The Sun.
London, England, 1823-09-23 00:00:00

[Till TIMES.]

Letters and papers were received yesterday
from Gibraltar to the Ist inst. inclusive. Gen.
Quiroga had reached that place * from England,
and. was understood to entertain the intention of
entering Cadiz if possible. Sir R. Wilson remain-
ed at Gibraltar with similar views, as well as a
great number of Constitutional officers from
all parts of Spain, who were waiting for the
chance of any re-action in their favour. General
Zayas arrived there from Malaga on the 31st
ult., after having with difficulty escaped from
Riego, whom he described as guilty of many acts
of violence against the inhabitants of that city,
unfortunately too often needful under cases like
that in which Spain is at present placed ; but as
successful, also, in raising large supplies of money
and provisions for his troops. The abandonment
of Malaga by the Constitutional troops was not
then known. It is remarkable that the Gibraltar
letters speak of Ballaateros as still effective
against the French troops, and as the cause of
the delay in Molitor's advance on Cadiz to join
Bourdesoult. The opinion at Gibraltar seems to
be) that whether the French were compelled to
attack Cadiz, or sought to reduce the place by a
blockade, their chance of success was extremely
doubtful ; and this opinion is founded both on
the state of the supplies within the city, and the
numerical force of the French army before it.
—Until the arrival of the Duke of Angouleme
at Port St. Mary's, the French blockade had
been so lax, that a large stock of provisions had
been sent from Gibraltar, by- far the greater
part of which reached its destination. A few
vessels occasionally fell into the hands of the
French, but the value of the cargoes which en-
tered
,was quite adequate to cover that loss.
—After. the Duke's arrival, a number of gun-
boats were employed in aid of the squadron, to
intercept the small coasting vessels destined for
the supply of Catliz ; but even that additional
risk could not restrain the enterprize of the Gib-
raltar merchants, and a few vessels still, by ex-
traordinary adroitness, and under cover of the
night, were enabled to enter. What ever scarcity
of meat existed in Cadiz, there was little doubt
that the city was sufficiently supplied with corn
to endure a siege of two or thre months. The
French force before Cadiz, even supposing Molitor
to come up in time for the general attack, would
not, it was supposed, exceed 30,000 men. That
advance, however, on consulting the French
journals, which give accounts much later in date,
we fiad not to have been made : those " oracles"
have, indeed,'so studiously maintained, silence on
the subject, that Molitor is almost as much forgotten
as if his force had never formed a part of the " army
of Spain." Without Molitor, ingouleme could not
reckon on more than '20,000 effective men—a
force far too weak, supposing. common spirit and
resolution to exist within the walls, to take Cadiz
by assault. The besieged, we also learn, were in
no want ofmoney, having levied large sums from the
merchants by forced contributions. In the latter
end of August, the French were repulsed in an
attempt to take Tarifa : surely the heroic exam-
ple in a place so near, will not be thrown away
on the much stronger and to the last degree im-
portant city of Cadiz !
t The French Ultra .Tournals persist in shying that this offi-
cer is living in the disguise of a farmer's labourer in Hamp-
shire.