Star.
London, England, 1809-08-22 00:00:00

PMCE SIX PEZ:L

~a~.: rrv~:t~

mefit, which took place on the Zd of F. ruaty, and in wisici: t;.
inhabitants of Sin Clotho, Puebla de Tribes; and Cuba, j,4io.d;
tho renoiw of these unfortunate men were found, and havi
collected them, they were placed near to an inscript;on wh;-•h r,—
curdelthe or this just vengeance. General Lc:I:on pans
Boned the inhabitants of Puebla de 7•t !hes, who came i body
: 4 acknowledge their rventance, and:promisiog tc cunduct them.
wive!' property for the future.

[Here follows an account of his movements, till he
gained intelligence of the position of the Marquis of
Romana's army, which was stationed between the

Gudinha.and Viana—he then proceeds.]

" In any other circumstances,l shutild have followed Rpm3na.
although to overtake him, and compel him to fight, would
wasted considerable time ; but, as I had the honour ot
your Majesty in my letter of the Stith May, I cousids red tl a►
after my retreat Loin Portugal it could not be my duty to remein
in Galicia, where moreover 1 had' rib means of supplying n.y
troops, and furnishing them with the necessaries they requited;
where there was no place (except i.errol and Comma) in *deb
I could deposit the great number of sick who followed the rile
meats, and whom I was obliged to convey on theeorses belongrog •
to tni• cavklry ; I ahio consitt.red that the English army, which •
had advanced to line° at the time of my retreat, had r:- -
turind suddenly to Prutugal, with the avowed purpose end ,
design of marching against Marshal Victor, sod proceeding lo
Madrid; and that it might easily have effected either of tirose
movements, coking for granted that they no longer appeared en
the frontiers of Gal I, anti only one corps of Poe iuguese had
joined Romana. On this supposition,lt was of the utinosi cons..
quence fur me to advance to Atmore, in order to co-operate
with the troops which are between the Deura and the Tagus, in
covering Madrid. I considered alio, that I would not fail to be
nigh a place ,wll.:re I could deposit my sick, receive succours,
and might rest hays in order to continue oper..::onsilterwards,
and act according to circumstances.—Such was nty lineation on
the :,:oth May, when I wrote to your Majesty, and I at ranged my
operations with Marshal Ney according to this plan, the 6:h cor•l.s
secs to retake Vigo, and to send a column to t)rense to commu-
nicate w ith me. If elk movement had been executed, the cups
u• Rontarra, would him been much endangered; but M.aahal.
Ney wrote me from Santiago on th•t loth, that tuvrng followA
tae enemy to the bridge of .ranipayo, he tourist him entrenched
on the left bank of the Caldilas, the brolge broken, and a force of.
truth 10 to 1 2,000 Elm', of whom 3 r,r 400 b were ut the one, and
the rest peasants, tle whole under the ,eiders of Iretteral rs moo s,
•General in Chief of the army of Minho, and Generals Mort to
and Carrera ; that the Eeglislr had two ships and three l'ettes us
the bay of Vigo, whose crews were on sour, at,d Lau arged
. .

_ - -
themselves with the defence or the place, as 111}.:.wase uuh the
entrenchment which had bet n mrin.24.l on toe puha of Runua ; and
in short, that he hall not thought prrper to proceed in h:s a. ack,
or to send to Orense the column which %se nad agreed
that he was falling back upon Santiago, and stationed his
ced posts in El Padron, observing the right :molt of the ::A•,- ; tie
moreover wished to persuade me to remain at valucia, and r pre-
sented the fatal consequences which might ensue abalutin.ed it.
This proposal astonished me, and it appeare,:, to tie that Marshal
Ney aced purposely to oblige me to rennin in Gallicia, since cer-
tainly nothing could prevent him maiacuvring towards Orense,
while I advanced against Romana, atter the 'vier i:ad remated he
might have taken Ca r.ia in LA, and cut 613. his troops, ur com-
pelled him to embark precipitately, hut he acted 'entirely contrary,
and from that moment I have thought mys:ll obliged ni,se than
before to pursue my first design, and to continue the movement
we had agreed upon."

[Here again
.follow some detailed operations of
little consequence.] •
" On the 24th al/ the troops of the corps of my array formed a
junction in the eniffoess of Velala de Sanabria, where I intetid to
halt them for four or five days, in this time we shall collect pro-
visions, repair the shoes, get the horses shod, and shall again threat-
en Portugal—perhaps, I shall also send a detachment to make an
incursion towards Braganza, with a view of making a diversion,
which will not fail to producesome good eWect. I shall not there-
fire set out on my march till the 29th or et.th of this month, and
shall arrive on the Ist or eel of July at Zamora. I earnestly entreat
your Majesty to be pleased to send thither your orders, and the
supplies which i had the honour to solicit in my letter of the 30th
May. Before I finish this relation, I shall take the liberty of
making some observation; to your Majesty, relative to the present
state of Uallicia . The i'rovinccis in continual ferment; the threats
of fire and sword made use of by Rotnana, the multitude of agents
who act in his name, the number of exectitiens they make, the
inevitable devastatiors caused by the tit Lewitt met :meets of the
troops, the ruin of tee greater part ot the inhabitants, the w ,nt
iif euthurities to rej resent to your alajesty, theinilueece ot the
Aele,y, of whom there is 4 great number, and alines: ail ene-
mies—the motley which the English circulate—the poverty, of
the French Generals, who, for want 01. means, cannot fre-
e In ently pay their emissaries—all these causes contribute to aug-
ment the euniher of enemies, and to render the war in this
country very sanguinary, infinitely disagreeable, and of con-
sequence still very remote. ei long warfare must take place
before your Majesty can derive any etivottege from heece, unless
your Majesty adopts the system of tortityitig seven or eight im-
portant places, capable of containing from sto sec men each,
an hospital, and four months previsiun for the popuestion Ike
principal passes should besides be closed and guarded, so that in
future the enemy may not take advantage of them. The columns
which act in the province would thus have points of support, and
in whatever direction they moved, they would thus be eitabled to
receive supplies, and to take care of their sick ; this last conside-
ration is extremely urentr, end I ought not to conceal from our
i\lajesty that it ha; a great moral iiifluence on the soldiers, who, in
the present state of things, find themselves exposed to perish with
misery, or by the sobs of the peasantry, if they have the mistor-
tune to be wounded or attacked with the fever, being far from
a se:ure place where they mighebs taken care of.
" l think, by expending a million, Gallicia might be placed its
this state of defence, and c rtainly money could not be better em-
ployed, inasmuch as in future the member of troops which are
now requisite might be reduced. Convinced of this, I have en-
gaged with Marshal Ney for the forti'ying of Lugo, and the con-
struction of three blockhouses on the line of Villa Franca.
" The towns of Fuy, Mon tforte, Monterey, Viana, and Puebla
tie Sanabria, which may have cannot:, which have walls and rt.
ioains of fortifications, might easily be repaired, and would fully
answer this object, and it it be requisite, there are also other
ituintin, which by their sea:it:ion might contribute to the defence
without greatly augmenting the expenses. If these measures
which I consider as urgent And of safe consequence ale not adopted,
it will be necessary to send reinforcements to Marshal Ney,
though it should be merely for the sake of supplying his losses,
and of maintaining a free communication notwithstanding at pre-
sent he has a farce sufficient to oppose the troops of Romans and
Carrera united, in case they should present themselves in that
fern ; but the system of these being to harass incessantly and to
avoid a general engagenseet, it would in the course of time ex-
haust the s-rongest army, and in case of not being supported would
finally destroy it without the necessity of battles; thus iafuties
numbers would be lost without obtaining the end proposed. -1
" It is probable, that I shall not yet have an opportunity pf
speaking to your Majesty on the subject of Gallicia; for avidek
reason I have thought it my duty to avail myself of this occasion
to lay before you the observations which ray residence in this part
of your Majesty's dominions, and the knowledge I haveacquited
ot the character of itkiethabitants,have afforded me. I have there.
fore the honour of Intriatlng,your Majesty to-eicuse this digres-
sion, in consideration of the motives Which have dictated it.
".1 have hdaout to be,. .
" With the most profound respect,
Your Majesty's most bumble and obe.lient servant,
" Marshal Duke of DALMA fIA."
Puebla de Sanabria, June2sth, IEO9.
*„`" If the remains of unfortunate Spaniards, assassinated by the
Premix, were to be collected, what a bind- inscription would it
leave to posterity ! when they burn a town with+ defends itself,
how these barbarians themselves forget the ud of May.—[Note of
the Spanish liditor.l