Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-05-22
From tie Fyeeman's Journal.
SPANISH REVOLUTIONS.
No M
No. LAY.

Gus and important esclii' i1c ~
narafions 70 avert the fairy the storm that
aDneared to be gathering over his head
indeed. so feeble was his power, and SO
tr;g;nc, his resources, that it was nextto I'M
noss;ble for him to do more than announce
the growing danger of the vlceroy, and urge
him to put a stop to the progress OF Pela-
gius, who, it was a~pprehended, Wouid nave
many friends and followers IN the province
Of Old CASTLE, the inhabitants OF which
bepan to manifest strong indications OF re-
bell;on. Alahor, at length, listened to the
representations of Munuza, and ordered
Achemau, with thirty thousand men, to IN,
Aict due punishment upon the rebels, ana
bring him Pelagius in chains.
] AIcheman, with all that rash confidence
in his w strength, which IS SO common to
Young p%arriors, especially those who are
ynlaced at the head of a force superior In
numbers and discipline to that of the enemy,
advanced with alacrity, and finding the
champaign country open and unguarded be-
fore him, took possession OF several de-
fenceless posts on the western side, OF the
valley of Rio Bueno, at the foot ct the noun
ta;ns. He concluded that Pelagius and his
nartv were towards, and AVOIDED him from
fear. But the Spaniard was actively en-
Gagged in diseiplining his men to the Fabian
eystem Of warfare, and Alcheman ought to
have possessed theforesight ofHannibal who
&c we learn from Plutarch, never ceased to
consider Fabius as a storm upon the noun
ta;ns which was one day to descend upon
him with great i~mpetuoslty. The move
ments of the Spanish hero were invisible
and inexplicable to his enemy. but they
were active and profound. He occupied
the CAGES and holes IN tie earth, from one OF
which. upon the summit of the mountain
Ayscba. he surveyed every motion Of tie
| Moors. Alcheman, in the mean while,
or.dna]lv assembled the mountains, and at
| IIsnoth his troops were formed around the
| r;d3es of the eminence upon which Pelagl-
as had arranged an extensive ambuscade.-
The Moorish commander, who still be-
| I;ey,ed Pelagius to be posted in some far
| d;s+ant recess of the wilderness, was struck
with establishment at beholding him, with a
verv small body of men, prepared for the
attocL He had in fact four thousand men
an4fytrtrs 4t u TIE hhtu aa7ere unseen BY Al
cheman.& were employed in taking posses
| sion of all the narrow paths and passages
bv which the Moors had assembled. Never
was stratagem more ingenious in theory or
| more operative in practice. The Moor was
| so completely deceived as to think that
| there was nothing for him to performs but to
| receive the submission Of the Spartan band
| OF Spain. and he congratulated himself up
| on his good fortune in being able to acquire
| greater honor by placing them in letters,
than by putting them to the sword. He
sent one Obbaa, an infamous apostate bishop
10 summon them to lay down their arms.
Pelagius expressed the utmost indignation
at the conduct of Oppas, and predicted to
the apostate the rapid approach of the day
when the justice of Heaven would no long
err slumber, but would punish him for all
his crimes. Oppas conveyed the answer to
his master, and announced to him that rea-
son was unavailing, and that the sword
must be drawn from its scabbard.
The historians of Spain, like those of
Greece and Rome, abound in prodigies.---
We are told that the arrows, darts & stones,
with which the Moorish troops assailed the
Spaniards, rebounded, by the evident in
t~ervention of a miraculous power, upon
those who first set them in motion. It is
not necessary to receive this story as a true
one, in order to believe that the Moors sus-
tanned a terrible defeat. The force of Pc
lagius was so much stronger than the
Moors were aware of, his ambuscade SO Sc
cret and its onset so terrible, and the con-
sternation of the enemy so overwhelming,
fbo+ sre need bov,a no J,M ,I+Yy ~ craditnr