The National Register.
London, England, 1808-12-04 00:00:00

Lr.TTER FROM AN ENGLISH OFFICER.

" General Blake was attacked by the French under General
Lefebvre, near Durango, on the 31st ult. and after a very oh-
stinate action of nine hours, w:t obliged to retreat, ss hick he
t! 1 in good order, ihrougb Bilboa and V-iltnaseda to Lava.
;iere he n ,in the 4th instant. On the sth, he made aw at-
tack on the Erem h, and dr. lye them, ss ith considerable loss,
f inn V almascda and Oransia, in order to effect the junction of'
e Asturian di hirh isis wit enraged in the former
--lion, ( having been posted agar er.ilana,) and n ho had since
•en -eptirated from the army. having thus got together the
1.1 ole of his force, he moved once more towards Bilboa, and
tacked the entAny near Suenes; on the 71 h. Ile made a good
d;spositinn of hi- troops, and had turned the enemy's left wing,
bit his centre Ai% inL, nay, he was obliged to retreat, in spite of
Ifs advantage, to Valmaseda. ilk rear-guard was engaged on
6th On the 10.!i, he was at Espinosa de I%lonteros, n here
b • w-s attacked by the French ; the action of doubtful sueres.,
rather in favour of the Spaniards, continuing from one p.
in
1;t1 'sight. Next morning the French renewed the attack, ;we
• the .1-turians, n Ito priacipally composed the left wink, gave
s• iiich means the enemy gut posse..ion heights that
(.onman.led the road, hs hick the army wit- to retreat, great
c,nfusien took place. anal many of the troop, disper-ed. The
A -tartans, who are all peasants. officers as well a- men, for. ht
sera well it: the former engagement, of the ;oh, 'lib. and IO h,
but Plally officers being gone off, and of them three Cenerals, one
C,:uet ins) being killed, and two w minded, their gis ing way this
at. Iv is nut to lay wandered at.—General Blake was at Iteinosa
on the lath. (teller:if Blake's intrusion n to retreat by
eamito and Leon, upon the British arin, but to
main it, the wean time at Iteinosa as long as the enem, left
ban to But on the 13th tic received intellig-ence that
the French were advancing to attack him, al-° that they had
prshed a corp. float Burgos to Aguilar Del Campo—so that he
1, as obliged to retreat into the valley of C thaereiqua, in the
rovinee of Santander. Ile left Heinosa ou the evening of the
1:1h, at sun-set, and next morning was at (:ti

" Blake retreated from Winona, with little mote than 7 or
8. 00 men ; but ou the night of the llth, a division of his army
is on the other side of the htrhuur opposite to Santander;
many fugitives had entered that city. The provincial militia of
Santande; are reckoned 50t10 men. The di-mounted cavalry of
the litrquis nrunont are '2OOO, these may he armed a- infautrs,
so that some sttrignine persons suppose that the marglo., N ho
is
at that place, may assemble VO,OO men. They alto calculate,
that, as the Asturiays have a reserve in their ono country, and
'many of the fugitives of the arm. that took the ti. Id went home,
if the remains of the army of the kit retreat into Asturias, they
may possibly assemble 4:).000 melt. 'l•he peasant.: of the allay,
vs Ito dispersed, having ail arrived v lilt their arms and ammuni-
tion. it is iuferard, that they t. iit caecrftilly come forward
.8
stilt. Bern een Iteinosa and Astorgas, on tht. 1 Ith, Fith, and
Atilt, these were French.posts in several places. At Aguilar
;IA Campo, on the 1:101, they took the baggage anti some guns
1110te's army. A Spain,- h park of artillery left S:0,10111.1 ou
the 18th, to retreat to Leon by nay of Stiliagua, at which piace,
WI the same day, aa,alaJan t, ac given that the roads and avenues
were occupied by pat roles of French cavalry, fio that it is pro-
bable Ow park of artitlery was taken.
Ceneral Cranford was no the !fit h at Astorgas, and Sir
David Baird at 1 illa Fratiea on the I7th. The first of nine
ttivisitons of cavalry was to be at a day's journey befwe Lugo,
on the Vlst, 11111 i the last was to leave Comma on that atal the