Star. — London, England, 1809-01-17 00:00:00

SIR 4RTHUR WELLESLET'S NARRATtIa. No. U. ( Continued from our last.) At three o'clock in the morning of the 23d, the army marched under my command to Ramallah.— Colonel Murray had been sent off from Vimiera at an early hour, to communicate to the Admiral the con tents of the agreement for suspending hostilities ; and upon my arrival at the ground at Ramallah, I gave to the Commander of foe forces a paper of which, what follows, is a copy : "4 Ist. It would be very desirable to instruct Colo " nel Murray at an early hour this day, to urge the 44 Admiral to have a communication with the Rus " sian Admiral, in which the latter should be infor " med, that whatever might be the result of the re " gociations between Sir Hew and the Duke d'Abran " tes, the Russian fleet should not be molested, if 46 they conducted themselves as they ought in a net:- " tral port, and took no part in the contest. 2dly, If the Admiral should consent to this ar " rangement in favour of the Russians, and the Rus " sians should be satisfied upon this point, the French 44 Commander in Chief should be presscd upon the " following points in the negociation for the Con " vention : " Ist. The fort of Peniche to be• evacuated in two ! 44 days ; the fort of Elvas and La Lippe in four 64 days ; the fort of Almeida in five days ; the French 46 army to cross the Tagus and evacuate Lisbon and 66 all the forts on the Tagus in four days from the 46 signature of the Convention, and to be prepared to 4 6 embark in seven days, or as soon afterwards as the " British Commander in Chief may appoint. 4 , The British army in the mean time to have the 44 use of the Port of Lisbon, and the navigation of 44 the Tagus. " 2dly, The •mode of paying for the hire of the 4 , transports to be settled. " Sdly, The port to be settled to which they were " to go ; Rochefort or L'Crient would answer best 4 , as being the greatest distance from Spain and the 4' Austrian frontier. _ _ • I 4thly, Security to be required for the transports " going to the ports appointed, and for the return of 46 the transports ; as fifty of those sent with the army 64 of Egypt were detained in France. " sthly, Some mode to be devised of making the " French Generals disgorge the church plate which " they have stolen. " &lily, An cut - ange of prisoners to he settled. " 7thly, There are no horse transports, and the 46 French must be permitted to leave commissaries " here to sell the horses, or to hire vessels to trans " port them to France, but certainly not the cavalry " itself. " Ramallah, August 23, 1808." _ The object of the paper was to get the Russians out of the hands of the French ; and I did think that it was a matter of indifference what arrangement was made with them, or what became of the Russian fleet, provided it was not allowed to return to the Baltic.— .I was, and an still of opinion, that the best arrange ment would have been to leave,thera in the port of Lisbon, on the ground of its neutrality ; two events might have occurred, either cf which would have placed them in our hands, and in the mean time, the ofEers and seamen would not have been sent back to Russia to co-operate in the war against the Swedes. One of the events is the declaration of Russia against the Spaniards and Portuguese, the other the re-entry of the French into Portugal. 13ut whatever may have been the nature of the terms to be granted to the Russians, it appeared to me the most impor tant, that the French should have nothing to do with the negociations affecting their fleet. I beg to observe to this Court, that it always oc curred to me, that one of the practical effects of the Convention with the French for the evacuation of Portugal, must have been to give to the Russians the benefit of the neutrality of the port cf Lisbon. The Convention must have provided for the occu pation of the forts of the Tagus by the British troops; and at this time the Portuguese flags would be hois ted. It would be impossible for the British Admiral to go in and attack the Russians, while the arrange ment under the Convention should be in the course of execution ; and while they would have continued in this state, the Russians would have time to claim, and the Portuguese to grant, the neutrality of the port ; the question then must have been referred to the British Government, and would have been di4- cussed between them and the Portuguese. I do not know whether Sir Hew Dalrymple sent instructions to Colonel Murray, according to the re commendation contained in the paper which I have just read, but I rather believe he did not, as he ap peared to be convinced, that the Admiral would not agree to the terms proposed for them under the ith article of the agreement fpr suspending hostilities. Colonel Murray returned 'to Ramallah from the Admiral in the night of the 24th, arid having. called upon me to inform me that the Admiral would not consent to the terms proposed for the Russians, I de sired him to tell the General, that in my opinion, he ought to inform the French Commander in Chief, as soon as possible, that lie should consider the suspen sion of hostilities at an end in 4-S hours. I waited upon Sir Hew Dalrymple at daylight in the morning of the 25th, in company with Captain Malcolm of the navy ; and in his presence I. told him that I thought that he ought immediately to put an end to the suspension of hostilities, on the ground of the Admiral's dissent from the articles, without specifying which of them ; and to leave it to the French Commander in Chief to renew the negocia tion for the evacuation of Portugal, if he should think proper ; but that we ought to lose no further time in advancing I then pointed out to Sir Hew Dalrymple the prac tical'inconvenience which resulted at that moment from his having allowed the French a suspension of hos tilities for an unlimited period of time, followed by a limited period of 48 hours. Sir Hew Dalrymple told me, that as soon as Co lonel Murray should have rested himself, he would 4raw up a report of what had passed between him and the Admiral, on which he should be better able to form his opinion. jn the course of that morning he sent for me again, and he shc wed me the report which Colonel Murray had made, I again recommended to him to put an end to the suspension pi hostilities, on 'the ound of the Admiral's di s sent, without enterim inte detailei and to leave it to the French Comman der in Chief .to recnnimence the negociation for the evcuation,V he should think proper.. Sir Hew Dal rymple-was, however, of a different opinion, and de termined to communicate, through Col. Murray, to the French Commander in Chief, the Admiral's sen timents on the agreement for suspending hostilities ; because Colonel Murray informed us, that when he was leaving the Hibernia with Junot's Aid-de-Camp, the latter had asked him whether anything had passed with the Admiral, likely to break off the ne -1; otiation ? and had urged the propriety of inform ing Junot if that was the case. The Colonel had re plied, that he did not think that any thing had oc curred which ought to preclude further negociation. The Commander of the forces having thus deter mined that he would communicate to the French Commander in Chief, in detail, the Admiral's senti ments on the armistice, Colonel Murray's instruc tions were drawn, by which he was ordered to give notice of the end of the suspension of hostilities in 48 hours ; and he was authorized to negociate a Con vention with the Fr9ch, for the evacuation of Por tugal, on the terms contained in the paper which had delivered to the General on the 23d of August, and which I have just read to tke Court. Thus then, between the 23d and 25th, I took two opportunities of endeavouring to effect the object I had in view, viz. to separate the Russians from the 'French ; and I really believe, that, if the Comman der of the forces had not been influenced by his desire to perform, with good faith, that to which be thought Colonel Murray had bound him by his conversat►on with Junot's Aid-de-Camp, and had not stated to Junot the detail of the Admiral's sentiments respect. ing the Russians, the negociation would have been continued with the French only, and the Russians would have been left to their fate. But the Court will sec, that I made another ef fort to effect this sa:ne object on the 27th ; and that, in point of fact, it was effected ; and that the Gene ral gave orders that the negociation should be broken off entirely, if it was not :o understood. Colonel Murray went to Lisbon cn the9sth, and on the 27th, in the morning, Sir Hew Dalrymple sent for me and Sir John Moore, and not Sir Ilan . y Bur rard, as stated by Sir Hew Dalrymple, to communi cate to us a letter received from Colonel Murray, and another from Junct. Colonel Murray reported, that Junot had agreed to continue the negociation without reference to the ar ticle of the armistice,relative to the Russians ;—and that the suspension of hostilities would terminate' at a particular hour named, unless the negociation, in which he was engaged with General Kellermann, ' should be brought to a conclusion. General Junot appeared, by his letter, to think that the suspension of hostilities was still indefinite, and to considet the negociation of the Military Convention as depending upon the negociation of a Naval Con vention between the British andthe Russian Admirals. I recommended to the General to instruct, and I drew for him instructions to Colonel Murray, which are in the collection of papers, dated the 27th of August, which I will now read—[See this paper marked A, in the Appendix]—by which he was di rected to call upon General Kellermann to explain and reconcile the difference between his (Colonel Murray's) statement and the General's intention, and that contained in Junot's letter to Sir Hew Dalrym ple, and to break off the negotiation, and to come ' away within the period limited for the suspension of hostilities, if this explanation should not be satisfac tory ; but that, if the explanation should be satisfac tory, he was to continue the negotiations ; and if fur ther time was necessary to enable him to bring them to a conclusion, he was permitted to suspend hostili ties for a further peliod of twenty-four hours : Colo nel Murray was also directed to inform General Kel lermann that it was expected that, in future, Junot should confine to the channel of Colonel Murray, any communication he had to make to Sir Hew Dal rymple. Sir Hew Dalrymple says, in his Narrative, that there was but little difference between Junot's letter and Colonel Murray's. I have not got Colonel Murray's letter ; but, as well as I can recollect, the difference was very material. At all events, it ap pears from'the letter of the 27th, that Junot's notion was inconsistent with the intention of the Commander of the forces; which intei)%lon was, to allow the French to have nothing to say to the Russian negoti ation ; and that was what Colonel Murray was or dered to set right in his letter written by me. . I never saw the answer to this letter, nor do I know any thing further of the negotiation till the 29th ; but, I believe, the Court will be of opinion, that if the plan detailed in that letter had been carried into execution, there would have been no occasion for treating with the Russians and the French at the same time. On the 28th, that part of the army which had been originally under my command, marched to the neigh bourhood of Tones Vedras, leaving General Anstru ther's and General Acland's brigades, and a part' of Sir John Moore's corps, which had been landed, in the camp at Ramaßah. On the 29th, in the morning, Sir Hew Dalrymple sent for me to Ramallah, where I went, to take into consideration a Convention which had been agreed upon between General Kellermann and Colonel Murray, and had been ratified by General Junot, dated the 28th of August. There were present at head-quarters, Sir Harry Burrard, Sir John Moore, Lieutenant-General Hope, Lieutenant-General Fra zer, and myself; and the Convention was taken into consideration, article by article. It was altered in many important particulars. Ist, The article respecting property was placed on I a proper footing ; the French were to be allowed to carry off only their military equipment; and were j to restore property of all descriptions which had been taken from the churches or the inhabitants of Portugal. 2dly, The security given to the purchasers of pro-' I perty from the French, was not afforded by the alte rations made. 3dly, The French were to find the transports for their own cavalry. 4thly, The Commander of the forces engaged to use his good offices, instead of stipulating for indem nity for the inhabitants of Portugal in the French in terest, during the time they should remain in Portugal. sthly, The French were required to evacuate all the forts on the right of the Tagus immediately, as far up as Belem ' • and Lisbon itself when the second division should embark. [See pliers in Appendix •• . 4 :~ I was -most anxious, and pressed upnis Sir Hew Dalrymple that they should be required to evacuate Lisbon, and to cross the Tagus forthwith, according to the • plan recommended in the paper which I had given him on the 23d, is order to give us possession of the harbour, and the use of the navigation of the river ; because,' as I told him, he would not be able to conduct the service, and do all that would be ne cessary to refit the army, unleis he should have a free and easy communication between every corps of the army and the transports; that this would be im possible, even with the possession of Belem, if the French were to continue to Lisbon, with a circuit of three leagues ; and that the navigation of the Tagus, at an early period, was necessary, in a view to the future operations of the army. Sir Hew Dalrymple over-ruled tkis proposition of mine, and directed, that the article might stand as I have above stated, viz. giving to the French a cir cuit of two leagues round Lisbon, with a league of distance between their posts and ours and to us the possession of all the forts on the' right bank -of the Tagus, including Belem. I beg that the Court will not under Stand, that this meeting of the Lieutenant-Generals of the army, at Sir Hew Dalrymple's quarters, or that any of the meetings which I had with him during the course of these negociations, were at all of the nature of coun cils of war. They were merely meetings of General Officers, with whom the Commander of the forces chose to converse cn the subjects then under his con sideration : but whatever might be the opinion of any, or the whole of those Officers, he decided for himself ; and in this last meeting, on the 29th of Au gust, he decided for himself upon every proposition. I never knew for what reason the improvements made in the Convention, in this meeting of the 29th of August, were not carried into execution. I re turned to Torres Vedras after the meeting was con cluded ; head-quarters were moved there on the fol lowing day, the 30th, but I did not see the Com mander in Chief, and I marched to Cobral de Monte Carce, with my division, on the morning of the 31st. When I was near Ccbral, I received a message from the Commander in Chief, acquainting me, that the Convention had arrived, signed by General Kel lermann and Colonel Murray; and desiring to see me; but I was so far from Torres Vedras, that I conceiv ed I should not be able to arrive there in time, and I did not go; and the Court Will see that my name is net in the list of those- officers who were present at this meeting, as read by Sir Hew Dalrymple. I un derstand, however, that the Commander in Chief ra tified the Convention on that day, without any of the alterations made by the meeting of General Officers on the 29th of August, and in point of fact, I never saw the Convention till I arrived in England. I have now stated to the Court all th'at I had to do with the treaties, and the opinions I gave to the Com manderipf the forces, at different periods, while they were negotiating ; and I really believe, that if a con vention for the evacuation of Portugal had been con cluded according to the terms which Sir Hew Dal rymple admits I recommended to him on the 23d . of August, and with which he actually instructed Co lonel Murray, on the 25th of August, the country would have been satisfied. But there is one article in the Convention, particu larly disapproved of in this country, of which I ap proved, notwithstanding that it is not contained in that paper which I gave to the Commander of the forces on the 23d. It relates to the Spanish prisoners, who were cer tainly, at the time of the Convention, completely and entirely in the power of the French. The Court will observe, that the principle upon which I thought that any Convention ought to be made with the Frtnch, was, that they had the mili tary possession of the country ; and that their retreat was open to Eivas and Almeida ; they had in their power to do as they pleased with their Spanish pri soners ; and I conceived that the.; had a fair claim to be allowed for them in the negociation. The exchange of the Frenchmen taken in Spain, not in military ope rations, for these Spaniards, appeared to me to be not an unreasonable arrangement ; and it was one to which I had reason to believe the Junta of Gallicia, at least, would not object. The only objection which I saw to the article, was that the Commander of the forces engaged to obtain the release of the Frenchmen, instead of engaging to use good offices to obtain their release ; and he appears to have directed, that an alteration might be made in this article by his letter to Colonel Murray of the 29th of August, which I heard read to the Court. It will be necessary that I should call evidence to support part of this statement ; but I will trouble the Court as little as possible ; I have called no evidence yet ; and I beg leave now to declare, that the officers at home from the army arc here on leave of absence, either on account of their health or their private affairs; and have not been called, and arc not de tained by me. NO. 111. GENERAL SIR DAVID DUNDAS, • AND • MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, Having been out of town, at Brighton, I did not receive till my return yesterday afternoon, the letter of the Judge Advocate General, of the 10th of De cember, in which the Court have called on me for a Narrative of all my proceedings, from the time I saw Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Burrard on the 20th of August, till the morning of the 22d, when Lieu tenant-General Sir Hew Dalrymple arrived ; and an account of the several interviews I had with, and the reports I made to Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Bur rard in that interval. I beg leave to inform the Court, that if the time which by accident has been allowed me to draw up this Narrative, had been longer, I should have asked their permission to decline to make it in the present state of their proceedings. I am perfectly ready to answer verbally, or in writing, any questzn which the Court may put to me, and to give them every in formation in my power ; but Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Burrard was my Commanding Officer ; and it rests with him to give such a narrative as he may think proper of all the circumstances which occurred during the period before icrei i ed to, and I have no doubt whatever that it will be perfectly correct. J may possibly fee!, it necessary afterwards, to ad dress observations to the Court, and to call certain witnesses before theist 5 for which I •;hall hope for their inclulgenFee•A(re k twinged.) . ." PORTUCAL. ~ OPORTO, DEC iMBER 15. Sir Robert Wilson, with the Legion lie has form,;,], and completely disciplined in three months, mar c h ed from Oporto yesterday ; full of confidence and ardou r , with the intention of proceeding to our frontier, for the purpose of occupying a point in the intermediat e country between Sir David Baird's and Sir Jelin Moore's army, thereby facilitating the communication and future movements of the repective armies, a n d at the same time covering and defending, as far a s his force would admit, the approach to the Northern Provinces. The Legion consists of 3000 Volunteers, and we are most happy in being able to bear testime. ny to the uncommon zeal and alacrity they have dis. played in coming forward at this time, the steadine.,: they have manifested on one or two trying occasions, and the quickness with which they have adopted n u: military evolutions. It must also be allowed, tit:: few men of any nation would have so readily ac.:o: L . modated themselves to the strict forms of disciplin:. of the British service ; but .the advantages they derive from so doing arc evident in their personal cornies t and security,. as well as in the military character they have acquired. Several British Generals have borne public testimony to the surprising appearance of the ems for the short space of time it has been erroned. The Legion might have been extended to 10,000 of more, had the Portuguese finances at that mtanera permitted such 211 increase, as numbers were, every day rejected, from an idea that the resources WWI: 11UL sufficiently secure for the Commandant to rely 011 ; to certain is.it, that regularity and.security in all traits. actions with the soldier are the great holds of evcry good military system. At present the Legion is ,viewed as a frame or model, by which the Portuguese army will regenerate ; and from the feeling, it has ex. cited among the Portuguese troops in general, cantle: fail to lead to the happiest results for the commu:, causo. We only regret the time lost, BR.-4ZILS. PRIVATE LETTERS. • RIO JANEIRO, OCTOBER 3, 1808. Trade is quite at a stand here, in consequence oi the very high duties imposed on articles from Eng, land ; and these are raised, not on the invoice prices, but on the supposed value, estimated at the Brazilian Customs : a very few days must determine this, and other important points, as the merchants are resolved, unless some amelioration takes place, not to adnrt . ' their ships, now daily looked for in the expected cor. voy, to enter at the Customs.--This calls aloud fo the interposition of our Minister at this Court, but i fear we most wait. British goods barely pay the prime cost and freightage. The inner harbour forms a perfect forest of masts, on which British colours arc most conspicuous ; but what is strange, British bet. toms suffer the greatest hardships. We are preparing some ships to take advantage of a convoy, said to be ordered for England in a few weeks ; and it is now ascertained that the enemy's cruizers make their ap pearance on this coast, on their passage out to the Isle of France.—The British squadron has not been idle, though unsuccessful. In this Harbour Refl:ting—Foudroyant, Rear-Admiral Sir S. Smith, Capt. Schomberg ; Marlborough, Commodore Graham Moore ; President, Capt. Mackenzie ; Hyacinth, Capt. Dane; Serapis store-ship, Pitt and Nancy brigs, and Vigor schooner. In the River La Plata—Monarch, Commodore Lee; Bedford, Sir James Walker; Agamemnon, Capt. Rose; two armed trans ports, and two Portuguese brigs of war. Isle Grande—London, Sir Thomas Western; attending the Prince Regent, at Santa Cruz. Cruizing on different Points of the Crl ante and Lightning. te e Ccd• " Our friends will be gratified in learning the ho. norary distinctions his Royal Highness the Prince Regent has conferred, and the selection he has made, upon two of the meritorious officers belonging to Sir Sidney's squadron. The Captain of the London is appointed one of the Royal Chamberlains at the Palace of Santa Cruz—and has received a mist dis• tinguished present from his Royal Highness of forty bullocks, and as many sheep, hogs, and pigs, with two valuable cows, (in calf) which, it is considered, is meant as the foundation for the stock of the farm, intended to be given to every Knight Companion of the order of " Fiddity and Valour." Capt. Western is so great a favourite, that he is to be installed one of the Grand Cross, in lieu of Commodore Moore, who, in the most respectful manner, has declined this addi tional mark of the Prince Regent's gratitude, to offi cers who had the honour of accompanying him iron , Lisbon. ST. SEBASTIAN'S, OCTOBER 24. The Thais has arrived with a a convoy ; the only Missing vessel is the Earl Percy, and the Captain of the convoy reports, she kept away in defiance of his signal, the day he hauled up for the land, about Cape Frio.—The probability is, die 1,14 ; is on the low land of Maramberg.—The hopes we have that she may be saf., are founded on the arrival of the Surveillante, Sir George Collier, the London. Sir T. Western, and the Pitt, brig of war, neither of which ships has seen any thing of a wreck on any part of the coast. The Cheerly has also arrived since my last, and the Steady, from the Bahia, having seen the trade into that port and Pernambuco. :am happy to say we have carried our points a g ainst the opinion of the Portuguese Ministers, and that though trade may continue dull, many of our grievances are done away, and to shew that we are not insensible to the goodness of the Prince, a subscription we had raised, of upwards of a million of mill reas, for the assistance of the Patriots in Spain and Portugal, has been ;lade public, to the astonishment of the Portu guese and Brazilians. This, with the other subscrip tion, is to be sent home by the Portuguese man ct war Conde Henrigne, a remarkably fast-sailing ship of the line. It is reported. at the Consul General's office, that our trade goes-under convoy of the Sur veillante frigate, Sir George Collier. Sir Sidney Smith gave a fête to her Royal Highness the Princess, at his country residence, Villa Braganza—a presen t to him . from her Royal ighness The Spanish Offi w - cers ere mesent, deputed from Buenos Ayres, Ivh° recognised in her Royal Highness the legitimate heir . to the Crown of Spain, daring the imprisonment 0! the ;ware; male branches of the Blood Royal. --. ba : r ll4l P ied iss L'' I the, of P UI fal r in cc 132' Ti vr IT