Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

CRUIZE (f the O.YTARIO. We arc indebted to a gentleman of this place for permission to lay before our readers a copy of the folllowing letter received by him from an officer, on board the United States’ ship Ontario, a native of this place. This letter will we doubt not be read with interest by every one: it is re plete with good sense and evinces that the writer, who left this place an inexperienced youth a few years ago,lias made good use of his time, ilis ex ample is worthy of imitation.— IVinchcatcr (luz. Cop) of a Utter from an officer onboard the United States’ ship Ontario, to his friend in this place, dated United States’ shift Ontario, Annapolis, April 25, 1819. Once more, my dear sir, I have safely re turned to “the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” Nineteen months have rapidly passed away since 1 took leave of my dear country for a cruise in the Pacific ocean. When I look hack it ap pears as hut a day—yet during that day I have sailed in all my zigzag rambles over nearly fifty thousand miles of old Neptune’s em pire. The many strange places I have seen, and the great variety of interesting objects pre sented to the eye may in some degree account for the apparent rapidity of old Time’s ilight— but it is nevertheless a melancholy truth, that as our years increase in number, they seem greatly to decrease in length. I wished very much for an opportunity to write you from the Pacific,but met w ith none that pre sented a reasonable prospect of your ever getting the letter—l could there have given you much interesting news if you feel, as I presume every American docs, interested in the great cause now pending in South America. The period of our arrival in Chili was perhaps the most eventful one in the history of that coun try since the conquest —but as you have long since been made acquainted, through the medi um of newspapers, with the important occur rences of that day, I shall not here trouble you with a repetition of them, but, pursuing the inten tion with w hich 1 sat down, shall proceed to give you a sketch of the movements of the Ontario during her absence from the United States. In doing so I shall make, principally, plain extracts from my journal—and avoid as much as possible entering into particulars, which would perhaps tire more than amuse you. I must here, howev er, observe, that should you feel no relish for the dry remarks of a sailor’s journal, the papers are in your hands and may easily be committed to the flaitics. The first port we put into was Rio Janeiro (Brazil) where we spent hut ten days refitting, Sec. Sec. Thence directed our course towards Cape I lorn—we passed that dreadful point of terrors about the Ist of January, 1818. 1 have never been in a clime so boisterous and disagreea ble as that about the Cape—rains and storms pre vail almost incessantly—the sea rolling in moun tain waves; your trembling bark one moment soars among the clouds, and the next sinks swift ly between the foaming billow s as if never to rise again. It was midsummer when we passed it, and con sequently we had almost continual day-light— I the sun making but a small sweep below the hor krison, where he remained only five hours and a AmU'. left us a twilight in his absence, which, had HVwcather been clear, would have been equal full moon. The weather was not so cold cn pc< H (1 to find it, even at that season, a latitude as 6 > degrees south — the stood ;it from to to la degrees of l’a {MV thermometer. After buffeting the |||||||Hfor fifty five days, during which we lost Han overboard, and carried aw av some of HHBlit spars we cist auehot in the ba\ of Yak (Chili.) F is a small, ill contrived, dirty town, the side of a red clay hill that scarce Wfbrds nerbage for a goat. The houses arc gen erally vei%Mnall, meanly built, w ittarbrick floors and tile population is jjQjrimour to five thousand souls—they are very e&symYheir man ners and hospitable to strapgers. mltkr a stay there of six weeks 1 where we arrived in ISkye days—\% gave the ‘ vice king of Peru the li fuam.aliui||u fthe de feat of his army at the fainorr* batucßMllajpo, w hich so humbred the that lie not only received us with a which he, is not in the habit of but, at \jfß request of captain B. he order Addressed to the commodore of his squad ron, off’ Valparaiso, lo permit all the American merchant vessels then in that port to proceed to ksea without intei vuption. This very important “order rendered it necessary for the Ontario to re turn immediately to Valparaiso, as there were ■five valuable vessels then preparing to sail for Bovina. Captain B. consented to take on board from the v ice king, to negociatc Hrth the Chili government for an exchange of pri soners, and to act himself in the capacity of me diator. On our return to Valparaiso, I had the pleasure to accompany those gentlemen to Santi ago, (the capital, about one hundred miles in the interior.) On our arrival in the suburbs we were met by an officer of distinction at the head of a corps of dragoons, which paid captain B. mi litary honors and escorted us to quarters that had been prepared for captain B. and most splen didly fitted up by order’of the supreme director; during our stay there, our table was every day supplied in the most sumptuous manner—the wines, fruits and delicacies of every dc- were crowded upon it in the greatest short every respect and ad-, ntion & SirTV\ *“ i)As. H ‘ V- guard of honor that escorted us back to the port, stole my sword, epaulette and the chapeau do bras which had been given him to carry. Santiago is a handsome, regular and well built city—has from thirty to forty thousand inhabit ants—it has several very rich churches, and some other elegant public buildings, particularly a mint, which, I think, is not surpassed, if equall ed, by any building on the whole continent of A inerica; it is four hundred and eighty feet in front, two stories high, and every way large in due pro portion, and is built of a very fine w hite free stone. We spent six days in the city—no ar rangement for exchange of prisoners could be agreed on. On our return to the port we imme diately put to sea for the river Columbia, (N. W. coast) touching at Lima to land the Spanish com missioner. On the 19th August we anchored off the entrance of that river. The bar being too intricate and dangerous for a vessel of the ()ntario’s draft of water to pass in, we manned three boats with lilty well armed seamen and rowed up the river to the establishment founded there by a Mr. Astor, of New-York, but then in the possession of the British N. W. company— you may recollect that the post was taken from Mr. Astor during the late war with Kngland; by the treaty of Ghent it must be restored to us, and I understood it has been actually given up, since we left there to the United States’ agent appointed to receive it. It is situated on what is called point George, about 18 miles from the en trance of the l iver: consists of one large frame house, five or six small ones, some store houses, shops, See. Around the whole is a strong high picket to protect them from the Indians, who are sometimes disposed to be troublesome, l'wenty-five whites, the same number of Sand wich Islanders, w ith three six pounders, consti tutes the whole force of the settlement. Captain Biddle was not authorised by his instructions to haul down the English flag and place in its stead the American stripes; we how ever took formal possession of the country on lioth of ffver, in the name and on the beXlPofmc United States, with all the ceremony usual on such occasions. We passed the night uncomfortable enough in our boats, which we anchored near an Indian village. The Indians came amongst us in con siderable numbers with great familiarity, were very merry and friendly, offering us their dried salmon to eat. Their first inquiries were wheth er we were king George’s men or Boston men; on being told Boston men, they repeated several times “Boston men Kiosk” which signifies good-, so you see they understand at least one part of the policy of civilized nations, The greater part of the men were entirely naked, and the women were as little covered as the most relaxed laws of decency would admit of. They have, in com mon, flat heads and distorted features; the latter is no doubt, caused by the operation of flattening the head, which is done by confining it in infancy, between two boards, and keeping it in that situa tion till, as the head grows, it assumes the admir ed form. Take them “all in all” they arc, in my opinion, the most ill-looking, dirty, disgujg| ing objects of the human race, and I hope nqjfer to look upon their like again.” The country as far as we could see,hf#ars no signs of cultivation. The natives livaby fishing antLhunting. The English raise spine cattie, ancrreccive flour and salt provision twice a year fronwGanada by way of Cape 11 On me morning of the 20thJ(he sea broke so heavy orfffie bar, that we wgrypll very near being drowned nuattempting to ggf oil board oiw ship. I think 1 nfflfcer was so nesgjrthe lenge of eternity before; for boat in JPiith tie re was twenty men, was half ru 11 of wjper alongside. We however got all j*afe on boartfi M|*4giied our anchor, and under a press ui, sail stood awav to the southward five days after'TOMamr to an an chor in the bay oLMoutery, (California.) —The Spaniards have there a small fortress with a gar rison perhaps apn ft y menvwho are |lacjpd there, they say, entiwly for the p%tectiont>f siprae two or three religious missions established in the vi cinity for the purpose of converting the wild chil dren of thdforest to the catholic faith—but I am inclined think that their object quite so humaneJtnd disinterested as they would wish one so beliejpe; for where mild persuasion, {which is, I thipfflthe only weapon that should ever be used in sutfl cases) fails to effect their purposb, they do not hesitate to use the most arbitrary and un feeling means to accomplish it; as an evidence of this, I mention the following circumstance. Ram bling in the woods one day wktßMßgrm of parftid ges, (which by the bya arcvery j plenty,) I fell in with two Indiapafwjio were em ployed cutting wqg*k witlreach heavy pair of irons onjiivlegf; Tasked them iiwSjiamsh, (for vuu-’rtffist know I have learnt to%iake myself understood in that language,) why mtey were in irons; they said they had attempted t<7 run away and return to their nation in the interior,Vnd were caught and shackled as I saw. 1 advised them to beat oft’their disgraceful fetters with their axe, and shewed them how it might be done; they looked so significantly at each other, that I am convinced trrey had never thought of such aj thing before, but I have no doubt they very soon followed my advice. As the Spanish force is much too small to cope with the Indians in the field, they have adopted the following singular stratagem to keep them under, which has had, so far the desired effect. The priests collect all the young females, and put them into a strong building erected for that purpose, where they are taught to spin, weave, sew, Sic. They are strictly guarded, and never suffered to leave their prison, until the holy fa ther gives them away in marriage, at which time he always stipulates for the female children that may make their appearance on the stage of life. By thus keeping the women in their power, the men are restrained from acts of violence. As Monterey and \ irginia lay in the same par- the climate ant} productions, oft , I and all the fruits of Virginia are there in the highest perfection. We remained but a few days to refresh ourselves, lay in a supply of wood, . water, Scr. and on the 23d of October, anchored for the third time in the harbor of Lima. If you do not expect a particular description of Lima, I shall be glad of it, for you will not then he disappointed, when you see how briefly I pass it over. You may remember that it was found ed by the famous Pizarro, who built himself a great palace, and was murdered in it bv a gang of conspirators. It is situated two leagues from the sea, in a beautiful vale called the Rinac, on the hank of a river of the same name; is sur rounded by a wall 20 feet high; has about 65,000 inhabitants, of whom there may be 20,000 whites; is crowded with public buildings; among which are upwards of 40 churches, all immensely rich; in every one may be seen at least one Virgin Mary, with a crown upon her head of pure gold, ornamented with the richest gems. Large col umns supporting images, tables, candle-sticks, and v arious other affairs, all of massy silver, may be seen in any of them. There is, as fmi may suppose, no want of monasteries, convents and nunneries, and if you like you may go and make love through their iron grates, to a pretty nun at lioon day. The women are generally handsome, but so extremely ignorant, that their first inqui ries were almost always about the fashions in London, believing that all who speak English must of course belong to that place. They are utterly without modesty in either manners or con versation.* **************** I will here then do the Limanians the justice to say that they are polite ahd hospitable to stran gers, at least they were so to us, though it is very evident that they have no love for the North Am ericans, for viewing them as republicans, they naturally consider them as decided friends to the patriot cause; (had we been more so than *ve have, we should have been more respected by both parties.) We were suffered to live at no expense in their city; were lodged and hand somely entertained in the first private families, and always invited to the vice king’s dinners. You must observe, that, so far, I have spoken of their private character only.—The govern ment must be viewed in a very different light. There is no law for any but officers and soldiers; a fljain coat seldom finds its way through the yk kimffiLar uards; and if on a foreigner’s withbribes. —Foret alone but; sir, they are thfnfcßgkff the A mere an navy, ar.d the wind that there. 1 Ifigger ship to themadEw; we hinted a line of rifatue ship in the Pacific—for it is, that the little Ontario was looked upon witVa great deal more respect than contempt, and the demands of her commander promptly attended to. We found two of our merchant vessels there that had been captured and condemned some months before, for having on board some contraband articles, supposed to be for the pa triots of Chili:—they were valued together at near seven hundred thousand dollars:—their commanders had been for some time petitirfing for anew trial, but with very little hopespiff suc cess whfcu vve arrived. At capt. I>’sj(l > equcst a new trial ordered, the fermerJfcision was reversed, and the vessels restontfrro their com manders. iiUqujpmrty American seamen confined in prisyoT Lima; on the demand, pf ,B- ffiey.afire all given up tons, though mn taken in arms against the king of * • . Having accoirm|Rhijd the different objects of our visit to hhsufin their fullest extent, we took a last i.i eviprfn of that place, ahd shaped our course fcwJFalparaiso. On our passage we pas sed c’osuplSboard the celebrated island of Robin son ifir ® c ’ ( a 'i as Juan Fernandez,) I thought of okl mdbinson and his man Friday, and licit a strong desire to land and search for the spot where his hut stood; but a fresh and favoring gale soon put an end to that idea by carrying us in view of the coast of Chili. Me found on our arrival in the bay of Valpa raiso, a patriot squadron of one ship of 64 guns, two of 44 , one of which had lately been captured, , together with five transports, part of an expedi tion sent out from Spain to reinforce the vice-roy ; of Peru,) one of 22 guns, and two or three small er vessels, all under command of the English lord Cochrane, as high admiral. * * * ;; * * * 1 he squadron and several transports were fil ling out for an expedition against Lima; they have probably made the attack before this, and if have managed decently they no iloubt have been successful; as they would joined by all the colored people rat<?rVmcti compose at least two thirds ilie'fvo^plafMf l Ad the vice roy hasnofc’ more than sevefi soldiers, mmwtifwhom cannot safely be lvlifwm. San Martin, the patriot general, is a deep Icheriftng fellow, and 1 think a very great scoundrel, and am of opinion if he takes Lima he will establish himself there, with what title he pleases, and poor i Chili may whistle for her ships and soldiers, and protect herself as well as she can, against her old frietids the Spaniards. Time, they say, shews all things. I feel really half inclined to tell you a long | story about Chili, its climate, productions, inhab itants, &c. Sic. and believe I could do so without mentioning a single circumstance that was unin teresting to myself; but I dare not in conscience trespass so long on your time, which may be much better employed in almost any other way than reading these dull sheets—besides, if you have any curiosity that way, Molina’s history of Chili will satisfy it much more to your heart’s content than I can. M e stayed in Valparaiso only long enough to take in supplies of provisions, wood, water, Sic. and repassed Cape Horn in January with rather ! more .pleasant weather than before. After anas- 1 | port oi Pio Janeiro—i wrote vou ircm that place on cur passage out, I shah trouble you with no farther account of it. There were, in Rio, from fifteen to twenty American merchant vessels, making most dismal voyages; the mar ket so glutted with wheat and flour that they were actually selling their cargoes below first cost, and glad to get any thing near it. On our passage along the coast of Brazil, we touched at the city of Pernambuco—crossed the equinoctial line for the fourth time, April ], and on the 2 Ist inst. the blue hills of Columbia once more reared their lofty summits above the watery waste. I now ride sale at auchoi in mv native land, and when I take a retrospective v low of all the different countries I hav seen in this and former voyages, my own stands so exaited by the comparison, that wbile life lasts, I shall continue to say toil in the words of apod, “Where e’er I go, whatever realms l ser, My heart untrav ell’d stiff shall turn to thee.” DEFEAT OF MACGREGOR. Baltimore, June 2. Captain Fleetwood of the schooner Sam, ar rived here yesterday in 25 days from Porto Bel lo, reports that general MacGregor made his ap pearance off the harbour of Porto Bello on the 7th of April. On the Bth he landed his forces, amounting to upwards of one thousand men, and on the day following entered and took possession of the place. He remained in possession 21 days without succeeding in gaining any of the inhabit ants over to Iris standard. The depredations and robberies of his party on private property com pelled the inhabitants to abandon their houses and fly to the mountains for refuge. At the last of April general If ore (Royalist) entered Porto Bello at 6 in the morning, and sur prised MacGregor and and his followers, who were asleep. MacGregor and 50r6 of Lis men escaped with difficulty by leaping from a window 20 feet high and swimming on board of one of his vessels. Five hundred prisoners have been sent to Pa nama. There were 60 men killed and 40 wound ed, the greatest part of whom were officers.— Stragglers were daily brought in from the neigh boring mountains. The loyalists lost two men I killed and four wounded.— American. Extract of a letter from Porto Bello, dated the 4th May. “On the night of the 30th ult. the Spanish forces from Panama, commanded by general Hore, marched into the neighborhood of this city, intending to make an attack at day-light on the town, in conjunction with colonel Santacruz’s division, according to previous arrangements. — This division, however, did not arrive as soon as was expected, and general Hore was in conse quence about retiring when it appeared—and at six in the morning he entered the town without the smallest opposition. The Spanish troopsoc- at the same time, all the different the mlMJgents who were exercising in the square, were irmijyMlialely attacked, and the greater part of them compelled to surrender—colonel O’Hai a received two his groins as he was going into the fort, taken prisoner—he died the second day into the hospital, MacGregor was in IxxrUttlie time of attack, and to escape leapntkfMfci into the street, ran to the shotjfalid swafflNujJioard the brig Hero. Govma<fr Lopez, who slept in the next room, wmJdfled in bfy. Colonel Rafter, with a few retired to a fort on the beach, whcjdf; being attacked by the royalists lie was compelled to surrender.—The loss of ihc insur gents amounts to 80 killed, and about 50 wound ed. The Spaniards lost only 4 men, which must he attributed to MacGregor’s having been com pletely surprised, on account of not having a single centinel or piquet stationed out of town. Seventy-three officers were marched off’ to Pa nama, and general Hore, after making all neces sary arrangements respecting the disposal of his forces, and the security of the prisoners, return ed to Panama by way of Chagres. The greatest care has been taken of the wounded and sick After the capture of Porto Bello, general Hore issued a proclamation, promising to provide those of the prisoners who were mechanics, with the means of following their respective trades; and all of them have been treated with great hu manity.” Prom the Ghtsgoiv JFerahl, of March 22 IMPROVED STEAM NAVIGATION. As every tiling relating to the navigation is of the ut most importance to the trade and interests of this coun try, we announce with the greatest satisfaction, and a considerable degree of confidence, an important dis covery in anew method of propelling ships or vessels of any description by steam. We are happy to say that Glasgow has the honor of that discovery, and that James Jaftray, i.T. 1). professor of anatomy in our college, is the inventor, for which he has lately obtained a patent, extending to Great Rriiain and Ireland and the colonies thereunto belonging. The principle which wifi soon be laid before tlie public, we have seen, audit is so ex tremely simple, that without wading into the principles of mechanics, or the laws of fluids, we have little hesi tation in saying that it is likely to succeed beyond any thing at present anticipated or calculated upon. Les sening every expense connected with the building and outfit of ships; durability, expedition, and, above all, certainty and safety in its movements, in comparison of the present system are combined, and stand forward in such a commanding and conspicuous point of view, that it cannot fail to conic into general use amongst all com mercial nations.—The simple but powerful machinery, will be so placed, that unless tlieve ssel is dashed to pieces it cannot be injured, and scarcely any thing can go wrong but what may be repaired in a short period. It will work unaffected by any surge. The fiercest storms, and the loftiest billows, cannot injure its powers, nor though directed against her course, materially re tard the sliip that is propelled by it. The deeper in the vessel it is placed, and the greater resistance it meets with from the surrounding fluid, so much great er in degree, will its powers he increased, and accord ing to the force of the engine on board.—lt can also be | constructed so as to he ■ ‘