tion, that after receiving a destructive fire, they fell back, and occupied the heights of Woodbridge Estate. Then it was, that a column of the enemy marched up to Morne Daniel, and stormed the redoubt, defended by a small detachment, which, after an obstinate resistance, they carried. On my left, Captain O'Connell was gaining ground, notwithstanding a fresh supply of troops and several field pieces which had been brought on shore by the enemy. I now observed a large column climbing the mountains to get in his rear.The town, which had been for some time in flames, was only protected by a light howitzer and a six-pounder to the right, supported by part of the light company of the St. George's regiment. The enemy's large ships in Woodbridge Bay, out of the reach of my guns; my right flank gained, my retreat to Prince Rupert's almost cut off, I determined on one attempt to keep the sovereignty of the island, with the excellent troops I had warranted. I ordered the militia to remain at their post, except such as were inclined to encounter more hardships and severe service; and Captain O'Connell, with the 46th, under the command of Captain James, and the light company of the 1st West-India regiment, were directed to make a forced march to Prince Rupert's. I then allowed the President to enter into terms for the town of Roseau; and then demanded from the French general that private property should be respected, and that no wanton or disgraceful pillage should be allowed. This done, only attended by Brigade-Major Prevost, and Deputy QuarterMaster-General Hopley, of the militia forces, I crossed the island, and, in twentyfour hours, with the aid of the inhabitants, and the exertions of the Caribs, got to this garrison on the 23d.After four days continued march, through the most difficult country, I might almost say existing, Capt. O'Connell joined me at Prince Rupert's, wounded himself, and bringing in his wounded, with a few of the Royal Artillery, and the precious remainder of the 46th regiment, and the 1st West-India light company.- -I had no sooner got to the fort than I ordered cattle to be drove in, and took measures for getting a store of water from the river in the Bay. I found my signals to Lieutenant-Colonel Broughton, from Roseau, made soon after the enemy had landed, had been received, and that, in consequence, he had made the most judicious arrangements his garrison would allow of for the defence of this important post. On the 25th I received the letter of summons I have now the honour to transmit, from General of Di

vision La Grange, and, without delay, sent the reply you will find accompanying it.On the 27th the enemy's cruizers hovered about the head; however, the Centaur's tender (Vigilante), came in, and was saved by our guns. I landed Mr. Henderson, her commander, and his crew, to assist in the defence we were prepared to make.As far as can be collected, the enemy had about four thousand men on board, and the whole of their force was compelled to disembark before they gained an inch of ground.—————I intrust this dispatch to Captain O'Connell, to whom I beg to refer you: his services entitle him to consideration. I am much indebted to the zeal and discernment of Fort Adjutant Guary, who was very accessary to the due execution of my orders.I cannot pass unnoticed the very soldier-like conduct of Lieutenant Wallis, of the 46th regiment, to whom I had entrusted the post of Cachecrow, or Scotshead; perceiving our retreat, he spiked his guns, destroyed his ammunition, and immediately commenced his march to join me at Prince Rupert's, with his detachment; nor that of Lieutenant Shaw, of the same regiment, who acted as an officer of artillery, and behaved with uncommon coolness and judgment, whilst on the battery, and great presence of mind in securing the retreat of the additional gunners belonging to the 46th regiment. On the 27th, after levying a contribution on Roseau, the enemy reimbarked, and hovered that day and the next about this post. This morning, the French fleet is seen off the south end of Guadaloupe, under easy sail.Our loss, you will perceive by the returns I have the honour to transmit, was inconsiderable, when compared with that acknowledged by the enemy, which included several officers of rank, and about three hundred others.-I have the honour to be, &c.- -GEORGE PREVOST.

From the Gen. of Division La Grange, &c. to his Ex. Gen. Prevost, &c.-Roseau, Feb. 25, 1805.

The General of Division La Grange, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, Inspector General of the Gendarmerie, Commander in Chief of the Troops of the Expedition to the Leeward Islands.-General, Before I commence any military operations against the fort, into which it appears that you have retired, I shall fulfil a preliminary duty, authorised and practised by civilized nations.You are aware, no less than myself, of the nature of your position, and of the entire inutility of occasioning any further effusion of blood. You witnessed with grief the

siderable.-(Signed) JAMES PREVOST, Major of Brigade.

melancholy fate of the town of Roseau; my first endeavours on entering it were to issue orders for stopping the progress of the conflagration; but, unfortunately, considerable destruction had already taken place.-The want of necessaries is ever attended with the most cruel consequences, the evils of which can easily be calculated. This consideration alone is more than sufficient, without reference to the particular circumstances in which you are placed, to induce you to accept the honourable conditions that I am ready to grant you, and thus to preserve the interesting inhabitants of this colony from fresh calamities, which are inseparable from the occurrences of war.-I beg you, General, to make me an early communication of your answer; and, in the mean time, to receive the assurance of the high consideration which I entertain for you. (Signed) LA GRANGE.

Prince Rupert's, Feb. 25.

Sir, I have had the honour to receive your letter. My duty to my King and country is so superior to every other consideration, that I have only to thank you for the observations you have been pleased to make on the often inevitable consequences of war. Give me leave, individually, to express the greatest gratitude for your humanity and kind treatment of my wife and children; and, at the same time, to request a continuance thereof, not only to her and them, but towards every other object you may meet with. I have the honour to be, &c.

(Signed) GEO. PREVOST.

Return of the Killed and Wounded in the Actions of the 22d of Feb. 1805, at Point Michael, Morne Daniel, and Roseau, in the Island of Dominica.

Royal artillery.-3 rank and file wounded; 1 captain, 1 serjeant, and 6 rank and file, taken by the enemy.-46th regiment.-1 serjeant, i drummer, and 10 rank and file, killed; 1 captain and 7 rank and file, wounded.-1st West-India regiment.-9 rank and file, killed; 1 field-officer, 1 captain, and 8 rank and file, wounded.-Total.—1 serjeant, 1 drummer, and 19 rank and file, killed; 1 field-officer, 2 captains, and 18 rank and file, wounded; 1 captain, 1 serjeant, and 6 rank and file, taken by the enemy.- - Officers wounded-Captain Colin Campbell, of the 46th regiment.-Major Nunn and Captain O'Connell, of the 1st West-India regiment.-N. B. Three sailors wounded, exclusive of the militia, from which no return has been received, but whose loss was con

Saint Kitt's, March 8, 1805. Sir, I did myself the honour of writing to you on the 27th inst. by the mail-boat, to say that intelligence had been received here, on that morning, of the arrival of a French force at Dominica, and the steps I had taken to make such circumstances known to government.I lost no time in placing this garrison in the best state to repel any attack that might be made by the enemy, and encreasing the provisions to a quantity sufficient to maintain a garrison of five hundred men for three months, which was, by the exertion of the Resident Commissary, effected on the 1st inst.-I have now to inform you, that on the morning of the 5th inst. a French squadron, consisting of five line of battle ships (one a three-decker), three frigates, two brigs of war, and a schooner, with (according to accounts since received) three thousand five hundred men on board, appeared off Nevis Point, and stood in for Basse Terre, where the frigates only anchored.-I did not think it consistent with the safety of this garrison, to divide the small force of regular troops under my command, and the militia being found inadequate to give effectual opposition, it was previously agreed with President Woodley, that three hundred of them should be thrown into this garrison in the event of the enemy's effecting a landing; in consequence of which, the enemy having landed about five hundred men at Basse Terre, he marched in here (with great prompntess) on the same day with the above five hundred men, including seamen and militia. The enemy took possession of the town, demanding the immediate payment of forty thousand pounds sterling, in failure of which it should be burned. The inhabitants with great difficulty raised eighteen, with which sum they embarked, intimating an intention of attacking this hill, and, from the state of preparation we were in, as well as the zeal shewn by the troops in this garrison,, I have every reason to believe that the result would have been such as

you would wish. It does not appear, however, that this squadron wish to attack where opposition may be expected, but to plunder the inhabitants and burn and destroy the shipping. Six merchant ships, some of them very valuable, have been towed from the anchorage in Basse Terre, set on fire, and allowed to drift to sea.-I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) JAMES FOSTER, Major, 1t1h regiment.

VOL. VII. No.21.3

769]

SIR,--Before I proceed to point out a method, by which the expenditure of the public money may be conducted, -without being liable to the numberless opportunities of committing frauds that exist at present, and which frauds, when committed, are not under the form now in use of stating the public expenses, exposed to detection by Parliament, it is obviously necessary to make such a preparatory explanation of the proceedings now had in regard to the application of the public money, as will enable your readers to judge correctly, how far they are defective, and in what degree the reformation, which I am about to recommend, is calculated to correct abuses: From the fullest consideration that I am capable of giving to so extensive a subject, I am of opinion, that the discussion of it may be properly divided into four distinct parts. 1. The stating the accounts of the public expenses. 2. The incurring of them. 3. The examining of the démands for payment; and, 4. The paying of these demands. According to this división, I shall proceed to point out, as briefly as possible, what the practice and the errors are of the system now in use; and then I shall proceed to propose one more consistent in its regulations, and more consonant with the acknowledged principles of finance.—— 1. In looking into the annual accounts of the public income and expenditure, we shall, in the onset, find full cause for advancing some very strong objections. For in the eight annual papers that professedly contain these accounts, one of them No. 5, that is, according to its title, a statement of the whole public expenditure, by no means answers this description; for, in No. 1, which is called an account of the public income, there are no less than eleven columns, expressing the expenditure of a very considerable portion of that income. Four of these are certainly carried forward to the expenditure paper, but the rest of them are wholly omitted; namely, Hepayments, Drawbacks, &c.; Irish Packet Establishment; Charges of Management; His Majesty's Forests; and Imposts for the Redemption of the Land Tax. Again, the expenditure paper does not mere

[PRICE 10DA

Port, Ep. III. [770

ly contain an account of sums of money ac tually expended, but it likewise embraces an account of some of the resources of the public income; for instance, the expenses for the establishments of the Secretaries of State's Offices; of the War Office; of the Treasury Office, and of other offices, charged in the civil list, are not the whole of the expensas incurred. The whole produce of the several fee funds in each office, are applied to defray these expenses, and the sum charged on this account in the civil list, are such sums as are wanting to make up with the fee funds the whole expense incurred by tliese establishments Again, the sale of old stores, and the droights of the Admiralty, are applied in a similar manner towards the payment of expenses incurred in the different naval and military departments; though, like the fee funds actual resources of revenue, and in propriety ought so to be received and accounted for. Such, therefore, is the inconsistency, and such the confusion in accounting for the public money, that you must look into the income account for the public expenditure, and into the expenditure account for the public income! The charges of management, &e. contained in the income paper, are as much items of the nation's expenses, as the payments to the army and navy ;' and the fee funds are resources of its income, equally as to every principle and purpose of taxation as any specific tax. The fees are virtually taxes, and as such, now that salaries have been given in lieu of them, they bught to be accounted for, and not left, as they now are, to be received and applied by the clerks in the offices of the state If the principle was adopted of paying ALL the revenue, of every description, and from whatever source it might be derived, into the Exchequer, this commixture and confusion of accounts could never occur. There then could be no such absurdity, as a statement of the national inconte crammed with columns of the expenditure of it; or such a thing as a statement of the expenditure diminished in its real amount by the entire suppression of productive sources of revenue. But what is of still greater consequence, there would not then present themselves so many opportunities of committing fraud.There is this