Chapter XXVIII: {george III. 1809—1812} (3)

In the meantime Marshal Beresford, acting under the directions of Lord Wellington, had directed his efforts against Badajoz. He invested that city on the 8th of May; but he had scarcely commenced the siege when intelligence arrived that Soult was returning thither with 15,000 men for its relief. Beresford immediately suspended his operations, removed the battering cannon and stores to Elvas, and being joined on the 14th by the Spanish Generals Castanos and Blake prepared to meet the enemy. Soult appeared in front of the allies, with a force of about 20,000 men; 5000 having joined him in his route. They were attacked by him on the next day; but after a fearful slaughter on both sides, the enemy was driven back across the river. Soult retired to the ground he had previously occupied; and on the night of the 17th he commenced his retreat towards Seville, leaving Badajoz to its own defence. The British sustained a greater loss in this battle than in any that had been fought in the Peninsula; but the steadiness and gallantry of the troops obtained the highest commendations not only from their commander, but from both houses of parliament.

Shortly after this battle Lord Wellington joined General Beresford, and the siege of Badajoz was recommenced. He had left his army opposed to Massena in the north of Portugal under General Spencer, and about this time Massena was recalled to France, and Marmont became Spencer’s opponent. Marmont was resolved to succour Badajoz, if possible; and for this purpose he sent 15,000 men, under Drouet, to re-enforce Sonlt if he should be again able to advance to its relief. This had the effect of quickening Lord Wellington’s operations upon Badajoz: two different attacks were made upon it; but though his troops behaved with their accustomed valour, both attempts failed, and the siege was soon after raised.

In other parts of Spain during this year, the patriots were equally unfortunate. Thus the French marshal Suchet took Tarragona by assault; General Blake was repulsed by the enemy in an attack on Niebla; Soult defeated the army of Marcia, in the vicinity of Baza; Figueras was retaken by the French general, Macdonald; the Spanish general, Abudia, was defeated by Dorsenne in the vicinity of Astorga; Suchet captured the town and castle of Murviedro; and General Blake was attacked by Suchet in December, and compelled to retire within the walls of Valencia. On the 4th of September Lord Wellington formed the blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo; but on the 25th he retired, and his rear was attacked by Marmont. The infantry, however, forming a square, and presenting a firm front, retreated without being broken. General Hill, with a division of the allied army, surprised and completely routed a French column on the 28th of October, taking 1400 prisoners and all Girard’s artillery, baggage, &c., together with the money which he had levied at Merida. About the same time also the Baron d’Eroles defeated the French near Perigeorda. After Marmont had relieved Ciudad Rodrigo he retraced his steps to the valley of the Tagus; and the allied army went into cantonments, Lord Wellington resolving in the course of the winter to collect such materials as would enable him to carry Ciudad Rodrigo by a more effectual and rapid method than that of blockade.

{GEORGE III. 1809—1812}

NAVAL AFFAIRS

The navy of England had not at this period any adequate antagonist to encounter, so that it was only by occasional surprises that it could perform any achievements. During this year, however, there were several severe frigate fights and in-shore operations. In the Adriatic Sea, Captain William Hoste obtained, on the 13th of March, with four English frigates, a complete victory over five French frigates and six smaller vessels, with five hundred men on board. Another victory was gained near Foul Point, Madagascar, by Captain Schomberg, who with three frigates and a sloop recovered Tamatava, which had been recently recaptured by the French, and captured all the vessels in the port, including the commodore’s frigate. A gallant exploit was also performed at Sagone-bay in the island of Corsica by Captain Barrie, who with three frigates burned three armed vessels laden with timber for the dock-yards at Toulon, although they were protected by strong batteries and a martello-tower, and defended by two hundred soldiers. On the 24th of August, likewise, Captain Ferris, hoisting French colours, sailed up the Garonne, and captured five French vessels without losing a single man in the enterprise. The actions of this year, indeed, are too numerous to recount. Our fleets and squadrons were engaged in all the four quarters of the globe, and the vessels of the enemy could nowhere move in safety while his coast was kept in continual alarm.

AFFAIRS OF FRANCE.

Fortune still seemed to smile on Napoleon. According to outward appearance everything was still in his favour. On the 20th of March his cup of prosperity seemed to be full; for his empress, Maria Louisa, was safely delivered of a son, to whom was given the titles of Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph, Prince of the French Empire, and King of Rome! Congratulatory addresses were poured in from all the departments and all the principal cities of France, as well as from Belgium, Holland, the Hanse Towns, the confederated states of the Rhine, and from Italy. Soon after this Napoleon opened the session of the _Corps Législatif_. In his speech he told the members that his son would answer the expectations of France, and bear to their children the sentiments which his father now bore to them; that they must never forget that their happiness and glory were dependent on the prosperity of the throne which he had raised, consolidated, and aggrandized by them and for them, and that the love of France was their first duty. This must have sounded oddly in the ears of some of the members; for at this time Dutchmen from Holland, &c., Germans from the Hanse Towns, Swiss from the Valais, which was now incorporated with France, and Italians from the confiscated states of the church had taken their seats in the _Corps Législatif_. With conscious pride Napoleon also declared to these “complaisant tools of tyranny,” that French dominion during the last year had been extended over sixteen departments, containing five millions of people; the mouths of the Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt, together with the whole course of the latter river, were now French; that improvements on a gigantic scale had taken place throughout the empire; and that its finances were in such a state that France could go on for ten years without borrowing money. It is possible, however, that Napoleon in making this last assertion had an eye to the plunder of some rich kingdoms, for it was well known that France was not in a prosperous condition. At this very time, indeed, the French, having lost their colonies, were substituting roasted horse-beans for coffee, and extracting sugar from beetroot. The boast of Napoleon, however, was pleasing to a vain-glorious people, and none dared dispute his word. Subsequently to making it, accompanied by his young empress, he visited Ostend, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, where he announced the division of the departments of Holland, and their proportion of the annual expenses. On his return to Paris, however, the course of events bid fair to run more roughly with Napoleon than they had hitherto done. All the cabinets of Europe were at this time anxious to break their fetters, and a rupture with Russia had become inevitable. The czar was offended by Napoleon’s seizure of Oldenburg, the extension of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the continued occupation of Dantzic, and prepared for a contest; and Napoleon replied to his menaces by angry complaints, and by calling out fresh conscripts in order to meet him in the field. At the close of the year 1811 the preparations for war were on such a gigantic scale, that most men in France saw they would be followed by an unprecedented campaign.