derable force on the Gave in the beginning of the week, and on the the 3d inst. drove in the cavalry piquets between the Joyeuse and Bidouze rivers, and attacked the post of Major General Buchan's Portuguese brigade on the Joyeuse, near La Bastide, and those of the 3d division in Bouloe. They turned the right of Major Gen. Buchan's brigade on the height of La Costa, and obliged him to retire towards Briscons; and they established two divisions of infantry on the height, and in La Bastide, with the remainder of the army on the Bidouze and the Gave. Our centre and right were immediately concentrated and prepared to move; and having reconnoitered the enemy on the 4th, I intended to have attacked them on the 5th inst. but was obliged to defer the attack till the 6th, owing to the badness of the weather, and the swelling of the rivulets. The attack was made on that day by the 3d and 4th divisions, under the command of Lieut. General Sir Thomas Picton and Lieut. General Sir Lowry Cole, supported by Major General Buchan's Portuguese brigade of Gen. Le Cor's division, and the cavalry under the command of Major General Fane; and the enemy were forthwith dislodged, without loss on our side, and our posts replaced where they had been. WAR DEPARTMENT. Downing street, Feb 8, 1814. A dispatch, of which the followis a copy, has been received by Earl Bathurst, addressed to his Lordship by General Sir Thomas Graham, dated Head-quarters, Calmhout, My Lord,-Gen. Bulow, Commander in Chief of the third corps of the Prussian army, having signified to me, that in the morning, of the 11th inst. he was to carry into execution his intention of driving the enemy from their position at Hoogstraeten and Wortel, on the Merk, in order to make a reconnoissance on Antwerp, and that he wished me to cover the right flank of his corps; I moved such parts of the two divisions under my command as were disposable from Rosendall, and arrived here at daybreak on the morning of the 11th. The enemy were driven back, with loss, from West Wesel, Hoogstraeten, &c. after an obstinate resistance, by the Prussian troops, to Braeschat, Westmeille, &c. Dispositions were made to attack them again the following day, but they retired in the night of the 11th, and took up a position near Antwerp, the left resting on Mercxem. General Bulow occupied Braeschat in force that evening (the 12th.) I moved to Capelle, on the great road from Bergen op Zoom to Antwerp, to be ready to co-operate in the intended attack yesterday. Major General Cooke's division remained in reserve at Capelle, and Major General M'Kenzie's moved by Ekeren and Done towards Mercxem, so as to avoid both great roads occupied by the Prussians. While the Prussians were engaged considerably more to the 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, commended 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 M'Leod 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 énemy 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. by the other troops employed. Two guns of Major Fyer's bri- command of that experienced offiThe 52d regiment, under the cer 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 retalion 95th, till after dark. mained with the 52d, and 3d bat This reconnoissance having been satisfactorily accomplished, the Prussian troops are going into cantonments, and this corps will refore. sume nearly those it occupied be been excessive. The soldiers have The severity of the weather has 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, 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 leewardmost, (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 much pleasure to communicate to you, for their Lordships' information, the capture of the French frigate that escaped on Sunday night. The 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 direction 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 These frigates sailed in company from Cherbourg, on the 20th of October last, and were to cruise for six months. It becomes me now to notice the very meritorious conduct of Captain Forrest, not only in assiduously keeping sight, but repeatedly offering battle to a force so superior; nor less deserving of my warmest approbation is Captain Worth, of this ship, whose indefatigable attention during the many manœuvres attempted by the enemy in this long and arduous chase, was equalled only by the exemplary behaviour of every officer and man under his command. I have the honour to be, &c. WAR DEPARTMENT. Downingstreet, Feb. 13, 1814. A dispatch, of which the following ing is a copy, was last night received at Earl Bathurst's office, addressed to his Lordship by General Sir Thomas Grabam, dated Mercxem, Feb. 6, 1814: Head-quarters, Mercxem, 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 2d inst. bad 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 to proceed to the southward to act in concert with the grand army; and the state of the weatlier, 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 2d division (in the absence of Major General M'Kenzie, 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 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 73d; 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 52d, 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 considerable 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 compleated by half past three p. m. of the 3d. 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 practice was admirable, but there was not a sufficient number of sbells falling to prevent the enemy from extinguishing 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 indefatigable exexertions 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 Deurne and Berchem roads, but were every where driven by the gallant Prussians, though not without considerable loss. I am, &c. (Signed) Admiralty-office, April 26. the fire was kept up all day. The Copy of a letter from Capt. Rainier, of |