Star. — London, England, 1809-01-31 00:00:00

3 , The this morn ncon> anc bring °ve r ive t here. t he (21 st Tll did, but t sl ain obli, The an d was a f ar i t —wn c p‘ , ne d, f on --npoi was to be day, she sat,;ty, 11;1 &c. 1t bl a liened h uncommoi From t it the fl; tacked tin e d at Vi! frereh. battalirn, :rad '26 lit u a bout • arm y irai mean N y never r.er went veil as fro the si bari,:g on rere a.ric Mtn - app werc the ever left cost skele " The t at 10, 0 ,00 day morn cf them a: the Royal vat, to Horskam the 6lst a Croydon u their fc Canterbul other con th,? Ist at regiments to go int( meats are district. " Testy and sick Royal H cazrling, Yes se:9nd h of Cov,n action, ; W;tere h y ensh , re, tie symp that he h s can be district, ar 17'4 H.Nigt, tflt !...)t-", Th , 2 car:" I ca snly tt n . t , bank , i!hcat a H. f. SV! Vi(; ) ,741 termer, frrrnan,:e , n4:-4 , ; ha .n rie Fs; '4O , -L': cir c o 7eral dis er p u 'l' , are n 0 7 !• 1 :, stl, ' , lit 1;11 bar e 1 ah t e,-Imcnts, Tll, , 35 T+ IT ty (;enc t alas , : hi • rit.e r ,i, iornn t , ofs: e B t h p • • THE ARMY. " FALMOUTH, JANUARY 26. The Hope G. E. transport, from Spain, arrived iorning. She left that country on the 23d, at and was one of the transports left at Vigo to over that part of the army that was to ar wre. The whole fleet WAS to have sailed on st with sealed instructions—which indeed they An a heavy gale having come on, they Were obliged to anchor four miles off. The Hope, however, drove from her anchors, ka s at last obliged to cut her two cables and run c ---when getting to sea, her instructions were 1, and Corunna was found to be her destina .npon coming there, not a single English vessel , be seen—when, after beating about a:whole d ie sailed for England, as her only chance of , h av i n g lost her anchors, cables, jib-b o om, It blew a hurricane the whole time, which oc led her making the passage in 60 hours, a space immonlv short. - rom same of the Officers on board we learn, he flelk brigades of the army, which were de ed on.ler Brigadier-General ALTON, had arriv viv, without having ever encountered the : 1 1 , 'lll's detachment consisted of the 4.3 d Ist 5". d Cd battalion, 95th 2d battalion, Ist .26 light battalions King's German Legion—in )out 4000 men. They were detached from the ci Astorga, to take off, as it was supposed, the of the enemy from the main army. If this meant, however, it failed of its object, as the ene• lever seem to have followed them. The roads we nt were almost impassable, from wHch, as Is from the dreadful intemperance of the season, :he severe and unremitting marches, (the army :g only had one halt in eighteen days) the men a.riost literally knocked up .upcn their reaching —•and then one-fifth of the wls:ile were left behind. appearance was truly distressing on their arri. -Those very men, who but three weeks before the picked corps of the finest English army that left Britain, were emaciated and reduced to al- Aeletons." " PORTSMOUTH, JANUARY es. • 'he troops which have arrived here are estimated 000 men.—The' began disenibarking yester iorning.—The following is to be the disposition !rn as tar as is yet arranged : the 3d battalion of uyal Scotch, to Fort Monckton ; the sth Regi to Steyning Barracks ; the 26th and 82d, to tam ; the 51st and 60th, to the Isle of Wight ; st and S2d, to Lewes ; the Waggon Train, to don ; the 7th, 10th, 15th, " - and 15th Dragoons, :ir former quarters in Sussex, at Guildford and (erbury ; the 14th Regiment, Buffs, and several corps, to Hilsea ; the 76th to Fort Cumberland; at and 2d Guards, to Chatham.—About nine it•nts are to go round to Harwich, in transports, into the Essex district ' • and about six-teen regi :s are to go round to Ramsgatc, for the Kent ict. Yesterday afternoon ten officers and 700 wounded sick soldiers, from Sp:.:11, had been landed at the 'al Hospital at Haslar, and more were hourly ing there. Yes:min Lieutenant-General Sir atm BAIRD, and in command of our brave army at the battle :ov,innA, who was wounded in the left arm in the ion, and conveyed on board the Ville de Paris, .Te his arm vas 'amputated at the shoulder-joint 7iER Y, Stitt ;:on of that ship, was brought ;tie, and carrial to lodgings in this town, amidst iyrapat4 of the people.*-We are happy to state he had a good night,. last night, akd i, as well In be exoect94l.—Sir.lJA.vw BAIRD is attended .1j77, :or Nl‘Gagioß, Inspector of Hospitzls in this whO served 'm the Indian army undei his mnil , l - wl:tn he marched from Bombay to crg t'ne officers, from Coruima, arrived at nei. :3 and Truro, are Uor.tl Vivian, Captains Dens:lire, Treweelae, Lacks, sod Mr. Irwin, Surgeon, all of the 7th Dragoons -1..,:rd %Glyn Mays of the Wt Dragnons—ikTojor Qaptain Dalrymple, and Lieutenant Knight and White if the 15th Dry oohs—Major Wallace, Captains Stephens, r. kassrll, and Lieutenants Montgomery, Smith, and !iinuse, and Assistant Surgeon Williams, all of the 20th 6ce. iTitermtnt et Sir JOHN Morit4: took place at an hcur the licit morning after his death. A grave t.'lrte feet deep was prepared for his remains on cf C:c.:•.-unna, in which they were deposited ;at a cam. The service was read by the Key. SV!,MNS, one of the Chaplains to the Guards, , 7;th the numerous train that attended the in frequ!..T.tly fired upon duriug the :per .'ancc of the eptahral rites: At that. time the 11::'imacie their zippearanc:: . aFon the heights, cillmari: the town and harbour of Coruna. 9:1 Regiment still continues at Reading. ie 2d Battalion of the 94th is at pic , ,cnt in Coi- Briti:h A-ray left 200 sick at Lugo, under I ►^ of st:ia surgeoa EMERY. , '!:11 changes ;11 the quarters of the ,in the dis!riet, are to take place during this \reek,. purv.se of making mom for the brave fellows ire rcurning frem Spain : all the barracks con- Eriglitnn arc to be evacuated. The Sus stationed at Steyning, are to march to make room for the first battalion ' in:it. The Ayrshire and Royal East Mid : .10.tia willirroceed from Horsham to Silver izracks, which will be occupied by the Ist bat , (4 - the loth, 3GO), and '2d battalion of the 23d 35th hive left Lewes barracks, for Winches-I t).•0 divisions, cn Friday and Saturday. Court-Martial from the Line i stssembled (In 'Friday, for the trial of Captain Wes the 3d Dragoon Guards, on charges preferred iv: him, for disobedience of orders, by Lieute -Crlicrtel Sir Granby Caleraft, commanding that ' 7 - Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, of the Royal is President, and the Members ate compos 'Offi7ers from the 4th Dragoons, 2d battalion of 2d battalion of the nth, acid Royal BATTLE o CORMNA...-The following list of tutbiCCll who were killed and wounded in the action before Corunna, is handed about, we cannot of course vouch for its accuracy :-- Colonel Griffiths and Captain Woodford, wounded; Captain Burrard, killed ; Guards.—Lieut. Colonel Wyndt, severely; Capt• Williamson, Lieut. Hunt, wounded ; Ensign Reerden, kille.d 4th Regiment.—Lieut. Colonel Mackenzie, killed, sth Regiment. —Lieut. Colonel Maxwell, Lieut: Nunn, both severely; Licut Thompson, Surgeon Messiter, - wounded ; Lieut. Cheven t killt73, 26th Regiment.—Capt. Campbell, light infantry, killed; Captain Campbell, grenadiers, and Licut. Middleton, wounded, 42d Re giment, and seven other Officers.—Major Napier, Hon. Major Stanhope, and Lieut. Wilson, killed; Capt. Chines, wounded, and five other Officers, 50th - Regiment.—Ueut. Colonel Pane, and Major M`Gregor, killed ; Captain Wilson, wounded ; 59th Regiment. —Capt. Digby, killed; Majors 'Williams and Milling, wounded, and 12 other Officers, Slst Regiment—Lieut. Colonel Napier, killed, 92d Regiment.—Lieut. Noble, killed, 95th Reti ment.—Lieut. Colonel Symes, of the :6th, and Capt. Carthew, of the Royal Artillery, both died on their passage home, from severe fatigue., Major CAMPBELL, of the 42d regiment, Ensign HALL, of the 38th, and the Rev. W. COOLLY, attached to the horse brigade under tOrd PAGET, died last Friday ; the two former of their wounds, at Plymouth, Colonel FARE, who is dangerously wounded, lies , at the Fountain Inn, in that town. General Surrn, who is slightly wounded in the head, set out from Ply mouth for town, on Friday, accompanied by his Aide de-Camp. THE LATE CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN. The following particulars are communicated by an officer attached to the British army, during its re treat to Coruna : " The whole of the retreat, from the rapidity of it, from the badness of the roads, from the frequent want of provisions, and from the inclemency of the weather, was extremely harassing. As far, however, as Villa Franca, the troops kept very well together. From Villa Fianca to Lugo, nearly seventeen leagues (a league is rather more than four English miles) the army marched, it may be said, almost without halt ing ; at least they halted only for a few htiurs ; the cavalry were only 26 hours in effecting it ; out cf which time they were 22 hours on horseback. This occasioned gre-it straggling in the infantry, and the loss of an immense number of horses to the cavalry. The enemy's cavalry constantly hung on the rear guard, and made prisoners great numbers of the stragglers. In some cases, they either shot or sabred them. Whenever the army halted to rest,.a skirmish generally ensued, which, of course, added greatly to the fatigues of the rear guard, and indeed the army in general ; for a skirmish was generally soon fol lowed by a movement of the whole. On arriving at Lugo, Sir John Moore found his army in such a com plete state of disorganization, .that a halt was abso tely necessary ; a brisk skirmish having taken place the day after his arrival there, Sir John concluded it was tl forerunner of an attack on the following day, and on the 7th of January he took up a position with his army, in which on the Bth he expected the enemy to give him battle. But, it is supposed, from their not feeling themselves strong enough (although they had a considerable number of infantry up, asl was easily seen, the armies being posted on opposite hills in sight of each other) they declined it. On the night therefore of the same day,the army again porn- i menced their retreat ; and from hence to Corunna, I the straggling became excessive. The men were al most worn out when they commenced the march ; io many instances they had wantedprovi!,iens ; some regiments had even received no bread for one, two, or three days ; the roads .were ancle deep in mud, and nearly half of the soldiers were without shoes.— Many were falling sick from these causes, and from their having been constantly exposed to the bad weather, and there were no means of bringing thcsc poor fellows on.. The consequences of all this ivere, that every Louse and every village on the road became full of these poor wretche! - .. Threats and entreaties on the pat t of the cavalry, that formed the rear guard, were equally in vain. Whether they died by the road side, or by the hands of the enemy, they said, was the same to them, and some thousattds were consequently left to their fate. ( Lieutenant General Frazer's division suffered most particularly in conse quence of having marched from Lugo, eight leagues on the road to ,Vigo, where it should seem as if the army were at first intended to embark, and where every arrangen;eut was made for that purpose, and which determination was, it was supposed, given up on account of the bildnesr of the roads for extillery.) Tke :oss in this way iS'said during the retreat to have amounted to four or five thousand. No words can describe the scencC of misery that presented them selves. Men, women, and children, worn out with fat igtie ; some at:mall: dead, and others dying by the road side, and many sharing the same fate in houses, whilst at every ten yards horses and mules dead and dying presented themselves These evils might pes s;bly, in a great measure, have been prevented, had the retreat been less rapid ; and the roads in the mountains been broken up, so as to impede the March of the enemy ; had the engineers succeeded in de stroying the tridgrs, in doing t-hich they failed in most instances ; and had the strong passes been dis puted. This, however, is only matter of opinion, and the information received by Sir John Moore respecting -the force of the enemy, must have decided him in his movements. He was himself indefatigable ; he had great difficulties to contend with ; and whatever were the misfortunes of the army, it may be with truth as serted, that his great anxiety was to do that which he thought would most contribute to secure its re-em barkation, which was of course become his sole ob ject, from the commencement of his retreat, " With respect to the force of the enemy folldwing the army, great differences of opinion were entertain ed. Some thought it but inconsiderable, whilst others, who knew the French better than to suppose ,they would trust a small corps in a mountainous coun try, thought otherwise. The statements of the priso ners were, that two corps d'armee under Soult and Junot advanced from Carrion and Saldanha, whilst I Ney, with his corps, accompanied by Napoleon in person, advanced from Madrid. Some asserted, there was a fourth •corps following Junot.. A corps d'armee consists of from twenty to twenty-five thou sand met). Some are even stronger. Ney's was thirty, of which ten thousand were of the. Imperial Guard. Their cavalry, it was supposed, amounted toneatly ten thousand. Ney's corps, however, was thought not to have advanced further than Benevente, and to have detached the force ai,present marching into' Portugal. f o t h at t h e number altogether ~ fol. lowing the British, was probably froiarthirty to tkirty- . five thousand men ; the British army did not amount to twenty or tWenty-tivo thousand effective and fit for duty, evert at Astorga. On the retreat, they were considerably reduced, as before stated, and Major Ge neral: Alton, with four thousand men, had been de tached by Orense to cover the flank of ,the army in retreating, and embark at Vigo. So that on the ar- rival of the British at Corunna, the effective force could not have exceeded twelve or thirteen thousand men. No support whatever could possibly be expec ted from the Marquis de Romana; and his army, or rather armed mob ; he passed the British rear guard at Astorga, w i t h, i t was sa id, upwards. of twenty thousand men, and marched upon Orense. Low little the British trusted to the exertions of this force, is to be discovered by its being thought necessary to send General Alton by nearly trie same route. In effect, nothing could be hoped for from the. Spanish army, and it was very early perceived how much Government had been deceived by the representations yespecting.it, and the state of the country in general. 6 , The day following that, on which the army reached Corunna, a sharp skirmish took place at the 1 bridge of Burge, where the Reserve was posted under Major-General the Honou ra bl e E. P aget . O n t he it same evening, be retired a n d t oo k up a pos i tion a b out two miles in front of Comma, to which General Sir David Baird's and General Hope's divisicins advan- ' ced. General Frazer, with his division, was posted to protect the right of the whole, and rather in the rear; and the reserve, the next day. were quartered in cottages in the rear of General Sir David Baird and General Hope. The cavalry and artillery had commenced embarking, leaving a few men only for piquet duty, and two brigades of guns. On the 15th a g eneral attack on the British outposts to o k place, il probably for the sake of drawing out the army and observing their position and force ; which might he easily done, as the heights occupied by the enemy immediately commanded those on which the English were. In consequence of this affair. a general at tack was expected early on the following day ; hut no movements were visible in the enemy's lines, to the great surprise of all. The attack was the more to be expected, because an Englishwoman arrived in the town, who had been a prisoner with the French army. She brought a message; she said, from Gene ral Junot to Sir John Moore, to say that he was ar rived with the army from Portugal. About one o'clock, a general bestle was perceived, and shortly after the outposts were forced, and a heavy discharge of artillery commenced. Every one immediately saw that a general attack was at hand, and the whole army was accordingly drawn out ;t whilst the French artillery were answered by the British, but not with such effect as might have been wished fbr ; owing in the first place to the commanding position of the French ; in the second, to the principal part of the British guns having been embarked, and their places having been supplied by Spanish, for which, through some mistake, there was a want of proper ammuni tion. The British infantry, however, were regard less of this superiority of the enemy, whose attack was chiefly directed against Sir David Baird's divi sion, where was the weak part of the British line, an& against which they advanced is three columns, two of which were very strong. To these were opposed the .4th, 26th, 42d, ,oth, and Slst regiments and the Guards. Nothing could exceed their gallantry, in receiving and repelling the attack. The enemy were soon driven from the hill occupied by the Bri tish, up which they had in part advanced, and were followed half way- up that occupied by themselves, where their guns were posted ; at which the 50th and 42d immediately dashed, and which were saved only by being withdrawn. . " A village at the foot of a hill, full of French in fintry, was three times attacked by the 50th, sup ported by the Guards, and at length carried with immense slaugher to the enemy, and not without a loss to the 50th of two Majors and three I t ieutenants, with nearly an hundred men killed, and several an:. cers and a considerable number of men wounded. t On the right of this village, the 52d and rifle corps had been engaged, and 'had actually followed the' enemy up the 11111. The British left being very strongly posted, had not been attacked, otherwise than by a cannonade. In the evening, however, the 14th foot posted there, finding the French had oc cupied a village in their front in considerable force, gallantly dashed into it with the bayonet, and drove them from it. Night coming on, put an end to this affair, in which the enemy were decidedly defeated in their purpose of turning the British right, and with 'a loss infinitely greater than that of their opponents. The advance of the British remained nearly a mile in front of the position they had occupied previous to the attack ; a fact which must speak for itself, in spite of any lying assertion that may be made in future Bul letins. This is said, because in the 21st Bulletin, ten men only of the chasseurs of the Imperial Guard, are said to have been taken at Benevente, when it is a fact, that there were upwards of 70 of that corps made prisoners. In -these Bulletins it is also stated, that the French cavalry of 400 only, were opposed to 2000 British. Will General Lefebvre, who com manded, and who is now at Reading, say this ? if so, why did he pay the hi hest possible compliments to the British Cavalry ? Why did he say, .‘ On/tar /era teaucoup i je moose, de vctre savalrie Angleterre ?" Did Genera Duresnel, with the officers of the chas scurs of the linperial Guard, report this ? If so-- why did they, after the affair, also pay the British high compliments, a*d say, Nous n'avons pas etc accontum?: de corns attre contre de gens commie vows ?". All this was not necessary, hid there been the disparity of numLers stated ; for it could reflect no credit on 2000 men to defeat 400. The real fact is, that the French were from five t Tits reason why the attack commenced so late, was after wards discovered to have been owing to the French waiting for a reinforcement of 7000 men and 8 pieces, who arrived on the morning of the 16th. t. During the battle one of the Imperial Eagles was taken by the 50th regiment. They are made to screw into a short pole, and correspond with our standards. When in danger of being lost they unscrew them, and they are easily hidden or made away with. It is a curious circumstance, that at the battle of Vanden . , this rtgiaaent wok a pale, and at that of Coranna t an eagle. • . . . to 600, and that they were opposed by the Britsla piquets, consisting only of about, at the utmost, 219, and at first not above IV. That on the alarm, of course, the regimmt turned out, but not a. single raa.n excepting those on piquet, and some few oldie 3d Germans, * ever drew a sword. Thc - Trench officers themselves know, and admitted all this : and Bona parte must have known it—for he m-rived soon after the enemy repassed the river. But he sent for Ward his favourite chasseurs to make a rev/ t-ontre les An glob; they wet* defeated, and he was piqued, and in order to dissemble this he has not hesitated to dis grace himself by asserting, that which he knew to be directly contrary to the fact. 66 The stories of General Lefebire being taken as stated in the Bulletins are false, he was taken on the field by a private of the '7th and one of the 10th hus sars. They discoveied him by his two orderly trust': peters. But Mien e Bonaparte contradicts himself, it is hardly necessary to contr , dict him. From the Specimens here produced, the general veracity of these BUlletins may be estimated. " To return to the affair of the 16th. Of the actual loss of the British in it no correct account can pro bahly ever be received. It is supposed tohave amount: ed to 7 or 800 or even more. That of the enemy was considerably greater. The army commenced its, re treat for embarkation at eleven o'clock that night, bringing off all such of the wounded as were in a state to be moved. The others, with the French wounded, remained on the field. " Sir John MoOre received his wound during the heat of the action, when near the 50th regment.-- It was from a cannon shot in the left breast, which laid it open and shattered his shoulder. He fell immediately from his horse, and did not alter a mus.; cle of his countenance, but coolly looking at the wound, remarkeLl that assistance was useless ; and desired an officer standing by, who had proffered it, to send to General Hope—Sir David Baird, the 2d in command, having been previously wounded. Sir John was soon after carried off the field in a blanket, by six soldiers. Whilst thus conveying to his quar t. ters, he enqui re d if the enemy were repulv..-1 artd being informed they were, he said, .‘ Y am happy—it is of little consequence vrlethir I live or die." After his arrival at Corunna, he gave some directions as to his papers, &c. and he remarked, that he had always served zealously, and he hoped his country wouid ap prove of what he had done, and that he should die as he had always wished to do. He soon after observed that he felt so strong, he feared his sufferings would last long, but in less than three minutes from that time,. he breathed his last. It is remarkable, that his perfect composure of countenance, and calmness of manners in conversation, never forsook him ; although his sufferings;as was evident to all around him, must have been very great. He died as he had always lived, a truly gallant and brave soldier. Sir David Baird's wound was in the left shoulder, from a grape shot. He suffercd amputation at the so c k e t, shortly after, on board the Ville de Paris. He bore this dreadful operation with the most unexampled forti tude; never uttering a complaint ; and he is doing as well as possible. 4‘ Of the other officers killed, Lieutenant-Colond M'Kerizie fell itt the affair of the 15th ; Lieutenant- Colanel Napier of the 92d, Majors Stanhope and Napier of the 50th ; on the 16th, the brigades particu. larly engaged, were those of Major Generals Lord Wm. Bentinck, Leith, Manningham, and Warde ; and part of the reserve commanded by Major General the Hon. E. Paget. Of these the brigade of Lord Wm. Bcntinck suffered most. , 4 The whole army, with the exception of Major-Ge neral Hill's brigade, and General Bet esford's, em barked on the night of the 16th, thoSe retired into Corunna. On the 17th, the French having possession of the heights which commanded the inner harbour, commenced about the middle of the day a cannonade on our shipping, which occasioned their cutting their cables and getting under weigh in some confusion, and with the loss of four or five transports that got on shore, but from on board of which the troops were removed. The whole of the men of war also weighed, with the exception of the Barfleur, Sir Samuel Hood's ship, which remained at anchor, and near whi.ll the Resolution, Captain Burlton, brought up, and durng the night the remainder of the British troops em barked, principally on board these ships, leaving not a man behind." , j FURTHER PARTICULARS. To the above narrative we have to add, the fol lowing particulars : General Anstruther died of excessive fatigue, which brought on an inflammation of his lungs. He ex erted himself to the last, and when unable to mount his horse, he said to those about him, " I am quite done up." He was put into a carriage and conveyed to Corunna, where he died the next day- Sir .In}' Moore and General Anstruther were buried beside etch other in a waste spot near Corunna. Our good allies, the Spaniards, not suffering the remains of heretics to pollute their consecrated grounds ! Captain Frederick J. Darby, of the 10th Dragoons, who also died of fatigue, was buried at Corunna, but dug up again, and interred with military honours on Wednesday last at Falmouth. The fleet of transports, consisting of about 250 sail, with about eight men of war, were ordered to rendezvous at Portsmouth : but about 100 of them put into Plymouth, and some of them are at Fal mouth. Sir Samuel Hood, whose zeal in this service has endeared him to every officer of the army, brought home 70 officers in his own ship, the Barfleur, besides 1200 soldiers. - Commodore Bower's arrangements of the trans ports at Vigo did honbur to his zeal and ability. Had the array retreated to Vigo, instead of Corunna, the whole might have been embarked in six hours. About 700 French prisoners were brought home in the fleet ; one of which, a French Colonel, dined with Colonel Vivian on Friday in Truro, and went off on Saturday morning for Plymouth. The Hope transport, which arrived at Falmouth on Friday, left Vigo on Sunday, and touched at Corunna on Tuesday, where she wag fired upon by the batteries. From which it appears, that the French possessed themselves of the place as soon as our fleet left it. They •are doubtless in possession, of Ferrol also, with its fleet and arsenals. • The story also of the Germans destrting, It should be stated to their credit, is utterly false. No troops could behave b.lttcr than they did through the otholecampatgo. i !, PIM .1 . H !i I Li I~