366 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



some months, which would have 

 given me great pleasure. As I am 

 a pei'son of some consequence, lam 

 never addressed but as Seignor, the 

 commander of the English troops; 

 I am well lodged, and have an 

 agreeable society about me, all 

 which comforts I shall be very sorry 

 to quit. The French are the most 

 uncivil people in theworld. I think 

 they have very little to eat or drink 

 themselves, and, therefore, they 

 have nothing to do but annoy us 

 poor fellows, when we are just sit- 

 ting down to a good repast. Last 

 night I was called up by a Spanish 

 dragoon, who brought letters from 

 Corunna, informing me that a part 

 of our army would soon reach St. 

 Jago, and that 1 must hold myself 

 in readiness to march along with it 

 upon Vigo. I could not close my 

 eyes the whole night, for thinking 

 ateveryinstant that ourtroops were 

 arrived ; but till the present moment 

 not one man has made his appear- 

 ance ; and I begin now to think that 

 the whole has been a dull joke. As 

 you are nearer the theatre of war 

 than myself, you will oblige me by 

 giving me a true account of the 

 present state of affairs. If there is 

 reason to think that we are going 

 to re-embark, and to be, as it were, 

 hunted out of the kingdom, without 

 ever coming to blows, a pretty 

 figure we shall make of it ! I think 

 I already hear Cobbett's sarcasms 

 upon us, who will not fail to repre- 

 sent us as the heroes of Sjyain, 

 cooped up in their own transports. 

 (Signed) 



" L. E. Thurn." 



Capitulation proposed hy Victor 

 Hiigues, Officer of the Legion of 



Honour, Commissioner of hig 

 JSIajesty the Emperor and King, 

 Commander in Chief of Cayenne 

 and French Guyana, and accept- 

 ed by James Lucas Yeo, Post 

 Captain in his Britannic Majes- 

 ty's Service, commanding the 

 Combined Naval English and 

 Portuguese Forces, and Maiiuel 

 Marques, Knight of the Military 

 Orders of St. Benoit d' Avie, 

 Lieut. Cot. in Chief, and Direc- 

 tor of the Corps of Artillery of 

 Para, commanding the advanced 

 Army of the Portuguese, dated 

 Jan. I2th, 1809. 



Although iheadvanced postshave 

 been carried, and that the commis- 

 sioner of the emperor and king is 

 reduced with his garrison to the 

 town, he owes it to those sentiments 

 of honor which have always distin- 

 guished him to the valour and good 

 conduct of the officers and soldiers 

 under his command, to the attach- 

 ment of the inhabitants of the co- 

 lony for his majesty the emperor 

 and king, to declare publicly, that 

 he surrenders less to force than 

 to the destructive system of liberat- 

 ing all the slaves who should join 

 the enemy, and of burning all the 

 plantations and ports where there 

 should be any resistance. The com- 

 missioner of the emperor, com- 

 manding in chief, after having wit- 

 nessed the burning of several plan- 

 tations, particularly his own, the 

 most considerable of the colony, had 

 attributed it at first to the casual- 

 ties of war ; and the disorganization 

 of the gangs, and the liberation of 

 the slaves, appeared to him a mo- 

 mentary measure ; but being assur- 

 ed in writing, that the English and 

 Portuguese officers acted in virtue 

 of the orders of his royal highness 



the 



