A MEMOIR, &c. (continued 2)

The necessary arrangements being made, and Major General Mackinnon placed in the command of the hospitals at Talavera, Sir Arthur Wellesley marched on the morning of the 3d of August for Oropesa. A short time after his arrival at that place, he learnt that the advanced guard of Soult’s army was arrived at Naval Moral, and that the Spaniards, who had retired from Bejar, had crossed the Tagus at Almaraz, and destroyed the bridge; he determined, however, to move upon the French, and was in hopes of finding them the following day. General Bassecour, with a Spanish division, was moving along the Tietar, and was destined to act upon the left and rear of the French. About four o’clock in the afternoon, however, a despatch arrived from General Cuesta, announcing to Sir Arthur Wellesley, that, from intelligence upon which he could rely, he was 98persuaded that the corps of Marshal Ney had evacuated Gallicia, and formed a junction with the corps of Marshal Mortier, from Valladolid; that the two were united with Marshal Soult; and that the amount of the collected force upon the rear of the allied army, could not be less than 55,000 men; that Marshal Victor was at no great distance from Talavera, upon the other side; that he (General Cuesta) apprehended an attack from him; and had in consequence determined to break up immediately from that town, and join Sir Arthur Wellesley at Oropesa. This information was as disastrous as it was unexpected: the letter from General Cuesta further stated, that his movement was already begun, and that his army would form its junction with the British in the course of the night: there remained, therefore, no hope of preventing or delaying it, and the whole plan, upon which Sir Arthur Wellesley had undertaken his operation, was at once destroyed.

The bridge of Almaraz was no longer in existence; the bridge of Arzobispo was exposed, 99by the abandonment of Talavera, to the corps of Victor, and the whole allied army, if it advanced, might be cut off from any retreat across the Tagus, while its movement upon Portugal must depend upon the success of its attack upon the combined army of Ney, Soult, and Mortier. In this situation of affairs Sir Arthur Wellesley did not hesitate to give up offensive operations, and retire across the Tagus, by the bridge of Arzobispo.

Sir Arthur Wellesley had every reason to complain of the conduct of General Cuesta; he had abandoned the position intrusted to him, without any ground for so doing; for it afterwards appeared that Victor was at some distance from Talavera, and not occupied in a movement upon the corps of General Cuesta; but, at any rate, the Spaniards evacuated the post intrusted to them, and abandoned the British wounded, with a precipitancy that nothing but the actual presence of an enemy could justify. If General Cuesta was actuated by a 100desire of bringing his army to the assistance of Sir Arthur Wellesley, who was about to attack a force which he had reason to believe was superior to him, he ought to have waited a few hours, till he had communicated with him, and in the mean time, he should have given assistance to the removal of the British wounded. If he thought that the return of a messenger from Oropesa (a distance of only five leagues), would have exposed him by too much delay, he ought at least to have left a corps to check the enemy in his front, and to have protected the retreat of the hospitals. And, last of all, it was his duty, to which he had also pledged himself in the most solemn manner, to have given all the means in his power to facilitate the removal of the British wounded. He did, however, the direct reverse: he abandoned his position with his whole army, without communication with Sir Arthur Wellesley; (indeed, he precluded the possibility of any, by stating in his letter that his army was in march); and to the wounded, instead of every assistance he could command, he gave but four carts, for the whole 4,000 101men. It is impossible to conceive, that the importance of the occupation of Talavera, to the movement of Sir Arthur Wellesley, should have escaped the observation of General Cuesta, the ground about that town afforded the only situation in which the advance of the French army upon the rear of the British, while moving upon Soult, could possibly be resisted; the rest of the country was plain, and offered no defensive position; so that in abandoning it, General Cuesta exposed the whole allied army to an attack, in front and rear. In short, it is very difficult to discover a sound or equitable reason for the precipitancy with which this movement was executed; but the total disregard which was shewn to the British wounded, the paltry number of four carts which was afforded them, by an army that was provided with them to excess, remains a stain upon the character of General Cuesta, that no time will ever efface.

Sir Arthur Wellesley moved his army, upon the morning of the 4th of August, to the bridge 102of Arzobispo; the nature of the campaign was changed; Gallicia was delivered from the French; and the corps of Romana was now in peaceable possession of it, with the opportunity of augmenting its own numbers, and improving its discipline; the whole province was in a situation to dispose of its military means, and to create, in a short time, a powerful diversion, upon the rear of the enemy assembled upon the Tagus. The north of Spain was almost entirely in the same situation as Gallicia. The French had abandoned it, with very few exceptions, to concentrate their force against the British army; and Sir Arthur Wellesley conceived, that although he had been foiled in his attempt to rescue Madrid, yet he had restored independence to Gallicia, and in great part to the provinces adjoining it; which might, in the end, prove most advantageous to the cause of Spain. This opinion has since been proved to be correct; Gallicia retained its freedom, and the other northern provinces were never afterwards but in partial subjection to the enemy.

103As soon as Sir Arthur Wellesley had crossed the Tagus at Arzobispo, he detached Major General Crawford, with the light division, to occupy, with as much rapidity as possible, the pass at Almaraz; where it was to be feared the enemy, whose advanced guard had seen the passage of the allies at Arzobispo, might push a force across the Tagus, and endeavour to intercept the British army on its march upon Deleytosa. Major General Crawford arrived, however, in time to prevent that operation; the movement of the army was undisturbed; General Cuesta remained at Arzobispo; and the British moved to Deleytosa. The Spaniards were, however, attacked a few days after by the French at Arzobispo; their advanced guard was driven from the bridge; and their whole army retired to Deleytosa, whilst Sir Arthur Wellesley moved to Jaraseco.

The force under General Vanegas had remained since the battle of Talavera, in the neighbourhood of Toledo, but to the southward of the Tagus. General Cuesta was in communication 104with it, and apprized Vanegas of his retreat from Arzobispo. He directed him in consequence to fall back to the positions about Madrilejos, from which he had originally moved, and upon no account to risk an action with the enemy, but to keep his corps ready to make any movement, in co-operation with the allied army, that might afterwards be determined upon. General Vanegas prepared to carry these orders into execution, and retired a considerable distance through La Mancha; but, from a fatality which has never been explained, he was induced to move forward again, over some of the ground which he had passed, and to engage his corps in a general action with the French under Sebastiani, at Almonacid. The Spaniards were completely routed in this battle; their best troops were engaged in it, and many of the corps behaved with great gallantry and good conduct; but they were defeated with considerable loss, and were driven to the Sierra Morena. This disaster was severely felt; the dispersion of the troops that could be most depended upon, and who were 105intrusted with the defence of the great pass into Andalusia, was an event that could not easily be repaired; and, in addition, it destroyed all confidence in the movements of the Spaniards; they were no longer to be depended upon, for the most trifling operations: when they were required to act, they remained unmoved; when intrusted with a position, as at Talavera, they deserted it without reason; when directed to avoid an action, which, if successful, could be of no benefit to their cause, they seemed to court one; and when engaged, exposed themselves to the most disastrous defeats. With this battle terminated the campaign, which had been undertaken for the relief of Madrid, and the expulsion of the enemy from the central provinces of Spain. The corps under Sir Robert Wilson retired through the mountains from Escalona to Bejar, where it was attacked and routed by the advanced guard of Marshal Ney, who was returning from the Tagus to the neighbourhood of Salamanca.

106Sir Arthur Wellesley remained at Jaraseco, till the French, who had collected upon the Tagus, had dispersed their corps; and till the total failure of supplies obliged him to retire to the frontiers of Portugal, from whence alone he could secure the provisioning of his army.

He placed his head-quarters at Badajos, his advance at Merida, and the rest of his army in cantonments, upon the frontiers of Spain and Portugal. The supreme government of Spain was thrown into considerable consternation by this movement, of which it had been the sole and entire cause. The individuals who composed it sought, notwithstanding, to throw the blame from themselves, upon those who had the most materially suffered by their misconduct.

The Marquis Wellesley, who was at this time the British representative in Spain, complained most bitterly of their inattention and neglect to an army, which had so valiantly fought in their defence; and whose blood had been 107so profusely spilt, in supporting the great cause in which they were engaged; but these complaints were only too ably urged. The Spaniards (proud of their former glories) can but ill brook the interference of foreign powers; their pride and haughty independence prompt them to spurn the assistance or control of foreigners; and when their government was justly accused of neglect, and even treason to Spain herself, yet as that reproach was from a foreign hand, they rallied round that government, and repelled the accusations, by the most idle and unfounded attacks upon those who made them, and who had full reason to complain of their unjust and unfriendly conduct. A spirit of hostility was thus raised between the allied nations, and for some time there was much of that unpleasant feeling which is generated by mutual accusations. The magnanimous conduct of the British government, however, soon set those jealousies at rest, and by degrees acquired for itself the unbounded confidence of the Spanish nation.

108The supreme government of Spain had displaced General Cuesta from the command of his army, during the time that Sir Arthur Wellesley, (now become Lord Wellington) remained at Jaraseco, and General Eguia was intrusted with that important situation. This officer was soon after directed to move the Spanish army, (leaving only the Duke of Albuquerque with a small corps in Estremadura) and to form a junction with General Vanegas, in the Sierra Morena, and in the neighbourhood of La Carolina. This operation was dictated, in no small degree, by a feeling of jealousy towards the English. The Spaniards wished to keep their army separate from the British, because they believed it could be rendered more subservient to their own views. While it remained in presence of so distinguished an officer as Lord Wellington, it was curbed, and restrained in the movements it might be directed to undertake; his advice must necessarily be listened to, and it is not too much to say, that some of the rulers of the country were not at that time unwilling to see their 109armies directed by weaker counsels than such as would be derived from him. There was another reason for the movement of that army. It was believed, by many persons in the direction of affairs in Spain, that Lord Wellington was determined to evacuate the country, and retire into Portugal; they thought, however, that by removing the Spanish army from Estremadura, they should shift the defence of that province upon the shoulders of Lord Wellington; by which means they flattered themselves, they should retain him against his will. Lord Wellington was not so easily to be overreached: he stated to the Spanish government, that he should remain at Badajos so long as he felt he could be serviceable to its cause, but without neglecting the first object which he was directed to attend to; namely, the defence of Portugal. He pressed the government to make such arrangements as would secure the provisioning of his army, if he was enabled again to take the field; but above all, he recommended it to preserve the Spanish armies from being harassed, or on any account 110risked with the French, excepting in such operations as should be agreed upon, according to a general combination of all the forces that could be brought against them. The army of the Marquis of Romana was moved from Gallicia to Ciudad Rodrigo; where it was placed under the orders of the Duke del Parque.

A state of tranquillity now succeeded to the active operations of the preceding months; the French armies had been in almost constant movement since the entrance of Buonaparte into Spain, in the month of November. When he quitted the country to prepare for the German war, he had left his armies in possession of all the north of Spain; Soult afterwards added the north of Portugal. Victor was advanced to the confines of Andalusia, near Monasterio; and Sebastiani occupied La Mancha; Suchet was in force in Arragon, and St. Cyr was employed in the siege of the fortresses in Catalonia. The situation of these corps was now considerably changed. The north of Spain and Portugal was almost entirely free from the 111incursions of the French; the province of Estremadura was relieved from them; and a great portion of La Mancha was in the occupation of the Spanish armies. The French had therefore lost considerably during the last months; and, notwithstanding their activity and military talents, they had been forced to retire from the provinces which they had subdued, and to concentrate for their own defence, in a country which they believed, after the capture of Madrid, they had totally subjected. When Buonaparte re-crossed the Pyrenees, he directed his imperial eagles to be placed upon the towers of Lisbon; he proclaimed his empire in the Peninsula, and boasted that there no longer existed any force that was capable of obstructing the accomplishment of his imperial mandate. But the strength of patriotism in a whole people was as yet unknown to him. The constant reduction of his forces, the ever succeeding evacuation of apparently conquered provinces by his troops, the never-ending conflicts in every corner of the Peninsula, have since convinced him that a great people with one 112intent and one resolution, with patriotism as their guide, are too powerful to be subdued, though they have neither armies nor military science to oppose to the invaders.

The British troops had been also in constant activity since the arrival of Lord Wellington in Portugal, they therefore required rest. It became then the interest of both French and English to preserve that state of tranquillity which had succeeded since the passage of the Tagus.

The state of Spain about this time, was most extraordinary; the whole people were hostile to the French, yet their exertions at the commencement of their struggle had so far surpassed any former efforts they had been called upon to make, that they now reposed in security, confiding their cause to the means which they had already provided, and sheltering themselves from any further calls, by the loud and re-echoed declarations that they were invincible. It was in 113vain to combat against this argument; if a doubt as to its validity was started, the instances of Moncey’s retreat from Valencia and of Ney’s from Gallicia, were thought sufficient to remove all apprehensions, and to silence for ever the discussion of the subject; the best informed amongst the Spaniards were carried away by feelings so congenial to their haughty spirits, and so well adapted to the indolence of their natures. The defence of Saragossa and of Gerona convinced them that the attempt to conquer Spain would be unavailing, and they sunk at once into a security for which they since have most dearly paid. If at Granada, you questioned the public authorities as to the preparations they were making to bring new armies into the field, they answered by an account of what had already been produced. If in Valencia, the defeat which the French had already sustained there was a guarantee of the destruction which would await a second corps, that should attempt the invasion of their country; Murcia could boast the terror with which it had inspired the 114enemy, since he had never ventured to attack it; and in this manner every part of Spain relied with confidence upon the levies which it had already produced, and looked upon its entire deliverance from a foreign yoke, as within little of being accomplished.

During the period of which we have been speaking, Marshal Ney commenced an operation against the corps of the Duke del Parque: that officer had collected his troops in a strong position at Tamanes; the French made a desperate assault upon him, but were repulsed with considerable loss. This action confirmed the Spaniards in the belief that they were invincible; and a general feeling was raised, that their armies should advance upon Madrid, and that the successes of Baylen would shrink before the glories that awaited them in the neighbourhood of the capital.

The disastrous termination of the German war seemed in no degree to shake the confidence of the Spanish nation; proud of its own 115feats, it disdained a feeling of dependence upon any other people for the success of its cause.

The government partook of the same sentiment; and, most singular to relate, during the period of this eventful repose from active operations, made not the slightest effort to prepare for the struggle which was to succeed.

The army of Lord Wellington which was cantoned upon the Guadiana became extremely sickly; and numbers of the officers and men fell victims to the disorders generated by the noxious exhalations of that river, and to the fatigues which, amidst the greatest privations, they had previously undergone. The Spaniards made no exertions to secure provisions for the army; so that it was incapable of active operations.

The Spanish government seized this opportunity to attempt a scheme, which will ever stand unrivalled in absurdity and folly. The 116Spanish army which was assembled at the Carolina formed an effective force of 48,000 men; it had been placed under the orders of General Eguia, when he marched with the greatest proportion of his army from Estremadura; but it had afterwards been entrusted to the command of General Arisaga, a very young and inexperienced officer; he was only a brigadier when he was appointed to this important station, but was advanced to the rank of a major-general upon assuming it.

It appears that this officer was befriended by a strong party of the ministers at Seville, who had considerable influence with the supreme government, although their views were hostile to it. He was appointed for the purpose of carrying their objects into effect; and every officer senior to him was removed, to enable him to assume the command. The other Spanish corps which communicated with the central one, were commanded by the Dukes of Albuquerque and Del Parque, both of superior rank to General Arisaga; it was, therefore, 117the object of his employers to prevent their co-operation with him, lest by taking upon themselves the direction of the forces, to which they were entitled by their rank, they should prevent the execution of the project the ministers had in view.

These persons conceived that it was possible to enter Madrid; and they are supposed to have purposed, in so doing, to effect a revolution, to displace the government of the Junta Suprema, and to seize it for themselves.

The capital was believed to be the most advantageous place for the execution of these projects; first, because the triumph of its successful deliverance would secure popularity to those who had effected it; and next, because the existing government had ever been most unpopular in that city. With these views, therefore, General Arisaga was ordered to break up at once from his position at La Carolina, and to march directly upon Madrid. This order was neither communicated to Lord 118Wellington, nor to any of the Spanish generals in the command of other corps.

General Arisaga, in conformity with his instructions, moved with considerable rapidity through the whole of La Mancha, and arrived on the 8th of November upon the Tagus, in the neighbourhood of Ocaña. The French (who were surprised at the boldness of this operation), concentrated their troops behind the Tagus, and after a sharp rencontre with the Spanish advanced guard, upon the 12th, they passed that river, and attacked the Spanish army. General Arisaga had placed his whole force in two columns of battalions, separated by a ravine, and with a corps in advance of considerable strength, which was in possession of a village which covered his front. The French began the engagement by the attack of this village; but, under cover of some ground about it, they turned the right column of the Spanish army, charged it, and in a very short time totally dispersed it. The left column was as yet untouched, but General 119Arisaga was so confounded by the destruction of his right, that he does not appear to have made any disposition for its retreat, or for the support of the attack that was coming upon it. The Spanish cavalry, which was retiring with considerable precipitation, first threw this corps into confusion by galloping through a considerable portion of it; the French, who were fast coming up with the remainder of it, completed its dispersion; and thus destroyed in a few hours the whole army that had been marched against them. The Spaniards lost their guns, their baggage, their equipments, and out of 45,000 stand of arms, not more than 13,000 were brought back to the Carolina. The loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was immense; a great portion of the soldiers, who had dispersed during the action, never returned to the army; so that the greatest number that was ever collected, of individuals who had been present at Ocaña, did not amount to more than 25,000 men.

So decisive a defeat produced great consternation 120throughout the country; the only considerable army that remained to fight for the cause of Spain had been totally destroyed; and to enlightened and unprejudiced minds, it was no longer doubtful that the French might at any time march, unresisted by any military force, to the walls of Cadiz. This opinion was far, however, from being general in Spain. All true Spaniards were yet bound to believe that the battle of Ocaña was unfortunate from some unforeseen accident; that such was never likely to happen again; and that the forces which were collected at the Carolina would yet form an impenetrable barrier to the advance of the French armies, and protect the Andalusias, till the necessary numbers should be collected to fall with certain destruction upon the forces of the invader. If a doubt was started upon any part of this position, one general answer was given, that a cat could not pass through the defile of Despeña Perros, much less a French army. Thus you were requested to be convinced, that no force the enemy could bring would ever succeed in penetrating 121to the southward of the Sierra Morena; or in subjugating the people of Andalusia.

Marshal Soult, who had been appointed Major-General of the French armies, a short time before the battle of Ocaña, seized the opportunity, which was offered by the destruction of the central army of Spain, to detach a considerable corps against the Duke del Parque, who had lately succeeded in occupying Salamanca. The French were fortunate enough to bring his army to action at Alba de Tormes, and, in spite of the good conduct of some of his troops, entirely to disperse it. The defeat of this corps laid the north of Portugal open to the incursions of the French; the whole of Castile fell into their possession; Salamanca became a depôt, from whence they could prepare the means of a powerful attack; and there no longer remained a force that could oppose or delay their operations.

Lord Wellington saw the absolute necessity of removing his army to the north of the Tagus, 122to oppose the invasion which was thus preparing. He had no longer any Spanish armies that he could co-operate with; the only two, of any considerable force, with which he was in communication, had brought destruction upon themselves, without either listening to his counsels, or communicating to him their movements; they were now no longer in a state to be of any assistance to him, nor could he protect them against the powerful reinforcements which were arriving from Germany to the French, and which bid fair to over-run the whole of the Peninsula. The system of war was now to be completely changed. When Lord Wellington entered Spain, the Spaniards had an army of considerable strength, with which he had hoped to co-operate with effect against a comparatively small and extended force of French. The tables were now reversed; the Spanish armies could scarcely be said to have any military existence; they had proved that, while in strength, they were not to be depended upon, much less were they to be looked to for any assistance in their present 123state. The French were marching an army of more than 100,000 men into the country; so that a defensive war was the only one which could be carried on against them. Lord Wellington was convinced that the hostility of the Spaniards to the French was not to be overcome: although their armies were beaten from the field, yet the determined opposition of the people repelled the yoke which was attempted to be forced upon them. The nature of the country was favourable to a protracted, desultory warfare; and its extent and poverty seemed to bid defiance to a subjection, which, to be made complete, would require a more considerable force than France seemed able to afford, or Spain could produce the means of supporting. As far as experience could lead to any conclusion as to the future, in the new warfare which the Spanish nation was waging against its invaders, there appeared no advantage to the enemy from the occupation of any part of the country, for any period of time. The moment a province was evacuated, it rose in more determined hostility, than it had 124shewn before its invasion. No advantage accrued to the French from either violent or conciliating measures; they were always looked upon as enemies; and, after months of peaceable occupation, if they exposed themselves unprotected by numbers in the provinces which they had considered as subdued, they were sure of meeting with the same hostility they had from the first experienced.

With this state of things to direct Lord Wellington in the system of warfare upon which he was called upon to decide, he felt no hesitation in prescribing to himself, and to the allies, a conduct which should protract the war; should lead the enemy to extend his forces; should encourage the whole people of the Peninsula to intercept his communications; and should give the governments of the countries engaged in the contest, the opportunity of increasing and improving the more regular means of resistance or attack.

Lord Wellington moved his army in the beginning 125of December, from the neighbourhood of Badajos to the North of the Tagus. It arrived, in the first weeks of January, in the new cantonments which had been prepared for it; they extended from Coimbra to Pinhel, while a corps, under Lieutenant General Hill, was left at Abrantes. In this position the army went into winter-quarters: it was abundantly supplied, and was employed only in recruiting itself from the dreadful effects of the preceding campaign, and the sickness which had followed it. Head-quarters were placed at Viseu.

While Lord Wellington was employed in this movement, Marshal Soult concentrated the French armies in La Mancha; for the purpose of making an irruption into the southern provinces of Spain.

The British officers who had been at the Carolina were satisfied, that, notwithstanding the boasted impossibility of forcing the Spanish army at the pass of Des Peña Perros, there was in reality nothing easier. The pass itself was 126strong, but no fortifications, which deserved that name, had been thrown up to defend it. The old road from Madrid, by the Puerto del Rey, was almost unobserved; and the force which was employed to defend the position of the Sierra Morena, which was fifty leagues in extent, did not exceed 25,000 men, most of them the unfortunate fugitives from the battle of Ocaña. With such an army, it would have been impossible for the most able commander to have defended the entry into Andalusia; but even that chance was denied the Spaniards, for they still had General Arisaga at their head. The Junta Suprema was urged to make some exertion to recruit the Spanish forces, and to prepare for the struggle which was fast approaching; but that body could only prove its patriotism by echoing the national cry, that Spaniards were invincible. Several nuns, who believed themselves inspired prophetesses, were produced to the loyal inhabitants of Seville, to assure them, that if ever the French should see the walls of that town, the fire of heaven would fall upon them, before they 127should reach its gates. In many other towns the same prophetic inspiration descended upon the nuns; they foretold in every instance the destruction which awaited the invaders; but the misfortunes they were themselves to suffer, appear not to have been so correctly foreseen by them. The preparations of the French in La Mancha seemed, however, at last to have roused the Junta from its state of apathy; Seville and the world were called as witnesses of its new vigour, by a decree for the fabrication of 100,000 knives, to be distributed amongst the voluntary defenders of the country. This piece of absurdity will hardly be credited by those who were not at Seville at the moment; yet it is a fact which stands recorded amongst the vigorous measures of the Junta, and will hereafter be a standard to judge of the hands to which the defence of Spain was at that time intrusted. The credit of the Junta, which had been fast declining, was completely destroyed by the promulgation of this decree; to raise itself again in the estimation of the public, it published an order for the 128assembling of the Cortes; but its race was nearly run, all confidence in it was gone, and a few days more completed the term of its existence.

Marshal Soult had terminated his preparations for the invasion of Andalusia, towards the end of December; he had collected a force of 50,000 men, and commenced his movements in two columns; the more considerable one, with the whole of his artillery, he destined to the attack of the principal pass by the Carolina; the other was directed to move by the mountain-road upon Cordova; neither of these corps experienced any resistance: the much-talked-of pass of Des Peña Perros was abandoned without a shot, and the Spanish army which was to defend it, retired toward Jaen. The corps which moved upon Cordova was equally successful. Marshal Soult directed a part of his army to pursue the Spaniards upon Jaen, which had been fortified at very great expense, but which surrendered a few hours after it was summoned. With the remainder of his 129army he moved with great rapidity upon Seville.

When the Junta Suprema was made acquainted with the successful irruption of the French, its first object was to escape to a place of safety, and it made choice of Cadiz for this object; but its members had considerable apprehensions, lest the populace, who were enraged against them, should impede their flight. They fell, however, upon a most extraordinary expedient to save themselves:—A bulletin was published by authority, and distributed throughout Seville, stating, that a courier to the British Minister had arrived, bringing dispatches from Lord Wellington, who was moving with the British army upon Salamanca, and was left with his advance within a few leagues of that place; that the courier, had passed through the armies of the Dukes del Parque and Albuquerque, who were within a short distance of each other, and were about to fall upon the flank of Marshal Soult. Under cover of this communication (the whole of which was false, 130for no courier whatsoever had arrived at the British Minister’s, nor were any of the movements making by any of the corps which were mentioned), the individuals who composed the Junta, began to escape to Cadiz; the populace of Seville were not long, however, in discovering the imposition which had been practised upon them; and a pursuit of the Junta immediately commenced; many of its members were seized upon the road to Cadiz, and imprisoned in the convent of the Cartjuo, near Xeres; they were afterwards carried to the Isla de Leon, where they were required to abdicate their authority, and appoint a Regency. They concurred in these directions, and named General Castanos (who was but just released from the confinement in which they had placed him) the president of a board of Regents, who were to govern the country in the name of Ferdinand the Seventh.

While these changes were effecting, the people of Seville reinstated the former Junta of their province, and added the Marquis of Romana, the Duke of Albuquerque, and some 131English to its number; but this body had not time to act; Marshal Soult was already within a few days’ march of the town: it constituted, however, the Marquis of Romana Captain-General of Estremadura; and directed the Duke of Albuquerque, who had brought his corps with him from Estremadura, to take up a position at Carmona, to defend the approach to Seville. The army which the duke commanded was, however, too weak to resist the French; he therefore fell back upon their approach; and, in spite of their efforts to prevent it, retired to the Isla de Leon. To this place Marshal Soult pursued him, and thus, in one movement, without a single action, reduced the whole of the southern provinces of Spain to the subjection of France. He extended his army to the walls of Gibraltar; he occupied Malaga, Granada, Jaen, Cordova, and Seville, and he prepared for the siege of Cadiz, which was the only bar to the complete reduction of Andalusia.

This operation was as rapid and as successful, 132as it was possible to execute. The great resources of the Spanish monarchy were reduced at one blow; the riches of Andalusia were abandoned to the enemy without a struggle; and the great nursery of the Spanish armies, the provinces from which innumerable bands of patriots might have been drawn, were at once delivered into the hands of the invader. Some persons thought, that, in the tame relinquishment of these treasures, they perceived a readiness in the Spaniards to abandon the cause for which they had, till that moment, so gloriously been struggling; but the fallacy of that opinion has since been proved. The revolution in Spain had found that country merged in all the vices of its former weak and imbecile governments. Spain had not for many years been called into any extensive warfare; it was without any military organization; it was unused to great exertions; yet the people were proud of their former exploits; and, without adverting to the changes which had taken place, believed themselves and their armies as invincible, as they 133had been during the most brilliant periods of their history. The nation had been long sunk in ignorance and oppression; it had no military science, no commanders to whom it could look for assistance, no army that could defend it; yet it had universally risked a contest with the greatest military power the world had ever seen; and which had armies, more powerful than any the nation could oppose to them, within its territory. Elated by the first successes at Baylen and Saragossa, the Spaniards afterwards sunk into their former habits of indolence. Pride dictated to them a feeling of security, which reason would have made them doubt; but their succeeding reverses never changed their first opinions; although the total want of confidence, in their generals or their governments, made them little anxious to place themselves under their directions. The Supreme Junta, which had been established to rule the country in circumstances of the greatest difficulty, was totally unable to call forth the energies of the nation. The same intrigues, which had existed under the long reign of the Prince 134of the Peace, continued under its auspices. The want of money was soon felt throughout the country, the Junta was unacquainted with the means of obtaining it, and was not very scrupulous in the application of the sums it received. The army was unpaid, and was consequently without discipline. The generals were unsupported by the government, which was too weak to uphold them in the execution of their duty. The Juntas of the different provinces yielded but a limited obedience to the central one; they were composed of persons who looked most to their own advantage in the high situations to which they had been called, and who were unwilling to make exertions, the burthen of which would fall upon themselves. In this state of things, the declaration that Spain was invincible, was the readiest mode of abstaining from those efforts which were necessary to make her so, but which accorded too little with the character of the people who were to make them. Andalusia was in consequence totally unprepared for the blow which was struck at her, her population however 135was not the less hostile to the invaders; there was no point round which it could rally in the hour of danger, the people sunk under the power of their enemies, but they still were Spaniards; they moaned the cruel fate which had attended them, but they remained steadfast through all their misery to the great cause of their nation and their independence.

While Marshal Soult was employed in overrunning the southern provinces of Spain, General Suchet (who in the month of June had defeated the army of General Blake on the heights of Santa Maria), marched with a considerable corps to reduce the kingdom of Valencia. He reached, with little opposition, the walls of that capital; but the resistance of the people was there so determined, and the means he brought with him so inadequate to the task imposed upon him, that he retired from the country without having effected any object for which he had commenced his operation; he resumed his position in Arragon, and afterwards 136employed himself in the siege of the fortresses of Catalonia.

The first act of the new regency of Spain was to request Lord Wellington to afford some assistance from his army, for the garrison and defence of Cadiz. Lord Wellington, in compliance, detached to that place a force of 3,000 men, which arrived there after a short passage from Lisbon, and which contributed materially to its defence. The siege was begun under the directions of Marshal Soult, in the end of January, 1810; and it lasted almost without interruption till August 1812.

The great body of reinforcements that about this time arrived to the French armies in Spain took the direction of Salamanca: it became therefore evident that an attack on Portugal was determined upon. Marshal Ney placed the advance of his corps upon the Agueda, and threatened to invest Ciudad Rodrigo; but the difficulty of obtaining provisions in the winter 137season prevented him from undertaking that operation till later in the year. A detachment from the French army attacked a part of the British rifle corps, under Colonel Beckwith, at Barba del Puerco, but was repulsed with considerable loss. This was the first affair which took place between the army, which was entitled that of Portugal, and the British corps destined to defend that kingdom; it was a sample of what its whole body was afterwards to meet with. Marshal Ney, commanded in chief at Salamanca; General Junot was second to him. These officers were anxious to engage Lord Wellington to break up from his winter-quarters, and, if possible, to draw him into the open country of Castile. With this view General Junot was detached to Astorga, to undertake the siege of that town. Lord Wellington was not induced to depart from the system which he had prescribed to himself, by the movements of the enemy; he felt, that however important the possession of Astorga might be to the cause he was employed in defending, yet it was more essential to maintain his army in 138the positions it occupied, and to preserve it unbroken for the great contest which, he foresaw, it would soon be called upon to maintain. He remained, therefore, in perfect quiet, recruiting his army, and giving the Portuguese the opportunity of forming and improving their troops. Astorga was taken after a defence of five weeks, and Junot returned with his corps to the neighbourhood of Salamanca. Marshal Soult detached General Regnier with his corps to operate in Estremadura against the Spanish troops, of which the Marquis of Romana had the command. Lieutenant General Hill, who had been left at Abrantes with a corps of 13,000 men, British and Portuguese, advanced to Portalegre, to co-operate with them, and to prevent the investment of Elvas or Badajos. He was directed, however, not to engage in offensive operations. General Regnier effected little. He had several engagements with parts of the Marquis of Romana’s corps, but none of them were productive of any decisive results.

In the beginning of May, Lord Wellington 139was apprized of some movements in the French army, which indicated an advance in strength upon Ciudad Rodrigo; he lost not a moment in putting his army in motion, and placing it on the frontiers of Portugal. He established his head-quarters at Celorico, and his divisions at Pinhel, Alverca, Guarda, Trancoso, and along the valley of the Mondego, as far as Cea, and upon the opposite bank of that river at Fornos, Mangualde, and Viseu. He determined in this position to await the movements of the enemy; he could decide from it, in security, either to co-operate in the defence of Ciudad Rodrigo, or to attack the French army if an opportunity was given him. Marshal Ney moved, however, but a small corps to the neighbourhood of Ciudad Rodrigo; the roads from Salamanca were still extremely bad, and impracticable for a train of artillery; he gave up therefore any further object. Marshal Massena was at this time sent by Buonaparte to take the command of the army of Portugal, and he arrived at Salamanca in the end of May. The corps of General 140Regnier was added to his army, which was now composed of the 6th corps under Ney, the 8th corps under Junot, and the second corps under Regnier. Massena brought this latter corps from the south of the Tagus to the neighbourhood of Coria, from which place it was in communication with him; and Lieutenant General Hill, who had been directed to observe it, made a corresponding movement, crossed the Tagus at Villa Velha, and established his head-quarters at Sarzedas. Marshal Mortier was detached by Soult to supply the place of Regnier in Estremadura; and the Marquis of Romana remained in observation of the corps which that officer had brought with him. A reinforcement of some regiments which had returned from the Walcheren expedition, was sent about this time, under Major General Leith, from England. As the men were extremely sickly, Lord Wellington did not choose to bring them to the army; they were embodied with some regiments of Portuguese; and placed upon the Zezere, where General Leith commanded the whole corps. The force 141of the allied army destined for the defence of Portugal, may be computed at the following amount:—

Men.

The Corps with Lord Wellington 30,000

The Corps with Lieutenant General Hill 14,000

The Corps with Major General Leith 10,000

54,000

In co-operation with this force was a corps of Portuguese Militia 10,000

The corps under the Marquis Romana 12,000

Making a total of 76,000

The French force under Massena was

Men.

The Infantry of the 2d, 6th and 8th corps 62,000

The Cavalry 6,000

The Artillery, &c. 4,000

Total 72,000

142To this were afterwards joined two Divisions of

The 9th corps under Count Erlon 10,000

The remaining division of this corps under General Claparede 8,000

The corps of Marshal Mortier which cooperated to the south of the Tagus, 13,000

Making a total of 103,000

These numbers are the very lowest at which the French army can be calculated. Buonaparte always called the force under Massena alone 100,000 men; and the French officers, before the invasion of Portugal, gave the same account of the numbers with which they were to overwhelm us.

In comparing the amount of the two armies, the description of force of which they were composed should be taken into consideration. The Portuguese had as yet been perfectly untried; and their militia was so defective in organization as to be evidently unfit for the operations of a campaign. Yet Lord 143Wellington was not alarmed at the disparity of numbers, or the superior organization of the troops of the enemy; he relied upon his own genius to baffle their efforts, and combined his plans with reference to the troops he had to command.

In the latter part of the year 1809, while Lord Wellington was still at Badajos, he had contemplated the possibility of his being attacked in Portugal by a superior force; he had considered the nature of the country he should have to defend, as well as the system of warfare which would most tend to support the contest in the Peninsula: he looked upon the preservation of his own army as the guarantee of the future triumph of the cause he was to maintain: the extension of the enemy, in the occupation of distant provinces, must be a source of weakness to him; the lengthening his communications must add considerably to his embarrassments. Lord Wellington, therefore, fixed upon the heights of Sobral and Torres Vedras, as the best positions in which 144he could collect his army, and offer battle to the superior forces of his enemy.

With such a determination, he spared no pains in fortifying and strengthening these places; the range of positions connected with them extended from the Tagus at Alhandra, to the sea at the mouth of the Zizandra; the accessible points were occupied with forts; and every resource was employed to make a line of defence, in which so eventful a contest was to be decided, as formidable as art, combined with its natural advantages, could render it. The early decision of Lord Wellington was supported by the events which succeeded each other in the early parts of the year 1810. The great force of the enemy which menaced Portugal, and the total destruction of all the effective Spanish armies which could co-operate with the British in defence of it, confirmed Lord Wellington in the wisdom of his plan of retreat. The French had a force in Spain of not less than 300,000 men; this army was distributed over almost every part of the country; 145Gallicia, Valencia, and Murcia, were the only provinces that were free, the rest were in the occupation of the enemy. The amount of this force, when collected, was sufficient to overwhelm the small numbers of the allies that were in a state of military organization in the Peninsula; but from great extension, it became unequal to the task imposed upon it. It was employed in completing the subjugation of the provinces that had been conquered; and yet that object was not advancing, although the force was frittered away in seeking to accomplish it. The animosity of the people was working in silence the destruction of the French armies. Every succeeding day brought reports of skirmishes, or individual rencontres, in which the enemy were worsted, and no account represented any part of Spain as diminishing in its hostility, or as being treated with more confidence, or relied upon with greater security, by the French.

The army of Marshal Massena, while attempting the conquest of Portugal, could lend 146no aid towards the reduction of the people in the Peninsula: as long as it was in observation of the British troops, whether on the Spanish frontier or in the lines of Lisbon, it could as little assist the views of Buonaparte in reducing the country to obedience; the destruction of Lord Wellington’s army could alone enable Massena to fulfil the objects of his Imperial Master. The preventing that catastrophe formed the basis of Lord Wellington’s plans for the campaign. He was neither strong enough, nor had he any wish, to undertake offensive operations: the state of Spain was not such as to make them advisable; they must necessarily be commenced at considerable risk against a superior army; and if they were unsuccessful, the cause of the Peninsula was lost. By the plan which Lord Wellington had determined upon, he promised to preserve his army, to increase its discipline, to augment its numbers, to draw the French into a country where their means of subsistence would be confined, and where their force would not be sufficient to maintain even their communications with the 147depôts, which must necessarily be placed at a distance from them.

Massena advanced from Salamanca in the beginning of June, to commence the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo; he brought with him a considerable train of artillery, and expected the place would surrender upon being summoned. But it was defended with considerable ability and valour, and was only yielded into the hands of the enemy upon the 18th of July, after the breaches were practicable and the principal defences destroyed. Many persons at the time conceived that Lord Wellington had seen the fall of this fortress with considerable indifference, since he had made no movement to relieve it; but it is only necessary to point out the results of victory or defeat to the different armies, to shew the propriety of Lord Wellington’s determination not to risk a general action. To attack the French he must have crossed the Coa and the Agueda; if he had been defeated, he would have had great difficulty in repassing those rivers, and saving the 148wrecks of his army; he would no longer have been able to provide for the defence of Portugal with a beaten army; he must have evacuated the country. If he beat the French they would have retired upon reinforcements, and would have been prepared to advance upon him again in a very short time. Lord Wellington would have had to lament the brave men he must have lost in an action, which would but have relieved Ciudad Rodrigo for a short time, as he must afterwards have abandoned it to the superior numbers of the enemy. His army must also have been considerably weakened; and most likely would have been unequal to the task afterwards to be imposed upon it, in the defence of Portugal.

Soon after the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, the British advanced guard, under Major General Crawford, retired from the fort of La Conception, and was placed in a position under the walls of Almeida. Lord Wellington directed this corps to fall back across the Coa; but, from some misapprehension, these orders 149were not executed, and it was attacked upon the 24th of July. The French had the whole corps of Ney engaged in this affair; it manœuvred under cover of its cavalry upon the right of Major General Crawford, who did not decide upon his retreat until it had gained his flank. The British and Portuguese troops behaved with great gallantry, but they could not cope with numbers so superior to their own; they retired across the bridge over the Coa, in some confusion, but formed to defend it, and repulsed the repeated attacks of the enemy to gain possession of it. Major General Crawford had been previously, for a considerable time, with his advanced guard close to the French army. During the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, he had maintained a communication with the place, and had assisted Don Julian Sanches in his successful effort to leave it. This officer, who had for a long time commanded a corps of Guerrillas, and who had been most fortunate in his enterprises against the enemy, was enclosed within the walls of this fortress, by the rapidity with which the 150French had invested it. Massena was aware of the circumstance, and vowed vengeance against this chief of banditti (as he was pleased to designate him). But Don Julian determined to force his way through the besieging army. He formed his corps in close column, placed his wife by his side at the head of it, and left the town soon after dark. As soon as he was challenged by the French sentries, he moved at full gallop upon them; cut down those that he met with, and continued his course till he had passed through the army. He arrived in safety at the quarters of Major General Crawford, and soon after retaliated upon several of the enemy the vengeance they had threatened to inflict upon him.

On the day on which Ciudad Rodrigo surrendered, General Crawford, while making a reconnoissance, fell in with a strong patrole from the French army; he engaged in an affair with it, which did not turn out successfully; the French infantry repulsed three successive charges of the British cavalry, in one of which 151Colonel Talbot, of the 14th Light Dragoons, was killed; and, profiting by a mistake amongst our own troops, who took each other for enemies, it retired with little loss to the corps which was supporting it: the cavalry which accompanied it was taken.

Marshal Massena invested Almeida on the 24th of July, immediately after the affair under the walls of that place with the corps of Major General Crawford. Lord Wellington retired from Alverca (where he had placed his head-quarters during the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo) to his former station at Celorico; he also drew back the divisions that were at Pinhel and Trancoso, and placed them in rear of Celorico, along the valley of the Mondego; he was thus prepared to commence his retreat upon the lines, in case the enemy had determined to push forward, before the capture of Almeida. Massena preferred, however, the surer game, and commenced the siege of that place. He was considerably delayed in his operations by the nature of the ground, and 152was not able to open his fire upon it till the 23d of August. Lord Wellington determined to assist the place in its defence, although he did not choose to risk an action to relieve it; he moved up his whole army as soon as the firing had commenced from the trenches, and, on the 27th of August, had determined to place it upon the banks of the Coa. In the course of that day, however, Lord Wellington, while reconnoitring, was surprised to find that all firing had ceased about Almeida. The telegraph, by which he communicated with it, no longer sent him any information, and he was afraid it had surrendered; he observed a person walking upon the glacis, which confirmed his suspicions, and he was informed of a considerable explosion which had taken place the night preceding. Lord Wellington immediately ordered his army to be ready to fall back to its positions in the rear, but the place recommenced its firing about ten o’clock at night; it ceased, however, at twelve; and the following morning, in a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry, a German serjeant, in the French service, 153called to a dragoon of the 1st German hussars, and told him to apprize his General that Almeida had surrendered. The order for the retreat was soon after given; and the allied army was again placed in its position, in the valley of the Mondego.

The loss of Almeida, after only three days firing, was a severe mortification to Lord Wellington; he found afterwards, that an order which he had given when he visited the place in the February preceding, to remove the great magazine from the centre of the town to one of the casemates, had not been executed; that a shell having fallen near the door of this depôt, while some men were employed in getting powder, the whole provision of that article for the garrison had been blown up; the town had been nearly destroyed by the explosion; the ramparts had been materially injured; and the place had been left without the means of defence. In this situation the governor, General Cox, endeavoured to capitulate, upon being allowed to retire with his garrison; but the Portuguese 154officer, who was sent to negotiate (and who is the only instance of a traitor among the officers of that nation, who have acted with the British army), betrayed the disastrous situation of the place, and refused to return within it. Marshal Massena insisted upon unconditional surrender, which Brigadier General Cox refused; the firing recommenced, as has been already stated, but at midnight the town was surrendered.

The Marquis de Alorna, who was with the French army, desired the Portuguese garrison to enter the service of France, and to become a part of a Portuguese legion, of which he was to be the commander; but the whole of the men and officers refused. They were then threatened with every sort of persecution; they were menaced with the utmost rigour of the law as traitors to their country; but if they would enlist under the French banners, they were promised protection and advantage. Seeing no other mode of escaping from a treatment so contrary to every principle of 155justice, the garrison consented to serve under the Marquis de Alorna; but its object was the reverse of what the French expected; the moment the individuals were restored to liberty, they planned the means of returning to their army; and, on the third day from the time of their enlistment, there remained with the French out of the whole 20th Regiment, a squadron of cavalry and a company of artillery, but thirty men and a few officers, who had been detected at the moment they also were escaping. These troops were immediately re-formed, upon their return to Portugal; and the 20th Regiment particularly distinguished itself throughout the campaign that followed.

An incident which took place on the night of the surrender of Almeida, deserves to be mentioned, to shew the hostility of the Portuguese peasantry to the French. Colonel Pavetti, the chief of the gens d’armerie of France, in Spain, had gone to Almeida with Marshal Massena, when he left his head-quarters at the fort of 156La Conception, to induce the garrison to surrender; when the firing recommenced, Colonel Pavetti (who was unwell) set out upon his return to his quarters; he was accompanied by a Lieutenant-Colonel, a Captain, and twelve men; the night was extremely dark and stormy, and he lost his way. He met with a Portuguese shepherd, whom he took for his guide, and who promised to conduct him (the vengeance of these Frenchmen hanging over him) to the fort of La Conception. But this peasant could not resist his feelings of animosity; he found courage to mislead the party; and under the pretence of having missed his way, brought it to his own village. He persuaded Colonel Pavetti to put up for the night in the house of the Jues de Fora, and pretended that he would procure provisions for him. Instead, however, of employing himself in that way, he collected the inhabitants, fell upon the French, killed them all, except the colonel, whom he beat most severely, and his servant who stated himself to be a German. The next day the colonel was brought, with 157two ribs broken and other damages, to the head-quarters of Lord Wellington; where he was attended to, and afterwards sent prisoner to England.

To appreciate this event, it must be remembered that it took place in the middle of an army of 60,000 Frenchmen; that their revenge awaited those who were concerned in it; but that, notwithstanding, the animosity of the Portuguese was too strong to be resisted by any calculations of the retaliation which was likely to follow the act that was committed.

It will not be uninteresting to cite a trait of the character of Colonel Pavetti. Lord Wellington treated him with great kindness; bought the horse which had belonged to him of the peasants; returned it to him, and asked him to his table. While at dinner, this officer took an opportunity of stating to Lord Wellington that the Duchess of Abrantes was with her husband Junot; he added, “Qu’elle était grosse, et qu’elle comptoit faire ses couches 158dans son duché^[3].” Lord Wellington took little notice of this impertinence; but General Alava, a Spanish officer, who was attached to the British head-quarters, answered, “Qu’il ferait bien de faire savoir à madame la duchesse, qu’elle eut garde de ces messieurs habillés en rouge, car ils étaient de très mauvais accoucheurs.”

During the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, General Regnier had continually made movements with his corps upon Castel Branco, Pena-Macor, &c., with a view of inducing Lieutenant General Hill to leave the positions he occupied, and to expose himself to an attack, which was meditated upon him from a part of the force under Massena, as well as from Regnier. It was also hoped that Lord Wellington might be induced to venture an attack upon Regnier’s corps, which seemed exposed, but 159which Massena was prepared to support with his whole army. Lord Wellington, however, was faithful to the system he had prescribed to himself; no artifice could draw him from the position which made his retreat secure; and Massena was at last obliged to come into Portugal, to seek him upon the ground he had chosen for his operations. Detachments of French were also sent upon Lord Wellington’s left, with the same view of engaging him to break up from the positions he occupied; but all these movements failed in their object.

From the neighbourhood of Almeida there are three roads which lead directly to the centre of Portugal; that on the right by Trancoso to Viseu, the centre by Celorico to Fornos Mangualde and Viseu; the third by Celorico, Villa Cortes, Pinhancos, Puente de Marcella, and from hence to Coimbra and Thomar; from Viseu the road also leads by Busaco to Coimbra. The right and centre roads were extremely bad; so much so, that Lord Wellington condemned a considerable 160part of them as improper for artillery; he chose the road to Puente de Marcella as the fittest for his operations, and bestowed the greatest pains in improving it. After the fall of Almeida, he had placed the infantry of his own corps along this road with the rear divisions, as far back as Puente de Marcella. The corps of Major General Leith was moved from the Zezere to Thomar, so as to be within reach for any assistance that might be required from it; and Lieutenant General Hill was kept at Sarzedas to cover the road along the Tagus upon Abrantes and Lisbon; but was directed to be prepared to move by the road of Formoso and Pedragoa Grande, to Puente de Marcella, in case Lord Wellington should require him to do so. The cavalry was in front of the whole army, and had its advanced posts at Alverca.

Massena commenced his march into Portugal upon the 16th of September; his army advanced in three corps; the 8th corps under Junot, moved by Pinhel upon Trancoso, the 1616th corps under Ney, upon Alverca; and the 2d corps, under Regnier, upon Guarda; the British cavalry retired to Celorico. The next day the two latter corps moved into Celorico; from which place they were observed to take the road to Fornos. As soon as Lord Wellington was persuaded that the enemy had made choice of that road, and that no part of their army was moving upon the road by the Tagus, he sent directions to Lieutenant General Hill to break up from Sarzedas, and to move by Pedragoa Grande, to the Puente de Marcella; he moved the corps of Major General Leith to the same place from Thomar, and he withdrew his own divisions with the view of collecting the whole army upon the Sierra of Busaco.

Marshal Massena had commenced his operations with the hopes of turning the left of Lord Wellington, and of reaching Coimbra before the British army could be collected to oppose him; he had been induced to believe that Lord Wellington had prepared to meet him at the Puente de Marcella; but he hoped 162that by this movement on the right of the Mondego, he should turn that position, and find Lord Wellington unprepared to assemble in any other. He was miserably deceived; Lord Wellington was aware of the nature of the roads the enemy had fixed upon for his movements; he calculated the delays he would meet with, and arranged his plans accordingly. He directed a portion of the militia that was at Lamego under the orders of Colonel Trant to march upon Sardao; the rest was directed to move upon Trancoso and Celorico, upon the rear of the enemy, to intercept their communication with Almeida.

Marshal Massena arrived at Viseu upon the 19th of September; his artillery had suffered so much from the badness of the roads that he was obliged to remain there for some days to repair it. General Junot joined him at this place from Trancoso, so that the whole French army was collected there. On the 23d the advanced patroles of the British and French 163armies met each other near St. Comba de Dao. The bridge over the Cris, by which the great road to Coimbra passes, was blown up; but the following day the French advanced guard passed that river, and the greatest part of the British retired to the heights of Busaco, where the whole army was collecting. On the 25th Marshal Massena joined his advanced guard, and on the 26th pushed forward to the foot of the position which was occupied by Lord Wellington.

The ridge of heights upon which the British army was posted runs nearly north and south, from a point about four miles to the north of Busaco, to the confluence of the river Alva and the Mondego; the extreme points are nearly fifteen miles distant. Two great roads to Coimbra cross over this Sierra, the one close to the convent of Busaco, the other four miles to the southward of it, at St. Antonio de Cantaro. The corps of Lieutenant General Hill which had made a most rapid 164though difficult march from Sarzedas, arrived upon the Mondego on the evening of the 26th, and was directed to move into the right of the position of Busaco early on the following morning. Lord Wellington had made a road along the heights, by which his flanks communicated, and in this situation he awaited the attack of the enemy.

We may be allowed for a moment to consider the brilliancy of the movement by which the allied army had thus been collected. Massena conceived that he should surprise his antagonist by the rapidity of his march upon his flank; the British officers generally thought that it would be impossible to oppose him before he had possessed himself of Coimbra; and the corps of Lieutenant General Hill was universally thought to be totally beyond the reach of the army of Lord Wellington. Marshal Massena for a long time disbelieved the fact of its junction at Busaco; and after he had been convinced of it, denied the possibility of its having marched from Sarzedas. Yet Lord Wellington, in spite of 165the difficulties opposed to him, of the able movements intended to surprise him, and of the triumphant predictions of his adversary, collected his force from situations in which it seemed totally divided from him, and was prepared to fight the enemy with the whole strength of the allied army, without having lost a single man in the attainment of his object. The corps of militia under Colonel Trant, which had been ordered to Sardao, from whence it was to have moved into the Sierra of Caramula, was the only one which had not reached the ground assigned to it; this failure was occasioned by some false information as to the possession of a pass by the enemy, which obliged that corps to move by a circuitous road through Oporto. It arrived upon the Vouga on the 28th, but too late to effect the object for which it was intended.

On the morning of the 27th of September the whole French army was arrayed in front of the British position, from whence every part of it was distinctly to be seen. The corps of Marshal 166Ney was formed in close columns at the foot of the hill opposite the convent of Busaco. The corps of General Regnier was opposite the third division of British under Major General Picton, and prepared to advance by the road to Coimbra, which passed over the height by St. Antonio de Cantaro. The corps of General Junot was in reserve with the greater part of the cavalry, and was posted upon some rising ground about a league in the rear of Marshal Ney.

The battle commenced by a fire from the light troops of both armies, in advance of the position which was occupied by the allies; a detachment from the corps of Marshal Ney next made an attack upon a village in front of the light division, which was ceded with little opposition; this village, although of importance to the allied army, was without the position in which Lord Wellington had determined to receive the enemy’s attack; he therefore abandoned it, choosing rather to suffer some annoyance from its possession by the enemy, 167than risk the chance of an action to maintain it, in less advantageous ground than the position he had fixed upon. Marshal Massena was now convinced that he must fight Lord Wellington upon his own ground; he therefore directed General Regnier to advance to the assault of the position in his front, while the 1st division of Marshal Ney’s corps, supported by the other two, and a great proportion of artillery, was ordered to establish itself upon the heights occupied by the light division. General Regnier first brought his corps into action; the British regiments opposed to him had not reached the positions that were assigned to them; and, for a moment, a considerable column of French possessed itself of a point within our line. Major General Picton instantly marched against this column with a few companies which he had collected; Major General Lightburne’s brigade, directed by Lord Wellington, moved upon its right, while the 88th, 45th, and Colonel Douglass’s Regiment of Portuguese, attempted to gain its left; the troops with Major General Picton, however, 168first dislodged the enemy by a most brilliant attack with the bayonet, driving him, though infinitely superior in numbers, from the strong ground he had got possession of; the other regiments came up in time to harass him in his retreat; and the arrival of Major General Leith’s division, which took place at this moment, convinced General Regnier that he had better discontinue a contest, in which he had so little prospect of success. He withdrew his divisions, therefore, and formed upon the ground from which he had originally moved. During this attack, Marshal Ney formed a part of his corps in column of mass, and directed it to ascend the height upon the right of the village, of which he had before obtained possession. The ground was extremely steep, and the column was but little annoyed in its ascent; as soon, however, as it had gained the summit, the guns attached to the light division opened a most destructive fire upon it, and the division charged it with the bayonet. The column was overthrown in an instant; the riflemen charged its flanks while 169Major General Crawford pursued it down the hill; the foremost regiments of the column were almost totally destroyed, General Simon wounded and taken and the whole division completely routed. The expression of a French soldier engaged in this attack, who was afterwards taken, “Qu’il se laissa rouler du haut en bas de la montagne, sans savoir comment il échappa,” best explains the mode in which the remnants of this column escaped. The allies pursued it across the valley, and thus put an end to the sanguine expectations of the enemy, and to their boasted promise, of driving us like sheep from our position. The rest of the day was occupied by an incessant fire between the light troops of the two armies; Marshal Massena had placed a considerable number of battalions in the road, which extended along the ravine, at the foot of the ridge on which we were formed; and he had hoped to induce Lord Wellington to reinforce the troops that were engaged with these battalions, and by that means to get him into an action of some consequence, out of the position which 170he occupied. This system had frequently been successful to the French; the commanders who have been opposed to them have been unwilling to allow their too near approach to their army, and have continued to reinforce the advanced posts, till the greater part of their troops had been drawn into an action, away from the ground on which they had decided to accept a battle; but Lord Wellington was not thus to be imposed upon; he directed the light troops, when pressed, to retire, and to give the enemy an opportunity of attacking his position, if he could persuade himself to do so. At the approach of night, Marshal Massena having lost all hopes of succeeding against the allies, withdrew his troops from the advanced positions he occupied, and placed them at some distance in the rear, near the ground which was occupied by General Junot. Major General Crawford then sent to the officer who commanded in the village, which had been ceded in the morning, telling him that the possession of it was necessary to his corps, and therefore directing him to abandon it. The officer refused, 171with a declaration that he would die in defence of the post he was intrusted with. Major General Crawford immediately ordered six guns to open upon him, and some companies of the 43d and Rifle Corps to charge the village. The French were instantly driven out of it, and the advanced post of the light division put in possession of it.

The battle of Busaco was thus terminated. The French lost 10,000 men killed, wounded, and prisoners, in the course of the day; and Marshal Massena was first enabled to form an estimate of the talents of the General, and the bravery of the troops which he was directed to drive headlong into the sea.

On the morning of the 28th, the two armies maintained their respective positions; towards the middle of the day, however, the French were observed to be retiring; they set fire to the woods to conceal their movement, but the height of Busaco so commanded the whole country, that their march was distinctly seen. 172Lord Wellington had been extremely anxious for the arrival of the corps of militia, under Colonel Trant, upon the Sierra of Caramula, the road over which communicated from Viseu to the great road from Oporto to Coimbra, near Sardao, Bamfiela and Avelans. This was the only pass by which the positions of the Sierra of Busaco could be turned, and there were parts of it so extremely difficult, that if this corps of militia had had the necessary time to destroy the bridges, and to avail itself of the positions afforded by the ravines which intersect the road, it might have opposed a most decisive resistance to the advance of the enemy. Lord Wellington did not choose to detach any part of the force which he considered as his effective army, to execute his object in this Sierra; such a corps might be cut off from him, or might have great difficulty in rejoining him; and he was resolved never to depart from his determination, that the great contest for the possession of Portugal should be fought by his whole army, and in a position which should leave the event as little doubtful as was possible 173in military operations. The corps of Colonel Trant did not form a part of the force which Lord Wellington had decided to keep with him; he intended it for the defence of Oporto, to which place its retreat was not likely to be interrupted from the Sierra of Caramula; it had therefore been ordered to occupy the latter position; but Lord Wellington would not supply its absence by any other detachment.

As soon as Lord Wellington perceived the retreat of the enemy, he suspected that his object was to pass by the road just described. Colonel Trant had arrived upon the Vouga, late on the 28th; Lord Wellington was already aware, that a considerable corps of the enemy was by that time in possession of the Sierra; he therefore gave up the hope of seeing it occupied, and in the same night withdrew his whole army from Busaco, moving with his own corps into Coimbra, and directing Lieut.-General Hill to move by Thomar to Santarem. The cavalry was placed in observation of the enemy, 174and was directed to cover Lord Wellington’s movement to the rear. Colonel Trant was ordered to post his corps along the north bank of the Vouga; and a part of the militia from Lamego was ordered to enter Viseu in the enemy’s rear.

The situation of the French army began at this time to wear a less promising appearance; its communication with Spain was totally cut off; its supply of provisions was nearly exhausted; it had no means of obtaining subsistence but from the country; and the total evacuation of it by the inhabitants, of which, according to the French accounts, they had not seen twenty since their entry into Portugal, made this last resource extremely precarious. The allies, on the contrary, had beat the whole French army; they had gained confidence in themselves; the Portuguese troops had behaved with great bravery; the army relied with implicit faith on its commander; and it felt that, notwithstanding his movement to the rear, he was not afraid of encountering 175the enemy, but was leading it to stronger positions than the one in which he had already beaten him.

Marshal Massena appears at this time to have felt the difficulty of his situation: he had two lines of conduct open to him; either to rest satisfied with the progress he had made, and to endeavour to re-establish his communications with Spain, or to push forward in pursuit of the allies. The first would have been extremely difficult; he would have weakened his army by detaching to his rear; he would have suffered considerably from want of provisions, till the supplies should have reached him; and he would have exposed himself to an attack from Lord Wellington, while reduced in numbers. He was, besides, assured that there were no positions which the allies could take up in the vicinity of Lisbon; and he hoped, by a vigorous pursuit, to put into execution the orders of his master. He decided upon this operation.

Lord Wellington evacuated Coimbra on the 176approach of the enemy, upon the 1st of October; the town had generally been quitted by the higher classes of inhabitants during the preceding days; a considerable proportion, however, still remained, hoping that the enemy might yet be prevented from getting possession of it. But about ten o’clock on the morning of the first, there was suddenly an alarm that the enemy was approaching; the report was soon magnified into his having entered; and at one burst the whole of the remaining inhabitants ran shrieking from the town. The bridge, which is very long and narrow, was at once choked by the crowds which were pouring upon it; and the unhappy fugitives, who found their flight impeded, threw themselves into the river, and waded through it. The Mondego was fortunately not deep at this time, the dry season had kept it shallow; but there were three or four feet of water in many of the places where the unfortunate inhabitants passed it. In the midst of all the horrors of this scene; of the cries of the wretched people who were separated from their families; of those who were leaving 177their homes, their property, their only means of subsistence, without the prospect of procuring wherewithal to live for the next day, and of those who believed the enemy (with his train of unheard-of cruelties) at their heels; the ear was most powerfully arrested by the screams of despair which issued from the gaol; where the miserable captives, who saw their countrymen escaping, believed that they should be left victims to the ferocity of the French.

The shrieks of these unhappy people were fortunately heard by Lord Wellington; who sent his aide-de-camp, Lord March, to relieve them from their situation; and thus the last of the inhabitants of Coimbra escaped from the enemy.

It is not in the nature of this work to dwell upon scenes of misery, such as have been now described; but the recollection of them will last long on the minds of those who witnessed them. The cruelties of the French had made an impression upon the Portuguese, that nothing could efface; it seemed to be beyond 178the power of man to await the enemy’s approach. The whole country fled before him; and if any of the unhappy fugitives were discovered and chased by a French soldier, they abandoned every thing to which the human mind is devoted, to escape from what they looked upon as more than death, the grasp of their merciless invaders.—Innumerable instances of these melancholy truths might be detailed; but it would waste the time of the reader, and the relations of the horrid acts committed by the French would be too shocking to dwell upon.

When Lord Wellington retired to Coimbra, he passed his divisions to the rear, and placed them in echellons upon the road to Leyria. As soon as he was convinced of Massena’s approach, he directed each division to move one march in retreat, and he fixed his head-quarters at Redinha. The cavalry which covered the army skirmished with the French in the plains of the Mondego, and obtained some advantages over those who attempted to pass the 179river. The following day, Lord Wellington moved to Leyria, where he remained till the enemy marched upon him. Massena had hoped to have overtaken some part of Lord Wellington’s infantry, when he advanced to Coimbra; but having failed, he pushed forward on the evening of that day to Condeixa; still he was deceived; Lord Wellington’s columns were not to be overtaken; and he was obliged to halt for three days. His army was fatigued with the severe marches it had made; his provisions were exhausted; he was obliged to sack the town of Coimbra, to collect what the inhabitants had left; and he was constrained to make some arrangement for his sick and wounded, who amounted to 5,000 men, and who were too numerous to be carried with him. Massena’s intercepted despatch to Buonaparte, proves how strongly he felt the difficulty of his situation: he says, that he is unable to leave a guard of any strength to protect his wounded, as it would weaken his army; and that the best security he can afford them, is by pursuing the allies with the whole of his force, 180and driving them from the country. It is surprising, that the French officers should still have entertained this hope. In a letter from Marshal Ney to his wife, he says, that every thing is going on better than could be expected; that the English are flying before the French army, and that they appear to have no other object in view than to escape to their transports, and to carry away as great a number of the youth of Portugal as they can entrap, by way of dédommagement, for the great expenses of the war.

On the 4th of October Massena closed his divisions to his advanced guard at Pombal, and early on the 5th pushed forward with great rapidity on Leyria, hoping to reach some part of the allied army, but he was again deceived; Lord Wellington had placed his troops in echellons to the rear, and as soon as he was apprized of the movement of the French, he directed them to fall back; the advanced guard of the British cavalry had a sharp rencontre with the enemy, where three French officers 181and a considerable number of dragoons were taken; this was the only reward Marshal Massena derived from the rapidity of his advance.

Lord Wellington moved to Alcobaça, the next day to Rio Mayor, the next to Alemquer, and on the 8th of October he entered a part of his lines at Arruda. The French army pressed forward during these days with very great exertion, but by the able arrangements of Lord Wellington it was unable to overtake any part of his troops; several skirmishes took place between the cavalry of the two armies; they were universally in favour of the British, who closed their operations by bringing in a squadron of French. The rains set in on the 8th; the allied army did not suffer from them, as it entered its positions on the 9th, and was generally placed in villages and under cover; the French were materially annoyed by them; the roads became extremely bad; their horses, which had been short of forage, and had made some most distressing marches, were in many instances unable to get forward with the artillery; 182great numbers of them perished, and the troops who were without cover, suffered most severely from the inclemency of the weather.

We have thus conducted the British army to the termination of one of the most extraordinary operations which was ever carried into effect; the boldness of the original conception, as well as the perseverance and success with which it was executed, will command the admiration of all military men. The ascendency which the character and talents of Lord Wellington had obtained over the minds of all those who were within his guidance or control, could alone have enabled him to effect a plan which involved in it such fearful consequences. To have persuaded a foreign government and army, but lately subjected to his direction, to abandon the greater proportion of their country almost without a struggle, to the ravages of an invader; to see his approach to the capital without fear or hesitation, speaks of itself a confidence in the talents of the commander which is without example. Not less 183extraordinary was the mode in which a movement in retreat was executed from Almeida to Torres Vedras, a distance of 150 miles, in presence of a superior army, whose object was, by every exertion in its power, to harass the corps opposed to it; yet not a straggler was overtaken; no article of baggage captured; no corps of infantry, except where the invaders were routed at Busaco, was ever seen or molested. Of all the retreats which have ever been executed, this deserves most to be admired. The steady principle on which it was carried into effect could alone have secured its success. Lord Wellington never swerved from his purpose; the various changes which every day occur in war, made no impression on his determination. The great event of a battle, such as that of Busaco, won over an enemy who was surrounded by an hostile nation, never induced him to change the plan of operations which he was convinced would in the end produce the most decisive advantages. Guided by such a principle, Lord Wellington was enabled triumphantly to execute his plan; the successes 184which have since attended his career are the best evidences of its wisdom. It is a singular circumstance, that when in his turn Massena had to conduct his army in retreat over nearly the same ground to the frontiers of Spain, although he had the advantages of making his preparations in secret, and of disguising the moment of putting it into execution, yet he was constantly overtaken; the corps of his army beaten and harassed; and in every action which he was compelled to fight, he was driven with loss and disaster from his positions.

Lord Wellington placed his army on the ground marked out for it in the course of the 8th, 9th, and 10th of October. The lines, as they have been termed, extended from Alhandra to the mouth of the Zizandra; the whole distance may be computed at about twenty-five miles from right to left. The term of lines was but little applicable to them; the defences procured by art were confined to closed redoubts placed upon the most essential points, and calculated to resist, although the enemy’s 185troops might have established themselves in their rear. They were thus enabled to protect the formation of the army upon any point attacked, before the enemy could bring cannon in operation with the troops which he might have pushed forward between them.

These forts were occupied, (with very few exceptions), not by the regular army destined to act in the field, but by the militia, of which that of Lisbon formed a part, mixed up with a certain number of troops of the line. Their defence was thus intrusted to a description of force, capable of the service imposed upon it, but which would have been of trifling assistance in a field of battle. Each redoubt was provisioned for a certain time, and was supplied with the ammunition, &c., necessary for its protracted defence. The post of Alhandra, which formed the right of the whole position, was strong by nature, and was, besides, fortified by several redoubts; its defence was assisted by the gun-boats in the Tagus. The corps under the orders of Lieutenant 186General Hill occupied this part of the position. It defended the great approach to Lisbon, and its possession was of the greatest importance. Lieutenant General Hill communicated by his left, which was placed on the ground at the back of Arruda, on the Sierra de Monte Agraça, with the corps of the centre, which occupied the heights above Sobral. These heights, over which passed the second great road to Lisbon, having been fortified as much as the nature of the ground would admit, formed the principal point of defence on this part of the line. From this place towards the left, and in the vicinity of Ribaldiera, there were several passes into the main position, all of which were fortified; and the principal force of the army was concentrated in rear of them. The next points of importance were Runa and Undesquiera, supported by the line of heights in their rear; they were upon the road leading from Sobral to Torres Vedras, and were of the most essential consequence, since they commanded the only pass to the latter place within the Monte Junto; an advantage important to 187the strength of the whole position, and which never could with safety be abandoned. These posts were well fortified; were occupied by a considerable corps, and supported by the force under Major General Picton at Torres Vedras.

It is necessary to give some description of Monte Junto, which has just been mentioned; for, although it was without the position, yet it was one of the main features which contributed to its general strength. This mountain runs directly north from Runa, for a distance of twelve or fourteen miles; there are no great roads or communications leading over it; the valley to the eastward, which divides it from Sobral, is impassable; it prevents, therefore, all military communication for an army from that town to Torres Vedras (excepting that stated as being occupied,) but round its northern point, and thus requiring a march of at least two days. The difficulty of passing across this mountain was so great that two corps separated by it could have carried no assistance 188to each other, if either had been attacked. There were therefore two portions of the British position, one that might be assailed from the east of Monte Junto, the other, (of which Torres Vedras was the right, and the sea at the mouth of the Zizandra the left) which might be attacked from the west. Lord Wellington’s communication from one to the other of these branches of his whole position was perfectly safe and easy; and in a few hours the greater part of his troops could be transported to the defence of either; whereas the direct contrary was the case, as has been shewn, with the enemy. This formed one of the main features of the strength of the lines.

Torres Vedras and the ground about it was strongly fortified; forts were continued, at intervals, to the sea; and, although this part of the position was never menaced, yet it was occupied by garrisons, and was prepared to resist any attack that should be made upon it.

189In rear of this line of positions was a second, extending from the back of Alverca to Bucellas, thence along the Sierra di Serves and the Sierra di Barca to Montachique, from whence by the park wall of Mafra to the rear of Gradel, and along the line of heights to the mouth of the St. Lorenzo. Betwixt these two lines of positions, there were strong works at Enxara di Cavalhieros, at Carasquiera, and Mattacores, covering the communication between them. To the south, and on the other side of the Tagus, the heights which commanded the town and anchorage of Lisbon were also fortified, and a corps of 10,000 men, partly marines from the fleet, were destined to defend them; they extended from Almada to the fort called Bugia, opposite Fort St. Julian’s. These last defences were carried into effect with a view to resisting any force the enemy might bring through the Alemtejo against the capital, which at one time was menaced by the corps under Marshal Mortier, then assembled on the frontier of that province.