»My dear Lord,
»The army behave terribly ill. They are a rabble who cannot bear success any more than Sir John Moore's army could bear failure. I am endeavouring to tame them; but if I should not succeed, I must make an official complaint of them, and send one or two corps home in disgrace. They plunder in all directions...
»Believe me, etc.
»Arthur Wellesley.»
To Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State.
«Abrantès, 17th June, 1809.
»My dear Lord,
»I cannot, with propriety, omit to draw your attention again to the state of discipline of the army, which is a subject of serious concern to me, and well deserves the consideration of His Majesty's Ministers.
»It is impossible to describe to you the irregularities and outrages committed by the troops. They are never out of the sight of their Officers, I may almost say never out of the sight of the Commanding Officers of their regiments, and the General Officers of the army, that outrages are not committed; and notwithstanding the pains which I take, of which there will be ample evidence in my orderly books, not a post or a courier comes in, not an Officer arrives from the rear of the army, that does not bring me accounts of outrages committed by the soldiers who have been left behind on the march, having been sick, or having straggled from their regiments, or who have been left in hospitals.
»We have a provost marshal, and no less than four assistants. I never allow a man to march with the baggage. I never leave an hospital without a number of Officers and non-commanding Officers proportionable to the number of soldiers; and never allow a detachment to march, unless under the command of an Officer; and yet there is not an outrage of any description, which has not been committed on a people who have uniformly received us as friends, by soldiers who never yet, for one moment, suffered the slightest want, or the smallest privation...