Note 649 — SECTION XXXIII: CHAPTER VIII
Reading edition
It is curious to find that while in the ‘Memorandum’ of August 4 Wellington states that it is ‘not very probable’ that Clausel will move, in a letter to Santocildes sent off the very next day, he remarks that an advance from Burgos into the kingdom of Leon, to relieve Astorga, is ‘most likely.’ I fancy that the former was his real opinion, and that the latter was spoken of with some stress in the directions to Santocildes, mainly because Wellington wished to impress on the Spaniard the duty of being cautious and retiring to the Esla without offering battle.