[124] See Larpent’s Journal, p. 85, and Alex. Craufurd’s Life of General Robert Craufurd, pp. 184, 185.
[125] William Napier refused to subscribe to a testimonial to Alten at the end of the war, openly saying that he saw no sufficient merit in him.
[126] For a bitter story of how his brigadiers, Barclay and Beckwith, spoke of him, see Moore-Smith’s Life of Colborne, p. 174. Cf. too p. 35 of Hay’s Reminiscences of 1808–15, for an anecdote of Craufurd’s occasional snubbing of his officers. Cf. also George Simmond’s British Rifleman, pp. 26, 27.
[127] Jan. 20, 1912, in a letter from Colonel Willoughby Verner.
[128] See Hay’s Peninsular Reminiscences, 1808–15.
[129] See Rifleman Harris, p. 206.
[130] Hardinge advised the advance, but it was Cole who, being in responsible command, ordered and executed it. He it is who should have the credit both for the resolve and for the tactics.
[131] See Wellington to Torrens (the patronage secretary at the Horse Guards), August 4, 1810.
[132] See, e.g., Wellington, Dispatches, vi., under Oct. 4, 1810. Among the generals whose departure he viewed (for various reasons) with equanimity, were Sir Robert Wilson, Lightburne, Tilson, and Nightingale.
[133] Minute on p. 572 of the Collected General Orders.