The National Register.
London, England, 1808-03-27 00:00:00

1!)6

In 'reit, )et Ito camp kettles acre taken a ith them. rt was to
he feared that the march would he tedious and fatiguing, and
that the ground would he act, yet we tinti the troops directed
to throw aa ay their blankets iii the middle of their march.
The total abaadoinnent of the rimntry habitations allorded a
clear proof of the hastile mitt.' of the inhabitants, yet an assault
is determined on, which was the sery mode iii which that hos-
tility was li'Ael vto be most pernicious to us. The General ap-
pears to have taken ao advice: Be summoned his officers toge-
eier, not to counsel him, but to receive orders. File only in-
stance, indeed, in which lie appears to have followed advice was
in the ualacky adoptimi of Gea. Gasser's plan of attack. In
this point these two Wheel.- seem to be at issue. Gen. NV him-
loelte writes to Mr. AV Oldham, that his own plan was to encamp
to t:te a estaard of the town of Bueuos As res, and to bombard
It with the aid of the siiippiog, but that he was induced to
adopt the plan of assault suggested by Gen. Gower. Now, the
latter officer, on the tither hand, states, that Gen. iVhiteloeke's
plait was uearly similar to his own, the idea of assault having
occurred to them both. 11 hoover may be right as to this mat-
ter, it woold appear that NV hitelocke had been of a dittl.rent
opinion, fur tus thud him. when at Monte Video, averse to the
plan of assault, and pointing out to Gen. Crauturd the formida-
bla parapets oa the tops of the Spanish houses, and the facility
Is i!li which the armed inhabitants could defend themselves.
All the witnesses agree; that the 8000 men with which IV hite-
locke set out from Monte Video were fully adequate to the
coaquest of Buenos Ayres, and nobody !shrines the troops.
Tne attempt failed therefore through mismanagement in the
General. The badness of the season, and the iisveteracy of the
naive:, were serious obstacles, hut both were to be overcome
w ith the means which he posse'.sed. Instead of this, the troops
are first placed ill a most auk ward state on acconnt of the bad-
ness of the weather, and, to get them out of this scrape, they
are next expfesed to all the li,stility of time natives. It is singu-
lar that none of the Generals should have ex pressethheir dis-
approbation of the plan of attack at the time it was exhibited to
1 hem. They plead that their opinions was not asked, and that
they did not consider themsels l'• i ustitied in volunteering them.
Now this may do very well for an ordinary question, hut it is
sea eely a proper apology in so momentous a point. The lives
oft eir troops, add sae sueeess of the expedition were at stake
i
—all etiquette shnuld have given way before these vital cansi-
deralions.

With a similar want of precaution it was omitted to apprizo
the Geller:4ls commanding the columns of attack of the spot
where th:! Comannider in Chief was to he found during the day.
The coosequencc was, that scarcely any communication took
place, and that Gen. Craufurd ascribes his surrender to this un-
fortuwte circumstatne. Now, it was no doubt strange MI the
part of the 6encral in Chief to omit to mention where he was
to be found, but it w,is no less odd that it never occurred to
ally of the officer: to ask him. if the truth were told, it is
likely we should timid that the plan of assault was generally
approved of. It is a mode of warfare particularly adapted to
the spirit of our troops, and this situation nag so destitute, that
they were naturally imprtial to :;et out of it by the speediest
nif.ans in their power. ilence it nimbi sepal that they resorted
to the alternative of an assault, without a due consideration of
its danger.
The conclusion which a rell,.cting mind will draw from this
unfortunate evredition is not only that the Commander in Chia
should be pool -hed, tint that the %%hide constitution of our
nrtny is in need of reform. tun there be a stronger et idence
of an elkient hetet than the selection of an unlit officer for a
tnomentous enterprise. Would Bonaparte lease acted thus
rt us reflect then that ate im,:e to contend with a most skilful
.niy—that our army is, nest to our navy, our pillar of
• "-.ty, and let us Periati.ly urniertakc the correctiou of those
4.t., ties whiJl impair its energy.

3LIRCTI 27.

t °REIGN INTELLIGENCE.

FROM THE tnEscal, ft. till, GERM.IN, AND HANBCRCH
P.SPER:.•

FRANCE.

PA 11191 MA nun 12.--The Prince Arch-Chancellor has made
a report to the Council, of several decrees lately adopteil by
the P:mperor and King.—.lruong others there is one dr( Fr.• it`.
which the hereditary titles of Prince, Duke, Count,
aud Kn4,,lat, are established. The principal Miters Of state
are to he raised to the dignity or Princes, and their elde•t suns
are to he created Dukes ; the Ministers, senators, Councillors
of State, ac. are to he Counts and Hurons, and the Members tif
the legitui of llonour are to be Knights. These titles of No.
hility are, howeser, to convey no privileges, uuruilyerieuiptiow
from the operation of the !ans.

—Nam—
GERMANY.

If .iltatTnnu, MA n rn Division of Spanish Troops are
ordered to march to tic of Bogen. Grateen's Division it
oho experted to go to Pomerania Accounts, to which me rail
give credit, state the Swedish army to amount to 44,51x0
viz. in Finland, under General Kling-par's command, 17,060
in Scailia, under General Toll, 8$00; iu Gotteohurgh and tile
neighbourhood, under General Vegesack, MOO; aml in the Pio•
vinces beyond Stockholm, a Corps of about `41011; a I:c.,•rve
of 5000 in East Gothland, and a second Reserve in the Northern
Prov awes.

BA NKS O 1 TILE aria 11.—" The conjectures
which Ise have so loug formed are realized; the French :min,
with the permission of the Danish Government, has cntered
Holstein, to proceed through Zealand, and other Danish island;,
against Sw'eden. On the sth inst. 1500 French horse entered the
city of Alma, preceded by two Ilambro' city dragoons. n jilt
dram n swords, and they serve them as guides. The men halted
on the 6th, when Bernadotte reviewed them and about 10,0000
Spaniards. in a field belonging to the ctty of Hamburgh, culled
theiloly Ghost field. The citizens of Altana are &hosed
mark a day for the keep of every man, at the expence, it is said,
of the !Luise towns. The French have also marched intn
stein, from the side of Lubeck, and by this time the greater
part of Holstein, not excepting Rendshourg, the King of Deus
mark's residence, is full of French and Spanish troops. All
the great and small craft are under orders to take in
French and Spanish troops ; and at Copenhagen all the
gun-boats and merchantmen, with one ship of the linc,
four large Danish Indiamen, titled out as frigates, and cam ing
3ti guns each, besides a number of Danish brigs, cutters, and
pilot-boats, maimed by French and Danish sailors, are in re::(1i•
ness to carry over the troops. The French will, it is said, at-
tack Sweden in four or five different places; and the troops
destined for the expedition are under the command of Berna-
dotte, and will, it is said, amount to nearly 70,000 wen. Ber-
nadotte himself set out at six o'clock on the Stb in-t. in the
evening, from Hamburgh, for l'inneberg and Itendshourg.
posts from liol-tein or Denmark arc now expected, as the
French and their Allies will probably stop them till a him%
shall have been struck. By all accounts, the French have wade
great preparations for a descent on Swedea, in the r.ports of
Wismar, Rostock, and Stralsund, and the island of Hugel). it
is the general opinion here. that unless a British force speedily
arrives, Sweden is lost. The French and ipanish armies, 1,-
sisted, it is said, by the Danes, will he at Copenhagen, Crown-
berg, Elsineur, and other parts of Zealand, tutor before the IA!,
or 26th instant."