186 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



means of knowing the flict, and 

 whose character places him far 

 above the suspicion of iiaving in- 

 vented and proclaimed a falseliood 

 for the sake of exciting an odium 

 and abhorrence of tlic ruler of 

 France. Indeed nothing, however 

 atrocious, will appear incredible of 

 Buonaparte, when we reflect how 

 lie treated his prisoners on his 

 retreat from Acre * 



The next operation in the pro- 

 gress of the Frencii army of Por- 

 tugal was the siege of Almeida. 

 But a considerable time was spent 

 in repairing and strengthening the 

 defences of Ciudad Jlodrigo, in 

 waiting for the return of the 

 troops that escorted the Spanish 

 prisoners to Bayonne, and the ar- 

 rival of some other reinforcements. 

 Parties vi'ere sen tout to reconnoitre 

 the positions of the Anglo- Portu- 

 gueze array ; whoseadvanced posts 

 fell back as the French approach- 

 ed. Towards the middle of Au- 

 gust, the army under the com- 

 mand of Marshal Massena was 

 posted as follows. Fifteen thou- 

 sand men of Marshal Ney's corps, 

 under the orders of general Loison, 

 invested Almeida ; the remainder 

 of that corps, about 10,000, were 

 at Fort de la Conception ; 25,000 

 men under Junot were at St. 

 Felizes, about three miles N. W. 

 from Ciudad Rodrigo. A third, 

 corps, of25,000 men, was at Ciudad 

 Rodrigo and the neighbourhood. 

 These three corps were within 

 two days march of the allies, and 

 some of their divisions not further 

 off than seven or eight miles. 

 Marshal Massena, the commander 



in chief, was at Valdemula, a vil- 

 lage near Ciudad Rodrigo, which 

 about three weeks before had been 

 occupied by the English. 



On the north side of Portugal 

 general Kellerman, with 12,000 

 men, menaced Oporto ; and, on 

 the south, general Regnier, with 

 about 1.5,000 or 18,000 menaced 

 Alentejo. Marshal Massena, Au- 

 gust 14-, published a proclamation, 

 addressed to the inhabitants of 

 Portugal, announcing that he was 

 at the head of 1 10,000 men, t des- 

 tined to take possession of Por- 

 tugal, and drive away the Eng- 

 lish. But he protested to the Por- 

 tuguese, that his master the em- 

 peror, so far from entertaining any 

 sentiment of hostility towards their 

 nation, was their true friend, and 

 a friend who possessed the means 

 of making them the happiest peo- 

 ple on earth. Thekingof England, 

 he said, was actuated solely by 

 narrow and selfish views, while 

 the emperor of the French was 

 directed in his conduct by the prin- 

 ciples of true philanthropy. He 

 concluded by saying, that the time 

 of clemency and generosity was 

 not yet past. But now was the mo- 

 ment to show by their submission 

 that they were proper objects of 

 protection and kindness. The 

 greatestcalamities were denounced 

 in case of resistance. It appears 

 that Massena was not quite so con- 

 fident in his 110,000 men as he 

 pretended to be: whether it was 

 that he deemed even this great 

 force insufficient for the conquest 

 of Portugal, or that the different 

 corps were found by Massena, as 



* Vol. XLI. [1799] HrsTORY or Europe. 

 ^ Tleckonros; tlis troops, no doubt, coDiinanded by Regnier and Kcllcrniani 

 botli wliicli Gotierals were ii;ider his orders. 



