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

THE NATIONAL REGISTER,

On the 13th be embarked, and a!lerwards had a communication
with Lord Collingwool. On the 19111 he arrived off the Tagus,
and communicated with Sir C. Cotton. Sir Charles seemed to
think that nothing serious was to be expected in Portugal. He
(Sir 11. Only mplt) however, confessed, that he viewed the
matt..r very ((Melvin!), From the moment he had left Lord Col
lingwomd had he reflected on the line of conduct he ought to pur-
sue, and tie saw nn cause why he should take on himselfan mine-
eessary responsibility, by interfering with the proceedings of an
r purposely and specially selected for the particular business
in hand. whom he knew to possess the confidence rind spevial direc
tion of Government, and who was by his military knowledge
and experience highly qualified for the command. Ile had re-
ceded a letter (he did not know if he could call it a private
one) fro-n Lord Castlereagh, instructing him in a particular
manner t► cultivate the confidence, anal at all times to profit
by the advice of Sir A. Welle.ley. That he might expect
much assistance, equally from his prudence andlemper, as from
his knowledge, courage and experience. On his landing he
accordingly sent his Aid-de-Camps to inform Sir Arthur, that he
watt on his way to join the main body, but though he should wish
to be informed of their proceedings, it was not his intention to
interfere in the management of the operations which were
going on.—lle must here state though Sir A. Wellesley had ad-
dressed to him official accounts of his proceedings down •to this
period, they had never come to hand, and he landed withoutany
information whatever on that head. On joining the main body
am the 2-2 d, he found them ou the ground they had occupied the
day before. He saw the necessity of removing from that spot ;
but why the army did not advance he knew not, nor did he feel
any thing personal to himself on that subject He found the
state of matters to he something similar to what he had expect-
ed ; and after making every allowance for the great advantages
which the British forces had gained over the enemy in the battle
of the preceding day, and the great additional loss of the enemy
in killed, wounded, liae he could not forbear from seeing, that
these advantages were at least counterbalanced by the inferiority
of the Ili itish cavalry. In the evening General Kellerman ar-
rived. At this time he (Sir 11. Dalrymple) knew nothing of
the number and efficiency of the enemy, or of our own troops ;
and ail the information he acquired on the subject was derived
from Sir A. Wellesley in the observations made by him in the
course of he discussion of the articles of the Preliminary Treaty,
which immediately took place. The narrative proceeds to en-
ter into the details of the Preliminary Convention, which it ex-
plains and vindicates In the particular circumstances of the con-
t It. The words " private property" General Kellermatn pledged
himself at the time shooldite understood in their strict meaning,
and should on no aecount be understood to extend to merchan-
dize. The endurance of the armistice it had been his (Sir 11.
Dalrvmple's) object to extend beyond the time fixed for it, to
give time for the lauding of `is. .1. Noiire's division. As
to the Russian Fleet, he did not believe that General Kel-
lerman was at liberty to give it un ; but the, total number
of seamen did not amount to six thousand. Had be (Sir
H. Dalrymple) however, been in possession of the letter from
the Government of this country, stating that the property
broua.ht into Portugal by the French army, or •the Russian
property found in thelagus, might be proper objects of capture
by the British army, he would not have agreed to the article in
question. The article authorising the French to carry away
their private property, he knew had been viewed with the
greatest abhorrence. The same words would ba found, in simi-
lar circumstances, in the Convention of Alexandria. If these
articles, however, had not been agreed to, the Iltitish array must
base maintained its position till the morrow, or have advanced
with not more than 16,030 men. Being once embarked in so dan-
gerous a a‘rvice, active movement was the only thing for the Bri-
tish fGreci'. Theartillery horses, however, were not sufficient for
•
this purpose. Many of them were oil, many of them lame and
html,n and even the remainder %vele not altogether fit for such a
service. Iu addition to this, if it had been resolved on to attack the
enemy, the British army must have been confined to a position
bordering on the sea, to ensure tht• junction of Sir J. Moose.
Early ou the 23d •e was visaed by a Portuguese officer, whose
strongest objection was to the 6th article. The obvious answer,
however, was that the Portuguese Government was then no
where to be found. The Portuguese General, however, was
asked to state. his observations in writing, but this he failed to
do. Oa the 24th Colonel Morro.. returned from the Admiral
with the Article relative tu the Russians beet, and was after-
wards sent with it to the French General, with a letter, seen
and approved of by Sir 11. Burrard and Sir A. Wellesley. Ile
(fir H. Dalrymple) seeing the appearance of guile in the cou-

f
_ _ _

iirns A. n
duct or the French General in Chief, sent for Generals Bonar I
;itensdielylT ehlal
had
lt ehye togo consultones ift,lsion frameo n thea
le
tstue
rhjuef et
' and
furtherS
no
to Colonel NI tiri•ay on the subject. Ott the 9.9 th, Caw, in D 1..
rytuple returned with the terms of the Convention. Of
the articles he disapprove:l, and as:-emb'o.i all the Ma
ral, he could for their advice on the occasion. foe Armistite
expired the next morning, so that he must either have ratified it,
or recommenced hoAilities. With the apprchatidn of. Sir H.
Burrard, Sir A. Wellesley, Sir J. Moore, General
11ope,, dr.
he did ratify the Convention, and the term; of it were immedi-
ately communicated to the Portuguese Generals. The
morn i►•e
then goes on to point out the difficulties which must have been
felt in providing bread and other necessaries to the army, had it
been elicrtased even by the addition of Sir J. Moore's corps, in
conseqnence of which, and of the danger of the surf, it had hero
determined that those troop: should be landed gradually,
and
that each division should bring along with it pros isint's Inifficieta
for its own use. The determination of Sir 11. Dalrymple not to
supersede Sir A. Wellesley in the command, after the vittory
which lie had gained, he communicated to the other Major-fie-
nerals who were senior to him, and they received it in a manner
which did them honour. An application had been made by
Admiral Siniavin to him (Sir H. D.) to know if the Port of
Lisbon was to he considered as neutral in respect to the Itusiian
fleet ; hut to this he had stated that he could give uo answer. It
hostilities had been to recommence, the different castles and
strong holds in possession of the French must have been regularly
besieged, one after the other—Fort St. Julian could not have
M= taken without battering cannon--as long as they remained
in possession of the strong position of Almeida no ship of' otus
could approach the town—a battle must have been fought al-
most in the City of Lisbon itself, and the view of the campaign
which he had originally formed, would at the last have been
found to he the just one. The co-operation of the British force
with the Spanish army, was, and had always been, the main
and important object; the other was only preliminary to it.
And it was of the utmost moment to afford to the Spaniards the
earliest possible proof of the serious views we entertained of
co-operating with theta in the most effectual manlier. With-
out entering into a calculation of the time which might have
been occupied in reducing the forts on the Tagus, it wasenough
to say, that the heavy rains were approachaing, whend
no
marching into Spain could take place. Be gain svishc
that the Convention might be compartql with other Conven-
tions, and in particular with that concluded at Egypt, which
it would be found to resemble, not only in its tern's, but
1- in its nature and qualities in other respects, particularly
is the dangers of the service, and in the state of the
lie submitted, therefore, that the Convention might be v indi-
tated.—Tbe Addr.ss of Thanks to Sir Dew, which had baser
read to the Court from the Chief Magistrate of !Abbott Ito tu;
name, and that of the inhabitants, proved th, thAand.
lug the protest formerly taken by him against certain articles in
the Convention, he had on reflection come to see thing: iu a dif-
ferent and more favourable light, and to estimate more truly the
mercies which, through means of the British army they
.joYed•
The Addresses from the Bishop of Oporto, and other hoc c^=.
also proved, that they did not view the Connt n in
sioin the lig
ht
in which it bad been treated by many persons ve
thi comat
of a
A letter from General Castanos also shewed the
neecsiity
speedy co-operation in Spain, which from Kish instructions hc
(Sir H. Dalrymple) was led to suppow. one of te chief, o r
W.
they main object of his command ; and a letter from Lord
W.
Bentinck, who had since that period been in Madrid,heisetl,
that the Convention was thought adviseahle, because it had ren-
dered the army io Portugal disposable for this purpose.
..m
Sir Arthur Wellesley hoped the Court would indulge
t hoit _
with permission to-morrow, to give in a statement e splaoa
of his proceedings before the arrival of Sir H. Burrard
antt Si
11. Dalrymple. le wag
The letter flint% Lord W. Bentinck to Sir H. Dalrymp
read, and the Court adjourned

FIFTH DAY.
EsnAlt, ovr.mnr,R.
The Board sat this morning at a quarter before eleven.
read-
The proceedings commenced with the Judge Advocate s
Hewingaltrlytemnpairer.ative delivered into the Board yesterday
u fir
paSirtonmmentd,orcrpte.(nitistuzwges also read from the Commissariat 1).••
provisions, sturcF, cariages

rs-

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&c.

nee i -

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hivi it
in
an.l

fflciet.t
not to
firmly
nunner
Lde by
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Russian
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les and
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,arils the
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With-
ht have
enough
Olen no
wished
Conven-
t, which
rot', but
ikularly
he v indi-
had been
in hiso%An
vithstand-
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s in 3 dif-
truly the
they en-

er hodicg.
the light
eouilir)•
es*itY 01 a
octions he
let, or il-
k Lord W.
1;1,11o% ea'
it had reit-
se.
dulge him
eplaoatog
ird and "

ray W:ul

yen.
rate's reng-
by Sir Hew

imariat
3nriages ate

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