CHAPTER VI.
The interview that took place at Vimiero between don Bernardim Freire d’Andrada and sir Hew Dalrymple has been already noticed as the commencement of an intrigue of some consequence. The Portuguese general objected at the time to the armistice just concluded with Kellerman, ostensibly upon general grounds, but really, as it appeared, to sir Hew, because the bishop and junta of Oporto were not named in the instrument. At the desire of Freire, one Ayres Pinto de Souza was received at the English head-quarters as the protector of Portuguese interests during the subsequent negotiation. He was soon apprised that a treaty for a definitive convention was on foot, and both himself and his general were invited to state their views and wishes before any further steps were taken. Neither of them took any notice of this invitation, but when the treaty was concluded clamoured loudly against it.
The British army was, they said, an auxiliary force, and should only act as such; nevertheless it had assumed the right of treating with the French for Portuguese interests. A convention had been concluded which protected the enemy from the punishment due to his rapine and cruelty. It was more favourable than the strength of the relative parties warranted; no notice had been taken of the Portuguese government, or of the native army in the Alemtejo. Men who were obnoxious to their countrymen for having aided the invaders were protected from a just vengeance, and finally the fortresses were bargained for, as acquisitions appertaining to the British army; a circumstance which must inevitably excite great jealousy both in Portugal and Spain, and injure the general cause, by affording an opportunity for the French emissaries to create disunion among the allied nations. They dwelt upon the importance of the native forces, the strength of the insurrection, and insinuated that separate operations were likely to be carried on notwithstanding the treaty. Noble words often cover pitiful deeds: this remonstrance, apparently springing from the feelings of a patriot whose heart was ulcerated by the wrongs his country had sustained, was but a cloak for a miserable interested intrigue.
The bishop of Oporto, a meddling ambitious priest, had early conceived the project of placing himself at the head of the insurrectional authorities, and transferring the seat of government from Lisbon to Oporto. He was aware that he should encounter great opposition, and he hoped that by inveigling the English general to countenance these pretensions, he might, with the aid of Freire’s force and his own influence, succeed in the object of his wishes. With this view he wrote a letter to sir Charles Cotton, dated the 4th of August, in which was enclosed (as the letter describes it) “The form of government with which they (the junta of Oporto) meant to govern Portugal when the city of Lisbon should be free from the French.” This letter, together with its enclosure, being transmitted to sir Arthur Wellesley, he placed them among other public documents in the hands of sir Hew Dalrymple when the latter first landed at Maceira. In the document itself it was declared that “The body of government had taken the glorious resolution of restoring the Portuguese monarchy in all its extent, and of restoring the crown of Portugal to its lawful sovereign, don Juan VI., their prince, who was actually living in his estates of Brazil;” but this “glorious resolution” was burthened with many forms and restrictions; and although the junta professed the intention of restoring a regency, they provided, “that if this new regency should be interrupted by a new invasion of the French, (which God forbid!) or by any other thing, this government will immediately take the government on themselves, and exercise the authority and jurisdiction which it has done ever since its institution.”
Thus prepared for some cabal, sir Hew Dalrymple was at no loss for an answer to Freire’s remonstrance. He observed, that if the government of Portugal had not been mentioned in the treaty, neither had that of England nor that of France. The convention was purely military, and for the present concerned only the commanders in the field. With regard to the occupation of the fortresses, and the fact of the British army being an auxiliary force, the first was merely a measure of military precaution absolutely necessary, and the latter was in no way rendered doubtful by any act which had been committed; he sir Hew was instructed by his government to assist in restoring the prince regent of Portugal to his lawful rights, without any secret or interested motives; finally, the Portuguese general had been invited to assist in the negotiations, and if he had not done so, the blame rested with himself. And to this sir Hew might have justly added, that the conduct of Freire in withdrawing his troops at the most critical moment of the campaign, by no means entitled him to assume a high tone towards those whom he had so disgracefully deserted in the hour of danger.
The Portuguese general was silenced by this plain and decided answer; but the English general was quickly convinced that the bishop and his coadjutors, however incapable of conducting great affairs, were experienced plotters. In his first interview with Andrada, sir Hew Dalrymple had taken occasion to observe, that “no government lawfully representing the prince regent actually existed in Portugal.” In fact, a junta, calling itself independent, was likewise established in Algarvé, and the members of the regency legally invested by the prince with supreme authority were dispersed, and part of them in the power of the French. This observation, so adverse to the prelate’s views, was transmitted to him by Freire, together with a copy of the armistice. The junta were well aware that a definite convention, differing materially from the armistice, was upon the point of being concluded, and that the refusal of sir Charles Cotton to concur in the latter, had rendered it null and void; but preserving silence on that point, the bishop forwarded the copy of the armistice to the chevalier Da Souza, Portuguese minister in London, accompanied by a letter filled with invectives and misrepresentations of its provisions. The chevalier placed this letter with its inclosures, in the hands of Mr. Canning the English secretary of state for foreign affairs, and at the same time delivered to him an official note in which, adopting the style of the prelate and junta, he spoke of them as the representatives of his sovereign, and the possessors of the supreme power in Portugal.
But the efforts of the party were not confined to formal communications with the ministers; the daily press teemed with invectives against the English general’s conduct, and ex-parte statements, founded on the provisions of an armistice that was never concluded, being thus palmed upon the public, (always hasty in judging of such matters), a prejudice against the convention was raised before either the terms of, or the events which led to it, were known. For, sir Hew, forgetting the ordinary forms of official intercourse, neglected to transmit information to his government until fifteen days after the commencement of the treaty, and the ministers, unable to contradict or explain any of Souza’s assertions, were placed in a mortifying situation, by which their minds were irritated and disposed to take a prejudiced view of the real treaty. Meanwhile the bishop pretended to know nothing of the convention, hence the silence of Freire during the negotiations; but those once concluded, a clamour was, by the party, raised in Portugal, similar to that which they had already excited in England; and thus both nations appeared to be equally indignant at the conduct of the general, when, in fact, his proceedings were unknown to either.
It would appear that the bishop had other than Portuguese coadjutors. The baron Von Decken, a Hanoverian officer, was appointed one of the military agents at Oporto: he was subject to sir Hew Dalrymple’s orders, but as his mission was of a detached nature, he was also to communicate directly with the secretary of state in England. Von Decken arrived at Oporto upon the 17th August, and the same evening, in concert with the bishop, concocted a project admirably adapted to forward the views of the latter; they agreed that the prelate was the fittest person to be at the head of the government, and that as he could not, or pretended that he could not, quit Oporto, the seat of government ought to be transferred to that city. But two obstacles to this arrangement were foreseen; first, the prince regent at his departure had nominated a regency, and left full instructions for the filling up of vacancies arising from death or other causes; secondly, the people of Lisbon and of the southern provinces would certainly resist any plan [Appendix, No. 11.] for changing the seat of government. To obviate these difficulties, Von Decken wrote largely in commendation of the proposed arrangement, vilifying the conduct of the regency, and urging sir Hew not only to give his sanction to the ambitious project, but to employ the British troops in controlling the people of Lisbon should they attempt to frustrate the bishop’s plans. To conciliate the members of the regency, it was proposed to admit a portion of them into the new government, and Francisco Noronha, Francisco da Cunha, the Monteiro Mor, and the principal Castro, were named as being the only men who were faithful to their sovereign. Now the last had accepted the office of ministre des cultes under the French, and was consequently unfaithful; but he was the brother of the bishop, Castro being legitimately born. Under the pretext of sparing the feelings of the people of Lisbon, it was further proposed to appoint a Portuguese commandant, subject to the British governor, but with a native force under his orders, to conduct all matters of police; and the bishop took the occasion to recommend a particular general for that office. Finally, civil dissension and all its attendant evils were foretold as the consequences of rejecting this plan.
Sir Hew Dalrymple’s answer was peremptory and decisive. He reprimanded general Von Decken, and at once put an end to the bishop’s hopes of support from the English army.
This second offence, for sir Hew’s answer did not reach Oporto until after Freire’s report had arrived there, completed the mortification of the bishop and the junta; they set no bounds to their violence. Efforts were made to stimulate the populace of Lisbon to attack not only the French but the English, in the hope that the terrible scene which must have ensued would effectually prevent the re-establishment of the old regency, and at the same time render the transfer of the seat of government to Oporto an easy task. Hence the outrageous conduct of the Monteiro Mor and of the judge of the people, and the former’s insolent letter calling upon sir Charles Cotton to interrupt the execution of the convention.
The 3d of September, sir Hew Dalrymple received instructions from home relative to the formation of a new regency, which were completely at variance with the plan arranged between the bishop and general Von Decken, yet no difficulty attended the execution. Here, as in the case of prince Leopold, we are arrested by the singularity of the transaction. Is it likely that general Von Decken should plunge into such a delicate and important affair in one hour after his arrival at Oporto, if he had not been secretly authorised by some member of the English cabinet; and are we to seek for a clue to these mysteries in that shameful Machiavelian policy that soon afterwards forced lord Castlereagh to defend his public measures by a duel?
The usual fate of plans laid by men more cunning than wise, attended the bishop of Oporto’s projects; he was successful for a moment in rendering the convention of Cintra odious to the Portuguese, but the great mass of the people soon acknowledged with gratitude the services rendered them by the English, and rejoiced at the fulfilment of a treaty that freed [Appendix, No. 23.] their country at once from the invaders; and well might they rejoice when they beheld above twenty-five thousand bold and skilful soldiers reluctantly quitting the strong holds of the kingdom, and to the last maintaining the haughty air of an army unsubdued, and capable on the slightest provocation of resorting once more to the decision of battle.
The Portuguese people were contented; but the Spanish general Galluzzo appears to have favoured the views of the Oporto faction. Detachments of his troops, and Portuguese refugees (principally from the northern provinces), commanded by a Spaniard, were acting in conjunction with the insurgents of the Alemtejo. Many disputes arose between the two nations, as I have already related, and the Spaniards treated Portugal as a conquered country, they denied the authority of the Portuguese general Leite, who [Appendix, No. 12.] was not of the bishop’s party; they insulted him personally, seized his military chest at Campo Mayor, and in all things acted with the utmost violence and rapacity. Galluzzo himself was required by his own government to join the Spanish armies concentrating on the Ebro; but instead of obeying, he collected his forces near Elvas, and when he heard of the convention concluded at Lisbon, invested Fort Lalippe, and refused to permit the execution of the treaty relative to that impregnable fortress. Colonel Girod de Novillard commanded the French garrison, and profiting from its situation, had compelled the inhabitants of Elvas to shut their gates against the Spaniards, and to supply the fort daily with provisions. Galluzzo’s proceedings were also manifestly absurd in a military point of view; his attacks were confined to a trifling bombardment of Lalippe from an immense distance, and the utmost damage sustained, or likely to be sustained by that fortress, was the knocking away the cornices and chimneys of the governor’s house, every other part being protected by bomb proofs of the finest masonry.
Through lord Burghersh, who had been appointed to communicate with the Spanish troops in Portugal, Galluzzo was early in September officially informed of the articles of the convention, and also that the troops of his nation confined on board the hulks at Lisbon, were by that treaty released, and would be clothed and armed and sent to Catalonia. Upon the 5th of September, sir Hew Dalrymple wrote to the Spaniard, repeating the substance of the first communication, and requesting that his detachments might be withdrawn from the Alemtejo where they were living at the expense of the people. Galluzzo took no notice of either communication; he pretended that he had opened his fire against Lalippe before the date of the convention; that no third party had a right to interfere, and that he would grant no terms to the garrison, nor permit any but Portuguese to enter the fort. At this very moment the Spanish armies on the Ebro were languishing for cavalry, which he alone possessed; and his efforts were so despised by Girod that the latter made no secret of his intention, (if the fate of the French army at Lisbon should render such a step advisable), to blow up the works, and march openly through the midst of Galluzzo’s troops.
Colonel Ross, with the 20th regiment, being appointed by sir Hew to receive the fort from colonel Girod, and to escort the garrison to Lisbon under the terms of the convention, sent a flag of truce to the French. Major Colborne, who carried it, was furnished with an autograph letter from Kellerman, and was received by Girod with civility; but the latter refused to surrender his post without more complete proof of the authenticity of the treaty; and with the view of acquiring that, he proposed that a French officer should proceed to Lisbon to verify the information; not that he affected to doubt the truth of Colborne’s information, but that he would not surrender his charge while the slightest doubt, capable of being removed, was attached to the transaction; and so acting he did well, and like a good soldier.
General Dearey, who commanded the investing force, was persuaded to grant a truce for six days, to give time for the journey of the officers appointed to go to Lisbon; but on their return it was not without great difficulty and delay that they were permitted to communicate with colonel Girod, and no argument could prevail upon the obstinate Galluzzo to relinquish the siege. After a warm intercourse of letters, sir Hew Dalrymple was forced to order sir John Hope to advance to Estremos with a considerable body of troops, for the purpose of giving weight to his remonstrances, or, if pushed to extremity, of forcing the [Appendix, No. 12.] Spaniard to desist from his unwarrantable pretensions. It must be observed that Galluzzo was not only putting aside the convention by which he profited himself, but also violating the independence of the Portuguese who desired his absence from their territory; and he was likewise setting at naught the authority of his own government, for the army of Estremadura pretended to act under the orders of the junta of Seville: and Laguna, an accredited agent of that junta, was at this moment receiving from sir Hew Dalrymple the Spanish prisoners liberated by the effect of the convention, together with money, arms, &c., to prepare them for immediate service in Catalonia, whither they were also to be transported in British vessels. One more effort was however made to persuade this intractable man to submit to reason, before recourse was had to violent measures which must have produced infinite evil. Colonel Graham repaired upon the 25th of September to Badajos, and his arguments being backed up by the near approach of the powerful division under Hope, were successful, and this troublesome affair ended in an amicable manner.
Colonel Girod evacuated the forts, and his garrison proceeded to Lisbon, attended by the 52d regiment as an escort. The rival troops agreed very well together, striving to out-do each other by the vigour and the military order of their marches; but the Swiss and French soldiers did not accord, and many of the latter wished to desert. At Lisbon the whole were immediately embarked; but the transports being detained Appendix to col. De Bosset’s Parga, p. 134. for some time in the river, major de Bosset, an officer of the Chasseurs Britanniques, contrived to persuade near a thousand of the men to desert, who were afterwards received into the British service. Thiebault. Girod de Novillard complained of this as a breach of the convention, and it must be confessed that it was an equivocal act, yet one common to all armies, and if done simply by persuasion, very excusable.
The garrison of Almeida surrendered that fortress without any delay, and being marched to Oporto, were proceeding to embark, when the populace rose and would have slain them if great exertions had not been made by the British officers to prevent such a disgraceful breach of faith. The escort was weak, but resolute to sustain the honour of their nation, by firing upon the multitude if the circumstances became desperate. Nevertheless several of the French soldiers were assassinated, and in spite of every effort the baggage was landed, and the whole plundered; the excuse being that church plate was to be found amongst it, an accusation easily made, difficult to be disproved to the satisfaction of a violent mob, and likely enough to be true.
This tumult gives scope for reflection upon the facility with which men adapt themselves to circumstances, and regulate their most furious passions, by the scale of self-interest. In Oporto, the suffering, in consequence of the invasion, was trifling compared to the misery endured in Lisbon; yet the inhabitants of the former were much more outrageous in their anger. In Lisbon, the very persons who had inflicted the worst evils upon the people were daily exposed, more or less, to violence, yet suffered none; while in Oporto it was with extreme difficulty that men, until that moment unseen of the multitude, were rescued from their frantic revenge. In both cases fear regulated the degree of hatred shown, and we may conclude from hence, that national insurrections however spontaneous and vehement, if the result of hatred only, will never successfully resist an organized force, unless the mechanical courage of discipline be grafted upon the first enthusiasm.
While the vexatious correspondence with Galluzzo was going on, sir Hew Dalrymple renewed his intercourse with Castaños, and prepared to prosecute the war in Spain. The Spanish prisoners, about four thousand in number, were sent to Catalonia; and the British army was cantoned principally in the Alemtejo along the road to Badajos, but some officers were despatched to examine the roads through Beira with a view to a movement on that line; and general Anstruther was directed to repair to the fortress of Almeida, for the purpose of regulating every thing which might concern the passage of the army, if it should be found necessary to enter Spain by that route. Lord William Bentinck was also despatched to Madrid, having instructions to communicate with the Spanish generals and with the central junta, and to arrange with them the best line of march, the mode of providing magazines, and the plan of campaign. But in the midst of these affairs, and before the garrison of Elvas arrived at Lisbon, sir Hew Dalrymple was called home to answer for his conduct relative to the convention. The command then devolved upon sir Harry Burrard, but after holding it for a few days he also returned to England, there to abide the fury of the most outrageous and disgraceful public clamour that was ever excited by the falsehoods of base and venal political writers.
The editors of the daily press adopting all the misrepresentations of the Portuguese minister, and concluding that the silence of government was the consequence of its dissatisfaction at the convention, broke forth with such a torrent of rabid malevolence, that all feelings of right and justice were overborne, and the voice of truth stifled by their obstreperous cry. Many of the public papers were printed with mourning lines around the text which related to Portuguese affairs; all called for punishment, and some even talked of death to the guilty, before it was possible to know if any crime had been committed; the infamy of the convention was the universal subject of conversation, a general madness seemed to have seized all classes, and, like the Athenians after the sea fight of Arginusæ, the English people if their laws would have permitted the exploit, were ready to condemn their generals to death for having gained a victory!
A court of inquiry was assembled at Chelsea to inquire into the transactions relating to the armistice and the definite convention. Sir Arthur Wellesley, sir Harry Burrard, sir Hew Dalrymple, and the principal generals engaged at Vimiero, were called before it. A minute investigation of all the circumstances took place, and a detailed report was made by the board; at the end of which, it was stated that no further judicial measures seemed to be called for. This report was not satisfactory to the government, and the members of the court were required to state individually whether they approved or disapproved of the armistice and convention. It then appeared that four approved, and three disapproved, of the convention. Among the latter the earl of Moira distinguished himself by a laboured criticism, which, however, left the pith of the question entirely untouched. The proceedings of the board were dispassionate and impartial but the report was not luminous; a circumstance to be regretted, because the rank and reputation of the members were sufficiently great to secure them from the revenge of party, and no set of men were ever more favourably placed for giving a severe and just rebuke to popular injustice.
Thus ended the last act of the celebrated convention of Cintra, the very name of which will always be a signal record of the ignorant and ridiculous vehemence of the public feeling; for the armistice, the negotiations, the convention itself, and the execution of its provisions, were all commenced, conducted, and concluded, at the distance of thirty miles from Cintra, with which place they had not the slightest connexion, political, military, or local[14]!
OBSERVATIONS.
RORIÇA.
1º. General Thiebault says, that the scattered state of the French army, in the beginning of August, rendered its situation desperate; but that the slowness of sir Arthur Wellesley saved it. Others again have accused the latter of rashness and temerity. Neither of these censures appear to be well founded. It is true that Junot’s army was disseminated; but to beat an army in detail, a general must be perfectly acquainted with the country he is to act in, well informed of his adversary’s movements, and rapid in his own. Now rapidity in war depends as much upon the experience of the troops as upon the energy of the chief; and the English army was raw, the staff and commissariat mere novices, the artillery scantily and badly horsed, few baggage or draft animals were to be obtained in the country, and there were only a hundred and eighty cavalry mounted. Such impediments are not to be removed in a moment, and therein lies the difference betwixt theory and practice, between criticism and execution.
2º. To disembark the army without waiting for the reinforcements was a bold but not a rash measure. Sir Arthur Wellesley knew that the French troops were very much scattered, although he was not aware of the exact situation of each division, and from the bishop of Oporto’s promises, he had reason to expect good assistance from the Portuguese, who would have been discouraged if he had not landed at once. Weighing these circumstances he was justified in disembarking his troops, and the event proved that he was right, for he had full time to prepare his army, his marches were methodical, and he was superior in numbers to his enemy in each battle. His plans were characterized by a due mixture of enterprise and caution well adapted to his own force, and yet capable of being enlarged without inconvenience when the reinforcement should arrive.
3º. In the action of Roriça there was a great deal to admire, and some grounds for animadversion. The movement against Laborde’s first position was well conceived and executed; but the subsequent attack against the heights of Zambugeira was undoubtedly faulty. The march of Ferguson’s and Trant’s divisions would have dislodged Laborde from that strong ridge without any attack on the front. It is said that such was sir Arthur’s project; but that some mistake in the orders caused general Ferguson to alter the direction of his march from the flank to the centre; this if true, does not excuse the error; because the commander-in-chief being present at the attack in front, might have restrained it until Ferguson had recovered the right direction. It is more probable that sir Arthur did not expect any very vigorous resistance, and wishing to press the French in their retreat pushed on the action too fast, and Laborde, who was unquestionably no ordinary general, made the most of both time and circumstances.
4º. Towards the close of the day when the French had decidedly taken to the mountains, the line of Loison’s march was in the power of the English general. If he had sent two thousand men in pursuit of Laborde, left one thousand to protect the field of battle, and with the remaining ten thousand marched against Loison, whose advanced guard could not have been far off; it is probable that the latter would have been surprised and totally defeated, and at all events he could only have saved himself by a hasty retreat, which would have broken Junot’s combinations and scattered his army in all directions.
5º. Sir Arthur Wellesley marched to Lourinham to cover the immediate disembarkation of his reinforcements and stores, and this was prudent, because a south-west wind would in one night have sent half the fleet on shore in a surf unequalled for fury; and such was the difficulty of a disembarkation, that a detachment from the garrison of Peniché would have sufficed to frustrate it. The existence of a French reserve estimated by report at four thousand men, was known; but its situation was unknown, and it might have been on the coast line; hence great danger to Anstruther if he attempted a landing without being covered, greater still if he remained at sea. The reasons then for the march to Lourinham were cogent, and perhaps outweighed the advantages of attacking Loison; but it seems to have been an error not to have occupied Torres Vedras on the 18th; as the disembarkation of Anstruther’s force would have been equally secured, while the junction of the French army, and the consequent battle of Vimiero would have been prevented.
6º. It is an agreeable task to render a just tribute of applause to the conduct of a gallant although unsuccessful enemy; and there is no danger of incurring the imputation of ostentatious liberality in asserting that Laborde’s operations were exquisite specimens of the art of war. The free and confident manner in which he felt for his enemy, the occupation of Brilos, Obidos, and Roriça in succession, by which he delayed the final moment of battle, and gained time for Loison; the judgment and nice calculation with which he maintained the position of Roriça, and the obstinacy with which he defended the heights of Zambugeira, were all proofs of a consummate knowledge of war and a facility of command rarely attained.
7º. Sir Arthur Wellesley estimated Laborde’s numbers at six thousand men, and his estimation was corroborated by the information gained from a wounded French officer during the action. It is possible that at Alcobaça they might have been so many, but I have thought it safer to rate them at five thousand, for the following reasons: first, it is at all times very difficult to judge of an enemy’s force by the eye, and it is nearly impossible to do so correctly when he is skilfully posted, and as in the present case, desirous of appearing stronger than he really was; secondly, the six hundred men sent on the 14th to Peniché, and three companies employed on the 16th and 17th to keep open the communication with Loison by Bombaral, Sir A. Wellesley’s evidence. Court of Inquiry. Cadaval, and Segura must be deducted; thirdly, Laborde himself after the convention, positively denied that he had so many as six thousand. General Thiebault indeed says, that only one thousand nine hundred were present under arms; but this assertion is certainly inaccurate, and very injurious to the credit of general Laborde, because it casts ridicule upon a really glorious deed of arms. It is surprising that a well-informed and able writer should disfigure an excellent work by such trifling.
VIMIERO.
1º. The battle of Vimiero was merely a short combat, but it led to important results because Junot was unable to comprehend the advantages of his situation. Profitable lessons may however be drawn from every occurrence in war, and Vimiero is not deficient in good subjects for military speculation.
2º. To many officers the position of the British appeared weak from its extent, and dangerous from its proximity to the sea, into which the army must have been driven if defeated. The last objection is well founded, and suggests the reflection that it is unsafe to neglect the principles of the art even for a moment. The ground having been occupied merely as a temporary post, without any view to fighting a battle, the line of retreat by Lourinham was for the sake of a trifling convenience left uncovered a few hours. The accidental arrival of sir Harry Burrard arrested the advanced movement projected by sir Arthur Wellesley for the 21st, and in the mean time Junot took the lead, and had he been successful upon the left, there would have been no retreat for the British army.
3º. The extent of the position at Vimiero, although considerable to a small army, was no cause of weakness, because the line of communication from the right to the left was much shorter and much easier for the British defence than it was for the French attack, and the centre was very strong and perfectly covered the movement of the right wing. Sir Arthur, when he placed the bulk of the combatants in that quarter, did all that was possible to remedy the only real defect in his position, that of having no line of retreat.
4º. The project of seizing Torres Vedras and Mafra at the close of the battle, was one of those prompt daring conceptions that distinguish great generals, and it is absurd to blame sir Harry Burrard for not adopting it. Men are not gifted alike, and even if the latter had not been confirmed in his view of the matter by the advice of his staff, there was in the actual situation of affairs ample scope for doubt; the facility of executing sir Arthur’s plan was not so apparent on the field of battle as it may be in the closet. The French cavalry was numerous, unharmed, and full of spirit. Upon the distant heights behind Junot’s army, a fresh body of infantry had been discovered by general Spencer, and the nature of the country prevented any accurate judgment of its strength being formed. The gun carriages of the British army were very much shaken, and they were so badly and so scantily horsed, that doubts were entertained if they could keep up with the infantry in a long march. The commissariat was in great confusion, and the natives, as we have seen, were flying with the country transport. The Portuguese troops gave no promise of utility, and the English cavalry was destroyed. To overcome obstacles in the pursuit of a great object is the proof of a lofty genius; but the single fact that a man of sir George Murray’s acknowledged abilities was opposed to the attempt, at once exonerates sir Harry Burrard’s conduct from censure, and places the vigour of sir Arthur Wellesley’s in the strongest light. It was doubtless ill-judged of the former (aware as he was of the ephemeral nature of his command) to interfere at all with the dispositions of a general who was in the full career of victory, and whose superior talents and experience were well known; but it excites indignation to find a brave and honourable veteran borne to the earth as a criminal, and assailed by the most puerile shallow writers, merely because his mind was not of the highest class. Sir Arthur Wellesley himself was the first to declare before the court of inquiry that sir Harry Burrard had decided upon fair military reasons.
GENERAL PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN.
1º. Although double lines of operation are generally disadvantageous and opposed to sound principles, the expediency of landing sir John Moore’s troops at the mouth of the Mondego, and pushing them forward to Santarem, was unquestionable, and unless the probable consequences of such a movement are taken into consideration, sir Arthur Wellesley’s foresight cannot be justly appreciated.
Lisbon, situated near the end of the tongue of land lying between the sea-coast and the Tagus, is defended to the northward by vast mountains, that rising in successive and nearly parallel ranges, end abruptly in a line extending from Torres Vedras to Alhandra on the Tagus. As these ridges can only be passed at certain points by an army, the intersections of the different roads form so many strong positions.
The great mass of the Monte Junto appears to lead perpendicularly on to the centre of the first ridge; but stopping short at a few miles distance, sends a rugged shoot called the Sierra de Barragueda in a slanting direction towards Torres Vedras, from which it is only divided by a deep defile.
From this conformation it results, that an army marching from the Mondego to Lisbon, must either pass behind the Monte Junto, and follow the line of the Tagus, or keeping the western side of that mountain, come upon the position of Torres Vedras.
If sir Arthur Wellesley had adopted the first line of operations, his subsistence must have been drawn by convoys from the Mondego, the enemy’s numerous cavalry would have cut his communications, and in that state he would have had to retreat, or to force the positions of Alhandra, Alverca, and finally the heights of Bellas, a strong position the right flank of which was covered by the creek of Saccavem, and the left flank by the impassable Sierra dos Infiernos. On the other line Torres Vedras was to be carried, and then Mafra or Montechique, following the direction of Junot’s retreat. If Mafra was forced (and neither it nor Montechique could be turned), a line of march, by Cassim and Quelus, upon Lisbon would have been opened to the victors; but that route, besides being longer than the road through Montechique and Loures, would, while it led the English army equally away from the fleet, have entangled it among the fortresses of Ereceira, Sant Antonio, Cascaes, St. Julians, and Belem. Again, supposing the position of Montechique to be stormed, the heights of Bellas offered a third line of defence, and lastly, the citadel and forts of Lisbon itself would have sufficed to cover the passage of the river, and a retreat upon Elvas would have been secure.
Thus it is certain, that difficulties of the most serious nature awaited the English army while acting on a single line of operations; and the double line proposed by sir Arthur was strictly scientific. For if sir John Moore, disembarking at the Mondego, had marched first to Santarem and then to Saccavem, he would have turned the positions of Torres Vedras and Montechique, and then sir Arthur on the other side would have turned the heights of Bellas by the road of Quelus. Junot’s central situation could not in this case have availed him, because the distance between the British corps would be more than a day’s march, and their near approach to Lisbon would have caused an insurrection of the populace. The duke of Abrantes must either have abandoned that capital and fallen vigorously upon sir John Moore, with a view to overwhelm him and gain Almeida or Elvas, or he must have concentrated his forces, and been prepared to cross the Tagus if he lost a battle in front of Lisbon. In the first case, the strength of the country afforded Moore every facility for a successful resistance, and sir Arthur’s corps would have quickly arrived upon the rear of the French. In the second case, Junot would have had to fight superior numbers, with an inveterate populace in his rear, and if, fearing the result of such an encounter he had crossed the Tagus, and pushed for Elvas, sir John Moore’s division could likewise have crossed the river, and harassed the French in their retreat.
2º. The above reasoning being correct, it follows, that to re-embark sir John Moore’s army after it had landed at the Mondego, and to bring it down to Maceira bay, was an error which (no convention intervening) might have proved fatal to the success of the Captain Poulteney Malcolm’s Evidence. Court of Inquiry. campaign. This error was rendered more important by the danger incurred from the passage; for, as the transports were not sea-worthy, the greatest part would have perished had a gale of wind come on from the south-west.
click here for larger image.
Explanatory Sketch
of the
CAMPAIGN IN PORTUGAL
in August 1808.
London. Published March 1828, by John Murray, Albermarle Street.
3º. Sir Arthur Wellesley’s project of seizing Mafra by a rapid march on the morning of the 21st, was exceedingly bold; its successful execution would have obliged Junot to make a hurried retreat by Enxara dos Cavalleiros to Montechique, at the risk of being attacked in flank during his march; or if he had moved by the longer route of Ruña and Sobral, it is scarcely to be doubted that the British army would have reached Lisbon before the French. But was it possible so to deceive an enemy inured to warfare, as to gain ten miles in a march of sixteen? was it possible to evade the vigilance of an experienced general, who, being posted only nine miles off, possessed a formidable cavalry, the efforts of which could neither be checked nor interrupted by the small escort of horse in the British camp? was it in fine possible, to avoid a defeat during a flank march along a road crossed and interrupted by a river and several deep gullies, which formed the beds of mountain torrents? These are questions which naturally occur to every military man. The sticklers for a rigid adherence to system would probably decide in the negative. Sir Arthur Wellesley was however, not only prepared to try at the time, but he afterwards deliberately affirmed that, under certain circumstances of ground an operation of that kind would succeed; and to investigate such questions is the best study for an officer.
4º. A night march is the most obvious mode of effecting such an enterprise, but not always the best in circumstances where expedition is required; and great generals have usually preferred the day-time, trusting to their own skill in deceiving the enemy while their army made a forced march to gain the object in view. Thus, Turenne at Landsberg was successful against the archduke Leopold in broad daylight, and Cæsar in a more remarkable manner overreached Afranius and Petrieus near Lerida. Nor were the circumstances at Vimiero unfavourable to sir Arthur Wellesley. He might have pushed a select corps of light troops, his cavalry, the marines of the fleet, the Portuguese auxiliaries, and a few field pieces, to the entrance of the defile of Torres Vedras before daybreak, with orders to engage the French outposts briskly, and to make demonstrations as for a general attack. There is no doubt that such a movement if skilfully conducted, would have completely occupied the enemy’s attention, while the main body of the army marching in great coats, and hiding the glitter of their arms, might have profited from the woods and hollows through which the by-road to Mafra led, and gained such a start as would have insured the success of the enterprise.
Let us, however, take a view of the other side; let us suppose that Junot, instructed by his spies and patroles, or divining the intention of the British general, held the masking division in check with a small force, and carrying the remainder of his army by the Puente de Roll, or some other cross road (and there were several) against the flank of the English, had fallen upon the latter while in march, hemmed in as they would be between the sea and the mountains, and entangled among hollows and torrents. What then would have been the result? History answers, by pointing to Condé and the battle of Senef. It must however be confessed, that it could be no ordinary general that conceived such a project, and, notwithstanding the small numbers of the opposing armies, success would have ranked sir Arthur high among the eminent commanders of the world, if he had never performed any other exploit. “The statue of Hercules, cast by Lysippus, although only a foot high, expressed,” says Pliny, “the muscles and bones of the hero more grandly than the colossal figures of other artists.”
5º. So many circumstances combine to sway the judgment of an officer in the field which do not afterwards appear of weight, that caution should always be the motto of those who censure the conduct of an unfortunate commander; nevertheless, the duke of Abrantes’ faults, during this campaign, were too glaring to be mistaken. He lingered too long at Lisbon; he was undecided in his plans; he divided his army unnecessarily; and he discovered no skill on the field of battle. The English army having landed affairs were brought to a crisis, and Junot had only two points to consider. Could the French forces under his command defend Portugal without assistance? and if not, how were its operations to be made most available for furthering Napoleon’s general plans against the Peninsula? The first point could not be ascertained until a battle with sir Arthur had been tried. The second evidently required that Junot should keep his army concentrated, preserve the power of retreating into Spain, and endeavour to engage the British troops in the sieges of Elvas and Almeida. If the two plans had been incompatible, the last was certainly preferable to the chance of battle in a country universally hostile. But the two plans were not incompatible.
6º. The pivot of Junot’s movements was Lisbon; he had therefore to consider how he might best fall upon and overthrow the English army, without resigning the capital to the Portuguese insurgents during the operation. He could not hope to accomplish the first effectually without using the great mass of his forces, nor to avoid the last except by skilful management, and the utmost rapidity. Now the citadel and forts about Lisbon were sufficiently strong to enable a small part of the French army to control the populace, and to resist the insurgents of the Alemtejo for a few days. The Russian admiral, although not hostile to the Portuguese, or favourable to the French, was forced by his fear of the English, to preserve a guarded attitude, and in point of fact, did materially contribute to awe the multitude, who could not but look upon him as an enemy. The Portuguese ships of war which had been fitted out by Junot, were floating fortresses requiring scarcely any garrisons, and yet efficient instruments to control the city, without ceasing to be receptacles for the Spanish prisoners, and safe depôts for powder and arms which might otherwise have fallen into the power of the populace. Wherefore, instead of delaying so long in the capital, instead of troubling himself about the assemblage of Alcacer do Sal, instead of detaching Laborde with a weak division to cover the march of Loison; Junot should have taken the most vigorous resolutions in respect to Lisbon the moment he heard of the English descent. He should have abandoned the left bank of the Tagus, with the exception of Palmela and the Bugio, which were necessary to the safety of his shipping; he should have seized upon the principal families of the capital as hostages for the good behaviour of the rest; and he should have threatened and been prepared to bombard the city if refractory; then leaving nothing more than the mere garrisons of the citadel, forts, and ships behind him, have proceeded, not to Leria, which was too near the enemy to be a secure point of junction with Loison, but to Santarem, where both corps might have been united without danger and without fatigue. General Thomieres, in the mean time, putting a small garrison in Peniché, could have watched the movement of the British general, and thus from eighteen to twenty thousand men would have been assembled at Santarem by the 13th at farthest, and from thence one march would have brought the whole to Batalha, near which place the lot of battle might have been drawn without trembling.
7º. If it proved unfavourable to the French, the ulterior object of renewing the campaign on the frontier was in no manner compromised. The number of large boats that Lisbon can always furnish, would have sufficed to transport the beaten army over the Tagus from Santarem in a few hours, especially if the stores had been embarked before Junot moved towards Batalha, and the French army, once in the Alemtejo with a good garrison in Abrantes, could not have been followed until the forts at the mouth of the Tagus were reduced, and the fleet sheltered in the river. Thus, long before the British could have appeared in force in the Alemtejo, the fortress of Elvas would have been provisioned from the magazines collected by Loison after the battle of Evora, and the campaign could have been easily prolonged until the great French army, coming from Germany crushed all opposition.
The above is not a theory broached after the event. That Junot would attempt something of the kind, was the data upon which the English general formed his plans; the intercepted memoir of colonel Bory de St. Vincent, treated such an operation as a matter of course, and Junot’s threats during the negotiation prove that he was not ignorant of his own resources; but his mind was depressed, and his desponding mood was palpable to those around him. It is a curious fact, that Sattaro, the Portuguese agent, who, for some purpose or other was in the British camp, told sir Arthur Wellesley before the battle of Vimiero, that Junot would willingly evacuate Portugal upon terms.
8º. When the French, being fourteen thousand in number, occupied Torres Vedras, that position was nearly impregnable. Seventeen thousand British could scarcely have carried it by force; but they might have turned it in a single march by the coast road; yet Junot neither placed a detachment on that side nor kept a vigilant watch by his patroles. Now, if sir Arthur Wellesley’s intended movement had not been arrested by orders from Burrard, it must have Thiebault. succeeded, because Junot was entangled in the defiles of Torres Vedras from six o’clock in the evening of the 20th, until late in the morning of the 21st. The two armies would thus have changed camps in the space of a few hours without firing a shot: Junot would have lost Lisbon, and have been placed in the most ridiculous situation.
9º. In the battle, the duke of Abrantes showed great courage, but no talent. His army was inferior in numbers, yet he formed two separate attacks, an evident error that enabled sir Arthur to beat him in detail without difficulty. And it was the less excusable, because the comparatively easy nature of the ground over which the road from Torres Vedras to Lourinham led, and the manner in which the English army was heaped to the right when the position first opened to the view of the French general, plainly indicated the true line of attack. Junot should, with all his forces concentrated for one effort, have fallen in upon the left of his opponent’s position; if victorious, the sea would have swallowed those who escaped his sword. If repulsed, his retreat was open, and his loss could not have been so great in a well-conducted single effort, as it was in the ill-digested, unconnected attacks that took place.
10º. The rapidity with which the French soldiers rallied, and recovered their order after such a severe check, was admirable, but their habitual method of attacking in column cannot be praised. Against the Austrians, Russians, and Prussians, it may have been successful, but against the British it must always fail, because the English infantry is sufficiently firm, intelligent, and well disciplined, to wait calmly in lines for the adverse masses, and sufficiently bold to close upon them with the bayonet.
11º. The column is undoubtedly excellent for all movements short of the actual charge, but as the Macedonian phalanx was unable to resist the open formation of the Roman legion, so will the close column be unequal to sustain the fire and charge of a good line aided by artillery. The natural repugnance of men to trample on their own dead and wounded, the cries and groans of the latter, and the whistling of the cannon-shots as they tear open the ranks, produce the greatest disorder, especially in the centre of attacking columns, which, blinded by smoke, unstedfast of footing, and bewildered by words of command coming from a multitude of officers crowded together, can neither see what is taking place, nor make any effort to advance or retreat without increasing the confusion: no example of courage can be useful, no moral effect can be produced by the spirit of individuals, except upon the head, which is often firm, and even victorious at the moment when the rear is flying in terror. Nevertheless, well managed columns are the very soul of military operations; in them is the victory, and in them also is safety to be found after a defeat. The secret consists in knowing when and where to extend the front.
ARMISTICE. CONVENTION.
1º. It is surprising, that Junot having regained Torres Vedras, occupied Mafra, and obtained an armistice, did not profit by the terms of the latter to prepare for crossing the Tagus and establishing the war on the frontiers. Kellerman ascertained during his negotiation, that sir John Moore was not arrived; and it was clear, that until he did arrive the position of Montechique could neither be attacked nor turned. There was nothing in the armistice itself, nor the way in which it had been agreed to, which rendered it dishonourable to take such an advantage. The opening thus left for Junot to gain time, was sir Arthur Wellesley’s principal objection to the preliminary treaty.
2º. With regard to the convention, although some of its provisions were objectionable in point of form, and others imprudently worded, yet taken as a whole, it was a transaction fraught with prudence and wisdom. Let it be examined upon fair military and political grounds; let it even be supposed for the sake of argument, that sir Arthur unimpeded by sir Harry Burrard, had pursued his own plan, and that Junot, cut off from Lisbon and the half of his forces had been driven upon the Tagus, he was still master of flying to Almeida or Elvas: the thousand men left in Santarem would have joined him in the Alemtejo, or fallen down to the capital; and what then would have been the advantages that could render the convention undesirable?
The British army, exclusive of sir John Moore’s division, had only provisions, or transport for provisions, sufficient to last for ten or twelve days, and the fleet was the only resource when that supply should be exhausted. But a gale from any point between the southward and north-west, would have driven the ships away or have cast them on a lee-shore. Hence an indispensable preliminary measure would have been to open the mouth of the Tagus as a security for the fleet; but without occupying Cascaes, Bugio, and St. Julians, that was impossible. To take the last-named fort would have required ten days’ open trenches at the least, and the heavy artillery must Proceedings of the Board of Inquiry. have been landed in some of the small creeks, and dragged by force of men over the mountains, because the artillery horses were scarcely able to draw the field guns, and the country was incapable of supplying assistance of that kind. In the mean time, the French troops in Lisbon, and those upon the heights of Almada and in the men-of-war, retiring tranquilly through the Alemtejo, would have united with Junot; or if he had fallen back upon Almeida, they could have retired upon Elvas and La-Lyppe. In this argument the Russians have not been considered, but whatever his secret wishes might have been, Siniavin must have joined the French or surrendered his squadron in a disgraceful manner. This would have increased Junot’s force by six thousand men; [Appendix, No. 22.] and it may here be observed, that even after the arrival of sir John Moore, only twenty-five thousand British infantry were fit for duty.
Let it be supposed that the forts were taken, the English fleet in the river, the resources of Lisbon organized, and the battering guns and ammunition necessary for the siege of Elvas transported to Abrantes by water. Seventy miles of land remained to traverse, and then three months of arduous operations in the sickly season, and in the most pestilent of situations, would have been the certain consequences of any attempt to reduce that fortress. Did the difficulty end there? No! Almeida remained, and in the then state of the roads of Portugal, and taking into consideration only the certain and foreseen obstacles, it is not too much to say, that six months more would have been wasted before the country could be entirely freed from the invaders. But long before that period Napoleon’s eagles would have soared over Lisbon again. The conclusion is inevitable; the convention was a great and solid advantage for the allies, a blunder on the part of the French.
With the momentary exception of Junot’s threat to burn Lisbon if his terms were not complied with, we look in vain for any traces of that vigour which urged the march from Alcantara; we are astonished to perceive the man, who, in the teeth of an English fleet, in contempt of fourteen thousand Portuguese troops, and regardless of a population of three hundred thousand souls, dared, with a few hundred tired grenadiers, to seize upon Lisbon, so changed in half a year, so sunk in energy, that, with twenty-five thousand good soldiers, he declined a manly effort, and resorted to a convention to save an army which was really in very little danger. But such and so variable is the human mind, the momentary slave of every attraction, yet ultimately true to self-interest. When Junot entered Portugal, power, honours, fame, emolument, nay, even a throne, was within his reach, and toil and danger were overlooked in such gorgeous society; but when he proposed the convention he was only with the latter companions; fame flitted at a distance, and he easily persuaded himself that prudence and vigour could not be yoked together. A saying attributed to Napoleon perfectly describes the convention in a few words. “I was going to send Junot before a council of war, but, fortunately, the English tried their generals, and saved me the pain of punishing an old friend!”