The Sun.
London, England, 1810-04-03 00:00:00

NAVAL NEWS:

PORTSMOUTH, APRIL 2.!—Catne
_in this day his
,nr? e wah about 15 sail of_trans-

Ports, from' the NlTe•t
AtriVed the Indus, WELTDRN ; Sovereign, CAMP.
"‘ ; Sir 11,i1 [lir,- Bosley, Hookß ; Phoenix,
RANISDEN; • Upton 'Castle,:- ADAMS, and . Diana,
MARSHALL) fronuthe_Downs, forindia.
Also arrived his Majesty's ship Trian, with a
e°, ti uy uf out o. and hound froha the Downs ; Success,
TAN con, from the Westward, foiNewfoundland ;
'17,(1 the Nancy, BIGREV) from .Senegal, last from
Guernsey.
Sailed his Majestir's ship Port Mahon, on .a
cruize;- and liecruit, of 18' VHS; Capt. SAYER) with
a few Sall of transports, for Lisbon. .
Went out of Harbour this-day.his Majesty's ships
81. -George:and Minotaur, :to. Spithead ;' also the
PRINGLE, for .Quebec; and the Sarah, STA+
lizas, for Gibraltar.

FALMOUTH, MA,RcH 3l.—The American brig
-Prince Madoc, from Norfolk, was detained off this
P'rt by the Jubilee privateer, and,sent for Fowey.

DEAL, Aran. 2.—Sailed his Majesty's ship Hero,
for North Yarmouth.

PAPERS

RELATIVE TO SPAIN AND PORTUGAt.

4"rnAcT FROM GENERAL CUESTA TO M. DE CORNEL,

DATED HEAD-QUARTERS, NONASTERIB, MAY
1809. • '

t. " I have received to-day a very polite and attenr
answe r from Sir A. Wellesley; dated Villa
franca, the 29th ult. by which he appears deter-
h4'ned to march with nearly the whole of Otis force
",g-'hlst M. Soult, at Oporto, consisting of about
;0,000 infantry and 4000 cavalry (for which place
le was already on his march),' besides the Portu-
6nese army, amounting to something less:
This operation completed,' he has great hopes
cf- making the French retire from thence; and.
ec'uning afterwards with his troops towards Elves,
aa in concert with me; and drive the enemy
.ront Estremadura. By this I sere that he, had only
1" view the driving the French from Portugal to-
`4'erds the Minho, by which operation we should
go ai litile or nothing ; for Soult would return and
is
himself with the forces which, he has in
and subject still, more that kingdom,
without the peasantry or the Marquis of Romana
being suffici-c.nt to hinder it.
It appers to ,be that the obj ec t of the English
"eneral should to surround the French inDpor-
-1:), or place himself between that city and the Minho,
to hinder such a retreat, considering the superiOrity
°,f the allies. By this position they. would prevent
a'so the arrival of succours which Soult may receive
irons Gallicia. I know not whether the observations
14. hich ot purpose making on this subject will. arrive
In time, or if they do, whether they will have..any
effect. The system of the British appears to be
tever to expose their troops, owing to which they
t)eer. gain decisive actiens by land, and sacrifice
those in continued, retreats and precautions, as hap- .
Pened to General Moore, from not having attacked
tile enemy in time at Sahagutrand Placencia, before
they were reinforced. He speaks again of a camp
t't observation between Elvas and Badajoz, com-
Posed of a small detachment from each place :..s9
that the retreat of neither could be cut off by the
enem-.
y Ido not see the utility of this, especially
for US; this stnall corps net being able either to
observe or resist the enemy.
" In like manner he saes, that Brieadier-General
Wilson has been des-ine., with t .e troops; wider .
I.ls command, to the banks of tlh Deuro, though
he thinks the britlge of Alcantara is of ieipertance
to he prtseived, to -which pint he will send a corpS
of Portuguese troops, if -ally capable of def nding it
cao be formed ; and he requests -me to give orders
at the above place fee .the admission of whatever
English or Portuguese troops- may arrive there, to
which I can seo no objettion.. He wishes" also to
Persuade me not to undertake any thing against
-Vigor, till he shall- return from his expedition to
°Porto, in which •case he repeats that bewill.cothe
down upon Elvas, and aet in concert with 'me to
(hive them out of the pr-vince." -
EXTRACT FROM MR: FIIERE TO
,SIR A. WELLESLEY,

DATED SEVILLE, JULY 3.

" There are circumstances, however, which make
the detachment of a -part 'of the force at present
united under the order of General Cuesta exceed-
ingly 'desirable, under another point of view,
-" It is a matter of general st,spicion, and has been
50 for some time past, that General Cnesta medi-
tates some serious-plan of vengeance, in resentment
of, the affronts and disgusts which he experienced
about half a, year ago on the part of the Central
Junta. /he disperskon and ruin of Gen. Blake's
army has removed one grgat obstacle to such a pro-
_lea on his part, and has' increased the alarm of
those who apprehend it.
" The army -of. General Venegas,; it is thought,
;Light be cienended upon ; but it is mach inferior
in number, and the obvious remedy seems to be, to
detach from his army under the command of some
Chief, who might acquire- sufficient reputation and
confidence among the troops put under his corn-
mancr, to enable him to stand out against any vio-
lent • measure' on the part. of the Commander in
, Chief; I hate reason to apprehend that many of
the Junta, who would not venture 'to propose such
a measure, - which, 'proceeding from them in the
first instance, would 'appear obviously to have origi-
nated in political and not military views, would ba
very
.glad to have some plan of the kind which I
mentioned (viz. a separate force detached from the
main bOdy), suggested to- them by you as a military
plan, and that in -that case they woad venture to
give .ordcrs for its eXecution.-
" General Venegas himself does not appear pos-
-s.'eci, of that military reputation, or cornmaniiihg
which Would be necessary-to counteipoisb