The Sun.
London, England, 1809-01-31 00:00:00

OPER?i.riONS
..IAI SPA. 4.

The or the retreat, from the raUiditTor
froitt the badness of the roads, from the frequent
want of provisions, 'anoffrom the incletnency Ol the
ft weather, -wzts extrediely.. harassing!, As far, howz.
ever.;. as Villa-Vraoda,' the. troops kept very welltogether. From Villa-Viatica to Lugo, nearly se-
venteen leagues (a Icaguts; is f:sti)4?.r more than four
English miles)'the army tt may be said,:
almost without halting; at !oast they halted' only
fO- a few hours; the cavalry vere only ;tWenty-six
}snits in'etTeaing it, out of which time they were
twenty-two hours on horseback.-,This oticasioned
great straggling in the infantry„ And 'the loss of an
immense number of holies to he cavalry. The ene-
my's cavalry constantly hung- on the rear-guaid, 'and
made prisoners great number; or the stragglers. In
some cases, they either shot or s2.bred them. When-
ever the' army halted to rest, a skirmish generally
ensued, which of course added groally to the fa-
tigues Of the rear-guard, and indeted the in'
general; for a skirmish was generally soon followed
by a.movetnent''of the whole. On arriving-at Ltigo,
Sir.Joha Moore found' his army in such a cortiplete
state of disorganization, that a halt was absolutely
necessary ; a brisk skirmish having taken --place the
day after his arrival there, Sir Jan coneledetl it was
the' fmerunner of an attack on the fallowing-.dab
and on the 7th of January he took up a ' position
with his army, in which on the Bth he expeaed the
enemy tbgive him battle. But it is supposed, from
t their not feeling themselves strong enongh, (al-
though' they had a considerable nu/noel-of itilantry
np, oft was easily seen; the armies being posted or;
opposite hills in sight of each other) they declined it.
On the night, therefore, of the same day, the army
again commenced their retreat; and from hence to
Corunna the straggling became excesSive.
With respea to the force of the enemy following
the army, great differences 'of opinion were enter-
tained. Some thought it but inconsiderable, whilst
others, who knew the French better than to sup-
pose they would trusfa small corps in a mountainous
country, thought otherwise. The statements of
the prisoners were, that two corps d'armee, under
Soult and Junot, advanced from. Carrion and Sal-
danha, whilst Ney, With his corps, accompanied by
Napoleon in person, advanced from Madrid. Some
asserted, there Was a fourth corps following Junot.
A corps d'armee consists of from twenty to twenty-
five thousand men. Some are even stronger. Nay's
wacthirty, ofwhich 10,000 were of the Imperial
Guard. Their cavalry, it was supposed, amounted
to nearly ten thousand. Nay's corps, however, was
thought not to have advanced further than Bette-
vente, and to have detached the force at present
marching into Portugal. So that• the number alto-
gether following the British was probably from 30
to 35,000 men; the British army did not amotnit
to 20 or 22,000 effeaive and fit.for duty, "even at
Astorga. On the retreat, they were considerably
reduced, as before stated; and Major-General Alien,
with 4000 men, had been detached by °reuse, to
cover the flank of the army in retreating, and em-
bark et Vigo. So that on the arrival of tl;e British
at. Corunna the .effeaive force could not have
ceeded 12 or 13,000 men. No SUppori whatever
could possibly he expected' from the Martinis Da
Romana and his army, or rather armed mob ;—he
passed the British rear-guard at Astorgo, with, it
was said, upwards of 20,000 pen, and snatched
upon Orense.

The day following that on which the army
reached Commie, a sharp skirmish took place at the
bridge of Bargo, where the Ruserve was posted on-
j der Major-General the, HOnottrable E. Paget. On
the same evening he reared and took up a position
About two miles in.front of Corunna, to which Ge-
Ineral Sir ll.ivid Baird's 'and General Hope's clivisions
advanced. General Frazer, with his division, was
i posted to protect the right of the whole, and rather
in the rear ; and the reserve the 'next day Were
quartered in cottages in
.the rear of. General Sir Da-
vid Baird and General Hope. The cavalry and ar-
t tillery had commenced embarking, 'leaving a few
11 men only for piquet.duty, and two brigades.olguns.
On the 15th a general attack on the' British ow-
I posts took place, probably for the sake of drawing
I out the
iarmy and observing their position and force,
which might be easily done, as the heights occupied
by the enemy immediately commanded those on
which the English were. .1n consdquence of this
effair a general attack was expected early on the fol-
lowing day ; but.no movements were visible in the
enemy's lines, to, the great.surprise of. all. , The at-
leek was the more to be expeded, because an Eng. 7
halt woman arrived in the town, who had been' a
prisoner with the French - army. Site brought a •
message, she said, from General Junot to Sir. John
Moore„ to say that he was arrived with the army. '
frord'Portitgal: About one Q'clock a general bustle
was perceived, and shortly after the out-frosts were
forced, and a heavy discharge of artillery commenc-
ed: Every one ittunediatelysaw that 4 generafat-
tack was it hand, and the whole army.was accord-
ingly
drawn out a whilst the French artillery were
.answered by the British, Cut not with such • effeel
as might. have been wished for ; owing in the first
place to the commanding position of the French : in
the second to.. the principal part of the British, guns
having been ernbarked and their places having been
supplied by Spanish, for which, through some mis-
take, there was a Witi4 of proper, ammunitionjlie,
British intantry, however, were regardless of *this'
superiority of the enemy, Whose attack was chiefly , ,
diretled against Sir David Boirtri division, where was-.
the ‘veak.part of,the British line, and against whiChl
• they advanced in three columns, two of which:Were;
:Very strong. To these were opposed the 4th, with,
42d, mit, and 13 Ist regiments, and the Guards.—•
Nothing could exceed their gallantry in r,-.! i%,!!
and 'repelling the attack:: The enemy were iioini
driven Irvin, the hill occupied by the British, up
which they had its part advanced; and were tolloWcd
half way
,up that occupied by 'themselves, when,
theit,guna were posted; at whichlhe 50111 and a :..zd
nimediately 'dashed, and which were saved only by
being withdrawn. • ''''' '''',.• ' .

. A tillage at the foot of a hill, lid! of French
fatitry, iras threes tinietint:lcked by tliQ Orb, supi
ported by the Ottird3,' and at lengib'Cal'ritd with
hlitrirnse daUghter to the and' nut without
a iu'is to the sUth of two Majors and threo Lionte,
nants, With flatly an hundred nsdn' 'aiid'iie-
VQPI ()dice's and a considerable number of tm ii
wounded. On the right cif this village, the 52d
and rise corps had been mugged, and bad attQal,4

being very stiougiy poeed, had n ,
e‘efeine;
folleeeed the etititY titi the- hill.
irr
tt 1e;
Ft
than by a canuoeade.
however, re-4 )4th toot posted there, feeling the
French had Occepied
sideraGle—folee-, ganef' tiy 'lashed into with the bap.
; village, in their front in con-
onete and: dove them from Ntelit coming ore,
put aueetata.this affitir, in which tile-. "e'n,Y w,ei"
decidedly defeated in their purpose of turn,, e,ee , ti;
••e
British, right, and with a less iminiteleegreater thee
that of their opponents. The advanceet the British
remained nearly .a mile in front of the position they
had oectipied previous toehe attack—ea fee't whit 4
must speak foreitsellein spite of eny lying-essertieu
ehat may be made iteltetureßelleties. ,
This is:said, because In the etst Bulletin,. ten
'Men tidy of the chasseues of the Ituperiel. Guard
ere said to have beet' taken at Beeeverite, *lice
it i 3 a facli. that therteWere upwards of seeenty
that corovenieie prisoners.. In these, Bolletios
else settet,eleet the French cavalry of 4uo oeie,
were oppbsed,eo iOOO British. Will (.11NNal
febvre,:iAittWoiinn.tuded, and who is now at Bea
say this ?.• If so, why did he pay the highest pi isseee
complimeete to the British cavalry? Why dirt he
sty, " On part era lecu'oapje seeeteseeie vetee
tic' ea .thwleterre?" Did General Durecnel, wit
the Officers of the 'eliasseuio of the imperid Gulrd,
report this ? If so, whyedid they, atter tee attei
alto, pay the British high .compiieuees, and ere:.
'! *ins n'ations pas acrotit,:::?ilis -
goes comme t'OriS ?" All this Wit 4 not, note, ary, e
there been the disparity of nteneers sweet (ter ,t
could refle4 nos ereclie en .200G.Mvn tP• 41Q-it 40.
The real feet is, that the •Frencli 'Weep froin i 0 iioe,
and that they, were opposed by the; Bette!) piettersi
consisting unit' of eleelteat the uttnust, C4O,
first, not above 130 i that on the Aunt, of come:,
tare regiment turned oute.bet not a ,single .titan
cepting those on piquet, and some few. of ehe :id
Germans, ever drew a sword. The French .Ottieori
themselves know, and admitted all this ; end
./In
naparre trust have known it ; for be arrived ttcolk
after the enemy re-passed the river. But he itent:
forward his faveurite chasseurseo wake aconp c:q re
les 474 lois ; they were defeated, and he was pigtied,
and in order to dissemble this he has not hesitetod
to disgrace hi:melt:4 asserting that which keceW.
to
,be directly contrary to the faete The steries el
General Lefebvre being taken as stated in the Butpe
letins are false; he was taken on the field by a. pri-
vote of the ette undone of the loth hussars. Theis
discovered hint by his two orderly trumpeters. But
where Buonaparte eontradies himself, it is hardly
necessary to eontradi4 him. From the speeimene
here prodeced, the general veracity of these Bele
letins maybe estimated:
Of the other Officers killed, Neut. Colgeel
M`Keneitefell; in the atfair of the lethe Lieut. Co-
lonel Napier efehe
.gad, Majors 51.1101,504'0
Napier of "the 50th, on . the 16th. The briged'es,
particularly engaged, Were thoie el Major Genereis.
Lord William Bentintk, Leith, Morminehant, and
\Verde; and part of the reserve commanded ey. Mae
jor General the Hon. E. Paget. Of these the brigede
of,Lbrd Bentitick suffered Mose
The whole army, withehe exception of Major
General Hill's brigade, and General 'Berestord's.,,
embarked orethe night of the 16th, those leered
into Corunna. On the 17th, the French Tin,ukt
possession of the heights which. commanded the
inner harbour, commenced about the middle of the
,day a cannonade on our shipping, which occeeieoed
their cutting their cables:and getting meter weigh in
come confusion, and; with the loss, of four or five
transports that got on shore but from on board of
which the troops were removed. the whole
the men of war also weighed, with the exception of I
the Barfieur, ,I.Vbielt re-
mained at, anchor, and near: which the Reseledielle
Captain, Burhon, brought up, and during the eight:
the. remainder of the British troops embarked, prloT
cipally onboard these Ships, leaving nova matt
hind.