BRITAIN. 





Rrit.iiu. 



deemed impregnable ; but Suchet, following up his 

 success, likewise made himself master of Montserrat, 

 on the 24-th of July. 



About the beginning of August, the army of 

 Lord Wellington marched from its cantonments on 

 the Alentejo towards the north of Portugal, and took 

 up a fresh position, nearly on the ground which it 

 occupied before the battle of Fuentes d'Honore. 



With the view of relieving Ciudad Rodrigo, the 

 rnemy commenced their movements on the 21st of 

 September. On the 23d, they appeared on the plain 

 near Ciudad Rodrigo, but again retired. On the 

 24-th, they entered the plain in considerable force, 

 and on the morning of the 25th, a body of their caval- 

 ry drove in the British posts on the right of the Aza- 

 ra, but, having passed that river, they were compel- 

 led to recross it by a body of the 14-th and 16th light 

 dragoons. 



The enemy's attention was principally directed to 

 the position of the third division, on the hills between 

 Fuente Guinaldo and Pastores. Their attempts to 

 gain that position were repulsed with great gallantry ; 

 but on the arrival of a division of French infantry, 

 Lord Wellington judged it prudent to retire, and the 

 army, formed into squares, retreated in good order 

 to Fuente Guinaldo. On the evening of the 25th, 

 and on the 26th, the enemy collected their whole 

 force in frent of the allied army ; but Lord Welling- 

 ton thought it advisable to retreat, and on the 28th, 

 he formed his army on the heights behind Soito, ha- 

 ving the Sierra das Mefas on his right, and his left 

 at Renda, on the Coa. 



Marshal Suchet, with 20,000 men, entered the 

 urrenders kingdom of Valencia from Tortosa, and laid siege 

 to the strong fortress of Murviedro, the ancient Sa- 

 guntum. On the 29th of September, he made three 

 attempts to obtain possession of the fort by escalade; 

 but in all of them he was repulsed with great loss, 

 and obliged to leave his ladders behind. In the mean 

 time, General Blake, who had taken the command 

 of the armies of Murcia and Valencia, assembled 

 troops from every quarter, and gave battle to Suchet 

 on the 25th of October, with the view of relieving 

 Murviedro. The Spaniards fought with the great- 

 est gallantry, and several times outflanked and drove 

 the French from their position ; but the decisive ma- 

 noeuvre of penetrating their centre, was successfully 

 practised by Suchet, and Blake was obliged to fly 

 after an engagement of seven hours, in which he 

 lost about 6500 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. 

 The result of this victory was the capitulation of 

 Murviedro, the garrison of which marched out through 

 the breach on the 27th of October, with all the ho- 

 nours of war. The prisoners who thus fell into the 

 hands of the French, with those taken at the battle 

 of the 25th, amounted to 7211, of whom 369-were 

 officers. 



The operations of the allied army in the north of 

 Portugal were attended with more success. General 

 Hill left his cantonments near Portalegre, on the 



1'ninCr 



rUutKT. 



1811. 



22d of October, and advanced towardi the Spanish Britain, 

 frontier. When he arrived at Albuquerque, on the ' 

 2:id, he learned that the French troops under the 

 command of General Girard, amounting to 2100 

 infantry, and 600 cavalry, had retired upon Mcrida ; 

 and, after following them for four days, he had General 

 every ^.reason to believe that Girard was not only in Hill tar. 

 total ignorance of the approach of the British troops, pri and 

 but was completely oft his guard. The main body rou " the ' 

 of the French had halted at Arroyo del Molino, on j n ',!", " f 

 the evening of the 27th, and General Hill resolved ujVlrJ* 

 either to surprise the enemy, or bring him to action Oct. iuiili. 

 before he should march in the morning. By a forced 

 march, on the evening of the 27th, the British troops 

 reached Alcuesca, within a league of Arroyo del Mo- 

 lino, and at 2 o'clock on the morning of the 28th, 

 they marched in one column upon that town. When 

 they had arrived within half a mile of the town, 

 the British troops divided into three columns, un- 

 der cover of a low ridge, and the subsequent move- 

 ments of these columns were concealed by a violent 

 storm of rain and mist, which came on at the dawn 

 of day. The left column marched directly upon the 

 town, the right column broke off to turn the enemy's 

 left, and the third column, consisting of the cavalry, 

 moved between the other two. The 71st and 92d 

 regiments charged into the town with cheers, and 

 drove the enemy at the point of the bayonet. The 

 French infantry, which was out of the town, formed 

 into two squares, with their cavalry on their left ; 

 but being unable to withstand the charges of the 

 British cavalry, and the well-directed fire of their 

 musketry, they dispersed, and endeavoured to escape 

 by ascending the mountain behind the town. Their 

 cavalry fled in every direction ; the infantry threw 

 away their arms, and being pursued over the rocks 

 by the troops under Major-General Howard, more 

 than 14-00 were made prisoners, and 600 were found 

 dead in the woods and mountains. The general of 

 cavalry, Brune, and the colonel of cavalry, Prince 

 D'Armberg, with many officers, were among the 

 prisoners, while General Girard himself, who was 

 wounded in the engagement, escaped to Llerena, with 

 only two or three hundred men. 



The campaign of 1811 was not distinguished by 

 any other events of importance. Lord Wellington 

 had his head quarters at Frenada during the remain- 

 der of the year, while the division under General 

 Hill was stationed at Merida. 



The Regency Bill having passed the great seaJ, Prince Re- 

 his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was sworn ? ent r 

 into his office on the 6ih of February. The sanguine 

 hopes which were at this time entertained of the g 

 king'u recovery, and the fear of taking any measure 

 which might in the least degree interfere with that 

 desirable event, induced the Prince Regent to carry 

 on the executive government by the same ministers 

 that had been appointed by his royal father. He ac- 

 cordingly communicated this resolution to Mr Per. 

 ceval ; * and, on the 12th of February, the sessicu 



" The prince feels it incumbent upon him, at this precise juncture, to communicate to Mr Perceval his intention not to 

 remove from their stations those whom he finds there, as his majesty's official servants. At the same time, the prince o\\c< 

 it to the truth and sincerity of character, which, he trusts, will appear in every action of his lite, in whatever situation placed, 

 explicitly to declare, that the irresistible impulse of filial duty and affection to his beloved and afflicted father, li-.uU }r.m : 

 dread, that any act of the regent might, in the smallest degree, have the eflect of interfering with the pn>z 



