The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1809-01-20 00:00:00

letter, and that ajice, was universally felt and
admired 11l till, coular,i. Indeed, L ',ever heard 4.
diseentient voice resorettiig it ; 'tad I did eousider
it the system aaproved by iMiaistori, met uovitt
which they were determined to act. Now. I with
to k 410.4 .1.0,v it can be consistent with the deinil-
tore 3perattoop, reesiaintended iu this' latter. to send
a resider army to act in the field against a great
regular contiaental army ? In this hater Fear you
must have mageziaes preview:le estahlis oa.
•• You must have toiranticiferetions nroutai4eil.
A retreat, and ell its eleotie, most he also secured.
But in tin irregular and 'desultory der, all
tliing• are utiliccemial"—to all . theSe dilßeul ties,
however, we have sulujected ourselves—cud now,
in what otuatiou do you place your allies !—Yon
drive them front that plan erects wu beat suited to
their means, •and meet likelj to prove succesettil,
to adopt nue which they had no right to 'ap-
pose you meant to pursue. This is a material
polio, and I expeettd that some cominunteetioa
would have been stair, that snieitt throw an
ditional upon it. but I ha' e waited in vain.
To assist we all .dish ; tint to send a British
army nee it was, in my opieinn, to divert the at-
tention of Oa Spanish people, to embarrouve there,
• • and, I fear, finally to lead to s result, npou which
owa I have not courage to express my eppe:htn-
aeons. 1 state this, because you
,are raU,,l ewe'
to assure the King, that you not only ',prove of
the plan adopted, but will voistiotie to persevere
in it..and augment one regtilar a• my ia nrdcr to
send more temps to Spaiu.—lf rho
speech do not mean this, 'they int..“l notliiiitt. 1
SW convinced, that, surtmeeleit as we are by pi Fits,
it is indispensably sleet-seer,. If; the regelar
army. If the Address nuenii that, I rommend the
revoinitietsdetion, het it elt;-re et the wine
r; spa fully, the impolicy of steeling a part to Spain.
Bat soppoeing it wise to •have •ssent All army to
Spain, it in•le be a question, whether it has beau
well ? It inay be said, there was a portico-
her crisis, when t;a: landing of e 0 or .40.00 u men
might have &tr. • chance to the Spsiiierils, for
chancee:it our little army hare, however brave,
witho power that has 300,0001,1 mi at its•colatioual?
Let us, therefore, the our utmost, the
after all, meat do the business, and not we. The
hopes• that• well informed men marten:led were
founded on the redieitance of a brave peoele, end
the representations of' Minister'', 'biting that it was
universal cease of the Spanish nation, de-
termined to be free. The hopes of those who
thought favourably moat therefore have related
upon the people of Spain, uud not tipoti tour army.
The sitinteit that it could do would be to cause a
diversiesi, and this &Nord time and 'fleeing to the
Spaniards to mature their pieploettons. • It cue in
the Pyrenees, or the neihl.oarlimei of the Pyre-
ewes, the only chance ever existed of out being
• able to assist Spain, and contribute ton successful
result. Now what was done? At onclieriod of
. the war, not by you, bilt.hy the Spaniards, the
French were driven from Madrid, and obliged to
concentrate ;heir army upon the frontier. It was
then thought, that if a British army was brought
into play, the French would be driven across the
Pyreneer, and the keys of the country would i.e is
oar hands. Instead, however, of taking that course,
11.1tritsteni seen" to hare explored the map of the penile.
auk', with a view to eliecover what part of it was
most distrait from the theatre of war. The time was
pressing, and pan remove to the greatest possible
distance. •If asked whet volt here done ? you can
only answer, yell left the Spaniards to tight their own
battles, and lauded as far from them as you could,
in a enentry, the whole of which us of no use with-
out Spain. In this einploymeot, however, you have
spent your time, 10,4 men, and lost your opperto-
atty. The fruit of this ens wee
paned away in attempts to secure Portugal, and
two tumid'. elapsed hethre our army put itself in
readiness to march for Spain, and, before it reaches
its destmation, we learn that the whole north of
tarn kneideni is lost, without haring received assist-
ante flow British arms, and that the insulting vic-
tor riots in she caVAil, and inolcrilleg it, loyal
nobility. Now, if Ministate knew that ant forty
thousand ttoops would he opposed to an tinny
of stotl,ooo men. I wish to knew how they com-
mitted the lives of these gallant men midi the
honour of the country to such featly)! odds ? Anil if
they did not know it. 1 wish to, !rem what extenu-
ation it is for them to come forward and profess
threnodies ignorant of the extent of the military
power of France? Before the revolution, she was
the greatest military power upon the continent. sad
she has since added to it the force of every other
power span the continent, except Austria.—'llle
seat question is, did !Ministers mean that the army
was to ativance iota Spain ? If not, I ask, why did
they claim credit fur assisting Spain ? And if they
did mean to advance into Spain, why not proceed
immediately from Portugal ? Whereas, as the
Cernutiader-itt4:bief informs us, not one step had
been talcii.tes pretiere for bis march. Otte body of
msetroops is lendiel at Coruunit, and the other at
Lisbon; and front thence they have to march
through a comma' it. which provisions are Nearer
and the road, art. alritolt imprecticsible, and yet no
provusion is inaele-to stole and overcome these ditG.
tAi'Lli/A. I r.tnuat, therefore, approve of ties as a
yes* cool and etueresefal war, and admit every
that{ was done ter Spain that might have beeu
demo., oaten. 1 receive rouge explanation. But to
return to L'orturd : There is a paragraph in the
Speech, noticing the Asmietiee and Conveution of
Ciutra. and lime ...Majesty's disapprobation of some
of the *nuclei,. :Now the Artiestiee unetthe
Cou-
vensiten of Cintrit me hot upon the table; skid how-
ever well known out in doors, the /louse cannot be
poeoptieell to know Any thin eof them. But of Ilia
tisireti's 41,u:protAktion of some of the articles no
p,rrertu ever ht.erd a weed before, and yet we ere
salted newt to may that we I ace seen, with regr.e,
the 'articles of which His Majesty disapproves.—
If it be BritiAh justice not to prejudge, 1 conld
not believe that it would be prepneed to im-
press apprehatirou r# ili•upprtiliatiaii of the Con-
evittion. before it was laid before the flowage.—
Reverting to this !wealth. of British justice.
I inte.t disapprove of the petulant censure east
upon the people of Paglemel. This only., hew-
ewer. 1 will any. that Ills Majevrfli Speech
*hews the iielispensable duty of we *Ohl into
the subject. After the Speech, whether k be in-
melded to or not, it will be impossible' to say that
On terms do riot require exasniustiou. There has