The National Register.
London, England, 1809-07-09 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGI6TER;

common cause with the Austrians we entertain no doubt.
• ~
• sense of commoe danger and of nmtual suffering has ex-
tinguished the ancient rivalry °ribose two nations ; and
surely there is nothing woiderftil or surprising in the cir-
cumstance that external coercion has obliged them to Aght
together against their common enemy for existence, when
they are no longer in a situation to contend with each
other for—superiority.

Yesterday dispatches were received from Adm. Bienitc-
-741r and Sir ARTHUR WELLESLZT, brought by the grITTRE•
i'REN•NTE cutter, of 10 guns, from Lisbon.
When the Messenger who brpught the General's dis-
patches left the army, fir Annitut was within sight. of
VICTOR'S army, and intended to give him battle the follow-
ing day. VICTOR% retreat was entirely cut oft; and froth the
dispositions that were made there was every rational hope
that his army would destroyet fir .larnua 817/404iLEY
'had been joined by die 40th Regiment.
We wait with impatience the al rival of farther accounts
6S
from this army.

The Gazette of last night, which will be found in andtbcr
part of our Paper, contains the Officiat Dispatches of Cap-
tain MaKEFLEv, inclosing'others from General MARTIN DE
LA Cieittnat,with the particulars of the Battle of St. Payo,
and the Evacuation .of kerrOl rind COruana.—lf we are to
judge of the Spansards by these accounts, they are very
-well disposed to exterminate the I reach satellites frorn the
Peninsula. St. liko is also iu possession of the yatriois.
The intelligence from Spain Riot' a nature to afford us
both pleasure and pain; but we must expect this—every
thing in war is necessarily of a chequered nature, and to
vise a homely phrase, we must take the bad with the good.
The Spaniards have retaken Ferrol Aud Corunna, and the
French have evacuated Qijon. On the other hand; we
pave advice hy the Favourite sloop of war, that St. An-
dero is retaken by the French. it appears by this account '
that on the 10th Jime, BALLASTEROS drove the enemy -4)111
of St. Ander, but on the same night they returned, sago
Wong, and surpri.sed .the Spaniard, the greater part of
wboni they killed and took prisoners. A General and Co-
lonel very narrowly escaped, having just time to take a
small boat, which- they paddled out- of the harbour with
muskets, and then got on board a chaise niareel out of
which they were receivad by the Favourite cutter, which
left G;jon the 16th ult. and is arrived at Plymouth. The
attack upon St. Andero took place about midnight, at all
points of the town, and whoever resisted. was cut down.
It is said the 'carnage was dreadful numbers of the Pa
!riots were drowned in cukavouring to escape. Accord-
ing to the French account, the Marquis PE BALLASTERO%
is taken prispner, and 110XANb though not captured is a
fugitive.
We had every reason to anticipate the evaenatiou of
Ferrol and Corunna by the French, but we were not pre-
pared to expect their expuliion by force, as the Paris
Papers had already announced the intention, or rather the
actual concentration, of all their forces in Gallicia,with the
view of proceeding to the north of Portpgal, and 'by that
means of effecting a junction between SOtif.T and Marshal
Writ, which is said to have taken place. Of this, however,
some doubt may be reasonably entertained, as will be evident
from a review of their operatiqns, and' the slate in thicb
!these operations are known to have left tlieir armies.
'When the corps of NF.v and :•_4)ei.T, amounting to near
40,000 men, pursued Sir Jon MORE with Ihe intention of
preventing his army from re-epharking, it is fresh in the
recollection of our readers that they were defeated with
the toss of more than pOCi men killed and wounded. Im-
mediately afterwards, SOULT proceeded with about 20,000
Men to occupy Portugal, whilst Nev turned upon the Gal-
licigs and Asturias for the same purpose. But when SOULT
'arrived at Oporto, lie if said nut to have bad more than
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441

16,000 of his division remaining, of whom' 4000 were
wounded, having been excessively harraued by the Spani-
ards on the whole line of their march. Under these dia•
couraging circumstances he was attacked by Sir A. Wacces.
LET, and could not have lost less than 3000 men in the action.
Indeed it is stated to have been a more considerable num-
ber. In his retreat to Gallicia he lost the greater part of
his cavalry; and we know that every privation which an
army •undei such circumstances may be supposed to feel,
were aggravated in a ten fold. degree by the exasperated
country through which they passed. It is nine weeks since
we have had any account of this army ; and as Mr. Boys
says, an army cannot very well he hid. We therefore
suspect that fatigue, desertion, and death, have thinned the
ranks of this corps, and have made the junction, with NET,
if it has really taken place, a matter of little importance,
as an addition to the effective strength of the latter.. Co-
cunna, Ferrol, Vigo, St. Jago, &c. were occupied by NUT.,
but the situation of his army, without adequate supplies,
made a system of plunder alinost necessary to its existence.
tpis led to acts of the most outrageous t 3 randy, the effects
of which recoiling upon the perpetrators, this small corps
was destroyed by famine and fatigue, and the complicated
duties of an army, in such circumstances, made the-con-
(petit of the Asturias an attempt of desperation rather than
hope. Aosisted by a detachment under KELLERMAN, NET.
Marched from Ferrol for the purpose; but the Marquis
ItosliNA had endeavoured to excite the Asturians; the
passes of Montague were defended by BALLESTERO., with
great bravery, the French were driven back to St. An-
dero, and the patriots at St. Jago and Lugo, were rein-
forced and assisted:
In the mean time, the defiles were forced, and Oviedo
and Gijon taken possession of by the French, who, in their
turn, were surprised at St. Andero, and a number of
prisoners taken ; General BALLESTERUS was attacked by a
superior force under IteNtiFT, and a few superior officers
escaped to Gijon, which was again in possession of the Pa.
triots, ROMANA taking the nilvantage of the absence of
NET and KELLERMAN, and jolno4 by tile patriots of Gal-
bele, now appears to have taken ppssession of Ferrol and
Corumia. After looking at the detail of this complicated
warfare, upon what number of these ttro divisions can we
reasonably calculate to rrmain. livtoiAr,foure must have
lost nearly thirty thousand of the nuniber., and we do not
conceive it possible for the rest to . escape, if a well-comb
bined plan of operations he.pursued during.tlw inactivity
of the Emperor on the Banks of the Danube, The French
troops in Spain, dispirited by defeat, sickness, and wive.
;ion, and without the means of encreasing their nuuihfirs
we think must eventually fall.
With regard to the,operations in Spain, we have enter
very fully in the preceding columns of our Paper. Som.'
was at Monteforte the 12th oft. and I\ ET had fallen back to
Lugo, there was nothing to prevent a junction ; but recent
accouuis confirm our statement that the French force under
theie two Generals is reduced to about 10,000 men. in
addition to these other accounts from Lisbon stating par-
' titulars of the battle fought in Arragon between Generals
BLAKE and SOUCRET, have likewise been reeeived.--From
these it appears that the French force was 8000, includibig
500 cavalry, and three pieces; the Spanish 9,600 induct-mg
000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of catioon.—The loss of the
French was much greater than was at first stated.—They
are supposed to be retreating behind the Ebro. &Asa is
said to have encreased his army to 40,0(101 and was ex-
pcctcd to enter Saragossa.

Thursday last a General Court was held at the East India
House, when Mr. K. Jackson produced•his promised nio.
titm for the prevention in future of the abuse of patronage:
It appeared, in the course of an animated debate, that the
Directors had themselves come to much stronger regula-
tions and restrictions than were contained in Mr. Jackson's
motion ; his proposition was, notwithstanding, carried,
vithoni)- one dissent►ng voice. • • •