DECEMBER 221 



FRENEDA, 6th November 1811. 



' . . . There is no subject of which I understand so little 

 [as military uniforms], and, abstractedly speaking, I think it 

 indifferent how a soldier is clothed, provided it is in an uniform 

 manner, and that he is forced to keep himself clean and 

 smart, as a soldier ought to be. But there is one thing I 

 deprecate, and that is any imitation of the French in any 

 manner. It is impossible to form an idea of the inconvenience 

 and injury which result from having anything like them, 

 either on horseback or foot. Lutyens and his picquet were 

 taken in June because the 3rd Hussars had the same caps 

 as the French Chasseurs-a-cheval and some of their Hussars, 

 and I was near being taken on September 25 from the same 

 cause. At a distance or in action colours are nothing ; the 

 profile and shape of a man's cap, and his general appearance, 

 are what guide us ; and why should we make our people look 

 like the French ? . . . I only beg that we may be as different 

 as possible from the French in everything. The narrow 

 tops of our infantry, as opposed to their broad-top caps, are a 

 great advantage to those who are to look at long lines of 

 posts opposed to each other.' 



Two years later, at the battle of Vittoria, the justice 

 of this remonstrance received apt illustration. Welling- 

 ton on that day kept the Light Division and 4th Division 

 under his immediate command. The 3rd and 7th 

 Divisions, under Picton and Lord Dalhousie, were to 

 join him in order to complete the centre of the line, 

 but they had difficult ground to traverse, and were 

 late. The Zadora flowed swift and deep in front of 

 the French position. A countryman having informed 

 Wellington that the bridge of Tres Puentes was 

 unguarded, Kempt's riflemen were sent forward to seize 

 it, which they did, and went so far up the heights on 

 the farther side that they were able to establish them- 



