bons they detest: hence it is, the flame of patriotism, as we call it, is so languid, and burns so dim; hence it is that the flower of the British army suffered every privation in a galling march through the heart of Spain, unsupported by any part of the Spanish army, who even suffered our rear to be uncovered, and exposed us to the superior forces of the enemy when half of our troops were embarked; from which resulted the "glorious victory," attended with all the consequences of a defeat, at Corunna. To this principle also we owe our disasters after the battle of Talavera; when we were obliged to leave our hospital behind, and commit to the mercy of the French those whom the cold-blooded Spaniards would have seen expire rather than have relieved them with a glass of water[1].
- ↑ At the battle of Talavera, an officer of the 87th, who had received three wounds, and was fainting with the loss of blood, asked a man, who was carrying some water, to give him a little. The fellow refused; on which the British officer, indignant at such conduct, drew his sword, and insisted on it; when the fellow spilled the water on the ground, and ran away.
To
