• SIR,

Brig. Gen.
Fane.

Brig. Gen.

Catlin Craufurd.

Lieut. Gen. Sir. A. Wellesley.

}

Major Gen.
J. Murray.

Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State, to Lieut. General
the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B.

• Downing Street, 21st July, 1808.

In the event of your deeming it may be advantageous that the troops now proceeding from England should be disembarked at any point on the coast of Portugal north of the Tagus, I am to suggest to you the propriety of your requesting Sir Charles Cotton to station one of his cruizers to the northward of the Berlings*, with such information as you may deem material to communicate to the senior officer in command of the troops; and I shall intimate to the officers in charge of the troops proceeding from hence, that they should be prepared, at that point, to receive an intimation from you of the actual state of things in the Tagus.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State.

'MY LORD,

'H.M.S. Crocodile *, Coruña, 21st July, 1808.

'I have the honor to inform you, that having adverted to the tenor of your Lordship's instructions of the 30th ultimo, (No. 1 and 2,) I deemed it expedient to quit the fleet, containing the troops under my command, as soon as it was clear of the coast of Ireland on the 13th instant; and I arrived here in this ship yesterday.

I have had several conferences with the Junta of Galicia since my arrival, the general result of which has been, that the whole of Spain, with the exception of the kingdoms of Navarre and Biscay, are in arms against the French; and that in many places detachments of the French troops had been defeated by the Spanish people. The information, however, which has been received by the Junta of Galicia is not of an official nature; and I am not enabled to state positively where these occurrences have taken place, or to what extent, although I imagine that there is no doubt that these French corps have been defeated in the manner reported in the private letters received by individuals.

The Galician army, joined by that of Castille, (the whole consisting of 50,000 men, of which 20,000 are stated to have been regular troops,) was posted at Rio Seco, in the province of Valladolid; and was attacked on the 14th instant, by a French corps, under the command of Marshal Bessières, consisting of 20,000 men, (of which 4000 were cavalry,) which had been at Burgos: in the commencement of the action the Spanish troops had the advantage; but towards the close of the day, the French cavalry charged the left of the Spanish line, which consisted of the Castillian peasantry, and which was broken and defeated, with the loss of 7000 men, some officers of distinction, and two pieces of cannon. The loss of the French troops in the action is stated to have been 7000 men and six pieces of cannon. On the following day the Spanish army retired to Benevente, on the Esla; from which measure the French have acquired the command of the course of the Rio Douro, and are in a situation to impede the communication

* The Crocodile was commanded by the Hon. G. Cadogan, now Earl Cadogan.

between this province and those to the southward, and to the eastward, likewise in arms against the French.

'The Junta of Galicia have given their consent to my using the port of Vigo, if I should find it necessary, to afford shelter to the fleet, or even to land the troops there.

'It appears from the intelligence which I have received here, that the total number of the French troops still in Portugal is about 15,000 men, of which number 12,000 are at Lisbon, and in the neighbourhood; and Almeida is occupied by a small corps. The three provinces north of the Rio Douro are in arms against the French; and there is a corps of Portuguese troops in Oporto, the number of which is stated to be 10,000 men; besides these, a Spanish corps, consisting of 2000 men, commenced their march on the 15th instant, from a port in the southern part of Galicia, towards Oporto, where I expect they will arrive about the 24th or 25th instant.

'I have not received any account of General Spencer, from which I can form a judgment, whether that officer will have it in his power to proceed to Lisbon, according to the tenor of your Lordship's instructions of the 30th of June and 2d of July.

'I propose to sail from hence this night, and to go to Oporto in this ship; and I shall be directed in the future operations of the army, for the execution of your Lordship's instructions, by the intelligence which I shall receive there. I shall request Captain Malcolm to follow me with the convoy to Oporto. I have the honor to be, &c.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Viscount
Castlereagh, Secretary of State.

'MY DEAR LORD,

'Coruña, 21st July, 1808. I arrived here yesterday, and I propose to go to sea again this day, to meet the fleet, which however has not yet appeared off the coast.

• Since my arrival I have had frequent conversations with the Junta; and Mr. Stuart *, who arrived also yesterday, will send by this conveyance to Mr. Canning an account of all the intelligence which we have received from them respecting the present situation of affairs in Spain. The general result,

* Lord Stuart de Rothesay, G.C.B.

however, appears to me to be, that the whole of the Spanish nation, with the exception of the provinces of Biscay and Navarre, and those in the neighbourhood of Madrid, are in a state of insurrection against the French: that several French detachments in different parts of the country had been destroyed; viz., a corps under Lefebre, which has been attacked four times, near Zarragoza, in Arragon, particularly on the 16th and 24th of June: a corps which I believe to have been under the command of Dupont; and it is said that Dupont was taken prisoner in an action fought between Andujar and La Carolina, before the 23rd of June; and two corps defeated in Catalonia before the 19th of June, one on its march to Montserrat, and the other to Zarragoza. The Catalonians have also got possession of the fort of Figueras, in the neighbourhood of Rosas, and have blockaded the French troops in Barcelona.

• As however the communication, which was never very perfect between one province and the others, has been impeded by the march and position of the French armies, and particularly by their late success at Rio Seco, to which I shall presently refer, the Junta have no official accounts of any of these actions; but they give credit to those they have received, copies of which will be transmitted to Mr. Canning by Mr. Stuart. He will also send the account which the Junta have received of the action at Rio Seco.

"The army of Castille and Galicia united was posted at that place, which is in the province of Valladolid, and their intention, as is stated, was either to have attacked the French corps under Marshal Bessières at Burgos, or to have marched upon Madrid. But I suspect that they would have confined their operations to the arrangement of the insurrection towards Madrid, and to cutting off the communication between the French troops stationed there, and in Biscay and Navarre.

It is said that they intended to attack Marshal Bessières on the 16th, but he attacked them on the 14th: his infantry was at first defeated by the Spaniards with the loss of 7000 men; but afterwards his cavalry fell upon the left wing of the Spanish army, which consisted of the peasants of Castille, and defeated it.

'I understand that the Spanish army, which consisted of 50,000 men, lost about 7000 men and two pieces of cannon;

and they had taken and still retain six pieces belonging to the French.

The Spaniards retired either on that night or on the next day to Benevente on the Esla. The worst of this action is, that it has given the French possession of the whole course of the Douro, and by obliging the Galician troops to retire from Rio Seco, it has interrupted the communication between this province and those to the southward and eastward.

'I understood that the Junta were much alarmed when they received the account of this defeat, but the arrival of the money yesterday has entirely renewed their spirits; and I did not see either in them or in the inhabitants of this town any symptom either of alarm or doubt of their final success. The capture of Santander by the French is not considered an event of any importance; and it is said here that a corps was actually on its march from the Asturias to retake that place.

"It is impossible to convey to you an idea of the sentiment which prevails here in favor of the Spanish cause. The difference between any two men is whether the one is a better or a worse Spaniard, and the better Spaniard is the one who detests the French most heartily. I understand that there is actually no French party in the country; and at all events I am convinced that no man now dares to show that he is a friend to the French.

6

The final success must depend upon the means of attack and defence of the different parties, of the amount of which it is impossible for me at present to form an opinion. If it be true that the several French corps which I have above enumerated have been cut off, it is obvious that Buonaparte cannot carry on his operations in Spain, excepting by the means of large armies; and I doubt much whether the country will afford subsistence for a large army, or whether he will be able to supply his magazines from France, the roads being so bad and the communications so difficult.

'If this be true, his object must be to gain possession of the northern provinces, and this can be done only by the invasion and possession of the Asturias. I think, therefore, that our Government ought to direct its attention particularly to that important point, and to endeavor to prevail upon the Asturians to receive a body of our troops.

I consider this point so important, that I should not be