170 
THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE CONTINENT OP EUROPE. 
tlieir being exposed in front and dank, such was tlie unshaken firmness of these 
troops that nothing could stop them, and the whole body of French cavalry was 
routed.” 
Numerous anecdotes are on record, illustrative of the character of the soldiery 
at Minden. The 20th Regiment had been terribly cut up, having had no fewer 
than six officers, a sergeant and 79 rank and file killed, and 11 officers, 12 
sergeants and 212 rank and file wounded ; yet the corps refused to avail itself of 
the exemption from duty, which Prince Frederick had humanely and spontaneously 
granted. The 20th may look back with pride on the memorable order : — 
Kingley’s Regiment, at its own request, will resume its portion of duty in the 
line. 
NAPIER’S SUMMARY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR, 
Sir Arthur Wellesley twice delivered Portugal. Sir John Moore’s march to 
Sahagun saved Andalusia and Lisbon from invasion at a critical moment. Sir 
Arthur’s march to Talavera delivered Gallicia. Graham saved Cadiz. Smith 
saved Tarifa. Wellington recaptured Ciudad and Badajos, rescued Andalusia 
from Soult and Valentia from Suchet; the Anglo-Sicilian army preserved Alicant 
and finally recovered Taragona and Barcelona under the influence of the northern 
operations, which, at the same time, reduced Pampeluna and St. Sebastian. 
England indeed could not alone have triumphed in the struggle, but for her share 
let this brief summary speak. 
She expended more than one hundred millions sterling on her own operations ; 
she subsidised both Spain and Portugal, and with her supplies of clothing, arms 
and ammunition maintained the armies of each, even to the guerillas. From 30 
up to 70,000 British troops were employed by her; and while her naval squadrons 
harassed the French with descents upon the coast, and supplied the Spaniards 
with arms and stores and money after every defeat, her land forces fought and 
won 19 pitched battles and innumerable combats, made or sustained 10 sieges, 
took four great, fortresses, twice expelled the French from Portugal, preserved 
Alicant, Carthagena, Tarifa, Cadiz, Lisbon; they killed, wounded and took 
200,000 enemies and the bones of 40,000 British soldiers lie scattered on the 
plains and mountains of the Peninsula, For Portugal she re-organized a native 
army and supplied officers who led it to victory; and to the whole Peninsula she 
gave a General whose like has seldom gone forth to conquer. 
BRITISH FORCES (NAPIER, PAGE 7). 
u Yery subject to false impressions are the English; and being proud of their 
credulity, as if it were a virtue, they cling to error with a tenacity proportioned 
to its grossness. An ignorant contempt for the soldiery was prevalent long before 
the ill-success in 1794 and 1799 seemed to justify public prejudice; the cause of 
those failures was not traced ; the excellent system produced by the Duke of 
York was disregarded, and England, at home and abroad, was in 1808 scorned as a 
military power, when she possessed, without a frontier sivallowing armies in its 
fortresses, at least 200,000 soldiers, the best disciplined and best equipped in the 
universe, together with an immense recruiting establishment, and the power of 
drawing, through the militia, without limit on the population. Many were 
necessarily employed in defence of the colonies, yet enough remained to furnish 
