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 ene my, 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 attacked 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 issue; I had perfect confidence in the valour of the troops, and it was only by crippling the enemy that we could hope either

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; 1 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 mus quet 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

recom

recommended to me to make a proposal to the enemy, to induce bim to allow us to embark quietly; in which case he gets us out of the country soon, and this place, with its stores, &c., complete; that otherwise we have the power to make a long defence, which must cause the destruction of the town. I am averse to make any such proposal, and am exceedingly doubt ful if it would be attended with any good effect; but whatever I resolve on this head, I hope your lordship will rest assured, that I shall accept no terms that are in the least dishonourable to the army or to the country. I find I have been Jed into greater length, and more detail, than I thought I should have had time for; I have written under interruptions, and my mind much occupied with other matter. My letter, written so carelessly, can only be considered as private. When I have more leisure, I shall write more correctly; in the mean time, I rely on General Stewart for giving your lordship the information and detail which I have. omitted. I should regret his absence, for his services have been very distinguished; but the state of his eyes makes it impossible for him to serve, and this country is not one in which cavalry can be of much use. If I succeed in embarking the army, I shall send it to England; it is quite unfit for further service until it has been refitted, which can best be done there. JOHN MOORE."

London Gazette Extraordinary, dated Downing-street, Jan. 24, 1809.

The Honourable captain Hope arrived late last night, with a dis

patch from lieut. gen. sir David Baird to lord viscount Castlereagh, one of his majesty's principal secres taries of state, of which the fol lowing is a copy:

His majesty's ship Ville de Paris, at sea, Jan. 18, 1809.

-

My Lord; By the much-lamented death of lieutenant-general sir John Moore, who fell in action with the enemy on the 16th inslant, it has become my duty to acquaint your lordship, that the French army attacked the British troops in the position they occupi ed in front of Corunna, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of that day. A severe wound, which compelled me to quit the field a short time previous to the fall of sir John Moore, obliges me to refer your lordship for the particulars of the action, which was long and ob stinately contested, to the inclosed report of lieutenant-general Hope, who succeeded to the command of the army, and to whose ability and exertions in direction of the ardent zeal and unconquerable valour of his majesty's troops, is to be attributed, under Providence, the success of the day, which terminated in the complete and entire repulse and defeat of the enemy at every point of attack. The honourable captain Gordon, my aid-de-camp, will have the honour of delivering this dispatch, and will be able to give your lordship any further information which may be required. I have the honour to be, &c. D. Baird, lieut.-gen. His majesty's ship Audacious, off Corunna, Jan. 18, 1809. Sir; In compliance with the desire contained in your communication of yesterday, I avail myself of the first moment I have been able to com

mand,

mand, to detail to you the occurrences of the action which took place in front of Corunna, on the 16th instant. It will be in your recollection, that about one in the afternoon of that day, the enemy, who had in the morning received reinforcements, and who had placed some guns in front of the right and left of this line, was observed to be moving troops towards his left flank, and forming various columns of at tack at that extremity of the strong and commanding position, which, on the morning of the 15th, he had taken in our immediate front. This indication of his intention was immediately succeeded by the rapid and determined attack which he made upon your division, which oecupied the right of our position The events which occurred during that period of the action you are fully acquainted with. The first effort of the enemy was met by the commander of the forces, and by yourself, at the head of tle : 42d regiment, and the brigade under major-general lord William Bentinck. The village on your right became an object of obstinate contest.-1 lament to say, that soon after the severe wound which deprived the army of your services, lieutenant-general sir John Moore, who had just directed the most able dispositions, fell by a cannon-shot. The troops, though not unacquainted with the irreparable loss they had sustained, were not dismayed, but by the most determined bravery not only repelled every attempt of the enemy to gain ground, but actually forced him to retire, although he had brought up fresh troops in support of those original ly engaged. The enemy, finding himself foiled in every attempt to

force the right of the position, endeavoured by numbers to turn it. A judicions and well-timed movement, which was made by niajorgeneral Paget, with the reserve, which corps had moved out of its cantonments to support the right of the army, by a vigorous attack, defeated this intention. The majorgeneral having pushed forward the 95th (rifle corps) and 1st battalion 52nd regiments, drove the enemy before him, and in his rapid and judicious advance, threatened the left of the enemy's position. This circumstance, with the position of lieutenant-general Fraser's division, (calculated to give still further se curity to the right of the line) induced the enemy to relax his efforts in that quarter.--They were however more forcibly directed towards the centre, where they were again successfully resisted by the brigade under major-general Manningham, forming the left of your division, and a part of that under majorn general Leith, forming the right of the division under my orders. Upon the left, the enemy at first contented himself with an attack upon our picquets, which however in general maintained their ground. Finding however his efforts unavailing on the right and centre, he seeined determined to render the attack upon the left more serious, and had succeeded in obtaining possession of the village through which the great road to Madrid passes, and which was situated in front of that part of the line. From this post, however, he was soon expelled, with considerable loss, by a gallant attack of some companies of the 2d battalion 14th regiment, under lieute nant-colonel Nicholls; before five in the evening, we had not only ́'

success

successfully repelled every attack made upon the position, but had gained ground in almost all points, and occupied a more forward line than at the commencement of the action, whilst the enemy confined his operations to a cannonade, and a fire upon his light troops, with a view to draw off his other corps. At six the firing entirely ceased. The different brigades were re-assembled on the ground they occupied in the morning, and the piquets and advanced posts resumed their original stations.--Notwith standing the decided and marked superiority which at this moment the gallantry of the troops had given them over an enemy, who, from his number and the commanding advantages of his position, no doubt expected an easy victory, I did not, on reviewing all circumstances, couceive that I should be warranted in departing from what I knew was the fixed and previous determination of the late commander of the forces, to withdraw the army on the evening of the 16th, for the purpose of embarkation, the previous arrangements for which had already been made by his order, and were, in fact, far advanced at the commencement of the action. The troops quitted their position about ten at night, with a degree of order that did them credit, The whole of the artillery that remained unembarked having been withdrawn, the troops followed in the order prescribed, and marched to their respective points of embarkation in the town and neighbourhood of Corunna. The picquets remained at their posts until five in the morning of the 17th, when they were also withdrawn with similar orders, and without

the enemy having discovered the movement.-By the unremitted exertions of captains the honourable H. Curzon, Gosselin, Boys, Rainier, Serrett, Hawkins, Digby, Carden, and Mackenzie, of the. royal navy, who, in pursuance of the orders of rear admiral de Courcy, were entrusted with the service embarking the army; and in consequence of the arrangements made by commissioner Bowen, captains Bowen and Shepherd, and the other agents for transports, the whole of the army was embarked with an expedition which has seldom been equalled. With the exception of the brigades under major-generals Hill and Beresford, which were destined to remaiu on shore, until the movements of the enemy should become manifest, the whole was afloat before day light. -The brigade of major-general Beresford, which was alternately to form our rear-guard, occupied the land front of the town of Corunna; that under major-general Hill was stationed in reserve on the promontory in rear of the town.→ The enemy pushed his light troops towards the town soon after eight o'clock in the morning of the 17th, and shortly after occupied the heights of St. Lucia, which command the harbour. But notwithstanding this circumstance, and the manifold defects of the place, there being no apprehension that the rear guard could be forced, and the dis position of the Spaniards appearing to be good, the embarkation of major-general Hill's brigade was commenced and completed by 3 in the afternoon; major-general Beresford, with that zeal ability which is so well known to yourself and the whole army, having fully ex

plained,