The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-11-27 00:00:00

SPAIN.

I Extract of a letter from the Expedition at Alicant,
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imiandFrhetitivcehathglveeastf"kenpthuos-
. awake : they are certainly active enough. On the
7th, wo could not bear of a Frenchman within 30
Imiles; but about three in the afternoon of the Bth,
ithe Calabrese posts in front of San Vinceute were
I suddenly burst through by a strong detachment.—
These wild Calabrese behaved admirably through the
whole affair. Six hundred of the French 4th hus-
sars, and 1500 infantry, appeared in a moment 'en
the heights above San Vinceiste. The German bri-
-1 gade, in the town, turned out, threw their rilie com-
panies under cover, and, as the French cavalry ad-
vanced, gave them so steady a fire, that the infantry
appeared to have been deterred, and they remained
peaceably upon the hills.
" The cavalry, in pushing on, fell in first with a
patrol of a corporal and six men of the foreieu
troop (a troop raised by Sir J. Stuart, from the fo-
reign regiments of foot in Sicily). The corporal
without hesitation charged thp head of the column,
and when surrounded, cut his way out, with only a
few sabre wounds. Captain lenljarelte, of the 20th
! light dragoons, who is in advance with 40 of his re-
: giment, on coming up, was instantly charged by the
troupe &elite of the 4th hussars (aii Members of the
I Legion of Honour): he not only stood the charge,i
but returned it in the mast spirited mentor, daelsing
j through and through them. Ile; appearance of .the ;
120th dragoons, who were riding up to his assist-
I twice, immediately sent the French to the right about.
tAle had twelve men killeu or wounded. The Al-
stanza hussars, who had .detachments out, behaved!
badly on this occasion. A-propor of those felloWs, I
their appea ream is quite splendid,—they are dressed I
and equipped on the model of the British 18th; ;
end you may judge from that, how much it must
have cost our Government to brine them into the
Meld. 1 do not wish to repeat idle complaints of'.
their behaviour on service, for I presume the
men are brave, and might be got to fight un.
Oer other circumitanceß; but the equipments of all
the spanish corps that have any thin to do with our
liberality, appears ridiculous. The clothing you
lend is considerably finer than that of any of our
regiments. The habits of the people aro even strangely
'everlooktxl. The peasantry in this province, and,
as I undeistand, in all the south and east, wear a
shoe made of a kind of hemp : they can scarcely
wear our shoes; and the Spanish troops, as soon as
they receive them, carry them to market. We can
Ibuy, every day, on the stands, shoes for 4s. which
. are charged to our soldiers is. The pelisses which
have been given to their cavalry, costly as they are,
, are totally useless iii a country where we can scarc,,ly
I wear our common clothes, from the heat. Tile usual
employment of the blanket% which have been sent
1 out, is for saddle-cloths and sacks. The Spanish
Officers are decidedly better clothed than the Bril-
-1 tish; and they get it for nothing. These are abuses
i
inatural to such a service, and such as, of course,
imay occur from our inexperience; but they are too
wasteful not to be worth attending to from home.
, We compute here, probably with no very lenient
spirit of cbiculation, that the pelisse of those Al.
I manza ours costs about 181. ; that of the men
41.; and the whole fitting out about 301.
" On our landing here, we were given to under-
stand that we were to be under Lord Wellington's
command. This was conjectured to have beau rather
!perplexing at head-quarters ; and the gossip of the
,expedition, for I can give you no other, says, that
I
l the General found himself not perfectly able to re-
j concile the orders which he had brought, with those
! which he had received. The responsibility which his
situation threw upon him, great bodily exertion since
' his arrival, and a constitution already much in.
paired, made him so ill, that he was obliged to return.
i.to Sicily. Lla was, I believe, a very able and amiable
i matt.
" Tou hare probably seen some account oft petite
I expedition of ours against Xenia. The French, in their
i usual style, made a grand affair of it, and of course,
I drove the English into the sea, &c. The simple story is, 1
five companies of the 81st, under the command of a
I Major Waterhouse' with.the;renadiers of De Rolle's,
1 the whole directed by the Qtterter-Master-Genend
i Donkin, embarked le reconnoitre the castle of Denise,
and, if feasible, to take it. They landed before day,
drove in a party of voltigeurs, and summoned the
Governor. As he refused to surrender—as the plane.I
was found to contain 800 French, and as a large
force was in the neighbourhood, the General, though
perfectly secure of being able to storm the place,
thought it not worth the proeteble loss, and, after
some light skirmishing, re-embarked the detachment.
We had five kaled, and 15.woueded, two 0 them
eaten. - A Captain Pearson was slightly Wounded in
the shealder, Oda Lieutenant Brewster through the
band. Tke French admit that they lost a Lieutenant-