The National Register. — London, England, 1809-09-03 00:00:00

SGB mews and occupied Talavera. Lord IA .!EaINGTON had no altereative left but either to fight the united armies of France-, or determine to act only upon the defensive till the losses which his army had sustained in the glorious battle ed Talavera were repaired by reinforcements, upon which lie could place a stronger dependence that it -appears lie was justified •in doing upon the Spanish army.— Thus situated he lost no time in crossing the Tagus, which be effected on the 6th at Puente de Arzobispo. The bridge of Almarez having been destroyed. The defensive line of the Tagus is therefore now occupied by our brave army, and if the Spaniards are not treacherous, and trai tetous, as well as cowardly, we think his Lordship may wait in perfect security the arrival of those succours which Ministers will, no doubt, send him from every quarter.— We hear of reinforcements proceeding from Sicily, as well as Ireland, and the utmost promptitude and alacrity are due not only to the situation but to the bravery of the army under his Lordship. Upon the dispatches which have been received, and upon the mode in which Ministers have made it public, some ob vious remarks occur. Lord NuceereseeroN was certainly right in his plan of attackieg Soeur before he could effect a junction with VICTOR, and the disposition of CUESTA'i Army to keep the latter in check, was certainly proper. But what are we to think of our army having retreated in Conscquence of the immense force collected by the ench.l from all quarters? Ministers say this, and we must believe' them, unless we admit a supposition that they make an ac keowledgment fatal to themselves, in order to conceal a fact still more fatal ; we mean that no reliance whatever is to be placed on the Spanish army. For if either the numbers or the enthusiam of the Spaniards were what we Lave been told, from what quarters are the Freech able to reinforce their army so as to make it more than a match for the British and Spanish forces. Do the Spaniards themselves take up arms for the French, or have the French more considerable forces in Spain than we know of ? Have Ministers been ignorant of their amouut, or have they miscalculated the disposition of the Spaniards ? We do not say they. are to blame for any went of eze!rgy on the part of the Spaniards, but they Might have huown the state of the French force, and have calculated accordingly. BesiOes, in the event of BUONA PAR TI: making, or having made peace, what. chance would or could have remained for our little force, or even for the Spanish nation. Another consideration strikes us as material ; Does not every fresh event sfiew.us, t het no cordiality subsists be tween Lord Weereserox wet Cu EST.% ? We shall not re peat what we have said over and over again, about the conduct of the Spaniards at the battle of Talavera. VE wEeas was under no ce,lltrei;l liOili ~or WELI,INGTON, a.id cuteera will H et mo l dy with his 4 6 le:vest," of keel). ing Verrou in check. jig short, the ..:pantreis woel fight with . the English, what is more provoking, they "oat run the risk: of fiahting without them. However lliltiati4- factory the informatioe conveyed by the:;e dispatches may be to the good sense and anxious feelings or the public, they are at least sufficient to remove all doubt as to the conduct of the Spaniards. There is nothing like naion among the Commanders; nor can we be npou by the generosity of Cu eSTA, who Stlitil to hive left Ta lavera with the intention of supporting Lord Wetanseeroa in eis conflict with Son Lie_ _ _ • It appears to us that he left his situation from a fear of being attacked by the defeated army of Vic Ton, and that he Esci-,••=7t- 4 .1.-. , , , telvlrously deserted 4 or 5000 of our sick and wounded, to whose courage and whose; blood he was indebted for the safety ofhis whohe army. What is to be expected from a man so treacherous, so cowardly, or so ignorant, for one or the other or all of these he must. be ? But. even if he were not, it is just the same thili4 to Lord WELLINGTON and the lirtish army, whether they are exposed, and, perhaps, destroyed by those or by the gencrou3 ical of their allies for whom they are fiai SEPT 1 Dutch Papers to the 25th have been received in tom ) , bring accounts from Paris so late as the 20th. At 11;i; period nothing %vas known of the actual state of the Negetiations. alt the Armistice which expired on the 12th, we are merely told that it Was renewed for a fortnight, This is very probaLle as we have no certain intelligence that notice had been given by either party of its termiaa tion. But the great question of peace or war remains still undecided. Reports (but for which Ile see no authority that is to be relied upon), state, that BuoriaraaTE liar refused to ratify certain terms that had been agreed upon between the French and Austrian Negociators, o: hers statq that an interview is to take place between the two Em perors. These windmill conferences tOrehode no good, the dignified simplicity of the Austrian Monarch, is up match for the eagle-eyed policy of BUOWAPAILTE. In addition to all these reports we are told thlt a Con, eTe4s for the adjustment of the terms of Peace is to be held at Vienna, and that BUONAP.4RTE has named TIMEE . Plenipotentiaries on the part of France.—Triurnvirates have in all ages been ciesla•ts.—The very name is fatal to liberty. The official account of the determination of our Govern. meat, not to ratify the Treaty concluded by Mr. Ensaiuse 4 has been received in America. The Papers of that country' which have reached us contain some strong observations upon this subject, they are not morellthan might have been expected. No determination we apprehend will be taken by the Pres:dent till the arrival of Mr. Jackson. — Private Letters mention that a Coaacil of State is, to be held shorlly at Washington. All our sympathies are awakened by the situation of the brave 'Tyrolese. The tyrant is not content with having them as completely in his power as the weakness (we had almost used a stronger expression) of the Austrian Em peror could throw them, but he is mean enough to abuse and villify them into the name of cowards. If it be so, why tell us of the great force he is employing to reduce them! why pompously detail the names at the Regiments, acid the Commanders—these things do not dove-tail at ail together, they do not fit. One or the other must be false. The fact is, the Tyrolese arc not only brave but loyal, and they will resist the Tyrant if their Government will let them.— What might not have been effected if the weak and short sighted policy of the Emperor of Austria had not truckled and huckstered with his destroyer ? All the valuable gold service of plate, formerly belongina to• the GREAT FREDERICK Of PRUSSIA, as nell as all thegola chandeliers, and every other article of plate, both gold and silver, have been incited into bullion, and sent to France, to liquidate the contributions imposed by NAPOLEON. Among other points which are to serve as 11:e basis of peace, and which are now negociating, one is, that the Ein.! peror Fitaweis shall cede the kingdom of Bohemia to his eldest brother, the Duke of WIIRTZDURGII. It is under stood that the Armistice has been prolonged for 28 days. A letter from Trieste, dated August 3, says—" this morning an English fleet, of ten ships of war, appear ed before our harbour. There is among them a three decker, of 120 guns, on board of which is Admiral COI.LINGIiOOO. The infentious of the English, with respect to Trieste, arc not Net known. Our sea bat teries are, however, in a very reYaeclable condition. The day befor.! yesterday, an English frigate and a cutter took, in sight of this port. after an action of an hour, thirty-two ships and harks bound for Trieste, among which were six small armed vessels, who convoyed the others. Many were killed and wounded on both sides, as the battle was very obstinate. Tun; Barrisn NAVY.—There arc at present in commis sion 801 silps of war, of which )61 ace of the line, from 50 to 44 guns, 16S frigates, 172 sloops of war, nine homhi and fire• ships, 95 armed brigs, 14 cutters, 154 armed schooners and tuggers; besides which there are repairin4,. building, and in ordinary ships, which tu.Ake the total aura" ber including 265 of the hue. TILE NATIONAT, ItEGISTFIt.