‘There is neither subordination nor discipline in the army either amongst officers or soldiers; and it is not even attempted (as, indeed, it would be in vain to attempt) to establish either. It has in my opinion been the cause of the _dastardly conduct_ which we have so frequently witnessed in Spanish troops, and _they have become odious to the country_. _The peaceable inhabitants, much as they detest and suffer from the French, almost wish for the establishment of Joseph’s government to be protected from the outrages of their own troops._’ _Wellington to sir H. Wellesley, Dec. 1810._ ‘I am afraid that the Spaniards will bring us all to shame yet. It is scandalous that in the third year of the war, and having been more than a year in a state of tranquillity, and having sustained no loss of importance since the battle of Ocaña, they should now be depending for the safety of Cadiz—the seat of their government—upon having one or two, more or less, British regiments; and that after having been shut in for ten months, they have not prepared the works necessary for their defence, notwithstanding the repeated remonstrances of general Graham and the British officers on the danger of omitting them. ‘The Cortes appear to suffer under the national disease in as great a degree as the other authorities—_that is, boasting of the strength and power of the Spanish nation till they are seriously convinced they are in no danger, and then sitting down quietly and indulging their national indolence_.’ _Wellington to general Graham, 1811._ ‘The conduct of the Spaniards throughout this expedition (Barrosa) _is precisely the same as I have ever observed it to be_. They march the troops night and day without provisions or rest, and abuse everybody who proposes a moment’s delay to afford either to the famished and fatigued soldiers. They reach the enemy in such a state as to be unable to make any exertion or to execute any plan, even if any plan had been formed; and thus, when the moment of action arrives they are totally incapable of movement, and they stand by to see their allies destroyed, and afterwards abuse them because they do not continue, unsupported, exertions to which human nature is not equal.’[11] So much for Wellington’s opinion of the Spanish soldiers and statesmen; let us now hear him as to the Spanish generals:— 1809. ‘Although the Duque de Albuquerque is _proné_ by many, amongst others by Whittingham and Frere, you will find him out. I think the marquis de la Romana the best I have seen of the Spaniards. I doubt his talents at the head of an army, but he is certainly a sensible man and has seen much of the world.’ Now reader, the following is the character given to Romana in my history; compare it with the above:—