To the Right Hon. Henry Wellesley.

'MY DEAR HENRY,

'Cartaxo, 2d December, 1810.

I enclose my dispatch of yesterday to Government; from which you will observe that I have received your letter of the 17th November, and that from General Graham of the same date.

I am of opinion that the enemy is not in a state of preparation to make the supposed attack upon Puntales, and it is probable that they will not be in the requisite state of preparation for some time. In the interval I shall be better enabled to judge than I am at present of the enemy's designs upon this country, and their means of carrying them into execution; and if I should find that I can do it with safety, or if the enemy should get forward with their preparations for the attack of Puntales, so as to render it clear that they intend to attack that point, I shall send a body of British troops to Cadiz.

I now write to Lieut. General Graham to beg that he will, for the present, detain at Cadiz any troops that Lieut. General Stuart may send from Sicily for this country.

I am afraid that the Spaniards will bring us all to shame yet. It is scandalous that in the third year of their war, and having been more than a year in a state of tranquillity, and having sustained no loss of importance since the battle of Ocaña, they should now be depending for the safety of Cadiz, the seat of their Government, upon having one or two more or less British regiments; and that after having been shut in for ten months, they have not prepared the works nccessary for their defence, notwithstanding the repeated remonstrances of General Graham and the British Officers on the danger of omitting them.

The Cortes appear to suffer under the national disease in as great a degree as the other authorities, that is, boasting of the strength and power of the Spanish nation, till they are seriously convinced they are in no danger, and then sitting down quietly and indulging their national indolence.

6

I send you the Flora transport, with 10,000 stands of arms and sets of accoutrements, &c.

< SIR,

To Lieut. General Graham.

'Cartaxo, 2d December, 1810.

I have received your letter of the 19th November and its enclosure. I think it probable that the enemy will experience great difficulty in making the preparations for the proposed attack upon Puntales, and in removing their boats and establishing them in the Trocadero; and in the interval it might be expected that the works between the Cortadura and Puntales will be completed.

At all events, I shall be enabled to judge of the nature of the enemy's designs on this country, and of their means of carrying them into execution; and if I should find that they get forward with their preparations for an attack upon you, or if they cannot collect the means of carrying on their attack here, I will send a body of British troops round to Cadiz.

I think it is not impossible, in the existing situation of affairs in Sicily, that Lieut. General Sir John Stuart may detach the body of troops which he was directed to send to Portugal from Sicily; and if he should do so, and they should go to Gibraltar or Cadiz, I request you to detain them at Cadiz till you shall hear further from me.

I shall be much obliged to you if you will communicate to me anything that may occur, or any intelligence which you may receive by Ayamonte, as well as by the usual sea conveyance by Lisbon.

Mr. Wellesley will communicate to you the accounts which I have sent him of the situation of affairs here.

MY DEAR SIR,

'Cartaxo, 2d December, 1810, 10 A.M.

'I have just received your letter of the 1st, and I am much concerned to hear of the serious indisposition of Lieut. General Hill, who I hope will soon recover. In the meantime I am convinced that the service will be well carried on by you; and I refer you to my letters to Lieut. General Hill for instructions, and if you should entertain any doubt upon any point I shall hear from you.

The enemy's force is concentrated a good deal about Golegão, Torres Novas, and Santarem, but they do not appear to me to be in a situation to attempt anything in any quarter; and I think that they are waiting for orders from Paris.

Believe me, &c.

⚫ WELLINGTON.

the Hon. W. Stewart.

'Major General

. SIR,

To R. Kennedy, Esq., Commissary General.

'Cartaxo, 3d December, 1810. I enclose the proceedings of a Court of Inquiry which has been held on a statement made by Mr. Deputy Commissary Dunmore on the conduct of Mr.

This gentleman was represented to me, in the course of the summer, as having made a great exertion to supply the Officers and soldiers of the army with various articles of necessaries which they required; and as being likely, according to the appearance of the state of affairs at that moment, to incur very large losses.

I was induced, therefore, on account of the very favorable opinion entertained of Mr. — by Colonel Pakenham, Sir W. Myers, and others, to give directions that assistance might be given to Mr. to enable him to transport his stores to the army (at his own expense); and that if the Commissariat should want any of the articles of supply which he had brought out, they might be purchased from him rather than from other persons, provided he sold them of an equally good quality at an equally cheap rate.

I observe, from the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry, that a construction has been given to those directions which they were never intended to bear. They were intended to be applied solely to those articles which Mr. - had then at Lisbon, of which it was my wish that he should have an opportunity of disposing, as it had been represented to me that he had been encouraged by different Officers of the army to bring them out.

It has been understood, however, as it appears both by Mr. Deputy Commissary Dunmore and Mr. -, that these orders were intended to apply not only to what Mr. had at the time landed at Lisbon, but to whatever goods of

any description he might hereafter import into Portugal: thus giving Mr. a description of monopoly of the consumption of the British army; and this gentleman has in fact taken advantage of this erroneous construction given to thesc orders, by importing wines and other articles, to which they were never intended to apply, and offering them for sale to the Commissariat.

'I now desire that it may be understood that these orders are entirely countermanded; and I will have nothing to do with Mr.

I beg also that you will inform Mr. Deputy Commissary Dunmore that I approve entirely of his having made the statement reporting the conduct of Mr., which has been the subject of inquiry.

It is quite evident to me that Mr. - has taken advantage of the indulgence of importing goods duty free, afforded by the Portuguese Government to those who supply the British army with what they want, not for the purpose for which that indulgence was granted, viz., that the goods might be afforded at a cheaper rate to the Officers and soldiers of the army, but to increase his own profits nearly to the amount of the duties payable to Government, and to put more money into his own pocket.

Not satisfied with this irregular profit, he has even gone further, and has derived a profit by selling to others the use of the indulgence to import duty free which had been granted to him.

I have, however, regulated this matter in such a manner that it shall not be abused in future; and I now communicate to the th regiment my opinion that Mr. may continue the trade of sutler to the army, if he thinks proper, but that some other person ought to be the Paymaster of that regiment.

I observe that Mr. has stated that he has a complaint to make of Mr. Deputy Commissary Dunmore; and I request you to ascertain what that complaint is; and if it is of a serious nature, and there should be cause for complaint, I shall have it inquired into.

To Vice Admiral the Hon. George Berkeley.

'MY DEAR SIR, 'Cartaxo, 3d December, 1810. 'I delay to answer you about the ordnance till I shall receive Colonel Fletcher's report on the ground on the left of the Tagus. I am anxious to take an opportunity to look at that ground myself, which I think I could manage, and return here in the course of the night. It would be necessary, however, that the Prince's boat should be placed at Villa Franca for me; and I shall be very much obliged if you will let me know at what time it will be high water at Villa Nova, in the course of three or four days.

It is desirable that the reason for placing the boat at Villa Franca should not be known in Lisbon.

I enclose a report from Captain Dickinson, who was employed by me to look for the pontoon bridge which you mentioned, in your letter of the 29th November, was over a creek above Villa Franca.

I have ascertained that in all weathers infantry can march from Salvaterra across the Island of Lyceria to a place opposite to Alhandra. The infantry of General Hill's corps will march from Salvaterra across the Island of Lyceria to the south end of the island, at which place I shall be obliged to you if you will have boats to cross them over when I shall write to you for them.

The cavalry, artillery, and the weighty part of the baggage will go to Aldea Galega, from whence they can be passed over.

I am much obliged to you for your two letters of the 3d. I can scarcely believe that General Gardanne's retreat