The general then moved bis head-quarters to the Mesa d'Ibor on the evening of the 8th, having his advanced-guard at Bohoral. He resigned the command of the army the 12th, (on account of the bad state of his health,) which has devolved upon General Equia. The head-quarters of the Spanish army are now at Deleytosa. It appears that a detachment of Vanegas's army had some success against the enemy, in an attack made upon it in the neighbourhood of Aranjuez, on the 5th instant. General Vanegas was then at Ocana, and he had determined to retire towards the Sierra Morena; and after the 5th, he had moved in that direction. He returned, however, towards Toledo, with an intention of attacking the enemy on the 12th, but on the 11th the enemy attacked him with Sebastiani's corps, and two divisions of Victor's in the neighbourhood of Almoracid. The action appears to have lasted some hours, but the French having at last gained an advantage on General Vanegas's left, he was obliged to retire, and was about to resume his position in the Sierra Morena. On the 9th, 10th, and 11th, large detachments of the French troops which had come from Placencia, returned to that quarter, and on the 12th, they attacked and defeated Sir Robert Wilson in the Puerto de Banos, on their return to Salamanca. It appears now that the French force in this part of Spain is distri=buted as follows:-Marshal Victor's corps is divided between Talavera and La Mancha; Sebastiani's is in La Mancha; Marshal Mortier's at Oropesa, Arzo Bispo, and Navalmoral; Marshal Soult's at Pla cencia; and Marshal Ney's at Salamanca. Distress for want of provisions, and its effects, have at last obliged me to move towards the frontiers of Portugal, in order to refresh my troops. In my former dispatches I have informed your lordship of our distress for the want of provisions and the means of transport. Those wants, which were the first cause of the loss of many advantages after the 22d of July, which were made known to the government, and were actually known to them on the 20th of last month. still exist in an aggravated degree, and under these circumstances I determined to break up on the 20th from Jaraicejo, where I had had my head-quarters since the 11th, with the advanced posts on the Tagus near the bridge of Almaraz, and to fall back upon the frontier of Portugal, where I hope I shall be supplied with every thing I want. majesty's principal secretaries of state, from lieutenant-general the earl of Chatham, dated Head-quarters, Ratz, Aug. 29, 1809. My Lord-Major Bradford delivered to me your lordship's dispatch of the 21st instant, signifying to me his majesty's commands that I-should convey to lieutenant-general sir Eyre Coote, the general and other officers and troops employed before Flushing, and particularly to those of the artillery and engineer departments, his majesty's most gracious approbation of their conduct; and which I have obeyed with the most entire satisfaction. I had the honour in my last dispatch of acquainting your lordship with my intention of proceeding to this place, and I should have been most happy to have been enabled to have announced to your lordship the further progress of this army. Unfortunately, however, it becomes my duty to state to your lordship that, from the concurrent testimony from so many quarters, as to leave no doubt of the truth of the information, the enemy appears to have collected so formidable a force, as to convince me that the period was arrived, at which my instructions would have directed me to withdraw the army under my command, even if engaged in actual operation. I had certainly understood on my arrival at Walcheren, that the enemy were assembling in considerable force on all points; but I was unwilling to give too much credit to these reports, and I was determined to persevere until I was satisfied, upon the fullest information, that all further attempts would be unavailable. From all our intelligence it appears, that the force of the enemy in this quarter, distributed between the environs of Bergen-op-Zoom, Breda, Lille, and Antwerp, and cantoned on the opposite coast, is not less than thirty-five thousand men, and by some statements is estimated-higher. Though a landing on the continent might, I bave no doubt, have been forced, yet 23 the siege of Antwerp, the possession of which could alone have secured to us any of the ulterior objects of the expedition, was by this state of things rendered utterly impracticable, such a measure, if successful, could have led to no solid advantage; and the retreat of the army, which must at an early period have been inevitable, would have been exposed to`much hazard. The utmost force (and that daily decreasing) that I could have brought into the field, alter providing for the occupation of Walcheren and South Beveland, would have amounted to about twenty-three thousand infantry, and two thousand cavalry. Your lordship must at once see, even if the enemy's force had. been less numerous than represented, after the necessary detachments to observe the garrisons of Bergen-op-Zoom and Breda, and se curing our communications, how very inadequate a force must have remained for operations against Lillo and Liefkenshoeik, and ultimately against Antwerp; which town, So far from being in the state which had been reported, is, from very correct accounts, represented to be in a complete state of defence; and the enemy's ships had been brought up and placed in security, under the guns of the citadel. Under these circumstances, however mortifying to me to see the progress arrested of an army, from whose whose good conduct and valour I had every thing to hope, I feel that my duty left me no other course than to close my operations here; and it will always be a satisfaction to me to think, that I have not been induced lightly to commu the safety of the army confided to me, or the reputation of his majesty's arms.— It was an additional satisfaction to me to find that the unanimous opinion of the lieutenant-generals of this army, whom I thought it right to consult, more out of respect to them, than that I thought a doubt could be entertained on the subject, concurred entirely in the sentiments I have submitted to your lordship. I am concerned to say, that the effect of the climate at this unhealthy period of the year, is felt most seriously, and that the numbers of sick already is little short of 3,000 men. It is my intention to withdraw gradually from the advanced position in this island, and sending into Walcheren such an additional force, as may be necessary to secure that important possession, to embark the remainder of the troops, and to hold them in readiness to await his majesty's farther commands, which I shall most anxiously expect. I have the honour to be, &e. CHATHAM. British Deserters.-Case of the men arrested as deserters from the frigate L'Africaine, by John Hunter, esq. Sheriff of Baltimore, at the request of William Wood, esq. British Consul for the Port of Baltimore. An Habeas Corpus was applied for to Judge Scott, late on Thursday evening, on behalf of seven men, arrested and held in custody VOL. LI. by the Sheriff, at the request, and on the statement of the British Consul that they were deserters, by their counsel. The Habeas Corpus was issued as prayed for, returnable the next morning at nine o'clock. Accordingly, this morning, the men were brought up amidst an immense concourse of citizens, who filled the court-house and the neighbouring street, and the Sheriff made return that he had arrested and detained the men in custody, in virtue of the following, from the British Consul: British Consul's Office, Baltimore, Sept. 6, 1809. Sir-Having received information that 13 seamen have deserted from L'Africaine frigate, and are now in this city, I have to request that you will be pleased to secure them till they can be sent on board. I am, &c WM. WOOD. John Hunter, Esq. By virtue of this authority, I have arrested and put in prison the following persons, to wit: John Nowland, William Whokes, Denis Murphy, Richard Hewes, John Earp, Jolin Burwell, and Jacob Lamb.The Judge said, that he had conceived it his duty to give notice to Mr. Wood, (the British Consui) of the application, so that he might appear and shew cause, if any he had, why the men should be detained. In the course of a few minutes Mr. Wood came into court, and the counsel for the prisoners, Messrs. Glenu and J. L. Donaldson, moved the court that the men be discharged, sufficient cause for their detention not appearing on the return.Mr. Wood's counsel, Mr. Walter Dorsey, requested to be allowed time to inquire into the law; and said said they would be ready to prove that these men were deserters from his Britannic majesty's ship. The counsel for the prisoners objected to the delay. The Chief Justice stated, that the opinion of the Seeretary of State had satisfied him, that deserters from British vessels ought not to be arrested or detained under the authority of the government of the United States, for the purpose of delivering them up to the officers of the British government; he therefore ordered the prisoners to be discharged. The audience expressed their approbation of his decision by three loud and tumultuous huzzas and execrations of the tories, and carried off the deserters in triumph! Lord Castlereagh's Letter to Mr. Canning; and Mr. Canning's Answer, St. James's-square, 19th Sept. Sir-It is unnecessary for me to enter into any detailed statement of the circumstances which preceded the recent resignations.It is enough for me, with a view to the immediate object of this letter, to state, that it appears a proposition had been agitated, without any communication with me, for my removal from the War Department; and that you, towards the close of the last session, having urged a decision upon this question, with the alternative of your seceding from the government, procured a positive promise from the Duke of Portland (the execution of which you afterwards considered yourself entitled to enforce) that such removal should be carried into effect. Notwithstanding this promise, by which I consider you pronounced it unfit that I should remain charged with the conduct of the war, and by which my situation as a minister of the crown, was made dependent upon your will and pleasure, you continued to sit in the same cabinet with me, and to leave me not only in the persuasion that I possessed your confidence and support as a colleague, but you allowed me, in breach of every principle of good faith, both public and private, though thus virtually superseded, to originate and proceed in the execution of a new enterprise of the most ardent and important nature, with your apparent concurrence, and ostensible approbation. You were fully aware that if my situation in the government had been disclosed to me, I could not have submitted to remain one mo ment in office, without the entire abandonment of my private honour and public duty. You knew I was deceived, and you continued to des ceive me. I am aware, it may be said, which I am ready to acknowledge, that when you pressed for a decision for my removal, you also pressed for its disclosure, and that it was resisted by the Duke of Portland, and some members of the government, supposed to be my friends. But I never can admit that you have a right to make use of such a plea, in justification of an act affecting my honour, nor that the sentiments of others could justify an acquiescence in such a delusion on your part, who had yourself felt and stated its unfairness. Nor can I admit that the head of any administration, or any supposed friend (whatever may be their motives,) can authorize or sanction any man in such a course of long and persevering deception. For were I lo admit such a principle, my honour aud and character would be from that moment in the discretion of persons wholly unauthorised, and known to you to be unauthorised to act for fully give to your lordship the satisfaction which you require. I am, &c. GEORGE CANNING. me in such a case. It was there- Lord Viscount Castlereagh, &c. I have no right, as a public man, to resent your demanding, upon public grounds, my removal from the particular office I have held, or even from the administration, as a condition of your continuing a member of the government. But I have a distinct right to expect that a proposition, justifiable in itself, shall not be executed in an unjustifiable manner, and at the expence of my honour and reputation. And I consider that you were bound, at least, to avail yourself of the same alternative, namely, your own resignation, to take yourself out of the predicament of practising such a deceit towards me, which you did exercise in demanding a decision for my removal. Under these circumstances, I must require that satisfaction from you to which I feel myself entitled to lay claim. I am, &c. CASTLEREAGH. The Right Hon. Geo. Canning. Gloucester-Lodge, Sept. 20. My Lord-The tone and purport of your lordship's letter, which I have this moment received, of course preclude any other answer on my part to the misapprehensions and misrepresentatious with which it abounds, than that I will cheer The following detail of the original cause of the animosity between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning is supposed to be written by Mr. Cooke, the private secretary to Lord Castlereagh: It is undoubtedly true, that Mr. Canning, during the Easter recess, did make a representation in a letler to the Duke of Portland, with respect to the war department, founded upon differences which had prevailed between him and Lord Castlereagh; but it is not true that this letter was shown to the cabinet, or that the subject was even stateď to the cabinet, however it might have been secretly communicated to some of the members. It is also true that a suggestion was made for appointing the Marquis Wellesley to succeed Lord Castlereagh. It is likewise undeniable, that a decision upon this point was postponed till near the close of the session. It is further ascertained, that towards the close of the session, when Lord Grenville Leveson Gower's writ was to be moved for, on account of his coming into office, and the cabinet, that Mr. Canning called upon the Duke of Portland, as a condition of his remaining in the government, to give him a decision upon the proposition for removing Lord Castlereagh, and appointing the Marquis Wellesley his successor; and the Duke of Portland having given Mr. Canming a specific and positive promise to this effect, Mrr Canning pressed |