Merida, 25 Aug. 1809. CHAPTER XV. PENINSULAR WAR RESUMED.-PASSAGE OF THE DOURO, "The deliverance of the Peninsula was never due to the foresight and "perseverance of the English ministers, but to the firmness and skill of the "British Generals, and to the courage of troops whom no dangers could “daunt and no hardships dishearten, while they remedied the eternal errors "of the Cabinet."-NAPIER. IN N resuming the story of the Peninsular War, it will be seen that the narrative has to go back to an earlier date than that of the expedition described in the last chapter,-Sir Arthur Wellesley having returned from England to Lisbon, to take command of the army, so early as the 22nd April, 1809. But it has been thought better to clear the ground, so to speak, of the Walcheren Expedition, and thus to enable the reader to follow uninterruptedly the story of the operations, which terminated in the glorious victory of Talavera, and the subsequent withdrawal of the English troops from Spain to Portugal. The British Government still resolved that the English army in Spain should be merely an auxiliary one, and remained still undeceived as to the real state of the Spanish forces. Perhaps it was as well, therefore, that the army entrusted to Sir Arthur Wellesley was not a larger one; for the difficulty he encountered in obtaining provisions and transport from the Spaniards would have been insurmountable, had the forces under his command been more numerous. "I do not think," wrote Sir Arthur to Lord Castlereagh, "that matters would have been much better if had sent your large expedition to Spain instead of to the Scheldt. "You could not have equipped it in Galicia, or anywhere in "the north of Spain. If we had had 60,000 men instead of 66 you 20,000, in all probability we should not have got to Tala Castle dated "vera to fight the battle, for want of means and provisions. "But if we had got to Talavera, we could not have gone "farther, and the armies would probably have separated for "want of means of subsistence, probably without a battle, "but certainly afterwards." The campaign of 1809, from beginning to end, was marked by obstinacy on the part of Spanish Generals, and faithlessness on the part of the Spanish Government; by inadequate supplies of money from England, and by difficulties with the Portuguese troops, not the less annoying because they were often petty; as well as by hardships which tried the discipline of the English troops quite as much as the retreat to Corunna, and which drew from Sir Arthur Wellesley the bitter words: "We are an excel- To Lord "lent army on parade, an excellent one to fight; but we are reagh, worse than an enemy in a country; and, take my word for Abrantes, "it, that either defeat or success would dissolve us." The 17 June, success which he almost dreaded came: the 27th and 28th July witnessed as gallant an exhibition of English courage as has ever been seen; but in a few days Sir Arthur wrote: "A starving army is actually worse than none. The soldiers To Marquis Wellesley, lose their discipline and spirit; they plunder even in pre- dated "sence of their officers. The officers are discontented, and Deleytosa, are almost as bad as the men; and, with an army which 1809. "a fortnight ago beat double their numbers, I should now "hesitate to meet a French corps of half their strength." The administration which has so often marked our campaigns with passages like this cannot be too distinctly held up to view as a perpetual warning. No troops, as Sir Arthur wrote, can serve to any good purpose unless they are regularly fed; and yet it is in this very point-the question of supply that our military history abounds with failures. The army which had landed in England from Corunna was speedily organized, and sent back to Portugal. Sir J. Cradock commanded the troops at Lisbon, some 14,000 in number; Marshal Beresford had been appointed to the command of the Portuguese forces, and was assisted in his task of organizing them by several British officers. All arrangements were made for taking the field; and this was 1809. 8 August, done immediately on the arrival of Sir Arthur Wellesley, who was appointed Marshal-General of the united armies. Colonel Robe had remained in command of the Artillery in Portugal during the interval between Corunna and Sir Arthur's arrival; but he was now superseded by BrigadierGeneral-afterwards Sir E.-Howorth. The number of troops and companies in the Peninsula in 1809 was only There were, in addition, five at Gibraltar, five in seven. Italy, and three in Malta. The Artillery officers first appointed for duty with Marshal Beresford were Captain-afterwards Sir J.—May and Captain Elliot, of the Royal Artillery, and also Captain Arentschild, of the King's German Artillery. Lieutenant Charles was attached to the Portuguese force raised by Sir Robert Wilson; and Captain P. Campbell and Lieutenant Wills were employed with the Spanish troops at Seville and Cadiz respectively. General Howorth, on his arrival in Lisbon in the beginning of April, arranged, with Colonel Robe's assistance, the equipment of five brigades of guns, to take the field with the army, viz., one brigade of heavy 6-pounders, three of light 6-pounders, and one of 3-pounders. These were all he could equip; and, notwithstanding the opportune arrival, from Ireland, of 170 drivers and 298 excellent horses, he yet complained of the want of mobility from which they suffered, mixed as they were with the horses of the country, mules, and oxen. However, like Colonel Harding, he took a cheerful view of matters, and pronounced the mules to be very fine To D.-A.-G. animals, and "the oxen, though slow, a steady, good draught." The development of the Field Artillery during the Peninsular War, from the wretched batteries employed at its commencement to those which attracted such admiration at its close, will appear in the course of this work. Suffice it, at present, to remind the Artilleryman, by way of contrast, while the picture of the batteries of 1809 is yet fresh in his recollection, that before the conclusion of the Peninsular War, it was admitted by the artillerymen of the country with which England was engaged in hostilities, Lisbon, 8 April, 1809. de l'Artil tom. v. P. 64. that "the English matériel might have been taken as a Le passé "model by any nation in Europe;"-that, shortly before et l'avenir Waterloo, Marshal Marmont remarked that the equipment of lerie,' the English Field Artillery was in every respect very superior to anything he had ever seen; and that the French Committee appointed in 1818 to compare the Artillery of the various countries represented in the review held that Hime. year in Paris, expressed unqualified delight with that of England. On Sir Arthur Wellesley's arrival in Lisbon, he found that Soult was in possession of Oporto, and Victor in Estremadura. He promptly resolved to attack them in detail; and, making Lisbon the base of his operations, he requested the Spanish General, Cuesta, to watch Victor's movements, while he himself should march to the north against Soult. The moral effect of driving the French out of Portugal would, he felt, be very great-all the more so as his arrival had produced a sudden hopefulness among the Portuguese, which it was desirable not to disappoint. Accordingly, on the 1st May, he moved his head-quarters to Pombal and Coimbra, and found himself in command of an army which, after deducting the sick and absent, numbered 20,653 rank and file, with 30 guns. On the 9th he Napier. left Coimbra with the main body, and arrived on the Douro, opposite Oporto, on the 12th, after a march of eighty miles over infamous roads. "But," wrote General Howorth, T.D.-A.-G. "neither difficulty nor danger impedes Sir Arthur: he is all Oporto, "fire, and establishes confidence in the troops." On the 10th, the left column of the army, which marched from Aveiro, fell in with the enemy at Algabaria Nova. A slight affair ensued, in which the Artillery and Cavalry were chiefly engaged; and the enemy was repulsed with the loss. of a gun. On the 11th, the right column, which marched on the Vouga, came up with the French between Algabaria Nova and Grijon, and an engagement followed which lasted two hours, ending in the retreat of the enemy. On the arrival of the English at Villa Nova, opposite Oporto, it was found that the French had destroyed the bridge across the 14 May, 1809. Α Douro, and removed every available boat to their own side of the river. It was of the utmost importance that the English troops should cross, so as to co-operate with Marshal Beresford, who, having crossed the river higher up, was now menacing the left and the rear of Soult's army. The crossing was effected in a gallant, and yet singular and romantic way, the details of which, too long for reproduction here, render the passage of the Douro one of the most interesting episodes in the Peninsular War. Wellesley saw a building on the other side of the river-here three hundred yards wide -called the Seminary, surrounded by a walled yard, capable of containing two battalions. Close to where he himself stood was a rock, called Serra, from which artillery would well command the passage of the river, and where he therefore desired General Howorth to place eighteen guns. The guards on the other side seemed few and negligent. Soult expected no danger on the part of the river above the town, and had posted himself to the westward; if, therefore, boats could but be obtained, Wellesley resolved to cross. small skiff was found, and Colonel Waters, a staff officer, crossed, and found three large barges, which he towed back to the Villa Nova side of the river. The men were ordered to embark, and, in the face of an army of ten thousand men, the passage was effected. Very few, however, had crossed ere the alarm was given, and the French troops poured down upon the Seminary. The alarm acted in one respect favourably to the English; for some of the citizens hastened to unmoor some boats, and cross to Villa Nova, thus facilitating the embarkation and passage of the troops. All this time the fire of the Royal Artillery from the Serra told with great effect; and, as it completely swept one side of the Seminary, it soon limited the attack to the other. The gallantry of the Infantry was unrivalled. General Sherbrooke had crossed the river a little lower down, and was now in possession of the town of Oporto, and pressing, with the Guards and 29th Regiment, on the rear of the French troops as they poured out towards the Seminary. The Buffs and their comrades in the enclosure rained showers of bullets |