The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-10-12 00:00:00

THE STATE-A 104

SIR ROBERT WILSON. • - •

Sir Robert Wilson has addressed a Letter to Iris
Constiteests, in refutation of a direct charge of false-
hood brought forward against him in the last number
of the Quarterly ReView. The passage of the Re.
view in which this charge is contained, is as follows:
" Sir Robert Wilson is, we believe, himself well
acquainted with en Officer of high rank, and of con-
siderable reputation as 6 en able partizan,' who, ne-
vertheless thought 61 to enliven a period of inaction
during the Spanish war, by dispatching to heed-quer.
ters, a false report of a victory gained by the corps
under his command ; a circumstance which, to say no
more of it, has had a considerable effect in making es
incredulous as to military details derived from ears
°Oriel sources."
Sir Robert Wilson, in the outset of bis letter, ob

serves—
" It is the duty of a public servant to consider
that his character is connected with national honour ;
bet yon, Gentlemen, who baseappointed me as one of
your Representatives, who, by the gift of your free
suffrages, have conferred on me the highest distinc.
tion which the member of a free state can receive,
have a right to demand that I should preserve an UP'
blemished reputation. My disgrace would be your
special reproach.
66 An insidious ehsrge has been brought forward,
which, if it were substantiated, would justly deprive
me of the good opinion and confidence of my coon-
trinsen ; a charge which accuses me of a professionil
offence, of which, if I am guilty, instead of having
Collided pretentlons to reward, I should have expe-
rienced an almost reprehensible degree of indulgence
and lenity.*
66 I addressed a letter, dated September 25th, to
the Editor of the Quarterly Review, iu which I ac-
quainted him 6 that my attention had been directed
to a paragraph in the Review, of my work on Russia,
which from the introduction of the words active
partzbits,' seemed to indicate me as the person guilty
of transmitting that false report to which the writer
alluded;—that I was bound to repel such a serious
charge; but as it might be mode in error, and not
In the spirit of defamation, I was anxious to correct
such error in his mind, by affording him the
means of information, and just grounds for redress.
ing the wrong which he had done me. I therefore
.enclosed a printe narrative of the operations of the
corps under my command, extracted from the Moni-
tear, and the British Gazettes.:
64 I concluded by observing, that reputation
was the only fruit I derived from 25 years' service.'
That 1 therefore felt persuaded the Editor would not
condemn the jealousy I ezpreased for its preservation,
but assist the demand of justice."
Sir R. Wilson was appointed, In 1808, to raise a
Portuguese Legion at Oporto; that in six weeks after
its formation heentered the Spanish territory to make
a diversion in favour of Sir John Moore ; that after
the retreat of Sir John Moore, when no forward
movement could be of any utility, and a French di-
vision advanced rapidly on Salamanca, he endeavour.
ed to protect the country between th;Tormes and the
Agueda, though urged from all quarters to relinquish
an ondertakiug which appeared to persons in Who.
rity at a greater distance to be impracticable and de.
streak.. " Ry successful manoeuvre and gore.
mating activity (he observes) the feeble corps nodal.,
my command maintained an extensive and imp-ort.'
ant territory between the 'Formes and the Agueda ;
re-animated the drooping spirits of the inhabitants
in the Portuguese cud Spanish Provinces, which
were menaced by invasion ; kept open the gates of
tetreat fur the Marquis of Romani escaping from
Gallicia ; influenced (as acknowledged by Gene-
tat Cuesta, by the Spanish Government, and by
the British Anibassader, the preservation of Seville)
' at the most critical juncture.' prevented the union
of General Lepesse from Castille with Marshal Soult
at Oporto, paralysed that Marshal's operations, and
suspended the prepared evacuation of Lisbon until
Sir A. Wellesley arrived with flesh troops from Eng-
land. It was then that the di.tcipline and organiza-
tion which had been commenced in my legion, were
successfully introduced into 1110 whole Portuguese
army by Nlsrshal lleresford." When Sir A. Welles-
ley ro-lo.vanced into Spain, in the summer of 1809,
he was appointed to cover that operation, and being
reinforced by I n o Spanish battalions, gni! a Portuguese
battalion of Chasseors, he was directed on the 18th of
July to move by the Nera de Placentia on Kicalona,
and alarm the enemy its his positions. When on the
point of entering Madrid, the corps was r.called to
the Allied Army as a general action was expected.—
At a Council held in 'Cabrera, from the Lon wletlie
he had acquired of the enemy's position, and the in-
tervening country between him and Madrid, he un.
dertook to make such a movement with his
corps opon the right flank of the enemy's army,
which still continued under NlarshalVictor on the
Alberche. and within musket shot of the Al-
lies, as should oblige or influence him to fall back,
and thus relieve Sir A. Wellesley from the apprehen-
sion of being attacked in rear, when retrograding to
oppose Marshal Soult, who was advancing from 1311a-
toutica by the Puerto di Banos, with three Corps
d'Armee(Soult, Monier, Ney), through Placentia,
or of exposing General Cur..ta, who was charged
with the defence of the position of Talavera, to an
attack in his absence, which the Spanish army could
not hare resisted. The effects of this operation are
defogs(' in the-Report of Marshal Jourdan to King
Joseph, contained in the Moniteur of Sept. 27,1809,
from which it appears that the movements of Sir R.
Wilson's corps threw back Victor's army above thirty
miles, prevented all knowledge of Soolt's advance
on Placentia until the sth August, and re-union of
the French armies during the 7th,during which interval
Sir Arthur Wellesley had been able to evade the
perils which menaced him from superior force, act-
ing in (root and rear of his columns of march, and
to retire across the Tagus at the bridge of Arzobispo.
After this daring operation, he found himself on his
retorts to Talavera, in consequence of information,
that the Anglo-Spanish Army was about to ahaodon
the right bank of the Tagus, without any apparent
SWIM of retreat, the enemy havin occupied all the
Wads and passes leading to Placeg ntia or Allmarez.

• " If this attack bad not been anon)mous, I should have
felt myelf under the necessity of demanding a preemie's:Ll in-
veotigasion and from my ea perience of the Justice of his Rosa'
Ilighisess the Coasning.der in Chief. 1 should hove relied with
confidence on the readioess with which be *mild have afaded
me the auras of vindication."

Thus. cirsaarststseedL,lte determiaed to attempt. the
passage-of the Sierra di Orejos, a Moonlit perpe.
featly covered with snow, and which was thoteght by
many to be impracticable for troops ; but as he learnt
that it was occasionally traversed by shepherds, the
attempt became justifiable.
The account of the passage of the Banos is so ho-
nourable to the character of the Spanish peasantry,
who indeed in every respect seem to form the most
complete contrast to the Noblesse of the country,
generally a most heartless sad degraded set of be-
ings, that we shall give it io Sir R. Wilson's own
words :
" The enemy occupied s village, from which it
was necessary to dislodge them, that the proposed
movement might be effected. At night-fall the attack
was made, and plowed successful. The generous
Spaniards, fully aware of our distress, volunteered
their services as guides; and such was their fidelity,
that although my servant and others, with several led
horses of vales and money for the payment of the
troops were cut off by an intervening detachment of
the enemy; they sought thim out in the glen where
they had retired, and conducted them to me several
days afterwards in safety over the mountains. The
passage of the Serra was difficult, and several of my
men perished from fatigue ; bet we at leogtfi reached
Bnhorjo, a village which had never been visited by
troops, and which seemed insulated like the romantic
Lie Batuecas. Here the inhabitants supplied all our
wants, and I should have been inclined to have rest-
ed the corps, but its pecarious situation allowed/ no
indulgence, and by unremitting forced marcgol ne
reached Banos on the 11th."
On the l'lth Sir R. Wilson put the corps! again in
motion, and the subsequent occurrences are narrated
in the following dispatch to Sir A. Wellesley, to which
we request the particular attention of our readers, a 4
this is the dispatch in which the Reviewer states the
false report of a victory to be contained :
" Miranda de Cdstanar, Aug. 13, 15e9.
" Star have the honour to acquaint you, that
was on march yesterday morning on the road of Gre-
nadelis from Aides Nueva, to restore my communi.
cation with the Allied Army, when a peasant assured
us that a considerable quantity of dust, which we per-
ceived in the road of Placentia, proceeded from the
march of a body of the enemy.
" I immediately returned and took post in front of
Limnos, with my picqeets in advance of Alden, Nam,
selecting such points for defence as the ezigeucy of
the time permitted.
" The enemy's cavalry advanced on the high road,
and drove back my small cavalry posts ; but a pie-
quet of Spanish infantry, which I had concealed,
poured in on the cavalry a steady and well-directed
tire, that killed and wounded many of them.
" The two hundred Spanish infantry in advance of
Aldea Nueva continued, under the direction of Col.
Grant and their Officers, to maintain their ground
most gallantly, until the enemy's cavalry and cinn-
amon, a cheval, in considerable bodies, appeared on
both flank', w ;len they were obliged to retreat.
" The enemy's chasseurs a cheval and cavalry ad-
vanced in great numbers in every direction, and
pushed to cut off the legion posted between Aides
Nueva and Banos ; but, by the steady conduct of. the
o:ficers and men, the enemy could only advance
gradually, and with a very severe loss from the com-
manding tire thrown On them.
" The -Merida battalion ((cclusive of two com-
panies), however, having given way on the right, a
road was laid open, which cut behind our position,
and I was obliged to order a retreat on the heights
above Banns, when I was again necessitated to detsthi
a corps in order to secure the road of Monte Major,
by which I saw the enemy directing a column, and
which road turned altogether the Puerto de Banos, a
'Ague in our rear.
" At this time Don Carlos Marquis d'Espagne
came up with his battalion of light infantry, and, in
the most gallant manner, took post along the heights
commanding the road of Banos, which enabled ma to
send some of the Merida battalion on the mountain
on oar left commanding the main road, and which
the enemy had tried to ascend.
" The battalion of light infantry with the detach.
merit of the Legion on its right continued, notwith-
standing the enemy's fire of artillery and musketry,
to maintain their ground; but, at wiz o'clock in the
evening, three columns of the enemy mounted the
height on our left, gained it, and poured such a fire
on the troops below, that longer defence was im-
practicable, and the whole were obliged to retire on
the mountains on our right, leaving open the main
road, nlong which a considerable column of cavalry
immediately pressed.
" The battalion of Seville had been left at Briar
with orders to follow me nest day; at was
obliged to return, and the action commenced, I or-
dem(' it to Puerto Banos, to watch the Monte Ma-
jor Fong!, and the heights in the rear of our left.
46 Wirers the enemy's cavarly came near, an Of-
ficer and some dragoons called out to the Command-
ing Officer to surrender, bat a volley killed him and
his party, and then the battalion proceeded to mount
the heights, in which movement it was attacked and
surrounded by a column of cavalry and's column-of
infantry, but cat its way and cleared itself, killing a
great many of the enemy, especially of his cavalry.'
66 The enemy is now passing to Salsmeaca with
great espedition. I foment that I could no longer
arrest his pi .gross; hat, when the enormous supe•
riority of the enemy's force is considered I', that we
had no artillery, and that the Puerto de Banos, on
the Extremadura side, is not a pass of each Strength
as on the side of Castille, especially without guns,
hope that a resistance for S.4o.hours, which must
have cost the enemy a great many men, will not be
deemed inadequate to our means.
" I have to acknowledge the services rendered me
on this occasion by Colonel Grant, •Major Reiman,
Don Fermeu Marquis, Adjutant-iiiWjor of (he Dra-
goons of Pavia, Captain Charles' and hir. Bolman ;
and to espress the greatest approbation of two can.
patties of the Merida battalions advanced in front,
and of the commanding officer and soldiery of the
battalions of Seville, and the Portuguese brigades.—
I have already noticed the distinguished condoct of
Don Carlos, and his battalion merits the highest en.
comiums.
66 I have not yet been able to collect the returns
of our loss. From the nature of mountain warfare

. _
• Ney's complete corps contitoed Dot less limo 14,0,0 taro,
with 60 pieces of artillery, ac.