593 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OF. 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OF. 



694 



British inhabitants of Calcutta voted him a sword of the value of 

 1000/., and the officers of the army of the Dcccan presented him with 

 a service of plate of the value of 2000 guineas, with the inscription, 

 " Battle of Assaye, September 23, 1 803." 



On the 24th of June 1804, General Wcllesley broke up the army in 

 the Deccau, in pursuance of orders from the governor-general, and the 

 following month he returned to Sering;ipatam, where he received from 

 the native inhabitants an affecting address, in which they " implored 

 the God of all castes and all nations to hear their constant prayer, 

 whenever greater affairs might call him away from them, to bestow on 

 him health, glory, and happiness." ('Dispatches,' vol. iii., p. 420.) 

 It may be here observed that during the whole of his career in India, 

 as afterwards in the Spanish peninsula, General Wellesley, ever firm 

 and just, showed himself always inclined to humanity and mercy 

 whenever they could be exercised without detriment to justice or to 

 the safety of others ; and of this humane disposition his ' Dispatches' 

 contain numerous instances. 



In July 1804, General Wellesley was called to Calcutta to assist in 

 military deliberations. Several important memoranda on the political 

 and military affairs of India, which are given in the third volume of 

 the ' Dispatches,' were written by him about this period. In November 

 of the same year he left Calcutta for Madras, whence he returned to 

 Seriugapatam. In February 1805 he again repaired to Madras, and 

 obtained leave to return to England. About the same time his 

 appointment by the king to be a Knight Companion of the Order of 

 the Bath was known in India, and published in the general orders ; 

 and in the following March the thanks of both Houses of Parliament 

 to Major-General Wellesley, for his services, were likewise published 

 in the general orders in India. On the 10th of March 1805 Sir Arthur 

 Wellesley sailed from Madras for England. 



General Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in England in September 

 1805. In November of the same year he was sent to Hanover in com- 

 mand of a brigade in the expedition under Lord Cathcart, which was 

 intended to make a diversion whilst the French army was engaged on 

 the banks of the Danube against Austria and Russia. The tergiversa- 

 tion of the Prussian cabinet, and the disastrous battle of Austerlitz 

 (December 1805), disconcerted the plans of the allies, and the English 

 returned from Hanover to England in February 1806, without having 

 seen any active service. Sir Arthur Wellesley was now appointed to 

 the command of a brigade of infantry stationed at Hastings. In 

 January 1806, when the news was received of the death of the 

 Marquis of Cornwallis he was appointed Colonel of the 33rd regiment. 

 On the 10th of April 1806, he married Lady Catherine Pakenham, 

 third daughter of the Earl of Longford. In that year he was elected 

 member for the borough of Rye, and from his seat in the House of 

 Commons he defended the administration of his brother the Marquis 

 of Wellesley in India. In April 1807 Sir Arthur Wellesley was 

 appointed secretary for Ireland, the Duke of Richmond being lord- 

 lieutenant of Ireland, and in that capacity was sworn a member of 

 his Majesty's Privy Council. In August of the same year he was 

 appointed to a command in the expedition seut to Copenhagen, under 

 Lord Cathcart and Admiral Gambier. On the 29th of August General 

 Wellesley's division attacked the Danish troops at Kioge, carried their 

 entrenchments, and entered the town of Kioge, where they took a 

 large military store and nearly 1200 prisoners. This was the only 

 action of any importance which took place by land. The bombard- 

 ment of Copenhagen having induced the Crown Prince of Denmark to 

 listen to terms, General Wellesley was appointed by Lord Cathcart, 

 together with Lieutenant-Colonel Murray and Sir Home Popham, 

 captain of the fleet, to draw up the articles of the capitulation, which 

 were agreed to by the Danish government on the 7th of September, 

 and by which the Danish fleet and naval stores were delivered to the 

 British government till the general peace. General Wellesley returned 

 to England with the expedition, and resumed his duties as secretary 

 for Ireland. In the following February (180S) he received in his 

 place in the House of Commons, the thanks of that House for his 

 important share in the success of the Copenhagen expedition, by 

 which Napoleon was deprived of the assistance of the Danish fleet, 

 upon which he had reckoned in his plans against England. 



In the spring of 1808 a military force was assembled at Cork, 

 intended, it was believed, to act against the Spanish colonies of South 

 America, Spain being, through French influence, at war with England. 

 But the invasion of Portugal and Spain by Napoleon, occurring about 

 the same time, gave a new destination to the English expedition. The 

 people of Spain declared against the invaders, and sent to England to 

 ask for assistance. Junta?, or local governments, were formed, and 

 peace was proclaimed between Spain and England. The main strength 

 of the Spanish patriots appeared to be in the north, in the mountainous 

 provinces of Asturias and Galicia, which were as yet untouched by 

 the French, and the deputies who came to England from those pro- 

 vinces requested the employment of an English auxiliary force to 

 effect a diversion by landing on some point of the coast of Portugal. 

 Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had been promoted to the rank of Lieu- 

 tenant-General, April 25, 1808, was appointed in the following June 

 to the command of the force intended for the Peninsula, consisting of 

 about 9000 infantry and a regiment of light dragoons, with the 

 promise of an additional force of 10,000 men to follow in a short time. 

 These formed altogethe ra respectable military force, but the importance 

 EIOO. DIV. VOL. VI. 



of the occasion warranted exertions even greater than these, for the 

 Spanish peninsula had now become the field on which the great 

 question was to be decided whether France was to govern Europe, and 

 dictate to all other states, Great Britain included. 



Sir Arthur Wellesley landed at Coruna July 20, 1808. The junta 

 of Galicia asked for nothing but arms and money. They declined the 

 assistance of a British auxiliary force, but they advised General Wel- 

 lesley to land in Portugal, to rescue that kingdom from the French 

 grasp, and thus to open a ready communication between the north and 

 south of Spain. This was in accordance with Sir Arthur Wellesley'a 

 own views, and the general instructions that he had from home. He 

 accordingly sailed on to Oporto, which town had already risen against 

 the French ; and there he found the warlike bishop, who was at the 

 head of the insurrection, and had gathered together about 3000 men. 

 indifferently armed and equipped. He also learned that 5000 Portu- 

 guese regular troops were stationed at Coimbra, on the Mondego. 

 Having made arrangements with the bishop for the supply of mules 

 and horses, General Wellesley sailed to the south as far as the Tagug 

 to get fresh information as to the strength and position of the French 

 troops near Lisbon. On the 30th of July, he anchored in Mondego 

 Bay, which he fixed upon for the landing of the expedition. The 

 landing took place on the 1st of August, near the small town of 

 Figueira, on the south bank of the Mondego. Tha number of troops 

 lauded was about 9000. On the 5th Major-General Spencer joined 

 him from Cadiz with about 4000 more. 



The French force in Portugal at the time, under Junot, consisted of 

 16,000 or 18,000 men, from which deducting the garrisons of Almeida, 

 Elvas, Peniche, Setubal, and other places, there remained about 14,000 

 men for the defence of Lisbon. Their communications were cut off 

 from their countrymen in Spain, for, since the surrender of General 

 Dupont, the Spanish patriots were masters of And alucia and Estrema- 

 dura, and in Old Castile the French troops under Bessieres had not 

 advanced westward further than Benavente, being observed by the 

 Spanish army of Galicia. About the same time the French abandoned 

 Madrid and retired to the Ebro. A clear stage therefore was left for 

 the contest in Portugal between Wellesley and Junot, whose respective 

 disposable forces were nearly equal, the French however having the 

 advantage of a considerable body of cavalry. 



On the 9th of August the English began their march southward. 

 The advanced guard entered the town of Leiria on the 10th, where it 

 found the Portuguese force of 5000 men under General Freire, who, 

 having appropriated to the wants of his men the stores which, by an 

 agreement between the junta of Oporto and Sir Arthur Wellesley, 

 were intended for the English, further demanded that his corps 

 should henceforth be furnished with provisions by the English com- 

 missariat, a preposterous request, with which General Wellesley 

 declined to comply. Freire then refused to advance with the English, 

 but remained behind at Leiria, and was with difficulty prevailed upon 

 to allow about 1600 of his men to join Sir Arthur. On the 14th the 

 English entered Alcobaga, and on the 15th Caldas, following the road 

 to Torres Vedras, which runs parallel to the sea-coast. It was near 

 Roli9a, about ten miles beyond Caldas, that the first engagement took 

 place. But before relating the operations of the campaign, it will be 

 convenient to describe the position of the French in Portugal. 



When the Spaniards had risen against the invaders, the spirit of 

 resistance spread to Portugal, the natives of which country had equal 

 motives for being dissatisfied with the French rule. The French had 

 with their army several Spanish regiments, which were scattered about 

 the country in the several garisons. The Spanish troops which were 

 at Oporto, forming the principal part of that garrison, hearing of the 

 news from Spain, revolted against the French commander, seized him, 

 together with the few French soldiers that he had with him, and set 

 off with their prisoners for Spain, leaving the Portuguese at liberty to 

 act as they pleased. A junta was then formed, with the bishop at their 

 head, in the name of the Prince Regent of Portugal, and the whole of 

 the provinces north of the Douro rose against the French. The 

 insurrection spread southward into Beira. In the south the people of 

 Algarve rose, and those of Alemtejo followed their example, being 

 supported by a body of Spanish troops. The town of Evora became 

 the centre of the insurrection in that quarter. The French General 

 Loison, who had been sent to repress the insurgents in the north, 

 was quickly recalled by Junot, and sent into Alemtejo. He entered 

 Evora after a desperate resistance on the part of the inhabitants, and 

 the town was given up to indiscriminate massacre. General Margarou 

 executed like vengeance at Leiria, sparing neither age nor sex. Similar 

 scenes took place at Guarda in the north, and at Beja and Villavigosa 

 in the south. In these butcheries however the French were also losing 

 their own men daily, for the peasantry were always hovering about 

 ;heir line of march, ready to cut off stragglers and intercept the com- 

 munications. "The whole kingdom," observed Sir Arthur Wellesloy 

 in one of his first dispatches after landing in Mondego Bay, " with the 

 exception of the neighbourhood of Lisbon, is in a state of insurrection 

 against the French. Their means of resistance are however less 

 powerful than those of the Spaniards. The Portuguese troops have 

 ieen completely dispersed, their officers have gone off to Brazil, and 

 their arsenals are pillaged or in the power of the enemy. Their revolt, 

 under the circumstances in which it has taken place, is still more 

 extraordinary than that of the Spanish nation. They have in the 



2Q 



