66 " sula, are little better than traitors. The " Spain free; and, therefore, when we saw something like a spirit of liberty, breaking forth amongst the Spaniards, we were, not silenced, as this writer here says; but, as he afterwards truly says, in hopes that the Spaniards would form a new government, though no one talked of a republic. "But" says he, "this idea soon vanished; and, as soon as it was determined to preserve "the monarchy under Ferdinand, they "withdrew their good wishes, as it should "seem for ever."No: not for ever. That is a mistake: our good wishes the Spaniards always will have as far as they shall be found engaged in the cause of freedom, which is their cause and our cause and the cause of all the nations upon earth; but, between Joseph and Ferdinand we do not profess to be able to judge.- -We quitted the cause, it seems, as "soon as it was determined to preserve "the monarchy under Ferdinand." But, who was it that came to this determination ? Was it the people of Spain? The first that we, in England, heard of such a determination was at the memorable Turtle Patriot dinner in the City of London, where Mr. Canning, then a Secretary of State, introduced the new king to us, and toasted him as king of Spain, though his father was notoriously still alive, and though he be alive yet. This was the first that we heard of any determination to preserve the Spanish monarchy under Ferdinand; and, when we did hear of it; when we did find that a war was about to be entered upon for such a purpose, we expressed the opinion contained in my motto, and gave very ample reasons why such a war could never succeed. We said, that, to resist the French required a thorough conviction in the minds of the people that such resistance would lead to their freedom; that to make a people fight in defence of their country against an invader, you must make them feel that his success would be injurious to them; that the influence of nobles, priests, or of prejudice, though it might serve to rouze the people sufficiently for the purposes of partial warfare, and might produce some very sanguinary conflicts, would never be sufficient to resist, in the end, the armies of France; that there wanted, for this purNow, who is in the shape of man, pose, a new soul in Spain, a dislocation of except he be a Public Robber, a down-society, an event, in short, like the French right Robber, that does not think, that it revolution, without its bloodshed, and that would have been a good change for nothing short of that would enable the Spain to get rid of the old government at any rate? But, how much better to see * See Vol. 14, p. 226. The Spaniards, including the prisoners made at the Olivo, have lost about three thousand. CHARLES ADAM. country to resist the armies of Napoleon. This was what we said: we did not ask for republics or any other particular fancy: we only asked for freedom to the people of Spain: and we gave our reasons for believing, that, unless freedom was given to Spain, the French would become masters of the country; an opinion which seems, at last, not to be thought so very wild; and it will, I imagine, not be long before this "most thinking nation in Europe," will pretty clearly perceive, that it would have been better if our advice had been fol-casion the conduct of the Spanish troops lowed. Tarragona, June 11, 1811. sea-beach, called the Francoli, was deSir;-The small advanced work on the thrown up in the night of the 6th instant; stroyed in four hours by the batteries but its situation was such as always to have made its tenure very uncertain, by being very much detached. On this oc was particularly gallant; all the men who occupied the Francoli, to the amount of one hundred and forty-five, being either' In my next I shall state, as fully and as clearly as I am able, the whole of the mand having left the fort the last person. killed or wounded, and the officer in comcase relating to the Dispute with Ame-The enemy has since made several atrica, which has been delayed hitherto for want of certain points of information, tempts to carry these works, which prowhich I now possess. WM. COBBETT. State Prison, Newgate, Friday, tect the communication between the sea and the town, but by the vigilance and bravery of Brigadier Sarsfield, who commands these defences, they have been repulsed with considerable loss; and, indeed, in one instance, though the enemy OFFICIAL PAPERS. had rallied three times, he was completely SPAIN.-TARRAGONA.-Account of the Siege defeated in his object. But the very hard and Capture of this place, in letters from work by day in constructing works for the Capt. Adam, Col. Green, and Capt. support of the lines, which becomes neCodrington, to Admiral Cotton, Com-cessary in consequence of the radical demanding in the Mediterranean.-From fects of the fortifications, and the constant the 5th to the 28th June, 1811. alarms and attacks by night, causes serious anxiety for the earliest relief. Invincible, Tarragona-roads, E. R. GREEN. Blake, off Villa Neuva, June 15th, 1811. Sir;-On the 28th in the morning the enemy opened his fire on fort Olivo from two batteries, one of four guns and a mor- Sir;-As Captain Adam has informed tar, the other of three guns and an ho- you of the occurrences at Tarragona, durwitzer, placed on the flank of the fort.ing my absence, up to the 5th of June, I About mid day of the 29th, Colonel Green examined the works of the Olivo, owing to a report from an officer that its defences were in a bad state, and he found them very much destroyed. At night it was intended to substitute the regiment of Almeria for that of Iberia, which had been hitherto in the fort; and after dark the former regiment was marched out of the town for that purpose; but I am sorry to say the enemy found means to mingle himself with that regiment, and he got possession of the Olivo without firing a shot, making nine hundred men prisoners. The enemy's force at present is considered to be between ten and eleven thousand men; he is supposed to have lost four thousand since the commencement of the siege in killed and wounded, and deserters. have only to add, that although the French have advanced their works to within half pistol shot of the lines of the Puerto, besides having entirely destroyed the battery of Francoli, and formed a post under the position of its ruins, they have been beaten off with very serious loss on their part in some desperate attempts to storm the Orleans and Saint Joseph batteries; and that the Spaniards under General Sarsfield have made several successful sorties with the few troops that could be spared for the purpose. My last letter to you, dated the 15th of May, will have informed you of my intention of proceed ing to Valencia and Alicant with General Doyle, and I have now to make known to you the successful result of our visit to those places.-Leaving Tarragona on the 16th, we reached Peniscola on the fore whilst he himself would move forward with the remainder of his army to the banks of the Ebro; where, in concert with the Arragonese division, he might threaten, and perhaps destroy, the dif ferent depôts of General Suchet.-I therefore hastened to Tarragona, to collect the necessary shipping, for the purpose of giving action to their liberal and patriotic intentions. Again fortunately meeting the Invincible on the night of the 6th, I directed Captain Adam to anchor at Peniscola, and wait my return to that rendezvous in company with Captain Pringle, whom I ordered to do the same with the Sparrowhawk and the transport William, whenever he should have landed the mortars, &c. at Valencia, with which he was charged.--On the morning of the 7th we reached Tarragona, landed the whole of our cargo in the course of the night; and, after a consultation with General Contreras, again left that anchorage at ten o'clock in the forenoon of the 8th, taking the Paloma along with us. We reached Peniscola on the noon of the 9th, where the Invincible had already anchored with the four transports, and were joined on the 10th by the Centour, Sparrowhawk, and William transport.- From the critical situation of Tarragona, I left orders with Captain Bullen, that whatever ships of war might arrive before my return, should join me immediately; and to Captain White's promptness in obeying this order, and consenting in common with Captain Adam and myself to receive each a battalion of eight hundred troops, with the proper proportion of officers, I am indebted for the power of embarking the whole four thousand on the forenoon of the 11th, and landing them at the garrison of Tarragona during the night of the 12th. noon of the 17th, where, finding the Invincible, with four empty transports, bound to Carthagena, I directed Captain Adam to remain until he heard farther from me. From thence General Doyle wrote to General O'Donnel an account of the situation of Tarragona, and of my detaining Captain Adam at Peniscola in readiness to receive any reinforcements which he might be pleased to send to that garrison. Upon our arrival at Murviedra we found General O'Donnell had already ordered the embarkation of two thousand three hundred infantry, and two hundred and cleven artillerymen, &c. which, by the zeal and exertion of Captain Adam, who received seven hundred of them on board the Invincible, were safely landed at Tarragona on the 22nd.-Delivering to General O'Donnel two thousand stand of arms, accoutrement, and clothing, to enable him to bring into the field as many of the recruits already trained as would supply the place of the regular soldiers thus detached from his army, we proceeded to Valencia, and landed the remainder of our cargo; by which means the troops of General Villa Campa, then dispersed as peasantry for want of arms, were enabled again to take the field, and the corps of Mina and Empecinado completed in all the requisites for active warfare, and the army of Arragon thus brought forward to act in concert with the movements of that of Valencia.-At Alicant we procured as many necessary materials for Tarragona as the ship would actually stow, besides eighty artillerymen, and a considerable quantity of powder, ball cartridge, lead, &c. sent in the Paloma Spanish corvette from Carthagena, in company with a Spanish transport from Cadiz, deeply laden with similar supplies. As it was impossible to receive these stores on board-As soon as the troops were ready for the Blake, they were conveyed at my request in the Paloma, with the ship under convoy, directly to Tarragona.-After returning to Valencia, where we landed the additional arms, &c. for the Arragonese army, we moved on to Murviedra; where the Count of Bisbal proceeded from Valencia to join us in a consultation with his brother, although on account of his wound, he was very unfit for such a journey. The result of this conference was a determination on the part of General O'Donnell to commit to my protection, for the succour of Tarragona, another division of his best troops, under Major-General Miranda, consisting of four thousand men, embarkation at Peniscola, I sent the Sparrowhawk forward to prepare the garrison and also the Marquis of Campo Verde for our arrival, in consequence of the Marquis's letter in answer to General Miranda requesting I would again embark his division for the purpose of joining the Marquis in the neighbourhood of Villa Neuva de Sitges, in order to threaten the flank of the besieging army. And this farther service was so speedily executed by means of the boats of the squadron, that the whole division was again safely landed at this place on the evening of yesterday, from whence it marched this morning for Villa Franca, intending to join the Mar quis of Campo Verde, to-morrow, at Iqualada.-EDWARD CODRINGTON. prey to the merciless and sanguinary Blake, off Tarragona, June 29, 1811. Sir,-Yesterday morning, at dawn of day, the French opened their fire upon the town; about half past five in the afternoon à breach was made in the works, and the place carried by assault immediately afterwards. From the rapidity with which they entered, I fear they met with but little opposition; and upon the Barcelona side a general panic took place. Those already without the walls, stripped and endeavoured to swim off to the shipping, while those within were seen sliding down the face of the batteries; each party thus equally endangering their lives more than they would have done by a firm resistance to the enemy -A large mass of people, some with muskets and some with Blake, in Tarragona-Roads, June 23, 1811. Sir,-Besides employing the gun-boats and launches during the whole of every night in annoying the enemy's working parties, I have supplied the garrison with above three thousand sand-bags made by the squadron, and sent all the women, children, and wounded people by the transports to Villa Neuva; added to which the boats of the squadron under the particular directions of Captain Adam, but assisted by Captain White and myself, took off above two hundred men who retreated to the Mole after the French had taken the batteries, and who were safely landed again during the night at the Milagro, that is, within the works on the east side of the town. And in order to counteract the depression which might ensue. from the extensive and unexpected ad-out, then pressed forward along the road, vantages gained by the enemy on the suffering themselves to be fired upon by night of the 21st, I yesterday led the about twenty French, who continued runsquadron as near to the Mole and Puerto nung beside them at only a few yards disas could be done with safety, and drove tance. At length they were stopped enthe enemy from the advanced position tirely by a volley of fire from one small they had taken. This position, which was party of the eneiny, who had entrenched taken with the view of picking off the ar- themselves at a turn of the road, suptillerymen at their guns, as they did on ported by a second a little higher up, who the lines of the Puerto, was inmediately opened a masked bat ery of two fieldafterwards, and still remains, occupied by pieces. A horrible burchery then ensued; the Spanish Gueritlas.-But the French and shortly afterwards, the remainder of are making a work near the Fuerte Real these poor wre ches, amounting to above battery, from which they will quickly three thousand, tamely submitted to be breach the wall of the town, and are dig-led away prisoners by less than as many ging their tr nches in such a direction as hundred French.-The launches and gonwill secure them from the fire of the ship-boats went from the ships the instant the ping. In the mean time they are destroying the Custom house, the large stores, and ail the buildings of the Puerto, in order, I presume, to ruin the place as much as possible; and I have no doubt but the town will share the same fate, if it should unfortunately fall into their hands.-The Baron de Eroles has taken a convoy of five hundred mules Laden, and destroyed some of the escort.-The exertion and ability of the French in besieging this place has never, I believe, been exceeded; and I trust the brave garrison will still make a defence worthy the britliant example which has been set them on some other parts of the Peninsula: but I am sorry to say the safety of the place now seems to depend particularly upon the army of the Marquis of Campo Verde; and I fear the town wili eventually fall a enemy were observed by the Invincible. (which lay to the westward) to be collecting in their trenches; and yet, so rapid was their success, that the whole was over before we could open our fire with effect. --All the boats of the squadron and transports were sent to assist those who were swimming or concealed under the rocks; and, notwithstanding a heavy fire of mus quetry and field-pieces, which was warmly and suc essfully returned by the launches and gun-boats, from five to six hundred were then brought off to the shipping, many of them badly wounded.--I cannot conciade my history of our operations at Tarragona without assuring you, that the zeal and exertion of those under my command, in every branch of the various services which have fallen to their lot, has been carried far beyond the mere dictates of duty. The Invincible and Centaur | tering the town, and afterwards all those have remained with me the whole time found in uniform or with arms in their immediately off Tarragona, and Captains houses; and that many of the women and Adam, White, and myself have passed young girls of ten years old, were treated most nights in our gigs, carrying on such in the most inhuman way; and that after operations under cover of the dark as the soldiers had satisfied their lust, many could not have been successfully employed of them, it was reported, were thrown into in sight of the enemy; I do not mean as the flames, together with the badlyto mere danger, for the boats have been wounded Spaniards; one thousand men assailed by shot and shells both night and had been left to destroy the works; the day, even during the time of their taking whole city was burnt to ashes, or would be off the women and children, as well as the so, as the houses were all set fire to; the wounded, without being in the smallest only chance in their favour was the calm degree diverted from their purpose.-It is weather and the sudden march of the impossible to detail in a letter all that has French, by which some houses might passed during this short but tragic period; escape. but humanity has given increased excitement to our exertions; and the bodily powers of Captain Adam have enabled him perhaps to push to greater extent that desire to relieve distress which we have all partaken in common.-Our own ships, as well as the transports, have been the receptacles of the miserable objects which saw no shelter but in the English squadron; and you will see by the orders which I have found it necessary to give, that we have been called upon to clothe the naked, and feed the starving, beyond the regular rules of our service. Our boats have suffered occasionally from the shot of the enemy, as well as from the rocks from which they have embarked the people; amongst others the barge of the Blake, which however, I was so fortunate as to recover after being swamped and overset, in consequence of a shot passing through both her sides, with the loss only of one woman and child killed out of twelve, which were then on board in addition to her crew. But the only casualty of importance which has happened in the squadron is that which befel the Centaur's launch on the evening of the 28th, and I beg to refer you particularly to the observations of Captain White respecting Lieutenant Ashworth, whose conduct and whose misfortune entitle him to every consideration. EDWARD CODRINGTON. Captain Codrington farther states, that he had received intelligence that General Contreras was wounded and made prisoner, and that the General personally distinguished himself; that the Governor (Gonzales), with a handful of men, defended himself to the last, and was bayonetted to death in the square near his house; that man, woman, and child were put to the sword upon the French first en GENERAL MEMORANDUM. from the present distressed situation of Whereas, Tarragona, many families may be obliged to embark without the necessary means of existence, until they can be conveyed to other places on the coast, where the customary generosity of the people will enfor their own subsistence.-It is my direcsure them a share of what they may have tion that the ships of the English squadron furnish them with such provision, for the time of their embarkation and transport, as the humanity and liberality of our country will dictate.-A separate account of the provision so expended is hereafter the proper officers, for the information of to be given to me, regularly signed by the Victualling Board, instead of the people being borne for victuals as passengers usually are. -EDWARD CODRINGTON. Blake, in Tarragona Roads, June 25, 1811. GENERAL MEMORANDUM. Whereas, in consequence of the town of Tarragona being taken this evening by assault, numbers of the troops and inhabitants who have been received on board the different ships and vessels of the squadron perfectly naked, it is my direction that they may be supplied with such articles of clothing as a due regard to decency and humanity may absolutely require. EDWARD CODRington. Blake, in Tarragona Roads, June 28, 1811. SPAIN.-French Official News from the Ar mies.-Paris, 9th August, 1811. Madrid, July 16-Yesterday was a day of rejoicing for this capital. The King, our Sovereign, entered it on his return from his journey, at half-past six in the evening, amidst the acclamations of an immense multitude, who awaited and |