Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/23

Rh rear. In raising him for that purpose, his sword hanging on his wounded side became entangled in his legs. In the act of my unbuckling it, he said in his usual tone, "It is as well as it is: I had rather it should go out of the field with me." Observing the resolution and composure of his features, I caught at the hope that I might be mistaken in my fears of the wound being mortal, and remarked that I trusted when the surgeon dressed the wound he would be spared to us and recover. "No, Hardinge," he said, "I feel that to be impossible."'

This letter appears in Moore's Campaign in Spain, which was published by his brother, Mr. J, C. Moore, in 1809.

Returning to England the same year, Hardinge was promoted to a majority, and went back at once to Portugal on the staff of Sir W. Beresford, who had been entrusted with the organization of the Portuguese army. As Deputy-Quarter-Master-General he was present at the passage of the Douro and other actions. Still attached to Beresford's staff, he served with the army of observation in Castile, and was thanked in General Orders issued at Guizo, May, 1809. The next campaign was the famous defensive one of 1810, when Wellington out-manœuvred Masséna with conspicuous success. After the battle of Busaco, Hardinge was mentioned in Sir W. Beresford's despatch to the Portuguese Regency. In the operations of the year 1811 he was again actively employed, and the part he took in the siege of Badajos and the storming of