The National Register.
London, England, 1809-01-01 00:00:00

TOE NATIONAL REGISTER.

tic o'clock in the morning, or it shall he destroyed, I will not,
tor ought Ito withdraw my troops. Yon have ruassacred tl.e
unfortunate French prisoners who had fallen into your hands ;
only a few days ago, you suffered two persons in the suit
of the Russian Ambassador to he dragged along and mur-
dered in the public streets, because they were French-
men born. The incapacity and baseness of a General
had put into your power troops who surrendered on the field
of battle, and the capitulation has been violated. You, Mr.
Morla, what sort of an epistle did you write to that General ?
It well became you, Sir, to talk of pillage; yon who, on enter-
ing Roussillon, carried off all the women, and distributed them
as booty among your soldiers!—What right had you to hold
such language elsewhere ?—The capitulation ought to have in-
duced you to pursue a different line of conduct. See what has
been the conduct of flue English, who are far from piquing them-
,:elves on being rigid observers of the Law of Nations. They
have complained of the Convention of Portugal, but they have
tarried it into effect. To violate military treaties, is to renounce
all civilization, it is placing ourselves on a footing with the
bAnditti of the desert.

How dare you, then, presume to solicit a capitulation—you
who violated that of Baylen ? See how injustice and bad faith
'always recoil upon the guilty, and operate to their prejudice.
I had a fleet at Cadiz : it was under the protection of Spain,*
yet you directed against it the mortars of the town where you
commanded.-1 had a Spanish army in my rankS ; 1 would
rather have viewed them embark on board the English ships,
and be obliged to precipitate it from the rocks of Epinosa,
than to disarm it; 11 would rather prefer having 7000 more'
• enemies to fight, than be deficient in honour and good faith.
Return to Madrid—l give you till six o'clock tomorrow morn-
ing--return at that hour—you have only to inform me of the
submission of the poople—if not 4 you and your troops shall all
be put to the sword." This speech of the Emperor, repeated in
the midst of the respectable people, gave the certainty that he
commanded in person. The losses sustained during the fore-
going day, had carried terror and repentance into all minds.
During the night the most mutinous withdrew themselves from
'he danger by flight, and a part of the troops was disbanded.
At ten o'clock, on the sth, Gen. Belliard took the command
of Madrid ; all the posts were put into the hands of the French,
and a general pardon was proclaimed.
" From this moment, men, women, and children, spread them-
selves about the streets in perfect security. The shops were
open till eleven o'clock.—All the citizens set themselves to de-
stroy the barricades and re-pave the streets, the monks returned
into their Convents, and in a few hours Madrid presented the
most extraordinary contrast, a contrast inexplicable to those
unaccumstomed to the manners of great towns. So many men,
who cannot conceal themselves what they would have done in
similar circumstances, express their astonishment at the genero-
sity of the French. Fifty thousand stand of arms have been
given up, and 100 pieces of cannon are collected at the Retiro.
The anguish in which the inhabitants of this wretched city ha%o
lived for these four months cannot be described. The Junta was
without influence; the molt ignorant and maddest of men had all
the power in their hands, and the people at every instant
massacred, or threatened with the gallows, their Magistrate; and
t i r Generals.
The General of Brigade. MaiGon, has been wounded. Gene-
ral Brsvere, Rho advanced imprudently the moment the firing
maied, has bee a killed. Twelve soldiers have been killed, and
Jiffy Irounilt-d. The loss, so trifling for an event of so much
osporiaoce, i. ins to the smallness of the number of troops
.01ff..reJ toenga,e it is v%N n besitles, we most ertv,, to the
oAtretne cowardice of all those who had arms in their hands
again:t us.
The artillery, arcording to its usual custom, has done `rent
tervices. Ten thousand fugitives, who had escaped from Bur
o% and 4:omosierra, and the second diviiiun of the It rms. of
aeF.erv:,, tvere on the :id within three tearores of Madrid; but
being charged by a piquet of dragoow, they tied, abandoning
40 pieces of cannon, and tl9 caissons.
" A meritorion: trait cited.—An old General, retired from
the service, and aged eighty years, was in his house at Madrid,
sear the street of Alcala—a French Otlieer entered, not: took I
up his quarters there, with his party. This respectable old
man appeared before him, holdiaw a young girl by the hand,
and said, "lam an old soldier—l know the rights and Ow
/icentionsness of war—there is my date:liter-1 give her 900,000
litres for her portion—save her honour, and be her husband."
Ills young ()Dicer to toy old woo)/ 114.U:oily, awl his hutuer

JAN. I.

under his protection. low culpable are they who expose so
many peaceful citizens, so many unfortunate inhabitants of a
great capital, to so many misfortunes !
" The Duke of Dantzick arrived at Segovia on the 3d. The
Duke of Istria is gone in pursuit of the division of Pena, which.
having escaped from the battle of Tudela, took the route of
Ouadalaxara. Florida Manus, and the Junta, had fled to
'l'uledo. They did not thiuk themselves in safety In that town
neither, and have gone to take refuge with the English.
The conduct of the English is shameful. On the 20th Novem-
ber they were at the Escurial to the number of 6001) men. They
pretended they would do nothing less than pass the Pyrenees,
and come to the Garrnne. Their troops are very fine, and well
disciplined. The confidence with which they had inspired the
Spaniards is inconceivable. Same hoped that this division
would go to Sonsosierra; others, that it would come to defend
he capital of so dear an ally. Scarcely were they informed that
the Emperor was at Somosierra, when the English troops beat
a retreat on.the Escurial. From thence, combining their march
with the division which was at Salamanca, they have taken
their course towards the sea. " Arms, powder, and clothing,
they have given to us," said a Spaniard, " but their soldiers
came only to excite us, to lead us astray, ataFto abandon us in
the critical moment." " But are you ignorant," answered the
French Officer, " of the most recent facts of our history.
What. have they done for the Stadtholder, for Sardinia, for
Austria? What have they done recently for Russia ? What
have they done still more recently for Sweden' They every
where foment war; they distribute arms like poisou ? but they
shed their blood only for their direct and personal interests.
Expect nothing else from their selfishness."—" Still," replied
the Spaniard, " their cause was ours. Forty thousand Eng•
lish, added to our forces at Tudela, and at Espinosa, might
have balanced the fortune of the war, and saved Portugal.
But at present, that our army of Blake on the left ; that of the
centre, and that of Arragon on the right, are destroyed; that
Spain is almost entirely conquered, and that reason is about to
complete its submission, what is to become of Portugal ? It is
not at Lisbon that the English ought to defend themselves ; they
ought to have done so at Espinosa, at Burgos, at Tudela, at
Somosierra, and bdure Madrid."

NO. 1.-TO TIEE COMMANDANT OF Tilt TOWN OF MADNIN

Before Madrid, Dee. 3, 1808.

The circumstances of the war having conducted the Fresich
army to the gates of Madrid, and an the dispositions being made
to take possession of the town by storm, I hold it right, and con-
formable to the usage of all nations, to summon you, Monsieur
General, not to expose a town so important to all the horrors of
an assault, nor to render so many peaceful inhabitants victims of
the evils of war. Wishing to omit nothing to inform you of
your rent situation, I scud you the present summons by one of
your Officers who has been made prisoner, and who has had an
opportunity of seeing all the means that the army has to reduce
the town. - Receive, Monsieur General, the assurances of my higlif
consideration.
Major-Gen. ALEX. B.ERTHIEB.

sritwisn.)

TO MIS MOST SElt EN E RIGIIYEFS TUE rR Ca

NRUFCHATEL.

it is indispensably incumbent upon me, most Serene Senor,
to consult previous to my giving a catagorical answer to your
Highness, the Constituted Authorities of my Court, and, more-
over, to ascertain the dispositions of the people as impressed by
the circumstances of the day. For these purposes I intreat your
(fig-hness to grant, for this tiny, a suspension of arms, in ►►nier
that I may e•eitttply ►cith those ditties, assuring you, that early im
the morning, or thi,,night, I w ill liend a General Officer w ith m
answer to sour flightless; assitrin; Cott, that I profess to you a 5
tiLf consideration due to your high rank and merit.

.114.1quIs C4sTlL.l.4ft

_Madrid, Der. 3, 1808.
To T F. cr.xrh %T. Calf srznrwrc tT M.%DRfT).
Imperial Camp before Madrid, Dec. 4, eleven A. M.
Kir ft Cc.; f. CA ST I; 1. A A 11—TO (I-fend I.lladrid t. 7
contrary to the principles of war, and inhuman towards the in.
habitanft. If is Majesty authorizes we to send pot fl ,econd sum-
mons. Immcme batterie,4 arc mounted ; miner, are prepared to
•blow ttp your prisaipal buildings; columns of troop, are at the
entrance; of the town, of which ,ome companies of sharp-shoot-,
• ers have made them elves tua,ters; but the Emperor, alwaNs
geuerousin the COUIlle of Ilia victories, suspends the attack till