Star.
London, England, 1811-08-19 00:00:00

NO. IT.

Tarragona, 11th June, 1511.
Stn—The small advanced work on the sea beach,
called the Francoli, was destroyed in four hours by
the batteries thrown up in the night of the 6th inst.
but its situation was such as always to have made its
tenure very uncertain, by being very much detached.
On this occasion the conduct of the Spanish troops
was particularly gallant, all the men who occupied
the Francoli, to the amount of about 145, being
either killed or wounded, and the Officer in command
. having left the fort the last person. The enemy has
since made several attempts to carry these works,
which protect the communication between the sea
and the town, but by the vigilance and bravery of
Brigadier Sasfield, who commands these defences,
they h tve been repulsed with considerable loss, and,
indoe,i, in one in,tatice, though the enemy had ral-
lied three times, he WAS corooJely defeated in his
Abject. But the very hard wQrk by day in construct-
bag works for the support of the line, which becomes
necessary in consequence of the radical defects of the
fortifications, and the constant alarms and attacks by
night, causes serious anxiety for the earlie't relicf._
-I have the honour to be, &c. (Signal) E. R. GREEN.
Matra! Sit Charles Cotton, Bart.

NO. IV.
Make • of villa Neuva, 25th June, 1511.
Sin—As Captain Adam has informed you' of the
occurrences at Tarragona, during my absence, up to
the sth June, I have only to add, that although the'
French have advanced their works to within half pis-
tol shot,of the lines of the Puerto, besides having en-
tirely destroyed the battethof Francoli, and formed
a post under the position of its ruins, they have been
beaten off with very serious loss on their part in some
desperate attempts to storm the Orleans and Saint
Joseph batteries : and that the Spaniards under Ge-
neral Sarsfield have made several successful sorties
with the few troops that could be spared for the pur-
pose. My last letter to you, dated 15th May, will
have informed you of my intention of proceeding to
Valencia and Alicant with General Doyle, and I
have now to make known to you the successful result
of our visit to those places.
Leaving Tarragona nn the 16th we reached Penis-
cola on the forenoon of the 17th, where finding the
Invincible with four empty transports bound to Car-
thagena, I directed Captain Adam to remain until
he heard further from me. From thence Gen. Doyle
wrote to General O'Donnel an account of the situa-
tion of Tarrag(na, and of my detaining Capt. Adam
at Peniscnla in readiness to receive any reinforce-
rnnts which he might be pleased to send to that gar-
Tii,ll. Upon our arrival at Murviedra we found Ge-
neral O'Donnel had already ordered the embarkation
of 2300 infantry, and 211 artillery men, &c. &c.
which, by the zeal and exertion of Captain Adam,
who received 700 of them on board the Invincible,
were sa.ely landed at Tarragona on the 22d.
Delivering to General O'Donnel '2OOO stand of
arms, accoutrements, aqd clothing, to enable him to
twin into the tield as many of the recruits already ;
Na 7.
trained as wouldsuppl7 the place of the regular sol- • Blake air Tarrarra, Jae. 29.
diets thus detached from hit. army, we proceeded to I Stn—Yesterday morning, at dawn of day the
Valencia, and landed the remainder of our cargo French opened their fire upon the town ; about half-
by which means the troops of General Villa Camps,
past five in the afternoon a breach was made in the
then,dispereed as peasantry for want of arms, were works, and the place carried by assault immediately
enabled again totake the &ld, and the corps of Mina,
afterwards. From the rapidity with which they en-
Em
pecinado completed in all the requires for active
tared, I fear they met with but little opposition; and
warfare, and the army of Aragon thus brought for,
un the Barcelona side a ttenera) panic took place.
ward 10 adt in concert with the movements sot that Of
po
hose already without the walls stripped and endea.
Valencia, Toured to swim off to the shipping, while those within
At Meant we procured as many necessary mate- were seen sliding down the face of the batteries';
vials for Tarragona as the ship would actually stow,
each party thus equally endangering their lives inure
besides eighty artillery men, and a considerahle,quan-
than they would have done by a firm resistance to
tity of powder, ball cartridge, lead, &c. &c. sent in
the Paloma Spanish corvette from Carthagena, .the enemy,
A large mass of people, some with muskets and
• company with a Spanish transport from Cadiz, deerly
tome without, then pressed forward along the ro.td,
laden with similar supplies. AN it was impossible to
suffering themselves to be fired upon by about twenty
receive these stores on board the Blake, they were con.
French,- who continued running beside them at only
veyed at my request in tbp P4lPinat with 'll9 ship un- a few yards distance. At length they were stopped
der convoy, directly to Tarragona, entirely by a volley of fire from oars small party of
After returning to Valencia, where we landed the
the enemy, who had entrenched themselves at a turn
additicvial atms, 4.c. for the Aragonese army, we
of the road, supported by a second a little higher up,
snored on to Murviedro i where. the omit of Dish:it
woo opened a masked batte:y of two field pieces. A.
• captain Adair, sth June, No. t ; Lieutenant Colorel Green, n • or
rible botchery then ensued ;and shortly afterwards
II:k Jane, No. ; CtoptiiB Ltdringtou, latlt Jane, No. ; 754,
AP, Net ¢i Par, L 40.7. the remainder of gmse poor wretches, amounting to

escort.
The exertion and ability of the French in besieg-
ing this place has never, I believe, been exceeded,
and, I trust, the brave garrison will still make a de-
fence worthy the brilliant example which has been set
them in some parts of the Peninsula. But lam sor-
ry to say the safety of the place now seems to de-
pend particularly upon the army of the Marquis of
Campo Verde; nod, I fear, the town will eventually
fall a prey to the merciless and sanguinary enemy,
who has so greatly circumscribed its means of defence.
I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed)
EDWARD CODRINGTON.