Journal of the Eighty-third Regiment.

whereas the harbour of Lisbon being more centrical, the like misfortune did not befal the merchants of that city.

As far as the eye can reach, convents and villages diversify the southern bank of the river, while the groves and gardens which surround those structures have a charming effect, and greatly enhance the beauty of the prospect. The Douro, in regard to width and depth, cedes to no river in Portugal, except the Tagus. Near Oporto it winds through a valley enclosed by two immense mountains, and will admit brigs of 200 tons burthen to lie alongside the quays; but larger vessels anchor a quarter of a league lower down, while the great Brasil men discharge their cargoes in the roadstead. About 350 vessels enter the harbour annually, nearly one third of which are English. The borders of the river on the north-west side afford an agreeable promienade, rendered lively by the shipping on the one hand, and on the other by a great number of streamlets, which fall in cascades down the rocks, and lose themselves among the moss, which, continually sprinkled with fresh water, bears a delightful verdure. On the opposite side of this majestic river an immense mountain terminates the prospect, and affords a scene no less picturesque than contrasting with the trading view of the harbour. Gardens, villas, convents, wine stores, &c. of every form and size, appear in lively and pleasing perspective, for the taste of the English merchants for countryhouses, gardens, &c. has taken deep root at Oporto, notwithstanding bad tenures and gardeners, while the deep green leafed woods, speckled with white houses, accord with the rocky scenery in forming many charming landscapes.

Towards the coast the mountains end suddenly in a formidable ridge of rocks, and though the country flattens towards the mouth of the river, the shore has still a bold sweep. Some of the shoals which render the entry to the river so narrow and dangerous are visible above water, and during the equinoctial seasons, the surf beats over them, as well as on the whole coast, with great violence. Indeed the harbour of Oporto itself is, perfectly open to the sea, and when the winds blow strongly, a tremendous swell rolls over the bar, and breaks in waves mountains high.

The climate of Oporto is said to be damp and heavy in winter, on account of the mountains and forests which surround it, and although much colder than many spots more northwards, it seldom freezes any length of time. The summer heat on the contrary is excessive, both in the town and adjacent vallies, because the situation is such as to be exposed to the ardour of the noon-day sun. The ground, though carefully tilled, is not very productive; the major part of the oranges eaten here, or exported hence, are brought either from Braga or Barcellos; the wines come from the upper part of the Douro: in fact, the productions sent to England from this port, are not all grown in the immediate neighbourhood, but transmitted from the adjacent districts.

The character of the people seems more amiable in this province than

Journal of the Eighty-third Regiment.

southwards; at all events it coincides much better with the ideas and wishes of a Briton. Perhaps gratitude for the recent victory, and delivery from their enemies, inspired warmer expressions of regard; and, being better acquainted with our national character, and more accustomed to an intercourse with Englishmen, their friendship was sincere, and their hospitable reception. of us not prompted merely by interested views. It is but charitable to hope, that the latter was the true motive, and that the sentiments they uttered were those of the heart.

At Oporto, as at Lisbon, the Gallicians are the chief labourers. In this city it is thought there are not less than 7000 constantly employed: and throughout the kingdom of Portugal, political economists suppose no less a number than 50,000 of those industrious men are to be found.

The houses at Oporto being built of a light-coloured stone, when viewed from a distance, have a clean and agreeable appearance. The churches are massy and extensive buildings, but destitute both of elegance and regularity: the materials, however, are excellent, and the stone-work well put together. Great sums have been expended on ornamenting the interior, but the altar pieces are more famous for quantity of gilding, than for elegance of design. Had the general hospital been completed, it would have proved the largest civil building in Oporto, but though twenty-five years have already elapsed since its first foundation, only a small part of one of the wings is roofed: the remainder of its shell is hardly raised a few feet from the ground, and the foundations were laid in such an improper place, that the architect was obliged to have huge walls raised to support the weight of the structure intended to be built. The barracks, capable of holding 500 infantry, are on an eminence towards the north-west part of the city; they consist of three rows of small clean apartments, in front of which is an extensive parade, and the whole is encompassed with a stone wall. The British factory is a fine lofty stone building, the ground floor of which serves as an exchange, and the centre as a ball-room, being nearly 60 feet long, by full 30 feet broad. The wipe stores are also deserving notice, one of them is in length 140 feet, and in breadth 90 feet; the inside is divided into three parts, by two rows of stone pillars.

Villa Nova, as before said, directly opposite to Oporto, is a considerable and populous town, inhabited by the lower classes, whereas the rich more generally live in Oporto itself. Between Villa Nova and Gaya, on a small plain along the banks of the river, are the immense magazines in which the wine intended for exportation is kept. The monastery of the Serra, on a high, aud (from the river) a very steep cliff, completes the view towards the south-east. Gaya and Villa Nova may together contain 4 or 5000 houses. The army having returned to Oporto, whither it was now soon to move south for another expedition, perhaps I may be allowed to make a few observations on the campaign so happily terminated, and consider whether some circumstances were not neglected, which, if proper attention had been paid

Marshals of France.-Augereau

them, might have rendered the success more brilliant, and the consequences more eminently beneficial to the cause of the peninsula.

I have already (page 140, vol. 4) stated the advantages which the posses sion of Oporto gave the enemy. I will now add, that the attack, as framed, at Coimbra, was bold, necessary, political, and wise: circumstances, however, occurred, which diminished my admiration; and I do not see that such regularity and correctness existed in the movements of the army as I had hoped from the preparations would have been secured. In the execution, therefore, of the plan, I do not feel that satisfaction which, at the outset, I had expected to derive from the measures adopted by Sir Arthur Wellesley. (To be continued.)

LIVES OF THE MARSHALS OF FRANCE.

AUGEREAU.

(Concluded from page 92.)

BUONAPARTE, in several of his dispatches, mentioned him with very particular distinction, and chose him to be bearer to the directory of all the banners taken from the Austrians in the battles preceding the capture of Mantua. They were delivered on the 28th of February 1797. Augereau on all occasions displayed the greatest ability as a general of division, but the prevalent opinion was, that his want of information and of extensive views rendered him unfit for a commander-in-chief: nevertheless, on the 9th of August following, he was appointed commander of the 17th military division at Paris, in the room of General Hatry, an employment, which, considering the intestine commotions then on the point of breaking out, was equi valent to a chief command. It should indeed be said, that since the aggrandizement of its own power was all the directory expected from the contest already begun between itself and the legislative body called the faction of Clichi, it required an instrument rather than a leader, for which reason Hoche, to whom the secret of the important measures had been confided at first, but whose undaunted spirit terrified and thwarted the views of the triumvirate, was sent speedily to the Rhine, and succeeded by Augereau. Mathieu Dumas, though of the opposite party, pronounced, in the council of elders, a brilliant and very judicious panegyric on the companion of Buonaparte's glories. Till the decisive day, Augereau behaved with moderation, he disapproved the insults levelled at the costumes, and principally at the black collars, and declared his respect for the laws, and the constituted authorities. But these authorities were the directors; the Clichiens were not deceived, and as soon as the appointed bour was come, Augereau executed the commands of the directory. The events succeeding the 18th Fructidor

Marshals of France.—Augereau.

are well known; the decimated legislative body banished the conquered, and congratulated Augereau as the saviour of his country; he perhaps expected a more solid recompence, and it has been said, that the place of one of the two ex-directors was promised to him. He was at least ranked among the candidates; but other schemes had before filled up the vacancies with Merlin de Douay and François de Neufchateau. Augereau, deceived in his expectation, is said to have complained like a soldier, and to have ventured to threa‐ ten the triumvirate, who hastened to remove him. On the death of Hoche, about the end of September 1797, he was appointed general-in-chief of the army of the Rhine and Moselle, and of Sambre and Meuse. When at Cologn he directed the attention of the magistrates to the emigrants and the priests, and was said to have displayed a pomp which made a ridiculous contrast with his defects in manners, proceeding from a want of early education. In the course of the winter he was in an underhand manner accused of a wish, notwithstanding the peace, to revolutionize Suabia; and the Rédacteur, an official journal, published an anonymous letter, stating that a correspondence, in the nature of that taken from the port-folio of d'Antraigues, the agent of Louis XVIII. was carrying on at Strasburg against Reubell and Buonaparte, under the auspices of Angerean. All this betokened that the last directorial recompence would speedily be conferred on the conqueror of Fructidor; and indeed he was soon recalled from the banks of the Rhine, and made comman der of the 10th military division at Perpignan, under pretence of an expedition against Portugal. Being in 1799 appointed deputy from Haute Garonne to the council of five hundred, be resigned his empty command to accept this new office, and was elected secretary of his council at the meeting on the 20th June, a sort of consolation for the remembrances of the 18th Fructidor; since at that precise time the councils, by a weak effort of revolutionary victory, drove Merlin from the directory. When, on the 14th of September following, Jourdan proposed to declare the country in danger, Augereau seconded him, and dwelt much on the urgency and importance of affairs. The motion was rejected, but the fear of some change in the state continuing, not without reason, to agitate a part of the council, Augereau declared, that the general of the 18th Fructidor would lose his head (he made use, it has been said, of an expression still more energetic) before his colleagues should be injured. It was soon after remarked, that he was absent from the dinner given to Buonaparte by the council, in the church of St. Sulpice; but the rumour to which this circumstance gave rise must have died away, when on the 18th Frimaire, Augereau having been informed that Buonaparte commanded at the Thuileries, went to him, and embracing him, made an offer of his services, uttering some words which have been variously repeated, but the sense of which was, that surely Buonaparte would not do any thing for the republic, without permitting Augereau to contribute to it. The next day he did not appear at the meeting at St. Cloud, to take an oath of fidelity to the constitu tion before the five hundred, and when some of his colleagues called on' him VOL. IV. NO. 23. 22

Itinerary from Gibraltar to Granada and Ronda.

to join them, he declared that he would not stain his glory. When Buonaparte was consul, he sent Augereau to command the army of Holland; and arriving at the Hague on the 26th of January 1800, he was received with honour by the Batavian directory, and intrusted with the command of the forces of that republic in the approaching campaign. The same year he went to the Lower Rhine, at the head of the Gallo-Batavian army, destined to second the operations of Moreau; and advancing beyond Frankfort, had several engagements with the Austrian general Kalkreut, with various success, but which were speedily terminated by the victory at Hohenlinden. He returned to Batavia, and was succeeded by General Victor in October 1801, from which time till 1803, he remained unemployed, living quietly on a very fine estate which he had purchased near Melun. But on the breaking out of fresh hostilities with England, Augereau was appointed to the command of the army assembled at Bayonne.

He arrived at Bourdeaux on the 24th of December 1803, and assumed the command of the army destined against Portugal; but this expedition not having taken place, he returned to Paris, was raised to the dignity of marsha} of the empire, on the 19th of May 1804; shortly after, appointed chief of the 5th cohort of the legion of honour; and on the 1st of February 1805, decorated with the red ribbon, as grand officer. In the month of July in the samne year, the King of Spain created him knight of the order of Charles III. He afterwards went to take the command of the army of Brest, destined for an expedition against England, and at the end of 1805, he commanded a body of the great army of Germany, formed of the troops that had been long assembled at Brest under his orders. He passed the Rhine at Huningue, defeated the Austrian body under the command of Wolfskehl, on the eastern bank of the lake of Constance; afterwards drove him from all his positions, and took possession of Lindau and Bregentz. He contributed to the various successes which brought on the peace of Presburg; soon after received orders to turn back towards Franconia, went and established his beadquarters at Harmstadt, then at Frankfort; and in March, in the same year, seized the territory of Wetzlaer and the surrounding places, by order of the French governinent.

ITINERARY FROM GIBRALTAR TO GRANADA, AND THENCE TO RONDA.

In the Year 1810.

WE left Gibraltar late in the afternoon, in the month of January 1810, and reached St. Roque before it was dark, where we found a posada, equalling in comfort an English inn. It is the resort of officers from Gibraltar, who make excursions into Spain; and the host has learned to accommodate bis , house to his visitors; for which he takes care to make a due charge.