Hood, Commander in Chief of his Majesty's ships and vellels in the Mediterranean, to Philip Stephens, Efq. of which the following is a copy.

Victory, in the Outer Road of Toulon, Aug. 29.

Sir, In my letter of the 25th (of which I herewith fend a duplicate, and also of its inclofares), I had the honour to acquaint you, for the information of the Lords Commiffioners of the Admiralty, of the fituation of things at Toulon and Marseilles; fince that, feveral meflages have patled between me and the Sections of Toulon; and, having atfurances that they had proclaimed Louis XVII. King, and had fworn to acknowledge him, and no longer fuffer the defpotifn of the ty rants which at this time govern France, and that they would be zealous in their endeavours to restore peace to their distracted and calamitous country, I came to the refolution of landing 1500 men, and take poffettion of the forts which command the ships in the road. St. Julien, a turbulent hot-headed democrat (to whom the feamen had given the command of the fleet in the room of Tro goffe), had the command of the forts on the left of the harbour, and declared refiftance. In all enterprifes of war, danger, more or lefs, is to be expected, and must be submitted to; but, impreffed with the great importance of taking poffeffion of Toulon, the great fort of Malgue, and others on the main, in fhortening the war, I fully relied, that, in cafe my endeavours should not fucceed, 1 fhould be juftified in running fome rifque, being confcious I acted, to the best of my judge ment, as a faithful fervant to my King and country; therefore, at midnight on the 27th, I made the neceffary arrangements for putting the troops on thore, as near as poffible to the great fort, without their being molested by thefe batteries in the hands of St. Julien, under the immediate protection of the Meleager and Taitar, fupported by the Egmont, Robuft, Courageux, and Coloffus, which were And I all in the fort by noon on the 28th. authorized Capt. Elphinstone to land and enter, at the head of the troops, the fort of Malgue, and to take upon him the charge and commund as Governor; and directed Capt. Dickfor, on his anchoring, to fend a flag, with peremptory notice to St. Julien, that fuch fhips as did not immediately proceed into the inner harbour, and put their powder on fhore, should be treated as enemies. All but feven, whofe crews ran off with St. Julien, removed in the courie of the day. It is impoffible for me to express my obligation to Don Langara, adequate to my feelings of it, for the fingular honours of his implicit confidence in, and good opinion of, me, in the promptitude h's Excellency manifefted to comply with the withes contained in my fecond letter; as his Excellency

was not content with fending Admiral Gravina, but came with his whole fquadron except four, which he left to bring a body of troops from the army at Rofellon, and made his appearance from the deck of the Victory as the troops from his fquadron under my command were in the act of landing. Admiral Gravina came on board; and, upon my explaining to him the neceffity of as many Spanish troops being put on fhore immediately as could be fpared, he told me he was authorized by his Admiral to pay atten tion to any request I should make, and undertook to prepare 1000 at least, to be lauded this morning, under the protection of the four hips I had ordered to anchor, and were all in the fort before twelve o'clock.

I herewith tranfmit a copy of Don Langara's letter, in answer to mine of the 25th.

The corps of Cartau has been at Marfeilles, and committed all manner of enormities, and is now on its march to Toulon, expecting to join the army near at hand from Italy. The former confifts of 10,000 men; the number of the latter is not ascertained; but, be it more or less, I trust the whole will make no impreffion even upon the town of Toulon; upan the fort of Malgue, I am pretty confident, they cannot do it. Information has just been sent me that Cartau has planned to fend away from Marseilles all the money, as well as merchandize, in the town; the former is faid to confift of four millions of livres; but I have planned to prevent him, by having fent off to Marfeilles two fhips of the line, with orders not to fuffer any veffel to fail; and I am now fending two frigates, which I could not fpare before. After having taken poffeffion of Toulon and the forts, I judged it expedient to iffue another Proclamation, which Capt. Elphinstone tells me has had a very happy effect; a copy of which I alfó inclofe. The knowledge of this event to the King and his Majefty's Minifters appears to me of that magnitude, that I think it expedient to adopt two modes of conveyance, one by the way of Barcelona, and the other by Genoa,

Lord Hugh Conway has the charge of one dispatch, and the Hon, Capt. Waldegrave the other; who will be able to inform his Majetty's Minifters at thofe places they may pats of the Allied Powers.

I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed)
HOOD.
PROCLAMATION by the Right Hon. Samuel
Lord Hood, Vice Admiral of the Red, and
Commander in Chief of bis Britannis Majesty's
Squadron in the Mediterranean, &c.

Whereas the Sections of Toulon have, by their Commiflioners to me, made a folemn declaration in favour of Monarchy, have proclaimed Louis XVII. fon of the late Louis XVI. their lawful King, and have sworn to acknowledge him, and no longer fuffer the defpotiím

defpotifm of the tyrants, which at this time govern France, but will do their utmost to ettablith Monarchy, as accepted by their late Sovereign in 1789, and restore peace to their ditracted and calamitous country:

I do hereby repeat, what I have already declared to the people of the South of France, that I take poffeflion of Toulon, and hold it in truft only for Louis XVII. until peace fhall be re-established in France, which I hope and trust will be soon.

Given on board bis Britannic Majefty's
thip Victory, off Toulon, the 28th of
Auguft, 1793. (Signed) HOOD.
By command of the Admiral,

(Signed)

Jno. M'Arthur, Sec.

Moft Excellent Lord,

I have received your Excellency's muchefteemed letter, with the intelligence therein mentioned, and inclosing a copy of your Proclamation. In confequence, I cannot refift taking the greatest interest in the common caufe; and, confidering the effects that might refult from my not taking advantage of fo favourable an opportunity, I have de termined to proceed immediately, in view of your fquadron; and, at the fame time, I difpatched an exprefs to rhe Commander in Chief of the army in Rofellon, defining that he would embark in four fhips, which I left for that purpofe, two or three thoutand of the best troops, to he employed as your Excellency withes in the operations you have pointed out.

May God preferve you a thousand years,
Moft Excellent Lord,

I kifs your Lordship's hands,

Your moft obedient, and faithful humble
fervant,

(Signed) JUAN DE LANGARA ET HUARTE.
On board of the Mexicano, off the coast

of Rofellon, the 26th of Aug. 1793. Admiral Lard Hood.

Difpatch from Col. Sir James Murray, Adjutant-general to the Forces under the Command of his Royal Highness the Duks of York, to the Right Hon. Henry Dundas.

SIR, Dismude, Sept. 14, 1793I take the opportunity of Capt. Robinfon, of the Britant frigate, going to England, to inform you, that the Dutch posts upon the Lys were forced by the enemy upon the 12th. In confequence of this the troops of the Republic have abandoned Menin, and have fallen back upon Bruges and Ghent. His Royal Highness means to march this day to Thouroute.

Accounts were received this morning that an engagement had taken place at Villers en Couchée, near Quefnoy, in which the French were defeated, with the lofs of 3000 men and 11 pieces of cannon.

I have the honour to be, &c.
JA. MURRAY.

St. Amand, Sept. 16. I have the honour of inclofing to your Lordfhip the report of the re-capture of Menin, as fent in by Gen. Beaulieu to Prince Cobourg.

Sept. 15. This morning the French, to the number of 12 or 14,000 men, advanced from Wevelghem to Bitfegem, where they attacked the advanced ports on the left of Gen. Beanbeu's army. The attack was brisk, and would have completely fucceeded on the fide of the French, if Gen. Beaulieu had not fent fpeedy and fucceffive re-inforcements to the port of Biffegem. The French had them recourse to their numerous artillery, in order to diflodge the Auftrians from their pofition behind Landerberg; and they would have been fuccefsful there, if they had not fuddenly found their left turned by a body of Aut/ian infantry, headed by Capt. Malkfham, of the regiment of Beaulieu, who attacked them with cannon on the left flank, and alfo in the rear. This movement of the Auftrians on the left flank of the French had fuch an effect upon the latter, that they began to give way. Gen. Beaulieu then, availing him felf of this circumftance, charged them in front, and put them totally to flight. General They retreated towards Menin. Beaulieu, having collected his cavalry, which had routed the French, waited for reports from his right, in order to be affured that he might purfue the enemy without interrup

tion.

The reports arrived about one o'clock P. M. In confequence, Gen. Beaulieu, without a moment's hefitation, marched towards Menin; the rather, as he had learnt that Gen. Ehrbarch, with four battalions, and eight fquadrons, was on his march from Ro: Auer. In the purfait, Gen. Beaulieu's advanced guard had feveral fkirmishes, in which it had constantly the advantage, repulling the enemy quite to the gates of Me

nin. At four in the afternoon Gen. Beaulieu

arrived, with his whole corps, under the

walls of that town, and attacked the French with cannon; at the fame time he affaulted the ramparts near the gate of Rouffeur, when the French, without any further refiftance, totally abandoned the place, and paffed the Lys with precipitation, leaving at the bridge only a weak rear-guard, which was entirely killed at ten by the Auftrian troops, who entered at the gate of Courtray. In this interview Gen. Ehrbarch arrived with his Corps, and immediately paffed the Lys. Two English fquadrons joined the Austrian huf fars in the parfuit of the French, who re. treated towares Roncq. In this action we loft above roo men, killed or wouded. The lefs of the Frence is between 4 or 500 nie. We are not able at prefent to compute the number of prifoners. At the departure of

the

SCOTLAND.

Edinburgh, Auguft. This day came on, at Holyrood Houfe, the election of a Peer to reprefent the Scotch Peerage in Parliament. After the ufual preliminary business, the Earl of Lauderdale informed the Meeting, that the Marquis of Tweeddale declined standing a candidate. His Lordship then, in an animated fpeech, reprobated the late RefoJutions in the Houfe of Peers, allowing Britith Peers, created fince the Union, to vote at Elections. He faid, it was a notorious infringement of their privileges, and it was the duty of the Lord Regifter's deputies to refufe their votes. The refolutions of the Houfe of of Lords were not printed; they were not matter of record; they could not found an action in any of the Courts in WestminsterHall. All their authority was newspaper information, which he cautioned them not to trust to; for, he was purfuaded, nothing fhort of an order of the Houfe of Peers could autherife them to receive the vote of any noble Lord ftanding in that fituation. His Lordship concluded with giving in a protest against the meafure, which he infifted should be inferted in the journals

Camp, to reconnoitre the enemy's fituation,tion, and hope will render him an object of and found they were pofted in the village of attention. Pollouiles, upon the fide of a fleep hill, a I have the honour to be, my Lord, deep ravine in their front, with a ftone YourLordship'smoitobedient humble servant, bridge over it, defended with two pieces of G. K. ELPHINSTONE. cannon, and the windows filled with mufRight Hon. Lord Hood, Vice Admiral quetry. About two hundred yards further of the Red, e. Ee. up the hill, at a ruinous cattle, there were two more pieces of eannon, and the walls of the vineyards lined with mutquetry. It was now half paft fix in the evening, without any appearance of the French troops er the cannon from Toulon; it became therefore neceffary, either to attack immediately or retire: I preferred the former, and ordered the flanking party to keep up an inceffant firing upon the cannon at the bridge. I then ordered the column, under cover of a ftone wall, cautiously to advance within two hundred yards, and then, being open to the fire of the enemy, to rush forward, which was executed under a very fevere fire; when the enemy inftantly abandoned their pofts on all quarters, leaving us in poffeffion of their cannon, horfes, and ammunition, two stand of colours, drums, &c. They were purfued up a very steep hill to the further end of the village. It was now become nearly dark, and the ammunition was expended, which induced me to order the troops to occupy the eminence, as we were in an unknown country, and abandoned by the guides, who fled upon the first fire. After halting for an hour, I led the troops back to Toulon, with the prifoners and cannon taken from the enemy, and on the road we met the French troops and the cannon, which ought to have left Toulon with us, but which unfortunately had been delayed. From the information that we received in the village, and from the prifoners, we found that we had beaten the Elite of Carteaux's army, confifting of between feven and eight hundred men, and fome cavalry, which had been fent from Marseilles, for the purpofe of overawing Toloun, and that they expected to have been joined the next day by 400 men and 8 pieces of cannon. In this little affair, it becomes my duty to inform your Lordship, that the conduct of the troops, thofe of his Majefty as well as thofe of the King of Spam, was highly meritorious. Captain Moncrief, of the 11th, Commandant of the British troops, headed the column with a degree of intrepidity worthy of imitation; and Don Monteiro, Commandant of the Spanish troops, conducted himself with equal valour. But the credit of the day was chiefly derived from the great exertion and gallant behaviour of Captain Douglas, Town Major of Tourlon; and it is with grief I add, that he was mortally wounded, and is fince dead: in my mind, the King's fervice has fuftained a great lofs. The conduct of Enfign Forster, of the oth regiment, my Aid-do-Camp, was fuch as to give me the fulleft fatisface 4

He was anfwered by the Farl of Morten, who faid the proceedings of the House of Lords were certainly matter of record; they gave a title to British Peers to vote, and he thould undoubtedly exercife his right.

Before calling the Roll, the Earl of Lauderdals wished to know from Mr. Home whether be intended to take the votes of British Peers; and, being anfwered in the affirmative, his Lordfhip taid, he would make the conduct of the Deputies of the Lord Regifter the fubject of enquiry in another place. The election then took place, and Lord Somerville was chosen by a very great majority, there being only figned lifts from the Earl of Breadalbane and the Earl of Hyndford for the Marquis of Tweeddale.

COUNTRY News.

(Continued from p. 762, of our laßt.) Margate, Auguft 7. In the evenme, there happened the moit violent gale of wind ever remembered in this place. The fhutters of one of the shops near the Parade were blown into the middle of the street, feveral people were thrown off their legs: the fwifts of a windmill near Westbrook were torn off; a ftack of hay was blown down near the fame place; one of the bathing machines that stood near the Rope-ground was blown over, as was a waggon loaded with wheat; the awning over one of the bathing-houses was

entirely

entirely torn off. It was fucceeded by tremendous thunder, lightning, and rain.

Harwich. The fame ftorm reached this place, and the inhabitants experienced the most awful fcens they ever witneffed. About feven o'clock, the sky to the fouthweft was covered with black clouds, and the rain defcended in large drops, the wind at this time being S.S.E. blowing strong. Soon after, the rain increased, and the whole horizon appeared to open with tremendous peals of thunder and violent flashes of lightning, which continued for fome time; at the clofe of which, an electrical fluid, or ball of fire, feemed to burst, which tore down one fide of a chimney belonging to the house of Mr. Philip Fennings, made its paffage through the roof, and paffed fome clofets adjoining to the chimney. Frovidentially no other accident happened. Every room was filled with fmoke of a fulphureous imell; 2 or 3 veffels were foundered on the fands. 1

At Newport, a young man, 17 years of age: nephew of Mr. Prowfe, was ftruck dead in his uncle's houfe by the lightning; the houfe was at the fame time much damaged, and the windows were nearly all fhattered to pieces.

At Portfmouth, and in the neighbourhood, the ftorm was alfo feverely felt. Several wherries were overfer, but providentally nn lives loft. The West wall of the Jews burying-ground was blown down; an ox, the property of Mr. Way, was killed; a tree on the ramparts was much damaged.

At Wickham, the houfe of A. Atherley, Efq. was entered by the lightning; and a bed and fome other articles were fet fire to, and confumed.

Windfor, Aug. 16. Her Majesty, in honour of his Royal Highness the Duke of York's birth-day, and in order to célebrate it in the manner that she knew would have been most acceptable to the feelings of his Royal High

entertainment to be prepared for the foldiers of the regiment (a part of the Buffs) now doing duty in Windsor Castle.

At Brighton, between 6 and 7, the atmof-nefs, had he himself been prefent, ordered an phere become fuddenly and uncommonly dark, and a moft tremendous ftorm of thunder and lightning fucceeded, accompanied with torrents of rain: during the form, which lafted rather more than half an hour, the tide, which was coming in, fuddenly went back above 100 yards, and in a few minutes returned again; it ebbed and flowed in that manner fix or seven times in the fpace of half an hour: the oldest inhabitants declare they never faw any thing like it before.

At Thornton, in Leicestershire, there fell the most violent storm of rain and hail ever remembered in that neighbourhood. It rained at first for à few minutes, attended with fmall hail; but the rain poured down like waterfpouts. After ceafing for a moment, a moft tremendous hail-ftorm fucceeded, fuch as the oldeft inhabitant had never before witnetled: it lafted about a quarter of an hour, and the stones, or rather pieces of ice, were of a most extraordinary fize, meafuring round from 44 to 6 inches; fome of them were quite round, as if turned with a lathe; fome triangular, with sharp edges; others of an oblong form. All the gardens in the place are laid waste, and the windows facing the fouth and fouth-west are com❤ pletely deftroyed. This dreadful form also destroyed a great part of the wheat and barLey which were growing in the open field called Church-field, and in the adjoining field called the Stainton-field: the bean crop has fuffered nearly the fme fate, befides the crops in the different inclotures. Upon a 'moderate computation, the lofs to the fufferers will be gool. and upwards At Kirkby forme damage was alfo done; the ftorm extended itself in breadth about three quarters of a mile, and from Thornton took its course towards Merry-Leys, Staunton, and Sheep

fhead.

GENT. MAO. September 1993.

A range of tables was erected in the Little Park, for the accommodation not only of the foldiers, but of all their wives and children. At half past one, the regiment in battalion, with colours flying, drums beating, &c. marched into the park; the wives and children of the non-commiffioned officers and privates followed in proceffion. Thefe, with their husbands and fathers, foon after fat down to a plentiful repaft. Their Majefties, with four of the Princeffes, attended by Lord and Lady Courtown, Lord and Lady Cathcart, Lord and Lady Stopford, Lady Bulkeley, Ladies Grenville and Howe, Mifs Egerton, Col. Garth, and Major Price, honoured the upper end of the table with their presence, to view the feftive fcene. During the hearty dinner, the band played, "God fave the King." After it was over, feveral loyal toafts were drunk with repeated cheers, and the whole concluded with high decorum.

At eight o'clock in the evening, their Majefties, with four of the Princeffes, honoured Lady Cou town with their prefence at ber appartments in the Round Tower, where fhe gave a grand entertainment in honour of his Royal Highness the Duke of York's birthday. From the Weft window of the Round Tower the letters D. Y. were fufpended in variegated lamps, and the stair-cafe was hung with the fame in feftoons. At eleven the Royal party fat down to fupper, and retired at twelve. The whole town of Windfor was brilliantly illuminated. The theatre had a tranfperent painting of the Duke of York; the infcription, "Long live England's glory!"

Liverpool. It is computed that one tenth of the inhabitants of this place are Welsh, uppofing the town to contain 60,000, as

great