The National Register. — London, England, 1809-01-29 00:00:00

TTIE NATIONAL REGISTER. SG. on and obstinately' contested, to the enclosed report of Lieut.- Gen oral 'lope, who succeeded to the command of the army:, and to whose ability and exertions in direction of the ardent zeal and unconquerable valour of his Majesty'; troops, h to he attributed, under Providence, the success of• the day, which terminated in the complete and entire repulse and defeat of the enemy at every point of attack. The lion. Captain Gordon, my Aide-de-Camp, will have the honour of delivering this dispatch, and will he able to give your Lordship any further information which may he required. I have the honour to he, &c. - D. BAIRN, Lieut.-Gen. Right Hon. Lord Viscount Castlereagh. His Majesty's ship Audacious off Corunna, January IS, 1809. in compliance with the desire contained in your communica taut of yesterday, I avail myself of the first moment I have been able to command, to detail to you the occurrences of the action which took place in front of Corunna on the 16th inst. It will be in your recollevion, that about one in the afternoon of that day, the enemy, who had in the morning received rein forcements, and ho had placed some guns in front of the right and left of his line, was observed to be moving troops towards his left flank, and forming various columns of attack at that extremity of the strong and commanding position which on the morning of the 15th he had taken in our immediate front. This indication of hie intention was immediately succeeded by the rapid and determined attack which he made upon our divi sion which occupied the right of our position. The events which occurred during that period of the action you are fully acquainted with. The first effort of the enemy was met by the Commander of the forces, and by yourself, at the head of the Cd regiment, and the brigade under Major General Lord Wm. lientinck. The village on your right became an object of obstinate con test. _ _ .1 lament to my, that soon after the severe wound which de prived the army of your services, Lieutenant-General Sir John Aloore, who had just directed the most able disposition, fell by a cannon-shot. The troops, though not unacquainted with the irreparable loss they had sustained, were not dismayed, but by the most determined bravery not only repelled every attempt of the enemy to gain ground, but actually forced him to retire, al though he had brought up fresh troops in support• of those ori ginally engaged. The euemy, finding himself foiled in every attempt to force the right of the Position, endeavoured by numbers to turn it. A judicious and well-timed movement which was made by Ma jor-General Paget, with the reserve, which Corps had moved out of its Cantonments to support the R ight of the Army, by a rigorous attack , defeated this intention. The Major-General, hating pushed forward the 95th (rifle corps), and lvt battalion 52d regiments, drove the enemy before him, and in his rapid and judicious advance, threatened the left of the enemy's position. This circumstance, with the position of Lieut.-(:en. e'raser's division (calculated to give still further security to the right of the line), induced the enemy to relax his etfart in that quarter. They were however more forcibly directed to A% arils the centre, Noliere they were again successfully resisted by the brigade under Major-General Manningliam, forming the left of Sour division, and a part of that under Major-General Leith, forming the right of the division under my orders. Upon the left, the enemy at first contented himself with an attack upon our pique's, which however in general maintained their ground. Finding however his efforts unavailing on the right and centre, he seemed de termined to reader the attack upon the left more serious, and had succeeded in obtaining possession of the village through which the great road to Madrid passes, and which was situnted in front of that part of the line. From this ost, however, he was soon expelled, with considerable foss, by a gallant attack of some companies of the _second battalion 14th Regiment, under Lieut. Col. Niccolls; before Ave in the evening, we had not only successfully repelled every attack made upon the position, but had gained ground in almost al) points, and occupied a more forward line, than at the com mencement of the action, whilst the enemy confined his opera tions to a cannonade, and the tire of hislight troops, with a view to drlw off his other corps. At six the tiring entirely ceased. The different brigades were re-assembled on the ground they oc c•inied in the morning, and the piquet& and advanced posts, re sumed their original stations. Notwithstanding the decided and marked superiority which at this moment the gallantry of the troops had given them over JAN. 2f) . . an enemy, who from his numbers and the commanding advan tagei of his position, no doubt expected an easy victory, I did not, on reviewing all circumstances, conceive that I. should he warranted in departing from what I knew was the fixed and pre vious determination of the late commander to withdraw - the army on the evening of the 16th, for the purpose of embark - ation, the previous arrangements for which had already been made by his order, and were in fact far advanced at the com mencement of the action. The troops quitted their position about ten at night, with a degree of order that did them credit. The whole of the artillery that remained tmembarked, having been- is ithdrawn, the troops followed in the order prescribed, and marched to their respective points of embarkation in the town and neighbourhood of Corunna. The piquets remained at their posts until five on the morning of the 17th, when they were also withdrawn with similar orders, and without th.' rue my having discovered the movement. By the unremitted exertion of Captains the lion. 11. Curzon, Cossselin, Boss, Rainier, Secret, Haw . kins, Dishy, Carden, and Mackeozie, of the Ros al Navy, who, in pursuance of the orders of Rear Admiral de Courcv, were entrusted with the service of embarking the army ; and in consequence of the arrangements made by Commissioner Bowen, Capt. Bowen amid Shepherd, and the other Agents for transports, the whole of the army was embarked with au expedition which has seldom been equalled. With the exception of the brigades under Major Generals 11111 and Beresford, which mere destined to remain on shore, moil the movements of the enemy should become manifest, the whole was afloat before day-light. The brigade of Major-General Beresford, which was alter nately to form our rear-guard, occupied the land front of the town of Comma; that under Major-General Hill was stationed in reserve on the prmuontory hi rear of the town. The enemy pushed the light troops towards the town soon after eight o'clock in the morning of the 17 th, and shortly after occu pied the heights of St. Lucia, which command the harbour. But notwithstanding this circumstance, and the manifest detects of the place, there being no apprehension that the rear-guard could be forced, and the disposition of the Spaniards appear ing to he good, the embarkation of Major-General It ill's brigade was commenced and completed by three in the after noon; Major-Gen. Beresford, with that zeal and ability which is so well known to y ourself and the army, having fully explain ed, to the satisfaction of the Spanish Governor, the nature of our movement, and having made every previous arrangement, withdrew his corps from the Land !rout of the town soon after dark, and was, with all the w minded that had not been pre, viously moved,embarked before one this morning. Circumstances forbid us to indulge the hope, that the Vic, tory with which it has pleased providence to crown the efforts of the army, can be attended w it h any very brilliant consequences to Great Britain. It is clouded by the loss of one of her best soldiers. It has been atchieved at the termination of a long amid barrassing service. The superior numbers of the enemy , not less than the actual situation of this army, did not admit of any advantage being reaped from success. It must be however to you the sweetest reflection that the lustre of the British arms has been maintained, amidst many disadvantageous circumstan ces. The army which had entered Spain, amidst the fairest prospects, had no sooner eompleated its junetion, than owing to the multiplied disasters that dispersed the native armies around us, it was left to its own resources. The advance of the British corps from the Duero, afforded the hest hope that the South of Spain might be relieved, by this generous effort to save the unfortunate people, also afforded the enemy the opportunity of directing every effort of his numerous troops, and concentrating all his principal resources for the de struction of the only regular force in the North of Spain. You are well aware with what diligence this system has been pursued. These circumstances produced the necessity of rapid awl liar rinsing marches, which had diminished the numbers, exhausted the strength, and impaired the equipment of the army. All these disadvantages, and those more immediately attached to a defensive Position, which the imperious necessity of covering toe harbour of Corunna for a time had rendered indispposable to assume, the native and undaunted valour of British trulops was never more conspicuous, and must have exceeded what even your own experience of that invaluable quality, so inherent In them, may have taught you to expect. When every one that kad an opportunity scented to vie in improving it, it is difficult for me, in making this report, to select particular instances for your Nl probation. The corps chiefly engaged were the Brigades under F' 2