The National Register. — London, England, 1809-09-03 00:00:00

srl THE NATIONAL REGISTER. o.i•itty march to the rear to o,) pose the enemy, while iic maintain th e p u . t ,i at i'alavora.. Niy ans‘t er tout if tiy the t, lay , Lie h:...lfofeach ti rail , Icotild ~:,ewer tteat I was je:10 CP her to go•or stay .s% it h the %% hole ttt Lifoalrl not separate it. Be then debir tller I esould go or stay, and I preferred to g:). fr.ora RA' troops %sere mast likely to do tliti:::.t i ‘V WWII! et i ntr>t; and from tieing of tit to us than to the Spanish army, that emarkootelti' , hu tarnaJi . Pla‘encia, although very to (item, •‘Vit.t this decision, Lieneral Cuesta ap- S::itt-f: .:Pe:ll' ; feet; ,04..-vments of the enemy in our front since the Ist, hatl.in 1... Is tile . 10 be of opinion, that despairing of forcing us at Ta is telid , •it to ffirce a pas,age by Escattona, and Ow, a colniuuoicA:iot , with the French corps coutiog from 1 t.iti. ,nstlicion was confirmed on the night of the Vd, by let lets rcee ive.t - from Sir Hobert Wilson, of which I chelose ruoies ; and tlerefore 1 quitted Talavera; on the 3#l, I wit ite:t tat`;ltii f;eneral o . l)unogliise and conversed with him upon the - v, hole of•our b I tilniltl3l, and punted otc to Win toe possibilit2, Cult iu the case of the enemy cumin; through EscAlona, Gen. ettesin might find himself oblized to quit Talavera, before 1 should be able to return to Win; and 1 begged him to collect nit the carts that could he got, in order to remove Our hospi tal, At hiSdecice 1 put the purport of this conversation in w ric ks., titot st.nt Ilini a letter to.tie laid before General Cuesta, Of 110/1 1 11 1 t'llailt.! .. t :1):. • Tnn liriti,:h army marched on the 31 to Oropesa, General f3•.•-'f3•.•-'wort';eort's ,Spanish corps being at Centinello, '• here 1 de bited that it might halt the iie:.l day, in order that 1 •might he nearer it. . Atio,it five o'clock 'hi the eveoinz. I heard that the French had arrived fiom Piasencia lit Nos al tr.: l '..t., a hereby they were be tween us and the bridge of Aiiii,ir..t.. Ahotis an hour afterwards, I rec.:toe d from Gen. O'Donughue the kites and it.: intjosures of w ,i;cli I biclOs, copies, onuounc -11),, 1 ,, the tile i,:,.‘titt :0 Of Gen Cuesta to marcli from Tab v era in the es ete .ll 4'.. acii to leave th....e 1 1 1 Y !! •P;taltext . el )l i o ; 4 stickmen 0‘ could be s .oved nv the cleans hi- ,ilread ). :i.oi, on tile gro old 0 . 1" h'. a I . pr e ignioao that I was not strong coliugh for the corp.- thonaii.:.: from Pla , oncia, and that the eii...,,,.. Wai moving upoh lii. ft :IA ~ and lu,d returned to Santa Cialla is his trout. i tir: , . io•tledge that these re:,..ms did snit appear to me sullitient f o r a gyi, N. ..4s Atvortatit a Post iis ;;:lavera, foe eSpniiing 0 1 , to r w.-.....i. is rfai# #.l4sn attar!: in front and rear at the ....ante tim• , Orel for aba ndr. ug my Hospital ; and • 1 wro:o the letter o f which I incl.:-e a copy. Thii unfortanately vet.. bed the (e -o. #7l :4: . !:•z• he had marched, and he arrived at Oro: ...ia SliOrily 0. r lis)-lt:itt, on the- !Aron! of the -11 h. the 110e$0.111 %hat ;vat: to b' done, ;la- then to b. considered. Into ~ c -ray, 'toted to be :',t).010 sti,..,g, but at all events. con stisting .4 ;he rorpb of ';01,1t :cl Nev,eit •er united, or not vent 01 citl . , i 4 4,11, OW. otaer, and -e l :posed b• viarshal Juir....itto an:: j„ . ... c , ! , isi a ,,p a ... ti i e ., t.; I,;- ..,141ciently strong to attack the lira tksh ' rtis:., :toted ;ft !w 45,100 -'rung, were on one side, ia pos tkii cf . sip : i l i gt , 1 ,,.....! to :lie IN; .:11,••,.f the Tagu, at AI ; "triri i . the bri :;,-... .., wh Mt C.ace ‘%e !Oyu had "teen remove.,, ok:logiset the boats till necessaril # rem:lily- 1 . in the. rket. (to tlt:• other sPe. 11 e had re.#,on to ex vet the ndvance of Vit tsir't• corps to I' , J.,yera, as -tom :1- , . 1 4,101.1 . 'iles:::'s nia:# h 04.4fii ,., fie Known, .iid after !Pavia V?.(1(10 melt to w met, V ette . As s add aft , .......', • runt 10 to 11.0 A !... i. i, I and wounded in the tate ssiti.s q tli.-, ,•,,rps ‘vould onve amouired to t2. - J,OOO. ii . i. rk.li r lifilli:v onrsetvesi . rifin f tis• si.onti , .,• only by great e.. ties ) di flleileMent., 1.1 14 il' it lilll•irtlt:i,.. lit t'. .lilegildi, 3:1 the • J • Ili %VII jheit at i(MILIK (. Of piovis.:.ns fur •everal days, by sereeiz -,o two it...ttles. If eosin cessfel io e;ltter, we ;1,,,,,,i Ire tarn svld e! r..,11. r i eta ; 113,1 if ,lonli tt;‘, Nev. ay . 's: iii g it ; i. !;•at i had tr , ited talore us, 11-1 irci waited tile arrival of it c,.::.„ t . rht,ll4,lor.ye been e.)p.,:ett 1.,) a ge. Prat action with 0 t ,,Cf...; Merl, „ et:l.4i 11) . )) is him, a ~..ci-!.t. V‘e.b,.,' reaio:li t.- ok. J o rt ,i s e. 0 113 site Mai - fri3 ,!e la He, .;:# could nut min i, ~I . 1 ,,,. t 0.415 fftv"..l the f i bil . AilnAreZ, Sibsi: would have destn.yed a b,i..;,-., tliir oni .eh eat was. I . :?erefute, by the bridge , :f Arco i .lo 0 tuld if r, • bud iii-„•:'d on, the enemy, by breaking thas •::#,4.• w Mir the tit Jo., stio;o,l he enraged with Soul.t a,nd - ,e . ., NA 00 d' liatii ijeliriVi . l Ut of l h ;it st:!! . resource. 'VI, ~,:.1 I not bike. ~ ; H .; lion . (1!•,,p,...a,:is We ithin.o,‘ left ... if P#l,.po riorn Talavera b. oie • eject mature!), I 4 firtiir 14 tian Zirtagie kr au: any.- ---••••..„,p0ut.,_ , , SEPT. 5. Arco Ilispo,and to take up a defensive posiiio►► upon the Tagus. I was induced to adopt this. last opinion, hccau,e the }lend' have now at le►►st fifty ti►uesand toed diiposable to oppose to the combined Armies, and a corps of twelve thousand to watch V. degas; and I w►ts likewise of opinion, that the sootier the dep fensive line should be taken up, the snore likely were the troops to be able to defend it. • Accordingly I marched on the 4th, and crossed the Tagus by the bridge of Arco Bispo, and have continued my route to. Oh place, iu w h icit I am well situated to defen J. the passage of Ale maraz and the lower parts of the Tagus. General Guest* cross-d the river on th,, night of the sth, and he is still at the bridge of Arco Bispo.. About MO of the amulet: have been brought away from Talavera, the remaining 1500 are there; and I &mitt whether, under any circumstances, it would have. been possible, or consistent with humanity, to attempt to . re• move any more of them. the treatment which some of the soldiers wounded on the 27th, aud.who fell into the hands of the enemy, e xperienced from t;tem, and from the manner in which I have alwaNs treated the wounded who have fallen into my hands, I expect that these men will be %%el! twitted; and I have only to lament, ihat new concurrence of events, over which front circumstances I had and could lt:tve no coniruul, should have placed the army in a shalt• tiou lobe obliged to leave any of them behind. I have the hum to be, &c. (Sighed) . ARTHUR SYELLESLEY• Downing-street, Sept. 2, ISO 9. . A Dispatch, of which the following is a Copy, was yesterday mornieg received at the ()Mee of Lord Viscount Castlereagh, one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, from Lieu• tenant-qonera the Earl of Chatham, dated Head-quarters, Bavc, Aly 1..r;1,--.‘.ojor Bradford delivered to me your Lordship'i dispatch of the ilst instant, signifying to me his Majesty's coin, atanos that 1 ...fluid convey to Lieutenant-General Sir F,) re Come, the gen 'r -i..;.1 other officers ant troops employed before Flushing, and pl.rel: larly to those of the artillery end engineer ,!ep4rtments, his Majesty's most gracious approlnition of their caaduct ; and which I have Obeyed with the 'most entire satis. f,.; lion. I had the honour in my last dispatch of acquainting l our Lordship w itb tnti imentioa of proceeding to this place, and I su-uld have been must happy to have heel) enabled to art\ :,oenred to your Lordship the further progress of thip army. I..Ti;; - ,rtona:ely, however, it becomes my duty to state to your Lorusitip, that, from the concurrent testimony from so malty:a:elders, as to leave nn doubt of the truth 011ie informa tion, the enemy appears to have collected so formidable a force :Is to coavir:Le tae that the period was arrived, at which my in structions $1 ouia have directed me to withdraw the army unt'er clnunant., even if engaged in actual operation. Lid certainly early understood on my arrival at Walcheren, that the euenly were assembling' in considerable force on all aoints ; but I was unwilling to give tocr much credit to these re: and I was determined to persevere until I was satisfied, ttieiultest information, that all further attempts would be unavailable. From all . our intelligence it appears that the .if the eaemy in this quarter, distributed between the en irons of Bergen-op-Zoom, Breda, Lilo, and Antwerp, an cantoned on the opposite coast, i 4 nut less than MAO men, and by some statement's is estimated higher. Though a landing on .the Cootineat miLht, 1 have un doubt, have :been forced, yet, the siege of AnoWerp, the possession of which could alone s.-cured to us any of the uilterior objects of the Expedition, was ny this state of things. rendered tots rly itnpracticable, such t men-we, if successful, could have led to no solid advantage ; ind letreat of t h e army, w hich must at an early period have oco int w twit! have been exposed to much hazard. The .:.inost force (and that daily decreasing) that I could Nave .:tight into the field, after providing for the occupation of Walcheren and Snuth Beveland, would have amounted to about 23,000 infantry ~uci 2,000 cavalry. Your Lordship must at o!,cc see, even if tie ememy's force had been less numerous that' :cpretentrd, after the necessary detachments to observe the gars risons or vp-Zoom and Breda, and securing our comma ideation-, .how very inadequate t force mot nave remained fot;i operations against 1. 4 i110 and" Liefkenshoeik, and ultimately A lit werP laich tee a, so far trim being la the suoe which had been reported, Is, frog' very correct accounts, re.; presented to he in a complete state of.defe,ace; 8024 the enemY 0 ,hip s ha 1 been brougts, ' tt}p d plittet lq ICstirltY) titttlitt tO cos or 44 - e ettadel. . L,e.. , :4144 to t!to of At•c .1f tc. • tip.• • • tl • .11 • M F