BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



est desire to see the commerce of the world restored 

 to that freedom which is necessary for its prosperity, 

 and tiis readiness to abandon the system which had 

 been forced upon him, whenever the enemy should 

 retract the principles which had rendered it necessa- 

 ry. I am commanded by his majesty to repeat that 

 declaration, and to assure you, that, whenever the 

 repeal of the French decrees shall have actually taken 

 effect, and the commerce of neutral nations shall have 

 been restored to the condition in which it stood pre- 

 viously to the promulgation of those decrees, his 

 majesty will feel the highest satisfaction in relin- 

 quishing a system which the conduct of the enemy 

 compelled him to adopt." The Americans were dis- 

 satisfied with this answer, because, in an answer to a 

 direct act of the French government, we only gave a 

 conditional promise. In February 1808, our mini- 

 ster in America had declared, in the king's name, to 

 the government of the States, that his Britannic ma- 

 jesty would readily follow the example, in case the 

 Berlin decree should be rescinded, or would proceed 

 jiari passu with France in relaxing the vigour of our 

 measures. The Americans asked, if this was shew- 

 ing a readiness to follow the example of France, in 

 restoring to America the enjoyment of what we ac r 

 knowledged to be her just rights, and only infringed 

 upon by necessity ? The motive of our government 

 might, perhaps, be distrust of France ; yet, indepen- 

 dent of the circumstance of our national faith being 

 pledged to keep pace in retractation with France, 

 we had ourselves very recently held inferior diplo- 

 matic communication with France, and trusted to 

 their faith when officially given. In the late nego- 

 tiations for a cartel, our government even promised 

 to liberate French prisoners, if the French govern- 

 ment would certify, that an equal number of Eng- 

 lish prisoners was liberated in France. It was asked, 

 then, with what consistency we refused to make a 

 direct promise, in return for a French promise, re- 

 specting America, whilst we agreed to act by anti- 

 cipation on the faith of a promise respecting prison- 

 ers from that same government ? The Americans 

 evidently trusted to the faith of France respecting 

 the revocation of the decrees, and acted upon the 

 promise of the 5th of August, by issuing proclama- 

 tions to admit French vessels within their waters. 

 It is evident, therefore, from our delaying to retract 

 the orders in council, that we either doubted the 

 faith of the enemy, or were determined to uphold 

 the orders independent of all considerations. The 

 answer of Lord Wellesley certainly was not proceed- 

 ing part i.assit with France; and the policy of re- 

 tracting from our promise to that effect may be 

 questioned, on other grounds than the intrinsic me- 

 rits of the orders in council. It is a question of good 

 faith, and no consideration of interest ought to stand 

 in the way of that faith being fulfilled. 



In consequence of this proceeding, the President 

 of the United States, in November, proclaimed, that 

 the former restrictions of intercourse should cease to 

 exist with regard to the trade of France and her de- 

 pendencies ; and that, if Great Britain should not 

 rescind her orders in council before the 2d of Fe- 

 bruary 1811, the act of non- intercourse should, from 



VOL. IV. PART II. 



that date, be revived, so far as it relate* to Britain Briiaim 

 and her dependencies. 



The Spanish campaign of 1811, wag distinguish- 

 ed, at its very commencement, by one of the mott 

 severe and brilliant engagements that has occurred 

 during the present war. About the end of Febru- Cimpaifrn 

 ary, an expedition set sail from Cadiz, under trie ' n 3 P*"> f 

 command of the Spanish general La Pena, and of lsl1 ' 

 our gallant countryman, General Graham. It con- 

 sisted of 3000 British troops, and of 7000 Spaniards. 

 They landed at Algesiras, and moved from Tariffa 

 towards Barbate on the 28th of February, with the 

 view of attacking the enemy's lines before Cadiz. 

 After a night-march of 16 hours, from the camp 

 near Veger, the army arrived, on the morning of the 

 5th, on the low ridge of Barrosa, about four miles 

 south of the mouth of the Santi Petri river. The van- 

 guard of the Spanish army, under General Cadri- 

 zabel, having opened the communication with the 

 Isle de Leon, by a successful attack on the rear of 

 the enemy's line near Santi Petri, General Graham Battle of 

 was ordered by La Pena to move down from the po- "L'M"' L 

 sition of Barrosa to that of the Torre de Berinesa, Mlrck 

 about half way to the Santi Petri, for the pur- 

 pose of securing the communications across the ri- 

 ver, over which a bridge had been lately thrown. 

 During his march to the Bermesa, General Graham 

 was informed that the enemy had appeared in force 

 on the plain, and was marching to the heights of Bar- 

 rosa. In order to support the Spanish troops under 

 La Pena, which were left to defend the heights, the Ge- 

 neral immediately countermarched ; but, before his 

 army was disentangled from the wood, the troops on 

 the Barrosa hill were seen returning from it, while 

 the enemy's left wing was rapidly ascending. The 

 right wing, at the same time, stood on the plain on the 

 edge of the wood, and within cannon shot. Under 

 these circumstances, a retreat was impracticable ; 

 and General Graham determined upon an immediate 

 attack. A powerful battery of ten guns in the cen- 

 tre, was opened by Major Duncan ; and, as soon 

 as the infantry was formed, the guns advanced to a 

 more favourable position, and kept up a most de. 

 structive fire. The right wing, under Major-Gene- 

 ral Dilkes, advanced to the attack, of General Ruf- 

 fin's division on the hill ; while Lieutenant-Colonel 

 Barnard's battalion, and Lieutenant-Colonel Bushe'a 

 detachment of the 10th Portuguese, were warmly 

 engaged with the enemy's tirailleurs on the left. In 

 spite of the havoc made by Major Duncan's battery, 

 the division of Laval continued to move forward in very 

 imposing masses, opening their fire of musketry, but 

 it was checked by the left wing, which advanced 

 firing ; and a determined charge by the three com- 

 panies of guards, and the 87th regiment, support- 

 ed by the rest of the wing, decided its defeat. 

 This division was closely pursued beyond a nar- 

 row valley, where a body of reserve shared the 

 same fate. The right wing of the British, under 

 General Dilkes, was equally successful. The ene- 

 my, confident of success, encountered it on the as- 

 cent of the hill, where a most sanguinary contest ca- 

 sued 4 but the undaunted perseverance of our troops 

 overcame every obstacle, and succeeded in driving 

 4 7. 



