Marshal Soult, however, entered upon his expedition in full confidence of success. He believed that a great proportion of the British troops had perished by shipwreck during the heavy gales which had prevailed after their embarkation; that they had determined as soon as he should approach Lisbon to blow up the magazines and arsenals, and abandon the place; ♦Intercepted letter to Joseph. Feb. 4.♦ that they talked of nothing more enterprising than a landing at Quiberon; and that this was a mere vaunt, for certainly it would be long before their army would be again in a condition to show itself.
♦Combined plans of the French.♦
The plan which had been laid down for him was well concerted. Marshal Victor was to manœuvre on the side of Badajoz, and send a column in the direction of Lisbon to facilitate the operations against that city. Lapisse was to threaten the frontier between the Douro and Almeida, occupy Ciudad Rodrigo, march upon Abrantes as soon as Soult should have reached ♦Oper. du M. Soult, p. 50.♦ Porto, and when that general was master of Lisbon, Lapisse was then to join Victor, and enter Andalusia, the conquest of the south of Spain as well as Portugal being considered certain. Ney, meantime, was to occupy Galicia, and communicate with the army of Portugal. Leaving him in command of this province, which was said to be subjugated, Soult removed his head-quarters to Santiago, and ordered General Lahoussaye from Mellid to march upon Ribadavia and Salvatierra, obtain intelligence of Romana’s movements, and ascertain what means might be found there for crossing the Minho. General Franceschi at the same time was dispatched with his light cavalry to take possession of Tuy, and examine whether the passage might not best be effected near that city; and General Merle with a division of infantry was sent from Betanzos to Pontevedra to support them. Franceschi ♦Vigo and Tuy occupied by the French.♦ fell in with a body of Spaniards at Redondela, and took from them four guns. Profiting by the panic which the fugitives were likely to impart, he sent a detachment to summon Vigo, and the governor was weak or treacherous enough to surrender a fortified and well-provided town at the first summons of a division of cavalry. Tuy also, which in former wars had been a place of great importance, the strongest upon that frontier, was entered without resistance. Somewhere below this city it was resolved to attempt the passage, and there accordingly the main body of the army was collected.
♦Preparations for crossing the Minho below Tuy.♦
Two rivers, the Lama and Tamboga, which rise in the north-east part of Galicia, unite and form the Minho; but the Sil, which joins it with an equal body of waters, is believed to have been the Minius of the ancients. It is the boundary between Spain and Portugal along a considerable line; upon that line it is never fordable, except at one place above Melgaço, and there only after an unusual continuance of dry weather. There is no bridge over it below the city of Orense, and the Portugueze had been sufficiently aware of their danger to remove all the boats to their own side of the river. Just at its mouth it is joined from the Portugueze side by the river Coura; each stream has formed a bar, and upon an island between these bars the Portugueze had a fortress and a small Capuchine convent. On the Spanish side, immediately at the mouth of the river, Mount St. Thecla rises, a place of great local celebrity, because of an annual pilgrimage, and known to sailors as a sea-mark. ♦Feb. 10.♦ On the other side of this mountain is the little port and town of S. Maria de la Guardia, and thither Soult went with the captain of a French frigate and some seamen who had been prisoners at Coruña, to reconnoitre and consult concerning the passage. Means of transport were found in the fishing-boats of Guardia; but it would have been difficult to double the point in them when laden as they must have been for that service, and they would have been perilously exposed to the fire of the island. He determined, therefore, to carry the boats overland a distance of about three miles to a lake or broad, from which the little river Tamuga issues, and enters the Minho above the village of Campos Ancos. There was great difficulty in removing them, and still more in conveying two pieces of artillery to the same place. Means, however, for transporting three hundred men at once were collected, and the troops appointed for this service were exercised in embarking and disembarking on the lake, where it could be done in safety. The attempt was to be made at high-water, and under favour of the night, though little danger was apprehended from the old frontier fortress of Caminha, in the face of ♦Failure of the attempt.♦ which they were to cross; for the works, originally ill planned and ill situated, had long been neglected, and the French held in equal contempt the place and the people by whom it was garrisoned. However, in order to deceive them, the troops were withdrawn from the opposite shore, and a feint made of marching up the river. ♦Feb. 15.♦ The flotilla descended the Tamuga easily and in good order; but when they came into the great stream the want of sailors was felt. The boats separated; those that were best manned reached the shore; but the Portugueze were upon the alert. General Bernardim Freire, who had been appointed to the command of Porto and of that province, had sent a detachment with two six-pounders to this point. They kept up a fire with good effect; the tide turned; the other boats unable to stem it, or approach the shore, where they could assist their comrades, found it necessary to return; some were sunk, and about forty men were made prisoners.
♦Soult marches by way of Orense.♦
Four days had been consumed in preparations for this vain attempt. It was impossible to wait till the river should have fallen so as to render the passage practicable, for the troops could not be supplied where they were, and they were beginning to suffer from inaction. Soult therefore left General Lamartiniere to command at Tuy, with 350 men, besides 900 who were on the sick list. Some public money had been found in that city, and six-and-thirty field-pieces were left there, besides some guns and ammunition which had been brought from Vigo. It was thought a position of some importance at this time, and this force sufficient to maintain it. He then marched for Orense, making this long circuit to cross the river with less unwillingness because he had received intelligence from Lahoussaye ♦Operations du M. Soult, 73, 80.♦ that the peasantry were in a state of insurrection in consequence of Romana’s proclamations.
♦Romana rouses the Galicians.♦
Romana indeed had not been inactive during the short respite which had been allowed him. Had the French rightly appreciated his unconquerable spirit, and apprehended the effect which such a man was capable of producing upon a brave and generous peasantry, they would have deemed his single destruction of more importance to their cause than the capture of Ferrol ♦Feb. 13.♦ and Coruña. By this time he had collected some 9000 men; to form an efficient army was in his circumstances impossible, utterly destitute as he was of means; but what was of more consequence, he had roused the country; his presence was infinitely important there, and his name and his example hardly less so in other parts of Spain, for in every part the people were encouraged by a persuasion that their countrymen elsewhere were more fortunate than themselves. Every where except upon the spot it was believed by the Spaniards that Romana was at the head of a formidable army; when his troops were so ♦Opinion of his strength.♦ broken, a victorious enemy so close upon him, and his condition so hopeless in all human appearance, that he himself must have considered his escape from captivity, and the death to which he would then have been condemned, as manifestly providential. The Galicians at Lisbon (in which city there were always some thousands of those industrious men) were at that time embodied for the purpose of marching to join him; and the Spanish minister wrote to desire that he would send officers to discipline and take charge of them. The dispatch found him on the Portugueze frontier: he represented in reply that his own force consisted chiefly of new volunteers, so that none of his officers could be spared: he could only send some who belonged to the provincial regiments of Tuy and Compostella. But of men there was no want; for even if they had been less willing to take arms for their country and their cause, mere desperation would have driven them to it. Had the French been better disposed to observe what for the last century at least had been the common humanities of war, it would not have been possible when they were to support themselves as they could by preying upon the countries which they invaded. Free licence in one thing led to it in all, and when resistance was provoked by the most intolerable outrages, it was punished with fire and sword. The little towns of S. Miguel de Zequelinos and ♦Villages burnt by the French.♦ S. Christobal de Mourentan, with their adjacent hamlets, were burnt by the invaders, and more than 2000 persons, who were thus reduced to ruin and deprived of shelter, fled into the Portugueze territory, hoping to find refuge there.
♦Intended plan of co-operation between Romana and Silveira.♦