CHAP. up its success. The 260 Portugueze horse which were with us XI. had shown themselves nearly useless; the British were only 1808. 210 in number, and they had suffered severely in the action,.. August. this was known, though the extent of their loss had not yet been ascertained. These difficulties preponderated with him; he adhered still to his determination; and Sir Arthur, whose sense of military duty would not allow him to act in disregard of orders, as Nelson was accustomed to do, turned to one of his officers, and concealing the bitterness of disappointment under a semblance of levity, said, “Well, then, we have nothing to do, but to go and shoot red-legged partridges,”.. the game with which that country abounds. From that moment he gave up all hope of cutting the French off from Lisbon, inclosing them there, or preventing them, if they thought proper to attempt it, from protracting the campaign by retreating upon Elvas and Almeida.

The loss of the enemy in this action was about 3000 * killed and wounded, thirteen pieces of artillery, and twenty-three ammunition waggons; that of the English little more than 700 killed, wounded, and missing. The British numbers in the field were 16,000, of which only half had been engaged; the French were about 14,000, including 1300 cavalry, and the whole of this force was brought into action. General Solignac was severely wounded; General Brenier wounded, and left on the field. He was in danger of being put to death by those into whose hands he had fallen, when a Highlander, by name Mackay, who was a corporal in the 71st, came up and rescued him. The French General, in gratitude for his preservation, offered him his watch

*

According to General Thiebault, ten guns and 1800 men; but to make up the number of killed and wounded, he adds to the British loss, what he takes off from the French, and says, we had more than 500 killed and 1200 wounded.

T

XI.

August.

and purse; but Mackay refused to accept them. When he had CHAP. delivered his prisoner in safety to Colonel Pack, the French General could not help saying, "What sort of man is this? He 1808. has done me the greatest service, and yet refuses to take the only reward which I can at present offer him!" Brenier no doubt contrasted this with the conduct of his countrymen, in whose rapacities and cruelties, it appears by the testimony of the Portugueze, that he had no share; when, therefore, Colonel Pack replied, "We are British soldiers, sir, and not plunderers," he must have deeply felt the disgrace which had been brought upon the French character. Mackay was immediately made a serjeant by Sir Arthur Wellesley's express desire; and the Highland Society, at their next meeting, voted him a gold medal, with a suitable device and inscription. The piper to the grenadier company of the same regiment, Stewart was his name, received early in the action a dangerous wound in the thigh: he would not, however, be carried off the field, but, sitting down *where his comrades might hear him, he continued playing warlike airs till the end of the engagement. A handsome stand of Highland pipes, with an inscription commemorating the manner in which he had deserved the donation, was voted him by the Highland society.

Most of the wounded French who fell into the conqueror's hands were young, and of delicate appearance, . . apparently men whose lot would not have fallen in the army, under any other system than that of the conscription, though, having been forced into it, they had acquired the worst vices which have ever disgraced and degraded the profession of arms. They were

* Weel, my bra' lads, I can gang nae farther wi ye a-fighting; but Deel ha'e my saul if ye sal want music, were his words.

CHAP. dressed in long white linen coats and trowsers, their firelocks XI. were about six inches longer in the barrel than ours, their 1808. bayonets about three shorter, the locks of their pieces much August. better finished, and the pans so constructed, that the powder was

The French resolve to

terms.

not liable to fall out,.. an accident which at that time often happened to ours. A chaplain of the British army, as he was endeavouring to render assistance to some of them, while under the surgeon's hands, addressed himself to one in the language of commiseration, and uttered, at the same time, a natural expression of regret at the horrors of war: but the Frenchman fiercely answered him, with a mixture of pride and indignation, that he gloried in his wounds, and that war was the greatest happiness of life. During the whole day the armed peasantry prowled about the field, taking vengeance upon every wounded or straggling Frenchman whom they could find, for the manifold wrongs of their country, and the aggravated injuries which they had endured. So conscious indeed were the prisoners of the little mercy which they deserved at their hands, that they dreaded lest these men should break in upon them, and massacre them all; and a guard was stationed to protect them. The peasantry, however, passed the night in the field, carousing round a large fire, recounting to each other what they had done, and rejoicing over the day's work.

In withholding the army from following up the great adpropose vantage which it had gained, Sir Harry Burrard knew how unpopular such a determination must be, and sacrificed his own feelings to his judgement. He thought it not allowable to risk much when the reinforcements which were at hand would make the British force so superior, that any further efforts of the enemy must be vain, and success would be obtained without hazard and with less loss. He erred in judgement; but this honourable testimony was borne to him by Sir Arthur Wellesley,

XI.

the person of all others by whom that error must have been felt CHAP. most keenly, that he decided upon fair military grounds in the manner which he thought most conducive to the interests of the 1808. country. The French failed not to profit by the respite which August. was thus allowed them; they formed a rear-guard of four regiments of cavalry, and retired * at leisure, no attempt being made to harass their retreat. Junot, who is said to have exposed himself at the close of the action so as hardly to have been saved from the British cavalry, summoned Generals Laborde, Loison, Kellermann, and Thiebault, upon the field, and demanded their opinions, whether the army ought again to try the lot of arms, and if not, what course it should pursue. They agreed that they were neither in a condition to give battle, nor to stand one. Their troops were harassed, discontented, and discouraged; their ammunition would not last three hours longer; their provisions were failing, their horses already sinking for want of forage. Their losses were irreparable, whereas the enemy were looking for strong reinforcements; and, in fine, the slightest reverse would now leave them at the mercy of the English and Portugueze. Nothing remained but to preserve the best attitude they could, and retire to Lisbon, the possession of which was now their only safeguard. They retreated accordingly to Torres Vedras. A second council was held there on the morrow; and

* They remained, according to General Thiebault, long enough to dress 800 of their wounded upon the field, and send them all off for Torres Vedras. The attitude of the grenadiers with which General Kellermann had charged, the rapidity with which the infantry re-formed, and the movements of four cavalry regiments under General Margaron, he says, concoururent efficacement à contenir l'ennemi. Nous restames de cette manière, muîtres du champ de bataille, plus de trois heures après la cessation de l'action. It is melancholy to observe, that the historical relations of this war which the French have published since its termination, are, generally speaking, as little to be relied on as their official accounts during its continuance.

CHAP. upon a full view of the difficulties and dangers * of their siXI. tuation, and the impossibility of effecting a retreat through so 1808. large a part of Spain as must be traversed before they could August. effect a junction with their countrymen, they resolved to try what could be done by negotiation. General Kellermann, therefore, was dispatched with a flag of truce to propose a convention for the evacuation of Portugal. Meantime Sir Hew Dalrymple had arrived and taken the command of the British army, which thus had three commanders-in-chief within twenty-four hours.

Arrival of

Sir Hew

Sir Hew Dalrymple had been expressly chosen for this comDalrymple mand because of the zeal and judgement which he had displayed during the whole of those important transactions in the south of Spain on which so much depended, and in which he had acted upon his own responsibility. In a private letter from Lord Castlereagh, then minister for the war department, Sir Arthur Wellesley was recommended to his particular confidence, and a full persuasion expressed that that officer's high reputation would alone dispose Sir Hew to select him for any service which required great prudence and temper, combined with much military experience; but, above all, that the habits of communication in which Sir Arthur had for a length of time been with his majesty's ministers, concerning the affairs of Spain, would point him out as an officer of whom it would be desirable for the commanderin-chief, on all accounts, to make the most prominent use which the rules of the service would permit. Sir Hew embarked at Gibraltar on the 13th; and learnt that night from Lord Collingwood, who was off Cadiz, that Sir Arthur's corps had either landed, or

* General Thiebault, who was present at this council, represents the force against them, independent of Lisbon, of 30,000 British, and 17,000 Spaniards, at more than 80,000 men, auxquels rien ne manquoit! In reality, every man in Portugal was their enemy; but except animosity and individual courage, the Portugueze at that time wanted every thing.