LIV. 1808. head, under a majestic triumphal arch, erected by the CHAP. citizens to do honour to their arrival; and the whole of Spain, now delivered from the enemy, with the exception of the small portion occupied by the French army in Aug. 25. Navarre and on the Ebro, joined in one universal chorus of national exultation and hatred of the invaders. measures in exultation. The press joined its influence to increase the excitement. Newspapers, warmly advocating the patriotic cause, were 51. established at Madrid, Seville, Cadiz, and the other chief Neglect of towns of Spain; and by their vehement declamation any efficient added to the general enthusiasm, as much as by their the general extravagant boasting, they weakened the sense of the necessity of present exertion, and thus diminished the chance of bringing the contest in the end to a successful issue. But in the midst of the universal exultation, it was observed with regret that few vigorous or efficient measures were adopted by the many separate and independent juntas to prosecute the war against the enemy; a feeling increased by the calamitous issue of the revolt Aug. 5. of Bilboa, which had taken up arms upon receipt of the glorious news from Andalusia. The inhabitants, in the first instance, had succeeded in expelling the French garrison; but being unsupported by any aid from Asturias or Galicia, the place was quickly recaptured, with great Aug. 16. slaughter, by the French division of Merle. This was done by the express commands of Joseph Buonaparte, to whom this dangerous movement, in a town of such importance, so near his line of communication with France, 287, 288. Tor. had been the subject of no small disquietude; and who ii. 82, 85, boasted in his despatches, that "the fire of the insurrec- 288. tion at Bilboa had been extinguished in the blood of twelve hundred men."1 1 South. ii. Nap. i. 287, Meanwhile events of a still more glorious and decisive character had liberated the kingdom of Portugal from its 52. oppressors. In every phase of modern history it has been Affairs of observed that Portugal has, sooner or later, followed the Portugal, and disarming of course of changes which public feeling had established in the Spanish Spain; and it was hardly to be expected that so great country. and heart-stirring an event as the resurrection of Castilian independence was not to find a responsive echo in a kingdom so closely neighbouring, and equally suffering troops in that CHAP. 1808. under the evils of Gallic oppression. At a very early period, accordingly, symptoms of an alarming effervescence manifested themselves in Portugal; and Napoleon, appreciating more justly than Junot the probable course of events in that kingdom, strongly enjoined him to abandon the pompous proclamations in which he was endeavouring to win the affections of the people, and in good earnest prepare for military operations.* Not anticipating, however, any immediate hostilities, he ordered him to detach four thousand men to support Bessières in Leon, and three thousand to co-operate with Dupont in Andalusia. But these detachments were rendered impossible by the pressure of events in Portugal itself. No sooner did the intelligence of the massacre at Madrid and the insurrection in Galicia reach Oporto, than the Spanish troops there, ten thousand strong, dispossessed the French authorities and marched off in a body towards Galicia, from whence, as already mentioned, they were forwarded to Leon in time to share in the disaster of Rio Seco. The inhabitants, in the first moment of enthusiasm, installed insurrectionary authorities in room of the French ones who had been dispossessed. But after the departure of the Spanish troops, they became alarmed at their own boldness, and hastened to reinstate the tricolor flag, and to renew their protestations of fidelity to the French general at Lisbon. The moment, however, that he was apprised of the events at Oporto, Junot made preparations to effect the disarming of the Spanish troops in the capital; and with such South. ii. 41, secresy and decision were his measures taken, that before 47. Nevis, they were well aware of the danger impending over them, 99, 109. Foy, iv. 202, 210.' they were all surrounded by greatly superior masses of June 5. June 9. 1 Lond. i 117, 119. French troops, and compelled to surrender.1 By this able "What is the use," said he, "of promising to the Portuguese what you will never have the means of fulfilling? Nothing is more praiseworthy, without doubt, than to gain the affections of the people; but it should never be forgotten, that the primary object of a general should be the safety of his soldiers. Instantly disarm the Portuguese; watch over the soldiers who have been sent to their homes, in order that their chiefs may not form so many centres of insurrection in the interior. Keep your eye on the Spanish troops; secure the important fortresses of Almeida and Elvas. Lisbon is too large and populous a city; its population is necessarily hostile. Withdraw your troops from it; place them in barracks on the sea-coast. Keep them in breath-well disciplined, massed, and instructed, in order to be in a condition to combat the English army, which sooner or later will disembark on the coasts of Portugal."-NAPOLEON to JUNOT, May 24, 1808; Fox, iv. 198, 199, stroke nearly five thousand Spanish troops were made prisoners, who might have been highly prejudicial to the French arms, if they had succeeded in withdrawing and forming the nucleus of an insurrection in the interior of the country. CHAP. 1808. 53. the insur The flame, however, excited by the glorious intelligence of popular successes, which daily came pouring in from all parts of Spain, could not so easily be suppressed. The Progress of students at Coimbra were among the first to take up rection. arms; the mountaineers of Tras-os-Montes speedily followed the example; the tocsins were heard in their lovely hills, arms and torches gleamed in their vine-clad vales; Algarves was speedily in open revolt ; the Alentejo was known to be ripe for insurrection, and, at the sum- June 11. mons of Colonel Lopez de Souza, soon after took up arms. Encouraged by this revolt in their neighbourhood, the inhabitants of Oporto a second time hoisted the standard of independence. A junta was speedily formed in that June 9. opulent city, which shared the supreme direction of affairs with the bishop, who early signalised himself by his zeal in the patriot cause. The insurrection in the province of Entre Douro-e-Minho appeared so formidable, that Junot directed General Loison with a strong division to proceed against it from Almeida. But though he at first obtained some success, yet, as he advanced into the mountains, his communications were so completely cut off, and the insurrection appeared so formidable on all sides, that he was obliged to return to Lisbon by Celorica and Guarda, at which places he routed the peasantry with great slaughter.* In the south, the patriots gained considerable successes against the French detachments which endeavoured to penetrate into the Alentejo in the northeast; Abrantes was threatened by the insurgents of the valley of the Tezers; in the east, the revolt at Beija was only extinguished by a bloody nocturnal assault of the town, after a rapid march, by a French brigade.† Sur "In this expedition," says Thiebault, "we lost sixty men killed and one hundred and forty wounded: of the insurgents at least four thousand were killed or wounded on the different fields of battle."-THIEBAUlt, 155. ↑ The French general, Thiebault, boasts of this as a great exploit. "Twelve hundred Portuguese were put to death in the conflict: no quarter was shown to any one with arms in his hands." The town was afterwards set on fire and plundered; and the worst military excesses perpetrated against the wretched inhabitants. Kellerman shortly afterwards said, in a proclamation to the people of CHAP. LIV. 1808. June 9. rounded in this manner with embarrassments, Junot, after holding a council of war, the invariable sign of experienced difficulty, again despatched Loison with four thousand men to Abrantes. In his progress he had several severe actions with the Portuguese peasants, who were dispersed with great slaughter, but who evinced, by their courage in disaster, what materials were to be found 1 Thiebault, 131, 165, 174. among them for a formidable resistance in future times. Nap. i. 161,, He returned to Lisbon, having irritated the insurrection more by his cruelty than he had overawed it by his success.1 163. Nevis, i. 205. 54. His recall to the capital was rendered necessary by the progress of the insurrection in the Alentejo, which had elecOperations of ted a junta, and established a sort of provisional governLoison in the ment at Evora. Resolved to strike a decisive blow in that Alentejo. July 25. July 29. quarter, where the proximity of English succours from Gibraltar rendered the revolt peculiarly formidable, Junot fitted out a more powerful expedition, consisting of seven thousand infantry and twelve hundred horse, with eight guns, which was sent forth under the command of the sanguinary Loison. After dispersing several armed assemblages which strove in vain to obstruct his progress, this general came up with the main body of the insurgents posted in front of Evora. Ten thousand Portuguese peasants, and four thousand Spanish troops, who had advanced to support them from Badajoz, were there assembled, with twelve pieces of cannon. They were wholly unable, however, to withstand the shock of the French legions; at the first onset, the undisciplined peasantry fled from the terrible charge of their dragoons. The Spanish auxiliaries, seeing themselves left alone with the whole weight of the action on their hands, retired in haste, and were speedily thrown into disorder; and in the general confusion, the victorious troops entered the town, where a feeble resistance only was attempted, but an indiscriminate massacre immediately commenced. Neither age nor sex was spared: armed and unarmed were inhumanly put to the sword: it is the boast of the French historians, Alentejo-"Beija had revolted; Beija is no more. Its guilty inhabitants have been put to the sword; its houses delivered up to pillage and the flames. Thus shall all those be treated who listen to the counsels of a perfidious rebellion; and with a senseless hatred take up arms against us."-THIEBAULT, 135, 136; SOUTHEY, i. 105. 165. СНАР. LIV. 1808. that while "they lost only two hundred and ninety, eight thousand were slain or wounded on the part of the insurgents."1 Never, while Portuguese blood flows in the human veins, will the remembrance of that dreadful day 1 Thiebault, be forgotten: never will the French be any other than an object of execration to the descendants of those who perished in that inhuman massacre. But the cup of 2 Thiebault, human suffering was full; the hour of retribution was Nap. i. 161, fast approaching; and Loison was awakened from his ii. 72, 155. fancied dream of security, and the further prosecution of Nevis, i. 205. Foy, iv. 246, his blood-stained progress towards Elvas, by intelligence 272. that a BRITISH ARMY HAD APPEARED OFF THE COAST OF PORTUGAL.2 131, 175. 165. South. cabinet re Ever since the insurrection in the Peninsula had assumed a serious aspect, the English government had 55. resolved upon sending out powerful military succours to The English its assistance, and at length bringing the strength of the solve on sendtwo nations to a fair trial with land forces. Fortu- ing succours to Portugal. nately a body of about ten thousand men was already assembled at Cork; having been collected there by the preceding administration, for the purpose of an expedition against South America:—a proposed diversion of force, at a time when every sabre and bayonet was required in European warfare, which appears almost inconceivable; unless, as Colonel Napier sarcastically observes, it was projected in imitation of the Romans, who sent troops to Spain when Hannibal was at their gates. The command of the expedition was given to SIR 3 Nap. i. 180. ARTHUR WELLESLEY, whose great capacity had been evinced in the glorious fields of Indian warfare, and more recently in the easier conquest of the Danish militia; and General Miranda, the able adventurer, who had so long been concerned in projects for the separation of the Spanish colonies from the mother country, was given to understand, that no countenance could now be shown by the British government to any such designs. Two smaller divisions were soon afterwards prepared, and set sail from Ramsgate and Margate; and orders were sent to Sir John Moore, who, with twelve thousand men, had been sent to Gottenburg to aid the King of Sweden in his heroic defence of his kingdom against Russia1—an offer 3 4 Nap. i. 180. Gurwood, iv. 21, 24. |