[109] See Wellington to Roche, and to B. Frère, Badajoz, Nov. 19. Dispatches, v. 292-3 and 294.
[110] ‘Nothing can save them save a victory by Areizaga, and the possession of Madrid, which are the most improbable of events.... If Del Parque and Albuquerque are destroyed, which is not unlikely, indeed pretty certain ... we must make our arrangements for the defence of Portugal.’ Wellington to Beresford, Nov. 20, 1809.
[111] Wellington’s arguments must be culled from his various dispatches to Lord Liverpool and other ministers in November and December 1809. For the first of the motives quoted above see Wellington to Liverpool Dec. 9. ‘The object in occupying this proposed position [in Beira] is to be at the point of the defence of Portugal, to divert the attention of the French from the South of Spain, when they shall receive their reinforcements, and thus to give time to the Spanish Government to repair their losses.... It is absolutely necessary to cross the Tagus immediately, as it may be depended upon that the enemy’s first effort, after receiving his reinforcements, will be upon the troops to the North of the Tagus.’ Very much the same opinion is expressed in the earlier dispatch to Lord Liverpool of November 14. Expressions of Wellington’s conviction that it was impossible to co-operate with the Junta or the Spanish generals may be found passim in all his confidential letters. See for example that to Sir J. Anstruther, pp. 386-8 of Supplementary Dispatches, vol. vi.
[112] The papers in the Madrid archives show that Copons had about 3,000 men, Zerain (whose division had been almost entirely destroyed) about 1,500.
[113] See vol. ii. pp. 168-9.
[115] For a typical example of the relations of French governors and the King’s officials see Thiébault’s account of his quarrel with Amoros in his autobiography, iv. 350-5. Cf. Miot de Melito, chapters xi-xii of vol. ii.
[116] Miot de Melito, ii. p. 351.
[117] For all these details see Soult’s dispatches to the Minister of War at Paris, dated Nov. 21 and Nov. 24, from Aranjuez and Madrid. Perreymond had received the cavalry brigade of the 4th Corps when Paris fell in action.
[118] Soult to Clarke, Nov. 21: ‘Sa Majesté a pensé qu’il était inutile qu’elle s’engageât vers la Sierra Morena, à la poursuite des débris de l’armée de la Manche, qu’on ne pourra plus joindre, et qui se sauvent individuellement sur toutes les directions, d’autant plus que tout porte à croire qu’il y aura encore des mouvements sur la droite, et qu’il convient de se mettre en mesure de repousser les nouveaux corps [Albuquerque, Del Parque, and the English] qui pourraient se présenter pour la forcer. Il est aussi pressant de prendre des dispositions pour rétablir l’ordre et la tranquillité dans les provinces de l’intérieur, et pour assurer la liberté des communications. Après la bataille d’Ocaña le roi a aussi en vue de se mettre en mesure d’attendre que Sa Majesté L’Empereur ait jugé à propos de faire connaître ses intentions sur les opérations ultérieures qui devront être faites.’ The entirely false supposition that Albuquerque and the English were on the move was, as Soult afterwards explained, due to a dispatch received from Heudelet at Talavera, who sent in an alarming report that Wellington was expected at Truxillo in a few days. As to the idea that Del Parque might join Albuquerque, the Junta had actually given him an order to do so (see page 97), but he had ignored it, and marched on Salamanca.
[119] At the New Year Gazan had 6,600 men present with the eagles, Rey 4,100. See Tables at the end of this volume.
[120] See Orders for Loison (in Napoleon to Berthier of Dec. 9), and for Reynier (in Napoleon to Berthier, Dec. 14), in the Correspondance. Reynier was superseded by Lagrange, and sent to command the 2nd Corps a little later.
[121] The Emperor scolds his brother for not sending to Paris the flags taken at Ocaña, and for calling Sebastiani’s 3rd Division ‘the Polish division’ instead of ‘the division of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw!’
[122] In a dispatch dated from the Trianon on Dec. 17.
[123] Jourdan, Mémoires, p. 294.
[124] Napoleon to Berthier, Jan. 31, 1810—giving directions which could not be carried out, because the invasion of Andalusia had begun ten days before the dispatch had been written.
[125] Soult writes plaintively to Berthier, from Madrid, on January 1, 1810: ‘Le Roi croit ne pouvoir différer davantage: ainsi il se met en mesure d’exécuter les dispositions générales de l’Empereur, lorsque Sa Majesté aura daigné les faire connaître; et il est vraisemblable qu’avant que la Sierra Morena soit passée, les ordres, qui out été demandés depuis plus d’un mois, seront parvenus.’ But the order never came.
[126] It may be found set forth in full in Soult’s dispatch to Berthier of Jan. 1, 1810.
[128] With the exception of the 58th Regiment, which went on with Sebastiani to the front.
[129] Heudelet, writing from Talavera on Jan. 13, assured the King that he had certain information, by English deserters, that Wellington’s army, 16,000 foot and 7,000 cavalry, was at Merida, Badajoz, and Elvas on Dec. 31. As a matter of fact, the army had marched off between Dec. 9 and Dec. 20, and Wellington himself had retired into Portugal on Christmas Eve. On the day when Heudelet wrote he and his head quarters were at Vizeu, in the Beira.
[130] Viz. by the ‘morning states’ of January 15, in the French War Office, Sebastiani had: Polish Division, 4,809 men; 58th of the Line, 1,630 men; Milhaud’s Dragoons, 1,721 men; Perreymond’s Light Horse, 1,349 men; Artillery and Engineers, 569 men; or a total of 10,078 sabres and bayonets.
[131] Strength apparently: Girard, 7,040; Royal Guards, about 2,500; Spaniards, about 2,000; Cavalry, about 1,500; Artillery, &c., 800.
[132] Gazan’s division, forming the third French column, had 6,414 bayonets; Dessolles’, the extreme right-hand column, 8,354.
[133] Soult’s statement that he lost ‘some 25 men’ (Soult to Berthier, Jan. 21) is no doubt a little exaggerated. But Martinien’s invaluable tables show that Mortier’s corps, which did nearly all the fighting, lost only two officers out of 549 present, probably, therefore, it lost no more than forty men. Dessolles must have lost about the same.
[134] Of his whole 10,000 men only 6,400 were infantry, and Vigodet (with the wrecks of Jacomé’s division) had nearly as many.
[135] For details of their plans see the dispatch of Soult to Berthier, from Andujar under the date of that day.
[136] There was a considerable controversy among French military writers as to whether the omission to march on Cadiz was the fault of Soult or of the King. The authors of Victoires et Conquêtes, having put all the blame on the latter (vol. xx. page 7), his friends hastened to reply. His aide-de-camp Bigarré, who was present with him at the time, explicitly says in his autobiography (pp. 265-6) that the King raised the point, but was talked down by Soult and Dessolles. Miot de Melito (ii. 385) bears witness to the same effect, saying that he heard Soult clinch his argument by crying ‘Qu’on me réponde de Séville, moi je réponds de Cadix.’ Both say that the final decision was made at Carmona. See also Ducasse’s Correspondance du roi Joseph, vii. 142-3, and x. pp. 395-6, where the same story is given by the King himself.
[137] See Soult to Berthier, from Carmona, Jan. 31.
[138] Soult, in his dispatch of Jan. 31, says that the advanced guard of the 1st Corps appeared before Seville hier au soir, i. e. on the 30th. But the Spanish authorities give the evening of the 29th as the true date, and seem to be correct. Possibly Soult is speaking of the first solid force of infantry, and does not count the cavalry as a real advanced guard, but only as a reconnoitring force. As Latour-Maubourg was at Carmona on the 28th, it seems certain that he must have reached Seville (eighteen miles only from Carmona) on the 29th, not the 30th.
[139] Napier (ii. 298) seems unjust to the arrangements of the King and Soult when he writes: ‘From Andujar to Seville is only 100 miles, and the French took ten days to traverse them, a tardiness for which there appears no adequate cause.’ He then attributes it to King Joseph’s wish to make spectacular entries, and to display his benevolence to the Andalusian towns. But the facts are wrong. Joseph reached Andujar late on Jan. 22; Victor’s cavalry was in front of Seville on Jan. 29: this makes seven, not ten, days: and the distance by the direct road via Ecija and Carmona is not 100, but 130 miles. A rate of eighteen miles a day is no bad record for an army advancing through a hostile country, even if it is meeting with no actual resistance. And January days are short, with sunrise late and sunset early.
[140] After a very short tenure of office Fernandez de Leon was superseded by Lardizabal, another American.
[141] It is difficult to make out what precisely were the battalions in Seville on January 23-29. But they certainly included a battalion of the 1st Walloon Guards [the Junta’s old guard], with 1st and 2nd of España and Barbastro from Zerain’s division. It is almost certain that most of Zerain’s other battalions were with these three.
[142] Dessolles’ division had been left behind at Cordova and Andujar, to garrison Upper Andalusia, and to extend a helping hand to Sebastiani, if he should meet with any resistance in his conquest of the kingdom of Granada.
[143] Younger brother of the victor of Baylen.
[144] ‘Sire, il paraît que Cadix veut se défendre. Nous verrons dans quelques jours ce qu’elle fera lorsque nous aurons quelques batteries montées. Si votre Majesté pouvait disposer de l’escadre de Toulon, l’occasion pourrait être bonne.’ Joseph to Napoleon, Sta. Maria, Feb. 18.
[145] 79th, 2nd batt. 87th, and 94th regiments, and the 20th Portuguese line regiment.
[146] See Wellington to Bart. Frère and General Stewart, from Torres Vedras, Feb. 5th, and Vizeu, Feb. 27, 1810.
[147] For a scathing account of the conduct of the Cadiz Junta and its doings see Schepeler, vol. iii. 550-5. Napier very rightly calls it ‘an imperious body without honour, talents, or patriotism’ (ii. 334).
[148] See Section xix, chapter iv of this volume.
[149] Miot, ii. 432. Compare Joseph’s hysterical letter to the Emperor (Ducasse, vii. 236): ‘La pacification générale de l’Andalousie sera opérée.... Mais, sire, au nom du sang français et du sang espagnol rappelez Loison, Kellermann, Thouvenot! Ces hommes nous coûtent bien cher!’ It is curious that he, in the same letter, quotes as ‘hommes honnêtes,’ along with Mortier, Suchet, and Reynier, both Soult and Sebastiani, who were plunderers on as large a scale as Kellermann or Loison.
[150] See vol. i. pp. 75, 76.
[151] A student of the War of the Spanish Succession is always surprised to see how much fighting took place on fronts which were left severely alone by the English and French in 1809-12.
[152] See Map of the Lines of Torres Vedras, in Section xx of this volume, for the environs of Lisbon.
[153] Eliot, in his very judicious remarks on p. 100 of his Defence of Portugal, published just before Masséna’s invasion, sums up the situation with—‘a passage may without any difficulty be forced to the left bank of the Tagus: but then the enemy is as far from the accomplishment of his project as before, the river forming an insuperable barrier if well defended.’
[154] Wellington to Col. Fletcher, commanding Royal Engineers, Oct. 20, 1809 (Dispatches, v. 235): ‘The enemy will probably attack on two distinct lines, the one south, the other north of the Tagus, and the system of defence must be founded upon this general basis.... His object will be, by means of the corps south of the Tagus, to turn the positions which we shall take up in front of the corps north of that river, to cut off from Lisbon the corps opposed to him, and to destroy it by an attack in front and rear. This can be avoided only by the retreat of the right, centre, and left of the allies to a point at which (from the state of the river) they cannot be turned, by the passage of the Tagus by the enemy’s left corps.’
Six days later (Disp. v. 245) Wellington wrote to Admiral Berkeley in similar terms: ‘It is probable that in the event of the enemy being enabled to invade this country in force, he will make his main attack by the right of the Tagus: but he will employ one corps on the left of the river, with the object of embarrassing, if not of preventing, the embarcation of the British army.’
[155] So much so that in Corresp., xx. p. 552, we find him informing Masséna that Badajoz and Elvas need not be touched till after Lisbon has fallen. The first contrary view, ordering a demonstration on the Lower Tagus, appears in the dispatch on p. 273 of vol. xxi.
[156] The above notes on the Castello Branco country and its roads are mostly derived from Eliot’s Defence of Portugal. Eliot has marched all over the region; see his pages 78-81.
[157] For the perilous adventure among these cuttings of a small French column which crossed the Estrada Nova, that which escorted Foy back to Santarem in Feb. 1811, see the autobiography of General Hulot, pp. 325-33. A considerable number of men and horses fell down these cuttings in a forced night-march, and in all several hundred men of Foy’s column perished, starved and storm-beaten on this inhospitable road. The survivors only got through by cutting a slippery foot-track along the precipices: nothing on wheels could have passed that way.
[158] In Foy’s interesting minute of his conversation with Napoleon about the invasion, on Nov. 23, 1810, when he had taken home Masséna’s dispatches: ‘Montrez-moi les deux routes de Ponte de Murcella et de Castello Branco,’ says the Emperor. Then after a pause: ‘Et l’Estrada Nova? Pourquoi Masséna n’a-t-il pas débouché par l’Estrada Nova?’—‘Sire, à cause d’Abrantès et du Zézère.’—‘Oui, Masséna a bien fait; maintenant il faut prendre Abrantès: Elvas ne nous servirait de rien.’ See Foy’s Mémoires, p. 111.
[159] There were some others thrown up on the extreme lower course of the Zezere, by Barca Nova and Punhete, to guard against a possible but unlikely use of the Castello Branco road by the enemy.
[160] Wellington to Hill (Disp., vi. p. 441), Sept. 15.
[161] Wellington to Chas. Stuart, Sept. 18.
[162] Nap. Corresp., xx. p. 117. Napoleon to Berthier.
[163] Ibid., p. 271.
[164] Napoleon to Masséna, July 29, 1810, Corresp., xx. p. 552.
[165] For his views just after Talavera see vol. ii. of this work, pages 609-10.
[166] ‘I strongly recommend to you, unless you mean to incur the risk of the loss of your army, not to have anything to do with Spanish warfare, on any ground whatever, in the existing state of things.... If you should take up Cadiz you must lay down Portugal.’ Wellington to Castlereagh, Dispatches, v. 90.
[167] See vol. ii. pages 286-8.
[168] See also vol. ii. page 286, of this book.
[169] All these quotations are from Wellington to Lord Liverpool, April 2, 1810, a long dispatch written from Vizeu, every word of which is well worth study.
[170] I found these passages in letters to Sir John Le Marchant, then in command at the Staff College at High Wycombe, from a highly-placed friend in Portugal. It is notable that other contemporary epistles from younger men, old pupils of Le Marchant, show a far more cheery spirit. The correspondence (from which I shall have many other passages to quote) was placed at my disposition by the kindness of Sir Henry Le Marchant, grandson of Sir John.
[171] See vol. ii. pages 440-1 and 620.
[172] See vol. ii. pages 600-1. Beresford had some 18,000 men with him.
[173] See tables in vol. ii. pages 629-31.
[174] On Sept. 15, 1809, the 22nd, which had been destroyed by Soult at Oporto, had only 193 men. The 8th had but 369, the 15th 577, the 24th 505.
[175] Ten regiments present at Bussaco had over 1,100 men each, only one less than 800. This was the 22nd, mentioned above as practically non-existent a year before. It had only recruited up to the strength of one battalion: all the rest had two. The strongest regiment was the 11th with 1,438 men.
[176] See vol. ii. pages 210-15.
[177] This unpublished document here quoted, along with the whole of Sir Benjamin’s journal and correspondence, has been placed at my disposal by his grandson, Mr. D’Urban. They are invaluable for the Portuguese aspect of the War.
[178] This rule I find definitely laid down in a letter of Hardinge, Beresford’s Quartermaster-general, written as late as 1812, but the practice was already in full use by 1810.
[179] For narratives of the daily life of a British officer in a Portuguese regiment see Bunbury’s Reminiscences of a Veteran, and Blakiston’s Twelve Years of Military Adventure. Both had their difficulties, but both, on the whole, got on well with their colleagues. D’Urban’s correspondence supplies a frequent commentary on regimental problems.
[180] How this was done may be read in Blakiston.
[181] See Bunbury, p. 54.
[182] They were dressed in dark brown instead of in the rifle green. The shako, coat, and trousers were of the British model.
[183] Silveira was the despair of Beresford and his chief-of-the-staff D’Urban. The latter writes (Apr. 19, 1810): ‘This general is the most extraordinary of all the people in this extraordinary country. Perpetually fluctuating—incapable of standing still—always wishing to move backward or forward—all his movements to no purpose but that of harassing his troops. The man is either very weak or very designing—perhaps both. Anyhow he is a mischievous charlatan, and I wish the Marshal would not yield to the prejudices of the people by employing him.’
[184] Viz. the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 19th of the line, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Caçadores.
[185] Wellington to Hill, Jan. 24, 1810.
[186] Wellington to Villiers, Jan. 25, 1810.
[187] D’Urban writes, May 4, ‘Such is the poverty, imbecility, and want of arrangement of the Portuguese government, that any regular system of supply is not to be expected. The whole civil branch of the army is in such a state of confusion, that I hold it impossible to carry on active operations for more than a few weeks.’
[188] I note in D’Urban’s diary, when he was making an inspection tour with Beresford at the end of the winter, ‘At Sardão a very good regiment of militia, 1,100 strong, that of Maia.’ ‘Abrantes, two regiments of militia, Lousão 1,035, Soure 1,035, all armed.’ But, on the other hand, ‘Vizeu, Arganil, Trancoso, ordered to be assembled at Almeida, have only—the first 867, the second 600, the last 505 firelocks, and the description of troops the very worst.’ Of course the numbers were somewhat higher by the next August.
[189] These regiments were Lagos, Tavira, Beja, Evora, Villaviciosa, Portalegre, Alcazar do Sul, Setubal.
[190] It may be well to name, once for all, the composition of these Militia Brigades. They were distributed as follows:—
Of Miller’s division, I think, but am not sure, that the last four were those detached under Wilson in September.
[191] D’Urban to Wilson, and Trant to Wilson, after two unfortunate incidents in 1812, when the militia had been more or less under arms for two whole years. The former are in D’Urban’s, the latter in Wilson’s correspondence.
[192] Dumouriez, State of Portugal, page 22. There was, however, one notable combat at Villa Pouca in the Tras-os-Montes where a whole Spanish column of 3,000 men was defeated by the Ordenança.
[193] Unlike the many French writers who content themselves with denouncing Wellington’s inhumanity, Pelet (Masséna’s chief confidant) confesses that the English general’s plan was perfectly logical. In his Aperçu de la Campagne de Portugal, he writes, ‘On a critiqué sans raison son système de guerre. Il était à peu près infaillible contre un ennemi inférieur en nombre. Mais peu de généraux oseront “sauver un pays” d’une telle manière.’
[194] Continuation of Vertot’s History of Portugal, ii. 51.
[195] Dumouriez’s State of Portugal, p. 21, n.
[196] For these officers and their duties see vol. ii. pp. 221-2.
[197] Wellington to Beresford, Vizeu, Feb. 28, 1810, long before the actual invasion.
[198] D’Urban says in his diary (Dec. 8, 1809): ‘Inspected Peniche. The isthmus over which the peninsula is approached is covered with water at high tide, and from the line of works describing a sort of arc, very powerful cross-fires may be established upon every part of it. There are nearly 100 good guns upon the work, the brass ones especially good. This is the most favourable position that can he conceived for embarking the British army, should it ever be necessary to do so. The circumference abounds with creeks and clefts in the rocks, inside which there is always smooth water, and easy egress for boats. They are out of the reach of fire from the mainland: indeed, there is sufficient room to encamp a large force perfectly beyond the range of the enemy. If it should be thought worth while, this peninsula could be held by England, even if Portugal otherwise were in the power of the enemy. There is abundance of water. If it be the wish of Lord Wellington he can retire upon Lisbon, give battle in front of it, and, if the day go against him, retreat upon Peniche and defend it so long as he pleases.’
[199] D’Urban has a long disquisition on Abrantes in his diary. Its weak points, he says, were an outlying hill on the Punhete road, which gave a favourable position for hostile batteries, and the friable nature of the gravelly soil, which did not bind well in trenches and outworks.
[200] For these views of Aug. and Sept. 1809, see vol. ii. p. 610.
[201] Wellington to Lord Liverpool, Dispatches, vi. p. 435.
[202] A man of whom all Portuguese writers speak with respect; even Napier notes him (ii. 386) as ‘a man of talent and discretion.’ But Wellington seems to have disliked him. ‘The admission of Dr. Raymundo Nogueira to the Regency, and the reasons of his admission, were truly ludicrous ... his appointment is to be agreeable to the lower orders—from among whom he is selected!’ (Wellington to Charles Stuart, Celorico, Aug. 4, 1810.)
[203] ‘Faites-moi connaître la marche que vous faites faire aux 66e, 82e, 26e, etc., etc.: lorsque j’entrerai en Espagne cela me pourra faire une force de 18,000 hommes.’ Napoleon to Clarke, Schönbrunn, July 18.
[204] Napoleon to Clarke, Schönbrunn, Sept. 7.
[205] Napoleon to Clarke, memoranda for King Joseph, Oct. 3, 1809.
[206] Same to same, Oct. 7, 1809.
[207] Napoleon to Berthier, Nov. 28.
[208] Napoleon to Clarke, Dec. 5. Minute for the Privy Council dated Dec. 15, in the Correspondance.
[209] The civil ceremony took place on the first, the religious on the second of these two days.
[210] Napoleon to Berthier, Paris, Feb. 12.
[211] On Feb. 16: see Napoleon to King Joseph, Paris, Feb. 23.
[212] Napoleon to Clarke, April 22, 1810. Not in the Correspondance, but given at length by Ducasse in his Memoirs of King Joseph, vii. 275.
[213] Note that the 4th Corps had left behind in Madrid 6,000 men of its 1st division (the 28th Léger, 32nd and 75th Line) and taken on instead 8,000 men of the division Dessolles, properly forming part of the ‘Army of the Centre.’
[214] Loison’s division of the 6th Corps received these stray battalions, which were united to those of the same regiments which had crossed the Pyrenees with him. They consisted of a battalion each of the Légion du Midi, of the Légion Hanovrienne, the 26th, 66th, 82nd of the line, and the 32nd Léger.