The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-01-29 00:00:00

As I considered the intercep'ing of the entire of
this party to be Gf the greatest importance to eur
ulterior operations, I
directed the tavalry above-
mentioned to make every effort to etrect it, or at
least to check its march uatil toe arrival of some in-
fantry.

'The intrepid and admirable manner, however, in
which the .eene►^y retired, his infantry formed 'in
square, and favetned as he was by the nature of the
countryi of which he knew how to take the fullest
advantage, prevented tine cavalry alone from effect-
ing any thing aga►nst him, and after following him
for upwaads of a 19agut,„ and making an bled: ctual
attempt to break him, I judged it advisable to „,ive
over the pursuit, and he elected his retreat with
the loss of about '2O killed, and as'many wounded,
from four nine-pounders, which, by the great eser.
tions of Major Hanker, and his Officers and men,
got within range, and followed him for some dis-
tance, but were unable to close upon him, owing to
the deepness of the country. "
One wing of the 71st light infantry, under Lieut.-
Colonel the Honourable 11. Cadogan, also exerted
themselves in a most laudable manlier to overtake
the enemy, but *ere et too great a distance to ad•
mit of ti it accomplishing it iu any reasonable
time.

The arrival rf the abovementioned party at Merida
made the ~my acquainted with our approach, of
which I have reason to think he was before entirely
ignorant, and he i i censequence erfteuat the town
during the having unfinished some works
which he was constructiug for its defence, and we
entered it in the coos of day.
I regret to sta..! that we bad tw;) mon kilted, and
some wourtled, in the a Tlir of yesterday, cf w:;icl. I
enclose a return:— i &c.

Lord Viscount Wcatirgum, &c.

R.

Since r:iing the above, it has 'Pen reported to
me, that one hundred and eighty fanegas of wt:k•c.t
hire been found :n the depot of this town, belottsiiig
to the Frenca. , besides a quantity of Inea4.

Return of Kill d, Wounded, and Aliszing of the Second
sion of the Array nailer his Excelle..c., Larl•Viscot•nt Viet-
lingtou, K. L. is Action with the EaCtny near La Nava, on
! the Alas Dec. IbII.
Head-qiiarters, Gallegos, Jan.% NI?.
' 13th Light Drigrion -S hoisro killed; 11 rank and £k, 13
-hones, wound-4; I rank and silo' 1 l,ors. , missing.
Slslnr-assLing's German Leglon—Y rank aim tile. 10 horses,
t 1 Lieutenant, I scrkant, i rank and tile, 17, horses,
t: waded; I rank ai.d file, 1 horse, missing.
Total-1 rank and tile, IS mines, killed; 1 Lieutenant, I ter-
heans, IF raiik and tile, 32 hones, wounded• 'I rank and file,
orses, missing. (Signod) Ci-Lk L'ES h -W A t I`,
alajor-General and AdjiitantsGeneral.
OrncinsWOUNDso—Lieutenant Issendorf, 'id 11 ussani,King's
German Leginn, tly.

Extract of a Letter from General 11111 to Lord Vlocoaat
Hugton, dated Ahneudralejo, Jan. 2,18 Ix.
Since my letter to your Lordship from Merida of
the 30th ult. I have the honour to report, that front
all the information I had received, I had reason to
suppose, that Drouet was concentrating his troops
at this place, I consequently moved on yesterday
for the purpose of attacking him. On my approach
to the town, I found that the greater part of the
' enemy's troops had moved off the preceding day, in
the direction of Villa Franca, and that his rear-
guard was on its march, covered.by his cavalry, which
skirmished with the hussars of my adranced guard,
and retired after receiving a few rounds from the
horse artillery. In this town we found a few stores,
of which the enclosed is a return,. I thought it pos.
sible the enemy might have afforded me an opportu-
nity of doing something here.
Return of Ca<ualties of the Second Division of the Anny or (Iv
the Coounhnd of his Excellency Veneta! Lord Viscoom 11 et-
lington, K. It. i.1.4ct,0u with the Enemy at Alusetsdnario,
on the Lt of Jau.
linarters, Gallegos, Jan. 2, 181'.
j Sd H •shars,' King's: :ennau Legion-1 horse kilfrJ ; 5 hors
wounded. iSigoed) CHARLES wrLwAite,

Major-General and Adjutant-General.
. • Merida, Jan. ti, lal2.
Ms Loan,-My letter of the 24:1 and 3d instant
would acquaint your Lordship of my having, on
the Ist instant, marched with the corps under my
command to Almendralo, in 'the hope that Count
d'Erlon, who had collected the greater part "of la
troops at that place, might hive given me an °ppm-
Sanity of. doming in contact with him, as well as of
my disappointment in that respect, he having pre.
viously fallen back in the direction of Llereua, leaf.
ing only a small reat-guard in Almendralejo, which
retired also on our approach. I have the honour to
acquaint your Lordship, that it wit my iutentlon'to •
have followed the enemy, and, falling tu my desire
to bring him to action, to have given him every pos. ,
bible annoyance in bis retreat; but the dreadful,
state of the weather,-the condition of the roads
(which are daily becoming worse), and the conse-
quent difficulty of getting up my supplies, render -
any further operations on my part impt.ssible for the
present, withoutlncut ring risks, and making mil.
fices, greater than could have been justified by the
occasion, dr by your Lordship's instructions. I
therefore determined, after halting two days at Al-
mendralejo, and occupying Villa Franca and Fuente
del Alaestre, to put the troops into cantonments in
this town and neighbourhood, there to await a more
favourable opportunity of acting ; trusting that the
alarm occasional to the enemy by the movement el.
ready made, will have in part effected one of the ob-
jects with which I was instructed by your Lordship
to take the field. A part of the troops accottlittg!y
returned here yesterday, and the remainder are now
on their march ; the enemy being, by the last a::.
counts which I have received, also in full march L.

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