“The affair of general Milans” (namely, the sending of corn to Barcelona under his passport) “which I mentioned to you in my last private letter, is still involved in mystery, which I hope however to penetrate upon my return to Arens de Mar. The Mataro papers reported that two soldiers were shot and a serjeant flogged at Arena for suffering corn to pass their guard at Mongat on its way to Barcelona. The _fact_ of the punishment is I believe truly stated, but the _cause_ no less falsely, enterely as I suspect with the view of terminating my investigation into this nefarious traffic. General Lacy, instead of answering my letter, refers me by word of mouth to the junta, and the deputation from the junta, who went to Mataro (as they assured me) purposely to investigate the business, now tell me that it is an affair purely military, and refer me to general Milans himself.” SECTION 5. _Extract from a minute made by captain Codrington._ “_Mattaro, July 6, 1811._ “Colonel O’Ronan, aid-du-camp to the marquis of Campo Verde, arrived, and informed me that he came from the marquis, who was on his march to this town or Arens, for the purpose of embarking all the infantry not Catalans, and the whole of the remaining cavalry, leaving the horses on the beach. Colonel O’Ronan said this determination was the result of a junta, composed of the marquis, general St. Juan, general Caro, general Miranda, the general of artillery, brigadier Santa Cruz, Velasco, and Sarsfield; that after the thing had been proposed and discussed a long time, Sarsfield was the first to give his vote, that he rose from his seat and said, ‘any officer who could give such an opinion must be a traitor to his country, and that he and his division would stand or fall with the principality.’ Every other officer was of a contrary opinion, except the marquis (it afterwards appeared that Santa Cruz also supported Sarsfield), who thought with Sarsfield, and yet it seems he allowed himself to be led on by the other generals. _In short, it appears he was resolved to abandon the principality._ “I told him, without hesitation, that to embark the Valencians I felt a duty to general O’Donnel, to the kingdom of Valencia, and to the whole nation, but that I felt it equally my duty upon no account to embark the army of Catalonia, and thus become a party concerned in the abandonment of a province I had been sent to protect.”——“The colonel, who could not venture on shore again lest he should be murdered by the inhabitants of Mattaro, for having been the bearer of a commission to arrest brigadier Milans about a month ago, sent to the marquis my answer.” _Extract from a minute of information given by the baron d’Eroles._ “_July 9, 1811._