14 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



thier to the Duke of Dalmatia, 

 presented him, for the first time 

 since he had been in Spain, with 

 a correct and unvarnished state- 

 ment of affairs. General Belliard 

 had entered Madrid on the 4th 

 of December. The news of Don 

 Morla and Mr. Frc-re had been 

 delivered to the British general on 

 the 5th. It was now the 14th, 

 and Sir John Moore had received 

 no intelligence of the eventual 

 surrender of Madrid ; which the 

 Junta, at Talavera, on the 8th, 

 had declared to Colonel Graham 

 to be still in arms. Nay, so late as 

 December 13th, the Junta wrote 

 from Merida in Estremadura, that 

 the people still held out at Ma- 

 drid, that the French had been 

 beaten back, and gone to Sara- 

 gossa, and that all things went on 

 very well in Catalonia. That 

 they should have told this story to 

 their own general after they them- 

 selves had been chased by the 

 French army from Talavera, which 

 is 60 miles beyond Madrid, can 

 be credited only by comparing it 

 with the folly of their usual con- 

 duct. 



Sir John Moore's head-quarters 

 were now at Aleejos, where he 

 had received a letter from the 

 Marquis of Romana at Leon, with 

 whom he was in communication, 

 approving the reasons of retreat 

 he had before intended. From 

 Alaejos it had been projected to 

 move on Valladolid. But the situ- 

 ation of Marshal Soult, with two 

 divisions at Saldannah,and Junot at 

 Burgos, exposed Sir D. Baird, who 

 was attacked in forming his junc- 

 tion. Sir John Moore accordingly, 

 in order to unite an soon as pos- 

 sible with Sir David Baird, re- 

 turned to Toro; from whence it 



might still be possible, should 

 Marshal Soult afford the oppor- 

 tunity, to strike ablow under cover 

 of the relief expressed in the French 

 dispatches, that the force and 

 movements of tlie French upon 

 Talavera and Badajoz, must have 

 forced back the English army upon 

 Lisbon. 



At Toro, Sir J. Moore received 

 accounts of the disorganized and 

 feeble state of the Marquis of Ro- 

 mana's army, with which he was 

 meditating a junction for adding 

 vigour to his intended attack on 

 Marshal Soult. From Toro too, 

 Sir John Moore dispatched an ac- 

 count to Mr, Frcre, of the intelli- 

 gence he had received by the in- 

 tercepted dispatches : and here he 

 was again assailed by the harassing 

 entreaties of the Junta, and the in- 

 sulting representations of the Mi- 

 nister Plenipotentiary. The gene- 

 ral, firm in his designs, and above 

 the petty resentments of a weak 

 mind, continued his march on Vil- 

 lapardo and Valderos. On the 20th 

 of December he reached Majorca, 

 and there, by completing his junc- 

 tion with Sir David Baird, united 

 the whole British army, which now 

 amounted to 23,000 infantry and 

 2,000 some hundred cavalry. 



On the 21st of December Sir 

 John advanced to Sahagun, from 

 which place Lord Paget, at the 

 head of 400 horse, had the morn- 

 ing before dislodged and defeated 

 700 French cavalry, taking 157 

 prisoners with two lieutenant- 

 colonels. It was here that Sir 

 John Moore concerted with Ge- 

 neral Romana the plan of attack 

 on Marshal Soult, whose forces, 

 to the number of 18,000, were 

 concentrated behind the River 

 Carrion ; 7,000 were posted at Sal- 



dannah, 



