280] 



A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



selves by charging back again through the enemy. Lord Paget 

 now galloped up with some of the rear-guard, and found bri- 

 gadier-general Stuart very sharply engaged, and the squadrons 

 on both sides sometimes intermixed. The 10th hussars hav- 

 ing arrived, his Lordship wheeled it into line in the rear of the 

 picquets. The latter then charged the enemy, supported by the 

 10th hussars ; but before they could close, the French wheeled 

 round, fled to the ford, and plunged into the river. They were 

 closely pursued, and left on the field 55 killed and wounded and 70 

 prisoners, including General Lefebvre, the commander of the Impe- 

 rial Guards. They formed upon the opposite bank, but a few shots 

 from the horse artillery, who now came up, soon dispersed them, 

 and they fled with the greatest precipitation. It was learned from 

 the prisoners that Buonaparte was only twenty miles behind. Hav- 

 ing so brilliantly concluded this affair, Lord Paget, with the cavalry, 

 followed the reserve to La Banissa. It is not to our purpose to fol- 

 low the retreat in detail. In the course of it, Sir John repeatedly 

 offered the enemy battle, without effect ; and the several affairs in 

 which they were engaged arose more from necessity than choice on 

 their part, and in these the British were always victorious. The 

 steady gallantry of the infantry, and the impetuosity of the cavalry, 

 undertheir intrepid commander, were not to be resisted. The retreat 

 was continued till the 10th of January ; and on the following morn- 

 ing the army marched from Betanzos for Corunna, their last day's 

 march. Here the gallant Moore received his death-wound, after a 

 life of honourable vicissitude, and resigned his last breath with the 

 consoling reflection that he had done his duty. Thus, with a " most 

 admirable degree of military skill and patience on the part of the 

 lamented Sir John Moore, and with a spirit, a heroism, and an alert- 

 ness on the part of Lord Paget, the British army was at length 

 brought to Corunna, having thus made a retreat through nearly 

 three hundred miles of the most difficult country in Europe, and 

 in a succession of mountains, ditches, and rivers, in daily and al- 

 most hourly contact with the enemy, and this enemy more thaa- 

 double its number ! In all this long interval of war, and against 

 this vast superiority of force, the English had invariably the ad- 

 vantage in every encounter ; the rear guard and covering cavalry 

 were never broken, and the main army, secure behind this invincible 

 screen, proceeded almost unassailed towards their ultimate desti- 

 nation. As long as military skill is understood and valued, so long 



