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1808.] BRITISH SINGLE SHIP AND BOAT ACTIONS.

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followed as well as she could, for 4 or 5 days, and having repaired her damages as she sailed on, was coming up with her, when Captain Motard, to make better way, threw overboard some of his guns, and so lightened the ship that he ran his pursuer out of sight. It afterwards turned out that he had been badly wounded, and, but for this, he could have captured the "Terpsichore." "La Sémillante," nevertheless, must have been severely handled after her return to port, for she was unable to go out to sea again as a cruiser, and "Le Cannonière," 40, took her place at Port Louis. Sometime in the month of August, the "Laurel," 22, Captain Worlecombe, arrived in the Indian seas, and having captured a ship with some French ladies on board, had the gallantry to send in to Governor Decaen, requesting the General to send a vessel to receive them, and the second captain of the frigate came out accordingly with a flag of truce, and passed a night on board the "Laurel." It is supposed that he brought back such an account to Captain César Bourayne, his superior officer, as induced him to carry out "Le Cannonière to capture the "Laurel;" for on the 12th, the two ships met at sea, and, notwithstanding the odds, came to blows, when, after an hour and a half's steady fight, the "Laurel " becoming disabled, yielded to her superior antagonist. The French ship had 15 men killed and 19 wounded. On the 8th of October, the " Modeste," 36, Hon. Captain Elliott, captured, off Bengal, after nine hours' chase, the French corvette "Le Jéna," Lieut. Morier.

Although, since the capture of the Danish fleet at Copenhagen, almost all their ships had disappeared from the ocean, yet some armed brigs and gun-boats were still sent out on hostile cruises, and did great mischief to British trade. The "Euryalus," 36, Hon. Captain Dundas, the "Tickler," Lieut. Skinner, the "Thunderer," Captain Caulfield, the gun-brig "Tigress," Lieut. Greenwood, the "Cruiser," Lieut. Wells, captured many of these armed craft, though always stoutly contested by the Danes. On the 18th of October the "Africa," 64, Captain Barrett, in company with a bomb-vessel and one or two gun-brigs, sailed from Carlscrona, in Sweden, with a homeward-bound convoy of 137 sail. This convoy reached the channel of Malmo on the 20th, and while the smaller vessels .anchored in that roadstead, the "Africa" watched outside the island of Amag, for their better protection. In the night, a Danish flotilla of gun-boats, mounting among them 80 heavy long guns, and manned with upwards of 1,600 seamen, came across to attack her, and next day about noon an engagement commenced and was continued without intermission till dark, in an animated fire of round and grape-shot, which badly wounded the " Africa's" lower masts and yards, cutting to pieces her standing and running sails and rigging, and twice during the action shot away her colours, but they were each time quickly replaced. She lost 9 killed and 47 wounded. Captain Barrett, perfectly cool and composed, exhorted his men to persevere, but, had the daylight and calm continued two hours longer, he must have been either sunk, or compelled to surrender. As it was, he was only obliged to go back to Carlscrona to refit.

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COLONIAL AND PENINSULAR WARS.

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28. COLONIAL WAR.

On the 2nd of March, the "Cerberus," 32, Captain Selby, 'Circe," 32, Captain Pigot, and "Camilla," 20, Captain Boven, surprised Grandbourg, the capital of the Fench island of MarieGalante, which, in consequence, capitulated. On the 30th, Captain Selby was sent to take the island of Desirade, which, after a short cannonade, submitted to him. On the 3rd of July the "Wanderer," 18, Captain Crofton, and 4-gun-schooners, "Subtle" and "Ballahou," commanded by Lieuts. Spearing and Miles, landed and stormed the batteries on the island of St. Martin, with the loss of Lieut. Spearing and a number of brave fellows, when the French Governor submitted. Early in February the little fortress of Scylla, in Calabria, which had been hitherto held by a British garrison, under Lieut.-Colonel Robertson, was safely evacuated in opposition to the French army, under General Regnier, through the able cooperation of Captain Otway, with the "Montagu," 74, and "Electra," 16, in convoy of some transports and launches.

29. PENINSULAR WAR.

The departure of the intrusive King from Spain was followed by an excess of joy, which vented itself in every species of intrigue for the supreme power. The Junta at the capital claimed an authority which neither that of Seville nor that of Castile would recognise, and at length a compromise was accepted, under which all the most popular Generals, Castaños, Cuesta, and Gonzalez de Llamas repaired to Madrid, and, with singular moderation in men possessed of military power, they took no advantage of the confusion and discord which reigned amongst the ambitious, but honestly tendered their counsel. The result of the deliberation was the establishment of a Central Junta at Aranjuez, under the presidency of the Count de Florida-Bianca, a man of considerable reputation, but advanced in years, for he had been a minister in the days of Carlos III. After some hesitation, the provincial juntas submitted to this supreme one, which entered upon the government of the distracted nation about the first days of September, and prepared to consolidate their means of defence so as to meet the new aggression of the most powerful monarch that ever reigned. The first consideration was to appoint a Commander-in-Chief, but in this they could arrive at no common agreement, for the north and south and east and west of Spain had all their distinct favourites, and would not concede preeminence to any. The only practicable course, therefore, was to institute a General Council of War which should include them all, and which should act in concert with the Supreme Junta. Nothing could exceed the folly of the measures adopted by this body for the salvation of their country. As fortune had given Spain a victory at Baylen, it was gravely proposed to advance to the Ebro in such a manner as to envelope the whole of the French army

1808.] THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT REFUSE BRITISH TROOPS. 143

cantoned between that river and the French frontier: that is to say, a mere levy of the undisciplined patriots of the Peninsula were expected to entrap 60,000 of the first soldiers of the day, commanded by the greatest Captain of the age!

Four grand corps d'armée were forthwith ordered to be assembled. General Blake was to command one in the North, composed of the regulars of De la Romagna and Taranco, of the maritime militia, and the volunteers of Galicia, Leon, Castile, and the Asturias, which, it was calculated, would form a force of 45,000 men; but it was wholly without cavalry, and very indifferently supplied with artillery. The next corps was placed under the superior direction of Castaños for action in the South: this was composed of the division of Cuesta and Pignatelli, and of the various bodies which had been collected for national defence in Estremadura, Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia: this army was estimated to amount to 30,000 men. To Palafox was given the supreme command of the troops in Arragon and Catalonia, numbering about 18,000 combatants. The fourth was to compose an army of reserve, to be formed around the established miguelets of Catalonia, and the regular troops which had been called in from the Balearic islands and elsewhere: this force was directed to blockade the French General Duhesme in Barcelona. Self-confident as the Castilians are said to be by nature, it creates no surprise, that without organisation, arsenals, or depôts, they were fully convinced that they required no assistance in their course but the arms and ammunition now sent them with a lavish hand from England. In the height of their arrogant folly, they looked with indifference towards the subsidiary force which Great Britain had landed in Portugal, and which was now, to the number of 28,000 disciplined and fighting men, waiting for orders at Lisbon, under the supreme command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore.

The excitement caused in England by the Convention of Cintra, and the consequent Court of Enquiry into the conduct of the Generals who had been in command of the British army in the field, had rendered the presence of Generals Sir Hew Dalrymple, Sir Harry Burrard, and Sir Arthur Wellesley necessary at home. Accordingly, the command in chief of the British army in Portugal devolved on Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, who, on the 9th of October, issued a general order directing the officers in subordinate commands to hold themselves in readiness to move on the shortest notice. There was considerable difficulty in ascertaining at Lisbon the condition of the roads leading thence into Spain, and it was rashly and ignorantly asserted that cannon could not be transported by the mountain roads through the north of Portugal. On this information, Sir John determined on the very hazardous expedient of so dividing his army as to send the artillery with a column that should advance through the Alemtejo and by Badajoz to Talavera, while the rest of the army should proceed through the province of Beira to Almeida. Lieutenant-General Hope, with 6,000 men, took the road by Elvas; General Beresford, with two brigades advanced by Coimbra; and three brigades, under General

144

ARRIVAL OF NAPOLEON AT BAYONNE.

LA.D. Fraser, proceeded by Abrantes to the same destination. Sir John Moore intended that all these separate divisions should unite at Salamanca with a separate corps, under Sir David Baird, which had been landed at Corunna. The troops having commenced their march, the General-in-Chief quitted Lisbon on the 27th of October, and repaired with all his staff to Almeida, where he arrived on the 8th of November, and on the 13th he reached Salamanca, where he halted to obtain intelligence and to assemble his army.

Napoleon had arrived at Bayonne on the 3rd, and immediately applied himself to an enquiry into the preparations which he had ordered to be made for his entry into Spain, when he found, to his mortification, that scarcely any of his commands had been complied with. "Rien ne s'était exécuté comme il l'avait voulu, ni surtout aussi vite, quoiqu'il fût le plus prévoyant, le plus absolu, le plus obéi des administrateurs."* Of 20,000 conscripts ordered to be assembled, there had not come up above one-fourth. Of the shoes, great coats, and other army clothing, there was not above an eighth of his requisitions provided. These shortcomings gave him great displeasure, for they could only be remedied from France. Corn, cattle, and wine he considered might be obtained in the Peninsula, but not any essentials of army comfort. Having vented his displeasure, "de vive voix et par écrit," he employed the 4th in reviewing the troops and in forming a complete military clothing establishment, and left Bayonne on the same evening. Mounting on horseback, and escorted by the cavalry of his Guard, he arrived at Vittoria on the 5th, where he established himself with his troops en bivouac, leaving his brother Joseph with his Spanish Court to the occupation of the city, for he considered himself for the moment but as the General-in-Chief of the army, and was very desirous of avoiding the low intrigues of the Court Camarilla, whom he despised. He had expressed to the intrusive King his desire that no military operations should be commenced before his arrival, but nobody could hold back Marshal Ney, and accordingly he had been on foot for some weeks, and had entered Logroño on the 25th of October at the point of the bayonet, driving Pignetelli's Spanish division into the mountains of Soria. Marshal Moncey had also pushed the divisions of Wathier and Maurice Mathieu into the castle of Lerin, where they had captured 1,000 men; and the division Villette, belonging to the corps of Marshal Victor, had been sent to Durengo in support of Marshal Lefebvre, who had found himself all of a sudden in presence of Blake's army in position. On receiving this reinforcement he at once sent forward General Villette, on the 31st of October, to turn the Spanish right, while he directed General Sebastiani, at the head of four regiments of the old army, to attack the front. The Spaniards did not stand an instant before these advances, but, as soon as they had fired their muskets, disbanded and ran; and the Marshal having killed or wounded some 1,800 of them, entered Bilbao without further difficulty on the next day,

*Thiers.

1808.] NAPOLEON REBUKES LEFEBVRE AND VICTOR.

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and sent General Villette forward to occupy Balmaseda. These movements also displeased the Emperor, who desired to see the Spaniards in their mad temerity placed close upon his army, whereas Ney and Moncey on one side, and Lefebvre on the other, had driven them off from the French troops and back upon their resources.

30. THE BATTLES OF ESPINOSA, Burgos, and Tudela.

While Napoleon was organising at Vittoria the advance of the French army, General Blake, seeing that Lefebvre rested at Bilbao and that Victor had gone back to Vittoria, advanced boldly, on the 5th of November, at the head of 30,000 men, to attack the division Villette, injudiciously insolated at Balmaseda. The old warrior, however, was not to be caught napping, but instantly drew out his troops from the town in battle array. Blake occupied the heights of Gueñas, which commanded the high road to Bilbao; Villette dashed at them, and, forcing his way through the centre of the Spaniards, scattered death right and left, and brought off his division. These proceedings came to the ears of the Emperor on his arrival at Vittoria. Indignant at hearing of anything like the retreat of a French division before the Spaniards, which he thought might inspire them with the idea of a success or victory, he sent immediate orders to Lefebvre and Victor to drive Blake's army altogether out of Biscaya, at the same time rebuking both Marshals very severely. At early morning on the 7th the divisions of Villette, Sebastiani, and Leval were in movement. The mountainous country was so impracticable for horses, that neither cavalry nor artillery accompanied this advance. They encountered the enemy at the village of Sodupe, out of which they drove them back on the position of Gueñas, which Blake had fortified. He had here collected in a strong position 25,000 men, and had his reserve at Reynosa; Victor, accordingly, marched from Espinosa on the 10th in order to attack the Spaniards in front, while Lefebvre with 15,000 threatened their rear. The centre of the Spanish line was well protected by a battery, to which the French had no guns to oppose, and Romagna having his infantry posted in a wood on the right, made a most gallant resistance. The Spaniards, however, did not wait for the French to reach their rear, but as soon as they saw them coming they turned and fled so fast, that a division of 10,000 who were on the left flank were left behind. The left centre being now broken, Sebastiani soon forced Romagna's division to follow their comrades, and the whole patriot army was in a moment disbanded. It was well for them that they retired so quickly, for the next morning Marshal Victor renewed the attack, which the Asturian levies resisted boldly until their chiefs were either killed or wounded, when, disheartened at their loss, they broke and fled. As soon as Napoleon heard that the patriots were so easily to be disposed of, he determined to attack the centre of their army. He had brought with him out of France Marshal Soult, who, with characteristic activity, took the command of a

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