Lest the enemy should attempt to pay us home in the coin of Arroyo-del-Molinos, piquets composed of whole companies were posted on every road branching from Villa-Franca. The rest were thrown into the town, with orders to remain accoutred, to be ready to turn out at a moment's warning, and to be on the alarm-post two hours before day-break. From nine o'clock in the evening, till seven o'clock on the following morning, rain and hail fell in such prodigious quantities, and was forced to the earth with such violence by the wind, which blew a perfect hurricane, that all those who were on piquet, joined their battalions in the morning in a most deplorable condition. One of the officers in particular, was to all appearance a perfect maniac. Two hours before day-light, we who were in Villa-Franca proceeded to the alarm-post, where, in ten minutes, we were as thoroughly drenched as if we had just emerged from a six months ablution in the Bay of Biscay. Never before did I witness such a tempest. After a four hours exposure to its utmost fury, we departed from Villa-Franca, and returned to Almendralejo.
The detachment under Colonel Abercromby was more successful in killing and maiming than we were. On the road to Fuente-del-Maestre, a French regiment of cavalry crossed the path of the detachment. On coming in sight of the enemy, the 2nd German dragoons flew at them like as many bull-dogs, and being supported by the Portuguese, the enemy was defeated with the loss of twenty killed and wounded, and thirty-one taken prisoners. Our loss was trifling. This detachment also rejoined the main body on the 4th, and the whole retraced their steps to Merida on the following day.
None but those who were present can have any idea of the fatigue which the soldiers endured from the 1st to 5th January, from the wretched state of the roads from Merida to Villa-Franca. On returning to Merida, they had more the appearance of troops that had been six months under canvass, than men returning to cantonments after a ten day's campaign. On the marches of the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th, a great many of the soldiers sunk deep into clay of such an adhesive quality, that in extricating themselves from its grasp, many of them tore their gaiters to pieces, and some of them actually left their shoes behind them, and trudged along in their stockings. On these occasions I seldom had less than four pounds of clay at my feet, which fatigued me so much, that on retiring to rest each night, I dropped asleep without the aid of any stimulant. Such then being my situation, who had neither musket, knapsack, canteen, or haversack to carry, what must the soldiers have suffered who had to march encumbered with all these, weighing altogether nearly three stone?
To those who are eternally croaking about the half-pay and pensions of those officers, non-commissioned officers and privates, who served in the late war, I wish no greater punishment than to be made to serve but one short campaign in a country where hardships and dangers, similar to those the British troops encountered in Spain, may stare them in the face at every step, and where their only comforts, when summed up, may, as in the Peninsula, consist of a daily allowance of one pound of tough beef, and a similar quantity of hard biscuit; being well convinced that on their return to their native land, they will have tasted so freely of the sweets of a soldier's life, when engaged in the active operations of the field, that they will be prepared to convert their hoarse murmurs of disapprobation of the half-pay and pension-list, into a sweet-sounding and rapturous applause.
In the suite of General Hill, on the 1st of January, moved the Marquis of Alemeida, a Spanish nobleman, between fifty and sixty years of age. Having suffered severely from French rapacity, the Marquis, as may be supposed, was one of their bitterest enemies. Being a warm admirer of the British character, he not only accompanied us in all our wanderings, but laid aside his native habit, and assumed the scarlet, in humble imitation of his friend, our worthy General. In addition to a long scarlet coat, the Marquis generally wore a cocked-hat, always decorated with one, sometimes with two, and not unfrequently with three long red and white feathers dangling to his shoulders, in as many different directions. His appearance altogether was rather odd, but the singularity of his costume soon ceased to attract notice, and in a little time he became a considerable favourite with all classes.
On arriving in front of the enemy's piquets, the Marquis had no idea that he was so close upon the enemy, until the unexpected intelligence was announced to him by one—two—three from our artillery, a few yards in front. Neither the worthy nobleman or his horse being prepared to accede to this mode of conversing with the plunderers of his estates, the former stared, and the latter reared and plunged, as if anxious to get quit of its burden, fancying, no doubt, that the Marquis was the sole cause of his being in such noisy company. On the third gun being fired, the Marquis, with a countenance which at once denoted the fervour of his prayer, exclaimed,—"Oh, Jesus, Maria, Jose!" and then casting a glance towards those around him, as much as to say, "I am off," put spurs to his willing nag, which being as anxious to get out of the scrape as its master, flew like lightning in the direction which it was supposed the Marquis wished him, and in a twinkling both were lost to our view in the fog.
A private soldier of the 28th regiment having sipped rather freely of the juice of the grape, previous to our departure from Almendralejo on the 5th of January, fell out of the ranks unperceived, laid himself down to banish all traces of the copious draught, and enjoyed his nap so comfortably, that night's sable shroud had shut every earthly object from the view of man before he awoke. Alone, enveloped in darkness, and in a part of the country totally uninhabited, the poor lad frequently fancied during the stillness of the night, that he saw his name as a deserter to the enemy, handed in to the Adjutant-General—the members of the court-martial assembling to try him—the sentence of death passed, and the provost-marshal at the head of his party, ready to carry the sentence into execution. With such thoughts as these darting across his mind, the victim of dissipation rose from his cold and cheerless couch at dawn, on the 6th, and bended his steps towards Merida. Afraid to join his corps, however, the bragge slasher proceeded to a small village about three miles from head-quarters on the opposite bank of the Guadiana, in hopes that some humane individual would intercede for him at head-quarters.
Receiving information soon after his arrival that there were two French soldiers concealed in the village, the worshipper of Bacchus proceeded with a few of the natives to their residence, and after securing them, and fastening their hands, he marched them off in triumph for Merida. Strolling on the bridge with a few friends, when the trio were first observed, and considering it rather an odd circumstance to see a British soldier marching two Frenchmen as prisoners from the left bank of the Guadiana, where there were no British soldiers then quartered, we inquired at the worthy Hibernian where he became possessed of the friends in his company? Shewing some disinclination to satisfy our curiosity, we repeated our query in a more peremptory manner. We had scarcely done so, however, when we perceived the poor man struggling hard to give utterance to his inward thoughts, but notwithstanding his utmost exertions, he could not utter a syllable, till his heart was relieved by a few pearly drops trickling over his weather-beaten cheeks. On these drying up, the repentant soldier related to us the foregoing particulars, and then with a palpitating heart, (the vision of the previous night being still before his eyes,) he moved into town with his prisoners. He was of course placed in confinement, and but for this singular adventure, would have paid dearly for his libations to Bacchus at Almendralejo.
If the various members of the British army would reflect for a moment on the consequences which but too generally follow in the train of dissipation, before seating themselves to taste the pleasing, but intoxicating beverage, numerous crimes which now stain the pages of the character-books of every regiment in the service, would never be heard of. The conduct of the Macedonian conqueror on various occasions, shews us to what a degrading condition this most detestable vice sometimes reduces the most celebrated individuals, and his death furnishes a memorable example, that dissipation hurries all its votaries to the narrow house, without any regard to age or station in society. On launching into the world, therefore, all military men should ever be on their guard against the assaults of dissipation, for by dipping deep into the cup of intemperance, they will not only destroy their mental faculties, ruin their pecuniary resources, as well as their constitutions, but may at length be led to commit crimes, for which, like Alexander on the death of Clitus, they may be made to suffer all the horrors which a conscience, burdened with the murder of a fellow-creature, and that individual a bosom friend, can inflict upon them.