Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1810-07-12

- 2S 10 ieHpOt tdtlts SaIas - tsses.S
part Of 4 combined plaa between your excel
iency and the cooperating corps but such
q sopposstion,e in the present 4 ase, would
{ shsw the absence of all calculation.
With the exception OF the yalor and
good dispositions which your excellency has
been able to animate your troops, the suPe-
riority il all military points, incontestibly
belongs the enemy.
I" By marching voluntarily against the
enemy, your txcellcncy yields 10 him all
The advantages of position which he will
have studied IN every respect, TO which he
viii have adapted his tyoiutions, and where
he will have distributed his artillery where
as the march Ct yesterday has proved to
your txeeltsney the difficulty Of putting
yours in motion.
!. The same cause leaves your xcellenoy
as little hops Of deriving any advantage
from theTsefvice CT your cavalry.
81 conceivesit 9 physical impossibility,
that the enemy should be SO speedily joined
by reinforcemen,s otherwise, the govern.
ment, in communicating such infolma!'ons
would have enabled you 10 be Powerfully
seconded by diversions on the part OF tt,s
co operating corps.
{ No bes:eged place expects direct sue.
cours from your excellenoy.
6 Troops newly formed, if beaten, pre-
sent only certain prospec; of dispersion;
and thi. risk cannot be counterbalaneed by
any hope Of success.
"The object of your excellency being the
deliverance Of Madrid and the CASTLES, it
is manifest, that by continuing those ma
neuvres which are already drawing to a
close. this object will be attained, without
in any respect hazarding the existence Of
the army.
- If / now proceed TO examine the adj.
vantages that may result from the gaining
Of a battle in order to contrast them with
the injurious consequences of q defeat, how
easy il is to perceive, that the petty amount
of the former can never compensate the
enormous extent of the latter!
The evacuation OF Madrid and the
CASTLES are the only an,ases which l
can discover in the gaining Of barlle:---
Your exctllency would not in vain Hal,er
yourself, that. though fighting a; The very
gstes7of he capital, you should be power.
fully aided hJ the efforts of the inhabitants !;
for if the battle Of I alavera furnished a
proof of the patriotic attachment Of these
loyal Sranisfds, it also demonstrated tha,
very little is to be expected from their sxsr.
tons.
g Your sxee!lency cannot calculate Oh
superiority Of numbers, on account Of th.
rapidity witt which the French constantly
effect their functions. Besides, certain En-
glsh fice,s that escaped from, the prisons
of Madrid, have assured col Dillon, tha,
the French considered this superiority Of
number as an clement of disorder, upon
which they founded a part of their hopes. !.
What evils would rot, on the othet
hand, flow from defeat which a river,
fo,dable, tits true, but extremely confined,
would render destructive? Your exeellency
would in one instant lose your army--,tat
army which is tn. hope of Spain, the focus
of It's forces, the school of its numerous
levies, of which circumstances, now more
than ever, urge and accelerate the formation
as a dead time of the year appropriated to.
negotiations. How dreadful the shock
which this fatal, blow might give to the po-
li.ical system If by any chance portion
of the troops cooperating IN the peninsula,
did not carry into their operations aspirit
of unmixed and absolute good will, such
portion would~not neglect to Law hold Of
legitimate pretext for retreating, and from.
that moment the activity Of the other corp.
would not only become useless, but would
be even dangerous TO themselves.
g From this statement, ! conceive, that
your sxctllency will obtain the glory Of de.
liv.fing Madrid and your country, by con-
tinuing these movements, and by rigorous-