Our division got under arms this morning before daylight, passed the base of the mountain by its left, through the camp of the fourth division, who were still asleep in their tents, to the banks of the river Zadora at the village of Tres Puentes. The opposite side of the river was occupied by the enemy's advanced posts and we saw their army on the hills beyond, while the spires of Vittoria were visible in the distance. We felt as if there was likely to be a battle; but as that was an event we were never sure of until we found ourselves actually in it we lay for some time just out of musket shot, uncertain what was likely to turn up and waiting for orders. At length a sharp fire of musketry was heard to our right; and, on looking in that direction, we saw the head of Sir Rowland Hill's corps, together with some Spanish troops, attempting to force the mountain which marked the enemy's left. The three battalions of our regiment were, at the same moment, ordered forward to feel the enemy, who lined the opposite banks of the river, with whom we were quickly engaged in a warm skirmish. The affair with Sir Rowland Hill became gradually warmer, but ours had apparently no other object than to amuse those who were opposite to us for the moment; so that, for about two hours longer, it seemed as if there would be nothing but an affair of outposts. About twelve o'clock, however, we were moved rapidly to our left, followed by the rest of the division, till we came to an abrupt turn of the river, where we found a bridge unoccupied by the enemy, which we immediately crossed, and took possession of what appeared to me to be an old field-work on the other side. We had not been many seconds there before we observed the bayonets of the third and seventh divisions glittering above the standing corn and advancing upon another bridge, which stood about a quarter of a mile further to our left, and where, on their arrival, they were warmly opposed by the enemy's light troops, who lined the bank of the river (which we ourselves were now on) in great force, for the defence of the bridge. As soon as this was observed by our division Colonel Barnard advanced with our battalion and took them in flank with such a furious fire as quickly dislodged them, and thereby opened a passage for these two divisions free of expense, which must otherwise have cost them dearly. What with the rapidity of our movement, the colour of our dress, and our close contact with the enemy before they would abandon their post, we had the misfortune to be identified with them for some time by a battery of our own guns, who, not observing the movement, continued to serve it out indiscriminately, and all the while admiring their practice upon us; nor was it until the redcoats of the third division joined us that they discovered their mistake.
    The battle now commenced in earnest and this was perhaps the most interesting moment of the whole day. Sir Thomas Graham's artillery, with the first and fifth divisions, began to be heard far to our left, beyond Vittoria. The bridge which we had just cleared stood so near to a part of the enemy's position that the seventh division was instantly engaged in close action with them at that point.
    On the mountain to our extreme right the action continued to be general and obstinate, though we observed that the enemy were giving ground slowly to Sir Rowland Hill. The passage of the river by our division had turned the enemy's outpost at the bridge on our right, where we had been engaged in the morning, and they were now retreating, followed by the fourth division. The plain between them and Sir Rowland Hill was occupied by the British cavalry, who were now seen filing out of a wood, squadron after squadron, galloping into form as they gradually cleared it. The hills behind were covered with spectators, and the third and the light divisions, covered by our battalion, advanced rapidly upon a formidable hill in front of the enemy's centre, which they had neglected to occupy in sufficient force.
    In the course of our progress our men kept picking off the French videttes, who were imprudent enough to hover too near us; and many a horse, bounding along the plain, dragging his late rider by the stirrup-irons, contributed in making it a scene of extraordinary and exhilarating interest.
    Old Picton rode at the head of the third division, dressed in a blue coat and a round hat, and swore as roundly all the way as if he had been wearing two cocked ones. Our battalion soon cleared the hill in question of the enemy's light troops; but we were pulled up on the opposite side of it by one of their lines, which occupied a wall at the entrance of a village immediately under us. During the few minutes that we stopped there, while a brigade of the third division was deploying into line, two of our companies lost two officers and thirty men, chiefly from the fire of artillery bearing on the spot from the French position. One of their shells burst immediately under my nose, part of it struck my boot and stirrup-iron, and the rest of it kicked up such a dust about me that my charger refused to obey orders; and, while I was spurring and he capering, I heard a voice behind me, which I knew to be Lord Wellington's, calling out, in a tone of reproof, "look to keeping your men together, sir;" and though, God knows, I had not the remotest idea that he was within a mile of me at the time, yet, so sensible was I that circumstances warranted his supposing that I was a young officer cutting a caper by way of bravado before him that worlds would not have tempted me to look round at the moment. The French fled from the wall as soon as they received a volley from a part of the third division, and we instantly dashed down the hill and charged them through the village, capturing three of their guns, the first, I believe, that were taken that day. They received a reinforcement and drove us back before our supports could come to our assistance; but in the scramble of the moment our men were knowing enough to cut the traces and carry off the horses, so that, when we retook the village immediately after, the guns still remained in our possession. The battle now became general along the whole line and the cannonade was tremendous. At one period we held one side of a wall near the village, while the French were on the other, so that any person who chose to put his head over from either side was sure of getting a sword or a bayonet up his nostrils. This situation was, of course, too good to be of long endurance. The victory, I believe, was never for a moment doubtful. The enemy were so completely out-generalled, and the superiority of our troops was such, that to carry their positions required little more than the time necessary to march to them. After forcing their centre, the fourth division and our own got on the flank and rather in rear of the enemy's left wing, who were retreating before Sir Rowland Hill, and who, to effect their escape, were now obliged to fly in one confused mass. Had a single regiment of our dragoons been at hand, or even a squadron, to have forced them into shape for a few minutes, we must have taken from ten to twenty thousand prisoners. After marching alongside of them for nearly two miles, and as a disorderly body will always move faster than an orderly one, we had the mortification to see them gradually heading us, until they finally made their escape. I have no doubt but that our mounted gentlemen were doing their duty as they ought in another part of the field; yet it was impossible to deny ourselves the satisfaction of cursing them all because a portion had not been there at such a critical moment. Our elevated situation at this time afforded a good view of the field of battle to our left, and I could not help being struck with an unusual appearance of unsteadiness and want of confidence among the French troops. I saw a dense mass of many thousands occupying a good defensible post, who gave way in the greatest confusion before a single line of the third division, almost without feeling them. If there was nothing in any other part of the position to justify the movement, and I do not think there was, they ought to have been flogged, every man, from the general downwards.
    The ground was particularly favourable to the retreating foe, as every half-mile afforded a fresh and formidable position, so that, from the commencement of the action to the city of Vittoria, a distance of six or eight miles, we were involved in one continued hard skirmish. On passing Vittoria, however, the scene became quite new and infinitely more amusing, as the French had made no provision for a retreat, and, Sir Thomas Graham having seized upon the great road to France, the only one left open was that leading by Pampeluna; and it was not open long, for their fugitive army and their myriads of followers, with baggage, guns, carriages, &c. being all precipitated upon it at the same moment, it got choked up about a mile beyond the town in the most glorious state of confusion and the drivers, finding that one pair of legs was worth two pair of wheels, abandoned it all to the victors.
    Many of their followers who had light carriages endeavoured to make their escape through the fields, but it only served to prolong their misery.
    I shall never forget the first that we overtook: it was in the midst of a stubble-field, for some time between us and the French skirmishers, the driver doing all he could to urge the horses along; but our balls began to whistle so plentifully about his ears that he at last dismounted in despair, and, getting on his knees under the carriage, began praying. His place on the box was quickly occupied by as many of our fellows as could stick on it, while others were scrambling in at the doors on each side, and not a few on the roof, handling the baskets there so roughly as to occasion loud complaints from the fowls within. I rode up to the carriage to see that the people inside were not improperly treated, but the only one there was an old gouty gentleman, who, from the nature of his cargo, must either have robbed his own house or that of a very good fellow, for the carriage was literally laden with wines and provisions. Never did victors make a more legal or useful capture; for it was now six in the evening and it had evidently been the old gentleman's fault if he had not already dined, whereas it was our misfortune, rather than our fault, that we had not tasted anything since three o'clock in the morning, so that when one of our men knocked the neck off a bottle and handed it to me to take a drink, I nodded to the old fellow's health and drank it off without the smallest scruple of conscience. It was excellent claret, and if he still lives to tell the story, I fear he will not give us the credit of having belonged to such a civil department as his appeared.
    We did not cease the pursuit until dark, and then halted in a field of wheat about two miles beyond Vittoria. The victory was complete. They carried off only one howitzer out of their numerous artillery, which, with baggage, stores, provisions, money, and everything that constitutes the matériel of an army, fell into our hands.
    It is much to be lamented, on those occasions, that the people who contribute most to the victory should profit the least by it; not that I am an advocate for plunder — on the contrary, I would much rather that all our fighting was for pure love; but, as everything of value falls into the hands of the followers and scoundrels who skulk from the ranks for the double purpose of plundering and saving their dastardly carcasses, what I regret is that the man who deserts his post should thereby have an opportunity of enriching himself with impunity, while the true man gets nothing; but the evil I believe is irremediable. Sir James Kempt, who commanded our brigade, in passing one of the captured waggons in the evening, saw a soldier loading himself with money, and was about to have him conveyed to the camp as a prisoner when the fellow begged hard to be released and to be allowed to retain what he had got, telling the general that all the boxes in the waggon were filled with gold. Sir James, with his usual liberality, immediately adopted the idea of securing it as a reward to his brigade for their gallantry; and, getting a fatigue party, he caused the boxes to be removed to his tent and ordered an officer and some men from each regiment to parade there next morning to receive their proportions of it; but when they opened the boxes they found them filled with hammers, nails, and horse-shoes!
    Among the evil chances of that glorious day, I had to regret the temporary loss of Colonel Cameron, — a bad wound in the thigh having obliged him to go to England. Of him I can truly say that, as a friend, his heart was in the right place, and, as a soldier, his right place was at the head of a regiment in the face of an enemy. I never saw an officer feel more at home in such a situation, nor do I know any one who could fill it better.
    A singular accident threw me in the way of a dying French officer who gave me a group of family portraits to transmit to his friends; but, as it was not until the following year that I had an opportunity of making the necessary inquiries after them, they had then left their residence and were nowhere to be heard of.
    As not only the body, but the mind, had been in constant occupation since three o'clock in the morning, circumstances no sooner permitted (about ten at night) than I threw myself on the ground and fell into a profound sleep from which I did not awake until broad daylight, when I found a French soldier squatted near me, intensely watching for the opening of my shutters. He had contrived to conceal himself there during the night, and when he saw that I was awake he immediately jumped on his legs and very obsequiously presented me with a map of France, telling me that, as there was now a probability of our visiting his native country, he could make himself very useful, and would be glad if I would accept of his services. I thought it unfair, however, to deprise him of the present opportunity of seeing a little more of the world himself, and therefore sent him to join the rest of the prisoners, which would insure him a trip to England free of expense.
    About midday on the 22d our three battalions, with some cavalry and artillery, were ordered in pursuit of the enemy.
    I do not know how it is, but I have always had a mortal objection to be killed the day after a victory. In the actions preceding a battle, or in the battle itself, it never gave me much uneasiness, as being all in the way of business; but, after surviving the great day, I always felt as if I had a right to live to tell the story; and I therefore did not find the ensuing three days' fighting half so pleasant as they otherwise would have been.
    Darkness overtook us this night without our overtaking the enemy and we halted in a grove of pines, exposed to a very heavy rain. In imprudently shifting my things from one tree to another after dark, some rascal contrived to steal the velisse containing my dressing things, than which I do not know a greater loss, when there is no possibility of replacing any part of them.
    We overtook their rearguard early on the following day, and, hanging on their line of march until dark, we did them all the mischief that we could. They burnt every village through which they passed, under the pretence of impeding our movements; but, as it did not make the slightest difference in that respect, we could only view it as a wanton piece of cruelty.
    On the 24th we were again engaged in pressing their rear the greater part of the day; and, ultimately, in giving them the last kick under the walls of Pampeluna, where we had the glory of capturing their last gun, which literally sent them into France without a single piece of ordnance.
    Our battalion occupied that night a large, well-furnished, but uninhabited chateau a short distance from Pampeluna.
    We got under arms early on the morning of the 25th and, passing by a mountain-path, to the left of Pampeluna, within range of the guns, though they did not fire at us, circled the town, until we reached the village of Villalba, where we halted for the night. Since I joined that army I had never, up to that period, been master of anything in the shape of a bed; and, though I did not despise a bundle of straw when it could conveniently be had, yet my boat-cloak and blanket were more generally to be seen spread out for my reception on the bare earth. But, in proceeding to turn into them, as usual, this evening, I was not a little astonished to find, in their stead, a comfortable mattress, with a suitable supply of linen, blankets, and pillows; in short, the very identical bedding on which I had slept the night before in the chateau three leagues off, and which my rascal of an Irishman had bundled altogether on the back of my mule, without giving me the slightest hint of his intentions. On my taking him to task about it, and telling him that he would certainly be hanged, all that he said in reply was, "by J — s, they had more than a hundred beds in that house, and not a single soul to sleep in them." I was very much annoyed at the time that there was no possibility of returning them to their rightful owner, as, independent of its being nothing short of a regular robbery, I really looked upon them as a very unnecessary encumbrance; but being forced, in some measure, to indulge in their comforts, I was not long in changing my mind and was ultimately not very sorry that the possibility of restoration never did occur.

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