mented to the violence of a tempest, and at half past two had attained its utmost degree. In this state it continued till five, when it was almost suddenly succeeded by a perfect calm. The people of Nassau bad now leisure to contemplate the ravages occasioned by it. The government-bouse, most of the other public buildings, a great number of private houses, wharfs and gardens, were either totally or partly destroyed, and all the vessels in the harbour, two excepted, were driven on shore or sunk. The inhabitants, too well apprized of the nature of hurricanes, made the best preparations in their power for a second tempest from the opposite quarter, which took place at six in the evening, and raged till midnight, when it began to subside, and soon after entirely ceased. Its effect was nearly to complete the work of the former. One third of the houses of the town, which, in proportion to its size, was one of the richest and most flourishing of the new world, were levelled to the ground, and none escaped uninjured. Much property of all kinds was destroyed, and bundreds of families were reduced to beggary. In the midst, however, of this general loss and distress, charity exerted itself to relieve the most necessitous sufforers. A sum of money was voted by the assembly as a public aid, and a voluntary subscription was set on foot among individuals.

At Kingston, in Jamaica, on July 31st, a violent storm occur. red, attended with a smart shock of an earthquake, and much d. mage was done to the vessels in the harbour, and to the buildings

on shore. In Part-Royal harbour, also, several small vessels were lost; and considerable injury was sustained by the houses and plantations in different parts of the island.

Roseau, in Dominica, was the unfortunate scene of another destructive conflict of the elements. On August 25th, a hurricane came on at nine in the evening, accompanied by such deluges of rain, that the river burst its banks, and inundated the town in three large columus of water, which tore up every thing in their passage, excavating the streets to the depth of ten or fifteen feet. Many houses. which had resisted the former hurricane were undermined and thrown down, but happily no lives were lost.

At Basseterre, in Guadaloupe, on August 31st, an extraordinary incident occurred. During the finest possible weather, the river which traverses the town rose suddenly with such an impetuous torrent, that a number of people then in it were surprized and carried away, and about thirty are said to have lost their lives. During this inundation a strong smell of sulphur and hydrogen gas was perceptible, whence some persons concluded that the cause of the disaster was the bursting of a subterraneous reservoir in the neighbouring Souffrier mountain.

No political events of importance in the history of the year have been reported from this quarter; except the dissolution of the council in the Island of Trinidad be regarded as such. This circumstance was communicated to the members by the governor, Sir R. J. Woodford,

R. J. Woodford, at their third meeting, when he informed them that it was in consequence of instructions from the Prince Regent, as a mark of his disapprobation of their suspension of Judge Sunith from his appointments.

In relating the occurrences in the East-Indies, we'must go back to Col. Gillespie's success against the refractory Sultan of Djojocarta, in the island of Java, which was slightly noticed in the history of the last year, but has been fully reported in a dispatch from that officer to Lieutenant-governor Raffles, printed in the London Gazette. It being thought necessary to reduce the Sultan to obedience by arms, Colonel Gillespie collected about 600 fireJocks, a proportion of artillery, and two troops of the 224 dragoons, and being joined by the remainder of his force, with his principal supply of ordaance, under Lieutenant-colonel Macleod, procceded to Djojocarta, on June 18th, 1812, where that prince had fortified himself in his Krattan, or palace, surrounded by regalar works three miles in circumference, with a bastion at each corner, and occupied by 17,000 men. After some desultory actions, a general assault was made by the British troops on the morning of the 20th, in which their gallantry in a short time overcame every obstacle presented by an enemy vastly more numerous, but of a very.different quality from that of European soldiers; and all the entrances of the Kratton being forced, the victory was decided by the capture of the Sultan himself. The loss incurred by the victors did not exceed 28 killed and 76

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wounded; and their whole number actully engaged is stated by Colonel Gillespie not to have amounted to 1000 firelocks. proclamation was immediately published by the Lieutenant-governor, deposing the captured Sultan, after an enumeration of the crimes of which he had been guilty, and raising to the throne of Mataram the hereditary Prince Pangerang Adipati, by the style of Sultan Hamangkubuava the Third. This sovereign was installed in his authority on June the 22d, with the submission of all the princes and chieftains, and the country remained in a state of perfect tranquillity.

The state of Hindostan with respect to the native powers, and their relation to the British dominion in India, has offered little matter of interest during the present year. By intelligence from Barrackpore, dated February 1st, we are informed that a large body of Pindarees, which lately made irruptions into the company's provinces of Benares and Beiar, had plundered Nagpour, the capital of the Berar Rajah. The Rohilla chief, Ameer Khan, was laying heavy contributions in the country of the R jah of Jeypour, and probably intended to depose him. A party of 300 men from Nepaul had made an irruption into the company's districts at Tirhoot, and were said to be armed with English muskets, and to have carnion with them. A force of ten companies of native infantry, with some held-picces, under Captain Latten, had marched against them. With the excepNon of these petty and remote disdisturbances, the Indian peninsula,

A petty war between the Russian and Persian empires on the Georgian frontier has continued to subsist, attended with events in which the Asiatic inferiority in military affairs has been couspicuous. It has unfortunately happened that some British officers, employed to discipline the Persian troops, have found it necessary to act against the power with which their country was closely allied in Europe; but their engagements admitted no alternative. By a dispatch from Sir Gore Ouseley, received in India, it appears, that in October 1812, the Prince of Persia, attended by Major Christie and Captain Lindsay, with the corps disciplined under their direction, together with the main body of the Persians, amounting in all to 14,000 men, was encamped on the banks of the Aras, within a few miles of the Russian army. The Prince was repeatedly admonished by the British officers to attend to the security of his camp, by placing proper outposts; but with little effect. On October the 30th, he crossed the river, in order to hunt in the enemy's country, taking with him, in spite of Captain Lindsay's remonstrances, the whole corps of horse artillery-men, mounted, in order to rouse the game. He had not been more than two hours absent, when a body of Russians, 3000 in number, approaching, took possession of the Persian camp, before a sufficient force could be assembled for its defence. Captain

Lindsay arrived in time to save his guns, which he drew off to a commanding position; and he afterwards boldly entered the camp, and recovered a part of his ammunition. Major Christie, in the mean time, with his single corps, maintained a skirmishing fight with the Russians, and repeatedly drove them from a jungle which they occupied. In the evening the Prince withdrew his troops to a disadvantageous position full of holes, where infantry and cavalry were huddled together in the greatest confusion ; and he refused Major Christie the permission of marching his bri gade to a neighbouring height, where he might securely wait the expected attack of the Russians. Of Captain Lindsay's guns, eleven in the darkness of the night fell into a ditch; and the outposts of the army being as usual neglected, the enemy effected a complete surprize two hours before day-break. Major Christie calling out, Who goes there? was answered by a volley from which he received a shot in his neck, and had his borse killed under him; his corps was totally routed and chiefly put to the sword, and the whole field was a scene of carnage. The Persians lost 2000 · killed, 500 wounded, and 1500 prisoners, with 11 pieces of cannon; and the Prince narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the victors. The body of Major Christie was found two days after on the field, stript and covered with wounds. The Russians, after this exploit, returned to their former encampment. They afterwards meditated an attack upon Tebriz, but their design was pre

vented by a formidable insurrection of the Persians, headed by the presumptive heir to the Georgian principality, in which many of the Russian garrisons were cut off.

A report from the Russian commander-in-chief in Georgia, dated in January, relates that a detachment of 1500 Russian troops took by assault, on December 31st, the Persian fortress of Sincoran, on the Caspian sea, garrisoned by 4300 of their best troops, who were all destroyed, with the commandant and ten principal chiefs. In the place were taken two standards, eight pieces of cannon, and considerable stores of ammunition; and the province of Talycheusk in consequence came into the possession of Russia.

We have no account of military transactions on these frontiers during the present year, but it appears from the terms of a treaty of peace between the two crowns, published at Petersburgh in January 1814, that the Persian arms must have remained inferior, By that instrument, Persia cedes to Russia a number of governments on the Caspian sea, and the whole of Daghestan. It renounces all claims to Georgia, Imeretta, Guria, and Mingrelia, and cedes them in full sovereignty to Russia, the flag of which power alone is to be allowed in armed vessels on the Caspian sea. Certain favourable stipulations are also made for the Russian commerce in Persia.

Intelligence from Turkey at the close of the last year, mentions

that the Grand Seignior was daily taking measures to repossess himself of his authority, consisting in the usual acts of oriental despotism, by cutting off those of whom he was jealous, as in the instance of the family of Morousi. In the French papers accounts have been given of sanguinary hostilities be tween the Turks and Servians, probably owing to the unwillingness of the former to grant that indemnity to the latter which was stipulated in the treaty with Russia. The pestilence which afflicted Constantinople continued its ravages into the present year; and an estimate of the total loss of lives in that capital has stated them at the almost incredible number of 300,000.

Advices from Cairo, in October 1812, gave information of the capture of Safra and Dehediede from the Wahabees by the troops of the pashaw of Egypt. An Arab chief was also mentioned to have gained over a number of his country meu from that party, with whom, and some Egyptian cavalry, he had obtained possession of a defile on the road to Medina. Upon this success, the pashaw had advanced with his army near the place; and it was believed that the reduction of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina would certainly follow. Later accounts from Egypt say, that since the pashaw's troops had taken Mocha and Gedda, he had been making arrangements for opening a direct trade from Suez to India,

CHAPTER

Ο

N November 4th Tarlament

assembled after its adjournment, when the Prince Regent delivered a speech from the throne. It began with a commemoration of the splendid successes which bad attended the allied arms in the present campaign. Those in Spain were first touched upon, and the highest encomium was given to the Marquis of Wellington and the Troops under his command. The termination of the armistice in the North, and the declaration of Austria, were next noticed, with all the victories succeeding that period; and due applause was given to the spirit of union and co-operation displayed by the allied potentates, and the personal appearance in the field of the respective sovereigns, Mention was then made of the conventions and treaties entered into by this cabinet with the continental powers, which were to be laid before the Parliament, and confidence was expressed of its support in the great cause of Europe. In adverting to the war still unhappily subsisting with the United States of America, his Royal Highness expressed "deep regret to find an additional enemy in the government of a country whose

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real interest in the issue of this great contest must be the same as our own;" and declared his readi ness at all times to enter into di-cussions for the adjustment of the subsisting differences, “ upon principles of perfect reciprocity not inconsistent with the established maxims of public law, and with the maritime rights of the British empire." In the concluding part of his speech, after exhortations to perseverance in the purpose of defeating the views of universal dominion which have actuated the Ruler of France, his Royal Highness affirms, that “no disposition to require from France sacrifices of any description inconsistent with her honour, or just pretensions as a nation, will ever be on his part, or on that of his Majesty's allies, an obstacle to peace.'

The corresponding address was moved in the House of Lords by Earl Digly, and seconded by the Earl of Clare; who was followed by Marquis Wellesley, a d Lord Gren ville, both of whom declared their entire concurrence in the senti ments expressed in the speech. The latter nobleman touched upon the condition of Holland, and the obligation lying upon this

country