austria gets ready for war—napoleon's preparations—invasion of bavaria by austria—the archduke charles driven from bavaria—occupation of vienna—battle of aspern—the spirit of revolt in germany; schill and brunswick—battle of wagram—peace of vienna—victories of the tyrolese—death of hofer—the betrayal of poland and italy—deposition of the pope—ministerial dissensions—death of portland, and reconstruction of the ministry—inquiry into the walcheren expedition—imprisonment of gale jones—burdett committed to the tower—the piccadilly riots—arrest of burdett—debates in the house of commons—agitation for parliamentary reform—liberation of burdett—remaining events of the session—condition of spain—soult's victorious progress—he fails at cadiz—the guerilla war—massena sent against wellington—capture of ciudad rodrigo—capitulation of almeida—battle of busaco—the lines of torres vedras—massena baffled—condition of the rival armies—victories in the east and west indies—the war in sicily.

the difficulty which buonaparte had created for himself by the usurpation of the thrones of spain and portugal, had the direct result which his wisest counsellors foresaw. austria immediately began to watch the progress of the peninsular struggle, and the resistance of the spanish people; and the stepping of great britain into that field induced her to believe that the opportunity was come for throwing off the french yoke, and avenging her past injuries and humiliations. she had made arrangements by which she could call out an immense population, and convert them into soldiers. but in determining to declare open war against buonaparte, austria displayed a woful want of sagacity. to compete with a general like buonaparte, and a power like france, it needed not only that her armies should be numerous but thoroughly disciplined. nothing could have been lost by a little delay, but much might be gained. if buonaparte succeeded in putting down the insurrection in spain, he would then fall on austria with all his victorious forces; if he did not succeed, but his difficulties increased, then every day that austria waited was a day of strength to her. russia, which was nominally at peace with buonaparte, but which at heart was already determined on breaking the connection, saw, with just alarm, this precipitate movement of austria. if she rose at once, alexander was bound by treaty to co-operate in putting her down; if she deferred her enterprise for awhile, there was every probability that they could issue forth together against the common disturber. if austria made a rash blow and were prostrated, russia would then be left alone; and alexander knew well, notwithstanding napoleon's professions, that he would lose little time in demanding some concession from him.

but austria had not the prudence to guide herself by these considerations. her ablest statesman, metternich, and the ablest statesman of france, talleyrand, had many private conferences with the russian ambassador, romanzoff, to endeavour to concert some scheme by which this war could be prevented, but in vain. austria believed that the time for regaining her position in germany, italy, and the tyrol, was come; and talleyrand knew that buonaparte would make no concession to avoid the threatened collision, because it would argue at once a decline of his power. all that he could do, he did, which was on his hasty return to paris from spain: he opened communications with austria, intended to defer the declaration of war for a few months whilst he made his preparations. he had little fear of crushing austria summarily. he believed that soult, having driven sir john moore out of spain, would prevent the british from sending[587] another army there; and he was confident that his generals there could speedily reduce the spaniards to submission. on the other hand, austria, he knew, could have no assistance from russia, prussia, or the other northern powers. all he wanted, therefore, was a little time to collect his armies. austria had made gigantic exertions, and had now on foot a greater host than she had ever brought into the field before. it was said to comprehend half a million of men, two hundred thousand of whom were under the command of the emperor's brother, the archduke charles, and posted in austria to defend the main body of the empire. another large army was, under the command of the archduke john, in carinthia and carniola, ready to descend on the north of italy; and a third was posted in galicia, under the archduke ferdinand, to defend poland. john was to co-operate with charles through the defiles of the tyrol, which, having been given over, by the pressure of buonaparte at the treaty of pressburg, to bavaria, was ready to rise and renew its ancient and devoted union with austria.

buonaparte had not a sufficient french force in germany under davoust and oudinot, but he called on the confederacy of the rhine to furnish their stipulated quotas to fight for the subjugation of their common fatherland. bavaria, würtemberg, saxony, and the smaller states were summoned to this unholy work. his numbers, after all, were far inferior to those of the enemy, and, besides the renegade germans, consisted of a medley of other tributary nations—italians, poles, dutch, belgians, and others. it is amazing how, in all his later wars, he used the nations he had conquered to put down the rest. even in his fatal campaign in russia—yet to come—a vast part of his army consisted of the troops of these subjugated nations.

on the 9th of april, 1809, the archduke charles crossed the inn, and invaded bavaria, the ally of france. he issued a manifesto declaring that the cause of austria was that of the general independence of germany, and called on those states which had been compelled to bear the yoke of france to throw it off, and stand boldly for the common liberty. the serious discontent of the people of germany encouraged him to hope that his call would be responded to; but germany was not yet ripe for an effective reaction. simultaneously, the archduke john had descended from the alps into italy, and driven the troops of the viceroy, eugene beauharnais, before him. he had advanced as far as the tagliamento, and laid siege to the fortresses of orobo and palma nuova. the archduke ferdinand had also marched into poland, defeated poniatowski, buonaparte's general, and taken possession of warsaw. all so far looked cheering; for the great actor was not yet on the scene. but he quitted paris on the 11th of april, two days only after the archduke charles entered bavaria, and in a few days was with his army at donauw?rth. he expressed the utmost contempt for the austrian troops, saying, in a letter to massena, that six thousand french ought to beat twelve thousand or fifteen thousand of "those canaille." he greatly disapproved of the manner in which berthier had disposed of his forces, for he had extended them in a long line from augsburg to ratisbon, with a very weak centre. he ordered davoust and massena, who commanded the opposite wings, to draw nearer together. that being done, on the 20th of april he made a sudden attack on the austrians at abensberg, and defeated them. the next day he renewed the attack at landshut, and took from them thirty pieces of cannon, nine thousand prisoners, and a great quantity of ammunition and baggage. the following day he advanced against the main position of the archduke charles, at eckmühl, where, by the most skilful man?uvres, he turned all the enemy's positions, and defeated one division after another with all the art and regularity of a game of chess. charles was thoroughly defeated, and had twenty thousand men taken prisoners, with a loss of fifteen stand of colours, and the greater part of his artillery. the next day the austrians made a stand to defend the town of ratisbon. they fought bravely; but, a breach being made in the wall, marshal lannes seized a scaling-ladder, and, whilst hundreds of french were falling under the fire of the austrians, he planted it against the breach, saying, "i will show you that your general is still a grenadier!" the wall was scaled, and a desperate battle ensued in the streets of the town. at one moment, a number of tumbrils loaded with powder were in danger of exploding, and destroying the combatants on both sides; but the austrians warned the french of the danger, and they mutually combined to remove them. that over, they recommenced the struggle, and the austrians were driven out of the town, leaving again cannon, much ammunition, and many prisoners in the hands of the french. whilst watching the mêlée, buonaparte was struck on the toe by a spent musket-ball; but he had the wound dressed, and again remounted his[588] horse, and watched with unfailing vigilance the progress of the battle.

marshal lannes at ratisbon. (see p. 587.)

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in five days he had snatched the most damaging victories. the archduke charles retreated in haste towards bohemia, to secure himself in the defiles of its mountains; and buonaparte employed the 23rd and 24th of april in reviewing his troops and distributing rewards. general hiller, who, with the archduke louis, had been defeated at landshut, had united himself to a considerable body of reserve, and placed himself on the way, as determined to defend the capital. he retreated upon ebersberg, where the sole bridge over the traun gave access to the place, the banks of the river being steep and rocky. he had thirty thousand men to defend this bridge, and trusted to detain the french there till the archduke charles should come up again with reinforcements, when they might jointly engage them. but massena made a desperate onset on the bridge, and, after a very bloody encounter, carried it. hiller then retreated to the danube, which he crossed by the bridge of mautern, and, destroying it after him, continued his march to join the archduke charles. this left the road open to vienna, and buonaparte steadily advanced upon it. the archduke charles, becoming aware of this circumstance, returned upon his track, hoping to reach vienna before him, in which case he might have made a long defence. but buonaparte was too nimble for him: he appeared before the walls of the city, and summoned it to surrender. the archduke maximilian kept the place with a garrison of fifteen thousand men, and he held out for three or four days. buonaparte then commenced flinging bombs into the most thickly populated parts of the city, and warned the inhabitants of the horrors they must suffer from a siege. all the royal family had gone except maximilian and the young archduchess, maria louisa, who was ill. this was notified to buonaparte, and he ordered the palace to be exempted from the attack. this was the young lady destined very soon to supersede the empress josephine in the imperial honours of france. the city capitulated on the 12th of may, the french took possession of it, and napoleon resumed his residence at the palace of sch?nbrunn, on the outskirts.

[589]

buonaparte's army now occupied the city and the right bank of the danube. the archduke arrived, and posted himself on the left bank. the river was swollen with the spring rains and the melting of the snow in the mountains. all the bridges had been broken down by which buonaparte might cross to attack the austrians before they were joined by their other armies. buonaparte endeavoured to throw one over at nussdorf, about a league above vienna, but the austrians drove away his men. he therefore made a fresh attempt at ebersdorf, opposite to which the danube was divided into five channels, flowing amongst islands, the largest of which was one called lobau. here he succeeded, the archduke charles seeming unaware of what he was doing, or taking no care to prevent it. on the 20th of may the french began to cross, and deployed on a plain between the villages of aspern and esslingen. thirty thousand infantry had crossed before the next morning, and six thousand horse, and they were attacked by the austrians, near the village of aspern, about four in the afternoon. the battle was desperately contested on both sides. the villages of aspern and esslingen were taken and retaken several times. the struggle went on with great fury, amid farm-yards, gardens, and enclosures, and waggons, carts, harrows, and ploughs were collected and used as barricades. night closed upon the scene, leaving the combatants on both sides in possession of some part or other of these villages. on the following morning, the 22nd, the fight was renewed, and, after a terrible carnage, the french were driven back on the river. at this moment news came that the bridge connecting the right bank with the islands was broken down, and the communication of the french army was in danger of being altogether cut off. buonaparte, to prevent this, retreated into the island of lobau with the whole of the combating force, and broke down the bridge which connected the islands with the left bank behind them. the austrians followed keenly upon them in their retreat, and inflicted a dreadful slaughter upon them. marshal lannes had both his legs shattered by a cannon-ball, and was carried into the island in the midst of the mêlée; general st. hilaire also was killed. the loss in killed and wounded on both sides amounted to upwards of forty thousand. for two days napoleon remained on the island, with his defeated troops, without provisions, and expecting hourly to be cut to pieces. general hiller earnestly pressed the archduke charles to allow him to pass the danube, by open force, opposite to the isle of enzersdorf, where it might be done under cover of cannon, pledging himself to compel the surrender of buonaparte and his army. but the archduke appeared under a spell from the moment that the fighting was over. having his enemy thus cooped up, it was in his power to cut off all his supplies. by crossing the river higher or lower, he could have kept possession of both banks, and at once have cut off buonaparte's magazines at ebersdorf, under davoust, from which he was separated by the inundation. by any other general, the other armies under his brother would have been ordered up by express; every soldier and every cannon that austria could muster within any tolerable distance would have been summoned to surround and secure the enemy, taken at such disadvantage. in no other country but austria could napoleon have ever left that island but as a prisoner with a surrendered army.

and all this time the spirit of revolt against napoleon's domination was growing rapidly in germany; and had the austrians only made the slightest use of their present opportunity, the whole of the country would have been in arms and the french completely driven out. though prussia was still too much depressed to dare to rise and join austria, there was a fast-growing spirit of indignation amongst its population, which the tugend bund had tended greatly to increase. the brave major schill, without waiting for any sanction from the king of prussia, led forth his band of hussars, amounting to about five thousand, and prepared to join with colonel d?rnberg, an officer of jerome, the king of westphalia's guard, to raise an insurrection in that state, and drive out jerome and the french. the design was betrayed to jerome by a traitorous friend of d?rnberg, and he was compelled to fly. letters found amongst d?rnberg's papers showed the participation of schill in the scheme. jerome, of course, complained to the king of prussia, and the unhappy monarch was obliged to disavow and denounce the conduct of schill. the brave partisan made his way to wittenberg and halberstadt, and was pursued by the forces of westphalia and holland northwards to weimar, and finally to stralsund, which he prepared to defend. the place was stormed by the dutch and westphalians, and schill was killed fighting in the streets of stralsund, after having split the head of the dutch general, carteret, with his sword. thus fell the gallant schill, true to his motto—"better a terrible end than endless terror."

[590]

d?rnberg escaped to great britain. katt, another patriot, assembled a number of veterans at stendal, and advanced as far as magdeburg, but was compelled to fly to the brunswickers in bohemia. had the archduke charles marched through franconia at the opening of the campaign, as he proposed, all these isolated bodies might have been encouraged, and knit into a formidable army. but the most powerful of all these independent leaders, the duke of brunswick, was too late to join schill, katt, and d?rnberg. the son of the duke of brunswick who had been so barbarously treated by buonaparte had vowed an eternal revenge. but the french were in possession of his sole patrimony, oels, and he went to bohemia, where he raised a band of two thousand hussars, which he equipped and maintained by the aid of england, the home of his sister caroline, the princess of wales. he clothed his hussars in black, in memory of his father's death, with the lace disposed like the ribs of a skeleton, and their caps and helmets bearing a death's-head in front—whence they were called the black brunswickers. he advanced at their head through saxony, franconia, hesse, and hanover, calling on the populations to rise and assert their liberties. he defeated junot at berneck, and the saxons at zittau, but it was the middle of may before he entered germany, and by that time the enemy had widely separated schill and the other insurgents. he managed, however, to surprise leipsic, and thus furnish himself with ammunition and stores. but the dutch, saxons, and westphalians were all bearing down on him. he defeated them at halberstadt and in brunswick, but was finally overpowered by numbers of these dutch and germans disgracefully fighting against their own country, and he retreated to elsfleth, and thence sailed for england.

all this time, too, the brave tyrolese were in open revolt, so that the success of austria would have instantly produced a universal rising of the country. but for six weeks the austrians continued to allow napoleon to keep open his communication with vienna, whence he procured every material for building, not one bridge, but three; timber, cordage, iron, and forty engines to drive the piles, were procured from its ample magazines. besides building the bridges, buonaparte had quickly fortified the island, and placed batteries so as to prevent any successful attack upon him, whilst he was now furnished with the means of issuing from the island almost at pleasure. since their being cooped up on lobau, the french had received numerous reinforcements; and though the archduke john was marching to join the archduke charles, eugene beauharnais was close at his heels, continually harassing him and compelling him to fight. on the frontiers of hungary, the town of raab ought to have enabled john to resist and retard beauharnais, and have allowed the archduke regnier, who was organising another army in hungary, to come up; but raab only stood out eight days, and john was obliged to cross the danube at pressburg, to endeavour to advance and make a junction with the archduke charles. but eugene beauharnais managed to join buonaparte still earlier, and the emperor did not then allow john to unite with charles; for, on the night of the 5th of july, he began to fire on the austrians, on the left bank of the danube, from gunboats; and whilst they were replying to this, he quietly put his forces across the river. at daylight the next morning the archduke charles was astonished to find the french army on the open land; they had turned his whole position, had taken the villages of esslingen and enzersdorf, and were already assailing him in flank and rear. the archduke retired upon wagram, which was lost and taken several times during the day. buonaparte attempted to break the centre of the austrian line by a concentrated fire of grape-shot, but the austrians replied vigorously with their artillery. the french were held in check, if not repulsed. the saxons and other german troops displayed a disposition to break, and go over to the austrians. buonaparte spoke sharply to bernadotte of the conduct of the saxons, and the marshal replied that they had no longer such soldiers as they brought from the camp of boulogne. when night closed the french were in confusion, and, in reality, worsted. the next morning, the 6th of july, the archduke renewed the attack on all the french lines, but is said to have left his centre too weak. buonaparte again endeavoured to break it, but failed. bernadotte, massena, and davoust were all in turn driven from their positions. buonaparte, in a state of desperation, cried, "the austrian centre must be battered with artillery like a fortress." he ordered davoust to make a desperate charge on the left wing, and called on drouet, the general of his artillery, to bring up all the artillery of the guard, and support davoust. davoust directed the whole of his force on the left wing, which was broken, and then buonaparte, forming a dense and deep column of all his best troops, old and new guards, and his celebrated[591] grenadiers à cheval, under macdonald and beauharnais, drove against the centre with a fury that shattered it, and the battle was decided. but at what a price! the austrians had twenty-six or twenty-seven thousand killed and wounded, and the french upwards of thirty thousand. buonaparte lost three generals, and had twenty-one wounded. the austrians had thirteen generals killed or wounded; but they had taken many more prisoners than they had lost. whilst the battle was raging, the archduke john was approaching from pressburg; but austrian slowness, or, as it is said, conflicting orders from his brother and the aulic council, did not permit him to come up in time, or he would assuredly have turned the day.

still there was no need to despair. the archduke had yet a great force; there were the divisions of the archdukes john, ferdinand, and regnier, and the tyrolese were all in active operation in their mountains. but the emperor, on learning the fate of the battle, lost heart, made offers of peace, which were accepted, and an armistice was signed by francis at znaim, in moravia. the armistice took place on the 11th of july, but the treaty of peace was not signed till the 14th of october, at the palace of sch?nbrunn. the long delay in completing this treaty was occasioned by the exactions which buonaparte made on austria of cessions of territory, and the means he took to terrify francis into submission to his terms. he even addressed a proclamation to the hungarians, exhorting them to separate from austria and form an independent kingdom, telling them that they formed the finest part of the austrian empire, and yet had received nothing from austria but oppression and misfortunes. by such means, and by constantly exerting himself to sow the germs of discontent through all the austrian provinces, he at last succeeded in concluding peace on condition of the cession of various territories to his partisans of the confederacy of the rhine, and of trieste, the only austrian port, to france, thus shutting up austria, as he hoped, from communication with england. in all, austria sacrificed forty-five thousand square miles and nearly four millions of subjects to this shameful peace. neither were his allies, the king of saxony and the emperor of russia, forgotten; each obtained a slice of austria.

the news of the treaty of sch?nbrunn was a death-blow to the hopes and exertions of the tyrolese. at this moment they had driven the french out of their mountains, and the beautiful tyrol was free from end to end. francis ii. had been weak enough to give this brave country over again to bavaria, at the command of napoleon, and sent the patriotic tyrolese word to lay down their arms. to understand the chagrin of the people we must recollect the strong attachment of the tyrolese to the house of austria and their brilliant actions during this war. it was decided to ignore the message and raise the tyrol. on the 9th of april the concerted signal was given by planks, bearing little red flags, floating down the inn, and by sawdust thrown on the lesser streams. on the 10th the whole country was in arms. the bavarians, under colonel wrede, proceeded to blow up the bridges in the pusterthal, to prevent the approach of the austrians; but his sappers, sent for the purpose, found themselves picked off by invisible foes, and took to flight. under andrew hofer, an innkeeper of the valley of passeyr, the tyrolese defeated the bavarians in engagement after engagement. after the battle of aspern, francis ii. sent word that his faithful tyrolese should be united to austria for ever, and that he would never conclude a peace in which they were not indissolubly united to his monarchy. but wagram followed, francis forgot his promise, and the tyrol, as we have seen, was again handed over to the french, to clear it for the bavarians. lefebvre marched into it with forty thousand men, and an army of saxons, who had to bear the brunt of the fighting. hofer and his comrades, spechbacher, joachim haspinger, and schenk, the host of the "krug" or "jug," again roused the country, and destroyed or drove back the saxons; and when lefebvre himself appeared near botzen with all his concentrated forces, they compelled him also to retire from the tyrol with terrible loss. the french and saxons were pursued to salzburg, many prisoners being taken by the way. hofer was then appointed governor of the tyrol. he received his credentials at innsbruck from an emissary of the archduke, his friends spechbacher, mayer, and haspinger being present on the occasion, and also the priest douay by whom the patriot was subsequently betrayed.

the duke of brunswick and his hussars (the black brunswickers). (see p. 590.)

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[593]

but the peace of vienna was now concluded, and, on the 30th of october, baron lichtenthurm appeared in the camp of the tyrolese, and delivered a letter to the leaders from the archduke john, requesting them peaceably to disperse, and surrender the country to the bavarians. this was a terrible blow to these brave men. they appeared prostrated by the news, and hofer announced to spechbacher, who was still fighting with the bavarians, that peace was made with france, and that the tyrol was forgotten! hofer returned to his native vale of passeyr, and still held out against the french, and the italian mercenaries under rusca, whom he defeated with great slaughter. but traitors were amongst them, who guided the french to their rear. hofer escaped into the higher alps, but thirty of the other leaders were taken and shot without mercy. another traitor guided the french to hofer's retreat in the high wintry alps. he had been earnestly implored to quit the country, but he refused. as the french surrounded his hut, on the 17th of february, 1810, he came out calmly and submitted. he was carried to the fortress of mantua, and napoleon sent an order that he should be shot within four-and-twenty hours. he would not suffer himself to be blindfolded, nor would he kneel, but exclaimed—"i stand before my creator, and, standing, i will restore to him the spirit he gave!" thus died, on the 20th of february, 1810, the brave hofer—another murdered man, another victim of the sanguinary vengeance of buonaparte against whatever was patriotic and independent.

andrew hofer appointed governor of the tyrol. (see p. 591.)

(from the picture by franz defregger.)

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the arbitrary crushing of the freedom of the tyrol, and the handing of it over to the bavarians as a gift, was not the only oppression of this period of napoleon's career, which the germans call his supremacy. he seemed to have put down all opposition on the continent, except in spain, and he dictated to all nations according to the arrogance of his will. his general in poland, poniatowski, himself a pole, was employed to crush his countrymen. poniatowski fell on the austrians with forty thousand men, and made himself master of warsaw, whilst the archduke ferdinand was besieging thorn. he then advanced against the archduke, beat him in two battles fought in april and may, and eventually drove the austrians out of the grand duchy of warsaw. buonaparte then divided galicia, giving one portion to the emperor of russia, and adding the other to the grand duchy of warsaw, which was restored to the king of saxony. thus the poles saw an end of all the high hopes with which buonaparte had artfully succeeded in inspiring them, in order to induce them to[594] fight his battles for the subjugation of other peoples.

the archduke john, whilst advancing victoriously into italy, driving the viceroy, eugene beauharnais, before him, when he had reached almost to venice was recalled by the news of the unfortunate battle of eckmühl, and the orders of the aulic council. the italians had received him with unconcealed joy; for, harsh as the rule of austria in italy had been, it was found to be easy in comparison with the yoke of buonaparte. in common with other peoples, the italians found that buonaparte's domination, introduced with lofty pretences of restoring liberty and crushing all old tyrannies, was infinitely more intolerable than the worst of these old tyrannies. it was one enormous drain of military demand. the lifeblood of the nation was drawn as by some infernal and insatiable vampire, to be poured out in all the other lands of europe for their oppression and curse. trade vanished, agriculture declined under the baleful incubus; public robbery was added to private wrong; the works of art—the national pride—were stripped from their ancient places, without any regard to public or individual right, and there remained only an incessant pressure of taxation, enforced with insult, and often with violence.

the austrians being again expelled from italy, buonaparte, in his all-absorbing cupidity, determined to turn adrift the pope, and add his little vineyard to his now cumbrously overgrown ahab's domains. he had begun this spoliation in 1808, seizing on the greater part of the pontiff's territories; sending away his cardinals, and reducing him to little better than a solitary prisoner in his own palace. this was an ungrateful return to the poor old pope for making the long journey into france to crown him, and thus to give a sacred sanction to his usurpation of the imperial crown—a sanction of immense effect throughout the catholic world. pius vii. had given buonaparte great offence by refusing to declare war on great britain, and thus keeping up a breach in his system of exclusion of british commerce. he had, therefore, already taken military possession of civita vecchia and ancona, but he now resolved to take the whole temporal dominion from the pope, and abrogate, by virtue of his assumed heirship of charlemagne's realm, the gift of charlemagne to the church. on the 2nd of february, 1809, general miollis, by order of buonaparte, took possession of rome, disarmed and disbanded the pope's guard, and marched his other soldiers to the north, telling them they should no longer remain under the effeminate rule of a priest. miollis then gave the pontiff the alternative to join the french league, offensive and defensive, or to be deposed. the pope firmly refused to concede his rights to anything but absolute force. on the 17th of may, therefore, napoleon's decree for the deposition of the pope from his temporal power was proclaimed. it assumed the heirship of charlemagne to be in buonaparte; declared the union of the spiritual and temporal powers to be the source of all scandals and discords in the catholic church; that they were, therefore, at an end—the roman state for ever united to the french empire. on the 10th of june pius issued a bull excommunicating buonaparte and all who aided him in his sacrilegious usurpation of the patrimony of st. peter; and this was followed, on the 6th of july, by general radet forcing the gates of the vatican, taking possession of it with his troops, entering the presence of the pope, who was amid his priests, and clad in his pontificals, and demanding that he should instantly sign a renunciation of all the temporal estates attached to the see of rome. pius declared that he neither could nor would perform any such sacrilegious act. he was then informed that he must quit rome. pius was detained at savona three years, and was then removed to fontainebleau.

in england the ministry was thrown into the utmost chaos and discord by the disastrous progress of the war on the continent, and especially by the miserable result of the walcheren expedition. one member of the cabinet endeavoured to throw the blame on another, and the feud between canning, the minister for foreign affairs, and lord castlereagh, the minister at war, grew deadly. each accused the other of interfering and thwarting action, and so producing the lamentable consequences that ensued. a hot correspondence followed, in which castlereagh charged canning with privately insinuating to the other ministers that castlereagh should be dismissed, and canning denied it. between them, lord camden came into difficulty; for, though canning had told lord camden, as lord castlereagh's relative, that one or other of them must resign, he declared that he did not mean this communication as secret, but as one that he expected lord camden would communicate to lord castlereagh. castlereagh resigned, and then challenged canning. canning also resigned; and the duel was fought on the 22nd of september, on putney[595] heath, and canning was wounded. the duke of portland, who was near his end—hastened probably by these agitations and embarrassments—also resigned, and died a few days afterwards.

the tory ministry was now in a most shattered condition, and it was believed that it could not repair itself. on the 23rd of september official letters were addressed to lords grey and grenville to endeavour to form a coalition with the tories, but they declined. the tory ministry was therefore readjusted by the introduction of lord wellesley (who had been replaced in his embassy in spain by his brother henry, afterwards lord cowley), who took the post of canning in the foreign office, perceval taking the premiership, which portland had only nominally held, as well as the chancellorship of the exchequer, which he held before. lord palmerston also made his first appearance in this cabinet as under-secretary of state for the war department, in place of sir james pulteney. lord liverpool took castlereagh's place as secretary at war; and the hon. r. ryder succeeded lord liverpool as secretary of state for the home department.

the year 1810 opened with violent debates on the conduct of the late ministry, and the miserable management of the walcheren expedition. the king's speech, read by commission, passed over the disasters in belgium entirely, and spoke only of wellesley's glorious victory at talavera. but the opposition did not pass over walcheren; in both houses the whole business was strongly condemned by amendments which, however, the ministry managed to get negatived by considerable majorities. both castlereagh and canning defended their concern in the expedition. they declared that the orders were to push forward and secure antwerp, and destroy the docks and shipping there, not to coop up the troops in an unhealthy island swamp; and that they were not responsible for the mismanagement of the affair. this threw the onus on lord chatham, the commander, but did not exonerate ministers for choosing such a commander; and though they were able to defeat the amendments on the address, they were not able to prevent the appointment of a secret committee to inquire into the conduct and policy of the expedition. the committee was secret, because buonaparte carefully read the english newspapers, and parliament was desirous of keeping from his knowledge the wretched blunders of our commanders. this object, however, was not achieved, for the evidence given before the committee oozed out and appeared in our newspapers, and was duly set forth in the moniteur for the edification of france and the continent. notwithstanding the frightful details laid before the committee, and the gross proof of dilatoriness and neglect, ministers succeeded in negativing every condemnatory motion; and though general craufurd actually carried resolutions affirming the propriety of taking and keeping the island of walcheren, awfully fatal as it was, still lord chatham, though exculpated by the court and parliament, was by no means acquitted by the country, and he found it necessary to surrender his post of master-general of the ordnance.

the motion of mr. yorke, afterwards first lord of the admiralty, for the exclusion of strangers during the debate on the walcheren expedition, gave great offence to the reformers, who were now beginning to co-operate in societies, and to keep a keen watch on the ministerial tendency to curb the liberty of the press and carry things with a high hand. at a debating society, called the british forum, the president, mr. gale jones, delivered a strong oration against it, and proposed for the discussion of the following evening the question, "which was the greater outrage upon public feeling: mr. yorke's enforcement of the standing order, or mr. windham's attack on the liberty of the press on the same occasion?" this proposal being agreed to, the intended debate was made known by placards posted in the streets. yorke complained of this as a breach of the privileges of the house of commons, and the printer was immediately summoned before the house, when he gave the name of the author, mr. gale jones, who was thereupon, on the morrow, the 21st of february, brought before the house, and committed to newgate.

this action was the height of imprudence. the true wisdom would have been to have taken no notice of such a discussion by an obscure association. on the 13th of march sir francis burdett moved that mr. john gale jones should be discharged, questioning the legality of his commitment, and declaring that, if the proceedings of parliament were not to be criticised like everything else, there was an end of liberty of speech and of the press. this motion was rejected by one hundred and fifty-three against fourteen. the speech of sir francis was printed by cobbett in his weekly register, a publication possessing high influence with the people. it was also accompanied by a letter of sir francis, commenting in strong language upon this arbitrary act, and[596] questioning the right of such a house to commit for breach of privilege, seeing that it consisted of "a part of our fellow-subjects, collected together by means which it is not necessary to describe."

this definition of the house of commons at this time, and for long afterwards, was too happy a definition to escape the wrath of that body. accordingly, on the 27th of march, mr. lethbridge, member for somersetshire, moved that sir francis burdett should be committed to the tower for his attack on the house. after some discussion, the question was adjourned to the 5th of april, when, by a majority of thirty-eight, sir francis was ordered to be committed as guilty of a libel against the house. but sir francis, justly regarding the house as altogether illegally constituted, and as a usurpation by the aristocracy of the functions of the people, determined not to submit to its order. the next day he addressed a letter to the speaker of the house, declaring his contempt for it as then constituted; that he held its order to be, on that ground, illegal; and that he would resist it to the utmost. he ordered the doors and windows of his house in piccadilly to be closed, and prepared to yield only to force.

the excitement among the public, as this resolution became known, was intense, and large crowds assembled in front of the baronet's house, applauding, and shouting "burdett for ever!" in their enthusiasm they compelled all passengers to take off their hats, and shout too. but they did not stop here. on such occasions a rabble of the lowest kind unites itself to the real reformers—and the mob began to insult persons of opposite principles and to break the windows of their houses. the earl of westmoreland, lord privy seal, was recognised, and, as well as others of the same political faith, pelted with mud. the windows of mr. yorke, as the originator of the acts of the commons, were quickly broken, and, in rapid succession, those of lord chatham, amid loud shouts of "walcheren!" of sir robert peel, the duke of montrose, lord castlereagh, lord westmoreland, lord wellesley, mr. wellesley pole, sir john anstruther, and others. the horse guards were called out, and dispersed the rioters. the next day the serjeant-at-arms made his way into sir francis burdett's house, and presented the speaker's warrant for his arrest; but sir francis put the warrant in his pocket without looking at it, and a mr. o'connor, who was present, led the serjeant-at-arms down stairs, and closed the door on him. a troop of life guards and a company of foot guards were then ordered to post themselves in front of sir francis's house, and at night it was found necessary to read the riot act, and then the guards were ordered to clear the street, which they did. whilst this was doing, sir francis watched the proceeding from the windows, and was repeatedly cheered by the mob. whilst thus besieged, he was visited by lord cochrane, the earl of thanet, whitbread, coke of norfolk, lord folkestone, colonel wardle, major cartwright, and other radical reformers. some of these gentlemen thought enough had been done to establish a case for a trial of the right of the house of commons, and advised sir francis to yield to the speaker's warrant. but sir francis addressed a letter to the sheriffs of london, informing them that an attack was made upon his liberty, by an instrument which he held to be decidedly illegal, and calling upon them to protect both him and the other inhabitants of the bailiwick from such violence. in this dilemma, the premier, mr. perceval, advised that the serjeant-at-arms should lay the case before the attorney-general, sir vicary gibbs, which he did; but the reply of sir vicary only created more embarrassment, for he was doubtful whether, should any person be killed in enforcing the speaker's warrant, it would not be held to be murder, and whether if the serjeant-at-arms were killed, a charge of murder would not issue against the perpetrator. the sheriffs, who were themselves strong reformers, laid the letter of sir francis before the speaker and before mr. ryder, the new home secretary, who counselled them to give their aid in enforcing the warrant. but these gentlemen proceeded to the house of sir francis burdett, and passed the night with him for his protection.

during that evening and night there were serious contentions between the mob and the soldiers still posted in front of sir francis's house, and one man was shot by the military. scarcely had the sheriffs quitted the house of the besieged baronet on the sunday morning, supposing no attempt at capture would take place that day, when the serjeant-at-arms presented himself with a party of police, and demanded entrance, but in vain. all that day, and late into the night, the mob continued to insult the soldiers who kept guard on the baronet's house, and an order being given at night to clear the streets around, the mob broke the lamps, and threw all into darkness. they then carried away the scaffolding from a house under repair, and made a barricade across[597] piccadilly, which was, however, removed by the soldiers; and the rain falling in torrents, the mob dispersed.

george canning.

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on the following morning, being monday, the ministers came to the resolution of entering the baronet's house by force; and, as he sat at breakfast with a considerable company of friends, an attempt was made by a man to enter by the window, which he broke in trying to raise the sash. this man was secured; but a more successful party of officers below dashed in a window on the ground floor, and soon appeared in the drawing-room. sir francis was seized and, still struggling and protesting, was conveyed to a carriage. then, escorted by the military, he was taken to the tower, amid tremendous crowds, crying "burdett for ever!" a strong force had occupied the passage through the city, and had drawn up before the tower before the arrival of the party with the prisoner, whom they had taken round by pentonville and islington. the scene during the conveyance of sir francis into the old fortress was indescribable for tumult and yelling. as the soldiers were returning they were hooted and pelted with stones, and at last they lost patience and fired, killing two persons and wounding several others.

the whole of london was thrown into great agitation, and sir john anstruther that evening, in the house of commons, was very severe on the ministers for not taking more decided measures for the protection of the metropolis. the next day the letter of sir francis was taken into consideration. many severe strictures were made on his conduct, and even whitbread contended that the speaker's warrant was perfectly legal, and that[598] sir francis had done a great injury to the cause of reform by stirring up a riot in the prosecution of a constitutional question. there was a call for the expulsion of the radical baronet from the house; but as this would have produced a new election in westminster, by which he would certainly have been returned afresh, that was prudently abandoned.

on the 13th of april the speaker read to the house a notice which he had received, that a bill would be filed against him, in the court of king's bench, to try the validity of his warrant in this case, and the house ordered the letter and the notice to be entered on the journals. on the 16th sir samuel romilly moved for the discharge of gale jones; but windham observed that a meeting of the electors of westminster was announced for the morrow, to take into consideration the case of their representative, and that to liberate jones at that moment would be sure to be attributed to fear on the part of the commons. the motion was, therefore, rejected.

the meeting of the westminster electors the next day, held in palace yard, under the very walls of parliament, was attended by vast crowds, and the tone of the speakers was most indignant. they justified the letter of their representative to themselves; denounced the conduct of the commons as oppressive, arbitrary, and illegal, tending to destroy the popular liberties; and they approved highly of the baronet's spirited resistance to the forcing of his house. they called for his liberation, and for that of the unjustly incarcerated mr. gale jones. they drew up a letter to sir francis to this effect, to be presented to him in the tower by the high bailiff of westminster; and they prepared a petition and remonstrance to the house of commons in equally spirited terms, which was presented the same evening by lord cochrane. the honourable j. w. ward, afterwards lord dudley and ward, opposed the reception of the petition as highly indecorous, and as violating the dignity of the house; but whitbread defended it, and even canning and perceval excused, in some degree, the tone of the petition in the circumstances. it was ordered, therefore, to be laid on the table.

in the meantime, coroners' inquests had been held on the two men who were shot by the military. in the one case the jury brought in a verdict of "justifiable homicide;" but, in the other, of "wilful murder" against the soldiers. on their part, the government offered a reward of five hundred pounds for the discovery of any one who had been guilty of firing at the soldiers, and an additional one of five hundred pounds for the discovery of the person who had fired at and wounded ensign cowell, whilst on duty at the tower, the night after the committal of sir francis. the reform party in the commons demanded whether the government did not intend to offer a reward for the discovery of the soldiers who had fired at and wounded several of the people, and killed two of them. whitbread moved that an inquiry should be instituted into the justice of the verdict of "wilful murder" against the soldiers, and in this he was seconded by william smith of norwich; but captain agar, who had been on duty, declared that the people had fired the first shot, and the premier got rid of the question by asserting that an inquiry was already going on into the circumstances of the riot, and that it was not for parliament to anticipate it.

during the easter recess, popular meetings were held condemning the conduct of ministers and calling for parliamentary reform. on the meeting of the house again, a very strong petition, bearing rather the character of a remonstrance, was presented from the electors of middlesex by mr. george byng, on the 2nd of may. the ministerial party declared that the petition was an insult to the house; but the reformers maintained that not only the language of the petition, but the whole of the unhappy events which had taken place, were the direct consequences of the corrupt character of the representation, and of the house screening from due punishment such culprits as the duke of york, lord castlereagh, etc. the petition was rejected; but the very next day a petition of equal vigour and plainness was voted by the livery of london, and was presented on the 8th, and rejected too. the house had grown so old in corruption, that it felt itself strong enough to reject the petitions of the people. a memorial was presented also on the same subject from major cartwright, one of the most indefatigable apostles of reform, by whitbread, and this was rejected too, for the major pronounced the committal of sir francis a flagrantly illegal act.

as sir francis burdett had commenced suits, not only against the speaker, but also against the sergeant-at-arms, and against lord moira, the governor of the tower, for his arrest and detention, the house of commons appointed a select committee to inquire into the proper mode of defence, and it was determined that the sergeant-at-arms[599] should appear and plead to these indictments, and that the attorney-general should be directed to defend them. though these trials did not take place till may and june of the following year, we may here note the result, to close the subject. in the first two, verdicts were obtained favourable to the government, and in the third the jury, not agreeing, were dismissed. these trials came off before lord ellenborough, one of the most steady supporters of government that ever sat on the judicial bench; and the results probably drew their complexion from this cause, for the feeling of the public continued to be exhibited strongly in favour of the prisoner of the house of commons. he continued to receive deputations from various parts of the country, expressive of the sympathy of public bodies, and of the necessity of a searching reform of parliament. whatever irregularity might have marked the proceedings of the radical baronet, there is no question that the discussions to which they led all over the country produced a decided progress in the cause of a renovation of our dilapidated representation.

the prorogation of parliament, on the 21st of june, liberated both sir francis and the unfortunate president of the debating society, mr. john gale jones. on the morning of this day vast crowds assembled before the tower to witness the enlargement of the popular baronet. there was a great procession of reformers with banners and mottoes, headed by major cartwright, and attended by mr. sheriff wood and mr. sheriff atkins; but as sir francis apprehended that there might be some fresh and fatal collision between the military and the people, he prudently resolved to leave the tower quietly by water, which he effected, to the deep disappointment of the populace. no such excitement as this had taken place, on a question of right between the house of commons and an individual member, since the days of wilkes.

the other measures of parliament during this session were these:—in the house of lords lord holland, and in the commons henry brougham, moved for addresses to his majesty, exhorting him to persevere in his efforts to induce the governments of other nations to co-operate in the abolition of the slave trade, and to take measures for putting a stop to the clandestine practice of british subjects yet carrying on this trade in a fraudulent manner, as well as to adopt plans for preventing other evasions of mr. wilberforce's act. mr. bankes introduced a motion for rendering perpetual his bill to prevent the grant of offices in reversion, and such a bill was passed in the commons, but rejected in the lords.

a bill for parliamentary reform was introduced by mr. brand, and debated with unusual interest, owing to the events connected with sir francis burdett, but was, of course, rejected by a large majority. the day for such a measure was yet far off. there was a motion made by mr. parnell regarding tithes in ireland; another by grattan and lord donoughmore for catholic emancipation; and a third by sir samuel romilly for reform of our criminal code—all necessary, but yet long-to-be-deferred measures. lord melville also introduced a plan of great importance into the house of peers, namely, to substitute government war vessels for the conveyance of troops to their destinations abroad. he showed that not only was there immense and flagrant jobbing going on between the government transport board and the merchants from whom they hired ships on such occasions, but that these all tended to the misery and mortality of the soldiers; that the transport vessels hired were often not only inconveniently small, necessitating very uncomfortable and unhealthy crowding, but they were also frequently crazy, unseaworthy craft, badly manned, and ignorantly commanded by very ordinary skippers. he showed that a great amount of the mortality attending the transport of our troops to distant shores was owing to this cause, and that all might be avoided, and a considerable pecuniary saving effected, by employing none but government vessels, roomy and clean, and commanded by officers duly qualified. but no such necessary and humane scheme was likely to be cordially supported by an unreformed parliament. mr. george rose also obtained leave to bring in a bill for a more questionable object. it was to augment our navy by bringing up the children of such people as became chargeable to parishes at government naval schools, and thus regularly appropriating them as sailors. he estimated these children at ninety thousand, and calculated that these schools would furnish seven thousand sailor-boys per annum. it was a scheme for a press-gang system commencing with the cradle.

the supplies for the present year were voted to the amount of fifty million one hundred and eighty-five thousand pounds. no new taxes were to be levied, but there was to be a loan of eight million pounds. this money was distributed as follows: twenty-five million pounds to the land service and ordnance, twenty million pounds to[600] the navy, a subsidy to portugal of nine hundred and eighty-eight thousand pounds, and to sicily of four hundred thousand pounds.

arrest of sir francis burdett. (see p. 597.)

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the aspect of affairs in spain at the commencement of 1810 was gloomy in the extreme. scarcely a town, fortress, or army remained to the spaniards; yet, perhaps, never did napoleon feel a deeper anxiety concerning it. the spirit of the people had shown that it could not be easily subdued. he might beat its regular troops, and compel the surrender of cities, after long and severe sieges, but there still remained a whole population hostile to him. throughout all the mountain districts the inhabitants might be said to be still in arms against him, and there was a fire burning in the general spanish heart that might at any moment blaze up into a dangerous flame, or, if not, must wear out his troops, his energies, and his resources. napoleon had yet to discover that it is impossible to subdue the people of a mountainous country, so as to rule them in peace, if they are at heart opposed to the ruler.

yet, looking at spain from a mere momentary point of view, its condition was sad enough. saragossa had undergone a second siege, in which the inhabitants had again made a brilliant stand, and caused the french much loss and suffering, though compelled at length to surrender. the battle of oca?a, in november of 1809, had been lost by areizaga, and left spain without a single considerable army. during the latter part of the same year, general reding, the patriotic swiss general, had been defeated at valls. blake had sustained two heavy defeats near saragossa and belchite, with the loss of the greater part of his artillery and men. gerona had withstood a desperate siege, but was compelled to capitulate on the 10th of december. tarragona and tortosa had suffered the same fate. in some of these towns the spaniards had not yielded till they had killed and eaten their horses and mules.

towards the end of the year soult had been recalled to madrid, to take the place of jourdain, who was remanded to paris. soult then determined to make an expedition into the south, to subdue seville and cadiz—the last places of[601] consequence left to the spaniards. he took king joseph with him, or rather, perhaps, king joseph was afraid to be left in the capital without his protection. the battle of oca?a, and the destruction of areizaga's army, left the passes of the sierra morena all open, and on the 21st of january soult was at baylen, where the army of dupont had surrendered. thence he pushed forward for seville, sending other divisions of the army to traverse malaga and granada. nothing could be more favourable to the visit of soult than the then condition of seville. the stupid, proud, ignorant junta had refused all proffers of aid from the british, and they had, at the same time, worn out the patience of the people, who had risen upon them, and expelled them from the place. they then fled to cadiz, in the hope of renewing their authority there; but they met with a still fiercer reception from the people of cadiz, and were compelled formally to resign. as for the inhabitants of seville, they talked of defending the city against the french, but there was no order amongst them, no authority, and they did nothing. soult marched on from town to town, collecting a rich spoil everywhere, which the spaniards had left behind them. they seemed to think of carrying away with them only their money, but a mass of other wealth fell into the hands of the french, and amongst it, as usual, great quantities of british cannon, muskets, and ammunition, which assisted in enabling the french to fight with us. soult entered cordova in triumph on the 17th of january, and seville on the 1st of february, and there king joseph established his court for some time.

cadiz.

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soult sent on marshal victor, without delay, to surprise and seize cadiz. but the duke of albuquerque, with eight or ten thousand men, had been called at the first alarm, and, making a rapid march of two hundred and sixty english miles, reached the city just before him. the garrison now consisted of twenty thousand men—british, spanish, and portuguese—commanded chiefly by general graham, an officer who had distinguished himself at toulon, at the same time that buonaparte first made his merit conspicuous. the british troops had been offered by lord wellington, and, though insolently refused by the junta before, were now thankfully accepted.[602] some were hastened from torres vedras, under command of the hon. major-general stewart, and some from gibraltar. the british, independent of the portuguese under their command, amounted to six thousand. the spanish authorities, having their eyes opened at length to the value of the british alliance, now gave the command of their little fleet to admiral purvis, who put the ships, twenty in number, into tolerable order, and joined them to his own squadron. with these moored across the harbour, he kept the sea open for all necessary supplies; and though soult, accompanied by king joseph, arrived on the 25th of february, and sat down before the place, occupying the country round from rota to chiclano, with twenty-five thousand men, he could make no impression against cadiz, and the siege was continued till the 12th of august, 1812, when the successes of wellington warned them to be moving. it was an essential advantage to wellington's campaign that twenty-eight thousand french should thus be kept lying before this place.

in andalusia, the french under sebastiani held malaga and granada; but more eastward, the spanish made a very troublesome resistance. it was in vain that sebastiani marched into the mountains of murcia to disperse the forces that blake was again collecting there. beaten in one place, they appeared in another. a strong force, under general lacey, surprised a body of six thousand french at ronda, and put them to flight, securing their arms and stores. in catalonia, general o'donnell stood his ground well, the country not only being by nature strong, but lying along the coast, where the british could support them by their fleets. rushing from their hills and mountain forts, the catalonian militia continually inflicted severe chastisement on the french invaders, and then retired to their fortresses. marshals suchet, augereau, and macdonald found it impossible to make permanent head against o'donnell and the catalonians. in fact, though spain might seem to be conquered, having no great armies in the field, it was never less so—and that buonaparte felt. wherever there were hills and forests, they swarmed with sharpshooters. for this species of warfare—the guerilla—the spanish were peculiarly adapted. the mountaineers, headed by the priest, the doctor, or the shepherd, men who, in spite of their ordinary habits, had a genius for enterprise, were continually on the watch to surprise and cut off the enemy. other bodies of them were led by men of high birth, or of military training, but who were distinguished for their superior spirit and endurance of fatigue. these leaders had the most perfect knowledge of the woods and passes of the mountains, and had the most immediate information from the peasantry of the movements of the french. they could, therefore, come upon them when totally unlooked-for, and cut them off suddenly. if they were repulsed they disappeared like shadows into the forests and deserts. sometimes they came several thousand strong; sometimes a little band of ten or twenty men would dash forward from their concealment and effect some startling deed. to chase them appeared hopeless, for they vanished in a thousand ways, as water sinks into the earth and disappears. to intimidate them, soult published a proclamation that he would treat them as bandits, and immediately shoot all that he captured; and the commanders replied by another proclamation that for every spaniard shot they would execute three frenchmen; and they so literally fulfilled their threat that the french were compelled to return to the ordinary rules of warfare.

such was the state of spain, though nominally conquered by the french. it was only held by a vast force, and there was no prospect that this force could ever be dispensed with. joseph was so heartily tired of his kingdom that, on going to paris to attend napoleon's marriage, he declared that he would abdicate unless he were made generalissimo of all the forces in spain, the separate generals, in their own provinces, paying but little regard to his commands, but each acting as if viceroy of his own province. to napoleon the state of things was equally irksome. the drain of men and money was intolerable, and appeared without prospect of any end. he resolved, therefore, to make a gigantic effort to drive the british out of portugal, when he hoped to be able to subjugate spain. he could not yet proceed thither himself, but he sent heavy reinforcements under drouet and junot, and dispatched massena, who was reckoned the greatest general next to himself, to drive wellington into the sea. massena had been so uniformly victorious, that buonaparte styled him "the dear child of victory," and had made him prince of esslingen.

in the peninsula, altogether, the french had upwards of two hundred thousand men, but the force which massena led against wellington did not amount to more than sixty thousand, drouet remaining, for the present, in spain with eighteen thousand men, and regnier lying in estremadura[603] with ten or twelve thousand more. to contend against massena's sixty thousand veterans, lord wellington had only twenty-four thousand british on whom he could rely. he had thirty thousand portuguese regulars, who had been drilled by general beresford, and had received many british officers. wellington had great expectation that these troops, mixed judiciously with the british ones, would turn out well; but that had yet to be tried. besides these, there were numerous bodies of portuguese militia, who were employed in defending the fortresses in alemtejo and algarve, thus protecting the flanks of wellington's army.

in june massena advanced, and laid siege to ciudad rodrigo. this was almost within sight of wellington's lines. the town was defended by a spanish garrison, and wellington was called upon to co-operate by attacking the besiegers. this he offered to do if romana would undertake to prevent the march of regnier from estremadura on his rear the while; but romana would not undertake to maintain himself against regnier if the british force under general hill crossed the tagus. wellington, whose object was to defend portugal and not spain, therefore lay still; and the spaniards, after a brave defence, were compelled to capitulate on the 10th of july. then there was a wild cry of indignation raised against wellington by the spaniards, and even by his own officers, that he should see a place taken from our allies, under his very eyes, and not attempt to relieve it. the french taunted him with it in the moniteur, and regarded it as a great sign of his weakness. but none of these things moved wellington. he knew what he had to do—which was to defend portugal—and he had made his plans for doing it; but this was not by exposing his small army in any situation to which the spanish chose to call him, while, at the same time, they declined to co-operate with him. he soon had the division of marshal ney upon his outposts, where he fell in with our light division under general craufurd. wellington had ordered that, on attack, craufurd should retire on the main body in order, because he did not wish to reduce his small numbers in skirmishes, but to reserve them for favourable occasions; but craufurd, being hotly pursued, turned and gave the french a severe rebuff, killing and wounding above one thousand of massena's men. craufurd, having driven the french back three times, made a masterly passage, by a bridge, over the coa, and joined the main army.

when he entered portugal massena issued a proclamation, informing the portuguese that the british were the troublers and mischief-makers of europe, and that they were there only for their own objects of ambition, and calling on the inhabitants to receive the french as their friends and saviours. lord wellington issued a counter-proclamation, remarking that the portuguese had had too much occasion to learn what sort of friends the french were; that they had learned it by the robbery of their property, their brutality towards the women, and oppression of all classes. he called on them, as the sole means of rescue, to resist to the death; and he ordered them, as the british army retired from lisbon, to withdraw from their towns and villages, carrying whatever they could with them, so that the enemy might find no means of support. this was part of his great plan; and he assured the portuguese that those who stayed behind after their magistrates had ordered them to withdraw should receive no assistance from him; and that whoever was found holding any communication with the enemy should be deemed a traitor, and treated accordingly.

on the 26th of august massena arrived before almeida, a strongly fortified town not thirty miles from ciudad rodrigo. wellington hoped that it would detain him at least a month, for it had a good portuguese garrison, commanded by colonel cox, an english officer: and he himself drew near, to be able to seize any opportunity of damaging the besiegers. but in the night of the 27th there was a terrible explosion of a powder magazine, which threw down part of the wall, and made the place untenable. treachery was immediately suspected, and what followed was sufficient proof of it; for the portuguese major, whom colonel cox sent to settle the terms of the capitulation, went over to the french, and was followed by a whole portuguese regiment with the exception of its british officers. this was a great disappointment to lord wellington, whose plan was to detain massena till the rainy season set in, when he would at once find himself embarrassed by bridgeless floods and in intolerable roads, and, as he hoped and had ordered, in a country without people and without provisions.

but, undiscouraged, lord wellington ordered general hill, who had already crossed the tagus, to hasten onward, and he then carefully fell back, and took his position on the grim and naked ridges of busaco, a sierra extending from mondego to the northward. behind this range of hills lay coimbra, and three roads led through the defiles to that city. these, and several lesser ravines used[604] by the shepherds and muleteers, he thoroughly fortified; and, posting himself on these difficult heights, he calmly awaited the advance of massena. the ascents by which the french must reach them were precipitous and exposed; and on the summit, in the centre of the range, wellington took up his headquarters at a carmelite convent, whence he could survey the whole scene, having upwards of thirty thousand men disposed along these frowning eminences.

on the 26th of september the hostile host was seen in full march—cavalry, infantry, and artillery, attended by a vast assemblage of waggons and burden-bearing mules. the spectacle, as described by eye-witnesses, was most imposing in its multitudes and its beautiful order. at night, the whole country along the foot of the hills was lit up by the enemy's camp fires, and towards morning the din of preparation for the contest was plainly audible. nothing but the overweening confidence of massena in his invincibility, and the urgent commands of napoleon, could have induced him to attack the allied army in such a position; but both he and buonaparte held the portuguese as nothing, regarding them no more than as so many spaniards, unaware of the wonderful change made in them by british discipline. a letter of buonaparte to massena had been intercepted, in which he said that "it would be ridiculous to suppose that twenty-five thousand english could withstand sixty thousand french, if the latter did not trifle, but fell on boldly, after having well observed where the blow might be struck." ney, it is said, was of opinion that this was not such a situation; that it was at too great odds to attack the allies in the face of such an approach. but massena did not hesitate; early on the morning of the 27th he sent forward several columns both to the right and left of wellington's position, to carry the heights. these were met, on wellington's right, by picton's division, the 88th regiment being commanded by lieutenant-colonel wallace, and the 45th by lieutenant-colonel meade. they were supported by the 8th portuguese regiment. the french rushed up boldly to the very heights; but were hurled back at the point of the bayonet, the portuguese making the charge with as much courage and vigour as the british. another attempt, still farther to wellington's right, was made, the french supposing that they were then beyond the british lines, and should turn their flank; but they were there met by general leith's division, the royals, the 9th and the 38th regiments, and were forced down the steeps with equal destruction. both these sanguinary repulses were given to the division of general regnier. on the left of wellington the attack was made by ney's division, which came in contact with that of general craufurd, especially with the 43rd, 52nd, and 95th regiments of british, and the 3rd portuguese ca?adores, and with the same decisive and destructive result. there, too, the portuguese fought gallantly, and, where they had not room to kill with their bayonets, they imitated the british soldiers, and knocked down the french with the butt-ends of their guns. everywhere the repulse was complete, and massena left two thousand slain on the field, and had between three and four thousand wounded. one general was killed, three wounded, one taken prisoner, besides many other officers. the allies lost about one thousand three hundred, of whom five hundred and seventy-eight were portuguese. wellington was delighted with the proof that general beresford's drilling had answered the very highest expectations, and that henceforth he could count confidently on his portuguese troops, and he wrote in the most cheering terms of this fact in his dispatches home.

on the 28th massena had discovered the pass of boyalva through these hills, to the north of busaco, which wellington had ordered colonel trant to occupy. but trant had missed his way, and did not reach the pass in time. wellington saw, therefore, his flank turned, and the enemy on the highway to oporto. he therefore quitted his position, and, taking coimbra in his way, compelled such of the inhabitants as had not obeyed his order to march along with him. on the 1st of october he was on his route southward, accompanied by this strange crowd. it was a perfect exodus, and appeared to the poor inhabitants as a severe measure, but to it they owed their after-salvation. had they remained, it would have been only to suffer the oppressions and insults of the french, and to see them supporting themselves on their provisions. as it was, the french, on entering coimbra, found it, as they had done viseu, totally deserted, and the stacks of corn and provision that could not be carried away, for the most part too adroitly buried to be easily found. they were left to the starvation that the english general designed for them. but what a scene on the road! the whole country moving south with the cattle and sheep, and waggons laden with their goods. "no power of description," said an eye-witness, "can convey to the mind of any reader the afflicting scenes, the[605] cheerless desolation that we daily witnessed on our march from the mondego to the lines. where-ever we moved, the mandate, which enjoined the wretched inhabitants to forsake their homes and to remove or destroy their little property, had gone before us. the villages were deserted; the churches—retreats so often, yet so vainly confided in—were empty; the mountain cottages stood open and untenanted; the mills in the valley, but yesterday so busy, were motionless and silent. from thomar the flanks of our line of march were literally covered with the flying population of the country. in portugal there are at no time many facilities for travelling, and those few the exigencies of the army had very greatly diminished. rich indeed were those who still retained a cabriolet, and mules for its service. those who had bullock-cars, asses, or any mode of transporting their families and property, looked contented and grateful; for respectable men and delicate women of the second class might on every side be seen walking slowly and painfully on foot, encumbered by heavy burdens of clothes, bedding, and food." it was a whole country in emigration; quitting their cities, homes, and fields to coop themselves up in the vicinity of lisbon, for the stern purpose of starving the detested enemy out of the land.

wellington's retreat from coimbra. (see p. 604.)

[see larger version]

but, sorrowful as the sight itself was, the news of it in great britain excited the strongest condemnation in the party which had always doubted the power of wellington to cope with the vast armies of france. they declared that he was carrying on a system that was ruining portugal, and must make our name an opprobrium over the whole world, at the same time that it could not enable us to keep a footing there; that we must be driven out with terrible loss and infamy. but not so thought wellington. before him were the heights of torres vedras, about twenty-four miles from lisbon. these, stretching in two ranges between the sea and the tagus, presented a barrier which he did not mean the french to pass. he had already planned the whole scheme; he had already had these heights, themselves naturally strong, made tenfold stronger by military art; he had drawn the enemy after[606] him into a country stripped and destitute of everything, and there he meant to stop him, and keep him exposed to famine and winter, till he should be glad to retrace his steps. neither should those steps be easy. floods, and deep muddy roads, and dearths should lie before him; and at his heels should follow, keen as hornets, the allied army, to avenge the miseries of this invaded people.

by the 8th of october wellington was safely encamped within these impregnable lines, and the crowd of flying people sought refuge in lisbon, or in the country around it. the british did not arrive a moment too soon, for massena was close at their heels with his van; but he halted at sobral for three days to allow of the coming up of his main body. this time was spent by the british in strengthening their position, already most formidable. the two ranges of mountains lying one behind the other were speedily occupied by the troops; and they were set to work at more completely stopping up roads, and constructing barriers, palisades, platforms, and wooden bridges leading into the works. for this purpose fifty thousand trees were allowed them, and all the space between lisbon and these wonderful lines was one swarming scene of people bringing in materials and supplies. the right of the position was flanked by the tagus, where the british fleet lay anchored, attended by a flotilla of gunboats, and a body of marines occupied the line of embarkation; portuguese militia manned the castle of st. julian and the forts on the tagus, and lisbon itself was filled with armed bands of volunteers. there was no want of anything within this busy and interesting enclosure, for the british fleet had the command of the sea and all its means of supply. seven thousand portuguese peasantry were employed in bringing in and preparing the timber for the defences; and every soldier not positively on guard was enthusiastic in helping the engineers and artillery in the labour of making the lines impregnable.

it was one of the most interesting scenes in any warfare; and there was not a man who did not enjoy the astonishment and disappointment of the french when, on the 11th, they marched in wonder up to the foot of these giant fortifications. wellington had doubly obtained his wish; for he was not only safely ensconced in his strong position, but the rainy season which he was anticipating had set in in earnest. the main body of the french had been detained by the bad roads and the floods, and now, when the proud general, who expected so rapidly to drive the british into the sea, surveyed the scarped cliffs bristling with cannon and with bayonets far above him, his astonishment was evident. he rode along the foot of the hills for several days reconnoitreing the whole position, which seemed suddenly to have altered the situation of the combatants, and not so much to have shut up wellington and his army in lisbon, as to have shut him and his numerous one out to famine and the wintry elements.

for more than four months the invincible massena continued to watch the lines of torres vedras without striking a single effective blow. in fact, instead of attacking wellington, wellington attacked his advanced posts near sobral on the 14th, and drove them in with the bayonet. the french then showed themselves in some force near villa franca, close to the tagus; but there the gunboats reached them, causing them rapidly to retreat, and killing general st. croix. after this, the french made no further attempt on those mountain lines which struck massena with despair. after occupying his position for a month he fell back to the town of santarem, and there and in the neighbouring villages quartered his troops for the winter. his great business was to collect provisions, for he had brought none with him; and had the people obeyed strictly the proclamation of wellington and the junta, he would have found none at all, and must have instantly retreated. but the portuguese thought it hard to quit their homesteads and carry all their provisions to lisbon or into the mountains, and the miserable junta threw all the blame of the order on the british general. not only, therefore, was a considerable amount of provisions left in the country, but boats were left at santarem, on the tagus, contrary to wellington's orders, by which provisions were brought over by the french from spain.

yet, during this winter, while massena's army was in a constant state of semi-starvation, badly clothed and badly lodged, and thus wasting away by sickness and desertion, that of wellington increased in numbers, in physical condition, and in discipline. whilst massena's army, originally seventy-one thousand men, was ere long reduced by the battle of busaco and the miserable quarters in the wet country near torres vedras to fifty-five thousand, the forces of wellington had been augmented, by reinforcements from england, and by the addition of portuguese and spanish troops, to fifty-eight thousand. when massena retreated to santarem, wellington followed him to cartaxo,[607] and there fixed his headquarters, and ordered general hill to post his division opposite to santarem, so as to check the enemy's foraging parties in that direction. at the same time, colonel trant, who had surprised the french rear as massena's army was leaving coimbra on his march after wellington to torres vedras, and had secured the sick and wounded in the hospitals there to the amount of five thousand men, and who retained possession of coimbra, now joined sir robert wilson and colonel millar, who commanded the portuguese militia, and their united force appeared in massena's rear, cutting off his communication with the north and also with the spanish frontier.

such was massena's situation, so early as the commencement of november—having to maintain his army in a country reduced to a foodless desert by the art of his masterly antagonist, and, instead of being able to drive the british before him, finding them menacing him on all sides, so that he dispatched general foy to make his way with a strong escort to ciudad rodrigo, and thence to proceed with all speed to paris, to explain to the emperor the real state of affairs. the state was that the whole of portugal, except the very ground on which massena was encamped, was in possession of the british and the portuguese. there was no possibility of approaching lisbon without forcing these lines at torres vedras, and that, if done at all, must be at the cost of as large an army as he possessed altogether. all the rest of portugal—oporto, coimbra, abrantes—and all the forts except almeida were in the hands of the enemy. as to the destitution of massena's army, we have the description from his own statements in letters to napoleon, which were intercepted. from this information, lord wellington wrote in his dispatches: "it is impossible to describe the pecuniary and other distresses of the french army in the peninsula. all the troops are months in arrears of pay; they are, in general, very badly clothed; they want horses, carriages, and equipments of every description; their troops subsist solely upon plunder; they receive no money, or scarcely any, from france, and they realise but little from their pecuniary contributions from spain. indeed, i have lately discovered that the expense of the pay and the hospitals alone of the french army in the peninsula amounts to more than the sum stated in the financial exposé as the whole expense of the entire french army."

such were the advantages now possessed by the british over the french commander, that both the portuguese and people at home were impatient that wellington should at once attack and annihilate massena's army. but wellington knew better. he knew that a great battle, or battles, must vastly reduce his own as well as massena's army. he knew that france could readily march down eighty or a hundred thousand fresh men into portugal at extremity, but that great britain could not so readily do that; and, should the whigs come into power, as was probable, he could not calculate on any support at all. the king now hopelessly insane, the prince of wales must be soon appointed regent, and then, perhaps, would come in his friends the whigs. there were many other considerations which made wellington refuse to accede to a general attack on the french at present. he had, as it was, trouble enough with the junta; but, should any reverse occur, his situation then would be intolerable. just now the portuguese troops were in good spirits for fighting, but defeat would ruin all the progress yet made with them. he knew that the winter would do for the french army all that he expected without any cost to himself, and he waited for that, ready then to follow up the advantages it would give him. it was his great plan of operations which already reduced them to the dilemma in which they were, and now came winter and did the rest, fully showing his superior sagacity. in november the weather became and continued wretched in the extreme. the country was flooded, cutting off the precarious supplies of the french, but adding strength to the encampment of torres vedras. the cross roads were impassable for artillery, and all but impassable for waggons bringing provisions, which had to be hunted for far and wide, with incredible hardships and little success. leaving the hostile armies in this position till the spring, we must notice other important matters.

in the course of 1810 the french were expelled completely from the east and west indies, and the indian ocean. guadeloupe, the last of their west india islands, was captured in february, by an expedition conducted by general beckford and admiral sir a. cochrane. in july an armament, sent out by lord minto from india, and headed by lieutenant-colonel keating, reduced the isle of bourbon; and, being reinforced by a body of troops from the cape of good hope, under major-general john abercromby and admiral bertie, the isle of france, much the more important, and generally called mauritius, surrendered on the 3rd of december. besides[608] a vast quantity of stores and merchandise, five frigates and about thirty merchantmen were taken; and mauritius became a permanent british colony. from this place a squadron proceeded to destroy the french factories on the coast of madagascar, and finished by completely expelling them from those seas.

our forces in sicily had an encounter, in the autumn, with those of murat, king of naples. murat was ambitious of driving us out of sicily, and ferdinand iv. and his court with us. from spring till september he had an army lying at scylla, reggio, and in the hills overlooking the strait of messina, but he did not attempt to put across till the 18th of september. seizing then the opportunity, when our flotilla of gunboats and our cruisers were off the station, he pushed across a body of three thousand five hundred men, under general cavaignac. these troops were chiefly neapolitans, but there were two battalions of corsicans, and they were furnished with an embroidered standard to present to the corsicans in our service, whom they hoped to induce to desert to them. general cavaignac managed to land about seven miles to the south of messina, and attacked the british right wing. sir john stuart made haste to bring up other troops to the support of the right, but before he could arrive, colonel c. campbell defeated the invaders, taking prisoners a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, and forty other officers, with eight hundred men. there was a rapid retreat to their boats by the intruders, but the british pursued and cut to pieces great numbers of them, besides what were killed by the sicilian peasantry. one boat full of soldiers was sunk as it went off, and the neapolitans in another deserted to their old king.

colonel campbell did not lose a single man, and had but three wounded, so that it is evident that the flight of the enemy must have been instantaneous and universal. murat made no further attempt to seize sicily, though he kept his camp on the heights behind reggio and scylla for two years longer.