CHAP. LV. 1808. of the utter incapacity of the Spanish troops to contend with the formidable legions of Napoleon. At one time the intelligence of the successive rout of all the Spanish armies appeared so alarming, that orders were given to the troops to retreat, and Sir David Baird's heavy baggage, which was coming up from Lugo to Astorga, commenced a retrograde movement to the latter place. This determination excited Nov. 29. the utmost dissatisfaction among the troops; officers and men loudly and openly murmured against such a resolution, and declared it would be better to sacrifice half the army than retire from so fair a field without striking a blow for the allies who had staked their all in the common cause. The gallant spirit of the general himself secretly recoiled from the mournful resolution, which nothing had made him adopt but an imperious sense of duty to the troops intrusted to his care, the gloomy forebodings consequent on the overwhelming strength of the enemy, and 440. the defeat and dispersion of all the Spanish forces who had attempted to arrest his progress.1 1 Lond. i. Tor. i. 178. 39. to advance, it diffused These feelings, both in the general and the soldiers, were wrought up to the highest degree when intelligence was received, shortly after the advance of the French to DeterminaMadrid, of the enthusiastic preparations made for the tion of Moore defence of the capital, and the determination of the inhabi- and joy which tants to bury themselves under its ruins rather than through the submit to the invader. Giving vent joyfully to the native army. courage of his disposition, as well as the loudly expressed wishes of the army, Sir John Moore now sent orders to Dec. 5. Sir David Baird to suspend his retreat, and, to the infinite Dec. 9. joy of the troops, directions were given, indicating a dis muster-rolls, and the efficient force that could really be brought into the field. The following is the state of the British army from the Adjutant-general's state, 19th December 1808 : 2,275 were left in Portugal, or were on the march between Lugo and VillaFranca, and must be deducted from this number.-See NAPIER, i. 83, App. 1808. CHAP. position to advance. These preparations were not relaxed, LV. although Colonel Graham, the future hero of Barossa, returned on the 9th with the disheartening intelligence of the capture of the Retiro, and perilous situation of Madrid. The British general knew that his countrymen looked to him for some great exploit; and, though fully aware of the danger of such a step, he resolved to throw himself upon the enemy's communications, and menace Soult, who, with fifteen thousand men, lay exposed to his blows in the valley of the Carrion. The gallant resolution 451. Lond. i was no sooner taken than it was acted upon; two days after the British army, completely concentrated, commenced its advance, and Moore, with twenty-five thousand men around his banners, ventured to essay it against Napoleon, who had two hundred thousand under his command.1 Dec. 11 1 Nap. i. 435, 217, 233. 194. Tor. i. 40. Advance to Sahagun, on the French line of com munication. The forward march of the English forces, however, was combined, as prudence, and indeed necessity, dictated, with preparations for a retreat; and as it was uncertain which line would be adopted, magazines were formed both on the great road to Lisbon and at Benevente, Astorga, and Lugo, in the direction of Galicia. On the 13th, head-quarters reached Relaejos, and the advanced posts of cavalry extended to Rueda, at which place they surprised a French post and made eighty prisoners. Great was the astonishment of these haughty conquerors at finding themselves thus assailed by an enemy, whom the boastful proclamations of the Emperor had led them to believe to be in full retreat for his ships. At first Sir John's march was directed towards Valladolid, in order to facilitate the junction with Baird's corps; but an intercepted despatch from Napoleon on the 14th having made him acquainted with the fall of Madrid, and 2 Nap. i. 450, the unsuspecting security in which Soult's corps lay in 454. Tor. ii. the valley of the Carrion, the columns were moved Lond. i. 212. towards Toro and Benevente, and Valderas was assigned as the point of junction for the two armies.2 Dec. 14. Dec. 16. 177, 182. 41. At Toro, where headquarters were on the 16th, inforPreparations mation was received that Romana, who had been informed for attacking of the movement and invited to co-operate in it, instead Carrion. of doing so, was, in consequence of the retrograde move Soult on the ment of Sir David Baird a few days before, in full retreat CHAP. LV. 1808. towards the Galician mountains: the truth was, his troops, from hunger, fatigue, and misery, had dwindled away to eight thousand ragged and disheartened fugitives, totally unfit to take the field with regular forces, and whom he was even ashamed to array by their side. Notwithstanding this disappointment, the English forces continued to advance; on the 20th, the junction between Sir Dec. 20. David Baird and Sir John Moore was fully effected at Moyorga; and on the 21st, the united forces were estab- Dec. 21. lished at Sahagun, near which town Lord Paget, afterwards Marquis of Anglesea, at the head of the 10th and 15th hussars, not above four hundred strong, fell in with, and after a short but brilliant action, totally defeated a body of seven hundred French cavalry, making two colonels and one hundred and sixty men prisoners in twenty minutes. Soult, now seriously alarmed, hastily called in his detachments from all quarters, and with 187. Nap. i. some difficulty concentrated eighteen thousand men on Lond. i. 212, the banks of the Carrion and between that and Saldana, 243. where Moore was making preparations for attacking him on the 23d.1 1 Tor. ii. 178, 450, 461. 42. ment instant Never was more completely evinced than on this occasion the prophetic sagacity of the saying of Napoleon seven months before, that a victory by the allies on the This moveplains of Leon would arrest every French army in ly parlyses the Peninsula. No sooner was the advance of Sir John the further advance of Moore known at Madrid, than it instantly paralysed the the French movements of the whole French armies in the South of to the South Spain. Napoleon immediately despatched orders in all directions to suspend the expeditions into the different provinces which were in preparation. Milhaud's and Lasalle's cuirassiers were arrested at Talavera; Victor's advanced guards were recalled from La Mancha; the expedition against Valencia was abandoned, the preparations against Saragossa suspended; and fifty thousand men, under the Emperor in person, including the Imperial Guards, 113. Tor. ii. the whole of Ney's corps, and great part of the reserve, 461. the flower of the army, were, at a few hours' notice, suddenly marched off in the direction of Somo-sierra.2 On the evening of the 22d, they were at the foot of the Guadarrama Pass; but a violent hurricane of wind and snow enveloped the higher parts of the mountains, where Dec. 31. 2 Jom. ii. 187. Nap. i CHAP. 1808. Rapid march whelming the English troops. Dec. 23. Dec. 25. the thermometer was at 10°;* and the general in command of the advance guard, after twelve hours of fruitless toil, reported that the passage was impracticable. The 43. conqueror of the St Bernard, however, was not so easily of Napoleon to be arrested. Napoleon in person hastened to the with an over- advanced posts, and ordered the march to be continued force towards without interruption, himself setting the example by pressing forward with the leading files on foot. The example animated the men to fresh exertions; amidst storms of snow and sleet, which in the higher parts of the passage were truly frightful, the columns pressed on with ceaseless activity, and after two days of incessant labour the difficulties were surmounted, and the whole were collected on the northern side of the mountains, in the valley of the Douro. Urging on his troops with indefatigable activity, and riding even at that inclement season with the advanced posts in person, the Emperor soon arrived at the scene of action; on the 26th, headquarters were at Tordesillas, the cavalry at Valladolid, and Ney's corps at Rio-Seco. Fully anticipating the immediate destruction of the English army, from the immense force now brought to bear against them, Napoleon on the same day wrote to Soult :-"The advanced posts of the cavalry are already at Benevente; if the English remain 189. Nap. i. another day in their position they are undone; should they attack you with all their forces, retire a day's march to the rear; the farther they advance the better for us; if they retreat pursue them closely."1 Dec. 26. 1 Thib. vii. 174, 175. Tor. ii. 187, 461, 462. Jom. ii. 113, 114. 44. line of Galicia. The march of Ney by Zamora and Rio-Seco towards Benevente was so directed that he early cut off the The English British from their communication with Portugal; and retreat on the if he could have reached the latter town before Sir John Moore, he would have cut him off from the line of retreat to Galicia also, and rendered the situation of the army all but desperate. This catastrophe, however, was prevented by the prudent foresight of the English commander, who, having received vague but alarming accounts of the march of a large French army from the South, suspended his advance on the 23d, and on the 24th commenced his retreat towards Galicia. Great was the mortification of the soldiers at this determination, for * About 14° of Fahrenheit. CHAP. 1808. they were in the highest state of vigour and spirits, and an unbroken series of brilliant successes at the outposts had produced an unbounded confidence in their own prowess, likely, if not met by overwhelming odds, to have led to the most important and glorious results. On the 26th, Baird's troops passed the Esla on their retreat, while Dec. 26. Moore, who was with the rearguard to protect the passage of the stores and baggage over the bridge of CastroGonzalo, was threatened by a large body of Ney's horsemen. Lord Paget, however, with two squadrons of the 10th, charged and overthrew them, making a hundred prisoners, besides numbers killed and wounded. Indeed, the superiority of the English horse had become so appa- 1 Lond. i. rent, that they set all odds at defiance, never hesitated to 247, 253. attack the enemy's cavalry, though threefold in number, 464. Tor. L Nap i. 462, and had already made five hundred prisoners, during the 188, 189. few days they had been engaged in active operations.1 cavalry with By this timely retreat, Sir John Moore reached Benevente before the enemy; and the hazardous operation of 45. crossing the Esla, then a roaring torrent swollen by melting Gallant acsnow, and over planks laid across the broken arches of the tion of light bridge of Castro, in the dark, was successfully performed the enemy, by General Craufurd with the rearguard. The army of Lefebvre remained two days at that place, reposing from its Desnouettes. fatigues, under the shelter of its magnificent baronial castle, almost unequalled in Europe for extent and grandeur. Discipline, however, had already become seriously *This splendid relic of feudal grandeur is thus described by an eloquent eyewitness, whose pictures, equally vivid in travels as in history, have given to prose all the colours of poetry. "The Castle of Benevente is one of the finest monuments of the age of chivalry; nothing in England approaches to it in magnificence. Berkeley, Raby, even Warwick, are poor fabrics in comparison. With Gothic grandeur it has the richness of Moorish decoration; open alcoves where Saracenic arches are supported by pillars of porphyry and granite; cloisters with fountains playing in their courts; jasper columns, and tesselated floors; niches all over, and seats in the walls, over-arched in various forms, and enriched with every grotesque adornment of gold and silver, and colours which are hardly less gorgeous. It belonged to the Duke of Ossuna, and the splendour of old times was still continued there. The extent of this magnificent structure may be estimated from this single circumstance, that two regiments, besides artillery, were quartered within its walls; they proved the most destructive enemies that had ever entered them; the officers, who felt and admired the beauties of this venerable pile, attempted in vain to save it from devastation. Every thing combustible was seized; fires were lighted against the fine walls, and pictures of unknown value, the works, perhaps, of the greatest Spanish masters, were heaped together as fuel. Fortunately the archives of the family escaped."-SOUTHEY, i. 499. In the midst of this disgraceful scene of unbridled license and military devastation, there is one trait of heroic presence of mind, which in some degree redeems the character of the British soldier. Several thousand infantry slept and capture |