were ruthlessly put to the sword. The surviving friends and the ruined peasantry, gathering together, formed those bands of guerrillas which exacted the most terrible vengeance from the French during the Peninsular War, and unquestionably inflicted on them. a far greater loss than they suffered on the open field. The spirit of revenge burns deep in the Southern breast, and man so rapidly descends, by enforced contact with such horrors as these atrocities of the invaders, to the lowest forms of brutality, that it scarcely excites surprise to be told that Portuguese peasants were to be seen at an early period of the war hounding on their dogs to devour or mutilate the bodies of the French soldiers, and that after a victory, before attending to their own wounded, they hurried over the field to batter the skulls of the helpless enemy. The guerrilla bands. The ramifications of the guerrilla bands, or Partidas, extended throughout the whole country, and the priests and the whole mass of the peasants were devoted to their interests. Their romantic exploits attracted some of the foreigners in the French army, and some of the French themselves, to desert to them. Their leaders were drawn from all classes of society, some actuated by the purest patriotism or by a burning thirst for vengeance for their domestic wrongs, others by their love of a free and roving life, and others merely from their liking for bloodshed or robbery. Many of the bands were as great an object of terror to their own countrymen as to the enemy. So ruthless, even to her friends, was the amazon Martina in Biscay, that at length Mina's band attacked her, took herself and the greater part of her banditti by surprise, and shot them on the spot. Some of the Partidas became fairly disciplined and able to meet in the open field trained troops; and Mina's and other bands acted, when the war was well advanced, as a regular part of Wellington's army. All alike punished with death any one who gave information, or who was even suspected of giving information, as to their movements, or who failed to give them all the information he could gain regarding the movements of the enemy. The French decree that every Spaniard taken in arms should be executed was promptly met by their resolution to slay every Frenchman, and they gave to their prisoners as little quarter as they themselves expected when they were vanquished in this war of extermination. CHAPTER II. THE DELIVERANCE OF PORTUGAL-ROLIÇA, VIMIERA, CINTRA. British gifts to the Juntas-Expedition to Portugal-Career of Arthur WellesleyCareer of Sir John Moore-Departure of British expedition to Portugal-Wellesley disembarks at the Mondego: change of command-The advance-Skirmish at Obidos-Battle of Roliça-March to the coast-Reinforcements landed: -Burrard vetoes an advance-Junot takes the offensive-Battle of Vimiera— Burrard stops the pursuit-The French regain Torres Vedras-The loss in the battle: Napoleon's criticism-Dalrymple takes command: the halt-Junot negotiates for a convention for himself and the Russians-The "Convention of Cintra "-The surrender of the Russian fleet-Unpopularity of the convention -Court of inquiry-The advantages secured by the British. British gifts to the Juntas. N England only the nobler part of the Spanish insurrectionary outburst was noticed: distance softened or concealed all its viler traits and its spasmodic character. The cry for aid-notably from the envoys of the newly-formed Junta of Oviedo in Asturiasmet with a noble and unparalleled response. The heart of the nation was stirred, all classes joined with enthusiasm in support of the cause of Spanish independence; in Parliament there was equal unanimity, and the Cabinet fell in with the popular sentiment. A formal peace with Spain was signed in July, 1808; liberal grants were voted for the various Juntas; arms, money, and stores of every kind were According to Colonel Jones's "Account of the War," the British sent to Spain within twelve months two millions sterling, 150 pieces of field artillery, 42,000 rounds of ammunition for the same, 200,000 muskets, 61,000 swords, 79,000 pikes, poured into Spain; but unfortunately too many of the agents who were sent out to superintend the distribution were men incapable of contending with the weaknesses of the Spanish character, pride, indolence, and duplicity, and vast sums were bestowed without any conditions being attached. Expedition to The British Cabinet determined to send out also an expedition to co-operate in the deliverance of the Peninsula. The great number of the French troops available for the occupation of the country forbade any attempt to cut the enemy's line of supplies on either the Bayonne or the Barcelona roads, and the most effective aid in the circumstances could be rendered by attacking the French at the farthest point from France. For this reason Portugal was selected as the theatre of operations, and the first objects were to wrest Lisbon --the capital, a strong fortress, and containing large military and naval arsenals-from the French, and to prevent Cadiz from falling into their hands. The possession of Lisbon was the more important, because of the great defensive strength of the Portuguese frontier on the east, and because of its giving an Anglo-Portuguese army the advantage of the interior lines,* enabling it to move easterly against any one of the French armies, while the latter were prevented by parallel ridges of mountains from moving rapidly in a northerly or southerly direction for concentration. The Portland Ministry had only 30,000 men disposable for the expedition; yet they clung to the idea of being able to operate on two points, the Tagus and the rich province of Andalusia, at the same time. 23,000,000 ball cartridges, 6,000,000 leaden bullets, 15,000 barrels of gunpowder, 92,000 suits of clothing, 356,000 sets of accoutrements, belts, and pouches, 310,000 pairs of shoes, 37,000 pairs of boots, 40,000 tents, 250,000 yards of cloth, 10,000 sets of camp equipage, 118,000 yards of linen, 50,000 great-coats, 50,000 canteens, 54,000 havresacks, besides a vast quantity of miscellaneous stores. * That is, the possession of a central or interior position with regard to the enemy's positions, as on the middle of the chord of an arc, from which a larger force could be thrown upon any one or more of the enemy's positions than he could bring together in the same time to oppose it. The first British expedition to the Peninsula introduces the names of the two most famous Generals in connection with the Peninsular War, WELLESLEY and MOORE. Career of Arthur Educated at Eton, at a tutorial establishment at Brighton, and finally at the military college of Angers in France, Arthur Wellesley (or, as then written, Wesley*) entered the army in his nineteenth year (having been born on or about the 1st May, 1769), as an Ensign of the 73rd, in 1787 (his mother considering him too dull for the Church, the Bar, or Parliament). Passing through the 76th, 41st (the Welsh Regiment), 12th Light Dragoons, 58th (the Rutlandshire Regiment), and the 18th Light Dragoons, he became Major of the 33rd (now the "Duke of Wellington's Regiment") in 1793, when he was appointed an aide-de camp of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and sat as burgess for Trim in the Irish Parliament. His • Wesley is said to have been an abbreviation, formed about the sixteenth century, from Wellesley, which is itself said to be derived from a place of that name near Wells. An Irish gentleman, Garrett Wesley, of Dangan Castle, county Meath, had married a Miss Colley (originally Cowley), of Castle Carbery, to which her family had removed in the reign of Henry VIII. from Rutlandshire. The issue failing, an offer was made to adopt Charles Wesley, the brother of the great John Wesley, who was believed to be of the same stock, on condition of his settling in Ireland; but Charles Wesley was too closely associated with the great religious movement in England to accept this offer, and Garrett Wesley therefore bequeathed his estate to Richard Colley, the youngest son of his wife's brother, who assumed the name and arms of Wesley, and was subsequently created Baron Mornington. The eldest son of the latter was in 1760 created Viscount Wesley and Earl of Mornington in the peerage of Ireland (from the favour which George III. entertained for him from his great musical talent), and by his marriage with Anne, daughter of Viscount Dungannon, he became the father of five sons, of whom one was Arthur, afterwards Duke of Wellington. The eldest son, Richard, was unable to retain the family possessions on account of his father's debts; in 1784 he obtained a seat in the British House of Commons, from which he was raised in 1797 to the British House of Lords as Baron Wellesley (which form of the family name he now assumed, probably to disown connection with the Wesleys). He was shortly afterwards appointed Governor-General of India; and his success in annihilating the French influence, overthrowing the dynasty of Mysore, and firmly establishing British rule in India by the subsidiary system, were rewarded by his elevation to the dignity of Marquis Wellesley. |