669 112 923 2 786 692 1102
ré- du- it à douze mille hommes

le nombre de troupes que j’ai disponible m’ordonne

13 1040 1003 370 860 400 817 69 862 718 1100
de chercher à pren-dre Ciudad Rodrigo lors que je ne ai

423 815 591 710 850
pas un canon de siège!

It will be noted that of all the words only partir, moitié, disponible, réduit, prendre, required to be spelled out in the syllabary: single fixed numbers existing for all the common words, and for the military terms siège, cavalerie, and division.

It was, of course, only by degrees that Scovell succeeded in making out the bulk of the French phrases. In Wellington’s dispatches there is often, during the spring and summer of 1812, an allusion to information only partly comprehensible, obtained from captured letters. On June 18 (Dispatches, ix. p. 241) Wellington writes to Lord Liverpool that he ‘is not able entirely to decipher’ the intercepted papers that have been passing between King Joseph and Soult and Marmont. On June 25th he sends to the same recipient the happy intelligence that he has now the key to King Joseph’s cipher. Yet again, on July 16th (Dispatches, ix. p. 290)—with No. 36 of the file catalogued below before him—he says: ‘I have this day got a letter from the King to Marmont of the 9th inst. in cipher, which I cannot entirely decipher: it appears, however, that he thinks Drouet will not cross the Tagus, and I suspect he orders General Treillard to collect some troops in the valley of the Tagus, and to move on Plasencia.’ The interpretation was correct, save that Treillard was to move not on Plasencia but on Aranjuez. The code-numbers for the two places were neither of them known as yet. But by September all essential words were discovered, and Wellington could comprehend nearly everything, unless Joseph or Soult was writing of obscure places or distant generals.

A list of the whole of Scovell’s file of 52 French dispatches may be useful: those whose number is marked with a star are wholly or partly in cipher, the remaining minority are in plain French without disguise. It is clear that Wellington had many more French papers not in cipher, which did not get into Scovell’s portfolio.

Date.Sender.Recipient.Contents.
1.Mar. 6,1812Col. JardetMarmontLong interview with Berthier. He says you must ‘contain’ Wellington in the North. All else in Spain matters comparatively little.
2*.April 11”MarmontBrennierSee that Silveira does not molest my communications.
3*.April 14”SoultBerthierMarmont has betrayed me, and caused the loss of Badajoz. Synopsis of Andalusian affairs.
4*.April 16”MarmontBerthierAs I prophesied, my raid into Portugal produces no effect: we begin to starve.
5*.April 16”DorsenneJourdanI refuse to acknowledge the king as controlling my army.
6*.April 17”SoultBerthierDetails of the fall of Badajoz, ‘événement funeste.’
7*.April 22”MarmontBerthierI have been starved out of Portugal. Have seen no British troops, save a few cavalry.
8*.April 23”FoyJourdanSend me food. My division is nearly starved.
9*.April 25”King JosephDorsenneI am your Commander-in-Chief. Send me a report of your army.
10.April 26”Gen. Lafon-
Blaniac[799]		Gen.
Treillard[800]		News from Andalusia at last: Soult has failed to save Badajoz.
11*.April 28”MarmontDorsenneSend me 8,000 quintals of wheat at once.
12*.April 28”MarmontBerthierI have sent Bonnet, as ordered, to invade the Asturias.
13.April 28” Gen. Lamar-
tinière[801]		ClarkeI send parole of Colquhoun Grant, a suspicious character. The police should look to him[802].
14*.April 29”MarmontJourdanIf I keep troops on the Tagus, I am too weak on the Douro and Tormes. I must draw my divisions northward.
15*.April 29”MarmontBerthierI find that five British divisions were chasing me last week. Wellington is very strong in the North.
16*.April 30”MarmontBerthierSend me a siege-train, I am helpless without one: also plenty of money.
17.April 30”MarmontGen. Tirlet[803]Come up at once to join my army.
18*.May 1”JourdanMarmontWe will keep unhorsed guns for you at Talavera, so when moving South bring gunners and horses only.
19*.May 1”King JosephDorsenneYou are placed under my command. Obey my orders.
20*.May 1”JourdanDorsenneSend a division to Valladolid, to support Marmont.
21*.May 1”JourdanMarmontYou must send more troops to the Tagus: Drouet is hard pressed in Estremadura.
22*.May 1”JourdanBerthierWellington is advancing in Estremadura. Marmont must send troops southward.
23*.May 1”King JosephBerthierObservations on the military situation.
24*.May 1”Col.
Bousseroque		Gen.
Doguerau[804]		Technical artillery matters.
25.May 20”Proclamation by SuchetThe King is appointed Commander-in-Chief in Spain.
26*.May 26”King JosephSoultHill has stormed Almaraz. Why was not Drouet near enough to save it?
27*.May 26”JourdanSoultHill has stormed Almaraz. Try to re-open communications with Foy.
28*.June 1”MarmontJourdanThe fall of Almaraz means that Wellington will attack me next. He is not threatening Soult, but me.
29*.June 22”MarmontKing JosephI stop in front of Salamanca manœuvring. I dare not attack Wellington till Caffarelli’s reinforcements arrive.
30*.June 24”MarmontCaffarelliI am manœuvring opposite Wellington. Your reinforcements are required at once.
31*.July 1”MarmontKing JosephWhen the Salamanca forts fell, I retreated to the Douro. I cannot fight Wellington till I get 1,500 more horse and 7,000 more infantry.
32.July 1”SuchetKing JosephNarrative of guerrilla war in Aragon.
33.July 1”SuchetKing JosephFavour shall be shown to Afrancesados.
34*.July 6”MarmontJourdanI had to retreat to the Douro because Caffarelli sent no help. Can you lend me Treillard’s cavalry division?
35*.July 7”King JosephSoultSend 10,000 men to Toledo at once.
36*.July 7”King JosephMarmontI shall march to your aid in a few days, when my troops are collected.
37*.July 22”SuchetKing JosephI am much worried by Maitland’s approach. Have beaten Joseph O’Donnell at Castalla.
38.July 29”Gen. Lafon-
Blaniac[805]		King JosephMadrid remains tranquil.
41*.July 30”MarmontKing JosephWe can never hope to unite. My army retires via Lerma on Burgos.
42.Aug. 2”Gen. Espert[806]King JosephWellington is marching on Segovia.
43*.Aug. 7”King JosephMarmontCommunicate with me by the Somosierra Pass.
44*.Aug. 12”SuchetKing JosephI am much alarmed at the possible results of Maitland’s landing.
45*.Aug. 12”SoultClarkeThe King is betraying the Emperor and negotiating with the Cadiz Cortes[807].
46*.Sept. 17”SuchetSoultExplains situation in Valencia.
47*.Dec. 9”King JosephNapoleonPlans for reorganizing the armies.
48*.Dec. 22”King JosephNapoleonPlans for next year. Should I make Burgos my capital, and hold Madrid only as an outpost?
49*.Jan. 8,1813King JosephNapoleonSoult is intolerable. Let D’Erlon replace him. Send us money.
50*.Jan. 28”King JosephNapoleonYour decision about Soult shocks me. I shall send him away on my own authority.
51*.Mar. 14”King JosephGen. ReilleD’Erlon shall look after Salamanca. Send two divisions to hunt the guerrilleros.
52.Mar. 16”Col. LucotteKing JosephDiscouraging news from Paris. No men or money for Spain!

In addition to the ciphers, the Scovell papers consist of short diaries of Major Scovell for the Corunna Campaign, and for 1809-10-11-12-13, as also a large bundle of reports and maps of roads and passes in Portugal, all the papers concerning the raising of the Corps of Guides, a number of notes and reports on suggested travelling forges for the artillery and engineers, and some whole or mutilated contemporary Spanish newspapers. There is some curious and interesting information scattered through all of them.