Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-04-04

! who was posted at Saldaha with aboSil
/ is, 600 men, and who had detachments STA.
toned along the river to the bridge of Car
! riton. Sir John Moore had made his dis.
positions for attack on the .23d, and settled
|, his line of march, when he received an &C
count that4the enemy had obtained rein
foroement.from Palencia.
TWAS said some. time ago that the enemy
had 5000 men at .Palencia. This account
was Immediately followed by another from
the marquis de Romano, stating that Bona
parte was proceeding by forced marches a.
gainst his rear, from Madrid. Upon the
receipt of this intelligence, being apprehen-
sive, that The even succeeded in his attack,
his retreat would be exposed, sir John
Moore resolved to fall back upon Bene.
v:u,o.
The propriety of this determination, and
the necessity ofexercising it with promPti-
t,rde, will be evident TO every body, when
we state that by the time our army returned,
the cavalry Of the Imperial Guard had actu-
ally arrived in the neighborhood of Bene-
vento. It appears therefore, that Soul, had
been rtationed at Saldanha to draw us on to
an attack upon him, < had We attacked him
as we proposed, and even gained an advan-
tage over him, we should have found that
Bonaparte had been taking advantage Of our
army being occupied with our operation a.
gainst Soult, to throw a large force in our
rear. That such was his intention, is con-
sEfttned by the French officers who have been
taken prisoners in the different skirmishes,
and who state that Bonaparte, as SOON as ne
was informed Of sir John Moore's adyanc-
Jag left Madrid himself, with the greater
part of his force. twas about the date OF
his last bulletia that he left it, and the re-
view of the duke of Dantzic's division be-
vond the bridge of Segoyia, was the lmme-
date forerunner of his departure. While
he was marching from Madrid in one d.
rection, a second had been formed behind
Soalt's, and had we pushed through his, we
should have fallen in with the two divisions
that had marched from yiteoria, and Junot's
troops from. Portugal. The fartherest point
TO which ourtroops advanced was S:hagun.
Lord Paget's brigade was the advanced
guard. And here we have to record hume
rous instances of the gallantry displayed b.
our troops in skirmishes with detachments
of the enemy. Our infantry have not been
engaged, but our cavalry have had repeated
rencoatres, and have been successful in e.
very one Of them. Never was a better bo-
dy OF cavalry.
On the 18th, upon retiring from Sahsgun,
lord Paget gained information that there
were about 700 dragons at Magorga; on
which his lordship formed plan to take the
whole, which in degree failed, from the
escape of dragoon out Of a patrole, which
he took prisoners /; be was therefore reduc-
ed to attack, instead Of surrounding the \
Frsnchy bas his lordship completely sue
ceedcd. as he defeated the enemy with the
d5Sh regiment, and took 100 prisoners and
In another action he took and killed above
100 of the enemy.
Brigadsr-general Stewart, the brother OF
lord Castlereagh, has also distinguished !
himself greatly: His regiment, the 18th,
fell in with a body Of horse of the enemy,
under the command of general Lefebvre.
The enemy was advantageously posted and
superior in nulnbrr-but the Brigadier-le.
neral did not hesitate an instant. lie
charged them with an impetuosity that was
;rrc.Istible he. broke through their centre i
Killed above 100, and made 800 prisoners,
among whom was Lefebvre himselt-and
This officer is actually arrived In England.
lie is the general of division that was re-
pulsed BY palafox at Saragossa, not mar
shall Lefebvre, duke of Dantzic, as was
generally rumored yesterday evening.
Another account of this affair says, that
after having driven back, on the 2sth us'.
Inc eneiny's advanced guard of cavalry, and
af.er nilr infantry had lett Bencvcnto on the /