eft man in Mexico. I leave them with you, and implore you to keep them, and preferve me from utter deftruction. The judge confented, upon his paying a certain fum for the trouble of the depofit; aud thofe famous jackboots are now to be feen among the curiofities of Mexico, hung up as a monument of the baneful effects of covetoufness and dishonesty. Poetry. WRITTEN BY MR BURNS, THE SCOTS TEAR, land o'cakes, and brither Scots, Heat Maiden Kirk to Johnie Groat's, If there's a hole in a' your coats, 1 rede, you tent it; A chield's amang you taking notes, If in your bounds ye chance to light At fome auld howlet-haunted biggin, Wi' deels, they fay, Lord fafe's! colleguing Ilk ghaift that haunts auld ha' or chamer, It's tauld he was a fodger bred, He hath a fouth o' old nick-nackets, And pitcher-pots, and auld fan backets, Befides, he'll cut you off fugleg He'll It was a faulding jackteleg, Or lang kail gully. Now by the powers o' verse and profe, They fair mifca' thee! I'd tak the rafcal by the nofe, Would fay, thame fa' thee ODE TO CHEARFULNESS, "H Thou more lovely far than mirtha, AIL! Virgin of ethereal birth, O hither bend thy way! Come, beauteous nymph, ferenely smiling, Thou mak'ft each prospect gay. Thine eye with joy young fpring beholds And spreads thy fav'rite hue; That verdant life renew. Thou lov't to range the fields at dawn, At leifure Eve's advance; Not een hoar winter's dreary sway, Nor change thy fprightly mien; Though abfent fol his ray denies, The friendly train regale; Some fairy legend each imparts, Thy prefence charms ftern grief to reft, Like her thou fly'it th'abandon'd mind, What magic in thy afpect dwells! What graces round thee thine! ON ON A TEAR. H! that the Chemift's magic art 'O Could chryftalize this facred treasure! Long fhould it glitter near my heart, A fecret fource of penfive pleafure. The little brilliant, ere it fell, It's luftre caught from Chloe's eye; Then, trembling, left its coral cellThe fpring of Sensibility! Sweet drop of pure and pearly light! In thee the rays of Virtue fhine Who ever fly'ft to bring relief, The Sage's and the Poet's theme, In every clime, in every age; Thou charm'st in Fancy's idle dream, That Law which moulds a tear, To MR POWELL, THE CELEBRATED WALKER. TE who an animal bestrides, No pleafant fight is while he rides, How much then is the human race To celebrate the generous fteed At Grecian ganies bestow'd, What fuch reward fhould hinder? In point of teeth and tongue; Pale on a rock's aspiring steep, I fee the white rob'd phantom weep, And altars open'd to the gazing eye, And ponder 'mid thy drear retreat; Where wisdom held her hallow'd feat; Here let me roam, in fpite of Folly's fmile, A pensive Pilgrim, o'er each pitied pile. Poor Ghost! no more the Druid race Shall here their facred fires relume: No more their fhowers of incenfe blaze; No more their tapers gild the gloom. Lo! fnakes obfcene along the temples mien, Gigantic ruin treads the weeping fcene. No more the Bards in strains fublime Each glorious deed approv'd by Fame. Deep in the duft each lyre is laid unfrung, While mute forever flops each - tuneful tongue. Here Wisdom's, Virtue's awful voice Infpir'd the Youths of Cornwall's plains : With fuch no more thefe hals rejoice. But fullen, death-like, filence reigus, While melancholy, in yon mould'ring tow'r Sits lift'ning to old Ocean's distant sour." Let others, heedlefs of the Hill, With eye incurious pafs along; My Mufe with grief the fcene fhall fill, And fwell with fofteft fighs her fong, Ah! pleas'd each Druid manfion to deplore, Where Wisdom, Virtue, dwelt, but dwell to more. THE THE Monthly Reginer FOR OCTOBER 1791. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. EAST INDIES. From the London Gazette Extraordinary of October 5. we have the following Letters. Te the Honourable Court of Directors for affairs of the Honourable the United Company of Merchants of England, trading to the Eaft Indies. HONOURABLE SIRS, SHALL not trouble your Honourable of the inceffant exertions beth of body and mind which are required by the various duties of my prefent fituation; nor fhould I have alluded to them, but I am under the indifpenfable neceflity of ftating them, as the caufe of my being obliged, on this occafion, instead of entering into a detail of particulars, to limit myself to a concife and general account of our late operations, and of my future intentions. Our preparations for the campaign having been completed at Madras, the army marched from Velhout on the 5th of February; and having reached Vellore on the 11th, we halted there two days, for the purpose of drawing from thence a fupply to my Lock of provifions, and an addition that had been prepared to the battering train, and of receiving fome ftores and recovered then from Arnce. his country, before it was poffible for him to give us the leaft obftruction. The forts of Colar and Oufcottah lay in our route to Bangalore, and surrendered to them were in a tenable condition nor at us without refiftance; but as neither of that time of any value to us, I left them unImail garilons. occupied, after difarming and difmifling their I arrived before Bangalore on the afterthe engineers were employed in reconnoi noon af the 5th of March, and on the 6th tring the place both in the morning and evening on their latter excurfion Leut. whole cavalry, difcovered the rear of TipCol. Floyd, who efcorted them with the apparently in confufion, and unfortunately fuffered himfelf to be tempted, by the flattering profpec of striking an important blow, to deviatė from the orders he had received from me, and to attack the enemy. His fuccefs at firft was great, but the length and ardour of the purfult threw his fquadrons into great confufion. In this ftate they were charged by Tippoo's cavalry, and, being out of the retire with great precipitation, and with the reach of all fupport, they were obliged to lofs of 200 meri and 300 horfes. Leut. Col. Floyd received a very fevere wound in the face, from which, however, I have the picafure to add that he is now perfectly reco vered. fear of lofing time, and many The ill fuccefs of our examination, the cumftances, of which the hopes of obtaining other circed me to determine immediately to attack a fupply of forage was not the leaft, indus the fort from the Pettal ide. The Pettah the morning of the 7th, and the Lege of the was accordingly affaulted, and carried on fort,whichwestendered ingularly arduousnet only by the fcarcity of lorage, and ftrength of its works and garrifod, but alfo by the prefence of Tippoo and his whole army, night of the 21, in which the Kellidar, was happily terminated by an affault on the and a great number of his garrison, put to the fword, and our lofs, in proper Una I had, previous to my arrival at Vellore, employed every means in my power to ob tain accurate defcriptions of the different paffes that lead into the Myfore country; and having found fufficient grounds to be confident that the Moogly pas could be cafily rendered practicable, I turned of to the right at Vellore, and not only afeded the pafs without much difficulty, but, y haying taken a route that Tippoo does not feem to have expected, I was alfo lucky eBough to advance a confiderable way into were tion to the nature of the enterprife, was extremely inconfiderable. I cannot, however, help expreffing, on this occafion, my fincere regret for the death of that brave and valuable officer Lieut. Col. Moot house, who was killed at the affault of the Pettah, on the 7th of March. I have not yet been able to obtain correct fifts of the ordnance, or of the different articles that were found in the magazines of the place; and I can therefore only fay in general, that there were upwards of one hundred ferviceable pieces of ordnance, near fifty of which were brafs, a large quantity of grain, and an immenfe depot of military fores. Although Tippoo approached our pofition, and even cannonaded the camp, both on the 7th and 17th, yet on thefe occafions, and on all others during the fiege, he took his meafures with fo much caution as to put it effectually out of my power to force him so rifk an action; and on the night of the affault he retired, in great hafte, from the fouth fide of the fortreis, where he was then pofted, immediately upon his being acquainted with its fall. After giving fome repairs to the breaches, making a number of neceffary arrangements, and leaving the train of heavy artillery to be refitted during my abfence, I moved from Bangalore on the 28th, with the defign of fecuring a fafe and Speedy junction with a large body of cavalry that the Nizam had promifed to fend to nie, and receiving a reinforcement of troops and a fupply of provifions and ftores, which I had fome time before ordered to be in readinefs to join me, by the way of Ambeor, from the Carnatic, confidering thofe as ne ceffany preliminary meafares for enabling me to proceed to the attack of Seringapa tam; and I, at the fame time, communicated my intentions to General Abercromby, and directed him to ufe every exertion in his power, that might be confiftent with the fafety of the corps under his command, to prepare hirafelf in the manner that I prefcribed, to give me effeétual alliance when I should reach the enemy's capital. Tippoo having made a movement to the weftward on the fame day that I marched from the neighbourhood of Bangalore, I fell in with his rear at the diftance of about eight or nine mile from that place; but, from the wart of a fufficient body of cavalry, it was found impracticable, after a purfuit of confiderable length, either to bring him to action, or to gain any advantage over him, except that of taking one brafs gun, which, owing to its carriage breaking down, he was obliged to leave upon the road. My first object being to form a junction with the Nizam's cavalry, I made fuch evements, or took fuch pofitions, as I knew would effectually prevent Tippoo from intercepting them, or even from disturbing their march; but although I was at great pains to point out the fafety of the march to Rajah Teigewunt, and to encourage hin to proceed, the effects of my recommendations and requcfts were but flow; and, after waste of time, which at this late season of the year was invaluable, and which almost exhaufted my patience, the junction was not made till the 13th inftant. It is not eafy to afcertain the number of the corps with precifion, but I fuppofe it to amount to fifteen or fixteen thousand horfe; and though they are extremely defective in almost every point of military, difcipline; yet, as the men are in general well mounted, and the chiefs have given me the ftrongcft affurances of their difpofition to do every thing in their power to promote the fac cefs of our operations, I am in great hopes that we fhall derive material advantage from their affiftance. This junction being accomplished, I marched on to effect my next object without lofs of time; and being arrived at my prefent camp on the 18th, and ordered the oft expeditious meafures to be taken for tranfporting the ftores from the head of the pafs, I fhall commence my march again to the weftward on the 22d; and, after calling at Bangalore for the heavy artillery, I trust that I fhall find it practicable to reach Seringapatam before the 12th of next month. No ufeful purpofe could be promoted by my enumerating the difficulties which I have already encountered in carrying on the operations of this campaign, and it would be equally unprofitable to enlarge at prefent upon the obftacles which I forefee to our future progres; they are, however, of so weighty a nature, that under different circumstances I fhould undoubtedly act with more caution, and defer the attempt upon the enemy's capital till after the enfuing rains; but, acquainted as I am with the unfettled fituation of political affairs in Eu rope, and knowing that a procraftinated war would occafion almost certain ruin to our finances, I confider it as a duty which owe to ny ftation, and to my country, to difregard the hazard to which my own military reputation may be expofed, and to pro fecute, with every fpecies of precaution that my judgment or experience can fuggeft, the plan which is moft likely to bring the war to an early decifion, I have, at the fame time, been the more encouraged to perfeyere in the execution of my original intentions, as both the Nizam and the Mahrattas have of late fhewn air uncommon alacrity in fulfilling their engagements, which, by the fmalleft appearance of backwardness on our part, would be immediately Immediately cooled, and which, I truft, will, in addition to our own efforts, effentially contribute to counteract many of the difadvantages which the difficulty of the march, the risk of fcarcity of provifions and forage, and the approach of the rainy feafon, prefent against the undertaking; and if thofe obftacles can be overcome, the capture of Seringapatam will probably, in its confequences, furmifh an ample reward for our labours. A few days after our fuccefs at Bangalore, Tippoo repeated his propofitions to open a negotiation for terminating our differences; but whether with a fincere defire to obtain peace, or with the inuidious hopes of exciting jealoufies in our allies, by inducing me to liften to his advances, is not certain. The line for my conduct, however, was clear; and, conformable to our treaties, I declined, in civil and moderate terms, to receive a perfon of confidence on his part, to difcufs the separate interefts of the Company; but informed him, that if he fhould think proper to make propofitions in writing, for a general accommodation with all the members of the confederacy, I fhould, after communicating with the other powers, tranfmit our joint fentiments upon them. I fhall refer you entirely at prefent to the accounts that you will receive from the dif ferent governments of the details of their respective business; and fhall only add, that the perfonal attention that I have experienced from the members of the Supreme Board, and the zeal they have manifefted fince I left Calcutta, in promoting the public good, have given me very particular fa tisfaction. The Swallow packet will remain in readiness to be dispatched in Auguft, or fooner, if it should be thought expedient; and I fhall, by that opportunity, have the honour of writing to you on feveral of thofe fubjects on which you muft no doubt be anxious to receive minute information. I cannot, however, conclude this letter, without bearing most ample teftimony to the zeal and alacrity which have been uniformly manifefted by his Majefty's and the Company's troops, in the performance of the various duties of fatigue and danger in the course of this campaign, and affuring you that they are entitled to the most diftinguished marks of your approbation. I have the honour to be, with the greatest vant, ticular pleafure in communicating to you, for his Majefty's information, a detailed ac count of the operations of the army under my command fince the opening of this campaign; but the various branches of business, which require immediate attention and dif patch, engrofs fo much of my time in the field, that I am under the unavoidable neceffity of poftponing a communication of that nature to a future opportunity: Ifhall, however, in the mean time, chicfly rely for my apology upon a continuance of that gra cious indulgence from his Majefty, which I have fo frequently experienced at his hands. The fame reafons have alfo obliged me to confine myself to a very concise statement of the principal occurrences, in my letter to the Court of Directors of the East India Company; but, by the means of that letter, and the copies of my correfpondence with the Refidents at the Courts of Hydrabad and Poona, and of my late letters to the Government of Fort St George, which will no doubt be tranfmitted to you from the India House, you will have it in your power to convey to his Majefty a general knowledge of the present situation of our affairs in this country; and you will have the fa tisfaction to obferve, not only that our fucces has already been confiderable, but that we have a reasonable profpect of being able. to humble ftill further a Prince of very uncommon ability, and of boundless ambition, who had acquired a degree of power, in extent of territory, in wealth, and in forces, that threatened the Company's poffeffions in the Carnatic, and thofe of all his other neigh bours, with imminent danger. Our fuccefs at Bangalore has tended to eftablish in the general opinion of the natives, the fuperiority of the British arms; and it has, in particular, made an impref fion upon the minds of our allies, which, am perfuaded, will contribute to induce. them to ufe vigorous exertions in profecut ing the war to an honourable conclusion. At prefent, we can only look for the accomplishment of that defircable object, by proceeding to attack the enemy's capital, which I clearly forefee will, from the near approach of the feafon of the periodical rains, and the danger of a feat city of provifions and forage for the large bodies of troops that are to be employed, be attended with fo many difficulties, that, upon any other occafion, I fhould have thought it advifeable to have deferred the attempt till the end of the enfuing monfoon. Having, however, been informed of the critical fituation of political affairs in Eue rope, and being fenfible that the finances of the Company require the adoption of those measures that are most likely to bring SIR, the contest to an early decifion, I have I fhould have had, on this occafion, a par- thought it my duty to hazard the underta Camp at VENKITTIGHERRY, 24 miles weft of Ambour, April 21. 1791. |