' Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A.
Wellesley, K.B., to C. Flint, Esq.
' Plasencia, 17th July, 1809.
' MY DEAR SIR, ' The Spaniards took General Franceschi and his two
aides de camp, Captains Antoine and Bernard, on their way from Zamora towards
Tordesillas and Madrid; and I saw these gentlemen at Zarza Mayor, on their
journey to Seville, about a fortnight ago. General Franceschi was very anxious
that his wife and family should be informed that he was alive, as well as his
aides de camp, and not likely to be hurt, although a prisoner. I shall be much
obliged to you, therefore, if you will convey to Madame Franceschi de Somme
this intelligence through Holland, according to the address, " Madame
Franceschi de Somme, Rue Ville l'Eveque a Paris.' '
' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley,
K.B., to the Right Hon. John Villiers.
' Plasencia, 17th July, 1809.
' MY DEAR VILLIERS, 'I sent you my last dispatch to Lord Castlereagh,
which will have apprised you of our intended operations.
' The infantry moved this morning, and the whole army will
be across the Tietar to-morrow, in order to carry into execution the plan of
operations concerted with Cuesta.
' Mr. Murray is not come up; but as soon as I shall see him,
and shall get from him an exact account of the states of our supplies of money,
I propose to desire him to give directions that one-sixth of all the money
which may arrive from England, and which may be procured for bills at Lisbon,
Cadiz, and Gibraltar, may be paid to you for the use of the Portuguese
government ; your demand being about one-sixth of the estimated expenses.
' We do not yet know what the French are doing. The
intelligence from General Cuesta looks like a retreat; that from other
quarters, as if they intended to fight us on the Alberche.
' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley,
K.B., to Marshal Beresford.
' Plasencia, 17th July, 1809.
' MY DEAR BERESFORD, ' The infantry of the army moved this day, and
the whole will cross the Tietar to-morrow, to co-operate with Cuesta in an
attack upon the French upon the Alberche. It is not quite certain yet whether
they intend to retire, or to wait for us, but I am inclined to think they will
do the former.
' I have ordered General Lightburne, and the 2nd battalion
5th regiment, and 2nd battalion 58th regiment, to be prepared to obey any
orders they may receive from you. Having been in camp for a fortnight, at
Alcantara (Lisbon), I conclude that they are now prepared to move.
' I have ordered the other troops to join me by Abrantes,
and I shall be obliged to you if you will arrange that this brigade, which is
to join you, should proceed by any other road. You must take care of their
subsistence on the road; and I beg you to recollect that they are young troops,
unaccustomed to war, and I shall be obliged to you if you will not march them
more than three or four leagues in a day. They will be subsisted to the 24th of
August, before they leave Lisbon.
' I asked Cuesta to secure for me the passes of Baños
and Perales, and he has occupied the former, but has left the latter to be
occupied by the Duque del Parque. I wish that you would send somebody to see
how the pass is occupied, and that, at all events, you should have an eye to
that pass. It will make me quite secure, and will render me the greatest
service that in their present situation the Portuguese troops could render. I
do not think that the French would like to venture through that pass in the
existing situation of their affairs. The bridges of Alcantara and Almaraz,
being irreparable, they would be in a cul de sac, and would have no exit
excepting through a desert on the frontier of Portugal.
' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
' If you do not like to have , you may leave him at
Lisbon.'
Lieut. General Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to
Vice Admiral the Hon. G. Berkeley.
Plasencia, 17th July, 1809.
' MY DEAR SIR, ' I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter of
the 10th instant.
' I do not understand to what use Dom M. de Forjaz could
apply the articles which he has demanded from the naval stores. I rather
believe, however, that he would require two good cables to be passed across the
river, one ahead, the other astern of the boats, to which the boats are
fastened head and stern by other ropes. This is the more approved mode of
fixing a bridge, particularly in a river liable as the Tagus is to sudden rises
and falls.
' I have not yet sent off the two battalions of detachments,
and shall not send them till I shall be more certain of the movements of the
enemy. It is probable that it will be too late in the season before they could
arrive at Abrantes, that they would experience much delay and inconvenience in
embarking in boats before they could reach Valada.
' I am glad to find the accounts confirmed which we had
received of the evacuation of Ferrol and Coruna by the French troops.
' Believe me, &c., ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
Major General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley,
K.B., to Major General O'Donoju.
' Miajadas, 18th July, 1809.
' MY DEAR SIR, ' The British army crossed the Tietar this morning, and
I have my head quarters at this place. I hear that an officer passed at
Bazagona last night, with a letter for me from General Cuesta, and through the
army this morning, but he missed me, and I have not yet seen him. I imagine
from the dust I saw near Almaraz, that the Spanish army crossed the Tagus this
day.
' I shall probably meet you at Oropesa, but, if I should
not, I mention now, that I think it would be desirable that we should revise
our plan for the attack of the enemy, so far as goes to the separation of the
two armies. When at Escalona, I shall be nine leagues from you, and the enemy
will have been perfectly acquainted with my movements, which will have been
made along his front. It appears to me, that we ought to concentrate our
attack, and both armies to cross the Alberche at or near the same place. As
long as we are together, no accident can happen to either; when separate, we
are both liable to be attacked by the enemy's whole force, and it does not
appear to me that any object will be gained by our separation.
' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley,
K.B., to the Junta of Plasencia.
' Miajadas, 18th July, 1809.
' GENTLEMEN, ' I was much
concerned that I was not at home when you did me the honor of calling upon me
last night ; and I have now the honor of acknowledging the receipt of the
letter which you wrote to me.
' I am much gratified to learn that I have given you
satisfaction during my residence at Plasencia, and that you have no cause for
complaint of the conduct of the British troops. A certain degree of
inconvenience must be felt by the inhabitants of every town near which an army
is stationed, and I did every thing in my power to alleviate that which you
would feel from the neighbourhood of the British army. Upon my entrance into
Spain, I certainly expected to derive that assistance in provisions and other
means, which an army invariably receives from the country in which it is
stationed ; more particularly when it has been sent to the aid of the people of
that country. I have not been disappointed in the expectations I had formed of
receiving supplies of provisions, and I am much obliged to the Junta for the
pains they have taken upon that subject, and I am convinced that they did every
thing in their power to procure for us the other means we required, although I
am sorry to say we did not receive them.
' I have the honor to be, &c.; ARTHUR
WELLESLEY.
Major General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley,
K.B., to Major General O'Donoju.
' Centinello, 19th July, 1809.
' MY DEAR SIR, ' I have received your paper from Colonel O'Lalor, for
which I am much obliged to you. We shall be at Oropesa to-morrow.
' I agree with nearly all that you suggest ; I wish you and
General Cuesta, however, to consider of the suggestions contained in my note of
yesterday.
' When the enemy shall retire over the bridge of the
Alberche, near Talavera, it is probable that he will destroy it. The question
will then arise, whether the river can be crossed there with artillery; if it
cannot, in my opinion, the greatest part, if not the whole, of both armies,
ought to attack by S. Roman, where I understand the river is fordable for
artillery; otherwise, while a part of our united army, or the British troops
for instance, may be engaged with the whole of the enemy's force on the left
bank of the Alberche, the Spanish army may be hors de combat on the right bank,
by being unable to ford the river, or to repair the bridge. This would be the
case, supposing the lower part of the river not to be fordable for artillery ;
but supposing it is so, I still think that the two armies ought to co-operate
with each other, as near as possible, in order to throw our whole concentrated
force upon the enemy, and insure a victory to your new troops.
' When we shall cross the Alberche the engagement will have
begun, the enemy will have assembled his force, and the distance of three
leagues between the Spanish and British armies will be too much, and will
expose both to some risk.
' I wish you to consider these points, and I will meet you
to-morrow at Oropesa, or at Montalvan, if that place shall be more convenient
to you, if you will name the hour.
' Believe me, Sec. ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley,
K.B., to the Right. Hon. John Villiers.
' Centinello, 19th July, 1809.
' MY DEAR VILLIERS, ' I have only
now received your letter of the 13th, and I am glad that I have had it in my
power to gratify you with the £80,000. As soon as I shall see the
Commissary General, I shall desire him to arrange that you shall have one-sixth
of all the money we procure for bills, &c from England, and I can do
no more.
' It is not my fault if the British Government have
undertaken in Spain and Portugal a larger concern than they can find means to
provide for.
' I must take measures to prevent the British troops from
suffering want; and I think I provide very handsomely for the Portuguese
subsidy, which amounts to one-sixth of our estimated expense, by allotting to
it one-sixth of our supply, whatever it may be. I cannot do more, and cannot
give you an unlimited power of taking money from the Commissary at Lisbon.
Colonel Trant is mad ; neither he nor we have any thing to do with the expenses
of the Vice Consul; and he knows that the Commissary General must pay the
expenses of transporting the troops. I have nothing new from hence. The Spanish
Army has crossed the Tagus, and I believe that the French are still in the same
situation. King Joseph is certainly gone to Madrid.
' Ever yours, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.
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