Various man[oe]uvres at length brought about the battle of Salamanca, where the French, under Marshal Marmont, were totally defeated, driven “as it were before a mighty wind without help or stay.” The brunt of the action was sustained by the French division of General Thomières, originally 7000 strong, but which, notwithstanding the most splendid illustration of heroism, was utterly cut to pieces or dispersed. In this great battle the third division figured conspicuously. Lord Londonderry writes: “The attack of the third division was not only the most spirited, but the most perfect thing of the kind that modern times have witnessed. Regardless alike of a charge of cavalry and of the murderous fire which the enemy’s batteries opened, on went these fearless warriors, horse and foot, without check or pause, until they won the ridge, and then the infantry giving their volley, and the cavalry falling on sword in hand, the French were pierced, broken, and discomfited. So close, indeed, was the struggle, that in several instances the British colours were seen waving over the heads of the enemy’s battalions;” whilst the advance in unbroken line of the Seventy-fourth, for upwards of three miles, testified to its efficiency, and drew forth the plaudits of Major-General Pakenham, then commanding the division, who vehemently exclaimed, “Beautifully done, Seventy-fourth! beautiful, Seventy-fourth!” The glorious results immediately flowing from this great victory, were crowned in the capitulation and occupation of Madrid. Whilst stationed in the capital, the gaieties of which agreeably relieved the hardships of the camp, our officers at the same time beheld the splendid misery the tyrant-extortionating rule of France had entailed upon the citizens, many of whom, once great and opulent, now reduced to abject beggary, gratefully accepted the assistance of their deliverers. In these deeds of charity the officers of the Seventy-fourth were not wanting, but, with those of the Forty-fifth, daily fed about two hundred of the starving grandees. Meanwhile, the converging of the various French armies of the Peninsula for the relief of Burgos, once more necessitated the retreat of the British, who, evacuating Madrid, retired towards Portugal, and finally halted, going into winter quarters, behind the Agueda. The spring of 1813 found the British army largely recruited, and with new energy prepared to resume the offensive—to begin that victorious march which stayed not until the heights of Toulouse owned the triumphs of the British flag.