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been so glorious, and the victories so splendid, that Sir Arthur Wellesley was now created a peer, with the style and titles of Viscount Wellington of Talaveira and Baron Douro of Oporto. From this period until the summer of the following year, no movement of importance appears to have been made: each party acting upon the defensive, were occupied in laying foundations for future struggles, The British General Beresford having been appointed Marshal and Commander-in-chief of the Portuguese army, in concert with Lord Wellington augmented its numbers, improved its discipline, and, in the sequel, brought into the field, in defence of the country, almost all the Portuguese nation. British officers by special permission were appointed to commands therein, and an auxiliary force of 20,000 men entered into the pay of England. The barriers on our side were thus gaining strength, when early in the summer of 1810, a French army of 80,000 men, under the command of Marshal Massena, and named by Buonaparte "The Army of Portugal," began its march for the avowed purpose of

planting the imperial French eagles upon the walls of Lisbon. Generals Wellington and Beresford now assembled their forces on the frontiers of Castile, near to Ciudad Rodrigo, which fortress had a Spanish garrison: this place was immediately besieged, and at the end of forty days fell. Massena then advanced, took Almeida also, and forcing his way into Portugal, carried murder and devastation in whatever direction his legions moved. The allied forces retreating through the mountains by Celorico, Pinhances, Galizes, &c. on the 27th of September were posted upon the Sierras de Busaco, near Coimbra, where a severe action was fought, and the enemy repulsed in all his attacks with dreadful loss. Lord Wellington, however, pursuant to the plan of operations he had adopted, withdrew the army from Busaco, and continued his retreat, pursued by the French, to the fortified lines of Torres Vedras, near Lisbon, where the British army arrived in the month of October 1810; at which period the ensuing Narrative commences,

Journal of an Officer.

JOURNAL

OF

AN OFFICER

Serving under

His Grace the DUKE of WELLINGTON, K. G.

&c. &c. &c.

IN

PORTUGAL, SPAIN, FRANCE,

AND THE

NETHERLANDS.

Falmouth, Nov. 1, 1810.

HAVING received from the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury an appointment upon the Commissariat Staff of the Army serving in Portugal, with orders to proceed to that country, I left London on the evening of the 30th of October for Falmouth, and arrived there the following af

ternoon.

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