The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-10-20 00:00:00

SICILY.

. •
" atesSIXA, ito. 01.
•
V.. arm ill its expectation of an early move of
part of this army. -IYoops hate been moving in
various parts of the Island—transports have lama
long preparing for the reception of men and horses,
and forage has within these few days been enthark-
iitg-stores to a cosisidevable amount have been
long on board.—l cannot, however, myself, guess
where any part of this army could, at the present
moment, be employed. Notwithstanding Sir John.
Stuart's ardent desire to draw the etteution of the
world to the exploits of Ins army. attn.! imagine
many circumstances must combiite to warrant hint
in detaching any part of his force front Sicily. I
therefore slew the measures now adopting merely
Y precautionary, and conceive that the operations
of this army must entirely depend upon the success
of the Allies we may acquire by the changes stow
work* on the Continent. To Spain we have Ile
expectation of going, and indeed I believe the Pa-
triots there have succeeded so well as not to re-
quire our assistauce.-We have now eleven Ge-
nerals.ammise Stall' here. General Disney, of the
linorsiSs. goes home Ity this packet. Our force on
the Islatid amounts to about 16.000 men, it great
proportion of them foreigners. We have vor) little
communication trith Calabria. You have heard, I
dare say, of onruitsnceessful attempt to cnt out or
destroy a vessel from under the rocks of Scylla.—
Sne had been one of our transports (the Lord .114-
rille), and was employed in bringing rotted Lord
Forbes from Palermo. 11i: Lordship landed at
the Faro ; a short time after she got into the cur-
rent, ohich drove her under the guns of Scylla,
when she was abandoned by her crew. That night
a plan wat formed to destroy her; but unfortunate-
ly a boat, containing a Captain of the 39th, and n
Lieutenant of the 36th, with nine soldiers on board,
got a-head of the boat tow hich the enterprivc was
principally entrusted, acid got dose under the yea-',
set and between her and the shore, which was lined
with French troops ready to receive them. The
two Officers were badly wennded, but are getting
better. The plan was accordingly frustnted."

THE linITISH

LON DON,' I.
Tlll~litillAY', Orross'i 20.

The Phtrbe, of 3ti gnus, Capt. OswAtn, ar-
;„ived on Tuesday, lilt Portsmouth from 11,i,lion,
sad hinded General Sir HEW DAI.RIO4PI.E, his
sou, Major DALRYMPLE, and several other Officers,
who immediately set out for London ; and in the
evening, the :V ictbe of 38 sons, Capt. Liman,
arrived at Portsmouth, from the same port, and
landed the Right Duinnarable Sir l'ettti
Sotitir.—Tlicy sailed from Lisbon on the Sth
instant; of which date we have received loOate
kttem. Sir limas. BVItitARD was left in coin-
;matidlok the British army, no part of which had
imcn iiit:barked, but the whole of the French troops
had ',fished limn the Tagus, with the exception of
those in the transports belonging to the second di-
vision, which had been obliged to put hack.—
The transport that was lost with two hundred and
eighty French on laciard;was the litio Brothers, of
London. During the time the troops lay em-
basked iii the Tagus, Gem KELLEIISIAN had been
ashore in disguise, but heingdiscovereain Lisbon,
h.. was attacked by the Portuguese, uniliviitii diffi-
culty effected his escape, after haring tcvelred se-
rrßtl We do not Irani that either the
Miele or the N robe has brought any reernt news
floor Spain. Sorue.of the Officers, returned with
Sr DALRtLrta, assert positively, that
the Convention of Unita was, ens the pert of the
Eirgli,ll army, the entire work if Sir •Artritell
erery ilay furnishes a new
proof of the necessity of all inquiry into the causes
that led to that measure.

The ,Ilsan cutter is arrived at Falmouth, with
dispatches fruiu Itio Jauciio. after a lati.age of tell
weisk4. The dispatehro are from Sir SIDS IA Sarni.
aittl give, we understand, a favourable account of
the state of affairs iu that quarter. Lord Ht. ti NLT
mune pab.senger iu the Alban.

La Seise frigate is arrived at Plymniith from ('o-
renin, but we hare not learnt.that she brings any
news, lirport states, that an action hal, taken
place between the French, under Marshal sr,
and the Spaniards, under General littsnu. in
which the latter were defeated with considerable
loss, hot it received no credit, and is supposed to
he a mere speculation, founded upon the follow-
nig letter, dated from a town but a few leagues
distaut tom Balms. which 'hews that en imme-
diate attack on the enemy ea, intrude.' :