The next year, on the 20th of June, the 23rd saw the Peninsular campaign brought to a close by the battle of Vittoria. The French were commanded by Jourdan, and the English by Wellington. Our troops were completely victorious, and the expulsion of the French from Spain was one of the fruits of their victory. The French fought resolutely till Picton gave the word to charge, when our men bore down all opposition before them, and spread death and consternation through the ranks of the enemy, who fled with such precipitancy that they left all their artillery and baggage behind. Joseph Bonaparte, placed by his brother Napoleon on the throne of Spain, was present at the battle; he only escaped by leaving his carriage and mounting a swift horse. The royal calash fell into the hands of the 10th Hussars, who found in it all the portable valuables of his regalia. The whole of his equipage and treasures fell into the hands of the British. The booty was enormous; it comprised all that could minister to the appetites or pleasures of a sensual monarch. The most delicate wines and the rarest luxuries fell into the hands of our soldiers, who exchanged many a joke at the expense of the luxurious monarch as they regaled themselves with them; poodles, parrots, and monkeys were among the captives of war. Grim old Peninsulars amused themselves after the battle in getting up a sort of masquerade, in which they appeared in the uniforms of French generals, or displayed the most recent inventions of the Parisian mode on their somewhat ungainly persons, and Wellington allowed them to indulge their grotesque humour. And when it was reported to him that some of them had seized the French military chest and were loading themselves with money, “Let them have it,” he said; “they deserve it, though it were ten times more.” Among the other spoil was the bâton of Marshal Jourdan, which Wellington sent with his despatches to the Prince Regent: soon after this he received the bâton of an English field-marshal along with a very handsome letter. “The British army,” said the prince, “will hail it with enthusiasm, while the whole universe will acknowledge those valorous efforts which have so imperiously called for it.” While this victory made Wellington a field-marshal, it procured for the Welsh Fusiliers the honour of adding Vittoria to the other glorious names inscribed on their colours.