HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



191 



it necessary for lord Wellington to 

 retreat from Badajoz in Decem- 

 ber to the north of the Tagus. It 

 enjoyed repose for some time at 

 Lisbon, and in the vicinity of that 

 capital. In February, the Eng- 

 lish army, augmented by Portu- 

 guese troops, disciplined by the 

 general marshal Beresford, were 

 quartered on an extended line, 

 comprehending Oporto, Lamego, 

 Vizeu, Coirabra, Abrantes, and 

 Santarem. From the vicinity of 

 Abrantes and Santarem, general 

 Hill, with a considerable body of 

 cavalry, descended to the Guadi- 

 ana, to watch and check the enemy, 

 who had appeared before Badajoz. 

 The more remote situations in the 

 strong country of Tralos-montes 

 was not defended. A party of the 

 enemy had approached tlie city of 

 Braganza, and, after having sum- 

 moned it to surrender, withdrew 

 from the vicinity without success, 

 It is unnecessary to follow the 

 Anglo-Portuguese army in all their 

 changes of position in the months 

 of March and April, during the 

 greater part of which months lord 

 Wellington's head quarters were 

 at Vizeu. It will be sufficient to 

 notice their positions when they 

 came nearly into contact with the 

 enemy advancing towards, and en- 

 gaged in the reduction of Ciudad 

 Kodrigo and Almeida. The front 

 of the army was as follows: It 

 was distributed into five divisions ; 

 the first under gen. Spencer, about 

 6,000, lay atCelerico, about twenty 

 miles distant from the grand 

 French army. The second, com- 

 manded by gen. Hill, about 8,000, 

 was placed as the central division 

 in the mountains at Portalegre, 

 between the Tagus and the Gua- 

 diaria, from whence it looked down 



on the frontier of Spain. The 

 third division under general Cole, 

 was stationed at Guarda, which 

 was the principal post, and twenty 

 miles distant from the French 

 lines: it was about 10,000 strong. 

 The fourtli division, 4,000, com- 

 manded by general Picton, lay at 

 a village called Pen-hell. The 

 fifth division, under general Craw- 

 furd, was stationed half way be- 

 tween the principal corps of the 

 English army at Guarda and the 

 French lines at Ciudad Rodrigo, 

 that is, about ten miles from each. 

 But this fifth division was con- 

 stantly shifting its position, ad- 

 vancing, whicli it some times did 

 even as far as St. Felizes, or re- 

 trograding according to contin- 

 gent circuir.stances. The Portu- 

 guese troops, under the command 

 of general Beresford, in the end 

 of July joined lord Wellington, 

 whose head quarters were at Ce- 

 lerico. All these divisions were 

 posted in the mountains, or their 

 slopes descending gradually into 

 the plain, at the farther end of 

 which stood Ciudad Rodrigo, 

 Thus there lay between the two 

 armies this plain, which was io 

 breadth ten miles. 



Between the principal British 

 station at Guarda and Lisbon there 

 was a distance of 190 miles, which 

 is a march of twenty days. There 

 are three roads leading from Lis- 

 bon to the frontier of Spain : first, 

 one by Abrantes ; second, by 

 Elvas ; and a third by Coimbra. 

 The route of the British army in 

 its progress northward lay by 

 Abrantes. The first post of great 

 importance on this route is San- 

 tarem. It is strongly situated on 

 heights, at the distance of forty- 

 five miles from Lisbon. It com- 



