Star.
London, England, 1809-01-06 00:00:00

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6.
EPIPHANY.--No business done at the Stock Excbang*.
PRICE OF STOCKS YESTERDAY.
Bank Stock 23 India Stock 136*
3 per C. Red. Ann. 66 64 66 India Bonds, ss. 7s. pr.
s per Cent, Cons. shut Excheq. Bills, ss. 7s. pr.
4 per Cent. 8 11 Consolb, for acc. 671 6?
5 per Cent. Navy, abut

French Papers, containing the 17th, 18th, and 19th
Bulletins of the French Army in Spain, were re-
ceived in town this afternoon. They were sent over
in the same manner as the former. By a Decree,
dated the 4th of December, from the Imperial Camp
at Madrid, BONAPARTE has dismissed the Council of
Castile as being " eowards, and unworthy of being
the Magistrates of a brave and generous Nation."
Those Members, however, who did not sign the de-
liberation of the 11th of August last, are exempted
from this Decree.

Annexed to the Bulletins are several Imperial de-
crees and Intercepted Correspondence, which we
shall give to-morrow.—One Decree grants a general
pardon to all except a few persons.—The Inquisition
is abolished—and the number of Convents reduced to
one-third—feudal rights are also abolished. The
whole concludes with a Proclamation, signed, on the
7th, BONAPARTE. In it he says, ‘, I shall soon drive
the English from the Peninsula." And he concludes
with the following remarkable expression :
" But if all my efforts be useless, and you do not
merit my confidence, it will only remain for me to
treat you as conquered Provinces, and to place my
Brother on another Throne—l will then place the
Crown of Spain on my own head, and I pill cause
It to be respected by the wicked, for Goa has given
me strength and inclination •o surmount all obstacles.
•' Given at our Imperial Camp at Madrid, Dec. 7.
(Signed) 66 NAPOLEON."

From the Comma Diaries which we have received
to the 30th ult. it appears that the various rumours
respecting Madrid, which had been published in that
place, rested on no authority whatever. They now say
,6 respecting Madrid we absolutely know nothing,"..—
and we now suspect that the first authentic accounts
which they wi►l receive of the fate of the Capital, will
be from the English Newspapers.—They now men-
tion as a rumour, but only as such, that Madrid has
surrendered..

Barcelona is reported in these papers to have sue-
rendered to the Spaniards and English, after a most
destructive bombardment. This intelligence being
far from improbable, will, we hope, be soon confirm.
ed —This is almost the only novelty presented in
these papers, but several private letters have been re-
ceived from our troops in Spain, which contain parti-
culars deserving to be made generally known.
One of these letters from an officer of high rank,
dated from the Plains of Leon, between Benevente and
Astorga, Dec. 18, states that the armies of Generals
Manz and BAIRD had that day effected a junction,
and formed such an arrangement with the corps of
the Marquis DE LA ROMANA, that the three armies
might be considered as forming one united body, con-
siisting of 66,000 men, the British being 40,000, and
the Spanish 26,000. The whole of this formidable
foree, we are rejoiced to add, were in excellent health
and high spirits, burning with ardour in the glorious
cause, and impatient to meet in combat the common
enemy. The motive of Sir T.Ol IN MOORE for effecting
this concentration of the allied forces, was doubdeas
for the two-fold purpose of protecting the Marquis
ROMANA, and of being prepared to repel any attack
that BONAPARTE may meditate against him from
Madrid in the quarter of Zamora. He considered
well the probability of an additional force being sent in
aid of the projected opera ti on s of Marshal SOULT against
Gallicia and Leon ; and in the event of his being too
powerfully menaced, he has, by the present dispo-
sition of his force, provided the means of a safe re-
treat into the chain of mountains which divides Leon
from Gallicia. By taking possession of Senabria, he
may, with a part of his force, bid deF.ance to the ut-
most efforts of the enemy in that direction, whilst Sir
DAVID BAIRD and the Marquis ROMANA will be fully
adequate to the defence of the other Passes. We
know that the instructions of Sir JOHN MOORE are to
give all possible aid to the cause of our Ally, and to
miss no opportunity of attacking the enemy, when-
ever it can be done without risking the destruction of
the brave army confided to his abledirection. Should
an action therefore take place, every thing that pru-
dence and courage can warrant us in expecting, may
reasonably be expected from so happy an union of all
the best qualities of a Commander, and the known
gallantry and intrepidity of a British army.
The imprimatur on the Press has been one of the
chief causes of the torpor which prevails. Nothing is.
perm;tted to be published without being previously
submitted to a Censor ; and the consequence is, that
nobody gives credit to what is inserted in the Jour.
nals. The Clergy too, from whose influence so much
was expected, have not exerted themselves. Wary
and balancing, they have shaunk from the con-
flict, and have thought that by abstaining from
showing themselves in the cause, they shall avoid the
perceentik a of BONAPARTE, if he should prevail.
—The consequence of this has been, that the Peasants
not being spoken to by their Priests, ;tor their minds
instructed by the Press, have hitherto regarded the

4