the left, an attack on the village of Mercxem was made by Colonel M'Leod's brigade, led by himself, in the most gallant style, and under the immediate direction of Major General M'Kenzie. The rapid, but orderly advance of the detachment of the third battalion of the rifle corps, under Captain Fullarton's command, and of the second battalion of the 78th, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Lindsay, supported by the second battalion of the 25th, commanded by Major M'Donnell, and by the 35th, under Lieut.-Colonel Elphinstone, and an immediate charge with the bayonet by the 78th, ordered by Lieutenant-Col. Lindsay, decided the contest much sooner, and with much less loss than might have been expected, from the strength of the post, and the numbers of the enemy. Colonel McLeod received a severe wound through the arm, in the advance to the attack, but did not quit the command of the brigade till he became faint from loss of blood. I am happy to think that the army will probably not be long deprived of the services of this distinguished officer. The enemy were driven into Antwerp, with considerable loss, and some prisoners were taken. I have the greatest satisfaction in expressing my warmest approbation of the conduct of all these troops: no veterans ever behaved better than these men, who then met the enemy for the first time. The discipline and intrepidity of the Highland battalion, which had the good fortune to lead the attack into the village, reflect equal credit on the officers and men. The same spirit was manifested by the other troops employed. Two guns of Major Fyer's brigade were advanced in support of the attack, and, by their excellent practice, soon silenced a battery of the enemy. The 52nd regiment, under the command of that experienced officer Lieut.-Colonel Gibbs, was afterwards moved into the village of Mercxem, in order to cover the withdrawing of the troops from it, which was ordered as soon as the Prussian column arrived by the great road, the head of which had already driven in the outposts, when our attack began. Lieutenant-Colonel Gibbs remained with the 52nd, and 3rd battalion 95th, till after dark. This reconnoissance having been satisfactorily accomplished, the Prussian troops are going into cantonments, and this corps will resume nearly those it occupied before. The severity of the weather has been excessive. The soldiers have borne it with cheerfulness and patience, and I hope will not suffer very materially from it. I send inclosed a return of the killed and wounded. I have the honour to be, &c. THOMAS GRAHAM." Admiralty-office, Feb. 26. Copies of letters received at this office, from Rear Admiral Durham, Commander-in-chief of his Majesty's ships and vessels at the Leeward Islands, addressed to J. W. Croker, Esq. Venerable, at Sea, Jan. 16, 1814. Sir, I have the satisfaction of stating, that this day, at nine a. m. the Cyane made the signal for two strangers in the north-east, which were immediately given chase to, and, owing to the very superior sailing of the Venerable, I was enabled to come up within gunshot of them at the close of the day, leaving the Cyane far astern. On ranging up with the leewardmast, (the night was too dark to distinguish her colours), desirous of saving her the consequences of so unequal a contest, I hailed her twice to surrender, but the evasive answer returned, obliged me to order the guns to be opened, as they would bear; upon this the enemy immediately put his helm up, and under all sail, laid us on board, for which temerity he has suffered most severely. The promptitude with which Capt. Worth repelled the attempt to board, was not less conspicuous than the celerity with which he passed his men into the enemy's frigate, and hauled down her ensign. I have much pleasure in naming the petty officers who distinguished themselves on this occasion, Messrs. Maltman, Walker, and Nevil, master's mates, and Mr. Grey, midshipman. This ship proves to be the Alcmene, a beautiful French frigate of 44 guns, having a complement, at the commencement of the action, of 319 men, commanded by Captain Ducrest de Villeneuve, an officer of much merit, and who was wounded at the time of boarding. To his determined resistance, aided by the darkness of the night, the other frigate for the present owes her escape; but I have every hope that the Cyane will be enabled to observe her until I have shifted the prisoners, and repaired the trifling injury done to the rigging, during the period of the enemy being on board. Our loss consists of two seamen killed, and four wounded: that of the enemy two petty officers and thirty seamen killed, and fifty wounded. Lieutenant G. Luke, whom I have placed in the frigate, is an old and very deserving officer, who has served twenty years under my command. I have the honour to be, &c. Rear Admiral. Venerable, at Sea, Jan. 20. Sir,-It affords me mnch pleasure to communicate to you, for their Lordships' information, the capture of the French frigate that escaped on Sunday night. vigilance of Captain Forrest enabled him to keep sight of her during the night and two following days, when having run 153 miles in the diriction I judged the enemy had taken, the Venerable's superior sailing gave me the opportunity of again discovering the fugitive, and after an anxious chase of 19 hours, to come up with_and capture. She is named the Iphigenie, a frigate of the largest class, commanded by Captain Emerie, having a complement of 325 men, and like her consort the Alcmene, perfectly new. Every means to effect her escape were resorted to, the anchors being cut away, and her boats thrown overboard. On our coming up we had run the Cyane out of sight from the mast head. These frigates sailed in company to proceed to the southward to act from Cherbourg, on the 20th of I have the honour to be, &c. WAR DEPARTMENT. Downing-street, Feb. 13, 1814. A dispatch, of which the following is a copy, was last night received at Earl Bathurst's office, addressed to his Lordship by General Sir Thomas Graham, dated Mercxem, Feb. 6, 1814: Head-quarters, Mercxem, Feb. 6, 1814. My Lord, I should have been happy to have had to announce to your Lordship, that the movement on Antwerp, fixed by General Bulow for the 2nd inst. had produced a greater effect; but the want of time, and of greater means, will account to your Lordship for the disappointment of our hopes of a more satisfactory result; for General Bulow received (after we had got the better of all the great obstacles in the way of taking a position near the town) orders in concert with the grand army; and the state of the weather, for some time back, not only prevented my receiving the supplies of ordnance and ordnance stores from England, but made it impossible to land much of what was on board the transports near Williamstadt, the ice cutting off all communication with them. I have, however, sincere pleasure in assuring your Lordship, that every part of the service was conducted by the officers at the head of the different departments, with all the zeal and intelligence possible. To make up for the want of our own artillery, all the serviceable Dutch mortars, with all the ammunition that could be collected, were prepared at Williamstadt; and on the evening of the 1st, the troops of the first and second divisions, that could be spared from ́ other services, were collected at Braeschat, and next morning this village (fortified with much labour ever since our former attack) was carried in the most gallant style, in a much shorter time, and with much less loss than I could have believed possible. Major General Gibbs, commanding the 2nd division (in the absence of Major General McKenzie, confined by a dangerous fall from his horse), ably seconded by Major General Taylor, and by Lieutenant Colonel Herries, commanding Major General Gibbs's brigade, conducted this attack, in which all the troops engaged behaved with the usual spirit and intrepidity of British soldiers. I feel particularly indebted to the officers already named, and also to Lieutenant Colonel Cameron, commanding the detachments of the three battalions of the 95th; to Lieut. Colonel Hompesch, with the 25th regiment; to Major A. Kelly, with the 54th; to Lieut. Colonel Brown, with the 56th; and Major Kelly, with the 73rd; for the distinguished manner in which those corps attacked the left and centre of the village, forcing the enemy from every strong hold, and storming the mill battery on Ferdinand's Dyke; while Major Gen. Taylor, with the 52nd, under Lieutenant Colonel Gibbs, the 35th, under Major Macalister, and the 78th, under Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay, marching to the right, and directly on the mill of Ferdinand's Dyke, threatened the enemy's communication from Mercxem towards Antwerp. Two pieces of cannon and a conşiderable number of prisoners fell into our hands. No time was lost in marking out the batteries, which, by the very great exertions of the artillery under Lieut. Colonel Sir G. Wood, and the engineers, under Lieut. Colonel Carmichael Smyth, and the good will of the working parties, were completed by half past three p. m. of the 3rd. The batteries opened at that hour. During the short trial of the fire that evening, the defective state of the Williamstadt mortars and ammunition was too visible. Our means were thus diminished, and much time was lost, as it was not till twelve at noon the following day (the 4th) that the fire could be opened again. That day's fire disabled five of the six 24 pounders. Yesterday the fire was kept up all day. The 1 practice was admirable, but there was not a sufficient number of shells falling to prevent the enemy from extinguishing the fire whenever it broke out among the ships, and our fire ceased entirely at sun-set yesterday. It is impossible for me to speak too highly of the indefatigible exertions of the two branches of the Ordnance Department. I have much reason to be satisfied with the steadiness of the troops, and the attention of the officers of all ranks, during the continuance of this service. Detachments of the rifle corps did the most advanced duty, under the able direction of Lieutenant-Col. Cameron, in a way that gave security to the batteries on Ferdinand's Dyke; and though this line was enfiladed, and every part of the village under the range of shot and shells from the enemy, I am happy to say the casualties, on the whole, have not been numerous. As soon as every thing is cleared away, we shall move back into such cantonments as I have concerted with General Bulow. I cannot conclude this dispatch without expressing my admiration of the manner in which General Bulow formed the disposition of the movement, and supported this attack. The enemy were in great force on the Deurue and Berchem roads, but were every where driven by the gallant Prussians, though not without considerable loss. I am, &c. (Signed) THOMAS GRAHAM. Admiralty-office, April 26. Copy of a letter from Capt. Rainier; of his Majesty's ship Niger, transmitted by Vice Admiral Dixon to John Wilson Croker, Esq. His Majesty's ship Niger, at Sea, Jan. 6, 1814. Sir, I acquaint you for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that having made the island of St. Antonio yesterday morning, for the purpose of correctingmy longitude previous to allowing the ships parting company who were bound to Maranham, a strange sail was discovered a-head. I immediately gave chase; his Majesty's ship Tagus in company.She was soon made out to be a frigate, and we had the pleasure to find that we were gaining upon her; at day-light this morning we were not more than a mile and an half distant; at half past seven they took in studding sails and hauled the wind on the starboard tack, finding that we had the advantage before it. The Tagus being to windward, Captain Pipon was enabled to open his first fire, which was briskly returned by the enemy, who had hoisted French colours on the Tagus showing her's. After exchanging a few broadsides, the French frigate's main topmast was shot away, which rendered her escape impossible; and as his Majesty's ship under my command was coming up, any further defence would only have occasioned a useless sacrifice of lives; they fired a broadside, and struck their colours. On taking possession she proved La Ceres, French frigate, of 44 guns, and 324 men, commanded by Le Baron de Bouganville, out one month from Brest on her first cruize: she is only two years old, copper fastened, and warls well. I should not do justice to the Baron if I omitted stating, that during the long and anxious chase (in which we ran 238 miles), his ship was manœuvred in a masterly style. I have sent Mr. Manton, first of this ship, in charge of the prize, who is a deserving officer. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) P. RAINIER, Captain. To Vice Adm. Dixon, Commander in Chief, &c. Rio Janeiro. Admiralty-office, April 2. Extract of a letter from Captain Hayes, of his Majesty's ship Majestic, addressed to Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, and a Duplicate transmitted to John Wilson Croker, Esq. Majestic, at sea, Feb. 5. I have the honour to acquaint you, that, in my way from St. Michael to Madeira, in the execution of your orders, at day-light in the morning of the 3rd instant, in latitude 37, and longitude 20, being then in chase of a ship in N. E. supposed to be one of the enemy's cruizers, three ships and a brig were discovered about three leagues off, in the S. S. E. of very suspicious appearance, and not answering the private signal, I gave over the pursuit of the ship to the northward and eastward, hoisted my colours, and proceeded to reconnoitre the southern squadron, when two of the ships immediately gave chase to me; on closing within 4 miles, I discovered them to be two 44 gun frigates, a ship mounting 20 guns, and a brig which I could not |