The National Register. — London, England, 1808-03-27 00:00:00

1!)6 In 'reit, )et Ito camp ke ttles acre taken a ith them. rt was to he feared that the march would he tedious and fatiguing, and that the ground would he act, yet we tinti the troops directed to throw aa ay their blankets iii the middle of their march. The total abaadoinnent of the rimntry habitations allorded a clear proof of the hastile mitt.' of the inhabitants, yet an assault is determined on, which was the sery mode iii which that hos tility was li'Ael vto be most pernicious to us. The General ap pears to have taken ao advice: Be summoned his officers toge eier, not to counsel him, but to receive orders. File only in stance, indeed, in which lie appears to have followed advice was in the ualacky adoptimi of Gea. Gasser's plan of attack. In this point these two Wheel.- seem to be at issue. Gen. NV him loelte writes to Mr. AV Oldham, that his own plan was to encamp to t:te a estaard of the town of Bueuos As res, and to bombard It with the aid of the siiippiog, but that he was induced to adopt the plan of assault suggested by Gen. Gower. Now, the latter officer, on the tither hand, states, that Gen. iVhiteloeke's plait was uearly similar to his own, the idea of assault having occurred to them both. 11 hoover may be right as to this mat ter, it woold appear that NV hitelocke had been of a dittl.rent opinion, fur tus thud him. when at Monte Video, averse to the plan of as s ault, and pointing out to Gen. Crauturd the formida bla parapets oa the tops of the Spanish houses, and the facility Is i!li which the armed inhabitants could defend themselves. All the witnesses agree; that the 8000 men with which IV hite locke set out from Monte Video were fully adequate to the coaquest of Buenos Ayres, and nobody !shrines the troops. Tne attempt failed therefore through mismanagement in the General. The badness of the season, and the iisveteracy of the naive:, were serious obstacles, hut both were to be overcome w ith the means which he posse'.sed. Instead of this, the troops are first placed ill a most auk ward state on acconnt of the bad ness of the weather, and, to get them out of this scrape, they are next expfesed to all the li,stility of time natives. It is singu lar that none of the Generals should have ex pressethheir dis approbation of the plan of attack at the time it was exhibited to 1 hem. They plead that their opinions was not asked, and that they did not consider themsels l'• i ustitied in volunteering them. Now this may do very well for an ordinary question, hut it is sea eely a proper apology in so moment ou s a point. The lives oft eir troops, add sae sueeess of the expedition were at stake i —all etiquette shnuld have given way before these vital cansi deralions. With a similar want of precaution it was omitted to apprizo the Geller:4ls commanding the columns of attack of the spot where th:! Comannider in Chief was to he found during the day. The coosequencc was, that scarcely any communication took place, and that Gen. Craufurd ascribes his surrender to this un fortuwte circumstatne. Now, it was no doubt strange MI t he part of the 6encral in Chief to omit to mention where he was to be found, but it w,is no less odd that it never occurred to ally of the officer: to ask him. if the truth were told, it is likely we should timid that the plan of assault was generally approved of. It is a mode of warfare particularly adapted to the spirit of our troops, and this situation nag so destitute, that they were naturally imprtial to : ;et out of it by the speediest nif.ans in their power. ilence it nimbi sepal that they resorted to the alternative of an assault, without a due consideration of its danger. The conclusion which a rell,.cting mind will draw from this unfortunate evredition is not only that the Commander in Chia should be pool -hed, tint that the %%hide constitution of our nrtny is in need of reform. tun there be a stronger et idence of an elkient hetet than the selection of an unlit officer for a tnomentous enterprise. Would Bonaparte lease acted thu s rt us reflect then that at e im , :e to contend with a most skilful .niy—that our army is, nest to our navy, our pillar of • "-.ty, and let us Periati.ly urniertakc the correctiou of those 4.t., ties whiJl impair its energy. 3LIRCTI 27. t °REIGN INTELLIGENCE. FROM THE tnEscal, ft. till, GERM.IN, AND HANBCRCH P.SPER:.• FRANCE. PA 1119 1 MA nun 12.--The Prince Arch-Chancellor has made a report to the Council, of several decrees lately adopteil by the P:mperor and King.—.lruong others there is o ne d r( Fr.• it ` . which the hereditary titles of Prince, Duke, Count, aud Kn4 , ,lat, are established. The principal Miters Of state are to he raised to the dignity or Princes, and their elde•t suns are to he created Dukes ; the Ministers, senators, Councillors of State, ac. are to he Counts and Hurons, and the Members tif the legitui of llonour are to be Knights. These titles of No. hility are, howeser, to convey no privileges, uuruilyerieuipti o w from the operation of the !ans. —Nam— GERMANY. If .iltatTnnu, MA n rn Division of Spanish Troops are ordered to march to tic of Bogen. Grateen's Division it oho experted to go to Pomerania Accounts, to which me rail give credit, state the Swedish army to amount to 44,51x0 viz. in Finland, under General Kling-par's command, 17,060 in Scailia, under General Toll, 8$00; iu Gotteohurgh and tile neighbourhood, under General Vegesack, MOO; aml in the Pio• vinces beyond Stockholm, a Corps of about `41011; a I: c .,• rve of 5000 in East Gothland, and a second Reserve in the Northern Prov awes. BA NKS O 1 TILE aria 11.—" The conjectures which Ise have so loug formed are realized; the French :min, with the permission of the Danish Government, has cntered Holstein, to proceed through Zealand, and other Danish island;, against Sw'eden. On the sth inst. 1500 French horse entered the city of Alma, preceded by two Ilambro' city dragoons. n jilt dram n swords, and they serve them as guides. The men halted on the 6th, when Bernadotte reviewed them and about 10,0000 Spaniards. in a field belonging to the ctty of Hamburgh, culled theiloly Ghost field. The citizens of Altana are &hosed mark a day for the keep of every man, at the expence, it is said, of the !Luise towns. The French have also marched intn stein, from the side of Lubeck, and by this time the greater part of Holstein, not excepting Rendshourg, the King of Deus mark's residence, is full of French and Spanish troops. All the great and small craft are under orders to take in French and Spanish troops ; and at Copenhagen all the gun-boats and merchantmen, with one ship of the linc, four large Danish Indiamen, titled out as frigates, and cam ing 3ti guns each, besides a number of Danish brigs, cutters, and pilot-boats, maimed by French and Danish sailors, are in re::(1i• ness to carry over the troops. The French will, it is said, at tack Sweden in four or five different places; and the troops destined for the expedition are under the command of Berna dotte, and will, it is said, amount to nearly 70,000 wen. Ber nadotte himself set out at six o'clock on the Stb in-t. in the evening, from Hamburgh, for l'inneberg and Itendshourg. posts from liol-tein or Denmark arc now expected, as the French and their Allies will probably stop them till a him% shall have been struck. By all accounts, the French have wade great preparations for a descent on Swedea, in the r . ports of Wismar, Rostock, and Stralsund, and the island of Hugel). it is the general opinion here. that unless a British force speedily arrives, Sweden is lost. The French and ipanish armies, 1 , - sisted, it is said, by the Danes, will he at Copenhagen, Crown berg, Elsineur, and other parts of Zealand, tutor before the IA!, or 26th instant." THE NATIONAL ItrGISTER. SW 1.1)1.N. Sro If OT. NT, N 1 RC II I.—We are looking for ward here ft.? the• breaking out of war. The Rusatau Minister Von .Iloprhi way already on the point to take• his d!•l►arture, yy hen the K'u sent for him, and told him that he had still a last propaH make ;he would pledge guarantee that no higlish the line should enter the Baltic, if they would not niolest :ma; if not, he would at any rate form an alliance with England, invade Norway, and bombard one part of the liable afier ano• t her. The Russian Ambas-actor has sent another Courier 'Anti this proineul to Petersburgh. Gin rbllOl.Nl • Ctstt.l:, MARCH is Royal Md.it'ilY PC. terday afternoon received a Courier from Lieut.-t.'en• lcrcker, with the fellow ing Report, dated—