HISTORY OF E U R (3 P E. 



189 



Of the Portuguese militia 1200 

 instead of returning home, entered, 

 voluntarily into ilie service of 

 France, and were employed as 

 pioneers. Part of the 24th Por- 

 tuguese regiment of the hne, too, 

 instead of being sent with the rest 

 of the garrison to France, were 

 kept for the service of the French 

 army, as that regiment, Massena 

 says, had manifested a good dis- 

 position : they were placed under 

 the command of Portuguese offi- 

 cers who were warmly attached 

 to the French and hated the Eng- 

 .lish : 112 Portuguese cannoniers, 

 and 40 horsemen, also offered 



themselves, and were admitted in- 

 to the French service. " But," 

 says Massena, " I shall always 

 have an eye on these troops, and 

 take care to place them only in 

 the least important stations.* 



It was the division of Ney's 

 corps, under the orders of general 

 Loison, that pushed the sieges 

 of both Almeida and Ciudad 

 Rodrigo. The other troops had 

 not in those enterprises discharged 

 a firelock. They were however 

 employed in covering the sieges, 

 as well as in other movements, 

 preliminary to Massena's intended 

 inarch to Lisbon. 



• Massena to the Prince of Neufchatel, Fort de la Conception, 30th Aug. 1810. 



