The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1810-11-24 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

The following extent of a letter fren4 a held
Officer of biKh reepectiabiltiy, iu the evmy of
Portugal, to a Gentleman of Glasgow, though not
of a recent date, contaius several interesting par-
tieulars

"MAT. ACAS. PORTUGAL. 0CT.27.

" The very active operations in which we have
been engaged for some time past. must plead my
excuse with you for so long a silence. A genets'
actount of them you will, of cocrsc, have had dee
tailed iu the papers. from Lord ‘Vellisigtor's dis-
patches; Xi for us. we have had no opportunity of
aegis, may 'Wag but what merely happened with
am wen dis imams. The result of the whole. how.
weer. has been so far fortunate. and I • think pro.
of
moves to be atilt more so. The battle
proved of great service in more ways than one;
that. Id as much as the enemy received • most
severe and unexpected check. with • eel hedvy
lose of into, which they could ill afford; and
secositlly, as it gave the Portuguese troops coos-
theinselves, as well as us m teem, from
the manlier in which we saw theta behave.
They really fought well, mid :ive continued to do
so ma reel,' Median einee. where they havr had ate
opportunity of earning tato play. The enemy c.-r-
-tinily Mot hate lest on that occasion nearly
10,0.00 men; lot et the 6,000 tritout Trent took
prisoners at jdoitobra, the greatest patt were men
who bed been wounded in the action ; and the
road "thick they parsed front Iktzaco to Coimbra,
wars left erivercii with the poor devils; who were so
badly webnded as to be unable to keep op with
the Column. We made our retreat exceediogly
well. and the enemy never thought proper to ha-
rass or come nearus in say way ; the cavalry alone
had two or three encounters with their advanced
guard. We halted it few days at Sublet, in front
of oar lines, before took up our position. fur the
lurpoae of keeping our men tinder cover in the vil-
ages there, dining the dreadful weather we had ;
and. in consequence. we had a good deal of
sharp skirmishing and hard work ; but for the last
ten days. sioce we have come within our lines, we
have been perfectly quiet. Thy dare not attack
and it is not owe game to attack them so,
at two or three hundred yard* distance, we eye
each ether like Beaton( cocks before fighting.—.
An immense number of deserters hare come over
to as, and there an be no doubt but they are very
badly off for every thing; and that Masseral mutt
already, if the truth acre known, repent heartily
having advanced et, far into the country as he has.
Indeed his conduct has been rash in the extreme.
and does not sliew the generalship which his greet
character led us to expect—for. independent of all
other circumstances, we are now more than a

match for him in the open field; and me opinion is.
that they will try to take themselves off very soon.
We shall, of course. follow them; and I think they
will be fortunate if soy of them get eat ofthe country.
They have, according to all accounts. hot shove
46,000 men. and int leave upirmirsio of 33,000 Sri.
tisli, beardes as many Portuguese, and the hlarquis
of Romans has oho joined us with about six or
fo,ooo Spaniards. within these few days past.
Trout's corps has advanced fromCoimbra to Leyria,
and extends from thence to Ounne and Thomar,
so that their communication with Spain is entn.
pletety cut off. There is a'so • Portuguese intim'
in Almoner.. The French are trying to throw •
bridge over the Tagus a little way below Santa-
rem, which way be either f..r the purpose of draw.
rug provisions from the hlente,cr, or of retreating
by that route. We are constantly working and
strength. ~,,, 4 our position here, and they never
even attempt to distort, us in the operation, which
does not hook as if they meant to snack as. 1
h►lieve they, on their part. are fortifying a prat.
hen in their ►ear. to provide ag•uust as attack
from us. I.ord Wellington deserves the greatest
credit for his conduct in this campsign. and 1
I tlmik and five that his lucky •ier w.ll carry it
alienist that of NUM...IIi. The latter spp'•nrs to
hair trusted every thing to chance and fortime;
the former hes me.l.• is e of jndyem.•ht aiiil pen-
'deuce. We ell anticipate • glorious end to the
campaign."
...

Doctor Rostx.eort. oho a tew too:.ths ao.n 11,d
trots his Isell iu Eoglaod, and 'neap, rt to Anviter.
data. has hero arrested there, awl sent to Pans
as as ashah