188 LON 
After the mofi important events In the peninfula dur¬ 
ing the fuminer of 1808, namely, the furrender of«Du- 
pont, the flight of Jofeph Bonaparte from Madrid, and 
the convention of Cintra, the French army retired from 
Madrid, and repafled the Ebro, expetting reinforcements, 
' and furveying at their eafe the unconnected movements of 
the Spaniards. At the fame time it was reported here 
and in Spain, that the infurredtion there was univerfal; 
and this belief was fo prevalent, that, in a memorial tranf- 
mitted for the information of fir John Moore by the Bri- 
tilh fecretary of ftate, it was fluted, that the French armies 
could not enter the defiles of Alturias without expofing 
themfelves to be deflroyed even by the armed peafants. 
In the month of September it was confidered as mod pro¬ 
bable, that the Spaniards alone would fdon drive the 
French out of the peninfula. Lord William Bentinck 
v/as direfled to make enquiries refpeffing the intentions 
of the Spamfli government, on the expuliion of the French ; 
and directions were given, under particular circumflances, 
to urge the invaiion, with a combined Britilh army, of 
the fouth of France. Such was the flattering- picture 
prefented to the view of lir John Moore, before he com¬ 
menced his march, and was enabled to judge for himfelf. 
The glorious events which have (ince taken place, prove, 
that this fanguine expectation, if premature, was not un¬ 
grounded ; and, if not founded upon immediate proba¬ 
bility, was however fupported by the idea of eventual pof- 
fibility. However, to execute the plans of the minifters, 
lir David Baird arrived at Corunna on the 13th of Odto- 
ber, but was not permitted to land till the 31ft, by which 
time advices had been fent, and orders received, from the 
junta at Madrid. This intelligence, which was commu¬ 
nicated to fir John Moore previouliy to his leaving Lifbon, 
gave !\im fome idea of the fort of co-operation and afiifl- 
ance he had to expeft from the Spanifh government. 
The Britifli army, in its march through Portugal, had 
experienced fometimes the cool civility to allies whofe af- 
liftance was acceptable, but oftener a conflrained hofpi- 
tality towards guefts whom it would be dangerous to re- 
fufe. The people, entirely deflitute of public fpirit, took 
no part whatever in public affairs. They were, .befides, 
Hothful, and altogether uninformed of what was paffing 
in the world, and even of the political and phyfical cir¬ 
cumflances of their own country. Of their ignorance, fir 
J. Mc/ore had a ftriking proof in the accounts they had 
given him of their own roads, which he found, on his ar¬ 
rival at Atalaia, to be praddicable for artillery ; a difcovery 
which, if it had been fooner made, would have been of 
the utmoft importance, in fparing general Hope’s circu¬ 
itous courfe by the Efcurial, and thus enabling the va¬ 
rious columns more fpeedily to effedl their junction. 
Thefe circumflances were not calculated to give the Eng- 
lifh any-favourable prepoffellion of the people they were 
fent to defend. Better things, however, were to be ex¬ 
pected from the Spaniards; and, with this impreflion, the 
army looked towards the elevated fite of Ciudad Rodrigo, 
where it was received with fhouts of Viva /os Inglejes, and 
a greater degree of enthufiafm than had yet been witne^ed. 
But, according to ftated faff, we have to deplore the ob¬ 
lique conduct ^anu tardy co-operation of the unfettled 
junta, which governed the Spaniards at this time; and, 
whatever energies might exift among the people, fir John 
Moore had reafon to complain, that no meafures were 
taken by the government to call them forth into aftion. 
When tiie three armies deftined to cover the junction 
of the Britilh forces had been defeated, one after the other, 
as related in p. 183, the queflion with the Britifli army 
was no longer how it might ferve the Spaniards, but how 
provide for its own fafety. It was, whether 29,000 Bri¬ 
tifli troops fhould be oppofed to the undivided attack of 
100,000 French ; or whether, by retiring upon their re¬ 
sources at Lifbon, they fliould preferve tbemfeives for more 
fortunate times. Sir John Moore was not a moment un¬ 
decided. He wrote immediately to fir David Baird to re- 
dire upon Corunna, and from thence to join him by lea 
DON. 
at Lifbon. General Hope, who had advanced to ths 
neighbourhood'of Madrid, received orders, according to 
circumflances, either to rejoin the main body or retire 
upon Guadarama. Sir John Moore, then, affembling his 
general officers, and communicating both the intelligence 
he had received and the plan he had in conlequence 
adopted, told them, “ that he had not called them toge¬ 
ther to requeft their counfel, or to commit therr.ielves by 
giving any opinion on the (ubjedt : he took the refponfi- 
bility entirely upon himfelf; and he only required that 
they fliould immediately prepare for carrying it into etfedt.” 
This plan of retreating was, however, afterwards aban¬ 
doned by fir John Moore, on account, of his receiving 
intelligence that the remains of Caflanos’s army were 
coming up to join him ; and that general St. Juan, with 
20,000 men, had twice defeated the enemy ; and, lafily, 
that Bonaparte was at Burgos. But this intention did 
not lafl long; for contrary reports foon forced fir John 
Moore to revert to his firft refolution. 
It is almoft impoffible to conceive what hardfhips of all 
defcriptions, and from all quarters, the prudent and brave 
fir John Moore had to endure. Our foldiers detefted and ; 
defpifed the Spaniards for refiuiing to open their'doors to 
the allies and defenders of their beloved Ferdinand. They 
were difappointed and loured at retreating from the ap¬ 
proach of the enemy; and this they attributed to the 
cowardly conduft of the Spaniards, by whom they con¬ 
fidered themfelves to have been betrayed. The Spanifh 
peasantry and villagers, again, poor and deflitute of every 
thing beyond mere neceliarus, were but ill difpofed to 
lhare their pittance -with men whom they hated and even 
abhorred as heretics, whom they dreaded as guelts, and 
whom they' now conceived to be abandoning them to all 
the fury of an enraged enemy. Such wants and fenti- 
ments 011 either fide engendered all the bitlernefs which 
marked the intercourfe of the two nations during the re¬ 
mainder or the campaign. 
Aided by lord Raget and general Crauford, general 
Moore prevented the duke or Dalmatia, who had eroded 
the Eilar at Manfilla, from occupying Aflorga before the 
arrival of the Britilh army. Soon after this, the Britifli 
commander, uniting his army with the divifion of fir Da¬ 
vid Baird from Valentia, proceeded, on the 30th of De¬ 
cember, on Villa Franca .and Lugo. At Aflorga all ft 
the fuperfluous camp-equipage was deflroyed, and all the 
fumpter mules, hories, &c. t.hat could not keep up with 
the columns, abandoned. On the march from hence the 
military cheft- was iacrifi'ced : band's full of dollars were 
ftaved, and precipitated over rocks, into ravines, dens, 
and rivers. From Aflorga to Lugo the road lay for the 
moft part through bl?ak mountains covered with f'now, 
affording fo fcanty a fuppfy of proviiions, that the troops 
were fometimes tw o days without tailing any food. Dur¬ 
ing this march, the extremes of vice and imiery feemed 
to meet. In fome of the villages the unburied dead bo¬ 
dies of the inhabitants lay outflretched before the doors 
of their own houies, from which they had been driven 
by the unrelenting foldier, urged by his own necefiities, 
to peril'll with cold and hunger. In others no traces of 
inhabitants were to be found. Stragglers from different 
corps plundered the different magazines, commillariat- 
ftores, and cellars, and afterwards lay intoxicated by the 
way-fide, mixed with the lick and thole overcome with fa¬ 
tigue, to be trampled underfoot or mangled by the fabres 
of the enemy’s cavalry. Befides the terrible example no¬ 
ticed in a letter from fir John Moore to the marquis, of 
Romana, of a foldier (hot at Villa Franca, other warnings 
were held up by, the genera], not lets impreflive: feveral 
itragglers, who had been hacked and hewed by the-Ft'ench 
troopers, were led through their refpe6tive corps as ex¬ 
amples of the confequences of drunkennefs and difobe- 
dience to orders. 
Bonaparte, having been joined by the duke of Dal¬ 
matia at Aflorga, after reviewing his troops to the amount 
of 70,000 men, had difpatched three divifions, under three 
inarlhalsj 
