An incident which took place on the night of the surrender of Almeida, deserves to be mentioned, to shew the hostility of the Portuguese peasantry to the French. Colonel Pavetti, the chief of the gens d’armerie of France, in Spain, had gone to Almeida with Marshal Massena, when he left his head-quarters at the fort of La Conception, to induce the garrison to surrender; when the firing recommenced, Colonel Pavetti (who was unwell) set out upon his return to his quarters; he was accompanied by a Lieutenant-Colonel, a Captain, and twelve men; the night was extremely dark and stormy, and he lost his way. He met with a Portuguese shepherd, whom he took for his guide, and who promised to conduct him (the vengeance of these Frenchmen hanging over him) to the fort of La Conception. But this peasant could not resist his feelings of animosity; he found courage to mislead the party; and under the pretence of having missed his way, brought it to his own village. He persuaded Colonel Pavetti to put up for the night in the house of the Jues de Fora, and pretended that he would procure provisions for him. Instead, however, of employing himself in that way, he collected the inhabitants, fell upon the French, killed them all, except the colonel, whom he beat most severely, and his servant who stated himself to be a German. The next day the colonel was brought, with two ribs broken and other damages, to the head-quarters of Lord Wellington; where he was attended to, and afterwards sent prisoner to England. To appreciate this event, it must be remembered that it took place in the middle of an army of 60,000 Frenchmen; that their revenge awaited those who were concerned in it; but that, notwithstanding, the animosity of the Portuguese was too strong to be resisted by any calculations of the retaliation which was likely to follow the act that was committed. It will not be uninteresting to cite a trait of the character of Colonel Pavetti. Lord Wellington treated him with great kindness; bought the horse which had belonged to him of the peasants; returned it to him, and asked him to his table. While at dinner, this officer took an opportunity of stating to Lord Wellington that the Duchess of Abrantes was with her husband Junot; he added, “Qu’elle était grosse, et qu’elle comptoit faire ses couches dans son duché[3].” Lord Wellington took little notice of this impertinence; but General Alava, a Spanish officer, who was attached to the British head-quarters, answered, “Qu’il ferait bien de faire savoir à madame la duchesse, qu’elle eut garde de ces messieurs habillés en _rouge_, car ils étaient de très mauvais accoucheurs.” Footnote 3: Abrantes was at that time 150 miles behind our army, and throughout the whole succeeding campaigns, it was never taken by the enemy.