Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/182

 , would be discouraged if his troops remained on board ship, and he expected to be soon reinforced. On the 30th he learnt that five thousand men were on their way from England, that ten thousand under Sir John Moore would follow that the whole army was to be commanded by Sir Hew Dalrymple, and that he himself would be fourth instead of first. 'I hope that I shall have beat Junot before any of them shall arrive, and then they will do as they please with me,' he wrote to the Duke of Richmond (Suppl. Desp. 1 Aug.)

The disembarkation was not completed till 5 Aug., on which day Spencer arrived. On the 8th the army advanced, and on the 12th it was joined at Leiria by six thousand Portuguese under Freire. Freire refused to march on Lisbon, but he allowed Colonel (afterwards Sir) Nicholas Trant [q. v.] to accompany the British with fourteen hundred foot and 250 horse. Junot, while gathering his troops, had sent forward Delaborde with five thousand men to delay the British advance. Delaborde chose a position at Rolica, and was attacked there on the 17th by Wellesley with nearly fourteen thousand men. This superiority in numbers enabled Wellesley to threaten both flanks while pressing the French in front; Delaborde was forced back to a second position, and then had to retreat altogether, after losing six hundred men. But the front attack had been premature, and the British loss was not much less.

Wellesley meant to march next day on Torres Vedras, to secure the pass, but learning that the brigades of Acland and Anstruther were off the coast, he took a position at Vimeiro to cover their disembarkation. On the evening of the 20th a senior officer, Sir Harry Burrard [q. v.], arrived, and refused to allow any offensive movements till Moore's troops should have joined. On the morning of the 21st the British army was attacked in its position by Junot, and Burrard left Wellesley to conduct the action. Junot had fourteen thousand men, including thirteen hundred cavalry, and 23 guns. The British numbered sixteen thousand, of which only 240 were cavalry, with eighteen guns, besides Trant's Portuguese. Their position was convex, the right resting on the sea, and Junot's plan was to turn the left. But Wellesley moved four of his eight brigades from right to left by the rear, and Solignac's division, which made the turning movement, was driven back and separated from the rest of the army. The columns sent against the British front were also repulsed. Wellesley had said of the French when he was leaving England, 'if what I hear of their system of manœuvres be true, I think it a false one as against steady troops' (, i. 13, ii. 122). The columns failed, as he anticipated, before a volley and a charge in line. The French loss was over two thousand men, about three times that of the British, and thirteen guns.

Wellesley wished to follow up his victory, but he was stopped short. 'Sir H. Burrard, who was at this time on the ground, still thought it advisable not to move from Vimeiro; and the enemy made good their retreat to Torres Vedras' (Desp. 22 Aug.) Sir Hew Whitefoord Dalrymple [q. v.] took command next day, and the convention of Cintra followed. Wellesley concurred in the principle of it, thinking that, as the French had not been cut off from Lisbon, it was best to allow them to evacuate Portugal; and on 22 Aug. he signed, by Dalrymple's desire, the armistice which was the prelude to it, though he disapproved of some details. In the further negotiations his advice was disregarded. Castlereagh had strongly recommended him to Dalrymple's particular confidence, but he found that it was not given to him; and he soon came to the conclusion that 'it is quite impossible for me to continue any longer with this army' (Desp. 5 Sept.) It was suggested that he should go to the Asturias to report on the country, but he replied that he was not a topographical engineer. He also declined a proposal that he should go to Madrid. Leave of absence was given him, and he arrived in England on 6 Oct.

The convention had raised a storm there, and as Wellesley had signed the armistice, and was wrongly said to have negotiated it, much of the blame fell on him (, i. 344). A court of inquiry met at Chelsea on 17 Nov., and Wellesley laid before this court some masterly statements vindicating his conduct and forming a full record of the campaign (Desp. iv. 152-237; Suppl. Desp. vi. 151-94; cf. Speeches, 21 and 28 Feb. 1809). In its final report (22 Dec.) the court approved of the armistice, one member dissenting; with the convention Wellesley was not concerned. The inquiry prevented his rejoining the army, which was then advancing into Spain under Moore. He received the thanks of parliament for his conduct at Rolica and Vimeiro, those of the House of Commons being given to him in his place (Speeches, 27 Jan. 1809). He also received addresses from Limerick and Londonderry, and a piece of plate from the commanding officers who had served under him at Vimeiro.