LIV. 1808. 1 Ante, ch. x. § 27. skilful hands. CHAP. sion, and it could not have been intrusted to more Enjoying a European reputation, not less from the glory of his father, the hero of Valmy,' than from his own invaluable achievements on the field of xxxi. 93. Marengo, he was at the same time possessed of all the tact and finesse in which the French diplomatists excel all those of Europe, with the exception of those of Russia. 2 Ante, ch. 75. of Cintra. Perceiving from some hints dropped in conversation by Convention the English general, Sir Hew Dalrymple, and his brother officers, who were not aware that he understood their language, that they were far from possessing the confidence of Sir Arthur Wellesley in the results to be expected from immediate and decisive operations, he began by representing, in the most favourable colours, the strength of the French army and the magnitude of its resources, especially from the aid of the sailors and artillery of the Russian fleet, as well as the resolution of its commander, whom he described as determined to bury himself under the ruins of Lisbon rather than submit to any conditions derogatory to the honour of the imperial arms. Having thus effected his object of producing an impression as to the protracted and doubtful nature of the contest which awaited them, if hostilities were persisted in, he gradually opened the real object of his mission, which was the conclusion of an armistice preparatory to a convention for the evacuation of Portugal. The terms proposed were, that the French army should not be considered as prisoners of war, but be sent back to France by sea, with their artillery, arms, and baggage; that their partisans in the country should not be disquieted on account of their political opinions, but, so far as they desired it, be permitted to withdraw with their effects; and that the Russian fleet should remain in Lisbon as in a neutral harbour. The two first conditions were acceded to without any difficulty by all the English generals; but Sir Arthur Wellesley strenuously opposed the last, and it Aug. 23. 1 LIV. 1808. 220, 229. was at length agreed to refer it to the decision of Sir CHAP. Charles Cotton, who positively refused to agree to it. Foiled in this attempt to extricate the Russian fleet from its awkward situation, the French general was obliged to leave it to its fate, and a separate convention was some days afterwards concluded with Admiral Siniavin, Russian commander, in virtue of which the whole was to be conducted to England and retained in deposit iv.34.3; till the conclusion of a general peace, and the officers and 152, 160. crews to be transported to Russia at the expense of the 209. Thiers, British government, without any restriction as to their 234. future service.1 1 * 1 Nap. i. the Gurw. iv. fleet 117. Fov, 105, 116, 345. Thiéb. 204, ix. 233, 76. clamour in Posterity will scarcely be able to credit the universal burst of indignation with which the intelligence of this Senseless convention was received, both in the Peninsular nations England on and the British islands. Totally incapable of appreciating the subject. the real importance on the ultimate issue of the war, of the acquisition of Portugal as a base for future operations at one blow, the inhabitants of all these countries united in condemning a treaty which was thought to step between them and the glory which they had earned, or the vengeance which was their due. The Portuguese, though they had been in no hurry to confront the invader in the field, and were strangers to the glories of Roliça and Vimeira, were yet loud in their complaints of the capitulation which had been granted; and bitterly inveighed against the clauses which, under the specious veil of protecting private property, in effect gave the public robbers the means of securely carrying off the stores of private and ecclesiastical The Convention of Cintra excited such a clamour at the time, both in the British and Peninsular nations, that a short summary of its leading provisions is indispensable. It was provided that the French should evacuate the forts of Lisbon and whole kingdom of Portugal, and be conveyed to France, with their artillery and sixty rounds of ammunition to each gun, and with liberty to serve again; all other artillery, arms, and ammunition, to be delivered up to the British army and navy; the French army to carry with them all their equipments, the cavalry their horses, and the individuals their property; the sick and wounded to be intrusted to the care of the British government, and returned to France when convalescent: the fortresses of Elvas, Almeida, Peniche, and Palmela to be delivered up as soon as British detachments could LIV. 1808. CHAP. plunder which they had amassed. The Spaniards reechoed the same sentiments; and, with some appearance of reason, contrasted the surrender of Dupont's corps at Baylen with the unhappy convention, which tended only to remove the French army from a situation where it was detached from the remainder of the imperial forces, and ran the most imminent hazard of being made prisoners of war, to one where it might be more advantageously and securely employed in forming the right wing of the army with which the invasion of the Peninsula was again to be attempted. Roused to the very highest pitch of enthusiasm by the early and decisive successes which had attended their arms-panting for their full share of the glories which had been won-and nothing doubting that an unconditional surrender would immediately follow, and that they should soon see a marshal of France and twenty thousand men arrive as prisoners of war at Spithead, the British people abandoned themselves to unbounded vexation when the capitulation was announced Tor. ii. 57, which was to convey them, without that last disgrace iv. 235, 239. being incurred, to swell the invader's ranks at Rochfort and l'Orient.1 1 South. ii. 272, 274. 58. 77. Gurw. A court of inquiry is held, and its results In vain were the Park and Tower guns fired on this as on other triumphs of our arms; the public voice refused to join in the acclamations; the press, both in the metropolis and the provinces, loudly condemned the convention as more disgraceful than even those of the Helder and Closter-seven, where the British troops had been constrained to sue for terms of accommodation. Many of the public journals refused to stain their pages by the be sent forward to take possession of them; all subjects of France to be protected who are domiciliated in Portugal; all their property of every description to be guaranteed to the French citizens in Portugal; no inhabitants of that country to be disquieted on account of their political conduct or opinions; the Spanish troops in the custody of the French armies to be liberated. By the supplementary convention in regard to the Russian fleet, it was stipulated that it should be conveyed to Great Britain, to remain in deposit with all its stores till six months after the conclusion of a general peace: and the officers and men meanwhile to be returned to Russia, without any restriction as to their future service.--Sec GURWOOD, iv. 113, 117. LIV. 1808. obnoxious articles, and others appeared with their columns CHAP. in mourning, as in a season of national calamity; public meetings were held in most parts of England, to express the general indignation and call for the punishment of the guilty parties; and to such a length did the outcry proceed, that it was deemed indispensable by government to consent to a court of inquiry. Such a court was accordingly appointed, consisting of highly respectable, though somewhat antiquated officers, who, after a full investigation, arrived at the conclusion that, considering the extraordinary manner in which three successive commanders had been invested with the direction of the army after the battle of Vimeira, it was not surprising that that victory had not been more vigorously followed up; that unquestionable zeal and firmness had been exhibited by all the three generals; and that, in the whole circumstances of the case, no further proceedings were necessary. The general odium attached to Sir Hew Dalrymple, as the senior officer in command at the time the convention was signed; though it was evident that the chief fault in the case, if there was fault at all, lay with Sir Harry Burrard, as the commander-in-chief when the decisive march to Torres Vedras was declined. Such was the universal discontent, that neither of these two generals, notwithstanding the acquittal of the court-martial, were again employed in any considerable command in the Court of British army; and it required all the family influence and early celebrity of the hero of Assaye and Vimeira to save the future conqueror of Napoleon from being cut 272, 276. short on the threshold of his career, for no fault whatever 157, 165. of his own, by the very people upon whom he had con-58. ferred an inestimable benefit.1* The English people in general arrive in the end at * At the meeting of parliament, the public thanks of both Houses were voted to Sir Arthur Wellesley for the battle of Vimeira. But he narrowly escaped, notwithstanding all his glory and the influence of his brother, Marquess Wellesley, the obloquy consequent on the Convention of Cintra.-See GURWOOD, iv. 239, 241. Inquiry, South. ii. Lond. i. Tor. ii. 57, LIV. 1808. 78. of the Con that 1 Ante, ch. more sober and rational opinions on political subjects than any other of whom history has preserved a record. But they are prone, in the first instance, in a most extraExpedience ordinary degree, to delusions or frenzies, which almost vention at amount to national insanity. The cruel injustice with thre june- which they persecuted Sir Robert Calder for having gained a victory, perhaps the most momentous in its ultimate consequences, and most vital to the safety of the xxxix. § 79. country of any recorded in the British annals, is an instance of such delusion; the universal and senseless clamour raised about the Convention of Cintra, an example of such frenzy. There cannot be a doubt, not only of its expedience at the juncture when it was concluded, but of its having been the means of acquiring the basis on which the whole future successes of the British arms were rested. Having missed, perhaps through an excess of caution, the opportunity of following up, according to Sir Arthur Wellesley's advice, the brilliant success of Vimeira on the evening of the battle, nothing remained but to close with the highly advantageous offer, which at once liberated Portugal from its oppressors, and secured the best possible base for future operations. The sea, sterile and unproductive if in the rear of the forces of any other power, is the source of strength and vigour to the British armies; to them every tide is fraught with plenty, every wind wafts the sinews of war on its gales. Thenceforward Lisbon became the great place d'armes to the English army, the stronghold of defence in periods of disaster, the reservoir from whence all the muniments of war were drawn in prosperous times. To have missed the opportunity of at once, and in the outset of the campaign, acquiring such a position, for the vain glory of possibly compelling a French corps and marshal, after a bloody siege of several months' duration, to lay down their arms in Lisbon, Elvas, or Almeida, would have been sacrificing the solid advantages of war for its empty honours. The restoration of twenty thousand defeated |