The National Register.
London, England, 1811-04-21 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

beitigir 2111 knit' sootier than they- ought to have. They bad
about that number of men who had nit crossed It, and we foi-
Ufwedihm so close, and entemen wire sd .exasPetlitteit.it them"'
1)r 'their treatment, that they killed or dfoinileinifoiliibele of
them. We have been dose at their heels •esternirsee Aiwa the
day before yesterda.y, when we gave Up the-chase, and let them
gs quietly into Spain, at present there ia•notO. single Frenchman
fenetptwhat we have taken prisoners) in Portugal. There are
about QM, taken. Their *my have suffered mist dreadfully
since they have entered Portugal, which is only seven months
ago* 111AssanA, marched in 85,000 men as fine fellows
as ever stepped, and it is positively ascertained that he has not
taken 40,000 out with him; they were literally starved. Three
days ago, three light companies of our brigade (ours was one)
had a most severe skirmish with about an equal number of the
French ; we wereengaged for four hours, and drove them be-
Ente us like a flock of sheep. We *barged them four times.
We were about 120 men each. They left fifteen killed and twenty
wound ed,Our loss was one officer, six men killed, and ten wound-
ed. Our company lost tour killed and three wounded. As usual,
thank God! I escaped unhurt. It was fought within half a mile
of a town calted.Avelans la Reyna. I got a very curious French
fro; from a Frenchman, who was killed. God knows what they
art going to do with us now, but I have no doubt we shall be
laying idle all the Summer; every person seems to think they
will never attempt Portugal again, and that is firmly my opi-
nion. Spain, I now begin to think, they will never entirely
sehdue. TLey dread an Englishman. We carry every thing
before us. Our cavalry are bringing in prisoners quite fast.
Yesterday there was 500 broJght in here, and to-day I am
sore I may safely say 800. Eatery thing is very scarce
beer, and what is worse very dear. 'File country looks most
di radful. This city, the highest built one in Europe,
.is still,
se:e.e prt of it on fire. Our men are falling sick fast, in cause-
tvence of the scarcity of provisions. 'We were without bread
for live days, and without either spirits or wine. There has
been a great deal of rain fallen since our march. Lord WEL-
'ADEGIVK is very prindor Oroughont Hu- army; im fact, l'ltere is not
4,s $4,44.t.r.w1hq would not lay down his! ffijiir

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IINI.M.1•1•••••••

Peniche, March 22.

ic- We have no news whatever in this directione-except a his-
tory of misery that few have witnessed.
" Thousands have famished from hunger and ilisease, while
we age daily discovering Wretched objects at. the last gasp from
the Janie cau-,e,. A Physic.ian.of great activity and humanity,
ts:tti the 1%, I ilitary Commandant of Ohidos, merit the gratitude
of their countrymen. One hundred and fifty people died in
two days'at ''Aidas, and that the deaths proci.±eded chiefly from
'want, is proved by the collecting the unfortunate perlple.--Tbe
rta thy the deaths wen: reduced to ao , artd resterday, the
R.lst, of 50u, the deaths did not exceed eight.

44 One example will speak more than a page—from one hovel
was wtqUirawn the father, mother, son, and daughter, dead.—
An 'titan. t. child had yet survived this scent: of horror, though
wit!t wtry7M4 of three or four inches in length crawling in its
ash—the clild will be saved. Infant children who have lost
their parents, ar,d wretched parents who taw. lost their chil-
'then—wives their 11,n:ha:ids, and husband& their wive, and
now ex?iring f:etnseivett, if tilt saved by Oir !ate providence of
Governwenic, fill the hospital ; hut wile:, recovered, how arc
they to reach their homes and sal list tiii the land& produce
again !"

. The folkrwit;g is :v.: extract of a lover from i..rentienian who
acconiranied Lord ellingtor.'s ;July in purstiic of the kiench,
after their rctrezt from :-..•antatem

itrposSible to describe the scenes of borrem of vibicb I
have tee:i at it, 3114 Whicli will L,t• ever brand the
• Smite of Masson. wlth eztcritioe. :t is h..rtt far sny bo(ly to
believe that lattuau 13::.tUre Willl4l IN gut:4 such. anvnorntotts

and wanton wickedness. The city of Leyrla had, been eleven
• days on fire when I was there,) and was
.burniogAtill,: Every
ttling that could he taken away, was removed, anti t4e rgst
stroyed.. The images in the Churdhes were in pieces, the graves
wereacatOllyoPened for the sake of plunder. The Nuns and
Friars atillthe towns where
.we 'came had fied to the moun-
tains; their convents if ere destroyed, and we Found nene but a
few Portuguese, perishing with hunger and ill treatment At
everyplace where he halted, if we saw any thing like. a house
With a door standing, we made it our head=quarters, acid took
possession of any table or chair that might have escaped the ge.
neral devastation, as the mansions had no. tenint to dispute ou't
rights. All was-dreadful silence and desolation. The floor! of
almost every hOuse had been pulled up wherever we passed, par-
ticularly at Leyria, where there were about twelve miserable
wretches who. had been unable to move from wounds and
famine, some of whom expired before us. This city, tour years
ago, contained tin,ooo inhabitants. Libraries were burnt and
scattered, and it seemed to be the intention of the erulny to
leave a dreadful memorial of their fury that &icier shutilii be
effaced from the recollection of the country,

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•
Captain MPALIIi.RE, of the Industry, has arrived
at Liverpool, from Oporto, which he left on the.
4th inst. Previoats to his departure, he saw Bqoo
French prisoners brought in, taken from MASSMNA'S
retreating army ; no general engagement had taken
place, but it was reported that MASSEN A with
about five hundred cavalry, was surrounded. by the
British.
Captain SPRINGER, of the Joseph, has also ar,.
rived at Liverpool, from Lisbon, which place he
left on the sth inst. and confirms the news brought
by Captain M ELBURN R.
A letter received yesterday from Plymouth .has
the following paragraph :•"....448y an Officer of Dra-
goons arrived here from Lisbon, it is. learnt, that
;there is not a Frenchman iii Portugal, except as
prisoners. MMSEKA had retired to Salamanca with
only 4.5,000 men, after blowing up , Almeida2
dad Rodrigo, and. Fort Conception. Lord NVEr
LINGTON'S head-quarters were at Almeida on the
3d instant ; and it was imagined, after leaving
51.,000 men on the frontiers, he would march to the
relief of Cadiz, with 18 or 20,000 men."
- . Government yesterday morning received a eon-
' firmation..of the report of Marshal NU'S haVing
been sew to Paris under arrest. MASS*N A charges
him with the wholie of the disasters of the
,French
army. M Portugal.
From the Cadiz Papers we have given tyto.
te-
restißg► documents relative to the battle.of Barrosa,
the one from. the. pea of a British„ the other from the
pen of a Spanish Officer. From the latter, we have
extracted an important article relative to B (JON A-
I PA RT E'S intention of w4hdrawtng a portion of his
troops fidin Spain, and contracting the scale of
operations in :hit quarter, the.better to enable him
to carry into effect, his designs against' Itussfa .and
Prussia.
- -
NA MIXON has estal Aisleel P4tulg. • Marine
Schools" at. Antwerp;. Brest, and Toulon, in imi-
tation of those of our Marine Bociety.
From the first of January last the Imperial Trea-
sury of France was iio.leMger to floatish the funds
for the support of the Vosapitalf,K.-4:yalidv: they
are to be derived from a tar o twarter.cenii. on an
kind of military pay,
and fret*. Various': other
ilranches of revenue. •

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