deplorable event occurred, the houses, to a large extent, are level led with the ground. At the aw. ful moment many families were sitting at dinner with their friends, and were thus precipitated into eternity: fathers, mothers, children, servants, all were rapidly hurried to one promicuous grave. Husbands have lost their consorts and their off. spring, and the latter their husbands and their sires. Of the number of the dead, various conjectures have been formed; many respectable persons have been dog out, and others are known to lie still in the rains. Among the dead are several of the most respectable families in the city, and many strangers then on visits. Property to a large amount has been lost, great part of it irrecoverably; and many of the necessaries of life have been spoiled by the showers of broken glass which filled the shops and apartments. It seems, that a vessel laden with 10,000 lbs. weight of gunpowder, from Amsterdam, destined for Delft, and then lying in the Rapenburg canal, by some means took fire, and instantaneously blew up. Of the vessel, on board of which were the owner's two sons and a servant, not an atom is visible.. Close to the vessel which blew up lay a yatcht, on board of which were from 15 to 20 persons, not a vestige of whom was to be found. Two professors of the university are stated to have been killed, and several other persons in that celes brated seminary. Fortunately, it being vacation, great numbers of the students were absent; and those who were present are said to bave escaped. The king, with that peculiar goodness which characterizes him, repaired for the second time to Leyden on Friday last; visited the wounded and maimed, ascended the ruins, mixed with the la bourers there, and encouraged them to persevere in their unwearied diligence. On receiving the thanks of the magistrates and clergy, he returned them the most friendly answer, asked after individual losses, and left them with these words:-" The dead I cannot restore to you; that is above human power; but all that I can I will do for your city." His majesty made an offer of the Palace in the Wood to such respectable persons as had been depri ved of their habitations, or which were rendered uninhabitable - an offer which has likewise been accepted with gratitude His majesty has empowered the magistrates of this unfortunate city to make a general collection throughout the whole kingdom; and ordered that 100,000 guilders out of the treasury, be left to the disposition of the minister of the home-department, for relieving the most pressing necessities of the poor, and those who have lost their all. Several persons have been taken out alive from under the ruins; but some expired almost immedi ately afterwards. Great numbers still lie buried, the rubbish still forming such vast heaps, that a considerable time will be required to clear them. After the explosion, which was awful in the extreme, several fires broke out by the scattering of the lighted turf and coal in the hearths; and this calamity unfor tunately drew off, for a while, the the attention of the citizens to their suffering fellow-creatures, pining and lamenting beneath the ruins of their habitations, but shortly before the seats of hilarity and of social intercourse. 25. The inhabitants of Hanley and its environs have presented Thomas Chapman, only 13 years of age, son of Mr. Chapman, stationer, of Hanley, Leicestershire, with a pair of silver caps, value 15 guineas, and a watch, with gold seals, &c. value 91. 5s. as a reward for his intrepidity in saving Wm. Russel, a child of eight or nine years of age, from being drowned, on the 10th of May, 1806. He had all his clothes on, and leaped from a height of seven feet from the water, which was from 12 to 16 feet deep, and close to the side of that part of the stream called the Mill-tail. The child, who had also his clothes on, had sunk twice, but was saved by the intrepid youth's taking hold of him as he was sinking a third time, and swimming out with him. One evening last week, a man entered the house of Mr. Bates, of Ulcomb, Kent, with something black hanging over his face, and a pistol in each hand, and presented one at Mr. Bates, who is near 80, and the other at his son, as they were sitting one on each side the fire; in a minute after, two more came in; they, with sceming civility, told the old gentleman they wanted money, and would have some; he said, he would not be robbed, his life was of no consequence, and seized the arm that presented the pistol at him; the son and his wife begged him to desist, and said his life was more valuable than his money; two of the robbers then went up stairs, leaving one below as a guard, and took what silver spoons and other articles they could find, and about 207. in cash; they then came down, and made the family submit to have their hands and legs tied, which was done, and they remained in that state till ten o'clock, when, by repeated exertion, the old lady got her hands clear, and relieved her husband and son: this was the third time the house had been robbed within the last two years, and once of upwards of 401. A number of women have attend. ed within these few days at earl Spencer's office to request permission to accompany their husbands who are convicts, to Botany-Bay. The noble earl has granted permission to a number of them to go. Extraordinary Murder.-George Allen, of Upper Mayfield, Stafford. shire, for some time past had been subject to epileptic fits, but on Sunday se'nnight he was considerably better, and on Monday appeared quite well. At eight o'clock in the evening of that day, he retired to rest; and when his wife followed him in the course of an hour, she found him sitting upright in bed, smoking a pipe, which was his usual custom. In another bed, in the same room, lay three of his infant children asleep, the eldest a boy about ten years old, the second a girl about six, and another boy about three. The wife having got into bed, with an infant at her breast, Allen asked her what other man she had had in the house with her; to which she replied, "that no man had been there but himself." He insisted to the contrary, and his wife continued to assert her inno. cence. He then jumped out of bed, bed, and went down stairs, and she, from an impulse of fear, followed him; she met him on the stairs, and asked what he had been doing in such a hurry? In answer to which he ordered her up stairs again. He then went to the bed where his children were, and turn ed down the clothes. On her en deavouring to hold him, he told her "to let him alone, or he would serve her the same sauce;" and immediately attempted to cut her throat; in which he partly succeeded, and also wounded her right breast, but a handkerchief she wore about her head and neck prevented the wound from being fatal. She then extricated herself (having the babe in her arms all the time, which she preserved unhurt) and jumped, or rather fell, down stairs. Before she could well get up, one of the children (the girl) fell at her feet, with its head nearly cut off, and which he had murdered and thrown after her. The poor woman opened the door and screamed out," that her husband was cutting off the children's heads." A neighbour shortly came to her assistance; and a light having been procured, the monster was found standing in the middle of the house-place, with a razor in his hand. He was asked what he had been doing? when he replied coolly, "Nothing yet; I have only killed three of them." On their going up stairs, a most dread. ful spectacle presented itself; the head of one of the boys was very Dearly severed from his body, and the bellies of both were partly cut and partly ripped open, and the bowels torn completely out, and thrown on the floor. Allen made no attempt to escape, and was ta ken without resistance. He says, that it was his intention to murder his wife and all her children, and then to have put an end to himself. An old woman, who lay bed-ridden in the same house, he professed his intention also to have murdered. On Wednesday last an inquest was held on the bodies of the three children, before Mr. Hand, coro. ner of Uttoxeter; when he confessed his guilt, but without expressing any contrition. It appears from the testimony of his neighbours, that this unhappy man has lived in the utmost harmony with his wife for 17 years, and that he had the character of an honest, industrious man. When questioned by the coroner, he promised to confess something that had lain. heavily on his mind; and Mr. Hand supposing it might relate to a crime he had heretofore committed, cau sed him to be examined in the presence of other gentlemen; when he' told an incoherent story of a ghost,. in the shape of a horse, having about four years ago enticed him into a stable, where it drew blood from him, and then flew into the sky. With respect to the murder of his children, he observed to the' coroner, with apparent unconcern, that he supposed" it was as bad a case as ever the coroner heard of." 28. Watkin Herbert, a soldier convicted some time since of a robbery in Hyde Park, on Samuel James, attended with acts of cruel. ty, was executed in the Old Bailey, opposite Newgate. He wore his uniform,and seemed not very deeply impressed with the awfulness of his situ. ation; nor did he excite much com. miseration in the surrounding crowd, 29. A storm, or rather hurricane, was experienced in Exeter and ite neighbourhood, the fury of which was beyond any thing of the kind ever before remembered; the piazza and corner of the theatre were swept away; houses unroofed, and the showers of bricks and slates that were flying in all directions, made it extremely dangerous for the inhabitants to approach the streets; a stack of chimneys was blown down at the Royal Oak Inn, in Guinea-street, which broke through the roof into the upper story, where a woman was at work; and with the accumulated weight of the roof and bricks, falling with such velocity, the flooring gave way, and the woman was precipitated, with the rubbish, through the second floor, but was dug from the ruins without any material injury. A man named Humphreys, a musician in the band belonging to the Montgomery militia, who was seated in an apartment on the ground floor, was crushed to death. 31. An inquisition was taken at Shepperton, before G. Hodgson, esq. coroner for Middlesex, on the body of Fletcher Read, esq. the patron of boxers, who was found dead in his bed on Thursday morning. Verdict-Died by the visitation of God. Particulars of the dreadful catastrophe at Vellore, in India, from an officer in the company's service. "Madras, July 28, 1806. Perhaps, ere you receive this letter, the account of the melancholy catastrophe which has occurred at Vellore will have reached you. I will, however, give you a short sketca of it. The troops which, at this time, garrisoned Vellore, were six com. panies of the 1st battalion 1st regiment. N. I, and 2d battalion of the 23d regiment, and four complete companies of his majesty's 69th regiment. were "On the morning of the 10th instant, about two o'clock, when the moon had just risen, the Europeau barracks at Vellore surrounded, and at every wind w and door, a heavy fire from muske. try, and a six-pounder, were pour. ed in on the poor defenceless soldiers. At that instant, the European sentries, and the soldiers at the main guard, and the sick in the hospital, were put to death; and the Sepoys then proceeded to the officers' houses, and put to death all whom they could find. Colonel M'Kerras, who commanded one of the battalions, was shot while ha ranguing his men on the parade ground. Colonel Fancourt, the commandant of the fort, was shot upon proceeding towards the main guard; and all were butchered where-ever they could be found. Lieutenant Eley, of the 69th, with his little son in his arms, were both barbarously bayoneted, in the presence of his wife! This scene of carnage continued until about se ven o'clock in the morning, when two officers and a surgeon, whose quarters were near to the European barracks, contrived to get in, and then took the command of the remains of the four companies. "They made a sally from the barracks, got possession of the sixpounder, and fought their way to the gateway, which a serjeant Brody, with his European guard, had most gallantly defended against all the insurgents. At the instant, about half after seven o'clock in the morning, they reached the gate, Colonel Gillespie, with about a troop of the 19th dragoons, Irad reached the gate from Arcot, having left that place about six o'clock. He was hauled up by a горе rope by serjeant Brody's party, and had taken the command, when he intended to have charged the insurgents with the bayonet, but at this moment the gallopper guns of the 19th arrived. The gate was then blown open, and the 19th admitted. "The Sepoys were encouraged by their native officers to make a stand, but all were very soon cut to pieces by the 19th; about 600 were cut down, and about 200, subsequently taken from hidingplaces, were shot. About 500 made their escape, it is supposed, through the sally-port, but many of them have been since taken. "The cause of this dreadful affair is now investigating by seven commissioners, who are sitting at Vellore. The 2d battalion of the 23d had been raised in the south ward, and was composed chiefly of Collories; their officers were indu. red by offers of great reward from one of the princes, to be bribed from their duty, and had sufficient influence over their men to make them join in the plan, which was to get possession of the fort, and which they calculated on keeping for a few days, when they were to be joined by 50,000 men from Mysore. The standard of Tippoo was hoisted on the palace soon after the firing commenced; and if it had not been for the entreaties of lieutenant-colonel Marriot, who declared the princes were innocent, colonel Gillespie would have delivered up the whole of the palace to the enraged soldiery. The cause is also to be attributed to a code of new regulations, which has occasioned general dissatisfaction through the army. These regulations have introduced a new turban for the 3. Sepoys, similar to a drummer's cap; have ordered the distinguishing marks of cast in the forehead to be taken off, and to shave their upper lip, &c. The Mysore princes doubtless availed themselves of this dissatisfaction; young's corps had been removed from thence to Madras, a few weeks before, for refu sing to wear the turban. Lord-William Bentinck, wisely, immediately issued a general order, doing away those regulations. I inclose a list of the killed and wounded. Major Armstrong was killed in his palanquin, by a volley from the ramparts, when passing along about break of day, being on his way to Madras." Killed. Col. Fancourt, commanding the garrison; lieut.- colonel M'Kerras, capt. Willison, lieut, Winship, lieut. Jolly, 2d batt. 23d reg. Native infantry; capt. Miller, lieutenants O'Reilly, Smart, and Tichborne, 1st batt. 1st reg. native infantry; lieutenants Eley and Popham, his Majesty's 69th reg.; Mr. S. S. Smith, military paymaster; Mr. Mann, deputy commissary of store; major Armstrong, 1st batt. 16th reg. native infantry; Mr. Gill, conductor of ordnance. Wounded. Capt. Barrow, capt. M'Lachlan, lieut. Mitchell, all s verely, his majesty's 69th reg. se Of the insurgent Sepoys, there are from 500 to 600 killed.. An Estimate of the charge of the office of ordnance for Great Britain, för the year 1807; and also of the said charge in Ireland for the said year," laid before par liament, is briefly as follows:LAND SERVICE, Expences not pro vided for, on ac- and 1806 - £568,773 3 10 Ordinary, |