Retreat from Spain

To the Right Hon. J. H. Frere.
MY DEAR SIR, ' Talavera de la Reyna, 24th July, 1809.

...

General Cuesta has since marched to Cevolla ; and I do
not know whether he intends to halt there, or what are to
be his future operations.

I have been obliged to intimate to him, since my arrival
here, that I should consider that I had performed the en-
gagement which I had made with him as soon as I should
have removed the enemy from the Alberche, and should
thereby have given him possession of the course of the
Tagus, and should have laid open to him the communication
with La Mancha and with General Venegas' corps, and that
I could attempt no further operation till I shonld be made
certain of my supplies, by being furnished with proper
means of transport and the requisite provisions from the
country.

This intimation has become still more necessary within
the last two days, in which I am concerned to say that,
although my troops have been on forced marches, engaged
in operations with the enemy, the success of which I must
say depended upon them, they have had nothing to eat,
while the Spanish army have had plenty ; notwithstanding
that I have returns of engagements made by the alcaldes of
villages in the Vera de Plasencia to furnish this army before
the 24th of this month with 250,000 rations.

I certainly lament the necessity which obliges me to halt
at present, and will oblige me to withdraw from Spain, if it
should continue. There is no man that does not acknow-
ledge, even General Cuesta himself acknowledges, the
justice and propriety of my conduct in halting now, or in
eventually withdrawing; and I can only say, that I have
never seen an army so ill-treated in any country, or, consi-
dering that all depends upon its operations, one which
deserved good treatment so much.

It is ridiculous to pretend that the country cannot
supply our wants. The French army is well fed, and the
soldiers who are taken in good health, and well supplied
with bread, of which indeed they left a small magazine
behind them.

This is a rich country in corn, in comparison with Por-
tugal, and yet, during the whole of my operations in that
country, we never wanted bread but on one day on the
frontiers of Galicia. In the Vera de Plasencia there are
means to supply this army for four months, as I am in-
formed, and yet the alcaldes have not performed their en-
gagements with me. The Spanish army has plenty of
everything, and we alone, upon whom everything depends,
are actually starving.

I am aware of the important consequences which must
attend the step which I shall take in withdrawing from Spain.
It is certain that the people of England will never hear of
another army entering Spain after they shall have received
the accounts of the treatment we have met with ; and it is
equally certain that without the assistance, the example, and
the countenance of a British army, the Spanish armies,
however brave, will never effect their object.

But no man can see his army perish by want without
feeling for them, and most particularly must he feel for
them when he knows that they have been brought into the
country in which this want is felt by his own act, and on
his own responsibility, and not by orders from any superior
authority.

I shall be obliged to you if you will make known to the
Government my sentiments upon this subject.