PREFACE THE result of the late Campaign in Portugal and Spain, seems fully to verify the opinion of an eminent modern writer, who, after observing, that a nation, consisting of degenerate and cowardly men, be it ever so numerous, is weak ; while one, consisting of vigorous public-spirited men, even where numbers are wanting, is strong; concludes, that the sinews of war, in hands that cannot use them skilfully, are of no avail. No man of observation can have travelled, of late years, over the Continent of Europe, without being well convinced of the multiplicity and value of the resources possessed by the greater part of Portugal, but more particularly by the provinces which compose the north of Spain; and every Officer who accompanied Sir John Moore's army, must be but too well acquainted with the feeble and inadequate manner in which such resources have been called forth and employed by the Regency of the one country, and the Provincial Juntas of the other. Of the probable consequences of this criminally weak conduct, as well as of the general apathy of the people, many facts, well calculated to attract attention, might have been advanced; but the writer of these sheets could not bring himself to enter largely on topics, the discussion of which might do injury to a most noble cause. The points which have principally engaged his attention are, the positions and operations of the armies in Portugal and Spain; occasional descriptions of the face of both Countries: which descriptions, by the way, are accompanied with several drawings, traits of the characters of their inhabitants, and, as was to be expected, remarks on various occurrences connected with his own profession. These letters were not originally intended for the press. It, of course, became requisite to omit, as well as to alter, many passages. They have been revised under considerable disadvantages, the writer having received orders to prepare for foreign service, in less than a week after he had consented to allow them to be published and this circumstance he mentions as an apology for the imperfections which a discerning reader cannot but discover in them. : He ought to add, that he has studiously avoided indulging in reflections that partake of party-spirit; that he has endeavoured not to extenuate, or aught set down in malice ;" and has, at all times, been actuated by a steady adherence to sacred truth. |