We go now to the West Indies. About the end of last summer an univerfal concern prevailed for the fate of Jamaica. Some, indeed, affected to ridicule the apprehenfion of an attack on that ifland, as they likewife did the defign of an invasion of this country; but the lapse of a few months discovered, that both the one and the other were within the views of the enemy. Indeed it fortunately happened, that where the danger was most imminent, the intention of the enemy was foonest observed. The formidable force affembled at Hifpaniola excited the jealoufy of Gen. Dalling; and that wary governor took care to provide against any fudden furprise of Jamaica, by embodying the militia, and establishing martial law; and, in conjunction with Sir Peter Parker, the commander in chief of the navy, did not fail to apprise the commanders in chief, both naval and military, at New York, of their critical fituation. On the 13th of August, Gen. Dalling acquainted Sir Henry Clinton, by letter, with the strength of Count d'Estaing, and his weakness to oppofe him; and of the little hope of preferving the ifland, with out the fpeedieft and strongest reinforcements to oppofe him. About the fame time, Sir Peter Parker acquainted Adm. Byron of the intelligence he had received of the intentions of that enterprifing officer Count d'E. taing, aud of the readiness he was in to put his designs in execution that at Cape François fix flags were then flying; and that Count d'Estaing, with a strong detachment from his squadron, was ex. pected at Jamaica in three or four days. On the 18th of the fame month, the same Admiral acquainted Adm. Byron of the arrival of Count d'Estaing at Hifpaniola the 31st of July, with twentyfix fhios of the line, ten or twelve frigates, and a number of transports and victuallers, with 5000 troops on board, said to have come from France with Monf. de la Motte Piquet; that 12,000 men more, with 4 or 5000 militia, were preparing to invade Jamaica; and praying speedy reinforcements. On the 16th of September, Sir H.. Clinton, in return, assured Gen. Dalling of an intended reinforcement, amounting in the whole to near 4000 men, under the command of Lord Cornwallis. At the same time, Lord Cornwallis acquainted Gen. Dalling of his immediate preparations, and defired his instructions how to proceed. On the 17th of September, Vice-Adm. Arbuthnot, at New York, acquainted Vice-Adm. Byron, then on the WestIndia station, with his having sent the Ruffel of 74 guns, the Europa and Raifonable of 64 guns each, being the whole force there, or likely to be there for fome time, as convoy to the reinforcement under Gen. Cornwallis; and requesting that those ships might be returned the moment the service in which they were employed was over, as the safety of New York depended upon it: at the same time he gives him to understand, that two frigates are much wanted. To the fame purpose he wrote to Sir Peter Parker; adding, that to man the Russel he had been obliged to unman all the floops and fire-ships in the port of New York. But mark the fudden reverse of fortune: The island of Jamaica, that was in so critical a fituation about the middle of September, on the 6th of November was iffuing a proclamation for enlifting volunteers to go upon an expedition, by which those who inlifted might acquire riches to themselves, and render effential service to their country. This was no doubt, the expedition against Omoa: the success of which, and its importance, were announced in our laft volume [41.666.]. The day before this proclamation appeared, a fleet of transports arrived from Cork, under convoy of his Majesty's ship the Leviathan, which had been detained. near a month at St Kitt's, waiting the event of the intended attack by Count d'Estaing. - Such were the contents of those curious letters from the Jamaica Gazette, which filled the papers about the middle of the month of January. London, Fan. 31. Monf. de Sartine tranfmitted to the committee of proprietors proprietors interested in the island of Grenada two arrets of the French King's council of state; one concerning the debts of the inhabitants of the island of Grenada, the other for the administration of justice in that island; and at the same time has obligingly written to Meff. Scott and Pigott, delegated by the committee to tranfact this business, the following letter. "Versailles, Dec. 23. 1779. I acquaint you, Gentlemen, that the King has ordained and enacted, by two arrets of his council, respecting the ordinances iffued by the Count de Durat [41.559,60.], dated the 7th, roth, and 19th of July last. One of these arrets enacts, that the debts, titles, and claims, reciprocally fubfifting between the inhabitants of Grenada and the fubjects of his Britannic Majesty, shall be preferved and maintained entire and inviolate. The other, at the fame time that it orders that the French laws shall be observed in the faid ifland, ascertains the rules, the times, and the forms, according to which justice shall be there administered, by the courts of law which his Majesty has thought proper to establish. His Majesty has also given orders, that the abfent English proprietors may difpofe, as they think proper, of the produce of their plantations; under this exception only, that the importations and exportations shall be on board of French veffels; or, in cafe of necessity, on board of neutral veffels, which shall depart from and return to France. Final ly, his Majesty's intention is, that the English proprietors, if there are any who have been difpoffefsed of their estates by force, shall be reinstated in their poffeffions by authority; referving to those who may have committed the violence, the right of making good their claims before the courts of juftice; which courfe fuch of the English shall also have, as having formerly acquired poffeffions by force, may have been in their turn forcibly difpoffeffed upon the conquest of Grenada. re The arrangements which I have above communicated to you, annul the late ordinance of Monf. De Durat, of the 7th of September last. His Majefty has given orders to the adminiftrators to abolish the office of confervators, established by that ordinance, and to leave the attornies of the abfent English proprietors in the full and entire power of acting for their conftituents." On the receipt of the above letter, the committee of proprietors held a meet ing on Friday fe'ennight, and came to the following refolution : "That it may be neceffary, for the ease of the minds of all concerned, to take notice, that although the first of the faid arrets of his Moft Chriftian Majesty, of the rath of December laft, grants to the inhabitants of Grenada a suspension, until a peace, of the payment of debts due by them to British subjects, refiding in Britain, or in any other part of his Britannic Majesty's dominions, and alfo of such debts due to the subjects of the United Provinces of Holland, as are guaranteed by any of his Britannic Majesty's fubjects, and confequently the faid inhabitants cannot be compelled to do justice to the creditors; yet it leaves them at full liberty to pay their faid debts, without incurring any penalty; whereas the ordinance of the Count de Durat the 7th of July laft, abfolutely prohibited them to pay any fuch debts, directly or indirectly, under pain of disobedience, milirary execution, and confiscation of their eftates." A method of making Artificial Loadstones. By Mr Benjamin Wilson, F. R. S. THE method of making artificial loadstones, as it was discovered and practised by the late Dr Gowin Knight, being unknown to the public, and I myfelf having been frequently present when the Doctor was employed in the most material steps of that curious process, I thought a communication thereof would be agreeable to you and the philofophic world. The method was this: Having provided himself with a large quantity of clean filings of iron, he put them into a large tub that was more than one third filled with clean water; he then, with great labour, worked the tub to and fro for many hours together, that the friction between the grains of iron by this treatment might break off fuch smaller parts very small particles in sufficient quantity seemed to him to be one of the principal defiderata in the experiment. parts as would remain suspended in the water for a time. The obtaining of those An extract from Dr Hunter's account of Jan. 1780, Free Martins. Lettsom on the distresses of the poor. 3r The water being by this treatment rendered very muddy, he poured the fame into a clean earthen vessel, leaving the filings behind; and when the water had ftood long enough to become clear, he poured it out carefully, without dif. turbing such of the iron sediment as still remained, which now appeared reduced almost to impalpable powder. This powder was afterwards removed into another vessel, in order to dry it; but as he had not obtained a proper quantity thereof by this one step, he was obliged to repeat the process many times. Having at laft procured enough of this very fine powder, the next thing to be done was to make a paste of it, and that with some vehicle which would contain a confiderable quantity of the phlogistic principle: for this purpose he had recourse to lintseed-oil, in preference to all other fluids. With these two ingredients only he made a stiff paste, and took particular care to knead it well before he moulded it into convenient shapes. Sometimes, whilst the paste continued in its soft ftate, he would put the imprefsion of a feal upon the several pieces; one of which is in the British Museum. This paste was then put upon wood, and fometimes on tiles, in order to bake or dry it before a moderate fire, at a foot diftance or thereabouts. The Doctor found, that a moderate fire was most proper, because a greater degree of heat made the compofition frequently crack in many places. The time required for the baking or drying of this pafte was generally five or fix hours before it attained a fufficient degree of hardness. When that was done, and the several baked pieces were become cold, he gave them their magnetic virtue in any direction he pleased, by placing them between the extreme ends of his large magazine of artificial magnets for a few seconds, or more, as he faw occafion. By this method the virtue they acquired was such, that when any one of those pieces was held between two of his beft ten-guinea bars, with its poles purposely inverted, it immediately of itself turned about to recover its natural direction, which the force of those very powerful bars was not fufficient to counteract. the FREE MARTIN, in the last volume of Philosophical Transactions, art. 20. IT is a known fact, and, I believe, is understood to be universal, that when a cow brings forth two calves, and that one of them is a bull-calf, and the other a cow to appearance, the cow-calf is unfit for propagation. They are known not to breed: they do not even thew the least inclination for the bull; nor does the bull ever take the leaft notice of them *; but the bull-calf becomes a very proper bull. This cow-calf is called in this country a free martin; and this fingularly is just as well known among the farmers as either cow or bull. This calf has all the external marks of a cow-calf. When the cow-calves are preserved, it is not for propagation, but to yoke with the oxen, or to fatten for the table †. They are much larger than either the bull or cow; and the horns grow larger, being very fimilar to the horns of an ox. The bellow of the free martin is fimilar to that of an ox; which is not at all like that of a bull; it is more of the cow, although not exactly that. The meat is also much finer in the fibre than either the bull or cow; and they are more fufceptible of growing fat with good food. By some they are fupposed to exceed the ox and heifer in delicacy of food, and bear a higher price at market. However, it seems that this is not universal: for I was lately informed by Charles Palmer, Esq; of Luckley in Berkshire, that there was a free martin killed in his neighbourhood, and, from the general idea of its being better meat than common, every neighbour bespoke a piece; which turned out nearly as bad as bull-beef, at least worfe than that of a cow. It is probable, that this might arife from this one having more the properties of the bull than the cow; as we shall fee hereafter, that they are fometimes more the one than the other ‡. Free • I need hardly observe here, that if a cow has twins, and that they are both bullcalves, that they are in every respect perfect bulls; or, if they are both cow-calves, that they are perfect cows. + Leflie on Hufsbandry, p. 98.99. $ The Romans called the bull taurus: they, however, Free martins are faid to be in sheep*; but, from the accounts given of them, I should very much suspect, that these are hermaphrodites produced in the common way, and not like those of cattle. They are often imperfect males, several of which I have seen. They are mentioned as both male and female, which is not reconcileable to the account given of the free martin. I believe it has never been even suppofed what this animal is, with all those peculiarities. From the fingularity of the animal, and the account of its production, I was almoft ready to suppose the account a vulgar error; yet, from the univerfality of its teftimony, it appeared to have fome foundation; and therefore I made all the Inquiry I could for an opportunity of feeing one, and also to examine it. Since which time I have accordingly had an opportunity of seeing three; the first of which was one belonging to John Arbuthnot, Efq; of Mitcham, which was calved in his own farm. He was so obliging as to give me an opportunity of fatisfying myself. He allowed me, first, to have a drawing made of the animal while alive, which was executed by Mr Gilpin. When the drawing was made of Mr Arbuthnot's free martin, John Wells, Efq; of Bickley farm, near Bromley in Kent, was present, and informed us, that a cow of his had calved two calves; and that one was a bull calf, and the other a cow-calf. I defired Mr Arbuthnot to speak to Mr Wells to keep them, or let me buy them of him; but, from his great defire for natural know ledge, he very-readily preferved them both, till the bull shewed all the figns of a good bull; when he fold him. From the diffection of the three abovementioned free martins, Dr Hunter says, it plainly appeared, that they were all however, talked of taure in the feminine wife quotes Varro, De re ruftica, lib. 2. cap. 6. hermaphrodites differing from one another; as is also the cafe in hermaphrodites in other tribes. [I am assured, (fays a correspondent), that the female twin will never breed; and that it is usual in such cases to yoke the steer and heifer together. At the same time it is allowed, that if the twins had both been heifers, both would have bred. In both cafes the affertions are founded on repeated experience.] G. M. Reflections on the Distresses of the Poor. WEre there no misery or distress in the world, there would be few occafions for exercising that benevolence, which excites gratitude and thankfulness on one hand, and the tender emotions of sympathy and humanity on the other. Conscious as we are, that no one is exempt from the painful viciffitudes of life, and that the bleffed to-day may to morrow experience a bitter reverse; the child of woe is always an object of commiferation, and should excite in our hearts that kind of compaffion, and obtain that aid from us, which we should look for were such afflictions fuffered to overtake us. Various are the occafions to excite the sympathetic feelings of the human heart; for distress appears in a thousand shapes; but perhaps there are none more deferving of our attention, than abject poverty, particularly at this time, when the inclemency of the season requires additionalexpences, and when families who have been supported by industry and labour, are many of them robbed of this fupport by the exigencies of war, and compelled to depend upon the scanty and precarious affiftance of the parish. Many who are permitted to continue with their families, are obliged to labour in all the fevere changes of weather, and are confe quently more liable to violent diseases and aggravated want. Their families are often numerous, their habitations close and confined, and, when a fever or any infectious disease is once introduced, it extends its malignity, and augments defolation and misery: for the arm of the father, upon which a family of helpless children naturally depend for support, is thus equally proftrate with every exterior comfort excites our folicitude and concern; but what a picture of human woe is exhibited, when want, penury, and pain, conftitute the pillow ! The the babe at the breast. under The benevolence of this nation is great beyond comparison; and, when real distress is known, some tender bosom overflows with comfort and fuccour: but the chief examples of misery are unknown and unrelieved, many there are too diffident to apply for aid, or ignorant how to do it; fome of these pine away in folitary want, till death closes their fufferings: numbers, however, rather than filently fuffer their husbands, their wives, and their children, utterly to perifh, fupplicate our aid in the public streets and private avenues; but, unfor• tunately for them, the prevalent opinion, that there is fomewhere abundant provifion for the poor, and that idleness, not neceffity, prompts their petitions, induces many to refuse that pittance, which would prove no lofs to them selves, and in fome instances might fave a life. In fome diseases the attack is violent, and the progress rapid; and before the fettlement of a poor helpless object can be afcertained, death decides the controverfy. I know that many undeserving objects intrude upon the benevolent, to the injury of real distress: but, rather than these should fuffer all the pangs of mifery unpitied and unaided, fome inquiry might be made, and their case ascertain ed. Were this tried, it would frequently bring us acquainted with fituations and circumftances of mifery which can not be defcribed: acquaintance with such scenes of human woe would equally excite thankfulness for ourselves, and compaffion for our fellow-creatures, who are vifited with fufferings and pangs from which we have hitherto been providentially, if not undefervedly, preferved. These fentiments were the refult of a morning-walk in the metropolis, which introduced the writer into fome fitua. tions of real life, the relation of which, he trufts, will not be unacceptable to those benevolent minds, who think, 'Tis pity human woe Is what the happy to the unhappy owe. ABOUT the beginning ning of December, en going out of my house-door, I was accosted by a tall thin man, whose countenance exhibited fuch a picture of distreis and poverty as fixed my attention, and induced me to inquire into his fitua tion. He informed me, that he was But a day-labourer, just recovering from fickness; and that, feeble as he then was, in order to procure sustenance for a fick family at home, he was compelled to feek for work, and to exert himself much beyond his ftrength: and he added, that he lived in a court called Little Greenwich, in Aldersgate street. This poor object seemed to feel distress too deeply to be an impoftor: and I could not avoid bestowing fome means of obviating his present want; for which he retired, bowing, with tears in his eyes. when he got out of fight, his image was present with me: I was then forry that my generofity had not been equal to my sensibility, and this induced me to attempt finding out his family. He had mentioned that his name was Foy; and by the information he gave me, I difcovered his miferable habitation, With difficulty I found my way up a dark paffage and stair-cafe to a little chamber, furnished with one bedstead: an old box was the only article that answered the purpose of a chair; the furniture of the bed confifted of a piece of old ticken, and a worn-out blanket, which conftituted the only couch, except the floor, whereon this afflicted family could recline their heads to reft. And what a scene did they present! Near the centre of the bed lay the mother, with half a shift, and covered as high as the middle with the blanket. She was incapable of telling her complaints. The spittle, for want of fome fluid to moiften her mouth, had dried upon her lips, which were black, as were likewife the gums, the concomitants of a putrid fever, the diforder under which the laboured. At another end of the blanket was extended a girl about five years old; it had rolled from under this covering, and was totally naked, except its back, on which a blifter-plafter was tied by a piece of packthread croffed over its breast; and, though labouring under this dreadful fever, the poor creature was afleep. On one fide of its mother lay a naked boy about two years old; this little innocent was likewife fleeping. On the other fide of the mother, on the floor, or rather on an old box, lay a girl about twelve years old: the was in part covered with her gown and petticoat, but she had no shift. The fever had not bereaved her of her fenfes: the was perpetually moaning out, " 1 shall die of this't, pray give me fome water to drink." Near her ftood |