The Sun.
London, England, 1809-01-11 00:00:00

From
the ,NDOA‘ MIZE Z, ja'it.
P. ,

Downing-it ieit, Ail. ii), I bob. -
Dispatches, trod) Which the folloWing are 'et„ ,
traet,i, , were etithe. Bth , inst. received at the (Aida.
of Lord Y 5 *ohm enstlereagh, one of his Majesty'
PrineipatiSjteretaries of State, from Lietitenant:Ge7
neral Sir :John Moore, •K B. Commander in Chic:'`
of his Majesty's ,Forees employed in Spain :, •
, • Beriviente, DOc. 0,. rhos.
Since I hild the honour, to address you upon
the Oth, from Toro, tje Army has been almost
constantly marching through snow, and With cold
That his. been very intenst.. The weather, within
these few days,' 4tas turned to rain, which is much
more uncomfortable than the cold, and has rendered
the roads almost impaSSable. On the 21 st the army
reachechSabagun ; it was necessity to halt there; in
orderto-refifeish the men, and. on account of prOVI-
- ' Thwittformation ..E received was, that Mar'
shot Soult wire tit Saldana with about 11$3000 men;
with pots Along the river from Guarda to Carrion. '
The Army 'was ordered to march in. two I:eh:tains
at eight o'clock on the night of. the 1.311, to force
the Bridge at Carrion, and from thence proceed tri
Sald.inha. At six o'cloCk that evening, 1 received
information that cousiderablereinfora..!ments had a 6.
rived at Carrion from Palencia, and a letter from the
Marquis de lo Romana informed. me that the French
were advancing horn Madi id either to Vailipiolil et
t
Salamanca: was evident that it was tol late to
- prosecute the attempt upon Soult, that I must be
satisfied with the diver,aon I had occasioned, and
that I had no time to tose to secure my retreat.
The. • neat in ing Lieutenant-C.;,!neral Hope;
with his' own divkion,
,arld that of Lieutenant-t e-
•hem! Fraser, marched to MajorgiY. I sent Sir David
.Baird with his division to pass the River at Vittoirt;
and followed Lieutenant-;6'eneratHope on the 2.,5t h,
with the ResCrVe and the Light Brigades,- by ilk.
jorga, Valderis, to Beneverne. The Cavalry,'under
Lord Paget followed the Reseriie on the eeth ; both
the latter corps entered this place yesterday; We
continue our march on Astorga. Generals Hope
and Fraser' 'are already gone on ; Sir David Baird '
tproceeds to-morrow from Valencia ; and I shall ,
leave this with the reserve at the same time ; Lord
Paget will remain with the cavalry, to give went).-
tice of the approach of the enemy; hitherto their. in-
fantry have not come up, but they are hear, and the
cavalry is round us in great numbers'; they are
checked by .our cavalry, which has obtaine4 by
their spirit and enterprise, an ascendancy over that '
oldie French, which nothing but great superiority of
numbers tin their part will get the better of,
The diversion wade. 'Tour march on , Sahagun,
though at great risk'io air selves, has been contplete j..
it remains to be seen what advantage the Spahiares
in the 504.1111 will he able to take .of it; but the
march of the French oti Badajoz was stopped when
its advanced guard had reached Talaveira de la Berne,
and every thing 'disposeable is' now turned in theS
direalion. •

The only part of the army which has been hither-
to engaged. With the enemy, has been the cavalry;
and it is impossible, for me to say too lintel) in Eitel
.Praise. I mentioned to your Lordship in my letter
of the Aith the success Brigadier-General Stewart,.
had met with in defeating- a defaclurient of cavalry
at aneda. Since that few days have passed without
his, taking or killing different ,parties of the Freud,
generally superior in force, to those which attacked
them. On the march to Sahagun Lord Paget had
inforaratioh of six or seven hundred cavalry being
in that town. He marched on the. night of titer:low
from some villages where he was posted in tiont'Of
the enemy at Majorga'with the Tenth and Fifteenth
Hussars. The Tenth marched straight to the town,
. whilst 'Lord Pager, -with the Fifteebth endeavoured
to turn it. Lintortnnately he fdl
,in with a patrol,
ant:` of whom -00p4.1rtind gave the alarm. By this
ineanslhe Frenel,r'haa time to form on- the outside
of the town' betfOtikLord Paget got round. He itn.
mediately charged theft), beat them, and took from
one hub4ret-and,forty to-erne hundred and li:iy
soners, amongst whom were two Lieutenant WO-
. neleand eleven OtNeers, with the loss on Our part of
'six or eight men, and perWips twenty wou,',ded,
There
,have ,been taken by the.cavalry finui, four
to five hundred French, besides a considerable num-
ber killed; -Ali since we begun our march from Sa-
lamanca. On hi 3 march from Saltactin, on the 20th,
Lord Paget,.. with two squadrons of the 10th, at- •
taCked a, detachmea t of the cavalry at Majurca,.
killed twenty, and took above one hundred pinion-.
ors.- Our cavalry is very superioriti quality to.any
the French have; ttrict' the right spirit has been ;ti:
fused into them by the example and instmition of
their twa leaders, Lord Paget-and Brigadier-General
Siewurt.,

Astorga, Dec. 31, otos.
I arlived here yesterday. Major-General Fraser,
with his division, will be at Vida Franca this (by,
and will proceed on to Lngo.. Lieutenant-General
Hope,
~with his division, stopped yesterday' two
leagues from this, and proceeds this morning, I'o
lowed by Sir David Baird. The two flank
.brigatiA
go by th..).road of, Polder:id:l. I shall tollow„ with
the reserve and cavalry, to Villa Franca either this
night or to-morrow morning, according as I hear the
approach of the French. The morning I inarched
froin I3enevente, seven sqtiadrons of Buonaparte's
Guards passed the river at a ford above the bridge:
They were attacked by. Brigadier General Stewart,
tit the head of the pipets of the 18th and ad (ler-
mals Light „Oritgooni, and driven across the ford,
Their Colonel, a Gneral of Division? Lefebvre, was
taken, together with about seventy Otheers anti
men,
Ott,
The atria'. *ia..ratt. well contented. The numbers
with whit h Brigadier-General Stewart attatted.v.eio
inferior to the French, it is the corps of the greate:4
character in their army; but the superiority 01. the
British was, I ani told, very cnnspicuons. 1 er;closv,
for your Lordshiv's s. LisfactiOn, Lord paget'S report
of it,

. " SIR,' Stnevente, De:. 29, 1838,
I haVe the honour to inform you, that lit'.,ollt nine
o'clock this morning I received a report that the ene•
iny's caValry‘tvas iti,`kbe ao of crossing the river at
the ford neaVil4 6r.ftlg , I immediately sent dhwn
the piquets of "the,h,ig i ,:iutider Lieutenant-Colonel
Otway,, of the lath. , avirig left orders that the
cavalry should repair to their alarm posts, I went
It
forward to reconnoitre, aod tound totir No.; Lill, et'
Imperial Guard fnrmed ani skirmishing with the
pitioeu and other cantry in the ad of passing. I