The Sun. — London, England, 1812-02-06 00:00:00

SPdIVISH PAPERS. -.......,__. SIIPPLENTENT TO THE REGENCY GAZ7TTF CADIZ, t - eneral Don Ni- JAN. 21 . — LieutenanG _ cholas Nlaity, General in Chief _of the d , Writes front his head-q uarters at Alcoy, ofthirarmy the date of the Bth instant, to the Chief of the General Stan; remitting him letters addressed to him, by Don Martin de la Cariera,General Commandant of the cavalry of he third army, and 5y Brigadier Don Joan Creagh, Gen. Corp Mariciant of the 2d di v i s i on of the same army, relative to the b att l e o f t h e 26th ult. in yof that cti ay of Vale nc i a. H e mentions, that the result' sUperioritya was solely the, etie6t of the ene my ' s in numbers and srngth ; that th e herceness and even the audacity with which the all 2d diviaion fought, relleded the greatest credit on its officers, and corresponded to the ancient merits and services of them all ; that the cavalry, in spite Of its numerical inferiority., and other disadvantages, slid all that could be expelled, in a combat so un equal, frustrating by their valour, and their charges, the first Part of the enemy's plan, which was to. place himself between the fortress of Valencia and the troops under the command of General Malty, in order to cut oft the latter, covering the retreat of the same troops, partl that fortress, and partl to the points of M i sl a t y to a and Chiribella, by t.t, hich y they retarded the enemy's m ovements , f ig h t i ng with. Ihe greatest valour till our troops were able to effe6t their retreat to the points which they occupied in the entrenched lines. General Malty in consequence Bq PPorts rt e recommendations made by the Gene- Pa s PaOl Divi s i ons, and particularly the, Hussars of Slewdinatid the Sev, nth, Antonio Froilitioso (who a French General of Cavalry) wAl.nol.lie con siders lttlitlei to the cross of St. Ferdinand, as well asheveral ot.the Chiefs who were in the action. The c - 9r Ps completely did i ts d uty as usua l , th arr Y i rig off' to Valencia variou s pieces of artillery, Z'l g the activity and intetligence of their officers. wiil;le of the Staff, consisting of the Chief, ." )11 Juse O'Doneell ; the General-Commandant t ct knil lerY, Don Joao ten Ibarra ; the Colonel of Ilgineers, Don 'Nicolas Barcelo ; the Adjutant k. Hera' - Dor Jose Morete ; his Aides-de-Cainp, and tho se of the Staff, contributed to the result of the 2 1 j , w hi' li, if not fortunate, was at least honour lb:. They gave their orders in the mid,t of a fire , Most terrible and deadly, and the best supporie.l with c ould possibly b e w i tnesaed. He concludes Ge nerals si Yillt.t, that he d oes not transm i t the letters of Ge nera Villacamp l and Obispo, respeeimg what , or "Pl s elied to their divisions on the day of the 26i h, to toe circui tous route wh i ch had been pointed out A nt eft) to assemble at th e a b ove pos i tion, had i e - t ; given em an oppo r t un it y to d raw up their --ers them but Ire would send th em as soon as he re eived them. xt• rTD -R FROM MARSHAL•DE-CAMP DON MARTIN DE LA CA'IIRERA TO LIEUTENANT•GENERAL DUN NI sOI•AS bIA El Y nead.quart2rs, Akira, Dec. 27, ISti. tor&ST ExCELLBNT SlR—The CaV.illy under my titi: lll and being placed on the left of, the whole po tit4 of the army, on a ground covered with ft nit vra-`6 and olive* in all its ext ent , s ki rte d b y h ollow th Ys., and particularly by tie well of Mahtisses on kit right B ink, and by t h e s l oug h of T orrents to my Parr and rear, I was o bli ge d to send out reconnottring th e le a to observe th e ap p roac h es of Risarro ja, in M orning of the 26th. I thus placed in the de the „.°1 Correnie, sixty h orsemen of the regiment of O t d "g t after havi ng caused to adVance a squ tdron t a " rd goons of the same regiment in the direction of Cuevas, to support th e reg i ment o f the aneen, Ivhick had that destirnition. Ditty had acquainted roe t r . W ith the endeavou of the e nem y to a v llo a into endeavour, er, the c ana l o f M oneada, and at last they R ro /b ed me of t h e passage of the enemy'* troop s , j 4 `i their marching to Rivari o j a . It was now nine ti, morning, and I peteei.rd the regiment of tie Quee n ret i r i ng in good order with the squadron th e King ; while at the same time, I r, ceived rP i e a . ed inf ormation from my left, that an enemy 's r of about woo intaotry a n d 4 00 h orse, 4 e marching with great speed to take me in 41 t, while Those in my front amounted to three t a r t ' a lions o f i nfantry, consisting of about 3000 po: ad ierS, With t wo squa d rons of Cuirassiers, and ; (rt. Hussars, two 8 p oun d ers, and two i:owitzers. ib 4 n This situation, though circumstances indicated the Propri ety of a retreat, our fire not equalling the 4 1 . 1 t i t i l 'Ys; a n d s i nce I was destitute of infantry and lai ie rY, I Was anxn us that the cava l ry should re ! their due c on fid ence i n themselves, and not re- T enat without at least trying a charge with the sabre. loiltherefote, attempted a movement which was Ir l ; )W ed up with the greatest order, I placed my Qn in echelon, the first line being advanced in 51°',Lique direction to the road of Andaya, and the ed„gc" Torrente. The first echellon being form- U l ,",',the cavalry of the second army, the second, of third ' tons of dragoons of the third army, and the eo . "' On that of the left, of the expeditionary the with the squadron of hussars of Ferdinand th Seventh. When this last echellon was forming, tu e !, n e.my's hussars threatened its left, charging F ir . Y our tiradores. The squadrons of hirssats of ab, r ' ir land the Seventh being then ordered to face ht ;tiut, ch arged the enemy bravely, followed by th?, of s t s i ar s of Castile, and supported by the grenadiers ks,` l e 4th army, under the direction of Brigadier %en, with their lances in Their rest, putting them la n fil ght• One General of Division was killed by a OCtj.ce, whose insignia, hat, and cross of the Legion ree'nour, I transmit to your Excellency, especially of °rumencling to you Antonio Frondoso, a soldier t he Ist company of hussars of Ferdinand the did nth, who, after having cut down this General, t t1 ,, 4 not wait to strip him, but heroically followed A t ' t char ge , kil ling and wounding several others. tiv "Its tim e the c a va l ry i n our front, who were the pa tratiss iera, and 200 hussars, advanced to support r f ugitive troops : upon which I also made a tigoarge With the division of the 2d army, cutting i tlf :ln a number of them till within 40 paces of their ~aVntry. The latter forming column against our al rY, made us retreat with their fire and. chain r_°l! and occasioned some disorder, which was • "Paired. The field was left strewed with trophies t)f t his aaion and the dead and dying of the enemy 4rcatly exceeded our's in number. „Ile squadrons being formed again, I began my a nd the towards Alcira. The expeditionary division the brillia the Seven brilliant sgaadron of nusiars of Ferdinand h brou,l t' up c th • , rear, under the direalion of Thigadier Rich; and our march was concluded in • the best order. Having dispatched an Officer of the Staff to Al cira, to acquaint that town with what had happen ed, and to prepare obstruetions at the bridge, pro viding workmen to render the boats useless, I left in Torre Espioca a squadron of chassears of Valen cia, to observe and cover the high road. I thus de tached the squadron of the King to render useless the boats on the left, and other detachmews to those on the right, and to protedl the letries and bridge of Cullera, bivouacquing in the square of this town, where I now am. I most in justice conclude this account with de claring to your Excellency, that the cavalry under my orders have not proved inferior to any other.— The squadron of the 4th regiment of hussars having particularly distinguished itself, and Don Cristoval Frontin, who commands it, I consider as entitled to every distindtion. This corps distinguished itself by the order and discipline with which it charged. The whole of the troops manoeuvred with the greatest coolness. The officers displayed skill, and the sol diers a good disposition. By the sword and bullet, I have not lost above 150 men, and I trust that the troops of observation which are missing will soon join me, for I have a favourable opinion of their officers; and when this event takes place, I will communicate it to your Excellency. On the whole, I congtatulate myself that, though from imperious circumstances the event has been unsuccessful, it has fallen to my lot to command such troops. CADIZ, JAN. 2 0.—The last accounts from Gene ral Malty are dated Alicant. the 11 th inst. The divisions of the 3d army, and those of Camp and Obispo, had there formed a juntlion. Generals Freyre and Carrera were in the villages of the vie:- pity with the cavalry ; the flying corps of Brigadier Duran, the Conde de Montijii, and Dun Juan Mar tin, were manoeuvring in Arragon, in order to call off the attention of the enemy ; and they had trans mitted advices to General Mendizabal, who was in Castile, that he might contribute on his side to wards the same object. From Valencia we have no accounts; but it would appear that it was vigor ously defended. The contagion has totally ceased in the cities of of Murcia and Carthagena. FRENCH PAPERS. JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE OF VALENCIA. Some days after taking Sagunto, the army passed the Guadalviar, and took po'session of lite Grao of Valenci.#, and part of Serano, a suburb of Valencia, on the left side ; the other part of which was dis puted by the enemy at every foot, and we were ob liged to penetrate into the last houses either by sap or by mining. The Spaniards obstinately defend ing the content of St. Claire, the miners placed two furnaces under the convent. The explosion produced a considerable breach, by which our troops entered. The Valencians had cut two of the fine bridges over the Guadalaviar ; the other three were covered by the totes-de-pont. To confine the enemy with in his totes-de -hoot, and to repulse its sallies, a con, travallation was formed of three very strong re doubts, having seven feet water in the ditches, two fortified convents 'and the houses in the suburbs. The enemy very much tormented our pit)! eers, by a continual cross fire of all kinds of shot. We there lost several miners and a Lieutenant of en gineers. The enemy fortified himself on the left, in order to dispute the passage of the river. He had an entrenchment with two batteries, which ex tended from the works of the place to the sea. 111,-y had funified the villages of nslata, Quarte, and Manisses, on the banks of the river, and which they conneeed together by lines with artillery. The whole of this space of ground from the sea to Manisses is a low plain, covered %yid' water, and iniersetted by numerous canals. Above Ma nis-es, the ground is more elevated, and the marshes are no farther found, till Torrente and Cataroja, on the road of Murcia. General Blake had placed his infantry from the sea to Manisses, and his cavalry above. Manisses, to cover his lett. Having received the expeEted rein forcements, our army was put in motion. In the night between the 25tli and 26th of December, the Captain of Engineers, Dupon, rapidly construded, at a league's distance from Manisses, two bridges, above all the sources of the different waters, that our troops might not be engaged in a maze of canals. At day-break, three divisions of infantry, and all the cavalry, passed on those bridges, and drove back the enemy's cavalry. This movement turned- and surrounded the enemy's position, while Polombino's division occupied the Spaniards in front, by passing the liver between Qunte and Mislata. The Cap tail). of Engineers, Ordenaire, was killed whilst con struffing a bridge on this point. The left of the enemy penetrating the design of our movement upon Torrente, precipitately abandoned the position of Manisses, to avoid being surrounded, and retired upon Cartaroja, where our column arrived too late to oppose it. Several thousand Spaniard.; had time to escape by the road of Murcia, by abandoning their artillery. The rest of the enemy's arnry was shut up in the place. . , Hubert's division having passed the river, near its mouth, and carried the intrenchments on the right bank from the city to the sea, the immense invest ment of Valencia was the same day completed. The following days the positions of the c3mp wefe brought nearer. We were able to leave very few troops upon the_left bank ; the fortifications of our lines supplied the place of numbers. The Valencians much depended upon their canals to cover the approaches by inundation, and fill the fosses of their entrenched camps, but they had not time to prepare those means. When our troops passed to the left bank, the chief of battalion Pit,ot, seized upon the sources, and turned the waters of the canals into the river. The Engineer Officers construCted redoubts within 400 wises of the place upon the roads of Quarte and Murcia ; and the convent Jesus, upon ihe Madrid road, was barricaded, and occupied by a battalion. Every where else the canals and tosses srcured us against sorties. 1• he city is surrounded by a good wall, almost cir : cular, of thirty feet high by ten wide. The Valen clans had added a small ditch, filled with water, at the foot of the, wall, with a covered way, and formed lattens from the side of Roiafa, and some small works to d principally in their vast entrenched camp, which contained within it the city and the 'three su burbs upon the right bank. This was fortified with bastions, and in a great measure bomb-proof. This line extended from the sea to Olivette, where it ter minated to a point which was weak, as it could be attacked io the rear by the left bank. This be came the point of attack ; hut as the enemy could during the siege form interior entrenchments be tween the river and Rozafir, and had even, com menced some works for the purpose of isolating this from the remainder of the line, a second at tack was determined upon point St. Vincente on the Murcian road. The entrenched camp was defended by 20,000 troops of the line, 6000 militia, and • 100 pieces of caution. First Night, from the Ist to the 2d of January.-- Scarcely had Colonel Henry commenced marking out the first parallel, at 6o toises from St. Vincente, when he was killed ; his loss is sensibly felt by the whole army. He was a most skilful officer in the art of sieges. The chiefs of Battalions Ttiiebault and Penot replaced Colonel Henry ; the parallel was 'opened at 60 toises from the works. The chief of Battalion Magneol erected a parallel within 90 toises, before Olivette. By morning these works were completed. Second Night.—The parallel and communication of St. Vincente were finished, and a second commu nication near the Murcian road was began. The lett of Olivette parallel was much annoyed by the enemy from a house, too toises in advance. Capt. Boucher attacked them with a party of sharp-shoot ers, wounded and took prisoners the Spanish Officer and several soldiers. The parallel was then extend ed to this house, which served as a point of support. Plagneal, Chef de Battalion, opened part of a pa rallel upon the left bank, to give facilities for the artillery to play upon the entrenched camp near Olive:te. Third Nighi.—By the attack on St. Vincente, we finished the communication on the right. The weather was very bad; the earth was so soaked with rain that it had lost all its solidity. Fourth Night.—Th e parallel of St. Vincente was extended 100 toises upon the right, to a burnt house, which served as a point of support. On the salient angles of the place attacked, we formed two open ings. The workmen were placed under a heavy fire of grape, but maintained themselves, through the firmness of Captains Berthois and Guillemain. We lost some men, but succeeded in approaching within thirty toises Of the counterscatp. The two ways towards o:ivette were carried the preceding night to within 40 toises of the counter scarj. The enemy, confined to his works by the first parallel at go toisea; could make no sorties, because he had no place Warms nor covered way where they could assemble and debouch. It was therefore thaught useless to establish a second parallel against such works. We proceeded in our two-mined roads, and arrived within nine toises of the coon terscarp. The enemy terrified at the rapidity and proximity of our works, and fearing to be carried by ass alit, abandoned their entrenched camp, and sought shelter, leaving their artillery and ammunition in our power. We established ourselves on all the points in the interior of the entrenChed camp, and made communications. From that moment the town was our's ; the enemy could not think of de fending themselves within it, not betng prepared for a war of houses, -in consequence of not haring demolished the houses in the suburbs of Sin Vin cente and Quarte, which advanced to within ten or fifteen toises of the wall. 51h . Night.—The artillery commenced a bom bardment with eight mortars, established in the Ca puchin's Convent, upon the left bank. Pinot, Chef de Battalion, made communications to the houses in the suburbs of San Vicente, and quickly arrived within ten toises of the town. We established our selves in some houses of Quarte. Sixth, seventh, and eighth Nights.—We endea voured to debouch from a house in the suburbs in San Vicente, but the enemy perceived us, and di reeled his cannon upon this debouch. We lost three miners, and this attempt failed. We were then obliged to debouch from a house sixty-six feet distant from the town, .and form a subierraneous gallery, which was carried, in sixty hours, under the foundations of the wall. The enemy defended the left part of the suburbs of Quarte, and particularly the Convent of Ursu lines. Michaud, Chef de Baltalion, and Vocani, Captain of Engineers, pierced successively through all the houses in the suburbs, dislodged the enemy, and established themselves in it. General BlAke now negociated for the surrender of the town, and of the army. The C,phularion was signed on the 9th. (Signed) IIOGNEAT. Valencia, fan. u, 1812 BRITISH INSTITUTION.—On Thursday and the wo following days, the Gallery in Pall Mall was submitted to the Amateurs for a private view of the procludions . 'of the present season. We regret that we have not room to testify our sense of the merits of many of our young •counirymen, whose talents appear to great advantage. It is evident that this Institution is eminently calculated to raise the Fine Arts of this- country to the Utmost excellence of which they are susceptible. The general display in the Gallery this year demonstrates a considerable im provement since the last, and several of the juve nile Artists in particular shew a vigorous maturity in their powers, as., well as correctness of taste, L. which must considerably raise their repulation. , — Arnong them we must notice DRUMMOND, who in deed has long been distinguished for his talents. His velure of The Woman taken in Adultery is a master ly conception, rich in colouring and forcible in effect. Macbeth, by HAYDON, is a grand picture, and its me rits much overpower its defects. The, May-Day of COLLINS deserves a particular notice. The Proces sion to Mount Calvary abounds with excellence, and makes a strong appeal to the heart. The Dairy, by lIINNEL, SheWS that he improves in the vipur of his pencil, but we warn him not to becoMe one of the dark Masters.—Durham Cathedral, by GLovut, is highly honourable to his talents. The Connois seur, by M. NV. SHARP, is another specimen, upon a larger scale, of his skill in high finishing and charaaeriStic discrimination. But we have ndt room to particularize at present. The grand original Picture by PAUL VERONESE, so liberally purchased by the Institution for the use of the Students, is placed to the best advantage, and the whole Collection manifests the triumph of British .111 R. PLI?CIPAL'S SPEECH. The following is a less abridged report of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech 'on Tuesday night than that to which the limits of oar paper yesterday rest rifted us : ".The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER coincided in the opinion of the Hon. Gen tleman who had just spoken (Me. Poaseeny), toat utter the subjed had been so (slily discussed i was unnecessary to take up much of the time of the House in further observations upon ih He , s as disposed, therefore, to imitate the "ILIA H in. Gen tleman's example in this reseed ; but at tee same time, he trusted that he wnuid be indulged, even at that late hour, in offering to the liouse a tew re marks on what Ad fallen from the st.)porters csf the motion .under consideration. The first circum stance to which he was desirous of direeling the attention of the House, was the singular manner in which Ibis question had been brought forward and debated. The course adopted in the discussion, seemed purposely calculated. to colleti every thing that could irritate the feelings and inflame the diss content of the Irish Catholics—to represent the Government as studious only to oppress the people, and to exhibit even the judges as w ilfully misinter preting the Jaw to their prejudice. (Hear, hear, hear !) —He by no means imputed to the Nohlts. Lord who made the motion any improper inten tions, and he was disposed to give him 101 l credit for his motives, and for the ability which he had displayed on the occasion. But the House had wit nessed a kind of political pantomime played off be fore them ; for no sooner had the Noble Lord dis claimed all intention of interfering with the con duel of the Irish Government, than up started an Hon. Gentleman and, in a sort of under-plot, made a vehement attack on that Government. He was convinced that the Noble, Mover would not consi der it an ill compliment to him to say, that he la mented; in common with the whole House, the calamity which had taken the question out of other hands. This regret sprang from feelrogs over which he trusted party or political differences would never predominate. (Hear, hear !) But he must contend 'that the notice which a Right Hon. Gentleman had originally given of the motion, and the topics which during'that and the preceding night had been intro duced into it were widely different ; he must con tend, that not hingcould be more unfair than the insidious mode of attack which had been resorted to. If it bad been intended to make the construe lion of the Convention AR so important a feat tare of the debate—if it had been intended to appeal on that subjeft from the decision of the Court of King's Bench in Ireland to the. House of Commons, inti mation of that intention ought to have been given, and that part of the question ought to have been distinctly brought under the considereion of Palma. menu. The question of the Catholic Claims ought to have been kept separate, and not mixed, up with this other question. The consequence of this com bination of subjeas was undoubtedly to perplex those who would hate felt no difficulty on either of the subjeds apart. It had had that effect even up on the mind of the Noble Mover. Had the sins ple question been that the Court of King's Bench in Ireland, and the Irish Government had erred in the construaion of the Convention Aa, he confi dently believed that the Noble Mover would have: disaffirmed that proposition. - (Lord Morpeth nod cled.)—The Noble Lord nodded assent. Here then • was a proof of that which he had asserted. .All those who entertained strong feelings of partiality towards the Catholic Claims, had just reason to complain of the way in which the consideration o f those claims had been mingled with the considera tion of the conduct of Government. This strata gem appeared to be intended at a period when, as an Hun. Gentleman (Mr. Parnell) had intimated, the present Adminstration was drawing to a close, to pis), duce a vote which should display the strength 6f those who avowed themselves to be their competi tors. He called on those who must be sensible of the unfairness Of this proceeding not to suff r themselves to be entrapped by such tnanageinent. [A Member, whose name we could not learn, de nied that his Hon. Friend, Mr. Parnell, had made the insinuation ascribed to him.] The Hon. Mem ber said, that he had not heard his Hon. Friend use these expressions. He regretted that the Hon. Gentleman was not at that moment in his pLce, but as the Hon. Member opposite had not heat(' his Hon. Friend express his belief that the present Administration was approaching to a termination, he must of course belief e him, and it was very pro bable that the lion. Member did not think that it was. (4 tough.)Notwithstanding, however, that the Lion. Member had not heard his Hon. Friend use the expressions imputed to him, he recoiled( d perfectly that Hon. Gentleman's talking of the reign of bigotry being at an end, and, as a neces sary consequence, that the dissolution of the exists ing Administration was at hand. As the Hon. Gentleman had resumed his place, he would per haps have the goodness to deny Or confirm hise , statement. Mr. PARNELL disclaimed having used the worth mputed to him.' The CHANCELLOR of the ENCHEQURR resumed, and said, that if the Hon. Gentletrian had not used these words, he (the Ctiancellor of the Exchequer) was very much mistaken, and asked his pardon for imputing to him a sentiment which it stewed he did not entertain. He couid assure the Hon. Gen tleman, however, ,that he was not the only persi n who had been deceived with regard to the Hon. Gentleman's opinion on this subjett. (Hear, hear !) To return to the question before the House, and to that, part of it which 'elated to the legality of the course pursued by the Irish Government, he felt that it would be very unbecoming in him to say much on that subject ; fora reference to the au.ho rity on which they had proceeded, confirmed by the declaration of the Court of King's Bench, and since established by the verdid of a Jury, was tor them a complete justification ; and any attempt of his to add to that justification would we'llcen and not strengthen it. The Right Hon. Gentleman opposite(Mr. Pon;onby) had maintained that he was at liberty to retain his opinion on the subjet.:l until it should be brought under the consideration of the ulterior court. But was it wise, in the contempt 1- tio'n of such a: dernier resort, to bring the subjett be fore the House of Commons ? Was it'wise to incur all the dangers which would be attendant on a deri-