The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-01-21 00:00:00

Q. Whet force would hare been necessary to de-
fend the Col de !Wagner, supposing Marshal iiuchet
to have been in full march, to compel the British
army to raise the siege of Tarragona ?-4. As I, have
not considered this question, I must beg leave to de-
cline answering.
Q. Would not a considerable force have been ne-
cessary Considering the situation of Vandilos,
and the roads which run through it, I conceive it
must• have required a considerable force. Vandilos
is situated in a valley, and the road is so bad as to
make it impracticable to carry cannon, and in fact
tlie French brought none.
Q. Are there not other roads from that part of
the country down to the plain of the Ebro, and the
plain of Tarragoua ?—A. I know bat of three roads
trom Tortosa to the plain of the Ebro, on which
cannon can be brought, viz, that by Wagner, that
by Mont Blanc, and that by Vandilos.
Q. If there are no other roads within your know-
ledge, would it not have been necessary to secure
these by detachments ? -A. Certainly, if troops
had been moving on them, but of this I had never
heard.

Q. Would Marshal Suchet hare required cabnon,
coming with a force from the westward, to enable
him to raise a siege, maintained by 1900 men ?—A.
If the force alluded to is the 12,000 men of which
his army bas been supposed to consist, certainly net,
as he would be then able to take the batteries hs re-
verse.

, Q. What force would hove been requisite to
geoid the pass from Mont Blanc to tbe plains of
Tarragona ?—A. There are two pastes, but I do
snot know what number of nien might bi necessary,
14 I never visited them but through curiosity.
Q. After deducting the MX) men that bethought
sulikkot to continue the siege of Tarragona,*and the
number that would be necessary to observe the dif-
ferent roads by which Sachet might have advanced,
what proportion of the whole British army could
Net been sent forward against 8,000 French ad-
vancing from Villafrancal—A. It was impossible for
him to say.
Sr .1. Murray then stated, that it was a very im-
iterbuit question fdr him to ascertain. As General
Mackenzie had before stated, that there would have
been a probability of brilliant success against the
enemy, he wished to know the grounds on which
Hsi, opinion was foended. It did•lppear to him
that he had expressed this opinion rather unguardedly.
• The witness said, that he had not considered what
number of men ought to have been left on those
roads to watch an enemy, as he had not heard of the
enemy ha►iug then a single man on any of the roads
alluded to.

Q. Would it not have been in the power of Ge-
nese' Decaen to have given or declined a battle u he
thought proper, if he had found the Allies in po.!
sition at Torte de Barra ?—A. lie certainly might ,
have returned either by the road he came, or by
another.

• Q. Do you recollect being on the 12th at the
quarters Of Sir J. Murray, with Colonel Adana,'
, Gen. Donlan, and Col. Thackery, and eau you state
that passed there ?—A. Ile recollected being there
ith the officers named. It_ was proposed that they

should joindy state to Sir J. Murray their opinion,
that a seetleseful Mb& trig** ile seed* sus. Lieseeesi
Ilecaen's divikion. Colonel Adams stated this opi-
nion le Sir J. Murray, and he also expressed his opi-
nion to the same effect. To the best of his recollec-
tion Sir J. Musgay gave no other answer than " it
will not do."

Q. Did not Sir J. Murray state any reason for not
approving of it ?—A. I think not ; the conversation
lasted for a very short time.
Q. Do you recollect that Sir John Murray showed
you at that time a passage in his instructions
from Lord IVellinaton ?—A. lle did not recollect
that he did so at that time, bat he had dons so at
other times.

Q. Did the witness recollect his concluding the
conversation with an observation that this is un-
answerable ?—He did not recollect it, bat should not
be surprised if he had said so upon Sir John Mur-
ray's repeatedly saying, it will sot do, it will not do.
Ite•toonbteid by .Adoolroi
He was net acquainted ssisciesstly with the history
of the campaign in Catalonia before the arrive) of the
British, to know whether the blockade of Balaguer
bad been raised or not by the arrive, of the French
(roe Barcelona. lie considered, however, that the
force of General Copons consisted of 8,000 men,
who wire among the best troops of. Spain. if Ge.
mere! Sir J. Murray had expected the arrival of a
French division on the 14th, or 15th, at Vandilos (a
lung day's march from Tarragona), he did not con-
ceive that this would justify the retreat its the man.
tsar it was conducted. On the 15th he was in the
twighboui hoed of Vouching, when Sir J. Murray in-
formed him, that the French lied between 3 and
E,oc,) men. It was .on that .lay intended that he
should attack the French who were in the valley,
with a division of 1,600 men, British troops or
trooprrin British pay. 'lbis force not being conceiv-
ed sufficieitt, it was intended that a regiment of
illatligh_ co/cask/es, 1,000 strong,. and tho-grosta-
tliers,of O'Reilly, were, to. join him in an attack to be
made on the morning of the 16th. He certainly
*Mitt not suppose that Sir J. Murray believed that
the Freocitagnouuted to 5 or 6,600 men, when upon
the 15tii, he conceiced 1,600 British troops sullicient
to drive them out of the valley. He did set conceive,
that if it was perfectly known that 5 or 6,000
French would be at Vandilos ou the 15th, that this
would be a sufficient cause for raising the siege on
the 12th it the meaner it wes raised. As General
Copons was to a strong position at Torre de Barra,
he thought it not necessary to have sent the whole of
the Allied Army (with the exception of 1900 men)
against General Deceit:. The more troops, how-
ever, which were sent, the greater would be the
probability of success.
In answer to some questions pet by the Court, thj
witness stated, that from Tortosa to Tarragona, by
lidleguer, world be a march of two days and a
half, or mere probably three days. The march by
Mont Blanc would bare taken up Asper days. The
other road might have been three days march, bet
was impracticable for cameo.
Admiral Hallowell this produced a paper, being
a return of the actual number of the troops, as gives
him by the Deputy Adjutant-Goma! Lord William