In the Portuguese army, since the month of April, the deaths had been four thousand, the disbanded four thousand, the deserters ten thousand, the recruits thirty thousand; the numbers were therefore increased, but the efficiency for grand evolutions rather decreased. The Spanish auxilliaries also, ill-governed and turbulent, were at open discord with the Portuguese, and their general was neither able in war himself nor amenable to those who were.
While the heights of Almada were naked, the left bank of the Tagus could not be watched with less than twelve thousand men; and as from Alcanhete the march to Torres Vedras was shorter than from Cartaxo, two British divisions were employed to protect the Lines; during the attack upon Pernes, Reynier also might break out from Santarem, and ten thousand men were required to hold him in check: thus, the disposable troops would have fallen short of forty-five thousand, comprehending soldiers of three nations and many recruits. Lord Wellington’s experience in the movement of great armies was not at this period equal to his adversary’s, and the attack was to be made in a difficult country, with deep roads, where the Alviella, the Almonda, and other rivers, greatly swelled by incessant rain, furnished a succession of defensive lines to the enemy, and the means of carrying off two-thirds of his army. Victory might crown the attempt, but the stakes were unequal. If Massena lost even a third of his force, the ninth corps could have replaced it. If lord Wellington failed, the Lines were gone, and with them the whole Peninsula.
He judged it best to remain on the defensive; to strengthen the Lines; and to get the works at Almada sufficiently forward; meanwhile, quieting the troubles occasioned by the Patriarch, to perfect the discipline of the Portuguese troops, and improve the organization of the militia in rear of the enemy. In this view, the light division, supported by a brigade of cavalry, occupied Valle and the heights overlooking the marsh and inundation; the bridge at the English end of the causeway was mined; a sugar-loaf hill, looking straight down the approach, was crowned with embrasures for artillery and laced in front with a zigzag covered way, capable of containing five hundred infantry: thus the causeway being blocked, the French could not, while the inundation kept up, make any sudden irruption from Santarem.
On the left of the light division, posts were extended along the inundation to Malhorquija; thence, by a range of heights to Rio Mayor; and behind the latter place, Anson’s cavalry was stationed in observation of the roads leading from Pernes and Alcanhede. In rear of Anson, a position was entrenched at Alcoentre, and occupied by a division of infantry. Thus all the routes leading upon the Lines between the Tagus and the Monte Junta, were secured by what are technically called heads of cantonments, under cover of which, the other divisions were disposed in succession; the first and the head-quarters being at Cartaxo, a few miles in the rear of Valle; the remainder at Alemquer and Sobral. Torres Vedras was, however, always occupied in force, lest the enemy should make a sudden march round the Monte Junta.
Massena, satisfied that his front was safe, continued to build boats, fortified a post at Tancos, on the Tagus, and expected, with impatience, the arrival of a convoy escorted by five thousand men, with which general Gardanne was coming from Ciudad Rodrigo. This reinforcement, consisting of detachments and convalescents left in Castile when the army entered Portugal, marched by Belmonte and the Estrada Nova, and the 27th, was at Cardijos, within a few leagues of the French bridges on the Zezere. The advance of a cavalry patrol on either side would have opened the communications, and secured the junction; but, at that moment, Gardanne, harassed by the ordenança, and deceived by a false rumour that general Hill was in Abrantes, ready to move against him, suddenly retreated upon Sabugal, with such haste and blindness that he sacrificed a part of his convoy, and lost many men.
Notwithstanding this event, Massena, expecting to be joined by the ninth corps, greatly strengthened his position at Santarem, which enabled him to draw the bulk of his forces to his right, and to continue his marauding excursions in the most daring manner. General Ferey, with a strong detachment of the sixth corps, crossing the Zezere, foraged the country as far as Castello Branco without difficulty, and returned without loss: Junot occupied Leiria and Ourem with detachments of the eighth corps, and on the 9th of December a battalion endeavoured to surprise Coimbra: Trant, however, baffled that project. Meanwhile, Drouet avowed a design to invade the Tras os Montes, but the 22d of December occupied the line of the Coa with the ninth corps, and Massena’s patroles appeared again on the Mondego above Coimbra, making inquiries about the fords: all the spies likewise reported that a great reunion of forces from the south was to have place near Madrid.
These things gave reason to fear, either that Massena intended to file behind the Mondego and seize Oporto, or that the reinforcements coming to him were so large that he meant to establish bridges over the Mondego, and occupy the northern country also. It was known that a tenth corps was forming at Burgos; the head of the fifth corps was again in Estremadura; the French boats at Punhete and Barquiña were numerous and large; and in all parts there was evidence of great forces assembling for a mighty effort on both sides of the Tagus.
It was calculated that, before the end of January, more than forty thousand fresh troops would co-operate with Massena; and preparations were made accordingly. An outward line of defence, from Aldea Gallega to Setuval, was already in a forward state; Abrantes, Palmella, and St. Felippe de Setuval had been at last provisioned; and a chain of forts parallel to the Tagus were constructing on the hills lining the left bank from Almada to Traffaria. Labourers had also been continually employed in strengthening the works of Alhandra, Aruda, and Monte Agraça, which were now nearly impregnable, soldiers only being wanting to defy the utmost force that could be brought against them. To procure these, lord Wellington wrote earnestly to lord Liverpool on the 29th of December, demonstrating the absolute necessity of reinforcing the army; and, on the receipt of his letter, five thousand British were ordered to embark for Lisbon, and three regiments were drafted from Sicily.
Sickness obliged general Hill to go home in December; and, as Soult was known to be collecting a disposable force behind the Morena, the troops on the left bank of the Tagus were augmented, and marshal Beresford assumed the command: for the Portuguese army was now generally incorporated with the British divisions. His force, composed of eighteen guns, two divisions of infantry, and five regiments of cavalry, Portuguese and British, was about fourteen thousand men, exclusive of Carlos d’Espana’s brigade, which, being at Abrantes, was under the marshal’s orders.
To prevent the passage of the Tagus; to intercept all communication between Massena and Soult; to join the main body of the army, by Vellada if in retreat; and by Abrantes if in advance; were the instructions given to Beresford; hence, fixing his quarters at Chamusca, he disposed his troops along the Tagus, from Almeyrim by Chamusca, as high as the mouth of the Zezere, establishing signals between his different quarters. He also beat the roads leading towards Spanish Estremadura; established a sure and rapid intercourse with Elvas and the other frontier fortresses; organized good sources of intelligence at Golegao, at Santarem, and especially at Thomar, and, in addition to these general precautions, erected batteries opposite the mouth of the Zezere. But, against Appendix, [No. X.] Section 1.the advice of the engineers, he placed them at too great distance from the river, and in other respects unsuitable, and offering nothing threatening to the enemy: for the French craft dropped down frequently towards Santarem, without hindrance, until colonel Colborne, of the sixty-sixth regiment, moored a guard-boat close to the mouth of the Zezere, disposing fires in such a manner on the banks of the Tagus that nothing could pass without being observed.