532

WELLINGTON RETIRES WITHIN HIS LINES.

[1810

something. Thiers holds that the British general, however prudent, was unwilling to enter his lines as a fugitive, and that, when he should find one of those strong positions against which the impetuous bravery of the French would be likely to fail, he would fight a defensive battle, and then tranquilly retire.* The French lost four thousand five hundred men; the British and Portuguese, thirteen hundred.

On the 29th of September the allies, crossing the Mondego, began to retreat towards Lisbon. The sufferings of the inhabitants of a country in which two hostile armies are contending, and where the necessity for securing their own safety almost precludes compassion for the non-combatants, were never more forcibly displayed than in the course of the movements which followed the fall of Almeida. When the rear-guard of the British evacuated Coimbra, on the 1st of October, many of the inhabitants, who had remained— whilst Wellington was keeping the French at bay in the Serra de Busaco, instead of obeying his orders to remove out of the way of the enemy with their goods and provisions-now followed the army, encumbering the road with their sick and their aged and their children. But the great mass of the population in the line of the English march willingly obeyed the orders upon which the eventual safety of their homes depended, and fled towards Lisbon, leaving the towns and villages bare for the advancing French. Their losses and miseries were great; but England made a great effort to afford some compensation. Wellington continued steadily to retreat before his powerful opponent. There was no sacrifice of men by precipitate flight, no risks encountered by rash resistance. The loss in skirmishes was small. On the 10th of October, the whole army was within the lines of Torres Védras. Massena came up, wholly unprepared to find such an obstacle to his further progress. He spent some days in reconnoitring. scoured the country for provisions; but the country was a desert, behind him and around him. The distresses of his army were most severe, for they had only carried bread for fifteen days. On the 15th of November he gave up all hope of forcing the lines; and began a retrograde movement. On the 8th of December, Wellington wrote one of his unofficial letters, which best exhibits his character and habits of thought: "I have determined to persevere in my cautious system; to operate upon the flanks and rear of the enemy with my small and light troops, and thus force them out of Portugal by the distresses they will suffer, and do them all the mischief I can upon my retreat. Massena is an old fox, and is as cautious as I am. He risks nothing . . . . Although I may not win a battle immediately, I shall not lose one; and you may depend upon it that we are safe, or the winter at all events." +

"Le Consulat et l'Empire," tome xii. p. 365. +"Supplementary Despatches" vol. vii. p. 2.