The Sun.
London, England, 1808-11-22 00:00:00

Win&o.

SNEERN,EBB, Nov. 2 t.--Went up to tong Beach
his Majesty's Ship Goliath., Capt. PUGET, to get, her
powder and guns out.

This morning his Majesty's Ship the Crescent was
paid up to six months.
Came down the River the Malabar Store•ship.
Arrived his Majesty's Ship Hakim from Chat-
harn.

SeVeral Sail have passed the Nore for the River,
which appeal' to be Colliers; aitct ieveral have sailed.
Sailed 'alsci Dvbiesty's Ship ginchels'ea, outward-

HASTINGS, N0v.:8.--A. shark has been caught
by the tiiherinen at ;ut place it NV as entangled in
'l7 of then nets and colopleteiy. -broke then.] ail ; but
wponded, and Licari)! :spetit,'Ou contrived to
tow on shore this monster of the deep. It Men,
sures thirty feet in length, and upwards of twenty
in circumference, and is suppOsed to weigh at lea.t
len ton ; has four rows of;st-etit, and the throat is so
large, that it could swallow a man with the-greatest
ease. It is considered by all who have seen it to
be the largest.of the species:ever met with in any of
the seas of Europe. Colonel Bothwell has purchased
it for his. friend, Mr. Home, the Surgeon, of Sack-
-1011e-street, who intends to.dissed it,' and place the .
skeleton in his museum.

GIBRALTAR, OCT, 2 1 .—News have been received
here from Corsica, that five French Frigates, . which
had got dut of Toulon a few days before, were block.,
aded in San Fiorenz6. They were full of troops and
provisions, destined for the relief of Barcelona, and
having been chased by the English, were obliged to
take refuge in tha port above-mentioned. The Mas-
ter of the vessel which brought the news states, that
if the Frigates do not,. itntnediately surrender, they
cannot escape being destroyed by the seven English
ships which blockade, them.

Capt. FREEMANTLE and Capt. BAYNTUN, who
Were deputed to see the Monument erected on Ports-
down Hill, to the memory 'of Lord NELSON, pro-
perly executed, inspected it.last week, and are satis-
fied that the wishes of the Fleet have been complied
with. They have given directions for the following
inscription to be put on:
Consecrated to the niernory of Lord Viscount Nelson,
by the zealous attachment of all those who fought at Tra-
falgar—to .perpetuate his triumph and their regret. —1205."
• -And on the opposite side the following :
.•
" The British Fleet consisted of 27 Ships of the Line;—of
France and Spain, there were 33-19 of which were taken or
destroyed."

The Aigie, Capt. WOLFE, reconnoitred Brest liar.-
hour the 9th instant, anc4 observed nine sail of the
line ready for sea (one a three-decker);-besides three
frigates, a brig, two schooners, and a cutter.
There was no Court of Aldermen to-day ; but
the LORD MAYOR ordered- Bread to continue at its
present price. •

A Leiter from Madrid, Nov. 4, says, "The King,
our Sovereign, D. FERDINAND VII, and the Central
Supreme Junta of Government, in his name, taking
into consideration the distinguished merits, services,
experience, and talents of Lieut.-General D. Tnom AS
DE MORLA, Counsellor of State, have been pleased
to appoint him Dire&or and Colonel-General of the
!loyal porps of Artillery of Spain and the Inches, in
addition to the rank and appointments which he
now holds."

Last weels., the workmen in cleansing sow- of the
ancient seweisi near the Cross-Path, 'met with a few
Roman doing, amiangst which is one of the q.',inperpr
VEsrAs.ial,F, in eis.cellent preservqtioni the head and
inscription almost as sift:4 as of kno4eril (late,

~;,,,,~ .

LVQVIR.Y.

iiroußTH DAY,- bioND:AY 1./oV.ll'.
Matintee:i from o'er Paper tf lestriairty, - •
Sir Airrn:Uß observed that if the Court desired to,
haveyeny part
.of the narrative illustrated, he was
'feridji, to explain immediately; Or to call evidence.
,„ . The JUDGE ADVOCATE hext.read-a_s_oumber
questions' on the subjed of the narrative, which had
'been' Sent hi witting to Sir A. Wellesley, by the
-Presiclent,,Sir D. Dundas, and which had been re-
turned by Sir A: with his answers alli.xeci to Them.
The first question was, when he had his'orders and
instrUdions ? The answer was,' that he
,had 'been
advised of his appointment to the command, by'a
dispatch frdm the Comrinander in Chief, dated the
lath of June, and afterwards by the Secretary of
the War Department, on .the 3oth. To aquestion,
When he sailed—he answered; that he had arrived
at Cork on the 6th of July, and had sailed thes2th,
with 9000 men, besides artillery, and cavalry, and
298 horses. To a qhestion, what were his or-
ders, 'and what the objeCls, of. his expedition—Cie
answered, that his 'orders were contained in the do,
cuments before the Court, and in the dispatches to
the Secretary of State; he had copies, the original's
had been delivered to Sir Harry Burrard ; the-prin-
cipal obje& was to attack the enemy in their posi-
tions .on the Tagus ; but, he had a discretionary
power to apply his force to other objeEts, in case he
should -consider them to be most 'material for the
public service. • To the other questionshe replied,
. that the particulars of his proceedings, till he arrived
in Mondego Bay, were detailed in his narrative: and
his dispatches, 'and the reasons -that determined his
landing there, were also explained in his dispatches
and narrative: He heard on his arrival at the Bay;
on- the 30th of July, that the army tas to be rein-
forced by troops under the command of Generals
Acland, B.urrard, and Moore, and that he had orders
dated 2ist.of July, desiring him to give notice by
ships of war, where he was to be found ; but to
proceed to execute the purpOse of his expedition im-
mediately,•if he-thought himself sufficiently strong.
He was joined on the sth of August by General
Spencer—the obis& of his march were stated in his
narrative and dispatches. The numbers then under
his command were 12,300. men, and be was accorn7
-partied by a Portuguese army of 6000, under Gene-
rah Freire; also by 1500 Spanish infantry, and about
the same number Of.Poiluguese troops who had-
moved towards Abrantes. The details of his pro-
gress were to be found ip his- narrative add' dis-
patches. His army was supplied Oil his march with
-biscuit, fresh 'meat, and wine; the Fast article was
procured from the country. ,The Bishop of Oporto
supplied them with cattle) but he had engaged'a
contrador for thatpurpose,rn case the other resource
should have failed. On his arrival at Calmas, he had
a brigade of nine-pounders, and a brigade of six.;
pounders. The expedition had been at first designed
for the coast of Spain ; • but as the landing was uncer-
tain, it had been thought proper to employ Irish
horses, purchased at low prices, lest the artillery
horses should suffer by being so long on board. These
Irish horses were not so good as the artillery horses;
-298 of them had been embarked; some of these
were lost ; but 20 mules were furnished by the Bishop
of Oporto. Notwithstanding
,the heaviness of the
roads, and the heat of theyeather, they got on Very
well.. They had plenty Of ammunition, and to
:spare. Every soldier had 60 roends. _ There were
go mules; with 2000 rounds each ; and there were
.5000 in. the carts. On the 16th of August they had
14 days bread; and by contract they ought to have
had three days fresh meat. This contract was riot
thltilled to the meet ; but the supply was regular.
They had wine in every village.- Tney depended on
their ships for bread, and therefore marched along
the coast. He thought the number of the French
about 16,000 men, as stated in his narrative, but
Laborde said .they were not that number. The first
time he met with any opposition from the enemy
was on the 17th. His proceedings till the victory at
Vimtera were detailed in his dispatches. He had no ,
detailed account of the positions of the enemy at
Torres Vedras. His intentions were to have turned
the positions of the enemy at Torres Vedras. The
army was supplied with bread from the fleet. They
had nine days bread on the 21st. The ammunition
speht in the action had been replaeed, and was in as
complete a state as at Calmas. The enemy spent
the evening o: 'the 21st in forming again, and en-
deavouring to regain Torres Vedras. The French
army had 1200 cavalry, at the battle of Vimiera ; the
British only 210, besides 260 Pot tuguese cavalry.
Lord MOIRA then observed, that he hoped that
whatever questiolis the Court might feel it their
duty to put, they would be received in that spirit
in which they were didated—that of unfeigned re-
sped for every Officer connected with the service in
question. Their object was to perform their duty
to their Sovereign and the country, which was to
be done by attaining the ends of substantial justice.
With that view alone, he wished to put a few' ques-
tions to Sir Aithur Wellesley.: At the same time,
if there werepity that Sir Arthur wished to decline
ans,vering, he would exercise 'his discretion, and no
inference against him would be draWn from his re-
fusal. There could be no imputation *against Sir. A.
Wellesley for having undertaken operations which
were within the letter of his instructions. He had,
however, given an opinion of his own for undertak-
ing the service so strongly recommended by the Junta
of Gallicia. One 'could readily believe, that the
Junta of Gallicia would be 'extremely desirous to
drive the French out of Portugal, as fiom the situa-
tion of that province. they must have been -appre-
hensive of an' attack, in case army could be made
from -the side- of Poi tugal, and have had less dread
of an attack from another quarter, than some other
parts of Spain. As there was one province particu-
larly open to the enemy on the side of France, be
wished to ask a tew questions relative to the com-
munications which Sir Arthur might have had with
the different Authorities- in that country.
The following are the Questions and Answers
Q. Had Sir A. Wellesley any communication with
the Authorities at St. Anderor, or any part of Biscay,
as to any advantage which the common cause might
have derived from his landing in Spain When
at Corunna I 'received a letter from Sir Thomas
Dyer, who was employed by his Alajesty:s 14ovtrn-,
mem to eptruntinicate wiih the Junta of Oviedo, in
Which be informed me, that he had held oet a Pros-,
pect to that Junta that tli troops under my
eoin-
maud would be landed in p.sturias; and he also

yoepliened that • this earnoinniection had been re-
ceived by The 'Junta with satisfaction--and he rather
`urged metis disembark it St. Andero, that we might
attack the,Fteneh cerps which at that time waswasla
prissession or that city. I communicated nn
snbie6t.'?nleng.others„ with the Junta of Gallicial.
who, I copceived, were interested in the position °.
the .French corps at St. Andero, and was Informed
.
-by them, that '
.measures -had been. adopted aviiictl
_they thought likely "to be Pfre6toat, to „drive thd
French from St. Andero,WhiCh measurer
w afterwarhat
proved successful. .1 had no communicatwn, , .41
ever withatiy constituted authority 'of tiSca3r,.tv'mci,
province .was not. as J.understOOd, at that tirt:e
insurrection .against the French.
you any communication with the gP-
nish Generals, or any suggestion _froth the Junt'q
respeetipg the occupation of the passes ef-the PP'
renees, with a view to the preventing reinforcements
from being received by the enemy I had nn
communications on that subjeet
Whether. the inference is accurate, that yet-2
thonght your
,own army suffiCiently strong ao dt:ice
the French from Lisbon and the forts of the Tagt-'''
when you- judged it advisable that Sir Harry 41.1r-
tard should proceed to cut off the retreat of the ene"
.
?—A.
I did 'consider the force.that marched'
under my command frOm Layas Sufficieot, to drive
*he French from Lisbon and the forts of the Tagns.•
Q. What alteration, and-whether any took place
in thatOpinion,on the arrival' of Sir John Moore
A. No alteration whatever, in respeEt to the 0611 i,
-capacity of the army -from its strength, to ebts'
possession of laisbon and the forts of theTazua•
Q.. You have stated that yor,could have stipPlm,
the Portuguese troops with provisions, had it 13c`,, been for the defealive arrangement of the Corona's".
sariat ; did yon think. that the country could ha'
afforded sufficient provisions, provided due tne:7l'l
had been naed to render ahe resources available
A. The country afforded us no provisions, 0-cePi
beef and wine, and. I believe, from the time When'
landed in Portugal to the time when I left the arreP.
on the Qoth of September, the troops
,only'received
biscuit from the-ships. As I stated in my narrative,
a small quantity of bread bad been left behind 1";
the French at —.--, and a small quantity at
mas; and besides this,;; fter I had giveri
tom mand, when the arntyarrived- in the neigh.lNor
hood of TorreiVedrat;'a small quantity of flOnr
got, which liac also taeen left by.the French. 4Ylli
I commanded the army, this bread supplied ll
consumption of the Portuguese &seeps, about 10i
in number, who were with, Me; and afterwards
believe the . (stticers of the army 'teceiir.eicl
baked bread from the Qoußnissariat ; but I an
opinion,
opinion, upon the whole; that no exertion c° T..
Iceiettnetjoarndthtaitiear:xypianaMtioyn
'have drawn from Portugal a supply of breed stn.
arrangement and distribution of the oopfimniyon,.as stated ti
supplies
as to the collthion of them. •
Vora Notit'a—l.wonkl wish to put another vino
Lion, arising• out of the. answer to the last.. .?ef
What extent; your opinion.; could wine and bed na
have been fernished.by the country?—A. -win!
letter, ssenta.stobit;ici,
beef might. have been' fornished almost at evert ytt
y 0
h%ge occupied bythe army; sufficient for one 9.T
days consumption. But I have seen the Wing
hausted in more than one instance when the am
halted more than one or two days in the sanle.a.vjra t
and I believe that the'Commiseary-12iners'
able to supply the troops with wine. M. IPngh.77
commanded the army there was no want °li •" bar
beef; and'as the carts a the country were' drawnA or
bullocks, the draft cattle might been aa'''' -
food to the troops ; but without resorting to. n');
source, it would very soon be found that the
of cattle for slaughter was nOtSufficient in P°l;titi
for a large army ; and, in point of fat, be''°l-I'eee
quitted'the army, a very-large proportion, 1 u i.‘„er;a';
More than half, was fed on salt provisions,
believe the whole army has since been so fO. A 'ajas
cattle on which the army under my cominan",
fed, supplied under contract by Mr. ArCher and d,
Walsh, all came from the North of •Vohugat,
with the exception of ten or twelve head recei.,v7„di
Leiria, and' the same .number at Calmas, I 01°..,;ta
recolle& that the country which was the Mop et,'t --
seat of our operations ever supplied the arral• sir
Q. The Portuguese General, in his letter to that
Hew Dalrymple of the 2d of September, states'
the fort of Leiria had been on the point qt s9rArelli
dering to him. Is that assertion correct
never heard of it'. It could not have occur";
_while I had the command; as the fortugueseP-:
neral was never near the situation mentioned' a-cia
Q. Did you understand that' the Junta of CO' in
was averse to the landing of the British faCe•Gc
Spain ?—A.. I did understand that the Junta of ,
licia was out desirous of having the co-operation 0' 1.01
British army with their own troops, under Ger!! at
Blake. They were not averse to our landi*if
Spain, as they consented to my landing in Vig°' arw
found itconvenient, and indeed recommended 10„ia
to land there, as Vigo was the only port which c'-'-asa
afford prote6tion to our transports on the West ctooad
of the Peninsula, except. the Tagus. I also uncle,.rhs,aay
that th`e Junta of Seville and the persons in oa"'„-,,rat
in Andalusia had no very great. desire that teener.
Spencer's corps should co-operate with Cast° ra,
although they, were desirous that General Spenceil,
corps should latad at Port St. Mary's, and evento'",:i
cover General Castanos's retreat, in case be
have been defeated by Dupont. I wish to esPtca_
that this opinion was formed from my 'comintu'i
ticin With the Junta of Gallicia, as far as resV2::j
them ; and in these communications they expre'
the most anxious desire that we should carry 011 alit
operations in Portugal, and drive the French out
that kingdom, and that, afterwards the British s'o'y
should be the point of connection bet WCCII the north
ern and aouthern.annies of Spain.
Q. Did you' receive communications of 51.111i?.11
wishes from the Spanish Generals,
and from 1
a-4a-
%
sons in authority in the other parts of. Spain •
None.
ate'
Q. Was the expulsion of the French-fi-orn.P.
7‘;
.
gal essential to the interests of Spin and, ir
a;
the
British troops had landed in Spain, without proc,n a
ing to Portugal, might not Junot' have einl)l°)
coil=
considerable portion of the troops ;under
mand- against Spain i—A. I considered. the er:aPtest
sion of- the French from Portugal as of the g
consequence to the Spanish nation ; and there C‘i
he no doubt whatever, that, if the
the employment of the disposable force of
ich
lain in Portugal had been removed, the Frei .
apprehensil,,:_f

i

iteral might have moved a large proportion of his
atria into Spain.
Here the examination of Sir Arthur closed.
Capr. 14Aecoem, of his Majesty's, Ship Donegal,
Was then called. He stated that he had been ern-
Pl°Yed on the coast of Portugal during the whole of
the
wrinths of August and September last, in super-
Intending the landing of the British areny employed
'n thitt country.
• Q• State in general if there were any difficulties
in landing the troops, horses, ammunition, &c. and
in what those difficulties consisted ?—A. There al-
waY3 is very great difficulty in landing on the
mast of Portugal during those months, owing. to
tale 'wen which causes a considerable surf on the
beacli• Mondet-io is a river, but at the mouth of
4, tnere is a bar, on which theie.generally is a very
considerable surf. During the time I was on the
Lending
there- were only four oi- five days on which a
"nchog could be made without great ditficulty in corn-
111°U boatS, but on-our coming to Mondego, we got
a larg.! supply of boats of the country, which facili-
tated, the landing very much. I know of no other
Pbloaactes between ween Oporto and the Rock of Lisbon where
the country ceuld have been procured for
landwg troops,
e4cept at Terasira, though I was not
there. I believe also boats could be procured, and
a lauding tolerably safely made at Peniche, but I
or
the enemy.
seen it. Besides, it was in the possession
-Ft, ,e enemy. I also und:rsand, that under the
1„11141gs there is shelter from the west winds for a
ir°rl vessec's, but that the anchorage is not good.—
I) dego River will admit. vessels not drawing more
,fi'4ll 1 1 feet water, to the number of about twenty-
: W". During the whole time we were engaged
ere, e constantly experienced-great difficulty and
d''
hft`inger, the troops, &c. both at Mondego and at
.u.tassera.
b Q• Could the boats obtained at Mondego have
eto carried to the southward?—A. They would
have been of no use any where else, because the
troops Could not land on the open beach.
i
ba:4' Between Mondego and the Tagus are there any
r, /,s d or Proteed parts of the beach in which troops
'°llld land in boisterous weather ?—A. No. The
whole
is exposed to the westerly winds, and
the whole beach is very bad. The wind is generally
northerly, but towards the end of August it often
comes rOund to the south-west, as we experienced.
, .. Sir A. WELLESLEY—Do you recollect one night
in the month of August, of being obliged td put to
tea from the Roads of Massera—Of making a signal
to the transports to follow—That many anchors were
lost on that occasion ; and how many were actually
lost to the best of your recolledion ?—A. 04 the
,
toth of August the wind came to the South-west.
; weibed and made a signal to the transports to do
~,() al5O. :they consisted of about 230 or 240:
essels, of which about the one half succeeded in
Bettina under weigh, while the others were obliged
t„..,0 .retuatn at anchor. Next day the wind,shifted.
"1 our return to Massera Roads, I found that about
axlY had lost their anchors in attempting to weigh,
• totl(II teuie no doubt, had the. fresh breeze increased
lost a connnon gale, many of them would have been
ar), they being then mostly reduced to their last
deut)t, and the bottom being very rough. Most of
the tegsels in which Sir John Moore's , troops were
eci,rarlced were t adly found, and by no means cal-
c-liers 34'110 beat off a lee-shore. They were mostly
b„(,46•.D° You recollect of any boats being swamped
14 uhl surf at Massera; particularly some flat-bot-
eel' boats : and how many wore lost entirely ?-•--
~ 'the boats, in landing at Massera, were almost
i,,,°llstaotly tilled In going in by the surf. About
b-en.tY. boats were entirely lost, end several men, I
leftlelye seven, were drowned. The day before I
fend -.43'sera, being the 30th of. August, I could not
Servicefor, although the carpenters were constantly
"“Ployed all night.
Sir HEW DALISYMPPE declared, that he had no •
Inestions to Put to the witness.
aSit A. WELLESLEY reserved to himself to call on
tato Malcolm again, if he should deem it neces-
"}r, and his examination closed for the present.
, ". H. DALRYMPLE then proceeded to read the
paper Paper given into the Court as the narrative of his
1 'l3ceedings from the time of his being appointed
°!,,,he chief command of the British army in Portugal.
pethis command had been conferred on him, as ap-
ared
from Lord Castlereagh's official letter, in
innsequence of the high approbation which the zeal
and Judgment displayed by him in forwarding the
cause of the Spaniards was held by the Government
of this Country. The instruEtions which he received
Ntvere before
-the Court, and although from Dupont
. • ,avin,g in the'rnenn tirr-been beat, the views of his
44°1" talent must liffie-Undergone some charge, - he
tei,,n,ot feel, himself entitled ever to throw out of his
anti That to 'cut off' so large a body of French troops,
titer t - prevent them from retreating into Spain,
011.1., to, take part against the Spanish nation, was an
Ject neveito be lost sight of by him. On the 13th
hi;\v. embarked, and afterwards had a communication
klith Lt>rd Colling Wood. Joseph Buonaparte, he
thieve had retreated from Madrid, bat observing that
b:l„l3..was a voluntary retreat, it- was by no means ap-
V-7't that it was not made for the purpose of of-
i :111T'O operalinns, and to take
.advantage of the die-
d,ied slate of the Spanish army, in consequence of
1 e defeat they had experienced at Rio Seco. On the
9th
-he arrived oil" the -ragas, and communicated
'with Sir Charles Cotton. Sir Charles, he found,
r''ale a veq• mccleiate estimate of the French force.
He Feeind to think that "bill?" serious
was to
be
e, xPetetl ;in - Portugal. He (Sir H. Dalrymple),
,'owei'errconlessed, that he viewed the matter very
(1 4,FL''"eolly, and that he placed more reliance on the
intormation he had received from Lord Culling
wood, by which the French troops in Lisbon were-
esti,4lated at 20,000 men. From the motnent he
l
l'i left Lord Collingwood lie had reileaed on theline
c 2.4 condua he ought to pursue, and the result of this
deliberation had been, not by any act of his to super-
sede
-Sir A. Wellesley in a command for which be
--, seettied to have been i,pecially seledted. He saw nd
muse why he-should take on himselfan unnecessary
zsPonsibility,•by interfering with the preceedings of
• ..t.:l Officer purposely and specially seleded for the par-
ttniLit' business in hand, whom he knew to possess
.."e Confidence and special direalions of Government, -
,geni,cl Who was- by, his military knowledge and expeti-
c highly qualified for the cOmmand. Here he
...,,, felt himself called on to state an additional reason
9▪
r
,his having come to this determination. He had
rec.
eiliQd a letter (lie did not 40w if hliconid cal! it .

a private -one) from Lora Castlereagh, instructing
him in a particular manner to cultivate the confi-
dence, and at all times to profit by the advice of Sir
A. Wellesley. That he might exped much assist-
ance, equally from his prudence and temper, as
from his knowledge, courage, and experience. He
saw, therefore, the fairness as well as expediency of
leaving to him the completion of the
_plan he had so
gallantly and so successfully. commenced. On his
landing he accordingly sent his Aid du Camps to
inform Sir Arthur that he was on his way to join the
main body; but that though heshould wish to be
informed of their proceedings, it was not his inten-
tion to interfere in the management of the opera-
tions which were going on. He must here state,
that though Sir A. Wellesley had addressed to him
official accounts of his proceedings down to this pe-
riod, they . had never come to hand, and he landed
without any information . whatever on that head.
On joining the- main body on the 22d, he found
them on the ground they had occupied t heday 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
subjed. He found the state of matters to be some-
thing.similar to what he had expected ; 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 addi-
tional less of the enemy in killed, wounded, he
could not forbear from seeing, that these advantages
were at least counterbalanced by the inferiority of the.
British cavalry.- In the evening General Kellerman
arrived. At this time he (Sir H. Dalrymple) knew
not hingof the number and efficiency of the enemy,or
of our own troops; and all the informer ion he acquired
on the subject f was derived from Sir A. Wellesley in
the observations ,made by him in the course of the
discuSsion of the articles of the Preliminary Treaty,
which immediately took place. The narrative pro-
ceeels to enter into the details of the Preliminary.
Convention, which it explains and vindicates in the
particular circumstances-of the contest. The words
" private property," General Kellerman pledged
himself at the time should be understood in their
strict meaning, and should on no account be under-
stood to extend to tnerchandize. The endurance of
the armistice it had been his (Sir H. Dalrymple's) ob-
ject to extent beyond the time fixed for it, to Live
time, for• the landing of Sir J. Moore's division. As
to the Russian Fleet, he did not believe that General
Kellerman was at liberty to give it up ; but the whole..
of the seamen did not amount to 6000. Had he (Sir
H.Dalryiuple) however,been in possession helet ter
from the Government of this Country, stating, that
the property brought into Portugal by the. French
army, or the Russian property found in the Tagus,
might be proper objects of capture by the British
army forces, 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. He presumed,
however, that on being considered and compared
with other Conventions, the words in which the
article was conceived would be found by no means
unprecedented, or deserving of the broad . construe,
tion they had received. The same words would be
found, in similar circumstances, in the Convention
of Alexandria. If these articles, however, had not
been agreed to, the British army must have main-
tained their position till the morrow, or have ad-
vanced with not more titan sixteen thousand men.—.
In either case the disadvantages must have been great,
as the horrors of famine might have been super-.
added' to•those of war. Being once embarked in so
dangerous a service, active movement was the only.
thing for the British forces. The artillery horses,
however, were not sufficient for this purpose. Many
of them were old, many of them laMe and blind,
and even the remainder were not altogether fit for
such a service. In addition to this, if it had been re-
solved on to attack the enemy, the British army must
have been confined to a position near the sea,' to
ensure the junction of Sir John Moore. Early
on the 23d he was visited by a. Portuguese Of-
ficer, whose strongest objedion was to the 6th'
article. The obvious answer, however, was that
the Portuguese Govenrnent was then no where to
be found. The Portugtiese General, however, was
asked to state his observations in writing, but this
he failed to -do. On the 24th; Colonel Murray
returned from the Admiral with the article relative
to the Russian fleet, and was Afterwards sent with it
teethe French General, with a letter, seen and ap-
proved of by Sir H. Burrard and Sir A. Wellesley.
He (Sir H. Dalrymple) seeing the appearance of
guile in the condo& of the French.General-in-Chief,
sent for Generals Burrard and Wellesley to consult
them on the subjed, and Sir A. Wellesley had •the
goodness to frame a letter of farther instru&ions to
Colonel Murray on the subje&. On the 2eth, Cap-
tain Dalrymple returned with the terms of the Con-
vention. Of some of the articles he disapproved,
and assembled all the Major-Generals' he could foe
their advice, on the occasion. The Armistice ex-
pired the next morning, so that he must either have
ratified it, or recommenced hostilities. With the
approbation Of Sir H. Btirrard, Sir A. Wellesley, Sir
J. Moore; General Hope, &c. he did eatify the Con-
vention, and the terms of it were immediately com-
municated to the Portuguese Generals. • , The narra-
tive 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 increased even
by the addition of Sir J. Moore's corps, in conse-
quence of which, and of the danger of the surf, it
had been determined that these troops should be
landed gradually,aed that each division should bring
along with it provisions sufficient for its own
,use.--
The determination of Sir H. Dalrymple }Kit to su-
persede Sir A. Wellesley' in the command, after the
vidoty which he had gained, he communicated to
the other :dajor-Generals who were senior to him,
and they received it in a manner which did them
honour. An application had beep made by Admi-
ral Siniavin to him (Sir H. D.) to know if the• Port
of Lisbon was to be considered as neutral in respell
to the Russian fleet ; but to this he had stated that
he could give no answer. If 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
Saint Julien could not have been taken without

battering cannon :—As long as they remained in
possession of the strong position of • Almeidl no
ship of ours -could approach the town :—A bat-
tle must have been tOup,ht almost in the City
-of Lisbon itself, and the view of the eampaizti which

he had originally formed would at the last have been
found to be the just one. The co-operation of the
British force with the Spanish army Was, and had
always been, the main and. important objet—the
other was only preliminary to it : and it was of the
utmost momeut to afford the Spaniards the earliest
possible proof of the serious views we entertained-of
co-operating with them in the most effeanal man-
tier. Without entering into a calculation of the
time which might have been occupied in reducing
the forts on the Tagus, it was enough to say, that
the heavy rains were approaching, when no match-
ing into Spain could take place. He again wished
that the Convention might be compared with other
Conventions, and in particular with that concluded
at Egypt, which it would be' found to resemble, not
only in its terms, but in its nature and qualities in
other respeas, particularly in the dangers of the
service, and in the state of the army. He sub-
mitted, therefore, that the Convention might be
vindicated. There were parts of it which he did
not willingly agree to, but these were on points
of secondary and minor importance; and he did
not think himself warranted, when the main obje&
was to be gained, to reject it because other points
comparatively trifling, could not also be obtained. It
must be kept in view either that he must have agreed
to the Convention as it stood, or that the next morn-
ing hostilities most have been resumed under tl:,e
disadvantages he had mentioned, and others whiCh
might have presented themselves. The Convention,
as expressly understood by the French General, did
not authorise'the removal of any other but the pri-
vate property of the French themselves. This was
a right of which it could hardly be supposed the Por-
tuguese could have expected to deprive them; nor
yet could they be V 6 arranced in expecting that British
valour, . however great, and however successful,
should have been able to restore them again the
lull effeas of eight months of French plunder.--:-
Without laying stress on the threat of General Kel-
lerman, that if the Convention was rejected Lisbon
should be destroyed, it could hardly he supposed that
the late of that city should be indifferent to its own
inhabitants or to the Portuguese nation in general.
What might have been its situation it hostilities had
been renewed, it was difficult to say. The Conven-
tion had at lease been the means of ridding it of the
presence of its invaders. The Address or Thanks
to Sir H. Dalrymple, which had been read to the
Court, from. the Chief Magistrate of Lisbon, in his
own name, and that of the inhabitants, proved that,
notwithstanding the protest formerly taken by him
against certain articles in the C6nvention, he had
on refleetion come to see things in a different and
more favourable light, and to estimate more truly
the mercies which, through the means of the Bri-
tish army, they enjoyed. - That he had resolved,
that nothing but private property belonging to the
French should be carried off, was made apparent
when General Kellerman, called on him (Sir Hew
Dalrymple) on this subject, and regretted, that a
person over whom he had no controut was resolved
to carry off- some valuable property. Sir Hew's an-
swer then was, that if any person from the General
in Chief downwards presumed to attempt to carry
off what was not strictly private property, he should
esteem them to have violated ahe Treaty, and as
such should order them to be detained as prisonerS,of
war. The Addresses from the Bishop of Oporto,
arid other bodies, also proved that they did not view
the Convention in the light in which it bad been
treated by many persons in this country. A ltteir
from General Castaoos also shewed the necessity of
a speedy co-operation' in Spain, which, from his in-
structions, he (Sir H. Dalrymple) was led to sup-
pose one of the chief, or rather main object of his
command ; and a letter from Lord W. Bentinck,
who had since that period been in Madrid, shewed
that the Convention .was thought adviseable, h./cause
it bad rendered the army in Portugal disposable for
this purpose.
Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY hoped the Court would
indulge hint with permission to-morrow to- give in
a statement explanatory of the proceedings before
the arrival of Sir H. Burrard and Sir H. Dal-
rymple.
The letter from Lord W. Bentinck and Sir H.
'Dalrymple was read, and the Court adjourned.