CHAPTER III.
Arrival of the Gazette—More Courts-martial—The Mad Commissary—Intentions of Lord Wellington—Social Amusements—Sporting—Wellington’s Fox-hounds—His Stud—A Dinner at the Commander-in-Chief’s—Number of Courts-martial—Anecdotes of Wellington.
Head-quarters, Frenada, Jan. 3, 1813.
My dear M——,
In hopes of giving you letters every week, I must seize every odd half-hour to write in, and you must not be nice as to my writing, &c., as my hand is quite tired of the regular official style, and my fingers cold, for we still have fine, clear, frosty weather; but in the middle of the day it is very pleasant.
Pray thank John very much for his parcel of newspapers, and especially for that of the 17th December, with the Gazette, &c., and the glorious news. I was the only person here with a paper of the 17th. Head-quarters had only that of the evening of the 16th with the Gazette; and though this was, in fact, much the same, this was an event—and I sent mine up to Colonel Campbell, by his desire, for his dinner-party at head-quarters. It has been in constant request ever since.
All the Guerilla party reports here state, that a body of French cavalry has left Spain for France, for some purpose. They say that from three to four thousand men are gone; this agrees with your story; but our Portuguese Quarter-Master, from his spies, reports otherwise. The forces in this neighbourhood are now but small; about four hundred men in Salamanca, which, by-the-by, has been much plundered; and the English dollars, which they extorted from the hungry troops by their high prices, pretty well squeezed out of them. At Segovia there are only one thousand men, more at Valladolid, and a force at Madrid, and thus dispersed about; but as to their being starved, their country is much better, I believe, than ours; and as I have already told you, our Commissary goes to Salamanca for bread. The light division near this place, and troop of Horse Artillery, have had scarcely any corn for their horses for the three last weeks, and the cavalry will not be fit to act much before April and May.
Yesterday a great event occurred here—the arrival of a Guerilla chief, who was formerly a sort of smuggler or robber. This man, whose name, I believe, is Sumeil, attacked a French party, carrying despatches from King Joseph to France, at a village near Valladolid, at twelve o’clock at night. He came in upon the French by surprise, and the plan succeeded. The despatches were seized, some of them on the person of the courier, but the most material in a secret place in the pummel of a saddle. A little spring in the buckle of the brass ornament discovered a keyhole, and in the saddle was the pocket to conceal the papers. They are principally in cipher, but some have been made out, and are, I understand, important. I have heard the contents of only one letter from King Joseph to the family in France, full of complaints of want of money and much distress; he states that he cannot get a dollar. From eighty to a hundred prisoners were taken by the party. These prisoners were French, and two English officers were released. The French were much irritated, and sent eleven squadrons of cavalry after the Guerilla chief, but he got off with most of his prisoners, booty, despatches, and party. Only one or two of the officers, and a few of the Guerilla privates, have yet arrived here, but more, with the prisoners, are expected shortly. Sumeil expects to be made a General for this. He was at first very shy of suffering the aide-de-camp and Colonel Campbell to look at his despatches, desiring to show them to Lord Wellington in person; nor could he consent to give up the most important, until General O’Lalor, who was at Ciudad Rodrigo, was sent for, and explained matters to him. I was to have met them at head-quarters at dinner the day of their arrival, but they were busily engaged at cards when sent for; and said they were tired, and declined going out to dinner. I was very sorry for this, as it would have been curious to see their manners at a formal dinner.
I have sent out my mules and Portuguese to forage. They now are obliged to go so far for it that they cannot get home by night, and soon, I fear, must stay out some days. I must get another horse; Colonel C—— has a handsome Spanish horse to sell, strong, showy, and, considering the price of horses here, not very dear, two hundred and fifty dollars; it is a sort of a Rubens, sleek, black, manège horse, with a fine, thick, curved, sleek, black neck.
I take my morning walk daily, from eight till nine, to secure some exercise, whilst Henry lights my fire and gets breakfast ready. Instead of the gravel walk at Sheen or in Lincoln’s Inn gardens, it is a stroll over the rocks, down towards the Coa river, which is almost two miles from hence, and in parts is wild and picturesque; large masses of rock, rounded by the weather, stunted trees, stone-wall enclosures, a succession of ravines, and ruined fortified villages on the hills at a distance; for Castello Bom, Castello Mendas, Castello Rodrigues, and Almeyda, which, as well as Guarda, are in sight from the rocky hill, half a mile from hence. Behind the whole, the sierras of Portugal and Spain, now generally covered with snow. By these means, and with a hasty ride or walk now and then in the middle of the day, my health is certainly better. The work, except on account of health, I have no sort of objection to: I only lament the delay in the proceedings, on account of the sickness of the prisoners and witnesses. However, I may have been of some use in law lecturing, and helping the other Deputy Judge-Advocates; and no trouble has been spared by me in facilitating matters.