"No. 8. The Commander of the Forces considers Major-General Alten and Major-General Colville, and the commanding officers of the regiments under their command, respectively, viz. Lieutenant-Colonel Cummings, Lieutenant-Colonel Arentschild, Lieutenant-Colonel Broomhead, Major Ridge, and Colonel Bacellar of the 21st Portuguese regiment, and the officers and soldiers under their command to be entitled to his particular thanks, and he assures them that he has not failed to report his sense of their conduct in the action of the 25th September to those by whom he trusts it will be duly appreciated and recollected."
His Grace the Duke of Wellington very rarely bestowed such public praise upon any part of his army; yet how strange it was that soldiers who could, in the presence of their officers, behave so bravely and merit such encomiums should, when out of their sight, act so recklessly. I do not hesitate in saying that the officers of the army deserved more credit for whatever was found deserving of commendation in their men than was usually allowed them. It was of old a common saying that, "with French officers and English soldiers the world might easily be conquered." Whatever slur this may have been intended to convey against British officers, it certainly no longer exists, and it could be easily proved that they are now second to none; and all they want is a superior description of men to act with, which the United Kingdom can easily furnish, and a better system for their guidance—a system which would allow them to treat those placed under them as beings endowed with reason, and not as mere pieces of machinery.
The castle of Badajoz, after three unsuccessful attempts, was at last carried chiefly through the wonderful exertions, persevering zeal and gallantry of the officers of the 3rd division, several of whom had waited, according to orders, just before the assault, upon Sir James Kempt, then one of its generals of brigade, when a plan of the castle was shown to them, and much pains taken to point out what was to be overcome in order to capture it; and it must have been obvious to those officers, that retreating, when once under the walls of the castle, was quite impossible, and this clearly shows that the idea of a false attack could never have been entertained; indeed it was talked of and considered by many of us as an enterprise fit only for the knight-errants of old.
To these explanations, and to the extraordinary perseverance and gallantry of the officers, I have always chiefly attributed the taking of the Castle of Badajoz by the 3rd division. But in giving what follows, I cannot avoid again calling the reader's attention to the praises so justly due to the officers, and also to the soldiers for undaunted courage in following them; and I regret to say, to the censure, the next moment, so well deserved by the latter. It may be asked, why I persevere in making such severe remarks upon the conduct of our soldiers? I readily answer, that my only motive is to induce the country, if possible, to employ hereafter such men, as can be called out in the way I have proposed in our armies, and not the inferior and most difficult to be restrained part of our fine and warlike population.
"G.O. Camp before Badajoz, 7th April, 1812.
"No. 1. The Commander of the Forces returns his thanks to the general officers, officers and soldiers of the 3rd, 4th, and light divisions, to the Royal engineers and artillery, and to the Portuguese artillery, for their persevering patience and laborious industry, and the gallantry which they have uniformly manifested throughout the late siege of Badajoz.
"In thanking them for the uncommon gallantry displayed last night in the assault of the place, under the most trying circumstances, the Commander of the Forces must include among those the general officers, officers and soldiers of the 5th division."
"G.O. Fuente Guinaldo, 16th May, 1812.
"No. 1. The Commander of the Forces has great satisfaction in communicating to the army the following extract of a letter from the Earl of Liverpool, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, dated Downing-street, 28th April, 1812:—
'His Royal Highness has commanded me to express to your Lordship the sense he entertains of the great services rendered to this country, and to her allies, by the reduction of Badajoz.