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made 70c prisoners. The town and environs of Lugo are choaked with the bodies of British horses. Hence, upwards of 2500 horses have been killed in the retreat. The British are marching to Corunna in great haste, where they have already lost baggage, ammunition, a part even of their most material artillery, and upwards of 3000 prisoners.

"They are reduced to 18,000 men, and are not yet embarked. From Sahagun they retreated 150 leagues in bad weather, worse roads, through mountains, and always closely pursued at the point of the sword. It is difficult to conceive the folly of their plan of campaign. It must be attributed, not to the General who commands, and who is a clever and skilful man, but to that spirit of hatred and rage which animates the British Ministry."

Valladolid, Jan. 21." The Duke of Dalmatia left Betanzos on the 12th inst. Having reached the Mero, he found the bridge of Burgo cut. The enemy was dislodged from the village of Burgo. In the meanwhile Gen. Franceschi ascended the river, which he crossed at the bridge of Sela. He made himself master of the high-road from Corunna to Santiago, and took six officers and 60 soldiers prisoners. On the same day a body of 30 marines, who were fetching water from the bay near Mero, were ta ken. From the village of Perillo, the British fleet could be observed in the harbour of Corunna. On the 13th, the enemy caused two powder magazines, situated near the heights of St Margaret, at half a league from Corunna, to be blown up. The explosion was terrible, and was felt at the distance of three leagues. On the 14th, the bridge at Burgo was repaired, and the French artillery was able to pass. The enemy had taken a position at two leagues distance, half a league before Corunna. He was seen employed in hastily embarking his sick and wounded, the number of which, according to spies and deserters, amounts to three or four thousand men. The British were in the meanwhile occupied in destroying the batteries on the coast, and laying waste the country on the sea-sliore. On the even ing of the 14th we saw a fresh convoy of 160 sail arrive, among which were four ships of the line.

"

“On the morning of the 15th, the di

visions of Merle and Mermet occupied the heights of Villabon, where the enemy's advanced guard was stationed, which was attacked and destroyed. The enemy was stationed behind some advantageous heights. The rest of the 15th was spent in fixing a battery of 12 pieces of cannon; and it was not till the 16th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, that the Duke of Dalmatia gave orders to attack. The assault was made upon the English by the first brigade of the division of Mermet, which overthrew them, and drove them from the village of Elvina. The enemy, driven from his positions, retreated to the gardens which surround Corunna. The night growing very dark, it was necessary to suspend the attack. The enemy availed himself of this to embark with precipitation. Only 6000 of our men were engaged, and every arrangement was made for a. bandoning the positions of the night, and advancing next day to a general attack. The loss of the enemy has been immense. Two of our batteries played upon them during the whole of the engagement. We counted on the field of battle more than 800 of their dead bo⚫ dies. We have taken 20 officers, 300 men, and four pieces of cannon. The English have left behind them more than 1500 horses, which they had killed. Our loss amounts to 100 men killed and 150 wounded.

"At day-break on the 17th, we saw the English convoy under sail. On the 18th, the whole had disappeared. The Duke of Dalmatia had caused a carronade to be discharged upon the vessels from the fort of Santiago. Several transports ran aground, and all the men who were on board were taken.

"We found in the establishment of the Palloza (a large manufactory, &c. in the suburbs of Corunna, where the English had previously been encamped), 3000 English muskets. Magazines also were seized, containing a great quantity of ammunition and other effects belonging to the hostile army. A great number of wounded were picked up in the suburbs.

"Thus has terminated the English expedition which was sent into Spain. After having fomented the war in this unhappy country, the English have abandoned it. They had disembarked 38,000 men, and 6000 horses. We have

taken

taken from them, according to calculation, 6500 men, exclusive of the sick. They have re-embarked very little bag gage, very little ammunition, and very few horses. We have counted 5000 kil led and left behind."

Such is Bonaparte's account of the termination of our campaign in Spain. It differs very materially from that gi ven by our own officers, in almost every particular. That 6000 men should defeat the whole of our army, with the loss of only 100 men, and yet that this army, after this defeat, should embark un molested, are contradictions too palpa ble to obtain credit.

It is very extraordinary that no notice is taken of the Marquis of Romana and his troops in any of the dispatches to Government. It is known that they crossed our army during the retreat.They are said to have bravely opposed the French at Astorga, and, according to some accounts, being reduced to about 8000 men, they retreated to Vigo, where they embarked for Cadiz.

A brigade of British troops, under the command of Generals Alten and Crawfurd, consisting of 3100 men, took the road to Vigo, where they embarked in safety on the 18th January, not having been pursued by the enemy.

The following is an abstract of a general return of the troops embarked at Corunna for England. Cavalry, 2,872; Engineers, &c. 2,686; Infantry, 19,539; Total, 25,067. If to this we add 3100 embarked at Vigo, the whole amount to upwards of 28,000.

The whole of the north coast of Spain being now occupied by the French, intelligence of the military operations in the south can only be derived from Cadiz, and for a short time perhaps thro' Portugal.

The whole of our transports, both from Corunna and Vigo, have now arrived, and our army is cantoned along the south coast of England. The Vigo detachment was not pursued, but was somewhat short of its original complement, in consequence of the excessive fatigue it underwent. The loss which our army sustained in Spain has not yet been ascertained. Bonaparte rates it at a full third, General Stewart at little more than a tenth; but it is probable that accurate returns will be speedily Aaid before the House of Commons.

On the 27th January, Colonel Baird, (brother of Sir David Baird) Captain Baird, Capt Gregory, and Dr M'Gregor, (who attends Sir David Baird) went off to the Ville de Paris, at Plymouth, in her barge, to bring that gallant officer on shore. At noon Sir David was landed in a large cot, and carried in the arms of several of the crew of the Ville de Paris to lodgings in the High Street. A crowd of persons assembled, whose hearts seemed big with the sight. We are happy to hear that he is as well as can be expected. Soon afterwards Col. Bradford, Deputy-Adjutant General to the army, was brought on shore in a cot from the same ship, born by several of the crew. He is a fine young man, who has a bad wound in the small bone of his leg, by a musket ball. Several other officers landed, who are sick, and were led up from the Sally-port to lodgings.

The eldest son of Sir Harry Burrard, and Aid-de-Camp to Sir John Moore, was severely wounded in the late engagement, and was put on board the Audacious, in which ship he died on the 21st.

The greater part of the sick and wounded of our army that have returned from Spain are doing well. We are sorry, however, to state, that Colonel Maxwell, of the 26th, and Major M'Gregor, of the 59th, with an officer of the 38th, and ten privates, have died of their wounds at Plymouth..

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The weather has been so extremely and universally tempestuous during the month of January, that we are concerned to state several melancholy losses at

sea.

On Sunday, the 22d of January, about six o'clock in the morning, the Dispatch transport of Shields, from Corunna, with about 100 of the 7th regt. of light dragoons on board, struck on the Manacle rocks near Falmouth, in a violent gale of wind; she afterwards floated off, and drove into Coverach bay, without any person on board, and nearly full of water. It appears, that seven men saved their lives, but all the rest perished, among whom were Major Cavendish, Captain Duckinfield, and Lieut. the Hon. E. Waldegrave.-The Primrose sloop of war, of 18 guns, Capt. Weir, from Portsmouth, struck on the Manacles at the same time, and all on board were lost, except one boy.

The Jupiter of 50s, was lately wrecked upon a shoal near the Bayonne, islands. A Court-martial admonished Captain Baker, for not having a pilot on board. The officers and crew were all acquitted.

The Gazette of the 3d January.contains an account of the following captures by the boats of the Standard, Capt. Harvey, off Corfu :

The Standard fell in with the Volpe Italian gun-brig, carrying an iron fourpounder and 20 men well armed, and the Legere French dispatch-boat, with 14 men well armed. The wind failing, the pinnace and eight-oared cutter were sent in pursuit of them. After two hours rowing, La Volpe was come up with and taken, after a smart resistance. The Legere was run ashore about four miles north of Cape St Mary; the crew formed on the rocks above her, and endeavoured to protect her, but she was soon in possession of the boats, who towed her out, under a fire of musketry from the shore, which was returned with great spirit by the marines in the boats. One Frenchman was seen killed; we had not a man hurt. The boats were commanded by Lieut. Cul and Capt, Nichols of the Marines, both volunteers. A French Ensign de Vaisseau was passenger in the Legere; M. Monier, Ensign de Vaisseau, on the Staff of General Dougelet at Corfu, was taken in La Volpe.

The Gazette also contains a letter from Mr Dyson, master of his Majesty's late brig Maria, Lieut. Bennet, dated Roseau, Dominica, containing the following account of the loss of that vessel. "Desirous of joining the Admiral as soon as possible, he procured from Gen. Ernouf a cartel for four officers and himself. On the morning of the 29th of Sept. he was attacked by a large French corvette, with which she maintained a hopeless contest.-When there was no possibility of saving the ship, and her ensign haulyards were shot a way, the French Captain called out, "Had she struck?" Lieut. Bennett replied, "No ;" and was shortly after killed by three grape shot he received in his body. The master still ordered the fire to be kept up; but finding the brig sinking, he struck, ran her on shore, and left her a mere wreck. The enemy's vessel was Le Sards, of 16 32Feb. 1809.

pound carronades, and 4 long 12 pounders on the main-deck, and 2 9-pouǹders on her quarter-deck. The little Maria had only 12 12 pounder carronades, and 65 men. Her loss was Lieut. Bennett, commander, Mr O'Donnell, midshipman, and 4 seamen killed, and 9 wounded, and recovering in the hospital at Guadaloupe.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

FIRE IN ST JAMES'S PALACE. A most alarming fire broke out, about one o'clock on the morning of the 21st January, in St James's Palace, which burnt with great fury, and was not got under until about eight o'clock. No water could be procured for a considerable time, and then only a small supply, all the pipes being stopped by the frost. The fire being thus unrestrained, and the building containing an immensity of old timber, the flames attained a great height, and assumed a most tremendous appearance. To the immediate spectator, it presented one of the most sublime pictures that can be conceived, as seen through the trees, with its brightness reflected from the snow.-The flames were not subdued until one half of the Palace was consumed, including the left wing, with the apartments of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, who had but just returned home, when the fire broke out. For the greater part of the time it was not expected that any part of the Palace could escape destruction. A great deal of valuable furniture is destroyed. The Prince of Wales, and the Dukes of York, Kent, Cambridge, and Sussex, attended and remained until a late hour, encouraging the firemen and others in their exertions to stop the progress of the flames, and save the furniture, of which great quantities were carried out of the Palace, and deposited in the area. The Queen's guards were stationed round the Palace, to keep off the crowd and prevent plunder. The fire began in the apartments of Miss Rice, in the eastern wing. Her servant maid, the only person lost or inju red, was found next morning, not burntbut apparently suffocated in the apart ment. It is supposed that her candle set fire to the room, and was the cause of this catastrophe.

STATE

STATE PAPERS. CORRESPONDENCE with the RUSSIAN and FRENCH GOVERNMENTS relative to the

OVERTURES received from ERFURTH. (See vol. 70. p. 867.)

Presented, by his Majesty's command, to both Houses of Parliament.-Jan. 1809. No. 1. Letter from Count Nicolas de Romanzoff, to Mr Secretary Canning, dated Erfurth, 30th Sept. o. s. (12th October) 1808. Received October 21. SIR--I send to your Excellency a letter which the Emperors of Russia and France wrote to his Majesty the King of England. The Emperor of Russia flatters himself that England will feel the grandeur and the sincerity of this step. She will there find the most natural and the most simple answer to the overture which has been made by Admiral Saumarez. The union of the two empires is beyond the reach of all change, and the two Emperors have formed it for peace as well as for war.

His Majesty has commanded me to make known to your Excellency that he has nominated Plenipotentaries, who will repair to Paris, where they will await the answer which your Excellency may be pleased to make to me. I request you to address it to the Russian Ambassador at Paris. The Plenipotentiaries named by the Emperor of Russia will repair to that city on the Continent to which the Plenipotentiaries of his Britannic Majesty and his allies shall have been sent,

In respect to the basis of the negotiation, their Imperial Majesties see no difficulty in adopting all those formerly proposed by England, namely, the usi possidetis, and every other basis founded upon the reciprocity and equality which ought to prevail between all great nations.

I have the honour to be, with sentiments of the highest consideration, &c.

Count NICOLAS DE ROMANZOFF. To his Excellency Mr Canning, &c. No. 2.-Letter from his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and Bonaparte, to his Majesty, dated Erfurth, 12th October 1808,-Received October 21. SIRE The present circumstances of Europe have brought us together at Erfurth. Our first thought is to yield to the wishes and the wants of every people, and to seek, in a speedy pacification with your Majesty, the most efficacious remedy for the miseries which oppress all nations. We make known to your Majesty our sincere desire in this respect by the present letter.

The long and bloody war which has torn the continent is at an end, without the possibility of being renewed. Many chan

ges have taken place in Europe; many States have been overthrown. The cause is to be found in the state of agitation and misery in which the stagnation of maritime commerce has placed the greatest nations. Still greater changes may yet take place, and all of them contrary to the policy of the English nation. Peace, then, is at once the interest of the continent, as it is the interest of the people of Great Britain.

We unite in entreating your Majesty to listen to the voice of humanity, silencing that of the passions; to seek, with the intention of arriving at that object, to conciliate all interests, and by that means to preserve all the powers which exist, and to insure the happiness of Europe, and of this generation, at the head of which Providence has placed us.

(Signed) ALEXANDER-NAPOLEON. (No. 3. is a duplicate of No. 1. but signed by Champagny, the French minister.No. 4. is a duplicate of No. 2. with the signature of Napoleon before that of Alexander.-No. 5. and 6. are notes from Mr Canning to the French and Russian ministers at Paris, acknowledging the receipt of their respective letters.)

No. 7.-Letter from Mr Secretary Canning to the Russian Ambassador at Paris, dated Foreign Office, Oct. 28. 1808.

SIR-Having laid before the King my master the two letters which his Excellency the Count Nicolas de Romanzoff has transmitted to me from Erfurth, I have received his Majesty's commands to reply to that which is addressed to him, by the official note which I have the honour to enclose to your Excellency.

However desirous his Majesty might be to reply directly to his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, you cannot but feel, Sir, that, from the unusual manner in which the letters signed by his Imperial Majesty were drawn up, and which has entirely deprived them of the character of a private and personal communication, his Majesty has found it impossible to adopt that mark of respect towards the Emperor of Russia, without at the same time acknowledging titles which his Majesty never has acknowledged.

I am commanded to add to the contents of the official note, that his Majesty will hasten to communicate to his Majesty the King of Sweden, and to the existing Government of Spain, the proposals which have been made to him.

Your Excellency will perceive that it is absolutely necessary that his Majesty should receive an immediate assurance, that France acknowledges the Government of Spain as a party to any negotiation.

That

That such is the intention of the Emperor of Russia, his Majesty cannot doubt.

His Majesty recollects with satisfaction the lively interest which his Imperial Majesty has always manifested for the welfare and dignity of the Spanish monarchy, and he wants no other assurance that his Imperial Majesty cannot have been induced to sanction, by his concurrence, or by his approbation, usurpations, the principle of which is not less unjust than their example is dangerous to all legitimate Sovereigns.

As soon as the answers on this point shall have been received, and as soon as his Majesty shall have learnt the sentiments of the King of Sweden, and those of the Govern. ment of Spain, I shall not fail to receive the commands of his Majesty for such communications as it may be necessary to make upon the ulterior objects of the letter of Count Romanzoff.

GEORGE CANNING.

been prolonged only because no secure and honourable means of terminating it have hitherto been afforded by his enemies.

But in the progress of a war, begun for self-defence, new obligations have been imposed upon his Majesty, in behalf of powers whom the aggressions of a common enemy have compelled to make common cause with his Majesty, or who have solicited his Majesty's assistance and support in the vindication of their national indepen→ dence.

The interests of the Crown of Portugal, and of his Sicilian Majesty, are confided to his Majesty's friendship and protection.

With the King of Sweden his Majesty is connected by ties of the closest alliance, and by stipulations which unite their councils for peace as well as for war.

To Spain his Majesty is not yet bound by any formal instrument; but his Majesty has, in the face of the world, contracted with that nation engagements not less sacred, and not less binding upon his Majes

I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) No. 8. is the same in substance as No. 7, ty's mind, than the most solemn treaties. but addressed to M. de Champagny.

No. 9.-OFFICIAL NOTE. The King has uniformly declared his readiness and desire to enter into negotiations for a general peace, on terms consistent with the honour of his Majesty's Crown, with fidelity to his engagements, and with the permanent repose and secu rity of Europe. His Majesty repeats that declaration.

If the condition of the Continent be one of agitation and of wretchedness; if many States have been overthrown, and more are still menaced with subversion, it is a consolation to the King to reflect, that no part of the convulsions which have already been experienced, or of those which are threatened for the future, can be in any degree imputable to his Majesty. The King is most willing to acknowledge that all such dreadful changes are indeed contrary to the policy of Great Britain.

If the cause of so much misery is to be found in the stagnation of commercial intercourse, although his Majesty cannot be expected to hear, with unqualified regret, that the system devised for the destruction of the commerce of his subjects has recoiled upon its authors or its instruments, yet it is neither in the disposition of his Majesty, nor in the character of the people over whom he reigns, to rejoice in the privations and unhappiness even of the nations which are combined against him. His Majesty anxiously desires the termination of the sufferings of the Continent.

The war in which his Majesty is engaged was entered into by his Majesty for the immediate object of national safety. It has

His Majesty therefore assumes, that in an overture made to his Majesty for entering into negotiations for a general peace, the relations subsisting between his Majesty and the Spanish Monarchy have been dis tinctly taken into consideration; and the Government acting in the name of his Catholic Majesty Ferdina the Seventh, is understood to be a party to any negotiation in which his Majesty is invited to engage.

(Signed) GEORGE CANNING.

No. 13-TRANSLATION-NOTE. The undersigned, Minister for Foreign Affairs of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, has the honour to reply to the note of the 28th of October, signed by Mr Canning, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to his Majesty the King of Great Britain, and addressed, by his Excellency, to the Russian Ambassador at Paris, that the admission of the Sovereigns in alliance with England to a congress cannot be a point of any difficulty, and that Russia and France' consent to it; but this principle by no means extends to the necessity of admitting the plenipotentiaries of the Spanish insurgents; the Emperor of Russia 'cannot admit them. His empire, in similar circumstances, and England can recollect one particular instance, has always been true to the same principle. Moreover, he has already acknowledged the King Joseph Napoleon. He has announced to his Britannic Majesty, that he was united with the Emperor of the French for peace as well as for war, and his Imperial Majesty here repeats that declaration. He is resolved not to se parate his interests from those of that mos

narch;

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