of musquetry through the windows of the houses; they then rushed in, and with fixed bayonets destroyed whoever was to be found; and afterwards they plundered and carried away whatever was of any value. What could not be removed was utterly destroyed. All these atrocities were perpetrated under the eyes of the officers who went about and encouraged them, calling out dobra (bravo), karascho (charming). No distinction whatever was made. Ladies of distinction, women and children, the sick and the wounded,the aged and prisoners of war,-all fared alike, all were treated in the most inhuman, cruel, and detestable manner;-and all were plundered. The supplications upon their knees, with tears and intreaties, of many of the most respectable ladies in the town, to obtain safeguards, were treated by that worse than wild-tiger Gen. Demidoff, and that complete monster in human form, Governor Emine, (who were galloping through the streets to give vigour and activity to the devastations carried on by the soldiers,) with a broad grin of contempt, or the most brutal conduct, and at best with unmanly threatenings, that if they ventured to say a word, the town should be burned and levelled with the ground. When these ruffians evacuated the town, they dragged with them many of the respectable inhabitants, (regardless of age or sex,) to a place called Kuortane, a distance of 72 English miles, where they made them run the gauntlet between two lines of soldiers, and flogged them as they passed along, according to their barbarous Russian custom; they then left them in their misery and pain to provide for themselves. Some of these victims have now returned, mere dying carcasses, to their sacked and plundered dwellings. Major-Gen. Demidoff caused three of the peasants to be tied together, and this being done, the Russians in a manner so peculiarly their own, and in order to prolong the pain and agony of the poor sufferers, pierced their thighs, arms, belly, and other parts with bayonets, before they killed them.-A magistrate of Christinestad, merely because they suspected him of an intention to inform the Swedish commander of the strength of the enemy, received for three successive days one hundred lashes each day. And this, although some few of the soldiers, vea, even of the officers with tears in their eyes, and without regarding the dangers, to which they were exposed from the unlimited vengeance of their superiors, did all in their power to protect the unhappy inhabitants, to prevent the robberies, to spare and console the sufferers. At Nerpes, about 120 well-built farms, (besides the rectory and two houses of my own, one entirely new), have in this parish been burnt to ashes by the Russians. The A young man who had launched his mother and his sister in a boat, to the care of Divine Providence, flew to the assistance of his beloved father, whom he found already in fetters: he then implored their mercy and offered as the ransom of his father to become himself their slave for life. This, which might have moved the most savage breast, had no effect on these rutitans, who, on the contrary seized upon him in the sight of his father, tied him between two horses, rode by Cossaks, who galloped off in full speed. No account has yet been received of him whether he now be among the living or the dead. Previously to their departure, they threw a quantity of firebrands into the different apartments. The venerable Mr. Falander, from Wasa, refusing to swear allegiance to the Emperor of Russia, was dragged to Abo, and after repeated endeavours to force him to comply, ordered to be beheaded. The scaffold was prepared, and the innocent victim stood ready to meet his fate, when his heavenly countenance so shook the Russian commander with fear, that he ordered him to be released instantly, and go where he chose. Another gentleman, when they at times asked him, whether he would not swear allegiance to the Emperor of Russia, this venerable man answered: Do to my body what you like, my soul you cannot touch, nor change my principles: and there is a God who rewards the faithful." Stockholm, Sept. 22, 1808.-The number of fugitives that pour in from Finland becomes greater and greater every day: these consist of old men, women and children, that come over in open boats, and make the Swedish land wherever they can; for now, when the Russians seem to have given up the idea of keeping Finland, they treat that province most unmercifully. At their first incursion, they shewed, with few exceptions, respect both to persons and personal property; but since they were forced to retreat, they have unmasked and identified themselves as true barbarians. Now, after plundering the villages of every thing, they set fire to the houses, and force the miserable inhabitants to take refuge among the bears and wolves of the wilderness, or to throw themselves on the mercy of the waves. On receipt of documents from Sweden, feeling for the unhappy situation of the poor inhabitants of Finland, who must be reduced to extreme wretchedness by these ravages of war; and apprehensive it might be too late in the season to communicate with Sweden, if they waited the result of this publication, the Committee for relieving the distressed Germans, &c. immediately desired a respectable house at Stockholm to draw upon the treasurers for £300; trusting in the generosity of the public, at least to indemnify the Committee to that amount.-£200 are appropriated to Wasa and its neighbourhood, and £100 to the town of Cuopio and its vicinity. In some places the approach of winter BRITISH AND POREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. The Christian societies in the connexion of the late Rev J. Wesley, have set an example worthy the imitation of other Christians throughout the kingdom, by making voluntary collections in their respective congregations, for the benefit of this important insti tution, of which Dr. Clarke has recently paid £700 to the Treasurer on account; and a considerable addition is expected to follow. We are happy to learn that, in addition to the Welch, Gaelic, French, Spanish, and German, in which languages a supply of the Scriptures is kept by the British and Foreign Bible Society, at their Depository, No. 169, Fleet Street, London, they are proceeding to print the New Testament in the Italian and Portugueze languages; and that they are probank-secuting the necessary inquiries, with a view to printing Arabic and modern Greek versions. is considered as that of famine. AFRICAN AND ASIATIC SOCIETY. On Tuesday, July 19, the African and Asiatic Society held their annual meeting, at the Free Masons' Tavern, Lincoln's Inn Fields. A very encouraging report was made by the committee, of their proceedings for the past year. The design of this Institution is, to shelter such outcasts, to store their minds with scriptural knowledge, and to supply their bodily wants. To prevent that thoughtlessness and degradation of soul which accidental alms-giving too often promotes, the Fund of Benevolence was raised, and is supported, partly by the small weekly contributions of the Africans themselves. One hundred and fifty-two have joined the Society, for this purpose; and have attended the means of grace occasionally. Several of them, at the last Anniversary, publicly expressed with gratitude the benefit they had received from the instructions tendered to them others are inquiring after knowledge. Twenty-six have attended the school. Pecuniary relief has been granted to the sick poor in more than a hundred and forty cases, and they have been visited in their affliction. The Society have, besides, contributed towards the expence of some of their funerals. RADCLIFFE INFIRMARY. At the annual meeting of the governors of the Radcliffe Infirmary, on Monday, 27th June, the sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Vincent, Dean of Westminster. The collection amounted to £149, 16s. 6d. The Earl of Jersey and the Rev. Mr. Leigh, of Addlestrop, are appointed stewards for the ensuing year. WEST OF ENGLAND INFIRMARY. After the late meeting of the gentlemen of the county of Devon at the Castle of Exeter, for the purpose of addressing his majesty on the present posture of public affairs, a very numerous and respectable body adjourned to the Hotel in Exeter, to concert measures for the establishment of an Institution in that city, to be styled, "The West of England Infirmary, for curing Diseases of the Eye only." A subscription was opened for this purpose, when upwards of two hundred pounds was immediately subscribed by the gentlemen present; and it was agreed, that there should be another meeting of the subscribers, for carrying this desirable measure into effect. WORCESTER GENERAL INFIRMARY. By the report of the Worcester General Infirmary, it appears, that from MidsumN. B. It would be an act of merciful jus- mer, 1807 to Midsummer, 1808, the numtice and substantial charity, if gentlemen, ber of patients admitted was 1169, of whom who have servants of the above description, 30 have died, and that, since its first estawould permit and urge them to avail them-blishment in 1745, the number admitted selves of the kindness of the Society. For a more particular account of the institution, we refer to the appendix to a sermon, by the Rev. W. Gurney, A. B. rector of St. Clement Danes, &c. preached on occasion of a collection for the purposes of this charity, and just published for the benefit of the society. amounts to 53,409. The receipts of last year wore £1918, 8s. 31d. and the expendi ture (including the purchase of 400 three per cent consols.) £1831, gs. 41d. Balance in hand £86, 18s. 11d. funded stock; 3 per cent consols, £8200; 3 per cent reduced annuities (arising from the Worcester Bread Cha◄ rity in 1802) £200. GLOUCESTER MUSIC MEETING. NEWCASTLE LYING-IN INSTITUTION. The attendance at the Gloucester Music At the last general meeting of the subscribMeeting was most respectable: and numerous ers to the Newcastle charity for the relief of beyond all former precedent. The collection poor married women lying-in at their own at the cathedral amounted to £560. 6s. 11d.houses, it appeared from the books of the The stewards nominated for the next Glouces- Treasurer, that since the commencement of ter Meeting are, the Dean of Gloucester, the Institution, 5581 poor women have reRev. Mr. Lysons, Rev. Mr. Clutterbuck, ceived the benefit of the charity; that between Mr. Paul, Mr. Smith, Mr. Napier. the 1st of January, 1807, and the 1st of January, 1808, 104 poor women were delivered, and 106 children born, of whom 60 were males and 46 females; that of the women none have died; of the children 2 boys and 4 girls had died during the month; and that a balance of £60 was then in the hands of the treasurer. BIRMINGHAM MUSIC MEETING. The Birmingham Meeting has been the best attended of any ever before held at that place; and the receipts are upwards of £1000 more than at the last Festival. The performances produced £5,511, 12s. 24d.-The profits are to be applied to the benefit of the General Hospital. So great a collection merits particular attention, and is extremely honourable to all who have had a concern in its meritotorious purpose. We therefore insert, for the information of our readers, an account of the sums received on the respective days :First Day. Taken at the Church........ Collection at ditto..... At the Theatre.... At the Ball.... Second Day. Taken at the Church...... Collection at ditto........ At the Theatre........ WHITEHAVEN DISPENSARY. At the late anniversary meeting of the subscribers to the Whitehaven dispensary it appeared, that the number of patients admitted to the benefits of the charity from June 8, 1807, to June 13, 1808, is as follows :— Recommended and registered, 1156; children vaccinated, 298; trivial incidents, 2719: total, 4173. Of these have been cured, 1292; relieved, 38; pronounced incurable, 9; dead, 40; remaining upon the books, 68: total, 1453. The total number of patients admitted since the opening of the institution in 370 179 1793, is 94,604. Inoculated for the cowpox in the course of the last four years, L128 10 6 242 7 35 492 0 0 80 14 0 1103. NORWICH DISPENSARY. The annual report of the Norwich dispensary states the receipts (including the balance in hand) from 1st July, 1807, to 30th June, 1808, at £238, 7s. 94d., and the disbursements at £212, 17s. 5d.; leaving a balance of £25, 10s. 41d. During that period 305 patients have been cured, 54 relieved, 23 sent to the hospital, or into the country, 21 discharged for non-attendance, 10 not likely to receive benefit, 153 remain on the books, and 32 have died-making a total of 575; of whom 141 were visited at their own habita. tious. The number of patients admitted since the first establishment of the institution in March, 1804, amounts to 1946. DIDASCALIA. COVENT GARDEN THEATRE. On Monday evening, Sept. 26, the Covent Garden company made their first appearance at the King's Theatre, in the Haymarket, in consequence of the destruction of their own Theatre by fire, as noticed in our fast.After the popular air of God save the King," had been played, the curtain rose, and Mr. J. P. Kemble, the manager, in an Imperial Court dress, came forward, and addressed the audience in the following words: "Ladies and Gentlemen: I know not how to express the very sincere feelings with which I stand before you upon the present Occasion: and I am equally ignorant how to thank you for the very flattering marks of your favour, with which I am now, and have long been, honoured. I feel I shall not be able to state, in the collected manner I could wish, the object for which I at present, stand before you; and I beg you to impute that failure to any other cause, than a want of respect to those whom I have the honour of addressing. "Ladies and Gentlemen: immediately after the late destruction of the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, I trust the proprietors paid that humane attention to its workinen and dependents to which they were justly entitled: and I also trust they have lost no time in preparing to resume their share of contribution to the amusements of this metropolis, by engaging and fitting up for your reception the house in which we are now assembled. We have, however, to ask great indulgences at your hands; and we must be forgiven it we do not represent the productions of our poets with all those illusions of scenery, habits, and decorations, which the proprietors formerly spared no expence to provide, and no occasion to bring forward. In the Theatre of the ITALIAN Opera, to which we have been compelled to have recourse, we are naturally not so well provided to give life to the works of our native poets; and we must make large drafts upon your indulgence. Permit me, however, to state, that we shall make daily progress in bettering our present provision, and shall immediately set about to erect a new Theatre, such as we think will be worthy of the metropolis where it is situated, and in which we hope to be able to receive you by next September." by Oswald, the officer to whose charge she was entrusted. Oswald's sister is imposed on the prince for Alexina, the true princess, and after a variety of adventures at an inn, the imposition is discovered, the impostors are disgraced, and the innocent are made happy. The music is by Jouve, and is very pleasing. The piece was received with general approbation, and forms a very attractive spec| tacle. DRURY LANE THEATRE. The Mysterious Bride, a traditionary play, forward on Tuesday, Sept. 27, and met with written by Mr. Skeffington, was again brought a total failure, notwithstanding it had been received with considerable applause. twice performed last season for benefits, and shall not now remind the reader of its of its contents, than by merely stating that it defects by entering into any further analysis merited at least a longer existence We The Fortune Teller, a new musical farce, was produced on Thursday, Sept. 29, for the first and last time, as it received the just fiat of utter condemnation. The music was pretty; it was composed by Reeve, and we hope to hear it again in better company. A specimen of the songs will be found in our POETRY, as well as the prologue to the Mysterious Bride. The grand spectacle of Caractacus has been twice performed in the course of this last month. Such an exhibition would better become the theatre at Erfurth, than the servants of his Britannic Majesty at Drury Lane; nor should we be at all surprised to We have inserted the above from the report hear that it was performed at the former of the newspapers, as we could not obtain place the same day it was at the latter; indeed an entrance. But one of our friends who the splendid representation of a British prince gained admission assured us that Mr. Kemble in chains would be in character there, and in the delivery “ spoke like a tall fellow that a most acceptable sight to the monster manarespects his reputation," while anotherger of that theatre, who has ordered his troupe (characterising the composition of this finished piece of oratory) replied, he's like Parolles! he's a good drum,* my lord, but a naughty orator." σε A romantic melo-drama entitled the Forest of Hermanstadt, or Princess and no Princess, by Capt Hewetson, author of the Blind Boy, has been produced at the King's The atre. It is from the French, and the fable and incidents, are nearly the same as those of The Mysterious Bride.--The princess of Bulgaria, on her way to espouse the prince of Transilvania, is deprived of her royal robes Sarcastically alluding to those times when managers of play actors used to deliver their bills of fare, and expatiate on their contents, by sound of drum; in which stile, if our memory fail not, the grandfather to this same learned orator," " used to exhibit. of players with Talma at their head, to march near seven hundred miles merely to entertain and cajole an imbecile prince, whom he either wants to rob or to force to serve his purpose some other way, until he can say to him as he did to Ferdinand: Prince, il faut opter entre la cession gu la mort!-Vide Don Cevallos's Exposition, page 353 of the present volume. VIEWS OF SPAIN. Taken in the Year 1805. In perusing the following account of Spanish Commerce and Finances, we are to take into our consideration the extreme difficulty of procuring authentic information on those subjects under the late government, which, whatever intelligence it might receive from its agents, always supposed secrecy to be a necessary ingredient in the composition of a statesman, and absolutely indispensable in state affairs. From the publicity of our national proceedings, and the notoriety given to them by the press, with the general interest taken in them by the people, and the rapid circulation which they experience, we are entirely unqualified to judge of the diffi culties attendant on the procuring of authentic documents, in despotic governments.— The suppression of facts, the mutilation of accounts, are the smallest evils to which an inquirer is exposed: it is well if he does not also meet with falsifications, and additions calculated to mislead him in essential matters connected with his inquiry. must plead the excuse of the original writer of these papers for not presenting accounts of a later period than appear in his communications. With whatever earnestness he might desire to obtain them, they would be nevertheless withheld from him, as from the public at large. COMMERCE. This No country in Europe is better situated than Spain is for the purposes of trade. A considerable extent of coast on the Ocean, and on the Mediterranean, also, commodious harbours in both seas, roads affording safe anchorage, a convenient latitude for the departure of her ships either for India or America, which affords her considerable advantages over the northern nations who have to pass the Line. In the New World, from the point of California to the streights of Magellan, on the west of America, an immense extent of coast, where the ports may vie with the best in Europe. On the eastern coast of America, the gulph of Mexico, totally under her dependance; the island of Cuba, the most considerable of the Antilles, and which alone might supply all Europe with sugar; on the south of the Portuguese settlements in the Brazils, that of Buenos Ayres; in the Indian Seas, islands valuable for their extent, position, and productions: such are the claims which Spain might assert to the VoL. V. [Lit. Pan. Nov. 1808.] | monopoly of the trade of the whole world. And why should not Spain assume that commercial superiority to which her topogra phical situation entitles her? What was England before and during the long wars between the houses of York and Lancaster? Where were her manufactures then?-Where those vessels that have since given her power such preponderance? A parcel of Flemish Alba's oppression, transported the art of ma fugitives, intent on escaping the Duke of nufactures to London; the Reformers sought in Great Britain an asylum which France denied them; and brought over their industry with them. The ships of the Hanseatic towns transported the native productions of those islanders, their lead and tin. But Elizabeth (that great sovereign) knew how to avail herself of the faults other monarchs committed; and to her England owes her commerce and progress in navigation. Commerce establishes itself by mutual exchanges; the overplus of one country is sent to supply the deficiency of another, and the balance is in favour of that country which gives more than it receives. It will appear from the sequel, that the balance of commerce might be in favour of Spain; for she has every thing to give, and, if she choose. it, nothing to receive. - Her European continent supplies her abundantly with every article of the first necessity.-Arragon, Valentia, Andalusia, Castile and Navarre, supply superfine wool; consequently cloths.-Valentia, Grenada, Murcia, supply silks; consequently rich stuffs for objects of luxury.-Catalonia, Vady, wine, solder, and oil. lentia, Murcia, and Grenada, supply bran· La Mancha abounds in wine, and, with a few improve ments in the agricultural system, the execution of the royal order of the year 1765 for the liberty of the interior trade, and the probibition to export abroad, she would have corn in sufficient quantity for her consumption; because the overplus of the produce of Estremadura, which passes into Portugal, and that of Castile which finds its way into France through St. Andero, might supply the wants of Galicia and the Asturias. The Canary islands, fruitful in every kind of grain, would supply the metropolis. The island of Lanzarotta, one of the Canaries, might furnish more than is requisite for the consump tion of Madrid. Biscay supplies iron of excellent quality. The Pyreneans, the mountains of Galicia, Andalusia, Catalonia, Navarre, abound in timber for ship-building. The kingdoms of Grenada, Arragon, and Navarre produce a sufficient quantity of hemp for the use of the navy. With the assistance of the laboratory established at I errol, the Mexico copper might be prepared, and supply the M |