CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



became so famous as Duke of Wellington, was the 

 leader of this force. In an engagement at Vimieini, 

 on the 2 ist, he repulsed the French, under Junot, 

 who soon after agreed, by what was called the 

 Convention of Cintra, to evacuate the country. 

 Sir Arthur being recalled, the British army was 

 led into Spain under the command of Sir John 

 Moore ; but this officer found the reinforcements 

 poured in by Napoleon too great to be withstood, 

 and accordingly, in the end of December, he 

 commenced a disastrous, though remarkably well- 

 conducted retreat towards the port of Corunna, 

 whither he was closely pursued by Marshal Soult. 

 The British army suffered on this occasion the 

 severest hardships and losses, but did not experi- 

 ence a check in battle, or lose a single standard. 

 In a battle which took place at Corunna, January 

 16, 1809, for the purpose of protecting the em- 

 barkation of the troops, the gallant Sir John 

 Moore was killed. 



In 1809, Austria was induced once more to 

 commence war with France, but was beaten in 

 the decisive battle of Wagram. Peace was fol- 

 lowed by the marriage of Napoleon to Maria 

 Louisa, daughter of the Emperor of Austria, for 

 which purpose he divorced his former wife, 

 Josephine. 



In the autumn of 1809, the British government 

 despatched an armament of 100,000 men, for the 

 purpose of securing a station which should com- 

 mand the navigation of the Scheldt. The expedi- 

 tion was placed under the command of the Earl 

 of Chatham, elder brother of Mr Pitt, a nobleman 

 totally unacquainted with military affairs on such 

 a scale. The army, having disembarked on the 

 insalubrious island of Walcheren, was swept off 

 in thousands by disease. The survivors returned 

 in December without having done anything to- 

 wards the object for which they set out. This sad 

 affair became the subject of inquiry in the House 

 of Commons, which, by a majority of 272 against 

 232, vindicated the manner in which the expedi- 

 tion had been managed. 



SUCCESSES OF WELLINGTON IN SPAIN. 



A new expedition in Spain was attended with 

 better success. Taking advantage of the absence 

 of Napoleon in Austria, a considerable army was 

 landed, April 22, 1809, under the command of Sir 

 Arthur Wellesley, who immediately drove Soult 

 out of Portugal, and then made a rapid move upon 

 Madrid. On the 28th of July was fought the battle 

 of Talavera; in which the British and Spanish 

 troops had the advantage over the French under 

 Marshal Victor. 



Early in 1810, Napoleon reinforced the army in 

 Spain, and gave orders to Massena to ' drive the 

 British out of the Peninsula.' Wellesley, now 

 raised to the peerage under the title of Lord 

 Wellington of Talavera, posted his troops on the 

 heights of Busaco 80,000 in number, including 

 Portuguese and there, on the 27th of September, 

 was attacked by an equal number of French. 

 Both British and Portuguese behaved well : the 

 French were repulsed with great loss, and for the 

 first time in the war, conceived a respectful notion 

 of the British troops. Wellington now retired to 

 the lines of Torres Vedras, causing the whole 

 country to be desolated as he went, for the pur- 

 pose of embarrassing the French. When Massena 



168 



observed the strength of the British position, he 

 hesitated; and ultimately, in the spring of 1811, 

 performed a disastrous and harassed retreat into 

 the Spanish tenitory. 



It now became an object of importance with 

 Wellington to obtain possession of the Spanish 

 fortresses which had been seized by the French. 

 He succeeded in capturing Almeida, and defeating 

 Massena at Fuentes de Onoro ; while Generals 

 Beresford and Graham won the battles of Al- 

 buera and Barrosa. Wellington then retired into 

 Portugal. 



THE REGENCY. 



The intellect of the king gave way completely 

 at the close of the year 1810, and the Prince of 

 Wales was, in consequence, appointed Regent. 

 He did not, however, shew his former liking for 

 the Whigs, but allowed them to remain in 

 opposition. 



EVENTS OF l8l2 AND 1813. 



In 1 8 12, the events that had taken place in 

 Spain having somewhat impaired Napoleon's 

 prestige, Alexander, Emperor of Russia, ven- 

 tured upon a defiance of his decrees against 

 British merchandise, and provoked him to a 

 renewal of the war. With upwards of half a 

 million of troops, appointed in the best manner, 

 Napoleon set out for that remote country, 

 determined to reduce it into perfect subjection. 

 A stratagem on the part of the Russians 

 defeated all his plans. The city of Moscow, 

 after being possessed by the French troops 

 in September, was destroyed by incendiaries, so 

 that no shelter remained for them during the 

 ensuing winter. Napoleon was obliged to re- 

 treat ; but, overtaken by the direst inclemency 

 of the season, his men perished by thousands in 

 the snow, while they were harassed by the Rus- 

 sian troops in their retreat. Of his splendid 

 army, a mere skeleton regained Central Europe. 

 Returning almost alone to Paris, he contrived, 

 with great exertions, to reinforce his army, though 

 there was no replacing the veterans lost in Russia. 



Early in 1813, he opened a campaign in North- 

 ern Germany, where the Emperor of Russia, now 

 joined by the king of Prussia and various minor 

 powers, appeared in the open field against him. 

 After various successes on both sides, an armis- 

 tice was agreed to on the ist of June, and Bona- 

 parte was offered peace on condition of restoring 

 only that part of his dominions which he had 

 acquired since 1805. Inspired with an overween- 

 ing confidence in his military genius, he refused 

 these terms, and lost all. In August, when the 

 armistice was at an end, his father-in-law, the 

 Emperor of Austria, joined the allies, whose forces 

 now numbered 500,000 men ; while an army of 

 300,000 was the largest which Napoleon could at 

 present bring into the field. By steady, though 

 cautious movements, the allies advanced to France, 

 driving him reluctantly before them, and increas- 

 ing their own force as the various states became 

 emancipated by their presence. At the close of 

 1813, they rested upon the frontiers of France; 

 while Lord Wellington, after two brilliant cam- 

 paigns in Spain, had advanced in like manner to 

 the Pyrenees. 



