t O N 
tJer the command of lord Wellington. The trenches 
were at length opened on the night between the 15th and 
16th of June, by which time Mafiena had arrived in the 
French camp to take the command of the army. The 
town was completcdy inverted by a body of troops under 
the orders of Ney on the right bank of the Agueda, and 
by another under Junot on the left. In the morning of 
the 25th of June, a fire was opened on Ciudad Rodrigo 
from 46 pieces of battering cannon, which foon obtained 
an advantage over that of the garrifon. But the Spa¬ 
niards, w'ho had a very numerous artillery, brought dif¬ 
ferent pieces into play, and poured a fhower of fiiells and 
bullets on the aflailants ; who, in order to cover their ad¬ 
vances, found it necefl’ary to attack two convents, which 
were taken and retaken feveral times, and not kept by the 
French at laft until they were partly burnt. Pofieffion 
was then obtained of the fuburb St. Francis, after an ob- 
ftinate refiftance, and feveral forties. On the 28th, great 
damage having been done to the walls, the governor, Don 
Andrew Herrafty, was fummoned to furrender ; but he re- 
fufed to capitulate: both the garrifon and inhabitants, 
roufed by the monks to a high pitch of religious enthu- 
fiafm, appeared determined to (land out to the laft extre¬ 
mity. The firing was then re-commenced with increafed 
fury : batteries were eretted nearer the walls, in both of 
which a practicable breach, from fifteen to eighteen fa¬ 
thoms in width, was made on the 9th of July ; in the night 
of which the explofion of a mine threw the counterfcarp 
into the ditch. This breach being difcovered about four 
o’clock P. M. of the 10th, it was inftantly mounted, 
amidft the cries of Vive I'Empereur, by three gallant fol- 
diers, wdio poured the contents of their firelocks among 
the garrifon ; whofe fire, which had become feeble for 
fome hours, now entirely ceafed. The befiegers were 
marching in columns to the affiiult, when the white flag 
appeared. The garrifon furrendered at difcretion. The 
French were (truck with the appearance of fubverfion and 
ruin wherever they turned their eyes. Scarcely was a 
houfe to be feen entire, or without fome trace of the fu¬ 
rious fiege it had undergone. Of the troops and inhabi¬ 
tants, 2000 were killed. The garrifon, to the number of 
7000, depofited their arms in the arfenal. There was 
found at Ciudad Rodrigo 125 pieces of ordnance, moftly 
bronze; 200,000 weight of povder; and more than a mil¬ 
lion of cartouches for infantry. 
The next operation in the progrefs of the French army 
of Portugal was the fiege of Almeida. But a confider- 
able time was fpentin repairing and ftrengthening the de¬ 
fences of Ciudad Rodrigo, in waiting for the return of 
the troops that efcorted theSpanifh prifoners to Bayonne, 
and the arrival of fome other reinforcements. The for- 
trefs of Almeida, deemed by general Dumourier the ftrong- 
eft in Portugal, (lands on the top of a high mountain, or 
rather a lofty mountainous plain, 113 miles north-eaft 
from Lifbon. This elevated plain is divided by a very 
deep valley, or rather an immenfe glen, containing in its 
finuofities, the rapid river Coa, which, rufhing down amidft 
rifted rocks of granite, after being joined by three finall 
rivers, falls into the Ebro. The Coa runs at the diftance 
of a mile from the town of Almeida. It had fix royal 
baftions of done, and as many ravelins, with a good ditch 
and covered way. Nearly in the centre of the town, on a 
lofty mound, ftood the caftle and magazines, which were 
bomb-proof. Within its walls were wells, and at a finall 
diftance a fine fpring of water. The population of Al¬ 
meida did not exceed 2500. The fortrefs was garrifoned 
by 5000 men, partly Englifh, partly Portuguefe ; but the 
whole commanded by Britifh officers. The governor was 
brigadier-general Cox. On the 26th, eleven batteries, 
mounted with 65 pieces of cannon, opened a fire on the 
fortrefs, which was returned by the garrifon with great 
vigour. Towards eight o’clock, a bomb fell within the 
walls of the caftle on a caiffon which they were filling 
with gunpowder at the door of the principal magazine ; 
the flame was communicated to a hundred and fifty thou- 
DON. 227 
fand weight of powder: the explofion was like the erup- 
tion of a volcano. It was fuppofed by the befiegers that 
the whole of the place had been blown up. A great 
quantity of the w'recks fell into the French trenches. By 
this accident 900 perfons were killed, and 400 wounded ; 
of about 400 artillery-men, notone el’caped. The confla¬ 
gration fpread, and was continued for the whole night. 
Next day, marfhal Mafiena went himfelf to the trenches, 
and viewed the ravages of the terrible explofion. The 
caftle, the cathedral, and all the neighbouring houfes,had 
difhppeared. Even before this explofion, the fire of the 
fortrefs had been filenced. The marfhal fent a flag of 
truce, offering capitulation ; and alfo a note to the gover¬ 
nor, in which he obferved to him, that Almeida was in 
flames, that the whole of his heavy artillery was now 
mounted on batteries, and that it was impoflible that the 
Englifh army fhould come to his relief. After feveral 
hours employed in negociation, the governor, whofe ob¬ 
ject had been, as Mafiena thought, to gain time, refuled 
to accede to the terms. The French therefore re-com¬ 
menced their fire at eight o’clock in the evening ; three 
hours after, governor Cox figned the capitulation propofed 
by Mafiena. The garrifon were to have the honours of 
war, that is, to march out with their arms, and lay them 
down on the glacis ; the militia to return to their homes, 
and not to ferve during the prefent war, either againft 
France or her allies. Ninety-eight pieces of heavy artil¬ 
lery and feven field-pieces fell into the hands of the 
French, with 300,000 rations of bifcuit, 100,000 rations 
of fait fifh, and a great quantity of other provifions. Of 
the Portuguefe militia, 1200, inftead of returning home, 
entered voluntarily into the fervice of France. 
It is now time to return to lord Wellington, com¬ 
mander-in-chief of the Britifh army, whom (o. 192.) we 
left at Badajoz, after his retreat from Talavera. The 
events of the war in Old Caftile rendered it neceflary for 
him to retreat from Badajoz, in December 1809, to the 
north of the Tagus. In February 1810, the Englifh army, 
augmented by Portuguefe troops difciplined by general 
Beresford, were quartered on an extended line, compre¬ 
hending Oporto, Lamego, Vizeu, Coimbra, A.brantes, and 
Santarem, It is unneceflary to follow the Anglo-Portu- 
guefe army in all their changes of pofition during the re¬ 
treat towards Lifbon. Lord Wellington had formed a plan 
of defenfive operationsas profoundas any we read of in hif- 
tory. While he was employed in making demonftrations 
on the frontier of Spain, immenfe fortifications were rifiim 
in a line from the fea to the Tagus, at a fhort diftance 
from Lifbon. To thefe, which were almoft impregnable, 
it was his plan to retreat, where he would be near his re- 
fources, and receive reinforcements. After the furrender 
of Almeida, he began to retreat (lowly and in good order, 
and to concentrate the different corps of his army, which 
had been feparated for the purpofe of watching and guard¬ 
ing various points that were menaced by the French army 
of Portugal. The troops with which he made head againft 
Mafiena, at the commencement of the campaign, did not 
exceed th,e number of 25,000. 
Thefe movements were preceded by a proclamation if- 
fued by lord Wellington on the 4th of Auguft. Havino- 
briefly ftated the fuflerings of fuch villages on the f'ron^ 
tier of Portugal as, confiding in the promifes of the French, 
had remained at their homes, and lubmitted to their au¬ 
thority ; fufferings greater than any calamities that could 
have been infiifted by a cruel enemy ; he told them, that 
there was no fafety for them, but in a fixed and deter¬ 
mined refolution to impede as much as poffible the ad¬ 
vance of the enemy into the interior of the country, by 
removing all that could be of ufe to the enemy or facili¬ 
tate his progrefs. The army under his command would 
proteft as great a portion of the country as poffible ; but 
the people alone could preferve their property by placing 
it beyond the grafp of the enemy. The duty he owed to 
the prince regent of Portugal and the Portuguefe nation, 
conltrained him to make ufe of the power and authority 
wit a 
