The Statesman.
London, England, 1809-12-08 00:00:00

VW STATESMAN.

•• The Marley. front titian, parted nn Niondny Intl in a
gait° of 'wind; and then very badly. They len At. Helena
the alb a!' Ortnhcr.
" Ace* tats are wiJ to be received at Ro nhay, that of
four 1.614 inctia vital lual soiled from Bengal. two were
token, Ilibt loat :a 13,1:01 river, and nue arrived at Prince of
1:1;nal "
Seeen ntis,ing ships, rune loci oil the Goudwin
iambi, and the thrta abttve.roentioned, making a
in«llanchu:y iota' of focrieen ships I This exceeds
the furator lass of any One year.

WE have roce.ivotl a letter from a Gentleman,
9a witose veracity we can place the moil implicit
rrliatice, of which thy Conon leg is a copy :---
" Elvm, Nuv. 13, 1809.
" Lord WELL; iTO !I, returned from Seville, on Satur-
ylav night. and I think, our Army will .: leaner upon the Ts-
its a ft-n• dsys. The inn). is at prnent, distributed as
r•ilaw‘: lit-Ad-quarters at IlidAjtos, u here is, the brigade of
Cu.trls. 901 trayn.;—out of 3) that first landed its Portagol I
elegy wee nlio r 20,) recrnitc. a hich arrival a few days three.
.
I':.e .sot. hls at l'alasera Lobar. A division. commanded by
Major-fie:l. f'ut.r., is .y 1 Oliver.ca; another slivi-inn at Val-
ve ; a third Vill.t-Vieins4; and ab at 6)3) says at
camim-Maptr. lu 110-, place we ha,r (a few detaeh•
melds etreptett • tile sick and esavabue..nt. I am
.iorry to tit! Allay is very sickly. Tier moos of,
Isick the Isr4intii.,g of thin month. w.e. 117,11 weei and, since
thc 11Jspital vs:ss e•ta:.lishzd m this orri,an. upwards of a
Thonsinsa have died .:f the 11.rientery. They Lary, an as
average, fifteen (lath. lam jibe:Med to think, oar Faculty
are ant neenainted with the manner of treating ibis disorder,
as thr.7; have ultimate's, been obliged to cal in the aM of
lime tiortuKtuThe Ph:;sicitir, who, front the disorder being
endemic wail petiodical, must cc,lainly know better how to

treat it.
" All our 07rers, who remained wounded at Talavera, I
speak is Mc highest teens, of the treatment they received frosts I
Ms trench Officers, who gave up to them the bAt
apartment.; in their quarters. and rendered their every possi-
bk comfort. Their prrivbitne, sad seneral mode of living,
were superior to :'tree of even cur Carantander in Chief.
44 As to our Comn•iarerial Department. I curial say much
that will he satigfactory on that head. Wheisevor ymt meet
I Clem apart, they are fun of iiivectioe against each other,
although whet' they Implicit to inert, they ale the best of
Mien+.
" I am sorry to say, that great enormities have been com-
mitted, by tooll.e of the troops with * rich the Peninsula is
cursed. 1 speak from ocular Jc.minitration. 'luring my pro-
-1
real in the interior. I have seen 111.1. t r r iraordinary receipts
fur bullocki, and fora,:e, with %%hien tiey base supplied
} tattrebiag detachments—of i IVO of which, the fallowing are
I literal topics:-
4 Received an Old Pair of R..erches.'
. Reteiveil bean d.anissed earrieis from ths BI tad Thief.'
" I have revn many receipts of the same ilesliiption. which
the natives, ignorant of the lan.ti le in which they were
ultimo, received with moonset-1M; confidence Four days
ago, after travelling i wenty.tive mhos, * Waist seeing a per.
NON at hat I CAW' to a solitory habitation, Ni ahkil WILI a
woman, who, with te:,gs in her .:7a, told mv, that a few days
before, a party of soldiers had marched by, and carried olio
litter of seven) min: pigs, from toe side of the sow ; and on
remonstrating, t:.ey threate ed to take the saw also, if sim
said anotarr ....ord. Tia. n .rre.tive of „bat i have stun, and
mint I. hart h:etref, flora the mouth, of the :ahem". would
all. volu.nc--- .
The letter proceeds to detail circumstances,
which, although it is i‘ripussible to doubt, we do
! not titiirk proivr to publish.
We are taught to believe in this country,
that the conduct of toe Froicli armies is pre-
eminently fio;;raat---but the truth is, that
all armies commit atrimitLs—arb::rary power
naturally product* tyranny. What 0111 be. ex-
pected from a .0 t. ty of Soldiers, headed by,
perhaps, an inexpesienced man ?—thiy conic
to a farm-house, or village, and expect from the
inhabitants obediunee, as vrampt and implicit, as
is enforced in the ranks—the inhabitants remon-
strate and the military take lire at their hesitation it
obeying—a dispute arises, which at last terminates
in the application of fusee. And, if the passions
of the pities happen to have been greatly iiillain.
cd, violence 'Ai the persons of the inhabitants na-
turally follows. '.i.liese are the invariable con-
'
comitavits of wlr. That Army w hack is best dis-
ciplined will obvitiusly coarnit thu fewest out.
raizea ; but Ciere never yet wan an army that did
not commit wirage, and the. attach.nent of Bri-
tish troops to liquor, dues not by any means,
tend to diminish their disposition to disorder,
when they get to a distance from the main body of

the army.
The treatment of our Officers by the French, 1
described in this letter, we know to be true ; we •
know it from the narrative of one of the indivi-
ilunlis who was at Talavera* when the French en.
tered it, after the retreat of Lord ELLI Norom.
Many of our wounded were, on the afternoon
of the day when the French Commander entered
the place, removed by French Soldiers front
miserable palliasses on the floor, to beds and com-
fortable apartments. The treatment of our
woundstl by the French, was such as odor. i
ornate str.ingers wolittl have received in this ;
Island. Many of the French Officers, and some
._vets of rank, passed several nights out of
.betl--
for, mail the wounded 13ritish were accommodated
no
French OfEzzr 'hewed even a disposition to
be so.
We have dwelt upon these circninstat*es, front
as aseious desire, that the darkness of the night
of prejudice, which intatites two helve people
against each other, should be dispelled. Why
should the people of Eit4land, and of France, the
two must intelligent, sod civilised nations in the
world, be taught to view each other as savages ?
By what reuniting can the conduct of the
"me% army at Talavera, be reconciled whit the
, weenie that have been recently published in this
r eituelfh treat:out of oar pr6iillert

COVENT' GARDEN TUJEATRE.

The lofty hopes of the Proprietors, being dis-
appointed, by the obstinacy of the Jury, on
Tuesday, their passion has subsided into gloomy,
stlent malignity. Either, the public are to be sub.
lined, or the bauble is not worth possessing, even
thougliit could be Anon, that the golden pros-
pect, might accompany the ellerence of the Pro-
prietors, to the public voice.
We are led into this reflection, by a whil&tl
incident, that occurred eon-ethic:day, at tile liVot.
kinravern,in Broad.court, Bow.street, where r.
J. Brandon, conversing on the subject of the Thu.
tre, exclaimed, " I wish the Audience mould
66 pull the 77testre to pieces, that we..
gkt
u:
44 come upon the Panty for Damages,
was it seems the opinion, for we state it
only u an opinion delivered in the freedom
of conversation, of Mr. James Brandon.—
Whether such a mode of 'stain the unprofitable
6i per cent. account would be satialfactory to the
Proprietors, we have not the means dly judging—lt
would, doubtless, be most summary ; but the
county might, perhaps, object to the admission of
the memorable report on that subject, as evidence.
We du, howeeer, most sincerely hope, that the
Public will, by nu provocation, hosteler great,
be misled into the commission of damage upon any
part of the property of the house. That attempts
have been made, and will, with great art, con.
tinueto belittle, to entrap the Public into the coin-
mission of some such violence, we have many sub-
stantial reasons for believing. Mr. Serjeaut Shep-
herd and other learned men were at the Theatre
after the trial—and In the cuurse of the evening,
a piece of one of the benches in the Pit, being
thrown nn the stage and shorn to the men of law,
great satisfaction was expressed, and the rail:
was directed to be must carefully preseri ed. There
seemed to be not loss importance attached to this
fragment, than is, by some Catholics, to a piece of
the true cruss...ur tar holy phial at Naples, which
contains the blood of St. Januarius. Possibly, the
Learned Serjeant, imitating orators of Greece
and Rome, may, on the nest trial, suddenly pro.
duce this valuable relic from beneath his gown, to
the astonished J airy.
The Proprietors are now wailing, in the hope
of laying hold of some indisidual %olio limy be
I retrapped into the calends:ion of sonic stricquiJucal
et. On such individual will their veisgeanee be
%break et I .
This fragment," the halfpenny and penny-
piece!,—and the peas thrown upon the
Stage, are all very suspicious circumstances.—
\V hest the Fragment was thrown upon the Stage,
s..ven of the scats in the Pit, nearest to the
Orchestra, were filled by the usual stnffina,
—and the probability is, that as well this 'regi-
ment, as the peas and the halflaince, were
thrown from some of those benches. The dis.
meets from the centre. of the Pit is such, that
they could not come from thence...—o—T lie
peas and the halfpence, were throeu on the
evening of Mr. Brandon's opinion deliveredt
as at
the ;Frain. As to the Iseed.bill, weigh
safely have offered twenty thoutaral as tennis
getups. reward, for discoveries the author of the
pea tactics. Wu have heard. and we believe, that
the receipt of Tuesday has, with much Wastrel
exultation, been stated at tib01...." Sony, Sir,
money Derider staling !" Now, admitting this to
be the truth, what may the House be supposed
to contain were the public fairly admitted...and
what might be the profit of the Proprietors even
at Ohl Priem We cannot here refrain from ob.
I levying, that if the sum of WI. was tabu—the
factious few, are tolerably numerous...and let it
out be forgotten, that on Tuesday evening the
disapprobation was univeraal...it was lewdly es.
pressed from every part of the Nouse, and, per.
haps by every pursuit in the House, who bad paid
fur admission.

THUM 4.Y IMENING
the [louse press:soca an empty appeeranee un.
til half price, when it was about twoct!drds filled.
Until that tune it swab peaceable, with the excep-
tion of a Gentleman in the l'at, who was eels
dently its a state of intoxication. He was taken
out without disturbance, but was not afterwards
detained.
From the third act of The Woodman nothing
was distinctly heard, either (rum the Stagc,ur from
the orchestra, during the performance of Dan
Juan. Night-caps, Welch wigs, and placartV
were numerous in the Pat. 0. P.'s were seen in
every part of the House, to which the Public arc
permitted to have access. The laud ts inkling of
a horn by a Gentleman in the Bates was im-
mediately answered by one Irons the Pit—
This soon produced the accompaniment of a
rattle, which, together with this rood efforts
of the company, made up the complete haroony
of a full concert. The company in the I'it were
in constant motion, from centre to bank, from
flout to rear. A usoveinent was made by the myr.
miduns to silence the "merry-toned horn" in
the Pit ; but the phalanx by which the performer
was surrounded, rendered a grab impracticable.
The attempt was considered' not only desperate,
but hopeless ; and it was geuerally admitted by
the °dicers, that the 0. P.'s " mode d—te'd
good fight !"
At the conclusion of Don Juan, the cheers and
groans were in•bre weinerues than usual. 'foe ho-
nest Counsellor, bis honest Defenders, and the ho.
neat Jury, were loudly cheered. But these mark.,
of pubtic approbation were nut extended to the
Judge, the defendant, his Coonsrl, or the Pro-
prietors.
In the avenues leading to the Pit door, there
was a great assemblage of spectators, of whom •
large nembcr wore 0. P. A coasiderable space
•as left vacant, through which polsolis were per-
mitted to pass, but not without a few frolicksonte
pushes from the surrounding performers.
The House was cleared before detest o'clock,
and the company 'frontal without tumult, to
the great disappoistoteat of the Professor's hopes
and ezpoetatioas. _

Mr. noon bums has been returned for Ross.
shire, after a warn contest, in which the solidi.