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SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY IN LISBON-PASSAGE OF THE DOURO. [1809. he crossed the Douro. To take sixteen thousand troops across a river is not an easy task under any circumstances; but "how to pass a river, deep, swift, more than three hundred yards wide, and in the face of ten thousand veterans guarding the opposite bank,"-this is the question asked by the first of military historians. On the convent height stood "a great captain, searching with an eagle glance the river, the city, and the country around." Sir Arthur saw where he could force a passage, "his means being as scanty as his reso lution was great, yet with his genius they sufficed." On the 12th the British obtained a victory, which compelled Soult to retreat from Oporto, leaving many sick and wounded. The conqueror published a proclamation ¦ calling upon the inhabitants to be merciful to the wounded and prisoners. ! The French in their retreat were harassed and killed by the people of the villages. The roads were strewed with the carcases of horses and men who were put to death before the British advanced guards could save them. "This last circumstance," says sir Arthur, "is the natural effect of the species of warfare which the enemy have carried on in this country. Their soldiers have plundered and murdered the peasantry at their pleasure."+

Thus far had the British general accomplished his great task with surpassing skill. He told his story with his accustomed modesty, in his Despatch of the 12th of May. The praise is for his officers and his men: "They have marched in four days over eighty miles of most difficult country, have gained many important positions, and have engaged and defeated three different bodies of the enemy's troops." The Opposition in Parliament, with few exceptions, were, as they too long continued to be, so hopeless of success, and so unjust and ungenerous in refusing to recognize the merits of the commander who was opening a new career for the army of England as glorious as the triumphs of her fleets, that we can scarcely wonder at the vexation of sir Arthur Wellesley, when he read the parliamentary proceedings of the 31st of May.§ On the 21st of June, he writes from Abrantes to the friend who had sent him the newspaper,-"I am very indifferent what the opinion is of our operations. I shall do the best I can with the force given to me; and if the people of England are not satisfied, they must send somebody else who will do better." As to one charge he felt that it was an imputation his honour: "I see that Mr. Whitbread accuses me of exaggeration, upon which is, in other words, lying." || His system in describing his operations was entirely opposed to that of Napoleon. "To lie like a bulletin was an art of war which he had no ambition to acquire.

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In the days before steam-navigation, before railways, before electric telegraphs, the proceedings of statesmen and of warriors had to be regulated by the arrival of news rather than by the dates of occurrences in distant places which despatches recorded. In 1809, "the posts come tiring on." Rumour goes before, "stuffing the ears of men with false reports." Parliament rose on the 21st of June; and soon after came official intelligence, in rapid succession, of great events, on the Danube, on the Scheldt, on the Tagus. It is curious to compare the dates of arrival of intelligence in

* Napier.

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§ See the Speeches of Mr. Whitbread and Mr. Ponsonby, in Hansard, vol. xiv.
"Supplementary Despatches," vol. vi. p. 292.

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1809.]

INTELLIGENCE OF IMPORTANT EVENTS.

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London, and the dates of the events. The Speaker writes in his Diary,— "Whilst I was in the country, news arrived

"July 21.-Of Bonaparte passing the Danube, and defeating the Austrians." The final battle of the campaign, Wagram, took place on the 6th of July. The armistice, which took place on the 10th, was known in London on the 27th.

"August 8.-Of the descent on Walcheren and investment of Flushing." The disembarkation took place on the 30th of July, the expedition having sailed on the 27th.

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August 16.-Of sir Arthur Wellesley's defeat of the French at
Talavera." This victory was gained on the 27th of July.

In narrating these events we shall see how the knowledge of them bore upon the measures of the English government; or ought to have borne. Each event had a distinct relation to the others. The course of history is like the progress of a well-conducted fiction, in which no incident is without its bearing upon the plot. But we shall also see what amazing changes have been wrought by the rapidity of communication in our own day. Had steam and electricity proclaimed to the English Cabinet in the middle of July the news of the armistice between Austria and France, it is clear that the most rash administration would not have ordered an expedition to sail on the 27th, as a diversion to Austria, when Austria's war was ended. Assuming that the sailing of the expedition had been countermanded, and the news of the battle of Talavera on the 27th of July had travelled from the Tagus to the Thames at the beginning of August, it is clear that the most supine ministry would have sent to Portugal a large proportion of those troops which were shipped for the Scheldt: the necessary weakening of the British army by the sanguinary battle might thus have been speedily repaired. When the news did come, the opportunity was gone. Earl Temple (afterwards duke of Buckingham) writes to his father," We have not the means of reinforcing Wellesley. If half the troops which are now knocking their heads against Flushing were available, an important blow might still be struck in Spain."* The victory of Talavera, most men thought, would have no permanent results for good, because the French were too strong. Living in the times which knew of no such triumphs of science as we enjoy, the government could form no certain combinations when they attempted large operations upon different points. They could only speculate upon results in detail, and they too often speculated wrongly. It was the folly of that day to attempt too much and too little; to make a show of activity in many quarters without directing a great effort upon one paramount object.

* "Court and Cabinets of George III.," vol. iv. p. 353.

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The nations of Europe roused to resistance against France-The battle of Eckmuhl-Napoleon retires to the island of Lobau-Insurrection of the Tyrolese-Battle of Wagram-Austria concludes a Peace-The Tyrolese subdued-Expedition to the Scheldt-The British land in Walcheren-Flushing bombarded-Its surrender-The Marsh Fever breaks out-Fatal termination of the Expedition-The battle of Talavera--Alarm in England-Disquiet of ministers-Duel between lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning-The Jubilee-Question of Parliamentary Privilege-Committal to the Tower of sir Francis Burdett-PortugalLines of Torres Vedras-The campaign of 1810-Almeida-Battle of Busaco-Wellington retires within his Lines.

WHEN the Session of Parliament was closed on the 21st of June, 1809, events in Germany justified the assertion in the royal Speech, that the resistance in Spain against the usurpation and tyranny of the French government had "awakened in other nations of Europe a determination to resist, by a new effort, the continued and increasing encroachments on their safety and independence." M. Thiers candidly says, "The odious act at Bayonne, the difficulties that had arisen in Spain, had all at once, throughout Germany as well as in Austria, excited indignation and restored hope."* Every man in Prussia,

"Le Consulat et l'Empire," tome x. p. 56.

1809.] BATTLE OF ECKMUHL-NAPOLEON IN THE ISLAND OF LOBAU. 515 from the peasant to the noble, was ready to revolt. In the countries in alliance with France-in Saxony, in Westphalia, in Bavaria, in Würtemberg, in Baden-the people, oppressed by the presence of troops, by conscriptions, and by taxes, complained that each of their sovereigns had sacrificed his country to his personal ambition. In the Tyrol, the hardy mountaineers, who were attached by old hereditary ties to the House of Austria, bore impatiently the yoke of Bavaria, to which crown they had been annexed, and were ready to rise in insurrection. It was a crisis that was worthy of heroic efforts, if Europe were to be free.

The first great operations of the war gave no very decided advantage to Napoleon, although his bulletins spoke of partial victories as final triumphs. The battle of Eckmuhl on the 22nd of April was followed by the entry of the French into Vienna on the 13th of May. But the archduke Charles had reinforced his army, and was advancing rapidly along the left bank of the Danube, to prevent the enemy crossing from the right bank, on which Vienna is situated. In the great stream of the Danube is the island of Lobau, nearly three miles in length, and nearly two miles in breadth. To this island Napoleon determined to transport his army. This was an operation of no common difficulty; but it was accomplished by incessant labour in constructing a great bridge upon boats, held in their places by anchors, or by the weight of cannon taken from the arsenal of Vienna. From Lobau there was a smaller stream to cross, by a similar bridge, before a landing could be effected on the open plain on the left bank. On the morning of the 21st of May, the army of the archduke Charles saw from wooded heights the army of Napoleon crossing the lesser branch of the river, and pouring into the great level called Marchfeld. As the French formed their line, the village of Aspern was on one flank; the village of Essling on the other flank. On the 21st and 22nd of May, the most sanguinary contest of the war here took place. "It was a battle," says Thiers, "without any result but an abominable effusion of blood." Never before was the all-conquering emperor in so dangerous a position as when the day closed upon this horrible carnage. He could not return to Vienna; for the river had risen, and the Austrians had floated down the main stream great balks of timber, and numerous fireships, which swept away the boats and their bridge. Napoleon could only return to the island of Lobau. Here he retreated, carrying with him thousands of wounded soldiers. The place afforded small means for their cure or comfort; and there was soon little difference between those who died in the battle-field and those who were borne from it to a lingering death.

Shut up in the island of the Danube, the French emperor was strengthening his position, and waiting for events. They were of a mixed character. The heroic partizan, colonel Schill, and the duke of Brunswick, who had headed the German insurrection in Saxony, Westphalia, and Hanover, had failed. Schill was killed in Stralsund. The duke of Brunswick, with a few troops, embarked for England. The Tyrolese were in active resistance to the Bavarians; and their first successes gave a new impulse to the sentiment that when the German people should rise against their oppressors, as "the herdsmen of the Alps" had risen, the day of deliverance was at hand. That day was for awhile postponed. Andrew Hofer, the innkeeper in the valley

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INSURRECTION OF THE TYROLESE-BATTLE OF WAGRAM.

[1809. of Passeyr, and three other resolute friends, led the revolt which broke out on the 8th of April. The Bavarians entered the province with 25,000 men. From mountain to mountain the signal fires had been lighted, which called forth the bold peasants to seize their rifles, and march to attack the Bavarians in the gorges of the hills, and even in the towns which they held in strength. Halle was taken; Innspruck surrendered after an obstinate defence. After the French occupied Vienna, the Tyrol was invaded by two French and allied armies. The Tyrolese fled not at their presence. They defeated the French and Saxons in the valley of the Eisach. The vanguard of four thousand Bavarians under the duke of Dantzic was destroyed. A new mode of warfare spread dismay amongst the disciplined troops, who thought they were marching to an easy conquest. As they wended their way unsuspectingly through passes where perpendicular rocks rose on either side, voices would be heard from above, shouting, "Let go your ropes." Then would descend masses of rocks and timber, crushing and burying the columns, whilst the unerring rifles picked off the few who fled from the overwhelming ruin. The duke of Dantzic speedily retreated from the dangerous mountains. But Hofer dared to encounter him in a pitched battle, and the innkeeper won the victory.

Such were the tidings that reached Napoleon in the island of Lobau. The inaction of mutual exhaustion was coming to an end. To Napoleon inaction was generally insupportable. He appeared busily employed in constructing massive bridges from the island to the left bank of the Danube; but he was secretly collecting the materials for another work. On the night of the 4th of July the whole of his army crossed the stream, by a bridge hastily thrown over an unguarded point. On the morning of the 5th the French moved in order of battle towards the entrenched camp of the Austrians, which was to resist the passage over the Danube so ostentatiously prepared. The archduke Charles quitted his entrenchments, abandoning the country between Enzensdorf and Wagram. He had lost the opportunity of attacking the French as they crossed the river in that one night, and confronted him as if by miracle. He now retired to a strong position on the elevated table-land of Wagram. From this locality the great battle of the 6th derives its name. The number of soldiers engaged in the work of mutual destruction was between three and four hundred thousand. The French historians claim to have killed or wounded twenty-four thousand Austrians; and admit to have lost eighteen thousand in killed or wounded. But the sturdy resistance of Austria had deranged some of Napoleon's grandest plans of ambition. "He had renounced the idea of dethroning the House of Hapsburg, an idea which he had conceived in the first movements of his wrath."* He would humiliate Austria by new sacrifices of territory and of money. The time was fast approaching when the conquering parvenu would demand a daughter of the House of Hapsburg in marriage, completing the triumph of his proud egoism by divorcing the woman who had stooped from her rank to wed the Corsican lieutenant of artillery. Austria sued for an armistice; and the armistice led to a peace. Two of the conditions of the peace of Vienna, which was signed on the 14th of October, were more

Thiers, tome x. p. 478.

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