Star.
London, England, 1812-11-21 00:00:00

TO TAR BDITAR OP VW P.

en --I enclose an extract from a manuscript, en.
titled" The Wanderings of a British Sailor in the
Mediterranean, during the years 1810, 1811, and
"—lt will shew the opinion) one who had
polar demonstration, to judge from, had formed of
the Spaniard nearly two years ago. Sorry lam
that the censure of apathy is still merited by that na-
tion, It is in vain and unfair to calculate any thing
upon Spanish aid, either in the reverses or successes
of the great WELLINGTON, It will also shew the
unexampled barbarities practised by the French in
that unhappy country, from which we may form some
judgment of that lender mercy, which trod over gasp-
ing
thousands to the'ruins of Moscow, and exclaims,
tinder the retrograde gloom of adversity—A, Spare
the Russians !" - Happy am I to see Russia stand-
ing forth as the destined avenger of the human race;
end happy shall I be to see you shortly announce—.
the termination of the destroyer's career.
I am, Sir, your sincere friend, BERTRAII.
Waasbeck Vale.

to The Medas Islands are a cluster of rocks without
verdure or water upon them, situated half a mile
from the cape which forms the western arm of the
Bard 'Resas, on the coast of Catalonia. They were
defended by four pieces of cannon, mounted on an
old ink strong tower. Colonel Green, and 400 Spa-
niards, were landed bn the principal island, and with
the assistance of the marines and seamen of the squa-
dron, a battery was erected, which soon compelled
the French Commandant to surrender. This place
was of importance only as a link of the chain of tele-
graphic communication from Barcelona : we there-
lore blew up the tower, and embarked the troops--
There was some danger in this little enterprize, as
the enemy detached 400 men from Figtieras, who,
during the attack, kept up a well-directed fire of shut
and shells from the cape—though illy men fell, it
gave me an opportunity of observing the demeanour
of the Patriots—some of them seemed indifferent to
the shells bursting amongst us, but the major part
were so alarmed as to be of no use i 0 removing the
ertillery, and only anxious to get away themselves.
e The squadron proceeded to Orensa with the
troops, where the Spanish General affected to be
much offended by our evacuating the Medas, and de-
termined to repossess them. Captain Thomas offered
him the assistance of the squadron, although convin-
ced of the inutility of the scheme. Accordingly, on
the following day, we put .500 patriots, field-pieces,
and implements fin constructing a battery on shore
at the large island, The conduct of this Don Quixote
of a General was quite at variance with hes poles-
:ions, and ill calculated to promote the cause in which
lie was engaged : he shewed every disposition to
quarrel with his allies, and his followers, living upon
our country, openly avowed their hatted of us.
te Two of the cannon, Ulown up in the tower of the
Medas, fell. in the water, Captain Stewart, of the
Blossom, succeeded in raising them ;—they were
spoiled, bent and split, but being ancient pieces, Cap-
tain Stewart had a desire to preserve them. The
Spanish General sent him an order, in King Ferdi-
nand's name, to desist, and there, no doubt, they :t-
-rain to this day, of use to nobody.
1". Our boats attacked the French in a village on
the main land, where they were entrenched, and
droVe them from the place. A vessel, laden with
knit anti live stock, became a prize ; she was towed
to the island, and the Commodore, (Thomas, of the
Undaunted frigate) intended giving her to the Spa-
niards—however, there was no occasion for this ex-
ercise of generosity—,ran: error:or:le, Don Quixote laid
his claim open the vessel—coolly tibet ving, ." she
was King Ferdinand's right, having been captured in
a Spanish port I" Even this insult was passed over
unnoticed, and to put it out of this man's power to
cove/ us into a quarrel, we left his part of the coast.
" it is a familiar and true saying—‘, convince a
man 'that you have obliged him, and he will ever
after be your enemy." The Spanish officers were
jealous of our's-413e men hated us as heretics—aye,
bated us, for they repeatedly told us so in our own
ships. Whatever policy there may be in Gazetting
the cordiality that subsists between the two nations,
I affirm, that as far as my obseryation extended, it
isuntrue, and I have been fighting amongst them mote
than twelve months.—Yes, this mighty nation, strug-
tling for Freedom, of which I have read—l have seen
bigots fighting for an Inquisition, slaves to supersti-
tion, envy, and pride—despisers and contemners of
the country that upholds them—Facts speak for
themselves—a fool can judge from them.
" At this eeriocl, %%nen we mete protecting their ,
towns, aiding them by money, at ms, tee. &c. their
teal dispositi( ns were shewn in many little acts of,
meanness and revenge.— At Orensa the Quixotic Ge-
neral claimed from Captain Stewart an Englishman,
alledging that lie was a deserter from his troops—the
boy came hem England in the Blossom. Laptain,
Stewart was not of a temper to put up with duect
insult, this the haughty bianittrd sc.on found, and I
apologized for his wilful mistake.—The Commander I
of his Majesty's sloop Bustard• was invited to an en-
tettaiun,tut, at a ti,wn he had long deTended from
/etuniing to his boat, he e as stabbed in
the breast, luckily not of setlicient depth to endanger
his life. The assassin was never enquired alter, nor
did the ncbk Patriots tlrltsS the least concern at a
ciremnstarce seat irut to have roused even national
feeling. 1 could 'elate many more instances, but to
`rt unprejudiced n.ind, the preceding are molt than
!efficient. The .general feeling in Spain is against
its—the general interest leads them to disguise it.—
The Eng4ll Are only hided— the French are alke,rred!
" In spite of the bi:v..t.• which the pen of a General
r;,n throw round the name of a Spanish Patriot, he is
still, in the nor name-sued language cf truth, an in-
dolent, eowardly, vindictive being : his
,eevrage has
been so often and highly extolled, that it is dangerous
to question it. Of individual instances of cum age,
I have st itnessed many, collective instances—not
one. No vniTerral spirit ever animated their ranks—
*lmre we could exclaim, "their sa ords are a thousand,
their bosoms are one !" A frenzied vindictive spirit
in exercising the jut talionis, never can be mistaken for
true coinage—yet it is the only thing like it, I ever
• discovered in the Spanish Patriot.
" These remarks, so widely different from what
are daily made to the public, may startle—they are
stubborn truths that cannot be refuted. I will yield
tia no man is loyalty, in love to my country, in re-
spect for her allies--but I will never descend to Batter
either, by running in a stream, polluted with legion

Whoever memo May /*matter. . attend the *at in
Spain, I dare boldly predict that it will be achieved
Without any emideralle assistance from the Spanierds
themselves, and ill will it befal that British General,
who presumes to rely upon their aid.
Orensa, where we are new anchored, possesses a
good roadstead and watering-place. It is situated
about 20 miles eastward of Barcelona. The town is
handsome, and, in better times, had a good deal of
trade—fifty large vessels are now lying useless on
the beach. Want of society cannot be complained '
of here—with the dress of seldiers, they have put on
a soldier's freedom, and the Ladies participate in the
general emancipation. It is net a remark of levity,
when I say that we were chiefly favourites of the wo-
men. Next to my own peerless countrywomen, I
have seen none superior to the Catalonian. • Some of
our officers boasted of favours which I doubt they I
ever received. I passed many hours, in Spanish fe-
male society—l saw much to admire, and nothing to 1
condemn. I abhor that vile reputation obtained by the
failings, the tenderness of a weaker sex—let me boast
of other triumphs than those which degrade the man,
and lessen that affectionate respect I bear to every.
woman, of every nation.
" Every day brought us information of the suc-
cesses of the enemy before Tarragona, and at length
we sailed unders order to proceed to that port.
" Few scenes can be more pleasing to the eye than
those observed during a voyage along this coast—
abrupt rising hills, mouldering on whose rifted sum-
mits tremble the last remains of Moorish towers—
fertile valleys, swept by noble livers and skirted by .
lofty extended forests--convents and monasteries
looking from the clouds, now bright with the sun's
rays and now lost in the gloom et pines—gay nor.'
dern villas and towns, whose spires, decorated with
streamers, rise and disappear in such rap'd sticces-1.
as to give it the air of enehantmei;t ; add to l
these a serene and blue firmament, unsullied by even
the shadow of a cirud ; below, a smooth and trans-
parent sea, unmoved, save by the pressure of the ves•
sel's bow, across which, at intervals, the shark, albi-
core and dolphin, rustle with the rapidity of light-
ning—days of joy, scenes of delight, ever dear to me-
:Dory, in contemplating which, have I forgot all my 1,,
sort ows and poured forth praise to the GOD of nature,
who thus dressed the world in glory, for me, for me
an ungrateful murmuring being !
" We displayed our colours to the town of Matra,
and we scudded past, and as evening advanced the
heavy turrets of Barcelona appeared, from which:, the
numerous bells bidding adieu to the day, sounded
pleasant and mournful along the shore. The pier
was crowded with ladit s, whose rresence saved the
fort, on which the Gallo. Spanish fl ig fluttered to the
breeze, a broadside of ten:club n •e which we had
prepared ro leave it, en passant.
" [leak lug nearer to Tarragona we discovered his
Majesty's ship Blake, a squadron of frigates, and
more than 200 sail of polacres, settees and fishing-
boats, anchored at random on different parts of the
coast, and we were tel-graphed—" Tarragona taken
by storm."-.--We soon learnt that the sick had been
burnt in the hospital, and every person massacred t
who could not escape in the boats, and which!'
could not contain half the fugitives; hundreds were, i
immolated on the beach, drowned and ekSes in the 11
wa:er : the miseries endtired by those who iscaped,
crowded together in open vessels, without food or p
clothing, exposed to a high wind, a turbulent sea and
perilous anchorage, on an enewy's lee-shore, caused'
them to regret escaping the fate of their friends, so!
recently dismissed from every human woe, ar.d whose
lot they now envied as fortunate. Ever y attention I
was paid to those wretched beings, and a frigate had
it in charge to see them safe to Minorca.
" A division of the French troops that had occu-
pied Tarragona at this time two in the afternoon),
were advancing rapidly along the shore, pursuing the
flying Spaniards, and burning towns, villages, and
churches, as they passed. Every ship of the squadron
took a station for annoying the enemy ; clouds of
dust crested with:flame announced their approach at
many miles distance : the frigates Apollo and Volon-
taire opened a destructive fire or: their van, within
range e f grape shot, and the Blossom sloop, age ounci
before the town of Villa Nova, considerably impeded
their entrance. The enemy had mere than 4000 ca-
valry and ten field-pieces, advancing at a brisk trot,
they closed up the ranks as if on a parade-ground
wherever a vacancy appeared, by the fall of men and
horses; every few minutes a portion of them halted,
unlimbered their artillery, and gave us a few shot, ill-
directed ; the cfficers, distinct to the naked eye, on
horseback, with drawn swords, faccd the the of the
ships, the men passing zs at a review.
" I never witnessed greater firmness and soldier-1
like behaviour : would to Heaven I could say as much'
upon a nearer acquaintance. Their entrance into
Villa Nova did them credit as soldiers— their conduct
in it disgraced them as men. Tl.e churches were im-
mediately wrapped in flames and the houses quickly
followed in succession as they were plundered ; cannon
and musketry were heard going off in every street, and
against whom ? old men,wounded helpless women and
innocent children; many crawled on their hands and
knees to the beach, pursued by ruffians,dripping blood,
who shot some, beat out the brainsof others with the but-
ends of discharged pistols. I saw one woman raised by'
the hair of her head and stabbed twice in the breast,
she.clasped her child in her arms, from whence, as she
fell, the villain tore it, and hurled it into the waves,
reeking with its parent's gore. Whenever we could
fire wi theut injuring a friend we did. Calmly and
deliberately did they examine the pockets and waist-
belts of the dead, for money ; inone instance, where,
I suppose, the ornaments were too valuable to be
broken, we saw the plunderer severe the ear from the
head with a knife, and cram it into his bosom, with
more than savage rapacity—more than fabled bruta-
lity. My heart beats with a warmer glow, my pen
trembles with joy, to record—that while viewing this
through cur glasses, a shot from one of the frigates
sent to another world, a monster, whom, I would
fain hope, has not • left his fellow in this. Drums,
trumpets, cannon, and musketry, crashing of fall-
ing houses, and dying groans, cheers of drunkenness,
and execrations of blasphemous rage, were heard by'
our guard-boats issuing from the flames in which
these demons of hell seemed to revel with delight...
By eleven at night the noise decreased ; at twelve, af-
ter discharging a few shot at the desolation they had
made, laden with plunder and steep'd in, blood, these
monsters of iniquity rode off towards Barcelona.
6, Os laudiug, upwards of 180. old men and women;

young amen and children, were stretched on the
beach, mangled too shocking for description ; 13 the
:houses--the sick—the wounded and many cripples
lay murdered in their beds I several of their hands
Iwere cut to the bone, by grasping, in the struggles of
death, the swords of their mei cikss murderers. In
one house a young woman,' some months gone with
Child, lay on a couch, the bayonet had entered her
back, near the loins, and passed out below the breast,.
her ear-rings had been torn away. In a corner of the
Ichurch, where she had evidently fled for protection,
rbeautiful woman lay stabbed to the heart, with every
Mark of her person having been violated, by her side
were t young Spaniards, perhaps her brothers, her
vain defenders. But what avails it to harrow up the
feelings of the reader by such dreadful relations ;
enough has been said to arouse the indignation of the
I most passive ; he that can read these damning facts,
and not feel a j ust abhorrence for the'ryrant from whom
I they elicit, is fit only to be a slave. But this, even this,
is a minor massacre to many that have occurred in
Spain, wherever the hordes of France appear in an-
ger. This, even in Spain, is passed over in silence,
• lost in the contemplation of more gigantic atrocities,
which my countrymen in their fields of peace cannot
reach even in thought, and which rests with them-
selves never to experience in reality.
" Can we wonder that the Spaniard should think of
revenge, of bloody retaliation—no,—but I can wonder
at that supinent,ss which, in scenes like these, slum-
bers over the body of the martyred dead, and starts
•
not with the spirit of immortal hatred, one and all, by
.the side of a gallant Ally, to sweep the land of their
destroyers.
" There may be some friends to humanity, W not
to France, who miry think I have overcharged this
picture of Gallic int amy, but I solemnly assure them'
on the wsud of a lltitish seaman, theft I have not done
justice to so hideous a subject, anxious to get rid of
i horrors so shocking to humanity as soon as posssible.
1 " I have heard much amongst feather-bed warriors
of the Frenchman being a gallant and generous ene-
' my : long excerierce has taught me he has no claim
to tl.e title : insolent in conquest—mean in defeat.—
In engagements I have known his courage—
five times his prisoner I never benefit. d by his cle-
mency. I trust I speak the sentiments of thousands
—may I never hear of a Frenchman but in the Ga-
zette, or meet him unless un the field of battle."