that about nine o'clock this morning I received a report that the enemy's cavalry was in the act of crossing the river at the ford near the bridge. I immediately sent down the piquets of the night, under lieutenant-col. Otway of the 18th. Having left orders that the cavalry should repair to their alarm posts, I went forward to reconnoitre, and found four squadrons of imperial guards formed and skirmishing with the piquets and other cavalry in the act of passing. I sent for the 10th hussars, who having arrived, brigadier-general Stewart immediately placed himself at the head of the piquets, and, with the utmost gallantry, attacked. The 10th hussars supported in the most perfect order. The result of the affair, as far as I have yet been able to collect, is about 30 killed, 25 wounded, 70 prisoners, and about the same number of horses. It is impossible for me to avoid speaking in the highest terms of all those engaged. Lieutenant-colonel Otway and major Bagwell headed the respective night piquets. The latter is slightly wounded. The utmost zeal was conspicuous in the whole of my staff, and I had many volunteers from head quarters, and other officers of your army. Amongst the prisoners is the general of division Lefebre, (who commands the cavalry of the imperial guard) and two captains. Our loss is, I fear, nearly 50 men killed and wounded. I will send a return the moment I can collect the reports. I have the honour to be, &c. PAGET, lieut.-gen. I have forwarded the prisoners to Baniza. On the other side of the river the enemy formed again, and at this instant three guns of captain Donovan's troop arrived, which did considerable execution. Intercepted letter to the Marquis de Romana. "SIR-I should not have detained your instructions so long, had not Sir John Moore returned very late to Villa Franca. He arrived greatly fatigued. I delivered your letter to him, to which he cannot return an answer till to-morrow; but he desired me to inform you, that he would set out at an early hour.-There are at Benevente, 2 or 300 of the French cavalry, who annoy our stragglers between Benevente and Villa Franca. General Moore begs you will place a battalion on the heights over the road, where they may fire on them without any risk. There is no news. We know nothing of the movements of the Frencli, and we continue to retreat. I am not certain that Sir J. Moore will allow me to return to your excellency. In that case, permit me to express an hope of meeting with you in London, in better times; for be assured, Sir, I retain a grateful recollection of your kindness, and am, with the greatest respect, &c. "M. LYMER." Villa Franca, Jan. 2, 1809. Intercepted Letter.-St. Jago, Jan. 6, 1809. "I suppose, my dear friend, you are already acquainted with my arrival at this place; I have been here these eight days, with a detachment composed of troops from seven different regiments. We are guarding the magazines that are here; and I hoped to continue at St. Jago for some some months, which would have given me great pleasure. As I am a person of some consequence, I am never addressed but as Seignor, the commander of the English troops; I am well lodged, and have an agreeable society about me, all which comforts I shall be very sorry to quit. The French are the most uncivil people in the world. I think they have very little to eat or drink themselves, and, therefore, they have nothing to do but annoy us poor fellows, when we are just sitting down to a good repast. Last night I was called up by a Spanish dragoon, who brought letters from Corunna, informing me that a part of our army would soon reach St. Jago, and that I must hold myself in readiness to march along with it upon Vigo. I could not close my eyes the whole night, for thinking at every instant that our troops were arrived; but till the present moment not one man has made his appearance; and I begin now to think that the whole has been a dull joke. As you are nearer the theatre of war than myself, you will oblige me by giving me a true account of the present state of affairs. If there is reason to think that we are going to re-embark, and to be, as it were, hunted out of the kingdom, without ever coming to blows, a pretty figure we shall make of it! I think I already hear Cobbett's sarcasms upon us, who will not fail to represent us as the heroes of Spain, cooped up in their own transports. (Signed) "L. E. THURN." Capitulation proposed by Victor Hugues, Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commissioner of his Although the advanced posts have been carried, and that the commissioner of the emperor and king is reduced with his garrison to the town, he owes it to those sentiments of honor which have always distinguished him to the valour and good conduct of the officers and soldiers under his command, to the attach ment of the inhabitants of the colony for his majesty the emperor and king, to declare publicly, that he surrenders less to force than to the destructive system of liberating all the slaves who should join the enemy, and of burning all the plantations and ports where there should be any resistance. The commissioner of the emperor, commanding in chief, after having witnessed the burning of several plantations, particularly his own, the most considerable of the colony, had attributed it at first to the casualties of war; and the disorganization of the gangs, and the liberation of the slaves, appeared to him a momentary measure; but being assured in writing, that the English and Portuguese officers acted in virtue of the orders of his royal highness the the Prince Regent, and wishing to save the colony from total destruction, and to preserve his august master's subjects, who had given him so many proofs of their attachment and fidelity, the commissioner of his imperial and royal majesty surrenders the colony to the forces of his royal highness the Prince Regent on the following conditions: Art. 1. The garrison shall march out with their arms and baggage and all the honours of war; the officers shall retain their side arms, and those of their staff their horses; the garrison shall lay down their arms and engage not to serve against his royal highness and his allies during one year. 2. Vessels shall be furnished at the expence of his royal highness the Prince Regent, to carry the garrison, the officers, civil and military, and all those employed in the service, with their families and effects, direct to France, with as little delay as possible. 3. A convenient vessel shall be furnished to convey to France the commissioner of the emperor, commanding in chief, his family, his officers, his suit and effects; the chief of the administration of the finances, the commander of the troops, the inspector and the commandant of artillery, with their families. 4. A convenient delay shall be granted to the officers, who have property in the colony, to settle their affairs. 5. The arsenals, batteries and every thing belonging to the artillery, the small arms and powder magazines, and the provision stores, shall be given up by inventory, and in the state in which they are now, and the same shall be pointed out. 6. The slaves on both sides shall be disarmed, and sent to their respective plantations. The French negroes whom the commanders by sea and land of his royal highness the Prince Regent have engaged for the service during the war, and to whom in virtue of their orders they have given their freedom, shall be sent out of the colony, as they can only remain there in future an object of trouble and dissention.The commanders engage, as they have promised, to solicit of his royal highness the Prince Regent, the replacing of those slaves, as an indemnity in favour of the inhabitants to whom they belong. 7. The papers, plans and other articles belonging to the engineer department, shall be equally given up. 8. The sick and wounded who are obliged to remain in the colony, may leave it, with all that belong to them, as soon as they are in a situation to do so; in the mean time they shall be treated as they have been hitherto. 9. Private property, of whatever nature or description, shall be respected, and the inhabitants may dispose of it as heretofore. 10. The inhabitants of the colony shall preserve their properties and may reside there, conforming to the orders and forms established by the sovereign under which they remain; they shall be at liberty to sell their properties and retire wherever it may suit them, without any obstacle. 11. The civil laws known in France under the title of the Napoleon Code, and in force in the colony, shall be observed and executed until the peace between the two nations; the magistrates shall only decide on the interests of individuals, and and differences connected with them in virtue of the said laws. 12. The debts acknowledged by individuals during or previous to the time fixed by the preceding article, shall be exacted agreeably to the basis determined by the same article. 13. The papers concerning the control and matriculation of the troops shall be carried away by the quarter-master. 14. Desirous of preserving the spice plantation called la Gabrielle in all its splendor and agriculture, it is stipulated that neither it, nor any of the plantation trees or plants shall be destroyed, but that it shall be preserved in the state in which it is given up to the commanders of his royal highness the Prince Regent. 15. All the papers of the stores of inspection of the Customs, or of any responsibility whatever, shall be deposited in the secretary's office, or in any other place that may be agreed on, to be referred to when there is occasion: the whole shall be under the seal of the two governments, and at the disposal of his imperial and royal majesty. 16. The present capitulation shall be written in the three languages, and signed by the three officers stipulating. At the advanced posts of Bourde, JAMES LUCAS YEO. The following Extract from the last Letter of General Sir John Moore has been printed, in pursuance of the order of the House of Commons: Extract of a Letter from Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, to Viscount Castlereagh, dated Corunna, Jan. 13, 1809. "Situated as the army is at present, it is impossible for me to detail to your lordship the events which have taken place since I had the honour to address you from Astorga, on the 31st of December: I have therefore determined to send to England brigadier-general Charles Stewart, as the officer best qualified to give you every information you can want, both with respect to our actual situation and the events which have led to it. Your lordship knows that had I followed my own opinion, as a military man, I should have retired with the army from Salamanca. The Spanish armies were then beaten; there was no Spanish force to which we could unite, and I was satisfied that no efforts would be made to aid us, or to favour the cause in which they were engaged. I was sensible, however, that the apathy and indifference of the Spaniards would never have been believed; that had the British been withdrawn, the loss of the cause would have been imputed to their retreat, and it was necessary to risk this army to convince the people of England, as well as the rest of Europe, that the Spaniards had neither the power nor the inclination to make any efforts for themselves. It was. for this reason that I made the march to Sahagun. As a diversion it succeeded; I brought the whole disposable force of the French against this army, and it has been allowed to follow me, without a single movement being made to favour my retreat. The people of the Gallicias, though armed, made no attempt to stop the passage of the French French through the mountains. They abandoned their dwellings at our approach, drove away their carts, oxen, and every thing that could be of the smallest aid to the army. The consequence has been, that our sick have been left behind; and when our horses or mules failed, which on such marches, and through such a country, was the case to a great extent, baggage, ammunition, stores, &c. and even money, were necessarily destroyed or abandoned, I am sorry to say, that the army, whose conduct I had such reason to extol on its march through Portugal, and on its arrival in Spain, has totally changed its character since it began to retreat. I can say nothing in its favour, but that when there was a prospect of fighting the enemy, the men were then orderly and seemed pleased and determined to do their duty. In front of Villa Franca the French came up with the reserve, with which I was covering the retreat of the army; they attack ed it at Calcabellos. I retired, covered by the 95th regiment, and marched that night to Herresias, and from thence to Nogales and Lugo, where I had ordered the different divisions which preceded to halt and collect. At Lugo, the French again came up with us. They attacked our advanced posts on the 6th and 7th, and were repulsed in both attempts, with little loss on our side. I heard from the prisoners taken, that three divisions of the French army were come up, commanded by marshal Soult; I therefore expected to be attacked on the morning of the 8th. It was my wish to come to that issuc; I had perfect confidence in the valour of the troops, and it was only by crippling the enemy that we could hope either VOL. LI. to retreat or to embark unmolested. I made every preparation to receive the attack, and drew out the army in the morning to offer battle. This was not marshal Soult's object. He either did not think himself sufficiently strong, or he wished to play a surer game by attacking us on our march, or during our embarkation. The country was intersected, and his position too strong for me to attack with an inferior force. The want of provisions would not enable me to wait longer; I marched that night; and in two forced marches by advancing for six or eight hours in the rain, I reached Betanzos on the 10th instant. At Lugo, I was sensible of the impossibility of reaching Vigo, which was at too great a distance, and offered no advantages to embark in the face of an enemy. My intention was then to have retreated to the peninsula of Betanzos, where I hoped to find a position to cover the embarkation of the army in Ares or Redes Bays; but having sent an officer to reconnoitre it, by his report I was determined to prefer this place. I gave notice to the admiral of my intention, and begged that the transports might be brought to Corunna; had I found them here on my arrival, on the 11th, the embarkation would easily have been effected, for I had gained several marches on the French. They have now come up with us, the transports are not arrived; my position in front of this place is a very bad one; and this place, if I am forced to retire into it, is commanded within musket shot, and the harbour will be so commanded by cannon on the coast, that no ship will be able to lay in it. In short, my lord, general Stewart will inform you how critical our situation is. It has been recommended 2 B |