Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Major General O'Donoju.

' Plasencia, 13th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR SIR,
' We arrived here last night, and Colonel O'Lalor has this day communicated to me your letter of the 12th, with the information from your officers sent on a reconnoisance towards the Alberche, for which I am much obliged to you.

' I desired Sir R. Wilson to write to you respecting the two battalions of infantry; and I shall be very much obliged to you if you will tell General Cuesta that I have ordered Sir Robert to march on the 15th, and that it is desirable that the battalions should go tomorrow to El Toril, or at all events next day to Miajadas, to communicate from thence with Sir Robert, whom I will desire to leave orders for them at El Toril.

' I have desired Sir Robert to move thus early, in order that he may cover and assist the Commissaries, whom I am about to send into the Vera de Plasencia, to endeavor to draw some subsistence from thence.

' Sir Robert tells me that the road by Miajadas, Talayuela and the Venta de St. Julian is a good one for artillery. I have sent an officer to examine it as far as Oropesa, and I expect his report to-morrow. If it should turn out to be good, it would probably be most convenient that I should march by that road; and I shall be obliged to you if in the mean time, till I shall receive the Officer's report, which I shall communicate to you, that you will ask General Cuesta whether he thinks that any inconvenience will result from my being so far from him when he shall cross the Tagus. If he does, I shall go by the road originally fixed. We shall have some difficulty in getting all the bread we shall require at this place, but I still hope that we shall do.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Marshal Beresford.

' Plasencia, 13th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR BERESFORD,
' I have received your letter of the 7th.

' Dr. Ferguson writes to Mr. Thompson, to desire that you may have a certain proportion of medicines, for which Mr. Villiers must give his receipt.

' I am sorry that I cannot allow any officers to take soldiers as servants from the British regiments in this army. You will observe that the late Commander of the Forces gave orders that officers belonging to regiments in this army should have Portuguese batmen and servants, for the hire of which he gave them an allowance ; and it would be rather an extraordinary circumstance if I were to allow soldiers as servants to officers not belonging to regiments in Portugal, particularly when the Commander in Chief in England, by their own account, consented to their bringing servants with them from their regiments. I therefore return their application.

' In respect to the commissions for your officers, the question is exactly whether the commission by the local government will give their authority equally with that given to others by the Prince. If it will not, they ought to have the Prince's commission.

' I do not think I should do you much good in giving you any part of our Commissariat. Nothing can be worse than it is; and I should recommend to you to take the Portuguese Commissariat, and do the best you can with it.

' I wish you would desire your Commissaries and others employed not to take carts from the neighbourhood of the Tagus for the service of the Portuguese army, and to give up to the British Commissary at Abrantes above 200 carts, which are collected at Thomar for the use of the Portuguese army.

' You will recollect that to take carts in our neighbourhood is inconsistent with our arrangements for the two Commissariats. In consequence of this seizure of the carts for the Portuguese army, we cannot move our ammunition or our money from Abrantes.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to the
Right Hon. J. H. Frere.

' Plasencia, 13th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR SIR,
' I received your letter of the 8th, at General Cuesta's head quarters, to which I went on the 10th in order to settle the plan of our future operations.

' I stated to the General my opinion that the principal attack upon the enemy's posts on the Alberche ought to be made by the united force of the British army and the Spanish army under his command; that it would be desirable to detach a corps consisting of 10,000 men, on our left, towards Avila, to turn the enemy's right; and that Vanegas, after having driven Sebastiani's corps across the Tagus, by which alone he is understood now to be opposed, should turn to his right, across the Tagus, either at Aranjuez or at Fuente Duenas, and threaten Madrid by the enemy's left.

' The General proposed that I should make the projected detachment to Avila from the British army, which I declined, on the ground that the British troops, to act with advantage, must act in a body, and that I thought that the detachment might with more propriety and advantage be made from the Spanish army, which already appeared to me to be more numerous than was necessary for the operations on the Alberche, or than would be found convenient in reference to its state of discipline.

' I then proposed that this Spanish detachment should march by the Puerto de Banos, that by Arenas and the Puerto del Pico being deemed impracticable for artillery. General Cuesta, however, declined making any large detachment from his army, but offered to send two battalions of infantry and a few cavalry, to join Sir Robert Wilson's Portuguese brigade, and march upon Arenas, and thence upon Escalona on the Alberche, in communication with the left of the British army. He adopted, however, the remainder of the plan proposed, which we shall begin to carry into execution on the 18th instant.

' General Cuesta having declined to send any large detachment to the quarter proposed by me, I of course have no opportunity of requesting that the Duque de Albuquerque should have the command, to which I certainly should have been disposed, as well on account of your recommendation as from his own character.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Major General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to the Right. Hon. J. H. Frere.

' Plasencia, 13th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR SIR,
' I have received your letters of the 8th ; and you will see in the accompanying letters an account of my endeavors to prevail upon General Cuesta to make a detachment upon Avila, and eventually upon Segovia.

' I agree with you in thinking that such a detachment would be a great advantage in a military point of view, and it might be attended by the political advantages to which you refer.

' In order to enable you to endeavor to attain the political advantages, I write the accompanying letter; but I must at the same time inform you that I do not consider the movement to be necessary as a military measure ; nay, that to order it at present, when we have settled our operations, might be very inconvenient, and would certainly create delay ; and I conceive it would excite a jealousy of me in the mind of Cuesta which does not appear now to exist. The General received me well, and was very attentive to me, but I had no conversation with him, as he declined to speak French, and I cannot talk Spanish.

' I settled the plan of operations with General O'Donoju, who appears to me to be a very able officer, and well calculated to fill his situation. It is impossible for me to say what plans General Cuesta entertains.

' The general sentiment of the army, as far as I can learn it from the British Officers, appears to be contempt of the Junta and of the present form of the Government ; great confidence in Cuesta, and a belief that he is too powerful for the Junta, and that he will overturn that Government. This sentiment appears to be so general, that I conceive that the Duque de Albuquerque must entertain it equally with others, but I have not seen the Duque, as he was at Puente de Arzobispo.

' I acknowledge that I conceive that the Junta would gain but little by the change of the person in whose hands the command should be placed; that person in the existing state of the Government must be formidable to them, particularly if he should be successful; and if this be true, I do not know whether there are not some advantages to be derived from the employment of Cuesta.

' By dividing the troops into different armies they may certainly diminish the danger, but this security can only be temporary, for in proportion as the French concentrate their troops, the Spanish armies must do so likewise ; and they must, when together, be under one head, and this head will be an object of fear and danger to the Junta.

' I do not know what your opinion is of O'Donoju : he is certainly an able man, and I think that if it is your opinion that he can be trusted, I could talk confidentially to him; and if I did not guide their measures, and prevent all mischief, either by Cuesta or others, I should at least obtain a knowledge of their real designs, ' I have no reason to complain, on the contrary, I have reason to be satisfied with Sr. — —. He .only appears to me to be too anxious to obtain a knowledge of our plans, but I do not know whether I ought to attribute this appearance of anxiety in him to my prejudices against him, or to his desire to make his own employment of more importance, to his curiosity, or to his wish to make himself useful. A man in his situation must have a foreknowledge of all our intended operations, and if he is not honest, he has it in his power to do us much mischief. — — has certainly the mind and manners of an intrigant, and he comes from a part of Spain of which the people are most likely not to be inimical to the French.

' Besides the anxiety of — —- to obtain a knowledge of our plans from me, I have heard him making inquiries respecting the strength of corps, from others, with the result of which inquiries he certainly had no concern.

' Upon the whole I am not quite sure that it would not have been better to send me eight or ten Spanish Assistant Commissaries to act with mine, and that the Junta should have given general orders throughout the country that my requisitions should be attended to.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to the Right Hon. John Villiers.

' Plasencia, 13th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR VILLIERS,
' I have received your letters of the 6th and 7th. I did not understand, when I desired Mr. Murray to pay you £80,000, that you had already received £35,000, otherwise I should certainly have confined the supply to you to £45,000 ; but as I ordered that you might have £80,000 out of the sum of money arrived from England, which sum I then thought and still think can be spared from the demands of the army, I desire Mr. Murray to give you the sum of £80,000 besides £85,000 which you have received, making a total of £115,000. When I reflect that the largest sum you have ever stated to be necessary for you is £125,000, I hope that I may say that the wants of the Portuguese army, in money, have been well supplied by us; and I wish I could say, with equal truth, that our wants in mules, carriages, provisions, &c., for which we are ready to pay, had been equally well supplied by them ; or that they had been supplied at all. Seven or eight regiments of infantry are at this moment waiting at Lisbon for want of twelve mules for each regiment, to be purchased by the officers, to carry camp kettles, medicine chests, &c., &c. !

' In respect to further supplies of money for the Portuguese troops, I must regulate them from time to time, by the knowledge I shall have of the state of the treasury at Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar; and of the wants of the British army; that being, in every possible case, the object to be attended to in the first instance. As far as I can arrange it you shall feel no inconvenience from delay in the issue of money to your orders, which money can be given from the British military chest. But I must consider the British army in the first instance; and you must attribute any inconvenience which may result from the delay not to me, but to those who have evidently undertaken to accomplish objects which they are not able to reach from the want of pecuniary means. I send you a dispatch from Mr. Frere, which I beg you to put up in a cover and forward to Mr. Canning.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

' I shall answer your letter of the 7th to-morrow morning.' .

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to the Right Hon. the Judge Advocate General.

' Plasencia, 14th July, 1809.

' SIR,
' I have the honor to enclose the proceedings of a General Court Martial on the trial of 0— J—, of the — regiment, for mutiny and for attempting to shoot Ensign —, of the — regiment, of which crime the Court at first acquitted him, but upon a revisal of its sentence, under my direction, the Court found him guilty, and sentenced him to be shot.

' The Court at the same time represented to me that 0— J— was insane, and they entered into an inquiry upon this subject, of which I likewise enclose the proceedings, as well as the report of Deputy Inspector of Hospitals, Ferguson, on 0— J—'s health, and a memorial from 0— J— to myself. ' I am desirous of receiving his Majesty's commands respecting the execution of the sentence of the General Court Martial on 0— J—.

' I have the honor to be, &c. ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Brigadier General Cox.

' Plasencia, 14th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR SIR,
' I have received your letter of the 9th. I request you to have each man that you may find belonging to the British army clothed and fed. Send me from time to time a list of their names, and of the regiments to which they belong, and I shall send you directions how they are to be disposed of; and an account of the disbursements made for each man, and I shall have the money reimbursed to you. I am obliged to you for the orders you have given to the assistant surgeon and party of the 87th regiment. I do not think that Soult is able to attack Ciudad Rodrigo, although it is not impossible that he may annoy the frontier. He has no artillery, and is not well provided with arms.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Marshal Beresford.

'Plasencia, 14th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR BERESFORD,
' I have received your letters of the 8th and 9th. I had already received from the Duque del Parque the extract from Soult's letter, of which I have since received copies from Seville. The latter are much more full and important than the former, particularly as they relate to Portugal ; and I send you the extracts of what is written on this subject.

' I do not believe that Ney has quitted Galicia ; at least we have not heard that he has; and you will see that Soult ordered him to remain there. ' Soult can certainly do nothing against Portugal, for he is in a most miserable state, without arms, artillery, ammunition, shoes, &c. But if Ney withdraws from Galicia, Romana must in some manner be brought into play. Your plan for him appears to be a good one, and will, I hope, keep all in check till we shall have decided our affairs with Victor.

' I have given orders that you may have 1000 camp kettles, including the 70 without crates. Villiers must give his receipt for them.

' I shall write for your great coats and clothing. I see no objection to your giving your English officers the bat and forage of their English rank, and two months' advance of their regimental English pay.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to Vice Admiral the Hon. G. Berkeley.

' Plasencia, 14th July, 1809.

' SIR,
'I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 5th, relative to the disembarkation of the ordnance and stores; and having conversed on the subject with the officer commanding the artillery, it appears to me that it would be expedient to retain in the Tagus the ships (11) named in the margin, with the ordnance and stores on board; and that the stores in the other ships, of which you enclose me a list, should be disembarked, with the exception of those on board the Richmond, No. 321, which stores are to be left in that ship ; and that she, with her stores on board, and those ships from which the stores shall be disembarked, should be sent home as soon as may be possible.

' I have the honor to be, &c. ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.

Lieut. General the Hon. Sir A. Wellesley, K.B., to the Right Hon. John Villiers.

' Plasencia, 14th July, 1809.

' MY DEAR VILLIERS,
' I have perused Dom M. de Forjaz's paper respecting carts, &c., upon which I will send him some observations as soon as I shall have conversed upon the subject of it with the Quarter Master General and the Commissary General. In the meantime I beg you will inform Dom M. de Forjaz that the greater-part of what he has recommended has already been carried into execution.

' Believe me, &c.; ' ARTHUR WELLESLEY.