The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1808-12-02 00:00:00

of their persevering valour; and the Supreme Council of the kingdom makes no doubt but that our army, after it shall have gain completely ral lied, will attack and pursue the euertv; a co► nom of from seven to 8,000 men having already actually penetrated into the plain of Keynotes by the way of Burps. lit order to prevent any acci dent that might happen, orders have been given to fortify the point of SailakW. Tice Marquis de Iledores has also received orders to march to the frontiers with all the troops found in this province, and an army of reserve is to be immediately conned, which is tojoin the troops of Ills Britannic :Majesty, who are destined for the defence of this country. The subscription which has been set on foot for the henctit of the English women who follow the army, amounts this day to one thousand riala.—(Corunea Diary, of Nue. 23.) AVOISt.: WO, tor. 12. The Major-General Count de Bel eerier has tra:ia witted the following dispatch to the Count dc Ho rida Blanco, front Lerma, dated the loth inst. MOST seaae► LORD....SIOCC 1 arrived at Burgos 1 bait Inca twice attacked by the enemy, and have twice repulsed him ; but to-day, after having ,ustained a fire of th.rteen hems, he attacked me with double rums, especially cavalry, nf ahul, there were 1 imagine loon, and at least tiro° in fantry. Though my troupe sustained the shuck with great valour during all th•tt time, they could nut resist the enemy's cavalry, and I fit./ inyarlf obliged to retire to Lerma, and Cony thence shall proceed to Arend& to re-unite my army . The wit or-General Lien Jean de Hourcbosa, nliu cam maaded in the action, acted with flint velour and houiiiie which are well bunwn t the chile of the army. I will send to your Highness, by an officer, a circumstantial or count of the action, as soon as it Can be obtaiu.•d. The volunteers of Surma, Zafra, and Valencia, the fiat bat. Wiwi of llw infantry of Tsaxillu, and the provito-ial in fantry of Baellijim, had our wired at Brogon, and cutoc eLitently 1 can with these corps nitro a hem. ptiettiost at Arituda. I am informed that the eurmy is following lw only in a a small Ita,mher, Lotus I susoset ilia he will pursue we to morrow, las now (leo at slight) leaving this risce. I yes tertlity receive/I advice from General lieu Juichtta Watt., of the nprehensions he elltr..t.u.tetl of attacked ibis *ley, bat a hiels the !weestitittos he bud taLeu, and the ilispusitivas he hat made, promoted. Cud "inverse your Highness many years. £L CONDE BELVEDER. Lerma, November to, loos. The Supreme Junta of Government, which, to avoid every unfortlinate • accident, had previously adopted the most prudent measures, by 'scuffing the divi.ion of I.strt.diatinra s gutter Major-fietMrul,i nun Josef Her•dia, and giving express. notice tui 4 all the Generals on the right, in . .oeder tint theyi , might combine their movements, has today given the strictest orders that a most etiSserful rein forcemeat shall be sent to. the si,Uvl well provided with artillery, ammunition, and pro visions 1, we alms that whatever assist:sure may be net:€.3'64'4 , *hall be seta to the other Gviierals of this army. Hence we have a firmly founded fume, that the enemy, for from having cause to boast of having been ableto advance to Burgos, . ill be punished fur his temerity anti piesfutnion; and if it be trite, as aseeketl by some &accounts from the frontiets, ,,i that the Emperor of the French is ishcs to be a wit-. mess of the conduct of his Geucrats and troop in Spain ; it is aku to be hoped, that the brave de fenders of their country will tovire •to the glory of obliging him to fly with the same precipitation, as they forced his brother Joseph to abandon the Throne and Court, which be so vainly imagined that he had usurped. EX PRESS. BRITISH PRESS OFFICE, Two o'Clark, Friday Morning. INTELLIGENCE, DV EXPRESS, 1'1)M SPUN. PUILTSMOVTII, DEC. I. This afternoon, at three o'clock, the Bonne Citoyenne sloop of war, Captain THOMPSON, ar rived from Comma, from whence she sailed on Saturday last, bringing amounts from General BLAKE'S army up to the 24th ult. The dispatches shC has brought will be found to relate several most dreadful battles between the *runes of Marshal \n• acd I:eneral BLAKE. The Marquis Rom ANA'S troops (from the Baltic), by advancing too far a-head of General BLAKE'S army, were severely defeated ; one of the regiments of Ca talonia has been cat to pieces. The fighting on both sides was most obstinate and desperate. The Marquis of ROMANIS'S cavalry was preserved. In the last attack, BLAKE repulsed the French with considerable loss. lie is now at Cinta, about 40 miles north of St. Ander*, with :: : I,ooei men . Th e nuimunication between him and the centre army, ander Cstervaos, is cut off, the French army being bit iv eeu them, whose head-quarters are at Vallado lid. There are many fears for the safety of the centre army. The Pat!44 I: of PEAL a's party in Spain is very strong, more so than was expected or tboughi of ; and the patriotic cause looks desponding.--+'f . 15A V ail ILD WWI at Astorga, 'With In army► wt. Sir JOHN Nlooas at Salamanca. They have last ista topsail. It is thou6lit to be Braliarsait'i L. _ . intention to prevent, if possible, the joining of the different forces into oue body. The cause of the Spaniards is not considered en hopeless one; but the spirit of patriotism has drooped very much. . _ In the Dcuse Citoyenne came passenger Capt. Gsne, of the Royal Artillery, with dispatches from Sir ROPERT WlLsos, at Oporto. Ills dispatches are not so favourable as could be wished. The party against the Provisional Governmvnt is very strong and turbulent. Sir ROSFHT 113 , 1 clothed, armed, and trained, 2,000 Portugue.e, mid formed them into a battalion. There were three British regiments there. THE BRITISH PRESS. LONDON, -FRIDAY. Dammam 2. LA'T'EST INTELUGENCE FROM SPAIN. The following observations were written, and the I',l l ,cr was just going to press, at two o'ido 6 vls this morning, when we received un ExvitLie from Portsmouth, with important int( Inge:ice from Spain, the subeiance of which is given in our pre ceding eoluintic The intelligence was brought to Portsmouth by Ln Bonne eittlenue, from Co mpile, whieliplace she left on Siitunley last. Th • Phpistris packet is arrived at Falmouth, with Mails fruits Comma, which place she left on the 24th ultimo. We have Teemed by her Co retina pere; to the 23d inctusive, but they do not bring intelligenre from the theatre of war, of later date time Cie 33.1 i, the precise date to which we ree,eived accounts by the allediatur.—ln those aceonuts it was stated, that on tile morning. of the 13tfi, General BLAKE wrote a letter to the Magistrates of Sautona, .laced from his entrenched ramp, at iteyilosa. with the information, that after twelve days incessant lighting, he had retired to that place from Valmaseda, in order to concentrate and refresh his trcrous. The Coriuma papers are important, a. they confirm this account, and give some particulars of the series of actions which took plate. Na the 3rh, BLAKK attacked, defeated, slid pelesued the enemy beyond Balinaiesla and I oche. flu the 7111, Br. tae attacked the cueiny again in Cocoas, but his centre not coming up time, he was obliged to resume his position at Balimiseda. On the Nth his rear was engaged, but the result is not stated. We may presume, koweier, that he was pursued hi his retreat on the 7th, aiiil that as , only his rear teas etch=t ed on the tith. he still eoe ti oo ed to retiie theeneiny. On the lota, we find the eacmy &gem the assailants. They attacked Bt..tlie. art Espinosa with double his force. The battle was long, severe, mid obstinate. It lasted from one o'clock until night. The dark mess only separated the combatants. The victory was left undecided. On tits nth the enemy re itesed the attack. titre it appears the French got ; iutu BLAKE} reas,awl his army was roissider- JAY dispersed. •Oa the 12th he retreated to Reynosa, to rally ; but the enemy, still fol lowing him up, attacked him there again, with a fresh and superior force, and obliged him to fall back to a vaiiey iu the vicinity of St. Andrea, where lILAKL peptised to rally, and to attack the enemy, as soon SS Ite had concentrated his forces and receised succours. For this purpose a corps of e.OOO had pushed ou by Burgos, to join him, and orders had hem given to all the troops that lay convenient, to march to his assistance.— No official acconnt s from the theatre of war had Been received at Comma subsequent to the 31st of October. This detail of the operatione of Ge neral BLAKE, fr the 4th to the cith of November, was communicated by an espies.* to the Eighth General BROVN.RICK. The Spaniards appear, upon the whole, to have had the worst of it, as we thud them almost coestantly retreating. We have act mints from the vicinity of Purges to the I Ith, up to a Lich date it does not appear that the Friar. hail passed that city in any considerable force. An official report from the Corint Lk 141.- V EDlt:it, dated the 10th, at Lersuei, a town in Old Cabbie, situate upon the Asian*, about miles south of Burgos, states, that at that date the enemy had not advanced so far. The Count lit; it I' IN EDER had been stationed at Burgos, from %Inch place, after an obstinate resistance, lie a 1.% ii en, by a superior force, to Lerma; and as he apprehemled that the enemy were following him up, he propos ed to retire still farther to the strong per.ition of Araoda. Great preparations had been made to oppose the approach of the enemy ,and ardetit hopes were entertained that he would have reason to re- pent his advance to Burgos. Among the new arrangements proposed by the Supreme Jnnta, au army of reserve is to he formed, of which the English troops are to compose a- part. On the sae of Barcelona, it is said, 4,000 Spaniar,:s, and some English troops, have entered Hostel. A force of 4,000 men, from Majorca, MIMI also expectril to disembark at Vick. Such is the substance of the Spanish papers to 9.3 d last inclusive, brought by the Dispatch. The Favourite sloop sailed at the tame time from "that port with dispatches for Government. They are dated from Commit!, the g.3J last, from Stu Vineente de la Barquera, and also from the Su preme Junta at Madrid, but the date of the last we have not learned. They confirm the account of General BLAKE'S defeat in the series of actions from the 4th to the 13th, and also the defeat of a part of the army of Estremadura near Burgos. They also carry down themilitary operations much farther than the Corunna papers. It appears, from them, that in the series of actions between BLAKE and New, the Asturtaus having been worsted on the 11th, upon the left, the French got possession.of a height which covered the road on which they retreated, and they were thrown into great confusion, and General BLAKE retired on Reynosa; but a French column appearing on this road from Burgos, he retreated by Soto, to San Vim:Pate dtha L ' nryuera. Here, upon the 17th, he had collected ucar 20,000 of his troops, the Marquis De LA Rot 4NA hurl taken the command, and they would soon be in a stute to advance again. Tile French bud occupied St. Andoro and F•an ton:* ; the former on the 16th, and the latter on the :20t ; lint, by the exertions of General Lets n, all the provisions, ammunition, and stores, sent by this country, had been removed. General 11nuat: had arrived on the toth at Sa lamanca, and General BAIRD ass ut Astorga. Tirere are no accounts of the French having advanced beyond Burgos, and it is therefore pro bable, that the Count De BEINGDEII stilt re mained in his position at Lerma, which be oc cupied Droti the lOth. This intelligence, upon a general view, is certainly bad ; because it is ad mitted that the French have beatetiattscs, and are masters of St. Antler° as well us Bargor; but the eguse of Spain is lint therefore hopeless. On the contrary, no people were ever more firmly united against an invader than the Spaniards ; and while that union and spiiit prevail, the nation never can be subdued. Th.! Vessengcr who arrived with the dispatches for Government passed through the arnie of Sir Davin BAIitD, between Astorga sod Lugo, who were, as lie describes them, in pretty good condition. But, as to 'a junction between 'Won't and BAIRD, no hopes of it can be entertained, for a considerable time—certainly, as it is believed, not before the esth or 30th of No vember—perhaps not till the middle of December. A Gottenburgh Mail arrived yestenlay. It has brought au official account of the action after the rupture of the armistice in Finland, in which the "Swedes obtaiued a victory over the Russians. At a moment when the Court of Inquiry has suspended its discussions, though we believe that the public have pretty well formed their opinion on the conduct of the Ciutra Generals ; au.l at an in staht whets ooly hope and conjecture, mixed with much anxiety, can be indulged relative to the grest events mt , iing beyond the Pyrenees, we conceive that we cannot direct the general attention to any document or paper, contenting matter of such hi terest maul curiosity as the statement made by the Minister of the Interior to the Legislative Body, on the .2d of November. Those who wish to see the actor,' condition of the French empire, at the close of the it. year of the usurpation of en Italian Soldier, who has risen out of the volcano of the revolution, may survey in that stutemeut its prin. cilial features, as delineated by one of the Mem bers of the Administration. It caunet, therefore, be suspected of lint representing matters as favour ably as they call bear, consistently- with any portion of truth or of probability. Yet, through this partial medium, we pLinly perceive the fallen, and almost extinguished condition, of the greater number of those sources of national wealth and grandeur, which existed under the Boviusos race, but which the savage and interested despotism of the present tyrant has altogether crushed.— Intent only on projects of personal ambition, aggrauilisement, or revenge ; meditating only the elevation of the Bon APARTES, the BEAUHARMOIS, and the MIURATII ; considering, like Casaa, no thing done till the family of Ajaccio should oc cupy, by its different branches, or by its delegates, all the thrones still tilled by the _ancient royal houses; this subtile and atrocious Chieftain ap pears to regard France and tire French people as only made to be his vile instruments. Poverty, cessation of industry and manufactures, extinction of commerce, conscription, unending wars, priva tions at.d sufferings of every kind ; these are the agents that he employs to bend down anti to hum ble the revolutionary spirit of the nation. Neces sity compels to other means of subsistence thou trade. in a country where nature has given in vain the vine, the olive, and the silk-worm. The tin roune and the Rhone, which diffused plenty, not only along their tenths, bat whose productions were transported to every surrounding state, are now little more le netirial than the Neva or the Oby. The quays of Bouideaux, of Marseilles, and of Nantes, air no longer covered with objects of merchundize. The fleets which us, d to ars. rive . from St. Domingo, front Pondicherry, from Nlartinique, and front City rune, hare disate. reared ; mid are only replaced by a few priva teers, whose owners, incapable of otherwise em ploying their capital, pick up • precarious sib sittcnce, its perpetual apprehension of the English cruisers. Emboldened and impelled by the inter diction to import a number of articles into Frame, which nre either of the very first become, by long habit, a part of cununnip. tioa among all classes of the peop4., b an d, of smugglers, leontrabandiers) set the edicts of the Government at open defiance. We could rot ousily conceive, or even believe, the extent mid magnitude of this evil, if we did no", know it from the very admission and avowal of Cie Minister of the Tyrant himself. It is emt, easy to amplify o r exag6eruLte the terms in which he mentions and p g . probates it. Still less is it easy to increase the strength of those denunciations of " indignatiea and vengeance against the individuals alio still devote themselves to such criminal pecalation s and tiansgressions," which are contained in the speech befcre us. Ile Avarua them to dread the terrible and rapid apt14.1460n of those laws, which authorise the invasion cf their for ' tune and personal castigation." But experieeee has hilly proved, in every country, a,kliu tA,ry period of time, how little can be done by sa:‘giii nary edicts, to repress industry and energy, a here the Government is oppressive, merciless, und yin, dictive. If, however, Naroteon, from enmity to Great Britain, extinguish commerce, sod interdict navigation, his pa:ernal cares encourage ugriculture. How ? it may be perhaps asked ; "E y the re-organization," says the 'Minister, 4 . d oer positories for the breed of horses. Eight new reposi tories of stallions have been formed this year, and premiums held out to the owners of the best lior‘es brought to fairs." He adds, " two new sheep. farms have been introduced, and 600 Merino sheep, of the best breed, have been ordered from Spain, and are already arrived in France." These are :111 the exertions enumerated, or pretended to have been made, for the encouragement or advaiwenalit of agriculture, by an Imperial Ruffian, who hos waste and desolated Europe, from the Kirruta to the Tagus, and who is now occupied ir. making of Spain a vast Church-yard, for no crime except that of reclaiming her native Sovereign, and reject ing an obscure adventurer, whom he riuleaeours to obtrude upon the Spqniards as their fling! If we did not know that the thing is impossible, we should be tempted to suppose that such a dis closure savoured more of satire than of panegyric on RC N APART& • An officer arrived at six. o'clock, last night, at the Admiralty, with dispatches, we understand, from Lord COLLINGWOOD, the substance of 'Ai , h arts immediately forwarded to His MAJESTY, 4 Windsor. The dispatches are said to contaiu vouruble intelligence from the Mediterranean. General BVILIZARD arrived, on Wednesday, Portstuouth, and arrived yesterday iu Loudon. Yesterday a Coutt of Director; was held at thel East India House, when Captain BENJAMIN RICHARDSON was sworn into the command of thei ship Albion, consigned to China dirt ct. The Court adjourned at six o'clock, till 'Wednesday next. _ _ eht c May morning, about 9 o'clock, Ikl r. Mo s eat, the Metvienger, arrived at the Foreign (Abr.', with dispatches from Mr. FRERE, our Amino , :die at l'iludrid, for Mr. CANNING and Lord C.esrit aL:AGY. On Tuesday, the Duke of Yon had an into view with Earl CHATIIAM, at his home, in Ha street, Berkeley-square, from two o'clui:k till be four. _ Wednesday, the Duke of CLARtSCE had n•I interview with the Noble Earl, from tiro till about three. On Weeltiesily mos • g, at tea o'clock, a meet lag of the Committee of the Privy Couucil, eun• tasting of Sirs 14 ILLIAM SCOTT. '‘‘ 31. WYNNE, and Evms N Exxon, took place at the Cooed Chamber, %i hitelsall, to hear and determine Fria Appenie. Late advices front Mexico have been received which state, that intelligence of the glorious ',ace of the Spanish nation had been reeeirtd, sud that h lag Fs ANNAN is hail liven proclaimed there with universal exult:molt. The Coverninrot of th,t Co:m.4 is said to have come to a formal resoluta)r to indemnify Great Britain for any expanses ihe might incur in assisting the Mother Couutrv. The Prelates of Ireland err soliciting ?Govern. ment for a general privilege of franking. in tax inun with the English 13ensh; at present, oaly tl two Irish Bishops who have Mats in the House Lords daring the Sessions enjoy tills privilege. Cho Ihetur, from Plymouth for Got burgh, put into a port in Norway, and is seise to American, who has attired within this I from liamburgh, gives a most melancholy ace of the distress and oppression to which thy burglars are subject, under the regime of the l'it The prejudice of BONAPARTE against th::t which was provoked principally upon the uce of NAepra TA VDT's am-Pt, sterns to operate increasing rirukncea Police regulations hart edupttd and enforced with iinexarue. , ! against eatery species of commerce, portico where there exists a shadow of stoipteian that articles of Euglish produce sr manufacture attempted tro be introduced. Our informant seen women,on their returning from e mere wa the country, searched in a manner that betra conopirte contempt For common decency. 4 1 merchants and members of the ancient rnnnic ty are treated with peculiar harshnen. So ruu deed is this felt, that sm h as can contrive move their property oeser GO to emigrate: 1,1 vigilance of the French to prevent the rriee Property, 1..-nards against cur considerable two. All or property that is to Le funnel, the, , renders appear resolved to ,eize, *Heiler tine of contributions. Those rout rilmtion., for *1 twelve months, have amounted to ei.. t ht..en of marks Lamm. In fart, riva, ell . t' at heard, BONAPARTF. seem.: I.' i.:•VI• deterilliett: the total destruction of t!,1 , . city. - n Rode JoseF T f N WIC Wit wit • N ee P. ottLn red. wre cowl Ilan: retulf coy cam 4 wll t rig" 1111111 at: ref I tlt ii al'c Byed 111 t • • 1C 1 .11 / ru:r 1•N 11., IM • La u