Campaign of 1812 in the Peninsula-Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo-Siege of Badajoz-Difficulties of Lord Wellington-Advance into Spain-Battle of Salamanca-Siege of Burgos-Retreat from Burgos-Invasion of Russia-Smolensk and Borodino-Conflagration of MoscowRetreat of the French-Pursued by the Russians-Continual battles-Horrors of the Retreat-Destruction of the French army-Napoleon's flight.

"How vast will the events of our day appear to those who shall be at a sufficient distance from them to see their real magnitude." Thus thought Francis Horner in December, 1812. Nearly half a century has passed since the author of this History trusted with "undoubting mind " the new promise of the time that the nations should be free, that his country should be safe. Journalism, in which he then took a humble part, was generally exultant; and the more so, when evil foreboders were confident and cla

The imaginations of the young and ardent were, however, then too powerfully stirred by the great incidents of the war, to see the essential

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connexion of one event with another,-how the persistence of the sagacious captain of the Peninsula had roused the resistance of Russia to the allgrasping tyranny of France; how the deliverance of Germany was kindled by the fires of Moscow. We now see clearly, what was then only dimly seen, that Eighteen hundred and twelve was the inevitable "beginning of the end," that the end would have been Universal Empire if England had quailed. The great image, whose brightness was excellent, whose form was terrible, whose head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay, was smote upon his feet, and they were broken to pieces: "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor; and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them."

On the 1st of January, 1812, lord Wellington announced to lord Liverpool that he proposed to make an attack upon Ciudad Rodrigo. He was about once more to undertake an offensive war in Spain. He was about to lead his army, in the depth of winter, from their cantonments on the Coa, to make a sudden rush upon the strong fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo; and then, if successful, to make a similar assault upon Badajoz. The time was favourable for so bold an enterprise. Napoleon, contemplating the possibility of a war with Russia, had withdrawn sixty thousand troops from Spain. The French marshals, who had separate commands, and were each jealous of the other, were carrying on distinct operations in various provinces, without any paramount unity of plan. The emperor wrote to them precise and peremptory instructions which often were impossible to carry into effect. Their correspondence with king Joseph at Madrid, with each other, and with their own generals, whose divisions were spread over a large extent of country to obtain subsistence, were constantly intercepted by bands of Guerillas, who stopped the couriers, and often cut off the communications for successive weeks. It was difficult, if not impossible, to find a Spaniard who would undertake, for any bribe, to carry a despatch, much less to become a spy. Wellington, apparently inert in his winter quarters, had made all the preparations in his power for the reduction of the two great fortresses that were essential to the progress of a successful campaign. He was still without the necessary means of carrying on a regular siege, but he organized all the resources within his reach, and relied upon the valour of his troops to accomplish what he had not the means otherwise of performing. He wanted abundant artillery; he wanted officers and men experienced in the attack. and defence of fortified places. Colonel Jones, one of his most skilful engineers, says that his comrades in the Peninsular war were not more advanced in the art of taking towns than the soldiers of Philip II. To attack places by battering them in breach at a great distance, and then to hazard all in trusting to the bravery of the storming parties, who were unprotected by works, was the system pursued in the British armies. It was the

* Daniel, chap. ii. v. 33, 34. We quote the words of the prophet, not with the least reference to their theological interpretation, but as presenting a grand image of a sudden ruin, when the heterogeneous extremities of a gigantic fabric were shivered.

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SIEGE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO.

[1812.

system, says colonel Jones, of the sieges of the Low Countries, under the duke of Alba and the prince of Parma. We may add, that it was the system of the first siege by Englishmen in which we hear of cannon being used-that of Harfleur. Shakspere makes Henry exclaim—

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more."

The like cry might have gone through the ranks on those terrible nights when Craufurd led his division to the ramparts of Ciudad Rodrigo, and Picton scaled the walls of the castle of Badajoz.

Marmont had withdrawn a large portion of the garrison from Ciudad Rodrigo, in the confidence that Wellington would not move out of his quarters in an inclement season. The country was covered with snow. The means of transport were insufficient. The Despatches of our untiring general show how he was occupied in collecting carts, and ordering their loading with engineering stores and with shot and shells. His perplexities were great with Portuguese and Spanish carters and muleteers. "What do you think," he wrote to lord Liverpool, "of empty carts taking two days to go ten miles on a good road!"* At last, the preparations were complete. Part of Wellington's army passed the Agueda on the 8th of January. The same day Ciudad Rodrigo was invested; and an external redoubt on a hill was stormed and taken. On the 13th and 14th two convents outside the walls were surprised and carried by assault. Two breaches having been effected on the 19th, and Marmont being known to be advancing to relieve the garrison,orders were given to storm that evening. Wellington had arranged all the necessary dispositions for the assault. At seven o'clock three columns under the direction of general Picton, and a fourth column under general Craufurd, marched towards the breaches; whilst a false attack was made by the Portuguese brigade, commanded by general Pack, on the other side of the river. This became a real attack. Picton's division, which attacked on the north, where the chief breach had been made, was twice repulsed before it could penetrate into the town. Craufurd attacked the smaller breach, and was successful; but he was mortally wounded. General Mackinnon, who had led his brigade to the assault, was blown up by the explosion of one of the French magazines on the ramparts. In less than half an hour from the time of the attack the garrison surrendered. The capture of Ciudad Rodrigo was amongst the most brilliant actions of the British army. Their coolness and firmness overcame every obstacle presented by a brave and skilful enemy. It is painful to relate that the troops disgraced their victory by the most frightful excesses. They set fire to some houses; they sacked others with a pitiless fury. They were mad with excitement and with drink. In the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo a thousand of the British and Portuguese were killed and wounded.

In six weeks from the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, the army of the Allies was on its march southward from the Coa to the Guadiana. It would have been sooner on its march had the means of transport been more effective, and the roads more practicable. Time was of the utmost importance to Wellington,

"Despatches," vol. viii. p. 536.

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and secresy in his plans was not less important to be preserved. He was to attack a place for the deliverance of which three French armies might have been expected to co-operate. His own counsels were well kept; but he had to endure the most vexatious delays from the ignorance and obstinacy of the Portuguese authorities. At Evora he could not obtain a single carriage, and he was thus obliged to postpone the investment of Badajoz for several days beyond the term he had assigned. In the meantime, general Philippon, the French commander, had become aware of the approach of the allied army, and had applied himself to strengthen the works, and to prepare the most deadly means of defence. On the 16th of March, the Guadiana was crossed by Wellington, and Badajoz was invested. On the 26th the Pecurina, a strong fort in advance of Badajoz, was taken by storm. The Pecurina became a position for firing on the works of the town. Regular parallels were formed, and batteries were established to fire upon every assailable point. Forty-eight pieces of artillery were in constant play; and the sap against the outward works was steadily advancing. The corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was then being organized; but at Badajoz they had not assumed the dignity of that name, but were called "Royal Military Artificers."* There were of this corps only a hundred and fifteen, of all ranks, present at this siege. It was the 6th of April before three breaches were practicable, so as to justify the assault. On that evening eighteen thousand men were ready to march to the attack. The night set in dismally, as if to draw a curtain over the sanguinary deeds that were then to be done. The darkness was so great, that at ten o'clock, when the columns began to advance for an assault upon all points at once, they could not be seen at twenty paces distant. The men advanced, most of them with each a sack of hay on his back to throw into the ditch to diminish its height. Some carried ladders. They were at the foot of the glacis when a sudden explosion was succeeded by an avalanche of fiery missiles which descended into the ditch, where the English columns appeared to be in the midst of a volcano. Great was the destruction; but the undaunted men rallied, and again hurried to the breaches. Again they are encountered with bursting shells, hand grenades, and exploding powder barrels. The summit gained, they are met by a chevaux-de-frise formed of sabre blades. At each of the three breaches were the same terrible defences. At the breach of the bastion of the Trinity, the struggle endured for two hours, when three thousand of the besiegers were killed or disabled. One who was present has described "the horror and grandeur of the scene" during two hours: "The constant explosion of shells, mines, and trains of powder; the vivid illuminations caused by the light-balls thrown every five or ten minutes; the incessant peals of musketry and roar of cannon, added to the huzzas of our fine fellows, all united, formed a scene only to be compared to Pandemonium." At midnight Wellington was watching the terrible scene which was passing. His face was pale, when an officer came to inform him how ill the attack was proceeding. He was anxious, but he was cool. He calmly gave his orders that the troops should be formed again for a fresh assault. But another officer came to say

See Quartermaster Conolly's interesting history of the "Royal Sappers and Miners," 1857. "Supplementary Despatches," vol. vii. p. 311-Letter of Colonel Jones (then Major).

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[1812.

that the division under the orders of Picton, which had been charged to escalade the castle, had taken it. On another side Walker's brigade had also scaled the walls and entered the town. Again were the other divisions led to the attack of the breaches. The defence was feebly conducted after this reverse which the besieged had sustained. The French troops became disorganized. The British advanced to the breaches with the confidence of victory, and found that resistance had ceased. At six in the morning general Philippon capitulated; the garrison surrendering without conditions. The loss of the British and Portuguese was estimated at five thousand men.

"When the extent of the night's havoc was made known to lord Wellington, the firmness of his nature gave way for a moment, and the pride of conquest yielded to a passionate burst of grief for the loss of his gallant soldiers." * He had more still to endure. He had in some degree to be mixed up with the disgrace of the enormities which these soldiers committed, after the town was in their power, during two days and two nights. But there can be no doubt that he endeavoured to restrain their excesses, however ineffectually. On the day after the assault, he issued an Order which says, "It is now full time that the plunder of Badajoz should cease . . . . . The Commander of the Forces has ordered the Provost Marshal into the town, and he has orders to execute any men he may find in the act of plunder, after he shall arrive there." A Spanish historian, Count Toréno, says "the exhortations of the officers were powerless; and lord Wellington himself was menaced with the bayonets of the soldiers, who prevented him entering the place to

* Napier.