The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-02-21 00:00:00

ARMY OF THE SOUTH.

.General Sante occupied with his corps of observa-
tion the frontien of Murcia. His advanced guard,
on the'l2th o.tDec:Puthed a strong party on the
camiaLerce4ccupied by two itmrrgent regiments.
After a brig firing, they took to flight, and were
.pursued beyond ToiWa, losing a considerable num-
ber of men. General Lallemand has penetrated, on
his side, into Murcia, by Veas and Zegura. He has
defeated all dre parties of insurgents which he met
with. On *the,lsth, of Dec. he directed his march
upon Morasettakiltaravara, and briskly- pursued
a division of the ette,my, which hastily retired upoa
Alicant : he tonk. a number of prisoners, and was
joined by several deserter,. Continual rains and
violent tempests..'had inundated the country about'
Tarifa and St. Roche, so that the Marshal Deice of I
Belluno had been -obliged to delay the investment of
Tarifa. The troops of Gen. Barrels took a posi-
tion behind St.-Reche. However, on the 15th of
Dec. the bad Weather having appeared to cea!4e, the.
Items began tb move to surround Tarifa. • Bal. ,
Jasterosp;rnistakl4 ,the,iatentiqu of this moven/gals-I.i
cibus out of his. camp, and presented himself at
Puerto de Ajen, where he found a battalion Of`
the Bth Regiment of the Ltne, which received Mee,
vigorously, and gave time to ,General Barrois to
come up with the 43d of the line, and a battalion ofi
the 7th-of the Grand Duchy of The insur..l
gents were in their turn attacked so brisklyi.-tkit
they were completely routed ; their loss was .6601111 e
derable in killed and wounded. Ballasteroi, 1131
at the head of his advanced guard, found the high..
road occupied by our' cavalry, which charged him
briskly : he owed his escape entirely to the swiftaoall.
of his horse, and with. much difficulty reached ohis
camp at the head of the fugitives.
On the 20th of December, General Leval form
the investment of Tarifa, in which were shut up
1500 English and 3000 Spaniards. On the 21st the
English attempted a general sortie. but were repuls-
ed • they renewed their attack on the 22d, and se:
fered considerable loss.- The lfith regiment of in-
fantry conducted itself with distinction ; it had an
Officer and two voltigeurs killed, and seven wounded,
On the 23d the breach was opened at the distance of
one hundred and twenty toites from the place. The
besieging artillery, consisaleg of severaL pieces of at
large calibre, bad arrived, though it .had been ne.
cessary, for its passage, to open a road over the de,
clivity of a rock, exposed to the fire of two frigate*
and several English gun-boats ; but nothing' could;
cheek the ardour of the troops, though they had alsar.
to coptend with all the inclevnencies of the season.---,
On the 4,9 th the ke of the battery in breech com-

r

tererietoffrechted h
a effected,
having
r
h ice.
ampepnecaedr
e,dainl
rad
cotnica b thel
eti;thal in
da I:lrieeacuh was
I fused to capitulate, it .was attempted by two cen
i /mulles oT voltigeurs ' • but it had been neglected to
sound a muddy ditch, which covered the frontattack
I,
and the continual rains had so moistened the ground
that it was impossible to surmount the obstacle, and
the troops retired in good order. It was resolved re
I enlarge the breach, and the new battery which had
1 beea.constructed promised boom to render it perfectly
!practicable; but the rains having ,continued iu
lastonishing abundance, the roads had entirely disap.
peered, and the convey auce of provisions was become
. impossible, it was uecessary
,to retire beyond the
torrents, in order to approach the reeeoe of 4,4,,,
sistence and procere provisions, of which there wet
lan absolute failure. General Hill quitted for a nio.
merit the frontiers of Portugal to produce a diversion,
'by marching upon Merida. Captain Neveu, of the
. 88th regimeut of the line, was reconneitriug at Le
Ron, With three companies of voltigeurs. ()n the
' 27th of December, at eleven in the morning, he
was attacked at La Nava by the English advanced
guard, with 800 horse, and four pieces of cell.
I non ; he, however, maintained a good countenance,
and immediately formed the square, placing in the
centre some hussars who accompanied him; the ene.
my could. never break it, notwithstanding his supe.
riority. Ile bravely supported live charges of cavalry,
and the fire of the enemy's artillery, without waver.
ing ; and he afterwards retreated upon Merida, withe
out permitting the enemy to approach him. The
1,
i firing had been -beard at Merida, and General D,,,„,
brouski brought out the cavalry to receive Captain
; Neveu. The enemy immediately halted, and ceased
to-annoy our brave soldiers, who entered Mende
' amid the applauses of the garrison. The Intrepid
Neveu brought back with him his wounded; he lost
keety three amts.,. T :e English cavalry suffered con.
siderably by. the fire of the square, which they sere.
' ral times Eeceiied, at less than 15 paces; 15 Eug.
glish were made
.prisoners, and 2 wouhded, haring
lost . their horses. The General Commandant at
Merida; not having-sufficient forces at his disposal,
immediately determined to isvaf:mate the town, which
has no defence, with intention oi.drawing to the kit
bank of the Guadianae the .enemy's division, rein.
forced by 4,000 Spaniards from Morillu. General
Drouet hastened, in the mean time, to rally the
troops of the sth corps, cantoned in the environs,
and made dispositions to-ftril 'upon the enemy in his
turn ;' but General Hill did not think Troper to wait
for him, but contented himeeif with pushing a recoil,
noitringparty upon Almendralejo, wln.Cre some mus.
kets were fired, ile theeresumed the road to l'or,
tugal ; our troops passed Merida, 'and pursued hie,

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