measure were proposed by the British General as a military plan, they would joyfully accede to it. Cuesta was wronged by these suspicions; ... he was obstinate, intractable, and unfit for command; but a right honest man, and one who, from a sense of duty as well as from natural courage, would at any time have laid down his ♦JULY 10. SIR ARTHUR CONFERS WITH CUESTA.♦ life for the service of Spain. Sir Arthur, whose head-quarters were now at Plasencia, went to confer with him at Almaraz. Fourteen thousand of the Spaniards were at this time stationed at the Puente del Arzobispo; the remainder were about two miles from the bridge of Almaraz, encamped under the Pass of Miravete. Victor had taken up a position upon the Alberche, near Talavera. There, Sir Arthur stated his opinion, the enemy ought to be attacked by the united force of the allies; but it would be desirable to detach a corps of 10,000 towards Avila to turn their right: Cuesta approved the proposal, but desired they might be British troops. Sir Arthur replied, that the British ♦1809. JULY.♦ army, to act with advantage, must act in a body; and the Spaniards could better spare such a detachment, being indeed more numerous than was either necessary for the operations on the Alberche, or convenient, considering their state of discipline. These representations were lost upon Cuesta, who estimated his own importance by the numbers under his command; he refused to make any large detachment, but offered to send two battalions of infantry and a few cavalry to join Sir R. Wilson’s Portugueze brigade, and march upon Arenas, and thence to Escalona, in communication with the left of the British army. Had Sir Arthur’s advice been followed, it was his intention to have recommended Alburquerque to the command; but it was the fate of Spain to be almost always deprived of the services of this brave and able general by the jealousy of meaner minds. ♦HE REQUIRES THAT THE PASSES BE OCCUPIED.♦