Page:The Complete Peerage (Edition 1, Volume 8).djvu/91

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WBLUNGTON. 81 ezpadltton to Holland ; in 1797 he lonrod in India, taking a oontpieoooi part in tho oampaign against Tippoo Saib in 1799, and was, from 1799 to 1805, Governor of Seringiipatam sod Mysore. Under his oomtnsnd, as Miijor Qenenl, was gained the Tieto^, 23 Sep. 1803, at Assays, with 9,600 men against 40,000, followed by that of Arganm and the sftorming of the fortress of GawilEhar, ending in the entire sub- mission of Sctndiah and of the Ha jah of Derah. He received, in consequenoe, the thanks of ParL, and was nom. K.B., 28 Aug. 1804, beooming, aooordingly, O.O.B., 2 June 1816. He was made Col. of the 83d Foot in Jsn. 1806 ; distinguished himself, in 1807, in command, under Lord Cathcart, against the island of Z^iland, which expedition terminated with the surrender of Copenhagen and of the whole Danish fleet, when the oflloers in command received the thanks of Pari. He was, 1807-09, Chief Sec to the Viceroy of Ireland, and was P.C (GB. and I.]. 1807. In 1808 he embarked for Portugal, gaining, on 18 and 21 Aug., the victories of Koleia and Vimiera.(*) which effect^ the evacuation by the French of that country. On 26 July 1809, being then Com. in Chief of the British forces and Marshal Gen. in the Portuguese army, he accomplished a brilliant passage over the Douro and defeated the French alter a desperate conflict at Tklavera in Spain. He was, accordingly, raisecf to the fwrope, 9 Sep. following, as above stated, ike Barony of Dour<i{^) and the VitcounUif of WdUngton of T«invera,{^) commemorating these schievments, and was sgain thanked by Pari., who, in Feb. 1810, conferred on him and his two successors in the title an annuity of £2,000. In 1810 he was one of the Il«^ency of Portugal, and in that year he carried out the fortifications of Torres Vedras, extending from the Tagus to the sea, and thus barring the access of the French troops to Liabon, over whose superior forces (nnder Marshal Massena) he, 27 July 1810, gained the victory of Busaco, compelling them, after a loss of above 40,000 men from sword, fsmine and disease, to withdraw into Spain. In May 1811 he repulsed the enemy st Fuentes d* Onoro, recovered the frontier fortress of Almeida, and made two attempts to storm that of Badajos. On 19 Jan. 1812, he won, after an eleven days siege, the important fortress of Ciudad RodriKO,(«) being, consequently, misttf, 28 Feb. 1812, fo an Ihrldom, aa above stated, and receiving an additional annuity of £2,000 on the same terma as that of 1810. On 6 April following, he, after a frightful carnage and the loss of nearly 6,000 men, eflected the capture of Badajos, and, entering Siiain, defeated the French, 22 Julv 1812, at Salamanca, an action in which be himself, for the only time, was wounded. He entered Madrid, 12 Aug. (whence the usurping King, Joseph Buonaparte, had fled) and after Ave weeks siege of Burgos, retreated on the Douro, being then Generalissimo of the armi^ of Spain. Me again received the thanka «»f Pari, and was odvanned^ 8 Oct. 1812, tn a MarqueUaU, as abovestated, with a gr^nt of £1 00,000 for purchase of lands to descend with hb peerage. On 21 Jime 1813 he gained a complete victory over Marshal Jourdan at Vittoria, where King Joeeph narrowly escaped capture, and was raised, 21 June 1813, to the rank of Firld MarsbaL, agnin receiving the thanks of Pari. A series of actions in the passes of the Pyrenees against the French Marshal Soult (whom he oomiielled to retreat into France), was followeil by the capture of San Sebastian, 81 Aug., and of Paropeluna, 10 Nov. 1818, the victoir at Orthez, 27 Feb., the surrender of Bayonue, 12 March, and the final defeat of Soult^ at Toulouse, 10 April 1814. This was his last victory in the Peninsular war, the abdication of Napoleon having then taken place. He was aooordingly advanced, 11 May 1814, (o a Dukedom^ as abovestated, being granted an additional £400,000 to purchase estates (*) The convention at Cintra which followed, signed by himself. Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hew Dalrymple, who, on arrival, had taken the chief command, was generally ctmdemned as too favourable to the French, oonsideriiiK the means in the hands of Sir Hew, who was tried for the aame, but exonerate^]. It gave rise to this distich :•— " Sir Arthur and Sir Harry — Sir Arthur and Sir Hew — Cock-a-doodle, cock-a-doodle, cock-a-doodle-doo. — Sir Arthur's a brave soldier ; but of the other two. Sing cock-a-doodle, cock-a-doodle, cock-a-doodle-doo. It was of Dalrymple that Canning, on this occasion, made the scathing remark* " Henceforth I shall spell Au-miltation a'ith hew " if) See vol i, p. 79, note " a,** iub " Amherst," for titles of peerages commemorating some victory. (") It was not till after a siege of six months that this fortress had previously fallen to Marshal Maasena, and then, too, with an army uf 80,000, about double the force that retook it in leas than 2 weeks under Wellington.