APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 485 



corps to Talavera, as soon as gen. 

 Cuesta's march should be known, 

 and after leaving 12,000 men to 

 watch Vanegas, and allowing from 

 10 to 11,000 killed and wounded 

 in the late action, his corps would 

 have amounted to 25,000. We 

 could extricate ourselves from this 

 difficult situation only by great ce- 

 lerity of movement, to which the 

 troops were unequal, as they had 

 not had their allowance of provi- 

 sions for several days, and by suc- 

 cess in two battles. If unsuccessful 

 in either, we should have been 

 without a retreat ; and if Soult and 

 Ney avoiding an action, had retired 

 J)efore us, and had waited the ar- 

 rival of Victor, we should have 

 been exposed to a general action 

 with 50,000 men, equally without 

 a retreat. 



We had reason to expect, that 

 as the marquis de la Reyna could 

 not remove the boats from the 

 river Almarez, Soult would have 

 destroyed them. 



Oar only retreat was, therefore, 

 by the bridge of Arzo Bispo ; and 

 if we had moved on, the enemy, by 

 breaking that bridge while the army 

 should be engaged with Soult and 

 Ney, would have deprived us of 

 that only resource. 



We could not take a position at 

 Oropesa, as we thereby left open the 

 road to the bridge of Arzo Bispo 

 /rom Talavera by Calera; and, after 

 considering the whole subject ma- 

 turely, I was of opinion that it was 

 adviseable to retire to the bridge of 

 Arzo Bispo, and to take up a defen- 

 sive position upon the Tagus. 



1 was induced to adopt this last 

 opinion, because the French have 

 now at least 50,000 men dispose- 

 able to oppose to the combined ar- 

 mies, and a corps of 12,000 to watch 



Vanegas; and I was likewise of 

 opinion, that the sooner tiie defen- 

 sive line should be taken up, the 

 more likely were the troops to be 

 able to defend it. 



Accordingly I marched on the 

 4lh, and crossed the Tagus by the 

 bridge of Arzo Bispo, and have con- 

 tinued my route to this place, in 

 which I am well situated to defend 

 the passage of Almaraz and the 

 lower parts of the Tagus. General 

 Cuesta crossed the river on the 

 night of the 5th, and he is still at 

 the bridge of Arzo Bispo. 



About 2,000 of the wounded have 

 been brought away from Talavera, 

 the remaining 1 ,500 are there ; and 

 I doubt whether, underany circum- 

 stances, it would have been possible 

 or consistent with humanity, to at- 

 tempt to remove any more of them. 



From the treatment which some 

 of the soldiers woundedon the 27th, 

 and who fell into the hands of the 

 enemy, experienced from them, and 

 from the manner in which I have al- 

 ways treated the wounded who have 

 fallen into my hands, I expect that 

 thesemen will be well treated; and I 

 have only to lament, that a new con- 

 currence of events, over which from 

 circumstances I had and could have 

 no control, should have placed the 

 army in a situation to be obliged to 

 leave any of them behind. 



1 have the honour to be, &c. 

 (Signed) 



Arthur Wellesley. 



Admiralty-office, Aug. 19. 

 Dispatches, of which the follow- 

 ing are copies, have been received 

 at this office from Sir Kichard John 

 Strachan, bart. K. B. rear-admiral 

 of the White, &c. addressed to the 

 hon. W. W. Pole. 



Kangaroo, 



