Note 695 — Chapter I

Wellington saw this clearly enough; he writes to Lord Liverpool on August 27: ‘If we cannot maintain this blockade, the enemy must bring 50,000 men to raise it, and then they can undertake nothing else this year, for they must still continue to watch Rodrigo, and we shall so far save the cause. Meanwhile if they offer me a favourable opportunity of bringing any of them to action, I shall take it.’ Dispatches, viii. p. 232.