♦1811.
August.
State of Portugal.♦
At no time had Lord Wellington’s situation been more uneasy than at this: not so much because of the inadequacy of his means in the field, for, such as they were, he was able to oppose the enemy and baffle him at all points; as because of the distressed state of the Portugueze Government, and the apprehended instability of his own. Marlborough had had more various and conflicting interests to adjust and keep in unison, but he had no other difficulty with his allies: he could rely upon a sure support in the British cabinet, till he had beaten down all opposition in the field; and the feelings both of the army and the nation were with him. Lord Wellington might rely upon himself with a confidence as well founded, but he could have no other trust. Nothing was to be expected from any government which the Spaniards might form for themselves; and it now began to appear that the inert part of the nation, which must every where be the majority, would have been best pleased to remain neuter if that had been possible, and let the French and English fight the battle and bear the cost. Portugal, indeed, had been delivered from the enemy: but there Lord Wellington had to contend with intrigues and jealousies in the Government both at Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro; and with the difficulties arising from want of provisions, want of transports, and the state of the commissariat, the persons employed in which were for the most part either idle or dishonest, or ignorant of their duty; so that at this time the Portugueze army, though brought by Marshal Beresford and the British officers to an efficient state of discipline, was reduced to half its nominal strength. Their troops were starving in the field, and dying in the hospitals, for want of money. If there was much to complain of here on the part of the Portugueze ministry, the conduct of Great Britain itself was neither consistent nor generous. Engaged as we were in the war, Lord Wellington thought we ought to have entered upon it with a determination of carrying Portugal through it at whatever cost; that for this purpose we should have required an efficient control over all the departments of the state, have seen the resources of the country honestly and exclusively applied to the objects of the war, and have made up the deficiency whatever it might be: this he had recommended from the beginning, but the influence which was exercised was less at this time than it had been when the Convention of Cintra was concluded.
♦Expectation of peace.♦
No general ever more anxiously desired to be placed at the head of an army than Lord Wellington did now to be relieved from the command; but of this he had no prospect, except from such a peace as would in its certain consequences have given Buonaparte all that he was seeking vainly to obtain by war. There was great apparent danger of this at this time. In case of the death of the king, or the acknowledged unlikelihood of his recovery (which now daily became more unlikely), the French speculated upon a change of administration in England, and the accession of the Whigs to power. The French officers eagerly looked for this, expecting to make such a peace as would enable them to withdraw from the Peninsula without loss of credit, and to re-enter it as soon as their perfidious policy should have prepared a favourable opportunity. In our own army also there were many who regarded the probability of peace with as much complacency as if the end for which the war had been waged would have been secured by it. These were persons who neither by their acquirements, nor pitch of mind, were qualified for the rank which they had attained in their profession; who had not the slightest feeling or perception of the great interests which were at stake, but knowing little, understanding nothing, and criticising every thing, infected all about them with despondency and discontent.
♦Disposition of the continental powers to resist Buonaparte.♦
On the other hand, there was at this time, in many parts of Europe, hopeful symptoms, of which Lord Wellington was well informed. Even when Austria had concluded the most unfortunate of its struggles, with loss of honour as well as loss of territory, one of the wisest heads in Germany assured the British Government, that although the German courts swarmed with men who were great calculators of all possible disasters, and who knew nothing more of the human heart than its weaknesses and its selfishness, ... the Germans themselves, though subjugated, were not yet debased by their subjugation; they would one day revenge their wrongs; a warlike spirit would be developed among them, which had been neglected or suppressed by their feeble and corrupt governments; and it would then be seen that there are times when enthusiasm judges more wisely than experience, and when elevation of mind creates resources for the talents which it calls forth. Russia, which had so long been duped by Buonaparte, became sensible of his perfidy, when, in violation of the treaty of Tilsit, he incorporated the Hanse towns and the duchy of Oldenburgh with the French empire. An opposition to the tyrant’s schemes was manifested in Sweden, where it was less to have been expected: for when the French government demanded permission to march troops through Sweden into Norway, and embark them there for the purpose of invading England, the Swedish government refused, and communicated its refusal to the British cabinet. Prussia, meantime, was silently preparing to break its yoke; and in the course of this autumn, arms, stores, and artillery to a considerable amount, were shipped from England for its use. This was so secretly done, that not a rumour got abroad of any expectations from that quarter; and if the British ministry had acted with as much ability in the management of the war, as in its other foreign relations, its conduct would now have been entitled to unqualified praise: but no representations could as yet induce it to make exertions proportionate to the opportunities that invited, or the necessity that called for them. Whether Buonaparte apprehended, or not, any opposition to his ambitious career in the north of Europe, he was too able a politician to let pass the opportunity of employing as large a force in the Peninsula as could be supported there upon his predatory system of warfare; and accordingly more than 50,000 troops were marched into Spain between the middle of July and the end of September.
♦Plans of Soult and Marmont.♦
When Marmont and Soult, finding it impossible to take Lord Wellington at advantage, separated on the Guadiana, their plan was, that the former should keep the English in check, while Dorsenne, who had succeeded Bessieres in the north, should enter Galicia, fortify Lugo, seize Coruña by a coup de main, and in this manner once more obtain military possession of the province.
♦Dorsenne enters Galicia.♦
Abadia had just taken the command of the Galician army; it was in wretched equipment, and without magazines of any kind; but the men had confidence in their general, and when Spanish soldiers have this feeling to invigorate them, they will support privations under which the troops of almost any other nation would sink. His advanced guard was at S. Martin de los Torres, and occupied the bridge of Cebrones; one division was at Bañeza, another at the bridge of Orbigo, and the reserve at Astorga. Dorsenne collected his troops in a line of operations on the Ezla, the right leaning upon Leon, and the left at Castro ♦August 25.♦ Gonzalo: then he crossed the Ezla, one division marching upon the bridge of Orbigo, two upon Bañeza, and the reserve upon Cebrones. Abadia well knowing the state of his own army, and the strength of the country behind him, had formed his plans in case of such an attack. The division at Bañeza withstood a charge of lancers, and fell back in good order to Castro Contrigo, from whence its retreat was unmolested to Puebla de Sanabria, the place appointed.