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much to reduce Badajos, had ordered Marshal Beresford to invest it. The following letter will not be misplaced here.

"MY DEAR SIR,

"Peno Dona, 8th May, 1812.

"I had the pleasure of your letter by Mr. Henwell, who arrived in the camp before Badajos on the morning previous to the assault of that place, and fortunately participated in that event. He was, in consequence, recommended for an ensigncy in the 43rd regiment, to which there is little doubt of his succeeding. After the capture of Badajos, we were under the necessity of moving rather expeditiously northward, as Marshal Marmont had made an incursion during our absence, with the view of drawing us from our main object, the siege of Badajos; but in this expectation he was disappointed, by the celerity of our operations, which he did not calculate upon. He, however, did very considerable injury in the province, and carried off cattle and other booty of no inconsiderable value; and, what is of very great importance, he has taught us what value to place upon a militia force, which the ministerial papers, with you, have so frequently and so loudly cried up as nowhere yielding to regulars. The militia of the northern provinces, under their generals, two English and one Portuguese, of established reputation, and whose names and exploits have frequently figured in the gazettes, were driven from the strong post of Guarda, and perfectly dispersed and dissipated by about five hundred French horse. If we rely upon our vast establishment of the kind, we shall, some day or other, be woefully disappointed. These people, like ours, had sufficient mechanical discipline, and were equal in appearance and equipment to any regulars: but war is a practical science, and is only to be learned in collision with the enemy. I seriously apprehend that our military system will eventually lead to a great national misfortune, unless it be more practically organized in time.

"We are now approaching the river Douro, in order to be near our depôts of provisions, whilst our means of transport are employed in supplying Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo with provisions; and I shall profit of this movement to visit Oporto, and, on my return, if MajorGeneral Colville should be sufficiently recovered from his wounds to take charge of the division, I shall take my passage for England, where my affairs require my presence. The public despatches will let you know what we have been about, and I trust you will not think we have been idle or uselessly employed. The general idea is that we shall again move southward, to carry on offensive operations on that side, but we are not in sufficient force to act, at the same time, on the offensive there, and the defensive here. We want at least fifteen thousand English troops more to do any thing decisive. I shall probably see you in August.

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My dear Sir,

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Very faithfully yours,

"T. PICTON."

Soult advanced to relieve Badajos, and Wellington to check Soult, and thus the streams of war were all poured simultaneously towards that de

voted city. Picton with his division was ordered with most of the army into this field of operations. Wellington being now most anxious to get possession of the city, before Soult could relieve it, hurried on the operations against it with unheard-of rapidity. Generals Picton and Houston invested the place; but owing to other distant manœuvres, the siege was abandoned, and turned into a lax blockade. During this, Picton wrote to Mr. Marryat the following almost desponding letter.

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Smith, I see, has a large support in the House. The ministry support him to cover their own ignorance and folly in the appointment; and his former connexions, the Whigs and abolitionists, will not forsake an old friend in distress. You know I was always against puppet-show legislature in the country, and I have hitherto seen nothing to make me change my opinion. Generally speaking, and with few exceptions, it is a society composed of materials unfit to be trusted with the important power of legislation. It will be enough to give them good laws, and respectable, responsible people to execute them with impartiality.

"The approach of Soult and Marmont determined Lord Wellington to raise the siege, or rather, blockade of Badajos, and we have now taken up a defensive line on the right bank of the Guadiana, behind the fortresses of Elvas and Campo Major.

"There is no probability of our undertaking offensive operations. Indeed, we are in no situation to attempt any thing of the kind, considering the relative situations of the two armies: for, independent of the mixed materials we are composed of, in numerical force they exceed us at least by one third. You appear every where to entertain sanguine expectations of our ulterior successes. I am concerned that I cannot say any thing to keep up so pleasant a delusion, but believe me, it cannot last long.

"Ministry represent the Portuguese force as amounting to forty thousand regulars, and fifty thousand militia. The regulars do not amount to twenty thousand, and, as for the militia, they are scarcely worth bringing into the account. If it is intended to carry on the war with a paper force of this kind, you will all very shortly be undeceived. There are independent bands of freebooters who harass the French considerably in several parts of Spain, but they are equally formidable to the Spanish inhabitants, who dread them to the full as much as they do the enemy. And you may depend upon it, the great mass of the inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces have submitted to the French yoke, and are not disposed to make any further struggle. We are playing, in my opinion, a very losing game in carrying on the war with our own money, at an immense expense, whilst the French army are wholly supported by the resources of Spain. This kind of contest cannot last long. Portugal, whatever your wise heads may say to the contrary, is a mere caput mortuum, or a dead weight upon our hands in the contest, and does not supply any force or co-operation of consideration for the 2,000,0007. she receives. Dec. 1835.-VOL. XIV.NO. LVI.

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Unless the whole resources of this country are made subservient and applicable to her defence, the contest cannot be carried on with any reasonable probability of ultimate success.

"You will think me a gloomy predictor, but I fear, in the end, it will turn out that I have drawn legitimate conclusions. I shall be most happy to find them disproved by more favourable events than I look forward to at present; but I must continue under similar impressions until that period.

"My dear Sir,

"Yours very faithfully,

"T. PICTON."

After this, partial affairs were continually occurring, in all which General Picton bore a distinguished part. We refer the reader to the encounter of the 22nd of September, recorded in the work before us, to show the nature of these actions, and of the vast importance the properly conducting of them was to the safety of the whole army. The following letter, written about this time, will be found to bear upon the matter then at issue, and to be generally interesting.

"MY DEAR SIR,

Alberguira, Spain, 12th Aug. 1811.

"We are again restored to our old theatre between the Coa and Agueda, and most probably shall move forward and cross the latter. The insuperable difficulty (from distance, and the nature of the roads) to the transporting forward the heavy ordnance and stores for a siege, will effectually prevent our attacking Ciudad Rodrigo, but we shall push on towards Salamanca, for the purpose of drawing the French armies from the rich countries where they are now cantoned. If this purpose should be effected by our manoeuvre, we shall have gained a most important point. As soon as they find us moving, in force, upon Salamanca, they will be obliged to concentrate the whole of their force, now cantoned in the rich countries about Talavera de la Reyna, Placencia, and Coria, and march without loss of time upon Ciudad Rodrigo, when Lord Wellington, having effected his purpose, that of drawing them into a country where they cannot exist without separating, may either fight them to advantage, or take up a position behind the Agueda, in readiness to profit by any false movement they may make. If Buonaparte's attention should be taken up in the North, so as to prevent his amply reinforcing his armies in the Peninsula, I think we shall be able to afford him plenty of amusement here; but this war cannot be carried on without money, and if we cannot afford a liberal supply, we had better give it up at once. With money we can command abundant supplies on the frontiers of Spain, and can manœuvre to great advantage over an enemy who is under the necessity of separating continually to collect his means of subsistence, but without, we shall not be able to effect any thing of consequence, as all our movements will depend upon the procuring supplies, which we draw from the sea ports by a long, difficult land carriage. Our movements are not nearly as expeditious as they would be, were we not dependent on such considerations. As long as we

have money in abundance, supplies of all kinds find us out; but as soon as the means fail us, we are obliged to go the Lord knows where in search of them. Dollars here, are the only sinews of war.

"I had a letter from General Maitland, down from Gibraltar, on his way to Sicily. I find he was appointed to that command without any application or previous intimation of the intention. In a pecuniary view it is certainly by no means an advantageous change for him, as the revenue of a lieutenant-general will barely make the military pot boil, leaving the family entirely out of the question.

"I hope Mrs. M. and the young ladies continue in good health, and amuse themselves well with the rural scenes about Sydenham. Pray offer them my best respects. Has your elder son returned from his travels? I hope well stored with useful observations. My best respects to him and all the young ones.

"I am beginning to grow tired of this vagrant life. We have been since March in continual movement-sometimes in miserable abandoned cottages, and as frequently without any covering whatever. I have constantly, for a whole year, made use of a bundle of straw as a bed, and I do not see any probability of a change for some time longer. "With my best wishes, my dear sir, "Very faithfully yours,

"T. PICTON."

After this the British army proceeded to the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo. Picton here received the intelligence of the death of his uncle, a general in the army, at the advanced age of eighty-four. He was made his sole heir. This decease made a very great impression upon him. The assault took place soon after-the town was carried with immense loss on our side. All this is very well narrated by Mr. Robinson, and the fall of that so often contested city has now become matter of history. However, we shall subjoin the following account of it from one of General Picton's letters in our possession.

"MY DEAR SIR,

"Zamarra, 27th Jan. 1812.

"Since I last had the pleasure of writing to you, we have been engaged in a most arduous undertaking; a winter's siege in a climate to the full as severe as that of England. Marmont, calculating that we were safely lodged in winter quarters, and would not, on various accounts, undertake any thing of consequence at such a season, moved the whole of his army southward, for the purpose of co-operating with Soult and Suchet, in overwhelming Blake and the Catalonians before the opening of another campaign, when their whole united force would become disposable on this side. As soon as Lord Wellington saw him so far advanced, as to afford him a probable opportunity of being able to capture Ciudad Rodrigo before he could return to its relief, he suddenly assembled four divisions of the army, and completely invested the place on the 8th instant; and carried the approaches and works on with such astonishing rapidity, that there were

two practicable breaches in the body of the place on the evening of the 19th, when it was determined to assault at all points. The business was divided between the 3rd and the light divisions. The assault took place at seven o'clock in the evening. The 3rd division had by far the most difficult attack on the main breach, where the enemy were most prepared. The troops were, in consequence, exposed to a severe fire of hot shells and musketry, as well as several explosions, from which they suffered severely; but nothing could damp their ardour for a single moment. They rushed impetuously forward, drove the enemy from the breach as well as the entrenchments they had thrown up to defend it. The light division shortly after seconded in the attack allotted to them, and in a few minutes we drove them from all their points of defence, and became undisputed masters of the city. Our loss on the occasion was very considerable, particularly in officers, of whom forty-one (in the 3rd division) were killed or wounded. It was necessary to accelerate the attack, as Marmont was returning rapidly, with a large army, to its relief. Upon the whole, it has been a most important, as well as brilliant achievement, and does much honour to the talents of our commander. By this enterprise he has gained two great points. He has effected an important diversion in drawing Marshal Marmont's army back to this frontier, and he has, at the same time, gained a position of the greatest importance to our ulterior operations. I don't know whether you will be able to decipher this scrawl. My eyes are growing so bad, that I can with difficulty make out any writing-particularly my own. Be so good as to offer my best remembrances to Mrs. M. and all the family.

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My dear sir,
"Very faithfully yours,

T. PICTON."

After the place was in possession of our troops, at great personal hazard, the subject of our remarks made himself extremely active in endeavouring to suppress the excesses of the soldiers, wild from the excitement of the storming. For General Picton's conduct, during all these proceedings, he received the Duke of Wellington's warmest thanks, both publicly and privately.

Another siege succeeded, that of Badajoz, perhaps one of the most dearly bought upon record. It is well detailed, and upon various authorities, by Mr. Robinson, all of them highly honourable to Picton. This part of the work will be read with the greatest attention, as it displays, in colours the most striking, the devoted bravery of the British character, from the lowest to the highest ranks. It was in the ditch, before the castle, which his troops afterwards carried, that Sir Thomas Picton received his wound. Had that castle not been carried, Badajoz would not have been won, and honour, and perhaps the Peninsula, have been lost. It was taken by escalade, and that in a manner that seems almost miraculous. The attacks on all the other points miserably, disastrously failed, for five thousand of our best troops were slaughtered in the breaches; whilst Picton's assault, that was at first intended only to have been a feint, proved

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