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Untitled Article
nightfall hastily and silently to retreat . The retreat commenced at eight o ' clock at night and terminated at two in the morning ; and the treachery of Cordova , has been ever since deservedly a byeword , bath among officers and men . This is not the only occasion upon which the British Legion , under orders of Cor * dova , were subjected to the chances of being cut off * In April , 1836 , the Legion , leaving Vitoria , returned via Santander to San Sebastian , where it was found that the Carlists had thrown up , almost immediately under the walls of the town , a series of entrenchments , under the directions of some able French engineer , and which were calculated to oppose a frightful resistance to any assailing force . # # % * The spirit
with which the British Legion entered into action on the 5 th of May , may be gathered from the verbatim addresses of some of the commanding officers to the regiments under their command , " Rifles ! " said the Major , who , in the absence of Baron de Rottenburgh , commanded that regiment , " we are going to be engaged to-morrow ; the enemy [ shows no quarter , neither shall we ; skiver every man you catch ; take no prisoners ; show no pity to the wounded ; skiver every man you meet !"
" Men I said the gallant Colonel of the 4 th regiment , " Now we will have no nonsense;—no firing behind walls : « fix bayonets—walk into them—and skewer the scoundrels !" After this action General Evans seemed absolutely giddy with the effects of the victory ; he set to work making promotions , without reference to any principle of seniority , and bestowed the Order of San Fernando with an equally unsparing and indiscriminate hand .
" G . O . " Head Quarters , San Sebastian , 10 th May 1836 . " All officers who have been absent from the Legion on the 5 th May without express leave in writing of the Lieutenant-General ; are superseded from this date , but without prejudice to any claim they may have for compensation according to the 8 th article ; and this is not to be understood as attaching blame to those officers , but it is meant as an act of
justice to those who have been present in the performance of their duty sd noWy and arduously performed on that day . It is also deemed but just towards the Government , considering the comparatively temporary ttftturg of the service ; nor is any officer who has had the ill luck to be absent from the Legion with or without leave , on duty or not , to derive any advantage from this action , to the prejudice in the slightest degree of those who have been present /'
That officers who were engaged on duty at Santander , or elsewhere ; or that those who , unfortunately for themselves , happened to be on the sick list , should be superseded because they nad not the good " luck" to be present in this action , was manifestly unjunt , an 4 contrary at least to the principle upon which promotions are conducted in the British service .
Untitled Article
Wi The , Civil War in Spafa
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 1, 1837, page 202, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1830/page/12/
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