The Sun.
London, England, 1811-07-30 00:00:00

wt:th
who had been made prisoners, with. 7800 men; ut
whom 400 were OfEcers,.who have been condUCled
to k'inoce,.- The General sent for me, and in 4-sre-
sence of -the principld Officers of his army, openly.
told me, that I -tos the cause of all the horrors his
had conimitted in Tarragona, because I had
defended myself beyo..d the limits prescribed by the
laws of war ;'and that these laws awitorised him to
punish me even "t_ii3li,death, (Or nothAviogdemand.
ed capitnlition as suon as the breach was prac-
ticable.; that on entering by assault, he Nei a right
to .put every thing to-fire and sword ; and that, by
con,cuucuce, the besieged ought to have hung
out she white flag, as soon as the breach was
opened.

I:replied, that, it it was true, that the laws of
war preserined,.that if the assailant eliter, lie may
deliver up a town anti its inhabitants to plunder,
dames, and the sword ; and that they in come.:
(pence indicate, that the nnaut.nt when the assault
is about to take place is the time io capitulate';
these same laws, however, do no. prohibit the pr.,
rison to defend itself, and end,avour to repel the
asslilams;; that I had resisted, because 1 Lorca
sufficient to repel his, %%Ilicil 1koul(1 doubtless have
Cu the case had my dispositions been obeyed in
the way that 1 eu dervd them ; that, besides, l ex-
eCted succors on the day tUlluwing, with from
Cattipnverde, and Input !he sea, &c. ; that having
resisted until it o breach was practicahlti, I should
have pa,,ed hat a coward, had 1 not (hied to defend
it ; And,. in shun, that no taw forbad me to- repel'
the assaults.

" Ge,oal Sucher, nitiviticed by the powerful
reason, which 1 gave liar, tree:, d me at last, a,
well as r!o3 ol her Gentmil anti Pri,ate Officers,
wiar all the distiottion which we had merited by our
relistrinee,'

" II e garrison behaved hetoically in the de.
fence up lo the mo.uent of the assault it then
shewed 7,oole.weakness, the soldier gate way and
was itviwidated. The Otticer,,, On the Contrary,.
always behaied perfectly wail, and, sabre in hand,
made the greatest etibriS to keep the soldiers to their
duty, and io collect them in' order: that they plight
resist and ottli,k the French, who were iiiirsnmg
and euttitig them d 0,4 uin the streets, But their
terior increased every momeol, and they frt them-
selves be sabred even by, u., without even then re-
solving to teeoltunence the combat.

" Every thing has conspired against this poor gar-
rison. Campoverde, on leaving it ht..iself,
Inked to come speedly to its relief' and deli'4rattee,
and never did so, though tie daily renewed his pte-
prises, as may be seen from a great 'lumber of Jet-
tern Whicli I have preset ved, and of w liiclt 1 send
copies subjoined. The kingdom of Valencia stint
to the aid of the place, General Miranda, with hdi-
vision of the troops or thet kingdom, who landed at
Tarragona,'and the following ‘tay re-embal and
was to join the ariny.ot Campever!,e. An English
division made its appearance on the 2.6! h. Colonel
Skerret, who commonded it, came on slo.re tuconter
with me. On the 2.7111 the English engineers came
to reconnoitre the limit of attack; and, convinced
that ihe place was iocap,b.e of resistance, they re-
turned to their ships ; so that they all kept tdooi Wool
the place; though -they Caine to relieve it. This
.abandonment on the part of those who came in order
to save it was the worst of ad :it ode such an
impre,sion on the spirits of the soldiers, that they
bcgatt to foresee ;hat they were; lest ; flirty welt!
cast &twit; they only continued their resistance iu
conscqueoce' of toy continual exhortations, because
saw toy coolness, aud the confidence which 1
‘,
felt, that if they executed my orders the 'French'
would never-riled anrentrance. These reasonings
were only of Weight tor a few hours; the idea ,of
seeing themselves abandoned soon laid hold of their
minds, and. tiompletelv subdued them.
'" The English Commandant came on the even-
ing of-the 2Gdi, and asked ter© what 1 wished be
should do kvith his troops ; I replied, that It lie
would' disembark; and enter the place, he should
be received will joy, and treated as he deserved;
that he had only to "clioose the point which he
wislo to 'defend, arid. that I EillUtGa immediatoy
consent 'to it,,

If the Marquis of
,Carnpoverde had not pro-
mised to come to our relief, w iihout •1,-peeping his
promise; it General hlilanda had not chew's
liuu-
,selt in the.place with his division, only to appear
and disappear, like a flash of lightning it tied Eng-
lish division had never come to sight ; it the gart.t-
,son,rit) short,i.had not been told every day aiid hour
of its last extremity, that it was about to De relieved ;
convinced, then, that.it had to depend only on its
own strength, it would have dune a great deal
more ; but this assemblage of circuinstalice3, .so
good acid so exCell(...nt in atpearance, but tuost per-
uicious in reality, because they rested on nu plan,
good or bad, discouraged the virrison, and have
boett the calm of that fatality, by which it, lost
all the merit which it had acquired up to ,the mo-
ment of assiuh.

"?great number of Officers fled from Tarragona
to avoid the hardships and the danger, some with-
out permission, others, soliciting it upon pietrAts
that Were far froth` honourable, others feigning
•othera, in Short, committing ads ot base-
ness to conceal their pusillanimity, and that not
only merit no distintlion; but ought to be: cashiered,
tlierWiSe they will still have.the impudence to ap.
it with the decorations, and say
.that they were
at 'the siege.
The gre3ter part of the corps were command-
ed`by captains, front the want of the'Commatidants
who had departed. These Captains ought to be
Colonels, and those who have gone oil, and have
been amusing themselves at Villanueva and else-
wheie, should be dismissed V the service ; otherwise
justice: will not bo done, and it is necessary that
Imi:ice should he done.

"As to myself, I have 'never asked any thing
acid I wish nnthing else at preseut but to bq eX
changel if po,Jsible. Lanxioasly wish to re.enter
the tilt ; and in the Wean time I hope .that my
whois at Majorca, will receive a part of,. my
pay, a thing, however, which .1 should not ask, if
trey property were not in the power of the enemy,
" Betore the of the place, I wrote and de-
chired olien'.y, that, upon the system ou which ore.
talons were carried on, or rather, to speak- wore
properly, trieclitated, the fortress, the garrison, and
the army, would infallibly he lost. The Superior
A•mt:i of the priticip tiny can inform you
,pf this, be.
GdUli: i Ai way 3 t09k4,;:v0..t0 acquaint them :with what