The National Register. — London, England, 1811-02-24 00:00:00

'Fill 4 0 N , Mr.r•-•• NATIO• I , OIIEIGN INTELLIGENCE. FRENCH PAPERS. - PARIS, FEB. 12. • 1 pvpORT Ot :lint STATE OF THE ARM? IN PORTUGAL, AT THE DATE OF JAN. 20, 1811. The French army in POrtugal,' after having remained above ' a month hs its position at Sabra], under the English .entrench silents, found it necessary to draw nearer the country whence its supplies are derived, and has occupied a line more in the rear, the lett of which has-its appai at Santarem, where the second urps is stationed, and the right of which rests on Tretnes and Alcanlieda, where the troops of the eight corps are posted.— The advanced posts are masters of Rio-Major, the bridges of Celorico, Calhoris, and Assaca ; Oureui, Leyria, Thomas- and rombai, by the sixth and ninth corps, and the r es e r v e o f the cavalry, which pushes its detachments towards Coimbra and the sea. The head-quarters of the army are at Torres Novas. Tile division of Loison has been posted on the Zezere, which it pas.;ed at Punhete and Martinchelon over bridges of boats, de fended by tele.l 4a pont. The artillery, the sappers, and the 44th marine battalion, animated by the same zeal and activityas their officers, have succeeded in establishing two sus of bridge-appa ratus, consisting of SU boats each, destined for transporting our troops to the left of the Tagus. The country afforded no re sources for these great works; the cordage, and even the instru ments employed in levelling the first trees, were created by the industry of our workmen. The army is in excellent condition, and has suffered no kind of privations. Down to the present time, the soldiers have been amply supplied with bread, maize, butcher's meat, and almost always with wine. The regiments have numerous herds of cattle, sheep, an allowance of biscuit for thirty days, a great quantity of maize, corn, and vegetables. The plains of Golgou, which for the last three months have sup plied the army, begin to be exhausted. Our detachments have gone in search of corn, even on the banks of the Mondego.— The army has but few sick, their number amounting only to twelve hundred. There are no deserters. All that the nglish publish, on,this subject, is invention: On the contrary, no day passes without two or three English deserters arriving in our camp. We do not reckon the Germans and Portuguese among deserters. The soldiers are animated by a gallant spirit ; they burn with ardour to combat the enemy, and to merit the appro bation of his Majesty the Emperor and King. The cavalry have suffered nothing ; the horses are fed with maize, and are in tolerably good condition. The artillery has 3600 horses fit for service. On the 22d of December the Count of Erlon, with his second division, formed a junction with the army of Portu gal, the divisions of Claparede being at Lamego, on the banks of the Douro. It had attacked and destroyed Silviera and Trant. The division of Foi had advanced to Almeida. The English army has its out-posts on the Rio-Major; their troops are placed en cc/talon, on the ground enclosed by that river, and the en trenchments which cover Lisbon. Their head-quarters are at Cartaxo. The enemy has fortified himself in his position, and has mined the bridges of communication with our lines. He has thrown over the left bank of the Tagus a division of from 12,000 to 15,000 men, which occupies Alnicyrin and Chaniusca. This corps has erected over against the mouth of the Zezere some redoubts, to render the passage of the Tagus snore difficult at that point. The English have nc, bridge upon this river; they cross it in boats to Villa Franca, Mugeni, and, above all, to Azambria. Abrantes is occupied by two regiments. of the line, and three of Portuguese militia, commanded by an En glish oflicer. The garrison is in want of provisions, which oc casions a considerable degree of desertion. The English lines before Lisbon are covered by redoubts, to which the enemy have added new works. These labours, and above all the na ture of the ground, render this a strong position: The popula tion of Lisbon, greatly increased by the peasants, whom the English have forced to abandon their habitations on the approach of the French troops, is a prey to the most dreadful famine.-- The.discontent of the Portuguese has arrived at its height.— The position of the English becomes each day more critical ; they snake immense sacrifices to maintain their tooting in Por tugal. All their pro Visions come from England ; even forage for their horses is sent in transports. The English have organ ized in the :interior of the country some companies of the Or dinenza to intercept our conummications ; but the peasants who compose them are badly artned,and betake themselves to flight at the sight of the weakest of our detachments. Monsieur the Duke of Abrantes was struck by a ball on the cheek, as he was reccAnnoitering the enemy's out-posts. The wound is slight, and affofds no ground for uneasiness. (Si gn ed) CASSABIA NCA, Major and Aid-de Camp to his Excellency Monsieur the Marshal Psince•of.,Eoling. Paris, Feb, 9,1811. AL' ,- % • r- ;11STFR6 FRENCH PRESS. MEASURES RELATIVE TO SUPPRESSED PRINTERS. • An Imperial Decree of the fld of February, 1811 i contains the following Regulations :-- " The Printers retained in Paris are bound to purchase the Presses of the Suppressed Printers; they sh.Lll pay for them ac cording to the valuatton whlCh shall be . set upon them, within tle period of one year, and by four instalments. - " Each of the Retained Printers shall pay one sixtieth of thq total price of this purchase. " Immediately after the publication of this Decree, sea's shal be affixed on the Types belonging to the Suppressed Printers. " They may sell them if they please, provided th_y are sod only to Licensed Printers and Type Founders. • , An indemnification shall be paid to the Suppressed Printrn by those who are retained. " This indemnification is fixed at the rate of 4, - 000 francs to every Suppressed Printer. " It shall form one general fund, which shall be divided among the Suppressed Printers in proportion to the extent and buline , s of their Printing Establishment duly ascertained. " For this purpose the Suppressed Printers shall be divided into classes. This division into classes shall be made, and the indemnifi cation fixed by a commis,ion. 66 Each of the sivy Retained Printers shall pay a sixtieth of the sum total fixed for the indemnification due to the Suppressed Printers. " Every creditor of the Suppressed Printers may object to the amount of the purchase-money, for the preservation of his rights. 66 '['he commission shall consist of the Inspector of the Intpe.- rial Press, who shall preside, of an Auditor of the Council of State, of two Inspectors of Books, and two Licensed Printers." Another Decree of the same date orders, that Printers' Li cences shall he delivered to them on parchment by the Director General of the Press. The price of issuing these Licences is fixed at fifty francs for Parts, and twenty-five francs for tI other cities of the empire. IRELAND. DUBLIN, FEB. 19. [FROM TIIE DUBLIN EVENLNG POST.) CATHOLIC MEETING: The constitutional and manly spirit of a consi derable number of country Gentlemen, of the llo.; man Catholic Religion, was evinced on Saturday last. We state with infinite pleasure, that on that day a most respectable assemblage of Catholic Gentlemen took place at the Farming Repository, Stephen's-green. At five o'clock Mr. O‘MANoNy was unanimously called to the Chair. Mr. O'MAIIONY begged leave to remind Gentle,. men, that the only purpose of assembling was, to discharge the duty reposed in them by their nume rous Fellow-Catholic in the respective parts of the kingdom, by communicating the sentimfant, of their Catholic brethren: He observed that he expected to hear each Gentlemen delivering himself on the Subject of petitioning the Legisla- ture, with that energy, spirit, and . determination, which every Catholic ought and must feel from the recent attempt to deprive them of the last and only remaining constitutional privilege that was left them, namely, that of petitioning. He intreated Gentlemen not to digress from the . subject of their meeting. Captain POWER afterwards addressed the Chatt in a manly and imated :h of kiderablit length, and wh' sures that were from meeting purpose of petit the happy eke' sentiment and ad animated speech of comiderablit chile he regretted the impolitic rnea• proposed, to prevent the Catholicf in a constitutional manner, forthe :titioning, he congratul4t*tpros :t it created, by 4441,7thitti , II V Ans feeling alas, gaiiitW4ii&tsisOtkii , 4 . •