Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/456

Baird was unknown, and the commissariat had broken down. But the intrepidity of Baird and the ingenuity of Auchmuty, his adjutant-general, overcame all obstacles, and the army reached the Nile in safety. Baird then dropped down the river in boats, and joined General Hutchinson, who had succeeded Sir Ralph Abercromby, three days after the surrender of Cairo. The Indian troops were, however, in time to co-operate in the taking of Alexandria. After General Hutchinson's departure a dispute arose between Lord Cavan, who succeeded him, and General Baird, his junior by a few days, as to whether the Indian force should be combined with the English army, or be maintained as a separate force. The dispute was eventually settled by Baird's official appointment as second in command in Egypt. Baird's expedition had particularly caught the fancy of the English people; his march across the desert had something romantic in it; catchpenny lives of him with bad pictures, and harrowing accounts of his former imprisonment, were largely circulated, and he became a popular hero. But his actual rewards were not great; his dispute with Lord Cavan had excited the displeasure of the military authorities, and he was only made a knight of the Crescent by the sultan, and colonel of the 54th regiment by the king. He returned to India in 1802, was warmly received there, and given the command of the northern division of the Madras army. On the approach of the Mahratta war he prepared his division for active service; but when Major-general Arthur Wellesley received the most important command he perceived at last that he had no chance against the governor-general's brothers, and threw up his command in disgust. He then started for England, but on the way home was taken prisoner by a French privateer, and retaken before he reached France. He had, however, given his parole, and was formally exchanged with the French general Morgan.

On reaching England, after twenty-four years' nearly continuous absence in the East, he was received with enthusiasm by the people, and knighted by the king. He did not stop long at home, but in 1805 was promoted lieutenant-general, and ordered to command the army which was to recapture the Cape of Good Hope. He was particularly fitted for this task, as he knew the ground thoroughly from his former sojourn there as brigadier-general. The expedition left England in August 1805, and reached the Cape on 5 Jan. 1806. The operations there were extremely short. On Jan. 8 he defeated General Janssens, the Dutch general; on 10 Jan. Cape-town surrendered; and on 18 Jan. the Dutch general surrendered. But unfortunately Sir Home Popham, the commodore on the station, a restless ambitious man, persuaded Sir David to lend him a brigade under General Beresford, to assist in a filibustering expedition against Spanish South America. General Beresford himself was taken prisoner, and though General Auchmuty, who came out with reinforcements, had a temporary success in taking Monte Video, the utter failure of General Whitelocke made the ministry eager to find scapegoats. Baird was one scapegoat, and in July 1806 he received a curt letter informing him that his successor, as governor of the Cape, was on his way. In January 1807 he left the Cape in great indignation, but on reaching England he found that the ministry had been changed, and Baird was appeased by being at once appointed to the command of the first division in the great expedition then preparing to invade Denmark, and seize the Danish fleet, under Lord Cathcart. The expedition was a simple one; but the bombardment of Copenhagen was under the immediate supervision of the first division, and during it Sir David was wounded in two places. On his return he was removed from the colonelcy of the 54th to that of the 24th regiment, which had two battalions, and told he might expect a more important command. In September 1808 he sailed from Cork with 10,000 men, to reinforce Moore's army in Spain, and to take up the appointment of second in command. He reached Corunua on 8 Oct., and at once detached General Mackenzie to reinforce Cradock at Lisbon. The Spanish authorities at Corunna would not allow him to land, and sent him to Vigo, whence he was sent back to Corunna. At last, on 19 Oct., he was allowed to land one brigade, but did not get his whole army ashore till '22 Oct. He then advanced towards Moore as he had been ordered, and reached Astorga on 19 Nov. There he waited, while Moore remained at Salamanca, until at last Baird was directed by Moore to move on Villa Franca. Fortunately he did not march till 4 Dec, for on 7 Dec. he was ordered to retreat on Corunna. On 20 Dec. the two armies met at Mayorga, and the terrible retreat was continued. Baird's troops were not in good condition, and whether it was that Baird had lost his vigour or was not a good general of retreats, there can be no doubt that his men straggled very much, and that their discipline was very poor compared with that of the reserve, who had to fight a battle nearly every day. At last Corunna was reached, and as the ships were not there a pitched battle was inevitable. Baird was to command the right wing, but he was not long in the field,