The National Register. — London, England, 1811-02-03 00:00:00

• ' FVREIGN* INTELLIGENCE. .I • ; 4- • ••• FRENCH PAPERS. --mama= ' listtgaleeNCE FROM THE ARMIES. IN SPAIN, • • ...e , ... • PAIILIS, vi4NIIART • 19.. • DISTRICT OF T4l& ARMY OF THE soUTH. • 81tOE of CADIZ.—The Duke of Belluno, desirous of having the whole of his flotilla united in the canal of the -Trocadero, where: it. would only be between five and six hundred toises from the isthmus which joins Cadiz to the Continent, had al ready caused the flotilla to be conveyed from SarrLucar as Eir as Rota and Pert St. Mary's. Several glorious actions had been sustained 14 this flotilla, but the most difficult remained to be undertaken. It was necessrry to pass within 300 toises of the fort of Pnntales, which is upon the isthmus of Cadiz, and sur rounded by- a numerous groupe of floating batteries and the enemy's gunboats, It was therefore to be feared that the French flotilla would suffer considerably in attempting to dou ble point Matagorda. The Duke of Belluno, therefore, resolved to convey it by land from the river San Pedro to the Torcadero. The flotilla watt dragged across this space of 500 tpises upon rollers, to the great satisfaction of the army. By the 11th of December, all the boats belonging to the flotilla were in the Tor cadero. Thas instant our tire opened. Red-hot balls and shells were discharged against the town. We succeeded in throwing bomb shells of twelve pounds to the distance of 9650 toises, and howitzer shale of eight pounds as far as 9150 toises. Considera ble uproar prevails in Cadiz ; they are in great agitation there ; rise gates ar• shirt, and it is only with the greatest precautions Cut any communication is kept up with the suburb;. The scarcity in Cadiz is extreme, and. the yellow fever makes great ravages. ~: ;~, .. l ~4.04 . DISTRICT OF THE ARMY OF TIIF. :CORTI!. The Duke of Istria has arrived to take the command of the army of the North of Spain. AsTveriss.—On the 29th of November, in the morning, the insurgents marched forward to attack the advanced guard of Gericrai Bonnet, commanded by General Valletaux. The one nay, to the number of 6000, succeeded at .first in gaining a Jew tpises of ground, but were ultimately compelled to give way, and were pursued as far as Belmont and Miranda, the roads to which flaces were covered with the slain. AI:MY OF CATALONIA. • Outhe 13th December, two ships of the line a frigate, and about four or five more English vessels, appeared off Palamos, and landed 900 Englishmen with four field-pieces, to the west ward of the port. In the mean time, a frigate, a corvette, and a brig, made for the other side, and landed 600 men, in order to take -possession of the port. "I he Chief of Battalion Emyon, of the third corps, who had posted his battalion on the heights, seized the favourable moment to fall upon the enemy, broke their line, drove them hack upon the old walls of the town, en tered the place pelt mell with them, and pursued them to their boats. Of. the 1100 English that disembarked, 800 were killed or taken ; and it is not quite certain that so many as 300 escaped. Five Officers, including Captain James, belonging to one of the frigates, several miosll ipmen, and 150 soldiers have been marched prisoners for Perpignan. SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF TORTOSA. TO FM SERttiE HIGHNESS MAJOR. GFNL•RAL THE PRINCE OF NEUFCHATEL AND VIAGRAM. MoNsetoxEux—ln obedience to the orders of his Mijestys the 3d corps of the arrny of Spain proceeded towards 'f ortosas after the seiges of 1 .erida and Mequinenza. The first division blockaded the tete-de-pont on the right hank ; the second advan ced to the frontiers of Valencia, having detached a corps towards Terruel to keep Villa Campo in check, and to cover Saragossa ; the third division was posted on the lower Ebro, to secure our supplies, the conveyance of our artillery, and to observe the enemy's army in Catalonia. The artillery immediately established a flying bridge over the liver, which is 360 yards wide iu this place, for the purpose of Opening, a communication between the two banks. 'The officers reconnoitered the approaches to the prawn I fixed the camps, and made the necessary preparations to push with vi gour and rapidity the operations of a siege which had been so long delayed. On the night of the 21st, under cover of a violent storm and excessive darkness, !i;ctiCt workmen opened the first parallel in *out of the bastions of4it. Peter and St. John. The left: at the 4-""k . REGISTER. - -e-. distance of 80 toisei, extended irorn 'hie n e t eJek. ei L.. to the foot of the height of Orleans, to the length olhso At the same time, a trench was opened on the right bank r within 90 foists of the tete-de port, fer the purpose of erecting batteries intended to flank the priredpal attack. It was impossible to display greeter talents, couragee and acti vity than was shewn by the Engineers, both 'officers - and - men, during the prosecution of the works. HenryeChief of laatkallon, who commanded 'the attack in •the eencee, carried it un with remarkable activity. On the night of the 17th; evelihisfdre the batteries were established, the covered way was trOwnedOut unexampledinstance, -I believe,. in the • history of sieges. Five officers of Engineers were killed, and tairo wounded; either in the works, orint6e sorties which the- enemy. frequently made to interrupt them. • . . • - They came on the night or the ilth; 231,e24tta, and With,, to-at tack our camps and works, in columns of three or four iiunJred men. The grenadiers anti the troops that guarded' the trenches repulsed them with the bayonet, witlrgreat loss. . • On the 28th, in the evening, after a vigorous. diseliarge ; froirt all the batteries of the garrison, about i.)000 men rushed-npett all cur points olattack, penetrated thennfuramnment.en toe left, and burned some gabsons of the lodgment' on the corer - ec:f:viay, while they out-flanked in forcethe right on • the height of Oeleans. But Gen. Hebert, quitting his camp with Gen. Bronikowsky, end the companies of the elite of the 116th and sth tizave them within the walls ; and General Abbe, who commanded in the trenches, with Col. I.a Fosse, of the 44th, advanced against them over the trenches with crossed bayonets; ever whelmed and killed a great number of them, and took several pnseners. The ardour of the infantry could only be extfieded, by the perseverance with which they worked. - - The artiliety on their part, had surmounted excessive and continual increasing difficulties in conveying the besieging ar tillery to the left bank. The navigati„ii or the river ehang -d every day, and was extremely dillicult. The erection of thirb teries was bri , kly opposed by a tremendous fire from Ole .11,arri. son, which crushed every thine, particularly on the right bank. General V:llee, the nfficeto and men, diAnlayed an indefati gable zeal. The soldiers of the train acted as carman: vs ; a Captain of tic ertiilery,. and a Lietnenant of the train, 'were wounded. On the "9th, at day-break,' forty-five guns, its ten butteries upon both. sides of the river, opened a bre which in two hours acquired a decided superiority, and soon silenctd all that of the front attacked. The bridge was cut the same day, and the next morning was entirely broken ; ir, consequence of whic a the enemy was under the necessity of evacuating in the night the tote-de-pont, of which we took possession. On the .nOth, the castle was the only part a the garrison from which a fire was kept up, and on the 31st our fire became slack, as it was , not answered. The phrapets were levelled, the embrasures not in a state to receive vms, and two breaches were commenced near fort Orleans. In the mean time General Roguiat pursued his beilliant . chreer, completed the de3cent and tilassage of the ditch, and began to mine the carp of the body of the place. It was in this state of things that on the morning of theist of January a white flag was displayed from the Castle, and imme diately upon this signals hostilities having every where ceased, the ramparts were covered with a crowd of soldiers ancleaf in habitants. Two officers with a flag of truce made their appear ance, and were conducted to are : they communicatela lette; from the Governer, who had authorised them to make propo sals to me. The Adjutant; Commandant St. Cyr Nogues, the Chief of my Staff, carried my answer to the town, with the ba sis of a capitulation. He found in the Governor a weak man, surrounded by two or three Chiefs, who divided the authority betwen them, and who demanded that they should be sent to Tarragona upon their immediate surrender, or offered to surren render conditionally in fifteen days, if not relieved before the expiration of that time. Following up my instructions, he re jected every thing different front what was contained in my answer, and desired them no longer to display the white gag if it was not merely and simply to capituia:e. Upon his return, the soldiers reeeivtd the news with joy, and with Icraderies de. mended the assault. I promised it to them on the lehiiowing day. The fire of bombs and howitzers recommenced in the night on the town and castle; the miners cantiiitiesl . .their la bnurs. On the morning of the 2d, a tiecv batLry in breach, ralsedwi h extraordinary rapidity in the cuverhi way against the coanterscarp cf the ditch, was batterieg at thedistance of fl to ?..1 tosses the breach was hourly enlarged. Three • hits flaps were displayed at once ; I ordered the firing to be evert where redoubled. At two o'clock every thingwas ready for the assault e 1 ordered a Brigade.of General Hariepe to be under arms. in the great line of thitrenchcs, and formed in column the select companies of thoftuards of the trenches, to mount the breach. Flags of truce made their appearance R•oritri, but I Jerboa an, one to be rccuivvri, ezcept for the purvoos of doliveduaiWyotill