HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



185 



and well disciplined bravery of both 

 British officers and soldiers. 



The love of glory, that noble and 

 animating passion, sometimes de- 

 generates into too anxious a con- 

 cern, and a kind of importunate 

 claim of praise. Neither the ar- 

 dour nor skill of the British gene- 

 ral, nor the skill and courage of 

 the officers and men under his 

 command, were such as to require 

 any thing in the semblance of ex- 

 aggeration to call forth our re- 

 spect and admiration. Sir Arthur 

 Wellesley observes, that " the at- 

 tacks of the enemy were princi- 

 pally, if not entirely, directed 

 against the British troops, who had 

 to fight against more than double 

 their number." Hence it seems 

 to be insinuated, that the Spa- 

 niards in the battle of Talavera 

 were of little or no service. But 

 in a general engagement, a corps 

 or division of troops may be of 

 most essential service, without 

 being actually engaged, and merely 

 maintaining their position. The 

 Spaniards, we are told, formed the 

 right wing of the allied army ; and 

 that an attempt was made to over- 

 throw the Spanish infantry, which 

 entirely failed. And in another 

 part of his dispatch, not yet no- 

 ticed, Sir Arthur says, " the Spa- 

 nish commander-in-chief, his offi- 

 cers and troops manifested every 

 disposition to render us assistance, 

 and those of them who were en- 

 gaged, did their duty. But the 

 ground they occupied was so im- 

 portant, and its front at the same 

 time so difficult, that I did not 

 think it proper to urge them to 

 make any movement on the left of 



the 



• See sir Arthur Wellcsley's dispatches to lord Castlereagh, July 29, App. 

 Chron. p. 46!>. 



into a temporary confusion, having 

 exposed their left flank to the fire 

 of a battery. A part of general 

 Cotton's brigade of cavalry, on 

 observing this, pushed forward and 

 covered their retreat towards their 

 original position. The enemy 

 being thus foiled in all his attempts 

 against the allied army, and having 

 lost twenty pieces of cannon and 

 a few prisoners, retreated in com- 

 plete order across the Alberche.* 

 Their loss in killed and wounded 

 was never calculated with any de- 

 gree of exactness. Sir A. Wel- 

 lesley was inclined to estimate it 

 at 10,000. The French said that 

 our loss was greater than theirs, 

 owing to the greater number of 

 cannon they had brought to play 

 against us. The loss of the Bri- 

 tish, in killed, wounded, and miss- 

 ing, amounted to nearly 6,000. 

 Among the killed were major-gen. 

 Mackenzie, brigadier-gen. Lang- 

 worth, and brigadier-gen. Becket. 

 As the Spanish troops were only 

 partially engaged, their loss was 

 comparatively small, not exceed- 

 ing 1,000 in killed, wounded, and 

 missing. 



We do not meet with many harder 

 fought battles, than that of Tala- 

 vera, in history. The ground on 

 which the British were posted was 

 well chosen, and the troops were 

 distributed with great judgment. 

 This praise is due exclusively to 

 the general in chief. That the 

 French were finally repulsed and 

 defeated in their various and reite- 

 rated attempts, is to be ascribed 

 to the military skill, presence of 

 mind, and promptitude of the ge- 

 nerals of division, and the cool 



