IV. CHAP. leaving General Lefebvre Desnouettes and seventy prisoners in the hands of the victors, besides sixty killed and wounded. The entire casualties of the British were only fifty men.* 1808. 8. march to Corunna, After this affair the army continued its retreat; and Disastrous the British troops, little inured as yet to hardship, and unaccustomed to retreat before the enemy, became in great part reckless and insubordinate, and the national vice of intoxication appeared in its most frightful colours. Proportionally arduous was the duty of the rearguard, the cavalry of which was under General Stewart, who was charged at once with the task of repelling the enemy and that of collecting and forcing on the numerous isolated men who had left their ranks, and, in great part in a state of drunkenness, overspread the rear. Indefatigable were his efforts during this calamitous retreat to preserve order and repel the enemy; and he was admirably seconded by the troops under his command, especially the German horsemen, who exhibited the steadiness and orderly habits for which the troopers of Germany are so celebrated. But the condition of the army soon became so calamitous, that no efforts of the rearguard or their gallant commander could avert the most grievous losses. Upon the cavalry of the rearguard, which was incessantly in motion, from daybreak to nightfall, following the troops or reclaiming stragglers, the hardships of the retreat fell with double force. Horses broke down at every step; and it was a piteous thing to see these noble animals sinking under their riders, or lying on the ground unable to rise even at the well-known voices of their masters. General Stewart was engaged in a sharp affair of the rearguard near Cacabelos, in which, after at first gaining some success, the French cavalry were at length repulsed with heavy loss, by some companies of the 95th Rifles,' supported by the pickets of the Jan. 3. 1 Lond. i. 264-267. The gallant conduct of General Stewart and the 18th Hussars on this occasion was specially noticed in the general orders of April 9, 1814. hussars. After this the country became so rocky that cavalry were of no further use, and they were all sent to Lugo, where they awaited the assembling of the army, as Sir John Moore had resolved to give battle there. CHAP. IV. 1809. 9. the retreat. Thither, accordingly, the troops by degrees arrived, but dreadfully harassed by the forced marches which were Horrors of made before reaching that place, some of which were as much as forty miles on a stretch in a single day and night. "The men," says Lord Londonderry, "dropped down by whole sections on the wayside and died, some with curses, others with the voice of prayer, in their mouths." Of the women who followed the army, "some were taken in labour on the road; and in the open air, amidst showers of sleet and snow, gave birth to infants who, with their mothers, perished as soon as they had seen the light. Others, carrying perhaps each of them two children on their backs, would toil on, and when they came to look to the condition of their precious burdens, they would find one or both frozen to death. I am well aware that the horrors of this retreat have been again and again described, in terms calculated to freeze the blood of such as read them; but I have no hesitation in saying that the most harrowing accounts which have yet been laid before the public fall short of the reality. The resources of the army wasted away at every mile. First, whole waggon-loads of clothing, arms, shoes, and other necessaries, which had just arrived from England for the purpose of refitting Romana's army, were met, and after the men had helped themselves to those articles of which they stood most in need, the residue was destroyed. Next, two bullock-carts, loaded with dollars to the amount of £25,000, were found to be immovable. The casks which contained the money were stove in, and the treasure thrown from the road over a precipice. Everything was now done as if our case was absolutely desperate, and as if the utmost that could be expected, or even desired, was to escape with our persons at the expense of the IV. 1808. CHAP. island was still smarting under the wounds received, and agitated by the passions awakened, during the Rebellion of 1798, and the outbreak in Dublin in 1803. As his known firmness and resolution of character had procured for him in perilous times this important situation, so the mingled steadiness of his administration, and courtesy of his manners, secured to him during the whole time that he held it which was till the Peninsular war broke out in 1808-the respect and regard of all classes of the community. This period of his life was signalised by an event of great importance. During his residence at the Castle of Dublin he became intimate with the Earl of Darnley's family, and on the 8th August 1808 he was married to an elegant and accomplished lady, Lady Catherine Bligh, fourth daughter of that nobleman, by whom he had a son, who afterwards became the fourth Lord Londonderry. 4. But more stirring times were approaching; and the First opera- trumpet of war, which sent forth a loud blast from the tions in Por- Spanish peninsula, called Colonel Stewart alike from his tugal. pacific duties and the endearments of home to more animating dangers in the field. No sooner had Government determined on sending out an expedition to Portugal than he relinquished his high situation in Ireland, and proceeded to that country with the force commanded by Sir John Moore, in which he had obtained the command of a brigade of hussars. The armament to which he was attached, which consisted of ten thousand men, was the second, in order of time, which sailed from the British shore, and proceeded to Mondego Bay, there to await orders from Sir Hew Dalrymple, who was the Commanderin-Chief. Adverse winds, however, rendered landing there impossible at that time; and as it was of the highest importance that the latter should be informed as soon as possible of the approach of so powerful a reinforcement, Sir John Moore looked anxiously round for an officer upon whose spirit and steadiness he could rely to carry the information. His choice fell upon Colonel Stewart, who forthwith set out on his mission, which was not a little perilous, as the intervening country was for the most part inundated with the enemy's light troops. It was performed, however, with perfect success. The first part of the journey was made in a frigate when it neared the shore he got into an open boat, which landed him with no small difficulty at the village of St Nazarath, at a considerable distance from the British headquarters. Thither the journey had to be performed on foot; but after undergoing great fatigue, and surmounting severe hardships, he reached the place of his destination, four days after the battle of Vimeira had rendered the approach of the succour, in the mean time at least, of comparatively little importance. CHAP. IV. 1808. 5. into Spain After this, Colonel Stewart remained with the army in Portugal, of which, after the recall of Sir Harry His advance Burrard, and the return of Sir Arthur Wellesley on leave with Sir to give evidence on the convention of Cintra, Sir John John Moore, Moore assumed the command. An advance into Spain having been resolved on to support the movements of the Spanish armies, which after their surprising successes were converging in pursuit of the French towards the Ebro, Colonel, now Major-General, Stewart was attached to the division which, under the command of Sir John Hope, afterwards Earl of Hopeton, advanced towards Madrid. Major-General Stewart with his brigade of hussars covered the advance of the column; and the arrangements were made with such foresight and judgment that the troops arrived at Navalcarnero, within twenty miles of Madrid, little fatigued, in the best order and in the highest spirits. The general point of rendezvous for the army was Salamanca, in the vicinity of which it was expected the decisive blow would be struck. Thither, accordingly, after leaving Navalcarnero, Hope's division proceeded by the road of the Escurial, General Stewart with his hussars still covering the advance. The VOL. I. X IV. 1808. CHAP. junction with the main body at Salamanca having been effected, Sir John Moore, after considerable hesitation, determined to advance. Whilst forming the advanced guard, General Stewart came with his brigade of cavalry upon a French detachment lying at Rueda, between Tordesillas and Nava, which he succeeded in surprising, and where he took a large supply of cotton. On entering Villapondo he again surprised a French major of cavalry, who was proceeding with an escort to join his regiment, and, with his followers, was made prisoner. 6. actions near The army, 25,000 strong, having made a forward Gallant movement on Sahagun, threatened the communications of Sahagun, the French army. The greatest enthusiasm for a brief and retreat period pervaded the British troops. In several skirtowards mishes between the cavalry of the British and that of Dec. 1808. the French, the superiority of the former was strikingly of the army Galicia. 1 evinced, particularly on the 20th December, when Lord Paget defeated a considerable body of the French hussars, and made a hundred and fifty-seven prisoners. But as it was known that Napoleon in person was hastening at the head of 50,000 men from Madrid, across the Guadarama Pass, to attack them in flank and threaten their rear, while Soult with 18,000 lay in their front, this bold line of action was of necessity abandoned; and, to the infinite mortification of the soldiers, orders were given to retreat towards Galicia. General Stewart with his brigade of hussars, consisting of the 10th, 18th, and 8th German dragoons, were intrusted with the arduous duty of covering the rear, and they were soon brought in contact with the very best horsemen in the French army, London consisting of the cavalry of the Imperial Guard, which had come up with the Emperor in person. This brought on a most brilliant cavalry action near Benavente, in which General Stewart particularly distinguished himself.1 derry's Peninsular War, i. 250254. The rearguard had halted for the night in the little town of that name, under the shadow of the magnificent 'old castle, second to none in Europe, which it contains, |