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

.•;t'q — * • 'l;* : . . • . .♦ . • . t.... , •- • . Y . • • . , •o• 4. 4b•.• C, "„~' I NM' NOV. ... 0-, . THE NATIONAL REGISTER, On the 13th be embarked, and a!lerwards had a communication with Lord Collingwool. On the 19111 he arrived off the Tagus, and communicated with Sir C. Cotton. Sir Charles seemed to think that nothing serious was to be expected in Portugal. He (Sir 11. Only mplt) however, confessed, that he viewed the matt..r very ((Melvin!) , From the moment he had left Lord Col lingwomd had he reflected on the line of conduct he ought to pur sue, and tie saw nn cause why he should take on himselfan mine eessary responsibility, by interfering with the proceedings of an r purposely and specially selected for the particular business in hand. whom he knew to possess the confidence rind spevial direc tion of Government, and who was by his military knowledge and experience highly qualified for the command. Ile had re ceded a letter (he did not know if he could call it a private one) fro - n Lord Castlereagh, instructing him in a particular manner t► cultivate the confidence, anal at all times to profit by the advice of Sir A. Welle.ley. That he might expect much assistance, equally from his prudence andlemper, as from his knowledge, courage and experience. On his landing he accordingly sent his Aid-de-Camps to inform Sir Arthur, that he watt on his way to join the main body, but though he should wish to be informed of their proceedings, it was not his intention to interfere in the management of the operations which were going on.—lle must here state though Sir A. Wellesley had ad dressed to him official accounts of his proceedings down •to this period, they had never come to hand, and he landed withoutany information whatever on that head. On joining the main body am the 2-2 d, he found them ou the ground they had occupied the day before. He saw the necessity of removing from that spot ; but why the army did not advance he knew not, nor did he feel any thing personal to himself on that subject He found the state of matters to he something similar to what he had expect ed ; and after making every allowance for the great advantages which the British forces had gained over the enemy in the battle of the preceding day, and the great additional loss of the enemy in killed, wounded, liae he could not forbear from seeing, that these advantages were at least counterbalanced by the inferiority of the Ili itish cavalry. In the evening General Kellerman ar rived. At this time he (Sir 11. Dalrymple) knew nothing of the number and efficiency of the enemy, or of our own troops ; and ail the information he acquired on the subject was derived from Sir A. Wellesley in the observations made by him in the course of he discussion of the articles of the Preliminary Treaty, which immediately took place. The narrative proceeds to en ter into the details of the Preliminary Convention, which it ex plains and vindicates In the particular circumstances of the con t It. The words " private property" General Kellermatn pledged himself at the time shooldite understood in their strict meaning, and should on no aecount be understood to extend to merchan dize. The endurance of the armistice it had been his (Sir 11. Dalrvmple's) object to extend beyond the time fixed for it, to give time for the lauding of `is. .1. Noiire's division. As to the Russian Fleet, he did not believe that General Kel lerman was at liberty to give it un ; but the, total number of seamen did not amount to six thousand. Had be (Sir H. Dalrymple) however, been in possession of the letter from the Government of this country, stating that the property broua.ht into Portugal by the French army, or •the Russian property found in thelagus, might be proper objects of capture by the British army, he would not have agreed to the article in question. The article authorising the French to carry away their private property, he knew had been viewed with the greatest abhorrence. The same words would ba found, in simi lar circumstances, in the Convention of Alexandria. If these articles, however, had not been agreed to, the Iltitish array must base maintained its position till the morrow, or have advanced with not more than 16,030 men. Being once embarked in so dan gerous a a‘rvice, active movement was the only thing for the Bri tish fGreci'. Theartillery horses, however, were not sufficient for • this purpose. Many of them were oil, many of them lame and html,n and even the remainder %vele not altogether fit for such a service. Iu addition to this, if it had been resolved on to attack the enemy, the British army must have been confined to a position bordering on the sea, to ensure tht• junction of Sir J. Moose. Early ou the 23d •e was visaed by a Portuguese officer, whose strongest objection was to the 6th article. The obvious answer, however, was that the Portuguese Government was then no where to be found. The Portuguese General, however, was asked to state. his observations in writing, but this he failed to do. Oa the 24th Colonel Morro . . returned from the Admiral with the Article relative tu the Russians beet, and was after wards sent with it to the French General, with a letter, seen and approved of by Sir 11. Burrard and Sir A. Wellesley. Ile (fir H. Dalrymple) seeing the appearance of guile in the cou- f _ _ _ i i r ns A. n duct or the French General in Chief , sent for Generals Bonar I ; i t e n s d ie l y lT ehlal had l t e h y e to go consult ones ift,lsion frameo n the a le t s t u e r hj u e f et ' and furtherS no to Colonel NI tiri•ay on the subject. Ott the 9.9 th, Caw, in D 1.. rytuple returned with the terms of the Convention. Of the articles he disapprove:l, and as:-emb'o.i all the Ma ral, he could for their advice on the occasion. foe Armistite expired the next morning, so that he must either have ratified it, or recommenced hoAilities. With the apprchatidn of . Sir H. Burrard, Sir A. Wellesley, Sir J. Moore, Gener al 11ope,, dr. he did ratify the Convention, and the term; of it were immedi ately communicated to the Portuguese Generals. The morn i►•e then goes on to point out the difficulties which must have been felt in providing bread and other necessaries to the army, had it been elicrtased even by the addition of Sir J. Moore's corps, in conseqnence of which, and of the dang er of the surf, it had hero determined that those troop: should be landed gradually, and that each division should bring along with it pros isint's Inifficieta for its own use. The determination of Sir 11. Dalrymple not to supersede Sir A. Wellesley in the command, after the vittory which lie had gained, he communicated to the other Major-fie nerals who were senior to him, and they received it in a manner which did them honour. An application had been made by Admiral Siniavin to him (Sir H. D.) to know if the Port of Lisbon was to he considered as neutral in respect to the Itusiian fleet ; hut to this he had stated that he could give uo answer. It hostilities had been to recommence, the different castles and strong holds in possession of the French must have been regularly besieged, one after the other—Fort St. Julian could not have M= taken without battering cannon--as long as they remained in possession of the strong position of Almeida no ship of' otus could approach the town—a battle must have been fought al most in the City of Lisbon itself, and the view of the campaign which he had originally formed, would at the last have been found to he the just one. The co-operation of the British force with the Spanish army, was, and had always been, the main and important object; the other was only preliminary to it. And it was of the utmost moment to afford to the Spaniards the earliest possible proof of the serious views we entertained of co-operating with theta in the most effectual manlier. With out entering into a calculation of the time which might have been occupied in reducing the fo rts on the Tagus, it wasenough to say, that the heavy rains were approachaing, whend no marching into Spain could take place. Be gain svishc that the Convention might be compartql with other Conven tions, and in particular with that concluded at Egypt, which it would be found to resemble, not only in its tern's, but 1 - in its nature and qualities in other respects, particularly is the dangers of the service, and in the state of the lie submitted, therefore, that the Convention might be v indi tated.—Tbe Addr.ss of Thanks to Sir Dew, which had baser read to the Court from the Chief Magistrate of !Abbott Ito tu; name, and that of the inhabitants, proved th, thAand. lug the protest formerly taken by him against certain articles in the Convention, he had on reflection come to see thing: iu a dif ferent and more favourable light, and to estimate more truly the mercies which, through means of the British army they .joYed• The Addresses from the Bishop of Oporto, and other h oc c^=. also proved, that they did not view the Connt n in sioin the lig ht in which it bad been treat ed by many persons ve thi coma t of a A letter from General Cast anos also shewed the neecsiity speedy co-operation in Spain, which from Kis h instructions hc (Sir H. Dalrymple) was led to suppow. one of te chief, o r W. they main object of his command ; and a letter from Lord W. Bentinck, who had since that period been in Madrid,heisetl, that the Convention was thought adviseahle, because it had ren dered the army io Portugal disposable for this purpose. ..m Sir Arthur Wellesley ho p ed the Court wou ld indulge t h o i t _ w ith permission to-morrow , t o g ive in a statement e splaoa of his proceedings befor e the arrival of Sir H. Burrard antt Si 11. Dalrymple. le wag The letter flint% Lord W. Bentinck to Sir H. Dalrymp read, and the Court adjourned FIFTH DAY. EsnAlt, ovr.mnr,R. The Board sat this morning at a quarter before eleven. read- The proceedings commenced wit h the J u dge Advocate s Hew ing al t r l y te m n p a i r e r . ative delivered into t he Board yesterday u fir paSirtonmmentd,orcrpte.(nitistuzwges also read from the Commissariat 1).•• provisions, sturcF, cariages 1. -Ai ~ PI . him IMMii=k. ~~_ - b t , 1 , y 4 1.11 1 ~. N( in t I