• If I should order General Hill's corps to cross the Tagus, the troops will march from Salvaterra, across the Island of Lyceria, and embark at Na Sa de Conceição, to be landed on the right of the lines at Alhandra. When, therefore, I shall request you to send up the boats, it will be to Na Sa de Conceição, and it is desirable that that point should be reconnaitred by one of the Officers of the navy.

We have pulled down the walls, and laid open the road from Villa Franca to Alhandra to the fire of the gun boats, which still further strengthen that point.

I shall order back again to Lisbon the boats and materials for the bridge, which it is very obvious we shall not now require immediately.

Believe me, &c.

WELLINGTON.

the Hon. G. Berkeley.

P. S. General Hill's infantry, the men's camp kettles, and Officers' canteens only, will cross by Lyceria; the cavalry, artillery, and baggage, by Aldea Galega.

To Major General the Hon. W. Stewart.

MY DEAR SIR,

'W.'

'Cartaxo, 25th December, 1810, 11 A.M. Since I wrote to you yesterday I have received a letter from General Silveira of the 19th, and from General Bacellar from Coimbra, of the 21st.

It appears that the advanced guard of the enemy's corps, which had crossed the Coa, entered Celorico on the 18th, in the evening. Silveira and all the troops in Upper Beira were hanging upon their flank; and I should suppose that their advance from thence had not been very rapid, as General Bacellar had not heard of their being in advance of Celorico. Silveira states this body to be Gardanne's division, which he calls 9000 infantry and 3000 cavalry. I doubt their having that number of cavalry; and if they have 9000 infantry, there are more than Gardanne's division.

I have received accounts from Estremadura, that the French division which was at Llerena has retired towards Cordova; so that the design of crossing the Tagus will not be facilitated by any movement from that side at present.

If you should deem it expedient to open a fire upon the

boats, you had better let it be from the three brigades at once, so as to settle the matter.

'Major General

Believe me, &c.

WELLINGTON.

the Hon. W. Stewart.

To Major General the Hon. W. Stewart.

'MY DEAR SIR,

'Cartaxo, 25th December, 1810, 3 P.M.

Since I wrote to you this morning I have received further intelligence of the enemy's reinforcements, from which it is clear that the whole of the 9th corps are about to enter Portugal.

I think it a matter of doubt whether the enemy will endeavor, when joined by this reinforcement, to force the position of the allies in front of Lisbon, or will endeavor to extend beyond the Tagus, so as to open the Alentejo to himself and deprive us of the resources of that province.

This is very certain, however, that if the enemy should make an attempt upon the position of the allies, he will lose no time about it after the plan is formed. after the plan is formed. The position has been sufficiently reconnaitred, and the day after we shall have retired to it, we may expect that it will be attacked.

I mention this, in order that you may bear it in mind in your arrangements for the defence of the Tagus. I think that for the present you had better leave Colonel Campbell's brigade of Portuguese infantry at Salvaterra; General Lumley's will of course stay at Almeirim, according to my letter of yesterday. You might bring the other brigade of Portuguese infantry nearer to yourself, with a view to the object referred to in my letter of yesterday, and your artillery.

'Any part of the corps which shall cross the Tagus will be ordered to march across the island of Lyceria from Salvaterra; and I request you to have the dyke roads on the island well ascertained and known to the leaders of the columns.

The baggage (with the exception of soldiers' camp kettles and Officers' canteens), and the artillery and cavalry, will be ordered to Aldea Galega.

I recommend to you to make some cover for your artillery on the ground opposite the mouth of the Zezere, in

order to give Don Carlos every advantage in defending it. It appears to me, also, that it would be desirable to bring near that point the whole of the 5th Caçadores, with the exception of one company, which would be sufficient to guard the boats on the river opposite Abrantes. The Officer to be left in command of this company, however, must be made to understand thoroughly what he has to do.

Major General

the Hon. W. Stewart?

'Believe me, &c.

'WELLINGTON.

To Marshal Sir W. C. Beresford, K.B.

'MY DEAR BERESFORD,

'Cartaxo, 25th December, 1810. I have received letters which leave no doubt in my mind that Drouet's corps, as well as Gardanne's division, are cntering Portugal, and I think you had better come up as

soon as you can.

I do not think it quite clear whether the enemy will endeavor to extend beyond the Tagus, or to carry the posi tion, when Drouet's people come, which ought to be soon.

This is very certain, that if they should attack the position, they will lose no time about it after they shall have once put themselves in motion, as the whole ground has been sufficiently reconnaitred, and must be well known.

It is desirable, therefore, that the ordenanza and volunteer artillery and infantry, and the militia, should be warned to be in readiness to go back to their old stations at the shortest notice.

I have sent to have the 2d battalion of your regiment, and one battalion of marines, brought to Loures, to be in readiness to occupy part of the space which must be left vacant by a part of Hill's corps being on the left of the Tagus.

To Major General the Hon. C. Colville, President of a General

• SIR,

6

Court Martial.

'Cartaxo, 27th December, 1810.

I have had the honor of receiving the proceedings of the

General Court Martial of which you are the President, on

the trial of Surgeon, of the batt. regiment; and as I differ with the General Court Martial on the conclusions which they have drawn from the evidence which has been before them, and think that the case has not been sufficiently investigated in some points, I have to request that the Court will revise both their proceedings and their

sentence.

In respect to the proceedings, I observe that Germano Baretti states, that "after he had been in the guard house a certain time, a grenadier of the regiment came to him from Surgeon, telling him that if he chose to pay sixty dollars he might be set at liberty."

Private C, of the regiment, states that he was sent to Germano Baretti by Surgeon, and it is desirable to ascertain by evidence whether Private C— is the grenadier referred to in Baretti's evidence.

I then observe in Surgeon's written defence, that he states, that "considering the mare my property, a proposition was made that, on a deposit of sixty dollars, he (Baretti) should be at liberty." Again, in another part of the statement before the Court, he says, "I valued the mare at sixty dollars; and as she was likely to suit my purpose, and by putting the additional price which I was recommended to do, I was in hopes to get her back again."

In the original statement written to General Sontag on the 29th October, on which Surgeon says, in his statement before the Court, he means to rest his defence, the words are, "I proposed to him (which I thought the proper mode of recovering the mare), that if he made a deposit of sixty dollars he might be at liberty.”

Adverting to these statements in the defence, which amount to an acknowledgment of the fact alleged in the second charge, to which Baretti gives positive evidence, it is desirable to question Private C still further upon the nature of the communication he made to Baretti by desire of Surgeon, if he should be the soldier who has carried on the communication between Surgeon and Baretti.

So far as to the proceedings: then, in respect to the sentence, I observe that the Court Martial have excused Surgeon in the first charge, on the plea, first, that "he acted under the conviction that Baretti had stolen the

mare;" and, secondly, that "he considered himself justified by the opinion given, and presence, of the Provost Marshal."

was not

'I would beg to observe in respect to the first plea, that there is no ground in evidence for any belief that Germano Baretti had stolen the mare, which could have justified his detention by any authority whatever. Secondly, that if there had been any ground for such belief, Surgeon justifiable in confining him in a military guard house, particularly as the magistrates of Torres Vedras were on the spot; and, at all events, without the orders of his superior Officers, likewise on the spot. I request the General Court Martial to consider what would be the situation of any Officer who should, on such grounds, have confined to a military guard house in Great Britain any one of His Majesty's subjects.

I have to observe, in respect to the second plea, that the Officer styled "Provost Marshal" in the sentence of the Court is the Assistant Provost attached to the division, (whose evidence, by the bye, Surgeon might have produced to the Court preferably to that of his trumpeter,) whose business it is to enforce the orders of the army, and preserve discipline among the soldiers and their followers, and not to administer justice between the Officers of the army and the inhabitants of the country, nor to act as counsel to the Officers of the army. The Assistant Provosts are not Commissioned Officers; and the General Court Martial will, by this part of their sentence, give them an authority in the concerns of the Officers of the army which they certainly do not otherwise possess.

The revisal of the proceedings which I have recommended on the second charge will throw more light upon it; but I wish to draw the attention of the Court particularly to the evidence of Baretti, and to the acknowledgment of Surgeon in his defence as above quoted; and then I request them to consider whether it is probable that a man who must have known that justice would be done in his case, (as I believe all the natives of this country know, who have had any dealings with the British army,) would have offered sixty dollars to be released from the confinement in which he had been unjustly placed.