Note 25 — Chapter XI

They were cast off cavalry, purchased in Ireland; and they were described as old, blind, and lame: some of them, it was said, had already at this time died of age, others of work, though they had been carefully fed: nearly a sixth part had thus perished on the way, and of the remainder a great number were not worth the forage which they consumed. Nine years after these poor horses had been delivered over to the dogs and wolves, a representation was made to me in their favour, and I feel myself bound to notice it, were it only for the singularity of the case. I am assured that the 300 horses (which Lord Castlereagh good-naturedly called his countrymen) were selected with the greatest care, as well as knowledge, in horseflesh, from 1050 of which the corps was then composed; that they were in the very best condition and working order; they were drafts from a collection made by purchase in 1803, (that is, five years before, and therefore not young); or from the best and most useful horses cast from dragoon regiments, as unfit for dragoon service generally, (the inferior description of such cast horses having been from time to time sold); that they had been always carefully groomed and well fed, and were in excellent condition for common draft, the service for which they were required. From the manner in which this representation was made to me, I have no doubt of its truth. The horses, when they began the campaign, had probably not recovered from the voyage; they were not accustomed to the food of the country, and were employed in much harder work than had ever fallen to their lot before, and upon much worse roads. And so, peace to their memory. I must not however omit to observe, that Captain Eliot, in his Treatise on the Defence of Portugal, says, these artillery horses, in the brigade to which he was attached, did their duty perfectly well at the battle of Vimeiro.