rities, it is not to be
wondered if such should have felt, at first, a little sulky to find,
in the general reproof, that no loop-hole whatever had been left for
them to creep through; for, I believe I am justified in saying that
neither our own, nor the two gallant corps associated with us, had a
single man absent that we could not satisfactorily account for. But it
touched us still more tenderly in not excepting us from his general
charge of inexpertness in camp arrangements; for, it was _our belief_,
and in which we were in some measure borne out by circumstances, that,
had he placed us, at the same moment, in the same field, with an equal
number of the best troops in France, that he would not only have seen
our fires as quickly lit, but every Frenchman roasting on them to the
bargain, if they waited long enough to be _dressed_; for there,
perhaps, never was, nor ever again will be, such a war-brigade as that
which was composed of the forty-third, fifty-second, and the rifles.

That not only censure, but condign punishment was merited, in many
instances, is certain; and, had his lordship dismissed some officers
from the service, and caused some of the disorderly soldiers to be
shot, it would not only have been an act of justice, but, probably, a
necessary example. Had he hanged every commissary, too, who failed to
issue the regular rations to the troops dependent on him, unless they
proved that they were starved themselves, it would only have been a
just sacrifice to the offended stomachs of many thousands of gallant
fellows.

In our brigade, I can safely say, that the order in question excited
"more of sorrow than of anger;" we thought that, had it been
_particular_, it would have been just; but, as it was _general_, that
it was inconsiderate; and we, therefore, regretted that he who had
been, and still was, the god of our idolatry, should thereby have laid
himself open to the attacks of the ill-natured.

Alameida is a Spanish village, situated within a stone's throw of the
boundary-line of the sister-kingdom; and, as the head-quarters of the
army, as well as the nearest towns, from whence we drew our supplies,
lay in Portugal, our connexions, while we remained there, were chiefly
with the latter kingdom; and, having passed the three last winters on
their frontier, we, in the month of May, 1813, prepared to bid it a
final adieu, with very little regret. The people were kind and
hospitable, and not destitute of in