410 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



evening of the 2Sth, upon receiving 

 from Mr. Stuart the account of 

 Castano's defeat, I should, had you 

 been with me, have communicated 

 it to you, but should never have 

 thought of asking your advice or 

 opinion, as that determination was 

 founded on circumstances with 

 which you could not be acquainted ; 

 and was, besides, a question merely 

 military, of which I should have 

 thought myself the best judge." 



How ministers could have the 

 boldness to assert that this cor- 

 respondence did not at all respect 

 the march of the army, when they 

 were in possession of the following 

 letter we cannot possibly con- 

 ceive:— 

 Copy of a Letter from the Right 



Hon. J. H. Frere, to Lieut. Gen. 



Sir John Moore, dated Truxillo, 



9th Dec. 1808. 



** Sir, — After the representations 

 which have been made to you from 

 other quarters, I can hardly hope 

 that a further remonstrance on my 

 part can produce any effect, where 

 high military rank and authority, 

 and the influence of persons whom, 

 I am told, you honour with your 

 private esteem, have been found 

 unavailing. 



" The advantages which Mr. 

 Stuart possesses in this respect will, 

 1 hope, enable him to urge you with 

 the warmth of personal regard, what 

 I may be allowed to state at least 

 with impartiality and candour, to- 

 wards a person with whom I am no 

 otherwise acquainted than by the 

 honour which he has done me by 

 bis correspondence; I mean the 

 immense responsibility which you 

 take upon yourself by adopting,up- 

 on a supposed military necessity, a 

 measure which must be followed by 

 the immediate, if not the final ruin 



of our ally, and by the indelible dis- 

 grace to the country with whose 

 resources you are intrusted. 



" I am unwilling to enlarge upon 

 a subject in which my feelings 

 must either be stifled or expressed 

 at the risk of offence, which, with 

 such an interest at stake, I should 

 feel unwilling to excite; but thus 

 much I must say, that if the British 

 army had been sent abroad for the 

 express object of doing the utmost 

 possible mischief to the cause of 

 Spain (with the single exception of 

 not firing a shot against the Spa- 

 nish troops), they would, according 

 to the measure now announced as 

 about to be taken, have most com- 

 pletely fulfilled their purpose. 



" That the defence of GaUicia 

 should be abandoned, must appear 

 incredible. I am, &c. 



(Signed) «' J. H. Frere." 



Intercepted Letter from Mr. Cham- 



pagny, Minister of Foreign af- 

 fairs, to Buonaparte. 



Paris, Dec. 11, 1808. 



Sire, — The correspondence of 

 this day does not furnish me with 

 any letter to lay before your ma- 

 jesty. 



" M. de Romanzoff has convers- 

 ed with me upon the dispatches he 

 received from St. Petersburg yes- 

 terday. The emperor, his master, 

 had the goodness to write to him, 

 upon the affairs of his department, 

 a letter of four pages, which places 

 him altogether au courant. Before 

 he received it he scarcely conceived 

 himself to be minister of foreign af- 

 fairs ; for he was no longer inform- 

 ed of any thing. He had the 

 kindness to give me an analysis of 

 it, — it is as follows : 



" The emperor of Russia speaks 



