to the discharge of my debts or encumbrances, "To Mr. William Cobbett. "St James's Place, Jan. 31, 1818. "SIR,I have just received yours of the 20th November, and carefully, and according to your desire, perused the enclosed to Mr. Tipper. and of feeling and generosity in the sentiments you express. I am, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, "F. BURDETI.” The following interesting particulars of the rescue of a boy, who was cast upon a rock near the mount of Kingsale harbor, during the wreck of a vessel in which he was a passenger, is taken from a late London paper. and picking from the earth some wild vegetables, with which the rock abound-, and which he was observed to eat. A fog suddenly concealed him from further observation while thus employed. The praise-worthy exertions of the sovereign of Kingsale, assisted by several other gentlemen, to rescue the unfortunate lad, or to convey provisions to him were ineffectual, the boats having been reluctantly obliged to retire, and to leave the unfortunate boy for the second night upon "It is not my intention to enter into any con the desolate rock, without food or shelter, and troversy respecting the honesty or dishonesty of with all the fearful anticipation that, before mornpaying or not paying debts according to the con- ing cold and hunger would terminate his existvenience of the party owing. It seems that it ence As they retreated he was seen collecting it should ever suit your convenience, and take in a particular spot (a kind of cavern) a quantity nothing from the comforts or enjoyments of your-of weeds with the intention of making a bed, self and family, such comforts and enjoyments, and means too, of distinguishing themselves, as you think they are entitled to, (all this being previously secured) then you think yourself bound to pay your debts; if, on the contrary, that cannot Reluctant to suffer such an interval, as between be effected, without sacrifice on your part and night and morning to pass without making a new their part, in that case your creditors have no effort in behalf of the boy, at eleven o'c ock at claim to prefer, and you no duty to perform You night Mr. Gibson's whale-boat was the second then stand absolved rectus in fore conscientiæ; and time manned and attempted to get out, but could for this singular reason, because those who lent not succeed. In the morning, long before day, you their money when you were in difficulty and she again started with lieutenants Bevan and Naydistress, in order to save you and your family from || ton, of the royal navy, and John Heard Isaac, esq. rain, were and are unable to protect you either and rowed towards the island, but with no hope against your own fears, or the power of an arbitra- of reaching it, as the sea and wind were still ry government, under which they have the mis-higher than on either of the two preceding mornfortune to live, and to which they are equally exings, and the scene altogether more terrific The posed. These principles which are laughable in worst apprehension, were entertained for the theory, are detestable in practice. That you should boy, who had been then two days and two nights not only entertain and act upon, but openly avow on the rock without any other food than the wild them, and blind your own understanding, or think vegetables which it yielded. Those fears, howto blind that of others, by such flimsey pretences, ever, were in some degree relieved, when he was is one more melancholy proof of the facility with again seen from the boat moving about-but hope which self interest can assume the mask of hypo- derived no support from the aspect of the morncrisy, and by means of the weakest sophistry, ing, which promised a bad and stormy day. After overpower the strongest understanding. renewed but fruitless efforts to gain any point of true is our common law maxim, that no man is an the island, the whale boat was again obliged to upright judge in his own cause; how truly and return to Kingsale, which it reached about twelve prettily said by the French, “La Nature se pipe;" o'clock, after having been several times in imminor less truly, though more grossly, in English,nent danger of swamping. Here a most interest"Nature's her own bawd." LOW ing scene took place; the crew o an American vessel, the Dryad, which was undergoing some repairs in the dock yard of Messrs. Gibban & Co. volunteered to go out in the whale boat and make an effort to rescue the boy. Their services were gratefully accepted, and they swore they never would return if they did not succeed. They then proceeded to make an experiment by firing a musket ball, with a rope attached to it, which was found to convey it with ease as far as they considered would be necessary, and thus provid In expressing my abhorrence of the principles you lay down for your conduct, and concerning Which you challenge my opinion, a little unfairly considering the ridicule which you at the same time threaten to overwhelm the unfortunate wight who presumes to differ from them, I do not desire that you should act upon any other with regard to me; I should be very sorry if your family were put to any inconvenience on my account; should your circumstances ever prove so prosperous as to enable you to discharge youred they proceeded to sea. debt without infringing upon those new princi ples of moral obligation you have adopted, and which, for the first time since the commencement of the world, have, I believe, been, though frequently acted on, openly promulgated. As to complaint or reproach, they are the offspring of weakness and folly; disdain should stifle them, but nothing can or ought to stifle the expression of disgust every honest mind must feel at the want of integrity in the principles you complain, In the mean time the boats from Oysterhaven had got into activity, and they could be seen for three hours in succession, contending with, but scarcely living in, the brakers at the base of the rock. As the situation of the boy became more hopeless, their exertions increased, and their desperate daring more visible. It was inpossible that he could have survived another night, and the knowlege of this circumstance seemed to infuse new resolution in the hearts of Other boats also arrived at the moment, ignorant of what had occurred, but all determined to make a simultaneous effort. the men. Two boats were for a long time seen supporting each other in their perilous undertaking, yet they were frequently concealed for minutes together in the dip of the sea, or in the surge of the breakers. The day' was then far adFrom the Calcutta Star, October 17. vanced, and to those who were on the coast pro Thomas Theon.-The British forces had scarcevided with glasses, and who could see what was ly obtained possession of the Candian capital, going forward, there appeared as little hope of when a man presented himself at head quarters, relieving the boy as on the preceding day, and in a Candian dress, but having the features of an his fate seemed inevitable. They did not know, European. His pale and haggard looks, and his however, the resolution which the crews seemed tong and matted beard, exnibited a melancholy to have formed, either to succeed or perish, and appearance This man, whose name was Thomas the interest of the scene was excited into intense Theon, said that he had marched with the Briagitation, when one of the men, a brave and tish army to Candy in 1803, and that he was adauntless fellow, named Jack Carty, the owner of mong the one hundred and fifty sick who had the Oysterhaven boats, was observed to be tying || been left in the hopital when the capital was sura rope round his body, and in a few minutes to rendered unto the enemy When his fellow sufthrow himself with the most fearless intrepidityferers were butchered, the barbarians having torn into the surge, in which his boat could not live. off the blisters which had been previously appliThe sensation which prevailed cannot be described to his stomach in the hospital, felled him to ed; all attention was now turned to this heroic the ground with the but end of a musket, and fellow, and the suspense was unutterable, unul left him for dead in the general heap. He recohe was seen clinging to, and occasionally climb.vered, however, enough to crawl to a neighboring the cliff's, where an immense sea had left him. ing drain, when, on being discovered the next He succeeded in mounting beyond the reach of morning, he was hung up to a tree, and left to the sprays, and was seen most actively employed perish. The rope happily broke; when he was in assisting the poor boy, who was in a completely again discovered, and again hung up in the same exhausted state of mind and body, and who could way. But again the rope broke, when he conwith difficulty descend to where his preserver trived to crawl to a hut at a little distance, where beckened him At length he reached him, and · he supported himself for ten days with nothing Jack Carty proceeded to invest his body with the but the grass that grew near the door, and the rope which he had taken from his own, and then drops of rain that fell from the roof. At the experformed the duty of ushering him to the spot || piration of this interval, he was accidentally diswhere he had himself been thrown, where he con covered by an old Candian, who, after looking at signed him to the waves. Doubt and anxiety him, suddenly disappeared; but soon after came were again painfully excited, while the men in again with a plate of rice, which he put down and the boat were drawing him through the breakers went away. and seas, through which he must pass, before his safety could be said to be ensured; but both were dissipated, when he was seen taken in over the gunnel, which was announced by three cheers by the men in the boats During these few moments of agitation, the intrepid Jack Carty, who remained on the island, was forgotten; but the boy's safety being known, all eyes were turned to the former, and he was distinctly seen sitting down with the utmost composure on the point of a rock, waiting for his own chance of being releas The king allowed him a house in the town of ed: This happily was not long accomplishing, Candy, in which he remained till the arrival of a rope was flung on the cliffs, and Jack, more the British. He experienced no further ill-treatadroit than his predecessor on the island, soon ment from the jealous tyrant; but the horrid barseized it and tied it round his waist and shoulders.barities which he beheld, and which the slightest Notwithstanding the perils of the scene, it was offence was sufficient to excite, kept him in a almost whimsical to see this fine fellow collecting state of constant inquietude and alarm. A wothe boy's and his own clothes, which he delibe- man, who had been detected in merely conveyrately tied up in a bundle and put under his arm,ing a message from him to major Davie, was inand then descending to the most, favorable spot,stantly put to death. The king, who had never felt for human woe, was struck with the story which he received of Theon's numerous extraordinary escapes. Superstition, in the place of sympathy, made its way into the monarch's mind. He thought that Theon would not have been so often preserved if he had not been a peculiar favorite of Heaven; and he accordingly ordered him to be taken care of by one of the chiefs, and to receive every accommodation which he required. London, Jan. 25.-From Arles we are informed of the following remarkable occurrence: he watched his opportunity, and threw himself The only source of solace which this unfortuinto the sea, from which in the course of about || nate man had access to, in the dreary hours of five minutes, he was released by his companions, his long confinement, was in the perusal of a dewho signified his safety by loud cheers, which tached portion of an English Bible, which conwere returned from those parts of the land where tained some chapters of Jeremiah. they could be heard. It was exactly half past two o'clock The whale boat, with the American crew, arrived almost at the moment Carty had got into his boat, but they were in sight some time Some inhabitants of the town of Arles dug a before, and were seen rowing in the most un spot of ground which the diminution of the wadaunted manner, in the heavy sea, and almost inters of the Rhone had left uncovered, and which the surge closing the most accessable point of the island. Upon learning the safety of the boy, they gave three cheers and returned to Kingsale scarcely less entitled to public gratitude than if they had been the instruments of preservation. had been inundated from time immemorial, have found, amongst other relics of antiquity, a vase three feet high, and not less remarkable for the legance of its shape than the perfection of its "ornaments; a noble fragment of architecture, se veral coins, and a medal struck to celebrate the marriage of Constantine, with a great number of funeral urns, lacrymatories, and earthern lamps. The perfect of the department has immediately ordered regular excavations to be made in that piece of ground; in the neighborhood of which it may be recollected that the fine statue known under the appellation of the Venus of Arles was found many years ago, and which probably still contains many precious chefs d'auvres of antiquity. From the Edinburg Courant of Dec. 31, 1818. Execution of Robert Johnston, and horrible outrage We have this day to record one of the most disgraceful scenes that ever took place in this city. We shall not at present enter on the question as to the precaution which might have been taken to ensure the due execution of the awful sentence of the law, but simply detail the horrible transac tions of yesterday, as far as they fell under our own observation. The unfortunate was convicted and sentenced to die for robbing Mr. Charles, candle maker; his two accomplices, Galloway and Lee, were sentenced, the former to fourteen, and the latter to seven years transportation. harrowing to the feelings of all possessed of the least sensibility. Missiles still continued to fly, chiefly directed against the windows of the church, almost every pane of which were destroyed. One large stone struck the inanimate head of Johnston a heavy blow. A lame person, with a crutch, next climbed the scaffold, and then a general rush took place. The body was raised up, and the rope unloosed, with which the lame man exultingly decended, the cap was taken off, and thrown among the crowd-at the same moment a cheer was given by those around the body, meaning, it is supposed, to announce that life remained, which was received by loud clapping. The coffin, light in its materials, was thrown among the crowd, and in less than a minute broken to atoms. The body was then borne off in the direction of the Lawnmarket; Bailie Pattison, who was proceeding to the Castle, protected by a strong body of the police, to obtain the aid of the mili tary force, caused the bearers of the body to change their course, and they wheeled about and arrived almost unperceived on the opposite side of the street to the Police Office, evidently knowing not what to do with it; here, on being attack divested of clothes from the waist upwards in the process of carrying, (the most appalling sight of the whole,) which was then taken into the Police Office. A detachment of the 88th regiment arrived soon after, followed by another headed by major Graham, which were posted across the Lawn Market, at the well, and in a similar manner from the High Church to the exchange shops in the neighborhood were closed on the first disposition to riot, and many of them were not re-opened that night. We have not heard that any persons were seriously injured, but many inconsiderate women with children in their arins were thrown down and tramplerl on. Day light, yesterday exhibited the new appa-ed by the police officers, they dropped the body, ratus for the melancholy catastrophe. The place fixed upon was before the northmost window on the west side of the New North Church, a few yards from the High street. Numerous groups of people continued to assemble about the fatal spot, to examine the dreadful preparation, and as the hour approached the crowd was very great. The unhappy criminal walked from the Lock up-house to the scaffold, which he ascended with a firm step, at 20 minutes before 3 o'clock. After Various reports were current about the state spending a quarter of an hour in prayer, he shook of the unfortunate man as to his reanimation; howhands with the reverend gentleman who attend-ever, he was again carried to the drop, and at five ed him, and mounted the platform with fortitude. minutes before four o'clock was launched into The executioner occupying a longer time in eternity. The military remained until the whole adjusting the rope than appeared to a great part apparatus was removed, and we are happy to of the spectators to be necessary, much disappro-state no further disturbance took place. The bation was expressed; the platform sunk about a minute before three. Unfortunately the rope was too long, or the height from the scaffold to the beam from which the sufferer was suspended insufficient; in consequence of one or other of these causes, or both, his toes rested on the floor of the scaffold. Just at that moment, a police man in front, resisting the encroachment of the crowd, With feelings keenly alive to the character of pushed one with his baton, who cried out "Mur our metropolis, we do most sincerely regret the der!" It is probable those at a distance imagined acts of which the above is but an imperfect ac the exclamation to be occasioned by the pitiable count; but to prevent improper statements at a situation of Johnston, and therefore joined in it. distance, we must declare that no appearance of Stones began to fly towards the scaffold, (of which preconcerted riot was visible. On the contrary, unluckily the state of the ground afforded an am. it arose, we believe, from the untoward circumple supply,) and the magistrates and their attend-stances of the instant. It will be long a matter of ants were compelled to make a precipitate retreat. It was well for the executioner that he escaped at the same time, for at such a moment the consequences to him must have been fatal The mob continued to throw stones, some of which struck the unhappy object of punishment, and others the church windows. At five minutes past We sincerely hope, also, that the propriety of three, a person very deliberately stepped from changing the hour and place of punishment will the crowd on the High street, leaped on the now be felt by those in whose hands lie the execuscaffold with a knife ready open, distinguishabletion of the law, and that immediate measures will from its brightness, (or, as we have been inform-be taken to accomplish both of these desirable ed, a surgical instrument taken from a case on objects. regret to the country, and to the inhabitants of Edinburgh in particular, that so foul a stain should be fixed upon us; but we trust effectual measures will be adopted on future occasions to prevent a recurrence of scenes at once disgraceful and repugnant to the feelings of humanity. the instant,) cut the rope, and, with seeming un- Since writing the foregoing account, we regret concern, returned to the crowd. The body fell to learn that the reverend Mr. Porteous was sewith the head to the front of the scaffold-a sight Il verely hurt and carried to the Royal Infirmary: also lieutenant Bremner, of the police establi.... ment, was seriously injured. FOREIGN AFFAIRS. ENGLAND, Paris, Jan. 18-A kind of insurrection has, during the last two days, manifested itself amongst the young students of the College of Louis-deGrand, in number, about 600. For some time pas they have, in general, made complaints of their diet being bad, that they were treated with too much severity, and that they were only furnished with one coat every eighteen months, instead of every year, as formerly. On the 16th instant these youths declared open mutiny. They began by using violence towards ne of the professors who had displeased them; they broke open the doors of their different quarters, and set the authority of the directors at devance. The provost was compelled to call in the police officers, as also an armed force; the most culpable of the young delinquents were taken in their rooms, and conducted to the residence of their parents. ber. On the 17th (Sunday) the commotion was renewed by those students who remained in the college, of whom there was a considerable numAfter committing various excesses, they barricadoed themselves in one quarter, and announced their intention of opposing the most formidable resistance. A detachment of gendaraerie, consisting of 40 men, with 25 of the corps of fire men, presented themselves, and summoned these young mutineers to surrender; a sort of From the London Morning Post, of Jan. 5. Attempt to effect the escape of Bonaparte. A gentleman just arrived from St. Helena gives the following particulars of the late attemp to effect the escape of Bonaparte from that island Our information is derived from a most respecta ble source, and we, therefore, without hesitation, lay it before our readers just as we received it: "An American vessel, apparently dismasted and otherwise injured, but purposely damaged to avoid suspicion, made her appearance off St. He lena. The necessary repairs were entered on with the greatest activity, whilst other schemes were prosecuting with industry in the interior It had for some time previously been deemed ex pedient to have a daily view of the person of Bonaparte, by a person appointed for that particular duty: His medical attendant, however, now caused it to be notified that the precarious state of the emperor's health was such as to render it necessary that he should remain perfectly quiet at home, unannoyed by any personal inspection. In this feigned state of indisposition the wily Napoleon secretly quitted his bed-room, about mid-capitulation took place, and the whole of the students have been conveyed to their families, with night; by means the most artful he actually passthe exception of a dozen, who have been sent to ed the guard, and eluding the vigilance of no prison. less than seven sentinels, succeeded in reaching the beach. This was a juncture of high interest Mount Vesuvius.-A letter from Naples, dated indeed! The means of escape which the ex-enperor was led so confidently to expect were however December 8, 1818, says that Mount Vesuvius exhibits one of those terrible spectacles which too not yet perfect. It had been concerted that a certain signal should be given by him on his arri-often alarm that unfortunate city. The crater val at the beach: The signal was duly given, by hoisting a lantern at the end of a walking stick; but the boat which was to receive him not having yet sufficiently approached the shore, a single sentinel (of whose station on the beach Bonaparte had not been apprized) on perceiving the light came up, and with a fidelity equal to his re solution, seized the once great captain, whose very name had been the terror of millions. He instantly forced him to the guard house, from whence he was conveyed back to Longwood where it is scarcely necessary to add, he has ever since been watched with increased vigilance, though not treated personally with any, the slightest degree of rigor." FRANCE. A letter from Bordeaux states that "the recent change in the ministry is extremely pleasing to allthe real patriots in France, and has given a death blow to the Ultra Royalists. The King, it appears, was informed of the real views of the Ultras by Decaze, who offered to bring proof by a plan he had devised. Decaze was supposed to have entirely lost the confidence of the King, and to heighten the plot, his majesty sent for the heads! of the Royalist party, and implored them to inform him how to save the country. One of the firs: propositions was to violate the Charter in several points; this was immediately perceived by the King, who after a few hours conversation, very politely dismissed every one of them individually and nominated the new ministers. [Balt. Patriot. SICILY. opened with a dreadful noise, and after having darted forth whirlwinds of fire and inflammable matter, it vomited lava over the adjoining counry, as far as the foot of the village of Torre del Greco. From the American Centinel. The following piece of poetry on the battle of Britannia musters her gigantic pow'r, Columbia's genins sees the tempest low'r, No. 14.] REGISTER. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. WASHINGTON CITY, APRIL 3, 1819. [VOL VII Printed and Published, every Saturday, by Lawrence, Wilson, & Co. at five dollars per annum. Contents of this No. of the National Register. Secretary is already corrupted. No, sir; it is your Goliahs of virtue; your Solomons in wisdom; that are worth purchasing in this way. It is your Auroras, and such like prints, that administration would Adams' letter to Mr. Erving, concerning the incidents of the Seminole War, 211.-Miscellany-Poetical and Lite-seek for if they pursued a speculation of that kind. rary Anecdotes by Dr. King, 216.-Riot on proclaiming the Shiloh, 218.-On the construction of Fire Places, 218. If it is, in truth, only the feeble and the worth-Letter from general Harrison respecting the receipt of Bank Notes by the Treasury, 219.-The Prince Maurice, less who conduct the presses which the govern220.-President's Tour-from the National Intelligencerment select for the purpose of giving currency to 221.-Amendment to the Constitution, 221.-Various artieles of intelligence, 221.-Poetry-Sacred Effusion», 224. Corruption of the Press. the laws, how does it happen that presses like that of the Aurora-go virtuous, so incorruptible, with talents so Herculean, have not, by their incessant peltings, upset the whole frame of the adminis The Philadelphia Jurora is perpetually complaining of the corruption of the presses of thetration long ago? It must really be a strange state United States by the President and the members of his cabinet. This is very uncandid in that print. We feel persuaded that Mr. Duane does not, himself, believe what he, in this respect, asserts. If he does, he must be somewhat more mad || than we had thought him--and we have generally thought him about as mad as a March Hare! There are, perhaps, about 400 newspapers published in different parts of the Union and in the territories. The law provides that three in each of these, and one in the District of Columbia, shall be selected to promulgate the acts of Congress for the information of the people The states and territories of the Union are, at present, in num. ber, about 24. By the common rules of arithmetic, 3 times 24 are 72—to which add one newspaper in the District of Columbia, and all the newspapers employed by the government amount to 73. Subtract these 73 from the whole 400, and there remain 327 newspapers not employed by the government. A frightful surplus, indeed! against administration, if the political battles of the ins and outs were to be decided by the number of presses on either side. of society, in which, for a series of years, the feeble beat off the attacks of the powerful, and vice uniformly triumphs over virtue-without the use of the bludgeon, the bayonet, or the cannon. This would be a reversal of the established laws of nature; and would be a miracle much more surpris ing than any that was ever invented by priestcraft. The subject of the publication of the acts of Congress is touched upon by the editor of the Aurora with so much acrimony, we presume, because the selection and dismissal of the printers for that branch of governmental service is confided to the Secretary of State-and because the present Secretary of State is Mr. Joux QUINCY ADAMS. It is very certain that he never appointed Mr. Duane a publisher of the laws: if report speaks true, it is believed that Mr. Adams rather disappointed him, or dismissed him. It follows, of course, that no attempt has been made on the virtue of the Aurora by the present Secretary of State. We have heard of some ladies who were in a great passion because they were not courted to their ruin. We cannot suspect that Mr. Duane is in that predicament. We speak of the publication of the acts of Con- Of the patronage of the government of the gress, as authorized and enjoined by law, the United States, if we have been well informed, more particularly, because the editor of the Au-|| Mr. Duane has enjoyed a very great share. For rora himself has asserted that to be the principal example; at the commencement of Mr. Jeffermeans by which the virtue of the press is sapped. son's administration, the editor of the Aurora had Let us look at Mr. Duane's argument in another a printing and bookstore establishment at Wash. of its aspects. He asserts that the weakest and ington. He was liberally encouraged, until he lost the most profligate presses are employed by the the good opinion of several members of adminisgovernment, and also those which have the small-tration and of Congress, by an overweening dispoest number of readers. One is truly lost in aston | sition to dictate the law in politics on every occa ishment at this kind of logic. What! Bribe the sion. He still continued one of the publishers of weakest and most worthless! This would surely the acts of Congress until Mr. MONROE became be a new doctrine of bribery and corruption. No. President, although he had reviled the entire no, Mr. Duane, it is neither the weak nor the pro-body of the administration, a part of which fr. fligate that are to be bought: They are already Monroe was, for four years before. During the done as to that point. It sounds very like a par-late war, through the partiality of friends, among adox to talk of using means to corrupt that which whom we have been told was Mr. Monroe him |