The principle upon which D’Argenton acted was that of saying nothing which could compromise his associates, and any thing that might assist their purpose. He was sent to prison, and two officers upon whom the Marshal’s suspicions fell were placed under arrest. But Soult was alarmed, as well he might, by what he had heard; and though the general officers whom he convened assured him they knew of no discontent in the army, it was certain that all those who retained any moral or religious feeling, any respect for humanity and justice, any sense of right and wrong, had abundant reason to be discontented with a service so flagrantly iniquitous as that wherein they were engaged. Not knowing how far he could depend upon the fidelity of his army, and certain that such of them as had been present at Roliça and Vimeiro had not forgotten the lessons which they received there, he thought no longer of conquering Portugal, but of escaping out of it without delay. He informed Loison, therefore, who was at Amarante, that he should retreat by that road, and so by Braganza upon Zamora; and he ordered the ♦OPERATIONS, &C. 239.♦ troops from Viana to march upon Amarante, by way of Guimaraens, while he remained at Porto to secure their movements. ♦THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM ALBERGARIA.♦ On the day that this determination was taken, the British attempted to surprise the advanced guard of the enemy under General Franceschi. Some troops crossed the Vouga on the preceding evening, others during the night. They proceeded silently and in darkness, along rocky passes where there was sometimes room only to march in single file: but the fidelity of Portugueze guides was not doubted, and they were led safely to an open heath, where about sunrise they came in sight of the enemy’s videttes. The French were not taken by surprise, as had been hoped, ... they were formed in line with a pine wood in their rear; but they were beaten out of the field, and driven through the wood with the loss of their cannon; and having then to pass a deep ravine, the artillery came up in time to play upon their rear-guard. Such of the wounded as they were not able to bear away, the Portugueze peasantry dispatched, and miserably mutilated in their vengeance. The French had provoked them by their barbarous usage of the militia who fell into their hands, ... for the peasants had found their bodies hanging there, and marks upon them of the cruelties which they had endured before death. The villages of Albergaria Velha and Nova, which the enemy had lately occupied, bore proofs of the atrocious temper in which this war was carried on by the invaders. They had destroyed in mere wantonness and malignity every thing that was destructible, ... broken open every house, burnt the furniture and the thatch, staved all the liquor which they could not drink, slaughtered the cattle, and pigs, and poultry which they could not carry off, strewn about their limbs, and trampled them in the road.