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Wellington's Dispatches
July 17th - 19th, 1809

 
   

' 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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