The National Register. — London, England, 1812-02-09 00:00:00

, , 7 , 1111 S-‘2 THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Cetieral to advance into the interior of Spain, the old charges of temerity and .prccipitation may be renewed. Such charges an impartial Public will not fail duly to appreciate ; but, at all event, the conduct of the object of them cannot fail to reinte. _ _ Of the influence which the conquest of Ciudad lto tFga mAy hive nitou tlic affairs of Spain we feel no doubt, though we think it not unlikely that it may be questioned as to any important benefit to be expected from it. No pers,m will venture to deny, however, that it opens the heart of Spain to the British Army, at the same time that it closes the North of Portugal against the enemy. Coupling these advantages, then, with the re. pills- of "V; -Tort at Tariffa, the defeat and destruction of the division fGI ~A ;it Arroyo de Molino, and the re cent fliAlit of Dtiouf.:r and capture of Merida upon the advance of General HILL, the whole proves, that though the French made some and formidable progress on the east ern co.ist of Spain, the Allies have exclUsively the mastery on the whole line of the western frontier, from Gibraltar to the Bay of Biscay. Through , :ut the whole of this extee they have, with the exception of Badajoz, the poris:.s.,ion of every strong position, and the choice of any I:ne of operation. Necessity obliges the French to dts:),se of their forces in small corps, individually inca pable of successful resistance to any respectable force that may be brought against them ; and the difficulty of sub sisling large bodies in an exhausted country, must make it scarcely less dangerous for them to concentrate all these corps, in the event of Lord WELLINGTON'S moving for wald to assail them. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FALL OF VALENCIA. FEB. 9. REPORT OF GEN. CnUNT sucitzr, TO HIS HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OE WAGRAM AND NEUFCHATEL. " Camp before Valencia, Dec. 29, 1811. 44 11losf•IGN EMl—After the battle of Sagunto, I• remained In my posi. tion, with my right at Lyria, my left at Grao, and my centre in the suburbs of Valencia. " Durinc this time, the enemy collected all the disposable force they had ii L .arcia, and the other points of Spain. " I had juuged it necessary, before investing the place and opening the trenches, to have every requisite fur the siege in readiness. A pan of the carts were employed in bringing in provisions for the army. It was only with the greatest efforts that I was able to collect, in the course of the month, 100 20-pounders and 30 mortars and howitzers, with their necessary apparatus ; they are at this moment annexed to the park of the sit Pe. " On the 24th T repaired to Segorbe, where I received the division of General Count Reille, which I found in the best condition; I am ahu extremely well satisfied with the division of Severoli. I caused these troops to arrive, by a forced march of fifty hours, on tke banks of the Guadalaviar. _ _ _ " On the 26th, in the morning, two wooden bridges were speedily established by the corps of engineers, and the artillery at the same titre threw over a bridge of boats. General Reille began to pass the rivc7, General Harispe advanced upon Torrente ; General Boussard, at the head of 460 hussars, passed - the river, and charged a squadron of the enemy, which he broke; but, abandoning himself to the pursuit, he arrived on the line of the insurgents, wounded, and fell into the hands of the enemy ; his brave Aide-de-Camp, Robert, perished; making his body a rampart for his defence. The rest of the detachment escaped with only the loss of eight men. Immediately the 4th of hussars, and 15th of cuirassiers, who were on their march, put themselves on the full trot, and loon came up with the cavalry of the insurgents, which they defeated, and rescued General Boussard. The insurgents, however, preserved a good countenance in the in trenched camps of Manisser and Quarte. Gen. Musire marched straight upon the camp of Manisser. I had ordered the division Palombini advance upon the right flank of the enemy, between Valencia aril the entrenched camp. This attack was seconded, but it became pri; - cipal. It was said the success of this day would be owing priticip.Xy to the soldiers of Italy. The intrepid Italians crossed the river with the water up to their middle, and charged the enemy, with shouts of Viva l'Ernperatur Re (Long live the Emperor and King). General Balathier, at the head of the td light and 3d of the line, Italians, forced several en trenchments, crossed several canals, and maintained himself agzinet triple the number of troops, and gave time to the 2d brigade, consist ing of the sth and 6th of the line; to join. Never was Italian courage displayed with greater intrepidity; 50 dragoons of Napolerm extremely brilliant charge. In the mean time, the Capt. of Engineers, Henri, caused a bridge to be established, and on the works, to supp..rt it, the battle continued, when Gen. Robert , whom I have already had so much reason to praise, arrived at the head of the 117th and of the let regiment of the Vistula ; the entrenched camps of Manisser and Quarte were forced —cannon, baggage, caissons, all were taken. At this moment Gen. Count Reille, with the brigade of Bourke and the di. vision Severoli, arriving on Aldaya, entirely turned the enemy; the 9th of hussars charged, and made a great number of prisoners. Cut oil from the road of Murcia, Blake was thrown into Valencia. " While these events were passing, Gen. Harispe, who was appoill• ed to blockade Valencia, and pass the Guadalaviar at its mouth, 1111.1 himself master of the laaaret, took from the enemy several pieces of en:- non, and made a number of prisoners. Two vessels, two frigates, and a great number of English gunboats, kept up a fire, during two hours, from sixteen pieces of artillery, planted on the mole of the Grad; they were obliged, however, to sheer off. " General Harispe arrived at Cantarroja, and took at Afagar a quail. tity of baggage and ammunition, and one howitzer. "An hour before night Valencia was invested on all sides. All Os small entrenched camps were forced, the enemy every where beater, two stands of colours, 30 pieces of cannon, and 100 caissons, and the baggage waggons taken. Part of the enemy's army have been pushed into the marshes of Albufera, where it has most probably perished. The loss on our side has been sustained principally by the division of Palombini. I have particidarly to regret the loss of Colonel Barbieri, of the 2d regiment of light infantry and Captain Ordenari, of the engineers. We have had 20 Officers and 200 soldiers killed or wound ed ; amongst the number of the former is Colonel Perpi. The loss of the rest of the army has not exceeded 150 Mei. Th.: corps of Freyre and of Bassecourt, which were at Requena, are cut off from Valencia. " General Delort arrived at Aleiras, on the Zucar, on the £gth. He there fell in with the corps of Malic and of Obispo, which fled with precipitation, after having cut the bridges. The inhabitants hastened to repair them, anti received our troops with demonstrations of joy. 46 I am, with respect, (Signed) 44 The Z/Larsbal Count SUCIIET." DREADFUL FIRE IN AMERICA. RjctlmoND, Dr.('• ‘27.—Lact night the play-house in this city was crowded with an unusua: audience : there could not hare been less than *ix hundred persons in 6,- house. Jus: before the conclusion of the play, the ti-,7enety caught fire, and in a fcw mitlitnn the whole building wrapt :n fl,:rues. It is alreatly asrsertained that sixty-one persons we!? dear:- red that tt rrifi: elen:Llit. We are informed that the _ _ bcentry took fire in the bac:. part of the house, by the raising of a chan delier ;—that the boy, who wa, ordered by some of the players to raise it, sated, that if he did so, the s;:ellere wotdd Lite fire; when he was commanded, in a perm; toriiy manner to hoist it. The boy obeyed, and the Ere wai i.A.rantly communic:ioted to the scenery. He gave the stErn, in the rear of the stage, and requested some of the attendants to cut the cords by which the combustible ma:erials were suspended. The person whose duty it was to perform this business became panic struck, and sought his own safety. This unfortunately happened at a time whet: one of the performers was playing mar else orchestra, and the 14: . e r v ia part r,f :h e sta;re era , obscured from the audience by a curtain. I 'Le fire falling from the scenery, upon the performer, was eke first no tice which the people had of their danger. Even then, many supposed it to be a part of the play, and were, for a little time, restrained from Eight by a cry trots: the eartge that there was no danger. There was but one door for the greatest part of the audience to pass. Men, women, and cbi:tiren were pressing upon each other, while the flatr.et were seizing upon those behind; who, urged by the flames, r . us!wd tho,.e out veil° r: ere nearest to the windows; and people of every 4tyNcription beg,in to fall, one upon another, some with their clothes on lire, some burn-di • A ,if those who were in flie pit escaped. and had cleared themselves fj om the lutuie hi.fore thoiewlio were in the boxes could get down ; and the door Was for .100 In it time empty. *lhose from above were push ing ones other down s e steps, when the hindermost might have got , cut. I,y leaping into the pit. In ud,'ition to the list now given, it is believed that at least 60others perii.hed, n hose uarnes are not yet ascerl'ained. f -, 11 .A., tilt: names of (2 miens, among Aloft' wep the Cover t:vs e Ph - oviace ;did his I.ady.) Pow' h Mb I