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prisoners. My light cavalry, after the action, pursued the enemy beyond Palairos, where he took up a position at the same time that General Dumoustier entered Baneza, Roguet, Cebrones, and Bonnet established himself in front of Orbigo. I arrived at Baneza, where I learned that General Abadia intended to collect his army under Astorga, and wait for me. I gave orders in consequence to all my troops to proceed thither.-On the 26th, my advanced guard arrived there at seven

order that these Presents under our Seal be directed to all Courts, Tribunals, and Authorities, that they may be transcribed in their Registers, that they themselves, and all others in the Kingdom, may obseeve and obey the same. The Minister of Justice is to promulgate this law."35. The Decrees of Courts of Justice are in the following form:-" By the Grace of God, and the Constitutional Law of the State, do declare greeting. (Then follows the Decree.) We command and order all Officers to put in execution the said judg-a. m. and the divisions of the army at eight. ment, to all our Law Agents to sign their name to it, and to all Military Commanders to employ their force, if required, to secure obedience to the same. In witness whereof," &c.

[To be signed by the President and Chief Secretary.)

The above Constitutional Law of the Realm is dated from Cape Henry, in the 8th year of Independence, 1811, and is signed by all the Public Authorities composing the Council of State.

FRENCH ARMY IN SPAIN.

ARMY OF THE NORTH.

The enemy, after having evacuated the place in the night, continued his retreat, taking the road of Galicia. I then ordered General Bonnet to pursue him with two brigades of infantry and 600 horse beyond Villafranca, keeping the two roads that lead from Astorga to that town. Roguet took up a position in front of Astorga, and during Bonnet's march pushed forward strong parties to watch the debouchés of Asturias.-Dumoustier had orders to be ready to act as occasion required.-General Bonnet established himself the same day in front of Ravanal. On the 27th, he came up with the enemy,

Report of the Count D'Orsenne, General-in-5,000 strong, on the heights of Reigo de
Chief of the Army of the North, to the
Prince of Neufchatel and Wagram.
Camp of Astorga, Aug. 28.

(Concluded from page 416.)
Bonnet's, Dumoustier's, and Roguet's di-
visions received orders to pass the Elsa on
the 25th, at four in the morning, and to
proceed, the first by the Leon road to
Astorga on Puente d'Orbigo-the second
from Valencia de Don Juan on Baneza
-the 3d by Benavente to the same
point, and the reserve, at the head of which
I was, marched from Valderas, to proceed
to Cebrones, passing by Villaquesjida.
-The different movements were execut-
ed with much unity. General Abadia, who
had been informed but a few hours before,
had only time to evacuate his position, re-
tiring upon Astorga. Disturbed by the
unexpected march of our troops, he re-
treated with the greatest precipitation.
His advanced guard, which was on the
height of St. Martin, shewed a determina-
tion to defend itself. I ordered the Horse
Chasseurs, and light Chasseurs of the
Guard to drive them away. Some squa-
drons of Galician Hussars maintained
themselves obstinately, but they were
charged by our brave men, who killed or
wounded some sixty, and made several

Ambroso, and in spite of a heavy firing the bayonet. General Abadia, who be carried this strong position at the point of held the defeat of his troops, retired basthe 28th, early in the morning, we entered tily by the mountains of Orensee. On Villafranca. We found there, and at Ponferrada, 2,500 muskets, 400 uniforms, 15,000 pounds of rice, and 120,000 cartridges-The enemy lost 300 killed and wounded, and 200 prisoners.-We had no one killed-General Corsen, Col. Bartel, and two chasseurs were wounded.-All the reports confirm the entire dispersion of the army of Galicia, and the impossibility of its resuming the offensive for a long time, which fulfils completely the object I had in view. I am, &c.

COUNT D'Orsenne.

To the Prince of Neufchatel and Wagram.

Camp of Astorga, Aug. 30.

The information I receive from all parts, confirms more and more the total dissolution and dispersion in the mountains of the different corps of this army. The greatest privations oblige the soldiers to return home-hence these assemblages which for a moment threatened the tranquillity of this province, are dispersed like a cloud. COUNT D'ORSENNE.

ARMY OF PORTUGAL.

"Five divisions of the English army have passed the Tagus, and directed their march to the Coa; two divisions remain on the left bank of the Tagus. This movement, at this season, is very fatal to the English. It increases diseases which have fatigued them much for some time. The heat, which is very great this year, is more prejudicial to the English, who are little used to it, than any other nation! Our army is in good cantonments, and is recovering from its fatigues. It has received a great quantity of horses to remount its artillery entirely.

FOURTH GOVERNMENT.

General Roguet, Commandant at St. Andero, suffered himself to be surprised on the 14th August. An hour before daybreak, a column of 800 insurgents marched upon the city, after having travelled all night, carefully avoiding the different. posts of the provinces; it thus arrived at the skirts of the town, whilst a second column of 1,800 men proceeded against the important post of Torre Lovega. The guard before the Hospital of St. Andero was the first attacked, and tought with courage; the day having dawned, the enemy was attacked in his turn, beat, and pursued; upwards of 300 men remained on the field, the rest were driven beyond the mountains of Presillas, where more were killed. The column which attacked Torre Lovega was not more fortunate; the garrison defended itself bravely, and more than half the insurgents were killed.

FRANCE. ·Decree relative to the Natural ization of Frenchmen. Trianon, 26 Aug.

1811.

Napoleon, by the grace of God, and the Constitutions, Emperor of the French, &c. to all present and to come, greeting:

Different questions having been submitted to us with regard to the condition of Frenchmen established in foreign countries, we have thought it right to make known our intentions on that subject.

But no law has yet been laid down either with regard to Frenchmen naturalised in foreign countries, with or without our authority, or with regard to such as may have already entered, or choose to enter. in future, into the service of a foreign Power.

And as it is not our wish to confound those of our subjects who are induced from legitimate motives to naturalise themselves abroad, with those whose conduct will assume the character of felony, we have resolved, by these presents, to complete and make known this important branch of legislation.

For these reasons, on the report of our Grand Judge, Minister of Justice, and our Council of State, being heard,

We have decreed and ordered, and do decree and order, as follows: TITLE I-Of Frenchmen naturalised abroad with our permission.

Art 1. No Frenchman can be naturalised abroad, without our authority.

2. Our permission shall be granted by letters-patent, drawn up by our Grand Judge, signed with our hand, countersigned by our Secretary of State, inspected by our Cousin the Prince Arch-Chancellor, inserted in the Bulletin of Laws, and registered in the Imperial Court of the last place of domicile of the person to whom they relate.

3. Frenchmen thus naturalised abroad shall enjoy the right of possessing, of transmitting, and of succeeding to property, even when the subjects of the countries where they shall be naturalised do not enjoy those rights in France.

4. The children of a Frenchman born

in the country where he is naturalised, are

aliens.

5. Frenchmen naturalised abroad even with our permission, can at no time carry arms against France, under pain of being indicted in our Courts, and condeinned to the punishments enacted in the Penal Code, Book 3d, cap. 75.

TITLE II.-Of Frenchmen naturalised abroad without our permission.

By our decree of the oth of April, 1809, 6. Every Frenchman naturalised abroad we have already pronounced with regard without our permission, shall incur the to such Frenchmen as have borne arms loss of his property, which shall be confisagainst their country; and those who, re-cated; he shall no longer enjoy the right siding with a Power with whom we go to war, do not quit its territory; or who, being summoned by us, do not obey that order.

of succession, and all the succession falling in to him shall pass to the next heir, provided he is domiciliated in France.

By the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, it is

provided, that by a process instituted in the Courts of Justice, such persons shall lose their titles if they have any, together with the property attached to them, which shall devolve to the nearest heir, being French, the rights of the wife being secured, which shall be regulated as in the case of widowhood.

11. Those who are naturalised abroad without permission, and against whom the above process has taken place, if found in the territory of the Empire, shall, for the first time, be arrested and conducted beyond the frontiers; if they return, they shall be condemned to a period of imprisonment not less than a year, nor more than 10 years.

18. They may nevertheless wear the decorations of foreign orders, when they shall have received them with our consent.

19. They may not enter France but with our special permission.

20. Frenchmen in the service of a foreign power can never be accredited as Ambassadors, Ministers, or Envoys at our Court, nor received as charged with any kind of mission that would render it necessary for them to appear before us in their foreign costume.

21. Frenchmen entering the service of a Foreign Power, without our permission, and remaining in it after war is declared between France and that Power, shall be considered as having borne arms against us, from the circumstance alone of their TITLE III.—Of Individuals already natura- having continued to form part of a military

lised abroad.

12. Individuals naturalised abroad at the period of the publication of this decree, may, within a year, if on the Continent of Europe; within three years, if beyond that Continent; within five years, if beyond the Cape of Good Hope and in the Indies, obtain our confirmation according to the forms prescribed in the present

Decree.

corps destined to act against the French empire or its allies.

22. Our Ministers are charged, each in his own department, with the execution of the present degree.-(Signed) By the Emperor, NAPOLEON.

Count DARU, Secretary of State.

SPAIN. Head Quarters at Valladolid.
Ordinance.

We the Marshal of the Empire, Duke

TITLE IV.-Of Frenchmen in the service of of Istria, Colonel General of the Imperial

a Foreign Power.

13. No Frenchman can enter the service of a foreign power without our special permission, and except under condition of returning, should we recal him either by a general proclamation or a direct order.

14. Those of our subjects who shall have obtained this permission, cannot take the oaths to the power which they serve, without a proviso of never bearing arms against France, and of quitting the service, even without being recalled, should that power happen to go to war with us.

15. The permission of entering the service of a foreign Power shall be granted by letters patent, according to the forms presented in Act 2d.

Guards, General in Chief of the Army of the North of Spain;

Considering that the measures of clemency by which we had flattered ourselves that the people would be brought back to submission, and thus avoid the evils produced by a more protracted resistance, have had no other effect but to increase the audacity of the insurgents and their partisans:

Considering that measures of rigour must be so much the more severe the longer they are deferred, and that we have not adopted them until we have been convinced that they are the sole means of maintaining the tranquillity of the country:

Upon the report of the Intendant Ge16. They cannot act as ministers pleni-neral, we have ordered and do order as potentiary in any treaty where our inte- follows::rests come into discussion.

17. They must not wear a foreign cockade in countries in subjection to us, nor there appear in a foreign uniform; they shall be authorised to wear the national colours when in the Empire.

Art. 1. There shall be formed by the municipalities in the towns, and by the magistrates in the villages, a list of all the individuals who have quitted their homes, and who do not reside in places occupied by French troops. (To be continued.)

Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden :-Sold a so by J. BUDD, Pall-Mall, LONDON:-Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough-Court, Fleet-Street.

VOL. XX. No. 16.]

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1811.

[Price 15.

"Captain Harris of the Iris, just arrived at Liverpool, has DEPOSED, that, on the 30th, when he " left Lisbon, a Telegraphic message had been received of the defeat of the French, after two days "hard fighting, with the loss of 20,000 in killed and wounded.". -COURIER news-paper, 14th Oct. 1811.

481]

[482

the border of Spain and Portugal and near SUMMARY OF POLITICS. the city of Rodrigo.- -These fabricators, TALAVERA'S WARS.- -Long as the peo- of falshoods had, for more than a month beple of this country have been accustomed fore, been telling the people of England, that to be abused with falselioods as to these our Commander had safely blockaded Rowars; manifold as these falsehoods have drigo. At one time they said he had laid been and gross and impudent as they have siege to it; and, at another time, they acbeen in their manner and extent; still, I tually asserted, that he had taken it. Then think, that the last ten days have, in this again he had left it in his rear, and was respect, surpassed all former periods. A upon high march towards Salamanca. little while ago there were published, in But, the very least they taught us to exthe Moniteur, two articles upon the sub-pect was, a blockade of Rodrigo, which set ject of the Impostor Paper, which had been the enemy at defiance, and which it was, circulated through our venal prints, under in short, impossible for him to raise.pretence of its having been copied from At the same time, we were told, that our an American news-paper, and upon the Commander was daily receiving great reletters between Napoleon and his brother inforcements from the sea-ports; that his Joseph, pretended to have been intercepted army amounted to 47,000 British troops, in Spain. In these articles the Moniteur and that the Portuguese part of the army goes into a description of the ways in (equal, it was said, in quality to our own) which the people of England are cheated amounted to upwards of 30,000 regulars, and kept in ignorance by means of a ser- making an army of 77,000 exclusive of vile press; and, its observations were so the large bodies of militia, which were cutting, because so true, that one might under arms in all parts of Portugal. And, have hoped, that, for the future, shame to this was added, that the Spaniards had would have had some power in restraining recently gained such advantages over the fabricating fingers of these venal men. the French, that the latter, harrassed One might have hoped, that, when they in all quarters, beset with enemies saw proofs of the contempt, which, from from every hill, hedge, ditch, and brake, ail foreign nations, they were, by and wasted exceedingly by sickness, were their miserable forgeries, daily bring- not in a state to force their way into Roding upon themselves and their country, rigo; and that, therefore, in a short time, they would have desisted from the dis- without any loss of lives, that important graceful practice. But, nothing of this city and fortress must fall into our hands. sort has any effect upon them. They seem wholly insensible to shame; and they still affect to laugh at the hood-winked state of the people of France, while they themselves are continually labouring to hoodwink and cheat the people of England, and while their publications are the scorn and contempt, and they themselves know that they are the scorn and contempt, of all Europe and all America. This much I could not refrain from saying by way of preface to the analysis that I am about to endeavour to give of the falshoods which have appeared in these prints, during the last ten days, upon the subject of the military operations of the hostile armies on

Having thus prepared the public to expect the fall of this place sooner or later during the campaign; having made such a representation as, if believed, must necessarily lead the public to rely upon the capture of one of the most important fortresses in the Peninsula, and having, indeed, so represented the state of the hostile armies, that every one who credited the representation must have been in daily hopes of hearing of some great achievement, and, if a battle did take place, must have made sure of decisive victory; having thus stuffed the heads of the "most "thinking people of all Europe," in a preparatory way, there remained nothing but

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to come to the account of the promised ""a passenger, has favoured us with the and expected victories, and, in doing this,"" following grateful information, which very little time was lost. On the 10th ""was communicated to him by Colonel instant, the important news was announced Fagan, on the authority of Colonel to the public, through the channel of the "" ""Trant, governor of the place. On the news-papers, but especially the COURIER, ""25th ult. six leagues from Ciudad Rodin the following words:" Intelligence"" rigo, Lord Wellington defeated the "of the highest importance, has been brought ""French army under Marmont and kill"to Liverpool by a vessel from Oporto. ""ed and took prisoners 20,000 men.""The following is the account from Li- This was accompanied with a column and "verpool: 66.66 Liverpool, October 8. The a half of observations in the Courier, the "." Briton, Ward, is arrived at Hoylake jet of which was, that the news was likely "" from Oporto, sailed from thence the to be true. Every thing was here said that ""2d instant; reports that an account the writer could think of calculated to "" was received there just as they sailed, make the public believe the news to be ""that a general engagement had taken true. He went into reasoning to show place on the 25th or 26th September, that, if the French advanced for the re""between the British army under Lord lief of Rodrigo, it was not only reasonable Wellington, and the French army, in to suppose that a battle must take place, ""which the latter were defeated with but, that it would be his duty to fight them ""great loss, and was driven six leagues in opposition to such an enterprize. This beyond Ciudad Rodrigo."-In addi- was acting a friendly part towards him with "tion to the above letter we have received a vengeance! The passage I allude to "the following from the respectable Pro- was in these words:- Taking all these prietor of the Liverpool Advertiser: "circumstances into our consideration; Liverpool, October 8. SIR, The brig" hearing, from previous accounts, that Briton, Captain Ward, has just arriv- "Marmont was on the advance, and a ""ed here, in five days from Oporto, convoy coming from Salamanca; havbringing a Mr. James Welsh, of this "ing no reason to believe that Lord Welling"" town, passenger, who gives the fol- "ton had INVESTED Ciudad Rodrigo lowing account, which he received "MERELY TO RETIRE THE MO""from Colonel Fagan, who obtained it "MENT MARMONT ADVANCED ; «« from Colonel Trant, Governor of that "an advance which it was of NO USE place: Lord Wellington has had a bat-" TO PRODUCE IF WE DID NOT "tle with the French, and has killed and "FIGHT HIM; finding from reports at "" taken prisoners 20,000 of the enemy. "Lisbon that a battle was expected; and "The battle was fought five days before "last of all receiving from Oporto an ac""about six leagues from Ciudad Rod- "count that a battle had been fought, and 66 66 rigo. Captain Ward further says that "that accounts brought by the Captain ""the account came to Oporto on Thurs-" of a British vessel, and by a passenger day morning last, just before he sailed, "in that vessel, an inhabitant of Liver"" and was fully believed by the inha-" pool, who SOLEMNLY DECLARES, ""bitants there, who were rejoicing on the "that he had it FROM A BRITISH "" occasion. I think the account will "OFFICER, WHOSE VERACITY IT prove true, though possibly not to "WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO QUES""the extent. I am, Gentlemen, yours,"TION; taking all these circumstances ""&c. THOMAS BILLINGE."", -This "into consideration, we have no doubt that was the first publication upon the subject." the intelligence is correct. The statement The Courier adds a paragraph of its own, "of the enemy's loss may be exaggeratin which the truth of the news is insisted "ed; the account may not be correct to upon. Truth! why, after such solemnity" the extent, but that a battle has been of statement, who, that did not know these fought, and our arms been successful, people, could have wanted any thing in "we repeat, we have no doubt."-This confirmation of what had been said was not only inculcating a belief in the On the next day, the 11th instant, the news; but, in his eagerness to inculcate former accounts were backed up by the such belief, the writer reasons in a way following: Liverpool, October 9. completely to commit, as far as he is able, ""DEFEAT OF MARMONT.-The the reputation of the General, whose ""Briton, Ward, arrived here yesterday praises it is his main object to sing forth *" from Oporto in six days, Mr. Welsh, in the promulgation of this news.—On

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