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WELLINGTON, DUKE OP. 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OP 



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F.urly in June the French invested Ciudad Rodrigo almost in eight 

 of Mm I'.ritish advanced division, which was posted ou the Azava. On 

 the 2oth tliey opened their batteries, and the Spanish governor, a 

 bravo old officer, defended himself till the 10th of July, when, a prac- 

 ticable breach being made, the French entered the place by capitula- 

 tion. Wellington could not risk his army for the relief of Ciudad 

 Rodrigo ; his object was to defend Portugal, and, above all, Lisbon. 

 Ha states in the clearest manner his reasons for not attempting to 

 relieve Ciudad Rodrigo in his dispatch to Lord Liverpool from Pero 

 Negro, 27th of October 1810, in answer to the charges in the French 

 ' Monitcur." He retained his position on the left bank of the Coa, and 

 the French advanced to that river, and in so doing the corps of Ney 

 encountered the British light division under General Craufurd, who 

 disputed the ground against a much superior force, and lastly effected 

 his retreat by a bridge across the 'Coa, which the French unsuccess- 

 fully attempted to pass. The fire of the British killed and wounded 

 about 1000 of them. This fight was against Lord Wellington's inten- 

 tions, for it was useless, but it gave Massena a specimen of the resist- 

 ance that he had to encounter in his march to Lisbon, which was the 

 declared object of his expedition. On entering the frontiers of Portu- 

 gal, after taking Ciudad Rodrigo, Massena issued a proclamation to 

 the Portuguese in the usual style of French proclamations of those 

 times, abusing the English as the cause of all mischief, and attributing 

 the presence of an English army in Portugal to the " insatiable ambi- 

 tion " of England. He sneered at the English for not having attempted 

 to relieve Ciudad Rodrigo, which he knew they could not have done 

 in the face of an enemy three times as strong. Massena ended by 

 recommending to the Portuguese population to remain quiet, and receive 

 the French soldiers as friends, assuring them of protection for their 

 persons and property. How this last promise was kept from the 

 beginning is stated by Lord Wellington in a counter-proclamation 

 which he issued a few weeks afterwards, dated Celorico, August 4 : 

 " The time which has elapsed during which the enemy have remained 

 upon the frontiers of Portugal has fortunately afforded the Portuguese 

 nation experience of what they are to expect from the French. The 

 people had remained in some villages trusting to the enemy's promises, 

 and vainly believing that, by treating the enemies of their country in 

 a friendly manner, they should conciliate their forbearance, and that 

 their properties would be respected, their women would be saved from 

 violation, and that their lives would be spared. Vain hopes ! The 

 people of these devoted villages have suffered every evil which a cruel 

 enemy could inflict. Their property has been plundered, their houses 

 and furniture burnt, their women have been ravished, and the unfor- 

 tunate inhabitants whose age or sex did not tempt the brutal violence 

 of the soldiers, have fallen the victims of the imprudent confidence 

 they reposed in promises which were only made to be violated. The 

 Portuguese now see that they have no remedy for the evil with which 

 they are threatened but determined resistance. Resistance, and the 

 determination to render the enemy's advance into their country as 

 difficult as possible, by removing out of his way everything that is 

 valuable, or that can contribute to his existence or facilitate his pro- 

 gress, are the only and certain remedies for the evils with which they 

 are threatened. The army under my command will protect as large a 

 proportion of the country as will be in their power; but it is obvious 

 that the people can save themselves only by resistance to the enemy, 

 and their properties only by removing them. The duty however which 

 I owe to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and to the Portuguese 

 nation, will oblige me to use the power and authority in my hands to 

 force the weak and the indolent to make an exertion to save them- 

 selves from the danger which awaits them, and to save their country ; 

 and I hereby declare that all the magistrates or persons in authority 

 who remain in the towns or villages after receiving orders from any of 

 the military officers to retire from them, and all persons of whatever 

 description who hold any communication with the enemy, and aid and 

 assist them in any manner, will be considered traitors to the state, 

 and shall be tried and punished accordingly." (' Dispatches,' vi. pp. 

 229, 230.) 



Massena remained nearly a month inactive on the line of the Coa 

 before he began the siege of Almeida, the frontier fortress of Portugal 

 on that side. The French broke ground before it on the 15th of 

 August, and Lord Wellington moved his army to the front to take 

 advantage of any opportunity which might be afforded of relieving the 

 place, which was defended by a Portuguese garrison commanded by 

 an English officer. The French opened their fire on the 26th of 

 August, and on the night of the 27th, in consequence of the explosion 

 of a magazine containing nearly all the ammunition in the place, and 

 by which a large part of the town and defences were destroyed, the 

 governor was obliged to capitulate. Wellington was greatly disap- 

 pointed, for he reckoned on the place detaining the French till the 

 rainy season set in. He then fell back with the main body of his 

 army to the valley of the Mondego. Another considerable pause 

 occurred in Masseua's movements, but on the 15th of September the 

 French army began their _ march down the valley of the Mondego by 

 the right bank of the river, in the direction of Coimbra, through 

 Viseu. " There are certainly," Lord Wellington observed, " many bad 

 roads in Portugal, but the enemy has taken decidedly the worst in the 

 whole kingdom." 

 Wellington, who had retired by the left bank, then crossed the 



river, and took up a strong position in front of Coimbra, along a high 

 ridge called the Serra de Busaco, which extends from the Mondego 

 northwards. General Hill joined Wellington with his division from the 

 south, leaving some troops on the left bank of the Mondego to secure 

 the high road to Lisbon on that side. With this exception Lord 

 Wellington's whole army was collected upon the Serra de Bueaco. On 

 the 26th of September the French army, consisting of the 2nd, 6th, 

 and 8th corps, assembled before it, and some skirmishing took place. 

 In the morning of the 27th the French attacked in great force both 

 the right and the left of the English position ; one French column 

 reached the top of the ridgo, and was in the act of deploying when it 

 was repulsed by General Picton's division, as well as another which 

 could not even reach the summit ; and on the left the French were 

 likewise repulsed and thrown down the hill by a charge with the 

 bayonet from Craufurd's division and a Portuguese brigade. The 

 French lost one general and about 1000 killed, two generals and about 

 3000 wounded, and one general and several hundred men prisoners. 

 The loss of the Allies did not exceed 1300. " This movement," says 

 Wellington, " has brought the Portuguese levies into action with 

 the enemy for the first time in an advantageous situation, and they 

 have proved that the trouble which has been taken with them has not 

 been thrown away, and that they are worthy of contending in the same 

 ranks with British troops in this interesting cause, which they afford 

 the best hopes of saving." (' Dispatches,' vi., p. 475.) 



One of the motives of Lord Wellington in fighting the battle of 

 Busaco was to give time to the population of the country in his rear to 

 remove out of the way of the enemy with their goods and provisions, 

 especially from Coimbra, a populous and wealthy town, but the orders 

 given to that effect were ill obeyed. Massena did not attempt again 

 to force the position of Busaco, but moved off his army by the pass 

 of Boyalva, in the mountains north of Busaco. Lord Wellington 

 had directed Colonel Trant to occupy this pass with a Portuguese 

 division ; but Trant missed the direct road, and arrived too late and 

 with too small a force to arrest the march of the French, who descended 

 into the maritime plains, and seized on the road leading from Oporto 

 to Coimbra in the rear of the British. 



On the 29th of September the Allies quitted the position of Busaco, 

 and, crossing the Mondego, began their retreat towards Lisbon. On 

 the 1st of October the British rear-guard, after some skirmishing with 

 the French, evacuated Coimbra, accompanied by all the remaining 

 inhabitants, who ran away with whatever moveables they could carry, 

 and the sick, the aged, and the children, on carts, mules, and donkeys, 

 not knowing whither they were going, and encumbering the road, 

 whilst the French cavalry was hovering on the flank and rear. It 

 was a piteous sight, and one which those who saw it can never forget. 

 The French entered the forsaken city, where they found ample stores 

 of provisions. On the 2nd of October Lord Wellington's head-quarters 

 were moved to Leiria, where he stayed two days, the French following 

 slowly, and the British and Portuguese effecting their retreat with 

 great ease and regularity. General Hill with his division moved by 

 Thomar and Santarem, the centre of the army by Leiria and Rio 

 Mayor, and the left by Alcobaga and Obidos. Massena followed in 

 one column by the centre or Rio Mayor road. Some skirmishing only 

 took place between his advanced guard and the light division which 

 formed the British rear. On the 8th the allied army entered the lines 

 which had been prepared for them, just as the autumnal rains, which 

 fall very heavily in Portugal, were beginning to set in. Never was a 

 retreat, before a formidable enemy, effected with more ease or so 

 little loss. On the 10th of October the whole army was within the 

 lines. 



The line of defence was double. The first, which, was 29 miles 

 long, began at Alhandra on the Tagus, crossed the valley of Aruda, 

 which was rather a weak point, and passed along the skirts of Mount 

 Agraga, where there was a large and strong redoubt : it then passed 

 across the valley of Zibreira and skirted the ravine of Runa to the 

 heights of Torres Vedras, which were well fortified ; thence the line 

 followed the course of the little river Zizandre to its mouth on the 

 sea-coast. This firsjb line of defence followed the sinuosities of the 

 mountain tract which extends from the Tagus to the sea about 30 

 miles north of Lisbon. Lord Wellington's head-quarters were fixed 

 at Pero Negro, a little in the rear of the centre of the line, where a 

 telegraph was fixed corresponding with every part of the position. 

 The second line, at a distance varying from six to ten miles in the 

 rear of the first, extended from Quintella on the Tagus, by Bucellaa, 

 Monte Chique, and Mafra, to the mouth of the little river S. Lourengo 

 on the sea-coast, and was 24 miles long. This was the stronger line 

 of the two both by nature and art, and, if the first line were forced 

 by the enemy, the retreat of the army upon the second was secure at 

 all times. Both lines were secured by breastworks, abattis, stone 

 walls with banquettes, and scarps. In the rear of the second line 

 there was a line to secure the embarkation of the troops, should that 

 measure become necessary, enclosing on entrenched camp and the 

 Fort of St. Julian. More than 100 redoubts or forts and 600 pieces 

 of artillery were scattered along these lines. Lord Wellington had 

 received reinforcements from England and Cadiz; the Portuguese 

 army had also been strengthened, and the Spanish division of La 

 Romana, 5000 strong, came from Estremadura to join the allies, so 

 that the British commander had about 60,000 regular troops posted 



