LETTER XLV.

SPECULATIONS RESPECTING THE FATE OF SPAIN. FRENCH PRISONERS —THEIR DRESS AND APPEARANCE. SUPERIORITY OF THE HELMET OVER THE FUR CAP.-THEIR NATIONAL CHARACTER CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF THE SPANIARDS.- -GENERAL ORDERS ISSUED TO ATTACK THE ENEMY'S POSITION AT CARRION. THESE ARE SUDDENLY REVOKED ON THE ARRIVAL OF A MESSENGER FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA ROMANA.DISSAPPOINTMENT OF THE TROOPS. THE DUKE OF DALMATIA.CONDUCT OF THE JUNTAS. THE REASONING OF A BE

NEDICTINE MONK.

Sahagun, 22d December, 1803.

I HAVE this morning been gratified by receiving several of your letters, which have come hither by the way of Corunna. I am sorry that I cannot agree agree with you in many of your speculations respecting this country. Indeed I cannot help thinking, that ere this reaches you, you will have altered your way of thinking. It is true that the Spaniards performed prodigies at the commencement of the contest, but their efforts have been eva

nescent.

Independently of the French force acting on the southern side of the Peninsula, there are upwards of one hundred and twenty thousand men on this side of Spain. After

defeating all the three grand armies of the patriots, Bonaparte has taken the capital without a struggle, and the first proclamation which he has issued will do more towards securing his conquest, than the introduction of a fresh army of two hundred thousand men across the Pyrennees.

I have this day been to see our prisoners. They are like those I have before described to you, very fine young men, from all the different nations subject to France. Their dress is dark green cloth, with a large white cloak. Their horses are generally poor animals, much smaller, and slighter made than ours, and, as you may conceive, much out of condition. Nearly one-third of them taken have sore backs. Such was the superiority of our dragoon. horses in strength and activity, that they absolutely overturned, and rode those of the enemy down, like as many skittles on a bowling-green. There is one article, however, of these prisoners' dress which I must not omit to notice to you, it is the helmet, which is excellent. It is of the old Roman shape, with a high crest, from which hangs a quantity of black horse hair. The composition of it is a strong plate of brass; and I have now in my post

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session one bearing the marks of four sabre cuts, not one of which had penetrated to the scalp beneath.Indeed I have examined all the wounded with attention, and find, that while our men are most desperately wounded about the face and head, there is not a single Frenchman cut deeper than the hairy scalp. You perceive what an immense advantage this gives the wearer of a helmet, over the wearer of a fur cap; and I do hope that this new fashion may be laid aside immediately. Many of the French, on the other hand, are in a deplorable condition, from the effects of the weather. I have had their boots ripped from many, who had not been able to take them off for a week. Their feet are in a state of complete mortification.

You may hence judge of the waste of life that characterises the French army. "Monsieur le Medecin nous mourons ici en Espagne comme les mouches," was the answer I received from one of these poor wretches, a conscript of six months, when inquiring of the general state of the French army. Yet, in spite of their misery, it is astonishing to see the thoughtlessness and gaiety which prevails among them.

There is here a large Benedictine convent. In one of the refectories are confined about one hundred prisoners, These men are at this moment acting a dancing assembly;

one fellow has got a fiddle, another performs the part of master of the ceremonies, the rest are petits maitres, or grisettes; and a gentleman, who has just returned from thence, assures me, that many of the slightly wounded. are figuring away in minuets and gavots, as if they were enjoying themselves in the hey-day of the vintage in the midst of France. Wonderful people! What a singular contrast do you form to this race, gliding along with mea sured steps, muffled in old chocolate-coloured cloaks and monterò caps, or standing for hours beneath a dismal piazza, brooding over the national calamities..

28d December

This forenoon orders were issued by the Commander-inChief, for the whole army to proceed from this place, and the adjoining cantonments, at eight o'clock in the evening, to attack the enemy's posts at the bridge of Carrion. Orders had previously been given to procure hospital accommodations for two hundred men in the Benedictine convent. The army was in the highest spirits, at the idea of encountering the enemy, and had turned out under arms, some corps, indeed, were already on their march, when orders were received for the troops to return to their quarters. This threw a sad damp on both officers and 4.7

men

Various reasons are at present assigned for this step,

the most probable which I have heard is, that as Sir John was about to mount his horse, an officer arrived from the Marquis de la Romana at Mancilla, with a letter, saying, that the French were advancing rapidly by forced marches from Madrid, to get to Benevente, and cut off our retreat. It is added also, that the force under Marshal Soult, which was at first stated about sixteen thousand, is now known to be above twenty thousand; and that reinforcements are on their way to join him, from Palencia. We have therefore, you perceive, not a moment to lose, and I suppose we shall commence our retreat towards Astorga to-morrow morning.

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The Spaniard in whose house I am at present billeted, is a poor man apparently, but one of the alcalde, and by trade a baker. He tells me, that two days before our arrival, he had been to a town a few leagues to the eastward, called Saldanha, where Soult's head-quarters then were, in company with some other members of the magistracy, to wait upon his Excellency, and state the extreme poverty of the inhabitants, and the difficulty, and even moral impossibility there was of their complying with his requisition of rations for twenty-four thousand men, for three days. The Duke of Dalmatia, he says, received them with great formality, but on the whole civilly. In reply to their tale of poverty and distress, he told them that the