Note 16 — Chapter III

Sir Walter Scott, in his Life of Napoleon, inaccurately asserts, that sir John Moore, “sent ten thousand men, under sir David Baird, by sea, to Coruña,” and that “the general science of war, upon the most extended scale, seems to have been so little understood or practised by the English generals at this time, that instead of the country being carefully reconnoitred by officers of skill, the march of the army was arranged by such hasty and inaccurate information as could be collected from the peasants. By their reports general Moore was induced to divide his army”——What “the general science of war upon an extended scale” may mean, I cannot pretend to say; but that sir David Baird was sent by the government from England direct to Coruña, and that sir John Moore was not induced by the reports of the peasants to divide his army, may be ascertained by a reference to the Appendix, No. 13, section 2.