several generals were present when he was shot. [It is remarkable, that the intelligence of the above melancholy event is not given in the Paris papers; but in the Hamburgh correspondenten, which, however, is well known to be completely under French influence, and would not dare to insert a fabrication.] The private accounts of the execution all agree, that the duke refused to be bound, and died with a degree of fortitude worthy of the descendants of the ancient kings of France. It appears that, for 24 hours after his murder, petitions for him were presented by the duke de Liancourt, and several other of his friends, thro' the means of madame Bonaparte; and in the senate, on the 22d, Lanjunais proposed to advise the first consul to grant him a pardon; observing in strong language on the danger of accustoming him to blood in civil causes. It is also asserted, that Bonaparte desired general Mortier to be president of the military commission which condemned the duke, but he declined it. General Hulen was then appointed, (the son of a washerwoman, and former. ly a servant in the workhouses of the court of Versailles.) After sentence was passed, the duke asked if he could see Bonaparte? "Yes," said Hulen, " if you have any discoveries to make." "Discoveries!" answered the duke, with indignation carry me to the place of execu tion." From the time of his arrest, he had never been allowed to dress, shave, or change his linen; and in his dungeon he had nothing but straw. The generals who attended his execution were Murat, Mortier, Hulen, and Louis Bonaparte, escorted by 50 mamelukes, and 4 aids-de-camp. Each mameluke held a flambeau; and 200 gens d'armes, and 300 men of the Italian troops, surrounded the castle.. Of the nine grenadiers who fired at him, seven hit him. Imme diately after the execution, he was buried in the garden of the castle. He was 32 years of age. The manner in which he was taken is thus detailed in private letters from Strasburgh: a party of emigrants had been for some time assembling in the neighbourhood of Ettenheim and Offenbourg, territories of the elector of Baden; of which notice having been sent to the first consul, he dispatched M. de Caulincourt, his aid-de-camp, who arrived on the 14th ult.; and, ordering the gate leading into Germany to be opened, marched through it, with several general officers, towards the right bank of the Rhine. The next morning they crossed the river with a strong detachment of troops; and, arriving at Offenbourg, ordered the commandant to to point out the emigrants in the town, of whom 15 were immediately arrested. Besides the duke D'Enghien, it is said that two Englishmen of distinction were taken; but this report is not credited. Every exertion is made by the French to convince the inhabitants, whose territory they have violated, that the persons apprehended were in the pay of England, and that one of their objects was to gain possession of the citadel, and turn the artillery against the people. No resistance was made to this irruption by the elector of Baden; but an account of the outrage was dispatched to his son-inlaw, the emperor of Russia.—It is said, that as soon as the news of the duke being in custody reached Paris, orders were received by the telegraph that he should be immediately conveyed thither. The distance is 400 miles; and he was chained hand and foot the whole way. Letters from Paris describe, in the strongest terms, the disgust and indignation of the people at the late inhuman murder of the duke D'Enghien. Bonaparte has appeared once since at the theatre; but the moment he entered, half the audience withdrew. 2d. Nearly 40 sail of the British ontward bound West India fleet, and their convoy, the Apollo frigate, were lost upon the coast of Portugal, in the morning before day-break, between cape Mondego and Aveiro. The Apollo sailed from the cove of Cork on the 26th of March, in company with the Carysfort frigate, whose original destination was to the Madeiras. Among the persons who have perished are the captain, the third lieutenant, and about 100 of the crew of the Apollo. The crews and cargoes of many of the vessels were saved; and the rest of the fleet proceeded with the Carysfort for their original destination. Two nests of coiners have been discovered at Birmingham. At one place the constables were obliged to shoot a large mastiff, before they could approach to the house; but this act so intimidated the fellows within, that they permitted themselves to be taken without resistance, except throwing some bags of base metal out of the window upon the party, to prevent them from being found upon the premises. As many implements however were discovered as filled a cart; and a quantity of finished coin was found between the beds and sacking A melancholy circumstance occurred at Docking. Thomas Callaby, who had been only a few days discharged from Bethel-hospital in Norwich (and who appeared to have recovered his senses), went to bed on Saturday the 7th inst. apparently composed and easy; but about 2 o'clock in the morning he arose from his bed, under pretence of being thirsty, when he secured a caseknife which he had hid in his shoe, and about 4 o'clock the same morning stabbed his wife in a dreadful manner; cut the throat of his grandchild, about 3 years of age; and also stabbed his daughter, the mother of the child. The maniac was at length confined by his neighbours, to whom the alarm was given by the son, who escaped from the house, or the event might have been much more dreadful. The child is since dead, but the wife and daughter are likely to recover. 5th. The lightning struck a house at the Five Ways, near Birmingham, entering down the chimney, and out of the fire-place in a vivid flash, which burnt the muslin the lady of the house was working, scorched the chair on which she was sitting, and lifted a flower-pan through the parlour window two or three yards, bursting out two of the panes of glass, and cracking three others. The lady, though much alarmed, providentially received no personal injury; but the room retained a strong smell of sulphur for many hours. No lightning was perceived out of the house, nor any thunder heard but what appeared to be very distant. A man sowing oats in the neighbourhood of Ingatestone, co. Essex, was this day struck dead by lightning: an oak tree was at the same time completely stripped of its bark and branches. Of all the different species hitherto discovered of the genus scolopax, or the woodcock, belonging to the order of Gratæ, one of the most extraordinary was shot by the gamekeeper of the Rev. Mr. Stephens, of Ludgvan, Oxfordshire, in an inclosure near the parsonage-house, called Coopers Croft. The head, tail, and extremity of the wings are of a milk white, the bill and legs of a light yellow, and the body a brownish ash colour. It is altogether as elegant in its shape, as singular in its species. The celebrated Mr. Pennant has described this bird as very rarely seen, in the Hebrides. bird has been carefully preserved, and forwarded to the Leverian mu seum. to bed at midnight. He had previously taken a faggot from the bundle with which his fire had been kindled in the morning, and tying a black silk handkerchief round his neck, he twisted it close to the glands by means of the stick, till he had stopped respiration. He then passed the stick behind his ear, and throwing himself on the same side, to prevent its removal, he was speedily suffocated. On the discovery of his death, eight physicians and surgeons were employed to make a report of the state in which the body was found. It was afterwards opened in the hall of the criminal tribunal; and the verdict was, "Died by strangulation."-He was buried in a place appropriated to the remains of those who commit suicide; and a proces-verbal relative to the event was ordered to be published throughout the republic.-Notwithstanding this specious statement, it is strongly suspected, that the unfortunate and gallant object of it, fell a victim to the mean jealousy and fear of Bonaparte. 11th. The gazette of this night contains the following letter from capt. Hardinge of the Scorpion, off Vlie, to Admiral Thornborough."Sir, Having reconnoitred the position of the two men of war brigs in the Vlie, I resolved to attempt the The outermost on the first favourable opportunity.-When accidentally falling in with the sloop Beaver, in her way to her station, on the 31st ult. capt. Pelly volunteered the assistance of himself and his boats.-The attack was made the same night; the intrepidity of British seamen overcame every obstacle (she being in all respects prepared with boarding netting, &c.), and, after a sharp contest, we were in full possession of 7th. The following article appeared in the Paris papers of this date. The ci-devant general Pichegru has strangled himself in prison. The following are the particulars of the suicide: his guards were at night dismissed; and on the 5th, having supped heartily, he retired her. her. She proves to be the Dutch national brig Atalante, capt. Carp, mounting 16 long 12 pounders, and had on board 76 men.-She is one of the largest brigs in the Dutch na vy, is a remarkably fine vessel, and, in my opinion, admirably calculated for his Majesty's service." Killed and wounded-Scorpion, lieut. Bluett; Mr. Williams, master; Mr. Jones, midshipman; J. Wilkinson (badly) and R. Tucker, seamen, wounded.-Beaver, none killed or wounded.-Atalante,capt. Carp, and 3 seamen, killed. First lieutenant, 3 officers, and 8 seamen, wounded. Admiral Thornborough, in his introductory letter, observes, that the Dutch captain refused quarter, and fell in defence of his brig.-The Dutch pilot and purser were liberated, and sent on shore with the effects of the captain, in consequence of the gallant conduct of the latter.* 12th.The anniversary of the literary fund, an institution which does equal honur to the heart and understanding of Englishmen, was this day kept at the crown and anchor tavern, Strand; Lord Pelham in the chair. After the cloth was removed, the usual toasts, the king, the queen, and royal family, were given from the chair, and received with the most ardent enthusiasm. The noble president then informed the meeting, that he should take the liberty of proposing his royal highness the prince of Wales as a subscriber to the institution. The proposal was received with unbounded applause. His lordship next observed, that, as the proposal he had the honour to make had been received so kindly, he wished to add to it, that his royal highness had in structed him to propose a subscription on his part of 1001. (increased and prolonged plaudits.) His lordship, considering this unanimous applause on the part of the meeting as an unequivocal approbation of what he had announced, thought it proper to add, that he had moreover to propose, that his royal highness be received as the patron of the institution. The plaudits were here redoubled, and the health of his royal highness was drunk with three times three, as patron of the institution. The recitations, as usual, formed a principal part of the literary amusement of the evening; they were by Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Pye, and Mr. Kett. The leading sentiments in these were strongly and happily applied to the present times, and as such were marked with very distinguished applause; more particularly a passage in which Mr. Fitzgerald contrasted the condition of a tyrant and an usurper with that of a legitimate and beloved sovereign. The lines of Mr. Kett's poem which made the strongest impression, were those which called up to the recollection of the meeting the various virtues of Lord Moira; more particularly his unbounded benevolence towards the French emigrants.-The ordinary business of the institution was then transacted, and the meeting closed with the utmost unanimity and satisfaction. At the Westminster sessions Mary Edwards, and Mary Anne Edwards, mother and daughter, were indicted for feloniously stealing a quantity of wearing apparel, the property of Mr. Rogers, of Manchester-buildings, Westminster. It appeared, that * Vide an admirable letter of captain Hardinge to his father on this capture, in the Appendix to the Chronicle. on on the 2d of March, about half past 1 o'clock, the child of Mr. Rogers was decoyed from the door of her father's house, and was not heard of until late in the afternoon of the same day; when she was found naked on the flight of steps leading to the water, on the Surry side of Westminster-bridge. On searching the house of the prisoners, in Brookes'court, Lambeth, the child's bonnet and shoes, with other parts of her apparel, were found.-Both were found guilty, and sentenced to be transported for 7 years. The remains of the largest person ever known in Ireland, at least since the days of the giant of Hibernian romance, Fion M Coul, were interred in the church-yard of Roseunallis in the queen's county. The coffin, with its contents, weighed 52 stone, which amounts exactly to 600lbs. It was borne on a very long bier by 30 strong men, who were relieved at intervals. The name of this extraordinary person was Roger Byrne, whose residence was near Burros in Ossory. He died of suffocation occasioned by excessive fat, which impeded the action of the lungs, and put a period to his existence in the 54th year of his age. He was 13 stone heavier than the celebrated Bright of Maldon, whose waistcoat buttoned round 7 large men.-Byrne was a married man; his widow is a very small woman, by whom he has left 4 sons. 13th. Lady Glanville was found dead in her bed-room, in Manchester-street, at 4 in the morning; her clothes had taken fire, and were consumed to her body, which presented a shocking spectacle. The same day, as Mrs. Dawson, of Caldbeck, Cumberland, relict of general Richard Dawson, formerly 2 lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Man, was standing near the parlour fire, immediately after dinner, part of her muslin dress came in contact with the flame, by which she was dreadfully scorched in this painful situation, her distress being heightened by the most violent agitation and terror, she languished until Monday following, when she expired! She was 71 years of age. 16th. This night a fire broke out near Sun Tavern Fields, Shadwell, in the rope-ground and warehouses of Mr. Cornwell. The warehouses were filled with cables, pitch, and other combustible matter, to a very great amount of course the flames burnt with great fury, and extended themselves with extraordinary rapidity. They soon communicated to the deal-yard of Mr. Miles, all of which were instantly in a blaze. The immediate scene of the conflagration was inaccessible to the engines, and the volume of fire so great, as to afford no hope that they could, if within reach, make any impression upon it. In this extremity, the firemen turned their at tention to the neighbouring houses, and exerted themselves to cut off all communication between them and the burning premises. They played the engines upon the dwelling-house of Mr. Cornwell; but all their energy, as it was feared, was not able to save it, as the wind blew the flames directly upon it. A more dreadful fire, or a more awful spectacle, has not been seen for many years in London. The damage is estimated at 20,0001. Happily no lives were lost. The earl of Strathmore's valuable stud-horse, Pipator, dropped dead a few days ago. He was considered worth 1000 guineas. 18th. |