Tuesday, May 17

'Lisbon, 26th October, 1809.

To Lieut. Colonel Torrens, Military Secretary to the
Commander in Chief.
'My DEAR Torrens, 'Lisbon, 26th October, 1809.
'Lieut. Colonel Waters is proceeding to England by my leave, with Major General C. Stewart, who is going for the recovery of his health; and I cannot allow him to depart without adopting this mode of recommending him, in the strongest manner, to the Commander in Chief.
'Although attached to the Portuguese army, he has made himself extremely useful to the British army, by his knowledge of the languages of Spain and Portugal, by his intelligence and his activity. I have employed him in several important affairs, which he has always transacted in a manner satisfactory to me; and his knowledge of the language and customs of the country has induced me to send him generally with the patroles employed to ascertain the positions of the enemy, in which services he has acquitted himself most ably.
'It would be most desirable to have Colonel Waters exchanged from the Portuguese service to the line, and to send him out here again on the establishment of the Adjutant or Quarter Master General, as the regulations do not allow of his being promoted.
'I have come down here to arrange our future operations in Portugal, and I shall return to the army to-morrow.
'Believe me, &c. ; 'Lieut. Colonel Torrens.' < Wellington.
in Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, K.G ..., Volume 3
Major Gen. Charles Stewart, Marquês de Londonderry