The National Register. — London, England, 1811-04-14 00:00:00

-.. ~T FPftEiGNIINTPLLIGENCE. BATTLE OF BARROSA. _ • PARIS, APRIL S. EXTRACT FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF .TITE ARMY OF THE SOUTII OF SPAIN, OF miiica *l 6. An army of 1G to 18,000 men, of which 6 or 7000 were Eng lish, landed at Algesiras on the '2Bth of February. It consisted of 4000 English troops front Cadiz, 300 from Gibraltar, 6000 • iploiards from Cadiz, and about 4COO collected from diffetent parts of the coast. The Spaniards who sailed from Cadiz were embarked in the bay on the (Ist of February, but they were not able to put to sea until the '.46t h. On the 28th they formed " Munction at Algesiras with the other troops.—On the .2n4 of arch this corps adyanced to Cassas Viejas. The plan of the enemy was to raise the siege of Cadiz, and to take all the French lines in the rear, while an attack was to be made on the works before Cadiz, by the garrison of that places At the same time Cie ships of war ar.d gtm-boats were to threaten deba - kation on every point ; Ballasteros was to march upon Seville , and an insurrection was to break out in the mountains of Ronda, which town was also be attacked. This vast project has, however, been totally defeated. After having issued orders respecting his line, the Duke of Belluno formed a reserve at Chiclana, composeil of the first bri ;aye of the division of Ruffin, and of the second brigade of Leval's division, and reinforced the garrison of Medina Si- The Spanish scouts apu"ared on the 4th of March, in the dliection of Chiclann. On the sth, the enemy's army advanced to take possession of that town, which they knew contained the depots, magazines; and head- q uarters of the French army. The Duke of Belluno mardted towards C.em with two bri gsdes; three squadron of cay.alr:, two batteries of artillery, and ahout &CO men.—All who chewed themselves were driven back upon the sea, and, his plan was thereby already rendered, inipracticabte. The Duke of Belluno r in prosecuting his success, arrived *lose upon the sea-shore, whence he perceived that the import ant position of Barrosa was occupied by an English brigade, formingthe rear-guard of the allied army. He ordered Gene ral Ruffin to take possession of that height, which was carritd at thepos•du charge, and several pieces of cannon 'and SUMO fprisoners weryaken.- 7 . - le teen advanced upon the enemy's fkuk, towards the sea, at thc same time that a brigade of Vii latte's •divistion,.which had taken. possession of the tete-die-punt of St. Petrie, ,prOceeded against the head of the column. '1 hese three brigades of the French army had thus almost enveloped the enemy. . Meanwhile the enetriy, sensibleof the difficulties of his posi tion, determined to resins; and . presented four lines, which appeartd to consist of 401'0 each. As soon as the Duke of Bel- Lunt) saw that the enemy's force was so considerable, and that the hagfish formed a.great part of it, he ordered General Vil latte's brigade to leave the passages to the Isle of Leon open, and to advance towaldA his right, and he also directed General Rues to evacuate the . height; and to close upon his left, being na longer in expectation of surrounding the eletny, but cpniln ing his object to the establishinent of a line psrallel to the sea, .and including within it a Spanish . distision, which had been cut of by .a detachment of 1500 men of the, main body of the. corps &armee. General Rain was already engaged with thi.: divi sion. He repulsed - , with great vigour, two attacks of the ene my, in v:hich they were alWays two to one. Being severely w Junded, he remained on the height with about 100 s)ldiers, svho were also wounjed, and Ms brigade joined the Duke of Beton° on his left. Successive'attackc took pl Ice en the centre, but every time the enemy presented themselves they were re-. pie4ej. Copitiantly disappointed in the plan of advancing to CAL:Jana, confined tow,irds the sea, and convinced that all thelreiFortithad_grgved abortive, and the field of battle being crewed with their dead, they considered themselves, fortunate to have the' oppefftinity of profiting of the movement which had been made by General Villatte, and of throwing themselves into the Isle of Leon, which they did without any .considcra tion Tor one of the Spanish divisions, which was thus separated from Cadiz, hut vvhich,.having wandered a l l the following day, succesjed in entering the .Isle of Leon during the night, as the bioCkade was hat re-established on that point until the 7th. Thus between 5' and 6000 'lmperial troops disappointed the execution of a plan long meditated by the enemy, drove them up against the sea, and compelled them to return to Cadiz, whence the..greater part of their force bad sailed only a week before. The Duke of Belluno took three standards, four field piece., and nsade 7°o prisoners. ~ .:. T. REGISTER. The action was extremely obstinate. The• French charged several times with the bayonet. •We had 1300 men killed; wounded, or made prisoners. Among the latter were 150 men, all wounded, who were taken on the height defended by General Ruffin, and about thirty sharp-shooters, who were .the only French niade prisoners wit out being - lvoinided. The first bat talion of the Bth regiment was charged in a wood of olives, in which it was placed as a corps of sharp Fhoott . rs. The eagle bearer being killed, his eagle could nut be tumid.. This :vel ment having been employed is sharpehooters by the General's order, it ought not to be blamed for the loss of the rink. General Rain is among the prisoners, and his wound is se vere. It is believed, however, that it will hive no dangerous consequence This General evinced the greatest intrepidity, and his miefortune was entirely owing to his being wounded. 'The General ()flit igede Chaudron lkousieate and Col. Antler, are killed. These Officers were distinguished fur their bravely, and haerefallen gloriously. The number of the enetny 'counted dead on the field of battle is 900, including 300 English ; anti we are assured that a great number were carried off: The eneney'sloss cannot be estimated at less than 4,000 men, that is to say, the triple of ours. One half of this loss, at least, was sustained by the roops. On the titb the English vessels made an attack along the whole of our line. • They effected several deleirkatiolib, Inn were every where repulsed at the point of the bayouet. them different affairs we made about 50 prisoner-. Fuur gunboats were sunk. Several pinnaces, which were to serve for the re-embarkation, came on shore, without any person on board, the whole of their crews having been lost. It is to be regretted that the Duke of Dalmatia, when he set off for Estremaditra, did not leave the whole of Andalusia and the kinedoin of Grenada under the or ders of the Duke of Beaune. The 4th corps was thus left inde pendent, also the Ones of Generals Godinot aalearrican, and cite Duke of Belluno'had only the troops ems in the siege at his disp ,sal, to guard his immeose line, to repulse the real or false atrecks m u te at all points, and to oppose the army In front of him ; so that whilst the enemy had united all his means, the 4th corps, and the corps of observation, under General Godinot, that is to say, more than 'e5,000 men, were of nu use in this im portant affair. The 4th corps supposed that the debarkation at Ale,eeiras menaced their rich! , at the same time that the Mercian insur gents were attatkftg its left.. General Sebeetieni only learnt, when too late, that the troeen that bad distotiberked were marching against the left oldie blockadirg army. if one of his divisions bad acted upon the rear of the teieuty'e corps, and if the Duke of lithium bad only to oppose its entranre into the Isla of Leon, the whole of this corps would have laid down their arms. The Commander of Ronda ha repulsed end dis persed the insurgents in the moantaiits. As soon as General Sebastiani was informed of the march of the enemy's corps against the first curs, he detachtel a div;sion towards Cadir. Gen. Godinot also deta , : heti nine battalions; hut the s e reinturce ments which might have been useful arrived tea late. TJ:e enemy, after their defeat, placed themselves .n a state of'securi ty within the walls of Cetee. We are resured that thi4 affair is a source of discussion and dissetisfaction between the English and Spaniards. Mere 4.--Tree ltfmitcur contains the following Notes upon the account of the battle of Barrosa, bent by Lord Liverpool to the Lord rviavor of London : Leffee-e.' 4 The army of Marshal Victor, composed of the two divisions of Ruffin and Laval." Moniteer—" 'There wa: only one brigede of each division, and each consisted of less that* 2.70te men. Four battalions had been detached to reinfot ce the garrison of Medina Si donia." Lester—" The enemy was completely repulsed, with, the loss .• of an eagle and six pleCes of cannon." i. allouiiegir—' 4 You mean two pieces of cannon and four Ca,. SiOni ;and you say nothing oil three stand of .colours." of year having lost four pieces of cannon a., thx... tier- 64 Tilt. General of Li - vision, Ruffin, &e. and 450 rank and file were made prisoners." Moniteur= 3 You took, at the most, 250 wounded men, and you lost Letter- 1 ' It appears that the enemy had about 8000 men encleed." Mutrifteur—" That is to say, less.than 5020:' Letter--" The British, whh the Spaniatds attaeled to thein s amounted to 5600." htnii.' cur," There were 7000 Englisit,:t 0r . 9000 Spaniards, and,looo Portuguese, which znaLes a total of between sisteen and eigiateun thousand men. In the return of the wonucled officers, you *motioned eleven Eneish regimezirs vit. three regiments of Guards ; the 9th, 28 th , 47th , 67th, Sk i VW-and 95th of the line, and the 2d Hussars, to which is added ,ttie Portuguese; in all twelve different corps, makini fiftren Ett- Lall which, at :411 each, Ji - 4,5011 a. P4e.