Star.
London, England, 1823-09-10 00:00:00

FROM THE TIMES.

Matagorda is the single point of the Trocadero, whence, even
with bombs of the greatest power, any shells (for shot is out of
the question) can be thrown into the nearest quarter of Cadiz.
The distance from hhtagorda to the head of the town is 4,100
yards—two miles and a half; to the market-place of Cadiz,
4,400 yards. Souris overgrown mortars were cast in the hope
of being able to terrify—injure the garrison they could not ; and,
in spite of them, the Cortes of 1810-11.12, sat and laughed at
the labours of the besieging army, until the vicissitudes of war
in another part of Spain set the whole of Andalusia free. If,
then, Matagorda itself be not in the hands of the French army,
the Generalissimo might just as well attempt to bombard
Gibraltar as Cadiz from any other point of the Trocadero. So
far as can be judged from the dispatch, nothing more was tried
than an assault upon those works of the Constitutionalists front-
ing the lines of the besiegers, and far enough detached front
Matagorda. It may be otherwise, for anything we know ;
but such is the natural inference from the of statement, and
it is further corroborated by the small Lou ascribed to the Spa.
niards—ivhich,although the telegraph-writer would take especial
care that it should not be in any case underrated, estimates the
force in defence of the works, including killed, wounded, and
prisoners, at only 1,300 men. Had the whole peninsula of the
Trocadero fallen, it must have involved the surrender of a much
larger garrison: St. Joseph and Matagorda must, if we have
rightly construed the French telegraph, be still attacked by re-
gular approaches. Grant that they are carried—what then has
been effected towards a successful siege of Cadiz itself? Nothing
whatever, if the Cortes, the Governor, and the troops are staunch
—literally nothing will have been gained by capturing every foot
of ground which bears the name of '1 Trocadero," except the
possibility cf throwing a stray shell into Cadiz, which may burst
upon FZILDIXANIeI head. In the meantime the stormy season
approaches, the French men of war are blown away, and the
blockade of the Constitutional garrison becomes an equal farce
with the proposed bombardment.

• FROM THE CHRONICLE.

The French may therefore now state the question thus; if
the capture of the Trocadero, with a garrison of 1,500 men, cost
2,000 killed and wodnded, what will that of La Isla cost, with
a garrison of 10,000? And after the taking of La Isla, they may
make the same calculation with regard to Cadiz.
The French are now in exactly the position they held during
the Peninsular war, and beyond which they found it Impossible
to advance in more than two years and a half, notwithstanding
all their tgorts and preparations. The Trocadero is an isolated
point that gives them access to fort Matagorda, the extreme
point of a long strip of land which separates the outer from the
inner bay. This position gives them the partial command of the
intervening channels, yet it removes them further front La fib,
and does not bring them nearer Cadiz than within five mites

the bay being still between them. This eery same point, during
I •
the last war, was taken by the French, not as a basis of anp ul-
teethr operations, but as a small paint from which they might
annoy us, and affording a kind of partial occupation to an idle'
army: Even to answer this porpoie, they were obliged to send
to Seville and cast the large mortar in St...Ttnes's Park, with
the corresponding shells —an operation that took up several
months,. and after all, they were only enabled to ruin a
few private houses, without in the least intimidating the
Governor or the army, or causing any other material injury.—
The French, by the capture of the Trocadero, have only ex-
tended their line, without gaining any material advantage, ex-
cept that of knowing that their opponents are determined to de-
fend every inch of ground they hold, to the very last, in support
of their rights and the independence of their country. During
the last war, the 'frocadero was considered as a point so de-
tached, and at the same time so unimportant, that it was not
then deemed worthy of being defended, except as a temporary
check on the operations of the enemy.