would also fall on; but Beresford would not suffer the latter to charge, and the French infantry returned for their guns and resumed their march. The thirteenth and the Portuguese, however, continued the pursuit, in a rash and disorderly manner, even to the bridge of Badajos, and being repulsed by the guns of that fortress, were followed by Mortier in person, and lost some prisoners. Of the allies one hundred men were killed or hurt, and above seventy taken. Of the enemy about three hundred suffered, one howitzer was captured, and the French colonel Chamorin was slain in single combat by a trooper of the thirteenth. _To profit from sudden opportunities, a general must be constantly with his advanced guard in an offensive movement._ When this combat commenced, Beresford was with the main body, and baron Trip, a staff-officer, deceived by appearances, informed him, that the thirteenth had been cut off. Hence the marshal, anxious to save his cavalry, which he knew could not be reinforced, would not follow up the first blow, truly observing that the loss of one regiment was enough. But the regiment was not lost, and, the country being open and plain, the enemy’s force and the exact posture of affairs were easy to be discerned. The thirteenth were reprimanded, perhaps justly, for having pursued so eagerly without orders, yet the unsparing admiration of the whole army consoled them. Campo Mayor was thus recovered so suddenly, that the French left eight hundred rations of bread in the magazines; and they also evacuated Albuquerque and Valencia d’Alcantara, being infinitely dismayed by the appearance of so powerful an army in the south: indeed, so secretly and promptly had lord Wellington assembled it, that its existence was only known to the French general by the blow at Campo Mayor. But, to profit from such able dispositions, it was necessary to be as rapid in execution, giving the enemy no time to recover from his first surprise; and this was the more essential, because the breach in Badajos was not closed, nor the trenches obliterated, nor the exhausted magazines and stores replenished. Soult had carried away six battalions and a regiment of cavalry, four hundred men were thrown into Olivenza, three thousand into Badajos; thus, with the losses sustained during the operations, Mortier’s numbers were reduced to less than ten thousand men: he could not therefore have maintained the line of the Guadiana and collected provisions also, and Beresford should have instantly marched upon Merida, driven back the fifth corps, and opened a fresh communication by Jerumenha with Elvas; the fall of Badajos would then have been inevitable. The confusion occasioned by the sudden appearance of the army at Campo Mayor and the charge of the thirteenth dragoons guaranteed the success of this march; the English general might even have passed the river at Merida before Mortier could have ascertained his object.