The Enquirer

Europe.
FROM THE BALTIMORE WHIG.
SUMMARY.

The English prints complain, that the brunt of the contest and the principal part of the danger were borne by the British at fort Matagorda;—an American captain recently arrived here from Cadiz says, he saw a boat with 14 or 16 Englishmen on board sunk by a single shell which fell upon it. A British officer gives a dark picture of Portuguese morality: assassination, he says is very frequent—many English seamen had been murdered by them, and the offenders never detected or punished. In anticipation of defeat on the frontiers, the adherents of Britain, &c. were preparing to move, either to England or the Brazils.

Parties in parliament are divided by a writer in the London Statesman into nine squads; the minority states it perfectly independent, and supports the cause of the true Constitution with great steadiness and abilities; among these the principal is Sir F. Burdett. In the same paper we find a very spirited and elegant letter addressed to Lord Milton; urging the benefit and necessity of reform.

Some change, says the writer, must come. Fearful is the alternative; for when a mighty machine is put in motion, I know the difficulty of regulating its operations, and the peril of its slightest eccentricities. When argument has been sneered out of fashion by a jest, and reason, put to rout by a regiment, I can ill complain of those who in the turbulent hour of summary justice resort to other weapons. "The people are acquitted; the parliament stands condemned." The sword fell but last week from king Charles's statue: this would be an omen to the superstitious, nor is it unnatural that ministers who scorn arguments should place truth in portents.

The French emperor, says a London paper of May 23 (received at this office.) in fact acknowledges his incapacity to conquer Spain! The French force south of the Douro on the 13th of May, was said to be only 37,000 in all; which is inferior to the army of lord Wellington. Ney had advanced from Salamanca towards Ciudad Rodrigo with 20,000 men: Junot had 13,000 at Astorga.

Lord Wellington's head quarters were at Celorico. The duke of Abrantes, (Junot) had worsted the Spaniards in several skirmishes near Astorga. Lord Wellington, says the Moniteur of May 15, remains with the English army a spectator of these events—he does not move from his camp; he hears the sound of the cannon of Astorga, of Badajoz, of Cadiz, but contents himself with fomenting insurrections, and furnishing arms and clothing.