‘And why is that?’

‘It is my conviction that the initiative should be seized in all things, sir. If not, then you make a gift of it to the enemy, as we discovered.’

‘Just so.’ Dundas nodded, and then looked down at his notes for a moment. ‘So, then, the French attempted to outflank your position.You changed your front to foil them, threw back their attacks and routed their assault columns.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Did you give the order to pursue the enemy?’

‘There was little opportunity to do that, sir.What few cavalrymen we had were unequal to the task.’

One of the other members of the panel, a stout officer with florid cheeks, leaned forward and addressed Arthur.‘But surely you could have ordered your infantry to make a pursuit, and denied the enemy any chance at rallying his formations?’

‘The order could have been given, sir. But it was not.’

‘Why not?’

‘General Burrard had reached the field in the course of the battle and was generous enough to permit me to retain command until the battle was over. Once the French had broken, I returned to my command position on the understanding that that was the point at which my authority was superseded.’

‘I see.’ Dundas nodded again. ‘Did you suggest to Burrard that he should attempt a pursuit?’

‘Yes, sir, I did.’

‘As we know, there was no such attempt. Did Burrard offer you any explanation as to why he did not order a pursuit?’

‘Yes, sir.’

There was a short pause before Dundas sighed. ‘Would you be kind enough to explain his reasoning to the inquiry?’

‘Sir Harry was of the opinion that we had insufficient intelligence about the enemy’s strength and his dispositions. Therefore it would be prudent to await the arrival of General Moore and his men in order to ensure that we had the advantage in numbers before continuing our advance.’

‘Did you agree with his opinion?’

‘No, sir, I did not.’

‘Why?’

‘We had beaten General Junot. The information I had from my Portuguese allies was that Junot’s army was the only enemy army between Vimeiro and Lisbon.Therefore it was my belief that we could have pursued him to destruction, before turning to liberate Lisbon.’

‘As it was, the enemy was allowed to escape.’

Arthur hesitated a moment. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Do you feel you were responsible for their escape?’ Dundas asked in a very deliberate tone.

‘No, sir. I urged Sir Harry Burrard, and Sir Hew Dalrymple when he arrived to take command, to march at once against General Junot. If they had, the French would have been defeated, and there would have been no armistice, and no treaty of Cintra.’

‘And no inquiry,’ Dundas added with a faint smile. ‘Let us turn our attention to the armistice.You signed it.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Did you draft the agreement?’

‘No, sir. It was drafted by Sir Hew and the French representative, General Kellermann.’