whose burthen exceeds 20,000 tons. A considerable number of masts and spars have been put on-board the Leyden and Inflexible, which were well adapted for this purpose, and some valuable stores on-board his majesty's ships; nor can I forbear to remark, that such was the emulation among the several ships of the fleet to which the Danish ships were respectively attached for equipment, that within nine days 14 sail of the line were brought out of the harbour, although several of them underwent, in our hands, considerable repairs. Of the three ships on the stocks, two have been taken to pieces, and the useful part of their timber brought away; and the third, being in a considerable state of for, wardness, was sawed in various parts, and suffered to fall over. On a review of the whole, I think it may be asserted, without derogating from the merit of any former service, that the characteristic activity of British officers, seamen, and marines, was never more zealously exerted than on this occasion; but I must not omit, at the same time, to inform their lordships, that a very considerable proportion of the labour of the arsenal has been performed with equal zeal and energy by large working parties from the army, whose exertions entitle them to the same praise. I beg leave to express the great satisfaction I have felt from the zealous and attentive services of rear. admiral Essington, to whom the general superintendance of the nume. rous transports, and the re-embarkation of the army, with all its artillery and stores, had been committed. I embrace this opportunity to make a particular acknowledg ment of the very able and judicious dispositions which rear-admiral Keats has made from time to time of the force under his command, for guarding the Bett; and the vigilant attention which his whole squadron have paid to this important branch of the service. Sir Home Popham has not ceased to manifest his usual zeal and ability in the assistance he has rendered mė in the various services of the flect; and I should not do justice to the diligent attention and arduous endeavours of captain Mackenzie to fulfil the civil duties of the arsenal, which were committed to his ma nagement and superintendance, if I do not, on this occasion, express my warm approbation of his exer, tions; and I beg leave to recom mend him to their lordships' favourable notice. I have the honour to transmit herewith a list of the Danish ships and vessels which have been brought away, and of those destroyed. The account of the stores shipped from the arsenal shall also be sent as soon as the several returns can be collected and arranged. I have the honour to be, &c. J. GAMBIER. N. B. The list of the Danish ships found at Copenhagen has been already published. Two ships of the line and two frigates have been destroyed. Whitehall, Nov. 3.-The king has been pleased to grant the dignities of baron and viscount of the united kingdom of Great-Britain and Ire. land, unto the right hon. William baron Cathcart, knight of the most ancient order of the thistle, and lieutenant-general of his majesty's forces, on forces, and to the heirs male of his at the Court of Lisbon, by the body lawfully begotten, by the name, Right Honourable George Can. styles, and titles of baron Greenock, ning, his Majesty's Principal Seof Greenock, in the county of Ren. cretary of State for Foreign Affrew, and viscount Cathcart, of fairs. Cathcart, in the said county. His Majesty's Ship Hibernia,off The king has also been pleased to the Tagus, November 29, 1807. grant the dignity of a baron of the SIR, united kingdom of Great Britain I have the honour of announcing and Ireland unto James Gambier, to you, that the prince regent of esq. admiral of the blue squadron of Portugal has effected the wise and his majesty's fleet, and to the heirs magnanimous purpose of retiring male of his body lawfully begotten, from a kingdom which he could no by the name, style, and title of baron longer retain, except as the vassal Gambier, of lver, in the county of of France; and that his royal high. Buckingham. ness and family, accompanied by The king has also been pleased to most of his ships of war, and by a grant the dignity of a baronet of the multitude of his faithful subjects united kingdom of Great Britain and adherents, have this day depart., and Ireland unto Harry Burrard, ed from Lisbon, and are now of Lymington, in the county of their way to the Brazils, under the Southampton, esq. lieutenant-gene. escort of a British fleet. ral of his majesty's forces, and to This grand and memorable event the heirs male of his body lawfully is not to be attributed only to the begotten. sudden alarm excited by the appear. The king has also been pleased ance of a French army within the to grant the dignity of a baronet of frontiers of Portugal: it has been the united kingdom of Great Bri, the genuine result of the system tain and Ireland unto Henry Ed. of persevering confidence and mowin Stanhope, of Stanwell, in the deration adopted by his majesty to. county of Middlesex, esq. vice-ad. wards that country; for the ultimate miral of the blue squadron of his success of which I had in a manner majesty's fleet, and to the heirs male rendered myself responsible; and of his body lawfully begotten. which, in obedience to your instrucThe king has also been pleased to tions, I had uniformly continued to grant the dignity of a baronet of the support, even under appearances of united kingdom of Great Britain the most discouraging pature. and Ireland unto Thomas Blome I had frequently and distinctly field, of Attleborough, in the coun- stated to the cabinet of Lisbon, that ty of Norfolk, esq. major-general in agreeing not to resent the exclu. of his majesty's forces, and to the sion of British commerce from the heirs male of his body lawfully be. ports of Portugal, his majesty had gotten. exhausted the means of forbearance; that in making that concession to the peculiar circumstances of the 1 Dispatch this Day received from prince regent's situation, his ma Lord Viscount Strangford, his jesty had done all that friendship Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary and the remembrance of ancient alliance alliance could justly require ; but on the 23d) directing me to autho. that a single step beyond the line rize that measure, in case the Por, of modified hostility, thus most re- tuguese government should pass the luctantly consented to, must neces- bounds which his majesty had sarily lead to the extremity of ac- thought fit to set to his forbearance, tual war. and attempt to take any farther step The prince regent, however, suf- injurious to the honour or interest fered himself for a moment to for- of Great Britain. get that, in the present state of Eu. Those dispatches were drawn up rope, no country could be permit. under the idea that I was still resi. ted to be an enemy to England with dent at Lisbon ; and though I did impunity, and that however much not receive them until I had actually his majesty might be disposed to taken my departure from that court , make allowance for the deficiency still, upon a careful consideration of the means possessed by Portugal of the tenor of your instructions, I of resistance to the power of France, thought that it would be right to act neither his own dignity, nor the as if that case had not occurred. interests of his people, would permit I resolved, therefore, to proceed his majesty to accept that excuse for forthwith to ascertain the effect a compliance with the full extent of produced by the blockade of Lisbon, her unprincipled demands. On the ' and to propose to the Portuguese 8th instant, his royal highness was government, as the only condition induced to sign an order for the upon which that blockade could detention of the few British subjects, cease, the alternative (stated by and of the inconsiderable portion of you) either of surrendering the British property, which yet remained fleet to his majesty, or of immediate, at Lisbon. On the publication of ly employing it to remove the prin this order, I caused the arms of regent and his family to the Braz England to be removed from the I took upon myself respon gates of my residence, demanded lity in renewing my passports, presented a final re. my public funct monstrance against the recent con. ceased; convin duct of the court of Lisbon, and was the fixed proceeded to the squadron com. majesty not manded by sir Sidney Smith, which Portugal to arrived off the coast of Portugal of his ene some days after I had received my first objer passports; and which I joined on plication the 17th instant. I immediately suggested to sir mily of Sidney Smith the expediency of es- of Fras tablishing the most rigorous block. I ac ade at the mouth of the Fagus; and dience I had the high satisfaction of after. ther wards finding, that I had thus anti- tecti cipated the intentions of his majes. ceiv ty; your dispatches (which I re. IT ceived by the messenger Sylvester, in nal purt bearing a flag of truce. I had im. cle than that afforded by the mediately most interesting commu. junction of the two fleets has been nications with the court of Lisbon, rarely behell. the particulars of which shall be On quitting the prince regent's more fully detailed in a future dis.. ship, I repaired on board the Hi, patch. It suffices to mention in this bernia, but returned immediately, place, that the prince regent wisely accompanied by sir Sidney Smith, directed all his apprehensions to a whom I presented to the prince, and French army, and all his hopes to who was received by his royal an English feet; that he received highness with the most marked and the most explicit assurances from gracious condescension. me that his majesty would gene, I have the honour to enclose lists t rously overlook those acts of un. of the ships of war which were willing and momentary hostility to known to have left Lisbon this which his royal highness's consent morning, and which were in sight had been extorted; and that I pro. a few hours ago. There remain mised to his royal highness, on the at Lisbon four ships of the line, and faith of my sovereign, that the Bric the same number of frigates, but tish squadron before the Tagus only one of each sort is serviceable. should be employed to protect his I have thought it expedient to retreat from Lisbon, and his voyage lose no time in communicating to to the Brazils. his majesty's government the im. A decree was published yester. portant intelligence contained in day,* in which the prince regent this dispatch. I have therefore to announced his intention of retiring apologise for the hasty and imperto the city of Rio de Janeiro until fect manner in which it is written. the conclýsion of a general peace, I have the honour to he, &c. and of appointing a regency to STRANGFORD. transact the administration of go. vernment at Lisbon, during his roy Admiralty Olice, Dec, 21. al highness's absence from Europe. Dispatches, of which the following This morning the Portuguese flect are Extracts and Copies, were releft the Tagus. I had the honour ceived at this Office on Saturday to accompany the prince in his pas. last, by Captain Yeo, of his Man sage over the Bar. The fleet con- jesty's sloop the Confiance, from sisted of eight sail of the live, four Reur-Admiral Sir William Sida large frigates, several armed brigs, ney Smith, addressed to the hon, sloops, and corvettes, and a number illiam Wellesley Pole. of Brazil ships, amounting, I be- His Majesty's ship'Hibernia, 22 leagues liere, to about thirty-six sail in all. west of the Tugus, Dec. 1,1807. They passed through the British Sin, squadron, and his majesty's ships In a former dispatch, dated the fired a salute of twenty-one guns, 220 November, with a postscript of which was returned with an equal the 26th, I conveyed to you; for number. A more interesting specta- the information of my lords com * A copy of this decree or proclamation will be seen in p. 775, 776. missioners missioners of the Admiralty, the proofs contained in various documents of the Portuguese government being so much influenced by terror of the French arms, as to have acquiesced to certain demands of France operating against Great. Britain. The distribution of the Portuguese force was made wholly on the coast, while the land side was left totally unguarded. British subjects of all descriptions were detained; and it therefore be came necessary to inform the Portuguese government, that the case had arisen which required, in obedience to my instructions, that I should declare the Tagus in a state of blockade; and lord Strangford agreeing with me that hostility should be met by hostility, the blockade was instituted, and the instructions we had rcceived were acted upon to their full extent; still, however, bearing in recollection the first object adopted by his majesty's government, of opening a refuge for the head of the Portuguese government, menaced as it was by the powerful arms and baneful influence of the enemy, I thought it my duty to adopt the means open to us, of endeavouring to induce the prince regent of Portugal to reconsider his decision to unite himself with the continent of Europe," and to recollect that he had possessions on that of America, affording an ample balance for any sacrifice he might make here, and from which he would be cut off by the nature of the maritime warfare, the termination of which could not be dictated by the com. bination of the continental powers of Europe. In this view lord Strangford ha. ving received an acquiescence to the proposition which had been made by us, for his lordship to land and confer with. the prince regent uṇder the guarantee of a flag of truce, I furnished his lordship with that conveyance and security, in order that he might give to the prince that confidence which his word of honour as the king's minister ple nipotentiary, united with that of a British admiral, could not fail to inspire towards inducing his royal highness to throw himself and his fleet into the arms of Great Britain, in perfect reliance on the king's overlooking a forced act of apparent hostility against his flag and subjects, and establishing his royal highness's government in his ultramarine possessions, as originally promised. I have now the heart. felt satisfaction of announcing to you, that our hopes and expectations have been realized to the ut. most extent. On the morning of the 29th, the Portuguese fleet (as per list annexed) came out of the Tagus with his royal highness the prince of Brazil and the whole of the royal family of Braganza on board, together with many of his faithful counsellors and adherents, as well as other persons attached to his present fortunes. This fleet of eight sail of the line, four frigates, two brigs, and one schooner, with a crowd of large armed merchant-ships, arranged itself under the protection of that of his majesty, while the firing of a reciprocal salute of twenty-one guns announced the friendly meeting of those who but the day before were on terms of hostility; the scene impressing every beholder (except the French army on the hills) with the most lively emotions of gratitude to Providence, that there |