The Sun.
London, England, 1808-09-06 00:00:00

PORTUGUESE PAPERS.

COIMBRA, AtrotysT 23.—The following is an ex-
tratt of a Letter from Obidos, dated the 2lst in-
stant :

The English army, consisting of )7,000 men,
•began•their march for Caldas on the 14th instant.
The French were no sooner informed of their ap-
proach, than they precipitately retired from Aljnbar-
I.ota to Obidos, without firing a single shot. On
Monday, the 15th, the English, on entering Obi-.
dos, were attacked in the evening by the French
advanced guard, who nevertheless speedily fled to
join tho army under the command of Tuommts,

f, •
. and bit titadnti, fictzlted 'at the diStance of a league
from that town, at nolisia; and tdlutnheira.•
" Heke.a, most obstinate enoaagement .took place
on,the irt,h ;..,atidnotwiths(anding the enemy's ad,
vantagireoltS positions on the summits of the neigh 7
boOring Mountains,. the English carried every thing
before them, and attacking the French .with their
artilleit, they t ompelled them to fly in dist-nay sand,
pursued them as far as Cruz da MiSeracordia, situat-
ed beyond the village of Zambujeira. The chasi
sours of Oporto were engaged in this glorious act
tion, and accompanied the English iide corps in their
advance to the,,heights of Moutanlil; which ate cb.
tered with a very
,thick brush-wood.
The -engagement 'lasted from eight • in the
Moinlng until five in the
,afternoon ; the fury ma 7
nitbsted on both sides eiceeded all description. But
victory declared for t)ii, and the French fled; di-
retting their retreat towards Torres7Vedras. 'Ds
LsaoangWas badly lkounded in the „neck. The
Frehch had 1500 killed, and we have 300 of their •
wounded in our hospitals.
" On ThUrsday, the 18th, a number of persons
met, on the'road between Bellas and Torres;Vedras,
64 carts tilled with wounded 'soldiers, going to 'Lis-
bon, and saw a great number Of dead bodiei 'bi•
the way.
,
• " In the hospitals ofCaldai and cibidOS thero are
file Portuguese wounded, and bet Ween Igreja and
ROIiSS3 oily a single dead body has, been found.—
The 'English have in our hospitals 360 wounded
their Joss in killed was.from 15U to 200.

" On the 1 B.th, the Portuguese army rtiarCheil
from Leira towards Caldas, where thbk arrived on
the igth, making a very brilliant appearance ; and
jtsterday they arrived from thence at Obidos.
" The English have advanced as far as Loarin-
heia; where they still continued yesterday ; a bod:::
of 7000 men were landed at Painogo, joined them
near 1).-tche,.and they expeCt 14,000 more.
On the t9th, the French
,passed through Par-
'moniz, about three leagues on this side ot. the Serra
de Montt-, on their march to Torres Vedras, where
.they arrived the "same night. They plundered
and cottimltted every kind of outrage oh their,
March: in this first action, the French had about'
5000 troops. _ _

" jukor marched out to meet us from Lisbon on
the 16th, at the head of several thousand men. He
issued a Pkoclatuation to intern) the inhabitants of
Lisbon, that he was going to chastise the rebels,
whom he described as being armed' with bludgeons,
with the exception of a small number of arms, fur-
nished by a few English who had joined them,
and that he would return in three days.' He 14m•
ed a junction with Lotsok, TiroNitiles, Sze. at
Torres and Serra-de-Monte-Junto, ,being unaware
of the number of the English troops, and disco-
vet ing his mistake only when he saw them in the
field of battle:

" Another engagement took place this day at
Torres, the noise of the firing ha% lug been- heard in
that direation, but no account" has %et reached us of
the result. It is said that jhe English are surround-
ing the French at Torres, where the final decision
will take place. . ,
" At Lisbon there are left only a few soldiers to .
guard the city.
_ .
" Peniche is about to be attacked. The Frencl)
General yesterday sent away, from it' All the Portu-,
guese who chose to go ; and more than Go t-tiii%-ry-
men have joined the PortUguese army. A consi-
derable number of the PoliZe Guard have also fled
from Lisbon.
• " General BAcEtrAa set out from ~A.brantes for
Santarem, and thence. for Rio Maier, in order -to
join the Portuguese. army._ The instant LotSoN'was
informed that: he was in his vicinity he made a pre-
cipitate retreat to Muge, where he formed.a junction
with JUNOT. The French have fled froM St.,Ube's,;
after spiking the guns and throwing the powder and
ballinto the sea.
" Lotsoig was on the tith at Alcoentre, where he
performed his usual military 'bravadoes ;' for it is in
this diameter only that he has figured in Portugal.
His exploits have consisted only in plundering and
massacring a disarmed population, and in shameyly
flying from every place where he expeeted any re-
sistance, or to which any force was approaching.
" JuNotpays for nothing in the villages he passes
through. The Portuguese army is abundantly pro-
vided with every thing, and the English carry along
with them 600 waggons,
.loaded with' provisions of
all kinds. They punelually pay for every thing they
want, even for the water brought to them.—What
a noble contrast !"

The following is the copy of a Letter addressed to
his Excellency the Governor of Coimbra ;
" The English have attacked the French in the
formidable position of Colutubeira, and totally rout-
ed them. This was on the 17th. ' The enemy con-
sisted of 3000 'men, under the command of DE
LABORDE. But the decisive ataion took place this
day.

" The French, t the number of between 11 and
12,000, commanded by JUNTOT, and all the rest of
their Generals, advanced to attack the English at the
village of Vimeira. The.evemy were totally defeat-
ed, With the loss of their artillery, and an immense
number of killed. Tttomir.W3, and 800 men, were
said to have been made prisoners.

" The French troops in POttugal were more nu-
merous than we imagined. In the course of our
march to-mofrow, we shall have an opportunity of
seeing both the fields of adion. The first is. about
a league, the other three leagues, from this place.
Until then I shall nett be able to give you the details
of both engagements.
" 1 am, with the greatest respea, &c.
" FRANCISCO SOARES FRANCO."
" Obidos, Aug. 2t, OM, eleven o'clock at night."

Letters from Figuera positively state, that the
English army, which began to disembark there last
Friday, were again brubarkin, with the intention Of
proceeding to some other. part of the coast more
to the southward.

o)ll,BitA,. AUG, 22.—0 n the 17th, ISEDORO AN-
TONIO DO AMAItAt. SEMBLANO, the Judge at Fora de
Serta, placed himself at the head of 400 troops, and
being joined by from 60 to 80 peasants, under the
command of two gallant and enthusiastic Clergy-
men, he attacked the Castle of Abrantes, and Made
himself master of it, after an hour and a halls
fighting, in which the French had 30 men killed.—
The survivors, consisting of 1 I I, were marched pri-
soners to Sena, where they arriyed on the lgth, on
their way to this Elm*.