Portuguese Army

“ Sir J. Cradock to Mr. Frere, February 27, 1809.
“I fear that your excellency is led to entertain a more favourable notion of the efficacy of the Portuguese army than, in any shape, it is entitled. In short, my opinion is that they want every thing that constitutes a respectable force, except about ten thousand English arms. I believe they have no others. Many of their cavalry regiments are without horses, without swords, pistols, &c. Their battalions are not clothed; and, as to subsistence, they live at free quarters upon the villages where they are stationed. ”

“ When the combined British and Portuguese army moved from Lisbon to the north of Portugal to expel Marshal Soult from Oporto, the Eighty-Eighth was one of the regiments attached to the Portuguese army under Marshal Beresford, destined to act upon the Upper Douro and in the province of Tras os Montes, and intercept the retreat of the French. ”

“ If the British army sets out with the declared object to succour Oporto, or expel the enemy, the impression on the public mind is the same; nothing but the accomplishment will suit the English character; and I [516] confess that the best reasoning of my judgement, upon every public and private principle, for the credit of the British army, and the hope of any effectual assistance from the Portuguese nation is, that the British troops should never make one retrograde step: from that moment I will date the extinction of all Portuguese aid, military as well as civil. ”

“ It was only the public expressions of the English prince and his ministers that could do justice. The Portuguese army was commanded by Marshal Beresford, Marquis of Campo Mayor. It ought always to be [304] so considered and thanked accordingly for its exploits, and with as much form and solemnity by the English parliament and general as was used towards the Spanish army. The more so that the Portuguese had sacrificed their national pride to the common good, whereas the Spanish pride had retarded the success of the cause and the liberty of Europe. ”

“ Portugal, at this juncture, deserted by her government and by her pitiful king, who fled to Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, fell easily into the power of a French army, under Marshal Junot, who was thereupon created Duke of Abrantes, a town on the Portuguese frontier.
All Europe cried aloud at these lawless proceedings, and the Spaniards, so long our enemies, with our old allies the Portuguese, were alike filled with fury and resentment. The peasantry flew to arms, and the provinces became filled by bands of guerillas, brave but reckless ”

“ Of course, there is no end more laudable than that of winning the affection and confidence of the inhabitants of Portugal. But do not forget that the safety of the French army is the first thing. Disarm the Portuguese: keep an eye on the disbanded soldiers, lest reckless leaders should get hold of them and make them into the nucleus of rebel bands.... Lisbon is an inconveniently large place: it is too populous, and its people cannot help being hostile to you. Keep your troops outside it, in cantonments along the sea-front’: and so forth [167] . ”

“ At this moment although all the corps are concentrated in the neighbourhood of their magazines, with means of transport, easy, by the Tagus, the Portuguese troops are frequently in want of provisions because there is no money to pay the expense of transport, and all the departments of the Portuguese army, including the hospitals, are equally destitute of funds to enable them to defray the necessary expenditure, and to perform their duty. ”

“ England was paying large subsidies towards keeping up the Portuguese army, which was commanded by Lord Beresford, having under him many British officers. The Portuguese troops were hardy, obedient, and far braver than the Spaniards; but difficulties often arose in keeping the army together, because the Portuguese Government, although England was paying the principal expenses of the army, yet starved their soldiers, and often kept them for months without pay. ”

“ It is an open frontier, all equally rugged, but all equally to be penetrated. If the French succeed in Spain it will be vain to attempt to resist them in Portugal. The Portuguese are without a military force ... no dependence can be placed on any aid that they can give. The British must in that event, I conceive, immediately take steps to evacuate the country. Lisbon is the only port, and therefore the only place from whence the army, with its stores, can embark.... We might check the progress of the enemy while the stores are embarking, and arrangements are being made for taking off the army. ”

“ It will be remembered that he had always declared that any attack on Portugal would be regarded as a sufficient cause for the entrance of England into the war. The French troops still occupied Spain, and in the civil war which was continued in that country the royalists had been joined by several regiments of the Portuguese army. In spite of urgent demands and repeated promises that these deserting troops should be disbanded, they were allowed, if not encouraged, by the Spanish royalists to make inroads into constitutional Portugal. ”

“ CHAPTER XIX PORTUGUESE INSTITUTIONS The Portuguese army is raised by conscription, each parish, according to size, having to contribute an annual quota of young men between twenty and twenty-one years of age. These have to serve three consecutive years with the colours, and then pass into the reserve for another ten years. During the latter period no conscript can leave the country without a passport. In time of peace the army is supposed to number about thirty thousand men, and on the war footing should consist of about one hundred and twenty thousand men and two hundred and sixty-four guns. ”

“ Notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, the King of Portugal resolved to adhere to his ancient alliance with Great Britain; and in consequence of this decision, France and Spain declared war against him. A powerful Spanish army assembled on the frontiers, and threatened to crush the Portuguese, when a military force, with artillery, arms, stores, provisions, and money, was furnished by Great Britain to assist its faithful ally; and the SIXTY-SEVENTH, which had returned with the expedition from the coast of France, was one of the regiments selected for service in Portugal. ”

“ Both sir Arthur Wellesley and sir John Moore advanced from Portugal to aid the Spanish armies. The first general commanded twenty-five thousand, the last twenty thousand men; but there was this difference: that, in 1808, Portugal was so disorganised as to require a British force to keep down anarchy; whereas, in 1809, Portugal formed a good base of operations, and a Portuguese army was acting in conjunction with the British. ”

“ The difficulty of creating a Portuguese army lay not with the men but with the officers, who had sunk so low in the estimation of the country, of themselves, and of their men, as to be little superior to the degrading and menial offices, (as when La Lippe arrived in 1792,) they once filled, of servants in the houses of the nobility.151 No cause of improvement had offered itself since those disgraceful times, which had naturally placed them on terms of the greatest familiarity and equality with their men. ”

“ The Portuguese peasantry were strong and robust, and by nature courageous, and needed only the discipline--that they could not receive from their own officers--to turn them into valuable troops. According to the law of the country every man was liable for service, and had the corrupt Junta been dismissed, and full power been given to the British, an army of 250,000 men might have been placed in the field for the defence of the country, with a proper supply of arms and money. ”

“ The existing Army of Portugal dates from the Peninsular War, when a considerable force of Portuguese, at one time exceeding 60,000 men, was organized under Marshal Beresford. Trained and partly officered by English officers, it proved itself not unworthy of its allies, and bore its full share in the series of campaigns and battles by which the French were ultimately expelled from Spain. At the peace the army numbered about 50,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry, formed on the English model, and all in the highest state of efficiency. ”

“ Yet he had 60,000 men, of whom 30,000 were English, including General Spencer’s divisions just drawn in from the north, 14,000 Portuguese, and 16,000 Spaniards; there were 5,000 cavalry among them. It is vexatious that no general action could take place: our success would not be doubtful. But we may hope that another occasion may present itself, especially if the Army of Portugal continues to keep in touch with the Army of the South, and communicates with it, as it is now doing. ”

“ The policy of the Portuguese faction in power, was—now that the squadron had expelled the fleet and army of the mother country—to conciliate their countrymen who remained, and thus to create and maintain an influence which should reduce the Imperial authority to the smallest possible dimensions. The first object—if I could be brought to acquiesce—was to restore Portuguese property, captured by Imperial order, and now the right of the captors—my connivance being supposed to be procurable by offers of personal enrichment! ”

“ After reposing a short period in quarters, the regiment marched for Bordeaux; and at Bazas the Portuguese brigade, which had long served with the sixth division, was separated from it to return to Portugal; a feeling of respect for these brave companions in [45] war pervaded all ranks of the British army: many reciprocal acts of kindness had marked the estimation in which the soldiers of the British and Portuguese armies held each other. ”

“ Of the vessels of war we took possession, giving to the officers and men, the option of entering the service of Brazil, or accepting the conditions conceded to the army.
As the Brazilian people will naturally be interested in all that led to the completion of the integrity of the empire, the terms granted to the Portuguese garrison are subjoined. ”

“ He desired that this fortress should be composed of three concentric enclosures, defended by cannon, and large enough to contain not only his army and the Portuguese allies—comprising the regular troops, the militia and Ordenanzas—but the whole available population of the Southern provinces of Portugal, with their harvests, their cattle and their provisions, so that the country surrounding Lisbon should offer no resource whatever to the invaders. ”

“ The field-strength of the Portuguese regular forces should have been, according to its establishments, 56,000 men. In September 1809 there were only 42,000 men with the colours [173] , and of these much more than half were recruits, who had recently been thrust into the depleted cadres of the old army. There were many regiments which had been practically destroyed by the French, and which showed, when Beresford first marched out to the frontier, only 200 or 300 men instead of their normal [p. 172] 1,500 [174] . Many others had less than half their complement. ”

“ Yet another expedition brought the British face to face with their new enemy on more familiar ground than Luzon. The Spaniards, on the pretext of Portuguese friendship with England, in April invaded Portugal, overran the country as far as the Douro from the north, and threw another force against Almeida from the east. The injured kingdom appealed to England for help; and in May orders were sent to Belleisle for the despatch [546] of four regiments of infantry, [394] together with the detachment of the Sixteenth Light Dragoons, to Portugal. ”

“ Stuart’s exertions had produced some improvement in the Portuguese revenue; the ranks of the infantry were again filling by the return of deserters, and by fresh recruits, which, with the reinforcements from England had raised the actual number of the allied army to upwards of eighty thousand men, fifty-six thousand of which were British; the number under arms did not however exceed twenty-four thousand Portuguese and thirty-three thousand British, of whom five thousand were cavalry, with about ninety pieces of artillery. ”

“ For a few days the Portuguese militia under Colonel Trant and the Spaniards under the Marquis de la Romana were constantly kept to guard our flanks. In this way the main body, by different roads, retreated in good order for twenty or thirty miles a day, most of the inhabitants leaving their homes and property and falling back in thousands before us, rich and poor, men, women, and children, carrying little with them beyond the clothing on their backs, and halting and bivouacking in the open fields, a short distance before us, whenever the army halted for the night. ”

“ They have three Corps d’Armée, viz.: Junot, Ney, and Regnier’s, which is opposed to Genl. Hill to the Southward. Their force he supposes to be 60 to 70,000, very sick and discontented. Much will depend on their first sweep, but if the Portuguese troops fulfil the promise they give at present, he has no doubt they shall give them a good licking. Ld. Wellington’s Hd. Qrs. were at Celorico. The front of the allied army extended from Pinhel to Guarda. Adv. gd. at Gallegos, 2 leagues from C. Rodrigo and the advanced Picket at Marialva, close to the French outposts. I saw Col. Ross yesterday. ”

“ My notion was that the Portuguese military establishment ought to be revived, and that in addition to those troops His Majesty ought to employ about 20,000 British troops, including about 4,000 cavalry. My opinion was that, even if Spain should have been conquered, the French would not be able to overrun Portugal with a smaller force than 100,000 men. ”

“ The conduct of the Portuguese Troops during the whole Siege, and under very trying circumstances, has been most exemplary, particularly their Artillery, which is really very good. It is difficult to say which troops, the British or Portuguese, are the most indifferent to danger. ”