XI. 1808. September. so strongly against the convention, now for those CHAP. same people expressed their gratitude to the British Commander, the British Sovereign, and the British nation, requesting that their sincere thanks for this great deliverance might be made known to the smallest village as well as to the throne. Such was the proud situation of the British army at Lisbon. Some formalities had been forgotten in the negotiation, some minor interests had been overlooked, and the courtesies of war had been too liberally accorded to an enemy who should have been made to feel their moral degradation. But the unstained honour, the unsuspecting integrity, the open manliness, the plain dignity of the British character, had been manifested throughout the whole of these transactions; and this was felt and acknowledged by the Portugueze. sieges Difficulties which could not have been foreseen Galluzo bearose concerning the delivery of Elvas. Galluzo, Elvas. who commanded the army of Extremadura, and who had hitherto afforded no very efficient aid to the Portugueze, thought proper at this time, when he had been required by every civil and military authority to begin his march towards Castille, in contempt of those orders to enter Alem-Tejo, and besiege Elvas, as if no treaty for its surrender had been made. The French Commandant, Girod de Novillars, upon this required from the inhabitants an immediate loan of money, to the amount of 30,000 francs, and wine and provisions to the value of 20,000 more. XI. 1808. September. CHAP. Drained as they had been by repeated exactions, the people of Elvas were in no condition to obey this demand; the Bishop and the magistrates therefore easily obtained permission to go to the Spanish camp, and entreat Galluzo to suspend hostilities. That General, however, declared, that if the French did not surrender within six hours, he would open his fire against Fort La Lippe, and put the whole garrison to the sword. He had no time to lose, he said, but must hasten to assist his fellow-soldiers in expelling the enemy from the Peninsula; and the inhabitants must either abandon the city, or take arms against the French. From this dilemma they were delivered by the French themselves, who, during the night, withdrew into the forts, leaving about an hundred men in the hospital. An agreement was then made, with Galluzo's consent, that the city should remain neutral; and the Spaniards began an absurd fire against Fort La Lippe, which is the strongest fortress in Portugal. Things were in this state when Lieutenant-Colonel Ross arrived with letters from the French Commander, instructing M. Girod to give up the place to him in pursuance of the convention. A demur was made by the Commandant, till he could send an officer to Lisbon, and satisfy himself that the dispatches were authentic; and difficulties less reasonable in their kind were started both by the Spaniards and Portugueze. Galluzo argued that no agreement between the British and French Generals could be binding upon him. The Spa niards, he affirmed, had a right as besiegers to take possession of Elvas, and the Spanish arms were not to be defrauded of the splendour which this would give them. He threatened Girod that if any injury were offered to the city the prisoners should be put to death, and the garrison receive no mercy; and he insisted that they should march out and lay down their arms, and that the place should be entered and occupied by the Spaniards only. In his communications with Sir Hew Dalrymple he held rather a lower tone, saying that certainly he should not have besieged and cannonaded Elvas if he had known of the convention; but it had not been thought proper to announce it to him. He required only a joint surrender to the British and Spanish arms, leaving the place and the prisoners to his Excellency; but he had heard the garrison were not to be considered prisoners; that article, though the opinion was that it would not be executed, occasioned some uneasiness, and therefore he would make them lay down their arms, and swear not to bear them again against Spain or her allies. concerning der of Galluzo was at this time upon ill terms with Difficulties the Portugueze. They complained that through- the surren out the struggle in Alem-Tejo he had promised Elvas. much and performed little; that the Spaniards had acted as masters in those fortresses which they had entered as friends, countermanded the orders of the Portugueze General, encouraged insubordination, appropriated to their own use money which had been raised for the national VOL. II. S September. CHAP. cause, and pillaged the country as they passed XI. through it. On the other hand, Galluzo re1808. proached the Portugueze with want of activity and energy, and with giving his people nothing but water when they went to assist them. His pretensions to Elvas, therefore, which under any circumstances might have given offence, were now peculiarly offensive; and it happened that the Junta of Porto, who were at this time not without hope of getting the government of the kingdom into their own hands, had ordered General Leite to march into Elvas and occupy it as soon as it should be evacuated. The General communicated their orders to Sir Hew, declaring that he felt it his duty to obey, and laying before him his complaints against the Spaniards. These difficulties were surmounted by a proper mixture of conciliation and firmness on the part of the British Commander. The first great object was, that British faith should be kept, and complete protection afforded to the French garrison. For this purpose those troops whom it was intended to canton in Alem-Tejo were immediately ordered thither, and stationed as near Elvas as possible, Colonel Graham was sent to Galluzo to bring him to reason; and if this were found impracticable, then to proceed to Madrid, and call for the interference of higher authorities. Colonel Ross was instructed to bear in mind, that as the French surrendered to no nation except the English, neither Spanish nor Portugueze troops were to appear when they marched out: that with re XI. 1808. September. spect to the Portugueze, the feelings of the nation CHAP. were to be gratified, and their flag every where displayed under a salute; but he was to hold the substantial power, even if he saw cause for allowing a Portugueze General to march in with a detachment of his men. Colonel Graham performed his difficult mission with great ability. Galluzo ceased from all farther interference, and was so gratified by the temper in which this affair had been carried on by the British Commander, and the services which had been rendered to the soldiers of Extremadura who had been released at Lisbon, that he ordered the black English cockade to be blended with the red Spanish one in his army, to mark his gratitude, as he informed Sir Hew, and denote the intimate alliance between the two countries. Almeida given up. All difficulties being at length removed, the Elvas and forts were delivered up, General Leite entered the city, and the French garrison, between 1400 and 1500 in number, were marched to Aldea Gallega. No insults were offered them on the way; and they were joined by their comrades, who, having been wounded at Evora, had been left in that city, and treated with careful humanity by the inhabitants. The garrison of Almeida were not removed so easily. The Portugueze had kept up an irregular blockade of that fortress after Loison's departure; they borrowed fire-arms from the Spaniards of Ciudad Rodrigo, and were so little scrupulous in their mode of warfare, that a friar poisoned the water of a tank |