The Prose Works of William Wordsworth: For the First Time Collected, With Additions from Unpublished Manuscripts. In Three Volumes.Wordsworth, William
General
The Prose Works of William Wordsworth: For the First Time Collected, With Additions from Unpublished Manuscripts. In Three Volumes.
Wordsworth, William
English literature -- 19th century
entreated of him a king, who, aided by the omnipotence of that great
monarch, might raise up again your unfortunate Country, and replace her
in the rank which belongs to her. Doubtless at this moment your new
monarch is on the point of visiting you.--He expects to find faithful
Subjects--shall he find only rebels? I expected to have delivered over
to him a peaceable kingdom and flourishing cities--shall I be obliged to
shew him only ruins and heaps of ashes and dead bodies?--Merit pardon by
prompt submission, and a prompt obedience to my orders; if not, think of
the punishment which awaits you.--Every city, town, or village, which
shall take up arms against my forces, and whose inhabitants shall rise
upon the French troops, shall be delivered up to pillage and totally
destroyed, and the inhabitants shall be put to the sword--every
individual taken in arms shall be instantly shot.' That these were not
empty threats, we learn from the bulletins published by authority of the
same Junot, which at once shew his cruelty, and that of the persons whom
he employed, and the noble resistance of the Portugueze. 'We entered
Beia,' says one of those dismal chronicles, 'in the midst of great
carnage. The rebels left 1200 dead on the field of battle; all those
taken with arms in their hands were put to the sword, and all the houses
from which we had been fired upon were burned.' Again in another, 'The
spirit of insanity, which had led astray the inhabitants of Beia and
rendered necessary the terrible chastisement which they have received,
has likewise been exercised in the north of Portugal.' Describing
another engagement, it is said, 'the lines endeavoured to make a stand,
but they were forced; the massacre was terrible--more than a thousand
dead bodies remained on the field of battle, and General Loison,
pursuing the remainder of these wretches, entered Guerda with fixed
bayonets.' On approaching Alpedrinha, they found the _rebels_ posted in
a kind of redoubt--'it was forced, the town of Alpedrinha taken, and
delivered to the flames:' the whole of this tragedy is thus summed
up--'In the engagements fought in these different marches, we lost
twenty men killed, and 30 or 40 wounded. The insurgents have left at
least 13000 dead in the field, the melancholy consequence of a frenzy
which nothing can justify, which forces us to multiply victims, whom we
lament and regret, but whom a terrible necessity obliges us to
sacrifice.' 'It is thus,' continues the writer, 'that deluded men,
ungrateful children as well as culpable citizens, exchange all their
claims to the benevolence and protection of Government for misfortune
and wretchedness; ruin their families; carry into their habitations
desolation, conflagrations, and death; change flourishing cities into
heaps of ashes--into vast tombs; and bring on their whole country
calamities which they deserve, and from which (feeble victims!) they
cannot escape. In fine, it is thus that, covering themselves with
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