LIV. 1808. Lisbon. He accordingly issued a proclamation to the CHAP. people of Portugal, eminently descriptive of the principles of that glorious struggle which was now about to commence, and which his own talents and constancy, and the resolution of the three nations, now banded together, ultimately brought to so glorious a termination. At first Sir Arthur thought of landing on the small peninsula of Peniche, about seventy miles to the north of the Rock of Lisbon; but though the anchorage was safe and practicable, it was commanded by the guns of the fort at its extremity, which was still in the hands of the enemy. 1 Gurw. iv. 190. Lond. He therefore, by the advice of Sir Charles 46. Nap. i. Cotton, selected in preference Mondego Bay, where the i. 190, 191. whole fleet was assembled on the 31st July.1 the army, On the following morning the disembarkation com- 59. menced; and notwithstanding the obstacles arising from Landing of a strong west wind and heavy surf, which occasioned the Aug. 1. swamping of several boats, and the loss of many lives, it was completed by the 5th, at which time General Spencer Aug. 5. with his division came up, and was immediately put on shore. He had not received Sir Arthur's orders to join ; but with great presence of mind, and the true military spirit, the moment he heard of Dupont's surrender, he made sail for the Tagus, from whence he was sent forward by Sir Charles Cotton to the general point of disembarkation. On the evening of the 8th the united forces, thirteen thousand strong, bivouacked on the beach, and on the following morning the advanced guard moved forward, 125. and commenced that memorable march which, though * "The English soldiers who land upon your shores do so with every sentiment of friendship, faith, and honour. The glorious struggle in which you are engaged is for all that is dear to man the protection of your wives and children, the restoration of your lawful prince, the independence, nay, the existence of your kingdom, the preservation of your holy religion. Objects like these can only be attained by distinguished examples of fortitude and constancy. The noble struggle against the tyranny and usurpation of France will be jointly maintained by Portugal, Spain, and England; and, in contributing to the success of a cause so just and glorious, the views of his Britannic Majesty are the same as those by which you yourselves are animated."-A. WELLESLEY'S Letter. Aug. 8. Gurw. iv. 66, 67. Nap. i. 190, 191. Lond. 124, LIV. CHAP. often interrupted or thrown back, was destined to be never finally arrested till the British cavalry passed in triumph from Bayonne to Calais. 1808. 60. March of the British troops to Roliça. The troops took the field in the highest spirits, and the most perfect state of discipline and equipment, confident in their leader, and not less confident in themselves; for even at this early period of the war, it was the habit of the British soldiers, the habit bequeathed by centuries of glory, to admit of no doubt as to the issue of a combat. The Portuguese generals, who had six thousand men, were at first most extravagant in their demands, and would only consent to join the English upon condition that their troops should all be maintained from the British commissariat: a proposition so utterly unreasonable, when made by the natives of the country to their allies, just landed from their ships, that it thus early evinced, what the future progress of the war so clearly demonstrated, that jealousy of foreign co-operation, and aversion to foreign command, were nearly as strongly imprinted on their minds as hatred of the invaders. At length they consented to let General Freyre, with one brigade of infantry, fourteen hundred strong, and two hundred and fifty horse, remain with Sir Arthur, but the main body was positively prohibited to advance beyond Leyria on the road to Lisbon. The truth was, that they entertained a secret dread of the French troops, and, deeming the English totally inadequate to contend with them, they were unwilling to commit themselves by their side in a decisive affair. This defection of the native troops threw a chill over the British army, not from any doubt as to its ability to contend, single-handed, with the forces of Junot, but from the apprehensions which it inspired regarding the sincerity of their allies' professions of zeal against the common enemy. Sir Arthur, notwith It is seldom that a proclamation in the outset of a struggle so faithfully représents the real objects at issue in it; still seldomer that it so prophetically and truly describes its ultimate result after many and long-continued disasters.— See GURWOOD, iv. 46. LIV. 1808. standing, continued his advance, and was received every- CHAP. where by the common people with rapturous enthusiasm. His route lay by Alcobasa and Caldas, which latter place he reached on the evening of the 15th; Laborde, who Aug. 15. commanded a division of five thousand French, which Junot, on the first alarm, had sent down to the coast, retiring as he advanced. A trifling skirmish occurred 71, 80. Nap. on the same day at Obidos, in which a few men were i. 198, 199. killed and wounded on both sides-memorable as the 128, 130. scene where British blood first flowed in the Peninsular 222, 224. war.1 1 Gurw. iv. Lond. i. Thiers, ix. the British French Meanwhile, Junot despatched orders in all directions 61. to call in his detached columns, and concentrate all his Advance of forces for the protection of Lisbon and Laborde, to give to attack the him time to complete his arrangements, resolved to there. stand firm at ROLIÇA-a little village situated at the southern extremity of a large oblong valley, running nearly north and south in the bosom of the Monte Junta, in the centre of which the village and Moorish tower of Obidos are situated. His force, five thousand strong, including five hundred horse and five guns, was stationed on a small elevated plateau in front of Roliça, at the upper end of the valley; and the hills on either side which shut it in were occupied by detachments, who, from amidst the rocky thickets and close underwood of myrtles and gum-cistus with which they were covered, threatened to keep up a heavy fire on the assailants. Sir Arthur divided his force into three columns: the right, consisting of the Portuguese infantry, and fifty horse under Colonel Trant, was directed to turn the mountains in the rear; while the centre, under Sir Arthur in person, attacked the plateau in front; and the left, consisting of two brigades under General Ferguson, was ordered to ascend the hills abreast of Obidos, and menace the French right by turning it in the mountains. As the centre advanced, preceded by nine guns, the corps on the right and left moved simultaneously forward in the hills, and LIV. 1808. 1 Gurw. iv. CHAP. the aspect of the body in the plain, nine thousand strong, moving majestically forward at a slow pace, in the finest order, opening and constantly closing again, when the 81, 84. Thib. array was broken by trees or houses in the line of its Foy, iv. 304, advance, strongly impressed the French soldiers, most of 1. 130, 137. whom, like the British, were that day to make their first in real warfare against an antagonist worthy of their 174, 180. 315. Lond. Thiers, ix. 225. 62. Roliça. essay arms.1 No sooner, however, was Laborde made aware of the Combat of risk he ran, if he remained in his present situation, of being outflanked on either side, than he fell swiftly back, in admirable order, and took up a second position much stronger than the former, in a little plain projecting into the valley higher up in the gorge of the pass, and shut in by close rocky thickets on either side. Thither he was rapidly pursued by the British-the right, centre, and left still moving in the same order. Seldom, in the whole progress of the Peninsular campaigns, did war appear in a more picturesque and animating form than in the first engagement of the British soldiers. The loud shouts of the advancing columns, re-echoed by the surrounding hills and answered by as confident cheers from the enemy; the sharp rattle of the musketry among the woods, which marked the advance of the light troops as they drove before them the French tirailleurs; the curling wreaths of smoke which rose above the foliage, and were wafted by the morning air up the sides of the mountains, amidst the rays of a resplendent sun, formed a scene which resembled rather the mimic warfare of the opera stage, than the opening of the most desperate and sanguinary strife recorded in modern times. Such was Camp. de the impetuosity of the attack, that the leading troops of the centre column, particularly the 29th regiment, forced their way through the gorge of the pass, and alone sustained 130, 137. the brunt of the enemy's fire before any of their comrades could come up to their assistance. But the severity of the concentric discharges, not merely from the line in 2 Thiéb. Portugal, 173, 178. Gurw. iv. 81, 84. Lond. i. Thiers, ix. 226. 2 LIV. 1808. front, but from the woods on either flank, was so great, CHAP. that this gallant regiment, on first emerging into the little plain, wavered and broke, and their noble colonel, Lake,* as he waved his hat to lead them back to the charge, was killed. 63. the British. At that critical moment, however, the 5th and 9th came up, the 29th rallied, and the whole rushed forward Victory of with irresistible impetuosity upon the enemy. The French were obliged to give ground; the position was carried before it was menaced by the flank columns getting into its rear. Even then the enemy retired slowly and in compact order, keeping up a continued fire from the rearguard, and exhibiting equally with the advance of the assailants, the finest specimen of discipline and steadiness amidst all the confusion incident to a retreat over broken ground and through entangled thickets. In this brilliant affair the British lost five hundred men killed and wounded; the French six hundred, and three pieces of cannon and as the former, though nearly triple the enemy upon the whole, were necessarily, from the narrow and rugged 1 Foy, iv. character of the ground, inferior, in the first instance 304 315 at least, at the point of attack, it was hard to say to 174. Gurw. which of these two gallant nations the palm of courage and skill in this their first encounter in the Peninsula was i. 130, 137. to be awarded.1 + "Cædes prope par utrinque fuit. . . . . . Son of Lord Lake, the hero of Indian war. In this, as in all the other actions of the war, the estimate of the numbers engaged is taken from a medium of the accounts on both sides; keeping in view the credit due to the different narratives, and the maxim testimonia ponderanda sunt potius quam numeranda. In this affair Sir Arthur estimates the French at 6000 men, Thiébault at 1900, Foy at 2500, Toreno at 5000, Thibaudeau at 3500, Thiers at 3000.-See THIEB. 179; GURW. iv. 81; Foy, iv. 314; TOR. ii. 46; THIB. vi. 464; THIERS, ix. 225. With the utmost wish to maintain an impartial view, and the greatest anxiety to avoid the influence of undue national partiality, it is impossible to study the French accounts of the actions in the Peninsular war, and particularly the numbers engaged and lost on the opposite sides, without feeling as great distrust of the fidelity of their facts, as admiration for the brilliancy of their descriptions and the talent of their observations; and arriving at the conclusion, that the two rival races of modern Europe have here, as elsewhere, preserved their never-failing characteristics; and that, if the palm for the eagle glance and the scientific reflection is fre Thieb. 172, iv. 81, 84. Nap. i. 202, 205. Lond. |