Virginia Argus

London, August 5.

A private letter from Lisbon, dated the 19th of July, states, that according to the latest accounts, sir Arthur Wellesley was still at Placencia on the 12th last, waiting the arrival of the light troops under general Crawford. The news of the armistice would probably reach Madrid about the 25th and as it would infuse fresh spirit into the French, and give a new impulse to their operations, we trust that sir Arthur has not since advanced to that city.

The armistice of Znaim will enable Bonaparte to send large reinforcements into Spain, and sir Arthur would have scarcely arrived at Madrid before he would find himself obliged to abandon it and endeavor to retreat to the coast. Nothing can be more horrible than the state of a city alternately possessed by friends and enemies. This constant ebb and flow of the tide of war wears a country into dust and sand.

On Wednesday night an order was received at Deal from the admiralty, by the Telegraph, that all vessels with heavy artillery on board, lying in the Downs, should sail immediately to join the expedition; and, in consequence, they all sailed on Thursday morning, under convoy of the Rinaldo.

Such has been the demand for small arms for the grand expedition that an order has been made by the board of ordnance, for 22,000 muskets to be sent from the depot at Weedon; this requisition was received on Saturday se'nnight and the whole was packed in cases and sent off for London on Monday morning by canal boats. On this occasion nearly two companies of the Bedford militia, stationed at Weedon, were employed on the duty. The arms will be replaced from Birmingham.

The statement which we laid before the public, some few days ago, of the relative numbers composing the British, French and Spanish armies, acting beyond the Pyrenees, in the last days of June, is fully confirmed by the intelligence recently received both from Portugal and from Spain; from sir Arthur Wellesley, no less than from Mr Duff. It now appears, that the forces concerted, or about to be assembled, under the nominal command of Joseph Bonaparte, in the vicinity of Toledo & Madrid, would not fall short of 75,000 men. On the other hand, the combined army of Cuesta and Venegas, cannot, we fear, be estimated at more than 40,000 effective infantry, who have muskets, and about 8,000 cavalry. The British, when they marched from Abrantes, might be calculated at 24,500 troops of the line; but the cavalry fit for service, on account of numbers of horses incapable of being mounted, was under 2,700. With the exception of the private letter from Castello-Banco, which we inserted on Monday, we have no reason to suppose that the French commanders have any intention of abandoning the capital, or of retiring behind the Ebro. They would receive, by the 25th of July, the exhilarating and grateful information, that the advantage gained by Napoleon over the Austrians at Wagram, however dearly purchased on his part, had operated to intimidate or unnerve the Austrian government, so much as to induce them to sue for, and finally to accept, a suspension of arms; the operation of which must be no less beneficial to Bonaparte, than it is ruinous to Francis. Of what materials the Spanish levies are composed, and how inadequate their patriotism is to supply the defects of discipline and obedience amongst them, we may see too strongly delineated in general Blake's letter of the 22d June, addressed to the Junta, descriptive of the behaviour of his troops at the battle of Belchite.