The National Register. — London, England, 1808-11-27 00:00:00

of former. 1 orders :xitressz 'our in srrvire , c %arty of that ntly dis c e troop* atter cf, given to by their, roved nn tiovern, 4 ty . ival, and ofiferenen the '2lst. 'articular debcrip 'eAlistated PPearance 'aeon, ane iufot med • With Sir , e tom a cr Iturrad., 4 that it ) had sue w) then rehin; next. the n:inn c o, fuVros" (Inn to be 11 consul t. '" froin two 1.1; conoilt tturie the . ° re in it , but in it, a n ` l ' cordial!, 43 ss should the esacua- Itt lered that it rott tc.Citlel!' tia THE NATIONAL REGISTER. cOV. 27* l an e period. The Armistice was signed by Wellesley, because, as general Kellermaa had said, it was not regular for the Com mander in Chief to.beeotne a party to an instrument with an in ferior officer in the opposite army. When Admiral Cotton re fused his Coneerredoe to the 7th article, he sent Colonel Murray to Juaot'squarters, to inform hint of the circumstance, find with. pow ers to treat for n C e nveution on new terms. Whilst Colon el Idurray remained negotiating new terms With Janos, he wall etg aloe in his correspondence with h im ( Sir Hew), and !Lis Jet tens were ' hewn to Sir Jahn Moore and Sir }lorry Bnrrard.— They both proposed alteratleti occasionally, of which be made minutes; but when the . Convention was concluded, Neither of them expressed any disapprobation. lie did not consider their deliberations on the articles to be in the nature of a Council of War, but took the opinions of the Officers on what they thought proper to he done for the honour and advantage of their coon try. He, however, did not wish to erect a barrier betwixt him self and the responsibility of the important command in witlrh be was aualpectedly placed, as he would not servilely follow Vie opinion of any man. unless he waesatisfied of its propriety. lie also detailed the operations of the British army previous to thepeactiation of Portugal by the French.- lie also described the situation of Lisbon, and the resources of the enemy. The castle completely commanded the town, and the new works which the French bad lately erected were calculated for de stroying the town. The French, when they surrendered, had abundance of every glossae, - Of previsions furnished them by a Portuguese Contractor. Lord Moira asked Sir Hew a feW questions, which arose from his former answers, and the following is the substance of his answers to the latter questions :—lle considered Junut's ultimate defeat certain, from the impendine attack of the British, and, the co-operation of the Spanish troops which remained in Aedalu. #ia and Estramadura. The aggregate of the British troops was thirty-seven thousand men. The last division of Sir J. Aloore's tinny was landed on the ,9th, after experiencing much difficulty had losing some men. Exclusive of the strong positions which the enemy held, they had it iu their power to cross the river, and throw themselves into Elva, and its dependencies. The posses- I Fiell of the Castle of Lisbon in a great degree affects the whole country, as the French had it in their ;tower to bombard and de-' ttruy the city, w hies General Kellerman threatened would be (Line. if that threat should not be executed, yet the fear of would prevent the populace from mulcting the French rear division when it should be .crossing the Tagus. fie intended to dispatch part of his army to Valladolid, where they might as rit.. in tweuty-eight day:, if no extranrdioary circumstances sheltie iotervene and retard them. Being asked, whether he knew what progress General Moore bad in fact made on his march to Spin ? he answered, that he could not say. When he left Portugal, Sir John had advanced towards the frontiers; but he left Lisbon on the 6th of October. fie thinks the presence of a British force will have great effect in rotising the patriotic etrorts of the Spanish nation, and that in etta,equence an advan tageous result may he expecttd to the common cause. This he said under the impression that the co-operation of the Spaniards was prompt and'efficacioes, without which oo calculation could be made relative to the movements in Spain. lie could not say what the estimated passage of the troops by sea was from Lis ten to the North of Spain, as the voyage of a fleet of transports on thateimit, and at that season, was generally a work of uncer tainty; i?esides, the means for the movement of land forces in the field had been already proVided in Portugal, and must have keen sacrificed, whilst much time would he consumed before the same requisites could'again be procured. lie could not say what t?ine it would require the French to cross the Tagus, and pass into Alentejo, as the British army would have taken early steps to prevent them. The last position which they occupied was not ill calculated to covet their embarkation, and their actual passage might he accomplished Ina day. Sir Arthur Wellesley then pot the following "motions to Sir new : • Q. Did you ever make any comarnnieation with me on the letter which was transmitted to You respecting ale by .Lord Cas tlereagh, and wlnc h you read to the Il.:oOrt is your narrative ? A, Never. Q. %V hat were the lines of eMnrnunieation, sand the Madan% left ip the enemy's hands, in consettisence of my advancing to wards Eishon by the c o wit 3-- 7 A. I stated my opinion on that subject in a great deirect, if not entirely, before ; consequently, the Membe rs o f the Court, who are much belief judges than I km, may well know what degree of weight to attach to the ob.. Ocrvattun. Sir Arthur then asked whether be did give Sir Hew printed memoranda of a h;►sis whereon Colonel Murray might trent for a Convention ? To w hich Sir Clew replied, that he did not recollect it. After a short conversation, sir Arthur said he would not press the question, as he could proves the fact by other evidence. Q. Do yon,recollect that the first proposition which General Kellerman Made was, that the Russian fleet should be at liberty to return to the Baltic A. I cannot at the moment say that sech a proposition was made, hut I tonsure that it was not strongly urged, or long discussed, or it would have made an impression qn toy memory. General Fergussou was then called to give hi; answer; to the questiens which the President had riven hint to writit ' , on Tuesday. In his answers he stated as fo l l o w s :—:it' joined the expedition on its sailing ; was at V imiera on the Ust. lie did not know how the whole army was served with provision, Ina the brigade which he commanded was regularly supplie,.l. From the position be held on the 't Ist, he had ;to epportunity of ascertaining the French force. Does not know w !tether the French erected any means of defence in the vicinity of Lisbon, hut the ground afforded it. Does not think Lisbon itself could make much resistance. Has no reason to think that the French would surrender on nay other terms thnn those granted them. He admitted the advantage: of the evacuation of Portugal. stated by Sir Hew Dalrymple and Sir Arthur Wellesley, to the Spanish and Portuguese cause, and the 'Tagus had been opened to the British shipping, &c. Ile stated, that if General Moore , had landed with the troops, the retreat of the enemy to Lisboa might have been cut oil'. A General Report, dated 28th September, of the state of Fort St. J u 1 en, and the ether fortresses on the Tagus and ne:ga? boorhood, was then read, and the Court adjourned to this , day. SEVENTH DAY. lATV !WAY, Nov EltnEn, 26. The Court proceeded immediately after assembline, to exne mine Brigadier General Arland. or rather to the rending of his • examination, the questions having been preViously sent to him, and he having written his answers. A p'erson for the Judge Advocate read over the questions, and Brigadier General Ae. land read his answer's---The questions were the same as those tent to Brig. Gen. Furgnsson. The answers of Brig. Gen. Arland Were in substance that.he did not think that the French would have surrendered prisoners of war on the 22d; nor if driven back upon Lisboa, would they. without making further anti. To question as to whether the Convention did nut liberate Portugal from the French, put a stop to the ravages of war upon the Tagus, &c. and whether these advantages coutri hare been secured by any other measure The answer was, that till . these advantages were secured by She Conventiou, and could not have been, he thought, by any lather measure. lie tt a:. of opi nion that our army could not have prevented the Frena.rettr• ing across the Tegus. In this latter opinion Major-Gen. Spencer cone erred who also thought that the French would not have surreudere;d pri 7 soners of war, and that had nn English army been placed in the same situation, they decidedly would not have surrendered. As to whether the same advantages could have been derived faun any other measure from the Convention, he observed, that the result of military operations being necessarily uncertain, he could not take upon himself to assert what might have been the event. The artillery consisted of nine-pounders. The Con vention was similar to that in Egypt, in 1801. To a question front Sir A. Wellesley, whether Major-Ge neral Spencer was aware that it had been arranged that the Al. Fred should attend the movement of the army along the coast from Montlego, in charge of the victuallers and store-ships, that ship being armed with 11-pounders, and the amtnunition expected front England being for 24-pounders. MOor General Spencer answered that the Alfred was ordered for the es pre-s purpose of supplying whatever heavy ordnance-uric Comman der in Chief might require. To another question front Sir A. Wellesley, as to the situa tion of the army to attack any fortified place. Major General Silencer an;wered, that the Alfred a lung tuner before the heavy artillery could have been wanted. The Earl of Moira—llad you any heavy artillery mounted on carriages ? -Major- Gen. peecer—N one. Sir A Vliellesle)--K' as there no heavy artillery 1- r General Spencer ----Mortar,..l4ol t Brigadier-General Nightingale ass- nearly 01.00 satt.e ninth a the Qtber two ‘icaerals, aids Cie k r, urU routs out lo , that c that ght orw,sht %tt it inforty of the i to the i s ionM in*/ 014104 --4 4 k 7 I _ oct ; told yotv mei rain- ; ex- 7orti. atiou letail ►iral, Tars , pro.