The Sun.
London, England, 1809-07-19 00:00:00

PRIVATE LETTERS.

" SEVILLE, JUNE 21.—The French • have passed
the bridge at Almarez, and our advanced guard is at
Xarenzejo. The army of Sebastiani is at Ocana ;
and the advanced guard of our army of La Mancha
'is at Madridegos ; but as the enemy lay waste and
ravage the country they pass through, our troops
Cannot pursue them so rapidly as they wish."
" LISBON, JUNE 29.—1 am told that the army
of Carolina have already, established their head-quar-
ters at Manzanares ; that their advanced guard has
proceeded to Villatta,. and .that the enemy was, at
ConSuegid. This I hear from Seville, of the 21st
instant.

The ruffians under Vigor passed the Tagus
at Alrnarez ; and on the 23d a tiring of cannon and
Musquetry proceeded from the other side of the
river, which was answered by our van-guard, com-
manded by Zayas, un this side. This firing, which
‘vis very brisk, had undoubtedly no other objea
'than to favour the retreat of their gram by keeping
back our troops. On the 24th, the enemy left the
Tagus, having destroyed the pontons. made use of,
and our troops began to pass over in their boats.
You see, therefore, that our soldiers are close at their
heels ; and it would not be surprising if they were
at this mometjt in Talavera de la Rey na.
,‘ We learn (by way of Seville) from Madrid,
through letters of the lath instant, that a great agi-
tation.prevailed among the French there ; that they
had; made a demand of pouci mules, and were 'taking
.sway the valuables from the Retiro.
" The English are already, on their march from
Abrantes, and yesterday the head-quarters were to
be removed. It appears that they were to dire&
their course towards Coria and Placencia. Three
thousand more English have just arrived here, ,-and
vie are looking for others."

LETTSE OF GENERAL BLAKE TO THE SECRETARY OF

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

" Head-quarters, Caspe, May 31, tBog.
11 MosT 11XCELLENT SIR--I communicated to

you, on the 21 st instant, the evacuation of Alcaniz

. -
by the enernv, and their retreat to Hijar, Puebla de
liijar, and Samper. In the latter place they left a
pretty strong detachment. On the 21St 1 SCIA D.
Casiwero Loy, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Spanish
. Hussars, with 80 men of his regiment, and 200
volunteers of Valencia, to reconnoitre the positions
of the enemy. He not only effe&ed his purpose,
but attached the detachment 'stationed at Samper,
forced them to abandon their quarters ar.d baggage,
and'ietreat to Puebla de Hijar.
" Meanwhile the enemy were joined by the
troops which they expeded• from Zaragoza. to tlics-

• • . .
Tiber of 106 d nal:. Haviug thus
foree off' 10,600 inf.intrY, 800 cavalry, and twelve
pieces of Cannon; they marched forwards to attack
-us. informed of their movements, We prepared to
giVe.thetn A proper reception.
1 "The plain of Alcanit, which has Witnessed thiS
glorious action, is surrounded with mountains of
unequal heights, and at various distances from the
position which our troops occupied. At aboUt two
musket shots from the city rise some hills accessible
to cavalry, and divided in the centre by the road to
the capital which sinks with a gentle gradation till
-it reaches the plain. On these hills the main body
of our army was placed; its flanks, supported by two
batteries, which, as well as some others in the
centre, proteCted effeaually the whole extent of our

line.
The part of the plain which lay on our right is
the lowest, and forms a kind of fen, the more dan-
gerous, as it is -covered with trees. The heights
which surround the orchard terminate at a short dis-
tance from this fen, and are commanded by a single
hill, on 'the top of which stands .an hermitage, that
serves as a key to the road to Caspe, which runs in
that direction. In order to prevent the enemy frosts
availing themselvs of the advantages which this
position offered, it was occupied by 2000 men, com-
posed of the battalionsipf Daroca,. the reserve of
Arragon, the sharp-shooters of Murcia, and the 2d
division of the Volunteers of Arragon, under the
command of Fieid-Marshal D. Juan Carlos Areizaga.
" The vanguard were posted on one of the heights
in front of our position, and consisted of a battalion
of Ferdinand VII.I hree hundred men of the battalion
of Volunteers of Valencia, two companies of grena-
diers of the regiment of America, and two others of
that of Trailer, under the orders of Lieut.-Colonel
D. Pedro Texada.
" In the olive grounds on our left were placed
our light troops, to prevent our being surrounded,
and the cavalry, commanded by the Brigadier D.
Miguel Ibarrola, took post in advance of our position
on the road to Zaragoza.
" At six in the morning the enemy shewed them-
selves on the heights in our front, and directed a
warm fire against our advanced troops, which fell
back towards the corps to which they belonged.—
The vanguard, supported by the cavalry and several
pieces of flying artillery, not being able to resist the
superior numbeis of the enemy, retreated, the in-
fantry to the Hermitage, and the cavalry, under the
proteaton .of our batteries, which began to fire on
the enemy with no small effea.
" It was necessary, to take possession of the Her-
mitage, and rout.the corps by whom it was defend-
ed, in order to attack our position. The enemy,
therefore, advanced over the neighbouring heights
towards the post guarded by A.reizaga ; but their
fire of musketry and artillery was courageously sup-
ported
,and returned by our infantry, ,to the assist.-
ance of which an obus had been sent. Yet the ene-
my did not desist from their attempt, but by an in-
cessant fire from ,the whole of their line, covered
the march of a close column of 000 or 1000 grena-
diers, who, with their bayonets fixed, and horrid
yells.,,tushed to the foot of the hill on which the
Hermitage stood; but their impetuosity yielded to
the firmness of our troops, and they soon slimed
their backs to our warriors.
" Perceiving that the enemy did not seem to have
given up his intention of taking the post of the Her-
mitage, I ordered Colonel D. Martin De Manchaca

to attack /their centre, in order to form a diversion
in favour of our right. Notwithstanding this move-
ment, they renewed their attack on the Hermitage,
and met with a similar repulse. I had previously
ordered the cavalry to repair from the Toad of Zara.:
goza to that of Caspe, to join Areizaga, but no
sooner did it issue from the plain than it received a
discharge from the French infantry, 'by which Bri-
gadier D. Miguel Ibarrola was wounded. Their ca-
valry then charged ours with great advantage, and
compelled it to abandon' its position. Unable to
force our right, the enemy suddenly attacked Man-
cliaca's advanced column. As it was merely intend-
ed to make a diversion, and whs not in a situation in
which it could defend itself long, it fell back upon
the main army, with the exception of the first light
battalion of Zaragoza, which effeaed its rootreat to
the Hermitage. This success induced the enemy to
attempt passing through our centre. In order to
-execute this bold design, they formed themselves in
our front, and under the protection of a tremendous
fire of musketry and 'artillery, sent a column of 2000
men by the road of Zaragoza, which passed through
the middle of 'our position. In its course) this co-
lumn routed every thing before it—neither the fire
of our infantry, nor the quickly repeated discharges
ot our artillery, were able to check its progress. Re-
solutely scorning every danger, it rushed impetuous-
ly forward to take pyssession of our centre batteries,
and bad not fortunately the officers by whom they'
were served preserved the most astonishing cool-
ness, and reserved their fire until the enemy almost
touched the mouth of our cannons, the French had
perhaps then succeeded to break our line. The fire
of musketry of a battalion ot th 6 Ist and 2d regi-
ments of Valencia, and one of ►hat of America,
placed on the left .ot our centre, contributed greatly
to its security. In the frenzy of his attack the ene-
my almost succeeded in surrounding one of our bat-
teries ; butthose who had penetrated so far, perished
by the fire'of our troops, and chiefly that ut the vo-
lunteers of Valencia. •
"Suddenly the column destined to break through
Our centre direCted its march towards the town, and
depriving us of every hope of retreat, compelled
Our troops to disperse themselVes. Yet the un-
daunted resistance which the enemy experienced in
his attack ultimately frustrated the success of his
audacious plan, and the French troops, who boasted
of victory whenever they met ours, at last retired in
disorder, leaving many dead on the spot which they
had so lately passed in the 'confidence of victory
.---
Our troops followed the French, who halted ott the
heights where they had appeared at the beginning of
the action. After seven hours firing; both armies re-
mained in sight of each other, divided only by the
pleasant vale of Alcaniz, till night, of which the
enemy availed himself to retreat, leaving a great
quantity of spoils behind him. Five hundred French
corpses have been found on the field of battle, Bncl
by the reports of peasants who watched-the retreat
of the enemy, it is calculated that his loss in killed
and wounded cannothe less than 2000 Wen.
JgAQUIN 13LAK.E."