20 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



John Moore in person, who took 

 his measures so well as always to 

 repel liis assailants. 



Sir John Moore offered battle 

 to Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, before 

 Lugo. This the duke did not 

 think fit to accept, conceiving, 

 probably, that he was playing a 

 surer game b}' endeavouring to en- 

 velope and destroy the British on 

 their march. 



While Sir John Moore was 

 resting his troops at Betanzos, he 

 received a letter from Mr. Fr^re, 

 dated at Seville, the 28th of De- 

 cember, informing him of his en- 

 deavours •' to persuade the go- 

 vernment to take some steps for 

 securing the great towns, instead 

 of relying upon the defence of 

 military positions with peasants 

 dressed in uniform." He added, 

 *' that in la Mancha, there seem- 

 ed to be a beginning of something 

 like enterprize ; and that orders 

 had been sent for putting Ciudad 

 Rodrigo, Salamanca, Zamora, To- 

 ro, and Astorga, into a state of 

 temporary defence.'' But what a 

 falling off is here, from a nation 

 glowing with loyalty and enthu- 

 siasm to " a beginning of some- 

 thing like enterprize ;'' and orders 

 to defend a few towns, all of 

 which, soon afterwards,- opened 

 their gates to the first patroles of 

 the enemy. This scheme of for- 

 tifying the great towns had been 

 mentioned in a letter from Mr. 

 Frere, dated the 14th of Decem- 

 ber. He there suggests this, as a 

 means of opposing a thousand bar- 

 riers to a " deluge of panic," of 

 which, he was once afraid, he saw 

 the beginning in Spain. The 

 same gentleman, in answer to a 

 letter of Sir John Moore's, in- 

 sinuating the advantage to the 



British government of possessing* 

 Cadiz, states that, though still 

 sanguine as to the issue of the 

 contest, he had himself thoughts 

 of thus preparing for the worst; 

 though he deemed it dangerous 

 to suggest to the Junta any other 

 idea than that of living or dying 

 on Spanish ground : a plain proof 

 that his official dispatches were not 

 always consonant with his own 

 cool judgment; and that his re- 

 ports, instead of being a faithful 

 statement of facts, were only a 

 statement of his own wishes, or 

 those of the English cabinet. 



On the 11th of January, the 

 British army marched from Be- 

 tanzos to Corunna; having now 

 traversed two hundred and fifty 

 miles of mountainous and diffi- 

 cult country, in the face of an 

 enemy immensely superior in num- 

 bers : very often without food or 

 shelter, drenched with rain, and 

 worn out with cold and fatigue : 

 Yet still unbroken, presenting 

 every where an undaunted front 

 to the enemy, who had not to 

 boast of having won a single tro- 

 piiy. As yet, however, they were 

 not in safety ; very kw transports 

 having arrived from Vigo, owing to 

 contrary winds. The position of 

 Corunna was bad ; and the enemy 

 were assembling on the heights 

 which surround it. There were 

 not wanting generals who advised 

 Sir John Moore to offer terms to 

 the Duke of Dalmatia, for the 

 purpose of being allowed to em- 

 bark in safety. But the British 

 general was determined not to ac- 

 cept of any terms, which (to use his 

 own expression) would be in the 

 least dishonourable to the army or 

 to the country. 



There were three ports at which 



the 



