Читать книгу Military Memoirs of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington - Joseph Moyle Sherer - Страница 12

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The disembarkation of the troops in Portugal took place near the little fort of Figueras, taken from the French in the early part of the insurrection by one Zagalo, a student in the university of Coimbra. Here the English first landed upon a service, the duration and the issue of which no one living, however prescient and sagacious, could have at all anticipated. The landing began on the 1st of August; but though the weather was favorable, the difficulties were so many that it was not completed till the 5th.

At this moment general Spencer arrived. As soon as he had learned the surrender of Dupont, he sailed with his division for the Tagus, and was directed by Sir Charles Cotton to the Mondego. The united forces amounted to 12,300 men. It was the desire of general Freire, who commanded all the Portuguese then in arms, that Sir Arthur should abandon the coast, march up into the heart of Beira, and open an offensive campaign; and he promised large supplies of provision. Sir Arthur declined this measure. He gave Freire 5000 stand of arms, and the necessary ammunition for his troops, which did not exceed 6000 of all arms effective; and these by no means in a state to give real assistance in any severe trial. Sir Arthur, however, though resolute not to abandon the line of communication which he had chosen, nor to move to any great distance from his ships, did, at the earnest desire of Freire to save, according to his report, a magazine of provisions collected for the British, march upon Leria. The English advanced guard moved from their ground upon the Mondego on the 9th of August, and was followed on the 10th by the main body of the army. Upon this wide theatre of fierce and sanguinary warfare was now first heard the careless whistle and the cheerful laughter of the English soldier. He, stranger alike to the violent and vindictive feelings which animated the invader and the inhabitant, marched gaily forward, looking for a combat as for some brave pastime; and panting to prove at home that the favored jacket of blue covered not bolder hearts than those that beat proudly under his own crimson uniform.

The British advance entered Leria on the 10th; and the magazine collected for them was seized by the Portuguese under Freire, who there joined the English, to whom no distribution was made. This first movement cut the line of communication between the divisions of general Loison coming from Abrantes, and Laborde, who was marching from Liston, with a view to unite their forces at Leria: to effect their junction, Loison was now compelled to circuitous and forced marches.

As serious hostilities closely impended, the Portuguese began to fear the risk of an action, and the consequences of defeat: French troops were thought invincible: of English nothing was known, and not much was expected. The junta of Oporto and Freire understood each other. The Portuguese general not only resolved not to advance beyond Leria, but, having already appropriated the store of provisions which had been avowedly destined for the British by the bishop of Oporto, who had promised to feed them, he asked a supply from the English commander. This demand was met by a strong remonstrance; but it was in vain that Sir Arthur Wellesley, who readily penetrated the secret of Freire’s reluctance, urged him to act by the ode of the English in the expected battle. Neither an appeal to his honor, nor an imputation against his patriotism and spirit, had any effect upon his resolve. At last, however, by an earnest and conciliatory tone, Sir Arthur induced him to follow the British line of march, and to be guided in his future course by the issue of the first engagement. Freire also consented, at the desire and by the counsel of colonel Trant, a military agent, who had great influence over the Portuguese, to place 1400 infantry, and 250 cavalry, under the orders of Sir Arthur. The political importance of their co-operation, and their presence in the first battle fought upon their own soil, will be readily understood. Junot, the French commander-in-chief, quitted Lisbon, with his reserve, on the 15th; and on the 17th, pushing on in person, and leaving them to follow, he joined Loison at Alcoentre. In the mean time Sir Arthur Wellesley had arrived in presence of Laborde. On the 15th a French post at Brilos was attacked, and their pickets driven out of Obidos. The riflemen of the 95th and 60th had the honor of this first brush with the enemy; and were so eager in pursuit, as to be well-nigh cut off; but general Spencer saved them. Two officers and twenty-seven men were killed and wounded in this skirmish. On the morrow Sir Arthur surveyed the strong position of Laborde.

The romantic village of Roliça, with its vines, its olives, and quiet gardens, stands upon an eminence at the head of that valley, in the midst of which, distant about eight miles, rises the insulated hill of Obidos. In front of Roliça, upon a small plain, on the table land, the division of Laborde was drawn up in order of defence. The favorable points upon the hills on either side, and in the valley below, were occupied by his posts. Behind him, one mile to the rear, the steep and difficult ridge of Zambugeira offered a second position, parallel to the first, and of uncommon strength. The mountains, which rose towering beyond, are of that chain which stretches from the bank of the Tagus to the shore of the Atlantic, and terminates in the naked and lofty rock of Cintra. The valley leading from the old Moorish fort of Obidos to the pleasant village of Roliça is walled in on the left by rude heights, rising each above the other, till they are finally lost in the dark summits of the Sierra de Baragueda. To preserve his communication with Loison, and to avoid exposing the line of Torres Vedras and Mafra, Laborde was compelled to await in this position the assault of the British troops. His force was only 5000, but it was advantageously posted,—aware of the importance of the position as of its strength, confident in the talent of their general, and their own courage.

Early upon the 17th the English moved out of Obidos, and Sir Arthur Wellesley disposed them in three columns of attack. That on the left was conducted by general Ferguson along the lower ridges of the Sierra de Baragueda, and destined to turn the right of Laborde’s position, and interpose between him and the division Loison expected from Rio Mayor to his support Six guns, forty horsemen, and 4S00 bayonets, moved under this general.

One thousand Portuguese infantry and fifty of their cavalry formed a little column on the right, which, moving through the village of St. Amias, menaced the left flank of the enemy. This body was led by colonel Trant.

Nine thousand men marched up the volley directly upon the enemy. The brigades of generals Hill, Nightingale, Cotton, Crauford, and Fane, with 150 British light horse, 250 Portuguese cavalry, and 400 light troops of that nation, composed this formidable column. With this, the main body of his little army, rode Sir Arthur Wellesley. He extended the riflemen of Fane’s brigade among the hills to the left, as the troops advanced, and driving away the French skirmishers connected the column of Ferguson with his centre. From his first position on the plain, near Roliça, Laborde was soon driven. The brisk attack of the brigades of Hill and Nightingale, supported by the cavalry and guns, and rendered easy by the skilful dispositions which had caused both the flanks of the enemy to be menaced at the same moment, determined his retreat. Laborde, covered by his steady cavalry, moved rapidly, and in order, to his second line of defence, the ridge of Zambugeira, one of great strength, and not a mile in extent.

The like dispositions of attack were continued. Generals Ferguson and Fane marched on among the mountains upon the enemy’s right flank, colonel Trant still moving in menace of their left. The front of their strong position was assailed by the brigades of Hill and Nightingale. The face of these heights is rugged, and their summit only to he gained by steep and difficult pathways, which wind among rocks and briers, in those rude ravines, by which in winter the waters rush down their precipitous sides to the vales below. The quick fire of our advancing skirmishers rung and rattled among these rocky hollows; and the goatherds looked down in wonder from the far Sierras, upon the white clouds of battle, which hid from their view the shouting combatants, while the brave array of the reserve, the scarlet uniforms, and the unaccustomed battle-cries, told them that their oppressors had met a foe, and that their bleeding villages had found a friend. Laborde drew back a little upon his left as the English advanced, but held his right with obstinate courage, hoping every instant for the appearance of Loison.

The 9th and 29th British pushed up two of these ravine pathways with such eager rapidity, that they reached the summit of the ridge before the flanks of the enemy were shaken. The head of the 29th regiment, in particular, issued from the ravine, in that narrow and loose order in which men of necessity come forth from such ground. Before they had time to form, a French battalion, covered by a screen of the wild shrubs which clothe these passes, had poured in its fire, and was among them with the bayonet. lake, the colonel, a brave officer, was slain, with many of his men; and the major and some fifty or sixty more of the same wing were made prisoners: but it was not because their advanced wing had been thus taken at a disadvantage by a prepared and posted enemy ; it was not because they saw a field-officer and numbers of their men prisoners, and had to press over the bodies of fallen comrades to re-establish the battle, that the gallant 29th hesitated: the rally was immediate ; the remnant of this brave corps being joined by the 9th won back their dead and wounded, and sustained the repeated and fierce assaults of Laborde’s division with unshaken constancy, till, being supported by other troops from the rear, they had the proud joy of seeing Laborde, now, too, menaced on his flank, again retire. The French general conducted his retreat with great firmness and judgment He attempted to stand again near the village of Zambugeira, but was too weak to sustain the weight of the British attack, and leaving three guns upon the field, and the road to Torres Vedras open, he retired by the narrow pass of Ruña, marching all night to gain the position of Montechique. The loss of the French was 600 killed and wounded: among the latter was Laborde himself. Two lieutenant-colonels, and 500 killed, wounded and prisoners, was, the loss on the part of the British. It was not possible, from the nature of the ground, that the English could avail themselves of their superior numbers. Scarce 4000 men were actually engaged with the enemy. This day should be long and honorably remembered by every British soldier; for it was the first action of the memorable war in the Peninsula, in which British forces encountered the legions of Buonaparte.

Immediately after the engagement, which closed about four o’clock in the afternoon, Sir Arthur took up a position a little in advance of the field of battle. It was reported to him the same evening, that the divisions of generals Anstruther and Ackland were off the coast; he therefore moved the next day to Lourinham, on the road to which his right had rested through the night He moved on the 19th to Vimeiro, with a view to favor the landing of general Anstruther, and from thence he detached troops to cover the march of that general’s brigade. Owing to these precautions the junction was securely effected, and the menace of a large body of French dragoons gave little interruption ; but the enemy’s strength in cavalry enabled him to confine the English to their lines; and no certain information of the dispositions and movements of Junot could be obtained. His force in the field was estimated at about 14,000. On the night of the 20th the brigade of general Ackland was also put on shore.

The landing of these troops in the bay of Maceira was attended with great risk and difficulty; and with officers less skilful than those of the British navy, and men less brave and energetic than British seamen, could not have been effected. The beach of Maceira is open and sandy, and the Atlantic breaks upon it in a heavy surf. Many of the boats were swamped, and some of the men perished.

Reinforced by generals Anstruther and Ackland, Sir Arthur Wellesley had now 16,000 effective men, and eighteen pieces of artillery. He resolved, by a forced march on the 21st, to turn the position of Torres Vedras; to push a strong advance to Mafra, and, seizing the strong heights within a short distance of that place, intercept the French line of march to Montechique. It was only a march of nine miles to Torres Vedras, and there was a road which led to it from the sea-coast. It was by this line Sir Arthur would have advanced: he had communicated this project to Sir Harry Burrard in writing, and had, at the same time, recommended that the division of general Sir John Moore should disembark at the Mondego, and march to Santarem. These letters Sir Harry Burrard found on his arrival at the Mondego; but, disapproving this plan, which proposed a double line of operations, he continued his course southward, and arrived in the bay of Maceira, in a frigate, on the eve of Sir Arthur’s projected blow against Junot. He received the report of that general, who went on board the vessel the moment she arrived to represent the state of the armies, and to urge the adoption of the offensive. Sir Harry Burrard would hear of no such movement until the arrival of Sir John Moore and the concentration of the whole force. Sir Arthur returned to the camp in disappointment; but a day of glory was nearer than he at the moment thought it. At midnight he was awakened to hear the report of a German officer of dragoons, who had come in with anxious haste to announce the approach of Junot with 20,000 men, and stated him to be within a league of the camp.

The general sent out patrols, directed increased vigilance and alertness on the part of all pickets and guards, but Would not disturb bis line.

It may be remarked, in passing, that no general ever received reports with such calm caution as Sir Arthur Wellesley. Suddenly awaked, he would hear an alarming account from the front with a quiet, and, to many a bustling, intelligent officer, a provoking coldness, and turn again to his sleep as before. Few, if any, are the instances during the war of his putting the troops under arms by night, or disappointing them unnecessarily of one hour of repose. An hour before dawn, the British, when near an enemy, are always under arms. The sun rose upon them on the 21st of August, but discovered no hostile force in motion.

Vimeiro, a pretty village in a lovely and peaceful valley, through which the little river of Maceira gently flows, was the principal place in the British lines, and occupied by the park, the commissariat, and that noisy crowd of animals and followers which mark the presence of an army. It stands at the eastern extremity of some mountain heights which screen it from the sea, and west of it, separated from them by a deep ravine, lie other heights; over these last the road passes to Lourinham. The cavalry and Portuguese lay behind the village on a plain, upon a plateau, on a steep insulated height; the brigades of Anstruther and Fane, with six guns, were immediately in front of Vimeiro. The right of the latter rested upon one extremity of this hill just above the river Maceira, and the left of Anstruther occupied a church and church-yard at the other. Here passed a road leading to the village. On the mountain that, commencing at the coast, rose to the right and rear of this plateau, and which at long range commanded it, were placed eight guns and five brigades of infantry. The range of heights to the west having no water was only occupied by pickets; but the right of these also commanded the plateau, and the road passing over its extreme edge.

About eight o’clock the enemy showed a picket of horse on the heights, towards Lourinham, and pushed forward his scouts; nearly at the same moment he was seen in all his strength, and in full march upon the road leading from Torres Vedras to Lourinham, and his object was evident. Four brigades from the mountain on the east crossed instantly in rear of the village, and crowned the heights on the west. As soon as two of them were formed, being disposed at right angles, with Anstruther and Fane in two lines facing to the led, the battle began. The brigade of 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 14000 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 foiling slain in the melee. 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 fugitives 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 position 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 for; 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 mid-career. The French reformed 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 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 All those circumstances of difficulty, which weigh upon a cautious and objective mind, decided Sir Harry not to peril the certain and solid advantages just gained upon the, to him, doubtful chance of the complete and anticipated triumph. The enemy, he said, were strong in cavalry; the English had none; the artillery carriages were shaken to pieces, and might not stand the roads; while their horses were few and bad, and scarcely able to drag them forward. The French rallied quick, and had, perhaps, fresh troops among the woods and hollows in front Upon distant heights, indeed, a body had been discovered by general Spencer. It appeared to him a risk, and though a brave and honorable officer, yet being no longer a young man, he decided against the onward march upon fair military reasons. Bitter as was the disappointment of Sir Arthur Wellesley, still he was consoled by the thought that his own skill, seconded admirably by the courage of his soldiers, had achieved a brilliant victory. A second time the imperial troops had been met, and, after efforts the most resolute and heroic, had been fairly and signally beaten, leaving thirteen guns, their wounded, and a vast number of prisoners. The charm which had palsied the hearts and arms of all Europe was now doubly broken. In the Peninsula, Napoleon had found a people who hated without fearing him, and in the English, his soldiers had encountered enemies who repelled their fiercest attacks or assailed their strongest posts with equal ardor and success. On the morning after the battle, Sir Hew Dalrymple arrived, and assumed the chief command; a most excellent and judicious officer; but, perhaps, it was scarcely possible for man to be placed in circumstances more difficult aim trying. We record with irritation this quick and clumsy succession of commanders. The French, in safe possession of the unassailable position of Torres Vedras, and having the capital in their immediate power, as well as the fortresses of Almeida and Elvas, though beaten in the field by Sir Arthur Wellesley, and hated by an insurgent people, were certainly in a condition to propose terms that should save to them their liberty and their arms. The general, Kellerman, presented himself at the British head-quarters; demanded a cessation of hostilities, and stated the readiness of Junot to evacuate Portugal upon a fair and honorable convention. Sir Hew Dalrymple acceded to this proposition; and Sir Arthur concurred in the policy of now gaining by treaty those advantages which, the golden opportunity having passed, force of arms could no longer effectually or speedily secure. Upon the expediency of some of the articles of this convention the commanders differed, but upon the general principle of the measure they agreed. While the convention was going forward, the reinforcements under Sir John Moore landed in Maceira Bay. The feature of the treaty most remarkable to the future historian and to posterity will be this, that the nation to whose cause we had brought our succors was not in the person of any of its authorities, or of its public officers, military or civil, at first, either considered or consulted. The convention went distinctly to recognize that the French were the conquerors of Portugal, and, as such, had been entitled to exercise all the rights of conquest The Portuguese, by the fifth article of this notable treaty, saw the plunder of their country secured to their rapacious and cruel invaders, and they remonstrated against the terms of the convention with violence and anger. By the sixth article, all traitors and timeservers were to be protected from political persecution on account of their late conduct, and were left to hatch new treasons whenever the French should again return.

General Freire, and the bishop and junta of Oporto, sought to disturb these arrangements by open remonstrance and much secret intrigue, which it were alike uninteresting and tedious to detail. Emissaries from Oporto urged the populace of Lisbon to rise upon the French, who were now concentrated in that city, but lay there constantly upon the alert, as in the midst of enemies. The judge of the people issued an inflammatory address, calling for a suspension of the treaty, and the Monteiro Mor, at the head of a levy of peasants, on the south bank of the Tagus, published a protest against the convention. Happily Sir John Hope, being appointed to command Lisbon, took possession of the citadel on the 12th of September, and by judgment and firmness calmed the tumults and repressed those dangerous and terrible disorders which in the moment of vindictive confusion, and total anarchy prevailed. The first division of the French army sailed on the 15th, and was followed by the second and third as soon after as transports could be provided. In the midst of all the angry excitement of the people of Lisbon, and though endeavors had been made to direct their indignation against the English, as friendly to the French, and indifferent to the losses they had sustained, and the sufferings they had undergone, the British troops were received with great warmth and cordiality. They viewed them as having avenged their wrongs in the blood of a battle, and hailed them as deliverers and friends.

After the departure of the French, the bishop of Oporto, and, at his instigation, the junta of that city, sought to possess themselves of the supreme power in Portugal, and were desirous that the seat of the government should be established at Oporto. This was most wisely and firmly resisted by Sir Hew Dalrymple. A regency was established at Lisbon, and that capital and the country were at length restored to a state of confidence and tranquillity.

Sir Arthur Wellesley, Sir Harry Burrard, and Sir Hew Dalrymple, were now recalled to England, where the public had been so clamorous against the convention, that a formal investigation of the matter was directed by the king; and a board of general officers was assembled at Chelsea for that purpose.

To the fifth article, especially, Sir Arthur Wellesley objected; but the French, by plausible explanations and fair assurances overruled these objections; and the manly integrity of the British generals made them incredulous of the extent of French cupidity and crime, till their shuffling evasions and impudent abstractions, on the eve of their departure, shamed and disgusted the honorable men of their army as much as the commissioners of our own. It is a real pleasure to be able to state, that there were French generals with this very army, who, in the last moments of their stay, when popular exasperation was loose against the troops, and when the language of abuse was fierce, and the threats of murder loud, could walk the streets in perfect safety, saluted and honored by the people. The names of Travot, Chariot, Brennier, and many others, are on this honorable list.

The convention of Cintra was odious to the Portuguese people, and could not be otherwise, till, relieved of the presence of the French army, they had leisure to discover the solid advantages accruing from the treaty, and to ponder on the violence which the enemy might have exercised before they retired from Lisbon, had they been driven to desperation by the rejection of their terms.

The last division of the French troops embarked amid the curses and execrations of the people. From the decks of their vessels they heard the songs of triumph; and the blaze of the illuminated city, shining far out upon the harbor, surrounded them with a light by which to read in each other’s faces their vexation. There was yet some troublesome hesitation on the frontiers. This was owing entirely to the intrigues of the bishop of Oporto, and the obstinate interference of Calluzzo, the Spanish general, who refused to acknowledge the convention, and invested fort La Lippe. At length, however, the difficulty was removed. The forts of Elvas, La Lippe, and Almeida, were evacuated: not a Frenchman was left in Portugal.