The National Register.
London, England, 1811-08-25 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL It

.

BUONAPARTE, by a late decree, has imposed a
tax of a mtime per sheet, whatever may be the
forst of the 'volume, on all publications, the copy.
right in-which, belonging 0-the author of his heirs,
bas expired.

We have received Moniteurs, and other Paris
Papers to the 14th. They contain another series
of Military Reports from the Spanish Provinces ;
is which is stated the melancholy and discouraging
fact of Suchot having obtained possession of Mont-
serat, a district so strong by art and nature, that
we could have expected it to rival Saragossa in the
valour of its defence. A panic, however, seems
to have been struck by the sanguinary business of
Tarragona, and many disasters may be looked for
in Catalonia, before the Patriots recover sufficient
spirit and strength of mind boldly to face their op-
presssors, and, as heretofore, conquer or die in
arms defending their liberties. The quantity of
ammunition, provision, &c. taken by the enemy,
is described to be immense. With respect to the
Army of the South, and the Army of the Centre,
the intelligence is more scanty, and the chief part
of the former is composed of an intercepted let-
ter of very dubious character, which imputes an
titter disagreement to have taken place between
Lord Wellington and General Blake, owing to the
rgfusal of the former' to fight a general battle on
the advance of the French to relieve Badajoz.—
There has no doubt been some disagreement be.
tween them, but from what cause it is imposssible at
present to say.
According to the official returns, which have
been intercepted, the French armies in Spain
amounted, on the Ist of. June, 1810, to 230,400
Inen.. On the Ist of June, 1811, they were only
140,000. Total, loss in 12 months, 90,400. It is
to. be observed, in addition, that no troops returned
to France during that period, excepting the Officers
and Staff of some skeleton regiments. Indeed the
demand for troops in Spain has been so urgent, that
Eironet's corps, which came to reinforce Massena,
was composed of the fifth battaliOns of different re-
giments, which are usually en depdt, and which
scarcely ever before had been sent out of France.
A vessel arrived, on Monday, from the French
coast, which she left so recently as the 17th. It was
then reported that BUONAPARTE was on the eve of a
distant journey, but whether to Spain or Poland was
uncertain.

• A letter has been received, dated Toulon, the
lit!' ult. It contains an account of a very gallant
action between his Majesty's ship Guadaloupe, Cap.
twin TIVILKY, and a French corvette of 22 guns,
with a xebec, which both effected their escape. The
action took place off Cape Creuse. Captain TET-
LEY intrepidly ran his brig along-side the corvette,
and silenced him, •In• twenty minutes. The enemy
being hard pressed, made all possible sail, and got
off Cruok, a strong breeze blowing in-shore. Her
consort, the :xebec, during this time, laid on the
. quarter of the Guadaloupe, pouring in a galling
• Ere, which her attention to the corvette rendered it
impossible to return. They both shamefully ran
away, aid succeeded in getting under the protec-
tion of the batteries on shore, or they would have
been inevitably taken. The First Lieutenant
(WHITE) and nine rntn were severely wounded,

S"TER.

four of them dangerously, one man was killed, and
the hull and sails of the Guadaloupe have suffered
much damage.
Letters received from Gottenburgh, by the An.
holt Mail, all agree in stating, that Russia and
France are on the eve of a war. Buonaparte has
either by promiies or threats secured the support of
Prussia in case of a rupture between him and the
Emperor Alexander. Twenty thousand french
troops quitted Dantzic suddenly midi all their artil.
lery and ammunition, and took their route towards
the Rhine. Before they left the place they com-
mitted the grossest outrages indiscriminately against
the subjects of all nations. Every seaman, whether
American, Dane, or Swede, was impressed and
sent off under a military escort to Antwerp to serve
on board the fleet.

From a quarter of respectable authority we learn
that the point immediately under discussion between
France and Russia is the possession of the ports of
Riga and Revel. BUONAPARTE is stated to have de-
manded them precisely on the same plea on which
he seized Stettin, Colberg, and the other Prussian
ports, as being necessary to the completion of the
"Continental System ;" and without which England
could never be compelled to accept a maritime peace,
so necessary to the repose of the world. BuoNA-
PARTEPS application to the Russian Emperor on this
head was accompanied and enforced by a statement
of what he himself had accomplished :—that he had
shut out the English from the ports of the Adria-
tic—from the Elbe and the Weser.

-- ---
English commerce was entirely excluded from all
the ports of his own dominions, and those of his con-
federates, in a certain degree, to the temporary detri-
ment of his own subjects : and it now only remained
for tile Emperor ALEXANDER to affix his seal to this
vast plan, by closing his ports in the Baltic, the only
inlets, he regretted to say, which were at present
open to the English.
All this, General LAURISTON was instructed to
press upon the attention of the Court of St. Peters-
burgh ; and also to say, that his Master by no means
doubted the good will of the Emperor, but rather
the ability of his Government, which was too weak
to carry into execution the full intentions of his Ma-
jesty. On this ground it was that the French Go.
vernment sought the possession of the two ports in
question, and also as a guarantee that the system
of exclusion should be followed up to its utmost
extent.

There was an advance on Friday in the
prices of most of the Public Funds. Omniuin,
which left off at discount, was in the early part
of the day at only t discount.
An interesting document has been received from
the Caraccas. It is the abdication by the Provisional
Junta of the powers and authorities with which they
have been invested, and the resignation of them
into the hands of the first General Cortes elected
and convened in South America. Twenty distinct
cities and territories have appointed their represen-
tatives- to this illustrious Assembly, which has re-
ceived the appellation of the General Congress of
Venezuela. •

The Adventure packet arrived at Barbadoes on
the 13th June, with the loss of maintop-mast.