The National Intelligencer And Washington Advertiser

PROCLAMATION.

Noble inhabitants of Asturias—
What panic terror has taken hold of your hearts? A remote danger affrights you! An imaginary invasion terrifies you! Do you not know that the whole power at Rome in the zenith of its splendor, and with her Emperor at her head, has not been able to add this small province to her empire? Have you forgot that the innumerable hosts of barbarians which Africa has vomited into our peninsula, have found their tomb amidst these rocks! You are, peradventure, afraid of the threats of the conquerors of Jena and Austerlitz. Away with these ideas spread by our enemies to dishearten you. The French armies, that had filled the world with their name, lie prostrate in the dust; the remainder is holding in coercion the unhappy that have been sacrificed to the ambition of their Chief. In Spain we have but few soldiers, raw, inexperienced, weakened by fatigue, incapable of undertaking the conquest of an invincible country. They will face the danger, if their Chiefs bid them; but what will be their fate? Will they return? Will they, if you refuse to imitate your forefathers; but if you attack the enemy with fury and desperation, they will be astonished, and you will immolate them like victims unable even to help themselves. They shall all to your feet in heaps, who from terror, who from the irresistible weight of your robust arms. Cast away your muskets, attack them with arms still more cruel, with implements of husbandry, with the same which your arms are accustomed to handle, and then you will shortly see the disparity betwixt you and them. The cavalry and artillery, in which their principal force consist, cannot avail them among you: all the rest is a contemptible mass, without vigor, without fortitude, at the utmost knowing to fire a musket, helpless and forlorn the moment you close in with them. Arouse! Take heart! You will have the pledge of victory with you, and be assured the French will not invade you; if they dare we shall entomb them among the mountains and valleys that surround us. What! think you that before they reach your towns, even the nearest to Castile, they will not experience the havoc of the artillery, and of the troops that garrison our posts? The wise expositions of the Supreme Junta, the precise and appropriate orders of the commander in chief, will they not repress the impetuosity of those ruffians, and not preserve the people against the effects which the invasion might occasion? Respectable ministers of the Almighty, pastors of the people, when you hear the tremendous voice of danger, unite your exhortations to the field of honor? Generous gentlemen, ye that have such influence on the minds of the pacific villagers, when you see the flames spreading and raging among the mountains, sally forth to preserve the valleys from the conflagration, taking with you as many as can contribute to its extinction! Arouse, Asturians! and be constant in your valor; if any Frenchman escape from the army, let him find in you the fate prepared for yourselves! Let them know at once that you will receive them according to their desert, and perhaps the timely notice will detain them; if not, rush on and confirm the lustre already hereditary to your name. Let the world know, that Asturians for the third time repulsed their proud invaders, and that extermination awaits them.

Oviedo, 26th July.