W

WHITEHALL,

January 2. HEREAS his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, is desirous of commemorating the auspicious termination of the long and arduous contests in which this empire has been engaged, and of marking in an especial manner his gracious sense of the valour, perseverance, and devotion manifested by the Officers of his Majesty's forces by sea and land:And whereas his Royal Highness has thought it fit, by virtue of the royal prerogative, and of the powers reserved to the Sovereign in the statutes of the said Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, to advance the splendour and extend the limits of the said Order, to the end that those offi cers who have had the opportunities of signalising themselves by eminent services during the late war, may share in the honours of the said Order, and that their names may be delivered down to remote posterity, accompanied by the marks of distinction which they have so nobly earned.

1st. The Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath shall from this time forward be composed of Three Classes, differing in their ranks and degrees of dignity.

2d. The First Class of the said Order shall consist of Knights Grand Crosses; which designation shall be substituted henceforward for that of Knights Companions; and from the date hereof the present Knights Companions and Extra Knights of the said Order shall, in all acts, proceedings, and pleadings, be stiled Knights, Grand Crosses of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath.

3d. The number of the Knights Grand Crosses shall not, at any time, or upon any account whatever, exceed seventy-two; whereof there may be a number not exceeding twelve so nominated and appointed, in consideration of eminent services rendered to the State by British subjects in civil and diplomatic employments.

4th. The said Knights Grand Crosses

Crosses shall be subject to the same rules and ordinances, and have, hold, and enjoy, all and singular the rights, privileges, immunities, and advantages, which the Knights Companions of the said Order have hitherto held and enjoyed, by virtue of the statutes, excepting as far as may be altered or affected by the present de

cree.

5th. It shall be lawful for all the present Knights Grand Crosses, from and after the date hereof, to wear, upon the left side of their upper vestment, the Star or Ensign of the said Order, although such Knight Grand Cross may not have been installed; and henceforward the said Star or Ensign shall be worn by each and every Knight Grand Cross, immediately after his being so nominated and appointed, provided that it shall not be lawful for any Knight Grand Cross to wear the collar of the said Order, until he shall have been formally installed, according to the statutes, or unless a dispensation has been granted for the non-observance of the ceremonial of installation.

6th. In order to distinguish more particularly those officers of his Majesty's forces, by sea and land, upon whom the First Class of the said Order hath already been, or may hereafter be, conferred in consideration of especial military service, such officers shall henceforth bear upon the Ensign and Star, and likewise upon the Badge of the Order, the addition of a wreath of laurel encircling the motto, and issuing from an escrol inscribed "Ich Dien."

This distinction being of a military nature, it is not to be borne

by the Knights of the First Class, upon whom the Order shall have been, or may hereafter be, conferred for civil services.

7th. The dignity of a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath shall henceforth upon no account be conferred upon any Officer in his Majesty's service who shall not have attained the rank of Major-General in the army, or Rear-Admiral in the navy, except as to the Twelve Knights Grand Crosses who may be nominated and appointed for civil services.

Sth. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, is pleased to declare and constitute those whose names are urdermentioned, to be the Knights Grand Crosses, composing the First Class of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath.— [Seventy-two names follow.]

9th. And his Royal Highness the Prince Regent is further pleased to ordain and declare, that the Princes of the Blood Royal holding commissions as General Officers in his Majesty's Army, or as Flag-Officers in the Royal Navy, now and hereafter, may be nominated and appointed Knights Grand Crosses of the Most Hcnourable Military Order of the Bath, and shall not be included in the number to which the first Class of the Order is limited by the third article of the present instrument.

10th. By virtue of the ordinance contained in the foregoing article, his Royal Highness the Prince Regent is pleased to declare the following Princes of the Blood Royal to be Knights Grand

Crosses

mentioned officers of his Majesty's naval and military forces, to be knights commanders of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath.

[One hundred and eighty names follow.]

16th. The third class of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath shall be composed of officers holding commissions in his Majesty's service by sea or land, who shall be styled Companions of the said Order. They shall not be entitled to the appellation, style, precedence, or privilege of Knights Bachelors, but they shall take place and precedence of all Esquires of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

17th. No officer shall be nominated a companion of the said Most Honourable Order, unless he shall have received, or shall hereafter receive, a medal, or other badge of honour, or shall have been especially mentioned by name in dispatches published in the London Gazette, as having distinguished himself by his valour and conduct in action against his Majesty's enemies, since the commencement of the war in 1803, or shall hereafter be named in dispatches published in the London Gazette, as having distinguished himself.

18th. The Companions of the said Order shall wear the badge assigned to the Third Class, pendant by a narrow red ribband to the button-hole.

19th. And his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, hath been pleased to ordain and enjoin, that the said Knights Commanders, and the said Companions, shall respectively be governed by the rules

and regulations which his Royal Highness, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, hath been graciously pleased to make, ordain, and enjoin for them; and by such other rules and ordinances as may be from time to time made and ordained by his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, kings of this realm.

And His Royal Highness the Prince Regent hath been pleased to appoint, that Sir George Nayler, Knt. Genealogist and Blanc Coursier Herald of the Order of the Bath, and York Herald, shall be the Officer of Arms attendant upon the said Knights Commanders and Companions; and also to command, that the Officers hereby appointed Knights Commanders, and those who shall hereafter be respectively nominated and constituted Knights Commanders or Companions, shall immediately after such romination transmit to the said Sir George Nayler, a statement of their respective military services, verified by their signatures, in order that the same may be by him recorded in books appropriated to the said Knights Commanders and Companions.

And his Royal Highness has also been pleased to approve, that Mr. William Woods be the Secretary appertaining to the said Knights Commanders and Companions.

Admiralty-office, Feb. 18. Copy of a letter from Rear Admiral the Honourable Sir Henry Hotham, K. C.B. to John Wilson Croker, Esq. dated on board his Majesty's ship Superb, at anchor before New London, January 20.

Sir, I have the honour to request you will be pleased to lay the enclosed copy of a letter and its enclosures, which I have this day addressed to Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, the Commander in Chief, detailing the capture of the United States ship President, on the 15th instant, under the circumstances therein mentioned, before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with which, in his absence, I have directed Lieut. Hare, commanding his Majesty's schooner, Picton, to proceed forthwith to England for their Lordship's information.

I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed)

HENRY HOTHAM,

Rear Admiral.

Superb, at anchor before New

London, Jan. 23.

Sir, I have the honour to acquaint you with the capture of the United States ship President, on the 15th instant, by the following force, viz.-the Majestic, Captain Hayes; Tenedos, Captain Hyde Parker; Endymion, Captain Hope; Pomone, Captain Lumley; which I had collected off the bar of New York, under the direction of Captain Hayes. She and the Macedonian armed brig, of 420 tons, loaded with provisions, sailed on the preceding evening, under the the command of Commodore Decatur ; but the present season of the year, and the dark nights of which he availed himself, have not enabled him to elude the vigilance of Captain Hayes, and the Commanders of his Majesty's ships under his orders, who have well discharged the important duty I assigned to them; and I beg leave to offer you my congratulations on

the design of the American Government being defeated.

You will perceive by the reports Captain Hayes has delivered to me (copies of which I do myself the honour to transmit to you herewith), the ardour displayed by Captain Hope in the pursuit; the intrepidity with which he brought the enemy's ship to close action, and the undaunted spirit with which the Endymion's inferior force was singly employed for the space of two hours and an half, leaving honourable evidence of judgment in the position she was placed in, and of the destructive precision of her fire, in the sinking state of her antagonist, the heavy loss sustained by him, and his inability to make further resistance when the Pomone arrived up with him; when the loss sustained by the Endymion was comparatively small: and although the distinguished conduct of Captain Hope, his officers, and ship's company, can derive no additional lustre from my commendation, I cannot withhold my tribute of applause, nor can I refrain from assuring you, that the judidious conduct of Captain Hayes in the direction of the force entrusted to his orders, and the exertions exhibited by him and by Captains Parker, Hope, and Lumley, have justified the confidence I had placed in their zeal, and have rendered them worthy of your approbation. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed)

HENRY HOTHAM,

Rear Admiral.

To the Hon. Alexander Cochrane, K. B. Vice Admiral of the Red, Commander in Chief, &c. &c.

Majestic,