[605] Wellesley to Castlereagh, Talavera, Aug. 1.
[606] Wellesley to his brother the Marquis Wellesley, Deleytosa, Aug. 8.
[607] See Jourdan’s Mémoires, and his letter to Soult of July 17, in which no sign whatever appears of the knowledge of the advance of the British from Portugal.
[608] That food was coming in, but no transport, is clearly proved by Wellesley’s letter to the Junta of Plasencia on July 18: ‘Upon entering Spain I expected to derive that assistance in provisions and other means [i.e. transport] which an army invariably receives from the country in which it is stationed, more particularly when it has been sent to aid the people of that country. I have not been disappointed in the expectation that I had formed of receiving supplies of provisions, and I am much obliged to the Junta for the pains they have taken. I am convinced that they did everything in their power to procure us the other means we required [transport], although I am sorry to say that we have not received them.’
[609] See [pp. 443] and [459].
[610] Wellesley to Frere, Plasencia, July 16.
[611] Wellesley to O’Donoju, Plasencia, July 16.
[612] The 1/61st Foot and 23rd Light Dragoons.
[613] ‘And,’ adds Lord Munster, from whom this quotation is taken (p. 199), ‘it is my belief that they would have continued till now if we had not aided them.’
[614] Londonderry, i. 392.