Wellington, soldier and statesman, and the revival of the military power of England . iedSalamanca as well as he could, in order to make abarrier against the invasion he dreaded, after theloss of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo; he had de-stroyed a number of religious houses and had clearedthe town of buildings, which might be of use to theenemy ; but he had made three large convents strongpoints of defence, and one of these, San Vincente,was perched on a cliff overhanging the Tormes, anaffluent of the Douro, flowing by the place. Wel-lington was compelled to lay siege to the convents,and this dela
Wellington, soldier and statesman, and the revival of the military power of England . iedSalamanca as well as he could, in order to make abarrier against the invasion he dreaded, after theloss of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo; he had de-stroyed a number of religious houses and had clearedthe town of buildings, which might be of use to theenemy ; but he had made three large convents strongpoints of defence, and one of these, San Vincente,was perched on a cliff overhanging the Tormes, anaffluent of the Douro, flowing by the place. Wel-lington was compelled to lay siege to the convents,and this delayed him ten or twelve days; San Vin-cente was not captured until the 27th of June. Dur-ing this time Marmont had approached the Tormesat the head of some twenty-five thousand men, whoerelong were considerably reinforced ; the Marshalsought an opportunity to strike, but he found that hehad been on a bootless errand. In a short time hehad retreated behind the Douro, spreading his army,now assembled on a broad front, from Toro on theDouro, beyond Tordesillas and thence further to the. Salamanca 173 Pisuerga, holding the bridge of Tordesillas upon theDouro, which would enable him to cross over theriver. In this position he was safe, it may be said,from attack; he had drawn near Caffarelli and Joseph ;he commanded a very fine army of men of one he sent messages to Caffarelli and Joseph veryproperly seeking assistance from both ; and both—afact that deserves special notice—had held out hopesof support, if in very ambiguous language. In this position of affairs the obvious course forMarmont would have been to remain behind theDouro, and to await the reinforcements that mightbe on the way; the Marshal knew that Wellingtonwas at hand, and that Wellington had a superiorityof force. But though Marmont was a brilliant sol-dier, an excellent tactician in the field, and possessedof no ordinary organising skill, he was a somewhatvain and presumptuous man ; the intelligent Frenchs
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