* An officer, who was present upon this occasion, makes the following lively observations:

"Every thing considered, the passage of the Douro is certainly one of the most brilliant achievements on record. The troops had made a forced march of above 80 miles from Coimbra in three days and a half, and the whole of the artillery was got on, though some parts of the road were so excessively bad, that it seemed wonderful how the guns ever got through them. From the heat of the weather, and the great length of time which the stoppage of the artillery forced us to be on the different marches, the fatigues which the troops underwent were extreme. The current of the Douro is very rapid, the opposite banks high and steep, in possession of the enemy, and we were ignorant of his forces and defences. There was no means of crossing the river, except in such small Portuguese boats as the enthusiasm of the people brought to us, at their own peril, from the French side of the river: and the troops that first passed had to wait till these boots went back wards and forwards, and successively brought over the remainder. Notwithstanding such difficulties, Sir Arthur Wellesley did not delay one moment in crossing the river. The animation and bravery of the troops seconded his activity and presence of mind: the enemy's bat teries were soon taken, himself defeated at all points, a vast number of prisoners made; and, when the pursuit was ordered to cease, one sentiment of regret pervaded all. The bridge over the Douro being des stroyed, there was no means of getting over the artillery; and only about sixty of the dragoons had already crossed. Under these circumstances, Sir Arshur Wellesley durst not in prudence pursue, though we have since learned from some English officers who were with the French army, and afterwards made their escape, that the confusion was so great, and the troops so entangled with baggage, &c. that the greatest part of them must have been taken prisoners, if we had continued the pursuit.

"The country was so hostile to the French, that they could not get any information of our movements: the advance from Coimbra was therefore unexpected; and it was so very rapid, that they were completely taken by surprise.

“Seven hundred sick were by this means left in the hospital. Mar shal Soult's dinner was preparing, and was actually eaten by Sir Arthur. Wellesley. Some of the captured generals were taken in the streets of Oporto. Many men were killed in the streets by the 29th regiment, and General Laborde's baggage was taken just beyond the entrance of the city.

"The scene was altogether most beautiful, and perfectly unique. The day was very fine; and, the tide being in, the river was quite full. "Immediately

Defeat of Marshal Soult.

Lieutenant-General Paget was unfortunately wounded soon after the attack commenced, when the command of these gallant troops devolved upon MajorGeneral Hill; and, although the French made repeated attacks upon them, they made no impression; and at length Major-General Murray, (by the masterly movement of the morning,) having appeared on the left flank of the French, on his march from Ovintra, where he had crossed, and Lieutenant-General Sherbrooke, (who by this time had availed himself of the enemy's weakness in the town of Oporto, and had crossed the Douro at the Ferry, between the towns of Villa Nova and Oporto,) having appeared upon the right with the brigade of Guards, and the 29th regiment, the whole of the enemy's forces retired in the utmost confusion towards Amarantha, leaving behind them five pieces of cannon, eight ammunition tumbrels, and many prisoners: their loss amounted to a considerable number; and they left 700 sick and wounded behind them in the hospitals at Oporto.

The exertions of the army in this affair were highly deserving of praise. In four days they had marched over eighty miles of most difficult country, had gained many important positions, and had actually engaged and defeated three different bodies of the enemy's troops.

"Immediately opposite to Oporto is the town of Villa Nova, where we embarked to cross the river. Here on the beach was raised an immense standard of white cloth, on which the sign of the cross was em broidered; the opposite walls of Oporto were lined with people waving white handkerchiefs to us, expressing, by their signs and gestures, their extreme anxiety for our passing the river: the Portuguese rowed their own boats, and the animation these poor fishermen displayed, and the exertions to get us quickly over, were very striking. The houses, as we passed through the streets were principally shut, for fear of being pilJaged by the French in their retreat; but the balconies were full of people, chiefly women; and from one end of the shore to the other there was a continued line of white handkerchiefs waved to us from the balconies."

Oporto liberated.

troops.* Oporto now became the reward of the cap

tors.

Sir Arthur immediately on entering Oporto, very prudently and humanely issued a proclamation, in which he required from the inhabitants that they should comport themselves with compassion and humanity towards the French prisoners, who by the laws of war were entitled to his protection. He shewed them that it would be inconsistent with the generosity and humanity of the Portuguese nation to revenge upon those unfortunate individuals the outrages and calamities which it had suffered and he therefore, directed all the inhabitants to remain tranquil in the town, and to forbear appearing in the streets with arms.

The effects of this judicious proceeding were to produce an immediate tranquillity; and most certainly to save a great effusion of blood, as otherwise every French prisoner would have been massacred by the long outraged and very justly incensed inhabitants.

The sufferings of Oporto, previous to this, had been great in the extreme: for Soult, on his first entering it, had given up the city to his troops to plunder for three days; vast numbers of the inhabitants were violated and murdered during that period with impunity; the soldiers only being restricted from murdering children under ten years of age. However improbable this may appear, it is a fact that the British government became possessed of numerous facts upon this head, and that it was at one time in contemplation to give an authenticated account of them to the world, as a striking example of French fraternity.

2 N 2

When

* Lieutenant-General Paget's wound was much regretted by the gal lant Commander-in-Chief, not only as that of a friend, but as one who had been most useful to the service in the few days he had been with the army. He had, indeed, rendered a most important service at the time he received it, in taking up the position which the troops so steadily maintained until finally successful.

Anecdotes of Marshal Soult.

When Sir Arthur Wellesley first determined upon the expedition to the north of Portugal, against Marshal Soult, he had sanguine hopes that the Portu

guese

* Marshal Soult is now upwards of fifty years of age; he is described to be strong and active, but a libertine and avaricious. In fact, glory is but his third passion, coming in after money and women; so that, when he first heard of his appointment some years ago to the then Army of England, he said, in the presence of an Englishman then in France, "Now I am going to recruit my seraglio, and to fill my coffers by putting into requisition English misses and English guineas." In short, Citizen Soult was at that time a terroist, and had been a private in the French 23d regiment, previous to the Revolution. He was first promoted to the rank of Captain in the National Guards by Robespierre, in 1792; and, being sent to serve under General Custine on the Rhine in the campaign of 1792, was wounded at Mayence; but was soon after raised by Robespierre to the rank of Major of Brigade.

On the fall of Robespierre he thought himself lucky in being only dismissed the service: but was soon after restored to his rank by Carnot in 1796, after which he served in the army of the Rhine, and was with General Moreau in the famous retreat through the Black Forest. In 1798 the friendship of Hoche procured for him a nomination as gereral of brigade in the army of the Sambre and Meuse, where he was noticed, more for the absurdity of his Jacobin principles than for his military talents.

Whilst serving in the south, in 1800, he was appointed by Buonaparte as Lieutenant-General in Massena's army, and he certainly displayed much courage at the siege of Genoa; but like many others o these revolutionary heroes, or rather ruffians, his laurels were too ofter stained with blood: and if he was only able to fill one pocket with the spoils of his enemies, he was said to be an adept in filling the othe from the stores of his friends..

3

Notwithstanding the infamy of his character, his bravery and hi peculiar species of intelligence rendered him useful to the prime mov ers of the Revol tion; but, having displayed much activity as a notoriou revolutionary intriguer, it is said that both Moreau and Massena hav described him as more fit to make motions in a club, to bow in an an tichamber of a revolutionary committee or of a republican tyrant tha to head an army. It is evident, indeed, that Buonaparte had a bette opinion of him, from his having appointed him Commander-in-Chie of the Army of England assembled some years ago at St. Omers. H was suspected, however, of being aimed at the Consular chair, and o many other acts of ambition equally absurd and extravagant; but i was considered that be took sufficient care to conceal these predilec tions from the crafty Corsican, who would doubtless have nipped the ambition of this aspiring sans culotte.

guese

Pursuit of the enemy.

General Silvierra, would be able to hold his post upon the Tamaga, till he should be reinforced; by means of which position, and by the possession of Chaves, the enemy's retreat would have been cut off, excepting across the Minho river; but even that he had hoped to render impracticable, by pressing hard upon his rear. This well concerted plan was, however, deranged by the French having got possession of the bridge of Amarantha, where Silvierra was posted; particularly as Sir Arthur had no real ground to hope that Marshal Beresford, who was then marching toward Lamego, would be able to effect more than to confine the enemy on that side, and oblige him to retire by Chaves into Gallicia, rather than by Villa Real into Castile.

Yet the gallant Beresford effected more than was supposed possible; and, after having driven in the enemy's posts at Villa Real and Maisan Frien, with some loss, actually forced General Loison's out-posts at the bridge of Amarantha, and again acquired possession of the left bank of the Tamarga, on the very day that the Commander-in-Chief had so gallantly passed the Douro. In fact, no sooner had the intelligence of this brilliant coup-de-main reached Loison, than he judged it prudent to retire immediately from Amarantha, and to join the anvanced guard of the French army, when General Beresford instantly occupied his evacuated post.

On the morning of the 13th Sir Arthur Wellesley led his army from Oporto in pursuit of the retreating enemy, and in the evening he received information that they had destroyed a great proportion of their artillery in the neighbourhood of Pennafiel, and had directed their march towards Braga; a measure to which he was evidently driven in consequence of Marshal Beresford's co-operstion of the Tamarga.

Sir Arthur, on having these facts well ascertained, immediately proceeded on the morning of the 14th with the army in two columns towards the Minho ri