527 
1D) IL AN 1 SE 
LIEUTENANT W. SWABEY, R.H.A., IN THE 
PENINSULA. 
EDITED BY 
COLONEL F. A. WHINYATES, late R.H.A. 
(Continued from p. 496, No. 10, Vol. XXIT.). \ 
PART III. a 
Cuaprer II. 
Complaints from Head-Quarters about foraging. Lieut.-Colonel Downs 
man imspects “ H” troop. Coursing. Major Gardiner exchanges 
with Captain Macdonald. Idle days. 
25th January.—Dyneley received a letter from the Deputy-Adjutant- 
General of the division, with an enclosure from Lord Wellington’s 
secretary, containing complaints on the subject of forage from Fama- 
licoa, to which place Sergeant Wightman had been sent with orders to 
procure hay and straw. The letter called on Dyneley to state his 
answer to the complaints of the magistrate which set forth, that a 
party of ours under a sergeant had entered the houses of the above 
town, and without applying to the constituted authorities, had taken 
away the forage, forcing their way through the doors and windows, 
and, further, without authority, had taken from the inhabitants and 
used as means of transport their bullocks, some of which had died. 
“6th January.—Was employed in framing an answer to Lord 
Aylmer’s letter, in which I did not fail to deny the forcible entry into 
houses, and stated as a reason for the sergeant’s not having made 
regular application according to orders, that we uniformly found that, 
instead of receiving the necessary assistance from the constituted 
authorities, we considered any reference to them as only the signal 
for the removal of the supplies we stood in need of and that in regard 
to bullocks, unless seized before application was made, they never 
could be procured. I further justified the employment of bullocks 
for transport by making it evident that in our crippled state we could 
not send a sufficient number of horses as was usual for want of men. 
It was then necessary to set forth the steady character of the sergeant, 
and to throw some of the blame on ourselves for the sake of saving 
the man, which we wished very much to do, although he had certainly 
without any orders committed himself by not applying pro forma 
through the regular channels. If he had done this, and they had 
failed in assisting him, he would then haye been at liberty to act for 
11, You, XXII, 72 
