at right angles, with Anstruther and Fane in two lines facing to the left' the battle began. The brigade of General HILL still remained upon the mountain in reserve; and one brigade and the Portuguese were placed upon a returning bend of the western heights at their extremity, thereby protecting the left and rear of the whole force. The French had 14,000 men, and twenty-three pieces of artillery. The infantry were in three divisions under Loison, Laborde, and Kellerman; General Margaron commanded 1300 horse. The principal column of the enemy, led by Laborde, advanced against the position in front of the village with the fury and the loud outcries of men resolved for victory in vain the British guns poured death into their ranks : they moved on with a steady rapidity, and crowned the summit of the hill. Before a cool volley from the 50th, within twenty paces, their front rank fell; and as their column faltered with the shock, the firm bayonets of that brave regiment were already in the midst of them, and they were driven down with great bloodshed. The brigade of Fane, which was attacked at the same moment, bravely repulsed the assailing column. Upon this body, as it retired in confusion, the weak squadron of the 20th light dragoons, under Colonel Taylor, made a lively charge, and completed their disaster; but the few English horsemen were in turn set upon by the strong cavalry of Margaron, and cut to pieces, their gallant colonel falling slain in the mêlée. There was a fierce struggle between the grenadiers of Kellerman's column of reserve and the British 43d, in a hot skirmish among the vineyards near the church: they drove back the advanced companies of that corps; but it rallied instantly, and, throwing itself upon the head of the column in a narrow ravine, it broke and routed them with the bayonet, sustaining itself a heavy loss. The discomfiture of these attacks in the centre was complete ; but no army can be destroyed, however beaten, that has got protection for its fugutives in a superior cavalry. Had two of the regiments of the dragoons then kept idle in the barrack-yards at home been present, the march to Torres Vedras would have been made, and Lisbon been our own. Brennier, who was to have attacked the British left, found their possition inaccessible, owing to a deep and difficult ravine at its base, which he was not aware of, and in which he got disordered and delayed. Meanwhile General Solignac, with a brigade of Loison's division, turned this ravine, and fell upon the English left. He was met by the regiments under Ferguson, who bore down upon him with a close and heavy fire of musketry, and at last with the weapon of victory, the bayonet. They drove Solignac, and took six guns. General Ferguson was pressing his broken columns with some corps, while two of his regiments were halted near the captured guns. Brennier, meanwhile, came suddenly out of the ravine, which he had just cleared, and succeeded for a moment in repossessing himself of them. But the regiments did not retire far; only to a near vantage ground, from whence, pouring in a hot fire, they again charged, and again the guns were taken. Brennier was wounded and made prisoner. Ferguson, who had separated the two French brigades by his able and spirited movements, would have taken more than half the brigade of Solignac, if an order to halt had not arrested him in midcareer. The French re-formed instantly under cover of their cavalry, and retired in very tolerable order. It was the wish of Sir Arthur Wellesley to press Junot closely with the five brigades on the left, while those of Generals HILL, Anstruther, and Fane, should march upon Torres Vedras, push to Montechique, and intercept all access to Lisbon. All the artillery of Junot that yet remained to him, and many thousand prisoners, would have been the probable fruit of this movement; but the heart big with accomplished victory, and granted desires, and swelling with new and bold hopes, and the head clear in its discernment, and strong in its decision, were now subjected to the commands of another. Sir Harry Burrard, who was present during the action, and had, from generosity and approbation, forborne all interference with the arrangements of the battle. now assumed the command, and, considering the proposed advance hazardous, directed the halt. THE BATTLE OF CORUNNA. DURING the night of the 15th of January, and on the morning of the 16th, all the baggage and all encumbrances were put on board ship; and it was intended to withdraw the army after dark that evening. About two o'clock in the afternoon the French beat to arms, and prepared to attack the position of the English. Half a league from Corunna, the English army, 14,500 strong, was drawn up on a low range of hills; the only position which their numbers and their object allowed them to occupy. A loftier range of rocky heights encircled and commanded it within cannon shot, and on these the French had already taken post. Marshal Soult had 20,000 men under arms. From the lighter guns along his front, and from a battery of heavier calibre on his left, he opened a smart cannonade, and under cover of the fire moved down in three weighty columns to the attack. The first of these, throwing out its voltigeurs, and driving in the picquets, attacked the British right, assailing the front and flank of General Baird's division. The second column marched upon the British centre. The third, with less of earnest intention in the character of its attack, moved upon the British left, where the troops were commanded by Sir John Hope. The horse of the commander-in-chief stood saddled for him to visit the outposts just as the alarm was given. He rode thankful to the field. The thunder of the guns and the rolling of the musketry was already begun as he galloped to the summons with a grave joy. The battle was most furious near the village of Elvina, on the British right. In this quarter of the field Sir David Baird 'was severely wounded; and here, while earnestly watching the progress of the stern combat in Elvina, SIR JOHN MOORE himself was struck upon the left breast by a cannot-shot: it threw him from his horse; but, though the laceration was dreadful, it did not deprive him of his mental energy; he sat upon the ground, and watched the battle. His eye was steadfast and intent, and it brightened as he saw that all went bravely and well. The soldiers now put him in a blanket to carry him to the rear; as they did so the hilt of his sword struck upon his wound, and caused him a sudden pang. Captain Hardinge would have taken off the sword, but the general stopped him, saying, "It is as well as it is: I had rather it should go out of the field with me! With these words he was borne from the battle. It was a long way to the town, and the torture of the motion was great; but the expression of his countenance was calm and resolute, and he did not sigh. Several times he made his attendants stop, and turn him round, that he might gaze upon the field of battle! After he was laid down upon a couch in his lodgings, the pain of his wound increased. He spoke with difficulty and at intervals. He often asked how the battle went; and being at last told that the enemy were defeated, he said instantly, "It is a great satisfaction to me to know that we have beaten the French." He was firm and composed to the last; once only, when speaking of his mother, he betrayed great emotion. "You know," said he, to his old friend Colonel Anderson, "that I always wished to die this way!" The bitter agony of spirit which he had long endured was thus mournfully evidenced. "I hope," he exclaimed, "the people of England will be satisfied!I hope my country will do me justice!" precious sentences were among the last he uttered; his sufferings were not long; he expired with the hand of Colonel Anderson pressed firmly in his own. These We shall not further describe the action than by saying, that when darkness put an end to the work of battle, not only had the French been repulsed at all points, but the line of the English was considerably advanced beyond the original position. The loss of the French was, by their own admission, 3000; that of the British was about 800 killed and wounded. The brigade of General HILL and that of General Beresford remained on shore the 17th, to cover the Embarkation of the army, which began soon after the close of the engagement. By night the victorious troops filed down from the field of battle to their boats, and embarked. There was a moon, but it gave only a wan and feeble light; for the weather was misty and chill. Soon after nightfall, the remains of Sir John Moore were quietly interred in the citadel of Corunna. Soldiers dug his grave; soldiers laid him in the earth. He was buried in his military cloak, and was left asleep, and alone, upon a bastion-a bed of honour well chosen for a hero's resting-place. This last duty done, the officers of his personal staff went on shipboard, "in soldiers' sadness, the silent mourning of men who know no tears." Sir John Moore had signalised his name in the West Indies, in Holland, and in Egypt. His life was spent among the troops; among the troops he died; and, to this hour, it is a distinction to any officer to have learned his duty under the eye and voice of Moore. THE BATTLE AND PASSAGE OF THE DUORO. MARSHAL SOULT made his arrangements for evacuating Oporto, under an impression that General Loison still maintained himself on the Tamega; and that, if any effort was made by the British to cross the Douro, vessels would come round by sea, and the passage be attempted below the city. All the boats on the river were moored upon the northern bank, which was vigilantly patroled. The artillery and baggage moved off leisurely on the road to Amarante ; and Soult, feeling his retreat secure, determined on halting in the city another day, that all things might be conducted with good order and regularity. Easy about all above the city, he took up his own station in a house which commanded a fine view down the river, and fixed his personal attention upon that quarter, not a little interested, in all probability, to see what the maritime English would do. From the convent of Sarea the hero of Assaye was looking down upon that large volume of waters which the Douro rolls swiftly to the sea in a bed three hundred yards wide, even at Oporto itself, where the stream is confined between high and rocky shores. By eight o'clock in the morning the British columns were assembled at Villa Nova, in rear of the convent of Sarea, and concealed from the enemy by the height on which it stands. With hearts and arms all ready for the fray, they lay thoughtless on the ground, little dreaming of any trouble, while their great captain, with that moral courage which is his pre-eminent distinction, was deciding upon one of those actions which great men alone attempt. "Let a boat be found," was his anxious demand to the officers of his staff. Colonel Waters was the active and enterprising man, whose fortune it was to find a little skiff which had crossed from the city in the night. It lay among the bushes just at a spot where there is a bend in the course of the river, concealed at that point by wood, at the distance of about a mile and a half from the city. Standing near the skiff was the prior of a convent, and three or four peasants. Colonel Waters leaped into the little boat, and persuaded these peasants to accompany him: they evaded the French patroles, and returned from the opposite bank with three or four barges. In the mean time guns were brought up to the convent of Sarea, and planted in battery and Major-general Murray was directed, with his column, to march to Barca de Avintas, three miles higher up the river, and, availing himself of any transport which he could find there, to effect a passage. : It was about ten o'clock in the day when the report was made to Sir Arthur that one boat was brought to the point of passage which he' had selected. "Well, let the men cross," was his brief order; and an officer and twenty-five soldiers of the Buffs passed over to a large unoccupied building called The Seminary, just opposite Sarea, and, without even a stir of alarm, took quiet possession. They were speedily followed by two other boats; in one of which was General Paget, an intrepid officer, whose youthful heroism in Egypt had already won him a name, and who now threw himself, with only three companies of foot, upon the line of a French army. These last had scarce leaped upon the bank and gained The Seminary before the drums and trumpets of the enemy were sounding alarms; troops hurried out of the city in masses hastily assembled, and advanced with eager fury to destroy the small but resolute band, which, from The Seminary walls, was to brave their fierce assault. Their attack was violent, and their fire heavy; but the little party maintained itself stoutly, and was, at every return of the boats, now receiving a small accession of strength and confidence. As he stood upon the roof of the Seminary, General Paget was struck down by a severe wound very early in the engagement; but GENERAL HILL, a man of the same firm courage and the same devoted zeal, was at hand, and immediately took his place. The enemy's numbers were very great; their musketry sharp and incessant; and their artillery began to play upon the building. But the English batteries from the convent of Sarea swept the bank on either flank of the Seminary; and the French assault was of necessity confined to the area and gateway in the front. The struggle was obstinate; and, as yet, there was no appearance of the troops of Murray from the side of Avintas. It was so anxious a moment, that Sir Arthur himself would have crossed over to the Seminary but for the earnest remonstrance of those about him. He saw, too, that GENERAL HILL, one of those gallant and steady officers upon whom the commander of an army may always rely, maintained his post with signal heroism, and had now gotten the Buffs, 48th, 66th, and Portuguese under his command. While this the great combat of the day was going forward with a stern loudness and much bloodshed, the division of general Sherbrooke, which had advanced, at the moment the passage of the river first began, to that part of the river where the old boat-bridge had been cut away, was hailed by the citizens from the windows and walls of Oporto, with the lively gestures and vehement shouts of invitation. They readily brought boats across to transport the British to the right bank, and as the guards and 29th were ferried over, the wall, which runs along the river, was lined with people waving their caps and handkerchiefs, and vociferating "Vivas" with a mad exultation. The same was their reception in the streets, up which they hastened to form upon the enemy's right. Every balcony was animate with smiles, and noisy with welcome. The appearance of Sherbrooke's division on the French right, and the head of Murray's columns descending upon their left from Avintas, decided the contest. The French were defeated; and, being pursued by heavy volleys from the battallions of HILL, and from the leading corps of Sherbrooke's division they passed along the Vallonga road in haste and confusion, escaping far too easily from the column led by Murray; but general Charles Stewart and Major Hervey, with two squadrons of cavalry pressed forward with a laudable impatience and charged the enemy's rear guard. In the mêlée Hervey lost an arm. The dragoons had the satisfaction of falling upon the enemy with some effect more than once, but they were not supported, and were soon recalled. Thus the engagement |