108 ' THE BRITISH LEGION IN SPAIN. 



Having made these few observations, we now recur to the subjec 

 jnore immediately before us. We have been so fortunate as to re- 

 ceive several letters from an officer of the legion in Spain a young 

 gentleman who sailed in September last, who is still out, and from 

 whom we hope to receive more valuable communications. We re- 

 gret, however, that in one part of the correspondence there is an 

 hiatus of several months, our correspondent having during that pe- 

 riod been suffering with the fever at Vittoria, and three letters which 

 he subsequently wrote never having reached his friends. To this 

 we only add that the most implicit faith may be placed in every 

 statement of the writer. He was an eye-witness of what he described ; 

 he is influenced by no partiality for the cause in which he is serving ; 

 and, though his style may savour more of the camp than of the study, 

 there is a bluntness about it that speaks of the honesty and truth of 

 the writer's views. We therefore commence with a letter dated 

 Santander, September, 1835. 



LETTER I. 



" I have at last arrived here, after considerable delay and a great 

 deal of sea-sickness. When I wrote to you last I was then about to 

 leave Portsmouth ; and, as soon as I came on board the London Mer- 

 chant, General Reid directed me to take the command of a party in 

 the forepart of the vessel, and to keep off the boats that surrounded 

 us. Sentries are placed round the ship, and the officers of the Lan- 

 cers take it in turns to be oh duty all night, and to go the rounds every 

 hour. We have Colonel Kinlock, a lieutenant, two cornets, and three 

 cadets on board ; but only the cornets and cadets go on duty at night. 



" I was quite mistaken with respect to the London Merchant 

 steamer. We have excellent accommodations, and fare most sump- 

 tuously, and the best of it is that we have nothing to pay, wine and 

 every thing being provided for us. We have about thirty officers on 

 board, chiefly of the medical staff. We all dine together in a hand- 

 some cabin; and I had the pleasure to be invited to dine several times 

 with General Robert Evans and General Reid. 



" On Friday morning, about five o'clock, we first saw Spain. I hap- 

 pened to be on duty at the time, and it certainly appears to be a most 

 beautiful country. At eight o'clock we arrived in Portugallette Bay; 

 but we did not land, as we saw thousands of bayonets in motion on 

 the hills, which we suspected might belong to the Carlists, as the prin- 

 cipal part of their army is in the neighbourhood. Here we remained 

 until ten o'clock the next morning, when we were ordered to enter 

 the river towards Bilboa, to stay near the town of Portugallette, and 

 land the generals and the medical staff. We left Portugallette at 

 twelve o'clock to-day ('2 Oth of September), and arrived about four 

 o'clock. The day we landed it was as hot as the hottest day in Eng- 

 land, but it is now cooler : arid I feel very unwell from eating such a 

 variety of things at breakfast on shore. Six of us breakfasted together. 

 We had three different kinds of fish, fowls, wine, fruit, chocolate, 

 oysters, and several other things. This I think does not speak of the 

 scarcity of which we hear in England. An unfortunate accident oc- 

 curred the day before yesterday. A private of the rifles passing 



