to the country, in the late glorious and successful campaign. This motion was also seconded and carried, when the committee adjourned to prepare the addresses.

The sentiments avowed at this public assembly clearly evince what a unanimity prevails among the

British Inhabitants of India, as to the splendor of the late achievements, and how anxious we all are to pay the just tribute of gratitude and admiration to the illustrious character whose prudence and energy have added such important benefits to the empire at large.

Public Addresses to General Lake.

April 5.-The chairman of the meeting of the British Inhabitants of Calcutta, held on the 21st February, performs a most grateful duty in publishing, for their information, the following letters, with which he has been honored by his excellency the most ine the governor-general, and by his excellency the commander in chief. P. SPEKE.

(COPY.) To Peter Speke, Esq. chairman of a general meeting of the British Inhabitants of Calcutta.

Sir,

I have the honor to transmit to you, a copy of the letter which I addressed to his excellency the commander in chief, accompanying the resolutions of the British inhabitants of Calcutta, under date 21st of February, together with the original of the commander in chief's answer, enclosing a letter from his excellency to your address.

I have the honor to be, With great regard and esteem, Sir, your faithful servant, WELLESLEY. Fort William, April 2, 1804.

(Corr.)

To his Excellency General Lake, commander in chief, &c. &c. Sir,

With the most sincere satisfaction, I have the honor to comply with the request of this great and respectable settlement, in transmitting to your excellency, the testimony of gratitude and admiration contained in the unanimous resolution of a general meeting of the British inhabitants of Calcutta. The most sacred principles of public duty, united with unalterable sentiments of friendship and affectionate attachment, excite in my mind an anxious solicitude for your excellency's welfare, happiness, and fame. Your excellency's splendid and valuable achievements demand every public honor from the justice and gratitude of your country: no duty can be so acceptable to me, as that of conveying to you the deserved reward of your arduous services. I therefore trust, that your excellency will accept, with satisfaction, the unanimous testimony of public respect offered to you in the enclosed resolution; and that you will receive, with pleasure, my cordial and zea

lous

lous approbation of the just and laudable sentiments expressed, on this occasion, by the British inhabitants of the capital of the British possessions in India.

I have the honor to be,

Sir,

Your excellency's most faithful servant, WELLESLEY.

Fort William, March 9, 1804.

(COPY.)

To his Excellency the most noble Marquis Wellesley, governor general, c.

My lord,

I have received, with sentiments of the most sincere pleasure, your lordships letter, conveying to me the resolution of a general meeting of the British inhabitants of Calcutta, to honor me with a valuable testimony of their respect and approbation.

The gracious manner in which your lordship has been pleased to communicate this resolution, adds greatly to the satisfaction which I feel on this occasion; and your lordship's expressions of friendship and attachment which have accompanied it, with the high praise and approbation with which your lordship has honored my exertions, during the late campaign, are circumstances gratifying beyond expres sion, to the warmest feelings of my heart.

Whilst I request the favor that your lordship will convey the enclosed paper to the British inhabitants of Calcutta, I beg leave to offer to your lordship, assurances of my most affectionate regard, and of my sincere sense of the

To the Chairman of a General Meeting of the British Inhabitants of Calcutta, Sc. Sc. Sc. SIR,

His excellency the most noble the governor-general has done me the honor to communicate a reso lution of a general meeting of the British inhabitants of Calcutta, to confer on me a valuable testimony of their respect and approbation.

Whilst I partake in that just triumph which has its origin in the general prosperity and the increase of the power and glory of our country, I feel the satisfaction which had arisen from the success of my exertions, in conducting the late campaign in Hindustan, greatly enhanced by so honourable a testimony of esteem, from a settlement, equally respectable for its public spirit, and its private virtue.

The public applause, admiration, and gratitude, have been justly excited by the foresight, wisdom, and energy which have directed the counsels of the governor-general; and it will ever be my pride and pleasure to have contributed to conduct his lordship's measures to a termination, fraught with benefits, at once the most splendid, the most important, and the most permanent.

The esteem and applause of our country constitute the best motives to animate our exertions; and are the great and wished-for rewards

of

of every public service. To be honoured, therefore, with an expression of these sentiments, in a public and unanimous resolution of so respectable a body of my countrymen, is peculiarly gratifying to every principle of public duty.

The extension of our dominion in India, the reduction of those formidable states who meditated our ruin, the glorious success of every military enterprise that has been undertaken, the shining examples which have been exhibited of moderation, humanity, and justice, and the comprehensive system of political connections and arrangements, which has been adopted, to perpetuate the stability of our power, and the duration of our tranquillity, are circumstances which every British subject must contemplate with exultation, and with a confidence, that they will secure to the British inhabitants of this country a continuation of that prosperity, by which they have obtained their present exalted situation, of importance, opulence, and grandeur.

I request the favor that you will convey to the British inhabitants of Calcutta, my most ardent wish that they may enjoy, to the fullest possible extent, the numerous advantages which have thus been acquired for them; and my most grateful acknowledgements, for the flattering opinion they entertain of my services, and for the distinguished testimony of partiality and regard, with which they have honoured me.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your obliged and obedient

humble servant,
G. LAKE.

HEAD-QUARTERS,

Camp Ramghur, March 21st, 1804.

"On Monday, September 10th, a very uncommon swell denoted the approach of bad weather, and this expectation was fully confirmed, by a continued gale from that day until the 23d, when it blew a perfect hurricane, accompanied with a tremendous sea, which washed away the starboard gangway railing, and made a fair breach over the ship; at half past nine P. M. the foremast went eleven or twelve feet above the deck, and next morning, it was found that the rudder, and the starboard counter moulding, was torn off; supposed to have been occasioned by the wreck getting foul of it when going astern.Latitude 17° 29.-On the 24th the wind was from the southward, with a heavy tumbling sea, the ship labouring much, latitude 17— 45. On the 25th, finding all exertions to get the ship's head round were unsuccessful, and the wind continuing from the southward, set two jibbs on the driver boom, and a cross jack and mizen topsail aback to give her stern way.— Latitude 18° 23.-From this time till the 30th, variable winds, which we endeavoured to avail ourselves of, so as to make northing, either by backing or filling, as proved most favourable; by this time a temporary rudder was made, but could not be shipped but by getting the jibboom over the stern and sunk; and secured by sufficient weights it seemed to answer the purpose, and the wind being N. and E. the ship wore and tacked, as occasion required. At day-light, on the eleventh of October, the Taya Islands were seen; and on the twelfth the ship got round the coast of Hainan.-Here we shipped

ped the new-made rudder; but the weather still continuing very boisterous we put to sea again on the fifteenth; and on the morning of the seventeenth came to an anchor, at Tongsoi Bay, and were employed in refitting the ship. Here we remained till the twenty-eighth, when the ship drove considerably in the night to the southward and westward On the morning of the fourth of November, we got under weigh to recover our former anchoing ground; and on the fifth the rudder again broke adrift from the stern; and on the seventh we saw Pulo Canton, and drove down between the paracels and the main; backing and filling, as occasion required, from the sixth instant to the eleventh. We tried various methods to get the ship's head to the northward; on the eleventh, accomplished it but soon came round on the other tack; on the sixteenth the ship's head was to the northward, and on the seventeenth got her head again to the eastward; from thence, until the twenty-first, standing at E. N. E. to E. S. E. and S. E. by E.-when the carpenter having finished the rudder we got it over board, and by 5 P. M. got it securely fixed to the stern. As no pains had been spared in the construction of it, we found it answer as well as the one we first lost; and having the ship now under command, we hoped soon to reach the plice of our destination. We had been for some days past in a part of the China seas very little known, and according to the best charts full of dangers, and we had sounded hourly during the night, but no danger as yet had appeared. At 4 A. M. we endeavoured to tack, but for want of after-sail we could not accomplish it, (the carpenters having taken the mizen cap to fix to

the stern post for the rudder). At day-light perceived a reef of rocks and much broken water, bearing from N. E. to W. N. W. distant about two miles; as day-light increased we saw breakers all around us; we stood round the reef in hopes of finding a passage out, but were disappointed. In this situation we thought it would be best to come to anchor, until we could render serviceable a small leaky boat, which we had procured at Hainan: we had twenty-seven fathom water, the bottom was broken coral, we let go the best bower anchor, but found it to be such bad holding ground, that the ship drove at the slightest increase of the breeze; we then let go the sheet anchor which brought the ship up; the carpenters were immediately employed in repairing the boat; we counted from the mast-head seven reefs lying round us all nearly dry.

It was not until the 25th, that the carpenters had finished the boat, during, which time we frequently drove although we had both anchors down. We hoisted her out, but found her still so leaky that she would scarcely swim, and that any attempts to find a channel in her would be impracticable. On the 26th, we attempted to get under way and clear these reefs. Immediately the first anchor was off the ground, the ship drove, and allowed us no time to get the other anchor, we accordingly cut and made sail. At eight P. M. the ship beat very hard abaft upon the rocks; we cut away the mizen-mast to ease her, and if possible prevent her from going to pieces. Our situation was now truly deplorable, for we found it impossible to save the ship. We were 750 miles from any land that we could possibly ar

rive at, and had no boats to conduct us thither: it was very uncertain how long the wreck might hold together, and we supposed that the moment of her separation would be the last of our lives. The people proposed a raft, but their was nothing that afforded a speedier method of preservation than the poop of the ship sawed off, and converted into flat-bottomed boats; this was begun the next morning, while the rest of the people got the spars overboard, on each side, and secured them as shores, to prevent the ship's oversetting. There was ten or eleven feet water where the ship lay; at a small distance from the wreck the rocks were nearly dry at low water, and at spring tides quite; the tide rose and fell about eight or nine feet at high water; and half ebb there was not a rock in sight. The carpenters had now cut off three beams width of the poop, as a bottom for one of the intended boats; the length was 17 feet wide, and five broad; the carpenters went on with this boat but slowly. On the 3d of December the bottom of the second boat was laid; the other one, which was intended for the lascars, remained unfinished for want of their assistance.

The seacunnies, topazes, &c. finding this one to be intended for themselves, went to work upon it with the greatest alacrity, tearing from the wreck plank and copper for their boat. On the 9th, the lascars began to work upon their boat, and a carpenter was sent to assist them. The progress in both boats was nearly the same, the work went on very slow, and a sickness spread among the ship's crew, occasioned by the foul air which originated from the stagnant water and putrid cotton; this ef

fluvia was so pernicious that bright silver would turn black in the space of a few minutes, if exposed between decks. On the 5th one of the lascars died, on the 10th another; nothing material then occurred until the 23d, except that the wreck lay gradually more and more over, and by this time there was two feet water between decks. On the 23d, at seven A. M. discovered a sail, in the N. W. hoisted the signal of distress; she hoisted American colours and stood towards the edge of the reef, and hoisted her boat out; as she was about three miles from us on the other side of the reef, the boat rowed along the reef to find a passage to come to us; we sent the small boat to shew them one we had recently discovered. The people were all ordered aft, and were told that as an opportunity now offered, those who wished to leave the wreck might embrace it. When the boat came alongside, the officer informed them that the captain of this vessel (which was an American brig, called the Philadelphia, bound to China) would take the people out of the ship, and as she was in want of rope, she would beave to for the night, and furnish herself with what necessaries she stood in need of from the wreck. It was the intentions of captain Robertson, at all events, to proceed to Malacca in the boats now in hand, with those who might chuse to remain with him; these his intentions having been signified to the officer, he returned to his ship, and about half past four, P. M. returned with a few necessaries for the captain, who was extremely ill. The officer informed us that his commander had altered his intentions of remaining by the wreck during the night, and had given him pos.