22 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



British were engaged, of whom 

 about seven or 800 were killed or 

 wounded. The French engaged 

 in this battle were estimated at 

 20,000, and consisted, in part, of 

 the regiments sent back from Por- 

 tugal to the ports of France near- 

 est to Spain, by the convention of 

 Cintra: their loss was reckoned 

 at about two thousand. General 

 Hope, on whom the chief com- 

 mand devolved, took advantage of 

 the success which had been ob- 

 tained to embark the army, before 

 it should be overwhelmed witli the 

 increasing numbers of the enemy. 



The boats were all in readiness, 

 and the previous measures were so 

 well concerted, that nearly the 

 whole army were embarked during 

 the night. 



Though the French had no dis- 

 position to renew the engagement, 

 when the morning of the 17th rose, 

 and they saw that the British 

 troops were gone, they pushed on 

 their light troops to the heights of 

 St. Lucia; in the forenoon they 

 got up some cannon to a rising 

 ground near the harbour, and fired 

 at the transports. Several of the 

 masters wei-e so much frightened, 

 that they cut tlieir cables, and four 

 ships ran aground. The troops of 

 these ships v/ere put on board 

 others, and the standard vessels 

 burnt. The rest of the fleet 

 quitted the harbour. At two 



o'clock. General Hill's brigade, 

 which had been stationed as a 

 corps of reserve on a promontory 

 behind the town, began to embark 

 under the citadel ; and during 

 that night, and the following morn- 

 ing, General Beresford, who com- 

 manded the rear-guard, of about 

 2,000 men, for covering the em- 

 barkation, sent off all the sick and 

 wounded whose condition admitted 

 of their being removed : — Lastly, 

 the rear-guard itself got into the 

 boats ; and the whole of the em- 

 barkation was completed by the 

 18th of January, 1809, without in- 

 terruption.* 



Li this retreat the British army 

 lost all its ammunition, all its 

 magazines, above 5,000 horses, 

 and five or 6,000 men. But still 

 above 20,000 were computed to 

 have been re-landed safely in Eng- 

 land. 



Thus Sir J. iVIoore, by a rare 

 union of natural sagacity, military 

 skill, firmness of mind, vigilance 

 and circumspection, decision and 

 promptitude of action, extricated 

 the British army with great glory, 

 and with far greater loss than was 

 to be expected, from a situation 

 in which the imprudence of both 

 the British and Spanish govern- 

 ments, the puerile and frantic in- 

 terference of some individuals, and 

 the treachery of others had in- 

 volved it : — Whatever may be the 



final 



• The report of Lieutenant General Hope to Lieutenant General Sir D. Baird, 

 oft Comnna, Jan. 18, ISOO—^lvjicmlix U, Chromck, 423. Tills is one of the most 

 beautiful, that is, the most simple, clear, intelligible, and interesting compositions of 

 the kind that we have ever se-en from the pen of any modem commander, and may- 

 even bear to be compared with those of .Julius Csesar. JMost, nay almost all miUtary 

 oihcers of all nations, by attejr.;)ting to describe every thing, describe nothing in a 

 satisfactory manner. Their descriptions are crowded with such a number of 

 subordinate officers and subordinate actions, that the principallines or features are 

 obscured and lost. We sincerely pitv the historian to whom Buonaparte' may 

 hereafter give it in charge to write a history of his wars from his buUetms. 



