The National Register.
London, England, 1811-05-05 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

event. Yesterday it was rumoured on 'Change,
that Badajoz had fallen, and that Govern-

ruent had received dispatches to this effect; but;
we were not able-- to trace this rumour to any of
those sources on which we are accustomed to rely.
Although we have the full conviction upon our minds

that a fate similar to that which befel Olivenca,

awaits Badajoz ; still we have good reason to be-
lieve that no intelligence had, at a late hour last
night, reached town, which would authorize the
report of the fall of Badajoz.

_..iiw.-..
SPAIN.

Cadiz papers to the 18th ult. have been received.
Their contents are of some importance ; not of a mi-
litary, but of a political nature. They show how
deep rooted national prejudices are in the human
:nind. The pride of the Spanish nation had become
proverbial for ages ; but it was seldom more
publicly and less wisely displayed than on a late
occasion, when, although convinced by woeful ex.
perience of the incapacity of most of their Com_
manders, and smarting under the disasters which it
had brought upon them ; they but reluctantly ac-
ceded to the proposal made by Lord 'WELLINGTON,
that the provinces bordering on Portugal should be
placed under his command. The Regency appre-
hended lest this measure should create jealousies,
and dissentious ; but competed to adopt it by
their sense of its utility, found no little difficul-
ty in making it known to the public. At last
it was published in the shape of an anonymous pa-
ragraph couched in the most guarded terms, and
alluding to the fact merely as a report, which it ex-
plains., by assuring the nation, that although those
provinces are placed under the temporary command
r,f Me General in Chicf of the only army at the time
u. the Peninsula, tchich may act with ',eau against
the enemy, there is no proposal for removing the
Spanish Qllicers and substituting English in their

room "
Does the blindness of the Spanish people still
continue. Have they suffered themselves to be de.
.ceived by the misrepresentations of the French ?
They have seen us shed our blood in their cause.
They have witnessed the effects of the system
adopted in Portugal, where, under the guidance of
British Officers, timid peasants have become discip-
lined and courageous warriors ; and where the
foot of the invader has ceased to rest. They
leave beheld the consequences of their own, which
struck with sterility the bloody palms of Barrosa;
and is it possible that they should still sacrifice their
own safety to a vain point of honour ? By the na-
ture of the article it appears that they are deter-
mined never to place the-Spanish troops under the

: . J'

261

command of British officers, and that Lord WEL.;
LINGTON is cautiously invested with only a temporary
authority. We trust the use he will make of it,.
will eradically destroy the national prejudices of the
Spaniards, and lead them to embrace the most ef.
lective means of counteracting the
,plans of their
crafty enemy, by forming an army on the modei
of that of Portugal.
The Cortes have been employed on a variety of
topics of external and internal policy. The Aboli-
tion of the Slave Trade, of torture, and other bar-
barous puni:hments, has been propose.l, as ‘vel as
an Act to secure the liberty of individuals, similar
in some of its provisions to our Habeas Corpus Act.
These papers ilso allude to a circumstance which
we had heard before, the narrow escape of Matslud
BERESFORD from being made prisoner. Ile vvas
forced to jump out of a window. Report adds, that
General COLE was also near being taken in a recon-