when their small number is confidered, place them in a light fuperior to any praife which I could bestow. I am even unwilling to speak of the particular conduct of any of the officers, but the talents difplayed by the First Lieutenant (Devonfhire), who was but just out of our fick lift, during the action, added to his uncommon fatigue in taking care of the prize, and the very able manner in which he conducted and prepared to defend her, entitles him to this diftinction, and proves him highly deferving of the recommendation you gave him, with his appointment in the West Indies. And although I had rather any other perfon fhould obferve the conduct of a brother of mine in action, and fpeak of it afterwards, yet I feel it my duty, as Captain of the fhip, to ftate, that I thought Mr. Bowen's (the Second Lieutenant) conduct was particularly animating to the fhip's company, and useful, from the great number of guns which he faw well pointed in the course of the action; added to which, from the absence of the First Lieutenant on board the prize, the labouring our of this fhip has fallen on him, and, in my mind, the task we have had fince the action has been infinitely more arduous than that of the action itself. The name of the prize is the Mahonefa, carrying on the main deck 26 Spanish twelves (weighing 18 ounces more than ours), eight Spanish fixes on the quarter deck, and a number of brafs cohorns, fwivels, &c. had on board 275 men, befides fix pilots, qualified for the Mediterranean as high as Leghorn, and to be put on board of Admiral Langara's fleet, which he had been feat out from Carthagena to look for. She was built in the year 1799 at Mahon, is of very large dimenfions, measuring 1114 tons and a half Spanish, was before the action in compleat good condition, and is confidered by the Spanish Officers the falteft failer, one of the best conftructed, and, what they attach confiderable importance to, the handsomeft frigate in their navy. Both the frigates have this moment anchored in fafety. 1 am, &c. R. BOWEN. (Signed) An Account of the Killed and Wounded in the Action between his Majefty's Ship Terplichore and the Spanish Frigate Mahonefa, on the 13th of Otteber, 1796. Terpsichore mounted 32 twelve and fix pounders; complement of men 215. Killed-Nonc. Wounded-Mr. Richard Hobbs (acting boatswain) lightly in the foot John Roberts (Quarter-mafter) ; loft his left thigh; and two feamen, Mahonefa, by the best accounts I have been able to collect, had about 30 killed or died of their wounds the day of the action, and about the fame number wounded, feveral of whom are fince dead. ADMIRALTY OFFICE, NOV. 22, 1976. Extract of a Letter from Vice-Admiral Kingsmill, Commander in Chief of bis Majefty's Ships and Veffels at Cork, io Evan Nepean, Efq. dated on board bis Majefty's Ship L'Engageante, in Cork Harbour, Nov. 14, 1796. HIS Majefty's fhips Polyphemus and Cerberus arrived here yesterday afternoon, the former not having feen any thing worth noticing, and the latter having, as intimated in my last, captured L'Hirondeile (late Sans Culotte) cutter privateer, of 10 guns and 60 men, and chaced the Franklin brig privateer into the fquadron under Sir John Warren, who made a prize of her. These pri vateers, with the other three taken by the Santa Margaritta and Dryad, formed a fmall fquadron which had fitted out and failed together from Breft ta fcour the entrance of the English Channel, but have thus happily been allifecured by our cruizers. Captain Drew has befides recaptured the Jackson Junior, Jamaica home-bound fhip, and the Friendship, Blake, from the Cape of Good Hope. The first is come hither, and the latter fuppofed gone to Plymouth. P. S. Inclofed is Captain Drew's letter to me, with an account of his prizes. Gerberus, Gork Harbour, Nov. 13. 1796, SIR, I HAVE to inform you, on the ift inflant, in company with his Majefty's hips Diana and Magnanime, Lat. 49. 5. N. Long, 8. 36. W. I gave chace to a fail in the S. W. and continued chacing till the next morning, when the was captured by Sir John Warren's fquadron, and proved to be the Franklin, a French privateer brig, carrying 12 nine-pounders and 80 men. On the 4th I retook the fhip Friendship, from the L'Hirondelle, a French cutter prithe Cape of Good Hope; the sth took vateer, carrying ten fix-pounders and 53 men, but had thrown fix of her guns overboard in the chace; and on the 6th retook the Jackfon Junior, from Ja maica. I have the honour to be, &c. JOHN DREW. Vice-Admiral Kingful, DOWNING I HAVE the honor to inform your Lordship, that official accounts were this day received by the Archduke from Geseral Davidovitch, ftating his having beaten the corps that was oppofed to him, and taken 1000 prifoners, His advanced guard has taken poffeffion of Trente, which place, as well as the ftrong pofition behind it, were abandoned by the enemy without refiftance, I have the honour to be, &c. ROB. CRAUFURD. Right Hon. Lord Grenville, &c. Head-Quarters of his Royal Highnefs the Archduke Charles of Auftria, Offenburgh, Nov. 13, 1796. MY LORD, I HAVE the honour to inform your Lordship, that by a report received by his Royal Highnefs the Archduke from Lieutenant-General Neu, Governor of Mayence, it appears, that the corps which had advanced to the Nahe has been obliged to fall back, and take a po. stion behind the Seltz. This corps confifted merely of derachments from the garrifon of Mayence, commanded by Major-Generals Simp fchan and Rosemberg; the latter, with the left wing, and pofted on the heights of Biebeltheim and Flanig, to obferve Creutznach; the former, with the right wing, on the hill called the Rochufberg, to defend the paffage of Bingen They had orders, in cafe of being attacked by a very fuperior force, to retire nearer to Mayence. This pofition on the right bank of the Lower Nahe is well known from the operations of last year. It is not to be maintained against an enemy of very fuperior force; for Creutznach lies fo entirely under the fire of the hills from the left bank of the river, that the enemy is always mafter of that paffage, as was fufficiently proved by the affair of the ift of December 1795. On this fide Creutznach the heights are fo diftant from the river, that the enemy has every facility in extending himself in front and on each dank of the town; and a corps of very inferior force cannot take poft near enough to prevent this formatian. On the 26th Generals Simpfchen and Rofemberg were attacked by two di vifions of the army of the Sambre and Meufe. The action lasted several hours, and the enemy, notwithstanding fo very great an inequality of numbers, was repulfed with confiderable loss. Early on the 27th the French renewed the attack, and advanced in several columns from Creutznach, to turn the left of the Auftrians; but the latter, by an exertion of much ability and fleas dinefs, maintained their pofition. In the evening, however, the Generals, in conformity to the order mentioned above, determined on retiring behind the Seltz and the retreat was executed with per fect order. The lofs of the Auftrians on this oc cafion confifts in 19 killed, 184 wounded, 96 milfing; on the whole, 299 men, and 89 horfes. The enemy's was certainly confide rable; 200 of them were taken prifo ners, and brought into Mayence. I am thus circumftantial in ftating the particulars of this, in fact, unimportant affair, because I obferve that the official reports of the army of the Sambre and Meufe, I mean the late ones, contain the moft abfurd exaggerations. I fhould confider them perfectly undeferving of notice, were it not that those who have no other means of judging of the events of the campaign than by comparing the accounts published by the contending armies, would be led into the most erroneous conciufions, if they gave each party credit for only an equal degree of fairness in their relations. In the enemy's official account of the affair of the 21ft of last month near Neuwied, it is reprefented as having been a ferious and general attack; whereas it was merely undertaken for the purpofe of deftroying his bridge, and fpreading alarm on the left bank of the Rhine. Both thefe objects were effected by a very infignificant force and there was not the imalleft idea of a ferious affault on the Tete-de-Pont of Neuwied. The enemy ftates, that, befides an immenfe number killed and drowned, he actually took 1000 prifo. ners, whereas i can affure your Lordhip, from the most authentic informa. tion, that the whole lots of the Auftrians, did not exceed 284 men. After General Moreau's army had crofled croffed the Rhine, two divifions of it were detached towards Landau, and one divifion of the army of the Sambre and Meufe arrived about the same time in the neighbourhood of Kayferflautern. General Hotze was ftill at Schweigenheim, on the road from Speyer to Landau; his corps was not of fufficient ftrength to have any other object than that of fpreading alarm in Lower Alface; and it was evident, that as foon as the Rhine fhould again feparate the main armies, the enemy muft immediately become mafters of the vicinity of Landau. General Hotze, therefore, on the ap proach of forces fo infinitely fuperior to his own, retired towards the entrenched camp of Manheim, without being in the fmallest degree molefted by the enemy. He eftablished the advanced pofts of his left wing on the Reebach, from whence they ran along the Fletzbach towards Franckenthal. On the 7th inftant the French attacked General Hotze's line. Their principal efforts were directed against the left wing, and the fire of artillery and small arms continued a great part of the day; but the enemy was repulfed, and General Hotze ftill maintains his pofts in front of the intrenched camp, extending from the Reebach, by the village of Maubach to Franckenthal. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) ROB. CRAUFURD. Head-Quarters of his Royal Highnefs the Archduke Charles of Auftria, Offenburg, Nov. 14, 1796. MY LORD, IT is with the greatest satisfaction I have the honour of announcing to your Lord. ship, that official reports were this day received by the Archduke, from Generals Alvinzy and Davidovitch, where it appears, that the offenfive operations in Italy have been most successfully commenced. I fhould not prefume to addrefs your Lordship upon this fubject, were it not that if Colonel Graham is, as I fuppofe he mult be, with Marfhal Wurmfer in Mantua, he cannot as yet have had it in his power to correfpond with your Lord. thip. General Alvinzy's report is dated Caldo Ferro, Nov. 7. General Davidovitch's at Trente, the 8th inftant. After the fecond operation, undertaken for the relief of Mantua, thefe corps of Marthal Wurmfer's army, which could not penetrate, retired; the one under General Quofdanovich to the Venetian Frioul; the other, under General Davidovitch, up the valley of the Adige, towards Neumarkt. Thefe corps were successfully reinforced by confiderable numbers of fresh troops; and General Alvinzy was appointed to command the whole of the army, until it fhould effect its reunion with Marshal Wurmfer. After the arrival of the reinforcements at the places of their destination, General Alvinzy, who in perfon had undertaken the conduct of the corps in the Frioul, arranged a plan of operations, of which the following is a sketch. His own corps was to advance through the Trevifane towards Baffano, and, after forcing the paffages of the Brenta, to proceed towards the Adige, whilft General Davidovitch thould defcend the valley by which that river runs down from the mountains of the Tyrol, forcing the po fitions of Trente, Roveredo, &c. On the 3d of this month, upon the approach of part of General Alvinzy's advanced guard, the enemy abandoned Caftel Franco; and on the 4th, the Auftrian corps advanced in two columns to the Brenta; the one to Baffano (of which they took poffeffion), and the other of nearly equal force (under LieutenantGeneral Proverra), to Fonteniva. General Alvinzy halted on the 5th inftant, and spent that day in reconnoitering the position of the enemy. He found the French army encamped in three lines, in front of Vicenza. On the 6th, as General Alvinzy was on the point of pufhing forward his advanced guard, Buonaparte, who had marched in the night, commenced a most fevere attack upon his whole line. The action began with General Proverra's corps about feven in the morning, and very shortly afterwards the enemy also advanced against Baffano. General Alvinzy reports, that the enemy's attacks, though made with the greatest impetuofity, were conftantly and completely repelled; and that night put an end to the affair, without either party having gained or loft any ground; but an indifputable proof of the Auftrians having had the advantage in this action is, that when General Alvinzy next morning was preparing to renew it, he found that the enemy had completely retreated. He reports, that they directed their march toward Lifiera. General Proverra's bridge over the Brenta having been destroyed in the course' of the morning of the 6th, his column could gould not cross the river till towards noon on the 7th, and General Alvinzy's whole corps arrived late in the evening of that day at the camp of Caldo Ferro. General Davidovitch had in the mean time driven back the corps oppofed to him, had made a thousand prifoners, and taken poffeflion of Trente, as was mentioned in his former report. On the fame day that the above-mentioned fevere action was fought on the Brenta, General Davidovitch attacked the enemy in the ftrong pafs of Caliano, a little to the northward of Roveredo. The French had entrenched their pofition, and occupied, in confiderable force, the caftles of Beflano and La Pietra, which, as I underftand command the pass. The ftrength of the pofition was fuch, that, notwithstanding his repeated efforts, General Davidovitch could not force it on the 6th; but on the following day he renewed his attack. The corps on the right of the Adige eftablished batteries on the heights of Nomi, which fired with confiderable effect; the troops on the left of the river attacked the cafties and intrenchments with perfe. vering bravery, and the enemy was at length completely defeated, with the lofs of five cannons, eight ammunition waggons, and a thousand prifoners. General Davidovitch fuppofes the enemy's lofs, in killed and wounded, to have been very confiderable, and ftates his own to have amounted to four hundred men, killed, wounded, and miffing. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) ROBERT CRAUFURD. PARLIAMENT-STREET, NOV 29. A DISPATCH from the Governor and Council of Madras, dated Fort St. George, June 22, 1796, of which the following is a copy, has been received by the Court of Directors of the Eaft India Company, and by them communicated to the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, one of his Majefty's Principai Se cretaries of State. HONOURABLE SIRS, WE have particular fatisfaction in offering to you our fincere congratulations on the complete fuccefs which has attended the operations of RearAdmiral Rainier in the Eastern Seas; and judging that an early communication of this event might be of material ufe to his Majefty's Minifters, we have determined to forward this letter by the route of Bufforah. It appears by the Rear-Admiral's Dispatches, dated the 17th of March and 11th of April laft, and which reached us on the 18th inftant, by the Or-. pheus frigate, that the British troops were in poffeffion of the islands of Amboyna and Banda, with their several dependencies, comprizing, as it was thought, the whole of the Dutch iflands, excepting Fornaté, yielding cloves, nutmegs, and mace. This acquifition has been attained without the fmalleft lofs on our fide. Amboyna and its dependencies were delivered up on the 16th of February, and Banda and its dependencies on the 8th of March. Copies of the Capitu lations are inclofed. The Admiral fpeaks in the handfomeft manner of the activity and alacrity with which every duty was performed by the forces under his command, both naval and military; and dwells particularly on the perfect har mony which all along fubfifted between the officers and men in both fervices. It behoves us on this occafion to convey to you the high fenfe we entertain of the able and fpirited conduct difplayed by Rear-Admiral Rainier, whofe hearty co-operation with us in every measure conducive to the public weal demands our warmeft acknowledgments; and. whilft we feel affured of your entire ap-. probation of all the means employed by this Government, to give effect to the arrangements framed by his Majesty's Minifters for fecuring the Dutch fettlements in India, it is, nevertheless, incumbent upon us to declare, that the accomplishment of this great object bas been chiefly obtained by the zealous and chearful fupport which we have had the good fortune to experience from the Officers entrusted with the execution of it. We shall do ourselves the honour of tranfmitting, by the first sea conveyance, copies of all the papers received from the Admiral, which will enable you to form an accurate opinion of the value of thofe islands. At prefent we can only give you a fummary of his proceedings. The Admiral found in the Treasury at Amboyna 81,112 rix dollars, and in ftore 515,940 pounds weight of cloves; in the treafury at Banda 66 675 rix dollars, and in ftore 84,777 pounds of nutmegs, 19,587 pounds of mace, bendes merchandize and other ftores at each place, upon which no value had been then put. We are preparing to fend a rainforce ment of troops for the better protection of thofe valuable islands; and, as the Admiral Admiral has advised us that he is fhort of provifions, and in want of a supply of naval and military ftores, it is our intention to forward an adequate ftock of every neceffary article. We have great pleafure in acquainting you, that the Company's poffeffions on this coaft are in a ftate of perfect tranquillity; and that we have no reason to believe that any defigns are in agitation by the native powers hoftile to your interefts. We have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) HOBART, ALURED CLARKE, FDW. SAUNDERS, C. W. FALLOFIELD. Capitulation of Amboyna, tranflated from the Original in Dutch, February 16, 1796. Not finding ourselves equal to withftand the great force with which we have been furprized, we the undersigned Governor and Council do hereby give up this fettlement, with all its dependencies, and place the fame under the protection of his Britannic Majefty, upon the conditions mentioned to us in the letter of the Right Honourable the Governor of Madras: that is, upon condition that we may keep all our private property, and be allowed a reasonable fubfiftence, that the inhabitants be guaranteed in the fecure poffeffion of their private properties, and that the fenior and junior fervants of the Civil Eftablishment, the Clergy, the Military, and Marine, receive their ufual pay. It is upon the above conditions that we shall to-morrow morning give over all the guards of the fort to the troops of his Britannic Majefty, after receiv. ing the ratification of this inftrument by his Excellency the Commodore. Done at Amboyna, in the Caitle of Victoria, on the above date. A. Cornabé. R Smart. F. Oftrowski. (English) # C.Lennon, Secretary. Seal. Capitulation agreed upon between bis Excellency Peter Rainier, Efq. Com modore commanding the Sea and Land Forces of bis Britannic Majefly in these Seas, and F. Van Boeckboltz, Gover nor of Banda, &c. &c. In confideration of our great want of provifions, and the great force with which the British have appeared before this fettlement, and to refift which would bring deftriction and defolation on the harmless inhabitants of this place, we therefore think it prudent, for the fake of humanity, and from our confidence in the honour and generosity of the English, to accept of the terms offered to us, and to deliver into their hands this fort and fettlement, with all its de pendencies, upon the following conditions, viz. That private property be kept fecure to every individual of this fettlement, whether in or out of the Company's fervice; that the fervants of the Company, civil and military, be kept in their respective stations, as far as may be thought neceffary for the adminiftration of justice; and the Civil Government of the place, the Governor alone particularly excepted, as the Government muft, of course, be vefted in the English; that the military continue to receive their pay, and are not to be forced into the British fervice contrary to their wishes; and the Civil Servants alfo to be continued on their prefent pay; and fuch an allowance made for the provifion of the Governor as his Excellency the Commander of the British forces may think adequate. The Governor, how. ever, and any other fervants of the Company, thall be permitted to retire from the fervice, either to Batavia or elfe.. where, whenever a convenient opportu nity thall offer. Upon these conditions we, the underfigned, confent to deliver up Fort Nas fau, the fettlement of Banda, and all its dependencies, to the troops of his Britannie Majefty to-morrow morning, upon receiving a copy of this Capitulation, ratified and figned by his Excellency the British Commander. The keys of all the public property, and all accounts/properly authenticated, fhail be immediately delivered over to the Bri tith, and the Government entirely veft ed in them. Fort Naffau, Banda, Neira, March 8, 1796. F. Van Bocekboltz. A. H. Varge. (Signed) (L. S.) F. Salgang. E. Muzee. |