CHAPTER XXII.

SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY’S SECOND CAMPAIGN IN PORTUGAL. PASSAGE OF THE

DOURO, AND EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH. DELIVERANCE OF GALICIA.

♦1809.♦

♦FEELINGS OF THE PORTUGUEZE TOWARD THE ENGLISH.♦

There were members who boldly asserted in Parliament that the

Portugueze did not like the English. A more groundless assertion had

seldom been hazarded there. The connexion between England and Portugal

was not an ordinary one, built upon immediate interests, and liable

to change with the chance of circumstances. There were nations with

whom, during the long struggle against Buonaparte, we were in league

one day, and at war the next, the hostility being without anger, and

the alliance without esteem. Our friendship with Portugal was like our

enmity to France, founded upon something deeper. From the day when

Portugal first became a kingdom, with the exception of that unfortunate

period when the Philips usurped its crown, England had been its tried

and faithful friend. When Lisbon was conquered from the Moors, English

crusaders assisted at the siege; ... English archers contributed to

the victory of Aljubarrota, which effected the first deliverance of

Portugal from Castille; ... an Englishwoman, a Plantagenet, was

the mother of that Prince Henry, whose name will for ever remain

conspicuous in the history of the world; ... the Braganzan family, when

it recovered its rights, applied, and not in vain, to its hereditary

ally; ... and when Lisbon was visited by the tremendous earthquake of

1755, money was immediately voted by the English parliament for the

relief of the Portugueze people; and ships laden with provisions were

dispatched to them in a time of scarcity at home[13]. These things

are not forgotten ... if there be a country in the world where the

character of the English is understood, and England is loved as well as

respected, it is Portugal. The face of its rudest mountaineer brightens

when he hears that it is an Englishman who accosts him; and he tells

the traveller that the English and the Portugueze were always ...

always friends.

♦SIR A. WELLESLEY’S INSTRUCTIONS.♦

That old and honourable friendship was now once more to be tried and

approved. An expedition sailed in March for Portugal. The commander’s

instructions were, in case he should find that Lisbon had been

evacuated by the British troops, to proceed to Cadiz, and land the

army there, if the government would admit them into the garrison. Mr.

Canning stated in his advice to Mr. Frere, that the delicacy of this

point was felt and acknowledged, and the former refusal had been

received without the least resentment or surprise. But circumstances

were now materially changed. The security of Cadiz was impaired while

the French possessed Portugal, and it was thought advisable to give the

Junta one more opportunity of reconsidering the question. Permission

would now undoubtedly have been granted had it been required;

fortunately it was not needed.

♦GENERAL BERESFORD APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE PORTUGUEZE ARMY.♦

The Prince of Brazil, perceiving the necessity of forming an efficient

Portugueze army, and the impossibility of remedying the old and

inveterate evils which had ruined the existing establishment, without

the assistance of officers trained in a better school, had appointed

General Beresford commander-in-chief with the rank of Marshal.

Immediately upon taking the command that General published an address

to the army, saying that no person had studied the disposition and

military character of the nation more than himself, and that no one

could be more thoroughly convinced of the good qualities of the

Portugueze soldiers, who were now what they always had been, if not the

best in Europe, equal to the bravest. His care would be to give their

qualities that efficiency which could only be derived from discipline.

They were loyal to their Prince, obedient to the legitimate authorities

who represented him, patient under privations, and they had recently

given proofs of patriotism, energy, and enthusiasm worthy of their

illustrious ancestors. He was proud, therefore, of identifying himself

with such a people: he was now a Portugueze officer, and he pledged

himself that desert should be the only passport to his favour, and that

he would avail himself of every occasion for promoting the comfort,

honour, and advantage both of the officers and men.

♦HE BEGINS TO REFORM THE ARMY.♦

The Portugueze army was indeed in the most deplorable state; but

Marshal Beresford, in appealing to the national pride, did not

exaggerate the good points of the national character; and had it been

as easy in an army which had been so long and so thoroughly debased to

form good officers as good men, his task would not have been difficult.

With the aid of a certain number of British officers, who volunteered

into that service, retaining their rank in their own, he commenced the

task with indefatigable zeal. The capture of Porto excited great alarm

in Lisbon, which was increased when the refugees from that unfortunate

city arrived, and related the horrors that had been committed there.

The spirits of the people, however, were encouraged by the expectation

of British aid, confirmed by a well-timed order of Sir John Craddock’s

for the army to advance, giving proof thereby of a determination to

defend the country, and of confidence in the means for defending it.

The reinforcement which had arrived rendered his force respectable,

and he collected part in front of Santarem, and part upon the road to

Coimbra, to be ready either against Soult or Victor, on ♦APRIL 8.♦

whichever side the attack might be made. Beresford announced the fall

of Porto in his general orders, and took that opportunity of delivering

a wholesome monition to the army. “Porto,” he said, “defended by

four-and-twenty thousand men, and two hundred pieces of artillery, had

fallen an easy conquest, notwithstanding both the people and the troops

were brave and loyal, because the enemy had been able to produce a

general insubordination under the appearance of patriotism.” He warned

them against the French partizans; whatever reports such men propagated

were to be received with distrust, seeing they were undoubtedly paid

by the enemy to promote confusion and distrust. “Let the troops,” he

pursued, “be subordinate to their officers; let them observe strict

discipline, and the country will have nothing to fear. The enemy is

in possession of Porto; so he was of Chaves; but that place he has

lost with more than 1500 men. Recollect, soldiers, that when General

Silveira saw the necessity of retiring from Chaves, where, from the

nature and number of his forces, he was incapable of resisting the

French, there were pretended patriots who raised a cry of treason

against him, and induced a great number of the despisers of discipline

to attempt the defence of that place, which they surrendered without

firing a gun, and the troops with it, who had been deceived by them.

The firmness of the General saved the rest of the army, and placed

it in a situation to acquire greater glory, and merit the thanks of

his country. The Marshal,” he concluded, “cannot sufficiently warn

the people and the troops against those who, while they assume the

appearance of patriotism, are in reality leaders of sedition; nor can

he sufficiently recommend union and confidence, for every thing may

be hoped from the loyalty, valour, and enthusiasm which animate the

Portugueze in defence of their country.” And he assured them that

he should always inform them of the disasters which might occur, as

well as of the successes, being convinced that their zeal would be in

proportion with the services which might be required, and that they

would display a courage equal to the exigency of the times, and worthy

of the Portugueze character.

♦INTERCEPTED LETTER FROM GENERAL KELLERMANN TO SOULT.♦

Marshal Beresford soon had occasion to announce something more

encouraging. Troops were marched from Spain to be employed in the war

against Austria; they knew not whither they were going till they had

left the Peninsula, nor even that a continental war had recommenced,

so completely had the all-pervading despotism of the French government

cut off all private intelligence, as well as withheld all public.

The commanders alone were of necessity made acquainted with the real

state of affairs, and Beresford now published an intercepted letter

from Kellermann to Soult, communicating this news. The war in Germany,

said he, produced by the intrigues and gold of England, renders our

situation extremely critical. Such he represented his own situation

to be, in what he called Upper Spain, where he occupied the plain

country with a considerable cavalry force, watching the Asturian

army and Romana, and doing all he could to keep down the people

between Valladolid and Madrid. He told Soult that he could expect

no reinforcement unless it were from Marshal Ney, of whose ability

to co-operate with him Kellermann could not judge, not having any

communication with him, because the whole of Galicia was in a state of

insurrection. Marshal Soult was at this time spreading a report that

Buonaparte was about to arrive at the head of 80,000 men. Thus it is,

said the Portugueze address, that Marshal Soult, who calls himself

Governor of Portugal, endeavours to conceal their danger from the

unfortunate troops whom he is sacrificing to the ambition of a tyrant.

And when it is thus ascertained that a general publishes falsehoods

in one case, his army and the people will know how to appreciate his

accounts in others.

♦LABORDE SENT TO ATTACK SILVEIRA AT AMARANTE.♦

The French general at this time felt the difficulties of his situation,

though far from apprehending as yet the vigour and ability of the enemy

with whom he was soon to contend. His immediate object was to open a

communication with Lapisse and Victor, and this was not possible while

Trant defended the Vouga, and Silveira the Tamega. The latter enemy,

who was near enough to disquiet him, had broken down all the bridges

over that river except at Amarante. Laborde was sent against him with a

considerable force; he had Loison’s division together with his own, and

was to be joined by Lahoussaye’s. Silveira, in advancing to Penafiel,

had supposed that Soult, instead of tarrying at Porto, would have

marched upon Lisbon without delay; in which case he would have entered

Porto, and, by occupying the Douro, have effectually excluded the enemy

from the province between the rivers. Upon the approach of this force

he withdrew to the ♦STATE OF PENAFIEL WHEN THE FRENCH ENTERED.♦ Campo

de Manhufe. When the enemy entered Penafiel the scene was such as to

make them sensible how deep was the feeling of abhorrence which they

had excited and deserved. The whole city was deserted; all food and

every thing that could have been serviceable to the invaders had been

either carried away or destroyed. Every house had been left open; the

churches alone were closed, that the Portugueze might not seem to have

left them open to pollution. The very silence of the streets was awful,

broken only when the clocks struck; and now and then by the howling of

some of those dogs who, though living, as in other Portugueze towns,

without an owner, felt a sense of desertion when they missed the

accustomed presence of men. The royal arms upon the public buildings

had been covered with black crape, to indicate that in the absence of

the Braganza family Portugal was as a widow. Of the whole population

one old man was the only living soul who remained in the town. Being in

extreme old age, he was either unable to endure the fatigue of flight,

or desirous of ending his days in a manner which he would have regarded

as a religious martyrdom; he placed himself, therefore, on a stone seat

in the market-place; there the French found him in the act of prayer,

while the unsuppressed expression of his strong features and fiery

eye told them in a language not to be misunderstood that part of his

prayer was for God’s vengeance upon the invaders of his ♦NAYLIES, 102.♦

country. This was in the true spirit of his nation: and that spirit was

now in full action. It had reached all ranks and classes. The man of

letters had left his beloved studies, the monk his cloister; even women

forsook that retirement which is every where congenial to the sex, and

belongs there to the habits of the people. But it was not surprising

that in a warfare where women were not spared, they should take part.

Nuns had been seen working at that battery which defeated the French in

their attempt at crossing the Minho; and here a beautiful lady, whose

abode was near Penafiel, had raised some hundred followers; and in the

sure ♦NAYLIES, 107.♦ war of destruction which they were carrying on,

encouraged them, sword in hand, by her exhortations and her example.

♦THE BRIDGE OF AMARANTE.

APRIL 18.♦

After some skirmishing for two days, Silveira, understanding that a

division of the enemy was moving from Guimaraens to take him in the

rear, and place him thus between two fires, gave orders for retiring to

Amarante, and there defending the passage of the bridge. Antiquaries

have maintained that this bridge was the work of Trajan; but a

tradition too long established, and too fondly believed to be shaken by

any historical arguments, has ascribed its foundation to St. Gonçalo de

Amarante, a Saint, who, having taken up his abode there in a hermitage,

and commiserating the numerous accidents which happened in passing the

river, determined to build a bridge. The alms which he obtained would

have fallen short of the necessary charges for feeding his workmen,

if the Saint had had no other resources; he, however, by making a

cross upon the water, drew as many fish to his hand as he pleased to

take, and then supplied his labourers with a fountain of oil from

the rock for the purpose of dressing them, and another of wine, that

their hearts might be gladdened, as well as their countenances made

cheerful. The bridge consists of three arches, the middle one being so

large as to appear very disproportionate; but through this the Saint

is believed to have guided with his staff a huge oak which the flood

was bringing down, and which, if it had struck the pier, must have

demolished it, ... a miracle so necessary, that he rose from his grave

to perform it. Portugal has never been ungrateful to such benefactors:

near as Compostella is, the shrine of St. Gonçalo was preferred by

the Portugueze to that of Santiago; whole parishes went thither in

procession, and not a day passed in which some joyous party of devotees

was not to be met on every road leading to Amarante, travelling with

music, and increasing their noisy mirth by firing off sky-rockets in

the face of the sun. It is the custom for every pilgrim to offer a

small wax taper, and these tapers have amounted to more than twelve

hundred weight on the day of his annual festival, at which sometimes

more than 30,000 persons have assembled from all parts.

♦LIEUTENANT-COLONEL PATRICK KILLED IN DEFENDING IT.♦

The town, which contained about five hundred families, stands on the

right bank, consisting chiefly of one long and narrow street, leading

down a steep descent to the bridge. Hither the Portugueze retreated:

a retrograde movement, in the presence of an active and adventurous

enemy, tries the best troops; to the ill or the undisciplined it is

usually fatal. Silveira’s rear-guard fell back in disorder, ... the

confusion spread, and the enemy, when they entered Amarante pell-mell

with their despised and broken opponents, thought themselves sure

of winning the passage, and destroying a force upon which they were

eager to wreak their vengeance. This expectation might probably have

been fulfilled, if Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick, a British officer who

had come out with Beresford, had not been present. Short as the time

was which he had been with the Portugueze, it had been long enough

for him to become acquainted with their character; and rallying a

handful of men, who required only such a leader to be fit for any

service, he posted himself at the head of the bridge. The example

became as contagious as the previous disorder, and the Portugueze,

who, despairing to maintain the passage, had begun to withdraw toward

Mezam-frio, rallied and re-formed. The enemy persisted in the attack,

knowing the importance of the passage; but the defendants stood their

ground, and actually entrenched themselves in the street with the dead

bodies of their enemies; they occupied the houses also, and the Convent

of St. Gonçalo, one of the finest which the Dominicans possessed in

that kingdom; and from thence they kept up a most destructive fire,

till the enemy were driven out of the town with considerable loss. But

Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick received several wounds, was carried off

exhausted with loss of blood, and died within a few days, after having

performed a service for which it is to be hoped a monument will one day

be erected to his memory on the spot.

♦THE FRENCH ENDEAVOUR TO THROW A BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER.♦

The French set fire to the town before they abandoned it. On the

following day, having been joined by Lahoussaye’s division, they won

the Convent, after a brave resistance: they were now masters of the

town; but the suburb of Villa Real, on the other side the river,

was occupied by the Portugueze, who had barricadoed the bridge, and

planted batteries which commanded the approach to it. They kept up a

fire also from some houses in the suburb upon those who approached

to reconnoitre, and killed, among many others, Loison’s aide-de-camp,

and his chief officer of engineers. The loss was so severe in these

attempts, that Laborde despaired of forcing the passage, and gave

directions for forming a wooden bridge some quarter of a mile from the

town. When the materials were prepared, the best swimmers from the

different regiments were ordered to be upon the spot at midnight, as

soon as the moon had gone down; but they found the water so deep, that

no diver could touch the bottom in the mid stream, and so rapid, that

no one could reach the opposite shore; this project, therefore, was

abandoned.

♦REPEATED ATTEMPTS TO EFFECT THE PASSAGE.♦

Captain Bouchard, of the engineers, who was present at this attempt,

had been sent by Marshal Soult to form an opinion upon the spot

concerning difficulties which both Laborde and Loison represented as

of the most formidable kind. In reconnoitring the Portugueze works

of defence from the church tower, which was close to the bridge, he

discovered a string so placed as to leave no doubt in his mind that

it was fastened to a trigger, which was to fire a mine and blow up

the farther arch in case the entrenchments should be forced: at the

same time he was convinced that there was no other possible means of

effecting the passage than by forcing them. Ten days had been occupied

in vain attempts, which had discouraged not only the men, but their

commanders; more ammunition and artillery had been sent them from

Porto, and another division was placed at Laborde’s disposal, and

positive orders given that the passage must be attempted and won, and

the opposite bank cleared of the enemy. A plan of Bouchard’s was then

tried, against the opinion of the Generals, and the troops were held in

readiness to act in case of its success: this plan was to demolish the

entrenchments on the bridge by four barrels of powder placed against

them under cover of the night.

♦PLAN FOR DEMOLISHING THE PORTUGUEZE ENTRENCHMENTS.♦

To call off the attention of the Portugueze guard, some twenty men were

stationed to keep up a fire upon the entrenchments, so directed as

not to endanger the sappers who had volunteered for the real service

of the hour. It was a service so hopeful and hazardous as to excite

the liveliest solicitude for its success. The barrel was covered with

a gray cloak, that it might neither be heard nor seen, and the man

who undertook to deposit it in its place wore a cloak of the same

colour. The clear moonlight was favourable to the adventure, by the

blackness of the shadow which the parapet on one side produced. In

that line of darkness the sapper crept along at full length, pushing

the barrel before him with his head, and guiding it with his hands.

His instructions were to stop if he heard the slightest movement on

the Portugueze side; and a string was fastened to one of his feet, by

which the French were enabled to know how far he had advanced, and

to communicate with him. Having placed the barrel, ♦1809. MAY.♦ and

uncovered that part where it was to be kindled, he returned with the

same caution. Four barrels, one after the other, were thus arranged

without alarming the Portugueze. The fourth adventurer had not the same

command of himself as his predecessors had evinced. Possessed either

with fear, or with premature exultation, as soon as he had deposited

the barrel in its place, instead of making his way back slowly and

silently along the line of shadow, he rose and ran along the middle of

the bridge in the moonlight. He was seen, fired at, and shot in the

thigh. But the Portugueze did not take the alarm as they ought to have

done; ... they kept up a fire upon the entrance of the bridge, and made

no attempt to discover for what purpose their entrenchments had been

approached so closely.

♦THE FRENCH WIN THE BRIDGE.

MAY 2.♦

Four hours had elapsed before the four barrels were placed: by that

time it was midnight, and in another hour, when the Portugueze had

ceased their fire, a fifth volunteer proceeded in the same manner,

with a saucisson fastened to his body; this he fixed in its place,

and returned safely. By two o’clock this part of the business was

completed, and Laborde was informed that all was ready. Between three

and four a fog rose from the river, and filled the valley, so that the

houses on the opposite shore could scarcely be discerned through it.

This was favourable for the assailants. The saucisson was fired, and

the explosion, as Bouchard had expected, threw down the entrenchments,

and destroyed also the apparatus for communicating with the mine. The

French rushed forward; some threw water into the mine, others cleared

the way; the fog increased the confusion into which the Portugueze were

thrown by being thus surprised; they made so little resistance that

the French ♦OPERATIONS DE M. SOULT, 209–222.♦ lost only nine men; and

Silveira, saving only four pieces of artillery, but preserving order

enough soon to restore the spirits of his countrymen, retired upon

Entre ambos os rios.

♦SITUATION OF THE FRENCH.♦

The advantage which the enemy had gained would have been great, if

it had been earlier; it was too late to profit by it now. Loison had

been ordered to establish himself in Villa Real after the passage

should have been won, ... he only came in sight of it, and returned

to Amarante. On the way the post from Lisbon was intercepted, and in

that mail the intelligence which had been so carefully concealed from

the enemy was found, that hostilities had recommenced in Germany. The

superior officers knew now the whole danger of their situation, and

began to think only of how to[14] secure the booty they had acquired

by such flagitious means. The soldiers partook the spirit of their

leaders; ... they were now in fact a body of freebooters, retaining

still the form, and unhappily the strength of an army, but with the

feelings and the temper of banditti; and it was in vain for Marshal

Soult, after the system of pillage in which all ranks had indulged,

to appeal to any principle of honour, and call upon men to exert

themselves for the good of the service, whose sole care was how to

enrich themselves. Loison’s division had to fight for the resources

which were within their reach, on the left bank of the Tamega; ...

if they got sight of a peasant, a cry was set up as if a beast had

been started, and they hunted him till he was slain. One Portugueze

who was thus brought down among the crags by a shot which broke his

thigh held fast his fowling-piece when he fell, raised himself on the

other knee, and with an unerring aim killed a French officer before he

himself was put to death. Another gray-headed old man, armed with a

musket and bayonet, posted himself to such advantage among the rocks,

that, refusing ♦NAYLIES, 117–8.♦ quarter, he wounded three men and

four horses before he could be cut down. Every day made the French

generals more sensible of the difficulties of their situation. In any

other country, they said, with a fourth part of the means of every kind

which were employed here to obtain intelligence, and without success,

they should have been informed of every design of their enemies, even

the most secret thoughts. All that they could learn now with all their

means amounted only to the certainty that Sir Arthur ♦OPERATIONS, &C.

229.♦ Wellesley had arrived at Lisbon, and that General Beresford had

begun to discipline the Portugueze army.

♦SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY LANDS AT LISBON.♦

Sir Arthur had landed on the 22nd of April. A general rejoicing was

made for his arrival, and every town throughout the kingdom, where

the French were not in possession, was illuminated three successive

nights. The Prince of Brazil had appointed him Marshal-General of the

Portugueze army, thus enabling him to direct its movements, while

Beresford was continued in the command. He would at once have proceeded

into Spain, there in co-operation with Cuesta to have struck a blow

against the French in Extremadura, had it not been that the part of

Portugal which the enemy occupied was fertile in resources, and also

for the importance of the city of Porto. Therefore he ♦HE COMMUNICATES

HIS PLANS TO CUESTA.♦ determined to drive Soult out of the kingdom,

leaving such a force about Abrantes as might secure Lisbon against any

attempt on the part of Victor; and he resolved not to pursue him into

Galicia, because he was not certain that he should, singly, be equal to

the French there, and because the appearance of a British army in that

province would make the French collect their force, and thus suspend

the war of the peasantry, which was at this time carrying on in a way

that harassed and wasted the enemy, and materially impeded their plans:

Galicia, he thought, might be more certainly and permanently relieved

by striking a blow against Victor, than by following Soult. This plan

he communicated to Cuesta, requesting him not to undertake any thing

against Victor till the expedition to Porto should be concluded, when

he would come down upon Elvas, and co-operate with him. Cuesta was not

well pleased with these intended operations. Little or nothing, he

thought, would be gained by driving Soult toward the Minho, for in that

case he would be able to re-enter Galicia and complete its subjugation,

neither the peasantry nor Romana being able to prevent him. “The object

of Sir Arthur,” he said, “ought to be to surround the French in Porto,

or get between them and the Minho, so as to cut off the resources of

Soult and prevent his retreat. But,” he added, “the system of the

British is never to expose their troops; and it was owing to that

system, that instead of ever gaining a decisive action by land, they

sacrificed their men in continual retreats and precautions, as General

Moore had done, for not having attacked the enemy in time.”

In this opinion the brave but ill-judging old man wronged the English,

as much as he underrated the exertions of Romana and the Galicians: and

he recommended a plan which was impossible, unless Soult should remain

quietly at Porto, and allow the enemy to get in his rear. Sir Arthur’s

plans were well formed and vigorously pursued, nor were they altered

in any degree by the intelligence that the passage of the Tamega had

been effected, and that Lapisse had crossed the Tagus at Alcantara

to form his junction with Victor. He stationed two dragoon regiments,

two battalions and a brigade of infantry, with about 7000 Portugueze

under Major-General Mackenzie, to defend the fords of the Tagus between

Santarem and Abrantes, and the mountain passes between that city and

Alcantara. The latter place was occupied by 600 of the Lusitanian

Legion, 1100 Portugueze militia, and a squadron of Portugueze cavalry

under Colonel Mayne. In case Victor, now that the junction had been

effected, should enter Alemtejo, which Sir Arthur thought was not

impossible, he advised that Cuesta should follow him; but his opinion

was, that the French in that quarter would make no movement till they

should hear of Soult.

♦VIEWS OF THE PHILADELPHES IN MARSHAL SOULT’S ARMY.♦

Marshal Soult, in conformity to Buonaparte’s system, had endeavoured

to keep his army ignorant of the continental war. But copies of

Marshal Beresford’s address, which contained the intercepted letter

from Kellermann, were carried to Porto by a brave inhabitant of that

city, Manoel Francisco Camarinho by name, and means were even found of

fastening it upon the walls of Soult’s own quarters. This intelligence

raised the hopes of those officers who, under the appellation of

Philadelphes, had formed a plan for overthrowing the military despotism

under which France, as well as her conquests, was suffering, and

restoring peace to Europe. The restoration of the Bourbons made no

part of the scheme, for the leaders had grown up in those republican

opinions which it is the tendency of youthful studies to promote, and

which are congenial to a generous mind till time and knowledge have

matured it. The end whereat they aimed, as far as they saw the end, was

meritorious; ... the means had a fearful character, such as is common

to all secret societies, but which no circumstances can[15] justify.

The plan had proceeded to a great length in Soult’s army, and some

of the general officers were engaged in it. The more dangerous

part was taken upon himself by the Sieur D’Argenton, who was then

Adjutant-Major, and had formerly been Soult’s aide-de-camp. It is

one of the worst evils of revolution, that in such times good and

honourable men are forced into situations where nothing can enable

them to act innocently and uprightly except that unerring religious

principle which it is the sure tendency and undisguised intent of

modern revolutions to ♦THE SIEUR D’ARGENTON GOES TO SIR ARTHUR

WELLESLEY TO EXPLAIN THEIR VIEWS.♦ destroy. D’Argenton was worthy to

have fallen on better times, for he was a man of kind and generous

affections, at once firm of purpose and gentle of heart. When the

French entered Porto, no individual exerted himself more strenuously

in repressing the excesses of the troops; and many families in those

dreadful days were beholden to him not only for their lives and

properties, but for preservation from evils more dreadful than ruin

and death. This officer undertook to open a communication with the

British army, and finding his way to Colonel Trant’s head-quarters,

was sent by him to Sir Arthur. Several interviews took place; and he

went backward and forward by the French posts with such ease, and so

little apprehension of danger, as naturally to excite a suspicion that

he was acting under Soult’s, instructions, and endeavouring to dupe

the British Commander. There were no means of ascertaining this; but

the manner in which his overtures were received was that which would

have been equally proper whether they were sincere or treacherous. He

was assured by Sir Arthur that no change in the French army, either

in contemplation or actually carried into effect, would induce him

to delay his operations as long as it continued in Portugal; ... he

should march against it with equal activity whether revolutionized

or counter-revolutionized. D’Argenton, however, well knew that if

the army declared unequivocally against Buonaparte, an arrangement

with the British Commander must of necessity follow, and he asked

for passports from the Admiral for the purpose of communicating with

the army in Germany. Sir Arthur warned him of the danger to which he

exposed himself by having such documents in his possession; but he was

particularly solicitous to obtain them, and accordingly they were given

him.

♦ADVANCE OF THE BRITISH ARMY TOWARDS PORTO.♦

The movements of the troops, meantime, were continued without any

reference to the politics or projects in the French army. On the 5th of

May the whole of the British force which was intended to march against

Porto was assembled at Coimbra. On the same day Beresford advanced

from that city toward Viseu, with about 6000 Portugueze, a brigade of

British infantry, and a squadron of British horse, to act upon the

enemy’s left, in the hope that he might so disconcert their plans as to

make them retreat by Chaves into Galicia, rather than by Villa Real in

a direction which would enable them to effect a junction with Victor.

Trant was still on the Vouga, where the students had now the proud

feeling that they formed the advanced post of that army which was

about to deliver their country. He had taken measures for collecting

provisions, whereby one difficulty that might have impeded the advance

was lessened. A strong division under Major-General Hill proceeded

to Aveiro, and there, in boats which Trant had got together for that

service, embarked for Ovar, which is upon the northern creek of that

singular harbour. The main body proceeded by the high road, and began

their march on the 7th. They halted the next day, to allow time for

Beresford’s movements.

♦D’ARGENTON IS ARRESTED.♦

At this time Soult was informed that there existed a conspiracy in his

own army. A general officer, to whom D’Argenton had just opened himself

without being sufficiently sure of his man, gave the information.

D’Argenton was instantly arrested, and all doubt concerning the truth

of the accusation, if any there could have been, was removed by

discovering Admiral Berkeley’s passports among his papers. He was not a

man who held his life cheap, for he had a wife and children in France

whom he loved; but he valued it at no more than it was worth, and had

made up his mind how to act in case of such a discovery. He avowed that

he had been both to Lisbon and to Coimbra, and had communicated with

Generals Wellesley and Beresford, who, he said, would in two days’ time

open the campaign upon the Vouga with 30,000 men. If the French army

of Portugal would declare, what they well knew, that the Peninsular

war in which they were employed was unjust, the British, he said, would

unite with them, march in concert with them toward France, compel

the different corps in Spain to join them, and when they had passed

the Pyrenees, they would find there an expedition of 60,000 English.

Officers would be sent to the armies in Italy and Germany, inviting

them to follow the example, and an English ship would be dispatched to

bring home Moreau from America, and place him at the head of the army

and of the government. The English would supply funds for all this;

and if Marshal Soult refused the splendid invitation to act the part

which became him, the intention was to secure his person, and give the

command to another.

♦SOULT PREPARES TO RETREAT FROM PORTUGAL.♦

The principle upon which D’Argenton acted was that of saying nothing

which could compromise his associates, and any thing that might assist

their purpose. He was sent to prison, and two officers upon whom the

Marshal’s suspicions fell were placed under arrest. But Soult was

alarmed, as well he might, by what he had heard; and though the general

officers whom he convened assured him they knew of no discontent in

the army, it was certain that all those who retained any moral or

religious feeling, any respect for humanity and justice, any sense of

right and wrong, had abundant reason to be discontented with a service

so flagrantly iniquitous as that wherein they were engaged. Not knowing

how far he could depend upon the fidelity of his army, and certain

that such of them as had been present at Roliça and Vimeiro had not

forgotten the lessons which they received there, he thought no longer

of conquering Portugal, but of escaping out of it without delay. He

informed Loison, therefore, who was at Amarante, that he should retreat

by that road, and so by Braganza upon Zamora; and he ordered the

♦OPERATIONS, &C. 239.♦ troops from Viana to march upon Amarante, by way

of Guimaraens, while he remained at Porto to secure their movements.

♦THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM ALBERGARIA.♦

On the day that this determination was taken, the British attempted

to surprise the advanced guard of the enemy under General Franceschi.

Some troops crossed the Vouga on the preceding evening, others during

the night. They proceeded silently and in darkness, along rocky passes

where there was sometimes room only to march in single file: but the

fidelity of Portugueze guides was not doubted, and they were led safely

to an open heath, where about sunrise they came in sight of the enemy’s

videttes. The French were not taken by surprise, as had been hoped, ...

they were formed in line with a pine wood in their rear; but they were

beaten out of the field, and driven through the wood with the loss of

their cannon; and having then to pass a deep ravine, the artillery came

up in time to play upon their rear-guard. Such of the wounded as they

were not able to bear away, the Portugueze peasantry dispatched, and

miserably mutilated in their vengeance. The French had provoked them

by their barbarous usage of the militia who fell into their hands, ...

for the peasants had found their bodies hanging there, and marks upon

them of the cruelties which they had endured before death. The villages

of Albergaria Velha and Nova, which the enemy had lately occupied,

bore proofs of the atrocious temper in which this war was carried on

by the invaders. They had destroyed in mere wantonness and malignity

every thing that was destructible, ... broken open every house, burnt

the furniture and the thatch, staved all the liquor which they could

not drink, slaughtered the cattle, and pigs, and poultry which they

could not carry off, strewn about their limbs, and trampled them in the

road. And in this manner they acted along the whole of their ♦MILITARY

CHRONICLE, VOL. IV. 193. GENERAL MACKINNON’S JOURNAL, P. 13.♦ retreat

to Porto. The inhabitants, who were thus reduced to ruin, welcomed the

British with tears of joy as their deliverers, and followed them with

prayers that they might overtake and punish these unprovoked invaders,

who had brought such unutterable evils upon Portugal.

♦THEY ARE DRIVEN FROM THEIR POSITION AT GRIJO.♦

The enemy retired first upon Oliveira de Azemeis, then upon Feira. On

the next day their outposts were driven in, and soon afterwards the two

divisions of Franceschi and Mermet were seen strongly posted on the

heights above Grijo, their front covered by woods and broken ground.

Here they were attacked by Brigadier-General R. Stewart; Major-General

Manners, with a brigade of the German Legion, turned their left; they

were dislodged and pursued till night, when the British army halted,

their advance on the heights beyond Carvalhos, and the rear at S.

Antonio da Arrifana, the former about seven miles from the Douro,

the latter about twenty-five. The enemy continued their retreat, and

having crossed the bridge in the night, set fire to it, and completely

destroyed it. At daybreak the British troops were again in motion, in

full expectation and hope of again bringing the enemy to action; but

before they could be reached there was a river to be crossed, more

formidable than ever general had attempted to pass in the presence of a

respectable foe.

♦MEASURES OF MARSHAL SOULT TO PREVENT THE PASSAGE OF THE DOURO.♦

The Douro, which has the longest course of any river in the Peninsula,

and rolls a larger volume of waters than the Tagus to the sea, is

about three hundred yards wide at Porto, its deep and rapid stream

being contracted between high and rocky shores. Soult had prepared

for leaving the city, but he did not dream of being driven out of it.

Having stood upon the quay from midnight till four in the morning, and

seen not only the breaking up of the bridge, but the pontoons consumed

as they floated down, and having previously given orders that all boats

should be brought to the Porto side of the river, and collected at

one place, that they might be the better guarded, he is said to have

supposed that the English would avail themselves of their maritime

means, embark their troops, and attempt a landing near the mouth of the

Douro; and in that belief he went to his head-quarters, which were

between the city and the sea, expecting that he could remain another

day in perfect safety, which would allow time for the movements of

the troops from Viana. Franceschi was instructed to guard the coast

with the rear-guard; Laborde was to support him; Mermet to station one

brigade at Val-longo, and two at Baltar, and to have frequent parties

on his right to observe the river, and destroy all boats that could

be discovered. Orders were also dispatched to Loison, requiring him

to keep his ground at Mezam-frio and at Pezo da Ragoa, to prevent the

enemy from crossing at either of those points. Every thing was prepared

for retreating, biscuit distributed to the troops, the money from the

public treasury delivered over to the paymaster, and a battalion was

stationed on the quay, with the artillery. But the French were so

possessed with the notion ♦OPERATIONS, &C. 241–246.♦ that the English

must make a maritime descent, that this whole battalion was stationed

below the bridge, and not a single post placed above it.

♦PASSAGE OF THAT RIVER.♦

Sir A. Wellesley knew how important it was, with reference to

Beresford’s operations, that he should cross the Douro without delay.

In the morning he sent Major-General Murray up the river, to send

down boats if he could find any, and endeavour to effect a passage

at Avintes, about five miles above the city, where it might be

possible for the troops to ford. The Guards, under Lieutenant-General

Sherbrooke, were to cross at the ferry below the city as soon as boats

could be obtained, and he himself directed the passage of the main body

from the Convent of S. Agostinho da Serra, which stands in the suburb

of Villa Nova upon the most elevated spot on that side. It was certain

that the enemy would have taken all common precautions for securing

the boats, but it was equally certain that the inhabitants would do

every thing in their power to assist their deliverers. Two boats were

brought over by them to the foot of the eminence on which the Convent

stands, and two more were sent down the stream to the same spot. There

was a large unfinished building on the opposite side, designed for the

Bishop’s palace, which afforded a good position for those who should

land first till they could be supported; and some guns were placed in

the Convent garden, where they were masked by fir trees, in a situation

to bear upon the enemy with effect.

Four boats only had been collected when the passage was begun; but

more were presently on the way, for the inhabitants were on the alert

to promote their own deliverance. Lieutenant-General Paget crossed

in one of the first, and took up a position with the Buffs as fast

as they landed and reached the summit. They were attacked in great

force, and stood their ground most gallantly till the 48th and 66th

and a Portugueze battalion arrived successively to support them.

General Paget lost an arm early in the action, and the command devolved

upon Major-General Hill. The most strenuous exertions were made by

the inhabitants for transporting the troops, while this contest was

maintained, in which sure hope and British resolution counterbalanced

the great inequality of numbers. About two hours after the commencement

of the action General Sherbrooke, with the Guards and the 29th,

appeared on the enemy’s right, having crossed at the lower ferry; and

about the same time General Murray was seen coming from the side of

Avintes in the opposite direction. If any thing could be needed to

animate the spirit of Englishmen at such a time, they had it that day.

Hastening up the steep streets of Porto as fast as they could be landed

and formed to support their countrymen, they were welcomed by the

inhabitants with such demonstrations of joy as might have warmed colder

hearts than those to ♦MILITARY CHRONICLE, VOL. IV. P. 28. STOTHERT’S

NARRATIVE, P. 41.♦ which they were addressed. Handkerchiefs were waved

from every balcony, and blessings breathed upon them, and shouts of

triumphant gratulation and convulsive laughter mingled with the tears

and prayers that greeted them.

♦DELIVERANCE OF PORTO.♦

The French had been completely surprised. The very boldness of the

attempt, for history has recorded no passage of the kind so bold, was

its security; till they saw that it was accomplished they did not

believe it would be attempted. A _chef de bataillon_ told one of the

generals that the English were passing, and his report was disregarded.

Soult was assured by the French governor of the city that it was only

some stragglers of their own people who had tarried behind till the

bridge had been destroyed, and that the boatmen had gone to bring

them across, but that he had forbidden the passage of boats on any

pretext to the left bank. The Marshal was satisfied with this; and

the report that the enemy were coming was not believed till General

Foy, going upon the high ground opposite to the Convent, from whence

Sir Arthur ♦OPERATIONS, &C. 245–7.♦ was directing the operations, saw

the troops crossing, and Portugueze upon the walls making signals to

them. In the confusion that ensued among the French General Foy was

wounded, and narrowly escaped being taken, for the enemy thought only

of retreating as fast as possible, when they saw troops on either side

arriving to support General Hill. It was about five in the afternoon

when the action was terminated by their flight. The British were too

much fatigued to follow up their victory that evening, when they

might have completed the destruction of an enemy not less thoroughly

dispirited than discomfited. But in the last four days they had marched

over fourscore miles of difficult country. So complete and signal a

success against an equal enemy was perhaps never before obtained at

so little cost; the loss at Porto consisted only of twenty-three men

killed, ninety-six wounded, and two missing, and in the preceding

affairs at Albergaria and Grijo of 102 in all. That of the enemy was

very considerable; they left behind them five pieces of cannon, eight

ammunition tumbrils, many prisoners, and about a thousand men in the

hospitals.

Porto presented an extraordinary scene that night; every house was

illuminated, while the gutters were still red with blood, and the

streets strewn with dead bodies both of horses and men. There had been

three hours’ fighting in the suburbs, and before night the French

who had fallen were stripped and left naked where they lay; ... they

had their plunder about them for removal, and they had provoked by

the most intolerable wrongs a revengeful people. Sir Arthur the next

morning issued a proclamation, requiring the inhabitants to comport

themselves with humanity toward such of the French as might be made

prisoners; they were entitled to his protection by the laws of war,

he said, it was his duty to afford it, and it would be inconsistent

with the magnanimity of the Portugueze nation to revenge the outrages

which it had suffered upon unfortunate individuals. He prohibited

any person from appearing armed in the city, unless he belonged to a

military corps; and appointed Colonel Trant to be commandant, provided

the nomination should be approved by the Portugueze government.

D’Argenton[16] escaped during the night, as much through the good-will

of those who guarded him, as by the services of his fellow Philadelphes.

♦SOULT AND LOISON EFFECT A JUNCTION ON THEIR RETREAT.♦

On the following morning Sir Arthur commenced the pursuit, the

Hanoverian Legion, under Major-General Murray, moving to Val-longo,

from whence the enemy had commenced their retreat during the night, in

the direction for Amarante. But Beresford had moved with more celerity

than even the British Commander had relied on; driving back the enemy’s

posts at Villa Real and Mezam-frio, he followed up his success, and

drove them from the left bank of the Tamega; and Loison, not venturing

to defend the bridge that had been so gallantly defended against him,

retired from Amarante under cover of the night, in some apprehension

that Silveira or Beresford might have crossed the Douro, and that thus

he might be prevented from rejoining Soult. The intelligence of the

loss of Porto reached him about the same time that Soult was apprised

of his retreat, and that the point which would have opened the surest

way for escape was occupied by the allies. They met, however, within

a few miles of Penafiel, and it was matter of congratulation that

the junction had been effected. Soult’s determination was promptly

taken. There were officers who were heard to say that the English

treated their prisoners well, and that a passage to England in British

transports was no great evil. Loison himself is said to have advised

another convention like that of Cintra; but the Marshal well knew that

the circumstances were widely different, and that nothing remained

for them but flight, with the utmost speed, and by the most difficult

road, abandoning every thing that might encumber them. As the treasure

could not be transported, every one was allowed to take what he could

of it; but there was too much haste and alarm for either officers or

men to profit ♦NAYLIES, 123. OPERATIONS, &C. 249–255.♦ largely by

this licence; some chests which could not readily be forced open were

abandoned by the soldiers, and the greater number were so placed as to

be blown to pieces when the guns were burst.

♦SIR ARTHUR PURSUES THE FRENCH.♦

As soon as Sir Arthur was informed of the rapidity and success of

Beresford’s movements, he directed that General upon Chaves, to

intercept the enemy should they turn to the right. ♦MAY 14.♦ Beresford

had anticipated this order, and had already dispatched Silveira to

occupy the passes of Salamonde and Ruyvaens; but the French were flying

too fast for this to be executed in time. Their flight, however, was

conducted with great presence of mind and judgement. Marshal Soult,

when all his divisions were collected, made a display of them near

Lanhoso, not to the pursuers, but for the sake of his own men, that

they might see their own numbers, and acquire some confidence in

their strength. Dispirited as they were by the abandonment of their

artillery and baggage and the loss of their plunder, this had a good

effect; and the retreat would have been honourable to Marshal Soult if

it had not been disgraced by such cruelties as leave an uneffaceable

stigma upon the commander of any troops by whom they are perpetrated.

Marshal Soult’s soldiers plundered and murdered the peasantry at their

pleasure: many persons, when the English arrived, were found hanging

from the trees by the way-side, who had been put to death for no other

reason than that they were not friendly to their insolent invaders;

and the line of their retreat might ♦SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY’S DISPATCH,

MAY 18.♦ every where be traced by the smoke of the villages which

they burnt. They suffered for this as was to be expected: whatever

stragglers fell into the hands of the peasantry before the advanced

guard could come up to save them were put to death with as little

humanity as they had shown. Some of them were thrown alive amid the

flames of those houses which their comrades had set on fire.

♦SUFFERINGS OF THE ENEMY IN THEIR FLIGHT.♦

On the evening of the 14th Sir Arthur thought it certain, by the

enemy’s movements about Braga, that they intended to retreat either

upon Chaves or Montalegre; and he sent orders to Beresford, in case

they should take the latter direction, to push on for Monterrey, so

as to stop them if they should pass by Villa del Rey. ♦MAY 16.♦ At

Salamonde the pursuers came up with their rear-guard, and drove them

out of the town, which they had destroyed. The pursuers slept on the

ground that night, and dressed their food and dried their clothes by

the fires which the enemy had lighted for their own use. The sufferings

of the French during the retreat were only not so severe as those of

Sir John Moore’s army, because it was in a milder season; ... but it

was made under a fear of the pursuers which the British soldiers had

never felt; the rain was heavy and incessant, and time enough for

necessary rest was not allowed, ... their danger was so imminent. They

who halted at ten at night were on the march again at three in the

morning, and in the few intervening hours the cavalry had to seek both

provisions and forage, and the infantry to provide for themselves as

they could. The greater part of the men had nothing for eight days

except parched maize; very many died of want and exhaustion, and not a

few lay down by the way to take the chance of life or death, as they

might fall into the hands of the British troops or of the peasantry.

Their track was strewn with dead horses and mules, who had either been

driven till they fell, or killed, or more barbarously hamstrung, when

it was not possible by any goading to make them proceed farther.

♦LOSS OF THE FRENCH AT PUENTE DE MISARELLA.♦

A bridge over the Cavado had been occupied by the armed peasantry, but

mistaking some Swiss troops who were clothed in red for British, they

allowed them to pass; but many hurrying over in the darkness, fell into

the torrent and were lost. A greater destruction took place at the

Puente de Misarella, a bridge with a low parapet over a deep ravine,

and so narrow as not to admit two horsemen abreast. The enemy had

driven away the peasants who were attempting to destroy it, but a fire

was kept up upon them by others from the crags of that wild and awful

pass; and upon the report of some cannon fired by the advanced guard of

the pursuers upon their rear, the French were seized with panic; many

threw down their arms and ran; they struggled with each other to cross

the bridge, losing all self-command; and the British advance, when they

arrived at the spot, found the ravine on both sides choked with men and

horses, who had been jostled over in ♦NAYLIES, 126. OPERATIONS, &C.

262.♦ the frantic precipitancy of their flight. Here the papers of the

army, and the little and more precious part of the baggage, which had

hitherto been saved, were lost.

♦THE PURSUIT GIVEN OVER AT MONTALEGRE.♦

Marshal Soult was guided in this retreat by an itinerant Navarrese,

who, in the exercise of one of the vilest callings (that of hangman

alone excepted) in which a human creature can be employed, had acquired

a thorough knowledge of the country. This man conducted him by cross

roads and mountainous paths, where neither artillery nor commissariat

could follow. ♦MAY 18.♦ Sir Arthur continued the pursuit as far as

Montalegre, and then halted, finding that the enemy had gone through

the mountains toward Orense by roads impracticable for carriages, and

where it was impossible either to stop or overtake them. He estimated

that Soult had lost all his artillery and equipments, and not less than

a fourth of his men, since he was attacked upon the Vouga. “If,” said

he, “an army throws away all its cannon, equipments, and baggage, and

every thing that can strengthen it and enable it to act together as a

body, and if it abandons all those who are entitled to its protection,

but add to its weight and impede its progress, it must obviously be

able to march through roads where it cannot be overtaken by an enemy

who has not made the same sacrifices.”

♦MOVEMENT OF TROOPS FROM ARAGON.♦

When the British Commander was commencing his operations from Coimbra,

he received information from the Embassador at Seville that a French

division of 15,000 men had certainly left Aragon, with the intent, it

was believed, of joining either Ney or Soult. It became, therefore, a

grave question for his consideration, whether to return, in pursuance

of his plan of co-operating with Cuesta, when he should have driven the

enemy out of the north of Portugal, ... or push with greater eagerness

for the entire destruction of Soult’s army, instead of leaving him to

retreat, unite with Ney, and become again formidable by the junction

of this force from Aragon. Upon mature deliberation he determined

not to vary from his first purpose, because, though the intelligence

was announced as indubitable, no tidings of this division had been

transmitted from Ciudad Rodrigo, Braganza, or Chaves, quarters where

it might have been expected to be known, and because his instructions

enjoined him to make the protection of Portugal his principal object.

♦REASONS FOR NOT CONTINUING THE PURSUIT.♦ If it were not necessary,

therefore, to remain for that object in the northern provinces, he

conceived that he should act in the best manner both for Portugal

and Spain, by joining Cuesta with all speed, and commencing active

operations against Victor. Thus he had determined before he advanced

from Coimbra, and therefore he now desisted from the pursuit, satisfied

with having done, if not all that he wished, all that was possible, and

more than he had expected. Had the Portugueze at Chaves been active in

obeying their instructions, and occupying the defiles near Salamonde,

the French, who had abandoned their ammunition ♦NAYLIES, 128.♦ and

their guns, must have been irretrievably lost; the very cartridges

which the men carried, and which constituted their whole stock, were

rendered useless by the rain, and they could no otherwise have escaped

the fate they deserved from the hands of the Portugueze than by

surrendering ♦COL. JONES, VOL. I. 204–7.♦ to the British. As it was,

they had lost not less than a fourth of their army since Sir Arthur

attacked them on the Vouga.

♦VICTOR ENTERS PORTUGAL BY WAY OF ALCANTARA, AND SPEEDILY RETREATS.♦

If Sir Arthur had not made this previous determination, and if it

had been possible for the commissariat, imperfect as it then was, to

have kept up with a longer pursuit in a country which could supply

neither food, nor carriages, nor beasts of draught, the tidings which

he now received of Victor’s movements would probably have recalled

him toward the south. That Marshal, having been joined by Lapisse,

had at length made the movement which Soult had so long and anxiously

expected; he had broken up from the Guadiana, and marched for the Tagus

at Alcantara. Colonel Mayne occupied this important point with 600 of

the Lusitanian Legion, 1100 Portugueze militia, and fifty Portugueze

cavalry. With this far inferior force he withstood 10,000 infantry

and 1000 horse for six hours, and then effected his retreat without

losing a single gun, though not without a heavy loss in killed and

wounded, the Legion alone losing 170 men. He had endeavoured to blow

up the bridge; the attempt failed, and the enemy, being thus masters

of the passage, advanced a little way into Portugal in the direction

of Castello Branco. But no sooner had Victor learnt that Sir Arthur

had recrossed the Douro, than he retired by the same course, evacuated

Alcantara, and concentrated his army between the Tagus and the

Guadiana, in the neighbourhood of Caceres.

♦SOULT REACHES ORENSE.♦

When Soult’s army had re-entered Spain, and found that the pursuit was

not continued, their hopes rose, and they rejoiced in the thought of

communicating with the other corps of their countrymen. The red uniform

of the Swiss again led to a serviceable mistake, ... they were ♦MAY

19.♦ taken for British soldiers at Allariz, and the inhabitants, under

that delusion, hastened to bring them provisions and wine, blessing

them as their deliverers. On the following day they reached Orense, and

there learnt that the ♦NAYLIES, 132.♦ French in Lugo were at that time

besieged, and that both Ney and Romana had marched into Asturias.

♦ROMANA ENTERS ASTURIAS, AND DISPLACES THE JUNTA.♦

Romana, after he had succeeded in surprising the enemy at Villa Franca,

had received information that Ney was collecting a considerable force

at Lugo for the purpose of attacking him. Upon this he turned into

Asturias, crossing the mountains at the passes of Cienfuegos, and

descending upon Navia de Suarna; there he left his army under the

command of D. Nicolas Mahy, and went himself to Oviedo, in the hope

of rendering the resources of the principality more efficient than

they had hitherto been found. The Junta of that province had received

larger assistance of every kind from England than any other provincial

government, and were said to have made less use of it in the general

cause. They were accused of looking only to the establishment of

their own indefinite authority, their own interest and that of their

followers, and the destruction of all who were not subservient to

them. Complaints to this tenor had reached Romana in Galicia, and he

found upon inquiry that the greater part of the supplies which they

had received were consumed in the support of idle and ostentatious

offices; and that the corps which were raised, and which he wished

to serve as a nursery for his army, drafting volunteers from them to

fill up his regiments from time to time, were rendered useless by

the want of capacity or conduct in the officers, who either remained

in their houses, or did not support with any firmness the points to

which they were ordered. Abuses of every kind were complained of in

the misapplication of money, the disposal of offices, the contempt of

public orders, the neglect of the laws, and the interception not only

of private correspondence but of official papers. Romana was persuaded

that these accusations were well-founded; and by virtue of the

authority of which he believed himself possessed, as Captain-General

of ♦MAY 2.♦ that province, he dismissed the members of the Junta, as

unworthy of their station, and nominated others in their place, among

whom were the first deputies who had been sent to England, D. Andres

Angel de la Vega, and the Visconde Materosa, now by the death of his

father Conde de Toreno.

♦COMBINED MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AGAINST ROMANA.♦

In consequence of this movement of Romana’s, a combined operation was

concerted between the French generals Ney, Kellermann, and Bonnet,

for the purpose of cutting off him and his army, and subjugating

Asturias. Proclamations in French and Spanish were printed ♦MAY 8.♦ at

Coruña, wherein Ney assured the Asturians that almost all Spain had now

submitted, Zaragoza having surrendered after losing three-fourths of

its inhabitants, Valencia having opened its gates without resistance,

and the Central Junta having taken refuge in Cadiz, which could not

long serve as an asylum. He bade them rely upon his word, that their

persons and their property should be respected, and prayed Heaven to

enlighten them, that he might not be under the necessity of putting

in force against them the terrible rights of war. Having sent abroad

these threats and falsehoods, he, who had collected about 12,000 men

at Lugo, entered Asturias by the Concejo de Ibias, a traitorous priest

guiding him by roads which were unsuspected because they were almost

impassable. Bonnet at the same time advanced along the coast from the

east, and Kellermann with some 6000 men entered by Pajares.

♦ROMANA ESCAPES BY SEA.♦

This was an occasion upon which the Spaniards acted with as much

alertness as their enemies. Mahy was apprised in time of Ney’s

approach, and effectually disappointed one part of his scheme by

returning into Galicia, there to profit by his absence. When the

Marshal reached Navia de Suarnia he found the troops had escaped him;

but deeming the single person of Romana of more importance than his

army, and learning that he was in Oviedo, he hastened toward that city

with such celerity, and by such a route (the priest still guiding him),

that the enemy were in Salas and Cornellana as soon as it was known

in Oviedo that they were on the march. Not an hour was to be lost.

Romana sent the single regiment which was with him to join Ballasteros

at Infiesto, withdrew to Gijon, and there embarked for Galicia with

his staff ♦MAY 19.♦ and the Bishop of St. Andero. Before he had

embarked the French had entered Oviedo; having pillaged that city, they

proceeded to Gijon, but too late for securing the prey of which they

were most desirous.

♦NEY RETURNS INTO GALICIA.♦

But though Romana had been thus nearly surprised, the Asturians, under

Generals Worster and Ballasteros, prevented the enemy from deriving

any benefit from their transient success. Barcena, who commanded a

division of the corps under Worster, by rapid marches upon Teberga and

Grado, prevented the French from uniting their forces, and defeated

them in three partial actions. Worster then collecting his whole army,

advanced toward Oviedo; but Kellermann, perceiving that he could not

maintain possession of the city, evacuated it in time, and retreated

precipitately into Leon. Ballasteros meantime, who was on the eastern

frontier of the principality, finding that Bonnet was between him

and Worster, turned rapidly upon St. Andero, chiefly with a view of

drawing Bonnet out of Asturias. He attacked the French garrison in

that city, killed 800, made 600 prisoners, and won the place. The ill

conduct of part of his army, which he had stationed in the passes near,

deprived him of the fruits of his victory; they suffered themselves

to be surprised by Bonnet’s whole force; the remainder of his men in

consequence had no other alternative than to abandon the city and

disperse, while he himself, like Romana, had just time to escape

by sea. These movements on the part of the two Asturian commanders

compelled Ney to hasten his return to Galicia, where indeed he rightly

judged his presence was necessary. He retreated therefore along the

sea-coast by Castropol, and found in that province intelligence of a

nature which more than counterbalanced the temporary triumph he had

obtained.

♦THE FRENCH IN LUGO RELIEVED BY SOULT.♦

Mahy, when he turned back from Asturias, hastened toward Lugo, where

the greater part of the French then in Galicia had been left. At first

the enemy despised his ill-provided numbers, and relying upon their

artillery and discipline, went out against him; but having been baffled

in two skirmishes, and suffered considerable loss at Puente-nuovo,

where many ♦MAY 19.♦ of the Germans deserted, they were glad to take

shelter within the walls of Lugo, which, old as they were, were an

effectual defence against men who had neither scaling ladders nor

cannon. There, however, he blockaded them; and the French must soon

have been compelled to surrender, if Soult had not arrived to their

relief. That commander, knowing their danger, allowed his troops only

one day’s rest at Orense, and hastened for Lugo, sending a detachment

forward to reconnoitre the besiegers, and assure the garrison of speedy

support. Mahy then, in pursuance of Romana’s system, withdrew; but the

appearance of the French was such, after the sufferings which they had

endured, that the garrison suspected a stratagem, and could not be

persuaded that any French troops could appear in so miserable a state

of clothing and equipments, till some of the officers were personally

recognized.

♦MAHY RETIRES TO MONDOÑEDO.♦

The force with Mahy consisted of about 10,000 men. Knowing that the

troops before whom he retired had been driven from Portugal, he counted

with reason upon the speedy deliverance of the province, and withdrew

toward Mondoñedo, to receive supplies and reinforcements, and be ready

for acting as opportunity might offer, against Coruña or Ferrol. The

remainder of the regular forces then in Galicia consisted of 8000 men

at Vigo under Brigadier D. Martin de la Carrera, to whom Barrios had

♦MAY 21.♦ given up the command. That officer, as soon as he received

advices of Soult’s arrival on the frontier with the intent of joining

Ney, took the field in the hope of intercepting him and preventing

the junction. But finding when he reached Pontevedra that Soult had

hastened on toward Lugo, and was two or three days’ march distant, he

perceived that pursuit must be unavailing; and resolving to profit by

the time, he advanced upon Santiago to strike a blow against the French

in that city, prevent them from joining their countrymen, and distract

the attention of the enemy.

♦THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM COMPOSTELLO.♦

The garrison consisted of about 1900 men and 200 cavalry. Aware of the

approach of the Spaniards, and despising them as usual, they advanced

to meet them on the Campo de ♦MAY 23.♦ Estrella. The Spanish vanguard,

under D. Ambrosio de la Quadra, withstood them, till Morillo arrived to

charge their right flank; the reserve came to the support of the van;

Carrera advanced against them in front; they were twice driven from the

positions where they attempted to make a stand; and a reinforcement of

800 men arrived in time only to share their defeat. They were driven

into the city, and through it, and pursued more than a league beyond

it, till night came on: the loss of the Spaniards was 130 in killed

and wounded; the French had more than 400 killed, ... they left only

thirty-eight prisoners, of whom the most part were wounded; but very

many wounded were carried to Coruña. The conquerors did not fail to

remark, that this success had been obtained on the day of Santiago’s

apparition, and on the field where his body had been discovered by the

star which rested on his grave.

This was the intelligence which Marshal Ney found when he reached Lugo

on his return from Asturias; and though Lugo itself had been saved by

the unexpected arrival of the army from Portugal, the appearance of

that army, and the recital of its adventures, were alike discouraging.

♦COMBINED OPERATIONS OF MARSHALS NEY AND SOULT IN GALICIA.♦ The two

Marshals had not parted upon good terms, they met upon worse, and the

ill feeling that existed between them extended to their troops. Ney’s

soldiers talked of the Portugueze campaign in terms which provoked

resentment, and quarrels arose, in which the officers ♦NAYLIES, 134.♦

took part. This, however, was no time for reproaches and bickerings;

all fear of pursuit from the English being over, a plan was concerted

for destroying Romana’s army, and recovering what had been lost in

Galicia. For this purpose Ney was to act against Carrera and Morillo,

and having defeated them, and retaken Vigo, to send a column upon

Orense; while Soult was to pursue Romana’s army in the valley of the

Sil, and disperse it, after which he was to march upon the Puebla de

Sanabria, and there observe the Portugueze frontier, threatening to

re-enter it, and keeping up a communication with Ney by Orense, and

with the corps under Mortier by Zamora. In pursuance of this plan Ney

hastened to Coruña; and Soult, having been supplied from that fortress

with field-pieces and stores, commenced a pursuit ♦OPÉRATIONS DE M.

SOULT, 276.♦ little resembling that from which he had so recently

escaped.

♦ROMANA REJOINS HIS ARMY.♦

The day on which Carrera drove the enemy from Santiago Romana[17]

landed at Ribadeo, and joined his army at Mondoñedo. Here he was

informed of Soult’s arrival at Lugo, and apprehending immediately

that an effort would be made by the two Marshals to enclose him, he

marched by the Valle de Neyra to Orense, and there took up a defensive

position, covered by the Minho and the Sil. The Conde de Noroña,

D. Gaspar Maria da Nava, had just at this time arrived in Galicia,

with the appointment of second military and political chief, and

had taken the command at Santiago: him he directed to withdraw from

that city and retire upon Pontevedra, and he applied to Silveira for

assistance; but the Portugueze general could not move without orders

from Marshal Beresford. It was believed by the Galician army, that if

the Portugueze had continued the pursuit two days longer, even without

the British, Soult’s men were in so helpless and miserable a state,

that they would gladly have surrendered, Lugo must have fallen, and the

remainder of the enemy have been shut up in Coruña. If the event was

less advantageous to the common cause, it was more honourable to the

Galicians.

♦PROCEEDINGS OF SOULT.♦

Soult had remained eight days at Lugo, and had sent off for France

1100 men, who were completely broken down by the sufferings of the

campaign. Still his troops were in such a state that when he reached

Monforte it was found necessary to give them some days more of rest.

They were in one of the finest parts of Galicia, and in the most

delightful season of the year; but there was the dreadful feeling for

those whose hearts were not completely hardened, that every inhabitant

of that country was their mortal foe. Into whatever town or village

they entered, not a living soul was to be found, except those who from

infirmity were unable to follow their countrymen. They who had arms

were gone to join the army; the others, with the women and children,

had taken refuge in the wild parts of that wild region, and were on the

watch for every opportunity of weakening their invaders by putting a

straggler to death. During the five days that they halted, the French

suffered considerable loss; and when they attempted to cross the Sil,

they found it not so practicable for them to effect a passage in the

face of an enemy, as it had been for the English at Porto. That sort

of war was kept up which, under the circumstances of Spain, tended

to the sure destruction of the invaders. The Spaniards never exposed

themselves, and never lost an opportunity of harassing the enemy. They

availed themselves of their perfect knowledge of the country to profit

by every spot that afforded cover to their marksmen; and leaving their

fields to be ravaged, their property to be plundered, and their houses

to be destroyed, they applied themselves, with a brave recklessness

of every thing except their duty, to the great object of ridding the

country of its invaders. Wherever the French bivouacked, the scene

was such as might rather have been looked for in a camp of predatory

Tartars than in that of a civilized people. Food, and forage, and

skins of wine, and clothes and church vestments, books and guitars,

and all the bulkier articles of wasteful spoil, were heaped together

in their huts with the planks and doors of the habitations which they

had demolished. Some of the men, retaining amid this brutal service

the characteristic activity and cleverness of their nation, fitted

up their huts with hangings from their last scene of pillage, with a

regard to comfort ♦NAYLIES, 147.♦ hardly to have been expected in their

situation, and a love of gaiety only to be found in Frenchmen. The

idlers were contented with a tub, and if the tub were large enough,

three or four would stow themselves in it.

♦CRUELTIES EXERCISED BY THE FRENCH.♦

The utmost efforts of the French were ineffectual against the spirit

which had now been raised in Galicia. It was in vain that detachments

were sent wherever the Spaniards appeared in a body: accustomed as the

invaders were to the work of destruction, they were baffled by a people

who dispersed before a superior force could reach them, and assembled

again as easily as they had separated. The task of burning villages,

erecting gibbets, and executing, as if in justice, such Spaniards as

fell into his hands, was assigned to Loison, who discharged it to the

utmost of his power with characteristic remorselessness. But it is not

upon Loison, however willing and apt an agent of such wickedness, and

however much of the guilt he may have made his own, that the infamy

of these measures must be charged; it was the system of the French

government, and the French Marshals had consented to act upon it; and

that they were as ready to have acted upon it toward the British army,

if fortune had enabled them, as toward those whom they called the

Spanish insurgents, was evinced by their putting to death ♦SEE VOL. II.

P. 451.♦ a handful of stragglers near Talavera, and by the manner in

which the bulletins announced an act as disgraceful to the army which

permitted it, as it was repugnant to all the laws and usages of war.

♦DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH AT THE BRIDGE OF S. PAYO.♦

While Soult was thus employed in the interior of the province, laying

it waste with fire and sword, always in pursuit, but always baffled,

and harassed always by a people whom his cruelty served only to

exasperate, Ney proceeded to execute his part of their concerted

operations, with a force of 8000 foot and 2500 horse. Upon his

approach the Conde de Noroña retreated from Pontevedra to the Bridge

of S. Payo, where, immediately after the recovery of Vigo, Morillo

had broken down two of the arches, and thrown up works for defending

the passage. In this position, which had thus in ♦1809. JUNE.♦ good

time been strengthened, Noroña resolved to make a stand for covering

Vigo, from whence the Spaniards now received their stores. Boats were

procured from Vigo and Redondela to form a bridge for the passage of

the troops; enough could not be found to construct one in the usual

form, and it was necessary to moor them broadside to the stream, fasten

them together head and stern, and then lay planks along, torn from

the neighbouring houses. The narrowness of this bridge considerably

lengthened the time employed in passing, nevertheless the passage

was effected before the enemy appeared. The troops were formed on

the southern bank; they were now increased to between 6000 and 7000

men, besides 3000 who were without fire-arms; they had 120 horse, and

nine field-pieces, and a battery of two eighteen-pounders planted on

a height above the bridge. Captain M’Kinley, who was still in the

port of Vigo, was informed of this on the evening of the 6th of June.

Very early the following morning he went up in his barge to S. Payo,

and while he was conferring with Carrera, the French appeared on the

opposite bank. The Galician troops had undergone great fatigue, having

been constantly exposed to continued and heavy rain: nothing, however,

could exceed their spirit; it required all the efforts of their

officers to prevent them from pushing across and attacking an enemy

whom they had such cause to hate. Ney posted his troops in the houses

on the right bank and in a wood a little below, and kept up his attack

the whole day. During the night he erected a battery; some of his men

also laid ladders upon the first breach, and got upon the brink of the

second; but when daylight appeared they were soon driven back.

Captain M’Kinley passing safely within gunshot of the enemy’s

field-pieces, returned to Vigo as soon as the action commenced: with

the assistance of Colonel Carol, he provided for the security of that

place, and the Spanish commodore sent up three gun-boats to assist

in the defence. One of these Captain Wynter manned under charge of

Lieutenant Jefferson. A Spanish schooner and a Portugueze one went also

upon this service. At daybreak the French battery opened both upon the

troops and the boats; but the latter, taking advantage of the tide, got

near, and destroyed the battery. When the tide fell, the enemy made two

desperate attempts with horse and foot to cross above the bridge; the

Spaniards steadily resisted, and both times drove them back with great

slaughter. Baffled here, a detachment went up the river, thinking to

cross at the ford of Sotomayor; Morillo was sent to oppose them, and

after they had vainly persevered in their attempt for an hour and half,

compelled them to retire. They made another attack under cover of a

thick fog; this also was as unsuccessful as the former, and Ney being

thus defeated by a new-raised army of inferior numbers, nearly half of

whom were unarmed, retreated during the night, leaving some of his

wounded, and 600 dead.

♦THE SPANIARDS RETALIATE UPON THE FRENCH.♦

Marshal Ney had acted upon the same infamous system of cruelty as

his brother Marshals. The peasantry from the beginning repaid their

inhumanities: and although it was long before the Spanish officers

could resolve upon resorting to the dreadful principle of retaliation,

they also were at length compelled to it. It was not to be supposed

that they could see their countrymen murdered without using those means

of prevention and punishment which were in their hands. At Lourizon

thirty religioners and forty-nine of the principal inhabitants had

been hung by the French, who then set the place on fire: in return for

this barbarity 130 prisoners taken at the Bridge of S. Payo were put

to death. Barrios, while he commanded, had repeatedly remonstrated

with Ney upon the atrocious system of warfare which he pursued; his

representations were treated with contempt, and at length he executed

the threats with which he had vainly endeavoured to enforce them, and

threw at one time 700 Frenchmen into the Minho.

♦MARSHAL SOULT RETREATS FROM GALICIA.♦

These terrible examples were not lost upon the enemy: if they did not

make them abate of their barbarities, they made them eager to get out

of a province where the people were able and determined to take such

vengeance as their invaders had provoked. Marshal Ney indeed would have

endeavoured yet to make a stand, if Soult would have continued to

co-operate with him; but even if there had been no[18] ill will between

them, views of more extensive measures, and necessity also, would have

induced that General to form a different determination. He had received

neither succours of any kind, nor instructions, nor even intelligence

from Madrid for five months, so well had the Spaniards and Portugueze

cut off all communication. There was not a place in Galicia where

he could rest and supply his troops, or leave his sick in security,

except the two great ports; and there he well knew they would be shut

up between the Galician force and the English ships. He therefore

refused to concur in any further movements, and began his retreat from

Val de Orras and Viana by the Portillas de la Cauda and Requejo to the

Puebla de Sanabria. Ney, finding he was thus left to his own resources,

immediately ♦FERROL AND CORUÑA EVACUATED BY THE FRENCH.♦ prepared to

evacuate Coruña and Ferrol. He destroyed the magazines and stores of

every kind, and the defences on the land side, spiked the guns, and

completely disarmed both the place and the people. Ferrol was evacuated

by the last division of the enemy on the 21st, Coruña on the following

day, and Ney retreated through Lugo, Villafranca, and Astorga. He

had formed an encampment between Betanzos and Lugo; and this, before

his final retreat was known, kept the persons whom he had established

in authority in fear or hope of his return, so that no communication

was suffered with the British ships, except by flag of truce. The

batteries and lines on the sea-side having been left uninjured, Captain

Hotham of the Defiance, impatient of this conduct, landed a party of

seamen and marines, and dismounted all the guns which bore upon the

anchorage. When Noroña arrived a few days afterwards, he expressed some

displeasure at this; but the propriety of the measure was so evident

when the circumstances which occasioned it were explained, that this

♦JUNE 26.♦ feeling was only momentary. Captain Hotham having thus

opened a communication with Coruña, sent Captain Parker to Ferrol,

where the joy of the people, at seeing an English officer in their

streets, was manifested by the loudest acclamations, and by every

possible mark of attachment. The Castle of S. Felipe was still held

by a traitor whom Ney had appointed to the command. He had under him

a legion which the French had raised while they were in possession of

the two towns, and over these men he retained his authority as long as

the real state of affairs could be concealed. This traitor gave orders

to fire upon any English ships or boats that might attempt to pass:

Captain Hotham, upon this, stood over to Ferrol in the Defiance, and

landed the marines of that ship and of the Amazon, with a party of

armed seamen under Captain Parker, who proceeded to attack the castle.

But though the men who garrisoned it had been weak enough to suffer

themselves to be enrolled in the Intruder’s service, they refused

to obey their commander, now that it was in their power to deliver

themselves, and joyfully welcomed the English, who entered preceded by

the Spanish colours.

♦MARSHAL SOULT COMPLAINS OF SOME OF HIS OFFICERS.♦

The retreat of the French was conducted in what was now their usual

manner. They are described by Romana as leaving every where marks of

their atrocities, whole villages consumed by fire, victims of both

sexes and all ages butchered, and committing enormities too dreadful to

be recounted. The system had in reality been so wicked, that even some

of the French themselves revolted at the course of crimes into which

they had been led; and Marshal Soult, in a dispatch to the intrusive

government, complained of what he called a moral debility in some of

his generals. “In the kind of war which we carry on,” he said, “and

with the sort of enemy whom we have to contend with, it is of great

importance to the success of our operations that the chiefs who are

at the head of the troops should be not only impassible, but that

they possess a force of mind which places them in all circumstances

above events even the most vexatious.” It was evident from this that

there were officers who were shocked at the atrocities which they

were called upon to order, and to witness, and to execute. The moral

debility which was complained of meant a lingering of humanity, a

return of honourable feeling, an emotion of conscience, a sense of

the opprobrium that they were bringing upon their country, and of the

guilt and infamy they were heaping upon themselves. For such a service

officers were wanted who should be _impassible_, ... not merely unmoved

at any effects, however horrible, of the system in which they were

engaged, but incapable of any feeling whereby they could possibly be

moved.

♦HE RECOMMENDS A PLAN FOR SECURING GALICIA.♦

The dispatch in which this memorable avowal was contained was

intercepted by one of those guerilla parties which now began to show

themselves in different parts of Spain. It was written from Sanabria,

at a time when Soult was not acquainted with Marshal Ney’s intention to

evacuate Galicia. The war in that province, he said, was become very

murderous, and infinitely disagreeable, and its termination was far

distant. The only means of bringing it to a good conclusion would be

to fortify seven or eight important posts, each capable of containing

a garrison of 500 or 600 men, an hospital, and provisions for four

months; by this means the people might be kept in check, the principal

passes closed, and points of support provided for the columns acting

in the province, in whatever direction they moved, where they might

receive assistance and deposit their sick. This, he said, was a very

powerful consideration; for it was not to be concealed that the present

circumstances had a great effect upon the minds of the soldiers,

knowing as they did, that if they were wounded or seized with fever

at a distance from a place of safety, they were liable to perish for

want of assistance, or to be put to death by the peasantry. A million

of French money would suffice to put Galicia in this state of defence,

and no money could be employed to better purpose, especially as a

smaller number of troops would then suffice to occupy it. Lugo should

be fortified, three block-houses erected on the line of Villafranca in

the Bierzo, and the fortifications of Tuy, Monforte, Monterey, Viana,

and the Puebla de Sanabria restored, which might easily be done. A few

other posts might be added if needful.

♦ROMANA SUMMONED TO TAKE HIS PLACE IN THE CENTRAL JUNTA.♦

Some of these measures, Marshal Soult said, he had persuaded Marshal

Ney to undertake. But when that dispatch was written Ney was on his

retreat, and so harassed by the Spaniards, that he did not feel himself

safe till he had got beyond Astorga into the plain country. Soult on

his part proceeded to Zamora, and Galicia was thus delivered from its

invaders. That kingdom was left in a state of dreadful exhaustion,

and the anarchy to which all things tended was thereby increased. Men

who had done their part in driving out the enemy, having now no means

of providing for themselves, roamed about in armed parties, and lived

as freebooters, so that the condition of the helpless inhabitants

was little better than when they were under the French yoke. Romana

appointed military governors in every province, and was taking measures

for making its resources available to the general cause, when the Junta

superseded him in the command. The pretext was that they required his

presence among them; for upon the demise of the Principe Pio he had

been chosen to succeed him as one of the deputies for Valencia, his

native province; but the real cause was the complaints which were made

against him by Jovellanos and his colleagues, for his interference in

Asturias. Romana regarded not their accusations, knowing that he had

acted with the best intentions, and believing that he had done what was

best for the country: but he said to his friends that the Junta had

never taken so false a step as in removing him at that time.

♦HE ORDERS A MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED TO SIR JOHN MOORE.♦

Before he left Coruña he erected a[19] temporary monument, in the name

of his country, to the memory of Sir John Moore and the brave ♦HIS

FAREWELL TO THE ARMY.♦ men who had fallen with him. And he published a

farewell address to the remnant of those faithful soldiers whom he had

brought from the Baltic, and who had accompanied him through all his

dangers and privations. “Neither the marches of the Carthaginians in

former times,” said he, “nor of the French in latter, can be compared

with those incessant ones which you have made among the mountains

of Castille, Galicia, and Asturias, during six months of nakedness,

hunger, and misery. You have fought no boasted battles, but you have

annihilated one of the tyrant’s proudest armies; aiding the national

spirit, keeping up its noble excitement, wearying the enemy’s troops,

destroying them in petty actions, and circumscribing their command

to the ground upon which they stood. You have fulfilled the highest

duties of the soldier; and I owe to you the reward, which all my

labours, and cares, and thoughts as a general have aspired to. Your

country was long ignorant of your best services; but the actions of

Villa Franca, Vigo, the fields of Lugo, Santiago, and San Payo, free

you from all reproach for having avoided to engage in fatal battles,

and will make you terrible to those enemies who have been conquered

and driven out, wherever the superiority of their forces was not too

great to be overcome. Brave Spaniards, I acknowledge this day the

want of that composure which I have always felt at your head. I am no

longer your General. The government calls me from you to take a place

in the Supreme Central Junta. Nothing but its irresistible will should

separate me from you, nor make me renounce the right I have to partake

in your future welfare, under your new commander. Take, soldiers, the

last farewell of your General, and reckon always upon the gratitude and

paternal love of your compatriot and companion in arms.”

♦ADDRESS OF THE CENTRAL JUNTA TO THE GALICIANS.♦

The Central Junta, upon the deliverance of Galicia, addressed one

of their animated proclamations to the inhabitants. “People of

Galicia,” they said, “upon seeing you fall into the power of the

enemy without resistance, your naval ports and arsenals occupied by

them, and so powerful and important a province subjected from sea to

sea, indignation and grief made your country break out in cries of

malediction and reproach, like a mother who complains to heaven and

earth of the degradation of a daughter in whom alone she had confided.

At that time reverses followed each other, as successes had done

before. After the battles of Espinosa, and Burgos, and Tudela, came

the passage of the Somosierra, the capture of Madrid, and the rout

at Ucles, and then, to afflict the heart of the country, the ruin of

Zaragoza, the defeat in Catalonia, and at Medellin. In all these

memorable events, though fortune failed, our reputation was not lost,

and Spain, suffering as she did, retained her confidence. But Galicia

... Galicia, entered without resistance, subdued without opposition,

and bearing tranquilly the yoke of servitude, ... Galicia deranged all

calculations of prudence, and was destroying the country by destroying

hope. Who then in that night of misfortunes would have looked to

Galicia for the first day-spring of joy? More glorious in your rise,

than you had seemed weak in your fall, magnanimous Galicians! despair

itself made you feel the strength of which you had not before been

conscious. The cry of independence and vengeance was heard in your

highways, your villages, your towns; the conquerors in their turn began

to fear they should be conquered, and retired into their strong places;

there they were pursued, and assaulted, and taken. Vigo delivered

itself up with its oppressors, and Galicia, sending these prisoners to

the other side of the sea, gave a proof as authentic as it was great,

that the Spaniards had not wholly forgotten the art of subduing and

binding the French. This was the first day of good fortune that rose on

Spain after five months of disasters, ... others followed. In vain did

Soult, hardly escaping from our allies at Porto, come with the relics

of his beaten division to succour the weakened Ney. Harassed in their

marches, decimated in their parties, cut off in their communications,

and baffled in their hope of fighting great actions, these arrogant

Generals despair of conquest, and execrate a war in which their men

are consumed without glory. Weary of struggling against a physical

force which every day strengthened, and a moral resistance which had

made itself invincible, they fled at last from your soil in a state of

miserable exhaustion, giving to Castille a new and great example that

it is not possible to force the yoke upon a people who are unanimous in

resisting it.

“_The Spaniards do not yet know what war is_, said those traitors to

their country, who under the mask of a false prudence concealed their

guilty selfishness. With such disheartening language they endeavoured

to repress the generous impulses of loyalty. Base and pusillanimous

men, we know what war is now! this terrible lesson is written upon our

soil with the finger of desolation, it is engraved in our hearts with

the dagger of vengeance. The execrable criminals whose instruments

you have made yourselves have in their atrocities exceeded all that

your perfidious mind could have foreseen, all that your terrified

imagination could have foreboded. Transport yourselves to Galicia, if

ye dare do it, ye miserable men, and there learn what is the standard

of the true Spanish character! The blood which has there been shed is

still steaming to heaven, the houses which have been burnt are still

smoking, and the frightful silence of depopulation prevails over a

country which was lately covered with villages and hamlets. But ask

those families who, wandering among the mountains, chose rather to live

with wild beasts, than communicate with the assassins to whom you had

sold them: ask them if they repent of their resolution; seek among them

one voice that shall follow you, one vote that shall exculpate you!

“People of Galicia, you are free! and your country, in proclaiming it,

effaces with her tears of admiration and tenderness the mournful words

wherein, in other times, she complained of you. You are free, and you

owe your freedom to your exaltation of mind, to your courage, to your

constancy. You are free, and Spain and all Europe congratulate you the

more joyfully in proportion as your case had appeared desperate. All

good men bless your name; and in holding you up as a model to the other

provinces, we regard the day of your deliverance as a fortunate presage

for the country.”