The National Register.
London, England, 1808-11-27 00:00:00

NOV. 27.

t,.ched to the baggage and ordnance of the British army in Por-
t( gal ; and also another ducument from the department of the
A djutant-Geoeral, stating the number of French who embarked
after the evacuation, to be 24,133 men, 213 women, and 116
children.
Sir A. Wellesley then rose, and said notwithstanding Sir Hew
Dalrymple considered the measures he had adopted previous to
his arrival to be such as would not justify him in assuming the
responsibility for any result which might follow, he felt confi-
dent that from the means he possessed with 13,000 British
troops, and the aid he was taught to expect of 6000 Portuguese
troops, he had strength enough to accomplish the purposes he
had in contemplation against the army of the French, which .
he understood did not exceed 20,500 men ; and that the line of
march he proposed to pursue in furtherance of his objects, was
in his opinion every way preferable to that chosen by Sir Hew.
With respect to the Armistice after the battle of the 21st,
be positively denied that he was the negotiator; and although
be certainly had signed it, yet he disclaimed all responsibility
for its honour. He was present a great part of the time while
it was in discussion; but the objections he made, and most of
the suggestions he offered, were over-ruled by Gen. Dalrymple;
He thought it, for instance, extremely desirable that the Rus-
sian ships should trot by any means he included in a treaty with
the French, but that any thing done with respect to them,
should be the subject of a distinct treaty, and with themselves,
as they had acted a neutral part while in the Tagus; and as
means might be found to detain them there long enough to pre-
vent their sailing to the Baltic, and sending their men to fight
against Sweden. He also distinctly understood that under the
term of " all manner of property. ' used in the treaty, mere
military baggage and private property were implied ; but with
respect to the Armistice itself, with all its canditione, Keller-
man distinctly asked, during the conference, who was the osteo-
bible negociator with whom he was treating, and Sir Hew Dal-
rymple answered, with himself. But after Gen. Kellerman had
dictated to the officer who accompanied him as Secretary, the
terms, for a fair copy, Sir Hew •Dalrymple himself took the pen
in his hand, and was proceeding to sign the instrument without
reading it ; but General Kellerman objected, that it was not
regular for a Commander in Chief to sign a treaty concludes;
with a General of Division. Upon which, he (Sir Arthur)
was called by Sir Hew out of another room to which he bad
retired; was told the objection of General Keller Man, and the
pen handed to him by Sir Hew, to sign the treaty. He then read
the instrument throughout; and after making the observation,
that it was a most extraordinary paper, and drawn up in a most
extraordinary way, he signed it, as he would have signed
any other paper, at the desire of his superior officer,
but without feeling himself at all responsible for its con-
tents. He was willing, he said, to suffer any punishment or
disgraCe that his own conduct might be deemed to incur ; hut
it would be a new and extraordinary principle, to punish
or disgrace au Officer for a transaction in which he had
no authority nor responsibility, but where both belonged to
his Superior in Command. As to the innin object of the
Treaty, the Evacuation of Portugal, it was justified in the
result ; for w bile our Allies in • Portugal u ere liberated
limn the oppressiVe burthen of ha Enemy's Army in their
Country, and a large British Force enabled to march for
a junction and co-operation with the Spanish Army, not
:t man of the French troops who had evacuated Por-
tugal, and been sent to France, had yet reached the Spanish
frontier. But as to the Armistice, such as it was, it remained a
dead letter, and was never acted upon, except so far as it pro-I
tatted a cessation of hostilities. With respect to the sulkies/tor
the subsequent Convention, the account given by Sir Arthur dif-
fered_ but little, and not materially, from that given yesterday
by Sir Hew Dalrymple, except in that point which respected
the discretion given to Colonel Murray, on his mission to Junin
at Lisbon, for renewing the suspension of hostilities for forty-
eight hours pending the discussion about the Russian fleet : for
at: Junut had threatened to arm the Russians in aid of his awn
re in else the terms were not complied with, to which Ad-
miral Cotton objected, he suggested that they ought not to be
.. allowed forty-eight hours' suspension to equip the Russians,
before the re-commencement of hostilities; and then at the de-
sireof Sir Hew, he wrote the letter to Colonel Murray at Lis-
bon, desiring him, if the terms proposed by the British were
not agreed to, then to declare the Armistice at an end on the
h
of August at noon, and depart immediately. As to the
terms concluded with regard to the Hessians, he thought them
much more preferable for the object of the public service, than
to have hoisted on their unconditional surrender ; fur he judged,

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