The French Emperor, Napoleon Buonaparte, having attempted to reduce Spain and Portugal to subjection to his power, a British army proceeded to Portugal to aid the inhabitants in their struggles for freedom. Portugal had been delivered, and the army under Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore was advancing into Spain, when the FOURTEENTH (the DUCHESS OF YORK'S OWN) regiment of light dragoons, was ordered to embark for the Peninsula. The regiment marched to Falmouth, where it was put on board of transports, and arrived at Lisbon on the 23rd of December under the command of Colonel Samuel Hawker. [Sidenote: 1809] The return to England of the troops which had served under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, whose career of honour was terminated at the battle of Corunna, left only a small British force in the Peninsula, and these troops were quartered near Lisbon, from whence the FOURTEENTH light dragoons advanced in the early part of 1809, to Bucellas, an out-post of the army. In April the regiment formed the advance-guard on the march of the army to Coimbra, and in the beginning of May it was united in brigade with the sixteenth and twentieth light dragoons under Major-General Cotton, and was reviewed on the plains of Coimbra by Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. The French troops under Marshals Soult and Victor had, in the meantime, invaded Portugal, and Marshal Soult had captured Oporto. To expel the French from _Oporto_, was the first service undertaken by the British commander; on this occasion two squadrons of the FOURTEENTH, under Lieut.-Colonel Neil Talbot, were detached with the Portuguese troops under Marshal Beresford to intercept the French, if they should attempt to retreat by Amarante; the remaining three squadrons under Colonel Hawker advanced direct upon Oporto, and being employed, with the other cavalry on the advance-piquets, they took part in the rencounters with the enemy on the 10th and 11th of May. Arriving on the 12th of May, on the banks of the Douro near Oporto, unperceived by the French, the English general resolved to pass the river, when two squadrons of the FOURTEENTH were detached, with the German brigade and two guns under Major-General John Murray, three miles up the river, to Barca de Avintas, where they effected a passage in boats. In the meantime a portion of the army had passed nearer the city, and was engaged in a fierce action with the enemy, when the FOURTEENTH light dragoons and the Germans were seen advancing down the right bank of the river. The French made a precipitate retreat. The leading squadron of the FOURTEENTH, commanded by Major F. B. Hervey, and gallantly supported by the second squadron under Major the Honourable Charles Butler, dashed sword in hand upon the enemy's rear-guard and overthrew it, as it was pushing through a narrow road to gain an open space beyond the defile. Some execution was done, the French General, Laborde, was unhorsed, and General